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!

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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

My attempt to get back in the blogging world before baby arrives!

So, tomorrow I will be turning 38 weeks pregnant. Believe me when I say that I already feel way further along than that though! This pregnancy has been a whole lot tougher second time round... probably mainly down to me having to care for a hyper toddler at the same time as growing this baby. I probably sound very dramatic as I know so many of you women have done exactlyyy the same thing at some point along the line. I'm an only child, where as Ray is 1 of 7 sibling's and I now have a wholeee new respect for his Mum!

I've been measuring rather big this pregnancy and at my 35 week appointment my midwife measured me as over 40cm's when I should have only been 35. This meant that I went for a growth scan on my birthday last week and the baby is actually measuring 3 weeks bigger than he should be at this stage... and apparently has a rather large head!! (Ouch!) So after having a perfect homebirth with Rose first time round, my plans have changed somewhat and instead I'll be going into the birthing centre at the hospital to have the baby. I felt quite upset about it originally but have now come round to the idea of it and after going for a tour around the maternity unit today, I'm actually feeling really positive about going into hospital. The most important thing is mine and the baby's safety and I'll still have a gorgeous bundle at the end of it all... even if he is a big bruiser! haha

So I thought I would update you all (unless you're on Instagram) on how much Rose has grown! She's now 22 months and a complete handful! She seems to have reached the 'terrible two's' a bit early and we've been having plenty of tantrums and tears around here... I have everything crossed that it's just a phase she's going through and we'll all come out of it at the end okay! One thing's for sure, she's not gonna know what's hit her when this baby brother of hers arrives!

Even though I've not been blogging much recently, I have been doing a bit of crafting... I'll give you a quick catch-up. I'm afraid these are all Instagram photo's so some of you may have seen them before but I need to get using my Canon much more again!

I made this little snuggle comfort blanket for the baby... I'd seen quite a few other baby's with them but they were sooo expensive, so I thought I would give it a go making my own instead and I was really happy with the end result.

I knit/crocheted this tea cosy for a lovely lady who's a family friend of Ray's family, she loved it which I was relieved about!

I finally got my act together and finished knitting this little cable vest for the baby. I made a couple of little mistakes on it but thankfully they don't really notice unless I were to point them right out. 

I've been working on my 'Alice Caterpillar' mitts, I've Almost finished them but am working on Christmas presents at the moment so they've temporarily been put to the side...

I started a blue baby blanket for the baby and I've actually finished it! I just need to take some good photo's on my camera to show you the end result. I knitted it in Debbie Bliss 'Glen' yarn that I bought at the Knit and Stitch show in London and am over the moon with it, it's so so soft and cosy.

 

I've sewn an apron for my Nan for Christmas. (I've made her aware that getting down on the floor to cut up the fabric was pretty much impossible with my size at the moment and so she'd better wear it at least once even if she hates it!)

And here are a couple more shots of Rose... just in case you forgot what she looks like! haha

(Ray took her for a trip into town yesterday to get an all-in-one rain suit, it's fleece-lined and means that she can now have as much fun as she wants splashing in puddles! Before, we were getting through countless changes of clothing because I'm just Not quick enough to keep her out of the water... seriously, she'll spot a puddle a mile off and just Run for it!

This was my size 2 weeks ago... 

...and I'm now at this stage, of feeling the size of a whale and bouncing on the birthing ball daily trying to tempt the little one to come say hello already! 

Sorry, I know it's been a bit of a long babble this post.. at least I've kind of caught up with myself now so I can get back into a regular routine with my blogging. Oh how I've missed it... :-(

I hope you are all well and I'm planning to come on by to your blogs to catch up with them too...

Love Ashley xxxxx

Crafty goings-on...

How pretty are these stitch markers!? 

The only stitch markers I had before were these awful ugly plastic ones that kept catching on my knitting so I decided to look for something a little more pleasing to the eye and hopefully something that wouldn't have an opening for the yarn to snag on. I found these stitch markers here on Etsy for a brilliant price and they came in the post today. One of the cute little blue ones was put straight to use on my current knitting project.

I've been crocheting a little too.

I made up a couple of sweet little coasters that will be a present for a friend, well... they will help to make up the whole present anyway.

I had enough of the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran yarn to make up 3 coasters and one of them now has pride of place on my desk in the living room. :-)

The petals of the coaster look really pretty even when it is in use and you can't even see half of the coaster. I'm definitely going to be having a search through my little stash to see if I can find anymore aran yarn to make up a few more. I came across the pattern on Pinterest and here is the link for you.

Here's a little sneak peek of what I've been working on most recently for the little bubba that's due in December. I'd only tried knitting cables once before on a pair of hand warmers but this is the first time I've used them in knitting a garment and especially when there are so many of them! I made on mistake but I don't think it's tooo noticeable. You can also see one of my new knitting stitch markers in use, So pretty!

It's been one Busy day today so am definitely looking forward to my bed tonight, I'm going to attempt to catch up on some of my emails first though.

xxx

(This was the bump just over a week ago)

A couple of finished items to show you...

Yesterday evening I finished sewing these little booties together whilst catching up with some of the Olympic action on my laptop... it felt like I was the only one who hadn't yet seen Jessica Ennis win her Gold medal. I don't know if it's because of my pregnancy hormones or not but I got quite emotional watching it! Very exciting. :-)

They are made with a Debbie Bliss yarn called Fez, which is an Arun wool so they knitted up really quickly. The pattern was one that was given to me by my auntie, I don't even know the name of the pattern though so can't share it I'm afraid. The booties look very cute indeed and are so soft and squidgy. That's one item finished for the little boy in my belly anyway..!

I haven't been getting much crafting done recently as I have been getting on with this blanket. I said yes to a friend of a friend when she asked me to make it for her but that was before I even found out I was pregnant and began to feel totally exhausted. 

So it's been a bit of a chore to work on as the colours aren't really to my liking and everything just kind of felt like it took a huge amount of effort to do, let alone crocheting a big blanket.

But it's now finished! :-)

I can't wait to hand it over and get working on a few projects for myself that I really want to start...

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Ta-dahhh! Rose's knitted dress.

I finished knitting Rose's dress whilst we were in Wales (lots of photo's to follow!) and I've had it on the side ready to take some photo's of since we got back, I only just got my act together and took the photo's today though! 

It's knitted using this pattern from Ravelry and it was really quite a simple project. Sometimes it's nice when a pattern is so easy to follow because then I enjoy the whole knitting process a whole lot more. Plus I can't be dealing with counting millions of stitches when I'm trying to keep an eye on the little munchkin as well! :-)

I got a whole lot of this lace ribbon for a really great price and also the buttons while we were there too, so I was able to completely finish it off.

I'm really happy with how it's turned out. It's still a little big for Rose but will be perfect for her in the Autumn and that works out well because it's more of an Autumn/Winter dress anyway. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Fez, I got it at a bargain price when it was down to half price just after Christmas. 

I still have some left over so I'm trying to think of what I can do with it... I've got so many odd 50/100gram balls of wool that I need to use, does anyone have any idea's for some nice knitting/crochet patterns that only call for 1 or 2 balls..?

So, what do you think..?!

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I don't think I'll ever be an early-bird!

Unsurprisingly I was up and downstairs at 5:30am this morning, this is actually an improvement on how long Rose has been sleeping. The last few weeks she has woken up at least once throughout the night and has been difficult to get back down again. The fact that we have new neighbours who think it's okay to lock their dog outside barking away for hours on end until it wakes up Rose doesn't particularly help though! 

I keep telling myself her current sleeping habits are so bad at the moment due to teething, but these day's it's hard to tell whether it's a cold she's got or just a runny nose from all of those big teeth poking through..! It will be a Big relief when this stage of her growing-up is over... just the teething part, everything else is lovely! haha :-)

So after an hour or so of me sitting on the sofa staring into space with a larrgge strong cup of coffee in my hands, I finally got myself motivated to get on with a few thing's that needed doing. I'm knitting the last few flowers to go on the second tea cosy I'm making, so that's nearly done. Then I got on with a little Mother's Day sewing... we're visiting my best friend on Tuesday night and won't be back until the end of next weekend, so I need to get these things finished.

The post came early this morning which was a pleasant surprise and look what was waiting for me on the doormat! :-)

I haven't completely loved the last few issues to be honest, as I don't really love the hundred's of adverts throughout the magazine and sometimes I don't find the section where they show someones home very interesting. I love looking at the photo's when they're bright and colourful and show lots of crafty things but not so much if it's just someones normal home with nothing relating to craft in the photo's... I don't mean to sound like a complete moaning minnie!

This issue is full to the brim with gorgeous photo's and craft idea's. How cute is this baby hat!?? Awww..

Right, off to get on with a little housework before we head out for the day. I hope everyone has had a lovely start to the weekend and maybe some of you have had a very enjoyable lie-in..!? I think today will be a coffee-fuelled one for me!

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The first of my catch-up posts and a lot of thank you's.

I've had a lot of lovely things through my post box recently... I've bought a couple of things and I've also been really really fortunate to win more than one giveaway in the last couple of weeks. I've never been a particularly lucky person but it seems that I've had luck on my side recently! :-)

I've never had anywhere proper to store my crochet hooks, I've just always chucked them all in a jam jar up until now and it's such a pain trying to find the right size hook when you need it. So when I saw that Messy Jesse had added this beautiful crochet hook cozy to her shop, I just Had to get it. It's perfectly stitched and the Cath Kidston fabric is just gorgeous.

Not only did I receive the crochet hook cozy, she also included some extra pieces of pretty fabric which I was happily surprised to get..! :-) Thank you! xx

Heather over at Pink Milk won my giveaway the other week and even though she really didn't need to, she sent me a little thank you gift which was a beautifully smelling scented candle. Thank you Heather xx

I was so lucky to win this beautiful pair of earrings in a giveaway over at Scented Sweetpea's. They are tiny silver hearts from Becky at Red Bird Jewellery and are just perfect because I struggle to wear dangly earrings these day's with Rose's little hands grabbing anything and everything in sight! Thank you to both of you :-) xx

I was also really fortunate to win the giveaway over at Rosie Hearts, I've won a machine embroidered glasses case and will show you some pictures when I receive it. Thank you Rosie xx

Giveaway Winner!! and a few other things...!

We've had a couple of strangely warm day's recently in this part of the world, so we've been venturing out into the garden a lot more often these day's. Although it wouldn't be possible for me to actually Do any gardening out there, as Rose is just determined to try and eat as many things as possible from out there! 

When does it get to the stage that they can play happily outside without eating all the earth from the flower beds!?

There are a few signs that spring is on it's way, it's so exciting to look out the french doors and see that the crocuses have flowered. It's been really boring and dull out there for sooo many months now!

Rose and I had a lovely morning at one of the playgroups we go to this morning, it's a bit of a walk to this one in particular but feels good to give my legs a good stretch! I haven't been doing nearly enough exercise lately... I have a Hen do which I have a gorgeous LBD to wear to and our friend's wedding the weekend after to go to at the end of April and I still haven't lost my Christmas weight. I really need a kick up the backside so will be going to Slimming World tomorrow evening.. (Say's me that's just bought not one but TWO creme eggs from the corer shop!!)

Rose having a good feel of the plant pots... or maybe just pointing out the dead plants that really need to be removed at some point!

I used the random generator website to find the winner of my giveaway but I'm a bit of a techno-phobe and couldn't figure out how to show you the page. 

But after counting through the comments on my giveaway post, the lucky winner was....

 Heather at Pink Milk!!

I'll be sending you a message in a second Heather to let you know that you've won! :-)

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