Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Preparing For A Baby

Apart from opening my wool store this year, I have also been busy growing a baby, probably part of the reason why I was also getting sick so much over winter!  As I haven't been a knitter for very long, I didn't get a chance to knit many things for my first two but my aim this time round is to have a little collection of knitted things for this next bundle of joy so here are a couple of them which I thought I'd share with you.


First, a stripe hat pattern I found in a book I borrowed from the local library called "Easy Baby Knits - Clothes & Accessories for 0-3 year-olds" by Claire Montgomerie.  In the book Claire calls this the cotton hat and uses Debbie Bliss Cotton DK but I already had some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino lying around so I have made a wooly hat instead!  This was an easy pattern which only took me a few evenings to complete.  I made it in size 6-12 months and tried it on my 2 year old.  It fitted her although was stretched so I'm sure it will be fine for a 6-12 month old.  Can't wait to see it on the little bubs!


The other thing I'm working on is a pinwheel blanket I found on Ravelry.  I am using Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend in Deep Sea for this one.  It was a little tricky to start at first but once you get going it gets easier.  I'm not sure how big I'm going to make it yet but I want bubs to be nice and snug in it so I'll probably use at least 3 skeins.  This wool is so beautiful and soft, and the silk content just makes it devine to touch.  I'm sure the little one will feel extremely comfortable wrapped in this little number!

So there you have it.  I will definitely be adding a few more little cosy knits over the next couple of months but I'm also giving myself some time to get them done seeing we are just heading into summer now and I still have 7 months till winter!  And in case you were wondering, yes, we are having a boy! :)

Thursday, October 25, 2012

A Princess Party


October is a busy month in our household with both daughters having their birthdays just 5 days apart.  We decided to throw a simple party just for our 4 year old and her friends but leaving the planning to my husband meant that it wasn't going to be so simple afterall.  Who would have thought that an engineer would be so good at planning a princess party?!  We called it "Princess Amber's Birthday Party and the Dragon".


Upon arrival, the girls, all dressed up in their princess dresses, got to decorate their own tiaras with glitter glue and stickers. They then got dolled up with rings, bracelets and lip gloss before heading outside where they were greeted with a red carpet lined with purple, pink and silver balloons, a princess tent, a castle pinata, afternoon tea and a treasure hunt.


 They each had to find a necklace with a key on it, which they would have to use later on in the party. The princesses got to play pin the tail on the donkey, then had a go at swinging a sword at the pinata.

 After a fairly delicate rush for the fallen lollies, they got to play duck, duck, goose and pass the parcel.  We had planned for them to decorate some mini-cupcakes too but the girls seemed too busy and happy prancing around the yard in their dresses and having their afternoon tea in the tent.

On the menu we had mini quiches, party pies, sausage rolls, chips, carrot and celery sticks, dips, fairy bread, jelly cups, cupcakes and a fruit platter.  To go with that we also had some Fruitalicious tea from T2 which is a lovely child-friendly fruity mix.  This also proved to be a hit with the adults.

Then it was cake time.  Amber had requested a tower castle cake with a princess on the top and a dragon at the bottom.  As usual, daddy dearest managed to deliver.  He used a rosewater cake recipe for the cake, made 2 layers of it, one uncoloured and the other pink. With fresh cream in the middle and purple butter cream icing on the outside, it was a lovely, moist cake.  Did I mention there was also a moat with drawbridge and chocolate rocks at the bottom?  All edible too!

 As the party was drawing to a close, of course the dragon had to make an appearance or the story wouldn't be complete.  I must admit we didn't spend much time at all on a dragon suit but at least we had fire which was made from scrunched up red and yellow streamers.  There was a mini treasure chest for each princess.  The tricky part was that they had to steal it without the dragon waking up and getting them with his fire.  The princesses seemed to have the most fun with this game and actually all managed to successfully retrieve their treasure boxes without getting caught by the dragon's fire.


 And now for the best part, they got to open their treasure boxes with the keys which they had found earlier on in the treasure hunt.  Inside they had a dragon finger puppet, golden chocolate coins, lollipops, lollies, fruity lip gloss and scented nail polish.  This was their "lolly bag" which they all got to bring home with them.

So that was our princess party, and a successful one at that!  If you'd like to hire my husband to plan a party for your child, he comes highly recommended! :)  What kind of parties have you thrown for your child?