New Home

We have moved! We have unpacked all the boxes and quiet corners are appearing in between all the mess. I love this wall decal which I bought last year as a present for my husband. Now it's got a special place in the bedroom. I am trying to turn the bedroom into a calm space because I will be spending a lot of time in there with the baby! At present, if you could see under this calm photograph you'd find piles of washing and dirty Ugg Boots. 

The baby's room is full of stuff and I want to spend the next few weeks making a lovely nursery using as little money as possible. Expect some crafty solutions. If I can ever not be tired, and actually get off the couch to do it. I was not prepared for how tired pregnancy can make you. I do not really like being lethargic as I am usually more of a full of beans person, and this sluggishness is making me quite mad. 

I am also working on my craft corner so I can resume private and professional sewing! 

>> We had our first lovely visitors on the weekend and we made Jamie Oliver's lasagna which I love because it uses Creme Fraiche instead of Bechamel. 

>> I had a lovely time at Brown Owls last week. We did some stitching and I managed to embroider something teensy - I got quite hooked on it! Magdalena had a copy of this printable stitch guide, which I will print as soon as I can find the printer cable! 

29 weeks

We moved house. We are so looking forward to making the nursery cute and making a home for you!
It's cold and most of the time I am struggling to fit into any kind of winter clothes. Sleeping is becoming pretty impossible. There are distinct "warning" kicks if I lie on the wrong side. Until I move I am being poked, kicked and prodded!  I am already planning your first trip home to meet all your aunties, cousins, and step-aunties and step-uncles.

This week I am hiding.

I am hiding behind my latest knitting project. This is a superwash Merino blanket for our little baby. Based on the idea of the super simple baby blanket, but I decided to mix the stripes up a bit and I made some pretty bold colour choices to. It's just knit back and forth so it's a simple and quite meditative project!
PS The reason I am hiding is because the rest of the house looks like this:

Yes, moving house is a wonderful experience.

Sleepy 26 weeks

At 26 weeks we had Gastro and your great-grandma died at an impressive 95 years old. At 26 weeks you did not like it much when I sneezed (at least sneezing elicits a pretty strong kicking response). You also kicked your lovely papa in the face, which I secretly found incredibly amusing. Your papa continues to tell you you are either a timelord, or an explorer.

Oppy Baby

Babies make a lot of dirt and produce a lot of landfill. Little polluters. This baby is going to be dressed in some very fine op shop gear and hand me down goodness. I picked up these cute things from the Save The Children oppy the other day. But I am not 100% good and I have bought new stuff. And had fun doing so. It's the nesting instinct kicking in!

I bought a Skip Hop nappy bag. I also bought an Ergo Carrier. I don't think I really needed the nappy bag. I just saw the one my friend had, and suddenly it became incredibly important to immediately make sure I'd have the appropriate carrying device to hand to carry nappies around in. I then also nearly bought a sheep toy that can make four different kinds of soothing music, including whale song. I wonder what's happened to my brain. Other than that it has been drowned in apple juice, which I can not get enough of.  In the making department, things are progressing along. I've just gotten tired of taking "in progress" shots.

I am still very confused what to dress a newborn in when they sleep. I have bought a little sleeping sack thing but I'm scared of using it already. It comes with bizarre batwings that are apparently used to "swaddle".  Everywhere I look there are warnings of SIDS and apparently you are not allowed to put a blanket in the baby cot at all anymore. Isn't that a bit overly dramatic?

Happy Weekend!

now for something completely different

finished and on its way to a new baby's home. Trebbled back and forth in cotton. Noone stop trebbling until the fat lady sings. I can honestly say I don't want to trebble again in the foreseeable future.

My Pre-Conception Body

Well here is the image Babble has on their website anyway. Other than the disconcerting lack of arms, there are other things wrong with this image. But I don't want to go into that. I am not one to discuss how anyone could believe this represents a normal woman, why it is on a pregnancy website, or generally the use of "this is how you should look" photos on such websites, and how dangerous I find it.

Nono. Instead here's a picture I will send to the babble editors in a moment. They might want to replace the one they have.


My Pre-Conception Body

HUGE.

OK. I am big. My belly is big. I am not. My baby is a normal size. But my belly is a large one.


Is it normal to get very anxious and upset about this? I guess not. But I am not sure how to cope with literally everyone I meet saying "oh my god you're HUGE", "are you sure it's not twins", or "are you due next month?". I worry what will happen to me in the next 4 remaining months of pregnancy.

Will I be able to get out of bed?  Will my favourite mode of transport be rolling along the street? Will the hip and back pain get even worse? Will people run and seek shelter when they see the ueber-large whale sized me dinosaur-walk along the footpath?

What do people want to achieve with these comments?

And I am not talking one comment a day. I am talking 30. The next person I'll meet who won't say "YOU'RE HUGE" will get a hug and a kiss. And probably some emotional hormone-tears.

What We Don't Need

are more high rise real estate developments and the destruction of beautiful old buildings that house creative communities.

Head over to the Ink & Spindle blog and help the ladies save the Younghusband building!

Stupid Cowl.

Here's the bobbled cowl in all its finished bobbly glory. Sadly it is of an annoying size. I can't wrap it around my neck twice, and it is a bit too wide to offer snug winter comfort. I'm sure this is because I didn't really go by the wool recommendations in the pattern, and because I am a lose knitter and didn't do a swatch. I must applaud myself for taking such good preparatory measures with my knitting to make sure it turns out right.

I have never knitted a sample swatch in my life. Shame, shame, shame on me! If I am a fan of anything, it would have to be cutting corners. Even if it means producing more fails than any whale in the ocean ever could.

I suppose I could find other creative uses for the cowl.

A belly warmer?

Emily Green

I found out about Emily Green from the Harvest girls. I couldn't resist this one.

PS: What are your favourite baby knit patterns? I'm going mad on Ravelry trying to decide! 

I am really enjoying THIS blog at the moment

And because I love Maggie Beer we will cook the roast chicken she made on Masterchef tomorrow.

Happy Birthday

Today would have been my dad's birthday. This is the first of his birthdays we have to celebrate without him.
My dad was born 3 days after VE day in Berlin in 1945. My grandma had to feed him soup made from grass.  He always had an issue with me not finishing my food when I was little.  My dad was a great doctor. In all the 31 years I got to spend with him he never once failed to fake enthusiasm at the terrible gifts he received for his birthday. Even the bizarre Irish wax cloth golf hat I gave him, and the entirely useless Chinese back massager last year. My dad could speak old Greek and in the days before he died we sat on his bed and listened to the Iliad on audiotape. As much as I'd much rather have him here with me, I hope the sun is shining wherever he is celebrating his birthday today.

Goings-On

1. Sometime ages ago I made these and they were delicious!
2. I took my mum to Daylesford for mother's day.
3. I am knitting 12 things at a time, and not making progress with a single one.
4.The bump and me went with some friends to have a lovely relaxed weekend away.
5. Is it just me, or is this the most attractive dude to have a baby with.
6. I am getting things for the baby that it actually needs!
7. And of course every baby needs an Enid.

Baby Essentials

Screenprinted Scandinavian Flowers

Screenprinted Owl

When you are overwhelmed by life in general and also by what kind of carseat to by for your newborn, and facing all kinds of other debilitating decisions on nursery equipment on a shoestring budget, then the best thing to do is clearly to stick to the essentials. In my case, I went forth to purchase these prints and this owl. The baby won't need a crib if it can play with this owl. Please do not disapprove of my logic.

Ps: We have started buying proper things for the baby. We also have to move house and my mum is here on an extended visit, so it's not been a calm and peaceful time! I got very overwhelmed with what to buy for this baby. We have lots of offers of second-hand things that are so much appreciated I can't tell you. We have picked out a pram and my mum bought us an ErgoCarrier (did you know that baby bjorns are bad for your baby's hip joints. I didn't either. But my sister knows everything). At the moment I'm working out on how babies sleep. In bags, it turns out. What kind of sleeping bag to buy is a whole different story...