late winter blues

I keep hearing voices. Tiny whispers.

'Spring.'

'It's coming.'

'Wake up.'

The view from my kitchen sink is changing every day...our little raised bed is bestowing gentle surprises each morning. This new-to-me garden is slowly revealing its secrets...a sprinkling of snowdrops, a cluster of primroses, tall, proud daffodils and today: a hellebore! The previous owners weren't gardeners - that much is certain - but it was their first home together and I can see that they did plant Springtime packages of love into this earth.

However, another gray day greeted us this morning. A veil of ice lay glittering on my car's windscreen at dawn. Winter isn't over yet.

And I've got the blues.

a hat to keep my beloved's ears warm

legwarmers to make us think of Spring rainbows

wondering where the sky ends and the sea begins at this beach

well-shod creekside knitting

stitching up a little national pride

bonny smiles from my girl who never feels the cold

little gifts from a very experienced quilter

On second thought, there's nothin' wrong with a little dose of the blues. Spring, take all the time you need.

handmade christmas roundup (finally!)

I've had new-year-procrastinitis. Every day that passes makes it harder to get back on the blogging wagon. And...we had a sad month. Our big family Christmas gift was a Labrador puppy. One that we've known since he was in his mum's tum, who we've visited since he was two weeks old. We brought him home the second week of January, and three days later found out he was very sick with a congenital heart defect. We made the awful decision to return him to his breeder for further investigation, but sadly, he died two days later. It has been a heartbreaking experience, and we don't feel ready to look for another puppy.

The rest of our holiday was joyful, though, and full of handmade goodness.

Lacy baktus for my mom (details on Ravelry)

peppermint bark (using the recipe shared by Soule Mama)

Christmas cookies - we made what seemed like hundreds and gave little parcels of cookies to friends and neighbours in lieu of Christmas cards

Christmas Eve pj bottoms - using Folksy Flannel and Burda 9747

mama-made flopsy doll made with hand-dyed organic bamboo velour

beeswaxed play blocks Daddy made from sawn douglas fir and birch branches

sailboat made by Daddy

rockerboard made by a man from a Waldorf community in New York (thank you Waldorf Mama for sharing his details last Christmas)

playstand made by my friend's incredibly talented 15-year-old son - perfect for building dens

this week's makes

I've always got a few projects on the go. Last weekend I made my first garment from a real, honest-to-goodness pattern. This isn't something I've patched together from the windmills of my mind. Uh-uh. I've come to realise that no matter how much I think I can just 'figure out' how to make something by looking at something similar, it always takes three times as long and turns out half as good as I'd hoped it would. So I had a go at making the Dress with Ruffle Trim from the book Carefree Clothes for Girls, which has been raved about all over blogland (though it has received mixed reviews on Amazon). I found the pattern pretty well-written and easy to follow (though I have little pattern-following experience from which to judge). I used some super-inexpensive unbleached cotton calico for the dress (which I didn't line as per the pattern), and made bias trim and ruffles from some smooth-as-butter Paul Smith shirting cotton. I'm pretty happy with it, though I took in the size 6 at the sides for Eva, as it kind of swamped her. She is petite, so perhaps I should have made the size 5. Anyway, I'm pretty happy with it, considering my very low level of skill and the very low cost of the materials.

I'm about halfway through knitting Eva's birthday blanket. She asked for a rainbow-coloured blanket, but my LYS didn't have the wool I really wanted. I was after the colours of the spectrum in an aran-weight 100% wool that would stand up to being dragged around the house and perhaps even into the garden. In the end, I went for the acid hues in the Artesano 50% wool/50% alpaca line, supplemented by some Rowan Pure Wool in yellow and Classic Yarns Extra Fine Merino DK (double stranded to get gauge) in orange. Because I couldn't get the colours of the spectrum, at the last minute before casting on, I decided to do thinner varying stripes rather than the ROY G BIV rainbow I had planned. Eva has seen it in progress and is delighted, so if she's happy, I'm happy.

I've also cast on and completed the yoke of a Swing Thing cardigan for Eva in wool she chose last year (from Babylonglegs in her Chocolate Strawbs colourway). The pattern only goes up to age 3-4, so thinking I was clever, I sized up my needles, hoping to get a bigger cardigan. Silly me. I only have 200 grammes of this beautiful wool, and there is no way I'm going to get a cardi out of it. I've reached the stage where I either need to stop, frog it and re-knit it on smaller needles, change to a different colour wool for the body and arms, or accept it's going to be a sleeveless, cropped bolero. I don't really know what to do. I am in love with the wool, though. It's a superwash Merino and an absolute joy to knit with. I highly recommend Sarah's wool.

I finished a new hat last week. It was intended for Esme, but actually fit Imogen's head better, so I gave it to her. It was lovely - knit in the same wool as her birthday cardigan, with earflaps, a bobble on the top and tassels. But guess what? She wore it once and it has since disappeared! Hopefully it will turn up and I can take a picture. It was kind of my own pattern, but I used this pattern for the crown decreases.

What are you working on this week?

four! how did that happen?

Imogen turned four on Sunday. Our dear little sprite, our princess, our dancer, our elfin, grinning ray of light has blithely left babyhood behind. Her limbs have lengthened, losing the last of the baby pudge. Her fingers have become so nimble. She understands the advantages of sharing and of taking turns. She is willing to try new foods, and even eats a little of those she thinks she doesn't like. Of all my children, she is the most tender-hearted. Perhaps it is because she is the middle one (have you ever read the story of Bun-bun, the middle one?), but she possesses the ability to sail effortlessly from person to person, from place to place, from moment to moment. She is a child who is truly 'in the moment'. Last year, her nursery teacher described how Imogen followed a butterfly round the orchard for almost an hour, never speaking to another soul, never disturbing the insect's flight, simply watching. I sometimes find myself watching her, marvelling at her grace and wishing I still had the ability to just be.

The birthday fairy was busy the night before.

A sparkling apple cake for our little star.

The happy birthday bunting we made for Daddy's birthday last January - I finally got around to sewing the flags onto bias tape.

The birthday girl models her crown and her mama-made sleeveless cardigan. I heavily modified this pattern to fit a four-year-old. Details on my Ravelry page.

The outside....

...and the inside of a fuzzy felt game I made using Lizzy House's Castle Peeps fabric and this tutorial.

The family of dolls and their house, made by Eva (with a little sewing help from Mama).

Party favours fit for a gaggle of princesses.

Apple bobbing.

Happy fourth birthday, my beautiful girl!

this moment

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

inspired by amanda soule