Indoors and Outdoors

This somewhat solemn little chap is a small piece of a new beginning. Maybe a small piece of what will become something bigger. For quite some time my friend and I have talked about creating the sort of toddler group we'd like to take our littles to- less of the heaps of plastic toys and mothers sat around on chairs ignoring any newcomers, more natural materials, being in touch with the seasons and connecting families together. A lot like the Steiner playgroup we've been to, really. However, the Steiner group is a good hour and a half to drive to, a fact which has been increasingly hard to live with, both in terms of environmental conscience and, with rising fuel costs, budget. Our answer? To start up the group we want in our own living rooms- and once a month at the woodland recently bought by my friend's mother. If all goes well, we'll invite more families to join us and perhaps eventually find an official venue.
This, then, is 'Pete', our Steiner inspired story telling puppet. I hand-sewed him and filled him with wool, as this seemed to fit with the spirit of our enterprise. I haven't hand-sewed anything much for years, and had forgotten how soothing it can be, providing the project is small enough.
If this idea is our indoors green shoots, then there are plenty of real green shoots in the outdoors. We've had a blessing of February sunshine today, inspiring us to go out to the woods. Trembling snowdrops somehow managed to avoid the stomp of muddy wellies and the leaf litter was peppered with tiny green spikes of promise- Spring is on the way!

This Moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember. Inspired by SouleMama.

Yarn endings

How can someone with so many packing boxes marked 'craft stuff' (no, they still aren't unpacked yet, but the day is getting closer), of which at least 50% is yarn stash, keep running out? Having more or less conquered the body of the long running saga that is the Pirate Sweater, I've now run out of Rowan British Breeds BFL before I've finished the sleeves or the pocket edgings or the hood (this last may be an optional extra, haven't decided yet).
While I was deciding where to get more I thought I'd start on another idea for a child's sweater design I'd had. Hmmm, seem to remember posting a couple of weeks back that this year I was going to concentrate on making things for the home rather than clothes- oops! Anyway, this sweater is going to be for M and is already christened 'Little Queen Bess' for it's Elizabeth I influences- a frilled, ruff-like collar, smocked upper body and puffed sleeves. As I was just trying out the idea before finding some nice, preferably British produced, DK yarn to make the proper version, I picked up a ball of what I'm fairly sure is acrylic yarn from my stash. I thought there would be enough, but surprise, suprise, I got to the arms and found myself knitting slower and slower as the ball dwindled to nothing. I burrowed through the packing boxes and found all sorts of cream coloured yarn, which was all either too yellowy or too white. Eventually I realised that the yarn was leftover from some teacosies I'd made, including one that hadn't sold in the Folksy shop and so had found it's way into our kitchen....Yes, that's right, I'm unravelling the teacosy to complete the sweater, having to avoid the tea-stained sections where necessary. Such is the lot of the cash-strapped knitter!

Ready to Sew

I've been totally preoccupied with possible nursery schools and wallpapering this week, with a background soundtrack of money worries. However, in the longer term plan, this year I really want to improve my sewing skills. I must have advertised this fact at least a couple of times, as my Nana-in-law very kindly bought me this cute sewing basket for my birthday (no more stuffing spare machine needles etc. in an old cardboard box), while my brother and his partner got me what they describe as 'The Ferrari of sewing scissors' (her mum teaches sewing, so no doubt they are). So I'm tooled up, but what about the projects?
Patterns from Oliver & S have been on my covet list for a long, long time but I'd never quite committed to buying. Then just after Christmas we sold some stuff we no longer needed on eBay and therefore had some money in the PayPal account...and Oliver and S did a lovely '20% off during January' offer...so welcome to my stash Music Box Jumper (that's a pinafore dress for us Brits), Music Lesson Skirt and Blouse and Sketchbook Shorts and Shirt.
The reason for this selection is two-fold. Firstly, they range from what Oliver and S deem easy to medium in terms of how much sewing experience is needed. So in theory, if I work from the easier to the harder patterns I'll increase my skills-base. Secondly, as I mentioned earlier in the post, the subject of nursery schools is on the horizon, which will mean school uniforms. The idea of P wearing cheap store-bought stuff doesn't really appeal as
a. He has sensitive, eczema-prone skin
b. We try to avoid cheap, sweatshop produced clothing if possible, but don't have a lot of money to back up our ethics.
c. He's going to be at school five mornings a week. Then more the following year. So if I make clothes for him to wear the rest of the time then why not for school time too? A bit of mummy-love to take with him on this big step towards independence.
I'm hoping, then, that I can make the Sketchbook shorts in a long-trousered version for school uniform and with any luck will manage shirts by the end of summer when he's due to start. Looking to the future, the girl's patterns will be lovely for when M starts, just need to get a summer dress pattern to do in gingham- I like this one and fortunately I have a few years to acquire the necessary sewing ability before she'll need it.

Grateful

I've read US bloggers who've written about 'Gratitudes'. I know some people might feel like throwing up when they hear that expression but actually I think there's merit in the idea of taking time to think about what you're grateful for. It's something I feel the need to do at the moment to counterbalance the (admittedly minor) stresses, worries and niggles I have at the moment. So here goes...

I'm grateful for:
*Our lovely house, which admittedly has its foibles and crumbly bits (and let's face it, how many 75 year olds do you know who don't?), but is nonetheless becoming more and more our very own home.
*A knitting bag full of Blue Faced Leicester yarn to knit with, which really, really is going to be a Pirate Sweater for P soon.
*The chubby little legs that try to kick at said knitting from my lap, because M is still little enough to occasionally stop wriggling for long enough to sit with me in peace...
*...and of course P and C, who are sharing more and more father-son moments, some of which I don't quite 'get'- flinging ice from a frozen tub of water round the garden, anyone? Being out there in the cold washing bikes in the first place?
*Wonderful news in our wider family and an imminent visit from my folks to boot.
*The thought of the holiday in Dorset we've booked for the summer. In a barn, close to the sea. Sunshine please?
*The times when both babies sleep at the same time.
Aaaaaaah! That's better!

Guilt-free shopping

I'm not exactly what you'd call a shopaholic these days. That's not to say I didn't spend a good proportion of my younger days trolling around the shops, but our location and lifstyle don't really fit with that anymore. Apart from anything else, there aren't usually the funds for it. This has made it even more pleasurable over the last few days to do a bit of guilt-free shopping. Why no guilt? Because I was spending Christmas present book tokens and birthday present money. Hooray!
First, the books. Since we love and get so much use from the River Cottage Family Cookbook we thought we'd add the Everyday Cookbook to our collection, having enjoyed the recent TV series. We've already tried making versions of its digestive biscuits, honey roasted root veg and 'Tupperware Chorizo' all with great success. We've also invested in the River Cottage 'Veg Patch' Handbook, which is lovely for it's textured cover and neat little format alone, but is also inspiring us with all sorts of ideas for what we hope will be our first real venture in 'grow your own' this year. Finally, we've bought a DIY book because with this house there's lots to 'Do' and noone else to 'Do' it for us! As we were using Book Tokens we decided to get all of these from a local independent bookstore. This meant we didn't get any of the money saving offers we might have done from a chain store, but fits with our ethos of trying to support local businesses. Also when there was an issue with a stitching fault in our first copy of 'Veg Patch' it was an easy and pleasant experience getting it replaced.
Next up, I took advantage of only having one tiddler with me this morning to go on a bit of a charity shop trawl. As always I ignored the clothing in favour of homewares and textiles- my favourite charity shop buy is home-embroidered linen tablecloths but alas no joy on that front today. Instead I found this lovely little teapot- cheap, charity shop and using birthday money...perfect, basically! I originally thought it would be destined for the Folksy Shop, but I think I've rather fallen in love with it, so it's probably going to become our regular small teapot. The plainer Brown Betty we've been using can go to the shop when I get around to some more knitting- I think some Union Jack teacosies in time for the upcoming Royal Wedding would make sense, and would be really cute as a smaller version.
Last but by no means least, behold our new dining room 'gubbinet'. Never heard of a gubbinet? Well, it's a cabinet for all the gubbins that end up lying around downstairs- envelopes, sticky tape and other posting stuff, phone chargers, table linens etcetera. As I write, C is (carefully I hope!) drilling some holes in the back of the top bit so that the stereo can be hidden away, rather than overhanging a shelf as it currently does. I think it's probably from the first half of the 20th century, as it has curved edges that look a bit 30's and is pretty solidly made from wood. I don't really mind to be honest, as it suits our dining room really well and fits the space on one side of the chimney breast just perfectly. Found hidden under some boxes and behind a chair at the back of a vintage shop in Ulverston it was pretty cheap to buy with more birthday money. The only hairy bit was getting it home. I'd taken M shopping with me and couldn't put her seat in the front due to the airbag, so we couldn't put the seats down. Of course, when we tried to heft my purchase into the hatchback, it was about 6 inches too long. The only plan we could come up with, apart from coming back another day, was to tie the boot shut with string and for me to drive home 'not too fast'. Eek! There's nothing like a large piece of furniture held into your boot with string to make you notice just how many hills there are to go up to get home! Actually, put me on a bicycle and I'll tell you about every hill, but that's another story. Anyhow, we made it, I love it and our new (old) house has its first custom bought new (old) piece of furniture. Happy days.

Distracted

Usually when I can't think of anything to write about it means I need to get my backside into gear and do more of the good stuff. But actually we haven't been idle exactly this week. True, we didn't get out for the planned walk in the Lakes this weekend, mainly because of the weather. Also true is that the Pirate sweater has been half frogged yet again because I wasn't happy with the pocket, so there's not much to show there. But there has been making going on, including the marmalade shown here. There have been trips out- to an antiques warehouse and a local bookshop for example. There have been new acquisitions in the form of birthday presents including an interchangable knitting needle set and a sewing box, which I may yet show off on this page.
The truth is we've been a bit distracted- by the dull and seemingly endless attempts to potty train P- and also by our new grocery shopping regime. As mentioned last week, I've decided to blog about it, if only to help motivate me to keep going with it. To begin with, I'll just be recording what we buy and what we eat, but when and if we continue I may well begin to add recipes and highlights/disasters from our kitchen and dining table. If you fancy a look, it can be found here. Now I need to go and do some knitting, and take some pictures to prove it!