1) Denial.
2) Anger.
3) Bargaining.
4) Depression.
5) Acceptance.
13:15, 10 Feb 2010.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Monday, February 08, 2010
Do ya think I need to lose weight???!
Matilda came home with some kindy art today.
Here is a painting of daddy:
And, here is mummy!:
Seriously though, Roy and I are like Jack Sprat and his wife. He can't get fat no matter what he eats whereas I have to exercise and watch every bite I eat. It's OK though, in May last year I was up to 76kg, with 44% body fat! (I have a cool set of scales that somehow measure body fat percentage). A couple of years ago at my mum's wedding all the guests thought that I was pregnant..
Right now I'm hovering around 65-66kg, with a body fat of about 33%. Gotta be happy with that :) Actually I didn't really do much to get to this weight, just being a bit more conscious of our diets.
This is what exercise I'm doing now:
* 15 minute ride to and from kindy twice a week.
* (Hopefully), swimming laps after M's weekly swimming class (I plan on swimming with her for a while after the class then into creche while I get back into the swimming -- it's such a great form of relaxation)
* Running around like a mad woman whenever I can, cleaning, dyeing, whatever.
* Sunday kneeboarding at the river.
* Consciously trying to use the car a lot less.
It's not much but I can't really go to the gym or pool, our schedules just don't allow that.
My goal is; I want to get below 60kg, but would be really thrilled if I can make it to 55kg.
Here is a painting of daddy:
And, here is mummy!:
Seriously though, Roy and I are like Jack Sprat and his wife. He can't get fat no matter what he eats whereas I have to exercise and watch every bite I eat. It's OK though, in May last year I was up to 76kg, with 44% body fat! (I have a cool set of scales that somehow measure body fat percentage). A couple of years ago at my mum's wedding all the guests thought that I was pregnant..
Right now I'm hovering around 65-66kg, with a body fat of about 33%. Gotta be happy with that :) Actually I didn't really do much to get to this weight, just being a bit more conscious of our diets.
This is what exercise I'm doing now:
* 15 minute ride to and from kindy twice a week.
* (Hopefully), swimming laps after M's weekly swimming class (I plan on swimming with her for a while after the class then into creche while I get back into the swimming -- it's such a great form of relaxation)
* Running around like a mad woman whenever I can, cleaning, dyeing, whatever.
* Sunday kneeboarding at the river.
* Consciously trying to use the car a lot less.
It's not much but I can't really go to the gym or pool, our schedules just don't allow that.
My goal is; I want to get below 60kg, but would be really thrilled if I can make it to 55kg.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Bloomin' Beautiful!
Just thought I would do a quickie blog post while R's getting the boat ready for what's become our special Sunday session out on the river. By tonight I'll be too sore to do anything much less type :)
As I said before, I am addicted to tiKKi's Bloom pattern. It's all I've been knitting lately and I have more planned. I'm even considering licensing the pattern and going back to selling knits -- after all, how many versions of the same dress can Matilda (and *all* her girl cousins and friends) have LOL!
Anyway, this was my first Bloom. I hand-dyed 100g kettle-dyed blues and greens BWM spinning fibre and 100g teal. I spun the singles on my electric spinner and plied them on my Ashford Joy. It looked to be like a heavy worsted yarn. So I had 200g of this and decided to cast on. I knew I wouldn't have enough but I was planning on spinning up some more in a more solid teal for the bottom pattern (below the skirt diamonds). Well I didn't get very far with the yarn:
I have since frogged it and knit the bodice in some BWM Mystique 16ply (seen in above photo) that I had leftover from my Counterpane Pullover. Yes you heard right, 16ply!! I am knitting this one to pattern, the lighter handspun will be good for the skirt part.
My second Bloom was for Matilda's 4th birthday dress. I knit this one in BWM 10ply Luxury in Ruby, from the stash and a colour I've loved for ages and just had to have (with no particular project in mind). I added an extra pattern of diamonds on the skirt, making a total of five rows of diamonds for a longer skirt. The hardest part was choosing the ribbon, I must have spent about half an hour at Spotlight trying to pick the perfect one.
Here she is on the day...
Blowing out the candles... (how embarassing is that cake, but hey it was the best I could do with gluten free, egg free, dairy free, lots of sugar LOL deeeelicious!)
The gorgeous little girl in the background is Shinae, her 5 year old cousin. She's getting a pink (her fave colour) Bloom soon :)
And this is Samantha, her 10 year old cousin who is getting a large Bloom made out of this Gradual Gradient of dark cobalt to light, light aqua to dark and back to light (as you can see, her favourite colour is blue. I took measurements on the day LOL). The yarn is BRIDGHID, a nice plump superwash worsted. I will have to do some maths for this one.
While we're showing off pictures, there is also a Bloom in Mikayla's future. She's Abby's 8month old daughter. I think a light lilac BWM alpaca one for her, gifted to me by the generous Kelly G. Mikayla looks great in that colour.
And the piece-de-resistance... a Bloom for Matilda's dolly! She has a really big head and is really quite pudgy so the standard dolly pattern didn't fit over her head, so I did some modifications and cast on 76 stitches. The bodice is in 10ply Luxury leftover from M's dress, and the skirt in 8ply Luxury in the same colour. Here is dolly in her box...
The ladybug stickers were expertly applied by Matilda before I wrapped things up, I thought they added a bit of jazz to good ol dolly who's been fingernail painted, texta'ed, and stickered throughout her time with us.
Dolly was quite the party animal (was it the punch???), here she is the day after:
And a great end to a great day... (shall I make Bloom's for these guys too?? Hmmm...) My brother and Roy.
Right now I'm knitting a black Medium Bloom for mamasue's JDRF auction. Bodice in Merino Deluxe DK and the rest in a very dark Athabasca in MAIA (Henry's Attic Worsted). It will be top length instead of a dress as I only have 100g hand-dyed yarn. About to do the diamond panels on the bottom.
See, some knitting content :) :) :)
As I said before, I am addicted to tiKKi's Bloom pattern. It's all I've been knitting lately and I have more planned. I'm even considering licensing the pattern and going back to selling knits -- after all, how many versions of the same dress can Matilda (and *all* her girl cousins and friends) have LOL!
Anyway, this was my first Bloom. I hand-dyed 100g kettle-dyed blues and greens BWM spinning fibre and 100g teal. I spun the singles on my electric spinner and plied them on my Ashford Joy. It looked to be like a heavy worsted yarn. So I had 200g of this and decided to cast on. I knew I wouldn't have enough but I was planning on spinning up some more in a more solid teal for the bottom pattern (below the skirt diamonds). Well I didn't get very far with the yarn:
I have since frogged it and knit the bodice in some BWM Mystique 16ply (seen in above photo) that I had leftover from my Counterpane Pullover. Yes you heard right, 16ply!! I am knitting this one to pattern, the lighter handspun will be good for the skirt part.
My second Bloom was for Matilda's 4th birthday dress. I knit this one in BWM 10ply Luxury in Ruby, from the stash and a colour I've loved for ages and just had to have (with no particular project in mind). I added an extra pattern of diamonds on the skirt, making a total of five rows of diamonds for a longer skirt. The hardest part was choosing the ribbon, I must have spent about half an hour at Spotlight trying to pick the perfect one.
Here she is on the day...
Blowing out the candles... (how embarassing is that cake, but hey it was the best I could do with gluten free, egg free, dairy free, lots of sugar LOL deeeelicious!)
The gorgeous little girl in the background is Shinae, her 5 year old cousin. She's getting a pink (her fave colour) Bloom soon :)
And this is Samantha, her 10 year old cousin who is getting a large Bloom made out of this Gradual Gradient of dark cobalt to light, light aqua to dark and back to light (as you can see, her favourite colour is blue. I took measurements on the day LOL). The yarn is BRIDGHID, a nice plump superwash worsted. I will have to do some maths for this one.
While we're showing off pictures, there is also a Bloom in Mikayla's future. She's Abby's 8month old daughter. I think a light lilac BWM alpaca one for her, gifted to me by the generous Kelly G. Mikayla looks great in that colour.
And the piece-de-resistance... a Bloom for Matilda's dolly! She has a really big head and is really quite pudgy so the standard dolly pattern didn't fit over her head, so I did some modifications and cast on 76 stitches. The bodice is in 10ply Luxury leftover from M's dress, and the skirt in 8ply Luxury in the same colour. Here is dolly in her box...
The ladybug stickers were expertly applied by Matilda before I wrapped things up, I thought they added a bit of jazz to good ol dolly who's been fingernail painted, texta'ed, and stickered throughout her time with us.
Dolly was quite the party animal (was it the punch???), here she is the day after:
And a great end to a great day... (shall I make Bloom's for these guys too?? Hmmm...) My brother and Roy.
Right now I'm knitting a black Medium Bloom for mamasue's JDRF auction. Bodice in Merino Deluxe DK and the rest in a very dark Athabasca in MAIA (Henry's Attic Worsted). It will be top length instead of a dress as I only have 100g hand-dyed yarn. About to do the diamond panels on the bottom.
See, some knitting content :) :) :)
Friday, January 22, 2010
Proudest mumma on earth
(Those of you squeamish about bodily functions and their products should tune out now)
OK, I know this is supposed to be a knitting blog, but really I don't see it that way. I see it as a place to share about the entire Jolly Jumbuck family, so here goes!.....
Yes, that is what you think it is. Yes, I have a photo of a poo on my blog. Yes, I'm the proudest mumma on earth right about now. This is the very first time that sweet, lovely Matilda has done a poo all by herself, without being asked or told to go to the potty. She had a wee accident in her knickers, and I asked her to go change her knickers. Off she goes... and then comes back and says "I just did a poo". I assumed she was talking about the wee, so I said "No, you did a wee". A little later on I walked into the laundry/toilet and the above picture is what greeted me! Woohoo!!! She had even put her wet knickers in the laundry basket, wiped her bum independently, and put on fresh knickers! I was sooo happy and astounded.
She turned 4 on the 19th, and will be having her party this Sunday. It seems like she makes these milestone leaps around her birthdays... for example she took her first independent steps on the day after she turned two.
Now, I promise the next post will have *some* knitting content, even if it's just photos of her in her new Bloom dress with matching dolly from her birthday party :)
OK, I know this is supposed to be a knitting blog, but really I don't see it that way. I see it as a place to share about the entire Jolly Jumbuck family, so here goes!.....
Yes, that is what you think it is. Yes, I have a photo of a poo on my blog. Yes, I'm the proudest mumma on earth right about now. This is the very first time that sweet, lovely Matilda has done a poo all by herself, without being asked or told to go to the potty. She had a wee accident in her knickers, and I asked her to go change her knickers. Off she goes... and then comes back and says "I just did a poo". I assumed she was talking about the wee, so I said "No, you did a wee". A little later on I walked into the laundry/toilet and the above picture is what greeted me! Woohoo!!! She had even put her wet knickers in the laundry basket, wiped her bum independently, and put on fresh knickers! I was sooo happy and astounded.
She turned 4 on the 19th, and will be having her party this Sunday. It seems like she makes these milestone leaps around her birthdays... for example she took her first independent steps on the day after she turned two.
Now, I promise the next post will have *some* knitting content, even if it's just photos of her in her new Bloom dress with matching dolly from her birthday party :)
Friday, January 15, 2010
A breakthrough!
You know you're a parent when the *most* exciting thing in your day is your almost-4 daughter tells you she needs to go wee-wees, and then does a big one in the potty!!! Matilda hasn't been quite ready before now, despite many attempts at weaning her off nappies and into knickers, there would be many accidents and the occasional fluke, with a reluctance to use the potty. Sometimes she would tell us about the accidents after the fact, most times not. We were in panic mode about kindy this year, but thankfully we have ended up with a kindy and caring teacher who didn't bat an eyelid when I mentioned that she was not potty trained.
We had enrolled her in a private/independent K-12 Anglican school, all the way into the orientation day. Well it just did not *feel* right, and they were quite blase about her autism and need for extra help from an aide. So at the very last minute we made the decision that the best way to meet her needs would be to go through the public system... and luckily the local kindy had someone pull out at the last minute, so we got a place in it. When I went to visit the kindy and the teacher, all of my worries just evaporated. Mrs H genuinely cares about her kids, and it's not just a job being a teacher, it's a passion. And best of all it is within walking distance (quite a long walk, but nevertheless...), and M will have opportunities to make friends within the local community.
So anyway, I've been a fulltime mum for the past month or so, until the school term starts on the 1st Feb. Then it really ramps up, with kindy Mon and Wed, and early intervention therapy across the city on Tue and Thurs, leaving us Fri's for our regular playdates with her cousins which she really enjoys (and me too, Mandi their mum is such a rock for me).
It has been such a joy to see her bloom and blossom, and for her gorgeous personality to shine through. Neither Roy or I have much family support but that is OK. I do miss my mum and wish that she could be more a part of our lives, but she has a new husband and a new life now in the US and I've decided to stop being bitter about it and just deal!
The diet proves to be a challenge but I've decided to go with the flow and deal with that too. We'll do a review at the end of the year...
Haven't done much dyeing lately as it's impossible during the day with M, and there is no more daycare. And at night after her bedtime, I am way too tired to think about dyeing. So all I've been doing is checking my email for orders and taking care of them when I can, I haven't been on Ravelry for months now -- I do miss the community but not the time wasting and stress. I'm still knitting, although very sporadically compared to before. I've just finished a Bloom dress for M's 4th birthday with a matching one for her dolly. She is four in four days! Amazing it's been so long since we looked at each other and said hello.
I'm looking foward to school starting and having a few hours a week to myself, hopefully I can dye a little bit then. I'm really not that concerned about slowing down on the Jolly Jumbuck front, my priority lies with getting M through the early years of autism now. She will be amazingly "all right" at the end of it all. I am swamped by feelings of love and protectiveness for her that not much else matters anymore. And Roy and I are getting along better having come to an understanding. He is very busy at work and I'm busy doing the housewife thing. I even feed his offsider (employee and friend) most nights! We're all basically on the same diet, GF/CF with restrictions on eggs, tomatoes, etc.
The poor chooks, we can't even eat their eggs anymore. And we were surprised with a huge brood of chicks (15!) hatched about a week ago. We don't need any more chooks so will be selling the chicks ASAP.
On top of this all, we have another new addition to the family -- a puppy! I will introduce her soon.
We had enrolled her in a private/independent K-12 Anglican school, all the way into the orientation day. Well it just did not *feel* right, and they were quite blase about her autism and need for extra help from an aide. So at the very last minute we made the decision that the best way to meet her needs would be to go through the public system... and luckily the local kindy had someone pull out at the last minute, so we got a place in it. When I went to visit the kindy and the teacher, all of my worries just evaporated. Mrs H genuinely cares about her kids, and it's not just a job being a teacher, it's a passion. And best of all it is within walking distance (quite a long walk, but nevertheless...), and M will have opportunities to make friends within the local community.
So anyway, I've been a fulltime mum for the past month or so, until the school term starts on the 1st Feb. Then it really ramps up, with kindy Mon and Wed, and early intervention therapy across the city on Tue and Thurs, leaving us Fri's for our regular playdates with her cousins which she really enjoys (and me too, Mandi their mum is such a rock for me).
It has been such a joy to see her bloom and blossom, and for her gorgeous personality to shine through. Neither Roy or I have much family support but that is OK. I do miss my mum and wish that she could be more a part of our lives, but she has a new husband and a new life now in the US and I've decided to stop being bitter about it and just deal!
The diet proves to be a challenge but I've decided to go with the flow and deal with that too. We'll do a review at the end of the year...
Haven't done much dyeing lately as it's impossible during the day with M, and there is no more daycare. And at night after her bedtime, I am way too tired to think about dyeing. So all I've been doing is checking my email for orders and taking care of them when I can, I haven't been on Ravelry for months now -- I do miss the community but not the time wasting and stress. I'm still knitting, although very sporadically compared to before. I've just finished a Bloom dress for M's 4th birthday with a matching one for her dolly. She is four in four days! Amazing it's been so long since we looked at each other and said hello.
I'm looking foward to school starting and having a few hours a week to myself, hopefully I can dye a little bit then. I'm really not that concerned about slowing down on the Jolly Jumbuck front, my priority lies with getting M through the early years of autism now. She will be amazingly "all right" at the end of it all. I am swamped by feelings of love and protectiveness for her that not much else matters anymore. And Roy and I are getting along better having come to an understanding. He is very busy at work and I'm busy doing the housewife thing. I even feed his offsider (employee and friend) most nights! We're all basically on the same diet, GF/CF with restrictions on eggs, tomatoes, etc.
The poor chooks, we can't even eat their eggs anymore. And we were surprised with a huge brood of chicks (15!) hatched about a week ago. We don't need any more chooks so will be selling the chicks ASAP.
On top of this all, we have another new addition to the family -- a puppy! I will introduce her soon.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Glorious Gradual Gradients
I've just finished up a big wholesale order of Gradual Gradient yarns:
There are 40 x 100g balls, in four different rainbow colourways (Primary Rainbow, Gypsy Rainbow, Sandry's Rainbow and Pastel Rainbow). The yarn is a sinfully soft organic and free-trade baby alpaca called Angel Touch, a sportweight yarn.
These will be exclusively available from Ecoyarns soon.
There are 40 x 100g balls, in four different rainbow colourways (Primary Rainbow, Gypsy Rainbow, Sandry's Rainbow and Pastel Rainbow). The yarn is a sinfully soft organic and free-trade baby alpaca called Angel Touch, a sportweight yarn.
These will be exclusively available from Ecoyarns soon.
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
The wild, wild west
A lot has changed since I entered WAHM-dom by opening Jolly Jumbuck on Ozebaby way back in August 06. Back then, there were only a handful of dyers in Australia and it seemed a more genteel time. A time where etiquette played a larger part than it does now.
Dyers respected others' colourways, names of colourways, and even the base yarns used. If XY of OPQ Yarns was using Blackberry Ridge, for example, I would think long and hard before adding BBR to my line of yarns. If I named a colourway the same or similar to another dyer's, I would get a polite but firm email to please change the name on mine to avoid confusion.
Now, it's a free-for-all. Signature colourways have been replicated, yarn bases copied ad hoc, colourway names the same (there are some skeins for sale RIGHT NOW that have similar or identical names to mine)... it's easy to take it personally but I try not to. Or I would go nuts.
That said, it's time for a new direction in my dyeing. Rather than giving it up completely next year, I think I can be organised to have yarn prep nights before M's school days, and dye about once a week. I'm giving up "colourways". I'll be dyeing OOAK sets of skeins and that's all I will have for sale. This fits in with me and my current mood as an indie dyer in this environment.
Dyers respected others' colourways, names of colourways, and even the base yarns used. If XY of OPQ Yarns was using Blackberry Ridge, for example, I would think long and hard before adding BBR to my line of yarns. If I named a colourway the same or similar to another dyer's, I would get a polite but firm email to please change the name on mine to avoid confusion.
Now, it's a free-for-all. Signature colourways have been replicated, yarn bases copied ad hoc, colourway names the same (there are some skeins for sale RIGHT NOW that have similar or identical names to mine)... it's easy to take it personally but I try not to. Or I would go nuts.
That said, it's time for a new direction in my dyeing. Rather than giving it up completely next year, I think I can be organised to have yarn prep nights before M's school days, and dye about once a week. I'm giving up "colourways". I'll be dyeing OOAK sets of skeins and that's all I will have for sale. This fits in with me and my current mood as an indie dyer in this environment.
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