lately

It's not until you're pregnant, that you start to realise just how long nine months is - thankfully, I'm now twenty-two weeks, which is just past the halfway milestone. Hurrah! We found out that we're having a little girl, and she has subsequently been named Daisy, after my Mother's Grandmother - for a long time I couldn't feel any movements ("oh, you can feel them from about sixteen weeks if it's your second baby" - pffft), and at my twenty week scan, the sonographer explained that the placenta was at the front, and acting as a cushion. Over the last two weeks though, I've started to feel her wriggling and kicking, and have even seen my tummy move - magic!

The best thing about being so far beyond the first trimester is without a doubt the diminishing sickness and nausea. This pregnancy has been so much worse than when I was expecting the Boy, so to be able to actually smell food without wanting to retch is like Christmas come early - I'm anaemic, and still feel exhausted all the time, but I'd take anything over that endless sick-feeling.

We've been out and about a lot more lately, and have managed to solve the problem of the vegetable box with the discovery of a local market that takes place every Saturday - it just so happens that it's right around the corner from the park and lake we like to take the Boy to, which means killing two birds with one stone. Massive win!

We've been off exploring the local countryside as well - I'm absolutely desperate to move to somewhere more rural, but at the moment it's just not on the cards. So I have to make do with driving through little lanes and shouting, "STOOOPPP!" whenever the Husband manouvres his way past whichever animal, vegetable or mineral I see that might make a good photo......

 

The Boy and I have been squeezing in a lot of fun time too - painting, parks and Christmas baking, as well as a lot of peering out of the windows at the unusually foggy weather. We might live in a flat, but we're lucky enough to have some pretty impressive views out across the fields - I'd still much rather open my back door to an expanse of green, but all in good time!

fanfare for a finished project (finally...)

I honestly feel like I might need a drum roll for the beginning of this post, accompanied by a host of trumpets, and possibly even a choir joyfully trilling, "hallelujah!" After yet another massive blog-gy hiatus, not only have I managed to string another post together - I've actually (drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) finished the ripple blanket, border and all (tsssss - that's the symbol, in case you hadn't guessed).

Originally, I was going to sew some binding type tape up the sides, more out of sheer laziness than anything else - I thought it would be much quicker to simply pin the edging, and then nip it all together on the sewing machine than it would to actually just crochet a border. I literally couldn't have been more wrong - after pinning everything in place, I started stitching, and it soon became pretty clear that it was a terrible idea. For some reason, the tape moved as I moved it through the machine, which meant that it ended up all lopsided and tatty. I then had to spend an entire evening unpicking the damn thing, and then a further two evenings crocheting a proper border. The moral of the story? Don't try to cut out the middle man, because he'll come back to bite you firmly in the rear end.

It all worked out perfectly in the end though, and apart from the ridiculously large amount of time I spent on it, I'm really pleased with the whole thing. It's made from a variety of Stylecraft colours (I know some people turn their noses up at Stylecraft, but it's not bad at all, and is really the most affordable yarn around - it's not 'splitty' at all either, which is a big plus for me), and is quite soft and cuddly.

I made it originally to go on the Boy's bed, but as he's still in his cot (I'm putting off taking the sides off for as long as possible....), it's found a temporary home on the sofa - the Boy doesn't seem to mind, and often runs up to me saying, "Mummy, I lie on my blanket". What can I say? He appreciates a good bit of crochet!

i heart autumn

Despite now being eighteen weeks along in my pregnancy (almost halfway there, phew!), I seem to be continuing with my inconsistent approach to blogging, so sorry about that folks. I'm certainly less tired and sick than I was during the first twelve weeks, but I seem to be suffering with terrible back problems instead - still preferable to retching over the toilet every morning though, so every cloud. I'm determined not to turn this into a baby-blog, with nappy-bag reviews and endless updates, but as it's a pretty big part of my life, expect to see the odd bump photo and pregnancy-related post!
This week I had my sixteen-week midwife appointment (at eighteen weeks - in our part of the country everything seems to run late...), and we heard the heartbeat for the first time. They say that with second babies you often feel movements from about sixteen weeks, and as the week went on and I still felt nothing, I started to fret a little. The relief when she found the heartbeat within seconds was in incredible - I literally felt my entire body relax. It seems I'm just growing a very relaxed baby!
The midwife recorded the heartbeat as 149-160bpm, which is apparently in line with a girls heartbeat - however, I'm taking this with a pinch of salt, as I know a huge amount of people who were told that the heart rate meant it was a girl, and then at their twenty-week scan saw that it certainly was not! I really have no preference - the only thing I ask for is that he or she is healthy!

My ever expanding waistline means that vintage clothes are pretty much no longer an option, so I've been browsing the internet for alternatives. I pretty much hate all maternity wear, so tend to wear a lot of tunics and dresses with leggings. I ended up drooling over my two favourite sites - Anthropologie and Toast, and then got a little distracted with the homewares as well.... and then made a couple of collages.... ahem.

I love Autumn, and really celebrate the arrival of cooler temperatures every year. My favourite things to wear; tweed, colourful patterned cardigans, jeans and boots really don't work too well in the Summer, so as soon as you can see your breath in the mornings, I inwardly cheer. I'm so in love with the clothes that if I bought those, and then bought nothing else forever, I would still be happy. Honest.

We've had quite a busy couple of weeks, and apart from drooling over things I have no way of affording online, I've been embroiled in yet more crochet. I've finally gotten round to blocking the ripple blanket (on the floor on a few bath towels - how do other people manage with large crochet projects?), and have started a granny stripe blanket, in a desperate bid to use up yet more wool. I had the pattern for a granny stripe square in one of my books, but couldn't for the life of me work out how many chains I would need if I wanted it to be bigger. Luckily, I remembered that Lucy from the glorious Attic24 blog had done a granny stripe blanket last year, and she had kindly written the pattern down for her readers. I was away before I knew it - I'm quite enjoying this one after the ripple, there's no counting involved, and it's really easy to just sit and hook away on the sofa in front of the television in the evenings. Or in the cafe before work. Or on my lunch break..... you get the idea!

My gardening efforts, unlike my crafty ones, have been pretty fruitless. Despite persisting, and reasoning with myself that if there isn't enough light to grow vegetables (or even flowers!) on the balcony during the Spring and Summer months, the darker conditions will suit Winter flowering plants excellently, I discovered that apparently this isn't so. My chard, spinach and kale all floundered sadly, while the cyclamen never even put out a shoot. The most disappointing of all, though, was the radishes, which looked like they were flourishing well - but on pulling one up, I was met with an empty, spindly root. Not even a tiny radish, not even a hint of one. But, all is not lost - I did manage to cultivate a wonderful crop of basil on the kitchen windowsill, and will be turning this into a nice jar of homemade pesto. Alys Fowler would be proud....

The other thing I love about Autumn is that it is probably the most colourful of all the seasons - just driving down the road, or looking out of the window is a pleasure; gold, red and yellow leaves, distant misty purple hills and early morning haziness - lovely. We've been indulging in all of the usual October activities - pumpkin carving (and soup making), toffee apple scoffing and, my favourite activity of all, finally lighting the Winter candles in the evening. The ones I'm burning at the moment are left over from last year, and I couldn't tell you who made them, or what scent they are - I'm sure there are some cloves and cinnamon in there somewhere, but apart from that, your guess is as good as mine! I've also started Christmas shopping, although so far it's only a couple of presents and our Christmas cards - I always buy the charity ones from Paperchase, as they support good causes and are usually the best designs I find. I'm quite excited for Christmas this year, and have started to get organised early - I'm determined to make a lot of presents, and also source handmade ones. I also have a lino-printing kit just begging to be tried, so I've decided to print my own wrapping paper again, hopefully with more success than last years Hobbycraft stamps!

 

I've also managed to squeeze in a bit of reading over the weekend - whenever the seasons change, I revisit 'The Wonderful Weekend Book' by Elspeth Gibson. I love this book, and it always gives me some great ideas for seasonal activities, particularly things to do with the Boy - as soon as I've finished this post, we're off to collect leaves to press and make into an Autumn garland. Followed by lunch at the parents - no matter how old you are, you're never too old for a family roast!

The second book is a real eye opener - 'Spotted Pigs and Green Tomatoes - A Year in the Life of Our Farm' is written by journalist Rosie Boycott, and mixes facts about how our food is produced with the adventures of her and her husband, as they delve into the world of smallholding and farming. So far, it's excellent, and it's also really helping me on my quest for more ethical living. I've found myself looking up more vegetarian recipes (a nightmare when you have a husband who refuses to eat cheese, eggs or broccoli - no, I don't know how we're married either....), and researching the conditions into which meat is produced. In an ideal world, I would buy a small amount of meat from a local butcher, vegetables from a farm shop, and everything else from a local grocer. In reality, I'm stuck in a small town with two (and to my horror, almost three) supermarkets, no grocers and a market which takes place on a day when I'm at work. I'm getting around it by buying our meat from Waitrose (yes, a supermarket, pah, but their meat is excellent, as is their ethical conscience. Click here for their policies on farming and husbandry), and trying to decide between Abel and Cole and Riverford Organics for a weekly vegetable box. Some of the facts in the book were almost enough to make me go completely vegetarian, particularly those about pigs and chickens, but when it comes to it I always find it a struggle. For now I've compromised by simply cutting back on our meat consumption - much to the Husbands horror!

Last, but by no means least, we had a birthday in our house. A third birthday to be exact - full of chocolate brownies in a local cafe, hours in the park, and friends and family appearing for an afternoon of tea, cake, and noisy toys. The Boy turned three, and I still find it hard to comprehend where the last few years have gone. My tiny baby is turning (too quickly) into a lovely little man, who (usually) has lovely manners and is always friendly and ready to talk to anyone. Happy Birthday, my precious boy.

growing, sewing, baking and making

Hello, old friends, it's been a while..... I didn't check the date of my last post, but I'm pretty sure it was at least a month ago. I am officially the worlds worst, most inconsistent blogger, but, m'lud, I do have good reason.... honest....

Autumn has finally arrived - the leaves know it, the mist rolling along the hills in the morning knows it, but somehow the week at the beginning of October didn't really realise it. Uncharacteristically warm, I did a little bit of sowing and growing....

...and we also went for a walk and a picnic at Queen Elizabeth Country Park....

.... where there was a slight disagreement over directions, in which I may have been wrong, we may have ended up walking three times further than we needed to, and the Husband may have said a rude word or two. Ahem. I've also been spending a lot of time in the kitchen, baking up a storm, and having fun with food colouring pastes - which are much stronger than the liquid colouring available in the supermarket. It's the Boy's birthday next week, and I've been toying with the idea of a rainbow birthday cake, but after a little experimenting I've decided on a (just as colourful) alternative. The Victoria sponge was deemed 'epic' by a work colleague, which left me feeling rather chuffed - it's one thing to produce a cake that looks all pretty with some fancy napkins, but the proof of the pudding, as they say, is well and truly in the eating. (Cupcakes lovingly decorated by the Boy.)

The remainder of my spare time has been spent with my crochet hook glued to my hand. From the top - an as yet un-blocked cushion cover for the Boy's room, a circular giant cushion cover for the lounge, another cushion cover for the little man's bedroom, and his ripple blanket that is finally wide enough to block and edge. I recently had a humungous sort-out-clear-out-organising frenzy, and discovered that actually, I had a huge wool stash that really could do with a little busting - so I embarked on a mission to make the most of my leftovers.

While I admittedly have been busy with my hobbies and interests over the last couple of months, the real reason for my absence has been more to do with growing and cooking something a little different....

 

Please say a big hello to Baby H! I'm expecting our second child, a little brother or sister for the Boy, and am due at the end of March - which means if Littlun is anything like our first born, he or she will arrive mid-April (I will be doing some serious lunges if this happens....). My first pregnancy left me tired, and a bit nauseous in the morning, but on the whole I didn't suffer too much - so when I was absolutely floored by exhaustion, morning sickness that dragged on alllllll day, and a sudden loss of appetite, I was left feeling rather glum. For the first ten weeks or so, I lived mostly on boiled eggs and fruit. It was a miserable, miserable time, and the only thing I could be bothered to do once I got home, was collapse on the sofa in front of Eastenders and feel sorry for myself. At sixteen weeks, I'm now feeling much better (although still utterly shattered), and my biggest problem is my endless back problems and heartburn.

So, once again, sorry for my lengthy absence, and I promise not to leave it so long next time!