Pretty Knitting

The holidays are whizzing by in a blur of days out, lazy days in the garden, decorating and a lot of nesting on my part. I'm sure you're not supposed to get the nesting instinct until baby in nearly due but I've got it already. I put it down to the fact that because Little F came so very early I didn't get the chance to nest. I didn't get the chance to do anything. Apart from having his room painted and carpeted nothing else was organised. No pretty baby bits bought or made, no prettifying of the nursery and no knitting of baby blankets.

So with No.2 I'm on a mission. A mission to nest, organise, create and be ready. When my first nephew was born nearly 7 years ago I knitted a patchwork blanket for him and I was determined to do this for at least one of my own children too. The thing is that because my knitting is pretty slow, I had to start early. With Little F I didn't like to do this because being my first one I felt very nervous about making too early in case anything went wrong. Kind of silly really because as it turned out things did go quite wrong even though I hadn't knitted! I did make him these which were started while I was in Hospital having bed rest but they weren't finished until he was about 8 months old!

So this time I started nice and early, just before the summer holidays. I started with cream squares and for a while I wondered if it might just be completely cream. But I decided that was a bit boring and thought about what other colour to put into it. We don't know what we're having this time so it had to be something fairly neutral. While we were in Dorset we visited lovely Shaftesbury and I spied a knitting shop where I hoped I would find inspiration. The lady serving was lovely and very helpful. I explained the situation and she pointed out some lovely mixed colour wool which I have never knitted with before. I was a little apprehensive as to how it would look but I'm really pleased with the result. I chose one that has a mixture of pinks, blues and greens so that hopefully it wouldn't look too biased in one direction. However, I think that despite the blues and greens it is looking fairly girly. What do you think?

I've got about another 15 squares to go I think but I've already started stitching it together as I really wanted to see how it was looking. With another 12 and a half weeks to go I think I should finish well on time even with my rate of knitting!

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So proud

We waited so long for it and now it's all over. Our atheletes were amazing whether they got Gold, Silver, Bronze or just took part. I can honestly say that I haven't felt more proud to be British than I have in the last 17 days. It's been fantastic.

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Enjoying the Summer

Sorry for the lack of posts lately but we've been enjoying the summer too much around here. We're really lucky that because lovely S is a Teacher we get six wonderful weeks together as a family over the Summer. It means that unless we've booked a specific trip away, we can take off at a moments notice and enjoy the best of the weather. We did this during the first week of the hols when the Country enjoyed that fantastic weather. In beautiful Dorset it was absolutely stunning. Wall to wall blue sky and baking heat.

Considering I'm nearly six months pregnant now I was very brave and agreed to us camping although I did insist on us staying in a different campsite to our usual one that was sheltered and pretty and had fantastic facilities. A pregnant lady needs a decent shower! It was the first time we had taken little F camping as we decided he was too young last year and he absolutely loved it. Seeing his excitement as he explored the tent for the first time was priceless.

Here are some of my highlights of the holidays so far -

:: Watching the joy on my little boys face as he paddles in the sea for the first time.
:: Eating a different flavour of ice-cream on the beach every day
:: Seeing the stars as they really should be seen from the darkness of a Dorset field
:: Seeing my little boy enjoy his first ride on a steam train
:: Hearing sky larks
:: Looking out at the clear blue sea and looking up at the cloudless blue sky
:: Feeling the warmth of the sun on my face
:: Eating fish and chips from the paper while watching the calm sea in the early evening light
:: Eating a proper Dorset cream team in the shadow of stunning Corfe Castle
:: Watching my little boy make his way up the campsite towards me after a walk with his Daddy, clutching buttercups in both hands to give to Mummy
:: Sitting on the beach knitting squares to make into a soft snuggly blanket for the November baby that's currently kicking in my tummy
:: Collecting pebbles and shells on the beach in my boys new orange bucket
:: Coming home happy and relaxed ready to start on more painting and turning our house into a home

It's been lovely so far and we've still got four weeks to go. We've been loving the Olympics since we returned home. Feeling so very proud to be British at the moment. We've already done a lot of decorating and I promise I will share some photos soon. Need to do a bit more tweaking and styling first! We're currently working on a mural in little F's room which I'm really happy with so far, then it will be on to the Nursery. We hope to get the whole house painted by the end of the holidays then I can spend the next two months organising and nesting before we become a family of four!

Back again soonish with hopefully some house pictures. In the meantime enjoy the summer wherever you are.
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