Monday, December 27, 2004

Xmas, blah...!

Xmas wasn't that great for me as expected. I was hit by a bout of flu and cough. Thanks to Mom and hubby, they are the germ beasts! Ended up in bed most of the time and had to drag my dreary self to work on Monday. But it's 4 more days to go before I am finally off work! (at least for a while)

I managed to get my fairisle body knitted up. Now a seaming party's due...for the teddy bear and my dual-tone blouse too. Long island tea, anyone?

I am feeling so accomplished by now: I didn't pull out my hair, I didn't relegate the fairisle project to UFO status....it's been a good year *cough, cough* Wonder if Santa would bring me more yarn next year? (grin)


Other stuff:
Stitchingirl asked, "Would you mind telling me the pattern for the turtleneck cabled sweater? It's scrumptious."

The pattern is on the cover of the VK Winter 2001/02 issue, not that you can make out much of it from the model's photo shoot.

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Merry Xmas everybody!

You'll notice that there is no Christmas mention whatsoever on my blog.
Until now.

Hubby's been asking for his Xmas pressie. *TWICE*. I figured he must have wished to receive a gift from me real bad. Don't get me wrong -- he's been the darling in the relationship. According to him, he's got my presents all lined up to year 2007: that's Valentine's, my birthday, our anniversary & Xmas!!

So yes, I've gotten mine from him, when he came back from his last Australian trip. In my ungodly panic mood that struck the day before, I decided there was one thing to buy him. And I can yack about it here becoz I am very sure that he doesn't read my blog.

So right after dinner with my colleagues last night, I hurried down to the mobile shop to get the *ultimate* present: a new Sony Ericsson K508i phone for him. His current one is not a very good working condition. This new phone looks a little more understated (he's your regular kind of guy so nothing fanciful for him); and the best part -- the camera len can be covered, unlike most models where it's left exposed.

It's all wrapped up and ready to be gifted to him tonight.
Wish you all have a blazing or cozy Christmas, however you like it.
For me, I will just start planning for 2005 Xmas to get a headstart alright?

And for those wanting to have a looker, here's the photo taken with Siow Chin. Isn't her daughter cute?




And you can have a peek into my secret package sent to Canada.

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Web surfing is bad...

I just saw eklectika's blog on starting Mariah.
I liked that pattern....very cabley.
Just the kind of gal for me.
I bet there is something from my stash that I could use.

And the *best* part??!
It starts February next year!

Yoohoo! I am in!

Monday, December 20, 2004

Knitting content from last Saturday

I seem to hit a wall with the recent Knitting Meetups that I tried to organize. It's either a timing issue or the responses just aren't as enthuasiast as I *hoped* they would be. So far, I've cancelled one. And the last 2 are consisted just of Cara and myself....Karen made a short appearance. [Oh yes, and Chrissie's PC died on her, so she didn't know if we are meeting last Saturday. She's excused.]

Perhaps come 2005, the meetups will be better? And the good news is, we could meet in the afternoons for Jan and Feb.

Anyway, last Saturday, I got to meet Siow Chin, from Little Purl of the Orient. We both arranged to meet at the Golden Dragon Yarn Store. Her 2 kids are lovely. Her DH came along to take care of the 2 kids, how sweet! Siow Chin, if you see this, remember to email me the photo ok?

After that, I went over to meet Cara. We both decided to *plonk* ourselves into the cushy sofas in the Orchard Library Cafe and see if there are any interests...lots of *whisphers* and *nudging* but no one has approached us. Cara thought it's best that we put up a Knitting Meetup tentee on our table the next time. That's a great idea.

Cara's swatching on her new project after a 2 year hiatus and Chrissie's completed quite a fair bit of projects. And me? Still on the damn lovely blue project...now on the body and getting there. I am giving myself the *deadline* of end Dec. Too many WIPs....Dear beary still in the bag with its bum sticking out at me...it will be done! (Sense my perservance?!)

Oh, and with reading many blogs, I think I need to go into a YNBA really soon. But hey, if a gal knows that she's not earning her own keeps for a while, it is ok for her to start hoarding up essential supplies? There, I said it. These are my recent purchases.




Alright, now I will really try to hold my purchases. But I will accept gifting anytime!

Amazingly, though many are touting the sold-out situation with the Knitting Pattern A Day calendar; I actually managed to get one copy locally here in Singapore! Yeah, at one of the open booth in the square, where they sell calendars, within Bugis Junction. Woo hoo.

See that bag of Kid Mohair? It's from Filatura de Crosa and it's only S$30 for the entire ball of 10?! Is that cheap or what...*dreaming of what to knit out of it* How about using it for clapotis?

I think I better stay away from surfing for a while..More projects keep creeping into the queue and I probably have enough to last a long while.


Any other business?
1. Holly asked, "Did you have her (LC) resign the Beaded Knit book?"
No, I didn't but I did get her to sign on my copy of the HYUK (read: Hip Young Urban Knitters) that I bought long ago.

2. My dear *secret* pal, Cherilyn has received the package I mailed (the 2nd time round) 2 weeks ago...


3. On the renovation front: We have still not appointed an interior designer yet. Still making our rounds. 1st round quotes are making both Hub & I gasp at *40 grand* price tags and that's not including the furnitures and accessories yet! Can you imagine how much yarn and vintage watches that will come up to be? I think we really need to break down the carpentry works into phases; and not go into this in one go.

I can smell burning smoke from our pockets.

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Screwy sidebar & non-knitting content

On my blog
I dunno what's happened but somehow the sidebar's gone a little off. If anyone out there has a clue, please email or leave me a comment.
Note: It is now *fixed*. Apparently, moi at last post must have change the sidebar wrapper setting, making it bigger than it should. Me happy now. :)

On knitting
On the knitting front, the fairisle/border 2nd sleeve done. My dear friend has received the secret package and it arrived in Canada successfully.

Now working on the body in the round *again*. By any luck, I am crossing my fingers that I will get the darned lovely project done by end Dec!

Meeting knit pals
It was great last Saturday. I managed to meet up Karen & Cara. We are supposed to have a meetup this Sat but I am not sure if anyone is gonna be able to make it. But I *do* know of someone who's ready to meet!


Now onto the non-knitting content (skip if you wish)
Hubby and I went to a furniture place last weekend. We have *so* impulsively put down deposit for the furniture that we liked. [Even before we nailed down and finalized the interior design.] They kind of fit into the resort/comfy look we liked. We will be doing more furniture shopping this coming weekend.

Talk about how implusive streaks seems to run across all disciplines. (*sheepish grin*)

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Questions on my blog

I have noticed some questions being left on the comments section. Unfortunately, as I used the default Blogger commenting system, I am not sure if any of you receives an alert when new comments are being posted -- I *think* not. So I have taken this opportunity to do a summary of the questions asked and post responses here. Just becoz I don't think people will be going back to the comments sections to anticipate to read the responses?
Or could it be just me, who don't quite go back to other people's blog to see my responses? Anyway...


Mary asked a question:
"Hi I have the same pattern for the elf from Jean Greenhowe I love her stuff!! But for some reason I cant seem to get the leg seem down any tips?"

The procedure I used as follows:
1. sew across foot seam.
2. sew up body seam (up to the neck area first).
3. sew the leg divide seam right through both the front and back pieces (normal seaming, nothing fancy)
4. then I did stuffing for the legs and the body (if you had stuffing before, it would be very difficult to do a proper job of dividing and seaming through the leg seam evenly).
5. sew the remaining of the seam to the head and tie the neck to pull in.


Also,
Chie & Doreen asked where they could lay their hands on the wedding dolls pattern.
These are from Jean Greenhowe's pattern books. I love her patterns as the dolls turn out very 3D-like, if you know what I mean. If you want to have a look at completed items, check out my sidebar completed toys items -- there are some FOs from her other books as well.

Monday, December 06, 2004

Not much knitting

Seriously got no progress on knitting at all. Work's hectic for the past week -- too much things on my mind and hands to keep occupied. Much time was spent on chatting with various interior design firms to have a sense of budgeting etc.

Let's see what I am capable of this week....though so far, I am on sleeve #2 for my fairisle border/cabled sweater.

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Mystery guest in town!

Yup. Mystery guest came into Singapore and left here U$200 poorer but definitely happier. Talk about being a partner in crime...I was US$150 down. [No and you are *not gonna* see my yarn purchases nor will you hear about the pattern book that I just put an order for!] :P

It was really gracious of her to agree to do a 14hr stopover in Singapore for a zippy stash acquisition trip! To plainly identify herself, she's even gone all out to carry a ball of yarn when leaving the arrival gates. (She's all casually dressed.) She has brought me some gifts and more importantly, I finally got to see her in person. (We missed each other the last time she went to Shanghai as I couldn't get time off work to travel from Beijing.)

It was a trip to Chinatown for dimsum lunch, followed by yarn shopping. After that, we went onto Kinokuniya for more magazine shopping.

She has also generously shared some tips and tricks such as the 2 circular needle knitting (which I never really got my head around until I saw her demonstrating it) and designing knitwear etc.

Well, Lily...let's hope we'll get to meet again!