We met a few weeks ago now, when the lovely Tara brought her down to Melbourne on a road trip. It was decided that Bessie would come to my house for a visit.. to fulfil my spinning urges, and to see how we got along.

Well. We got along well. Very well. And it was decided that she would make this her home…

100gm of EGMTK Merino/Soy blend, In Bloom. It’s not perfect, because 1) I cant feel my hands, therefore making controlling the twist a little tricky, and 2) because I am a n00b and plied it the wrong way before rescuing it.

It’s so so so good to be spinning again. Alas, I have no fibre stash, so will have to do some shopping when my favourite indie dyers do updates..

Do you want some yarny goodness? Both undyed and hand dyed? Fibre? Landscape dyes? Other goodies? Then stay tuned…

That’s not totally true, they are all fine, fine, finished objects. Worth waiting for, every second. Things didnt exactly go to plan (but when do they?) but nothing a few weeks of recuperating and resting at home wont fix..

Welcome to the world, Matilda Elise Helen!

They fit! I am VERY relieved. They are just what she wanted – 8ply, and machine washable..

Yarn: Handyed 8ply Machine Wash from the BWM back room.

Needle: 3.75 KP Harmony DPN’s

And these are the LAST knitted gifts I am committing to for a long while, and DEFINITELY the last birthday socks

We went to Perth for the weekend! Flew over on Friday night, and came back on Sunday afternoon, totally exhausted! I dont think we really slept the whole time we were gone, but boy was it worth it! We went over to surprise N’s mum for her 60th birthday, so she had all 4 kids there! We didnt take our trio this time, they stayed behind with a friend for the weekend. It was very strange being so far away from them!

We woke up early on saturday and gave N’s ma her gifts from us, including a sneakily-added ultrasound picture to the back of a scrapbook. Took everyone a moment to realise, we got them a beauty! haha!

N and I got to spend a few hours zooming around Perth, taking some corny touristy photos and getting a feel for the place.

In short, Perth is stunning. The day we went out, it was warm, sunny, and not a cloud in the sky. I couldnt get over how QUIET it was! Melbourne on a saturday afternoon, with stocktake sales on, is PACKED. In Perth CBD, I didnt even spot a busy shop!

The buildings gave me a giggle – everything looks so NEW. Even the OLD buildings are new! Beautiful, though, and the roads are lined with palm trees and clean roads. We drove down to the edge of the Swan River, and breathed in a gorgeous few lungfuls of amazing sea air.

We then trekked around the beautiful Kings Park for a while, and sat down for a cuppa overlooking a lovely view of the city..

We walked down to the State War Memorial, and had a look around.

We then headed back ‘home’ and got ready for a huuuge family dinner. 27 people all from the same clan was overwhelming to say the least! But I think we coped, and it was great to share our exciting news with everyone. Pics of those will get uploaded to the family blog later on It was awesome to finally meet all the family, and to spend at least a little time with them.

We are home now, exhausted, but enjoying the long weekend.

So this is our bundle of joy, due on New Year’s Eve. Of course, due dates mean nothing to babies, and I anticipate this one to carefully forecast and select the Hottest Day Of The Century to be born on, in January.

But we are delighted.. Really over the moon. Lots of discussion went into this decision – This is my 4th baby, and N’s first. But it was now or never, for many reasons. And we were surprised it happened so quickly! (If anything, N feels slightly cheated out of the fun part..) It was clearly meant to be.

10w, 1 day by my dates. Better pictures coming in a couple of weeks! It was so exciting to get a glimpse of him/her, and to see it wriggling and moving around so much. Great heartbeat, at 135bpm, and all the bits and bobs in the right places. Oh, and just the ONE in there. PHEW.

I have had morning sickness for the first time EVER, but thankfully over a week ago it subsided, just in time for exams. The all-day nausea was really quite difficult to deal with. Otherwise, I am feeling fantastic, positive, and overjoyed

The trio are very excited at having a sibling join the tribe.. apart from E, who is 10, and Knows How These Things Happen. Boy did I get an earful for that!

But there has been knitting! And crochet!

Two pairs of crochet mitts, in school colours, for each girlchild. They are made in Bendigo Classic 8ply (crepe construction) so they are warm, and fairly hard-wearing. The girls love them! The boy prefers his gloves..

I cast on Lark, a Vest-Hoodie pattern. Loving it so far, and I’m up to the middle of the body, ready to reattach the top of the pocket. It’s a great pattern, and I can see it getting lots of wear. I am making it in the new Bendigo Luxury 10ply, in black and ruby. I opted for darker colours, as my son is a Wearer of Food! (and sand and dirt and worse)

The February Lady Sweater is taking a short break. For some reason, I got up to the lace section, and fell out of love with it. I wont frog it – it’s going to have a holiday in it’s project bag, until I have the brainspace to work on a big project again.

Now, for the fun part! Like I said, today is my birthday, and I have been so seriously spoiled! My family all live overseas (actually, isnt it ME who lives overseas? ha!) so the joy of Internet Shopping is evident. My mother, who is NOT a knitter, asked me ‘what yarn do you like’ and so I listed a few, not realising this would hit my doorstep..

That, my friends, is TWELVE skeins of Malabrigo worsted. Yes. Enough to get naked and roll around in! Uh huh! And, a DELICIOUS Namaste bag, which has already been christened as My New Bag, and filled with current WIP and other usual gear.

And, of course, it’s my turn to recieve goodies in the Ravelry Birthday Swap! The poor tired looking postie gave me this:

Yes, it’s RED RED BEAUTIFUL RED! The gorgeous Falkonfly spoilt me rotten.. Tea cup, tea of all kinds, buttons, chocolate, notebook, book, pincushion, lollies, beautiful YARN and more! I love it ALL! She stalked me well

This is in addition to what my beautiful SIL-to be sent me earlier in the week…

A luscious box of Lush goodies! I LOVE this stuff, and spent a good half hour sniffing and umming and ahhing. As a former-soapmaker, I am always admiring other people’s wares and ideas!

So, I have some WIPs to get cracking on, and a nice long 4 week break coming up soon to knit in. But today, I am relaxing and enjoying my spoils What a lucky girl I am!

It got to 40 degrees (104.5F) today, so I did little more than lay on the bed, under the fan, and crochet and watch tv.

But I did get a delivery… My first ever fibre club, from Ewe Give Me The Knits! I signed up back in December, and this is the first of 3 shipments..

Tsk tsk! I am not going to upload pics of the fibre colourway just yet, so the others waiting to get theirs dont have the suprise spoiled for them..

The kids spent some of their money yesterday at Spotlight, and have being doing some more beading. I made up a few stitchmarkers..

The scarf is finished, but just needs blocking… cute huh?

Ok, the so-called ‘cool change’ is meant to be sweeping thru.. so off I go again!

It’s always heaps of fun to make a gift for someone, even more so for a stranger, or someone you dont know IRL. It’s like sending out good karma. Who doesn’t love receiving a handmade toy?!

Kelli sent me a link to the toy society, where members make a small toy, and ‘drop’ it somewhere in public, with a tag and note from the maker. An unsuspecting person finds it, and rehomes it, and reports back to the blog.

So I got to thinking, this could seriously fuel my Amigurumi obsession! I *did* end up getting that seriously cute book (and some yarn!) so I am looking forward to printing out my tags, and making a toy to drop somewhere. I could even get the kids making some little things!