the fruits of my labour

Famous last words. By me, to my doctor, about three weeks ago. I’d gone for a check-up, because I never get sick and I think it’s the responsible thing to do now I’m a mother and getting on in years. A few days later I came down with a cough/cold/flu thing that has clung to me like it’s life depended on it. Which I guess it does. I’ve had a sore throat and an annoying (to me and others) cough, and practically no voice for a week and a half. And in that time Elliott got an ear infection as a result of his cold and Isobel caught the cold and scared us a bit with a high fever. Not much fun. They’re both well now, though, and I think I’m on the mend.

As I’m breastfeeding, this was about all I could use to relieve my symptoms. I think the honey and lemon gave me a psychological boost more than anything. Which is not to be sneezed at. Pardon the pun.

So, I haven’t been doing a lot in the way of cooking and crafting, apart from working very slowly on a small sewing project that’s nearly finished and which I hope to report on soon. I feel a burst of productivity coming to make up for the past couple of weeks. Look out, world!

And we’ll be looking out for tonight’s lunar eclipse, if cloud and rain don’t obscure it. I’m hoping we can show Elliott the partial eclipse before he goes to bed. I’m also preparing myself for the fact that he probably won’t get our explanation of it at all and/or that he won’t be that interested. Oh well, we’ll just have to wait for the next one, in 2011.

1. Last weekend we moved Elliott into a new bed:

Before that he was sleeping in a toddler bed, which converts into a cot and vice versa. Isobel’s really going to need the cot soon (she’s currently sleeping in a bassinette), so we had to get on with it. Elliott was both happy and very tired when that photo was taken. The bed and bedside table are from Ikea and I quite like the bedding, which Chris and Elliott chose together, but I am hoping we can get something from here soon. The transition has been a breeze for all of us. And without any prompting (but with a little bit of sadness on my part), he hasn’t asked to sleep with his previous bedtime companions (three of them!) once since he made the move. He’s so big now, but still so small. Just don’t try to tell him that!

2. Isobel’s been wearing a lot of Elliott’s hand-me-downs. Lots of blue. So yeah, she does get mistaken for a boy sometimes. But not as often as Elliott was mistaken for a girl and we never dressed him in pink! Not because of the colour, but because I wanted to make some of Elliott’s old clothes more “Isobel”, I decided to try my hand at appliqueing, following the excellent instructions of Erin at house on hill road. I turned this plain navy blue top, as shown by Elliott at six months:

into this initialised top for Isobel, at about six and a half months:

The stitching’s not that straight, but it was late at night, and I really didn’t care enough to unpick it. I like to think of it as more personal the way it is. I’m quite happy with it, though, and I’ll think I’ll be looking for something else to applique soon…

Isobel looks so serious in this photo. She’s such a happy, placid baby, though. We thought Elliott was too, but I think Isobel may be even more so. But it is so hard to get her to laugh! Her giggle, like that of most babies, is so cute, but she really makes us work for it. I guess she’s a lot like me in that regard. I don’t laugh out loud all that often, so when I do, you know it was funny. Anyway, I’m going to have to work on being funnier for Isobel.

Since Isobel turned six months old, I’ve been focusing on doing lots of things that are long overdue, like decluttering (mostly thanks to Freecycle and eBay), keeping on top of housework, becoming more efficient and organised (well, trying to), examining my health (I’m fine), fitting exercise into my life, finishing off craft projects and starting new ones. I think I’ve been pretty productive for me. I’m quite happy when I manage to complete lots of jobs, but also fit in time for fun as well.

A couple of weekends ago we went to Tasmania for my grandma’s 80th birthday party. Regrettably, we didn’t take many photos. Probably because we were busy helping with the cooking and other preparation. Not to mention the clean up. There were a few other cameras in circulation, though, including the one we gave Grandma, so hopefully there’s a good selection to share. I hope someone took a photo of the cake Grandma made and decorated herself. She is a brilliant cake decorator; she’s very good with her hands. Crocheting, sewing and quilting are just some of the crafts she’s mastered. It’s a pity I didn’t fully appreciate her talents when I was younger, and that I didn’t get her to teach me more. It’s even more of a pity that now I am interested, we live in different states. Oh, well.

I really could use Grandma’s crochet expertise to finish this blanket I started knitting for Isobel before she was born:

It’s supposed to have a crocheted “Picot” edge. I’ve never crocheted anything. I’ve tried to teach myself a couple of times, but gave up quickly. I’m hoping that the “Learn to Crochet” series over at Crafty Daisies will help me somewhat. Crochet’s scary. Wish me luck!

The other project I’m trying to complete is a scarf for Chris. I knitted him a hat a few weeks ago. I used this wool cotton in “Misty”. It was lovely to work with, but my tension was all wrong. I made up a gauge swatch and foolishly thought I could just knit more tightly instead of using smaller needles, but apparently my tension is very loose, because not only did that not work (the hat was very big), but even after using smaller needles, it was still on the large side. Chris says it’s fine, although I haven’t seen him wear it…I might try doing it yet again with even smaller needles. Anyway, the patterns for the hat and the scarf come from this book. I’m using dark brown Debbie Bliss cashmerino superchunky, which is so lovely and soft. I’ve never felt anything like it. It was definitely worth going to the other side of town for. I almost feel unworthy of it. Here’s the work in progress:

I really hope I can get it finished this weekend. It’s not that it’s all that challenging (just moss stitch, which I’ve never done before, but it’s easy), just that I’m a slow knitter and there’s lots of other things I need and want to do. Maybe if we watch a movie tonight I can knock it off.

Hopefully this knitting frenzy can be followed by a spate of sewing. So many plans, so little time!