Knitting & everything else that matters...

Not a slob

2010-11-02T19:59:00.004+08:00

Another week passed by pretty uneventfully, but I did have an interview and went on a day trip with some friends. I'm not even trying hard to find a job right now, more like focusing on NOT becoming a slob. Unfortunately, I'm a home creature by nature, and the gloomy weather is not helping to make me want to leave the comfort of my room. At least I'm fully equipped for unlimited hours of crafting! These are the lavender sachets that I made last week.

Aren't they pretty? I do need to get some ribbons for embellishment if I'm to make more of them though, so that's one reason to leave the house.

Knitting wise, I've been curiously monogamous lately. To be honest, I miss having 3-4 projects on the go and being able to knit and knit and knit while watching dramas. I know most people complain of having startitis, but my problem is the exact opposite. Whenever a project is finished, I'd be at lost at what to knit next. There are dramas waiting to be watched, but I can't possibly just sit there with idle hands! That was exactly my dilemma last week, so I turned to Ravelry and cast on for this scarf.

The pattern (One-row handspun scarf by the Yarn Harlot) was super simple, perfect for tv watching, and the handspun yarn made it a joy to knit. The problem is, now that I'm done with this scarf, what am I supposed to knit next?

p.s: I'm trying my best to convince myself to leave the house today, I thought putting it here might add extra pressure for me ;)

Bring on the knits!

2010-10-26T20:15:00.003+08:00

It's been a while since we have up-to-date ACTUAL knitting contents, no?
I was hesitant to post this, because all I have are low-res pictures taken with my iPhone 4, but I decided to go ahead anyway because otherwise it might be another 2 months before another post!

This one is another design of mine, but I'm not crazy about it. I call it Burning Love handwarmers after the name of the twisted cable pattern I used on the cuff, the romantic in me just couldn't resist.

Another design project. I've been wanting one of those big cowl that looks super cozy and cushy for a long time, and I had the perfect yarn in my stash, Rowan Cocoon. I've been looking for a cable pattern that's just right and finally found it in a Japanese knitting pattern book. I would write up the pattern for this cowl, if not because of my inability to create a cable chart. Any suggestion?

Right now all I have on the needles are a pair of socks for a Secret Santa Swap with the Socktopods. I just finished 2 shawls (Annis & Citron from Knitty) but am already craving another one, so I might cast on for Maia Shoulderette by Rosemary Hill.
Other than knitting, I've had a craving for some weaving action lately, so the loom finally made an appearance last Friday and I had this by Sunday!

I've been wanting to try the clasped weft technique in ages, but finally bit the bullet when I found this video tutorial that demystifies it. It's SO unbelievably simple and yet you end up with such striking result. I used my rather substantial stash of leftover sock yarn and barely made a dent. My imagination is already running wild for the next project, I can't wait to start planning for it!

I've decided to take a little break from job-hunting(I mean the stress-inducing, rip-my-hair-out kind) and figure out what it is I want to do and where do I want to go with it. So I'll be crafting for a few days while looking for a part-time job to keep me going. Wish me luck! The plan for today is to get some sewing done, I've got some dried lavender to make moth-repellent sachets for my swap partner. There are loads of the lavender so I might make some extra for sale on etsy!

Warning: RANT AHEAD

2010-10-19T01:24:00.015+08:00

The past week has been rather depressing, to say the least. Can I just say again, how much I HATE job hunting. WHYYY does it have to be so hard and discouraging? I know some of you have been in my position before, and hopefully can sympathise with all these angst. The thing is, I'm mainly disappointed in myself, and banging my head on the wall for not preparing myself sooner, like when I was still in uni and not running out of money. Everyone around me has been incredibly encouraging and some have even offered help, which I'm really grateful for. Unfortunately, nobody can tell me what to do when it comes to my life, so it's down to me to make up my mind and work my butt off for it. Still, I do wish that it's not this hard, while other people around me make it seem so easy. I do realise that this is my biggest shortcoming, in uni I've always worked according to a brief/task, and following a deadline/set schedule. Now that I have no more framework to what I have to do, I'm embarrassingly lost. Like they said in Avenue Q "I wish I can go back to college, in college you know who you are......I need an academic advisor to point the way!..."
*END OF RANT*

Phew, hope I haven't scared off all of you. Since I've been such a slacker in taking pictures of my knits, can I just share pretty pictures from my trip to Spain?
Madrid

Toledo

Granada

Valencia

Barcelona

Girona

If you like my pictures, there are loads more in my Facebook page here

A bit of knits and a lot of travels

2010-10-13T18:59:00.012+08:00

Ok, I'll admit it, I have no idea how this time thing work. Surely it can't be almost 6 weeks since I last wrote a real post?
In that time, I've been on 3 different trips to 6 different countries. Let's look at pretty pictures and see if I'm forgiven, shall we?
First, I was in Graz, Austria for a day trip

Then we (that's Maja & I) went on a road trip around Slovenia with a detour to Trieste, Italy to visit a friend.

Yep, that's a Baby Surprise Jacket you see there, I made it with 2 skeins of some lovely Koigu that was gifted to me a few years ago. It's for my new baby niece who STILL doesn't have a name after 2 weeks.
We went swimming on a wild beach

(starting to think there's no way I can share all 3 trips in one go, so I'll just do the first one)
Then spent a lovely afternoon in the coastal town of Piran

Before heading down to Trieste to catch up with my friend and got to meet the loveliest little girl in the world

Then we went into an AMAZING cave, no pictures were allowed though. Next to the beautiful Lake Bled, where I had a little photo shoot session with a sample of Spring Fountain shawl that was Diane's birthday present (I ceremoniously presented it to her, then rudely took it back for a photo shoot trip)

Then we went to a mountain, where I got on a ski lift for the first time in my life, pet (tried to) some sheeps and had some amazing barley soup that I'm dying to learn how to make.
The next day, we actually CLIMBED a mountain (Maja said it's a WALK, I strongly disagree).

But I made it anyway (not without some difficulties and name-calling)

I got to spend a whole day on my own exploring Ljubljana and it was such a delightful city (I took way too many pictures to share though) before I made my way back to Maja's parents' place in Maribor and let them feed me with more meat.

At the beginning of this post, I was planning to do one of my let's-recap-what-happened-in-past-3-months-in-one-go post, but it was proving impossible since I had so many amazing experiences that I'd like to share with you. So next I'll be sharing my Spain trip with you (that trip was more than twice longer, so might be 2 posts!).

FInally available!

2010-09-29T02:55:00.003+08:00

This shawl pattern has been in the work for MONTHS! I'm so glad that it's finally done and released to the knitting world. Now on to the next project!

By the way, you can purchase the pattern through ravelry here.

Square one

2010-08-25T19:30:00.004+08:00

I know most of you (if there's any of you left!) are probably sick of me giving excuses on how time really flies and and *poof* there goes another 3 months before I even realised it.

In case you're curious as to what have happened to me in the time that passed, I barely survived an overstayed visit from a relative (5 weeks!!!), then I survived my first real job as an EFL teacher in a summer school unscathed. Monday was my last day at work, and while I enjoyed it, I can't imagine doing it full time. Imagine this, 1400 teenagers over 7 weeks, one-hour commute each way, junk canteen food twice a day. On the other hand, I had masses of lovely students, amazing colleagues and learned a ton. It was quite an experience, and I'd definitely do it again, but no more than 6 weeks at a time! As far as first proper job goes, it went swimmingly, albeit rather short. I was so confused when I got my first pay slip as I had no idea what it's for. It definitely felt good to be earning, but now I'm back to square one in the job hunting department!

One major downside of working is that I've found that I have the tendency to abandon everything else. Things like keeping in touch with people (only my parents were persistent enough), healthy eating, exercising, cleaning and worst of all, knitting. Let's not even mention blogging. I did manage to get some knitting done towards the end once everything have calmed down significantly, so all is not lost. Let's hope that my knitting and blogging will be less sporadic now that I'm back to job hunting.

There is one project that I've been wanting to share with you. I named it Spring Fountain Shawl, which should give you an idea of when I actually knitted and finished it. I might call it Autumn Fountain Shawl instead when I publish it, just to be more seasonable.

The pattern has been in working progress for longer than I care to admit, but I'm aiming to have it published by September the latest. I just need to have one last photo shoot in the mountains of Slovenia! Yes, I will be leaving tomorrow for a week in Slovenia. If you recall from my previous posts, I have mentioned my flatmate/travel partner Maja. She and I will be touring the country (there were mountains mentioned **shudder**) and I'll be joining in on her family occasions. Considering my highly limited Slovene (I know about 10 words), I'll be having my knitting to keep entertained during the trip. I promise to be back next weekend with pictures and updates! Can someone please email me and nag at me if I don't??

p.s: how do you like the new look of the blog?

Maja (my.a) Mitts

2010-05-30T20:22:00.003+08:00

Here's my latest pattern offering, check it out!

I started this way before the Awaiting Spring mitts as a gift for my friend/flatmate/travel partner Maja. I lured her into my room, proceeded to show her my stash (enthusiastic would be an understatement), while she being a good sport that she is, nodded and even managed to oohs and aahhhs at the right yarn. She picked out the yarn herself, and I have to say she made a great choice. Filatura di Crosa Zara has got to be one of my favourite commercial yarns. Back in Malaysia, it was the only good quality merino wool I can get from my LYS, and I'm pretty sure I brought the two skeins I used for these mitts back from there.

These mitts definitely triggered my desire to design my own knits again. Back when I first started knitting (eons ago!), it never occurred to me to follow a pattern. Seems like the more I know, the more exposed I am to the world of knitting and the amazing array of patterns available out there, the more reluctant I become to design my own and make mistakes and have no one to blame. I think that's one of the reasons why I've been enjoying sewing so much; I know very little about it, hence I'm more willing to learn from my mistakes and experiment. It's a tough shell to break, but I'm doing it slowly, starting out with simple and easy design projects. Hope you guys are enjoying it as much as I do!

Awaiting Spring Mitts

2010-05-20T23:12:00.004+08:00

One way I've found to make myself feel more productive, is to design my own knits and publish them!
Hence the Awaiting Spring Mitts!

You can now purchase the pattern from Ravelry(I hope!), I tried purchasing it but I can't so please let me know if it works!

The yarn I used was mentioned in this post, it was one of my travel score from Florence! After having them in my stash for over 3 years and looking for a project special enough for such a special yarn, I thought designing one for it is the perfect way to go! Best part is, I only used one of the two skeins!
BTW, thanks to the almighty power that is Google, I found out that this yarn is fairly easy to purchase online, but traveling around Florence to find it was undoubtedly more fun!

As the name of the pattern suggests, I started these last month, when it really should be spring here in London. There were signs of spring everywhere, which made it all the more frustrating when I was clad up in a coat and still freezing! Even when we do get the random warmer days, the wind is so unpredictable that I could've been seen in shorts, sandals and these mitts!

trying to stay afloat

2010-05-07T02:06:00.002+08:00

A lot of people have asked me this question lately (well, past couple of months),"So, what do you do?", and I've find it really tough to answer.
What DO I do? I knit, I weave, I sew, I cook, I read, I design, but surely those are not valid occupation. Ever since I graduated I've somewhat been struggling to find a job. And with the condition of the job market in the UK right now, I think I've picked the worst possible time to be job hunting as a graduate with no experience in a somewhat expendable market.
I have to admit that I'm hating this junction of my life.You know the saying idle hands are the devil's workshop? Well my hands are rarely idle, but idle mind can be just as dangerous, I tell you.
So the point is? Well, I guess there's no point to this, other than me feeling the need to get it out of my system, and hoping you guys can give me some advice or share your experiences :)

Anyway, because I try never to post without pictures, here are some of my recent (and not-so-recent) FOs.

Moroccan

2010-02-23T21:21:00.003+08:00

It was recently brought to my attention by some knitter friends that it's been a while since I last updated (some subtle and not-so-subtle hints were dropped). So I came back and found that my blogger account had been suspended! I guess it has been a while....
Then I found a draft that I never get around to post of pictures from my trip to Morocco, so here it goes.

Hats in the souk (traditional market). I don't think they're knitted, look more like crochet though I'm not entirely sure...

It's a dye bath the traditional way! I doubt our indie dyers do it this way :)

There's wool hanging all over the street!

Camel bone table and chairs set, so beautifully handcrafted.

At a rest stop on our way to Essaouira (coastal town west of Morocco), I saw a local woman who's guarding the toilet knitting. So I pulled out my knitting to show them and they got really excited (Tres bien Madame!) and passing it around to each other. One of the women went to get something, and right at this moment my friend came out of the loo. The woman proceeded to take off my friend's jacket, much to my friend's puzzlement. She then pulled out this knitted outfits and put it on my friend. It's a dress and cardigan suit with really interesting details, the dress is knitted sideways with short rows and in stripes! Thankfully my friend Maja is a good sport and she let me took a few pictures while she models for me. It always amazes me how knitting can link people through all boundaries.
And if you're wondering, yes, this all took place in front of the toilets.

Well, right at the end of that trip, the Auto Focus on my Canon 450 D stopped working. I still have no idea why and would have to take it to a shop to figure out what's wrong with it. So I guess that's my excuse for this hiatus!
Hopefully I'll be back soon to keep you updated on what I've been up to since my last post!

Obsessed

2010-02-06T18:19:00.003+08:00

In my last post I've shared with you all my latest hobby(it's not an obsession, not yet anyway). Here's a product of my there new hobby.

(It's the same bag, fully reversible!)
My sewing machine arrived even before my loom did, but I couldn't just sew ANYTHING. I had to make sure it has proper lining, and let's try making bias tape shall we and oh why not add pockets and oh wait it can be reversible too! And let's make sure all the stitches are super straight too! The bag ended up taking me 3 days to finish (ok, I started at 2 am), and I'm really happy with as far as first project in more than 3 years go! I'm amazed that I can actually sew straight stitch (for most part), when I was using my old college sewing machine ages ago I had to call my sewing 'freestyle'! And I completely adore my bias tape maker that I might need one in every sizes!

And here's another one of my latest hobby *ehem*obsession*ehem*

I used to get them from friends who are destashing casually, until I chance upon a shop update in time to get a grab bag of 2 skeins. Then 2 weeks after that another grab bag and before I knew it I was waking up at 8 am (this doesn't happen often if you know me) to check for shop updates! I haven't managed to get any since but I'm seriously considering training to become a full-fledged Wollmeise stalker!
The weird thing is, while I like her variegated colourways, it's the solids I'm crazy about. As in I want every single colours crazy. I might have to save up and make a trip to Germany to visit her shop!

I know, I know, it's a knitting blog. So here's some knitting for you.

This is my swatch for Demi, from Rowan Vintage Knits, that I'll be knitting for the Ravelympics 2010. I'll be converting the pattern to knit in the round, it might take 2 weeks of crazy amount of knitting and dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome to finish this sweater but I'm game! What are you knitting for Ravelympics?

Anyway, I'm leaving for a short break (a friend asked, from what?) to Marrakech in 4 hours! Will be back soon hopefully with a lot of cool pictures, bye!

On warps and wefts

2010-01-12T21:55:00.003+08:00

First come knitting, then spinning, and now weaving! This fibre obsession is never ending, is it?

So it all started a couple of weeks ago when I saw someone put up a rigid heddle loom in the Ravelry destash/trade board. I expressed interest and we got talking and I naturally got all excited. Then a friend of mine offered to lend me her loom to try out, and I had so much fun! Here's the first scarf that I made.

For the warp (that's the threads that go lengthwise on the loom) I used 100g of my handspun merino that I couldn't stand knitting with. And for the weft (that's the one that goes in and out sidewise) I used some leftover RYC Cashsoft DK from my Deep V Argyle Vest. I was SO proud of it, and decided right away that I wanted a rigid heddle loom, so I ordered a 20" Ashford Knitters Loom. It should've arrived last Monday but due to the courier's extreme incompetency I still don't have it.

Anyway while I still had my friend's loom I wove my second scarf!

It's a much shorter scarf (the first one was 2m long!) and I used some UK Alpaca yarn that I've had in my stash for years.

One thing I love about weaving is how darn quick it is! Can you imagine how long it'll take me to knit a 9" wide 2m long scarf? That is, if I survive the boredom! Also, I get to be much more adventurous with my weaving as I can combine different yarns, something I'm always wary to do with knitting. One thing I've found with me and my crafts is, the more I know, the less adventurous and experimental I become. So I'm hoping this will help me be more adventurous with my knitting too.

Oh, and I just bought a sewing machine and it got delivered yesterday. I don't have any fabric to play with it yet, but I'm sure you'll be hearing more about my new endeavours in the future!

New Year

2010-01-05T18:15:00.002+08:00

This is definitely my longest hiatus to date! Come March, I would've been blogging (on and off) for 6 years, and that's starting to feel like a lifetime. Now that I'm back, I'd like to make some changes around the blog and be a better blogger all around!

Every year for as long as I can remember, I have always made New Year's resolutions. Usually they are really long lists of things I'll forget a fortnight into the year. This year, I made none. Instead, I have a few mental resolutions. They are fairly vague, but my "rule" for this year is to DO things. Procrastination has always been one of my biggest weakness, along with lack of self control at yarn sales, but that's a different issue. Also, I vow to try to coax myself out of my comfort zone and say YES more often and seize more opportunities. For example, a friend's mother asked me if I'd like to volunteer teaching knitting at a group she's trying to organise once a month. My first instinct was to run away, giving myself and her all sorts of excuses. But I calmed down and said I'd love to do it! It's a little thing, but I'm starting with baby steps :)

So there, that's my New Year's non-resolution! I'll be back soon (hopefully!) with loads of knitting contents and some weaving too!

Happy New Year 2010 everyone!

Ooopss...

2009-07-24T19:14:00.004+08:00

Thank you everyone for your well wishes!
I totally forgot one of the most important thing I "did" last week, I turned TWENTY TWO!!!
The fact that I forgot to mention it is like a testament of how busy I was last week. I had an awful, non-existent birthday, but the past couple of days my wonderful friends have been making up for it :).

On other news, you know my Knitted Chair project blog? Well it was featured in a blog, but I didn't think it was a big deal, because I didn't realise how many people actually read the blog. Well, I had over 2,000 hits yesterday, which might not be much to the big names blogger, but is a totally HUGE thing for me! Please wish me well, cause I think I'm freaking out just a little bit...

What I've been doing...

2009-07-23T05:48:00.004+08:00

This blog is sadly neglected, I know.
Let's do a fast recap of what have happened in the past 20 days since the last post.

-My parents and brother came 2 weeks ago to attend my graduation.
-I graduated!

-Became a tour leader for my family for a whole week.
-Family left, went straight to uni because of course just because you graduated doesn't mean you're "done".
-Exhibited at New Designers in Business Design Centre, Islington until Sunday.

As you can probably guess, there were virtually no knitting happening in those 2 hectic weeks. But I did manage to take some more FO pictures before that...

Norwegian Wood Shawl, pattern by Sivia Harding, yarn used 3 skeins of Naturally Hand Knit Dawn 2ply. This shawl is the case of that "perfect" project. I fell in love with the pattern at first sight, and found the perfect yarn for it in the stash right after. The knitting was fun and easy, and I love the result! I did ran out of yarn towards the end so I had to omit 2 rows from the pattern and used a different yarn for part of the bind-off, but I still love it!

Handspun Feather And Fan Shawl, used 2 skeins of my own handspun. A great project to use up those 100g skeins of handspun yarns! I'm kinda wishing it's bigger but it was getting a bit boring after a while. Can I just say again how much I absolutely LOVE knitting with handspun yarn? It just heightens the pleasure to another level, seriously.

Hoarfrost, pattern by Anne Hanson from Knitspot. This pattern is absolutely gorgeous, but the yarn....oh the yarn.....just makes it all the more perfect. It's Swiss Mountain Cashmere and Silk, and it's amazing, as you can probably tell from the name. It took a while to get used to knitting with it just because of it's softness. It feels so soft and luxurious against my neck, I kinda can't wait for it to get colder so I can wear it out (kidding! summer please come back to London!).

Turquoise Decimal Cardigan

2009-07-02T00:27:00.003+08:00

Here's the cardigan I promised to show you!

The pattern is from Spring 2009 issue of Knitty. When I saw the pattern I knew immediately that I'll be knitting one, and I knew exactly what yarn to use! Now, how often does that happen? The yarn is Knitpicks Shine Sport in Turquoise, and since I've only got 8 skeins of yarn, I modified the pattern into short sleeve, and I like it much better this way since I find bell sleeves to be impractical. I ended up only using 7 skeins of yarn for this.
Overall, I love this pattern! The waist and raglan shaping is so cleverly done, and it's so easy to modify. I really enjoyed knitting it! I think the knitting part only took me over a week, but it did took me months to find buttons for it! And I haven't blocked it yet shuuushh...
Unfortunately, I wore it out to The I'm-not-going-to-Woolfest-consolation-spinning-party last weekend and it was way too warm! Guess I'll have to wait for the weather to cool down before I can wear it again, but knowing this country it probably won't be a very long wait!

In other news, my parents and brother are coming to visit me next week for my graduation ceremony! Knitting wise this means that I've been having to destash my yarn and magazines and books to make space in my room. Check out my destash page in Ravelry if you're interested!

The show is over but my needles must go on...

2009-06-19T00:23:00.003+08:00

This past month felt surreal to me. So much have happened but I can't be sure what.
One thing for sure, the show came and go.

I think it went pretty well even though I was in daze mostly throughout the 5-day show.

A lot of knitting happened too, but they kinda came and go without much documentation on my part. Bad blogger, I know. I am so behind on FOs to show you guys! Let me just tell you that there are a Clapotis, a summer cardigan and a shawl that I need to block and blog (pun not intended) about. And a pair of socks I finished in a week on commission for Socktopus.

I did manage to make myself take some pictures a couple of days ago though, so here's some eye candy for you...

It's Lace Ribbon Scarf from Knitty! I'm sure you've seen it a million times, but here's my take on it. It's a really nice and easy pattern, very easy to memorise so perfect for carrying around. It was supposed to be my carry-around project but the yarn is sooooo amazing to work with that I had to restrain myself from knitting it at home! The yarn is Pagewood Farm Alyeska, and I got mine from Socktopus. It's soooo soft and bouncy and sproingy (it is a word in MY dictionary) and an absolute pleasure to work with. I was sighing with delight all the time while touching it, pretty sure my friends thought I was mad if they don't already.
Oh, the pretty tulip shawl pin I'm wearing in the picture is from this etsy store. Isn't it pretty? I would've love it more if only I didn't get stung by custom.
Here's a mini rant, I don't mind paying the £3.25 VAT, but £8 handling fee for 2 tiny boxes??? AGH! And did I ever tell you I got charged £49.50 for 2 knitted chairs that a knitter sent me from the States for my show? Double AGH!!
Ok, rant over. Here's more pretty pic.

Think I'll make some more of this.

This one has been a long time coming.

Pretty sure I finished knitting this hat a couple of months ago, and it has been sitting under my pile of WIPs since then. There was a lot of uncertainty with this pattern. It went like this....."Is this too small?", "Will this fit my head?", "Wonder how far I can stretch this...", "Uh oh, this looks more like a beanie", "Dang, other people say it's too tight, should've used bigger needles", "Should I just frog this and start over??", "But surely blocking will fix this....". Maybe that's why I ended up ignoring it after it's finished.

It is quite a tight fit and I had to add an extra repeat of the colourwork pattern to make it slouchy enough, but it kinda works. Especially with my "new" hairstyle. Oh and the yarn is gorgeous, it's Knittery Merino Cashmere 4ply and it smells goooooddd........yes I sniff my yarn.

Aeolian

2009-05-10T07:18:00.004+08:00

This is definitely one of the most beautiful thing I've ever knitted, and it didn't took me a whole year to finish it! The pattern is so intuitive and ..dare I say..easy..for such an impressive result. It only took me 2 weeks to knit because I couldn't put it down. Every free time and procrastinating time I have, I devoted to knitting this luscious shawl. It's such a pleasure to knit, especially because of the yarn I used, Malabrigo lace in Burgundy (birthday gift from Van from eons ago!). This yarn is so soft and cushy and yummy and I need some more! And I only needed one skein for all this pleasure and gorgeousness...

My bundle of nerves

2009-05-02T16:38:00.002+08:00

I'm not a morning person. On "normal" days I go to bed at about 4 a.m. and wake up at lunch time. But today I am a bundle of nerves and have been up since 8 a.m., it's not normal I tell you. I've been going through in my head everything that could go wrong during today's event. Let's see, for a starter the weather forecast could lie and it would be pouring rain, or maybe everybody decides to go to the zoo and see monkeys instead of me. Or maybe...or maybe....see why I have trouble sleeping?

So everybody please think good thoughts of me today so that I'll have some good news to report back!

Anyway, I have some pretties to show off...

It's my Ishbel! The pattern is by the mega talented Ysolda Teague. The yarn is some laceweight silk from Fyberspates that I got at Ally Pally 2 years ago. I have more than half leftover, wonder what to knit with it next. I'm totally in love with how pretty this thing is, I think it's the combination of sleek silk with that delicate lace that does it for me. It blocked wonderfully and dried within hours! Think I need another one, maybe in sock yarn?

Some more pink goodness....

The pattern is Darkside Cowl(link to .pdf) by Sarah Fama. But of course I'm calling mine Pinkside cowl. The yarn is my own handspun that I blogged about some time ago. Can I just say again how much I LOVE knitting with handspun yarn?

Ivy Leaguer wannabe

2009-04-27T01:23:00.003+08:00

According to Ravelry, I cast on for this on 4th April 2008, heck that's a whole year for a vest!

I bought the yarns as a kit because I was too overwhelmed by the thought of picking out 6 coordinating colours. It's my biggest colourwork project to date, and it fits really well! I was pleasantly surprises when I got to try it on after I cut the steeks because I had my doubts all along.
Oh, of course you'd want to see the steeks...

See how neat it is? I did the crocheted steek and they all lie down so neatly, makes me all giddy. Can you tell I love my new vest?

The crazy thing about this project is, I used less than one skein of each colour! The pattern specifies 2 skeins of 5 different colours and a skein of 1 colour, so that's what I got. But now I ended up with more than enough for another one, there should be a limit to over estimation in yarn requirements.

Anyway, I'm organising my first knitting event EVER! Check it out here. I'm so scared of it not going well and have been playing through everything that could go wrong with it in my head. Hopefully I won't freak out when the time comes, fingers crossed! I'll also be eternally grateful if you could help me pass the word around!

More chair

2009-04-17T01:18:00.002+08:00

I have no idea what happened, time really seems to fly and I can't even recall when was the last time I blogged.
Anyway just a quick update I haven't been knitting much, worked on a couple of WIPs here and there, so things are growing ever so slowly. Mainly I've had to focus on my project here...

Yep, another chair.
I love how this one turns out, and the fact that it uses so little yarn. And my non-knitter friends think it's a sexy chair!
It's a bit disconcerting how I'm relying on these chairs to earn me degree. But I guess I have to keep on believing in the power of knitting, and the power of knitters.
Oh, I've moved the blog for the project, it's now here. Please do come take a look, leave a comment, and spread the word! I can't do it without your supports!

Casting off...

2009-03-23T01:20:00.003+08:00

Beware! Long post ahead, but it'll be mainly pictures for your viewing pleasure, I'll be brief and catch up with the knitting I've been doing.

I knitted these Very Orange Vinnland socks for Malabrigo March KAL with the Socktopods. The yarn colourway is "Terracotta", but really it's just orange.

This bag had been on the needle for a few months. Or at least the handle did. I finished the bag in a couple of days but the handle took really long because I got bored knitting it. And since I was using much smaller needles for the handle so that it won't sag that much, it hurt my hands to knit it. But finally a couple of days ago I decided to just finish it up and wore it to the local shop to buy grocery.

I was worried it won't be able to hold the weight but it held up pretty well I thought.

We had a bingo night for Red Nose Day at Socktopus and I won TWICE! I won a skein of Socks That Rock, 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces Sheperd Socks, a skein of gorgeous handspun by Marianne and to top it all, a voucher of a dozen cupcakes by Arianna from Bittersweet Bakers. Let me tell you her cupcakes are THE CUPCAKES, they've gotta be the best I've had. I was more excited on winning that compared to the STR, that's how much I love her cupcakes. But the handspun was gorgeous too and I couldn't wait to knit with it, so I made these.

I was reminded on how much I LOVE knitting with handspun yarn. Perhaps I should slow down on the spinning and start knitting up my handspun yarns. They are just really simple 3x1 rib with holes for my thumbs, then I increased to 3x2 rib as they go up my arms. I wore them to Brighton on Friday, and they kept my hands nice and warm.

Then yesterday, I went to Socktopus again wearing this.

My Cardigan for Arwen! Finally done! I'm really happy with it and I love wearing it. The only thing I followed from the pattern was the cable pattern. I did it all in the round, seamless, with raglan decrease and waist shaping. Too bad the kitty shawl pin that I wore to fasten it yesterday was lost.
But I haven't told you what I was there for yesterday, I had a class with Cookie A.!

It was absolutely fabulous and I dare say you guys should look forward to my future sock design!

Spinning updates

2009-03-08T23:09:00.002+08:00

Here's a summary of my wheel spinning adventure so far.
I was trying to spin on some scrap fibres and it was miserable! The fibre kept on breaking and I couldn't spin for more than a metre at once. So I decided to try spinning the good stuffs, and it worked like magic!
Here's my first skein, it's Limegreenjelly BFL in Funkytown colourway.

This one is my own hand-dyed Falkland

And here's my own hand-dyed Merino, the best one so far, it's so soft and squishy!

I was spinning some merino/angora but gave up midway because the fibre kept on getting all over the place. So now I have some nice merino going on instead. I'm trying to spin finer and more consistent, but so far my spinning is far from it. Well, practice makes perfect, right?

Just because I got a wheel doesn't mean I've been neglecting my spindle, this is some BFL/silk from Shunklies.

I was trying to spin it really fine, but then I ran out of patience and spun thicker yarn instead, I didn't really enjoy spinning with it, but the resulting yarn was quite nice to knit with. I didn't have much yardage, so I knitted a simple stockinette cowl out of it. It's still drying now, picture next time!
And then I bought a new spindle.....isn't it a beauty?

It's Bocote Bosworth Midi, and I looooveee it! It's so smooth and nice to spin with and so pretty to look at. Here's what I spun with it

It's merino/baby alpaca/silk blend from Limegreenjelly, spun on the Bosworth and 3-plied on the wheel.

That's all for spinning so far, the wheels are still turning though!
Have you guys seen my knitted chair? The pattern is up here.

FO updates!

2009-02-24T23:07:00.003+08:00

This blog is sadly outdated! I've been busy knitting for my project but there have been other knitting going on as well.

Shalom Cardigan
Pattern: Shalom Cardigan by Meghan McFarlane
Yarn: Rowan Cocoon, 4 skeins
Needles: 7.00 mm
Comments: I finished this a couple of weeks ago. It was a really quick knit, took me about a week. The yarn is sooo soft and a pleasure to work with. I made a few changes to the pattern, cast on more stitches, put more buttonholes, and made the armholes less wide. I love the end result, it's so wearable! I'd love to knit a couple more cardigans in this kind of style.

I also knitted another beret.

This is Porom by Jared Flood, lovely, super easy pattern. The yarn is RYC Silk Wool DK in Geranium, gorgeous to work with, I might need to stash up some!

And there were some socks too...

This is Hopscotch Socks by Anna Bell, one of the Socktopus 2008 Sock Club socks. The yarn is AMAZING! It's Brooklyn Handspun Soft Spun Plus. It's so soft everything I touched afterwards feel rough. Not only soft, it's also bouncy and cushy and smooshy and awesome in general.

These bedsocks are hanging off my bed frame so I could pull it over my feet whenever they get cold at night. The yarn is Cleckheaton Country Prints, one of the yarns I got from my trip to Australia last year. They are just simple toe up socks with 2x2 ribbing, with short row toes and heels, easy peasy.

Next up, spinning updates!

Pretty please?

2009-02-12T18:55:00.003+08:00

I've started a new blog for my final project, please take a look and let me know what you think!
It's here. Please help me graduate! I need a degree to support my yarn buying habit in the future!

Spinning in the snow

2009-01-31T22:37:00.001+08:00

This is what I was doing yesterday

It's my first snowman ever! I've never seen this much snow in London EVER and it's quite scary, the weather all over the world is going mad. Well anyway this meant I couldn't go out and had to cancel all my plans. But fret not, because I have a new toy to play with.

Yep, it's my new spinning wheel! Well, it's not new, but it's new to me. I was carrying it on the bus, tube and train on Sunday to get it home safely. Imagine the stares I got, people were turning their heads and had that "what the heck is that!" look on their faces. Anyway, it's a single treadle Ashford Traveller, and I'm still trying to spin on it. My hands-feet coordination sucks, which is why I never mastered anything that requires it. But I'm determined to be a good spinner. Heck, I can foresee it taking me ages and loads of practice and frustration but no way I'm giving up.
But for now, I definitely won't be starting with these.

The top one is Merino and the bottom one is Falkland. I think I'm getting slightly better at this dyeing thing, and I'd love to dye some more. Problem is, I can't spin the fast enough.

Yes this is a knitting blog!

2009-01-25T09:47:00.002+08:00

Yay! Finally some knitting!

Knotty Gloves
Pattern source: Knotty Gloves by Julia Mueller, Ravelry download
Yarn: Malabrigo sock
Needle: 2.5mm
Comment: I started a pair of gloves some years ago, but never managed to get them finished. I was pretty convinced that I simply have no patience to knit fingers. Hence the many pairs of mittens and fingerless gloves coming off my needles. But then it gets really cold, and I need my dexterity, and the pattern is so pretty and I had the perfect yarn that it simply was meant to be. I really had to push myself through knitting all those fiddly fingers, but I think the result is well worth it. I made a little alteration to the pattern though...

So now I can do this!

I'm feeling all smug and clever now that I've find a way to not having to take my glove off every time I need to use my beloved iPhone.

About 2 weeks ago I got this book in the mail. Even though I'm not interested in any of the patterns, but the technique was so intriguing that I had to try it out.

I used some yarn I had dyed with kool-aid a couple of years ago. Since I wasn't sure how the yarn would knit up, and I was worried the colour would muddle up, so I paired it with some cream coloured merino yarn. This technique is so much fun and so easy to do! It works really well with those variegated yarns to break up the pooling and create some really cool effects. I can't wait to think of some other way to use this technique.

I'd dye happily

2009-01-20T22:16:00.002+08:00

First, let me tell you all that my dissertation is DONE! c'est fini. la finito. Thank you for your *ehem* gentle encouragement, I'm just so happy that it's out of the way. Well I have another presentation in 2 days, but this uni thing is really just never ending. Well, there's one thing I didn't share here. Other than knitting and spinning while I should've been writing, I've also been dyeing.
First I dyed some yarn.

It turns out quite blotchy, guess I need more practice. The dye I'm using is Sugarflair food dye, the colours are nice and vivid and sticks to the fibre easily.
Then I tried dyeing some fibres, this one is BFL.

I didn't put enough dye and ended up with a lot of white spaces, but it looks quite nice spun up.

I navajo-plied it to a bulky weight, but it's still quite inconsistent, I'm just not used to spinning thick. My original intention was to knit another Wham-Bam cowl with this, but now I'm worried there won't be enough yardage, so I might just do a normal cowl. It's really soft and squishy though, I'm liking it a lot.
Next I tried dyeing some Corriedale

Then some brown BFL

When it was wet I couldn't even tell if the colours are there because it's all so dark, but when it's all dry the colours became so much clearer. I'm liking this one, it's so dramatic.
Dyeing is so much fun even though the whole house did smell of vinegar and burnt hair. Thankfully my housemates didn't complain much. I'm looking forward to dyeing some more since I just bought more colours of the dye, but I'll need to buy GALLONS of vinegar first!
There should be some actual knitting progress next time I blog, really!

Knitting Masochist

2009-01-12T06:06:00.003+08:00

Is there such thing as a knitting masochist? Because if there is, I must be one. Why else would I do this?

This is a swatch that I knitted way past midnight 2 days ago. It's for the Après Surf Hoodie by Connie Chang Chinchio. I fell in love with this pattern immediately after it came out last summer. The yarn called for in the pattern is RYC Cashcotton 4ply, and I knew immediately that mine would be in RYC Cashsoft 4ply. Then I saw the yarn on sale on John Lewis' website, and I knew it was meant to be.
And if you're wondering, yes that's the EXACT same yarn I used for Flo. And yes I did say I won't be knitting that kind of project in a long time. Well it's not even been a month yet since I said that and here we are. This is why I don't do resolutions anymore.
In my defense, I resisted the urge to cast on immediately. I'll try to be good and finish at least one of my big WIPs before I start this. And this one has got lace pattern, so it won't be as boring as all stockinette, and let's hope it won't be as endless.

In other knitting news, I actually have an FO!

Wham Bam!
Pattern: wham bam thank you lamb! neckwarmer, found over at Ravelry.
Yarn: Rowan Big Wool, leftover from my Alpine Shrug
Needle: 8.00mm
Comment: This is such a simple and clever pattern, and supposed to be quick. But somehow it seemed endless to me. Somehow that 20", 30 sts of garter stitch took me over a week to knit. That's pretty much how knitting has been for me, endless.

Spinning, on the other hand, I've been doing a lot of that.

This thick and thin yarn was harder to spun than I thought, I'm not very good at being sloppy, I guess. But it's ooooh so squishy, I'm having fun thinking of what to knit with it, any ideas? Oh this is more roving from Jo at Lime Green Jelly, it's super soft merino and I think the colourway is Union of The Snake. While this one only took me about 3 days to spin, my new spinning project will take a while.

This is BFL and silk roving from Shunklies, and as you can see I'm spinning it very thin. I think my spindle is too heavy for this, so I just bought a new, lighter spindle, can't wait for it to get here! So then I can have my only spindle back and spin some more thicker stuff.

The dissertation is still not going, which is a really bad news, at least for me, because I only have 4 more days to finish it. And I also have to prepare some concepts for my final project, which I want to be about knitting. But what about knitting? I have no idea. See, I knew this is a bad idea, ugh. But while I'm procrastinating, I've not only been knitting and spinning, but also listened to a lot of back episodes of knitting podcasts, and browsing around the net for pretty spindles to buy. They get quite expensive and I'd love to be able to afford them. I was also seriously considering buying a loom at one point, which is just ridiculous and is probably a cue for me to stop or otherwise this procrastination thing will ended up costing me a lot more than my grade.

Dissertation? What dissertation? Give me fibre!

2009-01-09T02:08:00.003+08:00

I've been spinning a lot lately, instead of writing my dissertation, of course.
This is my finest (in term of thickness) spinning to date.

The fibre is BFL, colourway Bohemian Rhapsody, from the amazing Jo at Limegreenjelly. I followed this video to navajo-ply it, thanks for the link Jo! Since the video is for navajo plying on the fly and I've already spun my singles, I had to kinda wing it, but I think I got it right, at least I have 3-ply yarn as a result, so I can't be far off. This was a lot of fun to spin, even though it took me ages. But I did enjoy spinning this while listening to Bohemian Rhapsody, one of my favourite songs ever.
After spinning such thin yarn, I needed some instant gratification, fast. So I spun this.

The fibre is Falkland by Spindlefrog that I purchased at Socktopus. I love spinning with the fibre! It's soft and squishy but not as short stapled as merino.
Next, I'd like to try spinning thick and thin slubby yarn with some merino I've got. This will be challenging, I think, since it goes against the little perfectionist inside of me.
Knitting has been slow, and I doubt there'll be any FOs for show anytime soon. But I do have something to share

It's my first darning attempt! I found a hole at the bottom of my Hedera sock. After overcoming my initial shock and fear of moth attack, I decided this is the perfect time to learn how to darn. Hopefully this is not a skill I'll need often in the future.

First of the year

2009-01-03T00:43:00.001+08:00

Happy New Year everyone! Can you believe it's already 2009? And the 4th? I can still hear the new year's eve fireworks in my years for goodness sake.
I feel like I haven't had a proper holiday, mainly due to bad company. But it is the new year and I'd like to start positively. Well, having to squeeze out 5000 words in 11 days doesn't sound like a good start, I know, but maybe I'll start my year in February instead.

Despite a not-so-pleasant end to the year, 2008 had been a great year for me. Especially travel-wise, I've been so blessed and got to visit Switzerland, USA, Australia and Scotland all in one year. Which is a good thing, since I don't think I'll have the time and financial means to travel as much this year.

I'm excited and scared at the same time to face this year. It'll be a turning point in my life since I'll be graduating (or at least I should!) and will have to take the first step towards "real life". And I don't know what the heck I want to do with my life. But hopefully I'll be able to figure it out eventually, fingers crossed.

Every beginning of a new year in the past couple of years, I've made it a habit to write a resolution. Last year I shared my knitting resolutions here,
1. Do at least one colourwork project. Ivy League vest, still a WIP, almost a UFO.
2. Get rid of stash yarn that I don't even like. Complete failure.
3. Stop buying yarn I'll never use just because it's on sale. Yeah, right.
4. Blog about ALL my projects. I'm sure there's an unblocked cardigan lurking around somewhere...
5. Deal with UFOs. .....
6. Actually wear my FOs. I did manage to wear a lot of my hats and scarves lately, I even wore my Henley Perfected yesterday and loved it!
7. Attend a knitting meetup. Yep!
8. Do more designing/thinking in my knitting. Didn't happen last year, will carry on trying this year.

See? Mainly I don't stick to resolutions. And that's not even my resolution in LIFE, which if I remember correctly had 52 in the lists las year. Let's not go there, shall we?
So this year I'm giving up on resolutions, no matter how tempted I am to start making a list (because I love lists). I'll just go with the flow, learn as much as I can, enjoy life, and see where I'll be this time next year.

The bells aren't jingling...

2008-12-26T07:26:00.002+08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all had a great one;)
I'm currently in Edinburgh and finding decent food on Christmas day proved to be a challenge. We were lucky to find a good pub that was open nearby though. I'm looking forward to my first boxing day sale tomorrow! Can't wait for the new year to come and for all this craziness to pass and start afresh. Sorry I don't have any pictures, will need to find out how to post pictures using an iPhone!

Finally Flo

2008-12-19T19:30:00.003+08:00

Flo
Pattern source: Flo by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: RYS Cashsoft 4ply, Rowan KSH
Needle: 3.5mm, 2.25mm
Comment: If you remember, I started this back in summer during Ravelympics. Most of the knitting got done back then, however the finishing took so much longer than the knitting. Back when I purchased the pattern, it was only available in kit form, but now you can get it in the book. It was the first and only kit I've ever purchased, everything came beautifully wrapped and looked so special, and the pattern was perfectly written. I'm not sure why I was so attracted to this pattern, but I'm guessing it's because of the styling in the photograph. I'm such a sucker for such thing. It was like, I must have THAT cardigan, in the same colour, and maybe then I can look like the model. I'm deluded, of course, but I can't help but think that all I need is a blue corsage, ruffly shirt and blue polkadot pants.
I think it's safe to say that this is a labour of love. I've done 4ply cardigan before, but all those stockinette, not to mention the ruffles, I don't think I'll be tackling more of this sort of project anytime soon.

Not-quite-a-princess mitts
Pattern: Princess mitts by Jennifer Hagan from The Knitter's Book of Yarn
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft DK
Needle: 4.00mm
Comment: This is a last minute Christmas knit, done in two evenings. It's for a friend's mom who I really like. The pattern was a bit confusing for me, like how the stitch count suddenly miss out 1 stitch, and how the pattern tells you to do k2,p2 rib for the thumbs but the left thumb has k2,p1 after the increase. I guess I'm just a perfectionist when it comes to this kind of thing, it bugs me so much when a pattern is not clearly written. But all in all it's a pretty pattern, and I think the end result looks really sweet. Oh, and I changed the direction of the cables, instead of criss-crossing like in the pattern I made them mirroring each other instead.

Spinning has been going slow, since I'm trying to spin really fine.

My plan is to try out 3-ply since I heard it's supposed to make the yarn rounder. Plying shall be interesting. I'm missing the instant gratification of spinning heavier yarn, and I'm considering getting another spindle. See, monogamy in fibre craft might just not be my thing.

Anyway, Christmas holiday will be crazy, I'll have 2 cousins coming to stay with me. A 5000 words dissertation to write. And some design concepts to come up with.
Well if I don't get to blog again before next year, which might well be the case, I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and keep sane!

Spinning and procrastinating

2008-12-14T20:53:00.002+08:00

What? Another post within less than a week? That's what happens when I'm procrastinating from doing uni work, I guess.

You guys probably have predicted that I've been bitten by the spinning bug, hard. Here's my third skein of handpun, again BFL from limegreenjelly in colourway "Something About You".

My main concern about building up all these one-skein-handspun is finding a project for them. Sure, they look pretty enough just so, but it'll be nice to be able knit with them as well. So the first thing that come through my mine is, of course, a beret!

One Day Beret
Pattern: One day beret by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: My own handspun, from last post
Needle: 5.00mm
Comment: This pattern is simply perfect for those one skein of precious yarns lying around in your stash. It's top down so super easy to modify. Instead of doing the decrease gradually as in the pattern, I did one row of (k1, k2tog) instead. I had about 20 cm of leftovers.
I've been trying new things with my spinning as well.

Here's some low-twist singles, it is quite tricky for me to maintain the tension, so I had some thick and thin spots. I split the roving in 2 instead of 4 as usual to get longer colour sections. Wow look at me doing the spin talk!
Anyway the roving is again from limegreenjelly but this time it's merino. It was my first time spinning with merino, and oh the joy. It's soooo soft and squishy and just makes me one happy bunny. The colourway is Dancing In The Moonlight. Have you noticed that I only buy from this seller? There are a few UK based etsy seller, but somehow her colourways spoke to me the most. Guess it's my love for deep, rich colour. I still have another 3 braids of her roving in my possession, the next one up is called Bohemian Rhapsody!
I'm wishing Santa will bring me a spinning wheel this year....or I'll just have to get one for myself, we'll see...

Classy is my name

2008-12-11T02:24:00.004+08:00

Happy Forest Shrug
Pattern: Dream In Colour shrug
Needle: 5.00mm
Yarn: Dream in colour Classy "Happy Forest"
Comment: First, I fell in love with the shrug. So when I was at Socktopus grand opening I spent quite a while trying to pick a colour. Then I wound the yarn up, and the magic began. The yarn felt soooo good sliding through my fingers. Nothing fancy, just pure soft, squishy merino. Knitting with it was also a joy and the shrug grew quickly. I cast on for it when I was on my way to Socktopus for a knit night the day before I left London, knitted it on the plane all the way home, then cast off the day after. So really the whole thing only took me 3 days to knit.
Not too shabby, right?

I bought 2 skeins of it and there were quite a bit of leftovers, so I made this.

Classy Meret
Pattern: Meret, available as Ravelry download
Needle: 5.00mm
Comment: I cast on for this last Wednesday night and did 5 rows of ribbing, took it with me the next day to uni and knitted through presentations for the whole day and basically got the whole body done. Went home and knitted the decrease and a beret was born! It was such a quick and easy pattern. Not to mention pretty. I only did 3 lace repeats for the body for fear of running out of yarn, but looking at my leftover I could've squish in an extra repeat, but I like it anyway.
Oh, those checkered bags you can see in the background is all yarn.

I'd love to wax some more poetics about this yarn, about how I want to sleep and roll nekkid on it. But I shall refrain myself and go back to doing my uni assignments. It's really hard to concentrate when you're surrounded by fibres and all you want to do is play with it. But I still need that degree, so I have to put away the knitting (Cardigan for Arwen!) on my lap and do work. Ugh.

Spinner yet?

2008-12-04T22:34:00.003+08:00

As I said in my previous post, I went home for 2 weeks and just came back last week. I told my tutors that I was going to my sister's wedding, but in truth it was my cousin's engagement party. The wedding is this Sunday, and I could've gone to the wedding instead but I thought that I'd be too busy by now, turns out there's really no difference, ugh. But it's always nice to be home, especially if it's only for a short period so I get to skip town before everything drives me crazy. The party was great fun though, and I enjoyed meeting families and relatives. Here's me and my cousin (the bride-to-be).

The party was done with a modern oriental theme, it was really quite cool, I'm glad I didn't miss out.

Meanwhile, ever since I came back last week, other than being swamped with uni work, I've been spinning too!

Let me present to you.....my first hank of handspun ever!! I'm so thrilled with this it reminded me of when I finished my first knit. The fibre is some handpainted BFL I got at Ally Pally. As you can see it's still quite slubby, but I still think it looks pretty cool. As soon as I finished this, I ordered some more roving from this etsy shop. And I have this in 2 and a half days!

It's gorgeous if I may say so myself. The colourway is called Angel of Harlem, and I've got another one called Something About You that I can't wait to start spinning up!
And don't think that because I've been busy spinning there's no knitting done.

Bayerische Socks
Pattern: Bayerische socks by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Sheperd Socks Solid colourway "Firefly"
Needle: Addi Turbo 2.5mm
Comment: This one certainly has been a long time coming. According to my ravelry record I started it back in June. The pattern wasn't hard, but it does has LOTS of stitches, and knitting every stitches through the back loop also means it goes slower. And I couldn't for the life of me memorise the 16-rows pattern repeat (that's the fancy one at the side). It was a lot of fun though, and I think that the yarn works really well for this too. I love how "crunchy" Shepherd Sock is. And since it's incredibly stretchy it fits perfectly too.

Well, there's been more knitting done but I have some blocking and more pictures to take! Keep in tune!

Never too late for socks

2008-11-14T20:02:00.002+08:00

I seem to always fall into a crack unconsciously, how could it be almost a month since I last posted?
Life has been hectic due to uni assignments, but I still manage to find time to knit, though not as much as usual. There's not much progress to be shown, really. The Cardigan for Arwen is going well, one sleeve is done and I'm working on the body in one piece with about 10" of progress. I've also managed to finally finish a pair of socks

Socktoberfest Mystery Sock
Pattern: TTL Mystery Sock by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Posh Yarn Lucia
Needle: 2.5mm
I only managed to finish it 10 days after Socktoberfest is over, but at least the socks are pretty :)

In other news, I went to the brand new, shiny and lovely Socktopus London shop yesterday and bought a high-whorl spindle. Remember that spinning class I took last year? Well it's all slowly coming back to me, I haven't been able to stop spinning since last night.

It's not much for about 3 hours worth of spinning, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it.
Too bad I'll have to leave it for about 2 weeks since I'll be going home again today.
Yep, I'm going home again! The home that's 7279 miles away that I just came back from not too long ago! I'll only be away for 10 days to attend my cousin's wedding. I'm having mixed feelings about this. On one hand, I'm always happy to go home to see my family and the glorious food back home. But the guilt of leaving uni work behind while all my other classmates would be working away is almost killing me, agh.

Well, I'm trying to be positive since I'm lucky enough to get this unexpected holiday!

Slump

2008-10-18T09:48:00.003+08:00

Please tell me you've all been there. When every projects just seem so...NOT RIGHT. I know a lot of people like to modify patterns, but for me, when I'm following a pattern, I'd want to follow it blindly. But sometimes when things are just not working out I'd have to suck it in and ACTUALLY USE MY BRAIN.
Remember the February Lady Sweater that I started?

This has since been frogged. The pattern itself is simply gorgeous, but I've had my doubt from the beginning about how it will suit my body shape. The yarn is looking gorgeous in garter stitch that made me almost want to close my eyes and just knit away. And the old days I would've done just that, and stuck the FO somewhere unseen. Maybe I'm growing up as a knitter, just maybe.
Then there's this

This is 15.5" of the back of Cardigan for Arwen. I've since frogged it back down to 5", did some waist decrease and bust increase and frogged it all. Now, I think the cardigan looks gorgeous in the magazine (why else would I want to knit it?), and look great on the other knitters' projects I've seen in Ravelry. But a square back just seems wrong for me. The cardigan is meant to be loose fitting, but loose fitting garments make me feel frumpy and chances are I won't be wearing it much. And the drop sleeves? I can't even think of how many years it has been since I last worn drop sleeves. So it's frogged and I'm back to square one.
And remember this? You haven't seen it for a long time, have you?

Yep, it's my Ivy League vest that I started...uh...some time ago. So when I went home for summer holiday I brought tons of WIPs and new projects with me because of course I thought I could finish 3 pair of socks, a vest, a cardigan, two tops and a shawl in 3 months. My luggage on my back was mainly filled with the same WIPs. Anyway, the vest is still a WIP, however I left the IK issue that the pattern is in back at home. Which is not the problem since I was being "clever" and took high resolution pictures of the pattern before I left. Problem is, I forgot the last page, where the instructions for the neck shaping, steeking (eek!) and neck and arm bands are.
But no worries! I'll be going home AGAIN next month for my cousin's wedding and with some luck we might have a finished vest by 2008.

At least I DO have some things to show

I'm enjoying this Mystery Sock KAL very much, and how often have you seen me take so many progress pictures?

And here's the stunner, if I may say so

Ene's Scarf
Pattern Source: Ene's Scarf by Nancy Bush (Scarf Style)
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace, 1.1 skeins
Needles: 4.00mm
I finally got around to blocking it last week and took some decent pictures earlier today (my housemate saw me taking pictures outside and she positively thought I was mad). The pattern was really simple but highly effective, although it did took me quite a while to cast on 375 stitches. And the yarn...mmmm.....it was delicious to work with. So soft and light. I have almost a whole skein of leftovers, it really goes a long way. One thing I've always admired from this pattern is how the lace patterns cleverly meet in the middle and create those arrows. Gorgeous. Now I think I want a thicker shawl, or a wrap that I can actually wear without being concerned of spoiling it. This one is so delicate that I feel slightly unworthy.

pointy!

Ally Pally 2008 Yarn P0rn!

2008-10-13T05:31:00.003+08:00

Socktoberfest!

2008-10-08T06:39:00.002+08:00

Fancy Cotton Socks
Pattern Source: stitch pattern from Gentleman's Fancy Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Online Linie Summersocke

Charade
Pattern source: Sandra Park
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM

Fiori di Zucca
Pattern source: 4th installment of Socktopus sock club
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy "Pistachio"

I can't believe it's that time of the year again. The weather gets colder and I get to pull out my knitted cardigan which was great. I also find myself having no desire at all to even look at all those cotton/bamboo/hemp/etc.. yarns that I bought in preparation for summer holiday and never actually got around knitting. In turn I get to dig out all those warm and comforting animal fibres I love so much. Sadly, it's also time to get back to real life, which is kinda hard to do after spending almost half a year lazing around. I went back to class last week and made a HUGE decision. Guess what's going to be my dissertation topic? Knitting!! I've always been afraid of incorporating knitting into my "academic" life since I worry that it might take the joy out of it. But I seriously can't think of anything that'll keep me interested and motivated for a whole 6 months. So now the great thing is I get to knit and call it "academic research".

Here's what else I've been working on

Those are the cuffs of the Through The Loop Mystery Sock KAL that's going on in Ravelry. The yarn is Posh Yarn Lucia that I got from Santa Swap last year. It's knitting up beautifully even though I did managed to mess it up while winding it up. I've only got 75g of workable yarn, so hopefully it'll be enough or we shall have contrasting toes. The next clue is coming up tomorrow and I'm already itching to work on it.
I finished this cowl yesterday,

Tamarind Cowl
Pattern source: Knitting Kninja(link to pdf)
Yarn: Shilasdair Cashmere Handspun
It just occurred to me that it was my first time knitting with pure cashmere. The end result is divinely soft even though I didn't enjoy knitting with it quite as much due to the inconsistency of the yarn. I thought the simple pattern was perfect for showcasing the beautiful yarn. It went pretty quick too, I think I'll make another one with the leftover yarn as a Christmas gift for a friend.

Oh, and I jumped on the bandwagon and cast on for the February Lady Sweater earlier today. I most certainly do not have enough yarn, so it shall be short sleeved or even cropped. I'm not even sure the style suits me. But if you've been reading my blog for a while then you should know that I can't resist viral knits.

Australia - the good and the bad

2008-09-29T23:58:00.006+08:00

1. Cleckheaton Nature 8ply, 5 Skein 2. Naturally Hand Knit Merino et Soie 8ply, 4 skein 3. Naturally Hand Knit Harmony 8ply, 2 hanks 4.5. Cleckheaton Country Prints 8ply, 2 skeins each 6. Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed, 2 skeins 7. Naturally Hand Knit Dawn 2ply, 3 skeins 8. Grignasco Bambi, 2 skeins

That's not quite all the yarn I got from Melbourne, there's another hank of Filatura di Crosa Centolavaggi that I forgot to take picture of. It's a cobweb yarn with about 1500 yards/100g in this gorgeous teal colour. I was thinking of using is for Mystery Shawl 4, but I can't even face winding it up, that's like the yardage of 10 skeins of dk weight yarn!
I did do some research on Melbourne yarn shops, but since most of them are in suburbs, I only managed to get to very few. My first stop was Woolbaa in Albert Park, it was a lovely shop, just like what I imagine an lys should be, walls covered with yarn, plenty of space, good lighting and friendly staff. My live would be complete if only I have a local yarn store like that.
Then I stopped by and Clegs which was very central. It was more of a fabric shop, but they have quite a good range as well. I was shocked to see how expensive Rowan yarns are in Australia! I also passed by a Spotlight in Box Hill and had to check it out. You have no idea how jealous I am that Australians and Americans have big craft stores like Spotlight, Jo-ann and Michaels. Why can't we have those in the UK???

Anyway, yarn no.6 have since became this

Yep, another Le' Slouch!

Pattern: Le' Slouch by Wendy Bernard
Yarn: Jo Sharp SIlkroad Aran Tweed, 2 skeins
Needle: 5.00mm
Comments: Can you tell I just can't get enough of this pattern? I've lost track on how many of these I've knitted. Just before I was leaving for Australia I knitted one in double moss stitch instead of seed stitch. Too bad I forgot to take a good picture of it and left it at home. The yarn came from Woolbaa, and I cast on in the plane, on my way back to London.

OH, talking about planes. Well, you know, I've been warned. I've heard that Australian airports don't allow knitting needles, or rather there is no regulation that says it's allowed. But I couldn't imagine spending 3 days in Sydney without my knitting. So I took a bet. I managed to "smuggle" my knitting into Sydney, but on my way back they found my needles! The poor guy who was made by his superior to confiscate my needle was shocked to see I was going to pull out my needles out of my knitting. "But you're going to spoil your knitting", he said. Too bad I wasn't going to check in my bag for an extra $10, my needles cost less than that anyway. I guess I'm unlike many knitters in that I'm not scared of pulling my needles out of my knitting, since I know I can quite easily get the stitches back on. Not the case with some fibres though, another story for some other post.

And oh yes, I'm FINALLY back in LONDON!! YAY!

Where have I been?

2008-09-21T23:03:00.008+08:00

Would you like to take a guess on where I have been for the past two weeks?

Yep, I was in Australia!
I had great food,

and saw lots of amazing animals (zoos and aquariums are my top priorities on a trip, after yarn shops, of course).

I got to visit Melbourne and Sydney. Melbourne to send my little cousin off to high school, and Sydney to see friends and cousins. Melbourne didn't struck me as a great tourist town, but I think it's a great place to stay at. I mean, how could you be a knitter and not like a city with street names such as those? they have great yarn shops. I'm looking forward to go there again and stay longer next time. I only managed to visit a few yarn shops, but I've came back with a "reasonable" amount of stash enhancement. You can expect an Australian yarn porn for my next post!

Flo-ing along

2008-08-21T14:35:00.002+08:00

That's all I've got after 12 days of knitting. A back, a sleeve and a front. The front and sleeve went pretty quick, but I reached a slump when working on the back.
So I guess logically speaking there's no way I could get it done in time for the Olympics' Closing Ceremonies, but I'll be knitting along anyway. My goal is no longer the gold medal, but simply to have a cardigan done and hoping it'll turn out beautifully.

I'm a bit disappointed at my productivity this holiday. This is my last 'real' summer holiday since I'll be graduating next year and have to face the 'real world' that I'm not sure I'm ready for. I thought I could get so much done during this holiday, with lots of knitting, sewing and designing projects planned. But, in reality, the sewing machine is still unseen and I haven't done any preparation for my third year dissertation.
Oh well, at least I did get two wisdom teeth extracted and hopefully a cardigan ready for autumn when this summer holiday ends.

Home report

2008-08-07T13:13:00.004+08:00

Time really flies when you're on holiday, doesn't it? I've only been home for a bit more than month but a lot has happened.
The big thing was I turned TWENTY ONE!! I can't believe that I'm legally an adult now and the next time I go to the States I can actually go wine tasting (I only got to babysit for my cousin only 2 months ago, hah!). Of course I still feel like a 17 years old inside...
I never got to have a birthday party as a child since my birthday is either on school holiday or first day of school. So this year we had a "small" family gathering with 50 selected guests from the big family. Mostly people were just busy eating and there were no singing or blowing candles, but it was great to see some of my cousins and my hyperactive nephews.

A good friend of mine was visiting and wanted to go to Bali, so...

I've been to Bali a lot of times, but never with an actual tourist, and it made all the difference and I got to see the island from a different perspective.
Oh, and I went diving for the first time! It was scary as hell and the water wasn't very clear but I'm already itching to dive again.

To me, going home means taking care of myself. That includes hair cut, manicure and pedicure, facial, blood test, and.....going to the dentist. This year one of my wisdom teeth had to be extracted. The extraction itself didn't really hurt (except for when the needle was going into my gum, and then the drill was buzzing in my ears and the dental surgeon had to use a screwdriver), but the swelling is really uncomfortable and makes me look fat. I guess just one thing you have to get through to be an adult. I envy those of you who don't have to go through this, really.

I realise this is a knitting blog, so let's talk about some knitting! I've been between projects ever since I came home. Ene's scarf got a little progress and I believe it's now halfway done. I managed to finish one side of Bayerische socks and almost one side of Fiori di Zucca socks(Socktopus sock club's 4th installment). Ivy League vest only got about 2" of progress. I cast on for a stripey sock and I'm up to the first leg.
BUT, all of those WIPs will have to wait for 17 days because of...

I'll be competing in Sweater Sprint for...

So for the next 16 days all I'll be knitting is FLO. Yep, you heard me right. I actually picked a cardigan with RUFFLES in 4 ply yarn. Guess I wasn't thinking straight when I picked the project. I've cast on and knit for a few hours now but all I've got is 2.5" of sleeves. I'll be swimming in stockinette sea. Please cheer me on so I don't drown!

Back on the game

2008-06-28T15:19:00.005+08:00

Mosaic
Pattern source: Sockopus Sock Club Third installment, designed by Diane Mulholland
Needle: 2.5mm
Comments: I adore these socks! They're the first sock club kit I managed to finish in time for the next one. The pattern is easy, yet entertaining. And those colours are just gorgeous together, don't you think?

I've also been working on these

It's Charade in some Koigu KPPPM that I've had in my stash for about 2 years. The pattern is perfect for knitting on the go as it's so simple. I simply took the stitch pattern and knit it toe-up with short row toes and heels, easy peasy. I cast them on because I was in need of some easy knitting for when I went to Brighton with Socktopus knitters on a day out. It was great fun and I got to meet other knitters and drink Pimms and knit by the seaside. Totally worth dragging myself out of bed at 7 am.

And because I've been so bored this week, I figured some more attention demanding projects would be appropriate, hence...
Eunny Jang's Bayerische Socks
Ene's Scarf
These two projects have been on my queue for ages, so I finally bit the bullet and cast on 96 stitches for the sock and 375 for the shawl, which took quite a while. So far they've been immensely enjoyable and they remind me how much I enjoy reading charts. Seriously.

Anyway I have to move on Tuesday, so this weekend will be spent packing and knitting. Since we've lost our internet connection I shouldn't have much problem focusing on packing, though my knitting might be distracting enough.
Oh, I'm blogging from a friend's place, by the way. She lives closer to John Lewis and I wouldn't want to miss first day of the sale! I even woke up before 7 this morning, early morning blogging is truly a rare feat here at Chez Yuvee.

SFO - Soooo finished obejcts

2008-06-16T05:50:00.008+08:00

It's been exactly a month since I last blogged. A LOT has happened since then. My trip to America itself would take more than a post, since a lot certainly happened on the trip. However, I think it's better for me to share about my trip to Switzerland first. So instead of doing any of those I chose the lazy way and talk about knitting instead! After all, this is a knitting blog.
Here are some small projects that come and go so quickly that they didn't make it to the blog.

Left-right:
1. Scarf for Elvi - My friend requested this scarf for her birthday present, we found a picture of a scarf she likes online and I took inspiration from it. The yarn was Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK
2. Stripey beret for me- The yarn is leftover from the scarf.
3. Ridged beret - Filatura di Crosa Zara, a gift for Naia.
4. Blue Thorpe(link to pdf) - Another gift for my friend Naia together with the beret.
5. Dashing - Gedifra English Tweed, knitted this for my Swiss trip.
6. Cable Footies from One Skein - Patons Classic Wool Merino, Christmas gift for my friend Valentine, never got a chance to take FO picture of it.

Most of these are gifts, but guess what? It's not even all of them! I'll do the rest over the time, I mean, 3 months or a year delay don't make much difference, right?

For something that's not that outdated,

Otto my LOVE
Pattern source: And so to bed by Lucinda Guy
Yarn: Jaeger Extra Fine Merino
Needle: 4mm
Comments: He's probably my favourite FO ever. I knitted the base, then picked up the stitches for the body, sandwiching the tail in between. The tail, wings and ears are all knitted in one piece instead of 2 pieces like in the pattern. I'm glad I did it in the round since it saves me lots of troubles sewing up. The filling is from a cheap pillow that I cut up. And check out his Noro striped scarf! I'm really proud of him and have been showing him off to everybody. I might be hooked on toys knitting. Uh Oh.

Alpine Pumpkin Shrug
Pattern source: Alpine shrug from Rowan 42 by Sarah Hatton
Yarn: Rowan Big Wool in Ginger Snap
Needle: 10mm
Comments: This pattern didn't appeal to me at first, because Rowan magazines tend to be a little obscure in showing their garments, sometime it takes me a while to see which item is actually knitted. But one of the yarn shops I visited in Switzerland had it on display and my friend fell in love with it. Then when I was online shopping *ehem* I noticed that Stash Fine Yarns has it on sale. I bought 7 skeins but only ended up using 5 skeins. The design is really pretty and the construction is so simple, yet clever. It's a bit small for me though, but it might be due to the fact that I was too lazy to block it before I seamed it. In the second picture a friend is modeling it for me and I think it looks much better on her.

My friend Isabel (the model above) accompanied me to the World Wide Knit In Public Day Knit Crawl by Stitch & Bitch London yesterday. I was meaning to join them from the beginning, but was too tired and only managed to join the last 2 hours of it.
I taught her and another friend to knit a few months ago, and she finished a ribbed scarf and promptly bought yarn to make 3 pairs of socks! It's been a lot of fun knitting together with a friend and showing her the fabulous world of knitting. I'm pretty sure she's hooked. *grin*

Laglaglag

2008-05-15T18:09:00.002+08:00

As always lagging behind with my posting. Just to remind myself, I still have to post about:
-My Swiss trip
-2 pair of socks
-Otto the owl
-Alpine shrug
-Wisp

Gosh, I feel like I'm cheating on this blog with Ravelry!
Anyway, all of those will have to wait until I get back from my trip! America here I come!!!
Be back in 3 weeks, stay tuned :)

The perfect Henley

2008-05-09T01:33:00.006+08:00

Henley Perfected
Pattern: Henley Perfected by Connie Chang Chinchio from IK Spring '08
Yarn: Scachenmayer Nomotta Merino, 8 skeins, found in a yarn shop in Paris Chinatown (yes, I'm so Chinese I have to visit Chinatown in every city I visit)
Needle: 3.5mm Addis
Comments: So, I started this sweater a few months ago. The knitting part didn't take very long, it was quite a simple pattern and I added in some extra waist shaping. BUT, the finishing....the finishing took longer than the knitting. Then come picking the buttons (which I stupidly bought 6 instead of 7 required). I think the knitting only took a third of the time I spent finishing it up. And I managed to get it done just in time for summer!! (insert sneering tone).
Anyway, the finishing might have been hell, but I adore the neatness of all the hem. I did the folded hem for the buttonhole bands as well since floppy bands are just not for me. The yarn is soft, but also a bit scratchy against my skin, so I'll be waiting until it gets much colder so that I can wear it layered.

Rambling time....
I'm FREEEEEEEE.....WOOHOOOO!!! By free I mean no more stupid deadlines and courseworks, and I think summer has come to London! I'm still busy going house-hunting and slowly packing up and contemplating a destash *ehem*. We'll see about that. I'll be back soon with more summer wooly goodness!

Back to school

2008-04-23T22:18:00.003+08:00

Back-to-School U-Neck Vest
Pattern source: Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
Yarn: Cascade 220 Quattro, 3 skeins
Needle: 5.00mm
Comments: I finished this quite a while ago, actually. The body was a really quick knit, however I slowed down when I came to the top shaping. The original pattern is quite wide at the front top, and narrow at the back. Since I didn't like it, I decided to do my own shaping. It works out pretty well and I'm liking it. It's a nice fit and is easy to wear. Well, maybe only when I'm having 'flat tummy day' since the vertical ribbing definitely enhance bulges.

P.S.: The headless pictures will have to do since I was having 'double-chin day'

You're A Winner!

2008-04-20T20:15:00.003+08:00

Congratulations Peri!
Will you email me at yuviniaathotmaildotcom and let me know which prize you'd like and your mailing address, please?

It's funny because Peri and I met up a few years ago when I was still living in Brighton and she was my companion to my first Stitch and Bitch EVER!

four years and counting

2008-04-17T09:40:00.010+08:00

I absolutely CANNOT believe that I missed my blogversary! 4 years and 27 days of blogging, can you believe it?
I started this blog when I was....what, SEVENTEEN? Gosh, it sure seems like an eternity.
Going back on my old posts get me thinking of how much my knitting style has changed. Sure, I've learned so much more since then. I can safely say that I'm a much better knitter in terms of technique and understanding. But I can't help but feel that I used to be so much more fearless and creative when i didn't know as much.
For example, I knitted this bag more than 4 years ago, even before I started blogging.

I had NO IDEA that intarsia was supposed to be hard, or that crochet eats yarn, or that cotton stretch, or that fluffy white edging with blue and purple clash. But it was my own, I didn't even use to read pattern back then. I guess my point is that the more I learn, the more timid I become. I'd really like to get back on track and USE what I've learned over the years instead of becoming intimidated by them. Being a design student, it seems a little ironic to me that I haven't been doing any designs.

On other notes, it seems funny to me that I still have UFOs from back then, like this cardigan for my mom.

Or that I still have yarn that I bought back then in my stash now.
Or that my amount of posts per yarn seems to decline by almost 50% every year.

But blogging has been a great part of my life, and I have met amazing people through it and made great friends.
So, my resolution for 5th year of blogging is to blog more often, to become a better blogger. When I grow up I'd like to become one of those knitters who inspire others. ( what can I say,I might be 20, but I'm still a kid at heart)

It's also been a while since I've a contest, so....

5 skeins of bamboo yarn. It's actually leftover from the boobholder I made 4 years ago.

My favourite sock yarn that I never use for socks,yet.
If you'd like any of these just leave me a comment and let me know which one you'd like. I'll pick someone on 19 April at midnight GMT +1.

Yes, I've been knitting

2008-04-06T08:55:00.008+08:00

I'm back!
Well, actually I've been back for a week now, a week that's been spent resting. Resting from a vacation that wasn't even tiring, yeah. I guess some people would call it slacking, but I think of it as resting.

It might take me another 3 months to share my trip pictures but I'll try to be good and do it earlier this time.
Meanwhile, let's talk about knitting!

Turquoise Baudelaire Socks
Pattern source: Baudelaire socks by Cookie A.
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino "Turquoise"
Needle: 2.5mm 80cm Addis
Comments: I've been wanting to knit this pattern ever since it came out just because it's soooo pretty and I just adore Cookie A.'s patterns. It wasn't an easy knit, not because the pattern was hard, but because it's just so tight. I think it was the combination of the lace pattern, the yarn and the needle. This is another tight fitting socks for me, sometimes I fear I'd tear the socks since I have to pull real hard to put it on. I followed the instruction for wide heels, but it didn't help much. I guess my heels are just super thick.
Anyway, did you notice my new pretty sock blockers? They're from the second installment of Socktopus Sock Club. It's about an inch too small, but my socks blocked out beautifully and the yarn feels great after blocking too.

I managed to do some yarn shopping while I was in Switzerland, but that's for another post. One of the yarn that I got was a skein of rainbow coloured Zitron Loft yarn. I cast on almost immediately when I got home and a hat was done in 2 days.

Super Colourful Beanie(for the lack of better naming)
Pattern Source: Just a simple top down hat
Yarn: Zitron Loft colour 901
Needle: 7.0mm??
Comment: This hat went so quick and the yarn was so fabulous. I even had enough for a pompom, leaving me with NO LEFTOVER at all. The yarn was quite pricey when I got it but I've since found out that I can get it for much less online. I'm sooo tempted to buy one at every colour and knit lots of pretty beanies.

Another WIP is this

It's Neighbourhood Tunnel socks from the said second installment of Socktopus Sock Club. I adore the yarn, and the pattern is quite pretty too, but the fit is a nightmare. I did my usual short-row heel over 60% of the stitches but it's still very tight. I have to pull it even harder than the Baudelaire. Granted, I didn't follow the heel flap from the pattern. Actually I did, but then I read the part where I'm supposed to make changes for wider heels. I ripped the heel off because I just couldn't be bothered anymore. Lesson learned: READ THROUGH THE PATTERN FIRST. The first sock is now done and I'm really not sure what to do with it.

Two days ago, I finally cast-on for this

Yep, Ivy League Vest, finally! I had to cast on twice because I didn't have the right size needle. The ribbing is going very slowly and I'm really tempted to just do a normal ribbing instead of changing colour every freakin row. But it looks so pretty so I think I'll stick with it. This will be one of those project that'll take years to finish, considering the rate I'm going at.

And last night, since I needed a bit of mindless knitting while watching tv, I cast on for this

It's Haven scarf from Kim Hargreave's Heartfelt book. The yarn is Lang Mille Colori, another holiday purchase. It's intended for my International Scarf Exchange pal. I think she might love it, but I keep on having doubts, so maybe I'll just hope for the best.

Actually, there are lots more FOs to share, I find that I'm knitting so much more than I blog that I have trouble posting about them. But I'll be back soon with a sweater, a vest, few hats and socks.

Christmas trip report, much belated

2008-03-16T19:41:00.005+08:00

It's been 3 months since I promised to show my trip pictures. My excuse would be that we took more than 1500 pictures and boy, they were hard to sort out.
I wouldn't want to bombard you with tons of pictures(I do, really, but you might run away), so here they are in mosaic! Aren't they clever?
First stop, Vienna!

What we did:
-Visited a museum (check out first pic!)
- Hanged out with musicians (that's me and Schubert there on third pic from the left!)
- Went to the zoo on Christmas day!
- Christmas market
- Wrote on ice!!

Next stop, Prague

What we did:
- Checked out the AMAZING architecture
- Ate A LOT (don't worry, we walked a lot too)
- Walked by the riverside
- Got some action (check first picture bottom left)

Last stop, Brussels

What we did:
- Ate some more
- Met Smurf!
- Checked out the cool graffiti
- Filled my suitcase with fresh Belgian pralines
- Flea market shopping

In case you're wondering why I finally end my procrastinating and do this post, it's because I'll have lots more to show soon! Off to Swiss tomorrow, see you guys in two weeks!

Mastering the art of procrastination

2008-03-03T19:53:00.005+08:00

Another weekend with deadlines looming, what else to do but knit!

Thorpe Hat by Kirsten Kapur
Pattern source: Thorpe hat(link to pdf)
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Maya
Needle: 5.00mm Addi Turbos

This hat is amazing!! It took me only a whole Sunday to knit. Mind you my day started way past noon. The pattern called for Dpns to begin with, but they are out of my league, so I used a very long(100cm) circular to do magic loop instead. Also, since I'm using a lighter weight yarn, I increased up to 88 stitches to get to my size. The contrasting yarn for the crochet edging I used was even lighter, so I did Double crochet instead of Half double crochet called for.
The yarn was a delight to work with, and the colour works perfectly for Project Spectrum. Orange, red and pink? Yes, please.

Can you tell yet that I love it so? I'm digging the stash to make some more of this baby!

Late night knitting

2008-02-17T10:52:00.005+08:00

It is now waaayyy past midnight, I've done pretty much nothing work-wise the whole day, and we're having a client meeting next Tuesday that I'm so not prepared for. It is technically weekend, but really I am supposed to be working my ass off every single minute I have. But obviously I'm not. Instead, I watched TV, ate a lot, baked some muffins, and of course, I knit.

About fifteen minutes ago, I looked at the clock and it's over 2 a.m., and thought that the right thing to do would be to go to bed so I won't wake up past lunch time again. Then I cast on for a new project, because I'm hopeless like that.

This is the very beginning of Back-to-school u-neck vest from Fitted Knits. The yarn I'm using is Cascade 220 Heather, which I actually got specifically for this project back during the Knit Happens sale last year. I'm hoping this would be my simple, mindless knit, because I need one of those going on at all time.
Anyway, I'm knitting this (2nd row now!) while listening to new(-ish) knitting podcasts. There were Faery Knitting, Knitty Nora's knitting natter, and Knitting Rose. They are all pretty good so far, so they'll be staying on my subscription list. I've listened to some in the past where I just CANNOT stand the voice of the podcaster, it's a really personal thing, I guess.

And of course, I was knitting something else before I cast on for the vest.

This is half (sans thumb) of Herringbone Mittens(link to pdf) by Elliphantom.
I was feeling a bit guilty of not giving any decent Christmas present for some of my good friend (they did get Belgian pralines though!), that I promised to knit them something. One wanted gloves/mittens, the other wants a hat. This pattern has been on my queue on Ravelry for quite a while and I LOVE all the versions I've seen, so it was an easy choice. Plus I had the perfect yarn in stash, Knit Picks Wool of Andes. I'm knitting the second now, while constantly worrying of running out of yarn. But it has been a fun project so far.
My friend (the will be mittens recipient) said a really funny thing, she didn't want fingerless hand-warmers, not because they're not functional, etc (heard this one lots), but because she thinks they look "metal", you know, like punk rock style? I was like WTF?! Obviously she hasn't seen tons of the pretty pretty ones that knitters have made, not that there's anything bad with "metal".

So it's past 3 a.m. now, so I might actually get some sleep and hopefully have the motivation to work my ass off tomorrow.

P.S: Like my new header? Yeah, that's what I was spending my day doing, lol.

Obligatory new year post

2008-02-06T20:13:00.000+08:00

Last week, I finally worked up the courage to attend a knitting meetup! I met up with Alice and went to Iknit London for their Kniterati book meeting. It was great to go out and meeting new people, and the yummy yarns and cider didn't hurt either. Hopefully I'll be able to make it to more meetups in the future.

Anyway because I didn't have anything small and simple enough to knit on during the meetup, I cast on for a hat, and it's done by the next day!

Gemma Beret
Pattern source: Rowan, found the link through Ravelry
Yarn: Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK, 2 skeins
Needle: 4.00 and 5.00mm
Comments: I've been wanting to knit something purple for a while now, and I just adore this hat! The pattern has a lot of errors in it, so I did everything my own way, except for the lace insert pattern. It fits me just right, but I think it might need a light blocking to straighten up the stitches a bit.

Going to a knitting meet-up was one of my new year knitalution(love the word!). My theory is that if I don't just bite into it, the year will be over before I do anything on the list. So out of impulse, I ordered this

It's a kit for Ivy League Vest by Eunny. I chose to go with a kit because it'll be my first experience working with more than 3 colours at once, and all those colours just boggle my mind. I got the kit from The Yarn and Fiber Company and they were absolutely fabulous! The yarns were backordered, but they came in less than 2 weeks, and the international shipping was FREE!! I have no idea how they do it, but I'm definitely going back for more.
As to when I'll be casting on, I doubt it'll be anytime soon, since all those hanks of yarn will need to be balled first. I have yet to cave in and buy a swift, but a homemade one sounds almost feasible.

WIP wise, the knitting on Henley Perfected is all done, all that's left to do is whip-stitching the hems, and it's taking me ages to do. Seaming suddenly sounds more fun.
So while I'm procrastinating on that, I'm working on this

Yep, it Baudelaire by Cookie.A. This pattern has been on my queue ever since it came out. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill Supersock solid that I got from Ally Pally. I love the deep and rich turquoise colour, and lace pattern always seems to stand out better in solid colours. I'm not enjoying knitting this as much as I thought I would though, not sure if it's the pattern, the needle or the yarn, or maybe the combination that makes it feel so tight to knit. Hopefully I'll be able to beat SSS on this one.

Actually my main reason for posting today(other than a much needed update) is to wish everybody Happy Chinese New Year! 恭喜发财! I love Chinese new year, and this time of the year I miss home more than ever.

New year, same old story

2008-01-15T08:13:00.000+08:00

Rant time....
I SO CANNOT BELIEVE IT'S THE THIRD WEEK OF JANUARY!!
AND THAT I HAVE TO GO BACK TO UNIVERSITY TOMORROW!

Ok, I guess you get my point. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. Hopefully this year wouldn't be gone as fast as last year. The last 5 days of my life was spent on the couch in front of the TV, doing absolutely nothing.
I'm not sure if it's because I'm overwhelmed by the first three weeks of the holiday going out and about every day, or maybe I'm just plain lazy.

Anyway, tv time to me equals knitting time, so I have been quite productive

Irish Hiking Scarf
Pattern source: Hello Yarn
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, Petrol blue 3 skeins
Needle: 4mm Addis
Comments: This scarf was supposed to be my holiday project, but I only managed to get a few inches done during the trip. The rest got finished quickly in about 2 days. The pattern was nice and easy to memorise. All I did before leaving town was look at the pattern hard and didn't even take any notes.
The yarn was dk weight instead of worsted weight called for in the pattern, so my scarf is thinner and barely long enough. I'm not too sure how I feel about the yarn though. Lots of people rave about it, but it just doesn't work for me. It is nice and soft and I can see it working beautifully for baby stuffs. Verdict, like it but I don't love it.

Well after the scarf was done I was still watching TV, but I need something to work on otherwise I get very restless. So I cast on for this

Henley Perfected from the latest IK. It was my favourite pattern in the book, and I just happen to find a yarn in my stash that will hopefully work out well. The back was just finished about an hour ago after about 4 days of knitting, so this should be a quick project. However I think it'll take me another month to get this done with the mountain of coursework which will soon fall upon me.

Anyway, I've been spending more than I should online, no surprise there.
Like many of you, I love Kim Hargreaves' designs, and I've been extremely tempted to get one(or all) of her kits. I finally broke down and bought my favourite, and it came this morning.

Yep, it's FLO!! This is purely impulse buy, even if I've been thinking about getting it ever since it came out. You see, the cardigan IS pretty, but all those ruffles.... they look pretty on the model, but I really do not need enhancement on that particular spot.... if you know what I mean.
And anyway, take a look at the yarn colour. I ordered the same colourway as shown on the model, but the colours of the yarn that came are significantly darker and duller. Now, I know that it's the downside of internet shopping, but I'm a bit disappointed, that's all.

About holiday pictures...ehmm....that'll have to wait since yours truly is being her lazy ass self. Who knows, it might be summer before I get around to doing it, but let's hope that's not going to happen. As an excuse, we took over 1500 pictures during the trip, so I have lots of sorting out to do....lame, I know.

New year, new yarns.

2008-01-03T07:52:00.000+08:00

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

I'll save my vacation story for next post, let's talk about the new year for now, shall we?
My year started off with an idiot splashing wine at me, then drunk guy at a bar. It wasn't too bad, but not exactly a great start I'd hoped for either. However when I got back to London on the first day of the year, I found a parcel waiting for me at home.
Inside...

These amazing yarns are from a dear friend, Van. I can't imagine a better way to start the year, can you?

Then on the second day of the year, I stopped by at Liberty at found this at almost half price off.

I've been wanting to try all these yarns FOR EVER.
I have a feeling it'll be a good knitting year, don't you think?

I have(had) a habit of writing a new year resolution. Last year I had about 50 in my list, with about 1 or 2 that I kept up the whole year but couldn't remember. This year I haven't had the chance to write one yet, but I thought I'd share my knitting resolution here with everyone with the hope that it'll give me the push to keep them up.
So here goes:

1. Do at least one colourwork project.
2. Get rid of stash yarn that I don't even like.
3. Stop buying yarn I'll never use just because it's on sale.
4. Blog about ALL my projects.
5. Deal with UFOs.
6. Actually wear my FOs.
7. Attend a knitting meetup.
8. Do more designing/thinking in my knitting.

Phew! That's all I could think of, for now at least. I'm quite sure I've said those same things before, but let's hope it's actually happening this time! You all are welcome to laugh at me when I crash and burn.
Well, at least if I do I'll still have all my beautiful yarns.

Rant and rambles...

2007-12-18T00:07:00.000+08:00

Ok, I realise it's been looooong since I last do a real post. Actually no, it feels just like yesterday, but the date disagree.
I've been swamped by course-works, with the holiday coming up and all. I'm glad to report that I only have one more deadline to go (tomorrow, yikes!) and then I'm FREE!!! Well, not free as in I can just sit on the couch and be lazy all day, which is what I've been doing in between deadlines. My friend is coming on Wednesday which means I'll have to go out to Central London every day until we leave for Austria on Sunday. So I can't laze around but I'm freaking excited!!!

I actually managed to finish quite a bit of knitting while I was supposed to be working, but the universe got in the way of me sharing them with you. First, the weather in London has never been great in the first place, but lately it's just crap. So no natural lighting to speak of, which is fine cos I don't take outdoor picture in the first place, right? No. Because my main source of artificial light that is the lamp in my room which usually is dim anyway had gone off. Tried new bulbs, tried the fuse, nothing works. I was hanging out in the lounge in front of the tv watching Nigella Lawson and Friends whole day yesterday. Then I thought, oh well, I can take picture in the lounge I suppose, risking my housemate seeing the Fetching I made for her before christmas. But then.....the freaking lamp in the lounge went off too!!!! Agh!!!
So, no picture before I get my light fixed, and that wouldn't be anytime soon because the lazy who's supposed to be responsible for our house's is away.

Ok, so that's my rant.

On a more positive note, I finished Audrey, yayyy!!
I have no great picture for now, but here's a crappy one....

The 500 something stitches button band were done during me trying to get my coursework done. And I wove in the ends while taking breaks (lots of 'em) from my coursework. But then I got to wear it for my presentation! YAYY!!! Well, we didn't get to present our work in the end, but I'm happy with my mark.
I promise I'll take a better picture soon, and go into details about it. I love it!!

I have also finished a scarf, a pair of bed socks and a pair of Fetching for Christmas gifts. I'll wrap them up and be sure to take pictures of them with the recipients.

Anyway, I should have a lot more to share soon, sorry for the rambling. And just in case I don't, Merry Christmas!!!

Santa came early this year!

2007-11-28T01:49:00.000+08:00

I got this lovely surprise on Saturday morning

It's from the UK Secret Santa swap that's going on in Ravelry. The rule is to send 100g of yarn from your stash, I signed up for the sock yarn category (cos we all know I don't have enough sock yarn!). My swap pal, Alice, sent me this lovely skein of PoshYarn Lucia in a lovely deep burgundy/brown colour. She also included some pretty stitchmarkers and a cute card.
Thanks again Alice, it totally made my weekend!

Anyway, the back, and fronts of Audrey are all done. The pieces are blocking on my home-made blocking board (duvet and towels) and when they're dry all that's left is the ribbing! Can't say I'm looking forward to it...
On other news I just got my Schengen visa for Christmas holiday! Yay! I'll be going to Vienna, Prague and Brussels. Anyone know of good yarn shops there?

2007-11-09T06:30:00.001+08:00

Anybody got tired of my FO posts yet?

Anastasia Socks
Pattern source: Pepperknit
Yarn: BFL Superwash sockyarn in "Sophia" from Radiant Twist
Needles: 2.5mm Addi Turbo 80cm
Comments: I found the pattern on Ravelry, and thought it's perfect for hand-dyed yarn. It's knitted toe-up, and I'm simply smitten by the construction of the short-row toes. Not so much with the heels though, I have to pull real hard to put it on.
Here's my sad attempt to capture the gorgeous colours

Anyway, I'm convinced now that I have sensitive ankles, if such thing exist. After taking these socks off, my ankles itch like crazy! When I went to Ally Pally I was wearing my Monkey socks that's knitted out of Trekking ProNatura, who knew that bamboo could be so itchy?

Peekaboo
Pattern source: here(link to pattern)
Yarn: I'm pretty sure it Malabrigo worsted merino, bought at Ally Pally last year
Needle: 4.5mm Addi Turbo
Comments: When I was wearing my Fetching, I found my fingers curling inside because they're freezing. So, while I love my Fetching for spring, it just won't be enough for the coming winter. I can't be bothered to knit all 10 fingers (imagine the horror of all those yarn ends!gasp!), too lazy to knit a convertible mittens, so this pattern is the perfect solution for my lazy a**. Anyway, after I was done with the first one, I found it waaay too short for me, so I knitted the second one longer and ripped the first one from cuff-down, and added a few rows. They fit quite perfectly now. Let's just pray that I don't have sensitive wrists.
They are cute, but not exactly fashionable or elegant. And since I sometimes like to pretend to be both of the latters, I foresee a pair of pretty gloves in the future, if I get motivated enough. Or I might have to just buy a pair.

And here's my latest WIPs

This is Audrey. I think she's going to be pretty. I've been working on her somewhat faithfully over the last 3 days that my hands hurt. I'm using the green Jaeger Matchmaker Merino Dk that I got from Ally Pally with my trusty 4.00mm Addi Turbo. She's such a pleasure to knit.
However, I'll be taking a short break from her since I'm going to my friend's house and I've promised to teach them how to knit. So naturally I have to cast on for something myself, no?

Am I the only one who can't believe it's already another weekend? That it's already halfway through November? That Christmas is only 6 weeks away? I wish it would slow down as I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Delayed FO posts

2007-10-24T05:12:00.000+08:00

Yes, I HAVE been knitting. Actually I just finished a whole cardigan (gasp!) and is working on a second sock. But you won't get to see them today, because you know how bad I am with posting knitting progress.
Instead I'll show you what I've knitted and never got to show you.

Clementine Shawlette
Pattern source: Interweave Knits Spring 2007 by Michelle Rose Orne
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK 4 skeins
Needle: Honestly can't recall, this was like 3 months ago!
Comments: Well, my grafting sucks, that's for sure now. The pattern really is lovely and the lace was easy to memorise once you get the hang of it. When I was done knitting it, the length was perfect. BUT, after I blocked it, uh-oh...it's TOO LONG! You can actually see in the first picture how my hands have to hold it because otherwise it'll be dropping off my shoulders. I'll leave it like that for now just because I can't be bothered, but perhaps one day I'll get to it and block it shorter. That's possible, right?
Anyway, the yarn is lovely to knit with, a bit sticky with my Addis but no biggie. I love how crisp it's showing the lace and garter stitch.

Ok, next one...

Butterfly
Pattern Source: Rowan 37 by Jennie Atkinson
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr wool silk
Needle: Umm....4.0mm Addis?
Comments: Before I started knitting this, I did some research on how others do it. I decided to knit it flat, because doing it in the round and trying to keep track of the increases and decreases will probably be a disaster. I also put an extra stitch at each side for seaming. And the straps are i-cords instead of garter stitch. The knitting part was pretty easy, even though I don't really like knitting laceweight yarn on big needles, and the addis were a bit too slippery. I like the end product well enough, despite THIS

If you're familiar with the pattern you should notice the stupid mistake I made. For one of the side, I idiotically pick up the stitches at the WRONG SIDE of the border. I noticed this only when I was going to seam the sides. There's no way I'm frogging it, I simply don't love it enough to do it. Well, you can barely see it when it's worn anyway. I still think it's pretty, don't you?

Oh anyway, these 2 projects are just the peak of a mountain, or a hill, really. I've stil got tons of unblogged FOs, which I'll show you in the future, when I have nothing new to post about ;)

OMYGOD, OMYGOD!! Guess what? My housemate just told me that we got Amazon delivery, on a Sunday! You know what this means, don't you? I'm stopping right here to indulge in my new knitting books! Oh ok, I'll tell you what I got. Knitting Classic Style, Romantic Handknits and The Friday Knitting Club! Gotta make a cuppa and curl on my sofa/bed. Yeah, I have a DEADLINE on Tuesday which I'm way behind of, but who cares when you have knitting books to read??

THE PORN IS BACK!!!!

2007-10-14T01:44:00.000+08:00

Ready for some yarn porn? I bet you are, it's been a while.
Lorna's Laces Sheperd Socks in Mt.Creek

Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solid in Turqoise (the colour is sooo gorgeous, but so damn hard to photograph)

Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK in Hop (I was telling myself not to buy sale yarn anymore since I'm running out of space, but I can't help it)

Chameleon Colorworks Evolution in Rose from Socktopus.

100% Handspun Cashmere from Shilasdair (the colour really is magenta, it's so yummy I want to roll around nekkid on it)

Sesia Pura Lana Ecologica (I have no idea why, but I couldn't resist it. It's so simple yet gorgeous I simply have to take them home with me.)

Not so long ago, my blog used to be mostly about yarn porn instead of real knitting progress. I've been really good these few months, haven't I? (well, not that I haven't been buying, *ehmm*....just not as much). But going to Ally Pally really *helped* me going again. Now I feel like I'd do anything to afford those qiviut that literally makes me shiver in delight. And more cashmere too, please. I think I need a job to fund my fibre addiction.....anybody hiring?

Anyway, I've been wanting to get a sewing machine for a while. It'll be my THIRD machine, since the first one is at home and the second one came broken. I need your opinion on this since my knowledge on sewing machine is purely based on their price and look. What do you think about this one? Do you have any recommendations? I need something cheap since everything here are generally more expensive than everywhere else. Help me, or my cushion covers will remain one-sided.

London calling

2007-09-27T02:47:00.000+08:00

So, it's been more than a week since I'm finally back in London. The crazy weather so far assured me that I am indeed back. I've been busy catching up with friends ever since, and trying to make my new room (which really is a living room), a home.
But fret not, since my needles are still clicking away, albeit less often.

I've been itching to try knitting mitered squares and log cabin ever since I bough Mason-Dixon knitting book and them floating all over the net. But I know me, and a decent sized log cabin blanket would probably be done just in time to send off my grandchild to college. So come the obvious answer, cushion cover! This way I can try different yarns and different colour combination without worrying about having to buy 100 skeins of the same yarn at once. Now all I need to do is actually attach them to fabric backing....any volunteers?

Just before I left home, another pair of socks flew off my needles...

Sidewinders: A PerpenSOCKular Pattern
Pattern source: Nona
Yarn: Regia colour 4ply, gift from Mimi
Needle: Addi Lace 3.00mm 80cm
Comments: I've been intrigued by this pattern ever since Nona published it, just haven't had the time to sit down and actually work on it before summer. It's not a pattern that I can just print off and cast-on while on the go. However, once you "get it", the construction makes a lot of sense and it was a lot of fun looking at the socks taking shape. The second sock, naturally, took a while to get started, but the it went fast. When I got the yarn from Mimi, I knew straight away that it'll become my Sidewinders. Now I want another one in self-striping yarn, it'd be so much fun to look at!

As of now, I'm spending hours on Ravelry looking for patterns to knit from yarn in my stash. In most case, I'd have the pattern but not enough yarn, or the wrong colour for the pattern, or I don't have the pattern. My hands are itching for some serious fall knitting, but for now maybe I should deal with my piling UFOs first....

More socks!!

2007-08-20T13:04:00.000+08:00

I came back from a short, sudden trip to Surabaya 2 days ago and had these waiting for me....

My Sockapalooza socks!! Aren't they wonderful? It's Embossed Leaf Socks in Koigu KPPM. They're a bit on the big side, but they'll be perfect for chilly autumn and winter nights because I do get cold feet. They're my first pair of Koigu socks, and they're sooo soft. And as if it's not enough, my fabulous sockpal, Lisa, included these...

They're sooo yummy, I can't wait to knit with them! I just have to find the perfect pattern, any suggestions?

Meanwhile, I'm knitting this beauty...

Most of you would probably recognise this, Rowan Butterfly. I'm using Zephyr Wool Silk and it's coming along pretty well.
In less than a month I'll be going back to my stash....can't wait! I've been dreaming about them ;)

Three Socks

2007-07-30T17:57:00.000+08:00

Thank you sooo much for everyone's comments on my last post!
I can't tell you how happy I am to know that I'm not forgotten yet in blogsphere ;)

The Lasik surgery went pretty well albeit the fact that I was so scared when they were messing around with my eyes. According to eyewitnesses(mom, dad and bro) it was much scarier watching it being done. Apparently the doctor made a flap on my eyes *shudder*. I'm actually quite glad that I didn't know what he's going to do beforehand, otherwise I might not have the guts to do it.
My eyes are still recovering and I have actual blood stains on my eyes, which would work pretty well for Halloween, I think. I can't knit anything that requires much attention yet because I can't put too much strain to my eyes. To be honest, I kinda miss my glasses, it feels weird not wearing it after 13 years.

Now, since the title is about socks and not eyes...let's talk socks.

Yarn: Rowan 4ply soft
Needle: Addi Turbo 2.5mm
Comments: This was the first pair of socks that I've ever knitted from Sensational Knitted Socks. When I fist bought the book few months ago I was disappointed since there were no instructions for toe-up socks. But after knitting a few more socks from Cookie.A's patterns, I actually no longer dread knitting cuff-down, I can even say I like it. So, even though I've bought More Sensational Knitted Socks which includes instructions for toe-up, I think I'd knit more cuff-down socks. Apparently I'm too lazy to remember how to cast on for toes.

RPM
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Socks "Watercolour"
Needle: Addi Turbo 2.5mm
Comments: Let me just start by saying how much I LOVE this yarn. The yarn was a gift from Mimi(thanks!), and while I've had it for quite a while I never knew what to do with it. That is until I saw Joy's. The pattern is perfect for this yarn and I can't wait to get my hands on more of these. NOW I understand why so many people rave about this yarn. It's a real joy to work with. Thanks again Mimi, for making me a Lorna's Laces virgin no more ;).

Sockapalooza Socks
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino Sock Yarn "Aqua"
Needle: Addi Turbo 2.5mm
Comments: The pattern is again from Sensational Knitted Socks. My sock pal likes blue, so after searching around for the perfect yarn, I settled on this one. I was looking for a pattern that would somewhat ensemble water movements. The lace looks really pretty when stretched out, but I think I'll leave it to my pal to post the modelled picture. I should be posting it out on the 1st, but since I'm leaving that day I think it'll be posted tomorrow instead. I really hope she'll like it. *fingers crossed*

Anyway, since I mention I'd be leaving. I'm going to KL for a few days to send off my brother to uni then I'll be going to Singapore. Too bad I won't have any time to spare in KL since I'll have to stick with my parents. However, I'd love to meet up with other knitters in Singapore if possible, I'll be there from 5-11 August. I haven't bought a single skein of yarn in more than a month, I think I'm going crazy.

I'm having problem opening Hotmail at the moment, so I apologize for not being able to reply to emails.

2007-07-25T12:45:00.000+08:00

Sooo....I doubt if people are still reading this blog anymore.
I'm still doing nothing much at home. There are not much knitting going on here either, but I did manage to finish 3 pairs of socks! They're all really pretty and I can't wait to share pictures with you guys, but that'll have to wait.
Now off to some rambling about what's been going on...
It was my 20th birthday last wednesday, and it was pretty uneventful. But it does help making myself believe that I'm still a teenager ;p
I've bought the latest HP on Sunday at a ridiculous price of more than 30 bucks! But what can I do, there's no way I can wait till I go back to London. Anyway, I finished the book in 2 days, slower than my usual pace. I can't wait till everybody is finished so that I can talk about it without worrying of spoiling it for someone else!
Lastly, I'm having Lasik surgery in a few hours....wish me luck, will ya??

2007-06-17T01:06:00.000+08:00

Being at home, I've lost track of time. I have no idea how long I've been home, all I know is that today is Saturday.
I have a lot to share with you guys, but I've stupidly left my camera charger back in London, so pictures will have to wait.
Knitting wise, I've started and finished knitting Clementine Shawlette from IK Spring '07 and started Bonsai Tunic from the same issue of IK. I also bought 2 Japanese knitting mags and found a pattern I really want to knit, but haven't managed to figure out the Japanese patterns yet.
There's nothing exciting going on lately. I did receive an awesome parcel from Mimi before I left and I'll share a picture soon.
I haven't been able to drop by anyone's blog lately, and I suspect I won't be able to post much for the next 3 months but please bear with me. I'm not used to such a long holiday but I've been kept busy so far ;).
Sorry it's all so random, I do realise I've been rambling. I'm leaving for Bali tomorrow, so I'll do a 'proper' post when I come back. Talk to you guys soon!!

stalled

2007-05-31T01:05:00.000+08:00

So....I finished Monkey last week

Monkey
Pattern source: Monkey socks from Knitty.com by Cookie A.
Yarn: Trekking ProNatura
Needle: 2.5mm 80cm Addi Turbo
Comments: Ok, so these socks are not as well fitting as my Hedera since I didn't know how to modify the heels. It's a bit of a struggle putting them on as I have to pull really hard, but once they're on, they're pretty.
I LOVE the yarn too, it has 25% bamboo in it that gives it a gorgeous sheen and that "crispy" feel I just love. The pattern is positively addictive too, I'm already contemplating a second pair! One thing though, I never had to block my socks but with this pattern I think some good blocking would make it look so much better. Now I'm thinking of getting one of those fancy sock blockers ;) Or I can just make my own....one day.

After finishing those Monkeys, I was at lost. I have NOTHING to work on!!
So, it was time to cast on for something new. But what?? I tried casting on for some stuffs but none of them work out well. Wrong yarn, wrong needle, wrong gauge. If you've been there I'm sure you know how frustrating it is.
Here's an example

I cast on for Endpaper Mitts by Eunny with the Regia Silks that I used for the Entrelac Socks. Who knew that ripping entrelac is such a pain in the a**. I worked it with 2.5mm needle since that's the size I stock in 80cm length. There's no way I can do colourworks with dpns. If you know the pattern, it calls for 2.75mm for the smallest size. My hands might be my only body parts that are not L size, but they're definitely not XS. When I tried it on I'm convinced it'd cut my blood circulation if I actually wear it. So it's being put on hold while I'm waiting for 3.00mm Addi Lace needle to arrive. I do miss doing colourwork though.
I also tried knitting other stuffs, but with similar devastating (yes, devastating) results. Then I remembered that somebody said something about "when you're unsure, do what you know best" or something along the line. So I did.

Fetching
Pattern source: Fetching from Knitty.com
Yarn: Lang Silk Dream, 1 skein
Needle: 4.00mm 60cm circular x 2
Comments: The yarn is leftover from my Sporty Cardi that I've been wanting to use up. Since I lost my beloved first Fetching somewhere between Venice and Paris, I fgure it's time to make a replacement. The top part of the first one of the pair came out a bit too short for my liking, so I did an extra cable repeat. I was worried about running out of yarn, but I had yards of leftovers. The yarn is still gorgeous and lovely to work with, makes me want to knit a pair in every colour.

The Fetching handwarmer only took me a night (ok, a very long night) to knit. So I needed somethine else to knit while watching all those Korean dramas.

Le' Slouch
Pattern source: Le' Slouch by Wendy at Knitandtonic.com
Yarn: Leisure yarn from Australia, 2 skeins
Needle: 4.00mm 40cm Addi Turbo
Comments: This is the third red Le' Slouch I've knitted, but this time, I'm keeping it. I cast on 96 stitches for my head and it fits quite well. I've even worn it for more than 10 minutes today, which really is a record.
I cast on for it last night and finished it at around 4 pm, after ripping out the whole crown because I was decreasing in the wrong way and ended up with pixie hat. I'm loving it so much that I forgot to snip away the ends before wearing it.

Now that they're done, I'm back at the same point again. Arrghhhh.......
I'm thinking of casting on for more socks, but it would mean winding yarns into balls.....I'd need to buy a swift first. Duh.

WOO HOO!!!!

2007-05-22T06:07:00.000+08:00

It's official.....MY HOLIDAY IS HERE!!!!
After days of sleepless night doing my assignments (and having bits of fun), it's finally over! I honestly can't believe I've just finished my first year in university, what the hell have I done so far??
Well...I might have been working, but that doesn't mean I haven't been knitting!

There has been lots of progress going on my Monkey socks. The second sock was cast on straight away and I'm already working on the foot.

Another FO that I've finished about a month ago...

Shetland Triangle
Pattern source: Shetlang Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark from Wrap Style
Yarn: Regia Silk 2 x 50g skeins
Needle: 4.00mm Addi Circular
Comments: I LOVE knitting this shawl. That's for sure. I love watching it grows so quickly the first few repeats. I love how squishy it is before blocking. I love how it grows in the water. I love how the lace pattern comes out all beautiful and delicate after blocking. Well, I guess this love can be applied to most shawls I've knitted and will knit in the future, and I see many many of them. The pattern was very easy to follow and I memorised it after the first repeat. This shawl is truly inspired by this post. Stopping by her blog that night had turned me into a Regia Silk addict. Anyway, the intended recipient went back to the States without telling me, so it'll be sent over to her soon. I really hope she's a worthy recipient and would appreciate it, that's all I ask for when I gift away my handknit item.

I was tagged by Amanda for a meme! It's been a long time since I answered one, but here we go.

7 random things about me:
-I once tried a lavender drink and hated lavender ever since
-I had 6 mascaras when I was 14, and almost never wore them
-I couldn't pronounce "R" when I was a kid
-My dad was very disappointed when he knew I'm a girl, but I ended up being a daddy's girl
-My hair was smelly when I was little, apparently because my mom didn't shave me bald when I was a baby
-I had a serious case of ingrown toenails for years, then had a surgery on my big toe when I was 14
-I once fell asleep during my driving lesson, my hand slid off the steering wheel and shocked my instructor to death

I'm sorry I'm bad at tagging people, but if you want to play along just say I tagged you....

Lots of fun I'm not supposed to be having!

2007-05-15T01:13:00.000+08:00

I had a blast last Saturday. Me and my friends went out to a market nearby and it was raining, so we had to go into a department store until the rain is over. Said department store happens to have a haberdashery store (I knew, of course), so I stirred my friends in that direction just so I can check out the yarn.
I didn't see any yarn I fancy (ok, that's a lie, they have Sublime), but my friends suddenly decided they want to learn how to knit!
So we did some shopping, went back. Then we followed our original plan, making homemade kimchi. It turned out quite well, though I lost my ring and there's a BIG chance we'll find it in our kimchi someday. I hope nobody swallows it, I love that ring.
Then comes the best part, knitting!!

Here's me teaching my friend Lucy how to make a slip knot. She had a little difficulty with making a knot but then it's all smooth sailing and she's now knitting her first garter stitch scarf. My other friend Lilian started with a swatch where I showed her how to knit, purl, increases, decreases, etc., and now she's working on a Le' Slouch. We knitted for a good 4 hours until 2 a.m., and they were getting frustrated that they can't seem to stop! I'm happy to report that they still haven't found the "stop" button!

I'm glad to have passed the knitting bug, but their enthusiasm infected me too. I've been knitting madly on my hedera socks since then, and they're finally done!

Hedera
Pattern source: Knitty.com by Cookie A.
Yarn: Rowan 4ply soft "Wink"
Needle: 2.5mm Addi Turbo Circular 80cm
Modifications: Cast on 66 stitches instead of 60, to accommodate my fat calves. Used extra stitches for the heels since I have thick heels and decrease for the leg parts.
Comments: Definitely my favourite knitted socks to date! I'm so glad that I modified to better fit my leg shapes. It made such a big improvement on the fit. The pattern is very well written, and so easy to memorise. The yarn is also nice and soft, in I love the flirty colour soooo much! I even cast on for the second sock immediately after I finished the first one. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

Here's an obligatory pretty shoes picture

I'm already planning on casting on for more socks. First, Knitty's Monkey! I've seen so many pretty monkeys around and I just couldn't resist. In fact, I've already cast on a few stitches while waiting for the pictures to upload. I'm using Trekking Pro Natura that I've been wanting to try for ages.

With all this socks love it's only natural that I signed up for Sockapalooza 4. I've already heard from my sockpal and she's said the magic words, "lacy", "stretchy, and "KOIGU"!! yay! I'm really excited to knit for my pal too. She likes blue so I've been searching around looking for the right yarn, and drooling a lot in the progress. I decided on this

Fleece Artist Merino in "Aqua". Variagated, but very subtly and won't disrupt lace patterns. It's very very soft too. I hope she'll like it. But meanwhile I'll be "practising" before I knit her socks. After all, it's only May, right?

And yeah, all these fun happened while I'm supposed to be working on my boring assignment. Who can blame me?

Almost back to normal

2007-05-06T18:20:00.000+08:00

Life has been a bit hectic lately, I was fully booked for the past 2 weeks! My last class was on Wednesday, where I had a presentation and didn't win and was a bit disappointed but glad that it was over anyway. I thought I could relax then realise I have 2 more deadlines this week. Yikes.
But on other news, I found a house! Yay! I've been living in student hall so far, which has been great in the social side, but not so great when you need a bit of silence. Anyway, me and my friends had been house hunting and finally found the perfect house . I'll be moving there at the beginning of next month and I can't wait to start decorating! Too bad I have to go home after a week. Well, I do miss home a lot and I hate British summer anyway, so it's all good. I still think that every house should have air conditioners, can't figure out how people here handle the heat.

On the knitting front, Shetland Triangle is done and blocked, but I haven't had the time to take FO picture yet. So instead I give you an outdated blocking picture.

And another really outdated FO picture

Silk Sleeves
Pattern source: One Skein by Leigh Radford
Yarn: Kidsilk Haze "Meadow"
Needle: 5.5mm
Comments: Excuse the smiley face, but I felt that I need to protect the innocence of my recipient, Lucy. She loves it and everybody was all "ooh and aah" and was trying to get me to make them something. The amount of gift knitting I've been doing lately really concerns me, people seems to start assuming I'll be making them something for their birthday. According to my friend that's because they think "I have nothing better to do than knitting". Yeah, right.

I've decided to stop knitting the entrelac socks

See those unsightly holes? I love Regia Silk but I'm worried it's not the right yarn for this pattern. It needs something more stretchy to accommodate my big feet. I'm thinking the yarns would have a better life as Endpaper Mitts. For socks, I cast on for Hedera with some pink Rowan 4ply soft instead.

Anyway, before I go get ready for work, I'm sure most of you have already heard about Ravelry by now. If anything can make me more organised, then this it it. Go sign up, it rocks!!

the rarely seen progress

2007-04-24T07:18:00.000+08:00

If you've been reading my blog for some time you probably would've noticed that I'm really bad at posting knitting progress. Seriously, whenever I look back at my own post all I see is FO or yarn porn post! I guess that's why I don't blog very often, I always get the feeling that if I've got no new FO or new yarn, then I have nothing to talk about.

Or maybe I'd just ramble and I'm worried that would turn people away.

But I do love talking, really. Try stopping me once I start. I can't even stop myself most of the time ;D
Just not today, consider yourself lucky. I'm posting now because I'll be buried deep in my coursework for this week, I doubt I'll even have time to knit.

Anyway, here's the progress picture I've been talking about

It's the Shetland Triangle shawl in progress. Well, theoretically speaking it should've been done last week if I had bothered to check with the pattern instead of knitting like crazy. The pattern calls for 8 body chart repeat, I'm on my 12th now. No wonder it seems endless. The lace pattern is super easy to memorise, I think that's one of the reason why I got carried away. This one is a wedding gift for my friend who's getting married in summer.
When I started it grows so fast that I couldn't stop working on it. Now that it's a nice 280++ stitches per row I'm not feeling the love as much. But we'll get there, and hopefully soon. I have a spring wardrobe to fill!

Textured

2007-04-18T03:04:00.000+08:00

Textured Top
Pattern Source: Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
Yarn: Rowan Summer Tweed "Gold", less than 5 hanks
Needle: 5.00mm Addi Turbo Circular
Modifications: Shorter length, short sleeves, no slits, no purl ridges framing the texture.
Comments: I initially knitted it following the pattern length, but it looks horrible on me when I put it on. Fitted tunic really isn't suitable for my wide hips. So, after letting it ferment in the knitting basket while I'm working on other stuffs, I finally took it up again. I'm glad I pushed myself into taking it up again, otherwise it'd just sit there for months or even years.
Even though I made it shorter, I still want to keep the design element of the slit, so I knitted a seed stitch panel on one side and put some buttons on for the illusion of a slit. I didn't knit the purl ridges at first because I missed that part of the pattern and just kept on knitting. But actually I prefer it this way since I think those purl ridges would accentuate the bust part even more, and I really don't need that. As for the short sleeves, I've never been much fan of long sleeves anyway and it'd be more suitable for spring/summer wear.
Of course, the original pattern from the book is gorgeous, and had I been working with wool I might've kept the long sleeves.
The yarn came from my stash. I bought it off ebay last year since I've heard so many good things about it, and Kim Hargreaves uses it a lot in her lovely designs. It took me quite some time to get used to the rougher texture since I've been working with soft wool yarns for my other WIPs. But I do love the glorious tweedy texture, it's so pretty. The colour isn't my usual colour too, and I doubt I would've chosen it if it wasn't on sale. But I think it's a gorgeous colour. Perfect for spring and oh so Project Spectrum appropriate!

I finished something else too...

Midwest Moonlight
Pattern Source: Scarf Style by Interweave Press
Yarn: Jaeger Wool Silk 6x20g
Needle: 4.00mm Addi
Comments: I never blogged about starting this because it was one of those project that I only pick up while I have nothing else to knit. It's been on my needle for months, I can't even remember when I cast on for it. The pattern was really easy to follow and with pretty result.
The yarn also came from my stash, it's a vintage yarn won from ebay with 60% wool and 40% silk. It's lovely to knit with and has excellent yardage considering it's only 20g per skein. The whole scarf weigh only 120g!

There are two other projects that I finished, but I don't have pictures yet so they'll have to wait.
So, on Sunday(or was it Saturday, can't remember), I ran out of project. The only thing left on my needle was the entrelac socks, but I wasn't feeling like working with it. I think I spent about an hour rummaging around my stash and my knitting magazines and books looking for a project to knit. For those of you who have a longer-than-live list of things-to-knit this might sound crazy. But I do have a long list of things to knit, and a long list of yarn to knit with. It's just that most of the time they don't really match. I finally remembered that I've been wanting to knit Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style in some pure white Regia Silk I've got in my stash as a wedding gift for a friend. So I cast on, knit like a mad woman while watching a ridiculous amount of anime and I've got 9 repeats done. I'll be sure to share a progress picture next time ;)

And thank you soooo much for all you nice comments on my cadigan!! Each and every one of them are very much appreciated, I love knowing there are people out there who would understand the happiness we get from getting a nice fit from a garment or finding the perfect button for a project.
Anyway, can you believe I missed my own blogiversary?!! I can't believe I've been blogging for more than 2 years now! Can you?

Puff-sleeved Feminine Cardigan

2007-04-10T23:17:00.000+08:00

Pattern source: Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
Yarn: Knitpicks Merino Style "Rhubarb" 7++ skeins
Needles: Addi Turbo 4.00mm and 3.25mm
Comments: I love it!! I was lazy as usual and didn't swatch since I'm using the yarn called for in the pattern. The pattern was easy to follow though I did get a little confused with the lace peplum chart. It's very wearable and doesn't itch at all. The yarn is really soft, excellent for it's price, though I'm not sure how it'll hold up. I'm hoping it holds up well because I can see myself actually wearing it quite a few times. I actually wore it to grocery shopping today (and the skirt I'm wearing in the first picture is purple, not black). Maybe I should've lengthened it a few inches, but it looks fine with a layer inside. I love the little pearly buttons too. And yeah, I do feel VERY feminine wearing it. Not sure if it's a good or bad thing.
And the colour...I'm liking it more and more. It's perfect for spring and perfect for this month's Project Spectrum!

And talking about Project Spectrum, this is another project that's colour appropriate

This picture is taken last week so I've actually got more of it done. The pink yarn is Regia Silk and the burgundy yarn is Regia Silk Shine. I cast on with both yarns for socks before, the burgundy one for Chid's First Socks from Knitting VIntage Socks by Nancy Bush and the pink yarn for something from Knitty but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. They never felt right on their own. The Silk Shine wasn't soft enough to make me want to work on it and the pink Silk was just too....pink. But together, I'm loving them. And I love working in entrelac too, even though my joints are somewhat messy. Knitting just seems to progress faster when you're working in portions. I don't think I'll make it knee-high though, since my HUGE calves would just make them look ugly.

I'm also working on other Project Spectrum appropriate projects. Remember my yellow Fitted Knits tunic? I'll get around working with it one day. For green, I'm working on Silk Sleeves from One Skein by Leigh Radford (see sidebar) in Kidsilk haze. Perfect projects to surround myself in springy colours. They make me happy.

Preview

2007-04-09T20:31:00.000+08:00

Coming soon.

Spinning away...

2007-04-01T18:27:00.000+08:00

Thanks for all your nice words on my FOs ;) They're very much appreciated as always.

This is for Katey (can't find your email address!), who asked about how I frog the pentagons. All I did was undo the seams for pentagon #1 and #7, frog them, and used crochet hook to do crochet cast-off on the live stitches of the other connecting pentagons. I hope I'm making sense here!

On other news, I took a spinning lesson yesterday!!! The class was great fun and I didn't get bored the whole 7 hours of it! I also met some other knitters which was great since we get to talk about knitting, my favourite subject ever! And look what I came home with

It was extremely satisfying to see the yarn coming out of my fingers. I started spinning a little with my new drop spindle last night, but it was sooooo slow!!! It'll take me days to get a 50gr skein of yarn! Spinning wheel is out of question though since it's very pricey and there's no way I can fit it in my tiny room, except if I stay in my bed all the time. That sounds strangely tempting somehow ;)

On knitting front, I've been busy knitting my Puffy sleeved cardi

It's progressing slowly but I'm sure it's growing, though I can't for the life of me see the growth! I've been working on it quite exclusively until last night, when I was lured by the fun of spinning. It went like this, one row of knitting, one length of spinning, all the while watching CSI. Love it.
And last night, waaaay past midnight, when I really should be in bed, I dig in my stash for that skein of very pink Regia Silk I have and together with my skein of burgundy Regia Silk Shine, and cast on for Eunny's Entrelac Socks from IK. I'm still fighting with the tiny dpns for the toes so far.
We'll see if it goes well.

Cape*** finally

2007-03-28T21:20:00.000+08:00

Norah Gaughan's Cropped Cardi
Pattern source: Winter 06/07 Vogue Knitting
Yarn: 100% Alpaca from Campolmi Roberto Filati in Florence, Italy
Needle: 5.00mm Addi Turbo
Comments: Finally! I almost gave up on this cardigan and would've put it in the deepest corner of my closet if not for the constant motivation I got from other knitters who modified it with great results.
My modification went like this, remove pentagons #1 and #7, sew collar band to the bottom row of pentagons instead of top. Pretty straightforward, really. And blocking it really made a great improvement. I'm loving the stand-up collar too, cute, no?
My only complaint would be that the yarn is too itchy for me to wear next to my skin. I just recently realised how sensitive my skin really is, no mohair(not even KSH), no alpaca, even wool is a little itchy. Only merino seems to be okay. Still, I can always layer up and look cool!
What do you think?

Two-tone Ribbed Shrug
Pattern Source: Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needle: 5mm and 3.5mm circular
Comments: My first FO from the book! I'm happy with how it turns out, though initially I wasn't too sure about my colour choice. The pattern was easy to follow and quick to knit, even though it was A LOT of ribbing. I don't think I'll be wearing it a lot though, since the yarn feels a bit rough on my skin. Washing it did make it softer, but still not soft enough. I do love working with Cascade 220 though, it was nice and squishy ;) I still have a lot in my stash waiting to be knit.

That shrug definitely won't be my last project from the book. As you know I'm knitting the textured tunic from the cover too, and I'm done with the body. The thing is, I put it on and it looks hideous on me! It's not even the colour, but I'm now convinced that tunic doesn't look good on my body. So I'll be frogging it and make it normal length instead with short sleeves . Other than that I also cast on for the Puff-sleeved feminine cardigan. Main reason being I have the yarn in my stash after ripping this(Jemima, 3rd picture, pattern from Anna at Fashionable Life). The yarn is Knitpicks Merino Style "Rhubarb" that I bought back in 2005. I'm not too sure why I picked that colour, I'm convinced you can spot me from miles away when I'm wearing it. Anyway, the knitting is going really slow with the small gauge, but I'm enjoying it a lot! And that's what knitting is all about, right?

(Put in something smart here...)

2007-03-22T08:56:00.000+08:00

Just a quick post to keep my blog running ;)

Here's another successful gift knitting

Le Slouch
Pattern: Wendy at Knit and Tonic
Yarn: 2 skeins Bouton d'Or Laika
Needle: 5.00mm 40cm circular
Comments: I had to frog a few rows because I was worried I wouldn't have enough yarn, and good thing I did because even after that I still ran out of yarn. Since the time was tight I decided to compromise and do more decrease instead. It works fine and I'm sure nobody will notice.
I started this a day before the party. After I decided that Le Slouch would be the best choice, I had to dig in my stash to find a yarn that would suit the recipient. I thought of using the same yarn as my previous Le Slouch (which was a gift too), but it would be too thin and would take me so much longer. It's a good thing to have a big stash after all, being able to find the right weight of yarn in the right colour when emergency knitting is needed!
As you can see she is happy with it, and all my other friends were saying how awesome the hat is. Imagine if I had given her an aran sweater with the most complicated cables ever, I'd bet you anything they wouldn't be half as impressed.

On other news, I just got myself a waitressing job. It's only 10 hours a week, but I'm hoping it'll help me feel more productive instead of sitting in front of my computer whole day long. Less knitting time for me, but maybe I'll be able to treat myself with some knitting luxury later.

I didn't join this officially, but believe it or not I've only bought ONE skein of yarn since last month. Yeah, I don't even believe in myself.
Oh wait, just when I started to think this might work out, I spotted a sale on GetKnitted. Who was I kidding anyway. But, if by my next post I'm still yarnless, please take me to a GP.

I have another FO to show you, but it'll have to wait till the crazy weather is over before I can take decent FO picture. It won't be fun if it suddenly rains and I'm wearing alpaca. There, I spilled the beans.

See you soon.

Just illusions...

2007-03-18T07:58:00.000+08:00

Illusion knitting is fun!

Counterpoint
Pattern source: Magknits Dec 2006 by Jennifer Crawford
Yarn: Cascade 220 1 hank Black, 1 hank White
Needles: 4.00mm Addi Turbo Circular
Comments: This scarf is a birthday gift for my friend who is a Valentine baby, but I was too engrossed with my pentagons that I didn't manage to knit it on time for her birthday. The solution? Wrap the yarns and gave her a card saying my vow to magically turn it into a scarf "someday". Pretty noncommittal, eh?
Fortunately for her soon after her birthday I found some Japanses dramas to watch that I actually finish the scarf in 3 days! 3 days of sleeping at crazy hours in the morning that is, but still pretty impressive I think. I loved watching the patterns grow, and I'll definitely be doing more illusion knitting. It's quite addictive, actually.
Here's the happy recipient

She looks pretty happy with it, don't you think? Oh, she might kill me for saying this, but she's an up-and-coming singer. Check our her music video here. If she asks, pretend you've never heard of me.

On WIPs,
I love this book so much I cast on for 2 projects from it.

The textured tunic in the cover, in Rowan Summer Tweed "Gold".

Two-toned shrug in Cascade 220, it's a longer version of the famous OSW.

One more thing,

Personalised magazine holder for my knitting books! I still have to paint it to cover the burns from the laser, but it's pretty cool, don't you think?

I'd love to talk some more, but I have a last minute birthday gift to finish before tomorrow, and lots of hole punches to design!

bad girl

2007-03-12T07:51:00.000+08:00

Again, I'm being a very bad blogger.
Could all of you please give me a tiny smack on the head for breaking my new year's resolution? Being an ambitious and unrealistic person that I am I had 52 things on my new year's resolution list, one of which is to blog at least once a week. I have no idea how many of them I've already broken. My goal is to keep at least one, because "being realistic" is also in the list ;)

I could blame my lack of proper photography device, but I'll admit that I've just been lazy. Time passes by too quickly, seriously.
My new camera should be arriving soon, and with spring 'kinda' here, maybe we'll be lucky enough to get some decent lighting. I'm really hoping to spend more time on improving my blog, so I might need for some technical helps in the future, help me out ok?

At least a lot of knitting has been going on here, I can barely wait to share with you guys!

More small stuffs

2007-02-18T17:39:00.000+08:00

After the disappointment with my capecho, I needed a quick fix of something. Something small, quick and preferably pretty.
So I made this

Neck Warmer
Pattern: None, just a strip of garter stitch
Yarn: Itaca Alessandra. 90% Wool 10% Cashmere
Needle: 12.00mm straight
Comment: I've been thinking of what to knit with the single ball of pretty yarn I got from Florence ever since I bought it. I have a bad habit of buying single balls of yarn just to own them, without knowing what to do with them most of the time. This turns out pretty cute, no? I'm not sure if it'll get much wear, but I am loving it. And the pom-pom, oh how I adore those pompoms ;).

One other UFO turned FO

Booga Bag
Pattern: Booga Bag
Yarn: 3 skeins Noro Kureyon
Comment: My SP gave me the yarn and pattern for this bag, and I cast on straight away. However, it took me months to get around felting them(by hand, no less!), and another month to attach the handles. I'm worried that it wouldn't be strong enough without a lining though. Hands up if you want to help me line it! Just kidding, I think I'll stick to carrying light stuffs in there, like yarn. And now I want to do more felting!

Happy Chinese New Year, wish you all a prosperous year ahead! I wish I could be home to celebrate it with my family, I miss the preparation, the food, the company, and of course the red packet!

up and down

2007-02-17T06:44:00.000+08:00

WARNING! This post contains some horrible real-life situation pictures with extremely bad lighting and helped only slightly by photoshop.

So, I just finished knitting the second sleeve of my VK Norah Gaughan's Capecho, put it on, and here's how it looks like.

See those horrible bunches?
Even worse

I'm not so sure whether that side of the pentagon is supposed to dangle just like that.
And the back?

Strangely short and bunchy (blocking might solve this one, but not sure about the length).

So I tried a different style by pulling down the front and make it sort of like a crossover thing.

Not as bad but it practically makes my front looks flat, not a good sight.

Then I tried it upside down.

The coloured version will blind you, I swear.

And I have pentagons running down my stomach and hang just there.
The back

Much longer, no? Which doesn't really make sense since it's the same thing turned upside down.

So, now I have a few options:

1. Put the whole thing into a ziplock bag and hide it somewhere so I won't see it for another year or so.
2. Frog it and knit something else less...intriguing.
3. Put my trust in Norah Gaughan and actually knit the collar and finish the whole thing while praying hard it'll turn out ok.
4. Try frogging some of the pentagons and mess around with it and try to make it right.
5. Find somebody bigger than me with much more patience than I do and give it to her.

What do you think?

Oh, in case you're wondering, I did get gauge.

The Perfect Day

2007-02-09T08:03:00.000+08:00

with the perfect scenery....

Maybe I've been waiting for this day for over a year to finally take my FO picture, remember this?

No, the dot on my forehead isn't some freakishly big pimples

Bulky Cabled Cardigan

Pattern Source: Glampyre
Yarn: Rowan Polar, 6 x 100g
Needle: Addi Turbos 8.00mm 80 cm, 5.5mm 60cm
Comment: This is actually my official last FO from 2005! I have no idea why I waited so long before posting it, but maybe I AM waiting for this day. My friend woke me up early (by early I mean before 9) to show me the snow outside my window. I was naturally pissed off but then I looked out my window and saw this
Totally worth being woken up for, don't you think?
So, back to the cardigan, it was a quick and fun project, and I don't think it looks bad at all. The thing is, it's not exactly a comfort garment. I've found out that my skin is sensitive to anything other than merino wool for animal fibres. So the alpaca content in the yarn makes it a little itchy. It's also white, which means I have to be a little more wary than usual while wearing it. It's also a bit short which doesn't go well with my body type. Oh, and the yarn sheds like crazy.
All in all, I'm happy with it, and will try to actually wear it more often, and actually wash it.

As for WIPs, I've been working exclusively on my VK cover "capecho"(hate the word!). Those pentagons are addicting!

This is my progress picture from a few days ago. I've now finished all the pentagons for the body and am working on the first sleeve. Hopefully it'll be done by next week. Whether I'll wear it or not is questionable, since my reason for choosing this project was purely because of it's interesting construction. Well at least we know I'll wear it for FO photoshoot ;), apparently the daffodils are coming out soon!

back to sanity

2007-02-02T20:15:00.000+08:00

I'm finally back again at London, which means life is back to normal, where everything is self service.
Going home was good, I got to shop and eat A LOT, but the best part of all was probably getting to see my adorable nephews. And getting this

My new toy, Apple MacbookPro 15.4". Pretty cool, huh? My dad was trying to force me into buying the 17" version, but it was just too intimidating for me. Especially since my old notebook was a mere 11". I haven't got around learning all the cool things I can do with it yet, but I'll just take my time and have fun with it. Oh, check out the little box at the background, I got a new iPod Shuffle too! I own an iPod Video which is great, but it's just way too bulky for my less than occassional workout session.

Oh, and we have an FO too!

Le' Slouch
Pattern Source: Wendy at Knit And Tonic
Yarn: Phildar Impact No. 3 1/2, 100% Acrylic
Needle: 4mm 40cm circular
Comments: I was worried I couldn't pull off the look, but I think it looks okay, not that I'm going to be wearing it anyway. Since I used thinner yarn and smaller needles and have bigger-than-average head I cast on 90 sts instead of the required 68 sts. I'm loving the seed stich, real neat.

After finishing it last night, I cast on for the little cardigan thing on the cover of the new Vogue. Here's my first pentagon

It really was super easy to make. I used the pure alpaca yarn I got from Florence and size 5mm needle. I, as usual, was too lazy to swatch, but I think it will turn out fine even though I use thinner yarn and smaller needle. I'm hoping this would be a quick knit, as knitting in parts makes the progress seems much faster. And the colour is also Project Spectrum appropriate.

Long awaited FOs!

2007-01-18T10:47:00.000+08:00

Time seems to pass so much faster when I'm home. Which is a strange thing considering I do nothing but sleep, eat, shop and knit.
I managed to get my friend to take some pictures before I left. I beg you to ignore the background, since the only places in my hall with decent lighting are the loo and the kitchen, the former is closer to my room, nuff' said.
Again, picture quality isn't that good, since these are taken with my camera phone, so please bear with me.

Remember this?

Deep V Argyle Vest
Pattern Source: Eunny Jang
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft DK
Comments: You might recall I started this baby back in Feb 2006 for the Knitting Olympic. It's my first ever big colourwork so I was proud enough to finish the knitting in the 16 days deadline. However, when it comes to steeking, I gave up.
Since my yarn of choice wasn't pure wool, and it's not going to felt, I have to machine steek it. I did some messy job with my college's old sewing machine, but at least it doesn't show from the outside. Then it comes knitting
the ribbing bands, and somehow the armholes seemed way too big. So back she went to the drawer unfinished inside a ziplock bag. Since one of my new year resolution is to finish all my knitting, I made myself finished it up.
So now I have a vest with bunchy shoulders, but I think it looks great anyway. The V-neck is definitely a winner.
All I need now is a nice shirt that doesn't look like it's going to pop open at the bust area.

Sporty Cardigan
Pattern Source: Lang's Filato A Mano pattern book
Yarn: Lang Silk Dream
Comments: I fell in love with the pattern and the yarn at Ally Pally. The yarn was truly a dream to knit with, soft and "crispy". Everything was nice and easy, and I think the whole knitting was done in about 2 weeks or so. Still, it took me 2 months to get it done because I was waaaayyyy too lazy to seam it up. I'm quite happy with the cardigan although the size is too big. It has about 8 inches extra around the waist compared to my vest! So, another new year resolution of mine, always knit waist shaping!

I didn't bring much yarn back home with me, only enough for 2 plane rides. Instead, I'm planning to use up yarns I have at home. They're my "less-loved" yarns, but I have tons of them perfect for small projects. So for another 11 days
of holiday I have, I'll try to knit up as much of them as possible.
Hopefully I'll have more FOs to show next time!

Italian goodness

2007-01-06T23:53:00.000+08:00

Hmmm....where to start??
I came back from my holiday on new year day, but have been busy(lazy) to update. And to think one of my New Year's resolution is to blog at least once a week!

Ok....let's move on to the holiday....scenery first or yarn first?? Let's do both instead!

First stop, Rome.

These irresistibly cute little balls of yarn were found in a little shop called Lana della Vecchia. The red, white and black yarn are yummy wool/cashmere blend that I just couldn't resist. I'm thinking they'll make a gorgeous fair isle hat. So I almost left the shop with only those....but then the owner called at me and pulled out boxes of pure angora and pure cashmere, that shrewd lady! She doesn't even speak much english! I could resist them only because they were in rather unappealing colours. But then she pulled out another box and say "This is cashmere and silk". Honestly, who could resist?? So I got 2 little balls of them in this gorgeous deep green colour and squeezed them all day.

These are from another yarn shop in Rome called Filati Filpucci. They are run by men and looked more like a hardware store than a yarn shop. The first 3 hanks are 3-ply pure wool at a price too good to pass. But when I ask the guy(the only one in the shop who speaks english) about the yardage, he shrugged and said "Don't know, maybe about 5000." Now, he might be right, but my logic tells me that's just not possible. We'll see. The 3 bright fushcia balls are super soft 70% angora yarn that were on sale. I'm thinking they'd make a cute beret.

Second stop, Florence.

The shop is called Campolmi Roberto Filati. It's a kind of shop that insist on 1 on 1 assistance and would only let you touch the shade cards. Still, they have tons of yarn at amazing price. I got a bag of natural alpaca yarn, 200g of lightweight baby alpaca(the vintage pink one), 50g of kid mohair yarn, and a huge 400g hank of pure white wool. I'm thinking of using the wool for felting. The hank is so big it's troublesome to bring around on the trip, but the price was just impossible to pass.

From Beatrice Galli Yarn Shop, the owner of the shop, Beatrice Galli herself I presumed, actually told me this "Touch, but not too much". It put me off a little, but I still couldn't resist all those cheerful colours.

Ugh.....Blogger won't let me upload more pictures, I've been trying for two days!
Anyway, I've finished 2 knits since the new year!! They should've been done ages ago, but I'm proud of myself for finally finishing them. I really want to show them to you, but lack of proper camera and proper photographer mean you'll have to wait till next month! Next month because I'm going home today(yay!!) and I'm not taking my winter knits back to hot and humid Jakarta.
There's a little problem for my in-flight knitting though, since it's safer to bring circular bamboo needles to get through the security, but most of my circulars are Addi Turbos! I do have a 4mm bamboo circular, so hopefully I can find a perfect little project with that.

Well....next time I talk to you, hopefully I'd be able to share more pictures and have more knits to report!

This time of the year

2006-12-17T19:28:00.000+08:00

It's holiday again! For me it means time for travelling, of course.
In about 8 hours I'd be landing in Rome, Italy. Then on to Florence, Christmas in Venice and New Year in Paris.
Did some last minute packing yesterday, downloaded loads of podcasts into my iPod for those long train journeys, picked a project to knit on the way, etc. So hopefully it'll a blast and I'll be having the time of my life ;)

Now, for knitting(and crochet!) content

Quickie Crochet Mary-Janes
Pattern can be found here
This was really quick, easy and fun to make. And the result really is just too cute. I've got some not-so-subtle hinting from my friends to make one for them.

Last-Minute Handwarmer
Pattern: from LMKG
This is a last minute Christmas gift for our cleaning lady. Very quick and easy to make, I might make some for myself too.

This is a swatch of what I'll be knitting on my trip. Swish scarf, a free pattern from here. The yarn is Lang Mille Colori with some wonderful colours but a little too stripey for my liking. Do we like?

And this pile is what should be my Lang Sporty Cardigan. It's half-seamed, so at least we're getting there.
I think that's what should be top priority in my New Year resolution,
1. Finish all my UFOs.

Well, I should be getting ready. Will try to report on the way.
Just in case I couldn't, Merry Christmas everyone!

On swallowtail and broken camera

2006-12-04T09:35:00.000+08:00

Gee....I haven't blogged for almost a month! That's partially because I don't have much to blog about, and part because I've been busy with life and all that. Lame, I know.
One good excuse though, is that my camera is broken.
Lesson learned: DO NOT let your drunk friend hold your camera.
Hopefully she will have it fixed soon enough, meanwhile you'll have to bear with my mobile phone's 2 megapixels pictures instead of my lovely camera's usual 8 megapixels.
Oh well, at least I have some knitting to share....
Yes! I've found myself a competent photographer!

Swallowtail Shawl

Pattern source: IK Fall 2006
Yarn: Handmaiden Seasilk "Straw" (looks more like gold to me)
Needle: Addi Turbo 4.0mm 60cm
Comments: I've never been a late bloomer, but somehow when it comes to knitting I'm always far behind the trend. After seeing beautiful versions of this shawl all around blogworld, I finally get around making one for myself. The pattern is quick and easy to knit, though the purl5 really slowed me down. It's totally worth it though, I think the end result is simply gorgeous! It's a bit on the small side since I've been growing horizontally lately, so I might wear it as a scarf instead of a shawl.
The yarn....what can I say about the yarn that you don't already know, that it's simply delicious. Oh well, maybe I can tell you that it still smells like seafood even after washed.

In other knitting news, my cabled cardigan from Lang is long done, except that I've been too lazy to seam it up and find the perfect button. I really want to wear it though, so let's hope I'll be motivated soon. Meanwhile I cast on for few small things, but I'm still looking around for The project, if you know what I mean.

Hats talk

2006-11-08T08:23:00.000+08:00

First, thank you for all your lovely comments on my previous post. I really appreciate them ;)
Now, you might have noticed that I knit a lot of hats.

Okay, so 8 hats in 2 years might not be a lot for some people, but for me, it is. The problem with these hats is....I can's stand wearing them. Not just these, but any hats, I can't stand wearing them for more than 10 minutes. It might be that I have ultra sensitive forehead, but even cotton ones won't work.
I do love knitting them though, they're so much fun and also quick to knit. All the hats I've ever knitted were for myself(as is 90% of my knits). I think the reason why I never knit hats for others is that I used to live in tropical region. Well, I don't knit much for other people anyway.
Now, I have a little question of etiquette for you guys. Is it okay to give some of my knitted hats as gifts? I mean, they ARE new, considering I only wear them for blog photoshoots. But it feels a little strange when I wasn't knitting it as a gift for certain person. So? moral opinion please. Oh, and the people I'm thinking of gifting have seen the hats before, so maybe it'd be a little tougher.

So...what's a girl to do when she can't wear hats? Well, the good news is she wears socks!
Thanks to Socktoberfest, I've been really inspired to carry on with sock knitting. Sure, it takes longer time to knit(tiny stitches!) and used up more yarns, but at least I get to wear them.
Uhm....this is my excuse for future(and present) sock yarns purchases.

I have always knit socks following patterns, and have always been forced to knit shorter legs because it wouldn't fit my gigantic calves otherwise. I also have thick heels, making me have to tug my socks hard to wear them. But that's all going to change, since now I've got the right resources to answer my problems.

Got myself 3 fabulous sock knitting books, and some other amazing knitting books. So hopefully with their helps I'd be able to create the perfect socks for my imperfect feet! I think toe-up socks would be the right way to start.

Anyway, I always reasoned with myself that books are too heavy and tedious when I need to move. But since I'll be staying in this area for at least another 3 years, my logic lose for good.

Socktoberfest and Hats Galore!

2006-10-28T23:59:00.000+08:00

As the title suggested...

I finally finished my Pomatomus after many months. After I finished the first sock, it's been left untouched due to SSS. Thanks to Socktoberfest, it's finally done!

Pomatomus Socks
Pattern source: Knitty.com by Cookie A.
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Needle: Addi Turbo 2.5mm 80cm circular
Technique used: Cuff-down, magic loop
Comments: The legs are shorten by one pattern repeat since I have really huge calfs and it won't fit if it goes too high. I really like the pattern even though I think it might work better with solid coloured yarn. The lace pattern was a little challenging at first, but then it was all nice and brezzy. One of the best thing about the pattern is that it's not boring. Otherwise I suspect it's still be in the WIP bin.

Another shot? Oh well...

Up next...

Shedir
Pattern source: Knitty.com breast cancer awareness issue
Yarn: Rowan Calmer
Needle: 3.25mm circular 40cm
Comments: I love those cables! Aren't they pretty? Especially the crown shaping, it looks like a flower ;)

Odessa
Pattern source: Magknits.com by Grumperina
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft DK
Needle: 4.00mm bamboo circular 40cm
Comments: I got the yarn and beads for this pattern back in February, but only get motivated to start when I'm watching lots of drama and have nothing to knit. I just realised that my knitting progress is pretty much justified by how much drama I watch. Anyway, this is my first ever beaded knitting! It's much easier than I though it's be, the only part I don't really like is that I have to keep on pushing down the beads. I'm sure there's a tutorial for beaded knitting without beading first somewhere, gotta find it one day. Other than that, the pattern was super easy and fast to knit, perfect for gifts knitting!

Ugh, Blogger is acting up again and I can't upload more pictures, so that'll have to be another post.
Meanwhile I'm working on the Lang Sporty Cabled Cardigan(see previous post) and the back is almost done. Patsy is blocked and seamed, but I'm still thinking about the sleeves part.
Well...till next time.

Warning: Anyone on yarn diet don't look!

2006-10-15T08:04:00.000+08:00

On my way back from Ally Pally. That place is evil, I tell ya.

Since I've told you that I'm going, and you know me too well to expect less. Well, can't disappoint you guys, can I?

First purchase of the day, two 200g hanks of hand-dyed merino yarn from Touch yarn. Love the colourway. I think it'd look great for a scarf of a scoop neck vest or a bolero, what do you think?

A pack of Rowan Kid Classic and a pack of Rowan All Season Cotton. In colours I don't even wear. But they were a real bargain, so....who cares if I look dead in grey.

A huge 350g hank of hand-dyed merino from somewhere in Europe. I wish I could capture the colours better, it's gorgeous.

Two 100g skeins of alpaca. Not the most likely colours for me to pick, but they were in the odd balls bin, and I thought they'd look great as striped winter accessories.

Three skeins of more Regia Silk in white. I've been looking for this yarn in this shade forever, can't wait to turn them into a gorgeous lacy shawl! I did a quick count and there are 16 skeins of Regia Silk in 5 different colours in my stash now. I never love a yarn this much.

And of course, no yarn spree is complete without some silk. The green/blue hank is Handmaiden Seasilk, which you all know is amazing and totally irresistible. The pink/peach hank is 100% laceweight silk from Fyberspates, so pretty and so worth it.

Six 100g hanks of Classic Elite Kelso in red and 2 hanks in green. I think the yarn is long discontinued since I can't seem to find any information about it, but it's gorgeous wool tweed. I bought all the red they have left. There was a lady who was interested too, but she let me have it, so I can't not buy them, right?

Four skeins of Lang Mille Colori. This yarn reminds me of Rowan Tapestry, sans the sheen. I got myself 4 skeins to make a stripey scarf for myself, though not necessarily horizontal stripes.

Three gorgeous pattern books, Out of Town by Debbie Bliss, Lang Fatto A Mano and RYC Classic Style. And this time I will actually knit something from them.

I saw this cardigan in the LANG pattern book and fell for it immediately. Hard.

Then I saw the yarn it called for,...
and fell even harder. The yarn is 50% wool and 50% silk, the perfect combination as far as I'm concerned, and simply amazing to touch. I have totally ran out of cash by then, and actually left the stall after getting only 1 ball to play with. After walking around aimlessly with next to nothing on my wallet, I decided to get 11 more as my last purchase of the day. Thank God I decided not to be wise and bring my debit card(a.k.a. the devil card) with me.
Having given my financial stability the hardest hit, I quickly tried to find the way out, and actually walk into the toilet. After somebody given me the right direction, which is all the way across the hall, I tried to not look around and walk straight, but I kept on stumbling into some divine cashmere and the gloriously colourful Colinette stall. It wasn't easy to get out of there, trust me.

I'm practically broke now, fortunately I have enough food supply not to starve myself for another week.

Sock Stash Flash

2006-10-13T17:34:00.000+08:00

Just a short post to flash my sock yarn stash.

I can't believe how many sock yarns I have in my stash, there are enough for 15 pairs of socks! And I don't even call myself a sock knitter yet. Uh, and I'm sure there are about 4 more skeins somewhere that I couldn't find.

I'm off to Ally Pally, so expect more stash flashing to come!

When too many choices is a bad thing...

2006-10-11T00:20:00.000+08:00

Patsy has been blocked yesterday.

This is actually the first time I blocked the pieces before seaming, we'll see if it really will make life easier. I haven't decided on whether to knit the sleeves or not yet. Anyway, do you notice that we have colour lot trouble here?

Meanwhile I've been working on Shedir.

Check out those gorgeous cables. I abandoned it because I didn't get the chart, but after I decided to rely on the picture rather than the chart, it's a breeze.
We shall have 2 FOs coming soon ;)
Now....which pattern to knit next? Should I knit these capelet, or those gorgeous aran sweaters and cardigans, or this afghan, or this bag, or a braided scarf, or a lace shawl.......do you think I can justify casting on for 10 things at once? While I still have a lonely side of sock waiting to be finished for Octoberfest? Duh! It's not easy being a knitter, I tell you.

yarns...yarns...and more yarns

2006-10-04T00:44:00.000+08:00

So, last friday I went all the way to Heathrow airport to pick up a friend with overload baggage. Well, I was willing to travel the 90 minutes tube not only because I'm a good friend, but also because I've asked her to bring back some chinese yarn for me.
Now, as happy as I am to get new yarns for stash addition, I realised a little too late that it's not a wise thing to ask a non-knitter to buy you yarn without specifications. Worse when you must pay for them. Oh, and I taught her to knit before, so I can safely say there's nothing wrong with her taste, it's just that she's pretty clueless about yarn quantity and price.
First she got me these yarns...

While they ARE beautiful(check out those tweeds!), they certainly are not chinese and they cost a total of about 70 bucks. What the heck can I do with a 40g skein of ribbon yarn anyway?
Then these...

are wool yarn from HYX that cost a staggering 15 bucks in total. Must.go.to.China.soon.
Problem? What should I knit with 500g of laceweight yarn???
Anyway, I AM happy to get these beautiful yarns, but I've learned my lesson. Next time, specify what you want.

Lately I've been spending my days and night working on Patsy while doing a Sex and The City marathon. I can't wait to finish something and cast on for something new!
Oh, I almost forgot, I've joined the Socktoberfest again! Woohoo! It should be fun because I've got tons of beautiful sock yarns in my stash that I'm just too lazy to knit up. But I'll only work on them after I'm done with Pomatomus....long long journey ahead.

Still catching up...

2006-09-26T23:34:00.000+08:00

In my last post I mentioned about some great gifts I received and should've blog about weeks ago.Mimi sent me some amazing stuffs from her US trip!

Inside the pretty box there are 2 hanks of yummy Lorna's Laces Sheperd Sock in "Watercolor" that I've been wanting to try for ages, a skein of Bernat Cotton Tots that I used for the Flower Washcloth(see previous post), a pretty accessories box that's already overstuffed by now, a cute sheep tape measure that I've been wanting too, 2 delicious smelling soap, skin and bath products from L'occitane(my fav!) and some paper set. Amazing, no? I can't thank you enough, Mimi! My mom was so impressed that I've actually got a friend who'd send me something like this ;)

And that's not all, I've got my final package from my no-longer-a-secret-pal Amy! Check out these yummy yarns she sent me! 1 skein of Trekking XXL, 2 hanks of LL Sheperd Socks(yumyum!!), 1 hank of KP Memory and 2 skeins of KP Palette.

There's also a measuring tape pen that I like a lot, it's already in my pencilcase now. Thanks for being a great pal, Amy! I love the gifts you got me!

I'm feeling really lucky to be in this community, just look at these great friends that I find here!

Anyway, I've got some more small FOs to show you too!

Fat Bottom Bag
Pattern Source: Stitch N Bitch Happy Hooker
Yarn: Sirdar yarn I got from charity shop
Hook: 5.5 mm
Comments: I love this bag! It was easy and made good use of cheap acrylic yarn. The different flower pins give different feeling to it, don't you think? It's already claimed by my Mom anyway, but I might make one for myself ;)

Unnamed Scarf
Pattern source: Out of nowhere, but I think there's something similar in SnB book
Yarn: 4 skeins of Leisure yarn, it's 50% Australian wool and 50% acrylic
Needle: 4.00 mm bamboo circular
Comments: I cast-on for this scarf on my flight here. It's a nice mindless knit, using cabling without cable needle technique. I love how the yarn looks kinda tweedy when knitted up, however it's not the softest yarn ever, I hope a little bath would change that.
Anyway, the first picture of the scarf is taken on my room window, nice view huh?

Let's catch up...

2006-09-15T01:45:00.000+08:00

Here comes the long long belated updates ;)
Upcoming first, the FOs!

Cherry
Pattern Source : Anna Bell
Yarn : Jo Sharp Dessert Cotton DK 7 skeins "Freesia"
Needle : 4.00 mm Addi
Comments : After almost a month I finally sew up the buttons for Cherry. My mom complained that the arm parts are too tight, but other than that, I think she likes it. In my family, we don't say "thank you" much, but I like to think that our appreciation towards each other are understood without the need of words. Anyway, she was a quick knit, though the pattern was a little confusing at the beginning. The yarn was really nice too, and also great value from WEBS sale.

Fetching
Pattern Source : knitty.com
Yarn : Debbie Bliss Maya 1 hank
Needle : 4.00 mm Addi
Comments : Don't worry, she's not alone, I just haven't got anybody who could take the pic of both my hands. The DB Maya has been sitting in my closet here at home for 8 months, so it feels good to finally use it. It was quite a quick knit, but took me a week because I knitted it during my trip to Penang and Singapore.

Spiral Madness
Pattern Source : Nona
Yarn : Rowan Kid Classic 2 skeins
Needle : 5.00 mm
Comments : This is a very belated birthday gift that I finally gave to my friend back in August. In case you're wondering, her birthday was back in March.

Flower Washcloth
Pattern Source : Weekend Knitting
Yarn : Bernat Cotton Tots
Needle : 4.00 mm
Comments : My very first washcloth ever! Can anyone tell me what it's for? Am I supposed to use it to dry my face or wet it with soap?

Now for the WIPs

I knitted this Booga Bag before I came back with the Noro Kureyon that my SP gifted me and planned to felt it after I got home. Well, at least I tried to felt it. After about 3 hours on strong cycle with 3 pairs of jeans and changing the water every half an hour because it keeps turrning blue, it's still not felted enough. I think I can blame my stupid washing machine for not having a hot wash cycle for that.

This is supposed to be a vest of some kind, but I'm not sure yet. The yarn is K1C2 Second Time Cotton, the plan is to combine it with K1C2 Truffle for accent.

Another Fetching, this time with much longer arm. Unlike the one above, this is one isn't getting any partner. Instead I'm going to knit a Panta to go with it as birthday present for my friend. She asked for a pair of gloves and a hat, but I said "No way " straight away. So she bargained and she got one long armwarmer and a hat. The thing is, I don't think I have enough yarn left for a hat, so a headband it is.

Meet Patsy, she is from Rowan 36(If I remember correctly). I just happened to have the exact yarn, which is Rowanspun 4 ply in the exact pink colour, though not exact amount. No big deal though, I think I can manage with a shorter sleeve. She is growing ever so slowly on my 3.25mm needles.

Now for the dye job. I managed to get my cousin to buy me some Koolaid before she came back from the USA, yay! I asked for some white Patons classic wool too, but instead she got me some novelty yarn from dollar bin.....you know how I feel about them, right? Anyway, these are just a few experiments.

Too bad I haven't got complete Koolaid colours, so no blues and purples for me. I didn't follow any tutorial exactly, just read lots of them and gather the information. Oh, for your information, I used microwave and plastic containers. Now I can't wait to knit them up, but I haven't got my ballwinders!

This post was written weeks ago, but I couldn't post it because the terrible internet connection back at home. Yeah....I'm back at the UK now! I'll elaborate on my next post, and I have to show off some amazing gifts I got too! My whole body is aching me....gotta go to sleep, cya!

2006-08-29T14:35:00.000+08:00

I apologize that I haven't been such a good blogger ever since I came home. I blame the lack of proper internet connection for that.
Life hasn't been exactly busy, so here's a summary of what I've been doing so far
-Tried felting
-Tried Koolaid dyeing
-Went to Penang and bloat myself
-Bought buttons for Cherry
-Went to Singapore
-Knitted Fetching
-Cast on for Patsy
-Watched lots of drama
-Sleep late and wake up even later

That's pretty much it, I'll try to come back with a proper update. Can't promise it'll be anytime soon though. I guess I'm just spoiled ;)

Just my luck

2006-08-11T09:23:00.000+08:00

I guess it's just my luck that the terrorists decided to give a bomb threat on the day I'm flying, from the world's busiest airport nonetheless.
It wasn't a pleasant experience I tell you, with extremely strict security and all that. We were given plastic bags to put our passport and money, and practically nothing else. So as if being faced with the longest queue I've ever seen in my life is not bad enough, I couldn't knit at all on the 12 hour flight!
Being understandably pissed off, I decided to make the best of it and watch as many movies and eat as much as possible. So now I'm having a mild jet lag and is definitely bloated.

This is Yuvee reporting from Changi Airport gate F54, till next time.

Goin' home

2006-08-09T22:26:00.000+08:00

Just a short post to let you know that I'm leaving tomorrow!
And guess what? I haven't finished packing! Argghhh!! But I guess you all know it already ;p
I'm still thinking of what to knit on the plane....duh. Strange as it may sound, I'm actually not dreading the 16 hour flight this time. Can't wait to watch all those in-flight movies, because poor old me have only been to the cinema once in the 7 months I've been here.
Anyway, on knitting front, I haven't been knitting much lately. My weekend was mostly spent reading lots of novels, scaring myself with all those fiction thriller. Gosh, I never realised how much I missed reading. I used to read a lot but ever since I started knitting I don't read as much anymore. But now thanks to my hair clip, I can read while knitting.
Cherry is done too! I just have to go home and find the perfect buttons. I hope it's enough to keep my mom quiet when I'm buying yarn. Thank God I get to leave most of my stuffs here, my parents would've get heart attacks if they see my stash, which nowadays look scary even to me.
Well....I'll post again when I got home then ;) Cya!

Michelle, you can get the cardigan pattern from Phidar Tendances #443 from knitntyme.com . It comes with English instruction too.