Well, as things begin to settle down and life is beginning to feel “normal” (whatever that is) so hopefully this is the return of blogging. I’ve not stopped knitting, although these days quite a bit of my creative & artistic energy gets used up in helping small children make junk models or beaded jewellery or finger paintings or fairy cakes……

First, with the hope that this is not going to turn into a “mommy blog” I have to share a story. When I told my best friend her reaction, after she stopped laughing, was “Well, now you are definitely a mum - you’ve got one of ‘those’ stories!”

So, yesterday morning my youngest is following me around upstairs whilst I’m putting away laundry, tidying bedrooms etc. I leave her stamping around in her bedroom to go into the bathroom. Whilst I’m in the bathroom I notice, as you do, that the sink needs a clean and that, of course, leads to the bath etc and so I’m in there quite a while and haven’t noticed it’s gone ominously quiet outside.

As I open the bathroom door and look out onto the landing I see my youngest freeze in one of those “freeze, I’ve been caught” poses. She is standing in the middle of the landing clutching a large container of baby powder (now empty), she is white from head to foot, there is a trail of white leading in and out of both her bedroom and mine. There is white powder up the walls, on the doors…..everywhere….and she just looks at me and says “oh!”.

Later on the same daughter somehow (we are not certain whether this was accidental or on purpose) emptied a large quantity of bubble solution over our cat….we didn’t find this out until after the kids were all in bed and the cat came in looking very bedraggled and sorry for himself….picture me trying to clean soap solution from a long-haired cat who really doesn’t like being washed, what a fun evening.

On the knitting front though I’m currently working on Gigi from www.knitty.com for me. The yarn was bought on eBay and comes from china so I have little idea what it is. It seems to be a sock weight or similar and is in a deep, scarlet red (which doesn’t photograph well) and black.

When I bought this I had no idea what I was going to make with it I just thought it was interesting and it was a bargain. I also bought a pack of the same yarn in a green/yellow/orange/white combination because I can’t resist a bargain.

So, when I checked out the latest edition of knitty.com and saw this -

I immediately thought of my chinese yarn…and knitting with yarn from china whilst watching the Olympics in Beijing (wooooo! Go Team GB! Congratulations to my heroes Chris Hoy & Bradley Wiggins) seemed very appropriate.

So far I’ve completed the back and am halfway up the left front, the patterning on the back looked great but with the shorter rows on the front I don’t know whether I like the pooling…..

I’m also not sure if it’s going to be too small. I’m knitting the smallest size, XS, as the sizing given seemed right for my new shape (6 months into having 3 kids, giving up an office job for a job where I NEVER sit down I’ve lost over a stone…..and I was only a touch over 9 stone to start with!!!) it’s knitting up rather small. Let you know how it turns out.

I’ve also got out my sewing machine and dusted it off to make this gorgeous little sundress for my middle daughter -

I can’t even remember where I got this rather pretty gingham with embroidered butterflies but I came across it whilst clearing out some cupboards a few months ago and it was just crying out to be a sundress. Whilst walking past the sewing shop in town this weekend they had this on a roll outside the shop door

It was incredibly cheap so I’ve bought enough to make a second dress for the youngest daughter so she can have one as well…her favourite saying at present being “how..how…how ’bout me?” whenever anyone else is given anything.

To round off this creative outpouring my eldest daughter and I made apple pies this weekend. The deep dish apple and blackberry pie looked so delicious that we ate it straight out of the oven so I’m afraid I only have photos of the remains….it did look fantastic though! This was our first try with gluten free pastry for pies and it came out quite well. As gluten free is always more crumbly the shortcrust had a lovely crumbly, crunchy texture…quite pleased…..oh yes, and the apples and blackberries were picked from our garden. Apple pies always make me think of my grandma who loved to make them and taught me a lot about making pastry - the secret is cold hands and don’t mess it around!

I tried to resist but inevitably, with the arrival of 3 little girls, a tide of pink has engulfed my house - toys, clothes, bedding, walls. I have to admit I was never averse to a little pink myself and have a sizeable quantity of pink items in my own wardrobe but now my washing line resembles an explosion in a candy floss factory!

And by the end of an afternoon this is what our lounge looks like (and this was on a fairly quiet day!!!)

The pink has now reached my knitting and, unable to resist, I have made them something pink. Admittedly it’s a very pale shade of pink and in fact it is not knitted but crocheted. Summer has arrived with a bang here in England and my girls are in need of summer clothes so I searched through my stash and found 4 balls of Rowan All Seasons Cotton which was my free gift with my Rowan subscription this year. The pale pink colour and the cotton content seemed perfect for a little lacy cotton number and from 4 balls I could probably manage something for both the younger two.

A quick search on Ravelry for a pattern (I love being able to do that!) came up with the Spring Fling Halter by Jaybird Designs. Since teaching myself to crochet last year I have (excuse the pun) become hooked but have yet to crochet an actual garment, just granny squares, lace edgings and amigurumi.

This little halter top is fantastic, it took less than 3 balls to make the size 2T and 3T so I still have a ball and a bit left and it took me only an evening to make each one. So after 3 hours in the company of my 3 favourite men (that’s Gil Grissom, Horatio Cain and Dr Gregory House) I had a finished top.

(check out the model pose from my 3 year old!!)

And here’s a close up of the shell pattern at the bottom.

It’s very satisfying making things this small - you get a very fast return on your efforts and (thankfully) at the moment the girls love wearing things I’ve made for them so I’m making the most of it.

As promised, some knitting! This is a hooded sweater I’ve just finished for my youngest - the cheeky monkey in question.

I knew exactly what I wanted to knit but after exhaustive searching online and through all my pattern books I couldn’t find it. Now, I’ve knit hundreds of sweaters over the years and I’ve often tweaked or adapted patterns so - why couldn’t I design something myself?

I found some bright DK yarn (Sirdar Salsa in orange and yellow) in my stash, worked up a few tension squares to decide on needle size and work out how many stitches I needed then I cast on….. basically I just started knitting and made up the parts I wanted as I went.

I’m pretty happy with the results - as is my cheeky monkey. The neck shaping probably needs a little tweaking, and I think I picked up a few too many stitches around the hood but as my first design I’m quite proud.

If you want it the pattern can be found under my free pattern pages and it’s called Cheeky Monkey (link over there in the side bar). If you do decide to knit it I would appreciate feedback as I’ve never written a pattern for someone else to follow so I don’t know if it makes sense.

Just to reassure any readers who may not be aware why I’ve been absent for so long. Everything in the Beckett household is fine, we’ve just been a little busy. Our little family has expanded from 2 to 5 as we are in the process of adopting 3 little children aged between 3 and 7.
As you can imagine this means I have less time for knitting, blogging or anything other than being a full time mum! I have done some knitting - all little things!! - and hope to be back to blogging on a fairly regular basis very soon. I’m beginning to get used to the idea of being a full time, stay at home mum and the job is getting a little easier every day so I find more time to spend on myself.
I’ve just completed a hooded jumper for my youngest which I designed myself (I knew exactly what I wanted but couldn’t find it) and I’ll get the pattern up here as soon as I can.

OK, so this is becoming an annual thing. As I was going to bed on Thursday night I noticed my right wrist was itching - looking to see if maybe I’d been bitten I realised I had a rash all up my right arm….by the time I woke up on Friday morning I had red wealds on both wrists, around my waist and behind my ears.

I took an antihistamine tablet and smeared on some hydrocortisone cream and then spent all day at work trying desparately not to scratch. It spread all over my torso and onto my feet. I left work early to get to the pharmacy to buy some more antihistamine and by the time I got home and took off my top I was one huge weald from my neck, down both shoulders, both underarms down my sides, joining up across my stomach and right down to the tops of my legs - lovely!

I took a bath just because I was on the point of screaming from the itching…..it didn’t help much. It spread all over my back. I sat in my loosest pyjamas all evening took another antihistamine and it seemed to calm so at least I got to sleep.

This morning my arms are covered in red bloches as are my knees, ankles and the very base of my spine - it’s even spread onto my hands - one of my palms is actually very sore.

The weirdest thing about my hives (or urticaria) is that they seem to flare up this badly just once a year in November…last year I had an outbreak on 1st November and the year before it was the 29th October. So this years outbreak is a little late. We’ve never managed to pinpoint a trigger for the outbreaks - at least nothing environmental or food that I might be allergic to. The fact that it seems to be occuring at the same time of year is now making me wonder if there is something environmental - what is there around at this time of year which seems to be triggering these outbreaks? The only thing I can find in common with the outbreak I had last year is that I had just had a horrible cold then and I am just recovering from a cough/cold now so perhaps it’s the cold virus that is triggering this?

Whatever it is - it is very, very annoying. Apart from the fact that it looks horrible (great big pale lumps surrounded by red skin) the itching is driving me to distraction….

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Tags: hives, urticaria, allergy

I got such a wonderful package this week and it came at the perfect time. I’ve been suffering with a horrible cold bug for over a week which has progressed into a hacking cough which keeps me awake all night.  The day the package arrived I was curled up on the sofa under a blanket in my pyjamas watching daytime tv and feeling generally miserable. The arrival of this bumper haul was just the pick-me-up I needed so HUGE thanks to my wonderful Swap partner, Lisa.

 The Mystery Theme Swap was a wonderful idea - no set requirements just let your swap partner have three themes and they send a package based around one of those themes. I think I gave my themes as purple, gardening and chickens….Lisa took the chicken theme and (in her own words) ran with it as you can see -

Here we have - a gorgeous oven mitt decorated with chickens, 3 “Chick-o-Stick” peanut candy bars and the yarn and pattern to knit rooster! Also (you can’t really see him in the pic) a “Posable Magnetic Rooster” - I’ll take some action pics of him on the fridge door later!

As you can see my own chickens came over to take a look at the pressies.

As well as all the chicken goodies she sent -

Alaskan goodies - blueberry jam, honey soap and Rasberry Earl Grey tea - yummy and just the soothing thing my throat needs at the moment. The card is hilarious - a chicken (think it might be a white leghorn like my Morwenna) with a strap-on peacock tale, the caption inside reads “I got it on eBay”

But it didn’t stop there, Lisa also sent some purple themed goodies -

The yarn is baby llama and is the most wonderfully soft yarn I’ve felt…Brittany Birch needles (I love, love, love these - I just love the feel of wood anyway, it’s so tactile), some beautiful red glass stitch markers, the pattern for Odessa, lavender flavour chocolate with a little purple glass stitch marker attached and lavender bath fizzers. Oh…and also (not in the pics) a bar of Lindt 85% cocoa chocolate (yummy!)

Here’s the whole parcel - Jonathan took a look when he got in and declared it a deluge not a swap parcel!

….oh, and I’ve already started on the rooster (I couldn’t resist!)

Being at home nursing my cold means I’ve completed a whole load of knitting - firstly Jonathan’s Gryffindor scarf which I finished just in time for the start of the cold weather. This is his “first day back at school”  photo !

The scarf was knit in King Cole Merino Blend DK which is very soft and squishy and the finished scarf is very thick. The pattern is by Lauren Kent and is from Charmed Knits. Took forever and was VERY boring but it’s provided my hubby with a lovely warm scarf for his early morning wait for the train so was worth it.

Next up, I decided to do something with the packet of Noro Silk Garden I bought whilst we were on holiday in Whitby earlier in the year. It’s been stored on the top shelf of my stash cupboard and has been calling to me every time I open the door. The colours are just so autumn that I had to do something with it whilst the leaves were still showing their wonderful colours in my garden. As I have quite a few little girls to give presents to this Christmas (and a few more I’m going to be responsible for clothing next year!) I decided on the Child’s Cable Jumper by Anne Hanson. This is a downloadable pattern - I should point out that in England “Jumper” means something completely different and I was a little confused by this pattern - “that’s not a jumper” I thought “it’s a pinafore dress”….before I realised that’s what you call them in the US. Here in England a “jumper” is a sweater/pullover.

Anyway, whatever you call it - it’s very sweet and knits up perfectly in the Noro Silk Garden

I love the pleats which are formed by bands of knit and purl like a very wide ribbing and the pleats then flow up into cables on the bodice. I knit the largest size for age 3/4 years and will decide if this is a Christmas gift later on.

This only used 4 full balls and about a quarter of another so I had nearly 6 balls left. I looked around on Ravelry for another suitable pattern and came across Wendy Bernards Girlfriend Swing Coat Sweater pattern. This is actually a pattern I’d seen before as I read her blog on and off (she’s another Wendy who knits I have to show faith). Wasn’t sure if the Noro would work but decided to give it a try - and it worked like a dream

This is the front

…and back, showing the lovely big collar and the swingy shape. This is so nice I want to knit one in my size…I wonder if I could scale it up…hmmmm

I just need to weave in the ends and fix some sort of closure…..actually I went to a Couture exhibition at the V&A museum in London on Thursday with my mum and I bought a whole load of buttons in the shop afterwards including some gold flowers which would look really good on this.

I’ve also knit a couple of Wooly Wormhead baby hats but don’t have photos yet so will share those next time.
 

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Tags: knitting, noro, chicken, swapI’v

Just found this post lurking in the drafts where it had become lost in limbo - whoops! Enjoy!!!

30th October 2007

Well, I am sitting in an empty house thinking it is very, very quiet. Our friend Tracey has been visiting with her two daughters (aged 5 and 9) since last Thursday and it’s been a busy few days.

On Friday we took the girls to Legoland Windsor which is about 15 miles away from us, I think they had fun….

and we saw lots of lego….

…I even found some knitting….

…and because it’s close to Halloween they had a huge firework display at the end of the evening. This was probably the best firework display I’ve ever seen and it seemed to go on for ever…the photos don’t really do it justice.

On Saturday we walked down to feed the ducks and swans on the river in Marlow and stopped at the craft shop to buy paper and glitter and crayons to make witches hats and draw fireworks pictures. My brother came over late afternoon and we all went out to our local pub, The Marlow Donkey, to have dinner. When we got back home we played Singstar on the PS2 - Tracey and I singing along to our favourite 80’s songs!!  

Sunday was a quiet day at home playing on the computer games, with lego and then a killer game of Monopoly with Katy, Lucy and myself.

Monday we had a trip to London to visit the Natural History Museum - lots of dinosaurs

and then a whistle-stop tour of some of London’s more famous sites including the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and the Houses of Parliament

We had so much fun this weekend and really loved having Tracey, Katy and Lucy stay with us…but my house now seems so quiet. I think I’ve finally reached the point where a house full of children seems normal and an empty house with Jonathan and I seems wrong. Throughout the adoption process which Jon and I have been enduring for the past 2 years we’ve gone through various stages - panic (can we really do this?), worry (will they let us do this?), dread (do we really want to do this?) but finally it feels right, I feel I have room in my life for children and things I want to share…..spending a weekend with 2 energetic girls I think settled any lingering worries about that.

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All’s fair in love and Sock Wars…

What a week, it started with my assassination of a dear friend, Roo. I killed her with a pair of socks in blue alpaca so at least her feet will be warm and cosy in the afterlife. The weapons struck her on Tuesday and by Thursday she had sent me her partly assembled weapon in lavender Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and the assassination dossier for her target, Donna. I completed the mission and by 10pm Thursday another package was in the post box at the end of our road.

My second target fell early Saturday morning and Donna emailed me news from beyond the grave of the my next mission. Unfortunately the partly assembled weapon for this target had not been particularly well constructed and the materials were not really suited to their purpose so, after discussion with Donna and her original target from whom the weapon would be coming we decided the best thing to do was for me to begin assembly of a totally new weapon from materials in my storage facility.  I will wait until I receive the original weapon before I post the new one and then wait however long it took me to knit from wherever they had got to so as to make it fair.

but I’m not dead yet…. and I have the t-shirt to prove it….

We’ve also been rearranging more furniture in preparation for (1) by friend Tracey and her children who are visiting next weekend and (2) the future arrival of adoptees….it’s progressing…slowly

We now have one room which is quite tidy and has two single beds and another room which at the moment has a single bed and a sofa bed in it…rather cramped but hopefully by the end of tomorrow we will have disposed of the sofa and armchair in the playroom and the sofa bed can move down there….

I also managed to knit this -

…his name’s Herbert and he’s a Snowme (I’m taking part in a Christmas themed swap and need to send something for the tree…)

There are no more finished objects but I have made progress on Mad Weave socks, but no photo I’m afraid.

In other news, I won a competition on Krafty1′s blog - can’t wait to receive my prize…some yummy yarn and chocs and a bag.

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Tags: sockwars snowme competition

If you are looking for my answers to the trivia for Quidditch Round 3 they are on a page here or follow the link over to the right!

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Tags: hsks3quidditch

I am not a completer, I am an innovator, a pioneer. I love new challenges, trying new things, learning a new technique. It’s being an Aries.

This does mean that I have a worrying collection of unfinished objects lurking in bags/boxes/cupboards all across my house. We’ve been clearing out our spare rooms and loft recently in preparation for the hoped for arrival of small people to share our home and this has lead to me having a tidy up of my knitting projects and stash. This, coupled with my new obsession with Ravelry has led me to face up to my problem. Having entered all my completed projects into Ravelry, and my stash I had to put in all those UFO’s and suddenly they were no longer lurking but were out there in the full glare of daylight…and there were lots…like more than 20…actually more like 30…..

The worst thing is that a good proportion, around 50%, were only unfinished because they hadn’t been sewn up. The knitting was all done they just needed the pieces to be fit together and I had a completed garment. So I have set about completing some of them. I tried to do this at the beginning of this year by listing them all here on my blog but they could hide away there too easily - I needed to have them shouting and waving at me….”Wendy, here we are, finish us!!!”

So in the past week I have completed (ie sewn up) these items -

Child’s Aran Cardigan

Age - 1 year; started Oct/Nov 2006
Pattern is from a Sirdar Booklet - Sirdar 299 Toddler Aran Knits
Yarn is Sirdar Snuggly Aran
Size is 5-6 years

I knit this last winter when I was making loads of things for my sale to raise money for Breakthrough and never got around to sewing it up. After a couple of evenings of CSI here it is, ready for either a Christmas present for one of the little people currently in my life or to wait for one of the little people soon to come into my life.

Orchid Sweater

Age - 2 1/2 years; started une 2005
Pattern - Orchid by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan 31
Yarn - Rowan Linen Drape colour 847 Splash
Size - S

This was part of my Linen Drape obsession in the summer of 2005. After getting Rowan 31 I fell in love with Linen Drape, bought up a ton of it on eBay, finished the Flame vest in Watermelon which I wear all the time. I knit this as I thought it would be a great wear for evenings on holiday but never got it completed for holiday 2005 (Tunisia) or 2006 (Turkey).

I’m pretty happy with it except that the sleeves are rather long, they are supposed to be long and come over the hand but they may be a little tooooo long. I do have to buy a backless bra ……

The stash still contains 14 balls of Watermelon and 1 of Splash!

Stripey Hat & Mittens

Sorry, don’t have a photo of both mittens completed but they are done (honest!)

Age - 1 year; started Winter 2006
Pattern - Patons PBN C 4847
Yarn - DK Acrylic
Size - Child

These were another item intended for my sale last year. My mum bought the DK Acrylic to knit a sweater for my nephew but it didn’t knit up correctly for the pattern she had so she donated it to me for my sale. I made a whole load of mittens and hats but these were never finished.
The Patons pattern leaflet is one I’ve had for years and is brilliant, it has gloves, fingerless gloves, mittens and hats in 4 sizes for toddler, child, woman and man. I’ve made so many gloves and mittens from this over the years in all the sizes. I’ve spent more than one Christmas Eve finishing up gloves as last minute presents from this pattern!

These are in the child size so could well end up being a Christmas present this year.

Little Girl’s Bolero Jacket

Age - 1 year; started Sept 2006
Pattern - Alpaca Bolero from Baby Style by Debbie Bliss
Yarn - Bab Softspun 4 ply in lavender
Size - 24-36 months

This was started last winter as a possible christmas present. Finished all the knitting then it stalled. This photo doesn’t do it justice the colour is a lovely shade of lilac.

I still have the following to be sewn up

1. Baby striped cotton sweater (started summer 2006)
2. Echo striped sweater from Rowan 38 (Feb 2006)
3. Toddler duffel jacket from Debbie Bliss Baby Style (Jan 2006)
4. Checked jacket in Sirdar Snowflake (umm, not sure - 1999??)
5. Polly Pocket dress from Miss Bea’s Seaside (summer 2006)
6. Snowflake Bunny sweater from Sirdar (winter 2004 …probably…)

and these to be completed

1. Rose Dangle Crochet scarf from The Natural Dye Studio (June 2007)
2. Nell from Rowan 28 (Aug 2005)
3. Rose Bud Cardigan from Debbie Bliss Nursery Knits (Feb 2006)
4. Chrissy sweater from Rowan 31 (July 2006)
5. Friday Harbor Socks from Knitting on the Road (July 2007)
6. Mad for Fairisle Socks by Tina Lorin (May 2007)
7. Bayerische Sock by Eunny Jang (Jan 2007)
8. Cherry Leaf Shawl from Victorian Lace Today - this only needs the edging and it’s done (July 2007)
9. Miranda Pattern Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks - suffering from SSS! as I don’t like the fit, may frog (July 2007)
10. Mad Weave socks from Sock Madness (April 2007)
11. Binary Scarf by Christine Dumoulin from Knitty 2006 (Jan 2007)
12. Everlasting Bagstopper by Amy R Singer from Knitty Summer 2007, ok for this I just need to find the right ribbon for the straps but haven’t been anywhere that sells ribbon. (July 2007)
13. Snicket Sock by Sabine Riefler from Magknits Sept 2006 (March 2007)

as well as the “current’ projects which I am actively working on (I can’t work on just one as I get bored)

1. Gryffindor Scarf for Jon from Charmed Knits (Sept 2007)
2. Amigurumi Monkey from Super Happy Crochet Cute (Sept 2007)
3. Child’s French Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks (Oct 2007)
4. Cardigan for Arwen by Kate Gilbert (Sept 2007)
5. Prickly Girl by Cristiana Brenna from Knitty Summer 2007 (Sept 2007)
6. Weasley Sweater from Charmed Knits (Aug 2007)

So my aim by the end of the year is to get at least half of these finished - so please lend me your support!

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Tags: finished