knitting and chickens

I'm loving this hoodie, Its turning out just how I hoped! The alpaca is so soft and cozy. Ravelry notes here . Im thinking I may have the record for most times a cable needle can be lost during a single project. Im up to aproximately 5 thousand times. Can anyone beat my fabulous record?

Three years ago when I moved to this town I found out about a women's craft group at the church. Today I finally went along! I had the nicest time crafting with ladies of all ages. It was great fun knitting away, seeing every ones different projects and hearing about the day trips they go on together. Xavier had the greatest time smiling and babbling away to the ladies and they all loved him.

 These are the cuddliest chooks ever. Every where I go in the garden they are right there to see what I'm doing. They are so sweet in there calm unobtrusive manner, just plodding along and happily pecking about nearby

 Ive been digging, adjusting garden bed shapes and dreaming of the winter veg I will soon be planting. Ive put in some broad beans and I'm trying to be patient, not planting to much in case there are still more hot days to come

 Oh how I love the warm late afternoons in the garden. Wonderful soft light streaming down. I'm soaking them up but also looking forward to the soon to come cool afternoons. They better come soon as my grey cardigan is nearly finished

I love bees. Soon after I took this photo I stood on one in the grass and got a not so nice sting. But I still love bees.

recent happenings

 Mum and I had an art/crafty day

 I had some wonderful suprise visitors (I was so suprised and excited that this was the only pic I managed to snap of the arvo)

 Our bulbs are starting to come up already. Which is particularly exciting because I bought them from a lady at our local market and I could have sworn she said they would come up in the spring. We didn't have to wait long!

The little boys have been watering them daily. Today I looked back at this pot and and said to myself 'I could have sworn there were only two shoots'

Cameron informed me that Mitch pulled one out of the other pot but he re-planted it for me:) It was just the green shoot without the bulb but still its the thought that counts right 

Im looking forward to getting these little plants in the ground 

 My grey cardi is growing. Ive learnt lots of new knitting tecniques in order to get this far! Lucky for me it didn't notice before buying the pattern that it has 'propper' sleves instead of the raglans im used to. There not even that tricky and now I feel pretty smart:)

This evening I decided to go for a walk and wanted to take my cardi to knit but didn't want to take a bag. My genious solution, wear it under my jacket and stick the ball of wool in my back pocket

Its been perfect weather for wandering. Although when isnt it? Last week I thought it was perfect weather for wandering when it was blowing a gale and came home soaked. I do love Autumn

 I sat and knitted by the water. I enjoyed the last bit of light and watched flacks of birds play in the sky

 Some how I managed to not loose my ball of wool or my cable needle in the ocean. Always a plus

yarn along crafting on fun

Now that wasn't a mouth full at all. Joining Nicole today and Ginny tommorow

 The day care playroom has had a nice spring (well autumn) clean inspired by my new chair. The room was beginning to feel cluttered so I moved furniture about, put some toys in storage and sent a few things to the opp shop.
 Everything left over has had a nice wipe over,a light sand where needed and lots of the wood has been re polished with home made beeswax polish. Every time I do a thorough clean I sand our table a little more. The varnish is almost gone and it comes up so nicely after a polish and stays looking good for a suprisingly long time despite being wiped down many times a day.
 Summer books are mostly put away and it was time for the autumn ones to come out.

This is my new favourite knitting spot. The top of the little book shelf is a nice height as a side table and ive put a knitting basket next to the chair so projects can easily be picked up and put down throughout the day. It so nice to finally have a comfortable chair in the room after sitting on a cussion on the floor to knit while looking after children for so long. My back will thank me!
Anyway, on to the projects,

 My rainbow blanket is about finished, just an I cord border to go and then ill show it off properly

 I began what I thought was a cable baby hat for my godson Jayden the other day but I obviously didn't read the patern properly because after the first repeat it has become apparent that not only is it not a propper cable (not that that alone would matter) but there are eyelet holes in the middle of each 'cable' hmm, not sure it will be warm enough for a tiny baby with little hair, ill probably try another pattern

 Ive spent a few months trying to decide on a pattern and yarn to make a hooded cardigan and finally I decided on this Berroco Ultra Alpaca. I dont have a local yarn shop which means I have to buy over the internet and the main difficulty as im sure many of you know is getting the right colour. Today my yarn arrived and its perfect, the colour is gorgeous and its softer than I could have imagined!

The progress on my grey hooded cardi is barely worth showing but im so excited to have finaly cast on that I included a picture all the same.

Another reason why my Benny is awesome

Yesterday I was in Adelaide with my sister Anna to help her choose a wedding dress. Which if you ask me is very near impossible because she looks gorgeous in every single one! (not that I'm biased or anything:) But anyway, we found lots of gorgeous possibilities and had a lot of fun oohhing and ahhing as we watched her transform into the most beautiful bride.

Benny went with his parents to our nephew Dylan's birthday. I got a text from him saying that he got something for me.

At his work canteen they get in weird and wonderful imported American chocolate bars (or for those of you in America, normal chocolate bars lol:) He occasionally sees one he thinks I  would like and brings it home for me as a surprise. Although he wasn't at work I expected something small like that.

When I walked in he showed me a handbag. The strap on mine is almost broken so I was thrilled! What a wonderful surprise! His mum and sister love opp shops and garage (yard) sales as much as me and I did remember them saying they wanted to check some out before Dylan's party.  It had a $4 price sticker which I presumed he'd left on it because he knows how much I love a good opp shop bargain.

He said," you weren't supposed to like it that much, you were supposed to say is that all?" so that I could take you to your real surprise. He lead me to the day care sleep room and opened the door

I almost cried, It was one of those gliding rockers that you get for babies nurseries to rock and soothe them to sleep. His sister was selling hers and both him and his mum thought of me:) I'm pretty sure id never told him that when I daydream about decorating a space for our one day baby there is always one of these chairs in my mind. Plus its awesome for now. He looked at it and could see me knitting in it in the meantime. Yep sounds good to me!!

A few days ago I finally booked in to see the fertility specialist so that I can get the key hole surgery. Although It will now take about 8 months for my turn to come up when I could have had it done already, I feel at peace with having waited until I felt ready. After having waited this long and having to wait who knows how long in the future for our baby I feel patient and content to take it slowly and trust it will happen when its supposed to. I used to have a favourite affirmation that calmed me when I was worried about various things in life

"every thing happens just as its supposed to, I trust and believe"

I didn't use it much for a while because I just couldn't really feel it in my heart. Because I felt like my baby was supposed to be here but it wasn't and I didn't know why. It still isn't and I still don't know why but I know that I have grown as a person in the last three years, Benny and I have grown together.

Three years ago I had just flown from the nest of my family home. I felt like I was pretending to be a grown up and it was hard. Although we loved each other a lot our relationship was hard too. I'm quite an emotional person but I find it hard to open up to people and Benny was one to bottle up feelings and try to forget about them and expect me to do the same. I would get upset and he would get frustrated that I wouldn't tell him what was wrong.
 I spent a lot of time in the early days of living together and trying for a baby stewing on things I was upset about because I lived somewhere unfamiliar, could hardly afford to visit 'home' (the place that still felt like my real home) I had no work, nothing to do with my time alone in this new town while Benny was at work.  These days he gets me and I get him. He notices when I'm upset, asks me whats wrong and I tell him because I know that he will help me feel better about whatever is bothering me.
The other day my friend Kylie and I were taking her baby Jayden (my godson!:) for a walk in the pram. We were remembering how uncomfortable it used to be when I first started doing daycare when we were 18 and we used to take the children for walks. We used to get rude looks from people who presumably thought we were teen mums with lots of children. Id forgotten about it but it was something that stayed with me for a good while and made me quite worried and self conscious that if I had a much wanted and planned baby when I was still 21 people might have similar reaction and presume the baby was unplanned and from a one night stand. It occurred to me that even though I'm now 23 I still like to make it very clear to every one that the daycare children aren't mine because of a subconscious fear of being judged. Now that Ive realised this worry, its certainly time to let go of it!

Life is so different now, although I still look forward to moving from here it is home. I have a garden and the veggie patch I used to dream of and I feel confident in my skin. Ive stopped trying to look like I know what im doing and im grown up. I live how I want to instead of how I think I should. I dont necissary do everything perfectly but I no longer expect that of myself.
Now we take Jayden places we don't try to make it clear that hes someone elses and were old enough to be good babysitters, Kylie's proud that he's hers and is totally confident to show him off and we just enjoy him as we would if no one else was around.

I suppose what I'm trying to say with all this rambling on is that although if had a 2 year old child like we would have by now if id gotten pregnant straight away, its not all bad. Our Baby always would have been loved but the more we grow and learn as people before it comes along, the more we have to share and give when this little one of ours decides to show up. I thought I was ready and had a lot to give back then but now I feel more ready and like I have a lot more  to give. As life goes on and I live and learn more, I'm become deeper more selfless which can only be a good thing. so...

Every thing happens just as its supposed to, I trust and believe that this baby will indeed show up at the exact best moment.

(and I think its fairly safe to say s/he will love this chair as much as I do!)

favourite moments from this week

 knitting with the teething babe. You know whats fun? Knitting cold slobbery yarn

Planting bulbs with the big boys.
Hopefully they will go better than the easter bunnys wheat grass that we started last week. I let out the chooks to free range forgetting that Id left our newly sprouted wheat grass dishes on the table. Apparently chooks like easter bunny grass just as much as the easter bunny

Relay for Life and Yarn Along

In a few weeks I will be walking with my sister Anna and our Dad in this years Adelaide Relay for Life.Were walking for my uncle Graham who we sadly lost to cancer last year,Anna's fiance Kane's pop who was diagnosed just before Christmas and is undergoing treatment now and her lovely boss who fought and survived. I think we all have been affected by cancer in one way or another.

If you are able to donate some money it would mean a lot to us.
Just follow the link to Anna's"I'm Relaying For Life" page and hit donate it's that easy to make a difference (and see how much shes already raised, woohoo AJ, your amazing!!)
Karen xx

Here's some photos of my lace scarf that was still pinned the other day. Ive never blocked anything before and now I remember why. Because I'm far too impatient to wait!

During one of many 'just checking to see if its dry yet' moments (because it might be dry an hour later right?:) I noticed my silly cat Mishka had was casually laying on the bed of pins so I moved him off. Next time I checked he was back there again, I guess it must have been a lot more comfortable than it looked

I just love how it looks now that its laying flat and stretched out. And better still now that I've weaved in the loose end pictured above:)

Oh yes, I think there will be more lace knitting in my future

Now I have something new and pretty to put on this cute coat rack Benny scored us for $20 the other day. When I can resist wearing it in this not quite cool enough weather that is

were engaged!!!

 Yep, quite the exciting weekend:)
There's not exactly a typical romantic proposal story to share tho I'm afraid

Anyone who knows Benny and I well will probably know that were as bad as each other at keeping secrets. Seriously terrible! I don't think we've ever got to a birthday or Christmas without having exchanged gifts far too early because we just couldn't wait to see the other open it.

About two years ago, a few days after our (3rd I think) anniversary he informed me that he had thought about proposing to me but chickened out in case I didn't say yes. I of course replied 'Why did you tell me that?Of course id say yes, it's supposed to be a surprise and now it wont be!!!'  so he waited.

And then one friend got engaged so he waited for a bit thinking it wouldn't be as special if we followed straight afterwards. And then another did so he waited a bit longer. And then another did....

Anyway, on Saturday he took me to choose a ring. I already knew he wanted to marry me and he already knew I wanted to marry him. Now its 'official' and we've shared it with everyone else. Oh and I got a pretty ring:)

It was probably quite funny for the jeweler to help me choose a ring. Benny told her we wanted to choose an engagement ring and she got quite excited. She started asking me all sorts of questions about styles and sorts. I'm not really a jewelry person so I looked at her quite blankly and informed her I had no idea what any of that was. My only request was that I didn't want anything too chunky or big.
She pulled out two small rings from the first section. I looked at them and tried them on. They were both around about what I had thought id wanted but as soon as I put them on I didn't feel very drawn to them. Benny mentioned a ring that he'd spotted and I tried it on. It fitted perfectly and I immediately knew that it was the one. We bought it then and there, ring number three.
The jeweler seemed shocked to have made such a quick sale, we didn't get to any of the other shops that Benny had intended to take me and quite frankly I'm still shocked at myself for making such a quick decision on most likely the most expensive piece of jewelry I will ever own.
Did I mention that compared to the ones she had shown me its rather big and somewhat chunky?! See what I mean, the Jeweler lady relay did have quite a bit to giggle about on her tea break with the other Jeweler ladies.

After that we went and shared the news with both our parents and being that we had already planned to have tea with my parents they took us out to have tea at the beach and celebrate.
Benny casually updated his face book with his phone to say that he was engaged. And then he wanted to update mine too. You know, in case anyone thought we'd broken up and he'd got engaged to someone else as a re-bounder because my face book profile (which has little on it because I never use it!) didn't say we were engaged (yes he was joking. I think:) Neither of  us really use face book so we presumed it would just add it to his profile page but it actually comes up on every ones wall page. So there you go family, that's why face book knew before any of you. Did I mention I hate face book?!

Oh and in other exciting news, my lace scarf is finished and blocking (is that what I would say when its pinned and still drying?) Although compared to the getting engaged news, the finished scarf news probably isn't quite as exciting is it. It sure is pretty tho!