Sunday 25 March

A whole month without posting. Not sure what happened there - a combination of doing several secret projects and just general writer's block I think. And it seems that the longer you leave it, the harder it is to get back to it.

Just a quick catch up with some photos then!

A few months ago my friend Vanessa had a little girl, Georgina. I wanted to make something for her but wasn't sure what, as they live in Australia. She told me a hat would still be useful to keep the sun off Georgina's hat. I found a nice pattern and changed it to suit the weight of the cotton, and you can tell from the photo above that it paid off to start the hat three times over to get the size right!
I also joined Pinterest a few weeks ago and found the pattern for the bunny on Vanessa's board. He was great fun to make - you start on the ears and he gets cuter and cuter as he gets bigger. A bit fiddly as you work in the round on 6 stitches, and mine was done on a hook nr. 4 - when bunny arrived in Australia, Vanessa told me she'd been making the same bunny herself the week before but on hook size 2 - I don't know how she does it!!

This is my dad on our recent trip to Lyme Regis wearing the scarf I made for him - just a simple knit 2 p1 and knit until desired length.

And this is soon to be 13yo modelling my North Lyme hat. This hat and I didn't get on very well while I was knitting it, and consequently it didn't turn out quite like the pattern. I do love the colours though and it did keep me warm while we were away.

The last few months have seen me involved in several swaps. I'm really enjoying them, as you get to know new people with similar interests and in some cases make new friends. The swap I'm working on right now has Spring as its theme, which is harder than it may seem at first sight. Fortunately my partner Claire is also on Pinterest so by following her I think I have a little bit of an idea of what she likes (in fact, we have such similar taste that I repin most of her pins!). I got started on her swap this weekend and have this to show for it so far

Five down, 20 more to go!

And last but not least, a few recent pics of the children. Almost 13yo is growing so quickly at the moment, I feel every time I don't see her for 2 or 3 days, she seems to have got taller again. She has the same shoe size as me now and is only 15 cm shorter. Although she doesn't like me saying it, I wouldn't be surprised at all if she ends up being taller than me. She is certainly taller than most of her classmates. Height wise there is no doubt she has inherited the Dutch gene, as nobody on her English side is particularly tall. Last week she acquired her first set of braces. It could be quite a long process, correcting her overbite first (another Dutch gene she inherited...) and then straightening everything out. She spent a few days at home last week, getting used to having a very different mouth and learning to chew all over again. Poor girl - no pain, no gain!
Almost 10 year old is showing off his football skills here. I had parents evening for him recently and it was lovely to hear how settled and happy he is.

And with that, I'm crawling back under my sleeping bag - woke up with a slight bug this morning and have felt out of sorts all day. Probably something that an early night will soon sort!