Reflecting on the decade...

2000
18 Years old - Finished and left School, 4 A-level passes and plans to go to university in the autumn

2001
Left the University of the West of England after embarking on a degree in Business Studies with extra modules in German and Human Resources.
Started to work for Cheltenham and Gloucester Plc as a Deeds Administration Clerk

2002
2 promotions later and was now a Senior Accounts Administrator

2003
Promoted to possibly the worst job I've ever had - Team Leader (to this day I still recall how much pain my line manager caused me and how unprepared I was to deal with other peoples problems - even with the desire there to do so)

2004
Process Improvement Leader

2005
First trip to India to the West Coast and Mumbai for 2 stints totalling 6 months. Blanked a lot of this year as on my return things just didn't go right for the rest of the year and this left me very low and battling to regain my sense of self - betrayal will do that to you!

2006
Met my now husband, 3rd trip to India for work this time 3 months and to the East Coast and Kolkatta.
Holiday of a lifetime to Dubai
On the stroke of Midnight 31/12/2006 - DH proposed and I accepted

2007
Now a Mortgage Sales Trainer and travelling the country
January the 8th - I moved into DH house and we began planning our wedding for 07/07/07 (a day short of a full year we would have been together - some say quick but after going through wrong relationships we both knew that this was right)
The sun shone for the only whole day in July for our wedding and probably for the only day that summer - the year of floods.
Honeymoon in Dominican Republic - Puerta Plata, a second holiday of a lifetime (I've been very lucky)
September discovered carrying our first child

2008
18/05/08 Little Man born after an epic 22 hours - epic in many varied ways but not for this blog

2009
April - discovered carrying our second child and as I write only 3 weeks left to go until we will have 2 children - one in each of the first 2 decades of this century

Only written very briefly but still bringing back lots of other significant memories - a surprising amount can happen in 10 years.

Christmas Pics...

Don't we look smart before heading out for the Christmas Do!

Opening up the rest of my stocking - what has Father Christmas delivered?

Wow where did all of these come from?

I haven't sat still since first thing this morning - hence all pictures are blurred!

My Christmas Day outfit and the xylophone I got from N & G

Festive Fuel...

Christmas wouldn't be christmas without a traditional fruit cake - but who says the icing has to be traditional, I've gone for a more minimal and fun look this year with snowmen preparing for a snowball fight and whizzing down the hill on their toboggan (of course that is if snowmen could move - which I'm sure they will after we've all gone to bed)!

Quilting Bricks...

My colourful brick wall...

A close up just for the heck of it!


My latest make has taken some time in development and then even longer in putting the colours together as I wanted - thanks to DH for patience and colour charting! Also, so that I haven't wasted anything, the back was made from the last large piece of duvet cover left over from making bumps moses basket lining.

Christmas bounty...

Both Little Man and Bump now have a Santa sack I hope they will be proud to say their mummy made; especially in years to come when I truly want them still to be in use and an annual debate to take place over who had the green star or the red star!

Christmas make...

Having been housebound for the last 3 weeks I really wanted to do something for my wonderful colleagues at work and without trawling the shops - so I made some christmas votives and gingerbread shapes to share.

Bits for Bump II...

The set is complete - although I think I would like to add a second pair of bootees that are a bit more sock like and suitable for a boy if that's what bump happens to be!

I think my nesting instinct is rather lax this time around but I feel much better now baby has something new of it's own to come home in.

Bits for bump...

It was about time that I made something completely for bump and it suddenly occurred to me that time is rapidly running away with me on this front too! Thank goodness it will only be small projects that I should be able to whip up in days or even quiet evenings as is the case with these. There will be a matching cardigan and maybe a beanie too if I have enough yarn!

Fluffy Bunnies...

I'm using Sublime Angora Merino in a luvverly chocolate brown to try and make my own cardigan/wrap top - it's all very much in my head at the moment and I'm keeping it quite plain. Will try to post pictures as it develops (unless it all goes horribly wrong).

Big star...

Well, maybe more of a pentagon but this stash busted 4 balls of rowan holiday that I didn't have a clue what to do with!

Button...

How best to show off this fantastic button as created by my fab dad - why knit it's very own felted bag of course!

You will need::

6mm circular needle (approx 40com cable works well)
6mm straight needle
6mm DPN (smaller is fine if you don't want to go out and buy a bigger set that you'll probably never use again!)
Great button to show off!
Stitch Markers 8 in total
5 Balls Rowan Soft baby or other suitable yarn for felting

Pattern::

Cast on 121 stitches to your circular needle and join by knitting the first and last 2 stitches together - you should now have 120 on the needle, take time to check it's not twisted now as that's a lot of stitches to have to re-cast on if you have to pull it back!

Round 1:: *Knit 30 place stitch marker, repeat from * to end, you should have four markers in situ now (these should be left for later)

Round 2:: Knit into front and back of first stitch and after each stitch marker

Round 3:: Knit

Continue repeating rounds 2 and 3 a further 6 times - you should now have 148 stitches in total.

Continue knitting each round until work measures 26 cms from cast on edge

Shaping for base of bag::
Round 1:: *Knit 18 place stitch marker, knit 19, repeat from * to end
Round 2:: Knit 2 together after and before each stitch marker (reducing number of stitches by 16)
Round 3:: Knit

Continue repeating rows 2 and 3 until you have 52 stitches remaining.

Cut your yarn 20cm long and thread this tail back through your stitches pulling tight and closing hole, fasten off and weave in ends.

Bag flap::

Pick up 30 stitches from cast on edge with 6mm straight needles (between line of 2 increases), continue in stocking stitch (knit one row, purl one row - making sure you keep pattern the same as bag right side - smooth on the outside) until flap measures 18cm.

Cast off and weave in ends.

Bag handle:: Using 6mm DPN's cast on 6 stitches and make an I-cord of 40cm (don't worry about back of cord as felting will sort out how loose this looks.

Cast off and sew I cord to bag.

Felting and finishing::
Wash your bag with similar colour items (helps if not a full load) on a 50 degree cycle - don't tumble dry.

Once washed - reshape and use a couple of tea towels or hand towels to form shape - leave to dry

Sew on a fab button to bag flap and use to your hearts content - the benefit of felting is that you don't have to line the bag unless you want to!
This is my own personal pattern and I'm happy for you to reproduce the bag for your own use - please don't distribute the pattern without my permission. Copyright Clobelle 2009

Christmas crochet...

Courtesy of Attic24 and other contributors, my attempts below at a Christmas Star and Snowflakes. Only practice go's but I love how simple they were to make and quick too!

Bump update...

Both myself and little man haven't been well for a little while - I'm resting up after a nasty chest infection really knocked me for six and Haydn has Chicken Pox (although he has recovered from the poorly stage very quickly - we're just waiting for the spots to dry up completely now). We're both on the mend and improving daily.

Thought it may be nice to record for posterity's sake a pic of the bump as it is today (not sure I'll be brave enough to take any more photos as the weeks go by and the inevitable expansion occurs on a daily basis!