Koud!

This week, one morning, we woke up to this:

 

 

A wonderful snowy world! And so early in december, too. Snow makes everything so beautiful, I'd prefer 'snow and cold' to 'not quite so cold, but rainy' any day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roelof made this great photo of the rosehips in our garden.

 

First thing after breakfast I ran up to the attic to find warm outdoor clothes for Thomas and Isabel.

 

Rosalie went to school on her bicycle, not afraid of cold or slippery roads. Good for her!

 

Thomas and Isabel were impressed by this change that had ocurred overnight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't stay out to long, though.

Isabel fell face down in the snow and decided she didn't like it! She cried and walked straight back to the door!

 

She did, however, learn a new word:

 

KOUD

( = COLD)

 

So that made us very proud. Children with pws are slow in developing language, but Isabel has now really started to say words and names. We started with sign language, maybe six months ago, to help her understand language and give her the tools to actually say things. After learning some signs I think she really understood what it was all about. So now she's trying words, it's hard for her to pronounce them because of her low muscle tone. But it's so good to see her try and just get it!

 

Besides these few words she now knows - mama, papa, koek (cookie), opa (granddad), oma (grandma), paard (horse), boek (book) and ja (yes) - she also still uses her own flow of sounds, telling her own 'stories' as she plays or walks around. And she understands just about anything we say.

So, Isabel, you are doing great!

 

 

What better to do on a cold day than stay inside and knit?

This jumble of yarn and stitches will be a sweater some time soon (soon? we'll see...).

 

 

It's Camden by Ashley Adams Moncrief from Knitty magazine (www.knitty.com).
I love the bobble pattern, I also like the detachable sleeves, but probably won't have anough yarn for those. I'm knitting with a wonderful organic alpaca, so soft! I don't think I have ever knitted myself a sweater before that didn't consist of a collection of rectangles (one for the front, one for the back and two for the sleeves) and those were knitted a long time ago!

Back to my knitting now, I might just have time for one more round!

 

 

Work in progress

I've been making rattles!
They're cute and they make me happy.

Fall, forest and play

About two weeks ago (or was it longer? Time flies!) it was 'herfstvakantie', a week long holiday for schoolchildren in Holland, so my eldest, Rosalie, was home for a week and we enjoyed some really nice days with the whole family together.

We went for a long walk in the forest, with Rosalie walking most of it, 6 kilometres, pretty good for our tiny six-year-old! And Isabel walked alot too and it is so nice to see her enjoying things like this. Who ever said children with Prader-Willi syndrome were passive? We don't recognize this in Isabel, who is, very much, an active little girl. So, passive? No, but quiet at times, fidgeting with something or other, but I think she needs those quiet moments to proces the impressions and experiences of the day. Some pic's of our forest walk:

 

On another day we went to a playground nearby, took our lunch along and stayed for quite some time!

The next picture shows Thomas and Isabel in the 'fietskar' (What's the word? Bicycle cart, maybe?) ready to go home.

Holiday

Going to the beach with our children is always lots of fun. Especially if that means visiting one of the beautiful islands (the 'wadden' islands) off the north coast of Holland (were we live). The boat trip is fun and adds to the feeling of going on a holiday, even if we did only go there for a weekend.

Here's Thomas looking all sleepy. Being very comfy in his carrier he slept alot while we went on long walks!

Rosalie gazing at the sea, ready to make some sandcastles.

Pansies growing in the dunes, called (very appropriately) 'dune pansy', duinviooltje in Dutch and viola curtisii in Latin. They made me wonder how anything can grow in loose and dry sand. Just read that their roots can grow as far as one meter in the ground enabling them to reach water.

Free knitting pattern!!

Today I worked on writing the pattern for the babyhats I posted about earlier.

It's finished and ready to be posted. I hope the pattern will find its way to enthousiastic knitters and the littles babies in their lives! I really enjoy knitting these hats, they're just so easy and the result is adorable. And knitters most always have leftover yarn laying about, patterns that use up those leftovers are always welcome, I think.

I would very much like to hear from knitters trying my pattern: comments, questions, pictures of finished hats. You can leave comments here or send me an e-mail at rosabellablog@gmail.com.
As this is the first time I have written a pattern, I would love some feedback. Enough chitchat, here's my pattern for the

Rosabella baby hat

This little baby hat is suitable for newborn babies, from about 0-3 months. It’s made using a small amount of leftover self striping sock yarn. I think it’s quit good for use in summer or indoors, just after a baby is born and needs to wear a hat to keep warm.

You will need:

• Straight needles 2.75mm (U.S. size 2)
• Double pointed needles 2.75mm (U.S. size 2, preferably 5 of them)
• Self striping sock yarn, fingering-weight, about 25-30 grams
• Crochet hook 2,5mm (U.S. size C/2)
• Yarn needle
• Some cardboard for making the tassels

Gauge

30 stitches = 10cm/4 inches

Abbreviations

k = knit

p = purl

k2tog = knit two together

p2tog = purl two together

Make bobble = k1, p1, k1, p1, all in the next stitch, turn work, p4, turn, k4, turn, p2tog twice, turn and k2tog

Directions

I start the hat using straight needles, because I find it easier to work the bobble stitch garter edge on them. So, using the straight needles cast on 84 stitches using a long tail cast on.

Row 1: knit

Row 2: k2, *make bobble, knit 5* repeat *…* 12 times, make bobble, k3

Row 3-7: knit

Row 8 and further: Divide the stitches on four double-pointed needles (21 for each needle) and join for knitting in the round. And then (how I love self-striping yarn!) just knit. And keep on knitting until you have knit 12 cm (4,75 inch).

Instructions for binding off

When you reach the beginning of the round, knit one more needle and then put all stitches onto two needles so that you have the stitches for the front on one needle and those for the back on the other. Make sure your working yarn is on one side on the back needle.

Then bind off using a crochet bind off. For this type of bind off you don’t need your working yarn, so start binding off on the other side from the working yarn.

Crochet bind off: slip one stitch from the front needle (let’s call this stitch A) to your crochet hook and then slip one stitch from the back needle (B) to the crochet hook. Next, pull stitch B through stitch A, leaving B on your hook. Continue in this way: slip a stitch to your crochet hook from the front needle and pull through, slip a stitch to your crochet hook from the back needle and pull through. When you have reached the last stitch take your working yarn and pull it through. Weave in this one end.

Making tassels

Cut a piece of cardboard to a 10cm/4 inch square. Wrap yarn around this square about 40 times. At the top of what is going to be your tassel, insert a piece of yarn between cardboard and yarn and tie it at the top. Cut the lower edge and remove cardboard. Wrap a piece of yarn below the top to form the ‘neck’ of the tassel. Use a crochet hook to pull the ends of yarn through the ‘neck’ from top to bottom. Then trim the all ends even. Attach tassels to hat and your baby hat is finished!

With thanks to Nicky Epstein for her inspiring book. The ‘bobble stitch garter edging’ is from her book Knitting on the edge.

 Enjoy your knitting!

I would like to end this post with some pictures.

1. Isabel as she is today. The pictures I posted last time show her at her weakest moment, but at present she is a bright, energetic, happy little toddler.

2. My girls reading

3. My laptop in springtime. Although freezing weather has finally set in over here, after a very mellow winter.

Prader Willi Syndrome

Now that Thomas is nearly three months, there seems to be a little more time for doing things besides caring for him (which I'm enjoying so much!), like writing this blog. I would like to use this blog to write about Prader Willi Syndrome (PWS), about what it's like to have a child with this fairly unknown syndrome. But to do that I should go back to the beginning. I had never heard of PWS before Isabel was born.

Isabel was born in the summer of 2010 in the hospital and very soon something appeared to be wrong. It may be strange but I didn't notice this myself at first, I only thought she was beautiful, maybe a bit quiet and weak, but she had wonderful red hair (and lots of it!) and the prettiest little fingers.

However Isabel did not cry, she didn't ask for food and would not drink when given milk. She had to be tube fed. And she was just too quiet, she would just lie still when I changed her nappy.

All this meant that we had to stay in the hospital for some time, while doctors tried to figure out what was the matter with her. Luckily I could stay with her all the time, we had a room for the two of us where Roelof and Rosalie could visit whenever they wanted. But it was a heartbreaking experience to see my little baby surrounded by all that medical equipment. Sometimes I hardly dared to pick her up because of all the cables that were attached to her (monitoring heart, breathing and oxygen levels). She also needed some extra oxygen at times.

Infants with PWS have a very low muscle tone, they usually don't cry and have alot of trouble drinking. Many babies have to be fed through a tube, which can be necessary for several months. A they sleep and sleep and sleep!

We were so happy to see her liven up when we gave her a bath. That was just about the first time the we realized: she's here with us! She sees and hears us and there is a wonderful person in that weak little body.

To make a long story short (because Thomas is getting hungry!): after three long weeks we could finally take Isabel home with us. It was about two months after she was born that we learned she had PWS. That is actually a very quick diagnosis, and that's good because we have learned so much about this syndrome since. It was, of course, shattering news, to hear that your child will probably never be able to lead a 'normal' (whatever that may be) life, but will always be dependent on care from others. But after learing more about PWS we started to realise that life can still be very meaningful and also enjoyable for Isabel and we decided to just love her, just as she is, and to try not to worry to much about the future.

I would like to write more, but I need to get back to baby Thomas now. These days, I seem to do just bits and pieces of all that I want to/need to do. But, that's caring for little children!

By the way, my spelling may be wrong now and again. English is not my native language, and I don't have the time to check it now.