A new year

Well it has been a while since I posted on here. Well its 2012, I have 3 boys and a husband. 2 cats and a dog. Still living in the same house, and doing more crafting then ever.

Still a member of HPKCHC and loving every bit of my crafting time, which now includes knitting. finally I have mastered knit and purl and a few other stitches. I have crafted a few projects too.

2011 saw me complete over 19 projects, some of them documented on ravelry.

so far in 2012, I have competed a total of 12 projects and started no fewer than 3. I have many more projects to come this year and designs.

11 days to go apparently

The count down has begun...well it began a few weeks ago, as I thought this little one would want to arrive at 37 weeks, then at the beginning of 38 weeks. Today it is 38 weeks and 3 days, and I have lovely pain, but still not in a regular burst. If it goes as it should, I hope that tonight I will be in full on labour and pushing out the melon that is this baby.

I have been doing a little crocheting and knitting. I am trying to make a beanie for Miles and it is going slowly but I have been using this as good practice on using dpns. So far it is about 3 inches in height, so just another 2 1/2 inches to go and then I can start on the decrease. The pattern is from Charmed Knits.

I am planning on making a glove/mitten thing for History of Magic for the house cup, but at the moment, I am just not feeling the love there with the pattern and not really in the mood to do it. Luckly I am doing the Zen Quest and doing what I want to do for the cup. No, OWLs this term either. I just dont want to tackle a big project if I am not going to finish it off in 3 months. Maybe in a few terms, I will attempt an OWL!

I did manage last month to crochet a filet bunny afghan in forest green for the baby. It was huge and I am so pleased that I made it. It will fit nicely in the cot and on his bed when he moves onto a big boys bed. I still have to make an afghan/blanket for William. I was thinking about either a starghan or a log cabin style blanket just for him. Most likely in some bright colours.

Photos of some of my projects can be found on my flickr page or on ravelry.

knitting, knitting, and kids

Well classes have restarted for at HPKCHC and I'm loving it. Not sure what quest I am doing, as I am planning on doing a bit of knitting this time around. I have been working on some legwarmers for the baby. I have one finished and have gotten about halfway through the second one before Willy accidentally broke two of my 4mm dpns. I am planning on still continuing with the warmers and with the broken needles. I am using the longest pieces to complete the legwarmers.
The pattern has really been testing me with the ribbing. But this second pair I am happy with how it has turned out. I have managed to do a 2x2 rib on the warmers. I think I am going to attempt either a beanie or mittens, as it has gotten cold over here. The wood fire has been lit and the room is nice and warm, but not sweltering hot.
At the moment, William is dealing with a bad case of nappy rash, poor things rear is bright red and looking mighty angry. Hopefully, free time and a bit of sun will fix up this little problem.
Miles is doing well at school. He is doing really well with his writing and reading, as well as painting and drawing. We are so happy that he is enjoying school so much.

what im working on

Well the groove to get back into crocheting has finally hit, as well as the need to clean and get things ready for the coming baby.
I am working on a doily for June, its from one of my Japanese Ondori books, and so far, I havent had to frog it (well just a little when I made a mistake).
Still working on my Luna cardigan. Havent really touched it for over a week now, so might get the doily finished and then finish off the cardigan.

House Cup has ended for a month, but will need to get a move on when classes do start. I have a few plans but really dont know if they will fit until after classes are posted. Really want to be taking part of the crochet-a-long on the forum, but cannot, as I want to finish off the said projects before starting something new.

There are still WIPs sitting about in my bag, but they can be done at any time.

Ravelmypics

This year, I am taking part in the ravelympics...so far I have frogged a shawl i have had for over 2 years that wasnt going anywhere. Glad I did, as I like the aran yarn and am thinking about making something for the baby in it and maybe the boys.

Im playing for Team Slytherin! in the HPKCHC on Ravelry.

Got a few projects on the way, 1 needs to be finished soon, the other 2 have a little longer to go, but I am hoping to get a few rows completed on both later today and tomorrow. I have the shawl Im working on at about 25% so just need to get it to the 33% and photograph for my OWL. I think I can make it there. :)

Some random photos of the kids and our new kitten - Kuro-chan.

Updates

Well the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup is finished for this term....and SLYTHERIN won!!! Great news for me, as I am a Slytherin. We won by a landslide. I still have a few projects to complete (so I am now in detention to finish them).

Master Two, will be one in a few weeks. Already he is walking some, he can manage about a metre before he falls or sits down. It wont be to long now before he is walking and getting himself into more trouble. He also has 5 teeth, the sixth one is starting to come through. I still dont know what I am going to be doing for his birthday, but it will be a small gathering of family and friends, some cake and that is about it for the moment.

Master One, is so ready for Prep. We will have an open day next week, and he is looking forward to that so much. I still have to explain that it will be next year before he can go to school. It is great to see that he is really excited about it. I cant wait for him to start, I am sure that he is going to excel there.

Hubby has been sick with the flu, he is so unlucky, as he has the one that lasts anywhere from 2-3 weeks. We are currently in week 2, and he is getting better but a fever ever now and then at night. I hope that it ends this week and he is back to normal. :) He is a good patient though.

Me, I have a lovely case of hayfever from my conifers as they have a lot of little flowers. I am also got a bug, the cleaning bug, so I have been doing a bit of cleaning and removing of items I dont need or use. It is great fun. I still have the lounge and spare rooms to do, as well as the kitchen, then I can hit the bedrooms. The boys room is in serious need of being clutter free.

Also, now my chances of having another baby has increased from "maybe not yet" to "damn it, got to go shopping and pick up a few things" and "this explains those pimples". Hubby is happy about having another set of feet about the place. So I am thinking it is going to be something like within the next 6 months....lol If so, I so want a baby girl. Just to make it clear, I am not pregs at the moment!!!

Tonight, I have cut out 42 little apples for Kindy. I did it all cos I am nice...lol and I asked if there was anything that needed to be done. Tomorrow I might help out a bit at kindy before coming home and doing some work. I cant go anywhere as my car has a bit of a leak. The water heating hose has a crack in it. So I am going to have to get that fixed before I can go anywhere! Its not fair!!!

Latte and Chino (our two kittens) are so cute! I will get some photos of them soon and put them up on here, they are just so much fun and the kids love them.

We also got 4 hens, fresh eggs everyday and they dont do to much damage to the gardens....what I am saying, they have uprooted my plants. I will have to go and replant them again tomorrow. The little shits, but they do give good eggs. So that just about makes up for their short comings. They are also very friendly and dont attack the kids, the cats are another story, as they kind of hunt after them.

sick dogs get some rest

How come I dont get a rest! Im sick...sicker then most dogs that have been eating roadkill for the past week. I dont like being sick. Willy and I both have a cold, and it is not nice at all. I am awake most of the night trying to get Willy to go back to sleep, so I am going without. I know it is part of the package deal that mothers (and fathers) sign up for. I am looking forward to having a nice hot shower before having to the doctors. I am also crossing my fingers that I get to see a dentist sometime this week. I might as well have it removed, as it is painful and not fun any more. lol

There was going to be a photo here of me, but I just couldnt do it...its just wrong to inflict that kind of punishment on people...lol

Crocheting
I am working on my quidditch projects at the moment. I have to see what else i can fit in, but my 2 main goals for this month, is my quidditch outfit for Willy and my OWL. I want to get about 25% of them done.

I have finished a few projects last month and just one so far this month. Not bad going.

(Im just waiting for my mummy to come over and look after me...)

Muggles studies

For a while now, I have been thinking about making something to keep my mp3 player protected. It has its own pouch, but it doesnt feel like it would protect it from hard knocks or drops. So I was lucky to see that one of the assignments for HPKCHC was to make some that muggles might use since they cant use magic. So with the assignment set, and children (baby and little man) busy, I got to work on it. The best part was that the yarn that I am using was gifted to me from Val, and it is the prefect thickness to keep my player safe from the knocks and drops that it might suffer if the baby or little man got a hold of it. It is such beautiful yarn too. I really like blue and black. There is just a little left of the partical ball, so I dont know what to make with it, but I am sure that I will think of something.

its cold outside baby

The temp has dropped so much. It was just above freezing this morning. So I have better work faster on my crocheting and knitting.

What Im working on...

I have started a knitted fingerless mitten for Miles, I am up to the part in the pattern where I have to do FBF (Front Back Front) knit, I find this a bit confusing, but will give it a go. I hope to have it finished sometime soon.

I also have started a little tank top for Willy, I started working on it a few days ago, and hopefully I will be able to get this finished sometime in the next week.

Projects that have gone by the side are a scarf for my father. I will work on it soon.

Projects that I want to complete in the coming months:

• doily cal
• knitted beanie
• crocheted beanie/hats
• socks
• Mystery cal
• dishcloths
• tawashis
• bookmarks
• squares
• Secret Pal
  

I think I have most of this covered.

On the first of May, HPKCHC starts, so I am sure that I will be able to do a few of those projects within the classes that will be offered.

Miles finally learnt to eat with chopsticks...he is so proud of himself!

Willy is proud of himself too, he has his toes and a full tummy!

the rain has finally come...kind of

For the past couple of days, we have had a steady downpour of rain. No thunderstorm or lightening, just rain. The ground is soaked and my chokoes are growing like mad! We picked a few and they were over a kilogram in weight for about 3 of them. At the stores they are selling between $A5-9 per kilo. Im sitting on a gold mine then...lol but I have been giving them away to whoever wants some. I havent even gone through the whole lot of choko plants to see how many I have there. But I have been using them in my cooking, and they are great soup fillers too. It has been getting cold here, so soup will soon be on the dinner menu.

Crocheting and knitting
Having participated in the HPKCHC or House Cup for the last 3 months, I have been kind of busy. April is the rest period before the next round of classes start in May. I am looking forward to it, and hoping to be back in Slytherin house. I have been practicing my knitting and it has been a lot of fun. I have managed to try my hand at lace knitting, and made a few interesting little projects. If you want to play and crank out a few projects come and join in the fun. Just become a member of Ravelry and then click onto join HPKCHC and then choose your teams. Sorting out of teams will happen at the end of the month, and then the games start in May.

UNO
Miles has discovered the game of UNO! He loves it, I brought it cos I have been playing it online and it looked so easy, and now every time William is sleeping, Miles wants to play it. It can be fun, but sometimes, he just drives us crazy with wanting to play it, he doesnt like to loose, just win. lol

lace knitting update

i am finally onto my second repeat of the lace pattern. Finally!!! After about 3 frogs of the knitting, I am happy to see that I am finally getting a hang of the knitting. I am enjoying it, but I dont know if I would want to make it too long, but I will see how I go for a bit before deciding on the size of the lace knitting. So far it is about 5cm long!

introducing Master Turd!

Master Turd was created for one of my HPKCHC classes. For Herbology, we had to make something that made us laugh. So I decided to make Oh Poo!
Miles loves it a lot.

Finally finished

Took the kids to see Bob the Builder at the shopping center. Miles loved it a lot and William was asleep during the show, but he was awake for a photo with the cast.

Owlet, known as Midori-tama was made for HPKCHC as part of Feb. homework. Miles has claimed him and has taken him to school with him. He wants me to make him some more.


I finally finished the Seraphina's Shawl that I started in May of 2008. I know it took me a long time, but that was because I didnt work on it all the time just every now and then. I like how it turned out.

Horrible, just horrible...

Got a phone call about my car and I am now looking at somewhere about $3173 to get it fixed. I just cant believe that when I took her in there that there was so much wrong with her apart from a cracked head. I am rather annoyed that my other mechanic didnt pick up on these problems when I had her in his garage (all those 10 or so times). I have to seriously think about this, as it is a big thing. I like my car, she works like I want her to, serves her purpose, and has plenty of room for shopping and taking everyone from A to B. Hubby says fix it! I want to fix it! but it is an awful lot to pay for a car to get fixed.

BUT TO SOMETHING DIFFERENT
I came across this pattern called Fish Hat it looks like fun and I so want to make some. They would be so cool (and different) to wear. I think I like them dead!
I am still working on my crochet homework for HPKCHC for my Arithmancy class. I am almost finished. Miles has already claimed it, too.

Cracked head

My poor car has a cracked head and water in its no. 6 cylinder. This whole thing is going to cost me up to or over $1400 to fix. I can kiss getting a Wii goodbye for now, as this is eating into our savings. But hopefully once that is done and fixed I wont have any problems until next year! Fingers crossed. We just brought another car for my hubby, a 1997 Nimbus, and it too is a 7 seater. It is very different from my Ford Falcon to drive but it is working and that is all that matters. I have decided that since I dont have my car this week I will not take his car, unless it is necessary. But I am sure that I can hold on for a few days before having to go and get my car back. The repair time was quoted as 8 hours. It sure does make one think about learning mechanics so you can DYI at home, but all I can think about is all that grease...lol and I dont want grease on my yarn or clothes.

CROCHET
Thought that I might update on what I am doing in crochet. I am working on a dragon for my HPKCHC, I have the head and body finished and sewn together, just got the arms, legs, wings and the other little bits and pieces to finish him off. Miles loves him and is looking forward to me finishing him.
After I have finished him, I can start thinking about my other items that I want to start (and finish). I have a few bookmarks that I want to make, fingerless mittens I want to try. I saw a knitted one that looks interesting but they use dpns and I cant work them out just yet, so will probably stick with crocheting for now.

KIDS
William has the commando crawl down. He is crawling about the lounge all day long (except feeding and sleeping time) Miles has said that "William is my best friend", I thought that was so sweet. He really loves his little brother. I have one more year of Miles at Kindy before he starts Prep year at school. I am so looking forward to the book and uniform buying. It will be a lot of fun for sure. I wish I had his uniform now! lol

Well back to looking after the rascals. I have a lunchbox to pack, a baby to feed and a bowl of wheatbix (breakfast) to make.

Updates on what I am doing

At the moment I am working on my HPKCHC, Arithmancy homework. I am working on the body of it at the moment. I hope to have this finished either tonight or tomorrow night, then I can work on the rest of "its" body. You will have to wait and see what it is.

I finished my DADA homework, the exchange bag from Stitch n bitch crochet. I made it in lavander and love it. It worked up quite lovely, and it could be a pattern that I do again for Christmas presents for some of the ladies.

This was taken recently of the boys. William is getting a lot of hair growth on his noggin', I am thinking in the next couple of weeks he might have a nice crop on there.

current projects and what I am up to

I just finished a little bag for little Ava. She is the daughter of one of my husbands work mates, her mother and I get along fine and I really like them. On Saturday, she is going to have her 1st birthday party, so I thought I would make her a little bag. I cross-stitched her name on it.


This year I have joined the HPKCHC or Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup on Ravelry. I am in Slytherin House. I have so far signed up for 2 classes, Dark Arts and Arithmancy, but hope that I might be able to do a few more this month.
I am working on the Exchange bag from Stitch 'n Bitch, the Happy Hooker for my DADA. I am using Red Heart Lavender that was RAKed to me from another Ravelry group. I want to get this bag finished in a few days, so that I can start my other project for HPKCHC.