22 August 2012

yarn along giveaway :: when the going gets tough...

... the cat hits the crack pipe and my thoughts become increasingly haphazard. Don't say you weren't warned.

It seems that if you completely gut much of your house, you also obliterate all of an old cat's pheromone spots (the things she rubs her chin on so happily). If you move her food and litter trays, wash her bed, and put away those deliciously wiffy brogues that have been getting in everyone's way for six months, you're probably just adding insult to injury. The result? Unhappiness. She no longer rubs her chin on anything and cries a lot. At 3am, 4am, 5am, 6am... you get the picture. I know we're awaiting the arrival of a newborn, but this level of preparation is ridiculous. So my stinky old shoes are back under the coffee table, and a pheromone plug-in (aka: the cat crack) has been installed. I hope to God it works.

I tell you all this as a way of (emotionally) fiddling while (my personal) Rome burns.

I now have only 100 minutes left to kill before I'm allowed to go and pick up The Boss from her first day at primary school. Her hand has never been held so tightly as it has been this past week, as I desperately try to cling on to the last few hours of me'n'her.

The 'A' team.

Five-and-a-half years spending most of every day together, just us.

Now there's school and an imminent sibling - surely it can never be quite the same again? Naturally she has responded to all this frantic maternal warmth by being simply adorable, only making the lump in my throat larger with every gulp. Only 95 minutes to go now.

Thank goodness it's Wednesday and there's Yarn Along. The 0-3m cream and ecru puerperium (that I started months ago) is finished, all but the buttons. But the only thing I'm more hopeless at than choosing buttons right now is choosing names, especially the male variety. So my reading material is limited to the boy section of the baby names book for the twentieth time.

On the subject of yarn (and because I want to keep that clock ticking on) I'd really like to give some wool away to a more suitable home. I found a Laughing Hens crochet shawl kit during our recent migration.x.renovation marathon - it was a gift a few years ago from a generous relative who doesn't know the difference between knitting and crochet (and doesn't realise that I cannot crochet to save my life). The kit contains two huge lumps of merino lace yarn (one cream, one teal), a hook and a shawl pattern. I'd much rather spend a few pounds posting it to someone who will value it than stash it away for another few years. There have been so many beautiful lace-weight pieces on the blog circuit this Summer that I figured, even if you don't want to make this particular pattern, perhaps you'll find a use for the wool?

So, if you would like it, do the usual sorta things:
  • You can follow on Google 'friend connect' if you like (though it's not necessary to take part, in real life I don't ask for stuff in return for company so I'm not about to start now).
  • Please do make sure I can contact you directly by email though; either leave your email address in your comment, or make sure I can find it on a 'contact me' blog page or via your blogger profile (in other words: please switch off your noreplyblogger thingummy, even just for the duration of this giveaway. If I can't email you to get your address then I'll choose the next person.)
  • Leave a note in the comments section here saying you'd like to take part before 2200 BST (British Summer Time) on Friday 24th August. I'll pick someone using a random number robot.
Only 90 minutes to go. Instagram will take care of another five...

the ones on the bottom left?

Frill-edged shawl kit giveaway

the reluctant addict

how did this happen?






23 comments:

  1. Aww a big school girl! I hope her first day went well. I don't want your shawl kit, but I do like the lower left buttons too!

    My son starts school in about 6 weeks and I totally understand your feelings and added hand holding. As to a sibling, well yes things will be different, but my kids have SO MUCH FUN together. Honestly the giggling and laughing is so worth it all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh bless your heart! I hope by the time I post this the A team is once again together. It is so hard when our babies grow up. [[hugs]].
    I really like the bottom left buttons, they are perfect!
    While I don't crochet, I would love to learn so thank you for a super giveaway.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cat crack! That makes me giggle. Friends of ours used it when they moved house with their cat. It seemed to work. I hope your kitty calms down for the sake of your sanity. Have fun choosing the buttons. I hope your daughter is enjoying school. Jacinta

    ReplyDelete
  4. great post :D i like the buttons on the bottom right.

    lace weight shawls are my favorite thing to crochet. ever.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My cats get miffed if I as much as move a cushion, moving furniture really p***s them off and our newest (human) addition has meant they're currently sulking, although steadily getting over it.

    The first day of school is always a big deal and it can be really hard to know what to do with yourself after spending so much time together.

    I agree with the bottom left buttons :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sending your first off to school! Such a milestone.
    I vote for the upper buttons on that adorable Puerperium.
    I had grand plans to knit that one, but I didn't make it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. so glad you've had 5 1/2 years of the A-team!!! Soon enough, you'll wonder how you ever existed without the A-B team!!!
    yep, botton left buttons are my vote, too. And thanks for the giveaway opportunity. I love love love lace wt yarn!!!

    (soyknits on RAV)

    ReplyDelete
  8. hehe, I think it was in the tail end of my first pregnancy that I gave our Cat away. His keeping me awake made me just not love him that much anymore. I know it seems awful now, but the babe ended up being allergic anyway, so it was all good.
    I've been wanting to try the puerperium for a while, it's adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'd go for the bottom left buttons too.
    I've never crocheted a shawl, but I have been eyeing patterns and admiring others who dare to touch lace weight, so maybe...? :)
    And oh boy, I can relate to the name dilemma. We are absolutely not getting anywhere. Fingers crossed we'll all manage in the end!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I like your button choice. Love the lace weight... thanks for the opportunity to win it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. They do grow up way too fast... I can still remember my girls very first day of school and it doesn't seem like it was that long ago, but then I turn around and have a 7th and 9th grader looking at me. :-)
    I like the buttons on the bottom left, too.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Loving the bottom left buttons and the picture of your LO striding off to school. Hope she is ok with and the new baby, so much newness at once.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I do crochet so would love to enter your give away..and I'm kinda on the cats side...If I found all my stuff tucked away..well, I'd complain also LOL.. I put a shirt I slept in..something with my scent all over it, in places where I don't mind them marking..sure enough..they'd rub, rub, rub!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've never tried a shawl, but I do lots of crochet blankets. :) :)

    As for first day, give me two weeks and I'll probably be a blubbery mess when my 4yo goes to first day, but until then, is it September 4th, yet!

    ReplyDelete
  15. oh my goodness! so much to take in! that last picture is so sweet. i hope the boss loved her first day of school. i hope she made a friend straightaway and is ready for anything that comes her way! i love your puerperium. all the buttons are nice but i think the top ones are my fave. i am so in love with my baby in anything all white or cream. the lace yarn is lovely, but i'm not commenting for the giveaway. just to say hi and hi hope your affairs are all settled before baby comes! it's never done though is it? hopefully kitty pheromones have kicked in (i never knew they had a wall plug - that is so funny!).

    ReplyDelete
  16. You have such a way with words...I know how you feel, bittersweet although I admit there was a few giggles, too funny how you call here "the Boss"
    (mine is Foghorn). Sweet little sweater- love the top buttons.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Such a pretty braid in your daughter's hair!!! I like the buttons on the bottom right best. ♥ Our black kitty looks JUST like yours. Crazy kitty...but so glad we have her, she catches flies in our house! And eats them. Yuck.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I also like the buttons on the bottom right best, they seem to go best with the yarn and pattern. The others ones are equally nice but just dont seem 100% right.

    I have never crocheeted a shawl, but have done some crochetting, so not scared.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Maybe the best way to decide on the buttons is to line them up where they'll be? Bottom left will look great if you want them to be a feature, bottom right for a subtler effect maybe. But hard to tell with them so close together. Sorry, that's the most unhelpful answer so far.

    Now please don't enter me into your lovely giveaway, you know I'm a yarn addict but I can't crochet and the fluffy stuff tends to always end up at the back of the shelf. Hopefully someone who can really make use of the kit will win :D

    I remember my elder daughters first day at school. On the short walk there she told me twice not to worry, if she didn't like it, she said, with that confidence 4 year olds have, she would tell the teacher it had been a bad idea and come home again!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Congrats on your soon-to-be newborn! :) I love the cream color of the sweater--my favorite buttons are the ones on top. :)

    My little man is still so small ... I can't yet even imagine sending him off to school for the day.

    I am slowly teaching myself to crochet, and the yarn is lovely, so I think I will bravely enter the giveaway. Thank you for hosting it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Beautiful puerperium! I love babes in cream. I also love all of your button choices and don't think you could go wrong with any of them. Hope the first day of school was a blast!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Great giveaway!
    i love your button
    Anna
    ksurty@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. Funny that, when we introduced a new puppy to our house recently, one of our old cats became seriously unhappy and stopped eating when we moved their food out of reach of new pup...we got some drops we put on the food which we named cat-cocaine....worked wonders....if your plug-in is slow to work the drops were brilliant...

    Hope the boss got on well with her first day.

    Don't worry about entering me into the giveaway, the fluffy yarn makes me nervous!

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...