Viking Celebrations

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

We’re well into our Month of Family Celebrations now – between February 14th and March 14th we have Valentine’s Day, JSR’s birthday, our wedding anniversary, my birthday, and finally Willow’s birthday.

We usually bundle the occasions into one or two dinners out and only give presents for the birthdays, so I was superbly surprised when JSR gave me a huge box of Valentine’s chocolates last Tuesday. HUGE! Like a hat box, but full of chocolate! It lasted until this morning, which tells you a lot about the heft, as I can make chocolate disappear like a magician ;)

Then came JSR’s birthday, for which I stealthily crocheted a set of father-and-daughter Viking hats.

It took a couple of late nights crafting after he had gone to bed, but absolutely worthwhile. Look how great they are!

I used the Lael Viking Helmet pattern from mamachee on Etsy which has lovely built-in detailing and was a pleasure to work – full technical details are on my Ravelry project page.

During the photo shoot Willow leaned in for a kiss. AW! HEART MELTING! She’s fond of kisses at the moment, usually accompanied by a long, exaggerated MMMMMMMMMMMM-WAH! noise and a very firm grip on your face. It’s darling, I can’t get enough.

Willow in W’illow

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

It might be ‘just’ a baby cardigan, but this is my most complex knitting project yet, and I LOVE the result. The yarn feels beautiful, the stitch patterns and construction add texture and interest, and Willow looks so sweet in red.

The pattern is the L’illo cardigan by Susan Power, published in Knitty, and the yarn is Merino Soft 4-ply Baby Wool from Skeinz. My Ravelry project page has details of my minor modifications.

Willow + L’illo = W’illow!

The construction with saddle shoulders is not one I’ve tried before.
I promise that seam is actually straight :)

I had to hand over the lint roller to get a close-up without having the camera grabbed…

I made my own closures using i-cord, after failing to find commercial buttons I liked. Each of the buttons is a 4cm length of i-cord tied in an overhand knot and sewn down, and each loop is an 8cm length arranged in an infinity shape, sewn on one side and left free on the other. It holds together quite well and I love the look with the ribbing and the slightly raised collar.

While I had Willow corralled on the table, with a camera in my hand, I took the opportunity to cajole her into counting so I could capture her world’s-cutest pronunciation of “eleven”. Success!

I have many more videos to upload, when I get the time. Willow’s all about demonstrating her new knowledge now, and every day is a non-stop stream of numbers and letters and colours and shapes and animal noises and questions and songs. She amazes me every day with things I had no idea she knew. It’s magical, and definitely makes up for the tantrums and mischief and squashing six bananas onto the lounge floor :P

Wonderskirts

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

A couple of weeks ago I asked Mum if she could look after Willow while we went to see the Dresden Dolls, and she said “We were planning to go to the beach that weekend… but we could take Willow if you don’t mind her being away until Monday!”.

A whole long weekend by ourselves? Don’t mind if we do!

I was determined to take full advantage of the time – and, to be honest, keep myself busy so I didn’t miss the little scroggin-face too much – and I’ve done so much, I am very pleased. As well as seeing the Dresden Dolls concert (spectacular, as always!) we had brunch with friends on Saturday, then lots of discussion and amazing ice cream at Giapo (you must try the Sour Cherry Yoghurt, and the Butter Pecan, and the Red Velvet, and and and…), a trip through town to a new Japanese goods store (on lower Queen Street, about opposite Max), a visit to Amy’s new house on Sunday morning (with bonus viewing of sheep in a turnip field at the end of her street), and finally a 24-hour sewing marathon.

I snapped a quick picture of some of the sheep relaxing under the trees. This is only about a quarter of them! There were so many!

Historically I haven’t enjoyed sewing that much, but I really wanted some new skirts and I just don’t fit commercial clothes – it’s not even a fat thing, there are plenty of clothes out there big enough for me, but they’re all the wrong shape. Sewing patterns are no better, since they’re made for similar proportions as ready to wear, so I took matters into my own hands and had a go at draping my own skirt pattern.

I got out an old worn sheet, saved specifically for this sort of task, and made a flared tube a bit bigger than I expected the finished skirt to be. I put it on and gradually pinched out the excess fabric, sewing in little tucks and darts until it fit well. Then I pulled it apart to transfer the shapes I’d discovered onto cardboard to make a sturdy pattern, and sewed another test skirt out of the sheet to check and refine my shaping. After a few more changes to the cardboard pattern I moved onto some proper fabric and got the BEST FITTING SKIRT I’VE HAD IN A DECADE.

When I put it on it looks like a simple, swingy knee length skirt, but there’s a lot of construction to get there! My pattern has masses of darts shaping the fabric around all my curves, and a sloped waistline which crosses high in the back to prevent gaping and peeps of underwear when I bend or sit, but swoops low in the front for comfort, while maintaining an even hemline. I used flat felled seams to completely enclose the raw edges, and a faced waist and hem.

I made a second skirt this afternoon using my pattern, and it’s just as good. Now I can make a new skirt out of any fabric I like in about three hours, and the sewing really wasn’t too bad. It turns out having a dining table to cut fabric on is much more pleasant and accurate than crawling around on the floor, and it’s very motivating when I know the finished product is going to suit and flatter me.

So, can you see these wonderskirts? Well, that’s tricky… I can’t really model them because I don’t have any suitable coordinating tops in my wardrobe until I make those as well. But these are the fabrics I used; the leaf pattern is pinwale corduroy and the blue crockery-like print is cotton drill. I promise that I will take outfit photos once I have outfits!

I particularly like the skirt with leaves, which makes me look (intentionally!) like a lovely sofa cushion.

My next project will be to make a simple, well-fitting shell top. I have a pyjama shirt that’s close to what I want, and I’m going to try and ‘trace’ it to use as a starting point. I’ve saved a couple of JSR’s old t-shirts so I have some stretch fabric to use for trials and I’m all set to go next time Willow is away for a day or two. Since skirts, tops and knitted cardigans and sweaters are all I need in my wardrobe I’m well on my way to avoiding clothes shopping! Hooray! (Except for underwear, which isn’t a problem as Thunderpants cover my bottom with superior comfort, and I’ve worked out how to alter bras for a good fit. They’re way beyond my sewing skills/patience anyway. I’m also happy to buy a few items where fit is not critical, like socks, and thermal layers to go underneath my regular outfits in winter, particularly if they’re NZ-made. But otherwise I should be quite self-reliant.)

GUnit

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

I’ve recently started attending the local weekly craft group GUnit (as in gee, you knit?, though apparently a confused hip hop fan or two has tried to join the facebook group, ha ha!) It was very nerve wracking the first time as I only knew two of the others over Twitter and hadn’t met anyone at all in real life, but it turns out they are all salty sweethearts. It’s really nice to have an activity out of the house, and to meet more crafty people who understand when I say things like “I couldn’t sleep last night because I was too busy thinking about yarn” :D

I’m saving up the ‘boring’ bits of my Hobbergobber Blanket to take to meetings. I’m currently at a stage that involves lots of loooooong rows of single crochet, and it’s not unpleasant, but doesn’t require any brainpower either, so it’s perfect for being social. I’ve got all of the motifs for the blanket done, and now I’m making some zig-zag stripes to separate the rows. There’s no point racing along on this project between meetings as I have a feeling I’m going to run out of the background colour before I’m finished and will have to order more from Webs, but it’ll be a few weeks before I can afford that. Especially considering I’ll have to add some other yarn to my order to make the shipping worthwhile. Oh no, being forced to buy yarn, what a hardship!

The stripes between each row will go beige-cream-colour-cream-beige, with a different colour for each one.

Yesterday Willow’s new habit of pulling chairs and boxes around in order to climb other furniture led to a tumble off a desk, and she skinned her elbow on the way down. I had to apply her very first band aid! As I did so I found myself thinking “oooh, this is what a mother does, I am doing a mothering thing”, which is a bit weird since I am a mother, and I do various mothering things pretty much all the time. I guess I’m still not entirely used to it. She’s been climbing back onto the same desk all day today. Sigh!

Beach Baby W’illow

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

Willow and I spent last weekend in Whangamata with Mum and Coco-the-dog. To be honest I spent a lot of the time lounging about reading and taking naps – I hate the sun! – but Mum and Wil did lots of splashy water play and sandy beach play and doggy ball games and playground jaunts.

Babies in elephant-print ruffled swimming togs: TOO CUTE.

Today is JSR’s second day of a new job. He hasn’t been working since a prolonged illness last September, and Willow and I have loved having him home so much, but of course months without income have been stressful. His first day seemed to go well, and I really hope he enjoys the work.

I decided this was a good opportunity to reboot my daily schedule, so now we are all getting up with JSR’s alarm at 7.30am, as opposed to the, er, 10-11am rising Willow and I have been doing lately. We’ll have to see how this changes her sleep times, but I’m hoping for either a return to afternoon naps or an earlier bedtime. I know a time shift doesn’t really affect how many hours I have in the day, but I do feel much more productive when I get through all the laundry and chores before lunchtime!

I cast on for another toddler sweater this morning. I’m making Knitty pattern L’illo for Willow in a bright red wool. Perhaps I will call it W’illow! It’s quite a complex textured saddle-shoulder cardigan and I’m looking forward to the challenge. So far I’ve just got a little piece of sleeve but the stitch patterns are fun already. The only change I plan to make to the pattern is an alteration to the grafting at the centre back, since the half-stitch jog in alignment is rather obvious and looks sloppy to my eyes. I’ll see what other kind of join I can make when I get there – either a tidy seam, or a little strip of stockinette which will graft neatly.

Catchup

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

It’s been so long since I’ve updated regularly I’ve started to get a few concerned comments and emails – oops, sorry if I worried anyone! I did have a fairly bleak period through December and early January that left me not wanting (or having the energy) to write, but I’ve been feeling much better for the last week or so, and quite positive about the new year.

It’s been very quiet here in any case, as we have been staying home almost all the time to escape the summer weather and keep our spending down. I’ve been doing lots of knitting and crochet, and reading more books than I have for a long time. Just after Christmas I started tackling the 20-odd unread volumes on my shelves and I’m now about halfway though them, though I did abandon a couple after the first couple of chapters. My leisure time is too precious for bad books! There have been some very enjoyable reads too. I’m keeping a list of my 2012 reading and will post it at the end of each month with some comments.

Willow’s language is now streaking ahead. I kept a record of her first words, not counting names for people/pets, though I stopped when we got to 75 in December because she was learning so many so quickly I couldn’t keep up!

For posterity, here’s that list:
cat
hey
num (yummy)
poo
please
bye
sock
car
banana
eyes
nose
face
cake
oops
neck
peekaboo
what’s that?
comb
flower
slide
(what does a cat say?) meow
ball
outside
wees
teeth
book
toast
moon
door
baby
tickle
milk
hat
pen
ears
chair
paper
water
block
tower
bear
all gone
up
down
stuck
wheel
beach
star
toes
frog
again
bath
foot
sneeze (and a fake sneeze noise: ah-choo!)
boat
phone
watch
(what does a watch say?) tick-tick
chin
stairs
cheese
cup
apple
keys
mouse
spoon
hand
balloon
fly
stamp
mouth
bucket
sun
towel

I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows twice that many now, as she’s learned more animals, more body parts, more foods, the numbers 1-10 (though not in order) – it’s pretty amazing, really! At first we were actively teaching her most of the words, but now she absorbs them by herself, and keeps coming out with words and phrases we had no idea she knew.

Her 17th and 18th teeth popped out over the weekend too, the lower back molar on each side. Just two more to go and we’ll be DONE with teeth for a few years.

I feel it is time to crochet now. I haven’t touched yarn all day, and that will not stand! Hopefully I’ll be able to keep up with this bloggingthing a little more regularly from now on, as the first one after a break is always the toughest. And thank you for checking up on me :)

Willow’s Second Christmas

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

Willow’s second Christmas!

She received two great Duplo sets from my parents, and immediately started to build: “TOWER! TOWER!”

(video)

I am lacking in words at the moment, but will share some of my Christmas knitting soon! I hope everyone is having pleasant and relaxing holidays.

Oh, and, here is another video from a couple of weeks ago I haven’t posted yet. When we’re at my parents’ house Willow loves climbing in and out of Coco’s crate :)

(video)

Weekend Break

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

Willow spent last weekend with my parents, which was a deeply appreciated break for us. Toddlers are FULL ON and I am not always skilled at handling that, so I am very grateful that everyone involved is happy with her staying there for a couple of night every few weeks. We miss her little face, but it’s all the sweeter after perspective has been restored :)

Here is Willow climbing in and out of Coco’s crate, one of her favourite activities at Mum and Dad’s house. They went to Whangamata for a couple of days too, so she got to play in the sand and sea for the first time this summer. She came home able to say BEACH! and about a dozen other new words!

JSR and I took the opportunity to do some household tasks that are tricky with little hands in the vicinity, like shortening curtains and filing months worth of paperwork. Otto “helped” us with the curtain sewing. Incidentally, I discovered that wooden floors are excellent for cutting long straight edges – square the fabric up so the line to be cut runs along the join between two boards, then the groove between then becomes a tactile guide for the scissors!

Pippin just enjoyed the quiet house and relaxed in the sunshine. She doesn’t loll about like this frequently, so it’s a special treat to see her calm and curly-pawed.

I’ve been going to Giapo every few days over these last couple of weeks, as my friend Rob and I are working on a project with him, and we’ve been tasting lots of the new experimental gelato and sorbet flavours. Most of them are mind-blowingly delicious (Strawberry Fruit Tart, Cashew Nut, Custard and Pine Nuts, Rhubarb Creme Brulee, Strawberry and Mint sorbet, Earl Grey sorbet, White Coffee sorbet), and some are fascinatingly unusual (Wasabi and Vanilla, Seaweed and Sauvignon Blanc, Orange and Star Anise). There have been a couple of clunkers too – for my palate, that is, and bearing in mind they both contained ingredients I don’t like anyway – but in general it’s all SO GOOD. And I love being around someone who is really excited about what he is doing!

I hear that a new maple custard flavour went out this evening, so I’m wondering if I can justify another trip in tomorrow :D Parking is the problem, but if I time it for 7pm when the clearways revert into parking I should be able to get a spot nearby… a nice after dinner treat… mmmm…

Morning Beans

Posted on November 29, 2011 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

I find Willow hilarious when she’s groggy in the mornings, so I took this little video of her stumbling bedhead. HEE!

She’s also very keen on picking flowers (pronounced more like “frerhs”) at the moment. She’s denuded most of the plants in our garden, and when we went for a walk with Mum today we had to stop at every patch of dandelions or daisies or soldiers by the side of the road and pick one. Combined with a few extra bits from our front yard she ended up with a sweet little wild bouquet by the time we got home again, which I put in a baby food jar to decorate the table for the day.

Otto had to go to the vet this afternoon. He’s been sniffling and sneezing for several days, with runny eyes and a poor scratched nose where he’s been batting at himself. We were fairly certain it was just a cold but you know, you’d never forgive yourself if your cat was seriously ill and they said “if only you’d come in sooner”… so I packed him up and had him checked out. Sure enough, he has cat flu, and it should clear up on its own, though we have a list of symptoms that will need further attention to keep an eye out for. Vets are expensive, but worth the reassurance. We do love our soft ginger giga-pudding!

The patient, weepy eyes (actually not looking too bad in this photo, perhaps he’s on the mend already) and scuffed nose and all.

Monty has also had a hard time of it. Yesterday evening he followed Willow and I across the road and down the street to the reserve when we went to play ball, and was trotting across the grass towards us when he was swooped upon by an enormous, angry magpie. I don’t think it made contact, but it was very close, and the magpie was not much smaller than the skinny slinky Mon-man. He ran into the undergrowth where the grassed area turns into bush (i.e. thick forest, for non-NZers!) and meowed at me pitifully. I tried to get to him but he was too spooked, especially after the bird attacked him again, and he would not come out!

I didn’t want to leave him there because magpies are vicious and he is quite stupid, but after half an hour of calling and coaxing it was getting dark and Willow was antsy, so I started to walk her home to drop her off with JSR and go back for Monty. As we got about halfway back he suddenly rocketed out of the reserve after us and ran straight for our house, then proceeded to be a big scaredy-cat for the rest of the night – and with good reason. Poor little guy.

So, that election, huh? I don’t want to come over all political in the space I use to talk about yarn and kitty cats, but I’ve been more invested in this election than any other. As a Green Party supporter I was very pleased to see them gain an additional four MPs, hooray! But on the whole, I think the National Party has a lot of policies that will cause hardship and hurt New Zealand in the long term. It’s disappointing that so many people voted for that, and makes me feel disconnected from my country. I can only hope the other parties manage to reign National in, and that we get a different result in 2014.

Ducks and Daisies

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Annette / Soft Like Kittens

Since getting Willow out of the house is critical to maintaining my sanity, and we have Absolutely No Money at the moment, we’ve been visiting either a park or playground or the library virtually every day.

To be fair we’d be doing much the same thing if we weren’t broke, since I don’t think children need to be presented with commerce as recreation, but I feel awfully lucky to live somewhere we have plenty of opportunities for free activities when we need them!

Yesterday we had a few stale bread crusts lingering on the bench, so we went to a local park that has lots of ducks.

My first feeding spot beside the pond was not particularly successful, as Willow kept making a beeline for the water, but then I noticed a pair of handsome white ducks heading into a stand of trees and followed them under the canopy only to find a DUCK PARTY!

It was lovely and shady, and I distributed the rest of our bread to much quack-quacking. Wil was far more interested in eating the crusts herself and playing with sticks, but at least she wasn’t running for the water :)

We also spent a while on the other side of the park – away from the duck poop, hee! – carefully examining bugs and looking at the clouds and rolling about on the grass.

We play in the back yard at home, too. I made a daisy chain and managed to get Wil to wear it for a good ten minutes! So cute I could dieeeeeeee.

Unfortunately she is currently in a clingy, whiny, MUM MUM MUM MUM MUM phase (i.e. being a toddler!) which I can handle cheerfully when I’m well rested, but my reserves of energy run low in the late afternoon and evening, and most days it all goes a bit pear shaped. If she takes a nap I get some temporary relief, but then she stays up very late and bedtime is even more difficult, so it doesn’t really help the big picture. Frustrating!

On a happier subject, I’m excited about the new Urban yarn from Skeinz – it’s 100% wool, DK weight, machine washable, New Zealand made, and the initial reviews on Ravelry say it’s quite soft too. Oh, and really well priced! Those are perfect characteristics for crocheting blankets. I have a Skeinz gift voucher that expires in a month, so I’m going to order some to try out. Now, which colours to choose…

Soft Like Kittens

Idle life with yarn, cats and a small hu-man.

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