Friday, April 29, 2005

Keeping my hands busy

Look what I have started today! Some crochet work!


What do you think this resembles? A deflated hot air balloon?
I am being a little ambitious. I want to finish this tomorrow at the Knit & Stitch meeting. Let's see how well I fare ok?


Hoodie update
I am finally on my second sleeve. Things are looking a little brighter.


Mom's telling me how much she liked this color. Yeah but this garment *isn't* meant for her. But I do get the hint. I shall get some yarn in this color to make her something. Oh, and she did mention fine yarn for the hot weather. So it's gonna be "3-4 ply, light toffee color yarn" for a tank for her.

She'll have to wait until after Mother's Day. :)


Oh, and did I mention the good news? Mom decided that she'll like to venture into the world of sewing again so she bought a sewing machine earlier this afternoon. That means I can get into steeking (cos I so want to make this cover jacket from Poetry in Stitches) or making fabric totes from now on! Fantastic! When she gets sick of the machine, I'll gladly take it off her hand. LOL.

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Happy day

Today has been a great day.

Knitter in town!
First, we have a knitterly visitor from Israel, Marian. Along with Cara, Gwen and Gavin; we went LYS hopping - 3 in total. She's happily bought some yarn from the last store. Me too (but I am not showing it.)


An RAOK!
Yet another RAOK! This one arrived rather quickly. Thanks to Susie Grougan of To Knit, Perchance to Dream... There's a lovely vintage pattern book and some stitch markers, that I won from her contest! Oh lordy good! Finally some pretty stitch markers to adorn my needles!

Baby KAL Finished Project
Bumming on sleeve island wasn't fun. I got distracted by the red yarn. This is what it became.

Clueless?

Here's more:

Why, it's the funky Pixie Baby Hat pattern (you can see that on the right sidebar.) I haven't got a baby model so the teddy bear should suffice. I just had to make its ear stick backwards so that it doesn't protude awkwardly.

This cheery red pixie baby hat ought to go down well with any parents and make their grandparents really happy!

Here's the details:

Pattern: Pixie Baby Hat from straw.com
Specs: 50g ball yarn (acrylic), used Clover Japanese needle size 4 (3.3mm) needles
Some things to note: Easy knit; portable. Will make tons!

So here's a happy, happy day for me!

Baby KAL update

First the updates:
Sophie is making a cute little gal's top but seems to be having a little frustration with the neckline. Lookie! Emily just attended a baby shower and has even knitted a cute garter elephant toy for her nephew to be. Kimberli has just began another pair of baby booties (pattern found on Interweave Knits website) on *ahem* dpns. MJ is working on a 3 year old sized Smock Jacket from Debbie Bliss' Celtic Knits.

So, here's my contribution to the Baby KAL:

Anyone can guess what this pattern is? After all the light and pastel shades I have been working with lately, this is a great change! Not only that, it certainly brightens up my blog entry :P

Friday, April 22, 2005

Reliving memories

I am on the sleeve island for the past week.

So in order to relieve boredom, I present you:

You Are 15% Left Brained, 85% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Wedding memories

Thursday, April 21, 2005

A contest: Something old, something new

In line with my blog title, I've decided to put up a contest. I've also roped my hubby GT into this - I am sure you all agree that our other halves never quite *get* our hobbies. But this one is definitely right down his alley. I've aptly named this contest:


Something old, something newFor those of you who keeps any backdated or vintage stuff, this contest is for you!(see how it rhymes? LOL)


Looking for something old
I am looking for some vintage Omega watch catalogs^*1 (dated 1970s and earlier). Preferably those featuring diver watches but those which are unusual also welcome. This is to be added to GT's private collection.

And getting something new
If what you have catches GT's fancy, you will be gifted with something from my stash (the one that I have access to currently - named "recent acquisitions" LOL). New and *unused*.How about a closer look?

Interested? Here's how you do it
1. Just send me a .jpegs of the front and back of the Omega catalog you have [email me at dur30cat AT yahoo DOT com - the numerals 3 & zero] -- please make it visible reads, not too small; I wear specs.

2. If GT nods and says "yes", I will drop you an email and you will mail out the Omega catalog to me via snail mail. Upon receipt, I will send out some items from my stash to you. If I run out of the above, I'll send something else to you.

PS. Of course, if you have other vintage Omega memorabilia (watch boxes, penknives etc) that you have no use for, you can also send a photo in and I'll see what GT says!

Simple right?

This offers tentatively ends May 31, 2005 or however long GT's interest hold out. :)

C'mon people, let's show our partners a thing or two about the power of the knitting world!

^*1. Catalog: A publication, such as a book or pamphlet, containing such a list or display: a catalog of fall fashions; a seed catalog (from www.dictionary.com)

Monday, April 18, 2005

Being loved

Lookie!

My first very own pair of knitted socks


They are nothing fancy but oh, they really do make me happy!

Here's the details:

Pattern: Toe up pattern, "Simply Socks Plain and Fancy" from Priscilla Gibson-Roberts
Specs: 50g ball yarn (60% wool, 40% viscose), used Clover Japanese needle size 3 mm needles
Some things to note: Nothing too complicated but must interpret the instructions very carefully. Especially on the decreases. The k2,p2 bind off was a killer but I'll love to practise a lot more to perfect it! The socks are good yarn busters!

Another RAOK!
Look what Carrie of Southern Fried Knitting sent! A great pick me up card! Thanks!

And because of the wonderful mood I am in, I am making quick progress on the hoodie.

Debblie Bliss Hoodie Update



I am on the sleeve island now. And given that long limbs are characteristics within the family, I am lengthening the original stated 17" sleeves by another 2 inches. But interestingly, the # of stitches required for the cast on of the sleeves is more than one front panel -- the sleeves will turn out comfy to accomodate a tee-shirt on the inside.

It's so good to be loved; that sense of comfort evoked by the handknits, or by random acts of kindness from faceless friends on this blog world who will cheer along with you and never hesitate to send surprises to lift your spirits up when the going gets tough. I am so blessed to be part of this community that continually touches me with their kind thoughts and gestures.

Thanks to you all!

Activities and updates

I've been keeping myself busy for the past few days.

Meetup migration
We had news that meetup.com is gonna start charging monthly fees effective May 01. It's US$19 per month which we don't have since the meetup we have is free for all. So we've decided to *move house* - yea, moving both online and offline (my own apartment). What co-incidence!

Anyway, we had our Knit & Stitch meeting last Saturday. Here's some photos:



You can see everyone concentrating really hard on their projects. I captured these moments of serenity when we're done with our yakking! (grin) Oh, Erin and Bonnie, I'll make sure I remember to fish out my camera much earlier the next time so we get more Kodak moments ok?


My Sock Partner
Having meetups are really good incentives to get one off their butt. I decided to cast on Sock#2 Sat morning. Here's the progress to date. These Tim Tams are really great energy boosters at 2am in the morning! Wished I should have bought more the other day. And I just realized they had limited edition white Tim Tams?! Geez, now I'll *never* be able to get that here in Singapore.

Baby Knit/Crochet Along
I haven't started anything yet but is having a great time looking for the various free links. They are on the right sidebar. New participants are also added.


Chocolates just keep me hyper.

Saturday, April 16, 2005

Sleepless in Singapore

I couldn't get to sleep last night. I tossed and turned in bed. Got fed up enough to finally get out of bed at 6am. So officially I was up for close to 30hours before I crashed in late noon for a quick nap.

It's obvious that I needed to make good use of the time I have; it's not everyday where it feels like there's 30hrs in a day!

I started looking for patterns that I could use for the Baby Knitalong (see it on my right sidebar). I found *some* but that's really an understatement - there are *tons* of them out there! Pass them along to me if you would like to share them too - I'd put them up tomorrow.

All that web surfing is real dangerous activity; I had to muster real restraint at not drooling and wanting to buy more yarn!

So I had to direct that energy to something positive: like doing a facelift (not on me, I don't need one at this point.) When I decided to do this Baby Knit/Crochet Along, I figured that I needed more space on the sidebars to put the links up. So here it is.

If you had trouble getting onto this site earlier today, I apologize. But I do hope this template makes for easier reading with its light background. The blog banner has such a picturesque beach.

I also started on the 2nd front piece of the hoodie. I think I ought to move onto the hoodie. That'll be more fun than going to sleeve island.

Oh, and thanks for all that encouragement and compliments of the sock! I just wondered why I didn't go into sock knitting earlier; it's just nothing but short rows (haha, right, now I can say that....) I think I am going into SSS aka Second Sock Syndrome soon.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Getting RAOK'ed!

It's a toy for hubby who is (a) a military guy (b) born in the year of the Ox. So this toy is seemingly fitting for someone like him huh? And incidentally, Shannon has it sent out on his birthday!

So thanks, Shannon, I love it and so does Hubby. In fact, after gifting him, Hubby kept it in a cupboard for safekeeping until we move to our new apartment where it'll be displayed prominently in his study. Along with blue tack; we love our friends but we don't trust the little ones who may just conveniently snitch it (grin).


Baby Knit/Crochet Along
Oh, on that note, for those interested, please drop me an email separately coz Blogger's anonymous commenting means that I don't have access to your email addy sometimes to reply to you.

Hosting a Baby Knitalong

If I've learnt anything about myself since I started the blog, I love to multi-task. On anything related to my handicrafts, that is, yarn shopping, stashing, deciding new projects while concurrently working on WIPs.

I have to 'fess up...my wandering fingers just went a googling and I discovered the summer knitalong. This is definitely in line with our weather and Amanda, our host, has lined up a whole host of patterns for us to choose from. So you gals out there, go check it out!

The hot weather must have been a good time to create babies. (Gasp! Not me!) My friend and a close member are having babies. I intend to crank out some baby wear as gifts so some company is definitely appreciated! Hence, this:

It's my first attempt at button creation so please don't be hard on me. :)

Now off to search for the links.

[EDITED:] You can check out the free pattern links in this entry here (just click the bolded words).

link | posted by emy at 3:04 PM
15 comments

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

My first sock attempt!

See? Me like it...it is a toe up pattern. The bind off took me longer than I thought as I had to do the sewing bind off which is supposedly more stretchy. This sock took me about 6 hours to knit and another 1.5 to sew. Let's see by how much my record for the 2nd one will be improved.

For the first time, I now do appreciate variegated yarn :) I think this yarn would work pretty for a plain, simple tank too!

Oh, and when measuring, it's indeed being proven that I have abnormal feet. My foot is 1cm longer than my widest part and my ankle is 3.5cm narrower than the widest part too. In short, just totally inproportionate. Good grief!

Now I know why I *keep* wearing the toes off my socks so quickly when I was young! My mom keep telling me to keep my toenails short and tidy but it seems that it's my long toes that's been the culprit. Ha!


Cabled hoodie sweater update
I completed the back and now on one front piece.

It's looking good and I think I will get onto another project. Once I've got my sock a partner.

Taking it a tad too long

That's what I thought too...I must be taking my new mantra a little too seriously - a look at my last post was a few days ago! I am making good progress too! Wanna see some photos?

Come back tomorrow. I will have a photo post then.

It's easy to lose track of time when you have several activities that are going parallel. Like knitting and home renovations.

We just spent last Saturday at a lighting shop & a toiletries accessory shop. How *exciting*!

The thing I am looking forward to now is the expected completion date of our apartment renovation is tentatively set to end late May. Which means I can move in soon; now I am really looking forward to it.

Sunday night was spent listing of hubby's watches for sale on ebay. (If you are interested, just click the link at the bottom of the sidebar.) We're doing this to get some bread on the table as we're on single income (that's his) and there's that money needed for our renovations.

This will carry on until I find myself a job or start a business or something. And I am trying to be a good gal by knitting from my stash. Hand me the handcuffs!

Anyone care to give me some great advice?!

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Now one at a time

Here's my progress on my sister's hoodie. I am starting with the back this time so that I can make out the yardage needed. I only have 20 balls for this. This is one ball status so far; I started this yesterday and is quite pleased that it's an easy knit. Compared to the pink asymetrical sweater!

As for "one at a time" policy? Let's see how long I can keep up with that LOL! I'm already thinking Ms Mariah but am just thinking if working on different sets of cables are enough to confuse me. OK, go ahead and punish me; I am just greedy for cable work.

A surprise package
This made my day: my dear friend Cherilyn from Canada has just sent me this knowing that I love making toys!

What a great booklet!

From the comments
winnie asked…" Hi, how is the FBS in cotton? I plan to make one for a friend of mine because she is allergic to all types of wool. When you block it out does the yarn still reveal the beautiful pattern? "

I didn't want to be rude but I can't get hold of you Winnie! Blogger doesn't quite kindly provide me with your email addy when you comment. For your record, FBS in cotton is lovely; it provides minimal but adequate coverage on a summery evening. And it does block out well too (from my previous experience).

Those wanting to see my new FBS will have to be patient. It's taking a while as I search for a sufficiently large surface area to block it out.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

One step back, one step forward

Sounds like tango?

Lately, I've taken to a resolution of taking one step back, one step forward - meaning by taking on new projects, I resolute to get onto my UFOs or WIPs and try to finish them. So I've been taking on one WIP each time to go with my new project.

Keeping that simple resolution is atsounding! So far, I've managed to get these items out of my basket:
1. my duo-colored top - There are only the armholes and neckline neatening I needed to do.
2. my sister's plain front pouch hoodie - Only joining of sleeves to the body and making the neck cord.
3. Ms Royal - Started back in Oct, there was a long halt as I went frolicking in the frog pond.
4. FBS - Ended too small; undid and added more repeats until the yarn barely ran out!

In short, those items corresponding to my entry here are all done!


New FOs
Here are the new FOs to boot.

1. Ms Turner, which I completed yesterday.

Pattern: Short rib scarf from magknits
Specs: 3.7 balls of Cleckheaton Country 8 ply, 50g (100% pure wool), used Clover 8 (US 4.5mm) needles
Some things to note: There are some mistakes on the pattern but nothing that is difficult to fix. The repeats are easy on the memory - I did 19. This is a great knit; possibly becoz of the wool which is springy and 100% more forgiving than those cotton yarns that I always use.

Here's the model shot.

2. Baby loveknot dress

I'll consider her done at this point. All she needs is 2 crocheted buttonholes and 2 buttons; and then a lace sash threaded all around her bodice. She'll probably fit a 9 month old gal.

I'm thinking of some lining beneath to act as a sheath so that the little tod will not attempt to poke her toes out and get caught unecessarily. But then again, with this form of crochet stitch, this dress is definitely not an everyday wear! LOL.

Pattern: Baby crochet loveknot dress
Specs: half ball of baby yarn, 2 balls of 4ply crochet cotton; used crochet 3/0 & 4.0 hooks.
Some things to note: There are some mistakes on the pattern but nothing that is
difficult to fix. This project took me a while to get completed as the baby yarn used on the bodice isn't exactly quite suitable for the loveknot stitch below as the yarn gets unplyed.

Now I have to say: new projects here I come! Do I get to buy more yarn too? (grin)

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Ms Turner revealed

Here she is. She's a scarf for a friend. Pattern to be found here.

At about 90% completion - I wished I could have been a little faster so that I can snuck a 4 FO lead in the month of Mar but I just fizzled. It went downhill from there. I am taking things a little slow for the past 2 days. With any luck, it'll be FOed tomorrow!


The verdict is out!
Ms Royal turned out great. I've worn her out today. Verdict: accepted in our weather so long as it's not 30 degrees Celsius or more. She doesn't heat me up unnecessarily and is a great yarn project to be worn in air conditioning places.

It was raining when we went out to our favorite hunt Ikea - which happens to be Alison's kids' favorite place too! But no, I didn't pursue the thought of knitting in the cafe, as it's just too d*mned crowded.


Renovation works commence tomorrow *finally*.