So the children are pretty much over their illnesses, but now I've got a cough and runny nose.  I should be able to get over this no trouble, so long as I don't get a temperature my heart rate will be fine.  My Dad seems to be stuffed up at the moment too, and he may have to go into hospital if his lungs fill up again as he is risky for lung infections.  Hopefully that won't happen though.

Knitting wise, I have finished a basic raglan sweater for daughter, haven't taken photos yet as she put it on as soon as I finished it, and she's gone to preschool wearing it.  Sister has completed her ribbed raglan sweater for her grandson too, and we used my daughter to model it below....







....so it is about the right size for grandson.
Son is still dodging me when he sees the camera coming and so I still don't have a photo of him wearing his hat!  I want to catch him sometime, and I will. 

Sister is knitting a tiger stripe hat to go with the tiger jacket she has finished, grandson hardly takes the jacket off apparently, he really loves it.  The hat will finish the clothing off nicely and keep his head warm too.  Sister is going to try to put ears on top of the hat, so it looks like the top of the tiger's head.  Good luck to her.

Here's a blast from the past...

I made this out of an old sweater around 2000/2001 and added the green yarn, this was my first sweater for an adult.  I made a baby size one before this one, in 1999, but it was very basically knit all in one piece and seamed at the sides.  I'm still trying to find the picture of it.
 
I see the ring code is working, so I must have got it right when I inserted it into the Blogger template!  Hooray!
 
The children both have ear infections, son gets them often, but daughter usually gets away without getting them.  So I have the company of children all day for the second week now, as they don't go to preschool sick.
 
I finished son's hat (photos soon) and have started  the Monks bag, can't remember where I got that pattern from, but I'll look.  I've got a long way to knit now, across the bottom of the bag and up the sides and across the handle, not in that particular order though.
 
Happy knitting for now.

Finished items!!
The aran is finished, complete with a button at the side so it goes over daughter's head as I almost stuffed up the collar.  Somehow I decreased too many times so had to fudge the neckline and collar.  Good save though, daughter loves it.  She'll rub her tummy for ages on the cables, and likes the shorter sleeves too.
 
  

Sister-in-law has knitted the bands for the tiger jacket, and sewed in the zip last tuesday, so I took photos of how she does it.  Here are her hands pinning in the zip evenly so it doesn't pucker...
 

 
...and here she is starting sewing the zip in with some black cotton thread...
 

 
....a few minutes later she's at the other end...
 
 
 
...and here's the back of the jacket, gotta love those stripes!.... 
   
 
 
...here is the front complete with zip sewn in all neatly and not all the way up so it won't scratch sister's grandson's neck....  
 

 
...and last of all here is a close up of the rolled ribbed collar, very neat huh?  Grandson tried it on the same afternoon and loved it.  He likes Tigger from Winnie The Pooh, so this is the Tigger jacket for him to enjoy.  He wouldn't take it off, and was playing later with his cars on the carpet and saying "Tigger!"
 

 
I am still working on the shawl though it is hard going because the rows are so long.  I have also started a hat for son out of the same Tweed I used for daughter's hat, but I'm knitting it from the top of the hat, and increased for the crown instead of decreased if you get what I mean....
....anyway, I'm knitting until it's the right length to cover his head then I might put ear covers on it if he wants them.
 
Having the nephews over was great and we really enjoyed them, they have gone back to the North Island now, but we will see them again next school holidays.
 
Son missed another birthday party today, as he has been sick with a cold all week and we thought he might be okay to attend his friends 5th birthday party, but really we couldn't let him go to it.  We have told him that he won't see his friend at preschool on Monday, but he doesn't seem to understand that once someone goes to school, they don't come back unless it's for a visit, and even then not all Mums do that.  I will have to enrol him in kindergarten in our area so he can make friends with someone that will attend the same school as him.

Spring will be here soon

courtesy of our old garden.

We've had our nephews here a wee bit lately as they are on holiday. They stayed the night here on Saturday with their Mum after we had a BBQ tea. Granddad left soon after tea as he was getting tired, we watched Poison Ivy soon after he left. It was an okay movie for the younger children to watch, but the older ones picked holes in it nearly all the way through.
Also hubby networked the laptop and PC so the nephews could play against each other in the game Starcraft. They played until after midnight as they were having so much fun. Straight after breakfast the following morning the gaming started up again.

I took my children for a few walks over the past couple of days while I delivered pamphlets. Son rode his bike, and daughter rode in the buggy as she doesn't go far at all.

The other day at the mall I saw this Tweed

on sale for $2.99, and liked the look of it. It is 70% acrylic 25% wool and 5% viscose, and feels very warm. I knit daughter a warm winter hat out of almost one ball,

and she says it is nice and soft to wear. I might make son one too, although he says he prefers black. I have one more ball plus the partial ball leftover from the hat, so I might indulge myself and make something for me!

Aran-wise I just have to attach the second sleeve, and knit the collar.

The Wee Aran Project has been really helpful, and hopefully will also help me with my collar, I know that I'll have to have a button on one side of the collar, but that's cool. I've done buttons before. We are having nephew #2 over tonight for dinner and to stay the night again by himself, then tomorrow night #1 will stay. Our children love having them around as they are like big brothers to them.

Well this morning I wrote a lovely letter to a lady in Florida who is concerned about her son's Brugada, and then when I was finished I saved it to sent messages in H*tmail where it promptly disappeared when I pushed 'send'. I guess that will teach me for using the M*N stuff, I really should have forwarded her email to my personal account and then responded to it; now my hubby can't read what I wrote, and I've no record of what I sent.

Have to learn the hard way sometimes, as DCTalk would sing.

We are all going to the sister's house tonight for a special tea with her two boys, they are visiting her for the holidays. She is still in some pain, but instructed to get to the hospital quickly if the pain gets severe so they can monitor her.

I finally got my knitting box out, and have redone the first sleeve of the aran so far. I started off with the main cable and moss stitch, but thought it looked too busy for a sleeve, so changed it to moss stitch and stockinette stitch. I also started at the top of the sleeve and will decrease towards the cuff when I think I have the correct length. I will measure on daughters arms when I think I'm getting close to done.

Get clicking those cameras for the Photo Friday Challenge on "Father".