Ok so firstly let me apologise for the length of this post! This should probably have been 3 separate blog entries but I'm a little frazzled this week & have been short on spare time, so it's a case of post it all now or never! There are also LOTS of pictures.....well just because I love Bristol in the sunshine so wanted to share lots of them with you all. 

Henry has now been ill for a week & although he is starting to improve he still isn't 100%, and now the Mister is poorly too! A trip to the doctors yesterday morning gave the rather vague prognosis of 'you have a virus' you need painkillers & lots of rest.........however it means I now have another poorly person to look after. I don't mind looking after them when they are poorly obviously, but I'm not sure when I'm going to get to tackle my ever growing 'list of things to do'. It seems to grow longer everyday......and everyday I don't get half of what I wanted to achieve done!

I guess this is the curse of being a Mama starting her own business.....you don't get sick days! You just get to be really exhausted! It's a good job I love what I do in both of my roles as a knitting teacher & a mama because if i didn't this last week might have reduced me to a crying, gibbering mess by now! However the sun has started to shine, Henry is starting to slowly get back to his happy self & I managed to have an afternoon nap today so things are certainly not all bad! Isn't it amazing the difference the sunshine can make to your frame of mind.......I think that sunshine really does make life that bit sweeter!

However despite all the Illnesses that have hit our household this week there has actually been a lot going on! On the work front I am happy to  have confirmed dates that I will be running some children's wool craft sessions at Tenderfoot in Brislington over the summer holidays which will be great fun! I am also going to be working with Windmill Hill City Farm soon running some knitting day workshops & providing some craft stalls at upcoming events there. It's all really exciting stuff that I'm really excited about! I will put all of the details up on the Upcoming Events page over the next day or so.

We also made it out & about over the weekend  in that brief period when Henry was starting to feel better & before Ken started to feel ill. It was only a day & half but we made the most of it! We walked down to the Bristol Harbour Festival on Saturday afternoon after my Knitting lesson to enjoy Bristol looking beautiful in the sunshine. It was a little busy for my liking but that's only because I'm still being quite overprotective of Henry because he has been poorly! We had some ale, ate our favourite burritos from My Burrito & walked along the harbour side taking it all in! 

It was the busiest that i have ever seen the Harbourside festival, but i think everybody was so grateful for the sunshine that we all came out in force to make the most of it!

On Sunday morning we got up early & went to one of our local parks for breakfast. The Cafe in Victoria park is called Mrs Browns & it was a lovely start to the day. My sister came down with us & we sat under the trees eating breakfast, played in the children's area with Henry & all walked around with our dog George. A pretty good start the the day if you ask me. We then all took a trip to the tobacco factory market to grab some yummy food (including my friend Andrew's amazing fudge!) and see friends before heading home to relax & mow our jungle of a lawn, well Ken & Henry relaxed & I mowed the lawn because somewhere between the tobacco factory & home Ken started to feel ill! I didn't mind though as I quite like gardening now......sad right?!

That evening I headed out on my own for a few hours to get my craft on at "making things club" at Cafe Kino in Stokes Croft. It was great fun & even though in my tired haze I left my knitting at home! I was quite angry with myself to start off with as I was hoping to finish the project that night, however all was not lost &  I used some of the materials provided by Lori & Chris the organisers to make 80% of an improvised chunky lace collar. It was actually fun just to knit for the sake of knitting with no pressure & I met some lovely people and will definitely be going again next month! You can make ANYTHING there, from painting, sewing, cutting & gluing! It's like being a kid again! 

Also on the drive home i saw an amazing sunset which I pulled over to take a picture of. I know I always go on about how great Bristol is, but it really is such an amazing city to live in! There is always so much to do & when the sun shines the city really comes alive! I bloody love it here! However i did feel really guilty for going out when i arrived home to two very poorly boys, both of whom were feeling very sorry for themselves!

However despite the onslaught of the lurgy in our house we've still managed to enjoy some of the weekend & I'm slowly managing to get some work done! However if you are expecting an email from me, just bare with me & I will be back on top of everything soon!

I hope you're all enjoying the sunshine! xx

Henry is ill for the first time & It is horrible! Yes he has had colds before and like everybody  we have struggled with the side effects of teething, but he has never been really poorly before. I guess at 17 months old we are quite lucky to have gone this long illness free, but to be honest I don't think that any of us are feeling very lucky right now! He isn't eating & doesn't really want to drink anything except breast milk. Although I am not entirely comfortable with the fact that Henry is still breastfed at 17 months (I had not intended to feed past 6 months, but Henry had other ideas & has refused every alternative offered especially at bedtime) it hasn't been too bad as he only usually feeds twice a day, once in the late morning & once at bedtime. However going back to feeding him every 2 hours or so has been a shock to my body! I'm feeling wiped out! It's like having a newborn again, except his drinks more milk & sleeps less!

It all started yesterday morning after a rough sleepless night which I assumed what the result of teething. Henry had been restless and upset during the night but there was nothing indicating this was anything serious. But then when we were all up and moving around we noticed that there was something wrong with Henry. He was limp, dopey, his eyes kept rolling around in his head and he was burning up with a fever. I felt sick seeing my normally active and loud little boy so quiet & lifeless. So I did what most mama's do in times of trouble.....I phoned my mum for advice! My gut was telling me to get him to the hospital, but I didn't want to overreact. However after reassurance from my mum & a quick phone call to my doctor's surgery we took Henry straight to Bristol Children's hospital. 

The staff there were amazing and after discovering is temperature was between 39-40℃ which is considered dangerously high they reassured us that we had done the right thing bringing him in to be treated. Henry was then examined & we were told that he had a nasty viral infection in his ears & throat. Holding him down so that his ears & throat could be examined was horrible as he screamed in pain & looked so hurt that we were letting him be poked & prodded by the nurse. I had to fight back tears as I clamped him still. We then had to strip Henry naked so he could cool down & also try and get a urine sample. Henry promptly fell asleep on me & while watching him sleep in my arms the events of the morning hit me & I began to cry my eyes out! I know that all Mama's feel protective over there little ones, but after so many miscarriages and the scares during my pregnancy Henry really is  so precious to me. 

I find just being in the Children's hospital quite hard! I get very emotional just setting foot through the door there. When I was pregnant with Henry we were told that there was a high chance his heart condition wouldn't be compatible with life or that he would be very sick when he was born. We mentally prepared ourselves for the worst, but thankfully his heart abnormality wasn't as serious as expected and he is as fit & healthy as any normal child just with a slightly different heart. However we had to have a lot of tests conducted over the first few weeks of his life and spent a bit of time in the NICU & children's hospital. During this time i realised how lucky we are! We saw parents dealing with the fact that they have a  seriously sick child, you don't understand the fear & desperation that they must be feeling until you too have a precious child and imagine yourself in that situation. You see them crying in the hallway on the phone to loved ones & then smiling and putting on a brave face for their child so that they don't see how scared their Mama & Daddy are.  The strength they find in such situations is something that I have the post admiration & respect for, it's something that i'm not sure I would be able to handle to be honest! The idea of anything happening to Henry can bring me to tears & fill me with a dread that I have never known (and that's just me thinking of hypothetical situations!)..........my own health and safety means nothing in comparison to how much I care about his! 

After it was confirmed that Henry had a nasty viral infection in both his ears & his throat we were given antibiotics and a list of things to do for him. They offered us the chance to stay in hospital with him longer, but we decided that it would be best to leave as Henry wasn't sleeping well there and would be more comfortable at home. We questioned this decision later when Henry's medication started to wear off & his temperature spiked again causing his whole body to start shaking uncontrollably! This scared us more than anything else that had happened that day & we were ready to scoop him up & race back to the hospital. However I tried to stay calm as the nurse had warned us that this may happen if his temperature rose over 40. We gave him a dose of calpol & started his antibiotics. Stripped his clothes down & gave him some breastmilk........thankfully all of the above worked and after 15 minutes he stopped shaking and started to perk up.  

He's still very poorly today and the lack of sleep is starting to affect us all. I feel terrible about this but  I find myself getting annoyed that he's so ill. I get frustrated that I have so much to do work wise as well as a pile of washing as tall as I am, yet my poorly boy screams his head off when I'm not cuddling him. How selfish am I right?! Of course he comes first, and I will do anything he needs, but the selfish part of me flashes up every now and again & thinks "This is the worst time for you to be ill Kiddo! Mama has so much to do", but then I remember that there is NEVER a good time for your baby to be ill.

So to all you Mama's & Daddies out there who have looked after poorly children and especially those who are living with ongoing conditions..........you are my heroes & I have no idea how you do it!  Seeing the work that they do within the Children's Hospital and how dedicated the nurses and staff are there has inspired me to get fit again just so I can run the Bristol Half Marathon again and raise some money for them! 

I've had 2  last minute cancellations due to illness for my Learn to Knit Beginner's course that starts this weekend. Although I'm really sad that Megan & Karen can't make it to this course I'm looking forward to seeing them at the next start date &  it now  gives me the opportunity to do a last minute giveaway. 

I'm offering one person the chance to come along to the classes on 21st & 28th July for free & a runner up 50% off the course price, that's only £12 for 6 hours tuition including materials & cake!! This is a great offer & I'm only running it because Henry is poorly I don't have time to chase up enquiry emails this week. So take advantage of my lack of time/laziness & enter to win! Knitting is great fun &  a skill you'll keep for life  all you have to do is contact me, either via twitter, Facebook or comment on the blog letting me know why you want to learn to knit. I will pick a winner & runner up randomly tomorrow morning. 

We will be learning how to knit & making knitted bunting & knitted headbands with flowers & Bows over the 2 week course, but there are more details on the course here.

Good Luck!

Last night I went along with my sister Natasha to a talk & book signing by one of my all time favourite authors Jasper Fforde. I started reading his Thursday Next novels 7 years ago when I was working part-time in a bookshop while studying for an MSc In experimental psychological research methods. The studying was pretty intense & heavy going and I was looking for some escapism. I was drawn to the colourful artwork on the cover of The Eyre Affair and was hooked from page one. Since then I have read all of his books enjoying every single one of the for their unique blend of humour, fantasy, silliness, literature snobbery & cleverness. 

I was really excited to meet him as I am a bit of a geek when it comes to books......my son is named after a character in my favourite book & once you get me talking about books I love you can expect to be stuck listening to me for quite some time while i construct a list of books that you MUST read. There was a slight element of fear that he wouldn't live up to my expectations which turned out to be totally unfounded. He talked for an hour not only about his new book The Woman Who Died A Lot but about how he writes in general & things that amuse and inspire him. There was talk of bad jokes that he waits years to fit in to his books, ear worms (That song that you hear & just cannot get out of your head), and walking that fine line between silly & stupid, because silly is good, but stupid is awful! 

He says that he writes by giving himself dares, such as trying to make a plausible (and not stupid) story out of an opening scene involving a man finding a gorilla up a tree in his Surrey garden. Some of his descriptions of these dares were hilarious & will really add to the enjoyment i get from reading his books. The dare for his latest book was that Thursday's teenage son must save the world by doing nothing at all. I cannot wait to find out how he has made that work!

The biggest laugh of the night came when he spoke about his novel 'Shades of Grey'. Obviously it bares a similar title to the very badly written books that women are going mad for at the moment &  it was joked that it was to be re-released with a really cheap dodgy grey cover & placed near 50 shades go Grey in shops so that it could enter the best seller's list purely on accidental sales! For any Shades of Grey fans out there Fforde revealed that there will be a sequel soon as part of a new 3 book deal.

I think the thing that really struck a chord with me though was when he spoke of his struggles to get published . He began writing novels in the late 1980s & each one was rejected until The Eyre Affair was eventually published in 2001(that novel along received over 70 rejections from publishers). He wrote over 10 novels before having one accepted. Although I imagine it was tough it's refreshing to see people work at something because they love & and have a passion for it. So often today people expect 'instant' fame & acceptance for what they do and give up when success doesn't happen instantly. As somebody starting my own business doing something I love I find his story inspiring and a reminder that if you work your arse off & believe in what you do it will be worth it in the end!

Sometimes for no reason other than to amuse myself I get the overwhelming desire to do something highly inappropriate & embarrassing & last night I had to fight from acting on such an impulse. At the end of the talk a chap from the Bristol Literature festival came on stage to announce the 5 winners of a competition reading each name out in a very dramatic way. Everybody in the audience was looking about expectantly to see if there was a winner amongst us........it was then that the urge to leap out of my seat & hysterically scream "I'VE WON!!! OH MY GOD I'VE WON!!!!" then run on stage and hug the man as if i'd won an oscar, hit me! Instead I laughed to myself and whispered to my sister what I wanted to do.....however i didn't whisper quietly enough & the people in front of me asked loudly "What you've won?!". I was still laughing to myself when we joined the very long queue to have our books signed & meet the man himself

Tash & I spent our time in the queue discussing how many of the books we could ask him to sign for us. She gets easily embarrassed so thought one was the limit.....I on the other hand fancied trying my luck & asking Fforde to sign four of my favourites . She was also cringing at the fact that not only was I armed with a bag full of books for him to sign, but my camera  to take a picture of him too! She didn't approve of me taking pictures as you can see above (I'll get in trouble for posting that, but It's too funny not too!).

However the man himself was happy to sign our books & posed for a picture for me ignoring my sister groaning & looking mortified that I wasn't 'playing it cool' at all! We chatted briefly......which was a mistake on my part as I just blabbered on like a crazy fool about his promo picture not being very good & needing updating........I even managed to slip in the phrase 'av a word' in a slight cockney accent just to add to my mortification! I seemed to lose all sense of charm & etiquette and develop an inability to filter what comes out of my mouth! Despite that it was a pleasure to meet him & I cannot wait to get stuck in to his new book! Now all I need is some spare time to do it!

If you are interested in hearing more about Jasper Fforde his website is here & you can find all of his books available to buy here! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

To celebrate the start of my knitting classes & just because I love sharing stuff with you all here is a free knitting pattern for you all to try. I think this garland will look lovely over a bed or even fireplace. I also think I might make lots of them to put on the Christmas tree in 6 months time! :)

If you like the look of the garland but don't feel up to knitting one yourself I'm giving one away next week on Charlotte's blog so you can pop over and enter & you might get one in the post next week! It's made of luxury merino & cotton yarn & was handmade with love while I watched TopGun on netflix! :)

I hope you like the pattern & don't forget you can still book a place on my courses!

Abbreviations:
k: Knit stitch
P: Purl Stitch
kfb: Knit front & back of the stitch
k2tog: knit 2 stitches together

I recommend that you use a aran weight yarn & 5mm sized needles to knit this garland. It works well with cotton yarns.

Large Heart:
Cast on 2 stitches
Row 1: kfb of both stitches (4 stitches)
Row 2: P all stitches
Row 3: kfb, k until the final stitch, kfb  (6 stitches)
Row 4: P all stitches
Repeat rows 3 & 4 8 more times until you have 22 stitches.
Row 20: K2tog k9 then turn your work leaving the other 11 stitches on the needle to be worked later.
Row 21: P all 10 stitches.
Row 22: K2tog, k 8 & turn.
Row 23: P 9 & turn.
Row 24: K2tog, K 7 & turn.
Row 25: P 8stitches & turn.
Row 26: K2tog, k 6 & turn.
Row 27: P 7 stitches & turn.
Row 28: K2tog, k 5 & turn.
Row 29: P 6 stitches & turn
Row 30: K2tog, k 2, k2tog & turn
Row 31: P 4 stitches & turn
Row 32: K2tog, k2tog & turn
Row 33: Cast Off 2 remaining stitches purl wise.
Return to the 11 stitches you left on the needle & rejoin the yarn.
Row 34: K 9, K2tog.
Row 35: p all stitches
Row 36: k8, k2tog.
Row 37: P all stitches
Row 38: k 7, k2tog
Row 39: P all stitches
Row 40: k6, k2tog.
Row 41: p all stitches
Row 42: k5, k2tog.
Row 43: p all stitches
Row 44: k2tog,k2, k2tog.
Row 45: p all stitches
Row 46: K2tog, k2tog.
Row 47: Cast off the remaining 2 stitches Purl wise.

Repeat the pattern again & then place the two hearts with the right side facing outwards & stitch together using blanket stitch. Make 4 of these in varying colours of your choice.

Small Heart:
Cast on 2 stitches
Row 1: kfb of both stitches (4 stitches)
Row 2: P all stitches
Row 3: kfb, k until the final stitch, kfb  (6 stitches)
Row 4: P all stitches
Repeat rows 3 & 4 5 more times until you have 16 stitches.
Row 14: K2 tog, k 6, turn leaving the other 8 stitches on the needle to worked later.
Row 15: P 7 stitches & turn.
Row 16: k2tog, k5 & turn (6 stitches)
Row 17: p 6 stitches & turn
Row 18 k2tog, k 4 & turn (5 stitches)
Row 19: P 5 & turn.
Row 20: K2tog, k1, K2tog (3 stitches)
Row 21: Cast off the remaining 3 stitches Purl wise.
Rejoin the yarn to the 8 stitches you left unworked on the needle.
Row 22: k6, k2tog. (7 stitches)
Row 23: P all stitches
Row 24: k5, K2tog. (6 stitches)
Row 25: p all stitches
Row 26: k4, k2tog (5 stitches)
Row 27: p all stitches
Row 28: k2tog, k1, k2tog. (3 stitches)
Row 29: Cast off the remaining 3 stitches Purl wise.

Repeat the pattern again & then place the two hearts with the right side facing outwards & stitch together using blanket stitch. Make 4 of these in varying colours of your choice.

Cut 3 pieces of yarn the desired length of your garland. Plait the 3 pieces together & attach your hearts, alternating sizes. 


Enjoy!

© Kimberlee Daly/The Homemade Mama
All rights reserved
This pattern is for personal use only. It may not be reproduced, distributed or archived in whole or in part without prior permission from the designer. It may not be sold or used to produce garments for resale.
Contact via: www.thehomemademama.co.uk

I have been teaching knitting today at Love Food Festival, just giving people a sample of what you can learn in my lessons and spreading the knitting love. It has been a fantastic day, and after a slow start in the morning (I was tucked in the corner & people couldn't see me) I moved my table out slightly and was then rushed of my feet chatting to people & teaching them to knit! Being next to the puppet show meant that it got pretty packed in our little corner when a show was on, but it was great to see all the children having such a great time! It also meant that lots of children wanted to try knitting which i think is great & i really enjoyed sitting down with them to make their 

As usual all of the other stall holders were a pleasure to work with & there was a fantastic friendly atmosphere that made the day extra fun for me. I'm tired but extremely happy after meeting so many lovely new people & catching up briefly with some of my friends too!

I hope to meet lots of the people I was knitting with again soon as so many of you seemed to really enjoy it! Remember the discount code I told you all for 20% off if you book a class with me. 

Later in the day Henry & his dad came down to visit me which was great as I don't feel like I've spent much time with them this week. Henry thought it was great as he got to see his first puppet show & try lots of free samples &  chocolate  ice cream from Ivor Stafford who makes delicious ice-cream here in Bristol. He was a very lucky boy who after all of the excitement went to bed before 7pm which is two hours earlier than usual! 

All in all it was a fantastic day of knitting, lovely food and great people......what more could you want really?

This week has been manic! I've found it hard to get anything done because over the course of 3 days this week I have spent a total of 9 hours in the dentist chair this week. This is a big deal for me as I am terrified of the dentist after some awful experiences as a child that involved teeth being extracted without anaesthetic. I'm really resilient to anaesthetic & it seems to take a lot of the stuff to numb me......however most NHS dentists don't have the time or the patience to give me the 3 injections needed . Hence why for the last 10 years I have been to the dentist twice, both in agony! I decided to sort out my fear because I don't want Henry to pick up on my terror and think the dentist is something to be scared of. So after the last emergency trip to the dentist I registered with a local dentist and also referred myself to the Dental hospital. The dental hospital have been fantastic and are great at calming scared patients like me. I have a lot that needs doing after a decade of neglect and weak enamel but it's going well there. However I'm grateful that clinic is closing for the summer so I have a few months off from having my mouth poked & prodded.

There has been lots going on apart from the dentist, including: 

So there you go, that's been our week in a nutshell! I hope to be back on form next week with more posts for you! Looking forward to sharing some of the recipes, patterns & DIYs i've been working on! 

Hope you're all having a nice week so far! xxx

Hello Again!

I've been a bit quiet on the blog this week as it's just been really busy, but at the same time nothing really blog worthy has happened. I've spent the majority of my time  fighting off a cold whilst trying to appease a very grumpy teething toddler and trying to sort out everything for my knitting lessons. I'm a pretty tired Mama at the moment if I'm honest. All of this has meant that I have been having some serious cake cravings lately......sometimes only cake will do!

As you all know I have been trying to cut dairy out of my diet as much as possible to help with my PCOS, and as a result I have been experimenting with Vegan cake recipes to try and find make one that tastes as good as non-vegan cake. And I'm feeling quite chuffed with myself as I think this Lemon Cake recipe that I threw together really is the best vegan cake I've tasted! It's 100% vegan, 100% easy and 100% delicious! If you fancy a low fat cake option you can't go wrong with this lemon cake, it really is worth a try!

Hi everybody!

Just a quick post to let you all know that I have a guest post on the fantastic Bristol Craft Blog this week. The Blog is full of beautiful photography, craft ideas, recipes & reviews so it's really worth a read even if you're not interested in anymore of my ramblings! It is written by the very talented Bethany who I met through twitter last year & who was just as lovely as I has imagined when I met her in real life.

So pop on over to her blog which you can find here if you feel like some craft inspiration!

If you are anything like us, this summer's weather is starting to wear a bit thin now! It's proving difficult keeping a very active 16 month old happy when we have to stay indoors most days! Henry loves to play outside in the garden or the park and will happily stay outside playing the puddles for hours with the dog......however after a while when we are all soaked I have to be the bad guy and make the call & drag everybody back inside to dry off & warm up again.

Once he's inside however I'm running out of ideas to keep him entertained that don't cost me the earth. We're on a tight budget and  there are only so many days in a row that you can read the same books, play with the same toys and draw pictures with crayons! I think i'm getting more sick of all of the above than Henry to be honest, but I have been looking for new ideas to stop us all from getting to much cabin fever.

Some of my latest ideas have been inspired by my own childhood days at play school. Some of my clearest memories are of playing in the 'messy corner' with play dough, cornflour gloop & the water trays. All great fun & don't really cost more than a few 's that's what we have been doing. 

I thought that just in case you were interested in trying them too I would pop the ingredients & instructions for you all too as I'm sure we're not the only ones running out of ideas in this awful excuse for a summer!

I have been doing this with Henry since he was about 3 months old. It's great for little ones as it's pretty mess free and it's great for letting them explore new textures. He still loves it now though, except for that one time he ate some! hahaha!

Stir together in a bowl then tip out into a tray with a raised edge (a baking tray works as well).......that's it! Let the little ones play with it and explore how the texture changes. You can add more water to it too & feel how it changes the mixture. It's really easy to clean it all up too as it dries and turns to powder.

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl & knead for a few minutes until it is smooth & flexible. Then you're good to go! Henry likes to make fork tracks in his & also cut out shapes with plastic cookie cutters. He's getting pretty good at rolling snakes out of play dough too, but I think that might just be because he finds my snake impressions highly amusing! haha!