Lucky Me

Today, when I was putting the kids in the car after the school pick up a little old lady was calling something to me from her nearby garden. I went over to her and she said 'I was hoping to see your baby', indicating to the now empty buggy. Now normally, I'm more than happy to show off my children, but this afternoon's pick up had conflicted with David's sleeping and so he was not the most cheerful. So I told her I'd already popped him in the car.

'I had a baby' she said, and proceeded to tell me about her only baby, a baby which while she was pregnant with it was discovered she was sick, needed treatment and had radiation, resulting in her child who is has lived in an IHC residence for a long time by the sounds of it.
'How many children have you got there?' she said, peering through her elderly eyes at my people mover.
'3, a 5 year old, 3 year old and 1 year old'

This is normally where I get the stock standard comment 'You must have your hands full!'
Instead, she said 'Aren't you lucky!' to which it was easy to reply 'Yes, I am'
'And they'll all be such good friends, what a lovely age gap'
She continued to tell me how she couldn't have any more children after her son, there were tears in her eyes. It made me realise just how lucky I am.

She was standing holding a rake, she'd just been doing work in her immaculate garden. I complimented it and told her she reminded me of my grandmother, who spends a lot of time thinking about her garden and not as much time as she'd like working in it now she's getting older. I mentioned how it must be gardens that keep people so young.
She said to me, 'Well, how old do you think I am?'
Now, this is a tricky question isn't it!
So I replied, 'Well, my grandma is 92, and you must be younger than that'
And she smiled and proudly said 'Oh no I'm not! I'm 96'

Anyway, we had a few more wee snippets of conversation, and then I realised that the kids were in a hot stuffy car and I really should take them home. But I couldn't help but think what a lovely old lady and yes, how lucky am I to have 3 quite wonderful children.
And I'm going to try and park there again, just so next time she can check out my 'baby' (who is 1 now!) and I can say hello and admire her garden a bit more.
And next time someone says 'You must have your hands full!' I'd love to be able to respond with something positive like 'I wouldn't change a thing', because I wouldn't.

Empowered

I've just been for a walk and I felt so fricken awesome I felt the need to blog...yes, me, who hasn't blogged since November.

See, I've been a little busy lately, what with the summer, Christmas, a three year old's birthday, the holidays, but I've also been investing some time on me. Yep that's right, I'm spending a little less time in front of the tv knitting and trying to make time every evening for me to exercise. I've been walking the dogs around where I live (it's definitely hilly!) and been trying out some Zumba and classes at the gym.

Tonight's walk, that's Wellington Harbour out there

Here it is again around sunset a couple of weeks ago

The best walking buddies ever! But sooo hard to photograph without them moving.

And today, my husband even commented that he could see I'd lost some weight. Mwah, thanks darling! There's nothing like hearing that. I've lost approx 8 kgs so far...I've got a lot more to lose. But I feel really positive I'll get there. There's no doubt in my mind that I can do it.

But here's where I get to the point of my blog entry. As I walked tonight, taking in the stunning view in my neighbourhood and the lovely cooling summer evening, I realised I felt great. Even after really pushing it going up the hill, frick I felt awesome. And that's because this is for me. I feel like for the first time since before getting pregnant and having kids (Penny turns 5 in a couple of weeks) I am actually looking after my body and in a way feeding my soul (gawd, sorry if that sounds terribly cliched).

I listen to my music as I walk, there are no demands for The Wiggles and Hi5, or I listen to an audiobook - undisturbed! Tonight my music on shuffle turned up a bit of Glee, Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Taylor Swift, Adele, Lady Gaga as well as something I have nooo idea what it was, but it was metalish with a great beat...it sure keeps you guessing what's going to be next! For the last couple of weeks I've also really really enjoyed listening to the series of The Hunger Games as I walked, I don't think I've finished 3 books back to back that fast since having kids.

I'm also being a bit mindful of what I eat, no more sitting down and polishing off half a block of chocolate or a packet of hokey pokey squiggle tops. I'm not saying I only eat lettuce and carrots, but I've swapped my choc fix for gingernuts and Eve apples (only Eve's, they are delicious). I'm using My Fitness Pal, it's a great free site!

And I have the most inspirational sister and friends, who have been there, done that and are still doing it too. There's nothing like seeing that they've lost 10-35 kgs. It hasn't happened overnight, obviously, but they've been so committed and so supportive.

So there you go, a memememe post, and I'm not going to apologise for it at all. I love my kids, wouldn't change a thing! But I think having a bit of time out, recognising that I'm worth investing a little time on too makes me a better wife and mum. One who hopefully will be around for many many years to enjoy seeing my kids grow.

Timothy, David and Penny, Dec 2011

Oh, and that doesn't mean I'm not knitting - I'm actually getting ready to test a couple more of my designs shortly...I'm just not spending as much time these days knitting. Quality, not quantity ;)

I spy with my little eye something beginning with P

Today's entry is brought to you by the letter P.

P for Penny with the Pox

Penny got her first spot on Tuesday, gradually her chicken pox have spread over her torso and legs, we were happy that her face seemed to have missed spots - but she's woken up with them on her face and head today. I'm hoping she's fine by her first school visit in a weeks time! This pic is a pretty tame one of her spots, but it's G rated ;)

P is also for Present

This beautiful present arrived from my friend Hannah of Red Riding Hood Yarns yesterday evening. It's a skein of her 10ply hand-dyed in the colourway Green with Envy (which since playing Dingbats as a kid I always think of as Greenvy these days). Included was also a lovely note and a 'smiley happy people' LUSH (omg, I've never had lush stuff but it smells and looks soooooo good) package. Inside is a delcious looking soap, bodywash and emotibomb - so lovely! Thanks so much Hannah xxx

And finally - no pic for this, but P might also be for pattern development...but it's only at swatching and figuring out stage at the moment.

Enjoy your Thursday! xxx

Wednesday Snapshots

I thought I might try and pop up some snapshots regularly - perhaps of things I'm working on, things the kids are up to, that kind of thing

These were taken yesterday at about 5pm. Known to many households with children as the arsenic hour.

At my place, I was making dinner while Timothy made a birthday cake, complete with candle.

Penny drew a picture. This one depicts what happened earlier in the morning. I was doing the kindy drop off with the three children, it was pouring with rain. When I finally got everyone buckled in to the car I found I must've locked my keys in the car. So here we are trapped in the car, with it raining outside while we waited for my husband to come home (after trying various doors and windows). The people you can see in the car are me, David and Penny. Penny said you can't see Timothy, he sits on the other side of the car - which is right.

And Mr 9 months old today was having a marvellous time trying out all the pizza toppings for the homemade pizzas I was making.

Sock Blocker Pre-Christmas Special

Christmas is coming, what better way to treat a knitter you know, or buy some for your kids to wrap up for you for Christmas!

10% off all our sock blockers

Made of a lovely biscuity coloured kauri laminated ply (sourced locally), they are great for blocking those newly knit socks to just the right shape. The ply is smooth and thin, perfect for slipping into your socks with no snags.

Available in 5 different sizes:

* Kids (2 sizes - child or baby),
* Small (women's sizes 5-7NZ, 22.5cm)
* Medium (women's sizes 7.5-9NZ, 25.5cm)
* Large (women's and men's sizes 10+NZ, 27.5cm)

And the price is now even harder to beat!
$15 each now $13.50 each
2 (they don't have to be 2 the same size) for $28 $25.20...ok, let's make it a straight $25
3 for $40 $36, that's $12 each!
Kids ones (child or baby sized) $10 each $9

If you'd like to order or ask further questions, email me - jstanfield@xtra.co.NZ

This special is for New Zealanders only, postage is additional ($7.50 for Nth Island, 12.50 for Sth Island). Pick up from Lower Hutt also available. Please be aware that Blair makes them to order, so they can take approx 2 weeks for delivery. Discount runs until the 15th of December.

Knitted Goodies For Sale

I've just loaded sone items in the tab 'Items for Sale'. It's all discounted because I am running out of room for things! A great time of the year to pick up some pressies!

And here are a few of my personal favourites....

And the winner is....

I've been running a little Rugby World Cup competition and I'm well overdue to picking a winner!

In the end there were 7 completed entries. In the order of completion they were:

By Odette

By kaaktus

By mychildrensmother

By Odette (this is the mini hotshot)

By Krissie

By Odette

By elpalchica

So, I listed them in a wee document, then asked my husband to pick any number between and including 1 and 7. His answer....









wait for it...









wait for it...








Still waiting...







Is this annoying?








Ok, my 7 entrants, it was the number 4 he selected...







Which turned out to be Odette. With 3 entries out of the 7 the odds were in Odette's favour! I'll be in touch Odette to organise your prize :) I'm pretty sure she was after a swift and fingers crossed it'll rain tomorrow so my beloved can get swift making instead of playing tennis lol.

A huge thank you to all the lovelies that took part and chatted during the RWC.

To finish, here's a beautiful image from the final game last weekend, boy it was stressful to watch, but go the AB's!

Confessions of a Yarnaholic Continued...The Stash

I'm embarassed to have to admit that this is the kind of post that you can show to your significant other when they are complaining that your yarn stash is getting too big because the lid of the bin won't shut. In saying that, I know that there are many many Ravelers with much more than me, but when I laid my stash out in January 2010 it was a real eye-opener as to just how much yarn I had hiding in the wardrobes or living under the bed.

My aim since then was to destash the stuff I didn't like, knit up the yarn I do and to aim to buy way less yarn than I was knitting up over the year. In the end, I knitted 30,000m of yarn, that's 30kms worth.

So now, the yarn that remains from that pic looks more like this:

Actually, it's not like that at all as I've used some of the ones still pictured there, but seeing as there's still some in my stash I didn't want to just black it out. But it's a great improvement right?!

And we won't talk about the yarn that's been added to my stash since then

Blogtober the 19th, Pay It Forward

A while ago, my friend Mary posted a Pay It Forward on her blog. I received my gorgeous package earlier this year, it contained delicious chocolate (ummm, one guess why it's not pictured!), handspun yarns (Mary knows I have a bit of a thing for brown yarn, but both of these are just beautiful), felt, gorgeous bulldog clips and a neat reusable shopping bag that now lives in the bottom of my handbag.

So, it's now my turn to Pay It Forward.

I will send a gift to a randomly selected someone who to leaves a comment on this post within the next 365 days.

I am willing to post anywhere in the world, so don't let that stop you commenting.

The catch is that you have to have a blog and be willing to do the same thing.

So if you'd like to participate, then leave me a comment and make sure to leave me a valid email address so that I can contact you for your address, etc.PLEASE also tell me what kind of things you'd love to receive or any allergies you might have.

Paying it forward is lots of fun! Go on, leave me a comment! And hey, if you're not selected it doesn't mean you can't still pay it forward to someone else anyway, post someone something you don't need anymore but think they might appreciate :)

Blogtober the 18th, Matariki

I have to blog about this! I can't believe I haven't already.

Now, I can take no credit for the knitting of this most stunning jersey. It was knitted by my beautiful friend Fi and gifted to my family. I can't tell you how much I love this. Yes, I love the smooshy soft WOOLganics yarn and the cleverly designed pattern by my friend Sarah. Yes, I love too that it fits my Timothy as if it was knitted just for him.

But what I love the most is the generosity of such an amazing gift. I know it must've been hard to send this jersey to me after knitting it. It's the kind of jersey that I would find hard to give away, in fact, I don't think I'll be able to! And Fi has a little fella of her own that could've grown into it I'm sure (though shush, I don't want to give her any ideas)

It's amazing right? And we love it.

Thanks for being you Fi xxx