Saturday, October 23, 2010

Spring is springing




I love living in the Yarra Valley but I still have trouble getting used to the fact that in Victoria it takes until the end of October for us to have our first proper warm day of the year. I didn't know if I would get used to the cold weather after moving down from Queensland but then the change of seasons just captured my imagination.

Since moving to the Yarra Valley I love it all the more, being able to watch the seasonal changes, the sheep getting pregnant, lambing season, shearing season and driving through the vineyards watching the grapes grow, be harvested and then the groups of workers manually pruning back the vines for the next years growth. That growth came on in the last month and I swear that it's growing 10cm a week up the orderly trellises.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

They grow up fast huh!


Check Lucy out playing on her playmat, she's almost 10 weeks old and can bash stuff and smile and laugh.



We had been taking a very relaxed approach to getting her to sleep and it was working brilliantly a couple of minutes of cuddling and rocking and she was out like a light and then about 5 days ago it all ceased working and there was screaming in our house and I was a broken Mum. So I decided to bite the bullet and try the routines from the book called Save Our Sleep by Tizzie Hall and it was brilliant.

I had read the book about a million times but didn't have the guts to go through with it because I couldn't bear the thought of Lucy crying in her bed but the first day she cried a little bit and I gave up, the second day I stuck it out for about 6 mins (she wasn't screaming or anything but just grizzling) and she went to sleep and every sleep since except for the 7pm one last night when she spat the dummy (not literally because we stopped using one because it was more trouble that it was worth) she has put herself to sleep in her cot. I can't believe it works so well! (knock on wood).

We've booked a holiday away at the beach for the week after new years and I can't wait!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Cooking: Sugar Cookies (or Bikkie if you prefer).



Just got back from the maternal and child health nurse and the good news is that although Lucy has been sick she put on 1 kg in the last 4 weeks and the nurse said just keep doing what we're doing because she's doing fantastic.

I've been baking too. On the weekend I found the best cookie cutters and I tried some out on a sugar cookie recipe that I got from the The Splendid Table website, which is the website for a podcast that I absolutely love. If you're a foodie you should get onto it because it's amazing, the host Lynne Rossetto Kasper is a passionate food lover and she can talk about anything, her years of experience shine through when she takes random calls from people asking ANY food question under the sun and the road food segment of the show is an interesting listen because inevitably as an Australian I'm amazed at the weird junk food that they have in the U.S. as unearthed by Jane and Michael Stern (although it's not all junk food).

I have taken to keeping biscuits in the house that I've made because I've got a biscuit tin. A special tin that I got from my Nanna Rose's house when I went to her funeral. My Uncle and Aunty said to take something to remind me of her and I couldn't think of anything better to remind me of my Nanna than her biscuit tin, she always had biscuits or slices ready in her house for when people visited. Although I didn't visit her many times because we were often on the other side of the country or overseas when I did visit her as a kid I remember being very impressed by the delicious things she made.


Snails, Cats and Rocketships :) with M&M decorations

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Knitting: Big Button Hat

I salvaged this button from a bag that my Mum gave me that belonged to my Nanna which I'm now using for a nappy bag. It's the perfect button for this BIG button hat which I made from my September skein of Dream in Color yarn in the once off colourway Bayou. The yarn was 12 ply knit on 6 mm needles so the hat knit up extra fast and is super cushy and warm.




Knitting: Hand Knitted Baby

So Lucia is sporting the latest in what's in fashion with hand knitted babies around the world (actually that's not true, she's just wearing what I felt like knitting for her).


First I knitted Maile out of my August skein of yarn from the Dream in Color (spelling is U.S. as it's a U.S. company) Dream Club where I get a skein of original dyed yarn and a pattern every month. It's so much fun getting the yarn but I have found that the patterns don't float my boat that much so far. This cardigan is totally adorable and was designed specifically by the designer for her daughter Willow. The lace at the shoulder is based on the type of Hawaiian vine that the designer wore as a lei at her wedding. I like a design that has a story behind it and is made with love.

Then on a mission to use up some of my own hand spun I made the Eyelet Cables Baby Hat, not the best for handspun it turns out because you can't really see the eyelets due to the fluffiness but Lucy still looks darn cute in it. I can't remember who I got this fibre from, it might have been Ewe give me the knits but I know that it's sheep and silk from the feel of it.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

I have the fondest memories of wearing significantly tie dyed clothes as a kid/teenager and doing quite a lot of tie dyeing myself (with mixed results, there was that one shirt that ended up with circles over both boobs that made them look like targets - how embarressment). So at the markets today I found a man who tie dyed anything that didn't move and I brought Lucy a summer suit to wear. I hope that those of you reading this who would expect a gift from me this Christmas like tie dye because you or your children are probably going to be recipients :)

Here's a little video of my cherub.



We also got her a hobby horse (named Charlotte (we didn't choose that name it was already named when we brought her, like a cabbage patch)).