our favourite boy turns three

The weekend just gone we celebrated a very special birthday, Toby's third birthday!
And what better way to celebrate than to meet up with some cousins and go to the Werribee Open Range Zoo.

Toby is just a wee bit animal obsessed; that and trains are his constant thing, so a day out at the Werribee Zoo is like Nirvana for this little lad. So many animals to see. Our favourites for the day were the lions,

the zebras,

and the giraffes.

Toby and Lily did so love the hippos, but not the real ones so much as the crazy concrete ones that squirt water out of their bums! I think they spent more time there in their undies playing in the water spray than anywhere else!


Here's a photo of the exact moment the milo boy turned three. It's easy to take exact time photos when your birth time is 11:52am. He's pretty pleased with himself as you can see. Just quietly, I'm pretty pleased with him too. He's a charming, gorgeous, extremely funny, sweet little lad who tells me daily "I love Mummy and Daddy and Lil. But best of all I love my family."

The best thing about spending your birthday with your cousins is getting to hang out with Sage, who is just 3 months younger than Toby. These two are mischief together, for sure. Can you tell?  

And of course, the obligatory blowing out the candle shot. This was one very big long and forceful blow for the little boy, but he got all the candles out. Too funny!  It's a very serious business blowing out your candles!

I guess he's really no longer my baby now, hey!

new pattern: ziggidy doo

A new pattern for the Spring months here, and the Autumnal months in the Northern hemisphere.

This little pattern is quite a bit later to be released than I anticipated. Who would have thought that the start of the fourth term of the school year would be so out of control! I started the term looking forward to a chance to catch up on all things knitting related after spending the school term break sick and then away. you know, I'm still waiting for that chance to catch up now, how many weeks in? I have no idea how many weeks in we are now, four maybe, quite possibly five.

Anyway, I digress...so with loads of crazy school related and other general stuff going on, this wee pattern was a bit later in being added to the zig-zag ebook. You know, I guess that's all part of the indie designing-Stay-At-Home-Mummy juggling school kid, full-time at home toddler and a business of sorts gig. I think the schedules we (ok, maybe that's I) set ourselves are probably a lot tighter than they would be if we were publishing in a magazine or book. But you know what, Ysolda Teague's new book took a lot longer to get out than she expected, so I figure I'm in good company here!

So this skirt, hey.

It's knit seamless from the top down and has a super dooper perfectly fitting to your size waistband, that covers the range from 19-25" (or sizes 9months to girls size 12).

From there it's divided into three sizings; small, medium and large. Hidden increases throughout the skirt create a simple A-line shape.

The pattern also includes instructions for optional short row shaping to suit those little sticky out tums and bums that some toddlers have. They're also perfect for those in nappies, particularly cloth bums.

Lily's skirt is knit in MonsterKnits Blue Face Leicester DK, colourway 'Sock Monkey'.
Unfortunately, Kris is no longer dyeing yarn but there are some suggestions for other great yarns to use in the pattern.

Lily's skirt is a size 4 waist, knit to a size 6 length.

You can purchase the pattern via my Ravelry store; as part of the zig-zag ebook or just by itself.


Right now I'm working on the adult version of this skirt for me. Wanna see a sneak peak???

so when last I pimped..

it was October.
and I was giving the old Blogtober thing a go.
Did you participate? How did you go?
If you went better than I did you deserve a big HIP HIP HOORAY!.
I managed six posts for Blogtober... ahum, yep, a wee bit crap really!

Oh well, November is another month, one that looms a wee bit less crazy than October. Today I'm feeling a bit of a weight lifted from my shoulder as I managed to get through two big outside imposed deadlines this week. A couple of things that have been stressing me out just a wee bit... but all good now, as that is all behind us for the year!

so how about another pattern pimp?

Last post I shared one of the zig-zag patterns, so while we're on that train let's chug-a-lug along and meet a few more of the zig-zag patterns.

These, I think are the funnest of the zig-zag patterns.
They're zeg warmers. What else would you call them, hey?

Really quick to knit and super fun to wear. The pattern is written for a dk/8ply weight yarn, but it has included in it the finished sizes if you decided to sub with other different weight yarns; 5ply/sport, 10ply/worsted and aran/heavy worsted weight.

Sizing ranges from baby to large adult, so you could make a pair for all the Flashdancing floosies in your house if you wanted.

These ones are knit in madelinetosh tosh merino dk, a gorgeous single ply dk weight yarn that I am a wee bit smitten with now.

Lily's are the XS size knit to a wee bit longer than child length.

The pattern also has a number of links to tutorials and videos to learn a few new skills that make these little zeg-warmers look very professsionally finished! Gotta love that!

Just like the ziggy pattern, you can purchase zeg warmers either individually from my pattern store for a mere $3 or as part of the zig-zag ebook that will contain 5 patterns for $16. (just between you and me, the last pattern which is long overdue will be released this week)

as you were ;)