Workin' it baby!

Whoever said that fleecy tiger-stripe trousers and knitted booties should never be worn together were probably right.
But in this case I beg to differ.
He's workin' it baby!
Go Max.

Booties were knitted by my nana so they're pretty special. And she would be super proud to see them being worn so stylishly by her Great Grandson.

:::

My Sewing Vs Knitting Dilemma

Over the past few weeks I've had a bit of a dilemma.

I normally don't have a problem with my Knitting vs Sewing projects and very much enjoy doing both. I'm very very grateful that my mum and nana passed their 'crafty' knowledge on to me.

Our family has started a tradition (of late) where we only give either Handmade or Second-Hand gifts at Christmas time. This was started on a particular Christmas when we were all a bit low on cash and it has now become somewhat of a tradition.
It's a good one.
It gets you thinking well in advance (well, it's supposed to, but I always end up whipping something together at the last minute for my 10 family members...), especially when there's a deadline for getting parcels posted back to NZ in time...!

So on to my dilemma:

KNITTING
In the past few weeks I have been busy knitting a dear little dress for a newborn and unfortunately this project took me a little LOT longer than anticipated... I ended up using a good quantity of my time knitting this garment that I really should have been spending on making Christmas presents in time for the December 6th posting-to-NZ deadline...ARGH!!
But they are very dear friends of ours and babies grow so fast and I knew that if I had put the dress aside until after the Christmas-Present rush it would probably be too small for the wee one and then all my hours laboured in love would have been wasted. 

So I am pleased to report I finished the knitted dress in the weekend and it turned out ever-so-sweet

The main reason why it took me so long to finish was because I had to start it 56 times (...okay, maybe 5 times...) because I had to knit it on circular needles and, being a novice at knitting 'on the round', I kept on stuffing it up.
But it's all done now and I learnt some new techniques, even though it did eat up so much of my precious time.

VS

SEWING
Now that I have the above knitting project completed I can focus on the Christmas gifts for the NZ family.
Now here's the difference: I whipped this little puppy up while my boys took a nap yesterday afternoon.
(CHRISTMAS PRESENT SPOILER ALERT! Eph & Beks don't let Freja see this please...)

Yes mum I still have to tie the loose threads in...

So we're talking approx. 2 hours total labour (Sewing) vs approx. 48 hours total labour (Knitting).

It's a no-brainer really??

Only that just when I was starting sewing my next Christmas present project my sewing machine (which is really high quality crap) packed a sad and started breaking all my sewing machine needles.
And so I picked up it's cover and placed it over it's high-quality-crap body for the very last time and went and ordered a new one on Amazon.
The only problem is it won't be delivered until 8th December which is 2 days after the post to NZ deadline...!!

I could probably knit up a couple of scarves before then but it's summertime in NZ so that's not the best option!

So Mum, T and Bubble: I'm very sorry but your Christmas presents this year will now be delivered after Christmas... BUT they will be made on my new sewing machine so there won't be any missed stitches or problems with the bobbin thread bunching on your gifts!
If you have a problem with this, let me know and I'll knit you a scarf.

Gems of the Week

Precious, Priceless, Pockets of Happiness during my week.

How vital it is to sit down at the end of the week and think, really think, about all the good stuff that has taken place in the past 7 days. Things that could quite easily be looked over, taken for granted. Things that are enjoyed at the time and yet are easily forgotten in the busy-ness.
I know it's good for me to focus on those pockets of happiness, to record them, to be able to share them, to be able to read back on them.
It once again brings to the foreground of my mind the fact that I am so very blessed.

:::

~ We had our scan for Bambino Numero Tre on Wednesday and I am pleased to report that all is well and good! It's little heart was happily and healthily pumping away, everything is formed as it should be. 

It is perfect.
Even though we have been through this all before with the other pregnancies it is still an absolutely incredible thing to see your little one for the first time on the screen. The reality and the emotions kick in. I am in love already.

~ This little guy is showing us his cheeky personality more every day. He is happy, content and loves his older brother with every fibre of his being.

~ During the week I watched the Cheryl Cole interview with Piers Morgan and absolutely bawled my face off. It felt good. I now highly rate her (SISTERS: before you mock me, you need to watch this and form your own opinion).

~ Although I have been suffering from bad morning sickness this week (why all of a sudden more intense?) it has made me have to stop, sit down, breathe. And so I have been getting lots of knitting done. This is a good thing because not only do I have LOTS of knitting projects to complete before Christmas, but it also makes me chill out because it is such a relaxing craft. If your stress-levels are high, take up knitting.

~ Luca has been into everything this week and, as a result, totally doing my head in. He has boundless energy - the type I have been so lacking in this week... But at night when he wants to come and snuggle in bed with me all is forgotten (except for my feelings of regret at having lost my temper with him 86 times that day...). 

And forgive me, but I still haven't been able to let go of my feelings of extreme fury at Luca for doing a MASSIVE poo in the bath last night. When you are suffering from morning sickness the very last thing you want to be doing is scooping turds out of the bath plughole. Take my word for it.

And yet, when he wanted to go to sleep in our bed last night because Papa was away, I couldn't help but be so very grateful for this little man. Thankful for each breathy little sigh. Thankful for his body warmth. Thankful that he is mine.

~ I just LOVE snuggling my little guys in bed (and the big guy of course!). In the mornings both the boys end up in our bed (if they're not there already) and then Austin and Luca get up to make breakfast, Luca brings Beni's bottle through to him, I snuggle up to the wee Beni-Boo while he skulls back his milk, his eyes half-closed and dreamy and then we have more cuddles and tickles. By then the coffee's ready and the day is ready for us.

I love love love this morning routine. It's totally the best way to start the day.

Today after we had dropped Luca off at school Beni and I came home and immediately went back to bed for more sleep. I don't normally do this but I let Beni sleep in bed with me during our nap and it was just DEVINE! I didn't sleep for a whole lot of our nap time, I spent a lot of it just staring at my wee Boo while my heart melted and I fell deeper in love with him. I didn't think that was possible.

Check out that one mean tooth he has on the bottom while he has FIVE teeth up top!

~ I recently came across this T-Mobile commercial which I thought you'd all enjoy. I bet you can't help but smile as you watch this.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Getting my craft on

I have just come back from a marvellously long weekend away in Bremen, Germany WITHOUT THE CHILDREN!
It was marvellous.
I got to sleep in.
Austin and I travelled extremely stress-free - we actually got to do some reading on the flights which is quite unheard of!
But we did miss our wee men and we were all very excited to see one another upon waking this morning.

I've got a heap of photos to organise from the weekend so hopefully I'll be able to share our Bremen experience with y'all in the next couple of days - there's something to keep you on the edge of your seats!

But in the meantime I've been getting things organised, getting supplies, getting ready to "Craft It Up" in preparation for Christmas.

Well, that's my intention.
I've got a head-load full of ideas but am lacking the time and space required to get these done.
But I believe this will always be my complaint so I just need to knuckle down and get on with getting my craft on!

:::

On Thursday evening I whipped up a pair of these for Beni from a really ugly t-shirt Austin got from his work (apologies for the rather blurry photos of these, but hopefully you get the general gist of their design? The subject was not keen to stay still while I had to manually focus...)

They turned out to be a pretty chavtastic pair of sweatpants for little Beni-Boo. Having the drawstring waist was an ingenious idea as they stay firmly in place around his waist whilst he crawls around - unlike 98% of his other trousers that end up around his ankles...

Inspiration for these is from the very clever sisters at KojoDesigns found here.

As a result of family and friends having babies recently I've once again got numerous knitting projects on the go. It's unfortunate I couldn't take knitting needles on the plane with me over the weekend as I would've been able to finish at least one of these projects.

Oh well, I managed to devour my book which had been collecting dust on my bedside cabinet so the time definitely wasn't wasted.

And on that note, I need to get cracking on with some knitting followed closely by sleeping.