Creatively counting sheep

Is it bad to say that whenever I'm lying awake at night, I start thinking about how I could incorporate yo yos into a cushion design (for the Chocolate Lollipop challenge), and unfailingly, these thoughts send me into a deep slumber?! Like should I be glad to find such an efficient method of inducing sleep, particularly seeing as I have a two month old and need to make the most of all the sleep I can get, or should I be perturbed by my lack of excitement when it comes to yo yos???

Speaking of the challenge, I emailed them ages ago (on 01/07/07, to be exact) and I still haven't heard from them - I wonder if this is normal?

Anyway, for want of another image, here's one of Jasper, wearing a cute handknitted cardie I picked up from the op shop for $3.75!

Multi-tasking

The days go by quickly with two kids! Was feeling frustrated for a while there over my lack of progress on the mitten - I seemed forever to be working on the cuff, but now it's coming along nicely. I've started the honeycomb pattern which has made it much more interesting. Also, thinking about this blog, in the back of my head, has helped me find and name moments of creativity in most of my days, even if I haven't touched the needles.

So, Tuesday's creative endeavour was toasted muesli, thanks to Poppalina. My moment of inspiration involved adding a bit of bee pollen, which we just happened to have in the pantry. Actually, the jar of it has been sitting there for a while, being nutritious but at the same time, not quite straight forward to eat (tiny yellow pebbles that they are!).

I think I overcooked the muesli slightly, but it still tastes great! It was a brilliant move, adding cardamon powder, whoever thought of that. The question is, as always, will I have the time and inclination to make it again, or is this just a once off and next week I'll have to buy crappy stuff from Safeway once more? Probably the latter!

Wednesday's creative endeavour involved more cooking: making chocolate cake with a four-year-old, a three-year-old and a two-year-old (I was looking after a friend's two kids). Each child had their own bowl, the contents of which were amalgamated into one cake tin, and the end result was actually quite tasty! Unfortunately, I don't have any photos, being too busy dividing the ingredients into thirds, melting butter, helping mix, etc, to even think about dragging out the camera. The separate bowls saved arguments about who got to lick what at the end (that almost sounds rude!) but even then I didn't think of taking snaps! Oh well, next time... and enough about cooking!

Today Piper, Jasper and I went to the Toy Library in Malvern. Came home with a Noah's Ark, amongst other things, which is how I found myself sitting on the playroom floor with Piper, holding a plastic lion which was about to jump into a pool infested with barracuda fish (stay with me!), while juggling my DPNs to squeeze in a bit of knitting! I figured it was okay to knit if I could still use my mouth to make sound effects for the lion (or am I deluding myself and diddling my child out of a genuine, focussed playspace with a parent???)!

Actually, I'm getting real good at multi-tasking - here's a shot of me knitting while breastfeeding! It's an acquired skill (for Jasper and I!): I'm learning how to prop him just so and not jerk him when reaching for more yarn, and he's learning not to let the occasional poke in the head from a DPN affect his attachment! On the whole, we're doing very well!

First challenge?

Just came across this on Ric-Rac's blog (which I'm enjoying!)...

the Chocolate Lollipop Yo-Yo Cushion Challenge: to create an original cushion made from the Chocolate Lollipop range of fabrics, and to also incorporate Yo-Yo’s into the design.

A patchwork shop in Ballarat has set it up, and it's tempting to have a go, just to get the creative juices flowing. I find I often feel daunted at the thought of having to come up with something original, but that's mainly cos I just don't do it that often. Once I'm immersed in the creative process, something generally always comes together, and at the very least, being immersed in a creative space is a good place to be, even if nothing tangible emerges. But as I said, I haven't had much practice lately at making something up from scratch, and it's why I think I should enter this challenge, not to mention the bonus 6" square of the Chocolate Lollipop range which you receive "for inspiration and a starting point"!

And hey, I could learn how to make yo-yos! They look cute, and that's another technique for me, even if the cushion never comes together.

On a different note, I finished Pipsy's *pink* scarf yesterday. I was originally going to use two different shades of Noro Silk Garden yarn, but in the end I didn't like how they looked together - one was more subdued than the other, and the combined effect was a scarf that looked rather too brown for a three-year-old! So I ended up using the brighter ball and a pink-mauve-blue rather fluffy yarn that I've had in my stash for ages. SO satisfying to use it up! I enjoyed knitting the scarf (in mistake rib, so slightly more texture than a normal rib), enjoyed the mindlessness of it.

My parents were over in the evening, and after trying to cast on provisionally for a hat for me, and failing, and deciding to find a tute online somewhere sometime, I pulled out more stash yarn (rather ancient, I think!): Little Bo Peep natural yarn - undyed, lanolin left in.I have two different tones, and have had in mind for a while to knit up some mittens for someone for Christmas. (They live in Canada and might actually use them!) So I started on the rib cuff of one of them, on rather loveless plastic needles, which I bought in a rush a couple of weeks ago. If I'd thought about it a bit more, I could have ordered some lovely Brittany birch hardwood ones - *sigh* Next time...

Must hit the sack, even though I find it hard to tear myself away from all the amazing posts listed in my Reader...