Playful Days

Most weeks seem to just shoot by so fast without me sharing what has kept us playful this week so let me correct that today with this post.

This week we have been....

....musical at Baby Bop. Playful Baby looks at Bea with a look that can only be described as pure love and we love the Beaver Dance. A great end to the week every time...

.... making things for our soon to arrive friends....

.... hunting for fairies, going on a Bear Hunt and giving up in favour of a picnic at Nature Play....

.... sharing some of my favourite places in London with the Playful Babe. The noises, the sights, the smells...

... and causing lots of mayhem and destruction. Being mobile opens a whole new avenue for house work that I never thought possible. Time to introduce the 'tidy up disco': hit play and get it all tidied by the end of the song. I'm hoping that it will catch on.

What's keeping you playful this week?

Knitting Love

Oh I have some wonders to tell you about. When yarns and great designers collide, magic happens, it really does. I FINALLY finished up some items, including blocking, weaving in ends and photographing, which almost never happens around here lately. So it's high time I waxed lyrical about a few things I've been working on. 

First there was the Uncommon Thread wonder yarn, Lush Worsted in 'Bois', 231 yards of MCN heaven. I bought this for a specific project way back in October when I pictured long knitting times as I started my maternity leave and waited for our baby's arrival. I chose Dryad by my knit crush, Jared Flood. Yum. Delicious cables, intricate details and wonderful bouncy yarn to work it up in. It was a challenge but that was ok. I was going to be impatient for an arrival, I'd be thankful for the distraction. Right?

Wrong.

It went to the frog pond 4 months after Playful Baby's arrival as I just admitted defeat. Cables and charts were not my friend when I barely had time to knit so I ripped it out and chose Setzer instead. It was still Jared, but a lot simpler and 'kinder on a frazzled mind' looking. Silly me forgot my deep seated loathing of wrap and turns but I'm quite pleased with the end result and know The Giant (its recipient) is too. You can see my Ravelry project notes here. 

I also finally, finally finished my long love affair with Plume by Lisa Mutch. I adore Lisa's designs as they are just so ME. I want to knit them, wear them and talk about them. They are simple, stylish and interesting enough to keep me happy while not being so mind bendingly complicated that I can only work on them in total silence for 15 minutes at a time. Lisa likes thoughtful construction that leads to effective results. I love that. 

I took two very beautiful yarns out of my stash for this knit. More Uncommon Thread, this time both fingering weights. The main body was knit in Posh Fingering in the 'Nimbostratus' colourway, and between the delicate grey and the lustrous silk and cashmere content in this yarn, I immediately loved this shawl. Once I added a bright Cerulean blue in Silky Merino Fingering, I knew that I was creating one of my all time favourite shawls. These yarns are exquisite and I think Ce is possibly a genius. 

It took nearly a year to knit and block but my god, I love it. I worked a few modifications that you can read about here to make the most of the yarn and make it my biggest shawl to date. I can't wait to wear this around me this autumn. I've barely taken pictures of it but I'm sharing already because I'm impatient and waiting 2 more days to take better pictures just might just kill me. 

New

A few things have changed in the Playful house that have meant for major changes rippling out into other areas of our lives. I can feel life tilting in a way that I hadn't quite expected. It's new and like all change, it takes some getting used to.

The first major change is that this years house renovation and DIY are drawing to a close at long last. A few loose ends and some weatherproofing outside before winter returns and we are done for a while. To say that I'm grateful is an understatement. This has dominated every week since we moved nearly a year ago and has ranged from catastrophic to mildly irritating. With the end of so much work comes more time to just enjoy ourselves and our time with family and friends. Having people over for dinner rather than drilling is much more fun.

The other change has been Playful Baby who continues to grow at an alarming rate. After months of holding her, nursing her, soothing her and being in near constant contact, she is starting to move further away and explore more independently. She now spends an entire morning a week with the Giant and one afternoon a week with my mum. This means a few scratches off my to do list and some working hours but also a lot of sitting and looking at colourful toys and feeling like the house is just a little too quiet and dull without her. 

As that to do list gets less full with items such as 'sand shelves', I start to reclaim some long lost items from my regular to do list. 'Block shawl' appeared this week and enticingly, 'record'. 

Life is changing. I wonder where it will take us over the next 9 months?