Knits for him

A few days before Jaydon arrived, Agnes suddenly realised (in horror!) that she hadn't knit anything for him! She immediately cast on for a pair of mittens and a matching hat. She took the pattern of an apple hat and made a mango hat... To her relief and satisfaction, she managed to cast off JUST before the contractions became regular and intense. ;)

Jaydon posing in his knits...

Our Little Model

After almost 2 years, Agnes finally sorted that left sleeve, tried it out on Jacynth, decided to redo the right sleeve as well and...

got it done just before the end of winter! Phew!

Of chicken, chicks, mouse and rabbit...

The weather is finally more pleasant here in the sunshine city. For knitters, it's time to do some serious knitting for the imminent winter.

For Agnes, anytime is a good time to knit, if she can find some time. She did knit a few things before we went back to Malaysia last November.

Mother hen with its chicks for Kate

A 'mous-y'? hat for Jake (who just arrived 2 months ago!)

A rabbit hat for Caylee

Time to pick up those needles again! More babies await...

From Selangor to Perth

It was our last three days in Malaysia and we had some more people we wanted to meet and more food we wanted to eat. As with all mornings, we got Jacynth ready early in the morning and left her with someone in the house as we got ready. Here she's with Ah koo (uncle) who probably wanted to sleep a bit longer, after the hard work of being our chauffeur around Selangor/ KL. ;)

We had time for a bit of fun with the pillows and bolsters too... 

Finally meeting Julie Anne! Julie is 25 days older than Jacynth and their mums, Jane'nette and Agnes have been exchanging tips on parenting so we have been really looking forward to this meet up... :) 

Agnes knitted a cherry hat for Julie and we just had to take a photograph of both of them with their knitted hats (even on a hot sunny day!) ;p

the daddies... :)

Yummy dessert from Snowflake... 

At Koo Ma's (Jacynth's grandaunty) house... 

Agnes met her girl friends (who have been pampering Jacynth before she was even born!) at Chillis...

and Kevin had Bob come over as well... 

Ahhh....

On the last day, we spent most of our time in the house, packing...

and had some really good food during lunch in a nearby restaurant...

Then, it was time to fly back to Perth... Jacynth was particularly cranky so we were not at all pleased when the flight was delayed since we really wanted to start feeding her but were just waiting for take off...

Alas, we made it. She slept through most of the flight, and was still sleeping during the taxi ride back to the house. She even continued sleeping on the sofa when we arrived at 3.30 in the morning as we changed the bedsheets. 

The next morning, she woke up and true to herself, continued to try to roll over and must have been wondering 'what just happened in the past 3 weeks?'

Knitting again

On our last Knit-y post, we wondered if Agnes would still have time to knit after the arrival. The answer is yes, 2 months after! The motivation was to fix a silly mistake. She had sent the pinwheel sweater that she knitted into the washing machine to wash with Jacynth's other clothes. Warm wash. Cold rinse. Perfect formula... for felting! Now that she has unraveled that one damaged sleeve, it's time to start knitting it back, well, when she can locate her 5.5mm needles!

Meanwhile, she knitted a bunny baby cap meant for a yet-to-be-born baby but ended up donating that to Nuffnang for the Queensland Flood Appeal Auction. She'll whip up another one though. It's easier and more fun now that we have a live model to try the hats on as she knits.

By the way, the nativity scene knits from two Christmases ago has been on top of our book shelf and is still not complete. Will the wise men ever carry any gifts and will there be any sheep?

Right now, she's off to finish another cap and an iphone cover that should have been done umpteen years ago! :)

Knits for her

Having knitted quite a number of hats et al. for others, Agnes really wanted to knit a few items for our own. So, besides the socks and mitts, she actually knitted a sweater and a hat many many many months before. However, only in the last few days did she finally bind off the sweater and sew the petals on the hat...

There is no question as to why this is called a pinwheel sweater. This is the first sweater that Agnes has ever knitted and apparently this can be used for newborns up to 3 years old!

Agnes loved this upside-down-daisy hat ever since she first saw the pattern in a book. To her delight, her sister bought her the book and she could knit this hat...

Will she have the time to knit anything else after the arrival? Well, we'll just have to wait and see... ;)

Knit-y and Bab-y

Agnes promised Preeta, Farrah, Helena and Sylvia that she would knit them each a beanie to be collected here in Perth... which she did. :)

Started the first one in July...





...and finished the last one in front of Sylvia. (Syl, it's by no means a rush job. It's done with "professionalism" to "perfection" ie the best I know how to. ;D)

Ta-da!

On the other hand, they agreed to help bring over the hand-me-downs from her sister, Stacey (special thanks to Boon Han who got them to KL from Singapore and Farrah who collected from him). It was a whole cargo bag stuffed with little rompers, mittens, socks, bibs, pants, hats, more socks and a comfy blanket. Mind you, these are only newborn to 6 month sizes so there is much more to be handed down. Yay! ;D

Thoughtfully, Joanne sent along beautifully embroidered rompers and Yuet Pei a 4-step musical stimulation for babies - she has got us all covered from Pre-natal to active stimulation for 1 year and up!

However, the girls did not stop there. They also bought us a whole lot of fun and lovely rompers, bibs, socks, a cool shorts and a cardigan, and Agnes' favourite - a giraffe skirt and slippers! With these gifts and more that they bought earlier in the day, the party (also known as the Baby Shower) was ready to begin. It was so much fun it did not matter that it was about 1.30 in the morning and that they had a flight to catch in a few hours time! ;) Kevin, who was still awake working on his research, was called upon in the midst of it all for a short photo session, before returning to his work.

For Agnes, this visit brought back lots of wonderful memories from university days (more than 10 years ago :O)... staying up late, lots of yakking, doing crazy things together...

... even if it meant cooking (and enjoying) another round of chicken varuval in the middle of the night! Thank you for the wonderful time, dear friends!

Bracing the cold from different cities

Kevin is away in Hobart, Tasmania for an astronomy conference... yes, just a week after we came back from the US. Agnes, on the other hand has been knitting under the blankets and is thrilled to finish her first pair of socks which matches the mitts she knitted last week!

Now off to more knitting assignments for Agnes while waiting for Kevin's return!