I mean, did you see that ?!!! Yeah, the swatch !!! It may not look like much at first but WOW !

This is the proof that Gedifra "Wellness" is THE perfect substitute for my "Cotonina" yarn, the one I used for all 3 Isabeau patterns (shrug, purse & totes). Lime is cotonina, and olive is wellness. Same gauge, feeling, fiber contents and yardage, it's got it all. Even looks like the same color range. Like it's the same yarn with a different name really !!!

Thanks again so much Emmie for finding it !!! :-D

Seems it was more of a false alert in the end. She's still super low but hanging in there despite it all. Hope she won't wait until due date though, as the 3 next week-ends were booked with family, friends and weddings...

This week-end we drove again to my parents and celebrated the girls birthdays. Each one chose one of the Lucille dolls (yeah, still haven't embroidered faces, was afraid to do a mess..), and they got a phone too: look at them executive women !!!


The pattern for the crochet babyset is now ready but for the proofreading. Next up: finish the lime cardi. I've only got to finish seaming the shoulders & sleeves, then pick up the stitches for the collar and knit those - what, 4 rows ...? Better get it done now.

So we've tried it all this week-end, the foot massage, grocery shopping with prune under the rain (!), the mini-hike, vaccuming and cooking for our friend's visit, and then to top it off a 2.5 hr drive (on a bumpy country road!) to my parents.. I sure did have a lot of contractions, but still no baby !!
So now I'll just let her decide, & she'll come whenever SHE feels ready for it.
One thing's funny though, my back really doesn't hurt half as much any more now she's so much lower. Cool.

I was trying to wait till I had a pic of the 2 finished Lucilles before I posted, but even though I'm THAT close now and it's just a matter of like half an hour, I guess I'll post it after. Just to let you guys know I'm still there..!

Instead, you'll get another kiddie pic :

The drive to my parents was to see my niece (and SIL) from Reunion island. First time ever the two cousins met !! Beginnings were a bit hard... but after a while, man, they were chatting and playing and laughing, it was so cool !!! We had gorgeous weather too so it really was a great day !

In other news... The fab Y. helped me do a little spring cleanup in my sidebar. (if it isn't working for you, please let me know). Oh, and I keep forgetting but my friend Emmie did it again, she started a Kal for the Isabeau tote ! (still free patterns up for grab for first pics of your tote/choker/shrug !). I also did a little reorganising chez Plum... Would you believe prune says "sayplum" now when she sees me working on the comp..?!

And we just learned yesterday that our great great friends are due in july (second girl as well, Christine, should we start a club ? ;-) )... by reading an interview of them on the internet, them sneaky monkeys !!!! But it's such great news they're forgiven ...
So.. it's just going to be another very-baby summer around here, just like when prune was born. Makes 5 of us due in june/july !!

Wow, that's going to be one lenghty post, better stop now ! ;-P
And back to the Lucille dolls...

Booh. I was getting all ready so it's a bit frustrating now. However, I did have a few contractions again last night and she's so very low now that I'm not losing hope. I try to keep moving as much as possible, walk, vacuum, clean up the flat ect... And we'll try a mini-hike and foot massage this week-end... ;-) (I just read that story of a woman who got a feet massage and gave birth the next day. Sounds easy!)

Not much crafting done, we've spent a great deal of time outside with Prune. But lookee what I got in the mailbox yesterday: my second Destash lot !

That's Crystal Palace "Musique", Cascade "Pastaza" and Colinette "Point 5". Two big hanks of each. Again, Yum !!!
And I've nearly finished typing the pattern for the crochet set. Takes time and energy. Partly because it's not in my native language... but mostly because I'm just so lazy !!! ;-)

So, I'm supposedly only due in a full month. (june 17th). But yesterday I woke up at 5.30 half-damp with sweat and had contractions every 8-10 minutes till 6.30...
Then it just so happened that I had my monthly appointment with the obstetrician that morning. And he said... huhu, yep, could be very soon !!
The bag for the clinic with the baby's clothes ect.. is all ready now.
I had contractions again last night, not as strong and near, but on a longer period of time... and I feel the baby lower now.

Sooo... this is all so exciting ! Yesterday, right after examining me, the obst. took me to the clinic (just across the street) to check that she indeed is head down now (fortunately she is!) and fill in the forms with the midwives... To be there again reminded me such good memories ! Hey baby, come on, I can't wait now !!!!!



But suddenly this means I could have less time to finish my "schedule" (lime cardi and pattern for crochet set mostly). However, I did make a Lucille Peep doll. My niece is arriving soon from Reunion island, and as they're only 2 months apart with Prune we'll celebrate their second birthdays together. So the plan is to make one for each, with hopefully a little cradle-bag thingy.
Not a long project tho, so it should be easy. Just a bit tedious to make all these tiny pieces, but they're so small and quick it's okay.
Made the dress longer, looked as if it wouldn't cover/hide anything otherwise... ;-) and a couple wee mods. But an easy pattern.
Oh, and I'll most probably embroider eyes and a pretty smile...

"You're in" she said.
Who ?
Amy from Knitty !!! ... so watch for my first ever to be published pattern in the upcoming summer issue of Knitty... :-D
(all I can say it's an "extremities" issue, stuff for hands, feet ect..)

The crocheted baby set is finished and sent. Till she receives it she's now got it, so here are the (clickable) pics :

So the hard-to-guess second item was actually a "baby-book", with fabric pages on which you print pics of familiar faces for the baby... Hope you'll see what I mean. Obviously the one I sent her has blank pages, just photoshopped the pic ..!
Anyhow. I'm now typing the pattern. Man, this is always more work than it seems..! ;-)

Otherwise I haven't knit or crocheted much these past 2 days. But I finally made the wee pouches for my stitchmarkers.


AND last but not least, I received some of the yarn I bought off Destash.

Of course you've recognized the little unlabeled pink skein as KSH... Yum. The Katia Sevilla (deep red ribbon yarn)I'd like to turn into a little wee top. Still need to swatch and all, but I've got this picture in my head... White one I think was some silky stuff, but I'll have to ask the lady again. And the baby alpaca is just soooo soft ! Of course it's all little amounts. But hey, you all know by now I like small projects anyway... ;-)

The lime cardi hasn't progressed much though. Right after I wrote about being halfway thru the second sleeve I realised I had an odd number of stitches... Oops ! Should have been even. So I ripped it all down to the hem. Started again, knit for a few rows, counted again, ... and yeah you guessed it, ripped again !!!
Odd that I've been doing fine with the rest of the cardi and now I seemed unable to concentrate enough to get it right !! Oh well.
I'm nearly finished with the increases now (counted every row), so it should be a breeze. Then the collar and seaming... and I'll have to face THE problem : who's gonna model it ?!!!!!! :-P

I should have two FOs to show pretty soon. Yes, you did read correctly, two !! The crochet baby set only needs a bit of finishing, and I'm halfway thru the second sleeve of the lime cardi. I'm trying to concentrate on those and not work on anything else till I've finished...

For now, here's already the little softie toy from the baby set. It's got a wee rattle thing inside (any french-reading lady, how do you translate "grelot" ? .. and "ciseaux crantés" ..?) and the tail on the back is both for the baby to hold, or tie it on the stroller or whatever... (actually I wanted to add ties somewhere but wasn't too sure, and laurent said :" a cat ? it needs a tail !" I live with a genius !! ;-) )

And.. remember the Loop'd'Loop vest I made a couple months ago with some recycled tibetan yarn and how I said my friend Anouchka took the leftover yarn and gear ..? Well here's hers !!

..modeled as well by her little boy !! ;-) It was her first time ever knitting with circs (they're not so popular over here, France is still quite backwards knittingwise..). And because she's quite tall, she started by knitting a few extra rows to add length, but apparently it wasn't enough and she ended up adding extra length with ribbing as well...
Anyhow, she did a great job, ... and doesn't she look great ?!! The pic was taken in Brittany btw, .. I'm jealous !!!

...but the kids just had so much fun ! And prune wouldn't stop asking for the "kis" until we got them out. Attempts to walk with the skis were fun, but the sledge works surprisingly well on the grass !!! (can you tell prune loved having a boyfriend to play with?)

We had a gorgeous week-end, saw some friends we hadn't seen for probably 6 years ... And they had this wee baby girl, not even 2 months old, so tiny !! I was glad to see prune very careful and caring with the baby. (cause sometimes she's a bit of a bully with her dolls !!)

Of course I hardly touched the needles/hooks at all while there. But I'm now working on the lime cardi, ... and started an openwork crochet cardi for prune with some stashyarn. Hope she'll agree to wear that one !! (and of course I'm using the new coloured acrylic hooks, love them !!!)

Finally, if you're lucky you might see my wee add in Crafster. Because I got only the smallest one, there's apparently 1/200 chances to see it... Still I got lucky several times and it's so funny to see it there.. Yeah !


Oh. And if you have a few minutes to spare I can't recommend enough to go and read emma's post on "blogging against disablism". I stumbled upon her blog today and just cried. But in a good way.