/\/\/\ 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!!

~ ♥ Happy Mother's Day ♥~

 Just a quick word to wish you all a very Happy Mother's Day. It's bright and sunny here in Belfast and it has been a great start to the day. Baby R and his Dada very kindly offered me a lie-in. Baby R still wakes around 5.30am these days and I try to keep him in bed for as long as possible by lying him back down in his cot, tucking him in and giving him the dummy (that he has cheekily thrown across the room), I usually have to do this  3 or 4 times but in saying that we usually get up around 6.20am. This is fine on a work day but unfortunately Baby R doesn't know the difference between the working week and the weekend. So anyway this morning D kindly offered to give Baby R his milk and take him downstairs for a play so I could rest my eyes for a little bit. Wakening at 5.30am every day is usually fine but I guess it takes it's tole eventually so I appreciated the rest this morning. Then I when a woke I was greeted with this...

 ♥ A scrummy breakfast of Lady Grey Tea, cereal, yummy hot cross bread (in a loaf - whodathunkit!) and tulips (my favourite)

  ♥ I was lucky enough to receive two lovely cards from my little sweetheart. One was helped by Dada (the one to the left with bunting on it - yes that's right bunting on a card whodathunkit! - my dream card). And one was helped by our lovely childminder Mrs A (the handmade one on the right - I'm chuffed to bits with this card, she really is a lovely lady). *Mrs A and the children she takes care off all made their Mums a lovely hand painted terracotta pot with a lovely primrose in it and I'd love to share it with you but I forgot to water it yesterday and it's gone a bit wilty. Eek! I have promptly watered it and I'm hoping it will return to full health soon!. 

 ♥ Now I was a very lucky girl and got a few beautiful gifts too. 

I probably look a little spoilt but the CK spotty bag was sort of a gift to myself, I've been having a hard time in work of late and decided I needed to treat myself. Now I have buyers remorse and feel guilty for spending money on myself as we really need to be careful with money. So part of me is tempted to return it but I do love it and I really don't buy myself things that often. Hmmm not sure what to do. Anyway Baby R and his Dada were so thoughtful. They got me a little fabric bundle with birds and trees on it (I had been moaning about not having a fabric stash and I think little/big ears picked up on this). A beautiful floral greengate spoon.  A CK picture frame to put a lovely picture of my little darling in. And a CK notebook and jotter. I am one very happy Mummy. 


♥ Regardless of all these lovely gifts this is the main thing making me happy today and everyday...

♥ And his dada of course for giving me such a lovely morning


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a rare event for me to manage 2 blog posts in 2 days, no doubt it will take me another 2 months before writing another one soooo.... 
I just wanted to quickly say that I love that people pop by and read my blog, I really love this as I know how precious time is. And I love that some people feel compelled to comment, it's delightful reading that someone likes my blog. I understand the time constraints on modern life, I'm finding it difficult myself to get the right balance between work-life and home-life but we are coping ok, so far. I guess I'm trying to explain why I haven't been commenting on as many blogs as I'd like to. I love reading blogs and the lovely things that people are working on and their lives but I just can't always find the time to say hello and comment and this makes me feel a little bad. I hope you understand and you are all so lovely, I kinda know you will. 

♥~♥~♥ Happy Mother's Day Everyone ♥~♥~♥

♣♥ Shamrocks and Hearts ♥♣

♣♣♣♣♣♣

Firstly I'd like to wish you all a very Happy St Patrick's Day from us here in Ireland. Baby R and I are wearing green today but other than we don't have any other plans to celebrate the day.

 We are visiting Toys R Us today to get Baby R some much needed toys. We didn't go over board at Christmas because he wasn't even a year yet and it was hard to know what he needed. But now he is toddling and developing a bit more we think he needs a few more toys. So it's not really celebrating our patron saint but we are doing it in green!

♥♥ Ta-Dah ♥♥

So anyway the main reason I am blogging today is because I have finished something on my to-do list. This is my Granny Heart Bunting Ta-Dah! The pattern/tutorial is from the very lovely Sandra at Cherry Heart  and if you don't know her blog I strongly recommending popping by - she has the most beautiful blog with such gorgeous ideas and is very generous with her time posting lovely tutorials for anyone to use. I am attempting to keep this post brief as I usually tend to write an essay so hopefully the photos speak for themselves!

Happy daffs, yummy yarn and scrummy bunting..

An in situ shot. I just love looking up to see the bunting across the archway it just looks like it should always have been there. It makes me smile a big, dopey, beaming smile when I glance upon it. I am easily pleased....

  And finally Baby R and I in our greenery. I think he likes the bunting too!!

A big thank you to ♥Sandra♥ for the tutorial. I am super happy to have made it. I love it when I achieve something, it helps to keep me going and keep me smiling.

♥ Enjoy the weekend and the sunshine everyone ♥

It's been a while....

Oh-me-oh-my isn't time is flying! I haven't blogged in about a month but I have been visiting the land of blog and reading other peoples lovely blogs. I love it, I just L-O-V-E this blogging malarky but it's quite frustrating too because there is much that I want to do and as I read other blogs I get inspired but also frustrated because I know in reading these blogs I'm not actually getting any of my own projects done. Hahah, listen to me whine, it's not really the worst problem in the world to have, I guess I'm just explaining myself.


At this moment in time I am seriously excited for you see last night I finally managed to change my blog header. I am so excited about this and could almost not sleep for excitement!! Teehee I'm such an eejit. I think I also have nerdish and geekish tendencies but ssshh don't tell anyone! See I've admired other lovely people with their lovely headers and wished that I could do something even a fraction as lovely. And then on recommendation from the lovely Weasel I found Picknik. I eeeeeped with delight when I starting using this last night because it's A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! Now I don't think my header is as impressive as others I have seen but I'm really happy to have been able to do something with my header (I have never really liked mine but never had time to sort it) and I'm pleased as punch!


♥♥ RIPPLING ♥♥

I have been busy, as mentioned before I am rippling away.  Now you may remember (or not) that I decided to do a gender neutral blanket and I decided on something like this... 

Well then I changed my mind (I am a very and I mean VERY indecisive person, it is a quality of mine that I detest but I'm stuck with it). I decided that I actually did want something more typically boyish and I purchased these...

 and I started this.... 

I'm really happy with it, I love how the pattern is working out, I was worried that I should have arranged the colours differently but as it has grown I have become happier with it. I have also had some pangs of regret though that I should have stuck with more gender neutral colours so that if we are lucky enough to have another baby it will be used for them too, but hey if we have a girl I'll just ripple another! So anyway I really like it and I love the Rico Baby Classic DK, it's acrylic but it's so soft and lovely. I know lots of very respectable and knowledgeable crocheters/knitters like the Stylecraft Special DK but I just don't really like the feel of it whereas the Rico feels lovely for an acrylic. 

♥♥ NEW YARN ♥♥

And in other news I have purchased some new yarn. I has been quite a mammoth task (see above re my indecisiveness!). First of all I knew that I wanted to make the Japanese Flower scarf as seen here and here. Most people have made their scarves using the very luxurious Debbie Bliss Andes but I decided I really wanted to use Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, having read so much about it on lots of blogs. But the problem I found was that in Northern Ireland Debbie Bliss yarn isn't stocked in very many places and the 2 shops that I found that did do it (I went on a 60-mile round-trip one Saturday afternoon, with my friend - another yarn nut!) didn't have very many colours (poo poo!). So after a bit of research I found a lovely family run online shop Fingers and Thumbs (I like supporting small businesses) that stocks this yarn. I was worried about picking the colours without actually seeing them. I needn't have worried though as Kate the owner helped me, she suggested colours after I described what I wanted and after I picked a couple Kate very kindly sent me some samples which made it soooooo much easier - Thank You Kate. So I did it, I picked 8 lovely colours and they arrived on Saturday. I have to confess I jumped up and down (like a loon) for a while after the postman left shouting "It's here, It's Here, It's Here". So would you like to see the colours I went for?

 

I am really mega excited about this yarn. I haven't had time to use it yet but I hope to soon (only 1 pair of hands and only 24 hours in the day is very limiting if you ask me!). I feels lovely, looks lovely, is lovely. I am a seriously happy camper. 

Sorry this has ended up as another essay, maybe one day I will be able to post a shorter post and maybe, just maybe, I could blog more often!

As always thanks for reading and stopping by...

Helen xx

♥ Reasons to be Cheerful ♥

1, 2, 3.....

1. ROUTINE: Well it's been a busy few weeks, all is going well so far with me in work and Baby R with the lovely childminder AA. We have settled into a routine of work and getting Baby R to the childminder and he has settled well so we feel very fortunate. We seem to manage our time well in the mornings, which is probably helped by Baby R choosing to rise at 6am haha! We've also had the horrible MMR vaccination done and a few raised temperatures as a result but all-in-all the form is good with my little clan - D is good, Baby R is good (oh who am I kidding he's a total star! Crawling and cruising and chatting and laughing, he's such fun to be with, he also keeps us very, very busy!), Monty & Luca are good too. Smiles all round. 

2. BIRTHDAYS: To top things off I had a birthday myself last week. I still like birthdays despite my age getting into not so nice figures (boo hoo: early thirties, not mid-thirties yet!), but I love the excitement especially after the post-Christmas blues and the prospect of cards, cake and maybe even a wee pressie, what's not to like (well apart from the afore mentioned increase in digits and wrinkles etc!!). And for the first time in many years I had to work on my birthday, so what I hear you cry, well I normally don't believe in working on my birthday, I really don't believe anyone should have to but I am saving my annual leave for incase little R gets sick and I need to take time off work (although I have been informed by one of my colleagues that you get special 'carer days' to allow for this). So anyhoo, I do blether on don't I, the day in work was soooo busy as my friend in work was off sick and I was soooo glad to get home. I picked up Baby R and came home as normal only to find my darling D hiding in the living room (he normally wouldn't be home from work yet) with a beautiful home-made birthday day lit with candles... 

...some bubbles (for later), lovely cards and a pressie. Lucky, lucky me!

D had worked from home and during his lunch break he made the cake (Cinnamon & Blackberry) and he even decorated it, I was very impressed. It tasted as good as it looked and was even a little healthy (made with wholemeal flour). 

I was lucky enough to get some beautiful Greengate from D (that man does listen!). I have admired it from afar as it's pretty expensive, but now I am the proud owner of some lovely, lovely Greengate and I love it.

 My lovely sister-in-law (well to-be, but it's only a technicality!) bought me a lovely jug (she has also listened to me blether on and knows me so well). It's very pretty and it fits in well to my growing collection...

My older brother gave me this... 

Mmm such a treat. Might save it for a special occasion or as a late birthday celebration at the weekend (hehe). My parents and my younger brother gave me some money so with my brothers money I bought this...

I am most excited about receiving this as I am desperate to make the Japanese Flower Scarf as seen many places, Attic24 was where I found it. And with the money my parents gave me I hope to buy some yarn.. just need to decide on the type and colour, any advice is most welcome (my budget is £30-£40). 

3. FLOWERS in WINTER: D came back from the big supermarket shop last week with a little surprise for me, he has listened to me blether on about hyacinths for a wee while now and bought some to silence me! Teehee.

  Then I was out and about by myself on Saturday morning getting the latest dose of Frontline for the doggies (we had a flea infestation a few years ago and it was the worst few weeks of my life that I never want to repeat EVER!!) and stumbled upon these lonely daffodils for £1, a bargain! So I just had to give them a home, they seem so much happier here.

Oh and a little hooky of the jam-jar-cover kind is also making me very happy!

♥♥ So on this very wet and gloomy Sunday I am cheerful ultimately because of my little family and because we have to make the best of this life... it's not a rehearsal people! ♥♥

Thanks you lovely lot for reading my yakkety yak!

Helen xx

PS This post was inspired by Planet Penny