Holiday Plan 2011

 

My “holiday” is swiftly approaching. Tomorrow afternoon at approximately 1.30pm i will begin an entire, luxurious 1 week (or 9 days including both weekends) off work.

I’m having a short holiday this year. Usually it would be 2 weeks in Summer, (which ain’t got nothing on the 4 weeks my Swedish colleagues take) but owing to the fact that i want to save my paid leave to tag on to the beginning of maternity leave i chose to shorten it.

So here’s the super-human effort of a list that i want to somehow try and achieve in this time period.

• Day out at Newby Hall admiring the stately home, gardens and exhibitions
• Day out in Scarborough (where husband and i met) or Whitby for fish and chips and an ice cream
• Check out Saltburn auctions and/or car boot sales for furniture that can be repurposed into nursery furniture
• Paint the Peanut’s room and get it all tidy and clean and looking like it might be ready for moving furniture into
• Sort out the rest of the unpacking and make everything look “homely”
• Sow herb seeds in planters outside before it gets too cold.
• Find some winter biennials to plant out
• Try and finish sorting the garden
• Swatch for a new secret project
• Bake lots and stock up the new freezer

I concoct a list every single year at both Summer and Christmas. I’ll admit, the list above is forbiddingly and ridiculously long for such a short amount of time off. It’s really just a list of the things i would like to get done, or at the very least the ways i would enjoy to spend my time off.

Of course, with our tremendous British weather, you know, the type that makes a dip in the North Sea look warm and dry, there may be a week of duvet days, movies and knitting.

In fact, sod the list, bring on the rain!

The First Baby Cardigan

 

I’ve started making baby clothes, but this one isn’t for my own Peanut. This one is for our friends Sarah and Dan who just had a baby girl, Erin. Sarah enjoys hand knit baby clothes and i couldn’t resist making something, knowing it would come in as handy practise for myself.

Pattern: Maille
Needle size: 3.75mm
Made from: some random baby acrylic 4ply
Techniques: bottom up raglan; lace
Finished with: Pearlised heart buttons and white satin ribbon

 

Before selecting the pattern, i wish I'd read a lot of peoples’ project notes on the sleeve to body joining. It was messy and i attempted to fudge it my own way a little bit, which sort of worked but left me without enough stitches in the raglan section (between the decreases) to attempt the lovely lace. In the end i accepted it and left the lace out anyway, figuring it would look less girly as we didn’t know the gender before the arrival. I also knitted the sleeves a little bit shorter (about 1 inch) than the pattern called for. This was lucky because it appears that Erin has short arms and they’ve been rolling up the sleeves on every hand knit cardigan they received so far!

Verdict: A nice finished piece, but not a pattern I’ll be knitting from again, due to the weird sleeve contruction.

Are you in there little Peanut?

Aaah, I've left my little bloggy home alone for a little bit too long I'm afraid. Those of you who have me on a feedreader (incidentally, for those who dont, you should... it really is the best way to keep on top of blog updates) will be surprised to see the blog title pop out in bold!

So why the silence? Well some of you who hang out in the same places as me on Ravelry will already know the news, but for those of you not in the know, meet Peanut.

I am now 18 weeks pregnant and have had very, very little urge to pick up the knitting sticks since i found out hence the radio silence. According to the other lovely ladies on the Due November '11 group over on Rav, this is not abnormal. Nearly everyone has felt the need to down tools until at least the 2nd trimester, preferring instead to rest and concentrate on growing their tiny offspring. The good news is that this aversion to knitting shouldn't last. As I'm now officially in my fifth month, I'm expecting my mojo to kick in again any day now. Any day.

Future blog posts around the subject of babies and whatnot shall be filed under the tag "Peanut".

Love love affair continues...

The love affair with the self-striping yarn continues. I finished these gorgeous (and comfy) Regia Kaffe Fassett socks using the pattern in my head (60 stitches over 3 dpns, short row heel, traditional toe). Unfortunately for me these will be gifted i think.

And then i went and bought some Zauerball Crazy in Pumpkin. Can you see the orange theme emerging here? I'm not sure why, i just like it. Maybe it's a longing for sunshine thing.

Chocolate Cake Trials

There's not much better for a chocolate lover than the good old chocolate fudge cake. When on the hunt for an appropriate cake for my mam last weekend all i could think about was how to get hold of the chocolatiest, rich cake i could find. The shops disappointed me, so home-made was the way forward!

The Masterpiece

Made for: mam's 60th birthday.

Recipe: Nigella Lawson's Devil's Food Cake

Decorated with: White Milk chocolate writing, edible glitter, edible stars and dark and white chocolate hearts

The verdict: Extremely dense cake made with a very loose batter (warning: don't attempt this in a loose bottom tin). I was disappointed with the (non)rising power of this cake and ended up making an additional cake instead of dividing one cake in half horizontally. The chocolate fudge frosting is also very rich and not very kid friendly. I added some icing (confectioners) sugar and 50g of milk chocolate to make it lighter.