What a week!

Hi folks! It's been such a rollercoaster week! From the depths of despair to feeling peachy... phew thank goodness it's Saturday :o)

The week starts as a generally mundane Monday- doing a lil' shopping and house work etc etc... then we get to Tuesday and I'm having to do more uni work.... the Wednesday comes and BAM!
Wednesday was horrible! I had electricity circuit breakers tripping, bills coming in, LOTS of uni work to do and being fobbed off by the local ethics comittee a dozen times... and Seth having a colic day (hence screaming and me being able to absolutely nothing about it).

Now, I've finished all the modules for my degree except 1; the damned Honours Project. I couldn't get it off the ground last year so I ended up grovelling to the course tutor and muttering about maternity leave and equal opportunities... to get another difficult time this year of sorting it all out. Basically a local research ethics comittee has to say whether you can start your project. Bloody Biomedical Science- is it worth it? No. But I've started so I may as well finish the damn thing! And so this project uses real human samples... but no results or patient data will ever be published or given to the patient or doctors... only I will have anonymous results for a project that wont hurt a fly and doesn't really mean squat to the department as they wont implement the necessary changes to policy as they will not spend money on things that matter... like staff and good tests. They spend it on the boss' new chair and paperclips.

I was forwarded on to 3 different LREC representatives before I got the information I needed and it all had to be done for friday. See why I was panicking? 57 pages of forms, protocols, C.V.s, flow charts later... I managed to get it posted. Now I just have to wait until 16th October when I have to go a Dept of Health ethics meeting up against a panel of non-scientific judges and explain a scientific project. Go figure-if they're not scientists, how can they judge my scientific principles?

So, thursday and friday I was running around my workplace and university campus handing in god knows what and getting stuff signed. Phew!

O.K. sorry about that... but it's been a week coming and I feel better having ranted to the sympathetic ears (eyes?) of the knitting community. :o)

In the meantime....
I have done some knitting. I started some fairisle mittens from the Simply Knitting magazine and have knitted 1 of a pair of Sox. I absolutely love this pattern. O.K. so there's some sewing up to do, but the construction is ingenious and being d.k. weight they're really quick to knit. I can see lots of my sisters getting gift sox!!!

I would have posted pictures, except it seems that blogger doesn't like me ranting and refuses to upload... and when I've actually taken pictures as well. Hmph! Oh, if anyone can tell me more about putting my Flickr thing on my blog I'd be grateful... and then you could see my pictures without blogger being able to do anything about it!

Lets hope I can upload them after and Seth likes his trip around ASDA. I'll just say a quick word about my beautiful son- he's gorgeous and settling a little bit more now. Can't complain as I imagined much worse, though nothing prepared me for the emotional wrenching I get when he cries and I can't do anything. (Of course I end up crying as well out of frustration.) Danny has been a great dad- he's done so much better that I first thought he would and I feel so lucky to have our little family!

xxx

Where does the time go to?!

Hello!

I can't believe how two weeks flies by! I've been reading blogs in a spare ten minutes or so, but never quite had enough time to blog...! I guess that is what a newborn son does!

Well, amazingly, I have had a little time to knit! The yarn which Dawn sent has been put to good use so far:






























This is the DB Cashmerino and I have at least half left over so a few co-ordinating little items will be popping up me thinks! I've made one of a pair of stripy socks also in the DB Cashmerino book with some khaki 4- ply soft, so I'll post those up when they're finished.

Seth had a lovely gift from Steph:





























These absolutely stunning crochet bootees fit him like a glove! Which in a way is a shame as he'll be growing out of them far too quick, but I shall cherish them and keep them for sure!

Well, I don't have a great deal to report... the felted bag which I made for my sister's birthday had a bit of a mishap :o( The pattern was out of last month's Simply Knitting using Rowan Chunky Print. It knitted up fine, though I think I prefer bags knitted in the round... the sewing up on this was tedious! However, the bad luck was when I felted it in the washing mahine. The size was fine... but I used my new bathmats to agitate it as I had no jeans which needed washing. The bathmats are cotton chenille so the fibres moulted and produced a hybrid bag covered in bits! Big DUH on my part. I had to brush what I could off the bag with a brillo pad... ah well. I'll know next time!

Myself, Danny and Seth say a huge thanks to everyone who put up such lovely comments.
xxx

Our New Son: Seth Thomas Wilkes, Wednesday 06/09/06 8:40pm

Hurrah our baby boy is here! It was such a shock to have a boy even though we hadn't asked the sex as everyone had swore it to be a girl. As proud mom, I'm overjoyed to show you pictures of our lovely baby:
(Sorry you have to click on them all...)

Here he is about 30mins old:
http://www.geocities.com/scarletprincess@btinternet.com/IM000155.JPG

Proud parents:
http://www.geocities.com/scarletprincess@btinternet.com/IM000152.JPG

Here's myself after the birth.... not bad considering??
http://www.geocities.com/scarletprincess@btinternet.com/IM000151.JPG


This is the next day. I cannot believe how much he had changed over a few hours! He still looks so much like his daddy though- especially the position he's sleeping in!
http://www.geocities.com/scarletprincess@btinternet.com/DSC00118.JPG

Here he is on his way home yesterday afternoon:
http://www.geocities.com/scarletprincess@btinternet.com/DSC00115.JPG
He was wearing some of the gorgeous knitting my "aunty" Margaret had done for him. he just looked adorable!

Today we dressed him in some little clothes for his first outing in the pram:
http://www.geocities.com/scarletprincess@btinternet.com/DSC00125.JPG

Thankyou to everyone who's being following the epic! I had to have the membrane sweep tuesday to kickstart things as he was overdue. On wednesday lunchtime the waters broke and I had an 8 hour labour with gas and air. Fantastic considering I don't do pain at all and I have to say I wasn't traumatised at all by it and found it a positive experience. I only had 9 stitches in the end and I'm pleased with how things went. He may have been 8 days late, but it really is all worth it!!!

I also want to say a HUGE thankyou to Dawn for the absolutely fantastic package she sent me for her competition. It was the most generous thing ever and I love everything you sent!!!
http://www.geocities.com/scarletprincess@btinternet.com/DSC00126.JPG
Here we have Baby Cashmerino 2 by Debbie Bliss and 3 balls of green Baby Cashmerino plus Annarella stitchmarkers! But wait it doesn't end there....
http://www.geocities.com/scarletprincess@btinternet.com/DSC00127.JPG
We have Lornas Laces and Louisa Harding Kimono Angora too! I'm so spoilt1 I love the colours and I really didn't expect generosity like this- I got quite overwhelmed when I came home yesterday with a parcel like this waiting for me!

I'm making this short and sweet for now as with the baby nearly ready for the next feed, a mom's work is never done! Dad has been wonderful too and I couldn't have asked for a better settling into Seth's new home. He's really been a darling now he's here rather than the two awful nights in hospital. It really feels like he knows where he's supposed to be!

Lots of love and kisses,
Fiona, Danny and Baby Seth xxxx