indieknits

Autumn's in the air

I love this time of year. There is something about the crisp bright mornings that brings back memories - my wedding day, going back to school, and this morning I realised another - going to Ally Pally for the Knitting and Stitching Show. I've been for the last four years in a row and I am feeling a bit sad about missing it this year. However I think that there will be too many people and it's probably too long to be spending on my feet. :(

Anyway, I think it's a combination of the nesting instinct, the change of season and my visit to the Socktopus shop on Sunday that has got my fingers itching to knit. I am holding off from casting on anything new until my baby blanket is finished though! It is just a basketweave stitch pattern with a seed stitch border so is very very easy and I should in theory have it finished in a week or two. Then I will take great pleasure in rummaging through my stash (or buying some yarn!!) for the next project.

I knew it.

I moved to the shiny new headquarters today, have loads of work to do but can't do any of it because I can't connect to the network! Oh dear. I had a hunch this would happen. If only I could knit at my desk, I surely would have finished my Norwegian Woods scarf by now. I've made good progress with it over the last week. Let's just hope I don't run out of yarn! The pattern calls for 470 yards and I am using my one skein of Knit Picks Gloss Lace, which has 440 yards. We shall see.

What else is new?? Hmm... I don't really have anything else to report. I am still gathering baby items but think most of the large itemscan be struck off the list - it's mostly blankets and sheets to buy now. Exciting!!

Please Sponsor My Husband!

Just a quickie to let you all know that my husband is doing the London to Windsor Bike Ride for the British Heart Foundation on Sunday 6th September. It's 37 miles of cycling the country roads from Richmond Green to Alexandra Gardens in Windsor.

Please take a look at his Just Giving page and sponsor him for this great cause!

Our Little Wriggler

By pure fluke I caught the tail end of the Wollmeise update this morning, so have a skein of Safran 100% Superwash heading my way :) I did actually attempt to catch the Mama Blue update last night at 2am. I relied on my pregnancy bladder to wake me up and it was almost spot on - I woke up at 2:20am but the shop was already sold out!

We think we have settled on a name for baby - Emma. It's classic, short, and works well with our surname. Little Emms is doing very well! She wriggles around quite a lot whilst I'm at work, and in the evenings when I'm relaxing on the sofa. She's our little wriggler :) The doppler works really well and we love listening to her every day. We've also got her room looking more like a baby's room instead of a charity shop/junk room. The cot is assembled, the mattress has been ordered and all her clothes are in the drawers.

:)

Aghhh

Stupid Royal Mail. They have lost 3 of my parcels!! One of which is YARN! I ordered all 3 items 2 weeks ago, and have a feeling they are stuck in a mail bag that's waiting to be sorted after the strike. Grrr. The yarn I am waiting on is a skein of Dream In Color Classy, and I am planning on making a Baby Bolero with it. Maybe I should just cast on with another yarn, it's bound to turn up then!

We've ordered a baby doppler from eBay (wisely getting it sent to Ross's office) so when that arrives we'll be able to hear baby's heartbeat!

17 weeks

Hello! How are you all?

Life is continuing to tick over nicely for us. I can *almost* forget about the old flat - deposit (what's left of it) should be back in our account soon. We will then be able to upgrade Ross to a laptop and get rid of the computer desk, which is currently in baby's room. If anyone wants a free computer desk please let me know! It is a slightly bruised and battered Mikael from Ikea (identical to this but in Birch and without the magazine rack thingies on the top). It's sturdy but took a bit of a beating during the move.

I'm 17 weeks today, and think I've been able to feel her moving about! It seems to happen at night time, especially when I am in bed. On Sunday night I felt two definite kicks. I'm still feeling really good at the moment and hope that it continues.

I'm still here!

I've just realised that it's been 2 weeks since my last post! To be honest I don't really have much to report - not much knitting has gone on since I finished my Wedgewood blouse.

I bought more Wollmeise on Friday. It was fate. I hadn't been stalking at all, but thought I'd go to the site just to see if they had done their update, and there it was....yarn! In stock! I saw Pfefferminz Prinz 80/20 and snapped it up straightaway - I've been after that colourway for ages.

On Friday night we had friends over for dinner and I cooked up a curry storm! We had Chicken Korma, Beef Rojan Josh, Bhindi Bhaji and Sag Paneer. I even made the paneer myself (it came out okay, but was a bit too crumbly. I think I'll just go to Southall and buy it next time!).

I felt hungover all day Saturday and it was only when I ate leftover Rogan Josh and drank a beer that I felt better! Oh dear. Hair of the dog was needed though, because we then headed out to Sharon's birthday party with Emmms! It was a great evening.

Sunday was spent recuperating, watching lots of TV and eating. And here we are, back round to Monday again!

National Snow Day!

Today has basically been a write-off for most. Here in Ealing we've had a good 5-6 inches of snow. London has ground to a halt! I'm off work this week, so when I got up this morning I thought "Oh! It's oddly quiet!" I can normally hear buses, planes, trains, and people just going about their business. It was only when I got the laptop fired up that I realised it is quiet because everything has been cancelled - no buses, no tubes, no flights. My poor mum has been stuck at Stansted Airport since about 4 this morning. :(

Ross and I decided to brave the snow and go to the shops:

 

Will we have another snow day tomorrow?

Planning...

On Monday night I couldn't get to sleep because my head was buzzing with plans...plans and ideas for how I can spend my time next week beings as I have the WHOLE FIVE DAYS booked off work! Yippee! I'm so excited. I'm going to have a day out with Ross, bake bread, knit, hang out with Emmms, knit, maybe watch some movies, knit, maybe take the bus to Kingston Upon Thames, and knit some more. I do have a particular project that I'd like to get started and finished next week - but more on that in a few weeks (when it is safe to blog about it! nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more!). It's only a small project so is definitely doable.

The weekend officially starts when I meet Emilie on Friday evening. I can't wait to have a pint and a catch-up with her!

I've spent the last couple of evenings knitting washcloths. It's perfect mindless knitting, which is all I can manage when Lost and 24 are on TV. Pics to follow when we have some decent daylight here in London!

Exercise - when can I stop?

I wanted to show you pictures of my knitting but it is so dingy and damp that I have no natural daylight before I leave for work or when I get home! It will have to wait until the weekend.

I've been a very good girl the last week and a half - I have been eating very sensibly and doing exercise every night!! Oh my God! Admittedly not a huge amount...but enough time on the stepper to break a sweat and burn off a sufficient amount of calories. To take my mind off the fact that my legs have turned to rubber and I really want to just STOP, I watch knitting tutorials on You Tube. Last night I watched Cat Bordhi's moebius technique!

According to my scales I have already lost 1.5kg so I can't be doing too badly!