/\/\/\ Ripple Ta-Dah /\/\/\

Woohoo, I'm back in less than a week. Whoopie! Well lets get to it, the point of this post is to show you my, I mean, Baby R's ripple blanket. I finished it a while ago and it has been in a lot of use since. I was thinking/worried that it might be too warm by the time I got it finished to actually get any use out of it, but hey it's May and it's baltic so the blanket is getting plenty of action... see there's always a silver lining haha*

So the yarn was bought at Christmas with vouchers for the local craft shop from my very thoughtful secret santa. I picked up some Rico Baby Classic DK and I fell in love with it straight away. It's 100% acrylic and it's super soft, I have never felt such a soft and luscious acrylic yarn, it's really lovely stuff. And after thinking I wasn't going to go down the stereotypical boy route I ended up picking very boy colours, I just couldn't help it.

I used a ripple pattern from the lovely and extremely generous Lucy at Attic24. I started with a chain of 168 which was very generous and I'm glad I did because I think/hope it will last little R as he grows into a little boy which he is rapidly doing! I did double rows of each colour and a total of 55 double rows. I wanted to keep going because it was lovely to work on but somehow I ran out of one colour and had ample left of the others (mystifying!) and I took this as a sign to stop. So would you like to see? As if you have a choice teehee!

Here goes...

The full blanket is actually fairly big

Soft and snuggly...

 Mmmm ripples...

♥♥ mummy blanket & baby blanket ♥♥

I like how the ripple ties in with my own granny blanket. I have to confess I really am not in love with the colours of my granny blanket but I do like how to two blankets compliment each other. 

I took a few snaps of Baby R with the blanket, we mostly use it when he is out in the pram cos the weather is rubbish (rubbish I tells ya)

Cosy and warm

He looks like a little egyptian mummy 

The seal of approval xox

♥♥ I'm thrilled to have finished it and I am thrilled to have made Baby R his first crocheted blanket. I hope it gets loved and used a lot over the years ♥♥ 

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post. Thankfully Baby R is doing much better and we are all enjoying the weekend together.  Now it just needs to stop raining so we can go outside!

*Note to the weather:Please sort yourself out and stop being so beeping cold, it's May you know!!

Where does the time go.....

Well when I said it would probably be 2 months until I blogged again, I was only joking. But as it turns out it has taken me nearly 2 months. Good grief! It's actually been a difficult few weeks, Baby R has taken to his feet which is so exciting, he has been mobile since my last post but then he has also been floored by illnesses. He had a tummy bug (which D and I both ended up with), then he had a nasty sore throat and really sore ears over Easter (we were in the out-of-hours doc at 8.30am Easter Sunday morning - that's how we spent out Easter holidays), after finishing a really strong antibiotic (Amoxicillin didn't work so after 48hours of it and poor Little R's temp not dropping below 39C we were given a stronger antibiotic) we thought he was ok but then started having trouble with teething and we thought surely he can't be sick again but a trip to the doc last week confirmed that he has a sore throat and really red, sore ears AGAIN, 3 weeks after finishing a really strong antibiotic. I just feel awful for him because his temperature has been through the roof and he was trying to solider on but sore ears are one of the worst pains especially for little ones, and this is now his 4th ear infection so I'm worried that this is going to be a recurrent thing for him. I would do anything to make him better and so for the last week I have taken baby R into bed beside me and cuddled him all night to help him sleep. I think we are finally over the worst so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a few weeks/months of good health and fun for my little one. Trying to juggle all this with work is challenging to say the least... but hey we are still able to tell the tale!

Sooooooo I'm going to attempt not to write an essay and let my photos explain what I've been up to, aside from nursing my sick little R. Here goes.....

This was taken on Mother's day and it was Baby R's first ever walk in out local park. He was laughing his little head off and I was almost in tears with happiness...

While I was stuck in bed with the tummy bug my masking tape finally arrived and I may have went a little over board but I added some bunting wherever I could think of.... 

Bookcase bunting...

Bunting for the piano...

 Happy Hallway bunting...

At this stage I thought D was going to have a fit but somehow the Bedroom bunting has survived... (he kept saying "Not in the bedroom, Not in the bedroom")

I also managed to make some fabric bunting (I can't remember when I did this, I think it was in Feb sometime but Im sure you will forgive me a little chronological error or two!). This was inspired by Cherry Heart, I saw her Bathroom Bunting and thought I had to have some! Cherry's is much prettier but in my defence I'm always in a rush!!

I finished my ripple blanket, or rather Baby R's ripple blanket! I am so chuffed with this and I really think it deserves it's own post. So just a sneak preview...

I was also very, very, very, extremely lucky to win my first giveaway. I won a beautiful handmade apron from the absolutely wonderful Mrs Thomasina Tittlemouse. I really wanted to post about this sooner as I was soooo hugely grateful to receive something so beautiful but I just couldn't get the time to. Thankfully I did manage to send Mrs Tittlemouse a little something in the post to reciprocate her generosity. I spent the entire Easter weekend (well not the trip to the out-of-hours doc obviously!) in my new apron. A more beautiful apron I have never seen. 

I was also inspired by Elizabeth to make some very, extremely, tasty Olives. You can find the recipe here. The apron kept me cleaning from a good splattering of D's new fancy Balsamic Vinegar, beautiful and functional! 

Hard at it!

 Yummy, scrummy Olives

I also made some bread to go with the tasty Olives. I haven't done any fun cooking in ages and I was determined to make some tasty treats over the Easter Weekend and I succeeded in doing this (pre out-of-hours doc visit mind you!)

We deserved this...

I have been working on my Japanese Flower Scarf... it's a beautiful project to work on. I was so proud of myself for working out the pattern, my husband insisted that not reading Japanese would cause a problem for me and I was very happy to prove him wrong! The colours of the yarn all work together so well so it's lovely to add flower after flower and see it grow (not that I am that quick with it mind you!)

I have purchased a few wee squares of fabric from ebay to cover the seat of a velvet chair that we bought after Baby R was born, so that I could nurse him in comfort but more recently he likes to splash his milk around and slabber over it, so a thought a pretty floral cover for the seat might just help the lovely chair see another day!

I think I better leave it there. I'm so happy to finally get back to my little part of the internet, I was worried I had lost my mojo, but I think I found it again, it was hidden under a pile of toys, snotty tissues, calpol and nurofen! I can't guarantee when I'll be back but thank you as ever if you have managed to stop by, you know I'm very grateful ♥♥

I'd just like to leave you with one of my favourite photos of 2012 so far...

PS can you tell I've been mucking about with photos? They are probably all over the show but I love messing about with them. I was very sad that Picnik has gone but I just found PicMonkey and it's just as much fun! Hurray!!