floating world

this week

This week has been a busy one. Last weekend two of my favourite people got married, it was a beautiful day - perfect Sydney spring weather, lots of laughter and happy memories. My bridesmaid dress still fit, which was exciting as we bought it months ago and it was empire line but not maternity. Now my tummy is free to do whatever it likes. I feel like I'm already about the same size I was when Ali was born, which is scary because I still have 6 weeks to go (or 4, if this one turns up a little bit early like her brother).

Tomorrow is, amazingly, 3 years since that slightly early arrival. This is the "kindy cake" I made for him to take along to share yesterday (no such thing as too many smarties or sprinkles for 3 year olds), and tomorrow we're having a party and another cake, so I've been wrapping presents, making party bags and baking. 

And I've also been picking away at this, my first attempt at a Baby Surprise Jacket. So far it's knitting up really easily - I was a bit intimidated by the brevity of the pattern, but with the help of some notes on Ravelry it makes perfect sense. The garter stitch makes it great for end-of-the-day TV knitting, and I love love love the yarn... it's Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in Logwood, and is so beautiful to work with. Which is good, because I made a special trip to Islington and trekked up Upper Street to Loop in the rain one afternoon when we were in London to pick it up, with an unimpressed toddler in the stroller. But it is totally worth it, especially since I don't think this is a colour I would have chosen if I was shopping online, but in person it is perfect.

maternity smock

For a very simple dress, this has taken ages to finish. I think I brought the chambray at the end of 2009, and I put it on my 2010 Creative To-Do List at the end of last year. I started it in March or April, I think, but a perfectionist streak combined with fairly basic sewing skills made it frustrating... at first, in what I can only blame on early pregnancy lunacy, I lined the yoke and made the pockets from a yellow floral cotton. Even though only I could really see it, it looked horrendous and made me nauseous so I replaced the yoke lining with a plain cotton and took the pockets out entirely - extra bulk around the hips is not what I need right now. I also did some top stitching in teal, which I wasn't happy with, and unpicked. The next sticking point was the cuffs, which I couldn't get to look how I wanted, so I ended up chopping the sleeves off at 3/4 length instead and trimming them with some cotton tape I bought at the fleamarkets in Paris.

It's ended up looking very similar to this smock from Egg, and even with all the time spent unpicking it's satisfying to be able to make my own version since maternity wear is outrageously expensive (can you believe $100 for a fabric rectangle sewn to elastic?)  I mostly live in two denim skirts and two pairs of jeans, so it's exciting to have something different to put on, and I like it that this dress fits well around the shoulders and bust while still having room for a bump*. I don't want to make too many dresses, since they're not very practical for feeding when the baby arrives (unless they're wrap style), but I thought a hip-length version of this could be be good for the rest of the pregnancy and would also be feeding-friendly.

*it's not actually a maternity pattern, just a voluminous dress from a Japanese pattern book (picture from the book is here), so I'm not sure how flattering it would be on a dainty Japanese lady.

cake stall

Mostly I just feel like me with a small child in tow, rather than a Mother, but there are certain things that make me feel like a proper parent. One is having a fridge covered with collages and drawings brought home from kindergarten. Another one was baking for the kindy cake sale on the weekend. I remember bringing home the waxed-paper cake boxes when I was little, and my mum doing the same thing. I made banana muffins (with raspberries added) and the polka dot cookies from the recent kids edition of Donna Hay magazine.

more baby things

The baby knitting continues... (and the quilt is still unstarted)

I knitted a baby blanket for Ali and it was so boring and took so long that when I eventually finished I swore I'd never knit one again. But then it got masses of use - unlike the baby garments I knitted, which were outgrown in weeks, he slept under it for over a year, and still uses it as an extra layer some times. So when I saw a simple but not-too-boring free pattern and knew it would work with some Bendigo Luxury that I bought for a cardigan for myself that was coming out much too big I frogged the cardigan and started on a blanket. It's slow progress, but I do really like the pattern and I think if I keep picking away at it I might just have it finished before the baby arrives. 

But I still find knitting garments much more fun and satisfying, so last week I took a break from the blanket to make a quick baby cardigan from some beautiful cotton that Jen gave me. I love this pattern (In Threes) and I think it will be really useful as a summer cardigan or layered over a long sleeved onesie in autumn. It does seem kind of enormous for a newborn size, but that's better than too small.

And I have some pooling issues around the yoke, but have decided to ignore them... this was my first time knitting with really variegated yarn, but hopefully when it's on a squirmy baby rather than a hanger they won't be as noticeable. I love the colours in this yarn, it makes me think of spring blossom.

keeping me busy

I'm 31 weeks pregnant now, and entering the weird limbo stage where there is so much that I want to get done in the next few weeks and at the same time, despite all the preparations, it seems slightly surreal and unbelievable that we will have a new person in our family in such a short time. The almost-3-years since Ali was born have gone so quickly, but I still feel like I have forgotten all about newborns and what you do with them. Although I have remembered that jumpers with very small head holes are a bad idea, so at least that's something.

So, the things keeping me busy right now are:

• trying to turn our spare room / play room into a nursery
• sewing some maternity clothes, since I'm incredibly sick of all the ones I have
• bridesmaid duties for my closest friend from high school, who is getting married in two weeks
• planning Ali's 3rd birthday party
• washing baby clothes, knitting baby clothes, and procrastinating about sewing a cot quilt (with the fabrics above)
• other crazy nesting - doing things to Ali's room, hanging pictures downstairs etc.
• avoiding the coverage of what has to be the least inspiring and most irritating election I can remember
• preparing for life-post-baby - trying to think ahead and get organised for Mark's birthday and Christmas and all the other events that will fall in the Newborn Black Hole.
• Make Blurb photo books for 2008 and 2009. And our wedding album (from 2004). And an album for Ali's first year.

All fun things to be doing, but I'm starting to realise that I probably won't get everything off the to-do list that I'd like.

Unrelated, but sites I'm enjoying that might be interesting for anyone else thinking about baby names: a world map of popular names, and You Can't Call It "It" (I especially like the Deadly Trends of Baby Naming). Although Ali is adamant that the baby will be called Toodee.

thinking about maps

I love maps. I've been looking for one to hang up in Ali's room; since we've moved his furniture around he has space on the wall for a biggish poster, and a map is something he won't grow out of too soon, and he'll hopefully enjoy since he has a fixation with his atlas right now*.

I finally chose this one from L'Affiche Moderne because I like the illustration style, the colours suit Ali's room and the shipping was reasonable (always a consideration when you live in Australia... I've wanted to buy this print forever, but the shipping is nearly as much as the print), but here are some other beauties I found on my search.

Papercut Map from Famille Summerbelle.

Beautiful modern hand screen-printed map from These are Things (this one comes in 4 colour ways)  

Not so suitable for toddlers, but how cool are these customisable scratch maps? You rub off countries or cities as you visit them. 

And I saw this beautiful coloured one at The Future Mapping Company when we were in London - they also do lovely London maps.

I can't wait til the print arrives and I can get it framed and hung on the wall! It's a standard size too, so framing should be quick and easy.

--

*Mark has accused me of decorating Ali's room with all the things I would really like to have in my own room but know he won't tolerate, like Flensted mobiles and Componibili bedside tables. He may have a point.

baby toys

I don't need to buy many things for the new baby - we'll use the existing cot, change table and moses basket, and Ali had lots of white and neutral baby clothes that I can put a girl baby in. And the baby bath, high chair and carriers and stacks of muslins are still hanging around. We have enough baby toys already too, although one thing that I never had for Ali was a baby gym. I did actually try to buy one, but had to take it back to the shop because it was just too ugly. It didn't really matter, because being an only baby Ali had my undivided attention, but I think it's the fate of 2nd children to spend more time lying on the floor amusing themselves, so I've been on the look out for a playmat for the past few months. Luckily, since Ali was a baby some nice wooden baby gyms have appeared, so I'm not going to have to come to terms with a polyester monstrosity.

One of the best value is this Ikea Leka gym, it's $44.95 here and I have seen people Ikea Hack it to swap the toys around.

Honeybee Toys has a choice of 3 different wooden baby gyms from Selecta. They're all made in Germany and really beautiful.

I finally chose this Pin Toys one from Eco Toys. I like the 3 legged design - it seems less bulky - and I've ordered from Eco Toys before and was very happy with the service. And it's on sale at the moment which is a bonus.

Here's hoping the baby appreciates her tasteful wooden baby gym and that it provides lots of entertainment! 

little bits of pretty

Japanese paper balloons hanging up in Ali's room. I've been moving things around in there, making it more of a "big boy" room and less of a nursery. (The balloons are from My Poppet and Uguisu). 

And this is my reward for finishing the Ishbel. I haven't been letting myself start any new knitting until that was done. Beautifully wound (thanks, Alison!) balls of yarn, just waiting to turn into baby things. 

soft and cosy

I started knitting an Ishbel shawl back in February. I wanted to see if I could do fiddly lace knitting, and it was a cold week in the middle of summer, and I had some fine alpaca I had bought to knit baby things for Ali back in 2007, before he was born and I discovered that hand wash fibres and a baby who was exceptionally prone to regurgitating milk were not a good mix.

I worked on it for a few weeks, and then lost motivation half way through the lace section when pregnancy vagueness set in, and I wanted to do really brainless easy knitting. I put it aside for so long that I worried that I would never find my place, but luckily there was still a sticky tab on the pattern, so when I picked it up again a couple of weeks ago I could keep going, and it wasn't as fiddly as I had remembered. I've now entered the 3rd trimester, and with it have a crazy need to tidy cupboards, sew curtains, and banish all unfinished projects. 

I am so pleased to finally have it finished - not just because of pregnancy craziness - it's still wintery here, so I've been wearing it a lot as a scarf. My maternity uniform is denim skirt or jeans, some kind of black or navy top, and then a scarf to break up the monotony. The alpaca was perhaps the not best choice for lace, because it's soft and doesn't have the same definition that merino would, but it is completely unscratchy and lovely to wear. And while I don't think I'll rush out and knit another lacy shawl in a hurry, it's satisfying to have this one done. Now, back to the brainless baby knitting... and I have a quilt to make, nighties to sew and a mass of old baby clothes to wash and sort into piles.

Ravelry details here.

cockatoo island

Cockatoo Island could have been designed with toddlers in mind. You arrive by ferry. It's full of cranes, cannon and other post-industrial junk that looks like it could give you tetanus, perfect for climbing on. Right now the Biennale is on, so there are installations of exploding cars, shantytown rooftops and suspended colander jungles to rummage through. And a dark tunnel annexe with projections of country music bands on the walls and hay bales to jump around on.

I loved it too. There is no way that pre-children I would have been on a bus into the city just after 9 on a Sunday morning, especially considering we'd made pancakes for breakfast and mooched around reading the paper first, and then on the first ferry out to the island. It was still quiet when we got there, so we had a coffee by the water and watched the boats before heading off to explore and look at the art. There is something to be said for crack-of-dawn toddler wake up calls.