An even bigger girl!!

So wow - Jenna first term at kindy is over, and it seems like she is still so little to be going, but she loves it.

Today was the end of term, and there was a concert in the next door baptist church, and here is a photo of all the kids. OMG I could probably be sued if they knew I posted their kids on the net, but they are just so cute :)



So I just threw Jenna up on the stage cause we got there late (we had been planting the new gardens!!!) and I didn't even pay attention to te fact that she was ripping it up, but it was only afterwards, when a couple of the parents commented to me that she was totally into it, I really realised she was! Specially when I playback the video of my camera and I see all the other kids her age just standing there with their arms by their sides, liek little stunned rabbits!!
So here is a special photo to show my little girl getting into it, and even better, half the songs were Maori, which I love even more since its a private Montisorri kinder, in a very "white" town, and they are totally going against what I thought :) Love, love, love it!!!!!!!




Oh - by the way, mine is the little one with the red top and the denim shorts :)

My little girl turns 3

Well,

Big week here. Jenna turned 3!!!! Seems amazing that it was only 3 years ago that I felt more pain than I have ever felt in my life :)

So we got up first thing and did the present thing in bed, and she ran into the kitchen (at about 6am.....) to find her butterflies. She loved them. Made cupcakes for kinder. Note in the picture our crappy kitchen, our cat on the window sill, the butterflies hanging from the roof, her new tinkerbell jammies, Shane cooking, wow - very layered photo!!!!



OK - so apparently at kinder you have to provide "something" for 25 kids and 5 teachers every birthday. Well you dont have to, but its pretty bad form if you dont. We decided that little mini cupcakes would be the way to go, had a couple of practise runs, and here is the final result.



I feel completely terrible, as its the first kids birthday that I haven't done the whole womans weekly b-day cake with butter icing and all, specially since she wanted a "strawberry chocolate butterfly cake please mummy". Pressure......

Keep in mind that I had 3 major assignments due on her birthday - give me some slack! Oh - even worse, I have lectures all day Thurs - I get home at about 9:30pm.

But she had a great day, and apparently the cakes went down very well, specially since they didn't have papers around them, so the teachers were happy ;)

Bag swap finished!

In the nick of time......

This is my contribution for the Australian Bag lady swap from Ravelry. I'm sure my swapper doesn't read my blog, so I'm not worried about posting it.




Its knitted from Possum/Merino wool, and its really lovely I think!

A jumper lot!!!!

At my first market, only a month ago, I was asked to do a custom dye job of enough for a 7yo boys jumper.
EEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!!


I really wasn't sure I could get it to be consistent enough, so I said yes (silly me...) and then found some wool, and then I did a trial run, got the OK from the customer, and went ahead and dyed it!

So here it is.



I'm very happy with it, it was a bit of fiddling around, but I reckon it will look really good knitted up. All up about 600g, which I am really proud of.

The markets are going OK. I have a big one this weekend - she was very very happy to fit me in, and this market often has a waiting list, so from the feedback I have been getting, all will be well!

I dyed up about 500g of rainbow as well today - this is by far my best seller, it just disappears as quick as its available!

If anyone is after any custom dyes - please let me know, I am happy to oblige :)

By the way, the spunky bag that the wool is in - its actually the package from the sheets I bought last week. Doesn't it look fantastic for 12 balls of wool????




OK - its not coming up on blogger, sometimes this program bloody hates me!!
I'll try and add them later.

First Day at Kindy

My little girl is getting big :)

After much screaming, a terrible nights sleep and lots of protesting, we finally got a relatively happy photo for her first day at the local Montessori kindergarten.

She is doing 3 mornings a week, which is their minimum, so only 9hrs, from 8:30-11:30 Wed, Thurs, Friday.

I wont say I'm happy about it, cause I didn't really want her out of the family home so early, but if I didn't get her in now, they wouldn't have taken her once she turns 3, and apparently the local kinders are backed up too. And they are 4 afternoons a week.

So its the lesser of all evils. And besides - it gives Shane some one on one time with Hamish once I'm back at uni which I think they will both enjoy. He could probably take Hamish to the local music programme by himself, and there would be much enjoyment for both.

So I think she had an OK time. It was tricky with the cast, specially since the toilet paper was on the wrong side for her, and when she got home she had some cut paper in her bag and her name on some paper, and she said - mummy next time you can stay with me please. Awwwwww.

I hope she makes some new friends, cause she really misses all her friends from Oz.

The first broken limb for my children

I've been picking up some waitressing work before uni starts - its a killer cause I only get $13/hr before tax, and its hard, hard, work!
I left at lunchtime yesterday, and got home at about 3am to find this little girl asleep on the couch.



Her dad explained to me how they went to the park in the afternoon, and she fell off the big girls swing!!

Its a green stick fracture apparently, so only a mild break, but it still means that we all live with the inconvenience of a 2.5yo in plaster for 4 weeks. Ugh!!!

Dad didn't call me home from work, which part of me doesn't mind so much, but still, I do feel for him at the medical centre with 2 small children, and both very upset!!

Ah well - its about her 3rd major injury, both the otehrs have left scars, so at least this one wont. She starts kinder this week though..... Not sure how that is going to go!

Kitchen Cooooool :)

A little while ago I participated in a swap with Woolaholics for kitchen items.
Unfortunately my swapper had some problems getting things to me on time - but thats OK - I'm patient :)

Well today it arrived in the mailbox from Perth, and I ripped it open with the car running.




Bec was wwaaaaaaay too generous, but I love everything.

Firstly there is a gorgeous tea cozy and mat knitted from Jo Sharp Issue 2 in Desert Aran Cotton. She claims to have had some problems with the wool splitting (see her posts on Rav) but I still think its absolutely beautiful - especially whe you see how well it matches and fits my teapot!




My teapot by the way is Temuka pottery (from down near Christchurch). I have quite a few items from this colour range - serving platters, baking dishes and bowls - I love the blue and yellow, so I'm very happy that it all looks so lovely.




Also in this delivery came my KP DPNS from the Yarn Collective sock club. Yay for those :)

And then the lovely woman spolied me. There is a hank of Smooshy Sock Yarn from USA, colourway Night Watch. I love it - thanks Bec. I actually dyed some wool last week in similar colours and thought it was pretty darned nice, and what a shame I was going to have to sell it. Oh well - now I have a nicer replacement :)

And a great book At Knits End from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee from the The Yarn Harlot (Which I read with my market coffee this morning and giggled to myself). Plus a cool needle and gauge gauge - if that makes sense.

So amazing, and I am very appreciative. Thanks Bec! You didn't need to go to such extremes, but you know I love it all.