Pompom Rug

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments regarding our beautiful new grandson. I have a picture of him on my phone home screen and find myself turning my phone on just to look at him.

After the fevered activity at the beginning of last week with the birth of Zackary and my mum being rushed to hospital, everything has quietened down now, thank goodness. My mum has had her appendix removed and is in hospital recuperating (though I'm sure she'll be home in a day or so) while one of her sisters stays with my dad. Little Zachary is thriving and I've had daily updates, but have been unable to see him as I've been ill myself. I had a bit of a tummy bug the other week and it came back on Thursday evening, knocking me off my feet. I was a bit disappointed as it was Izzy's 8th birthday on Sunday and I was looking forward to them all piling round and making a birthday tea with all the trimmings for her. Izzy still had a wonderful birthday and Imogen went to the birthday tea and even dressed up in one of her outfits from work as a surprise for Izzy.

Poppy the Troll

So due to illness I haven't left the house or really done much the last few days. I've been able to drink a cup of tea today and keep it down, so hopefully I'm on the up again. I shall be keeping away from the little family though as I don't want to pass any nasties on to anyone.


I do have my pompom reveal though. I actually finished it before Zack arrived, but thought it far more important to announce his arrival into the world! It wasn't a project I wanted hanging around, so once I started, I wanted to continue until it was finished. I may never make another pompom though...

It started with one

Thank goodness I found these fingerless scissors

I had no idea how many to make, just that I would need rather a lot.

I used white, pinks and black to fit in with Imogen's bedroom colours.

I used a piece of canvas rug making fabric. I'm not sure what possessed me, but I decided to make it a meter diameter (about 3ft), I thought it might look a bit 'lost' in the room if it was smaller (not that the room's very large).

When I'd made about 40, I laid them on the fabric to get an idea of how many I needed... lots was the answer, lots and lots...

I haven't counted them, but there are definitely at least 150 pompoms snuggled together here. Each one lovingly (maybe not quite as lovingly after the first 50) made and individually tied through the fabric nice and securely.

I'm actually very pleased with it. It's thick, beautiful and colourful, just the thing for Imogen to sink her toes into when she gets out of bed in the mornings. It's a good size and looks lovely in Imogen's room, I can't see me making another one though!



Take care
xxx

A Bit of Lego and a Baby Cardigan

Thank you for all your lovely comments, definitely the best bit of blogging, reading and answering all your lovely messages. You may be nearer to guessing my pom pom plan when you see how many I have to make. There were around 30 when I counted them yesterday...

I think I need around another 100. I'm aiming to make a few everyday and Imogen has made a couple too. The hardest part of making them was using my little scissors to snip them apart, so I bought some scissors without finger holes (I don't know if they have a proper name). I absolutely love them and they've made the cutting so much easier.

We've had a few play days recently. Adam's partner has a gorgeous little 7 year old daughter and I love spending time with her. As Adam and Holly both work full time, we like to help out by looking after her sometimes. We gave her a great surprise when she came the other day by getting all of Adams old lego out of the loft. It was tipped all over the floor and we all got involved (adults definitely having as much fun as little people).

There were lots of bits and pieces from cowboy and Indian sets, space sets and plenty of other things

We passed a couple of hours without even realising, when Adam and Holly came to pick up our little charge, we were all still totally absorbed.

I've given Holly the last cardigan I've knitted. I saw a gorgeous knitted one on Maggie from BlackCountry Wench's blog. Maggie had found the free pattern JAY Baby Cardigan on ravelry. It's the first time Ive knitted a cardigan from the top down and I really liked it. Although the arm seams still needed sewing together, not having to put the shoulders in was a big bonus.

I've tried not to make anything too small as Holly is pretty sure this little chap is going to be a big one. Both my babies were in the 6lb range, but Holly's daughter was around 10lb  (it took Imogen a few months to get to that weight) and even though her bump is a lovely neat one, the midwives have said she doesn't appear to be carrying much water and he'll probably be a big boy.

The expected date for this already much loved little boy to enter the world is the 5th of August, but the midwives will start things off (if they haven't already started) on the 4th. It's a long time since I've had a baby and things seem to change all the time, the longest I went was 37 weeks and I remember how I was fed up and very ready to meet my baby at that point, so I understand why Holly can't wait for him to come and is grateful they don't leave you to get to 42 weeks like they used to.

Before I pop off I must show you what one of our naughty pussy cats was up to. I don't think she realised I was still in the room and knows where to look for some cat treats.

She actually got her teeth into the bag, but couldn't get it out of the box.

The dogs on the other hand, just stood on the arm of the sofa excitedly waiting for the human to return, eyes fixed on the door he left through, tails wagging happily. How different cats and dogs are!

Take care

xxx

SaveSaveSaveSave

Book Review and some Pom Poms

Thank your all the well wishes, my teeth are sorted out, hope that doesn't happen again in a hurry! Big yea here, the school summer holidays have begun and I have my girl at home for the next 6 weeks... well I say at home, but I'm sure she'll have plenty of things planned independent of 'the 'rents' (that'd be parents to the rest of us) or sometimes 'the parental units', oh they grow up so fast. We will have lots of family time too, days out together, family evenings and of course the welcoming of our grandson and Imogen's nephew in the next couple of weeks.

The latest book I read was called 'The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox' by Maggie O'Farrell, not my usual thriller, but just as enjoyable. I picked it up in the clearance section at the back of our WHSmiths in town, they have quite a decent size selection of clearance books priced from 50p so it's often worth a look through.

Esme (how I adore that name) has been a patient in a psychiatric hospital for over 60 years and is being discharged due to the closure of the hospitals. I know when many of the old psychiatric hospitals closed in this country, there were many older people (particularly women) who had spent their entire lives in them, sent away as young girls for being 'difficult' or perhaps for getting pregnant. Such a travesty, their young lives stolen away from them and many endured many horrors in these institutions.

Anyway... Esme has been away for a long while with no visits, forgotten by everyone, her only sister now an elderly lady with dementia and just a great niece left in the family. Her story is told through fractured memories and is quite a story. Well worth reading.


I've finished knitting my latest baby cardigan, it just needs buttons then I shall take a quick picture and show you. I'm having a break from baby knitting and crochet for a while, I've started making pom poms.

I've made about 24 so far and still have a great deal left to make. I think I'm getting pom poms wrist, shoulder and even fingers from snipping them, so may need to slow down or have a day off

I am glad I have my trusty pom pom maker, it definitely makes it much easier than when I used to cut circles out of cardboard and have to squish the wool through the hole that I'd cut in the middle, remember making them like that when you were a child? I won't show you what I'm making just yet, but wait till it gets a bit further along.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend

Take care
xxx

Joining a Seam, Stars and a Good Book

Thank you for all the lovely comments and good wishes for Imogen. Her knee is still swollen, but so much better than it was and she's getting round with more ease now. Also some good news for my parents, the operation my dad had to remove his cancer, though it was very intrusive has actually removed all the cancer with no need for follow up radio or chemotherapy. With his leaking heart valve, this is very good news indeed. Dad still has to have a scan to check out the mass on his adrenal gland, but the consultant said it isn't linked to the cancer he has had removed as it doesn't travel that way through the body. We're all hoping it may be a fatty mass and nothing to worry about, this will leave the open heart surgery then hopefully good, steady recovery and life resuming as much back to normal as is possible, onwards and upwards!

On the grandson countdown, we have under 4 weeks now until the due date. I crocheted a little blanket (the idea was from the blog Just Pootling) and knitted a little hat to match.

I love the off white stars against the dark grey background and I thought the pom poms gave the hat some more personality.

Andrew very kindly laid them out and took photos before they were added to the pile of goodies for Imogen to take to the baby shower on Saturday. I think one of my favourite things was a very soft, pale blue bunny with long floppy ears that I picked up one day in a garden centre, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

I thought as I've just sewn the pieces of the hat together, I'd quickly take a couple of photos to show how easy it is to sew knitted items together in a seamless way.

In the photos above and below, I've taken the needle and picked up the tiny stitches from 'inside' the larger 'V' of the knitted stitch. I then did the same on the opposite side, taking from inside the 'V' stitches again.

After working my way down both sides and pulling the thread, it looks seamless. It would be better if I'd shown you in a contrasting colour, but I just took the pictures as I was sewing it together.

The top of the hat is sewn in a similar manner and makes a neat seam.

When the knitted fabric meets end to end like this, I take my stitches by pushing the needle under both posts of a 'V' stitch (photo below).

I then too the needle under the 2 posts of the 'V' stitch that lays directly opposite it

Again, it makes for a good, smooth join.

I mentioned in my last post that I had a good book on the go. I See You by Clare Mackintosh. It was my first book from this author, but I shall definitely be picking up another of her books, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A thriller (my favourite type), which kept me turning the pages from beginning to end. Set in London, an 'ordinary' woman spots a photo of herself in the classified ads in her local paper, very unnerving, yet her family think she's paranoid and it isn't her. The next week a different woman's picture appears and people start dying...


I'm having a declutter this afternoon, so back to the cupboards for me.

Take care
xxx

A Person's a Person, No Matter How Small

A friend I met when both our eldest children were small has just become a grandmother for the first time. Her beautiful daughter gave birth to a perfect little boy on the 7th of February (my birthday). He was a little over eager to come into the world as he wasn't due until late April, the wee mite was 11 weeks early and only 3lbs.

Thank goodness he is doing well, breathing on his own from the beginning, has now moved from the intensive care baby unit to the next one up! I've seen pictures and he is beautiful, such perfect skin, blonde hair and so tiny and sweet.

On the wall in the baby unit is a well know Dr. Seuss quote

What a lovely quote to have around so many tiny babies. It made me think about the Whos from Whoville and Thing 1 and 2 from Cat in the Hat... which made me think about wee willie winkie and his night cap.

So with some lovely soft baby blue yarn, I crocheted one up for the new little man.

With a lovely big pom pom on the end

It's been half term this week, so Imogen has had the week off school... well most of the week, the drama teacher had them in Monday and Tuesday for rehearsals and they're back again over the weekend, quite a hard taskmaster for a school play. I felt like we'd barely seen her, so Wednesday we popped to a garden centre for a wander around and a cavery for lunch.

It was a lovely dinner. Imogen and I had a small, but it was still very filling... did you see the enormous Yorkshire pudding!

Afterwards we walked it off with a look at all the goodies, many of them were Easter themed, chicks and bunnies everywhere!

I was quite taken with this giant stag, he had a giant price tag too!

I love tortoises and thought it was rather cute how he was arranged peeping through the bushes.

Treated myself to this cute vase, it'll look lovely on the kitchen windowsill with some pretty flowers in it.

These little airplanes really caught my eye, I loved the way they hung down in tiny terracotta pots. The picture is a little deceiving as there's no point of reference to see how small they are.

Half term seems to have passed in a flash, but most weeks do don't they. I have a chicken roasting in the oven and lots of roasted veggies so I suppose I should think about dishing it up to my hungry family.

Take care
xxx