seventeen months trying to be seventeen years

I am having a busy few days. It is rare for me to leave the house more than once or twice a week. This week I have been out every day, except Tuesday.

DD and the Grandboys have been here since Thursday lunchtime and we have enjoyed some very-much-missed "together" sewing time. I taught DD how to make a QAYG string block and her first attempt is fabulous  - technically faultless.

No photos to show yet, so I'll leave you with two photos of Older Grandson who decided to climb into the open car yesterday!

Here, in NSW, drivers must be seventeen to get a licence to drive unsupervised

Older Grandson (aged 17 months)



this flannel followed me home!

Older Grandson (OG - formerly known as GS#1) is too big for the change table at our place so he gets changed either on a bed or on the floor. To protect the bed coverings (which will include a new quilt soon) and the carpet, I want to make a change mat (or two).

I bought these two metre (80 inches) lengths of fabric on Saturday.


I was going to use two of them but now I've decided to use four of them and make reversible mats.

Can you guess which ones I will use together? (I've given you close up shots so you can see them better; the pairings are random, not my choices of fabrics to put together).

This one is Grandad's favourite!

these boots shoes are made for walkin'

How he managed to walk with one on backwards, we'll never know!

spring cleaning in autumn

We spent the day at DD and SIL's new home. Well, it's new to them but the building itself is about fifty years old. It's had quite a few owners and some have left a little bit of rubbish behind them.

Today the four us filled a two cubic metre (70.6 cubic feet, 2.6 cubic yards) skip bin with broken bricks, concrete and pavers, plus timber (lumber) and the loppings from several trees that were too big to go through the mulcher.

GS#1 had a wonderful day - he had a picnic in his own backyard with Grandad and Grandmum as well as Mummy and Daddy, and he got to play outside for several hours and to explore places he's never been allowed to go before. His favourite "toy" for quite some time was the whipper-snipper! Children find the strangest things amusing! He was not fond of the noise of the chain saw or the mulcher though and decided it was time to retire indoors when Grandad decided to use either of them!

Unfortunately, my camera-crazy SIL and photo-mad WM were both too busy to think to take before-and-after shots. There's still a lot of work to be done but we can all be proud of what we achieved today - the backyard looks better (though nowhere near complete) and a full skip is testament to how much work was really done!

I expected to spend the day looking after GS#1 so took plenty of knitting but got caught up in the madness that is garden renovation! Not one stitch knitted today! I'm exhausted and off to bed.

Happy First Birthday Grandbubby #1

You brought a new dimension of love into my life.



Happy birthday, darling boy.

washcloths?

This post has been edited to acknowledge the authors of the patterns and their Ravelry links.
My sincere apologies to all four who share their patterns for free.

What do you knit the grandson who seems to have more clothes than he could possibly need? Who already has socks and singlets and nappies (diapers) and blankets and wraps galore?

Washcloths, of course. But these are not for washing, oh no! These are burp cloths - so much more interesting to look at than a nappy hanging round mum's neck or over dad's shoulder.

And so, I present for your viewing pleasure: Ben's burp cloths. All are knitted in Cleckheaton Fiddle De Dee 100% cotton which is both machine washable and dryable. All took less than two hours to complete and all used less than one 50g skein of yarn. None have yet been blocked.

Above is Quacking Up by Elaine Fitzpatrick. There is a pattern for a matching bib too.
Below is Airplane, Free by Susan Mrenna and Giddy-up by Amy-lynne Mitchell.

The final two are Knitted "B" dishcloth and Knitted Musical Notes by Rhonda White