(Disclaimer: Yes – I know! It’s August, and I’m talking about Christmas. But I’ve been here before – once No2 arrives in mid-October, I won’t want to be trying to deal with Christmas when I could be spending time with FB and our new born.

Plus last time it took 7 weeks for breastfeeding to be properly established, and while I hope that doesn’t happen again this time around – that would likely take us very close to the festive season.

So I’m doing lots of things for Christmas and FB’s second birthday now.)

On Sunday I managed to get some sewing time, and knocked three items off my ‘to do before October’ list.

Yes that was very satisfying.

Amusingly they’re all squares, and they’re all for No2 so I thought I’d give them their own tiny series.

First off…

Some Play Squares designed by Made By Joel – a wonderful, simple toy that should keep No2 happy once they start to really grab at things. 🙂

(They need a good iron – but that will have to happen later.)

I love the slightly wonkiness of them – I think it adds to their charm, and makes for some relatively mindless sewing.

I couldn’t resist adding a bit of the duck fabric in there – so obviously there had to be a blue duck to find. 🙂

More tomorrow…

As I promised last week, here is the project for No2 that I’ve been knitting in Oxford Kitchen Yarns.

It’s a Sheepy Sack (my ravelry link – pattern link) – a wool sleep sack that you use as a warm layer, and nappy cover in one.

I’m interested in giving some wool wraps a go this time round, as well as the PUL ones we use with FB. This should allow us to change nappies easily in the night, and keep No2 nice and warm (very important given that our new house is likely to be quite draughty this winter.

It was a great, quick knit, and it was lovely to see what the yarn would do. (Being 100% British Bluefaced Leicester it should work really well for this, and lanolize like a dream.) I’m really happy that decided to dye semi-solids rather than varigated. Varigated is great, but I really love the effect you get with a good semi-solid. It’s the sort of dyed yarn I go back to again and again, and it’s very versatile.

Anyway there is still some left in the shop, and all the aran currently available is still on sale.

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In other news Cirus was mentioned in Whip Up today as part of their Knit for Baby post!

I have had a few questions about Cirus in the last couple of months, which I hadn’t managed to get to due to the move etc. I’m really sorry if you’re one of the people waiting for a reply. I’ll get things sorted soon, and also put all the information into a post here, and on the ravelry page, so that it’s available for everyone.

Pop over to the shop and check out the 20% discount on DK, 4ply, Aran, and selected Sock yarns!

There is also 40% off the last of the Lace yarn, to make way for a new lace yarn later this year.

In the next post I’ll show you something I knit for the bump using Oxford Kitchen Yarns Aran – I’m really pleased with it. 🙂