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It's not like I have been sitting around twiddling thumbs
Life, and work, just got in the way of blogging. I have so much to share I don't know where to start. Perhaps I will start with the smallest.. a tiny little cardigan for my colleague who is expecting her first after a long journey towards motherhood.  She has been a great help to me specially in the last couple of years. I am going to miss her when she goes on maternity leave for six months, but I know she has been waiting for this for a long time and will be savouring every moment she has with her baby girl. The pattern is Paxton, written by StitchyMama. It is a free Ravelry download and comes in three sizes. This is the middle size and only used about 60g of Bendigo Woollen Mills 8ply cotton yarn in Mango. I also managed to finish knitting a jumper for Alex out of Utiku Multicolours (Ocean colourway) and grey Scheller Stahl Edelweiss(now discontinued). The boy is growing so fast that he's nearly too big for the one I made for him at the end of last winter. I made it big, so that it will last all of this winter as well. Alas.. it won't be long before he outgrows that one. This one, I had hoped, will last him till the end of next winter. However, when he tried it on, I realised that it is not as big as I had thought.  If I am lucky, it will last till the end of this winter. I have another one in the works.  The yarn is an 8ply 19-micron merino yarn I bought from a local mill. I am testing it out as I intend to stock it in my store. It's knitting up quite nicely. Once I know that it washes and wears well, I will be more than happy to stock it. It is nice to knit as it is lovely and soft. I find it not the slightest bit prickly. I hand-dyed it in shades of green, blue and brown. I am hoping that the colours won't pool. You know how unpredictable that can be sometimes. It is looking like it won't. So I am happy. I also dyed up a batch of organic 19-micron merino wool from the same mill. It is dryign outside right now. I am hoping to be able to stock that too. The wheel has not been at rest either. I have been busy spinning some corn and bamboo as well as some soybean fibre. I found teh corn very difficult to manage. It is like cotton - short fine fibres and the fine line between enough twist and too much twist. I gave up and ended up carding it with some bamboo and spinning a thick/thin lofty single which I plied with a bamboo single. Bamboo and Soybean are both a joy to spin. Lovely soft fine fibres with a long staple. Photos next time as I have not managed to snap decent pictures of them yet. Now that I am done spinning all that I have moved on to some English Leicester lambswool that I bought from Moseley Park. It has a lovely sheen and nicelong staple. Being lamb's fleece it is also soft, but not in the same way as merino, which I am used to spinning. I am hand carding the locks together into large rolags and spinning those long draw. See, here is where a drum carder would be really nice, and I am still saving up for one of those babies. I also bought some "Joe" from Jane, who runs Moseley Park. Joe is a Border Leicester x Corriedale x English Leicester x Finn. Definitely a cross-bred sheep! His fleece is a joy to spin. It practically spins itself. Once I am done with the English Leicester lamb, I plan on spinning up all of Joe's fleece taht I have and turning it into a jumper for the kid. It's quite a soft fleece - soft enough that Alex probably won't complain. Oh, and the sewing machine has been busy too. Presenting...  my first quilt! I am so proud of it. I used pre-cut blocks for most of the top, matched with strips cut from some curtain fabric remnant and some blue homespun cotton. In case you can't see it, the picture blocks are Bob the Builder blocks. I used a printed cotton flanelette fabric for the backing  You know what's the best thing about this? Alex likes it. He has been sleeping with it all week! I have also been making reinforced undies for him. My little boy is growing up. He has been very good about going to the toilet and trying to keep his nappies dry and clean. Soon he will be in undies. I am sewing on an extra few layers of absorbent fabric for catching little accidents. I am using 1 layer of bamboo and 2 layers of plain white cotton flanelette. It's not mean to catch a lot of liquid, just enough that it doesn't go everywhere. I hope it works! Labels: Alex, knitting
Mother's day, atrip to Canberra, and a couple of birthdays
So.. since the last time I posted, we've celebrated Mother's day. We went to the Kiribilli markets and then to Luna Park. Alex had great fun looking at all the colours at the market and then going around Luna Park. We were only there for a short time and so did not go on any rides. As it was threatening to rain all day (and did rain towards the afternoon), we took a few photos and left.  He's wearing a jumper I made for him last winter. It was HUGE on him when I completed it and now just look at it. he's about to outgrow it!  Alex also had fun getting to know his fat little twin in the funny mirror.  We all had a bit of fun with our distorted twins in on of the other mirrors.  However, what he loved most of all was the carousel. We'll have to go back another day and let him ride on the horses. Unfortunately I have a sneaky suspicion that there will be a massive tantrum when we try to leave, and I will be very sick going round and round on it with him! In June the Old Bus depot Market at Canberra had Wool Day (or was it Wool Week?). We decided to make the trip and take Alex on his first long-ish car ride. He travelled surprisingly well. He slept between Bowral and Canberra and woke up just as we were approaching Canberra city. The first words out of his mouth were.. can you guess? "Are we there yet?"We stayed at the Mantra on Northbourne and it was great. We had a whole one bedroom unit to ourselves with Alex in a portacot in the living area. The unit was fully furnished and they even provided dishwashing detergent. crockery and cutlery. We had a takeaway meal on the night we arrived. After hearing a lot of good things about Sammy's Kitchen, we were looking forward to a good meal. Unfortunately it was anything but good. We ordered three dishes and not one was good. Chris described it as being "just on the right side of edible". The vegetables and seafood was frightfully overcooked. The fried noodles lacked flame and flavour. The chicken was a little odd but probably the best of the three dishes. The following day was market day. Chris was very good and looked after Alex while I looked around and shopped. I didn't end up buying much - just a little fibre to play with and a few cheap (yes, really cheap) skeins of wool and alpaca.  By the time I was done, Alex was restless so we had to let him outside for a run.    Okay, maybe it was a little more than a run. He wanted to play a game he had made up and was busy telling us where to stand, how to stand and where to put our hands. Hilarious for the first couple of minutes, entertaining for the next few and then from there on in... let's just say I got tired of it rather quickly. After that we went to the Belconnen market and had lunch at Beppe's Tuscan Kitchen. We will certainly go back there again. We ordered two dishes which were both excellent. After lunch we decided to have some dessert and we had a slice of ricotta cheese cake and a coffee and a hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was to die for. If for nothing else, I will go back just for that!  It was, according to the lady behind the counter, made from "cream and real chocolate" and frightfully "decadent". It certainly lived up to my expectations, and then some. On the way home, Alex slept for most of the way and woke up as we were approaching the M7. I think the first thing we heard from him was, "It is dark"; and so it was. Last weekend, Chris and I celebrated our birthdays by having Alex babysat and going out for a grown up meal and a movie. We watched the new Star Trek movie at the Imax cinema with free tickets thanks to a local radio station. We both enjoyed the movie, but I thought it was not trek-y enough. It was almost as if it was a commercialised version of Star Trek. It was not dorky enough. Oh, and don't get me started on the romance in that movie. That was just all wrong!!! I am participating in a birthday swap on Ravelry, and for my birthday, I have received two presents. I know I have at least one more on its way. Yay!   Labels: Alex, birthday, Canberra
My slightly early Mother's Day gift
I have a new baby and I have not mentioned it here.  This is what I have been sewing on for the past couple of weeks. I love it. This is my first computerised sewing machine (aside from a short fling with a Singer Curvy 8770). I love all the nifty little things it has that my old dinosaur did not have. Funnily enough, it is the little things that thrill me most. A needle threader! Yes, something that threads the needle for me. How good is that?! It does not have as many stitches as some other machines, but it does have all the stitches I would use. It does not have many embroidery stitches but really, how often will I use those? Okay, so my short fling with the Curvy 8770. I bought it on Ebay for a song and Mum was going to take my dinosaur, but after sewing on the Curvy, there was no way I could give Mum the dinosaur. So Mum got the Curvy for Mother's Day and I got the Janome. In comparison, the Curvy does not feel as sturdy as the Janome although it is heavier. It doesn't matter for Mum though, as she would rarely use it to sew heavy fabrics.
Lots and lots of new wool in stock!
I have just updated my store with new stuff Some sock yarn.. well LOTS of sock yarn     Some Cestari Fine and Superfine merino in worsted weight     Some Bluefaced Leicester tops     All prices are in Australian $ with $5 flat postage rate within Australia. Extra for registered post or express post. If you're not in Australia, drop me an email to ask for the international postage rate. Labels: Ozebaby, store
Winter is here and we need pants
I guess it's technically still AAutumn but the cold weather has arrived and Alex needs more pants. He has outgrown some of those that I made last year so I have had to make him more. While mum was here, I cut out a pair intending for her to make them but I ended up sewing them up while she was busy cooking us some yummy yummies. Unfortunately they are now work, well loved and in the wash. No photos. I have since made another two pairs. Here's the first.  I love the pocket detail on it.  Well, some of the pocket detail anyway..  I clearly failed the "pocket placement" class. Oh well, Alex won't mind as he won't even notice that those are there. After that failed attempt, I decided to make another.  I chose to use a lighter fabric this time and to make the lower panel the same fabric as the pocket detail. Oh, and no back pockets this time!!  I also like the faux fly detail in this pattern. It makes it look more like "real" pants, in my opinion. The darker pair had the same detail but it can barely be seen as the corduroy is too dark.  Oh, and pocket detail once again. I am not sure I like the different coloured lower fabric that much. Makes it look a bit pyjama-ish.. don't you think? I guess it will be okay for daycare. Labels: Alex, pants
Still alive
Only just barely, though. I got wet in the rain last week and must have caught King Cough. Now King Cough won't leave me alone. I have been sniffling and coughing ever since. We have been indulging in chicken soup and congee, and even some homemade dumplings.  Okay, so I cheated. These are frozen. Homemade, but frozen. I normally make up batches of up to 100 dumplings, freezing them in batches of 10 or 12. I love dumplings, do you? I have also been busy spinning. Here's one of my latest   It's 60g of BFL top which I bought in the US and handdyed myself in mint green with hints of lavender. There's about 140m of it. It's enough for a small lacey scarf or a neckwarmer of some sort I think. I'd love to keep it but it's going to my friend Anne. Vanessa had a stall at the Glebe market a few weeks ago. She was selling some of my stuff. She may be at the Kiribilli market next week with more of my stuff to sell. I know it's Mother's Day weekend, but if don't have other plans, Kiribilli market is always fun. There's lots of bits and pieces to look at. I hope to be there with Chris and Alex if it is not raining. My parents were here visiting. They arrived on the Thursday before Easter and left yesterday. It's been so good to have them here. Alex enjoyed time with his grandparents. It's not often that Alex gets to spend so much time with my parents, so it was a real treat for him to have his grandparents sleeping in the room next to his. They visited the Hunter Valley on their last weekend here and look what they brought home  It's an early birthday present for Chris and me. We were naughty and broke into it early. It's not our birthdays till end of May/start of June, but we have already drunk a third of it. Thanks, Mum and Dad! Labels: food, spinning
Stitchmarkers
I have been addicted to making these little things and now have quite a few sets. I have more than I can use and more than I can swap so I listed some in my Etsy store.You can see them in the stitchmarker section of the store.     Labels: etsy, stitchmarkers
Some sadness
 That's my Ah Mah, my maternal grandmother in the background. She only got to see Alex, her only great-grandchild twice. Less than two weeks after we returned to Sydney, I heard from my parents that she was not doing so well. She passed away on 19th February, a day before her birthday when she would have turned 97. I went back to KL again, this time for her funeral.  Whilst it was sad that she was gone, it is a relief to know that she is now in peace. The two nights of wake and the funeral were well attended. The wakes were held at my parents' house, where my grandmother lived and died. Every day and night, we had friends and relatives visiting. There was lots of food and conversation. That's how she would have liked it. She always liked a house full of people and lots of good food to go around! Rest in peace, Ah Mah. 
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