Progress on the knitting front

Life is settling well with a newborn in the family. She's now sleeping for longer periods and is feeding better. She doesn't sleep so much during the night but we're going to try to change that soon.

I've also realised that I just haven't got a lot of time for me. Knitting and catching up on blogs tends to happen on a very ad hoc basis. Hopefully, that will get better when Aidan starts school in 2 weeks time and Keira is back in nursery for 4 mornings a week.

In the meantime, I've only managed to start and finish small projects. One of the small projects happens to be a super fun project from Zoe Mellor's Knitted Toys book. It was Aidan's choice of project - Rainbow snake.
Pattern : Snake from Zoe Mellor's Knitted Toys
Yarn : Huge selection of colours from Rowan Handknit Cotton
Modifications: In the pattern, the snake is knitted flat and then seamed. The thought of seaming a 3 foot long snake didn't seem exciting, so I knitted the head as recommended and knitted the rest of the body in the round on 2 circular needles.

The good thing about this knit was that I usually only had enough time and concentration for 1 colour block. I could also involve the kids with the projects with colour choices and stuffing the snake. It took about 2.5 weeks to start and finish. At least one person is pleased with his new friend.

GIfts, gifts, gifts...

I've completety forgotten what its like to have a newborn baby in the house. They cry lots, needs changing lots, don't sleep unless they are being held or cuddled, takes up loads of your time, needs constant feeding..... the list goes on.

I feel very honoured that my lovely blog friends have been showering me with loads of gifts and not just for the new arrival. This big bundle arrived from Kate with gifts for all of us and she even thoughtfully included 2 little toys for Aidan and Keira too. There's a beautiful hand knitted bolero and matching party dress for the new party princess.

Polly also sent a beautiful hand knitted cardigan and hat. The cardigan pattern is one from Elizabeth Zimmerman and is in a beautiful rich red. It's a little bit big for now, but I think it would be perfect in a few months time, especially for Chinese New Year where all things red are considered lucky. The hat is so adorable, especially the frilly brim. I understand, that took forever to knit!
Thank you once again to all my lovely friends for your thoughts, kind words and gifts.

I hope to find some time soon to knit and blog. In the meantime, transmission will be intermittent.

Presenting.....

the newest addition to our little family. We took her out for a walk for the first time today and she enjoyed the sunshine. Here she is.

Baby update

She's here, she's here. She's finally arrived. Exactly one week late. But she's here. Baby Zoe arrived at 12.35am on Sunday. We arrived at the hospital at 11.20, after 2 hours of contractions at home and she promptly turned up at 12.35 after the midwife gave me a jab of diamorphine 2 minutes beforehand. I bonded with her for 15 minutes and just zoned out for 3 -4 hours after that. Great!

Anyway, she weighs just over 6 lbs (2.7 kgs) - which is quite tiny considering she is a week overdue. She is just gorgeous. Her big brother and sister love her. I'm going to have load pictures later, still looking for those cables!

I'll have more soon. Thank you also to everyone for your very kind, encouraging words.

Right here waiting

3 days past due date and still waiting. After having one child arrive 6 weeks early and the other one 5 days before her due date, I am firmly in unfamiliar territory. All this waiting is driving me up the wall. Obviously made worse by the "circus" of having parents and in-laws around 24/7. I know they only really mean well, but I don't need wrapping in cotton wool!!!!! I also don't need to be asked 200 times a day - "What still no contractions!" This is really enough to drive me up the wall. I also think my frustrations are caused by rampant hormones. Message to baby - "Please come soon. Once you arrive, grandparents will be able to devote lots of attention to you. That will save your mummy's sanity!"

On the plus side, I have booked in the induction for 8 August 2007. Hurray!

Apart from the rant, I was also going to post some photos of gifts for baby and me and the current state of my WIPs. But I can't locate my camera cables (no doubt after being tidied up by my mum!) So I'm afraid I'll have to talk about that later.