After The Rain

Spring is well and truely here and with it the rain.  It feels like we have had rain for ages now but in reality it has probably just been on and off (more on than off) for the last couple of weeks or so.  Today I took advantage of a break in the weather to put some washing on the line and the kidlets came outside to get some fresh air and have a run around.  Until recently I would have strapped Miss M in the buggy so I knew where she was but lately she has become a lot more able at playing about and loves her time sharing Mr A's ride on bike and car.
The one difference after the rain today was that we had puddles.  I think this was Miss M's first experience of puddle jumping (more stomping in her case) and the pictures say it all really, you just can't hear the squeals of delight.

Looks like fun

Splish splash

Squeals of delight

I've had enough of this game now, off to explore.



FO Whispering Blackbirds

This is the carry I was referring to here and yes it is done, worn several times already and I totally love it :-)

First of all the story behind this goes back a long long way.  In fact it goes back to 2009, the year I knitted my first ever socks

which in turn led to my year of buying sock yarn.  It was also the year that we took Mr A back to Scotland to visit some very special places and people.

While I was in Scotland I really wanted to buy some special yarn, preferably hand-dyed sock yarn, as a souvenir of our trip for me.  Unfortunately it wasn't until a few weeks after we returned to NZ that I discovered Old Maiden Aunt yarns which has since become a firm favorite of mine.  I adore all of the yarn Lilith produces and next time we are in Scotland I am definitely going to visit her studio and make sure I have some money $$ put aside for some stash enhancement.
Anyway 2009 was also the "Year of the Homecoming" in Scotland and Lilith's color range for that year was called the Homecoming collection.  I may have got a little nostalgic and collected a few of the beautiful yarns from that collection

Ae Fond Kiss

Fraoch - Heather

Dreich

Lon-Dubh

Red Red Rose

I purchased two skeins of the Lon-Dubh (blackbird) and immediately started my Whisper Cardigan by Hannah Fettig.  This is where things started to go astray, first of all I decided I may be cutting it fine with just two skeins as I intended to add a lot of length to the body of the original pattern, then I had gifts to knit and this got put aside. When my third skein arrived it was a lot darker than the original two and the thought of getting my head around alternating skeins meant that this wee baby stayed in hibernation even longer.  Then it was winter, I was pregnant and completely lost my will to knit, it was summer again but I had a newborn to look after...etc etc.  Finally about 3 weeks ago I decided it was time for this to come out of retirement and get finished!
To my surprise I had nearly finished the sleeves/back which I got out of my first skein of yarn with just a bit left over.  Then once I made myself sit down and pick up all the stitches for the ribbing it was all go.  I am so pleased I have finished this now and I can see it will get a lot of wear through spring/summer.  The ribbing and the body are still slightly darker than the sleeves/back due to alternating the darker skein in but I don't think it is that noticeable and it certainly isn't a problem.  With the wonder of hindsight I now know I would have just squeaked the whole thing out of the two original skeins but never mind.
So here it is my Whispering Blackbirds.

And a couple of quick modeled pics taken by Mr A, I will have to try and get better ones soon.

A note of thanks has to go to my knitting group who constantly told me to shut up and keep knitting as I sat complaining of the seemingly endless ribbing, you were right it was all worth it in the end :-)

FO Summer Days test.

Recently I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to test knit once again for the fabulous designer Elena Nodel.  This time it was a gorgeous wee bolero carry for Miss M called Summer Days.  I made Miss M the 19 inch size and got it out of just under 50g of 4ply yarn.  This pattern is actually written for a sport weight yarn but I got gauge with Jolly Jumbuck merino/cashmere/nylon which is a 'plumpish' 4ply.
I don't think there is anything I don't love about this knit.  The construction is fabulous, the broken rib gives a lovely fit and the wee puff sleeves are too cute for words.  I was also thrilled to find the perfect buttons from Buttons by Benji at my LYS HRYC.

And on the girl herself.

Spring Picnics

In the last few weeks we have really started to feel like spring has arrived.  With the new found freedom of my driving license and the good weather, the kids and I have enjoyed a few playground picnics on my days off work.  There is nothing quite like a picnic lunch, play at the park, feed of the ducks and then a trip to the library to fill in a day (and tire out the children).
A couple of weekends ago we decided to go on a wee family picnic.  The navy was holding some celebrations in Wellington and the RWC was in full swing so we thought a trip into town to sample the atmosphere was in order.  After stopping at a favorite french bakery for lunch we headed into town and after much searching found a car park and a picnic spot at the beach.  This was Miss M's first trip to the beach and Mr A's first paddle of the season.  According to Mr A the water was freeeeeeezing and Miss M didn't look too impressed by the whole affair.  That didn't stop lots of fun being had by all.

First steps on sand

Jumping the waves

Bubbles at the beach

Roll on summer and many more beach trips and picnics.

Southward Car Museum

A couple of months ago one of the "Daily Deal" websites here was offering half price entry for a family pass to Southward Car Museum.  This is only about a 45 min drive from our place but even though we have a car mad boy we had never made the trip up the coast to visit.  So what better excuse than cheap entry :-)
When we had a burst of early spring a couple of weekends ago we packed the kids into the car and made a wee day trip of it and I must say a great time was had by all.  I really had no idea what to expect but the place is immense and even someone as clueless on cars and all things vehicles as me found plenty to keep myself entertained.
We were very lucky that when we got there it was pretty quiet and the staff were really helpful.  When we mentioned that Mr A liked fire engines one of the staff took us downstairs and let him sit in a couple of the old fire engines and 'drive' them.  A certain way to make a small boy's day.
Here's our visit in pictures.

Arriving

In front of the oldest car in NZ

A happy boy driving a fire engine

Peeking through the wheel

Check out the race cars

A Ferrari, red of course.

Not just cars but all things with wheels.  We found lots of old bikes as well.

Part motorbike, part car.

Early model electric car

A small boy in his element

Check out the copper car

Loving rampaging around.

Overall I would thoroughly recommend stopping by at Southward Car Museum if you are ever in the area, especially if you have any car lovers in the family.

It's Done!

Okay so I missed yesterday but that's completely related to the fact that I also spent most of today in bed sick :-(  Thankfully DP was home to look after the munchkins for me and I had a chance to catch up on sleep.
In amongst feeling sorry for myself though I have managed to cast off my long awaited cardigan tonight - woohoo.  I will try and block it tomorrow and get some pics.  For now though I'm going to crawl back into bed and hopefully get some sleep and wake up feeling a whole lot better tomorrow.

Knitting, Knitting, Just Keep Knitting....

Sung in my very best Dory voice from Nemo ;-)  This is how it has been here over the last couple of days.  I am desperately close to finishing off a cardigan for me!  Yes actually something for me!  Even more exciting is that I started this over 2 years ago and it hibernated for most of that time, not because I lost the love but because I got sidetracked by other projects and then kind of forgot about it.

Does anyone else find that when you are nearing the end of something like this it can take forever to actually get there?  I mean I have made the foolish (but necessary) decision to make this garment longer in the body than the pattern and now every time I try it on it seems that I need to do just "two more rows".  Of course those two more rows make no difference whatsoever.  I must have knitted about 1.5 inches of "two more rows" tonight and it is still not quite long enough.  Oh well tomorrow is another day :-)

So no more details for now but here is a sneak peak and I WILL be blogging about this FO very soon :-)

Anyone else digging out a long hibernating project to work on?