Baby Blanket 'Ta Da'

I've been meaning to show you this for the last few days as I finally finished the blanket some time last week.

I'm really happy with it. I'm not the Worlds best or quickest knitter and considering the last time I did something like this was seven years ago, I don't think it's too bad. It does look a bit wobbly in places, particularly as the stripy squares turned out a slightly different size to the cream ones and I had to pull them just a bit to get them to fit together. Yes I know, those of you who are fab knitters will probably be cringing at that!

But generally I'm very happy with the end result and I don't think it looks too girly which is something I was worrying about despite there being blue and green in the stripes as well as pink. I'm sure either a boy or a girl are going to look at home snuggled up inside it.

I just hope it's going to be big enough to wrap around my new little babe. It measures 55cm x 65cm. In my head I just can't visualise how big this baby might be having had such a teeny tiny prem baby the first time around. I had a scan last week and they estimated baby to be already 5lb5oz. Little F didn't get to that size until he was 2 months old. With potentially 5 more weeks growing time plus the week we've just had I guess this baby could be up to 8lb or a bit more. Little F didn't reach that weight until he was 4 months old and by then he didn't seem like a new born. We'll see. I'm sure the blanket will be snuggly enough and I'm just so pleased to have been able to make it. I really enjoyed the knitting and would like to do more now.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Comfort

Comfort food is what I need right now so you can't beat a bit of Friday baking. In the last few days my energy levels have really dropped and my hunger levels have gone up. I suppose this is normal in the last few weeks of pregnancy. It's ok, I'm eating lots of fruit and veg and healthy stuff as well as stuffing myself with cakes!

I'm still trying to work my way through my to do lists but I have to admit that progress has slowed considerably. Little F is so full of energy and a lot of chat that when he goes down for his nap in an afternoon I tend to crash out on the sofa rather than get on with things which was the norm up to a week ago. I find this very frustrating as I really want to be organised. However, I did find the energy to do some sewing this afternoon while crashed. All the knitted squares are complete and I'm slowly stitching them all together. I managed a row this afternoon so now have four rows done. Three more to go. I keep looking at it and imagining it wrapped around my tiny new born. Can't believe how close that is now. I have also been working on another little picture for the nursery to go with the other two. This one is just simple felt ABC and 123. They're all cut out but need to be hand stitched to the linen. I'll show you when I'm done. 

Have a lovely weekend.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Playing with colour

I've been having fun this week creating some pictures for babies room. We're all decorated in there now but as we've gone for a neutral off white as we don't know what we're having it does need some brightening. The curtains will be going up in the next few weeks(once I've given my Dad enough time off since his last job!)  and they're off white with a little multi coloured polka dot all over. They're currently in Little F's room but as they match the linings of the moses basket he's going to be getting something new.

I have a load of picture frames that I'd had up in my flat in Kew that haven't found a home since. They all need a fresh coat of paint as they've been stored away and have got a bit scuffed and tired looking so I took four of them and painted two yellow(remains of the paint from our hall)  and two pale green(remains of the paint from our bedroom) 

The fun bit is filling them with some pretty pictures and designs. I had a sort of quilty thing that came with the moses basket that we've never used as in my opinion it would be completely dangerous to put over a baby. I suddenly decided to chop it up and create something new with it. So the fabric on one side, which is the same as the curtains has been cut into flags to add to the bunting I'm making for the room(more of that another day) and the fabric on the other side has been turned into a picture. There was a panel of cream fabric with an embroidery of an Elephant(I think he's called Humphrey) and it was just the right size to fit into the frame. There was rather too much cream above the elephant though so I've sewn a line of buttons above in a mixture of colours picked out from the embroidery. It was super quick and easy to do and looks really cute. The pictures I've taken of it aren't great so I'll wait until it's up on the wall and take a better pic to show you all. 

Next I decided I'd like to do something colourful with hearts and felt. I went through my stash of felt and found a good selection of pretty colours that hopefully don't say boy or girl when mixed together. I'm currently in the process of stitching them to some white linen and they'll be placed in one of the yellow frames. I've got more ideas swishing around involving ABC and 123. Not sure yet whether they will be fabric or felt. 

I'm so enjoying making things for baby. The knitted blanket is well on it's way to being finished. About 4 more squares to go but I've already started stitching it together. I'll share pictures once it's done. As I mentioned there's also bunting in production. 

I would have loved to have done all this kind of thing for little F in the weeks before he was born but his very early arrival and the nervous weeks prior to his arrival meant that we barely had anything organised before he came. Of course I have enjoyed creating his room since but it's not quite the same as preparing for a new baby. I suppose I am almost treating my preparations for this baby the way that most people do for their first and I'm really loving it. 

Have a fantastic weekend and I'll see you next week. 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx