New Big Knitting Challenge

I'm a novice knitter. I enjoy it & find it really relaxing. The only problem is I'm not that skilled. Within the past year or so I've tried to branch out from scarves and work from simple patterns to push myself to learn more stitches besides knit & purl...which has handily given me the wonderful excuse to collect as many vintage knitting patterns as I can get my grubby mitts on :)

When I found out that Mr Woo & I were expecting a baby I wanted to knit as many sweet tiny things as I could! I started a little dress but decided to wait until I found out if we were having a girl to finish it, because it's a hard/scary pattern for me. Now that I know we are having a girl I'll pick it back up again. Booties are my other new obsession! I started a pattern for the above baby Mary Janes, but it got complicated putting stitches onto double pointed needles and I couldn't figure it out....

so I moved on to this pattern. 

Here's the pattern link. It's sooo easy! I finished the first bootie in sage green with brown polka dot ribbon. Mr Woo will take a picture for me when they're done. It's adorable! I can't wait to finish the other one! 

And then....I saw THIS 

I had to have the pattern for this Baby Cashmerino Bonnet! The pattern is $6 from the designer Irina Poludnenko's website Hats & Not Hats. The pattern is out of my comfort zone! It's knit on circular needles and obviously has cabling and ribbing. I ordered Debbie Bliss' Baby Cashmerino in this purple: 

I will be so proud of myself if I can do it! If I can't I'll have to ask my dear sweet friend Kirsten to do it for me. She's the one who taught me to knit & she's amazing! 

So there you have it. My big challenge. I am going to give it the ole college try! 

It's A.......

Geeky Clean Fun

Because I don't have a robot or futuristic kitchen computer to help me around the house I struggle to stay on top of the cleaning and tidying. I didn't used to have such a problem. Friday used to be my "blitz the house day". I lived with 3 men in a 1930s bungalow, the house wasn't ever horrible but they didn't ever see dust or crumbs or toothpaste scum in the sink. You know what I mean....it's similar to male refrigerator blindness.
These days I don't have a set schedule and so I can't get into a rhythm.

I follow The Spotted Sparrow on facebook and I think she might have just saved my bacon!  She been posting tips on how to keep your house clean in just 15 minutes a day. I KNOW!
And this morning she posted a calendar with a job for every day. I am in geeky housewife pleasure overload! I was just talking to a friend about making up a rota for keeping the house clean but The Spotted Sparrow has done the work for us!

Are you ready for this? Maybe you should sit down. Maybe I should sit down.

Here are a few notes she posted with the calendar:

The Spotted Sparrow

 

I've been cleaning one thing a day for the past few months and my flat is clean and tidy. No massive cleaning sessions before company comes over! You can do it too with this little cleaning schedule. Remember, this is based on my 2-bedroom flat. If you have a large home or children you can adjust the schedule to your needs.

surface clean: pick up anything laying about, dust, sweep, vacuum

deep clean: surface clean + baseboards, artwork, appliances, any anything else you've been avoiding when surface cleaning

touchables: door handles, telephones, remote controls, etc.

Want some more good news? SHE'S GOING TO MAKE ONE EVERY MONTH!
I'm just too excited about this (in case you couldn't tell!). I've been fretting about how I was going to keep a tidy home when Baby Woo arrived when I can't even do it now! Thank you The Spotted Sparrow you've answered my prayers!

On a Baby Woo related update my ultrasound is on Wednesday, that's just 2 more sleeps til I can see my sweet kicking baby again AND find out if I'm being pummelled by a footballer or ballerina!

Twenty.

Today is a milestone day. I am 20 weeks pregnant. Half way!
This time has absolutely flown by. I can not believe that in 5 more months it'll be time for my very own baby to arrive. I've heard that time will slow down the closer I get to the end but I'm not so sure because it will be the big celebratory time in our family. Our wedding anniversary, Christmas and then it'll be time for Baby Woo to arrive & it's also my birthday near Baby Woo's due date. Who knows, we might even share a birthday! 

In one week Mr Woo and I get to see our little person for the second time. We'll hopefully see a very healthy little one and also find out if we get to pick out pink or blue booties! We are very excited!

The day after the scan Baby Woo's Uncle Laurie will be moving to Germany. We're going to miss him loads and loads.
Some time soon my shop will be moving location too. I'm not exactly looking forward to that change but I'm sure it'll be good, luckily we're all moving together so we will all work together. 

So as you can see this is a very busy time and we have so many exciting things happening! There is so much to look forward to and cherish! 

Vintage Toys

Wonderful, beautiful toys. I find toys of years gone by so much more charming than the massively produced plastic rubbishy things we see today. I can remember a few toys from my childhood. My very favorite was my rubber alligator. It was something like this hideous thing! I don't remember my toy being so ugly, haha! Oh well, I loved it. One day it got washed away in the sea :(  My parents had taken me to a beach party one evening, I was playing in the water when my Alligator started floating away, I was starting to go after it when my Dad said I wasn't allowed in the water because sharks come out at night! Well, that was enough for me! I had to wave goodbye to my beloved Gator. I was approaching four years old but I've never forgotten that night!

I have been on the hunt for sweet vintage toys for Baby Woo. There are loads of sweet things out there but they are preeeetty pricey! Here are a few things I've found tonight.

How adorable are these two?!

Pull-A-Tune

Oh I really want a Lil Snoopy for Baby Woo! 

My other fave toy was my piano. I'm on the hunt for one just like this one for Baby Woo

Oh, I could go on forever, I just love all of these wonderful treasures! I found this great toy website that sells the modern versions of vintage toys too like the Pull-A-Tune, it's called Fat Brain Toys. I'm adding to Baby Woos Registry as we speak! This is fun!