Arthur is now a walking 1 year old!

Arthur is no longer my little baby, he is fast becoming a walking toddler!

This video was taken a week before his 1st birthday on the 2nd of December and he's much more confident now, he's walking all around the house.. following me everywhere!! He can turn corners now without toppling over so Rose hardly ever has a moment of peace without him following her and trying to wrestle her! They are definitely ones to enjoy some rough play, if I hear Arthur crying out I'll go into the room their in and check no ones hurt and Most of the time I catch him being rougher with Rose than she is to him. He's finally getting some pay-back time are being pushed around for months by his big sister! 

I've been finishing off a few more craft projects...

I crocheted these maybelle flowers aggess ago with the intention of making them into a garland and then for a month they sat forgotten about while I got on with other things, then when I returned to finish off the garland I decided I'd actually prefer the look of them as a cushion instead. I turned the flowers into the Maybelle squares and then added a slightly floral red backing fabric and I love the way it's turn out. It now has pride of place on my sofa.

I finished off the little cardigan I was knitting for Gem's bump... it's supposed to be unisex as they don't know the sex of the baby but the blue buttons are quite floral.. Oh well, I think they look lovely. Even if the baby is a boy, a little bit of prettiness never hurt anyone! 

I came across my Best ever charity shop find the other day. I never come across items like this usually but I was obviously having a very fortunate day! This crocheted granny square throw/shawl was put in the charity shop by some crazy person and it was priced at only £7.50! I absolutely adore it and it's made with 4ply yarn so must have taken forever to make, I can't believe someone got rid of it!

Last night I finished Rose's Maggie rabbit that I'm going to give to her on Christmas day. I'm super chuffed with her because I'm not very experienced with hand-sewing but the pattern was really detailed and it was actually pretty simple! I love her... 

Our house isn't looking very festive at the moment, as we are currently going with a brown box Everywhere theme this year... we are moving on the 3rd of January (back to Dorset!) and so we are having to pack everything up in the next couple of weeks. We're going to stay with my family for a couple of day's over Christmas so at least we'll enjoy a bit of Christmas cheer there instead!

I'm so exciting about moving but also a little terrified. It feels a bit like I'm going to be starting all over again with the whole making friends thing, I hated not knowing anybody when we first moved here to Chichester but I need to remind myself that it's totally different this time. Now I have the children as a way to meet people and I'm pretty chatty, so I should make some friends quite quickly.. I hope! We have a couple of friends that will live about a 15 minute drive from us but I'd like to get settled and meet some people that live directly in my area too.. Finger's crossed. Wish us luck!

xxx

A little catch up with my most recent makes...

I finished Rose's Sunday sweater the other week. She wore it a few times before I even got around to blocking it! It looks so much better after being blocked though and the stitches look so much smoother. I knit the 4/5 year size thinking it would be pretty baggy on her and last for a couple years but it fits pretty much perfectly. Rose is just so tall! People seem generally shocked when I tell them she's not 3 until January, she looks so much older already..

I wouldn't usually go for such a girly pink colour when knitting but this Cascade yarn is from the 'heather' range and is quite multi-tonal, there are little flecks of light and dark pinks in there. I like the prettiness of it though and it looks lovely with a lot of her dresses.

When I was back in Bridport last month I bought two skeins of this yarn by Araucania Yarns. It's called Puelo and is double knit weight. The yarn is 100% llama and is very soft, initially I was planning on knitting myself a hat and then like usual, I changed my mind.

I decided to knit Arthur a jumper, from a pattern that I'd had saved on my Ravelry favourites list for ages. It's called Livingston and is the most lovely jumper. The yarn knit up like a dream and is so soft on Arthur's skin. I really enjoyed knitting the jumper but the pattern was so much more complicated than what I prefer... you had to start knitting from the bottom up, then knit the sleeves separately on DPN's, then attach them all together on the circular needle, then there were instructions to break the yarn on several occasions while knitting the top part of the jumper. All in all there were a Lot of ends to sew in at the end!

You can't really tell from these photographs but the little wooden buttons have tree's engraved on them. Very sweet, I bought them from Cloth Kits a while ago. I'd actually only bought three for some reason a couple months back, then when I realised that I needed one more I popped back into the shop and after a search I found the very last button they had in the shop. It was like it was meant to be! 

I knit the 12 month size but as I was using double knit weight yarn instead of sport, it turned out more around the 18 month size. Arthur is a quite a big boy at 11 months now though, so it already fits him! It just has a small amount of room for growth on the arms and length. Perfect really. :-)

I've also knitted a pair of Edwin Creams and happily managed to get one pair out of a 50g ball of Rowan pure wool 4ply. I just had to make the ribbing section a little shorter and be careful not to waste any yarn. I think the next time I knit these I will knit with 2.75mm needles though as these are slightly loose and because I'm always pushing the buggy, they tend to roll up a little which is a bit annoying. The perfect excuse to knit another pair!

I've been sewing quite a few of these drawstring lined pretty bags for me to store my knitting projects in. I'm attempting to get myself more organised! They are rather addictive to sew because they are so simple though and I've even sewn one for Rose's spare nursery clothes. She starts going to nursery 3 afternoon's a week the week after next and I am really looking forward to have a bit of one on one time with Arthur, she is so ready to go though and will love it.

Rose and Arthur seem to be growing at an alarming rate these day's... Arthur will be 11 months on Saturday and Rose will be 3 at the end of January. I was looking back on some of my photo's on my laptop from over the last 3/4 years and I can't quite believe how much things have changed!

I mean... he's already able to stand, all by himself!!

I wonder what the next 3 or 4 years hold...

Ashley xxx

A few minutes of 'Me' time!

This afternoon, this happened (this would be a photo of Arthur sleeping in the buggy, just in case it isn't obvious!)...

...and amazingly, this is what was happening at the same time! It doesn't happen very often that they are sleeping simultaneously in the day. A treat for Mummy to have a few minutes of peace and quiet!

I managed to knit a few rows of Rose's 'Sunday Sweater'... I LOVE this pattern by Ginny from Small Things, it's written So clearly and it's such a pretty pattern. I already think I may be knitting this in another colour!

It's the first time I've knit with Cascade 220 and so far... I'm impressed! This pale pink colour from the Heathers range looks beautiful when knitted up and it's lovely and soft, not to mention excellent value!

xxxx

Heatwave!

We've had the most wonderful day here today. This morning Ray went for a bike ride with Rose in her bike seat down to the canal where they fed the ducks and watched the boats going up and down the canal. He sent me a video of Rose watching a boat going by whilst they were calling over 'Good morning!' and she looked completely fascinated by it all. It also meant that I had a good hour where the house was a little quieter with just Arthur and I in. Fortunately I managed to get him down for his morning nap quite quickly which meant that after getting dressed, I actually had a little luxury Saturday morning knitting time! Always a bonus!

We went down to a Fun day fair thing that was happening just out of Chichester but returned pretty quickly as it was heaving with people and Rose, who would have enjoyed it much more than us was actually sleeping in the buggy. So after a quick wander around, we returned home (stopping off at the shop for a few picnic goodies) and got everything together to head down to a really beautiful gardens that is a short walk from our house. Unfortunately there was a huge gust of wind through the house as we were about to head out the door and our hallway door slammed on a couple of Rose's fingers. The look on her face was just awful, it must have been so so painful. Luckily there wasn't too much damage and she's just scraped a little skin from above her fingernails on two fingers. But this meant that the walk round to the gardens was a bit stressful with me pulling Rose along on her scooter while she wailed away to herself. No amount of cuddles seemed to make her feel any better, so I ended up singing a Very long version of 'Old MacDonald' to her which she just couldn't resist telling me which animals to sing about next, it didn't stop her crying but we had a little pause between the wails at least!

I'd actually choose to have a simple afternoon in a park any day over a big busy event like the one we went to first of all. It was so lovely to spent some quality time together, just us. Rose was soon distracted from her sore fingers by running around the gardens chasing her ball with either myself or Ray (a little chocolate cake may have also helped here!). It was also peaceful enough that Arthur had a huge nap in the buggy and woke up a very happy chap. I could sit and knit a few rows of Rose's cardigan and have some lovely conversations with Ray.

Apparently the weather is supposed to be beautiful and even warmer tomorrow, so I plan to spend most of my time outdoors if possible!

xxx

How 7 months has flown by...

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Arthur is already 7 months old and I can't quite believe how quickly it has all gone, Rose's first year seemed to go by quite slowly looking back but with Arthur is feels like only yesterday that I gave birth to him. He's a very chunky boy now and sometimes I almost forget about what a tiny poorly baby he was, back when he was only a couple of weeks old. He's very laid-back compared to what Rose was when it comes to rolling...sitting...crawling... he's quite happy to just, lay there really! Rose will roll him onto his front and he's happy as anything giggling away with her but he hasn't quite managed to go over by himself yet. Rose goes and gives him a toy when he's upset, so I think he knows he can get away with being a bit lazy!

I seem to have finally found some motivation now when it comes to trying to lose my baby-weight. According to the scales I've lost a couple of pounds this week which is a good start, I just need to stay away from those sweet treats! I don't have a huge amount to lose... but it's so frustrating not being able to wear any of the nicer clothes in my wardrobe that I feel like putting on. I already have a limited choice of what I can wear due to breastfeeding, so it would be nice to be able to wear a few different things that I've not worn since before I was pregnant with Arthur.

The garden has gone completely wild. Everything seems to have doubled in size within the space of a couple weeks and I'm so behind on keeping on top of it all. I find it a really hard thing to get done at the moment, Rose is okay playing with me out in the garden but as we have a courtyard garden, there isn't a soft lawn to be able to lay Arthur down on and if I pop him in the Bumbo seat, he always seems to be able to reach over and grab things that I don't particularly want him putting in his mouth. My Nan is coming to stay for a few day's nearer the end of the month and she always helps me out a Lot in the garden, so I'm really looking forward to getting a bit of advice from her and finding out how to control the huge giant plants that have grown out there.

I've cast on Another knitting project... (I know, so unlike me!) and it's the Granny's Favourite cardigan from Ravelry. It's a lovely pattern, now that I've got the hang of the pattern. There is a LOT of writing to get your head around and with the huge range of sizing options, it can get a little confusing as to which numbers to actually concentrate on. I'm sure it doesn't need to be a whole Ten pages long...

A heatwave has been predicted in this part of the world over the next week, which would be a Very nice contrast to the wet weather we've had for most of the last few months. Hopefully we'll get down the beach again while the weather is nice, as Rose absolutely adores it down there... the sand does just get Everywhere though! 

xxx

Back to blogging about the little things.

I'm going to try and blog more often so that I have a record of some of the normal every day thing's we get up to. I love looking back through my blog from when Rose was a lot younger and some of the special day's out we had. We've had plenty of day's like that recently but I just haven't even thought to record them. I think you look at the little things in a totally different way when you are going to blog about them. You take photo's of the small details that would easily be forgotten about if they weren't recorded on a blog. I'm hoping this will motivate me to use my camera more. I use it so little these day's just because of the fact I usually have my phone so close to hand when I want to take a photo and so I usually end up taking most photo's on my phone. The camera on my phone is pretty good but I don't think the photo's would be of high enough quality if I wanted to get them blown up as printed photographs though...

We recently went back to stay in Dorset with my Grandparents for a few day's because it was my Great-grandad's 90th birthday and we were all having a big meal out to celebrate. I had such a lovely time being back there, I can't wait until we're living a little bit closer so that it's possible to just pop over for the day with the kids.

Rose and Arthur surprised me and were actually really well behaved for the meal. I had mentally prepared myself for the worst and thought it would be a bit of nightmare keeping them occupied and happy for the whole evening but we were relieved that they didn't play up at all!

I've been trying to use up some of my left-over scraps in my wool stash, just to have my Tiny craft corner a little more organised... I decided I wanted to knit a hat  to go with Arthur's Rocky blanket using up the wool that I hadn't needed to use up for the blanket. I used this pattern on Ravelry to get the right about of cast-on stitches for the 12 month size and then sort of made it up for the rest of the hat. It's the perfect way to use of the left-over little balls of wool and I love the scrappy look it has to it. Rowan pure wool is such a lovely yarn to knit with, not at all splitty and so soft.

Here's Arthur in the finished hat. It's supposed to be the 12 month size, so Arthur either has a very large head of the hat is a little smaller than planned. It's got plenty of stretch to it though so I think it will last him for a good while anyway...

I also knitted up this sweet little hat using some green Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran that I had left over, it's wonderfully soft. He can either have the brim folded up like this or it looks really cute as a slouchy beany, maybe he'll wear it that way when he's a little bigger. I'd like to knit a hat for Rose now, for the winter... but at this rate she'll need a hat very soon as the weather isn't exactly sunny and warm!!

Right, well have to go now... the kids are needing my attention. Especially Arthur right now! I'll be back soon to show you a couple more things I've made.

xxxx

Arthur's blanket is finally finished!

Well, I've finally finished it!

It's taken quite a while for me to get this blanket done... about 3 months longer than I had planned to take but the time that I have free to knit these day's is a bit more limited to what I had before!

I'm completely chuffed with it, I love the look of the garter stitch in the ripple pattern and it's got a lovely texture to it.

It's knit with Rowan Pure wool DK and the pattern is one of Suzie's at The Wool Sanctuary and you get get it here on Ravelry.

I decided to pick the colours out in a random order instead of following a strict pattern with the stripes and I'm really happy with the final look of the blanket, I'm so pleased to be able to finally use it when Arthur's out and about in the buggy!

I was trying to take a photo of Arthur with the finished blanket but Rose had to obviously get in on a bit of the action!

It's all very civilized around here.....! Arthur seems to giggle at a Lot these day's, it's such a lovely sound when he's laughing. Rose and him are interacting with one another so much more now and she loves to give him kisses... even if she is a little Too enthusiastic with them!

He's such a cheeky chappie...

I'm shocked at how grown-up Rose looks in this photo. She's definitely a big two year old now! We've been potty training today (hence the lack of bottoms!) and she's done brilliantly. Let's keep everything crossed that it all goes smoothly again tomorrow! It's such a big step in my mind, no more nappies means she's really not a baby anymore... it's all going so quickly!!

Sorry for the photo-heavy post but I'm just So pleased with his blanket. :-) Now I can try and finish all of my other half finished projects that I have on the go!

xxxxx

The beginning's of Arthur's blanket.

A couple of months ago I purchased quite a few balls of Rowan Pure Wool DK from Suzie at The Wool Sanctuary with the intention of knitting Arthur a baby blanket. I've crocheted a few blankets now but really lovely the look of knitted blankets and even though they do take a bit longer to make, I wanted to give it a shot for Arthur's blanket.

I meant to get going on it right away but I had other projects that really needed finishing, so I decided to get them out of the way so I could concentrate on this. I chose to knit one of Suzie's own patterns, the Rocky blanket. I had a tricky start with it and just couldn't get the number of stitches to work right but after a lovely conversation with her on the phone she advised me to do a smaller sample knit of the blanket. It worked! I got to grips with the counting of stitches and figured out the pattern. I think it's a great pattern... I was just looking at it in a more complicated way than was actually necessary.

I'm trying to get one or two colour sections done a day but with a two year old and 4 month old to look after at the moment, it's not always that easy finding a moment to sit down and knit! 

Hopefully I'll be back soon to show you some photo's of the progress I'm making...

xxx

I know, it's been a little while...

It's been ages since I've even been on my laptop... since having Arthur I've just not had the time really to sit down and browse blogs like I usually enjoy doing. Then we treated ourselves to an iPad and I just end up using the apps on there to quickly look up different things...

Then yesterday evening I found myself back in blogland and realised how much I've missed it. I've been on Instagram a Lot the last few months (my username is countryrosecrafts) but it's not the same kind of diary that I used to love writing on here. Being able to write as much as you want with a few select photo's, a blog is such a lovely thing to be able to look back through the archives and remember what you and your family got up to months or even years ago.

I find that when I'm writing the blog, I have more motivation to get craft projects finished. Lately I've had so many different projects on the go and not getting many finished, so I decided a couple of weeks ago that I would try and finish a few of my WIP's before I start anything else.

I Finally finished my Alice Caterpillar mitts! I will have to take some proper photo's to put on my Ravelry... I really really need to update my Ravelry page. Something else to try and fit in!

I'm trying to get this cardigan finished for Arthur. I've just got the inside border to finish off now, I spent far too long this lunchtime picking up hundreds of stitches... not my favourite part of knitting I have to say!

 

On another note, Rose is looking Extremely grown up these day's. She's now going to nursery school two mornings a week, she seems to come on leaps and bounds every time I pick her up!

We've been doing a spot of baking... Not helping me shed those post-baby pounds!

...and Arthur's gotten a Lot bigger. 

We had a real scare when he was around 10 day's old, he caught a nasty virus off of Rose and Ray and was just too little to fight it off. We took him into A&E (I didn't even know if he was poorly enough to take him in, I've never actually taken Rose to the Doctors...) about 3pm in the afternoon and by 10pm we were upstairs in the paediatric HDU, then by midnight that night he was transferred to Southampton Intensive care on a ventilator. I've never prayed so hard in all my life!

It really was the scariest few day's of my life so far. He actually recovered from the virus quicker than they expected him to and was only in Intensive care for a few days before being transferred back to our local hospital. As a woman that had only recently given birth to her second baby, I don't think all the extra added hormones helped me feel any better either! I was terrified that I wouldn't be able to carry on breastfeeding as it's so important to me but they had an amazing pump at the hospital and they were actually able to feed Arthur my breast milk through his NG tube. I thought he may have forgotten how to feed after so many day's without feeding from me but he was back on the boob like he'd never been away! haha

As you can see from the photo's, he's definitely fighting fit again! Thank goodness...

 

I plan to get back to blogging regularly again. It definitely makes me think to use my 'proper' camera more often. These day's I just end up using my iPhone but the photo's aren't as good as when I take them on the camera..

Well I hope you are all well, I'm sorry it's been so long but hopefully this will be me back blogging again. 

Love Ashley xxx