Musical beds

Forget about musical chairs or musical statues - we have a much better game in this house: musical beds!

Miss A has three beds to choose from: her own bed, the one in the spare room (also known as Grandma and Grandad's bed, as that is where my parents sleep when they come to visit) and, of course, our bed....

Since we turned her cot into a bed last October, I reckon Miss A has probably slept a total of 10 nights in her bed. She generally prefers to sleep in the spare bed - and much as I know I shouldn't be encouraging it, she does look adorable in it. Lately, however, it's been a different story....whether it's linked to my not collecting her from school or some of the other fairly large changes that have happened recently (she's moved into the 'top' class at nursery and has started following a 'proper' curriculum with reading books and homework - a whole different kettle of fish), she doesn't want to be left alone at night. Bedtimes have turned into a battlefield of negotation and cajoling - exhausting.

Anyway, last night Miss A declares she doesn't want to wear a nappy to bed. "Ok", I think to myself, "we've prepared for this - there are mattress protectors on both her and the spare beds, we have plenty of spare linen and it's Saturday night, so I won't mind having to change the sheets in the morning. " So she gets all installed in the spare bed, and Mr A and I go down to enjoy a few hours of peace and quiet.

Lo and behold, when I go to bed a few hours later, I find her in OUR bed (i.e. the only one that doesn't have a protector) absolutely soaking wet.....so there I am, at quarter to midnight, having to strip / shower / change a sleeping child and changing a super-king size bed.......

Oh, this parenting lark is so much fun sometimes.......

Tugging at the heartstrings....

....exactly how can you be expected to start the day on the right footing when you leave the house to the sound of your daughter crying her heart out because she doesn't want you to go to work?

I won't even get into the subject of 'are you picking me up today, Mummy?' (the answer, nine times out of ten, is no........). Nor will I mention the total hysterical meltdown that occurred when Granny took her to her first French class (no, she won't be going back - have realised that too much can be just too much at that age).

Why didn't anyone tell me how hard this 'working Mummy' lark would be?

Oh, and can anyone tell me how to get rid of the stain produced by a Fruit Pastille ice lolly (it would be on her new dress, wouldn't it?)

How much?

Look! Over there! To your right.............

I hadn't updated my Knit Meter account since February, so I had quite a few projects to add - and I'm now gobsmacked to say the least! How much?

twelve thousand, two hundred and eighty-eight meters

and there's still quite a bit of 2010 to go..............

Wonder if I can get it up to 20,000 - shouldn't be too hard with all the charity squares I've got planned, should it?

Add to that some new, very exciting projects that have just been added to my list: baby things! Yes folks, I'm going to be an auntie in 2011! Squeeeeeeeee!

Silly Saturdays

Up until a few weeks ago, the arrival of the weekend was still a welcome relief from all the hustle and madness of the working week. Yes, Miss A would still wake me up a stupid hour, but I could at least sit back with a large cup of coffee and slowly wake up and 'welcome' the day.

No more......

Take this morning for instance. Miss A woke me up at exactly 6.10am - that's earlier than my alarm normally goes off.....she did climb in to bed with me while I tried to prolong the 'snooze moment', but I soon gave up, as it's impossible to even doze when you have a mouthful of hair and a small person wriggling in your arms. So, downstairs we go, with me hoping she'll be satisfied with a little kiddy tv for just long enough for me to have a very large cup of coffee (and where has the lid to my themo mug gone, I would like to know?).

Needless to say, that illusion was quickly burst - first she wanted food (how unreasonable of her! - and yes, I am only joking), then she wanted to do 'sticking' with the new collection of stickers I brought home for her yesterday. I have only myself to blame - I discovered the coolest website recently which has a huge range of crafty / arty products for kids at really good prices. I bought her three packs of foam stickers (jungle animals, flowers and shapes) plus a pack of A3 sugar paper a month ago, and she's already 'burned' through all the stickers...........don't get me wrong, it's fantastic to watch her make shapes and arrange the animals by type and colour - just not at 7am....even if she does make me laugh with her antics

It's now almost 8am, and I have to get motoring - need to get showered, dressed and out of the door by 9am. We need to stop by the post office before heading for ballet class (I'm hoping she will actually do some of the class today instead of bursting into tears and spending the lesson at my side....). We are then off to see my sister and BIL, followed by a stop at the supermarket. I reckon I'll be ready to collapse by the time we get back home........I think Miss A has a play date this afternoon (weather permitting), so I might just get a bit of 'hooky time' (get your minds out of the gutter - I'm talking crochet!). A few rounds on the market bag, or maybe a few of my sock granny squares:

I'm really loving these - can make two during my lunch break and mixing up the colours is really too much fun. I've got almost 90 large (4") squares made up now - will have to think about starting to sew them up soon, as I don't think I'll be able to face sewing all of the 400 projected squares in one go....

And what is Mr A doing while all this is going on? Well, he did have an impacted wisdom tooth removed yesterday (it required stitches in the end - eeek!), so I reckon he'll spend most of the day in bed........note to self: pick up some baby food for him, as I don't think he'll be wanting solids for at least 24 hours!

A little inspiration......

One of my favourite blogs for sheer inspiration and bold, fun splashes of colour is Attic 24. Lucy, the lady who writes it, has the most amazing eye for colour and a charming way of describing the ups and downs of being busy with little ones. She also takes the most amazing photos - wish I could make mine look half as good.....

She is also an avid crocheter and has come up with a number of simple patterns that make use of bold colours and are quick and easy to whip up into something rather fabulous. One of these is a 'bucket bag' - I've been wanting to make one of these for my Mum for what seems like forever.....in fact, I think I bought the cotton late last summer! Anyway, with an impending trip to the Grandparents approaching fast (two weeks to go - Miss A is sooo excited to be going on a plane, I can't tell you!), I thought it was time to get started. Pretty colours (I actually added a ball of white and a ball of dark pink to these after the photo was taken):

I've almost finished the base of the bag, but can't show you any pictures as a) I just discovered this morning that the camera battery is flat (god, I'm so organised sometimes, it kills me!) and b) I wouldn't be able to take a decent picture, because it's chucking it down.......scuse me? It's August - you shouldn't have to put the heating on in August!

P.S. While I was mooching around the net looking for Lucy's blog this morning, I stumbled on this fab website - it's where I got my lovely new 'shabby' blog background - pretty, pretty!

July's socks

Some of you might remember that, a few months back, I decided to follow the Yarn Harlot and set up my own personal monthly 'project club' - I set up a bag containing various smaller bags with the yarn and pattern already paired together. The theory was that, each time I finished a project, I would pull another one from 'the bag' at random....I will be honest and admit that the contents have been 'tampered with' a little - I've switched some patterns around. This is partly because my focus has switched slightly from socks to shawls - must be thoughts of Christmas being not that far away now.....

One of the projects that got 'substituted' was this pair of socks:

I'm really, really chuffed with these - for several reasons:

a) they only took 2.5 weeks, which when you think that they were mainly knit on the bus to / from work, is really not bad going

b) point a is even more amazing when you consider that they are made from a Cookie A pattern (Angee to be precise) - while I love Cookie's patterns, they are definitely not 'easy' socks and often require a lot of concentration (and some swearing at various points!)

c) I don't think the photos are doing them complete justice, but the colour is just gawgeous - the yarn is Colinette Jitterbug and the colourway is Morello Mash - says it all really! I had popped into my local yarn store (Loop, in Islington) to check out their new premises - and had been completely powerless to resist this gorgeous bit of squishyness - I cast on only two days later, which is unheard of in my world lol!

This is definitely one of my favourite colours - in fact, when I went to put the finished pair into my sock drawer (yes, I now have drawer specifically for handknit socks!) I realised that I had already made two pairs in a similar colour - predictable, me?

P.S. Update on the Knit-a-Square crochet-thon - 25 squares shipped off to South Africa this morning! Wonder if I can do better in August?

A busy life......

.....leaves very little time for blogging! No seriously, I can't apologise enough. Life really is very full these days.

A quick snapshot of the last six weeks or so:

- the new job is going well and looks set to last until at least September

- Miss A is enjoying spending more time with her Granny (who picks her up from nursery these days, as I can't any longer), but is still refusing to sleep in her own bed....

- Mr A and I took ourselves off to Spain for a week in mid-June (without Miss A who was looked after by my parents). Total bliss - long lie-ins, good food & wine, lots of sunbathing and book-reading - just what we needed. No photos I'm afraid as I deliberately didn't take my camera!

- we've all be suffering a little in the recent heatwave. I personally wouldn't mind it, if only I didn't have to sit in a hot, sticky bus for an hour each evening.......bleurgh!

- Miss A has just acquired her first pair of ballet shoes and leotard:

Can't wait to see what happens during her first class next Saturday.

- Mr A and I are in the throes of planning our joint 40th birthday party this weekend. We've discovered FOURTEEN bottles of champagne in the cellar......raspberry belinis anyone?

On the crafting front, the heat has pretty much scuppered most attempts at playing with wool, but I have managed a few things. While on holiday, I finally managed to make some progress on the Solid Socks May Mystery socks - those cables almost did my head in.....but I'm very, very pleased with the result:

I have also once again been completely taken over by the crochet bug - I can't express how much I love this particular craft. It's portable, doesn't require as much concentration as my knitting, and gives super quick results. I whipped up this little beauty in just under a week:

Partly due to the heat, and partly due to a recent urgent call by Knit-A-Square for over 55,000 squares by September, I'm devoting most of my free time to making granny squares:

These are just a few of the 35+ squares that I've managed to whip since the beginning of July. I'm hoping to send several large bags before the autumn. And it's a great way of using up scraps / spare wool! Talking of leftovers, I happened to mentioned this little 'project' to a colleague of mine and she mentioned that she had starting making a crochet blanket a few months ago, but got bored. So yesterday, I took delivery of this:

70 part-completed squares
and 15 very large balls of wool

Should keep me quiet for a while, no?