Recap

My ticket expired and I am back at work, full time. Sad times. I miss spending my days leisurely with Ticket.  He has been a good sport, taking it on the chin, that he gets to spend less time with mummy.  When I come home, he falls into my arms and gives me loads of kisses.  How I miss my little boy.. Now I need to be a good sport too, and stop sulking.

My first step is to keep the notes going.  The parallel world the door is left crack open and I can still peek through at times.

It has been a while since my last post, so I will go for a summary recap. Ticket and I went away over the summer and Ticket met the sea for the first time.  He loved it of course, although not too impressed with the salty water.  Clorine seems so much more natural to him.

He now is an independent little boy with opinions about how he would like to spend his time.  He crowls, he climbs and pulls down everything he can reach. It is that stage...

The cutest thing ever about my little ticket , is that he has taken on singing and dancing. I am not sure where he picked the dancing from but every time he hears a tune he bops away with the rythym..  Ticket also has favourite singing spots, mainly the swings and the car.

Over the summer I spent my crochet time making Ticket two hats and a pair of shorts.  The two hats, one is the colourful bucket shown below that I made up as I went along, and the blue and white fedora following using this pattern.  Let me know if you need a hand.

I used a pattern for the shorts, and they are lovely, but by the time I finished them summer was over..

Crochet pouf ottoman

Slightly in danger of turning this into a crochet blog, but it is taking over.  Maybe more than Ticket has.  

Here is my project before last, a crochet pouf:

I used the pattern from LVLY, which was simple, easy to follow and well written.  Check the blog out it is great.  

The pattern can also be found below altered slightly with my notes, for next time:

I used a no 10 hook and about 2kg of t-shirt yarn.

The pouf is crochet in a spiral, so you have to make sure you mark the beginning of each row, you know where the row ends and starts. It will be hard to tell otherwise.

The same stitch is used for the entire project. In US terms a double, in UK/AU a treble.   That is you will yarn over then put your hook through. Figures 95-98  For ease it will be referred to as st (stitch) in the pattern

LVLY suggest you can make a narrower puff by skipping row 6-7-8 and row 13-14-15.  I will be trying that next time.

-         make a magic ring and chain 3 to count as first st. (My favourite magic ring tutorial)

-         row 1, crochet 11 st. in the circle

-         row 2, crochet 2 st. in every st. repeat 12x (=24)

-         row 3, crochet 2 st. in every second st repeat 12x(=36)

-         row 4, crochet2 st. in every third st. repeat 12x (=48)

-         row 5, crochet 2 st. in every fourth st. repeat 12x(=60)

-         row 6, crochet 2 st. in every fifth st. repeat 12x(=72)

-         row 7, crochet 2 st. in every sixth st. repeat 12x(=84)

-         row 8, crochet 2 st. in every seventh st. repeat 12x(=96)

-         row 9, 10, 11, 12 crochet 1 st. in every st (you can continue to desired height.  Bear in mind that as you are making it it will look flatter than the final pouf).

-         row 13, crochet every 7th and 8th st.together repeat 12x(=84)

-         row 14, crochet every 6th and 7th st.together repeat 12x(=72)

-         row 15, crochet every 5th and 6th st.together repeat 12x=60)

-         row 16, crochet every 4th and 5th st. together repeat 12x(=48). 

Cast off

Use some tights to fill the the pouf with filler beads or like I did use the insides for some (three largish) old cusions.  If you are using old cushions don't put them inside tights as it will be hard for them to take the shape you want.

The bottom

-         make a magic ring and chain 3 to count as first st. 

-         row 1, crochet 11 st. in the circle

-         row 2, crochet 2 st. in every st. (=24)

-         row 3, crochet 2 st. in every 2nd st.(=36)

-         row 4, crochet 2 st. in every 3th st. (=48)

Sew with an overhand stitch the bottom to the pouf.  The bottom might look too small but trust me it will work..

Must dash as Ticket is complaining.  Here he is enjoying the fruits of my labour:

Ticket is now seven months..

Seven months and one day to be more accurate..
In the past month or so, he is less of a ticket and more of a child.  In the past month I started turning from F with a baby to F the parent.  It is so strange..  I suddenly I am becoming aware that my world is becoming Ticket-centric but I seem ok with it.  I think the reasons are pretty selfish to be honest.  There is this little creature, who now does have personality and is able to communicate (roughly) what he wants, who sees me and lights up every time.  Actually come think of it (without my morning coffee) that is pretty manipulative, but I am so falling for it...

What is happening to me!  The Ticket has taken over..

Hexagon crochet cardigan

Finished my first crochet cardie for Ticket. Quite proud of myself as I haven't made a cardie before, although not enough to pick buttons and get Ticket to wear it.

Can give you a sneaky preview since you asked so nicely. I will even show you what buttons I am thinking of eventually getting round to sewing on.

What do you think?

Its the Hexagon sweater revisited pattern from Cozy'z corner.  It is very easy to follow.  Effectively you make two curly hexagons and you sew together to form the cardigan.  What you need to do is sew two sides from each hexagon together and then you need to sew the shoulders shut.  It will make sense when you have them infront of you.

I made it with three balls of Rowan Savannah and it fits my rather big 6 month old Ticket quite nicely.  Hoping it will fit for a while, fingers crossed.  I've slgithly editted Cozy's pattern below, to to achieve a similar result to mine (and also how it made sense in my head).  Cosy's pattern is in US terms [dc is actually a tr for us UK folk]. Hope you find it helpful. Good Luck.

Ch 6, join yarn with a sl st to form a ring. Alternatively form a magic ring.

Round 1: Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc), 2 dc in ring, *ch 2, 3 dc in ring, repeat from * 4 times, ch 1, hdc into top of beg ch 3 (6 sets of 3 dc clusters).

Round 2: ch 3, dc in same space, *dc in each dc, 2 dc in 2ch space, ch 2, 2 dc in 2ch space still, repeat from * 4 times, dc in each dc, 2dc in 2ch sp, ch 1, hdc in top of ch 3.

Rounds 3 - 12: Repeat round 2

At the end of round 2 fasten off. 

Make a second hexagon leaving about a yard of yarn for use in stitching.

Sew the 2 hexagons together along one side and then fold each side to form a T shape. The seam you just sewed is the center back, and the tops of the sleeves will be  left open. 

Sew the top of sleeve seams from the cuff edge to 9cm (3.5 inches) from each front edge.

Cuffs
Join yarn with sl st at the inside side of the current cuff edge. Ch 3, dc in next 4 dc, * dc dec over next 2 sts, dc in next 5 sts, repeat around, join with a sl st in top of beg ch 3.

Round 2: Repeat round 1

Round 3: Ch 1, sc in each st around, join with sl st in beg ch, fasten off, weave in ends.

Repeat for other sleeve.

Adding length (optional)
join yarn with sl st at current waist edge. Ch3, dc in each st all the way around the bottom edge. Ch3 turn and repeat until you reach the desired length.

Edging
join yarn with sl st at neck edge . Ch 1, sc in same st, (you can sc up to where you would like the first button to be) *ch 3, sk 1 st, sc in next st (button loop made), sc in next 10 sts, repeat from * 3 times, sc in last dc, 2 sc, ch 2, 2 dc in corner ch loop, dc in each st all the way around the bottom edge to other front corner, 5 dc in corner ch loop, dc in each st up front (for button band) to neck edge, ch 1, turn, sc in each st down front and across back ending at bottom front corner. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Sew buttons on button band opposite button loops.  (Try to get round to it, don't be lazy like me)

Oh hello again

Haven't been on for a while. So much has gone one, that I really don't want to get into right now, but I wanted to get the ball rolling again so here I am..Ticket has grown so much since last post.

To the uninitiated he is just another baby who doesn't do that much still, it is not like he is walking or talking yet.  I, however, know everything there is to know about him and I can reassure you that is not the case.  He's now rolling all over the place, using this as means to get from A to B. This is a great pain as he can't be left unattended even for a second.  We have started eating solids (that is foods other than milk), and he is so proud (so is mummy of course). Now he has opinions on what he wants to do, and finds ways to communicate that to us. He has also moved to his own room, which felt to me like he went off to university and was almost tearful about it..
What I have also realised is that I am so his favourite person in the world.  That is such a big responsibility, especially since he also finds me the funniest person in the world,  I now must live up to these expectations...

First impressions

When Ticket first came out of me I thought,  my goodness, all that pain and effort for THIS?
Then as time went by, and  I started to grow fonder of the little caterpillar.. Strange, I don't even know why. It's not like we have a good heart to heart, or he supports me through the tough times, but hey ho.
About a month ago I was trying to describe it to a friend. The best I could come up with was that it is like I am a teenager again and he's the coolest kid at school that I really want to impress and hang out with.
Now I started noticing that I get sheer joy just but starring into his face and see him light up lookingback at me.  I mean we do spend a lot of time together,  but still, why? Is it just a ego thing ? If so, how disappointing... I don't understand how Ticket could have changed me so dramatically in such a short period of time...

Orange and walnut chocolate bites

Staying on the foodie theme.  Just wanted to share as they are simple, relatively healthy (in other words, no butter) and I love them! Note my attempt to food porn.

You will need:

• 4 large clementines (oranges) preferably organic so that their skin have not been exposed to any chemicals
• 1/2 glass (150ml) of fresh clementine juice 
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp French toast crumbs
• 150 gr chopped walknuts
• 1 cup brandy or water
• Dark chocolate (melted)

1.     We peel the clementines and put the peel in the blender. We put the peel, juice and sugar into a saucepan and simmer for 7-8 min stirring often with wooden spoon until the mixture comes off and no liquid is visible at the bottom of the pan.  We set aside to cool

2.     In a bowl we mix the walnuts, the crumbs and cocoa powder.

3.     We combine the orange peel mix with the dry ingredients. We mix well.

4.     We make the mixture into balls or whatever shape.  Each time dip your hands in the cup of brandy or water to avoid sticking.

5.     Place on baking paper to firm. Once firmer dip each ball into the melted chocolate and place back onto the baking paper to dry. 

Alternatively, you can use orange marmalade instead of the peel mix (I’ve used St Dalfour Orange & Ginger Spread in the past as it has no added sugar.)

three is the magic number

Came across a buzzfeed list of three ingredient recipes.  Some of them sounded delish so I will be giving them a go some time soon.  A quick list not to forget..
peanut butter cookies
raw energy bars (although to be fair I have quite a few raw cookie bar recipes that are so yum.  If you haven't tried them you are so missing out.) 
orange sorbet
peanut butter cups
salty banana and peanut butter ice cream
sweet potato veggie burgers
flourless chocolate cake

Once I've tried them I will let you know which of these are worth making. They do look good..

some sort of chip

I find that being at home with baby is quite the self-discovery trip.  I guess, it has been a long time since I had the luxury of time to think.  I feel I am getting to know myself better as well as feel more comfortable in my own skin.  It is strange as I have been closet insecure most of my life.  (Great at hiding it though).

So, today I realised how big a chip I've been carrying on my shoulder.  So not wanting to conform, me nor my baby.  This is the first handmade thing I made for my first born child, my darling son:

I mean don't get me wrong.  Despite it not being the best, I am very proud of my creation.  It is the first garment I have ever made with my own hands.  Not only that, but I actually adapted a cardigan pattern (found here and here) and turned it  into a vest (let me know if you need a hand with that) And I did this all by myself.  .  But seriously, what was I trying to prove?

Oh well, onwards and upwards. Boy hasn't tried it on yet as it was on the big side.  I think now might just be about time so I just washed it for him to be wearing soon.  Hmmm, I could even post a picture.  

Let me introduce you to my ticket to this parallel world..

Random thoughts -- babycentric

Before all this, I just could not get why all parents are so babycentric. I really hoped I would never become like that myself. Why talk about them all the time?  I mean lets face it other people's children are just not that interesting. My biggest fear whilst pregnant was not to turn into one of those people myself. Boring and baby obsesed.

Four months down the line, I find myself so consumed with my baby. Almost all other interests are non-existent. Love spending time in my bubble.  Domestic bliss!  I enjoy hanging out with other mums so I can indulge in talking about the boy. At least that way I am able to stop myself boring normal people without babies. I am actually very strict, I never say nice things about the boy, infront of normal people, in case they think I've also turned into one of those boring smug parents.  But reality is different, I think my boy is AMAZING.  The most beautiful, the most clever, the most rewarding bundle of joy... Puke!

I'm typing this whilst I'm breastfeeding wondering what has happened to me and why. Hormones?  Natures way of protecting the species?  Or just an indulgence, as this is the first time I am not working and have time to myself after donkeys years.  My way of saying thank you to the boy for the time off?

Well, I might make him a little thank you present.

Dear diary..

Never saw myself as the motherly type. Children were not my thing. Made for bigger things in life.  Too interesting to conform with natures expectations.

And then I found myself with child...  Maternity leave seems a bit like a gap year travelling to find myself.  This whole New World has openned up in front of me.  A parallel universe I didn't know existed.  All these mums and baby related proffessionals smiling to one another, being supportive.  This is a world where everyone is so supportive and friendly to one another.  I live in London, this is not normal...

This is a journey I was not expecting, I am now four months in and I think it is best to take some notes.  For me to remember, but also to pass on some wisdom if I can.  This is not a blog about babies I hope, although I will be noting things I found useful along the way.  These are my notes of things that are tickling my fancy in my new found world.