Baby things

I'm now a little bit surprised how little baby stuff I actually made in these last 9 months. Shouldn't I be able to churn out 3 things every week? Turns out that I don't have a lot of enthusiasm for making things that will only be vomited on for a few months, and never appreciated, cute as they are. Plus, I spent all my energy making this...



(Put your hand up if you thought I meant the cotton blanket. hehe)


So the labor was really easy. I laid around all day, supposedly having irregular contractions. The waters had broken at 1:30am but nothing further had happened, and they convinced me to have the drip (which made my first experience of labor so much fun :P ) by promising me an epidural FIRST. After snoozing all day (it was surprisingly exhausting for something I couldn't feel) they discovered that the naughty monkey had no intention of coming at all. Off I went to theatre for a caesarean, where they pulled out a protesting little 4.1 kilo boy (That's 9lb 1, for you pre-metrics Ü).

Knitted DNA

The labor was easy, but I think I prefer the recovery of a natural birth! My stomach hurt for a week. But I had a 5-day holiday (in hospital), and my dear hubby has been taking care of me since. Stomach feels fine, now, and I'm getting a bit of sleep. Zachary is great; he's a good sleeper so far, and drinks lots.

Jack's kimono sweater, which was so simple and easy to make. I used some very pretty merino from Kate's shop and covered up a few holes with a bit of embroidery that you can barely see here. Of course, it's Summer in Australia, now, so he hasn't tried it on yet. It looks about the right size for wearing in a few months Ü

These are the singlets that match the DNA. They aren't finished; I just tonight taught myself to do single crochets (which are only edging the green one's arm holes so far). You run an icord through the double-crochet on the neck, for a drawstring, and it will then fit from age 0 to 18 months. I don't think they'd fit Jasmine, but... we'll see. I'll force her into one for a photo, if I can ;)

And here are the little boots made from cashmere-merino scraps (from my Ishbel). They fit him really well, but he can kick them off no problem. Must find a pattern as good as "tiny shoes", but for boys. Knitted blundstones or something ;)

Well, hopefully I've made sense here... I think I'll head off to bed for, I don't know... an hour or so? Sweet dreams!

Washy washy

So I found this little tutorial for doing a "bit" of fleece, and went out to raid the bags. I filled a 9L bucket full of reasonably clean wool (I think from the sheep's back), which came to 196g. I filled up one bucket with hot water (60°C) and a bit of dishwashing liquid, and put the wool into it, chunk by chunk, while pulling out a few bits of grass and a beetle or two!
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Submerged it by squishing it down with the second bucket, then topped up bucket one and filled bucket two with hot water. After 20 minutes or so, I squished out the water and tipped the wool into the "rinse" bucket for a few minutes. Did this whole soapy-rinse-procedure three times, until the water was coming out pretty clean. Then I squeezed it in a towel and laid it out to dry, which certainly didn't take long in this heat!
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196g of raw stuff.

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Soaking in a bit of dishwashing liquid...

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First rinse Ü

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After squishing out the rinse water the first time

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After it dried: 144g of slightly grassy (but unfelted!) fleece, ready for... well... the next step is carding, if I can find the time and patience!

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Well, Jasmine had her 18 month checkup today (She's 13kg and 87cm already) and then a chickenpox injection. The needle nurses were running really late, so I've just put them in bed 45 minutes ago, and soon I'll have to wake them to go to my midwifery appointment. I can't remember if I'm 37 or 38 weeks now... I didn't get much sleep last night! lol. It was only 27°C inside, which is comparatively nice, but I do have an internal oven going, too, and I laid there sweating until 4am... Finally got some sleep on the couch with the air con back on. Got a tiny bit more semi-sleep during Sesame Street. SO glad I didn't catch the gastro everyone else in this house has had!
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Now to research rolags...

Just the beginning

Unbelievable, but true; we've been trying to get the four sheep shorn since September. Finally, a shearer came over today and entertained the kids by giving them all a good clipping!

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Even more unbelievably, the "black" sheep, who were as brown as mud, TURNED BLACK! The disgusting-grimy-grey sheep turned white, and the brown ones turned black. The inside of the wool is SO clean... I wonder if I can just cut the dirty bits off ... Ü

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So we have bags and bags of it in the shed, plus a bag full of "stuff you won't want". The shearer was very nice (though expensive, but we've gotten beyond caring at this point) and came just in the nick of time, really. It was already 39 degrees celcius when he left in the morning, and got up to 45 later, according to our thermometer. The other shearers who we've tried to employ kept saying "yes, yes" and then never turning up, which was such a pain, especially when it was hot back in November.

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Next; playing with fleece! I must go do some internet research...

What it became

So those are 35cm long, 20mm needles I got for $1.50, and about two and a half balls of cheap Patons Jet. I made a rectangle with a hole in the middle, 50 stitches wide and about 40-50 rows long. (The cast off and cast on were 100st, though). I folded it in half, sewed up the sides, leaving armholes, and strung it up with ribbon into a dress shape.

Jasmine doesn't like to wear it ;) but I will get a picture one day...

It was a quick knit, but not as quick as I thought. Those fat needles are awkward, and the proper diameter is way back from the point. I just had to knit loosely.

Well, back to work, where the house is really messy and Byron has caught whatever gastro bug Jasmine had all last week. Nathan, who's birthday is today, came home feeling sick yesterday, but refuses to take a sicky because it's too much hassle. Byron has had two vomits (including all over his bed) and 3 rotten nappies (it's 9am), and Grandma C is coming over for the party I have to cook for later.

Ü