Happy Halloween

Little L is still too young to understand the concept of Halloween.  How do you explain dressing up in scary outfits and trying to scare people in return for sweets???  But nevertheless we got a pumpkin and made pumpkin soup together.  

And we carved a face in the pumpkin.  Little L really wanted to hold the knife so I carved it very quickly.

We decorated gingerbread men.  I don't think Little L realised the sweets etc were edible cos she didn't eat one.

And we lit our pumpkin and ghost (well Little L decided it was a cow)

Hope you have had a good Halloween.  

Baby's first Cardigan and Hat

I confess I finished both of these months ago and they have sat in the cupboard waiting for the ends to be sewn in and the buttons attached.  What can I say I get easily distracted.  So as the time is ticking by pretty quickly I decided I better finish them off so that baby will have something to wear.

I knitted the Zoom cardigan again because it is such an easy pattern to follow.  I used James C Brett Aran with wool which is lovely and soft.  Perfect for a winter baby. Added some cute ladybird buttons and ta-dah one newborn cardigan.

The hat pattern was Chunky Organic Cotton baby Beanie but I modified it to account for using Aran and hopefully it will fit a newborn.

Not knitting anything else until the baby arrives because I don't want to knit more unisex colours.  I probably won't have time to knit anything when the baby arrives but I can at least buy the wool and get other people to knit them??

Heat or Eat?

One of the main energy suppliers SSE announced yesterday an 8% rise in gas and electricity prices. Although we aren't with SSE our direct debits have gone up this month due to our fixed price deal ending last month and despite lots of searching our monthly bill has gone up by about 10%.  If we chose to heat our home modestly with central heating our bill would double instantly so no we don't heat with gas but we do have a wood burning stove and without that we would freeze.

I listened to the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 this lunchtime and they were discussing this.  One lady phoned in and was really struggling single, no dependents so no benefits/help, low paid job and after her bills etc she had £20 a month left over.  She survived on toast and margarine and during the winter got home from work and went to bed because it was so cold and she couldn't heat her tiny flat.

She wasn't choosing to heat or eat.  She couldn't afford to heat and could barely afford to eat.  That is not a life it is barely an existence.  David Cameron and the politicians have no idea at all what it is like for lots of people in this country spending four/five months of the year freezing, barely able to afford food, and often living very lonely miserable lives.  Where will this end?? 

So please spare a thought for others if you are lucky enough to switch the heating on when cold and to buy nice food.  Not sure how these people in food/fuel poverty can be helped but we give food to the local food bank at the toddler group we attend when I remember, so maybe there is one near you or perhaps you know someone/have a neighbour you could help.        

A walk and some painting

The weather here is really mild at the moment and we are making the most of it by being outside as much as possible.  Despite the grass being pretty wet with dew most of the time Little L is still playing out with gusto.  I am really not looking forward to spending days stuck in the house when the weather turns.  So yesterday we had our usual walk to the park which Little L loves and then we headed a bit further into the village to walk down the canal.  

The walk is one we do a lot (admittedly not so much these last few months with being pregnant) it is an easy 3 mile circular route.

Little L was armed with a carrot for the horses which she insisted on holding "me hold tight" all the way there, I am surprised it made it in one piece and with no nibbles taken out. 

Carrot horsey .....

Mummy gave the carrots to the horses as they have big teeth

After our walk, lunch, sleep and snack we were outside again this time painting.  Not me for once Little L

Very artistic, I now have maybe 10 pictures that all look virtually the same????

Yarndale

On Saturday we had a day at Yarndale.  

Me, my Sister, Mum and Niece went (no Little L she was with her Daddy thank goodness as it would have been a nightmare with a pram) to Skipton.  It was a lovely sunny day and we were there early.  There was lots to see, some very talented people displaying there makes.  I saw a lovely stall Knitwits (don't think they have a website) but they sell beautiful cardigans, jumpers and hats for babies to toddlers.  Little L has a cardigan from them with butterflies on which we bought at the Westmorland Show.  If I had known what we were expecting I would have bought a cardigan for baby.  They do the neatest fairisle colourwork I have ever seen and they wash well.  If we have a baby girl she will certainly be wearing Little L's butterfly cardigan when it fits.  Another lady (Gwennol designer hand knits) was selling beautiful hand made baby blankets, I was tempted but again would need to be unisex!  

We had a lovely morning at the show and then down into Skipton for the afternoon on the free bus.  I didn't buy anything at the show, my pockets aren't that deep, and I like my yarn ready to go, I don't wind hanks into balls, I don't spin wool and I like to be able to buy enough for a project without breaking the bank.  But there was certainly some nice things to see and if it runs next year I will make the trip.   

Snuggly for carrycot

I did this a few weeks ago but only just got around to posting it.  I bought the carrycot to go in the new pram and well it was pretty plain.  And the design is a bit stupid because it won't go in the washing machine (unless I'm missing something which is possible).  So the lining is a black cotton which won't stand up to baby sick that well I don't think!

So I had a hunt and came up with some fleece and calico

Then I simply measured and cut and sewed the two sides together and ta dah a little snuggly fleece mattress for the carrycot.    

Much more appealing for a newborn plus it will go in the washing machine

Holiday in Wales

Just got back from our week away.  It went so fast but we had a great time.  We had a 8am hospital eye clinic on the Monday morning to check Little L's eye and it was fine so we set off on holiday straight from the hospital.  We managed to call a few places near where we used to live on our way.  Firstly Cheshire Oaks, we had a good look around.  Tried to get Little L some new shoes from the Clarks outlet but there wasn't anything I liked, much too summery.  I will just have to go to normal Clarks otherwise she will soon be wearing wellies or slippers.

We also visited my favourite fabric/wool/craft shop - the Abakhan in Mostyn - if you haven't been it is definitely worth a trip if you are in the area.  They have a wool shop, a craft shop, a discount shop (though this is closed at the moment for work), and a fabric shop.  They are currently renovating the old water wheel and there will be a new cafe in that building.  I picked up a few things for new roman blinds that I am making (when I have some time that is) and I got some red aran wool for a pram blanket for baby.  Plus a few other things.  I don't really have any sewing projects on at the moment (well apart from the blinds) so I didn't get any material though there was some lovely stuff.  A really nice toadstool print very similar to the Cath Kidston latest print but at £12 a metre I couldn't justify 2m to make a apron.

Anyway onto the holiday we couldn't stay at Abakhan all day!!  We had a lovely week, we stayed on a caravan site next to the sea, it had great pool facilities and play parks.  We don't go in for the amusements/club etc but if that's your thing then they had them too.  But we went for walks on the beach every night and played on the park.  We had some days out in nearby towns and on some of our favourite beaches (we used to live quite close to North Wales so know the area well).  The weather was pretty good considering.  We got wet on a couple of afternoons and one night it rained pretty hard but not bad.

This was just next to where we were staying

Little L loved it, she could of and tried to stay on the beach all day and had to be tempted away with food?? and even then there were tears.  It was so nice to enjoy the simple things with her, no need to spend lots of money just days collecting shells and stones, running around and swimming. 

We went on the Great Orme Tram in Llandudno

On the beach 

Looking over Llandudno bay, I couldn't walk up the Great Orme but I did managed to walk down.

Another beach

We were sad to leave partly because it means summer is over but mainly because it will be our last holiday with Little L on her own, next time there will be four of us.  Only 3 months to go until our lives are turned upside down!