Mother's Day

Mother's Day took us (and my Mum and Dad) to Bristol Zoo, where they were kindly offering free entry for Mums (and free cupcakes, when you managed to fight your way through the crowds and into the cafe-thingy). J-cub wittered on about bippos (hippos, to the non-fluent J-cub speakers amongst you) all the way there, refusing to fall asleep, so that the rest of the day was spent on a knife-edge of toddler worn-outness. He did manage to keep going somehow, and rather delightfully talked in his sleep all the way home, and has just gone to bed now. With some serious prompting, he went to bed with calls of "Happy Mummy! Luff you, Mummy!" as he walked upstairs. Prompted or not, it totally made my day.

The Zoo itself was awesome, loads to do and very J-cub friendly (although he would have liked some giraffes, and he would have liked to have seen more than just the bippos ears poking out of the water. He was still ridiculously excited to see them, though). The penguins and seals were amazing, with a whole walk-under-water thing going on, I could have stayed down there for hours.

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Mother's Day also brought about a fun secret-swap amongst my fellow BLW forumites. Those of us who were feeling crafty submitted our names and were randomly allocated another Mama to make something for. I worked my fingers to the bone crocheting this lovely hat, which I found quite difficult to part with in the end (it is human-sized, that's a particularly large stuffed rabbit)...

...but was totally over the moon when I received back a beautiful, lined bag (also crocheted, also with a flower decoration!) in the most beautiful yarn. It made me all warm and fuzzy to be part of such a lovely, supportive community.

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful Mothers out there, and most of all to my lovely Mum and my lovely Mum-in-law. Mwah xxxx

Amigurumi

Do you remember this? After far too long, I've figured out how to attach it to the ceiling above J-cub's cot, and it's now in situ, helping him to stay up way past his bedtime every day.

He loves it. And we've discovered that by twisting it one way, it spins the other way when released (funny, that). J-cub LOVES it, and we spent a happy 5 minutes before bathtime excitedly watching it.

Also in his room is a hot air balloon I crocheted, with a little pink bunny sitting in the basket. It was supposed to have a bear, but the bunny seemed to enjoy the ride more. I crocheted this for him not long after he was born, I think, and it hung in the lounge above the travel cot where he used to have his daytime naps. It's now moved to his bedroom, and is equally spinny-fun-making.

Finally, there's his collection of little crocheted friends, which I made while I was pregnant. Some were from free Internet patterns, but most were from the same source as the bird mobile and the hot air balloon: these fab books by Ana Paula Rimoli. If you have a crocheting bone in your body, I highly recommend you check them out, as the designs are beautiful, and they make perfect baby-presents. And if I can do them, anyone can, as I'd never picked up a crochet hook before the last couple of months of my pregnancy.

I need to get back into it, as I've been on a bit of a hiatus since I finished the bird mobile, which took me forever to complete. My fingers are very itchy in the evening, and I think having something to do stops my brain from going too loopy in the quiet-times after J-cub has gone to sleep. What I really need, is to get up the duff again, so I can make something for the new baby. Not that I'm at all broody, oh-ho no ;)

18. Finish crocheted mobile for J-cub's room

I've been working on this for about 5 months (not non-stop, there were plenty of times when it sat in a bag for weeks on end). I realised today that actually, all the components were made, and it just needed putting together.

We had another snow day today, and J-cub has come down with a raging cold - high temperature, listless, exhausted, hungry, pouring with snot and just very very miserable. So he's mostly been parked in front of the telly, as anything else made him cry. That gave me plenty of time to get on and do it, and do it I did, but I still didn't finish until about half-past midnight (it still counts, right?!).

I am exhausted. My fingers are covered with pin-holes, my eyes are aching, my back is sore, but I am so, so happy. It's the most intricate thing I've ever made, and it's almost defeated me (I read the pattern wrong, which means I also have a bag of unused crocheted leaves, each one took about 10 minutes to make, and there are SEVENTY of them).

Hopefully J-cub will love it. There was a little pink bird which hung above his head in his moses basket when he was little, and he fell desperately in love with it. We found some video earlier of a very tiny J-cub, frantically waving his arms about, and cooing to this little bird. When he outgrew the moses basket, the bird was safety-pinned to the canopy of his pram, where they carried on their love affair. Birdie now lives in the soft toy basket, occasionally to be taken out and chewed.

Maybe the mobile might be a bit too late, developmentally, but I don't care. I love it, and it'll look nice in the nursery.

Pattern

Day 36: Mission complete.