Clothes for the first born

Well I can't believe I'm admitting this.....I own a knitting machine. There I said it.
It was my Mum's, I used to give her such a hard time about using it, I'd sit there handknitting ( my barbies had the most amazing wardrobe) in my Holier than thou voice, and say "I just doesn't look or feel right, it's cheating mum".
Well, I was wrong, 10year olds don't know everything.
I can knit a jumper like this in about an hour on the machine, come to think of it, Jim knitted most of it.
It takes longer to sew it together:)
My dear friend Sue, colour combination extraordinare over at Hawthorne Cottage dyed it for me.
The wool is a new wool from CSIRO, called optim wool, so it's soft merino wool that they somehow stretch so it behaves more like longwool, which makes it have a beautiful lustre, so the best of both worlds, lustre and softness, no prickle factor at all.

I love these pants, how long do you think I can keep Jim in plaid?
The pattern is in this years Ottobre for kids.
I've got some lovely wool denim fabric, I might do another pair.

Little red riding hood.

As you can see I did add a skirt, I get way too excited about sewing for this one.
Luckily she is not opinionated about what she wears.
It's probably wise though that the boys refuse to let me dress them, otherwise they would all look like Christopher Robin. According to the children's uncle, smock tops are not appropriate for boys over two.
What nonsense!.

Joseph's Six Birthday

I originally made the dragons hat that Flynn's wearing, when I foolishly asked Joseph the next day if he like his hat,he said a soft yes, and as Mothers do best, we probe further.
Joseph then asked if I could still sew well, and I proudly said yes, and then he annouced that he really wanted fierce eyes and bone-crunching teeth that go snap!
Oh, is what I said, I was thinking worse.
Could you make it Mama? he said
I think I mumbled yes as I went back to the sewing room
Next time I'll be more humble with my reply.

The theme for Joseph's party was ' come dressed as your favourite fairytale character'. Do you like Joe's?, I stayed up all night making 'take 2' of the dragons costume and he wore it for a whole 2 minutes.

Dan set up a gauntlet course, scrambling under nets, walking the plank, and through the dangerous scisser-action knives operated by the show-no-mercy eight year old boys.

Sickness

Well, it hasn't been much fun around here lately, three children and one Dad all with whooping cough.
I think we've turned a corner though.
See you in this space soon, I've got lots to catch up on.