Tiger Cub

Months ago, Blueadt , my SP6 spoiler, sent me some tiger cub socks. Previously on the blog they were modelled on a teddy. I think Bronte is a much better model!


They suit her very well, Blue and they fit perfectly - You are a star and a topic of much conversation around here because people are amazed that a knitter I've never met, in the UK, would send Bronte such a special gift!!! The little cream cardy was knit by my Aunty Sue for Gemma. It's an ultra fine lace weight knit into a raglan cardy with the cutest little shell heart buttons. It's super soft but very tiny, she will probably be out of it in a week!


Bronte is an angel baby so far - we have had two nights in a row where I have only been up once to feed her and 'touch wood' she is settling well. So far she's only crying if hungry and since I feed on demand that's easy fixed. We couldn't be happier.

AND She's starting knitting early, she has a vest for JT underway, It is a man's vest pattern called 'Rustic Style' by Jo Sharp. She's knitting it in Bendigo Woollen Mills' 8ply which I picked up for a song at a craft fair yeras ago. It's in a lovely textured rib called 'supple rib' and she swatched diligently to get gauge just like her mum! What a good girl!!

How cute are those socks??!!!

More Bronte

There is a big post looming with details and photos of all the georgeous knitterly pressies that Bronte was lucky enough to be given, however I have not had a chance to take shots of all the wonderful things but I will soon - I promise....

There is also a big post looming with all the details of our snb exhibition that was held on the weekend. Even though I had Bronte on Friday morning I still managed to wiz down there and have a brief look. What fun it was to help organise!! That post too will have to wait because at the moment we are still in baby photo mode!!

Here is Bronte wearing her Koigu baby surprise cardigan which I am totally in love with even more now that I see what it looks like on her. From the front whilst milk drunk:

From the back whilst snuggling:

And about to go in the car for the second time....

And so to knitting content - I have been doing a lot!! Really! Not whilst breast feeding although that would be a handy skill. More news on the knitting soon too...

Bronte Violet

Here she is!! Baby Bronte Violet was finally born at 9.55 am on Friday morning.

Thanks so much for all your comments and congratulations!! There has also been an overwhelming amount of knitterly generosity. Bronte is possibly the best knitted for baby on the planet but knitting show and tell, extensive thanks and an exhibition update will have to wait until the introductions are over. She's three days old now and we are at home all together having morning tea. Bronte is sleeping peacefully. Happy Days.

Here are her first seconds

First Minutes

First Hour

I know I look a little wierd- but hey! I've just had a baby!

The Three Sisters

2.30am

At the moment its 2.30 in the morning and I'm up because I can't sleep.

I started having contractions yesterday morning (thursday) at about 6am and they lasted all day, every five minutes, strong but not building up at all, untill the late afternoon. Then they petered out to nothing and I went to bed at 8.30, exhausted and utterly frustrated.

I woke at about 11.30pm and they were coming every 10 minutes or 15minutes and a lot stronger and by then I was totally awake so I decided to get up for a while and have a shower and see what happened and now they seem to have slowed down again even though they are a lot stronger- maybe I'll just go back to bed.

The worst thing is that I will miss the snb exhibition totally at this rate. What a disaster!! I won't be around to hang the show causing a huge spanner to be thrown in the works and I may not even see it!

Donni just wrote this funny post about talking to me while I was having a contraction. So anyway you know that I'm a committed knit blogger don't you? Since I spent half the afternoon swatching for about three new projects and now I'm blogging but having to stop typing every 10 mins or so.....

I guess I'm not all that committed, I didnt take any photos of the swatches. lol

I'm sure the bub will come soon. ........tomorrow.....we will take her off to see the show in the afternoon......you just have to laugh don't you!

Blaaaah!

Wow Taryn has her Interweave Knits!! I may not get this issue as I was a little tardy sending my renewal back and I know they are pretty SSSSLLLLOOOOWWWW processing that stuff so I'll just have to beg someone elses.

I've just cast off the 'Froth' scarf that I have been kniting ever since I got it as a freebie with my Rowan International Membership (In August Last year!) and annoyingly one side has ruffled nicely as it is supposed to and one side has not! I am not impressed. I do not fancy frogging rows and rows of Kid Silk Haze just so see if I can rectify it. Damnation!! I will have to sleep on it and see if it's as bad in the morning.

Double damnation, actually becuase now that I have finished that scarf I have nothing 'solid' on the needles to be going on with. Nothing is ready to go - so to speak. I've loads of ideas and plans and yarn but nothing saying 'pick me up, I'm easy, I don't require extensive concentration or swatching, I will get you through this excruciating wait for the baby and beyond..."

I've always wanted to do a felted bag so I might just do a little surfing and see what I can find..... caio

STILL HERE!!

BABY PROGRESS:
Hoo Boy! I'm 39 weeks and I'm still here. I can't see my feet, I can't fit into any of my shoes except one pair of mules, I can hardly stand after 5pm of an evening and I can't sleep through the night without having to go to the loo about twice and waking up having vivid dreams that I should be at the hospital.

EXHIBITION PROGRESS:
I know that each day I am still here in one piece, the closer I am to being totally organised for the exhibition. I now have all the information for the exhibition labels typed in (except those rogues who haven't given me their work or their info - you know who you are!!) THis afternoon I'm planning to write up a few general information panels for the show and tomorrow I will mount them all on foamcore. With less than a week to go - I am not panicking. I won't panic. Well not yet anyway.

THE KNITTING:
BUT you don't want to hear about this, I know you just want to see the knitting!! Well - here is the Rasberry Ripple Froth Cardigan all finished!! It's an Artfibres yarn that I bought in the USA at vast expense and until I sewed the ruffle on I thought it was pretty ordinary but the ruffle does wonders for it! Look how close I came to not having enough ribbon...phew that was cutting it fine!!

Here's the cardy all finished. I actually knitted it for Gemma (21 months old) but even tho I swatched and did all the maths it actually turned out to be just right for Milly (giant 3 year old) with plenty of yarn left over. WTF??!! I can only think I stuffed up in the calculations somewhere. But look its stunning! I'm so very very pleased with it! Now I just have to get her to model it. (A constant problem!)


EXCITEMENT PLUS !!
I almost forgot to mention that on Friday we had the front page of the 'Northern Leader' a local Wollongong paper. I was SUPER excited. It's a long article and there are extensive quotes from my press release about our Wollongong SnB group and the SnB exhibition. So you see I haven't been sitting on my hands! And the photo is not too foul either.

Left to right is Donni, me in the front, Becky, Kerry, Stuart (who was a ring in) and Rae. The photo is taken at Kerry and Rae's new shop, our new LYS with PINK walls. The article was continued on the second page.


I'll try to organise a scanned in readable version at some point. OK back to the exhibition work - gotta get those panels written TODAY!
Happy Knitting All :-)

One Piece

I am still in one piece. This kiddo just wants to stay in there and grow. I'm happy not to rush her on out if she's not ready but I'm really looking forward to seeing her. Also I just want it to be over before I begin to worry too much about having to go through the whole childbirth thing again. I know that what will be will be and I am still fininshing stuff off for our SnB exhibition anyway.....so.... blah blah...babies... Of course she will come when I am least expecting it!

Soback to knitting: A little while ago I posted about a whole pile of FO's and well, I guess I was finished knitting but I hadn't put on the buttons. But now behold the Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise cardigan. Totally finished: Blocked, buttons sewn on and all ends woven in. The Koigu KPPPM is just so soft and I love the colourway, its way better IRL. the buttons are little shell flowers. I think they go with it quite nicely.


I hate how my photos have dark corners. I'll have to work on that.

In a not totally unrelated aside- When I cast off the Baby Surprise with Milly sitting beside me (she's 3) I said: "There I'm done!" and she said "Now you just have to weave in the ends." They catch on fast don't they??!! She'll be a knitter yet!

I'm totally exhausted so its off to bed for moi. Sweet Dreams all!

AND THE WINNERS ARE.....

Many thanks for all your entries into my blogiversary competitions. I had a good chuckle at the answers.

But now.... all hush.....Drumroll please.......

Without further ado I present to you the winners of The Stripey Tiger Blogiversary Competitions....

The First Competition was for: the most imaginative and humerous idea for the blogiversary cake I should have made and decorated for myself....and the winner is.....

Sue - with the first entry suggesting a stripey tiger cake, jaffa flavoured no less! Are Jaffas a uniquely Australian thing?? I love jaffas they are just so seriously munchable in a choc/orange kinda way.

There were some great cakes, a laptop cake with my blog on the screen and a UFO on the keyboard, a sock cake, a self striping ball of wool cake, Stripey Tigers playing with yarn, a knitting project still in eth needles... they all sound excellent especially as they would require loads of icing to decorate and I love icing!

The Second Competition was for: the most surprising fact learned about a blogger's life from their blog....and the winner is......

Sheep Rustler with her discovery via a blog that someone she actually knows in real life keeps sheep embryos in their fridge! Now that is a pretty surprising fact to find out about some one I think!!

The surprising facts were all pretty surprising too. I also was impressed to discover that it gets to minus 20 (celcius!) in some parts of Canada, that there is a full size replica of the Greek Parthenon in Nashville Tenesee WTF ???@!!!??? That a home schooling mum loves trashy TV, if a cat ingests a coffee bean it can go hyperactive and a knitter who was thankful that she checked the dryer before starting in it, because her cat was snoozing in it.

Anyway thanks again for entering everyone. I will email you two winners to get your snail mail address to send your mystery prize. If you don't hear from me for some reason send me an email. The addy is in my blogger profile.

Next Post: Baby News and more FO updates.

Baby Surprise

Here is the baby surprise cardy blocking. I'm quite pleased with it although my garter is a tiny but wobbly in some spots where no doubt my concentration wavered. Also the sections where I agonised over picking up the stitches that I wrote about a few posts ago are a little bodgy looking.


You can't really see in this photo but they are two vertical lines of darker shading on either side of the button band just above the yellow pin in the centre of the bottom edge. Any way they pass the galloping horse test - so I'm not worrying. Now I just need to sew on the buttons and have the baby so she can model it for you.

The baby is still on board but I am getting more and more sick of it... I'm off to put my feet up because it seems that my ankles are also significantly pregnant and just as uncomfortable as my back and belly.

The blogiversary competitions are now closed and I had some great entries. Thanks everyone! I know I said that I would judge and award prizes over the weekend but I'm a tiny bit behind, so look out for the judging early next week.

Cheers Stripey :-)

Two Things

First: Photos of Donni's Birthday Arvo Tea!
It was wonderful especially as she seemed to enjoy it soo much!! The gals left to right, Gemma, Ailsa, Milly and the Birthday Girl.


And me in it this time and Donni about to open the champers.


Second: The BABY
It seems that this bub (due on May 23rd- two days after the SnB exhibition) is rather large. I had an ultrasound last week that says that she is 3.8kg already - so heading for over 9 pounds it seems. Anyway the upshot of that is that they won't let me go overdue like I did with both the others. And infact they might kick things off next Tuesday so who knows anyday now peeps the family may number five!!

So if I suddenly go off-line for a few days or more you will know why.....

Oh and I just finished the baby surprise cardi and have to find some suitable buttons now. Woo hoo!

Knitting Groups

I've been formulating this post for a few days and haven't managed to post it yet and now I have new things to post but anyway those things will just have to come tomorrow or later on.

But before I post it, I do have a Stop Press Item.

Donni's Special Birthday
Donni, I hope you have a very happy special birthday today. It was a great day when I met you at SnB nearly 2 years ago when Gemma bub was about a month old and now, in a couple more weeks I'll be coming to SnB with the next bub. Time flies!! and as a result of meeting you I've become a MUCH better knitter, learned heaps, enjoyed sharing tips and yarns and learning to spin and drinking tea and watching the kids grow up. Hope you had a great day and I hope you have a great weekend.

SnB
Knitting on Saturday at SnB was fantastic! I can't remember if I wrote that in the last post. I have a huge pile of entries for our exhibition and everyone was happy to part with their very modest exhibitors fee. It was really exciting to see the whole thing coming together. We got another media enquiry today from another local paper the Wollongong Advertiser and they are going to do a story on our exhibition and knitting group. I'm so pleased!! That's three articles in three different local papers after sending out around 9 press releases to print, radio and TV. Not a bad hit rate!! Here we all are happily knitting away.


Every Second Tuesday
Last night was Every Second Tuesday spinning group. Actually last night we were knitting because we all had knitting to finish for the exhibition (and also because two members of every second tuesday spinning don't spin) and we had such fun there was ribald humour and plenty of cackling. The group is Ailsa, Donni, Kerry, Becky and Charmaine. Kerry and Charmaine are blogless. Kerry is our spinning teacher and fibre arts inspiration and guru and also the part owner of our brand new LYS Daisy Designs!! Charmaine is a lurker around blogworld (and the fresh faced young thing in the pink and brown argyle cardy in the centre front of the photograph above) and I truly think one day she will manage to work out how to leave a comment. Ailsa wrote a lovely post on Wednesday about our knitting inspired friendships. Donni wrote a great post the other day about the new LYS with a photo and the every second tuesday knitting group. I was just incredibly tired and by the time I left I felt much more energised. What a great group!!

The Blogiversary Competitions
Thanks for all your entries in my blogiversary competitions. I'm tickled with the cake ideas and some of the surprising facts are very surprising!! So don't forget that you have until this Saturday the 6th of May to enter. You can find the details of the competitions in the post before last. I'll judge and award prizes over the weekend.

Baby Surprise Boo Boo
I continued knitting the baby surprise on Tuesday at Every Second Tuesday Spinning Group. Frustratingly, I managed to knit for about and hour and a half with the same result as in the last post. It brought prickles of tears to my eyes (Did you all notice??) but I kept going and just before we went home. I GOT IT RIGHT!!!! So right now, two days later I am halfway through casting off to finish the cardy. Then I have to go button shopping.

Happy Knitting All. :-)

Baby Surprise Boo Boo

When JT got home the afternoon he found me with my tongue in the corner of my mouth concentrating very hard, having taken a crochet hook to my baby suprise cardy to fix up a very strange quirk I had discovered. This is how it is supposed to look: To the right of the diagonal line made by the increases is a section where you have to pick up 10 stitches at the ends of 10 rows. In this shot you can see that the garter stitch rows continue uninterrupted as they should.

Now I thought I did the same thing at the other end of the cardy but as you can see in the pic below - I musn't have because there's a little rogue section of stockinette just to the left of the decrease diagonal. I tried to turn the row around with the crochet hook so the garter would be uninterrupted the like the other end but it was not behaving because the original stitches were picked up and it all got ugly - so I'll frog back three or four rows and try picking them up again and see if I can make it work this time...

Had a great time at Stitch 'n Bitch on Saturday. Lots of people brought their work for the exhibition. I was able to receipt it professionally enough and also had the invites ready to hand out so all those deadlines were met PHEW!!