Six months on...

Talk about a journey and life changing six months. We have all grown so much during my bloggy hiatus.

In the days after my last post we got the news that we would be leaving Dubai. in a bit of a hurry Not quite Maria and Captain Von Trapp style but at the time it felt a little like it.

We returned to my birthplace for a lovely Queensland winter. I never thought I would live here again, but I have a feeling we will be here or nearby for quite some time to come.

So what else has been going on?

Not long after we returned, husband got a new job. Not quite as challenging as the last but in my opinion there is nothing wrong with that, for a little while at least.

Around the same time our G became a preppie at a gorgeous little school a bit of a drive from our place. She has truly blossomed there and will be very sad to say goodbye to her teacher at the end of the year. I love the school run and having a goss with the Mums each day.

E is growing up so quickly too. She still loves to sing and dance. She will break into song and put on an impromptu show often. Both girls started dance class at the local youth club a little while back and took to them like a storm.

As for my bump....

In mid September at 42 weeks + 1 day gestation I gave birth to a precious girl. We had the most beautiful birth with the most amazing midwife present. I had been 5cm and having contractions that were going nowhere for weeks so consented to ARM. Two hours later our darling was in our arms no need for any further intervention and my birth plan was followed almost to a T. She has the most amazing blonde hair in a mohawk (of course) and sparkling blue eyes.

The day before her birth I was having an ultrasound because I was post dates, just to ensure that baby and I were still going well when it was discovered that our darling has a cleft lip. At the time they suspected bilateral but after her birth it was confirmed that she has a complete unilateral cleft lip and palate. Her palate's cleft is quite significant (the women folk in our family don't tend to do things in halves!)

I can't say enough about the hospital I birthed at and how I felt completely safe and nurtured by all the midwives and nurses in the maternity ward, the speech therapist and gorgeous social worker. A couple of the ultrasound technicians who I had met even came up to check in to see how we were going.

I will devote a whole post to our darling and the journey we have had over the last seven weeks since her birth. I am so stoked to have another little girl and am so in love with her and her huge smile.

On the knitting front, since my return here I made quite a few new baby things as well as some little gifts for G's teacher who is expecting her first child early next year. I also took part in a fantastic swap with some great women on Ravelry. There were 12 or so of us participating and we made an 8x8 inch square for each member so we could all make a blanket. I still have not put mine together, but am really looking forward to it as the blanket will come in handy come January when the first of H's operations is anticipated.

It feels so good to be dusting the blog off. I hope I can be back often.

The Game

Maureen had this fun meme on her blog, and I thought it might be fun to have a go.

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name


1. Lisa's gaze, 2. delicious, 3. Gayundah Maw, 4. Enjoy !, 5. Colin Firth having coffee dumped on him, 6. Good Morning kitchen ! And now neapolitan coffee for all, 7. Moreton Bay Fig Tree, 8. fruit salad, 9. the birth of a better Day, 10. Call of the Raven (formerly Nature's Special Effects), 11. three is very complicated, 12. 2007-06 004

Tea Cosies and Crafty Genes

I come from crafty genes. My grandmother was a very creative lady, incredible at knitting, crochet, macramé, sewing etc. She even dabbled in that string art stuff that was around in the 70s. Not to mention the fact that she was a lovely painter and accomplished singer.

When she has the time to commit to a project, my mother is fantastic too. She kept my family clothed trough many lean years thanks to her trusty overlocker and sewing machine. When she picked up her knitting needles, she made some lovely things. For me there was a jumper with my name in intarsia and for siblings, some beautiful baby clothes and I recall a jumper for one of my brothers. I am not so sure what she has been up to in recent times, but knowing her she is still wearing the same reading glasses prescribed 20 years ago and would struggle to see her work. (and if I am right you can bet your last dirham/ dollar that there will be a comment about it below before too long)

(Some of Mother's knitting. My intarsia jumper and my sister Rhianon's sweet outfit)

As a child I knit just a little, knowing how to cast on using the cable method, knit and purl but nothing else. I did sew and have come back to it several times over the years when the need arises and Granny taught me macramé. Laugh if you will, and dismiss it as an outdated craft but I am about to call on those long lost knots to make some reusable bags to take to the supermarket for my fruit and vegies.

Anyway, back to knitting. The first time I had even given knitting a second thought as an adult was when we discovered Steiner (Waldorf) education. All Steiner children learn how to knit. When G was 17 months old we started going to a beautiful playgroup at our local school where G loved playing with the knitted toys. At the time I dismissed my ability to knit because of my left handedness. Not many people understand this, but if I were to watch someone demonstrating a technique right handed I actually feel nauseous. My brain just can’t compute. Actually sitting here thinking about it is making me feel very queasy.

Around B’s birth, 2 ½ years ago I became friends with some very talented knitters on the Gold Coast. I loved seeing their work but still dismissed the idea that I could do it. Soon after, I was on the hunt for a decent tea cosy. Despite trawling the internet and craft markets, I just couldn’t find one I liked. What I did find was lots of patterns which made me realise I just needed to find a way to learn to make my own. Thankfully, there are some excellent left handed instructions on the internet- not the ignoramuses who say that continental is the way to go. Just because the wool is held in the left hand does not make it left handed knitting at all. The right needle is still doing all the dexterous work. (ok rant over)

I was in possession of Granny’s needles so only needed to dash down to spotlight to choose my wool and I was off.

The result, a lovely simple tea cosy which has not been seemed very well, but it does the job all the same. The reason I am thinking and posting about this is I bought myself a gorgeous new tea pot for Christmas but it is smaller than the one that I use the old cosy for so I had to make a new one. This time it was not two garter stitch rectangles sewn with a dodgy matrass stitch but still a very simple design. A k2 p2 rib in the round, a few holes which were crocheted afterward for strength, and some shaping toward the top.

Just in case you aren't sure, the new one is on the right :)