Living close to grandchildren or far away?

I live 300 miles from my grandchild. I saw him the day after he was born, and again at 4 weeks old. That was two weeks ago, and it's 3 more weeks until I can next see him.

 Talking to friends who are surrounded by their grandchildren I feel jealous- they can see them anytime. Then I talked to two more friends who each had one grandchild- in Australia. They Skype a lot, but they feel the distance. Maybe it's not so bad for me. 4 hours door to door thank to Virgin Trains is not too bad.

 I've joined Gransnet, the Grans' version of Mumsnet. Gransnet is full of useful tips and discussions. It's nowhere near as big as Mumsnet, but it's well worth taking a look.

I'm also on Twitter . You find me @DotingGran. I'm looking for people to follow, so please follow me and I'll follow you ( There's a song in there somewhere- Peter Gabriel I think?)

Recommended knitting for doting grandmothers.

If you want a great book of knitting patterns for babies and toddlers up to 2, I think you can't beat The Ultimate book of baby knits from top designer Debbie Bliss

So far I've knitted two jackets and two pairs of booties using patterns from this book, and there are lots more for me to do in the months ahead. This makes the book really great value, and I really recommend that you use Debbie Bliss yarns for these patterns. So far, all my knits have been made using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, which is a beautiful fine yarn, a little thicker than 4 ply.Many of the patterns use this yarn, but there are also some using Debbie Bliss DK and Aran weights.

Here's the little jacket I knitted

Jacket knitted in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

I used Ecru edged in Duck Egg Blue.

I've written a review of the Debbie Bliss Ultimate Book of Baby knits which you can read here.

You can buy it from Amazon- just click on the picture below.