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

WIP Wednesday

I'm working on a little knitted gift for a good friend who's baby is due in May. It's the Puerperium cardigan which is a free pattern from Ravelry, it's a lovely simple pattern and has so far worked up really quickly.

The yarn is a Cornish pure wool that my Mum gifted to me last year but frustratingly I can't find the tag anywhere so all I know is that is a DK weight wool and really soft to the touch. If I have enough left over after knitting the sleeves, I might knit some little booties of a hat to match.

I didn't have the right size DPN's for the sleeves so I'm having to use the magic loop method for the first time. I figured it out from some brilliant video's on Youtube but it's still taken me a little while to feel comfortable knitting with the needles like this, a few of the stitches are slightly loose where it's taken me a few rows to get the tension right but I don't think my friend will be too fussy!

I've recently finished this cardigan in the last few weeks but thought I would quickly show you as I'm so happy with it. I started it when I was staying overnight in the hospital with Arthur back in December but left it half finished for ages as I just wasn't finding very much time to sit and knit! 

I finished it just in time though, as it fits him perfectly. Phew! That is the problem with baby knits... they are a lovely thing to knit but they don't fit the recipient of the item for very long!

(Sorry the photo isn't brilliant, I took it on my phone and he doesn't sit still for very long these day's!)

xxx

Lots of knitting going on around here...

I've been doing a whole lot of knitting recently. Mainly due to the fact we went away for a week and I had time to knit! Well, more time that I usually get anyway... I went through a few months near the end of my pregnancy with Arthur where I just didn't have the motivation to craft very much. I felt a lotttt more tired than I ever did when pregnant with Rose but that's probably because I was having to look after a Very lively toddler this time round!

This was a slouchy beany hat I was knitting for my Mum for Mothers day. I've finished it now but only took a rushed photo on my phone as I just wanted to get it off in the post to her.. The yarn is Noro Silk garden which I got from this lovely lady in the craft swap shop at the Instagrannies meet-up that was organised by my good friend Sarah. Aren't the colours just gorgeous!?

Isn't it horribly bitterly cold outside at the moment!? It's supposed to be Spring for goodness sake! So anyway, I'm attempting to make the inside of the house seem spring-like by having pretty flowers indoors. 

I just cannot believe the difference between the weather this time last year and now. Come on sunshine, please shine!

I knit a sweet little maroon pebble vest for a lovely lady on Instagram who asked for a vest for her little boy, she's received it now and is happy so that's a relief!

I thought I would quickly show you the granny square cushion cover I finished a few weeks back. I only realised today that I hadn't actually taken any proper photo's of it, so I've done that now and it's gone onto my Ravelry page. I really need to update my projects on there... will have to do it when I get a spare minute!

Rose is currently napping and Arthur is pretty content at the moment so think I will carry on 

knitting a little more of the teeny cardigan that I'm making for my friends baby due in May. I don't have the right size DPN's needed for the arms so I've had to learn the magic loop method through youtube today. I have to say I'm finding it a little fiddly but then I suppose I found double pointed needles fiddly in the beginning too, I just need to get used to them.

xxxx

A little trip away.

Some would say that March isn't really the best time to visit the Isle of Wight but we were actually pretty lucky with the weather... if you don't count the heavy snow that we had for 2 day's after we arrived! Fortunately the snow stopped falling and melted for the next few day's after that and we had some lovely spring sunshine which we made the most of by going for couple of nice walks. 

We drove up the road to The Needles and went for a long walk out along the coast, luckily we had Rose's scooter with us so I pulled her along on that and she didn't get too frustrated with being strapped in the buggy the whole way. She was due a nap though so by the time we reached the end  of the walk and were making our way back again, she was fast asleep in the buggy... just in time for us to have a nice quiet visit to the cafe! (Arthur kindly stayed sleeping for quite a while so we were treated to a little peace and quiet!)

I'm not sure when Rose will stop napping in the day but she currently wakes up at 5:30am Every morning without fail, so by the afternoon time she's absolutely shattered. I've tried keeping her awake throughout the day the help her sleep longer at night but she just gets far too tired and becomes grouchy and clumsy.

We had a lovely day trip to a miniature village which Rose absolutely Loved. They even had a working train going around it which fascinated her (and her Dad...) Ha!

This was all followed by a delicious cream tea... we had far too many creams tea's on this holiday! I'm now attempting to get back on the diet, which I'm finding is a lot harder this time round. I just need to focus on the summer months and all the clothes I want to fit into again. I'm not huge but just that little bit bigger than I'd like to be.. 

We all took a trip to the supermarket the first evening we were there to buy supplies for the week and the man on the check-out asked me when this baby was due! (To be fair I wasn't wearing the most flattering shirt in the world..) He looked thoroughly embarrassed when Ray told him I wasn't actually expecting and I actually cried when we got to the car! I must have been feeling particularly hormonal that day but you would have thought he would have seen Rose And a newborn baby in the trolley and put two and two together.. never mind, no more chocolate for me!

Arthur's growing up so so fast.. the smiles appear regularly throughout the day and he just seems a lot more content. He's actually been sleeping All evening up in his cot in our room...he's Never done that before. Up until today, he's only settled in the evening if he's in the baby carrier on my front. So maybe we've turned a corner there, fingers crossed anyway!

The best bit about going away for the week was that Ray cooked All of the meals! Such a lovely break for me and this left me with rather a lot of knitting time, especially in the evenings. I will have to show you some of what I've been working on but right now, I'm going to try and get to bed. Maybe Arthur will be kind and let me get a couple of hours sleep before waking for a feed?! Ha! No chance!!

xxxx

Rose can finally wear it...!

Agesss ago I knitted this sweet little dress for Rose. I've just realised it was almost a whole year ago that I finished it... time really does fly! Today I saw it hanging in her wardrobe and thought I would see if it fits her yet and it was a perfect fit! She seems to be shooting upwards at the moment so I'll have to put her in it as much as possible while it still fits her!

The bottom could really do with a good blocking really but I'm just too lazy. Plus I just don't know where I can do it and keep the pins out of Rose's reach! If only we had a spare room that I could shut the door to.

It was hard to take a nice photo of her wearing it as she was glued to a game on the ipad! We have been at a toddler group all morning and had a friend and her little girl round for lunch, so she was enjoying a treat... plus it keeps her Very quiet while I'm sorting out Arthur! 

I received some lovely new yarn in the post this morning. :-) I swapped it with someone on Instagram, she wanted some sock yarn that I wasn't totally keen on and in return I got this. I need to search on Ravelry for a couple of projects to go with these 2 balls.. I especially love the colour of the 4ply Rowan Siena, it has a beautiful sheen to it.

  

Well, time to crack on with the dinner for this evening... shepherds pie tonight. I need to try out some new recipes really, I end up cooking the same 8 or so meals in rotation. It has to be something fairly simple with these two keeping me busy at the moment though!

Love Ashley 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