Mimi's knitting corner

Yarn Hunting in Kuyshu

2008-03-02T17:13:00.011+08:00

It has been almost a month since I came back from Kuyshu. I wanted to post sooner but lately I've been involved with my kids' studies. We had a great get away during Chinese New Year holidays over there, despite the cold weather. Yarn hunting wasn't so abundant as I expected. I found very few yarn shops during my visit. First stop was Yuzawaya in Fukuoka. It's located in the district of Tenjin on the 6th floor of a department store named Mina (if I'm not mistaken). Not comparable with its store in Tokyo at all. There weren't many yarns that I would like to bring home. A lot of the yarn stock weren't sufficient to knit a long sleeve cardigan (very few stock left out. I believe there was a sale going on just a few days before leaving little yarn for me. Sigh...Here is a little tour of the shop. The buttons selection were amazing. Unfortunately, no time to dedicate to these colorful rainbow display.
In a way, it's good that I don't sew. It would be heavy to bring some samples of these fabrics home.
Not satisfied enough with Yuzawaya, I decided to ask around about more yarn shops. And finally found this little shop nearby. It's a small shop with a high end selection, mostly Italian yarns. I didn't find any yarn to buy. They were too expensive.
I was lucky that I found couple knitting magazines that were just released on the day. And they happen to be my favorite titles. :)
As we travelled further south to Oita, where DH wanted to refresh his memories of the old town he had worked before. It's a smaller city, things haven't changed much after more than 10 years, as I recall. Walking around the downtown area, I spotted this yarn shop. Looked nice with the sale bins but so sad only acrylic yarn, the ones to knit dishcloths or some mohair yarn. I only got some Clover bamboo straight needles to complete my collection. I have now a complete set of clover bamboo straight needles in Japanese size ( except size 1, not much of a possibility to use super thin needles) ) and they have the size mark in the top. Some of my needles bought previously only had the mark on the shaft (? the long part) and it's almost invisible after constant use.
Well, in a way it was good that I didn't get to buy much yarn. Something that I realized when I got home and looked at my yarn stash. The ones I got last year in Japan are still untouched.
At least I got two packs of merino wool from Yuzawaya. The wine color I got 13. It should be enough for a long sleeve sweater. The beige only had a pack of 10 available. Perhaps will suit a vest.
I finally bought the embroidery scissors. Having seen it previously in Keito dama magazines ads. I had wished to own one for a while. It's just too expensive for a small scissor ( about $36) . The store only had one in stock, so that helped me to decide quickly though I still think it's too costly for a tiny scissor. Spotted some nice bamboo buttons that followed me home. I also bought 3 very pretty mother-of-pearl flower shaped buttons but unfortunately I lost them.
The best part of my trip was a night stay at Yufuin Hot Spring. We stayed at this traditional style hotel that was very relaxing. I had the chance to soak myself in the Onsen 3 times. It was just so wonderful. The spring water leaves your skin so smooth and silky feeling. And to make you feel even more relaxed, the supper is served in your own room. Next photos were taken on a little stroll at the main street in Yufuin. It's so interesting, they had shops with animal theme, like cat, dog, owl and even a bee shop!
And if you are feeling hungry to see the cake shop ( bottom right photo) , you'll need a second closer look because they are instead mini towels rolled as cake forms. Didn't find any yarn shop but spotted some hand knitted gloves.
Not much knitting going on in my corner. I think I stopped knitting for too long. I feel that my hands are feeling all rusted. At least, I have a scarf and a hat to show in this post.
I like this hat very much, except that I pulled the string, to close the top, too tightly. Thus, yielding this big lump on the top. Otherwise, I like the cabling border. It gives that special touch to the hat.
Both the scarf and hat were knitted using Diadomina yarn. The patterns are from this book.

Lately, I 've been distracted by my Keito dama and World Knitting collection. Somehow, they never cease my enthusiasm to look at the designs over and over again. I 'm looking for inspirations to bring my knitting mood back. I don't think I could have enough of these magazines in my lifetime. I decided that I will start to buy less of other titles that I keep bringing home wherever I go to the book shop. Well that sounds to be an old story but at least I am getting conscious about it! ;)

Lastly, some knitting magazines that DH got at Liberty in London for me. I had just requested the new Rowan but he found the other two magazines at a bookstore. I couldn't think of what yarn to ask him to buy when he called from Liberty. Do you think I am suffering some kind of yarn withdraw lately? There are three designs that I want to knit from this Rowan, Astral (that has been already started in my needles), Geno and Purity . ( The designs can be seen here) I hope I can finish my wips ( almost ufos). That should bring up my knitting mood level back to normal. Let's hope so!

Lotus Cardigan FO

2008-01-29T16:04:00.000+08:00

Late posting again! I've been very busy these days since the boys are on winter vacation. No break for me though as I've been cooking, driving and checking on them around the clock. Little time for knitting. I finished Lotus cardigan a few weeks ago but I don't have very good photos to share. To get things going, I'll just post these ones or it will be another few weeks before I can post again.

As you can see, Lotus didn't turned out so great. I had high expectations that it would be a nice FO. It looks a little bulky, or in other words it makes me look bigger than I think I'm now. The pockets turned out to be all right. Regular length sleeves would be better since it's a little cold to wear it without an inner layer.

I managed to make the collar stay still by knitting extra rows and adding a ribbed border. It's just not the collar I had in mind though.

Yarn : Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino ( 10 skeins)

needles: Japanese 7

With Chinese New Year just around the corner, I had in mind to have a new sweater (named as Jade Jacket). Unfortunately, I won't be able to finish it in time for the occasion. Just the cable border took me a week to complete. The body is being knitted in one piece after picking up stitches from the side of the long cable strip. At beginning, I wasn't sure if I should knit the body parts ( back and two fronts) and later have it sewn to the cable border. I thought it would be safer to just pick up the stitches. A little more trouble at beginning to ensure even stitches along the border but no mending job left in the end! And I think it was the right decision. I'm satisfied with the connecting section.

The seed stitch is slowing me down in this project but I am happy with it. I'll add cable borders to the sleeves as well. Looking for a pattern that has Chinese collars but so far haven't found any. I believe I'll knit or crochet a button border with some Chinese style knotted closures, if I could successfully make them. I feel it's going to be a long project. it's not easy to knit without a pattern to follow. There are just too many little details that I can't foresee.

Last and certainly not least, I got an unexpected package from the postman this afternoon. Little stars to lighting my day from my childhood friend ( since I was 6 and she was 4) from the other side of the earth. Really, it's all the way from Brazil. Our last meeting was in California more than 20 years but we are still in touch by email and phone. She sent my favorite childhood chocolates, caramelized figs and fig scented soaps and body cream ( just because I told her I miss figs). And knowing that I am an addict knitter she sent me yarn and knitting magazines. I have lots of cotton yarns and hand made kitchen towels from her past parcels that I'll post in the near future.

I almost forget that I wanted to share new knitting books that I found this weekend and that followed me home. First one on left has classic vests for men (by Hamanaka, titled as "men's sweater & vest" that I think it will come handy when I knit for hubby. I already missed his birthday, so I still have plenty of months for the next one. Second one was an old edition from 1989. I only got it because it has golf clubs cover patterns that I plan to knit for hubby as well. One of these days... Well, good intentions count too! ;) And last, was this reprint of a vintage book. I have seen it in an ad from Keito ( summer 2006) and have since been very curious about it's content. It's a paperback quality and has lots of Japanese text ( unfortunately, can't read any). It looks more a book for machine knitting though. Which I presumably assume could be used for hand knitting too. In addition, there are stitches charts with similar symbols used nowadays. For now, it's more for browsing and seeing all the different designs the book offers ( no ISBN number information available). Anyway, I had to have it since it was the only copy on the shelf. All three books were lonely copies, so it was very easy to make up my mind.

Next week we'll be visiting Fukuoka , Oita and the surrounding area for vacation. And that means I'll be able to check on yarn shops. I'm pretty excited that I found out Yuzawaya has a branch store in Fukuoka. I am looking forward to seeing the new spring books and yarns! Does anyone know other yarn shops in the area?

It feels so good to know that I'll be starting the new year looking at yarns! ;) Happy Chinese New Year!

About new projects and knitting collection

2008-01-12T08:58:00.000+08:00

I've been thinking about knitting all day long since I am back to my usual knitting motto. ;) Using again Debblie Bliss baby Cashmerino to work on my latest Lotus cardi. The bottom left photo is more reflective of the true color of the yarn.
I had in mind for a simple design but I didn't spot anything suitable in my books. A lot of work flipping in my monstrous book collection these days. I decided to come up with my own design. Looks to be very simple but designing is not an easy task. With all my initial excitement, I forget to do the inset pockets. I was way up to the shoulder line by the time I noticed the mistake. However, I really wished to have pockets. Then my only alternative was to have sewn on ones. I took the risk even though I knew how bad my sewing skills could be.

Now I am working on the collar. There is a problem, it keeps rolling up on the back side of the neck . I'll need to check on that later. I decided to give myself a little distraction. Something brainless, like this scarf.

This was one of the first winter 2007 books I bought. I was attracted by it's clever construction. It's easier to knit than it actually looks. First knit a right triangle piece and pick up stitches on the hypotenuse side. Repeat the action until desired lenght. I am using Diadomina yarn in color DD 313 that I bought in Hokkaido last year. I am thinking in knitting a matching hat from the same book ( another nice construction, hopefully coming soon) since I have 6 skeins of this yarn.

Now showing some new items in my knitting collection. Got these from London via husband before Xmas. I wrote detailed info for him to easily get these items for me. Apparently, he had to call me once at the shop as he got all confused about the names. Then I spoke to a saleslady to get what i was hoping for ( Tapestry and Kidsilk haze). Though hubby selected the colours for me and even throw two bonus magazines ( Tapestry and Rowan pure wool). I wanted to get the Kaffe Fasset sock yarn ( even though I don't knit socks!) but they didn't carry it.

Next are some souvenirs from Spain my dear sister sent to me. She makes extra effort to look for knitting magazines or yarn when she is travelling these days. One magazine is called Diana ( Spanish) and the other Maglia ( Italian).There was also Knitting beyond the edge by Nicky Epstein that she added later in the pack .

Couple weeks ago I went to Shanghai with husband. It was a super quick stop of only two days to take care of a few personal matters. I had that little hope for yarn as you know me even though husband had told me there would be no time for yarn hunting. I did a quick search in Ravelry and found some info in the forums. On the second late afternoon, we had a little free time and husband asked me where I wanted to go. Of course we went yarn hunting based on the info I had searched. Unfortunately, we walked many streets to find only two yarn shops. One was closed and the other one didn't had anything appealing to me except for Henyuanxian yarn that I still have a good stock in hands.

I spotted an ad while in the metro train station. I took a photo of the ad despite that a train was approaching and we still needed to figure out which direction to go. Strong positive yarn thoughts, always bring me yarn! I wished that they were real than virtual though....

Well, I didn't come back empty handed. Found a tiny yarn shop nearby the district I was staying. I asked permission to take this photo. So fun that the ladies are all happy and knitting together.
As you can observe in the photo there weren't a good selection of yarn to choose. The owner looked so enthusiastic that she would sell me something. I didn't want to disappoint her so I got this lot of purple cotton yarn. It's very thin thread and it looks like export yarn to Japan. There weren't much choice of colors, either bright pink or blue.

I also bought couple crochet books from a bookstore. It's more for eye pleasing or inspirational tool because the patterns in the book are just stitches charts. No sizing or details info of the designs.

Thanks for your comments! It's always nice to hear from my knitting friends and receive encouraging words from new readers! I try often to reply to my comments but a lot times i don't get a return address from blogger.

Now it's time to go knitting! See you next time!

New Year with new FOs!

2008-01-03T20:51:00.000+08:00

It's been a month since my last post. I hope you all had wonderful holidays with your family and friends, delicious food, many gifts and happy smiles! I think it's still in time to wish you all a Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to this new start as last year was a very bad year for me. Ah, but so far so good! To commemorate my new start, I thought a new face for my blog would be fun. I spent this afternoon sketching a drawing for my banner. I originally hand drew the picture and even coloured it. I showed the picture to my elder son when he was back from school. He told me that he could reproduce it with his MAC. And there I'm sitting and knitting in my dream garden in a sunny day! By the way, there were more yarns in the bag in my original picture. Anyway, I decided that I should not bug him for more changes. He commented that he didn't have a good tool to do the drawings. I'm quite pleased with the drawing.

I'm much back into my knitting these days after the little "affair" with crochet.
Here, I'm starting the new year with 3 new FOs. No, I'm not such a fast knitter! Would be nice though ... Actually, I finished them all before the year end but had no opportunity to post them.

First in line is Berry Cardi. I finished it at least two months ago. I was waiting for a good photo and I even made a visit to the orchid nursery. Unfortunately, by the time I got there it was pretty dark. I only got this blurry picture to share.

I am very pleased with this project. Very simple and practical. It's one of the few knits that I've been wearing so often. Everything feels good, the width, the length, the color and yarn that is very soft. It was just a pleasure to have knitted this cardi.

pattern: Berry Cardi - World Knitting spring summer 2006

yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashemerino ( 8 balls). The water turns red during the washes. I hope it will soon subside. Though I didn't notice any color change in my cardi.

needle : Lantern moon size US 5 3.75 mm

Oh worthy to mention. How I love these Rosewood Lantern moon needles! They are so good to knit with and the sts run so smoothly... I feel like to have a a complete set. I only have a pair and they are straight needles. There is a little problem, these needles are kind expensive. Perhaps I should buy less yarn and build a set.

Second in line is Fendi FO, as the name implies, this is a design inspired from last year's ( I think) Fendi Spring collection. I added the two flowers buttons, which were crocheted. The original one had two big buttons instead and a large belt around. As you can observe, it turned a little too snugly on me. I feel this yarn will soon loosen up and then hopefully the fit will be fine.

Pattern: Fendi inspired. Directions from a LYS teacher.

yarn: Lana Grossa Gala 40% silk 24% viscose 17% linen

needles: circular needles Japanese 7

And finally, the last FO is my Snow Flowers scarf. This project combines knitting and crocheting. Very fun to make since you get to work on different little pieces. I used a very thin nylon thread to sew the flowers and beads ( pearls and crystals) in place. I think it's the thread used for some quilting and is basically invisible. So good for me because I'm not such a good seaming lady. And with this thread you can barely notice the zig zag messy stitches I made on the back. ;)
I modified a little on this scarf. After I was done with a few crochet flowers, I tried to place them in the scarf and there was just no place I could add more. Another reason was that I didn't have enough yarn for extra flowers.

Pattern: Snow Flowers Scarf from Knitting book (ISBN 978-4-391-62490-8)

Yarn: Mohair Premier 2 balls 25g 90m

needles: Japanese size 7 ( knit) and size 4 (crochet)

Little knitting and more crochet

2007-11-30T17:00:00.000+08:00

First of all, I need to thank you all for expressing concerns about my family in the fire event in San Diego. Fortunately, they were all fine and back to their normal lives now. In addition, I also felted very cared from those who had sent me good health wishes in words or vibes. You know in hard times, caring words are always so healing! Thank you so much!

I've been away for a while because I was feeling a little down with all the unlucky events that have been hitting me for a while, one after the other. The health issues took a good share of the blame. So far it's been under control and I'll just need some routine exams every 6 months or so. I decided then that I needed to live my life more beautifully. With that in mind, I filled the house with flowers and plants and developed an interested again in decoration and entertaining at home. Things that I have not done for a while.

And the beginning of a new craft emerged with a tea party. It's interesting that it all started with a crystal lilac three tier cake stand that I bought. Followed by a new set of tea set. Except that there was no matching tea pot available. I had to match up with a plain white one, that at least falls in the same style of the cups and saucers. Next,I felt the urge to complement the boldness of the pot with some light lilac pot warmers. Check the 50's style hat and matching dress pot holders. I think they are so cute. Truly, I feel that I am back to my little girl days. It's like playing with little dolls' clothing.

Another pot holder or mat in a shape of tea pot. By the way, no delicious cake available for photo today. So I openned some rice cracks that a friend brought from Japan. They were the best I had so far.

And more pot holders will be added to my new collection in the near future. I've never really liked crochet all these years. But now, I have to say that I am really addicted to it.The patterns are from a Japanese book, titled as pot holders. I acquired this book in Spring of 2005 but didn't had enough crochet skills to make them. I am actually very surprised that I was able to make them by my own with my limited crochet skills.

The hat has an inner crochet part that is round and flat. I added some cotton balls to make the center shape pop up. The little dress bottom and sleeves parts were crocheted in round.
For the tea pot I made it double layer to add some thickness to it.

As for knitting content, I was knitting some accessories last month.

In the photo above, I am enjoying a beautiful view at the coffee bar in Yilan, north east of the island. Savoring a yummy cake and fruit tea and concentrated in a scarf project seen in this photo below.

Sorry for the blurred image. The page is too shinning to avoid the glare.
Below is the Large rectangle stole from Victorian Lace Today. Started in my flight back from my summer escapade to Singapore. It's taking me forever to knit with the thin yarn, though the knitted fabric is divine to touch.

Hope to back again soon!

clicking on the needles

2007-10-24T11:11:00.000+08:00

It's passed twenty days since my last post. And that is because I am back to the same boat with some health issue again. I am trying to be optimist and not think too much until I know more about it. That explains why I haven't been commenting in your blogs lately. Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving nice notes to me. It makes me wanting to click more on my needles.

For couple days I've been worrying about my family in San Diego. As you might know there is a major wild fire issue over there. My parents, sister and brother's were all evacuated from their homes. Luckily they are all safe and sheltered at a friend's home. I can imagine how terrifying these past few days has been for the people in the area. It looks like that my family houses are safe, including my brother one that was in the most critical location. I was thinking about the orchard on the back of his house that I had just contemplated a few months ago. It's true that in time like this, you just feel blessed to be safe. But loosing your house, though is material matter is still too sad. There is a lot of sentimental value and your nest is where you find comfort.

I feel relieved and that makes me feel good and in the mood to blog. And all this time I have been working on these,

The violet top, is done by now but waiting for a couple of buttons, that I've yet to find a pattern, since I have in mind to either crochet or knit some flowers to use as button.

Did you notice the little plastic Clover needles? My new toys ,that I've just discovered since I started to knit the Lilac top. They are great for sleeves and the collar area.

Another project that I have been working on is this Vanilla top. It's a design that I've been eyeing for some time. The design is from one of my old AMU magazines. It's a combination of crochet and knitting, somehow I have an attraction for this type of project.

It has been put aside since I don't have time to go to the class these days. I need help on connecting the crochet flowers. So in meantime, I have other priorities like this,

Oh, I am so in love with dark reds like in my Bourdeaux top.

Ooops, there was an uneven stitch but all the way down. Apparently, I knitted through the thread and only caught a very thin one. I could feel it would rip very easily by itself, just a matter of time. It was much closer to the border but I just didn't want to unravel the border. There were a few difficult rows in there. I took the risk and frogged from the top instead, after all, they were just plain stitches. A bit risky because I run the chance to ruin the whole piece. But I did,

A crochet hook solved my problem and it is all fixed and I could not tell I had done a mini surgery there. I even decided to do a makeover for the sts adjacent. This design is knitted bottom up. First I knitted the back and front and sew the sides. Next was the sleeves and connected them to the body. I left all the sts for each part on needles and connect them all to form the yoke. It wasn't an easy job to sew the sleeves to the body. It shows my poor mending skills ; however, I think they won't be so obvious as the section will be hidden by the underarms. I am hoping.

Doily cardi FO

2007-10-04T12:02:00.000+08:00

I made it! Here is another post for this week. You've been waiting for this post, don't you? I hope I won't brag too much about this FO. Oh but I am so happy and proud for my doily cardi!

The final product turned out to be much nicer than I had expected. This project started with a lot uncertainty and frustration. When I first saw the design in the magazine I didn't like it all. I had no idea of the pattern as the picture in the magazine only shows a cluster of crochet borders.

I noticed some knitting work and that lead me to the graph page itself. So surprised I was to see this doily diagram. I immediately knew I wanted to knit one.

Remember that I'd started with the blue Millefili yarn and by the time I finished the central leaves panel I had to frog due to the wrong gauge? Well, that was my first frustration. My solution was to knit with a larger needle size and using a thicker yarn composed of of ramie and cotton . I found so fun to knit in round without worrying about increases or decreases. It's all embedded in the pattern. Even the unfamiliar circular needles ( I seldom use them) were not so strange to me anymore. And the best, no seaming at all!

Yes, I know the white top underneath is not matching at all! I was in such a rush for this photo session and nothing reachable from my closet at that moment looked good either.

I added the 3 buttons because I don't like the loosen look it yields on the sides and back when the cardi is unbuttoned . Take a look at the back, I think it looks very nice.

It's all about the back! I wished it was longer though. However, the collar would be wider than it's already. And it would cover the main panel even more.

It took me a few trials to get the crochet border straight. I wanted it look flat not ruffled. Though, I like ruffles, my objective this time was to eliminate the busy look of the trims as in the original design. I also skipped the border on the sleeves.

I took the photos at this park nearby my home. It's a pretty place with a lake in the center and in the back it has a Chinese theme garden with lotus flowers and a school of Koi. Though I like this place very much I seldom go there. Perhaps when the weather cools down I will do some walking around.

A better look at doily cardigan,

Pattern: Keitodama Summer 2007
Yarn: R&C Ramie Cotton bought in Japan
Needles circular and dpns size 7 (4.2 mm) , crochet # 4

I like it best in full view,

There are small mistakes in this doily. Can you find it? Observe the flower petals and you'll find out that the sleeves openings are not fully aligned. I had a little trouble knitting the sleeves up as well. I thought that the pattern was supposedly a continuation of the eyelets sts from the body. After frogging a few times and checking on the pattern I discovered that they wouldn't match. At least I can't tell when I am wearing it, so it's fine with me. Despite these little imperfections, I am still very happy with this FO!

Memories of Singapore

2007-10-02T11:22:00.000+08:00

I am so behind with my posts these days but I still would like to register all my knitting adventures here in my blog. And I guess, you may as well enjoy them. I am trying to update as much as I can in a chronological sequence, so be prepared to see multiple posts this week!

By the end of summer I had a quick get away to Singapore. My family and I have lived there as expats for about 4 years and the experience has left solid memories for my boys. So it wasn't a surprise to me when my elder son told me his wish to go back for a few days. And I certainly had no problems with that as I also enjoy the country.

I myself have lived in many cities and once back I like to return to all my favorite spots. See what has been changed or still contemplate the old corners. It's true, I have been back to Singapore at least once a year since I left. I would fly back even more if I could!

One of my priorities is Orchard Road and the vicinity. I don't really buy a lot ( I think) but I like to wonder around. And then comes the Kinokuniya bookstore to check on the knitting books ( It was my routine stop to go twice a week) and certainly all the yarn shops.
I was able to meet up with Opportunityknits and we had the best time together chatting about knitting and checking yarn shops. Time never seen enough for us to catch up with our favorite subject about knitting. Unfortunately, I was too entertained and didn't take any photo of the yarn shops. I should certainly capture the moments next time.

However, I have these photos below to share. This window display caught our attention at Rafles city,

This store specializes in knitted handbags. Double click the photos for a larger view.

Below, one more view with silver theme.

For yarn shops I visited Golden Dragon (Chinatown), Knitting Shop Enterprise ( Golden Landmark), Yarn shop (Tanglin Mall), Spotlight ( Plaza Singapura), Yon Hearn ( Holland Village) and this new yarn place that Opportunityknits took me.(I don't know the name).

I was so behaved while I was in US but somehow I lost control and came back with all this cotton yarns. By coincidence, I always have my folding bag on my trips for emergency purposes like this. Half of the lot I got it few hours before I had to catch the flight. I went back to the Golden Dragon store on the last day to get extras of the red yarn ( bottom pack). I had a project in mind bt I felt that I didn't had enough yardage. Anyway, since it was my last chance I ended up grabbing 3 more packs of yarn.

To add more pleasure to my lot, I was gifted by Opportunityknits with these:

Sulvin Gold yarn from Richmore, so soft and they have this silky touch! And the soaps are so perfumed.

Changing subject to a quick food event. For days during the trip, I was looking for this particular fruit that I so love it's sweet and sour taste! It's named Duku , cultivated in Malaysia and Thailand. I found it on the way back from Golden Dragon. I was so excited but could only buy a small cluster since I would only have a few hours to consume it. Oh it was so yummy!! :)

Perfect stop in Singapore! And for days I was contemplating my new yarns at home!

Moreover, I had more joy.....On the next day at home, I had another big surprise by mail. Joy from Joyousknits and Siow Chin from Little Purl of Orient sent these,

The lovely socks are from Joy, she specially knitted it for me. Knowing that I don't know how to knit socks, Joy was very thoughtful in gifting my first hand knitted socks. I examined curiously toes, heels and top and they are so well knitted! They are actually custom made with my measurements. The socks came in this stylish bag made by Siow Chin. I like so much the linen fabric she used and the inside is matched by the mini rose prints and even has this little tag with her signature name. A perfect set for me!

And to finish today, I need to register here that I was nominated as "Rockin Girl" ( couldn't find how to paste the logo)by Mel from Wild and Wolly. Needless to say, I was very happy to be chosen. And to know that there are knitters out there that enjoy my posts!

Yarn Hunting in Bay Area

2007-09-19T18:00:00.000+08:00

In the recent years I've been wishing to visit LYS in the Bay Area. This year, I had the perfect opportunity to set a day for a yarn hunting adventure since I would stay at my sister's place in San Francisco. I had initially settled my sons at UC Berkeley for a summer camp at the beginning of the trip and then I headed to San Diego to visit my parents, my other sister and brother. And only returned to San Francisco on the 4th week.

DH decided to join us on the 4th week and I thought that my hopes for a yarn day wouldn't happen. Not that I didn't want his company, specially that I hadn't seen him for 3 weeks by then. However; the thought of taking him or having him driving me around looking for LYS wouldn't be fair for him as a vacation itinerary. It happened that he had to go on a business trip to Europe on the third day of his arrival. Well, I would certainly miss him but soon the lights lit up for my yarn hunting day.

I drove DH to the San Francisco airport and that was already more than 1/3 of the journey to the Silicon Valley, perfect justification. The boys had they own plan for the day and I was a free lady!

Thanks to Cafe Knitter for her detailed list of LYS that she prepared for me. She's a talented knitter and crocheter. Make a visit to her site.

My first stop was, Uncommom Threads, a small shop in Los Altos. I had visited it once a few years ago and I still remember the nice sale they had at that time. This year, I missed it for a couple of days. The guys and I were in the neighborhood on that weekend visiting friends and I thought I could have a better shopping day if I was by myself. Oh well, I still managed to get a box of Merino Big from Lana Grossa.

Nearby, there was Full Thread but they were closed on that day. Then, I followed my way to Knitting Arts in Saratoga.

This store carries a lot of the high end yarns but I couldn't think of any affordable project at that moment. So I walked out with just a pair of Lantern Moon rosewood needles.

I used to live in the neighborhood of the Silicon Valley, so I remembered that there was a store called "Yarn Place" in the region. My memory is not so bad , it still works for yarn things. I found it but also didn't get any yarn. They carry a good range of lace yarn similar to HYX yarn but not as good as the ones I got in Shanghai. So there wasn't any excuse to buy. Instead I found Addi Lace needles, so I didn't walked out empty hands! Next I had Purlerscence in mind but I was told it was not open on that day.

By then , late afternoon, I was already tired and hungry. As a knitter you know how time flies in LYS. So a stop at Stanford Shopping center was on call for some snack to fill in for the missed lunch. Besides that I wanted to do a quick browsing in the shops as well. At that moment, I was already on high walking speed as my wonderful day was about to end. Like Cinderella , It was getting late and I had to go back to SF to check on the boys and be a mom again and not the dreaming knitter.

Therefore, my listings of LYS was cut short and I visited one more shop on the way home.
I was heading to Creative Hands in Belmont. Oh it must be low stamina for lack of food that I couldn't find the shop so easily. I was just able to stop quickly for a few minutes before the closing time. But it looks so well stocked up that I had to come back another day.

Three days later, just before picking up DH from the airport, I made a stop again at this shop. Although not a big shop, they had yarns that I fancied for. This time I bought more, since I knew it was my last chance to buy yarns in US.

Just two more LYS...

On the day we picked up my boys at the summer camp, DH took us to Half Moon Bay area for a seafood lunch. There was a new commercial area besides the usual flower nurseries in the region. A small downtown area had emerged since I was last there. Look what I found at the main street,

Fengari Yarn shop

Actually, I had the impression that I'd read about a yarn shop in the vicinity, somewhere a long time ago. So I told DH that it would be nice to stroll in the city's main street. The boys were very cooperative, they were both taking a nap in the car. I heard they were partying until late hours and hence, missed much of their previous night sleep.

I had also the chance to visit Imagiknit in San Francisco. A huge shop with two big rooms, full of yarn. Again, I had the hardest time to buy yarn, just too many to select from.

Here are the goodies,

And to finish this post, I will let you take a glance at my new project. It's a top down design instructed by my teacher, supposedly inspired by a Fendi cardigan.

I am knitting with Gala from Lana Grossa, mix of silk, viscose, linen and polyamide. It's a very fun project, no mendings in the end.

I hope you enjoyed the virtual LYS shopping. Sorry it was a long post, but since I like to check on LYS photos I thought you may enjoy as well. Coming soon, Doily Cardi! ( Just waiting for some good weather for photo sessions)

Return to Blogland

2007-09-10T14:34:00.000+08:00

Hello my knitting friends! I am finally back to Blogland after being away for more than two months. Thank you all for the good wishes for my vacation. It was so good to be back home with my parents and sisters. Though I had a busy schedule while there, I shopped until I dropped which allowed me to loose weight as well! And I am sorry for not replying for the comments left in my last post. I had wished to be back much sooner but I found it rather difficult to resume to my normal routine while my boys were still out of school. Besides, I always loose when it comes to who gets to use the computer when the boys are around.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have the Lilac yoke top ready to go. Please ignore the middle folding line. This top has been in my luggage for two trips since I had in mind to take a photo but I never got to wear it. I tried a quick fix with steam iron but it didn't work. So it needs a full blocking again.

It was a fun project, out of ordinary one dimensional projects that I am used to knit. Knitting in round didn't feel so hard this time. Even the thin yarn wasn't a barrier for enjoyment. The lace part wasn't that difficult but rather interesting to see the design emerging. An exception was the curved area that goes just beneath the yoke . I don't think I could repeat the process without the help of my teacher. It's a combination of short rows done gradually so that it will yield to a curved piece to accommodate the yoke on the top. Since it's a round knit, the back and front is done at the same time and the heigths for the curved area in the front and back differ. Most designs with yoke just join directly and the clothing normally is not as comfortable as if there is this little fix. The shape looks a bit odd ( small top and long body) but I am relieved that it doesn't have the funny look when I am wearing it. Hmm, in another thought, could this mean that I have an odd shaped body?

Design: Keitodama Summer 2006 ( It's actually a reprint of a very old design from Keitodama 1981)
Yarn: Cotton Soft ( Valeria di Roma) 4 balls at 180mts - 197 yds / 50 g
Needles: Japanese size 4, circulars in various length
modifications: changed the borders to tubular stitches. ( good exercise for closing tubular stitches. I think this time the technique is finally registered in my head!)

While in California, I didn't knit much. I mainly shopped for real clothing and accessories ( Don't get to wear much of my knitting, perhaps the hot and humid air here in Taiwan, doesn't allow me to wear my knits that often). However, that doesn't mean that I skipped the LYS. I started a new project when I found Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino. Though I brought two packs of yarn for two projects and had searched for patterns just before I left home. All that preparation and I didn't even knit a row! Can't help not being equipped with yarn but I always regret on the way back, when is time to pack and there is so much to stuff in the luggage.

The Debbie Bliss yarn is so soft to knit and gives great stitch definition. So it was a breeze to knit this project that is just missing the mending part. Here is my Berry cardigan, just waiting for the sleeves to be attached,

It has been put aside because it's still too warm to even think about wool ( it was cool enough in California to knit with wool). I almost run out of yarn but just a few days before my departure I got an extra skein. I had initially bought it in San Diego and when I was in San Francisco I thought that it would be safer to get an extra one. So lucky that I found it in the same lot at another LYS. And I sure used to the last skein for this project, leaving just enough for the mending job.

There is more knitting, like the doily cardi is in it's final stage. I finished the sleeves and now I am just working on the crochet border. Besides that I also started another fall project, which I will be showing next time because I didn't take photos of it yet.

So glad to be back and I can't wait for the weather to cool down so that I can produce more knits in a quicker mode. I have been dreaming of my future knits since I got the new Japanese knitting books in hands. How about you, have you started yours yet?

Leaving to California

2007-06-28T16:21:00.000+08:00

I'll be leaving to California in about ten minutes. Since I have some photos loaded up, I thought it would be nice to post them before I leave.

This is a top down design, it's finished by now but really no time for photos.

I started the blue doily some time ago but unfortunately the gauge was completely off. So, I decided to start using thicker yarn and needles.

It's so nice to look at this doily shape. In fact it's going to turn into a cardi, hopefully!

I really need to go check around the house. Wish you all a great summer!

White Orchid FO

2007-06-08T10:51:00.000+08:00

I finished White Orchid for about a month. I was planning to have the FO shot at an orchid nursery; however time went by so quickly and now it's not a good time to buy new plants for home since I will be away in California visiting my family by the end of this month. Then our weather here was either too hot, really impossible to wear anything with sleeves ( yes, even for a quick shot) or very wet. It's has been raining heavily all day long with some thunderstorms. And that will be the forecast until Tuesday. I tried indoor pictures and that's the best one I could choose.

Tried again yesterday morning before DH went to work when we had a a little break from the heavy rain. Perhaps, I turned the flash mode on by accident even though I had in mind to turn it off.

It was a quick knit despite the yarn being very thin. I wished that the fitting was a little more on the loosen side. Other than that I love the design and the little ruffles that I added on the bottom. Though, I should had added more length to the ruffles. The balloons turned out a bit smaller than I originally predicted but I am satisfied with it's size now. It's just that after blocking, the sleeves seemed to have deflated. I tried to use steam ironing but without much improvement.

Pattern: White Orchid - World knitting Spring/Summer 2007
Yarn: Dolce Amore from Filatura Di Crosa - used about 6 1/2 balls
Needles :Japanese size 3 ( 3mm)

new knitting corner

2007-05-29T13:54:00.000+08:00

It has been a while that I'm dreaming to have a craft room. However, we don't have any spare room at this moment and my yarns have all been in container boxes that I would stack up one on top the other. It added to a total of five and the search for yarns was absolutely unpleasant to perform. I would feel upset to see my treasure yarns being smashed in order to close the covers on them. There was only one solution to this dilemma, to buy a cabinet for my yarn stash and knitting books that have been piling up next to my bedside since the bookshelf was completely full for a while.

Presenting my new knitting corner where I knit, blog , shop for yarn and dream about my knitterly things! It's really a corner as this space is an open area by the stairs in the second
floor.

It's not my dream cabinet ( I would like to have a white one), only a simple teak one but provides lots of storage. At least it was what I thought before I loaded my books and yarns. My HYX yarns ,purchased in Shanghai ,don't fit in. How about the bottom compartment? It's where I hide the odd balls and the not so appreciated ones.

Here is a close-up view, the main column yarn is all cotton ones. Oh, I so love the sliding doors!

Last section are the wool ones. It would look nicer if the yarns were left out of the plastic bags. I decided to keep them protected as leaving them out would dangle up the balls as I often see in LYS.

Then as a conclusion, building up a yarn stash has it's price. Storage is a major issue and you'll have to spend more to buy a cabinet. And also you need to explain to your non knitter visitors the need to have a cabinet full of yarns at home! Luckily mine is on the second floor, out of view from most people.

Oh but I do love my new corner! I enjoy just to seat there and look at the colourful yarns. By the way DH wants to claim some credit on my new corner since the cabinet was his gift. It's true , I wouldn't have it here now if he hasn't helped me to make decision.

I am de-cluttering my house these days, it's a very tiring task. This week however, I am taking a break from that and decided to knit more. I am afraid to confess but I think I have startitis. Besides the projects I showed last week, I swatched ( really!) for a top down blouse , started a caplet and I am about to finish this bolero.

New projects on the way

2007-05-22T09:50:00.000+08:00

Another week is passing and Picassa/blogger is still not working for me. It's that problem with pictures disappearing after being published. Now I am using Photobucket, don't know if this is a good choice. At least, I can post the photos in my blog.

These images were taken couple weeks ago. I was pretty excited with these two projects. First one is this doily style cardi from the latest summer Keitodama. I was having fun knitting the center doily and seeing the emerging pattern because the photo of the design doesn't show the back at all. ( Btw, just showing the cover of the magazine, cute bolero, no? It's crochet though.)

This second project is from World Knitting Spring /Summer 2007. I am just knitting the outer bolero. The set would be neat but perhaps too thick for summer. I am using a smaller needle size than required by the pattern. The cables and the eyelet rows were making this pattern too stretchy. It worked out for the width but smart as I could be, I forget about the length issue. I am trying to solve this problem by adding rows between the lateral increases.

And last photo, something sweet to make up for the previously bitterly projects! :D
Self bought gifts for mother's day! I found a new LYS a few weeks ago and couldn't just walk out empty hands. They are both Japanese yarns. The light terracotta ones are blend of linen and cotton and the light blue is 100% cotton, a very thin yarn.

I've been tagged for a meme by craftlover and Little Sesame Knits for this 8 random things about me. Thank you both for thinking about me!

I have a special affection for cotton yarn. When I go into a yarn shop I browse for the cotton section first. It could be the spring colors that attract me and the lacy patterns suitable for this material.

I still prefer straight needles even though I've been trying hard to use circulars. I even bought nicer ones to encourage the switch. Though, I still prefer my old straight needles.

Nowadays when I go out, my priority is my knitting bag. I spend more time gathering my knitting gadges than selecting my outfit or applying make-up. It doesn't matter that I often don't even get to knit more than a couple of rows.

My native language is Brazilian Portuguese which I have not fully used for more than 20 years.

I don't drink coffee even though I grew up in Brazil.

My great grandmother was a Manchurian. (Chinese minority ethnic).

I can speak fluent Chinese (Mandarin) but I can't read or write.

I am a fruit lover. I specially like fruits that have some sour taste. Bananas are exception though.

Thank you all for the well wishes and the nice words on Jasmine. I am feeling much better this week and ready to add more knitting into life.

I had couple of questions left in my previous posts that I will answer here because I don't have the readers' email.

1. a reader from Hokkaido requesting LYS address:

I only have Puppy store address -
Sapporo - Puppy Sapporo Komiyamaya
Nishi 2, Minami 3 Chuoku. Tel: 011 221 0565

There were other yarn shops in the same neighborhood but I don't have the address. You could ask the saleslady at the Puppy shop for directions to the other shops ( that's how I found the other ones)

2. Reader Claire requested info about White Orchid

The pattern is from World Knitting Spring/Summer 2007. It's a Japanese knitting book and instructions are based in charts. Some translation for the Japanese instructions can be found at ABCs of knitting. The book can be purchased or ordered from Kinokuniya ( scrow down this page for a list of stores in US), or through amazon.com.jp

Jasmine Fo

2007-05-14T16:28:00.000+08:00

I am back after a long absence. I am having a busy life and things weren't going so smooth for a while. I guess is part of life to have ups and downs. I still knitted though, not as much as before but was able to finish Jasmine. The yarn left for the sleeves was just enough to finish both of them with the main stitch pattern. I realized this possibility when I was half way through the first sleeve. Then started the second one with the main pattern stitch and I knew I would have enough yarn.

It's fitting me comfortably in all areas. The length is ideal for me as well. So perfect, that I am afraid it will stretch after a while. Hope it won't.

The collar portion gave me a little work since it's not a simple ribbing. I had to pick up the exact number of stitches from the instructions to align the stitch design to be centered. In overall, the complexity of this pattern didn't generate much trouble on the process.

Pattern: Amu spring 2002 May edition
yarn : Filatura Di Crosa Millefili Fine ( 7 balls)
Needles: Japanese size 4 ( 3.3 mm)
modifications: used needles one size smaller and also had to resize the pattern to fit the yarn gauge ( lenght )

I am also done with white orchid ( to be shown next time, no photos yet). Subsequently, I am working on new projects. To be revealed next time because I can't get to post the pictures with either blogger or Picassa.

Thanks for your comments on my Rubi & Topaz stole. They are always received with much enthusiasm. I have lots to catch up with bloglines and my apologies for not replying to your comments lately.

Ruby and Topaz stole

2007-04-18T15:51:00.000+08:00

I finished this stole a few weeks ago and was just waiting for some sunshine in order to take a photo. However, when that happened, it was too warm and I wasn't in the mood to touch wool or even to think about it. Of course, today has cooled down and I don't have a nice natural light for my FO!
This model photo was taken on the following day I finished it. I wore the stole to a party despite the matchless outlook. :D I think if you are like me, I am most enthusiastic when the FO is fresh out from the needles. Therefore, just can't wait for the debut!

I actually didn't like the sparkling gold accents on the novelty yarn but the subtle change of colors in the mohair yarn is beautiful. I bought this stole kit in Sapporo when I spotted a knitted sample in a LYS. The displayed one looked nicer, maybe it was longer and the blue tone was prettier ( they were sold out on the blue one). I followed the pattern measurements and still have some yarn left.

Pattern: from a LYS in Sapporo ( Japan)
Yarn : Mohair ( count 10) graduation from Richmore ( 3 balls)

novelty yarn - Topping Mole from Richmore ( 3 balls)

Needles : Japanese size 15 (6.6 mm)

During the warmer days couple weeks ago I forced myself to work on Jasmine. I had lost interest on the way since the progress was so slow. Once I started, I was on the track again and was able to finish the front but stopped again since I was unsure if I could complete with two sleeves. I only had one skein and maybe about 1/3 of another one left after I finished the collar part .

After days of searching in the net, I didn't find many on line shops selling this Millifili and in this vanilla color. And there is a likelihood that I wouldn't find in the right lot anyway. Today I decided to take a chance and started the sleeves. It's not going to be a 3/4 length as I first wished for. Moreover, I changed the pattern a little, instead of the leaves pattern, I am knitting with the vertical eyelets like the sides of the top. I had in mind that this change would minimize the busy pattern and at same time save some yarn. The bobbles and the leaves can consume lots of yarn. I have to admit that I am sort worried about my modification since designers should know best.

I am crossing my fingers that I will have enough yarn and that the modified sleeves will match the design. Will continue to work on Jasmine, can't wait to finish it! :)

The start of white orchid

2007-04-11T14:15:00.000+08:00

I went to my favorite knitting spot a week ago, the outdoor tea shop by the water reservoir. It was nice and relaxing to have a cup of my favorite calamansi tea, homemade cookies and the most attractive item of all, new knitting magazines. Can you picture the nice atmosphere? ;)

It was hard to choose between browsing the new magazines or to start this new cute design from World Knitting Spring 2007 ( It has many crochet designs and some nice knitted ones as well) . This particular design doesn't fall on my my usual choice of style. It's very plain knitting but those mini balloons sleeves and the ruffles are what enchanted me. Must have it!

I even have the perfect yarn for this set. From the stash, I have 10 balls of Dolce Amore from Filatura Di Crosa that fits the 3 mm needles. I am so glad that recently there seems to be an increase of patterns with thinner yarns.

In a couple of days I produced this piece with one ball of yarn. It's so delicate and soft with just a minor problem. With one ball knitted, I can estimate that I won't have enough yarn for the set. :( This Dolce Amore has a great yardage 180 m (198 y) that induced me to think that 10 balls would be more than sufficient. Unfortunately the LYS that I bought them from, closed their business.

A solution would be to just knit the cardi. Since it's white color, I believe it's not going to be hard to match it with a white top. I will keep the ruffled bottom though, that's an essential detail I want to have. My only dilemma now is that the inner top has a waistline and the cardi doesn't. I could keep it but will that look odd with the one bottom design?

White Orchid has been since set aside until I can make my mind to rip it apart or to knit it straight. These days I have been checking ladies sporting one bottom style cardis. Interesting ,I spotted one that has a waistline and had only one bottom. It looks like that I have a yellow light to proceed the project. It's hard to make up my mind.

When I left the tea house, I saw these colorful balls on the tree! Hard to believe but they are wool pom poms. I was wondering whether there were any knitters gathering over there.
I am often bumping into knitting related things, could that be the fact that I think too much about knitting?? :D

Catching up with knitting!

2007-03-30T16:50:00.000+08:00

Lately, I am having hard time to go back to my usual knitting mood. But i still do knit, a little at time. I already started with some cotton knits with the false Spring temperatures we had here last month. I have a pattern from one of my old Amu magazines. I know I fell again tempted with the busy lacy style. This one was chosen because I really wanted to knit those leaves and bobbles. Some habits are hard to be changed! ;) It will be either a 3/4 length or short sleeves depending on my yarn allowance as usual. I often have this issue since my yarn stash is built with yarn I buy on my trips. And this lot was no exception. I am using Filatura Di Crosa Milifilli in Vanilla colour, knitted with Japanese needles size 4. I am trying to knit in smaller gauge with the hopes that this cotton top will be a perfect fit after a few wearings.

Jasmine top

This is not a complex lace pattern; however, it requires some attention to the chart. I finally got to make an enlarged pattern copy and it does good for your eyes!

I soon had to give a break on this wip because the temperatures dropped a lot past week and my mood for cotton soon swept away. It's funny how I can change my mood for knitting.

Actually the progress was slow and that meant I wasn't feeling happy in my corner. I was in need to find a quick, no brain type of work. With that in my mind, I found a perfect project. A stole kit I had bought in Hokkaido. Using mohair yarn and this sort of novelty metallic thread combined together. It progressed so fast, look at this,

ruby & topaz stole in progress

I started this past Friday evening and this photo was taken on Monday. Just the perfect project to give me a knitting boost. It's all done by now but not photos of the FO yet.

And that's all for this week! Happy knitting, my friends!

Yarn hunting in Europe part II- Switzerland

2007-03-26T17:52:00.000+08:00

Blogger finally allowed me to post without "eating up " my photos. Today must be my lucky day!
Continuing my yarn hunting - part II in Switzerland.

First day in Zurich we visited a couple museums, explored the old town that consisted of many narrow and winding streets, full of antique shops, small boutiques, cafes, etc. Some of the old houses were dated back to 14th century. We strolled down the famous 'Bahnhofstrasse', known as one of the most beautiful shopping streets in Europe. Very nostalgic and romantic area.

We stopped at the tourism office to get directions and attractions information as we would be soon heading to Lucerne. I had an inquiry as well and you know what it's! Forgetting about my shyness, because when I think about yarn I completely seem to forget about it. :) I approached the old lady from the information desk regarding yarn shops. She took a glance at me over her glasses and said " Yarn shop? This craft ( knitting) is almost extinct these days. She took another good look at me. I felt that I was from the dinousar era . Then, she slipped off a little map out and circled an area around the famous street of Zurich that we had just strolled by momentarily ago. I heard the name of a department store Manor and DH soon remembered about seen it before ( great husband with great memories?) ;) I was a little embarrassed to leave the counter because once I turned my back , I saw this huge queue behind me. Perhaps we spent a little longer in our turn. And asking about yarn shops didn't sound too important, at least to these other people.
And this was my next stop,

Manor department store , 4th floor

This was a great shop, with a good selection of yarns. They carried Anny Blatt, Lang and their own Home brand. The Spring yarns were out and I could even take advantage of the cotton yarn on sale. The colors were not so distinctive to me, specially that I have a good stash at home in many colors. So I ended up choosing this light orange color ( All the tones are lighter than in the photo) . But the rest were regular price. The white ones are 50% cotton- 50% silk, the Home Brand and my favorite buy was Anny Blatt 100% cotton in this grey blue color. The colorful crochet threads are for my sister.

Later, on the same street I found this window display in a pharmacy?? I wonder what was the purpose of the knitting display? "Knitting is good for health" or "Healing with knitting"? Interesting, right?

On our way to Lucerne we stopped in a small city, Zug. In their small downtown, you could see a stunning view. With the morning fog it was just gorgeous! Indeed, this was my favorite spot.

Did you see me in that photo (left bottom) ? I felt like in heaven. It was sure true because it was so peaceful and enchanting to walk in that area. It felt even more like it was a dream when DH surprised me with this finding!

There was just one negative aspect about this store. It was closed for lunch!! Being already satisfied with my yarn hunting from the previous day in Zurich, I supposedly could not expect for more. There were still another 50 minutes before they would reopen for business. So trying not to show my disappointment, I told the guys that it was all right ( we had to head to Lucerne) and that a few photos for my blog would be sufficient!

Ooooh, the yarns looked like candy, don't you think so? This shop was filled with better quality stock than the other stores I had visited. I spotted lots of Lang brand and magazines inside!

So, I tried to console myself for the bad luck and tell myself that I had being fortunate enough to have found the other stores. Then someone ( my younger son) loudly announced that he was hungry!! The next thing I heard was DH laughing. He told to the boys that this plan would fit mom perfectly! I can only say that my guys are the greatest! And you know what was next after lunch...

A better look at the rainbow candies! So yummy, I wanted them all! Such an interesting display. You could see all the selection and pat a ball without fears that the yarns would fall all over.

In the photo below, there are rows of zippers but i didn't buy any. There was no time to think about future cardigans that would need zippers at times like these.

Could not walk out empty hands, right? I chose Fuchsia merino yarn from Lang, some sock yarn and a few balls of silk mohair. Found couple knitted lacy doily and tablecloth magazines. Too intricate for me to knit but it's so nice to just look at the pictures. This is the type of magazine you leave by your bedside so that you can have sweet knitting dreams! ;)

The lady from this shop was extremely nice and well mannered. It was a pleasure to visit her shop. Just wished that I had more time to chat with her and talk about her knittings. All the samples in the display were her work.
Once she learned that we were on our way to Lucerne, she gave me the address of another branch that carried sale stock.
This shop was located in the old downtown of Lucerne at a walking distance from our hotel.

Unfortunately the sale selection weren't the yarns that I liked. I had the feelings that this one was going to be my last shop. It was my last chance to get some blue cotton yarn-Lang Golf ( forget to take a photo).

My younger son soon came to look for me with a business card in his hands. He was holding a yarn shop address that he had found nearby. Oh he joked in selling it to me, knowing that mom wouldn't be able to resist it! At time like this, you think they are your little angels!

It wasn't just an ordinary yarn shop as they carried souvenirs as well. There were a good stock of Italian yarns and magazines. I didn't buy anything because I was starting to be realistic about the little space left in my luggage. After all you need to show some resistance to your kids, right?
And with that I finished my yarn hunting in Switzerland. We still had a weekend to enjoy and sightseeing around the city. We visited mount Pilatus with an extraordinary view. Can you spy a knitting lady?

And last but not least, we visited the "The Dying Lion of Lucerne". It was carved in memory to the Swiss that had died in the French Revolution. In fact, Mark Twain called it "the saddest and most moving piece of rock in the world."

On our way back to Zurich, we had lunch in a French border city but it was Sunday , so no yarn hunting! Will be on my future list of places to visit.
In case, you're wondering about my real knitting activities. I have been knitting , though not a lot these days. Just have been busy and not being able to concentrate. Besides my Flower Basket shawl, I am working on two more projects that I will show next time.

Yarn hunting in Europe Part I - Germany

2007-03-15T10:03:00.000+08:00

This is a long post packed with photos and narratives of my yarn hunting adventures in Europe. I had such a great time there that I wanted to keep this post as a diary for myself. And as you know me, I don't seen to be able to keep things short. I have a tendency to deviate from my main subjects as well. ;) So be patient and I will share my yarn hunting experiences. By the way, I decided to just cover Germany first. This post is really huge. :D

I spent long hours in the skies during the month of February. In the other hand, also spent good hours in earth thinking about what to knit in the plane! ;) And often, have to pack a project at very last minute. For some reason, I find it very hard to prepare wips to go.
Here is a preview of my in-flight entertainment,

It's my Flower Basket shawl using HYX yarn in double strand. I actually started it in Hokkaido and continued to work on my flights to Europe. I am very pleased with this project so far. The knitted fabric is so soft and the double strand is not causing me any problem.

Just three days after we returned from Japan we travelled to Europe. We ( kids and I ) travelled apart from DH because there were no more seats available in our flight for him. Besides DH had some business work to take care first. Then the plan was that I was going to be on my own in Stuttgart ( without DH for 3 days, meeting him on the 4th day). Leaving little hopes for yarn hunting on those days. As you can imagine, it's a bit hard to visit yarn shops with two teenager boys. So what can a knitting lady do on a foreign country without speaking a word in Deutsch? Take them to car museums, like Porsche and Mercedes.

The Mercedes-Benz museum was pretty interesting , had antique models, racing gears, trucks and basically all sorts of vehicles and plenty of historical facts around the exposition. So I felt better that at least I was covering my duties with some cultural sites.

On the following day, we decided to visit downtown . I couldn't help but to ask at the hotel reception about yarn shops. Although, they can speak English, our basic words of yarn and knitting weren't in their vocabulary. I had to take my shyness away and mimic some knitting motions and showing off my sweater to be understood. :D I didn't get a confirmed location , just a small hope that a department store could carry some"wolle". Not bad, at least there was some hope.

Once in the downtown area ( Main station - Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof), I soon detected a craft store but alas no yarn. However, next door, there was a small magazine stand. With my trained vision to spot knitting things I soon found some local knitting magazines. Never mind that they were all in Deutsch. There were some charts that I thought I could figure them out in some sort of way later. I told myself that they would be my souvenirs from Germany, since my hope for yarn was already diminuished by the first failed attempt. I collected two knitting magazines for myself and three crochet for my Sis.

In a second thought, the vast display of these publications gave me vital signs for the existence of yarn shops! I was lucky that the owner was able to confirm that there was yarn next door in the basement level.

Galleria Kaufhof -basement level

There was a large selection of Regia yarn. I decided to buy some even though I don't knit socks. Well, It doesn't hurt to have some in the stash!

Being more confident that I knew the words "wolle" and "stricken", I was able to to ask the saleslady for another shop,

Karstadt department store, in the basement

This store looks very similar to the first one. Even the fixtures are the same, makes me think that they are from the same company. Did you see the sale table? Most of items where on acrylic , novelty or strange colors yarn . I tried to keep in mind,that I didn't want volume but more quality. With that in mind, I was very careful not to fall into temptations. Got a glance at their fabric and buttons section. There were just too many shapes and colors to choose from. I didn't buy any, time was running fast , so were the boys' patience.

While window shopping in the area and waiting for the kids that were browsing in a sports shop, I was day dreaming about the possibility to find a store with more sophisticated yarn. So surprised I was to have bumped into this one,

Sparkling surprises come when you least expect it! ;) This was a nice yarn shop, packed with more selective yarn. I browsed the place quickly since I was worried that the boys would not find me. Had I told them that I would be waiting outside the sports shop. I decided that I had to find them first in order to look the little treasures in a nicer way. Though, the boys let me spent some time I still didn't buy much . There weren't enough stock on the yarn I had selected. But these were the substitute, stripped yarn in cheerful tones. A style that I don't have in my stash.

Not bad, right? Three yarn shops in only one day! ;)

There was one more shop nearby that I found the next day, more in a remote area that was a quilting shop. I always keep my hope and looking inside from the window I spotted some yarn bins. I carried away a pack of Royal Tweed from Filatura Di Crosa in Indigo blue.

On the third day, DH surprised us with an earlier rescue, I mean arrival. ;) We didn't do much for the rest of the day. Just resting and relaxing around the city for our new destination. The following day, we headed to the airport to pick up our rental car. We prefer to travel on our own without joining tours since we don't like the packed scheduled often offered in tour packages. Though there are some cons on this choice as we have to find our way, check the main attractions, the expenses are higher as well. But this allows me to look for yarn shops as well! ;)

On our way to Zurich, we visited two castles Bebenhausen and Hohenzollern.

I really enjoyed the stops on these castles, they were impressive, packed with hidden passages. We had a great time visiting them, specially Hohenzollern, located on a high hill with an amazing view. The castle guide was also so knowledgeable, he gave a good presentation of the castle along with rich historical content to us and the boys were very attentive in the subject. See, less guiltiness in spending time in the yarn shops in Stuttgart.

Stay tuned ......Coming soon, yarn hunting in Europe Part II - Switzerland. ;)

Azalea

2007-03-10T14:28:00.000+08:00

I want to thank you all for leaving me nice notes and it was so good to receive your caring words. That's very soothing! ;) I had a new check up yesterday and it looks like that things have much improved, though I will still be under medications for another 3 months until my hormones stabilize again. It looks like I am not classified anymore in a such serious condition as I previously felt and was make to believe! What a relieve! It feels great to be able to celebrate life again! :D :D

I have been working hard on my next post about my trip to Europe. It's a long one with lots of photos but the new blogger is not helping much. While I was working on my draft post, some of my photos disappeared ( not being available) by itself. Strange? It's happening on this post as well. Does anyone has had the same experience?

Then, I decided that I should do a shorter post instead and talk about real knitting. Remember that I was working on a light purple sweater? I wanted to finish it in time to wear in Hokkaido. And I was able to do so but I wasn't so happy with the ending result. Here is an overview of the sweater in it's almost finished stage that I thought it woul be interesting to keep as a record.

The sleeves, front and back of the sweater were knitted separated and later sewn to the yoke. I am not satisfied with the reverse stockinette section that is knitted by picking up stitches from the side of the braided yoke and then knitted in the round. I should have started the decreases much sooner, so the area wouldn't look like a cylinder. But being a good student, I followed the teacher's instructions without giving much credit to my own senses. The teacher doesn't keep notes of her instructions , she relies on her memory and having so many students it's hard to keep track of every one's work. You can tell from the picture below that the yoke doesn't fit on my shoulders properly. I have to keep pulling the yoke down to have it in place! :D
Spring sure is coming, look at these beautiful Azalea bushes in my neighborhood. Thus inspiring me for the name of this sweater. The weather here can be very unstable. We had a Spring preview couple weeks ago and this week is so cold that I have to post with a small heater
next to me.

I only wore Azalea once while in Hokkaido. More precisely, for less than one hour while I was having a breakfast in the ski resort. One of my friends commented that the bottom part looked too "flipping". After that I felt a bit too conscious about the effect since the friend has a fashion designer background. Her suggestion was to knit the style with a thinner yarn instead. It's true, I found it not warm enough to wear without a over coat. And it wasn't comfortable to be worn as a layered clothing, perhaps it was too thick. So lesson learnt, will keep my future winter projects on thinner yarn from now on.

Actually, now that I am looking at the picture, it doesn't look so odd. Since this project gave me some trouble to process and the cost for it was close to be a small fortune ( I didn't pay the yarn at discontinued rate :( ) , I shall wear it while the weather still permits. The truth is that it's not a very comfortable sweater, due to the unfitted yoke.

Design: Pringle of Scotland

Pattern : Azalea , from my knitting teacher

Yarn : Chamonix from Jaeger (48% Angora, 47% Extra Fine Merino, and 5% Polyamide)

( This yarn has been discontinued)

Needles : Japanese 13 ( 6mm)

Modifications : There is a minor difference in the composition of the braids and the yoke braids are much smaller than in the original design.

Yarn hunting in Sapporo

2007-03-06T09:31:00.000+08:00

This was a long break, more than a month without blogging! As you have already noticed after my vacations , I have a tendency to take long time to get back to my normal routine. We spent the first three days in the ski resort in Niseko couple hours away for Sapporo, primarily knitting by myself in the room. I don't enjoy skiing due to my poor abilities in the sport. But I still like the winter vacation with the calm white scenery and I am happy to know that the kids are having fun. Oh, those aren't my boys, they were high up in the hills! I can enjoy some knitting as well, of course. By the way, the scarf I was trying to knit didn't work out. It was a rushed project. I started it too wide not leaving much yarn so that I could make it long enough for a scarf. So having multiple projects is always handy for travel occasions. I had nothing to take on this trip besides new ones ( not fully tested)! :( I had a great yarn hunting time in Sapporo. Though it was only one day, it was memorable!
My trip to Sapporo was narrowed to only one day after DH and I felt that the boys needed more time to settle in the area. We travelled to Niseko in a big group of 6 families in total. But that still wasn't enough assurance for me to leave the boys on the third night. You know, motherhood thing! By the end, the boys did well on their last day in the resort. Didn't leave anything behind, were on time with their schedule and the elder one even asked for a courtesy late check-out so that he and his brother could rest a bit after their half day ski session on the third day. Not bad! ;)

My precious day in Sapporo was basically dedicated to yarn hunting. I had found in advance an address of a Puppy yarn store and that was my main target. It took me some effort to locate it because the address was referring to a whole block without specific number. After asking around, I found the block but no signs of yarn. Soon, a fabric store caught my eyes. I decided that a fabric store would cheer me up and left DH continue to look ahead. After all, fabrics are fun too even though I don't do any sewing. Not so interesting from outside, but look at the array of fabrics in all sort of colours inside!

As I was looking around, I noticed that they had another floor. Could there be yarns? I thought to myself . Perhaps more quilting material but deep in my heart I was hoping for yarns... When I went upstairs, I saw this:
And this...
See, there is always hope isn't it? ;) I was so delighted and ran down to find DH to let him know that I found the store and that I would be spending some time on the second floor. Indeed, it was my lost Puppy shop without any clue from outside!! :) As you can see, it's a cozy and well organized shop. Most of the yarns were imported and they even carried the Rowan line though with a very high tag. A good excuse to skip them. There were some knitted garments for sale, the designs that are in the "Let's knit series" from Puppy publications. I often buy these books from Puppy, so it was exciting to see the designs knitted in person and the yarn in use as well. There was an embroidery section as well, packed with colorful threads. I didn't have much time to browse them. I think it would be hard to leave the store without a small kit had I had more time to look at them . The first things I gathered in my shopping basket were the Keitodama Spring issue, Let's knit, Puppy book vol. 2 ( couldn't find vol 1 or 3) , an old book with entrelac gloves ( sold out here) and this lace book with shawls and romantic clothing ( had seen an ad in Keitodama) that I so wanted to have but have never seen in my local bookstores. The last two books I mentioned, were the last copies at the shop, not in mint condition but that didn't minimize my enthusiasm in buying them. I am so lucky!

I found a yarn with an unusual composition of alpaca, cashmere and cotton in a caramel tone for my stash. Also spotted Anny Blatt on sale in my favorite colourway of plum tones ( 50% camel 50% wool), very soft so I had to have a set. Later, I found a note in the pack that says " It's imperative to knit this yarn with two alternating balls every two rows". Could this be the reason for the sale? Will worry about it next winter! Also got some knitting accessories, little things that I needed and a few others that now , they don't look to be so essential but I found them irresistible at that time. :D

The sales lady was very nice and helpful and even gave me the directions to another nearby yarn shop. However; DH knowing me from past experiences, soon said we needed a break for lunch. Hehe, I was ready to sacrifice my appetite and save the time for more yarn adventures. Soon, DH found my favorite crab restaurant just a few blocks away.

Having had a big Japanese breakfast, we couldn't eat much. So we shared a set with crab cooked and served in many ways. It was delicious as you can imagine! Though, deep in my heart I was hoping that the food could be served a little faster.
With a satisfied appetite, we headed to the next yarn store. It was one of those crafting buildings with each floor carrying material for a specialized craft. I soon found the yarn section and spent a good time browsing through colorful balls.

I selected some Diadomina yarn, it was cheaper than my LYS and also found a similar yarn that is wool blended with silk though much more expensive . It looked so beautiful and irresistible, must have some for my stash. Bottom ones are Richmore Kidmohair in colourway. I haven't knitted with kidsilk before but without much hesitation the beautiful balls found a place in my basket. The dark wine colour ones are novelty yarn ( which I rarely buy) that will be knitted with the mohair one, it will yield to a shinning stole. There were a group of ladies knitting in a corner section. How I wished that I could speak some Japanese, it looked like that they were having a good time. Also because I needed some clarification from the stole pattern. Unfortunately, the teacher from the store didn't speak any English. And despite our big efforts to understand each other, it didn't seen that I was going to understand the tie part of the stole. stole. The funny thing happened when DH decided to join our conversation and amazingly, with the few Japanese words he had acquired in the past, when he worked in Japan , he helped me understand what the teacher was saying. So did I tell you that husbands are a big help in yarn hunting? :D

On my way back to hotel, just around the block I spotted another yarn store. There weren't any special yarn, so I just did a quick visit since I was already happy and satisfied with my previous store purchases. It was a short ( I wished for more yarn shop hours) and a long day as I went to visit the Snow Festival very late in the evening. I found that it would too hard to justify to my non knitting friends that I spent a whole day in Sapporo and didn't visit the Snow Festival event. Luckily, all these stops were within a walking distance from our hotel.

That was a really long post! I kept loosing my post today, the internet connection has been very unstable these days. I hope you enjoyed my yarn hunting experience in Sapporo. I have more yarn adventures to share because after this trip ( in 3 days ) I went to Europe. Indeed, it was a very long winter vacation, almost perfect if I were in a better health condition. Unfortunately, I had a hormonal imbalance making me very weak during my trips. So despite not feeling well ( it was too late to cancel the trip), I was able to travel to Europe under medications. It looks that I have recovered these days but I will have to be checked again soon to see if I have anything more serious. So that was the main reason that I have not been in the blog sphere for a while.

I should be posting soon again, so until next time with more yarn hunting! ;)

My first hat

2007-01-22T13:10:00.000+08:00

I finished my entrelac hat a while ago . I didn't post it because I was waiting to finish a pair of matching gloves. However, my first try was not successful, the thumb turned out to be huge compared to the other fingers that ended up being very skinny. I didn't enjoy knitting with the tiny needles. Now, it's going to be a lonely hat as I decided to buy a pair of thin gloves instead. My single glove will go to the "frog pond collection" .

Pattern: Let's knit series winter 2004
Yarn : Diadomina from Diakeito ( Japan) 50% wool, 21% mohair and 29% acrylic. color DD312, used about 1 1/2 balls
Needles: Japanese size 7

Love the colors on this hat, don't you? There is a vast array of colors for this yarn that makes so difficult to select one. With this project, I enjoyed knitting entrelac but how I wish I could memorize the steps. I am knitting another identical hat for my mother and still find forgetful in some areas. I am not a hat person as they give me a bad hair look even after wearing for a short time. But this hat will be handy as I am going on vacation to Hokkaido beginning of next month. We have a late winter vacation as the schools here set their breaks to match with the Chinese New Year.

With the white snow scenes in my mind, I just have to have a new sweater to take along. For a while, I have being eyeing on a sweater that the LYS teacher came out with a pattern. I have seen this design in many popular magazines and thought I could be able to knit by myself ( knowing of course, that there are millions of knits that I always dream about duplicating and that never happens!) . After getting the instructions from the teacher, I realized that it's more complex than I had first imagined. There are short rows ( in purls) on the long curved strip that is part of a yokeand for the body that is bell shaped, the decreases are done proportionally through out the body. So far, I only have the sleeves and part of the yoke done. It's taking long time since I need the teacher to provide the steps. The process is slow as there is no formal drawing charts to follow and I get confused with verbal knitting instructions. Above, is one sleeve and part of the yoke. By the way, I am using Chamonix from Jaeger, mix of Angora and extra fine merino wool in a purple gray color, it's not so bright as the photo show. Wonderful yarn to knit with, it's so soft and very light.

There are only two weeks left before our departure date and I still have to knit a hat and/0r scarf for DH. And yet, I am so greedy that I think I should have more than a new sweater for this trip.
Actually, this vest ( or sweater?) started because I run out of instructions to continue on the purple sweater. As you know, I couldn't be empty-hands for a couple of days ( teacher was away for a week), had to find something to knit. I had in mind to have a vest with an intricate cable work but alas, so eager I was that I did not plan it well . See how the cables ended ? I should have placed the braids more on the left so that the neckline decreases would not interfere with the cable work. I am using one of my HYX yarn in a double strand. The knitted yarn is very soft but I think that merino wool would be a better choice for cable works. The cables with the HYX yarn don't stand up as much. I am not so sure that I will continue this project but I am worried that I will not like to see the frogged yarn around either. By now, I think I should focus on my Chamonix sweater for the trip.

Thanks for your nice words on my son's sweater! He only got to wear once as we are having a very warm winter. I think he'll sure appreciate it once we arrive in Hokkaido! ;)

Knitting for baby versus teenager

2007-01-11T08:06:00.000+08:00

First, thanks for continuing to visit my blog and leaving nice comments! These days, I am tied up with sons' final exams coming up next week. I have pressure to ensure that they study ( but they don't ! :( ) and to cook proper meals you know all mom's duties. Also I am still spending time with house chores lately leaving less mind for knitting and blogging. Little progress though as I have hard time letting unused things go. I initially missed the New Year deadline and I am trying to achieve my goal of de-cluttering the house for the Chinese New Year. One lesson learned is to have less things at home, specially if there isn't enough storage around the house. And this should apply for my yarn stash and the knitting books that have accumulate these past few years.

During my clean-ups, I found my sons' pictures from their baby years and spotted the little knits I had made for them. Here are couple ones that I have forgotten with time. First photo shows elder son at about 9 months. Look the vest, it's intarsia!! This one below, is second son when he was only a few days old. I don't recall how long it took me to knit these little garments but I am sure it was much faster than finishing this one below,
Above is second son after 14 years, sporting his new sweater. In general, it fits him with the exception of the shoulders that are too wide. This is the first time that I am knitting a custom sized sweater. I normally just take one size from a pattern and roughly adjust the width and length. supposedly with a precise calculation the teacher at LYS would come up with a custom pattern. However, it's not perfect due that I have no experience in taking correct body measurements. Initially she felt that the shoulder length I gave her was too wide but I assured her ( proudly! :D) that it was correct as my son was a swimmer. Anyway, I emphasized that it needed to be oversized as the young man wanted it to fit his style. Besides that, the sleeves turned out to be big and short but by the end it was compensated by the shoulders. Also the yarn is not the best quality, it's rather scratchy and hard. In despite of these problems, it was a good project that facilitated me to learn some basics techniques that I was having trouble to learn by my own. Among those are the mastering of closing the tubular stitch , attaching the sleeves and knitting fair-isle.

Both son and I felt that it would look nicer as a vest but then it was too late, as for vests the cut for armholes are deeper than in sweaters. I would have to take apart the v neck and redo 1/3 of the front and back and that would be too much work, specially that the sleeves were all done just waiting to be attached.

In the end, the young guy seems to be satisfied with his sweater after the girls at his school noticed and made nice comments about it! :D

Pattern: Ondori Men's knit Fall 2003

Yarn: Steinbach Wolle 100% wool - Austria ( 14 balls) and some remnants of red and taupe yarn

needles: straight Japanese size 7 ( 4.2 mm) and circular 3.75 mm for the ribbing

note: ribbing bands knitted in round, top down from provisional casting on and binding off using tubular stitch method. It yields to a nicer band.

I had a nice surprise during the holidays that I have not shared yet! Look at the lovely things that Yuvee had carefully prepared for me! As always, she is so thoughtful with her gifts and I have only to agree when she said these things reminds her of me. It's a complete knitting set to indulge me! Oh the the yarn is Zephyr wool-silk from Fiddlesticks that I wanted to try but can't get it here.

Onyx shawl

2006-12-27T13:50:00.000+08:00

It has been more than 3 weeks since my last posting, time sure goes fast! I've been busy with the year ending festivity and suddenly realized that I have been neglecting my house for some time. From that, I took the opportunity to take a break from knitting and computer activities, knowing that it's not that often that I can live without knitting much. ;)
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and sorry for not having visited or commented in your blogs in the past few weeks. I am planning to come back to my normal blogging activities soon!
Oh it's late, but thank you for your compliments on my Rambling Rose!

My Onyx shawl has been finished for some time and I even got to wear it on Christmas Eve party along with Rambling Rose. The shawl was perfect for the occasion and "weatherwise". To my happiness, it looks nicer than I've predicted after I had the fur knitted on. Before, I was left with an odd shaped shawl on the center top ; however, with the fur it kind camouflaged the uneven border.

I am very happy with the combination of the black background and the "leopard look "fur that I chose . This shawl will be a good addition to my wardrobe this winter. It sure feels cozy as it looks! ;)

Despite a few frogging here and there, it was an easy project as the pattern is a combination of alternate blocks of stockinette rows and yos & k2tog or skp. Increases are done on the middle and on the sides by yos. On the last few rows, I used a smaller needle to minimize the top center bump.

Pattern : Onyx shawl from LYS

Yarn: Black yarn -Bingo from Lana Grossa 100% wool ( 9 balls)

edited :Fur - ( 100% acrylic, 3 skeins) Fox from Kid ( made in France) 40g / 15 m

small thread of kid mohair for binding off the fur stitches.

Needles : Japanese size 8 (4.5 mm) for the body , 15 ( 6.6 mm) for the fur trim

Last month, to my surprise, my younger boy asked me to knit him a sweater. ;) I was so excited, despite that the knit won't be one of those quick kids' knit anymore. There was only a problem as he wants his sweater all in stockinette sts and as you know, I dislike knitting plain things. Hehe.. but with some persuasion, I was able to add some fun to my knit and squeezed in a few rows of Fair Isle.
I am knitting a long sleeved version of the above pattern. This photo was taken at beginning of the month. By now, I am knitting the sleeves already. It will be a FO for next year!

Wish you all a Happy New year with good health and of course, lots of good knitting!!! See you all next year! ;)

Rambling Rose

2006-12-02T17:49:00.000+08:00

I finished my Rambling Rose couple weeks ago but I was only able to get a decent photo on Saturday when the skies were clear enough during the few hours in the morning.

I simply adore this design, everything seems to be right ( or acceptable) ,the magenta color, the buttons and the ribbon and the fit as well. ;) Do you remember that I was afraid about it been too loose in the underarm and bust areas? After attaching the sleeves , it wasn't an issue at all, it fits just right. The bottom part looks to be snuggly but it's all ribbing and I purposely knitted it with a tighter tension. As you shall agree, it's very unpleasant to have a loosen ribbing after a few wearing.

Last weekend while I was visiting a new mall , I found a small boutique selling very unique purses. To my excitement, I saw a lovely purse that was just the perfect companion for Rambling Rose. The price tag was a bit high for such a small purse, so I put it back to the display hanger. I found it so tempting and picked it up couple more times. Soon, I fell into the saleslady words when she told me it was the last one. :D I normally avoid to buy accessories that are not in neutral shades and that are hard to match with the rest of my wardrobe. But this one had to come home with me... The fabric is silk with velour , the black center button and the side rings are made of onyx and the straps are leather.

Pattern: Rambling Rose from Rowan 39

Yarn : Kid Sport 100% cotton ( Italy), used 8 balls

Needles: Japanese 2 ( 2.7mm) for the ribbing and size 3 ( 2.9 mm) for the body

Modifications: I resized the sleeves, somehow my sleeves came out too long on the arch area when I followed the directions from the pattern. I also casted on less sts for a snugger fit and knitted longer sleeves than in the pattern. Though I wished for a 3/4 length, I didn't have enough yarn. Only a small tread of yarn was left for this project. I also had to split the yarn in order to sew the buttons. The length from the armhole to the shoulder in my cardi is not as long as in the pattern. As a result, I was only able to have 5 roses instead of the 6 in the patterns.

This was a great project for me as I was able to follow an English pattern and it was fun to match the buttons and the ribbon. And last, found the matching purse. ;) Though, I don't enjoy knitting the same pattern twice, I'll make exception for this design. I plan to knit another one using thin wool yarn and with long sleeves or 3/4 length. If only I didn't have so many other things to knit, it would be next on my list!

I am so excited with this top that I added one more photo. Hope you are not tired of it! :D This top is so versatile, it goes well with jeans for a relaxed look or paired with a black skirt and high heels for an evening occasion. Now, I have a complete outfit to wear to a party, perhaps Christmas evening? ;)

I want to thank you all for the lovely comments and the great support on my first shawl! Therefore, my second one was soon in line. Though, this is not a lacy style, it's a practical one for the winterly days ahead. There is a fur trim going around that practically makes the style of the shawl.
Last week, I signed up for a membership at a LYS to learn new techniques and improve my knitting skills. It's about 30 minutes drive, kind far away from where I live. There are other LYS around here but I wasn't very impressed with their knits.

I started this Entrelac ( or Domino) technique that I wanted to learn from a long time ago. I started this hat since it's a smaller project. I am using this Japanese yarn that I believe it's a combination of wool, mohair, acrylic(?). The range of shades is incredible, just simple plain sts will make the work beautiful. This is going to be my first hat, and I believe I'll soon have my first gloves and Joy, perhaps.... socks as well? ;)

Swallowtail shawl

2006-11-28T12:44:00.000+08:00

I have something new to share and this time it's not my usual cardi. Instead, I can model a shawl, my first one! ;) I chose Swallowtail for being a small, had a variety of stitches patterns ( I wouldn't be bored) and that I could use a yarn that is not so thin. I've been postponing my post because I don't have good photos . Rain is in the forecast for this entire week. So I will just post these indoors ones taken at night . As you can see, the shawl is kind uneven because I didn't block it properly. I only used a steam iron to block in sections as the ironboard is not big enough. I am lacking a blocking tools such as the board and pins. Despite the imperfect shape ( hopefully temporally) I am very satisfied with my first shawl. I like the design, size and the versatile color in aubergine. I enjoyed this knit even though there were a few unraveling steps ( done stitch by stitch because I was afraid to put the yos back in the needle) when I forgot to do the center increases. Finally, I found the use for stitch markers! :)

Pattern: Swallowtail shawl from IK Autumn 2006
yarn: Lana Grossa - Merino 2000 Superfein 100% wool ( used just a bit over 3 balls)
Needles: Japanese 8 (4.5 mm)

Last week, I started my long awaited winter project. Hehe..., wrong, if you guessed this a scarf in progress. It's the beginning of a sleeve from a shrug, after 3 attempts. The gauge was right for the selected yarn but I forget to add the plain lateral stitches. At first, it looked so narrow. ..I thought never mind, it will stretch later with a good blocking. As it grew in length, the width was off by 40% and the problem was obvious. I was so absent-minded that I thought that moving to a larger needle would help. Finally, I decided to check the pattern and I found out that I casted on a wrong number for total sts. I don't know why it took me so long to realize the mistake. Now I am back in the right track.

Before I forget thanks for the compliments on my Mauve Arrows!;) Rambling Rose is on the way, as soon as I can get a decent photo!

Mauve Arrows

2006-11-16T09:15:00.000+08:00

Hello everyone! I missed last week's posting because I was so busy running with sons' activities and had lots to catch up after their midterms. I felt a bit sick as well, probably due to the exhaustion and stress of my schedule. Now I am recovering my energies back and so excited and ready for my winterly knits.

I would like to thank you all for the generous compliments on my Gardenia. I was so thrilled that you approved my work and that made me like the twin set more than before. So after all the encouragement ,I knitted as fast as I could to finish Mauve Arrows. It was done more than a week ago, but didn't had the chance to post it.

what do you think about this design? I am pleased with this cardi, it fits me well, maybe the sleeves is a bit tight but it should loosen after wearing it. Other than that I like how the ribbing grows in the borders. By the end, I was a little concerned if I was going to have enough yarn. It's amazing how much yarn the sleeves used compared to the body. I followed the pattern pretty much, just added some length to the body and sleeves and skipped a little row of crochet picot on the front border and collar. First, I preferred without it and also because I wouldn't have enough yarn for that. I was so lucky that I had enough yarn for the collar , only a few strands of yarn were left from this project. The ribbed collar also used a good amount of yarn.

As you can see , the back has a similar design as in the front. I am not sure if the collar should be sewn around to the cardi, in a fixed mode. I may just leave it this way. After so many days, I kind consider it as done.

Pattern: Let's knit series winter 2006

Yarn: Lana Grossa Toccata 100% cotton ( 10 balls)

Needle: Japanese size 7 ( about 4.2mm)

In other notes, I am still working on my Rambling Rose. I had some problems on the sleeves but it should be soon all done. I thought I was going to surprise you with all my wip being done before I would cast on something new but... A pretty shawl was displayed at a LYS and I just had to have one! ;)

Gardenia twin set

2006-11-02T08:55:00.000+08:00

My Gardenia is finally an FO with all the loosen treads sewn in. Such a relieve, one less wip to hide and worry. For the past few days, I have been waiting for a nice sunny day but as the week went by the weather was getting worse and worse with dark clouds and rain. I attempted for a picture section yesterday morning but none of the photos were clear enough. Actually, the background was nice and clear in the photo except my FO. Unable to post them, I decided to take some indoor pictures at night and it turn out to be much better. Though I still don't enjoy much to have my curtains as a background. My younger son took the photos and he made sure you all could see my Gardenia top as he left out pretty much the rest of me. :)

Couple days ago,I wasn't very thrilled with Gardenia . The sides looked big , even blocking didn't help the cardi to stretch down. It could be the way the body was constructed as the back and front parts were knitted as one piece. Also, wearing them as set could be another factor. Perhaps I will have to wear the set separately or just to be more realistic, loose some weight! Now giving another try, buttoned up seems to make me look slimmer. Talking about buttons, I wonder if shell ones would give a modern lift to this cardi.
Well, looking from an angle it's not so bad. And with second thoughts, I am starting to like it with all the imperfections. After all, it was an elaborated design ( for me) with all those difficult crochet steps. Even if I don't get to wear it often, this FO will be nice to just look at and pat. ;)Since this is a "reunion of the twin set" ( borrowing the words from Peggy of kneurotic knitter), it deserves a photo .
And now the formal FO picture,

Pattern: World Knitting Spring/Summer 2004

Yarn: Sirdar Pure Cotton for the body . Crochet thread from Michaels for the lace part

Needles: Japanese size 4 ( 3.3mm) for knitting and crochet size 2

Modification: Resized to fit the gauge of my yarns.

Almost classified as an UFO

2006-10-27T09:58:00.000+08:00

At beginning of spring season, I started to knit Gardenia, do you still remember it? And because I had plenty of the creamy yarn, I had planned for a matching cardi. At the starting point, there was some good determination in finishing it before summer as I had in mind to take it to US to show to my mother and sis... Soon my target was vanished as I had other projects that I could not wait to knit. And the inevitable happened. The cardi was left in my wip's basket and often I managed to hide it in the bottom, covered by other wips. And frquently a small view of this cardi would be revealed bringing me feelings of guiltiness. I tried to ignored it as I didn't want to deal with the sewing part. Last week, I finally decided to work on this project again since the basket was getting too full of unfinished projects. It wasn't a pleasant task to sew the crochet patch to the knitted front. I used a crochet needle for this job instead of a regular needle. The small chains formed looks much neater in this case. I use this same method to attach my sleeves in general as the backstitch doesn't work well for me.
For a complete job, I even went to the craft district to find pearly buttons couple days ago. I was able to find some Japanese half shaped pearls buttons. Though I wished they were a bit smaller and darker in tone, those are the best ones I could find in terms of colour and quality. I have to tell you that matching buttons is not an easy task at all. There were so many kinds of buttons and yet just a few that would match. I spent at least three full hours in the area searching for buttons and ribbons. I have to admit that I had a good time browsing through the tiny streets with stores selling a variety of notions and trims. I wish that I lived closer to this area, the driving journey was about 2h 40 min for a round trip. The guys at home were amazed that I left early in the morning and came back late afternoon with a small bag of buttons.
I bought ribbons for my Rambling Rose, shell buttons in gray for a future project, brown tones for Pine Cones , bronze looking ones for a future jacket and mauve colored ones for Mauve Arrows, my newest project. Though I tried very hard not start anything new before Pine Cones and Rambling Rose were finished. I was so enthusiastic about knitting this lace cardi that I finished the back in three days. ;) I like the interesting design formed by the ribbing stairs at the bottom. The same format follows for the front and sleeves section.

This shall be my last cotton knit for the season as I am ready to move for my wooly ones. Yeah, finally the weather is cooling down over here. I have so many winter designs in my list that I can predict tough decisions ahead... See you next time, now I need to knit faster and finish soon these wips, my wooly gems are waiting for me! :D

Deciphering a new pattern

2006-10-17T17:45:00.000+08:00

I have something new to show but first I want to thank you for the compliments and support on Iris. It feels great to be able to share my knitting and excitement to finish a successful FO. The assurance was so good that I wasted no time and casted on a new project that needed some confidence. The design is relatively within my range but the issue is that the pattern is from a Rowan magazine. As I mentioned before, I haven't knitted anything following English patterns. So while my good knitting vibes was still around I chose Rambling Rose. My usual way to knit is to start with the back piece but I could not resist this time. I started with the left front, the most interesting ( only) piece with the climbing stalk. I love to make the bobbles and to see the pattern emerging. Soon the exciting part was done and all what was left were the boring ribbing and stockinette stitches. I am using a substitute yarn Sport from Kid ( 100% cotton), instead of the Rowan 4 ply cotton since it's not sold here. It's not so soft and my pieces are kind stiff. Hope a good block session will help later on.
I had to dedicate more attention on the directions in order to decipher the different symbols in Rowan pattern. I guess, I am more a graphical than a word person. My climbing rose came out shorter than indicated in the pattern and I had to come out with my own numbers for the neckband decreases. I hope it will not be a problem later on. Another issue is the bust area, it seems to be a bit wide for my measurements. Though I followed the pattern for the size S ( 86cm). I decide that I don't want to frog and redo the problem areas. Other than that it has been a relaxing knit, specially for my eyes. Lately I have been suffering from some eye strain, perhaps too much knitting ( Iris required a lot of eye work) and sitting for too long in front of the computer. I went for an eye check up last week and I was told that I need glasses, the type you need when you get older! :( I was a lucky lady as I have never needed any glasses in the past but soon I will be wearing one of those that you wear close to the tip of the nose.

Next, I have some newly acquired beads from the weekend Jade market.

There are just a few strands of faceted onyx, crystal and amethyst. In the black tray, some jade, faceted aventurine, tiny coral flowers and a horn stick, that I want to make into a hair pin. I know my last purchase is still sitting in my collection. However, a beading lady can never have enough beads. It's the same philosophy behind the yarn, if you know what I mean. ;)

Iris Report

2006-10-11T13:36:00.000+08:00

Remember that I told you I had a FO on my last post? I was expecting that I would be showing my Pine Cones but I just didn't feel like to knit up that long border. N Instead I worked vigorously on my Iris. To my own surprise, it progressed so fast that I finished my Iris last week. It took a long time for me to take pictures outdoors. This my second set, the first one was all blurried, maybe because it was taken late in the afternoon. I need to admit it's a bit small for me. I even had to reknit the neckline as my head wasn't able to go through on the first try, even though I have a small head. Luckily, that didn't stop my flow to finish this top. I made my sleeves much smaller than the design and I think with a better cut as well. This design is from an old magazine and the cut is big and have a boxed look. I would prefer to wear this top with a pair of jeans, the multiple cable work seems to fight with my floral skirt. The top came out to be short than I wished. All my new jeans are low rise, just ready to show off my undesired belly. Does anyone know when this fashion of low rise pants will go away and I will be able to find a jeans with normal rise? :D
I like this skirt, it's slightly longer on the back. In the meantime since I don't have a better top to go with, I shall just pair it with Iris. My little blue bag also found her matching friends! It was one of those hard to let it go purchases I got in Las Vegas this past Summer.
Here is a close up of the cable pattern,

Pattern : Iris from 1991 AMU magazine

Yarn : Cometa 100% cotton ( used 7 balls)

Manufacturer : Mondial (Italy)

Needles: Japanese 4 (3.3 mm)

I think Iris will fit me better after I block it ( Yes, I haven't blocked it yet!! I don't have the patience to wait for it to dry out before I can debut it and to post it as well). ;)

Looking at the cables work, I wouldn't think I could knit up without having little troubles in the twistings. To my surprise, I was able to knit without having to follow the chart all the time after a couple repeats and that really gave me a good knitting speed. Besides that, I am happy that I was able to have a very neat seaming on the sleeves and shoulder area. I am so relieved , just to think that I didn't unravell the back of this FO...So It's not so bad to let UFOs sitting a while in your baskets. ;)

Knitterly things you may or not know about me

2006-10-05T11:01:00.000+08:00

I first started to knit at age 8 - 9 with my mother's guidance. My first project was a colorful stripped top that was knitted using leftovers yarns. I still have the wonderful momentous in memory.
I cast on my stitches with my left hand though I am right handed. That's because mother is left handed. I don't knit the same way as her and I am afraid to say that there is not a name for my knitting style. It doesn't seen to fit any of the styles I have seen or heard in the tutorials.
My mother taught me the basics of knitting using Japanese knitting books. Tough she didn't know Japanese either, she was able to decipher the basic instructions. From there, I picked up mostly by looking at the few illustrations in the books. I would miss hours of sleep just to understand the charts.
My first knitting project for a crafting class in middle school was to knit a baby cardi with lace pattern and a pair of matching booties. The instructions were written in Portuguese and there weren't any chart. I still remember that the teacher praised my lovely top but didn't say anything about the booties, tough she checked it all over. I couldn't knit the booties well, they turned out to be too big compared with the size of the top.
I have never knitted a pair of socks. Both the instructions in English or the Japanese charts discourage me. I was wondering if this has a link with my first booties!
The mending of my early projects were all done by my mother. I wasn't good at this task and I am still not. I seem to have improved a little these days that I have no choice but to do it by myself.
I basically only knit with straight needles. I prefer these old style needles over the circulars ones. I tried to switch but can't seem to enjoy them as much as my old needles. For some reason, with circulars my stitches get stuck by the end of the needles and I have to push each of them through.
I've never knitted a project using patterns written in English. Mostly of my knits are designs from Japanese books that I am more familiar. After so many years using schematics and charts from these books, I find it very hard to follow instructions word by word.
My addiction is not only to yarn but to knitting books as well. I have this urge to have them as soon it's out in the bookstores' shelves. I often check in the internet to see if a new issue has been released. Nowadays, I have the impression that the bookstore or LYS people recognize my voice since I call so often to check for my books arrival. My books are like collectible for me and I take good care of them . Most of my Japanese knitting books have plastic covers.
I used to enjoy knitting very intricate pattern, the more complicated the merrier. My selections would fall for the designs that had the highest level of difficulty. Nowadays, I don't like to take knitting challenges and will only knit patterns that I predict I won't have much trouble.

I am about to have an FO, so stay tuned for my next post. ;)

Just a long border to go

2006-09-29T13:29:00.000+08:00

Thank you for your sweet comments on my Sweet Pea! I am happy with my creation and will be wearing it around soon. Though, it may take some time as I haven't had the chance to take out of my closed yet as it has been very warm around here. ( 30C - 80F).
In meantime, I still need to work with light weight yarn. Here is a progress on my Pine Cone that is just missing the border. A long one, over 250 sts and that will include the collar part. This is not my favorite part as I don't like to have many stitches to work in a row. In the design, the border pattern is illustrated apart from the other pieces and there were no drawing links to the rest of the cardi. So I don't know for sure if the collar should be knitted apart and then later mended to the body or if the stitches should be grafted from around the edgings of the front parts. I think I will opt for the first choice. The reason is that I find it hard to graft a given number of stitches. I don't want to run the risk of having to recalculate the position of the button holes. I like to just take easy and follow the pattern's calculation.

Did you notice that the sleeves look kind limp and funny? I had to reajust them by taking many stitches out. About 10 sts, maybe I should have taken 6 instead and the effect wouldn't leave me with funny sleeves. But when I tried on, it looked to be all right. Their sizing was way too loose and I was afraid that it would be even looser with time.

In beetween my mending sections ( one needs some break for mending jobs), I found my old WIP, remember Iris? The photo below was taken some time ago. Look at the unfinished shoulders section and the short ribbing part.

I had archived the photo and classified it as an UFO for feeling that it was too small but could not let it just be unravelled in a blink. I had lost interest on this top for carrying it for too long. Besides of the sizing problem, I was not satisfied with the uneven tubular stitch border.
Now taking a second look at all those twisting works and the fact that it was knitted with Needles Japanese 4 ( 3.3 mm), I felt it was pity to let it go! I took a second measurement against a fitted top and it didn't look that small. In addition, I have the feelings that it will eventually stretch more.
( Please ignore the odd background as photo was taken in a glass table, the knitted piece was not so clear in other settings)

I finished the shoulder area for the back and redid the ribbing by cutting the old one away ( not an easy job) and knitted the border up down. I knitted a longer one for coverage purposes.( tummy issues ;)).

Show time with Sweet Pea

2006-09-21T09:59:00.000+08:00

Sweet Pea is all ready to be part of my Fall knitting wardrobe for this year. Just need some cooler temperature as I still feel so warm to wear anything that has long sleeves.

I woke up earlier this morning around 6:15 A.M. to make sure the boys wouldn't miss their track meeting at 7 A.M. Had to drop the boys at school in two trips because the elder one still wanted to catch some sleep. Rushed back and got DH ready for my pictures session. Sounds a lot work to prepare breakfast in four sessions, doesn't it? I normally have mine after all the guys leave for their day. The reason is that I like to start my day in a tranquil way ;)

The clouds covered my sun this morning not allowing me to have nice photos. Well, at least it was cool enough for me to wear Sweet Pea outdoors.
In my opinion, this is a nice and clever design. The main point is on the balance of the small lace works, so well distributed. I like most how the designer implemented the lace motive on the sides of the armholes ( arch?). In addition to that, the half lace in the V neckband is so adequate. Oh, not forgetting to mention my all time favorite bell shaped sleeves. The flared effect on the bottom of the sleeves were created by the cleverly incorporated yos stitches.

Pattern: Rich More #93
Yarn: Millefili Fine from Filatura Di Crosa (Italy)
Needles: Japanese 7 (4.2mm)

I didn't have much difficulty with this pattern. I could just follow the pattern size and that allowed me to have a mindless knit in overall. I was thinking that I could have knitted a bit longer. Also I wish that the sleeves were not so tight from the elbow down part. I originally had in mind to knit with some lighter yarn that would perhaps make the sleeves more draping.
It would even look nicer if I could use a thinner yarn. That would mean recalculations on the pattern. :( If I wasn't so lazy...things would be more perfect.

Fast growing Pine cones

2006-09-15T22:30:00.000+08:00

On Sunday, I finished all the pieces for Sweet Pea. I couldn't wait to mend all the pieces together. However, the knitted pieces looked so wrinkled that I had to block them before attaching the sleeves. As you know, I often don't normally practice this step. ;) The weather wasn't a help at all as it had been raining for days around here. So without natural resources, I had to dry up my Sweet Pea pieces using a dehumidifier. I am satisfied with the smooth result. I don't see the creases anymore.

In meantime, I was allowed to start a new project. Here it's my fast growing Pine Cones cardi. As you can not see in the picture ( sorry, too much light), I am using the Bamboo yarn( Eden from Madil). This is a super soft yarn and the stitches glide well on the needles. It doesn't split as much as I thought it would, unless you unravell your work. It's necessary to be careful while knittitng as trying to fix little mistakes would make the yarn split. Besides that, there is a need to reinforce the tightness of the stitches. In my opinion, bamboo yarn feels similar to rayon, viscose and silk materials. Considering that these are their properties , my bamboo yarn can be rated as a very good one. Other than that, the knitted fabric is so malleable and cooling.

Despite the attention required while working with this bamboo yarn, my Pine Cones grew very fast. I was thinking that this yarn would be so adequate for summer tops. It would yield to a very refreshing and light garment. Thinking about fall knitting, I bought three lots of this kind of yarn in sets of 9 - 10 balls for long or 3/4 sleeves. So there is a need to choose designs that would require enough yarn that I don't end up with unused material. While excavating yarn in my "small hill" for a new project, I found several bags with leftover yarns from past projects. Unfortunately, the atmosphere was not as if I was finding unearthly antiques. Indeed, they were very unpleasant to my eyes. Someday, I'll need to think about a project to use them up. I only like to see unused yarn in it's mint condition. ;)

Real knitting ahead

2006-09-08T12:06:00.000+08:00

I think I'm done with my "show and tell" about my latest knitting treasures. Life isn't back to normal yet , so knitting time is kind scarce nowadays. Though, there is some progress on Sweet Pea. It's going in a much faster pace than I originally had predicted. It could be that I am using larger needles sizes than I normally knit with it. See, I am done with the back of the sweater as you can see here:

I could have skipped the first photo but I had a small accident while takking the picutre. Silly me, thought that I could take a quick shot before the small portion of water would spill out. So there is a need to post the picture to compensate the efort of cleaning up the floor. Well, you get to see the back. Though, it's the same design as the front. :D
And speaking of the front, it's also done. To incentivate my knitting flow, I finished mending the shoulders and the V collar before starting the sleeves. It feels great to think that I only need to attach the sleeves when I am done knitting them at the end. I think I'll follow this sequence in the future as I dislike so much the mending part. Even though the total work is the same , mending a bit a time can minimize the boredom of the task.
There is a wrinkled look on the cabled stitches ( the Xs) that I am wondering if I should block it now before I attach the sleeves. By the way, did you notice the curved shape? The design is a straight line but it curves because it's all in plain stitches on the side. I would perfer it this way but I was too lazy to calculate the decreases and increases.

I am having a hard time to distract me away from the newest Fall Keitodama even though it's still hot around here and I am sweating as I am typing now. :D There are many designs in black and I have only the bamboo yarn to follow the trend. And it doesn't seen to fit any of the designs I plan to knit. I don't want to think about the possibility that I need to shop for more yarn. Though, it seems that I would have the perfect excuse for purshasing new yarn.

Hope you all have a relaxing weekend! See you all next week!

Mimi in Shanghai

2006-09-05T10:07:00.000+08:00

This is a late post about my trip to Shanghai. I have anxiously waited for more than a year to my return to the HengYuanXiang yarn store. And this time, I have a picture of the store to share. Apparently, the store keeps changing it's location very often. This is their third change of address in a few years. I found it by accident when I was walking at Nanjing road. At first, I thought I had found a new yarn shop. Indeed it was my original destinantion.
It's quite a challenge for me to make decisions when selecting yarn, perhaps I am often too excited. There are so much yarn but not reachable for you to cuddle. You have to ask the saleslady to view the colors closely and check it's thickness. The good thing is that you get to buy very neat skeins.
For the lot above, the colors are in gray and dark brown. Each skein is about 70 g and there isn't gauge information or advised needles size on their labels. Checking the yarn, I believe they are fingering weight. I'll probably have to use needles 3.3mm to knit with it.
These three are super thin, probably a cobweb type. Bought it to knit stoles and shawls. Oops! I just smashed couple sun flowers for this picture! The yarn is heavier than I thought. :D

I was just disappointed that I could not find any silk yarn. I went to YuYuan Gardens twice but without any luck. The first time, I could not even find the proper building. Besides, it was late afternoon and most of the stores were closed for the day. The surrounding had changed. Old sites were replaced by new buildings. The day before I left, I had another opportunity to go to that area with a friend. She took me to this center filled by small stalls nearby YuYuan Gardens that sells all kinds of haberdashery. My spirits were so up, thinking that I would take home some silk yarn. I have never been so encouraged to ask people regarding yarns! It seems to me that yarn is not a very popular commodity to inquire. I was pointed up and down, north and south and to all the corners of this center and even out but alas, not a tiny sign of my yarn. We had only couple hours before going back to meet our husbands for lunch. At last, I didn't come out empty handed. I was able to bring some buttons instead. Mostly are shell buttons, with the exception of the black horn style. Just when I was riding back for our lunch , I saw a small yarn shop hidden in a tiny road. My friend's driver drove by too quickly for me to request a stop. I tried to remember the street name but sure by the moment I met my husband I forgot it. Though, I am fluent with Mandarin, I don't seen to be able to memorize names.

Passing by a local bookstore, I wondered if I could find any knitting related book. My intuitions worked out and fullfilled by the few titles located in the craft section. In an impulsive action, I bought these three books below. The only problem is that there are no complete pattern instructions except for a small stitch chart for the designs. Besides the yarn hunting, I visited the Shanghai Museum ( There is an impressive virtual tour of Chinese Ancient Bronze collection on their link) . With my blog in mind, I took some pictures in the textile section from the minorities group. Sorry for the blurry pictures but these are all I have. It was dark inside the museum and the flashing lights were reflected by the glass displays.
Last, a day and night view of the Bund ( Waitan) in Puxing from across Huangpu river.

Can you spot the famous Oriental Pearl tower? It's the bright tall tower on the right with a pearl shape structure on the top. The illuminated area is the Bund, where nearby you can find HengYuanXiang store. I had to stare at that area for a couple of nights thinking about my yarn and when DH could fit in a schedule to take me there ( I had to check on my boys' mood as well) . Now I got to stare more from this photo! ;) Though, a good advice would be to restrain from more yarn purchases as I have plenty of yarn to contemplate. While I was shopping at HengYuanXian, DH seemed excited to tell the salesladies how much yarn I have at home. He described that the accumulated yarn at home resemble like a mountain. I wanted to send a hint for him to stop but decided to concentrate on checking my yarn. Later, after some clarifications with him, I agreed to a better description of my yarn stash. I had to accept as a "small hill". Sometimes, it's better to be more realistic! :D Now, I better go and knit more so that the stash will not turn into a mountain size.

Growing Sweet Pea

2006-08-31T16:43:00.000+08:00

I sure deserve a break after knitting Tutti Frutti with needles 3.3 mm. The rest is not from knitting but from the thin needles. I am starting to feel that I need a better boost so that I am conditioned for my Fall knitting. As usual , the yarn used is not first trial. I tried to knit with Toccata ( bought in Hong Kong) but the gauge was too big. Millifili from Filatura DiCrossa seems to be just right for this design. Again, I can tell it's going to be a fitted sweater but I need to keep in mind that's the right way for cotton yarns.

I had a wonderful time knitting at this open air tea house. Sipping some tropical fruits hot tea, I enjoyed every little stitch... The table was perfect at this time because this design requires me to follow the chart. It looks fairly simple but I couldn't find a very logical flow in certain parts. The place was full; however, I was so lucky to arrive and seat at the best front table with a great view. It was rather a cloudy day and not so hot as usual. Towards the end, it started to rain a bit but I still stayed firm in my chair. I couldn't let the few drops take away those enjoyable moments. My persistence lasted for another half hour and by then, most customers were gone . It was a signal that we have to leave since the place was about to close as well. But it was a great time to take a picture of my Sweat Peas in full view, no stares at me! ;)

By now, I have already finished the back part and I am working the front. Sounds like it's going to be a quick knit if I can manage to start the sleeves soon. I hope I don't break the flow. Once I fall into that, I find it very hard to be motivated again.

I'll be back soon with progress pictures of Sweet Pea.

Tutti Frutti

2006-08-29T16:17:00.000+08:00

It's time to show some FO in my blog after my knitting dormancy. Thanks for your warm welcome on my last post. It was a great boost to go back to my hobby so that I can continue to share my knitting adventures with you all.
I finished this top past Monday but didn't have the chance to take pictures. I was doing major cleaning at home and felt the urge for a little break. Nothing better than knitting to forget all about housework!

It was really a quick knit even it was knitted using needles size 4 (3.3 mm). The softness of the yarn and no splitting qualities made the knitting a pleasure experience. I named it as Tutti Frutti because it brought me memories of the colorful candy flavor in my childhood.
I started this project when I came back from San Diego and without noticing much, it was all finished. Although, I think it looks kind busy with all the mixed colors, I am still fairly happy with Tutti Frutti. The reason is the fit. I was finally able to knit a fitted cotton top. It's not perfect, I wish the lenght was a bit longer , that way it would hide the tummy better. It was hard to check the lenght since there was no sleeves decreases for this top and I forget that after seaming it normally pulls it shorter. I didn't block it yet, so there are hopes that it will elongate a little more.

Pattern: Rich More Summer 2006 #92
Yarn : Dolce Amore from Filatura Di Crosa ( Italy) 100% cotton
Needles: Japanese size 4 (3.3 mm)
Modifications: Knitted in smaller size by cutting a stitch repeat off. Also adapted a deeper collar than in the design.
This a close up of the pattern.

I enjoyed knitting this pattern, helped by it's clever stitch design that resembles a smoked effect in the sts. Oh, it feels so great to finish something when you have a pile of FOs next to your bed starring at you. ;)

Ignoring my UFOs , I've been day and night dreaming with the possibilities for the upcoming Fall. And I already started one from my new Rich More ( showing a preview soon).
I've been good at not purchasing other Japanese titles so far( besides those three . My knitting shelf has room just for a few more books, despite my constant effort to increase it by removing other titles away. I just remembered that I am still missing Keitodama, World knitting, Amu and Rowan for this winter. Oh, I guess the top of the bookshelf will soon be needed. :D

Little treats from my trips

2006-08-21T14:04:00.000+08:00

Hello! Hope everyone had a good and restful summer. I've missed the blogland and being updated with your knitting & crafts news. Sorry for the lack of comments on your posts from my part as I still need to find some nice time to go through all my missed ones.
I am finally back home and excited to go back to my knitting. I had planned to blog but with the trips, my free time was filled with packing and unpacking activities (the unpleasant part of travel). After staying for about a month and half away from home, I am slowing starting to get used to my normal routine.

Four days after my arrival home from US, I joined DH's local off-site meeting (mini travel) for three days and the next morning we were heading to Shanghai via Hong Kong. The later was not in the original itinerary ; however, the stop was necessary for an expedited Visa for China.
I was very pleased with the opportunity for a one day stop, as I had long wished to go to Hong Kong and meet the knitting girls. Although, I was a little reluctant to contact them with a such short notice.
So with my last minute arrangement, I was so pleased to be able to meet Eva and Siow Chin in person. Siow Chin and her little princess JY offered to take me to Cheerwool. It was my lucky day as I found cotton and bamboo yarn at a great price. Besides that, I was even able to preview most of the new Japanese knitting books for Fall 2006. Unfortunately, most of these new books were available only on order and with my next morning flight to Shanghai I had to be satisfied with the quick browsing. At least, I was able to get one book which has many designs I like. ( will show photo next blog).
Eva was able to join us for dinner after her long day of work. It was so exciting to talk about our favorite subject of knitting. I missed the opportunity to meet Joy as she was still travelling in Europe. I hope one of these days I will be able to join their knitting meet up! ;)

The red pack is Japanese yarn, a blend of cotton and linen. On the botton left, Toccata from Filatura Di Crosa. On the right botton are sets of bamboo yarn. These are thicker than my usual preference but are amazingly soft. Can't wait to knit with bamboo yarn!

I had first bought Noro in Las Vegas, it's hard not to be tempted by the beautiful colors . The three tweedy balls are Cascade yarn ( mix of wool/alpaca/acrylic), a bargain that was hard to resist. The pinkish colourway is for socks that I have yet to knit a pair! :) I did start to knit a sock with my mother's guidance but didn't have time to finish it. And some Addi Natura Circular bamboo needles. I decided that I should give a try on circular needles and Addi's cord seem to be great in quality. Just the cost is high, so I just bought in one lenght 80 cm- 32''.

Surprisingly, not much yarn was in my luggage. Hopping from one yarn shop to another with hopes that I would find shawl yarn. I noticed that most yarn shops that I visited carries novelty and thicker yarns, not my favorites.
In other hand, got many knitting books back that I have yet to find the time to browse them! None of them are new titles but they are not available in the local bookstores or LYS here.

That's all for today, just a quick post . As you can probably notice, half of my mind is still on my messy house. In the past few days I've been conquering bits here and there. So hopefully, I will be back soon with real knitting updates!

Searching for yarn shops

2006-07-11T23:38:00.000+08:00

It's been more than a week since I arrived here in San Diego. Now the jetlag seems to be gone and the kids settled in their summer camp.

Thank you all for the good travel wishes you sent to me! :) Here are some photos from my first day, very early in the morning and right after I dropped the kids at school. Enjoyed some nice breakfast in La Jolla downtown with my sister. Love pancakes with strawberries! Right next door there was a needlepoint shop with cute canvas. The sea view in this city is just breathtaking. The surrounding is so peaceful and beautiful. I can see this scenery on my daily driving to pick up my boys.

I also stopped by Knitting in La Jolla, a small yarn store but with a good range of yarns. Bought couple Lorna's Lace and need to go back to get a shawl pattern book. There was another very small shop nearby, Helga's Yarn, but the store was closed as it was still early and I didn't see much yarn inside to make the return worth it. Yes, that's me on the reflection of the store's glass door.

On the following day, I went to "Common Threads", in Encinitas . This is a larger store with a good selection of yarn, accessories and books. Though I had hard time to go through their yarn as they are displayed by shades instead of types. Just got some books as time was short. My problem for shopping is not having enough time. The pick up time for the boys is 2:30 PM and 11:00 AM on Fridays. Still need to go back to the area as there are two more yarn shops in this neighborhood.

This past weekend, I , my boys and Sis' family went to Las Vegas and we shopped a lot. I should say until I dropped! :) I have to say that Las Vegas is a great place for shopping, endless stores and mostly open until midnight. Funny as it may sound but I didn't gamble. No, I am not into gambling at all! However, I am addicted to yarn. My sister was so surprised that I found a yarn store in the area. Checked through goggle and found "Gail Knits". My brother-in-law was so nice to include this stop for me! We arrived there just an hour before the store closing time. The store is not far away from the big hotels area but it's a slow driving due to the traffic. Bought some Noro yarn to make a sweater . It's hard to resist the vivid colors in Noro.

I think I will be visiting more yarn shops in LA as my sister will be on vacation after tomorrow. Will be nice to have her as company. Though she doesn't knit, the girls in my family like making crafts. Besides, I have this insecurity of driving in southern CA. Drivers here just speed up so much. And here I am with unknown roads and unfamiliar cars. Well, I am not so bad behind the wheels. Thinking that I had 4 driving licenses ( 3 are still valid) from 4 countries and I can even drive on different sides of the wheel. But you know for yarn hunting, I would never give up! ;)

Packing up for San Diego

2006-06-28T09:59:00.000+08:00

In a few hours, I'll be flying with the kids to San Diego to visit my family. Alas, at last minute, I found a summer camp for the boys. So I will hopefully have some free time to spend with my family.

This time I tried my best to pack my belongings ahead and if it wasn't because of these... I would not need to rush now.

oops, just dropped a necklace and broke a flower bead, the one in the right. Should be able to fix it later, will pack an extra flower bead. Yesterday , I just could not help to make some necklaces for my sisters. And I made one for myself as well ( the left one) . I used material from an old necklace I made years ago. That's a good thing about beads, you get to reuse the beads and everything is new and fresh again. I got so addicted with beads and I just can't wait to find a bead fair in the southern CA in July.

I didn't forget about knitting. I just took a little break, still knitting a row here and there. I started a new project, Iris. It's from an old Japanese magazine. So there is need for reshaping as the design has a boxy look. Will be my project for the airplane time. Using Cometa yarn from Mondial. I am enjoying to knit the cables though I don't often knit this kind of design with cotton yarn. Trying to diversify my knits' style for each season. :)

As part for the traveling kit, I could not get into an airplane without a nice magazine. Last week I found this Knit'n style Fall edition. So surprised to see this early bird in the bookstore shelf. I don't usually buy this title as the designs are not my favorite ones. Though this time, I need a magazine to relax, entertain and pass the time in the squeezed airplane seat. I was so good , did not even peek inside the magazine yet, it's still in it's sealed bag! ;)

So I wish you all a happy July and even it's kind hot to knit ( it's 34C- 93F around here), you still can dream for Fall knitting like I am going to do soon. I don't know if I'll be able to post but I may just surprise you.

Beads would be hanging from the trees...

2006-06-23T14:44:00.000+08:00

Once when my older son was in elementary school, he wrote a poem that had these lines,

In my mother's dream
Beads would be hanging from the trees...

So that should give you an idea of how addicted to beads I was. Even my little guy had noticed. :D
Can't find the poem, I know I've saved it somewhere...(bad mom)
Besides that my son also mentioned that I enjoyed eating chocolate and writting emails to my friends.
Well, I found out that I am still fanatic about beads. I have been delaying in making necklaces for some of my husband's coworkers that have helped me wherever written Chinese is an obstacle for me. So I thought that something made by me, would express my appreciation for their help.

These are my favorites designs. The first one has Aquamarine, Crystal Quartz and Bali silver beads.
This second one is composed of Amethyst, Crystal Quartz, Swarovski beads and Bali Silver beads.
This third one has Rose Quartz, Moon stone, Crystal Quartz and Bali Silver beads. Gifted to my sister-in-law.

I have more to show! :)

As you can see, knitting was kind neglected last week.

For sometime, I have wanted to hike in the mountains. I had visions of me knitting in a beautiful view. So DH took me to Flying Phoenix Mountain ( translated from the Chinese name) this past Saturday. I've hiked before through another way that is all stairs. This time, DH chose a shortcut but still took us 50 minutes to get to the peak of the mountain. It may not sound a big deal but for a sedentary lady, that's plenty of exercise.

On the top left picture, I was taking a little break and pretending I was knitting. On the right top, I finally made to the little coffee shop. No real knitting happened, just managed to knit a few rows. I was too tired even to hold the needles. :D
The view is so worth it! Well, I have some knitting to show at least. See, I was knitting at TGIF while I waited for our lunch. It can take a good 30 minutes to have our meal served from our past experiences. It's certainly not the kind of food I should eat nowadays, but it's my boy's favorite restaurant in Asia.

The rescue of Lavender

2006-06-14T09:14:00.000+08:00

I finished my Lavender this past Sunday but there wasn't any chances for outdoor pictures. Yes, the rain is visiting us for the third consecutive week. So I only have these unclear pictures to share as it was still cloudy when I had these photos taken by this morning.
I am in love with this design, so classical and yet in fashion at same time. I made mine a bit longer than the original pattern. I think for you, younger ladies , the shorter version would look lovely! For me, I think some coverage in the tummy area is more adequate. I specially like the 3/4 sleeves and the collar. Lavender would have another look if it wasn't rescued by Erin from OpportunityKnits. Remember I was missing one ball to complete and put an order for it from my LYS? This particular light lavender shade is not available here. I had originally bought this yarn in Singapore and at that time 8 balls sounded enough for a project.
So in a flash time, Erin mailed the yarn to me . And in a few days, I was able to finish it! Lavender would have no collar and would have to be changed to short sleeves if I couldn't have this extra ball.

Due to the weather I didn't block it. I am just worried that it will expand because the final knitted fabric feels a little loose than I hoped for. So far, it fits me quite well. I am just hoping that it'll keep it's original size.
I like collars and had planned to make a wider one. With this in mind, I even knitted more rows but still didn't yield to a wider collar.
The curved areas didn't turned out to be very neat. In fact, I had to sew a few sts in the curved areas to make it look more even. I wonder if there is a specific way to accomplish that. Though I checked the picture in the book and theirs are also not very neat. Anyways, I still like this bolero very much and I will be wearing it around!

Pattern: World Knitting Spring/Summer 2006
Yarn: Egypt Cotton - 100% cotton ( Japan) ( 9 balls, 40g each)
Needles :Japanese 5 ( 3.6mm)
Modifications: Added extra rows to the body and collar.

Erin helped me on rescuing Lavender but not only that she gave me a wonderful surprise!
In the package, there were these sooooo beautifully and thoughtful gifts!
On my favorite purpleish tones and so neatly wrapped. It was hard to have to unwrap them but at same time I could not wait to open the gifts. Though, I managed to take a picture first! ;)

Look at the wonderful things Erin sent to me!
The big white flower is a dishcloth ( I should name as facecloth)! I just love it, it's super soft and it's very special because she knitted it. I will have to save it. It's my habit with things that I like as I have hard time in using them! ;)
There are the Crabtree Lavender soap ( my favorite toiletry shop), my rescue yarn for Lavender, a devotional book to give me strengths, Regia wool/silk yarns with special socks needles and a booklet with instructions ( there are many designs that i like). It's a perfect set for me to take to US during Summer. Erin, thank you so much for this nice surprise! I love all your gifts!

Thank you all for the compliments on Rose, love to receive your comments!
I am working on my last wip that is the outer cardi Gardenia. I made a good progress on it but more crochet work ahead. I am trying to work only on this last wip before I leave to US in couple weeks. Hehe, the persistence mood only lasted for couple days. Yesterday night, I started to swatch for a new project . Haven't knitted much these days because Summer holidays are approaching and along with it comes the summer courses preparation, tickets to go back to US and you know all the end of school year activities.
So hopefully I can still manage to post couple times before my trip.

For Wai-Fong:
I don't have your email so I will reply to you here:
Thanks for visiting my blog and for the nice comments! I think the HengYuanXiang yarn is not available in HK . It 's a famous brand in Shanghai. You can have more details about this yarn from Siow Chin's post ( Little Purl of Orient).

Rose in view

2006-06-06T23:48:00.000+08:00

I finished my Rose this past Saturday but haven't been able to take any pictures due to the weather. The right bottom photo is a good representation of the true color of Rose. Sorry but you'll just have to use your imagination and paste this Rose on me instead of the bright pink color. DH took the pictures for me just before he left for work and now I' m home alone so no second trials.

Except for the beginning of the lace that I had a hard time, the rest was an easy knit. I'm not so happy with the shoulder area. I should had modified the cut and knitted a bigger armholes and that would yield to narrow shoulders. Besides that I would shorten the sleeves as well.
There is a crochet border around Rose and I followed the design and made 7 button holes ( looks invisible if not used). Though only the first buttonhole is being utilized to keep the fashion trend. Later on, I will be able to add more buttons in case I want a more classical design. Another reason is that I only found this solitaire shell button in my collection. Getting buttons is a big taskfor me as it takes me a one day trip to get to the textile district. So I will need to collect more button needs to make the journey. For now, I'll live with that solitaire button!;)

I only steam blocked my Rose. We are in the rainy season and it has been really wet around here. So I thought it may not be a good idea to wash it. In the end, I like this design and the process of knitting different stitches was entertaining to me.

Pattern: Keitodama Summer 2000
yarn: Filatura Dicrossa Millefille ( 6 balls)
needles :Japanese 5 ( 3.6mm) and crochet 3
modifications: I omitted the embroidered flowers on top of the diamonds and the sleeves border.
Couple weeks ago, DH was on a business trip in Shanghai and brought back a surprise for me. He came in like a Santa Clauss with this huge blue Panda bag. He got the bag in the airport as the yarn boxes were just wrapped in shopping bags. Suposely husband travesl just with his carry on luggage and the excess baggage certainly would not fit in. I was thrilled because I didn't tell him to get yarn for me because I have plans to go to Shanghai in August. Well, to be honest i wanted ( how could Mimi possibly not want any more yarn?) but I was feeling guilty that I had just recently bought so many yarns.

Those are the HengYuanXiang yarn. The red and blue are sport weight ( I guess) and I already have some of the red ones from my last trip ( there was only one box available at that time). Now I'll be able to knit a sweater with this additional set. The purple boxes on the left are the additional red and blue yarns. Next the dark brown and purpleish yarn are fingering weight to be knitted in double ( advice from the saleslady). Oopss, I am describing from left to right, must be influence from the Japanese books!
Did you notice that the yarns are paired? It's one for me and the other for DH. :D :D I guess he's starting to enjoy my knitting! Perhaps, we are a little bit old for matching clothes, but I think I will knit as a set style. I guess it will be fun! ;)
The yarns are tweed with black thread, very fine though. I was wishing that the fingering weight ones were plain, that way they would be ideal for shawls.
I am very happy with these yarns, except for one thing. Now, I have a big problem of yarn storage!

The thorns of Rose

2006-05-28T15:34:00.000+08:00

I haven't been posting for the last few days due to my boys' school activities. Lots of things to take care (standardized tests, near finals, prom, PTA meetings, summer camps, etc...) However, I 've been knitting on my de-stressing sessions and done some good progress.

The yellow top I introduced last post didn't worked out. Unless, I could miraculously return to my younger days figure, the size would fit me. To make me feel better,I started a new project with my new acquired Filatura DiCrosa ( Millifili Fine) rose color cotton yarn.

There was excitment in the air as I found this design in my old Keitodama Summer 2000. Even though, I've flipped this issue many times, only at this time I felt an attraction for this top. So, go check your older knitting books, it may reveal a pretty design that you may have missed. ;)This design is not very clear in the picture but a closer look in the pattern gave me the feelings that it would be a nice choice. I've noticed that I enjoy these semi hidden designs, maybe because it's fun to see the design emerging as it progress.
This Millifili is a great yarn and it slides smoothly on my bamboo needles. The color is a deep pink (unlike in the photo, it shows a bright pink color). It reminds me of roses, thus I was induced to name my new project as Rose.
Just like a real one, mine have plenty of thorns. The bottom part has a lace design that is fairly a simple one but it felt like thorns as I had to unravel numerous times. Either I had missing yo's or extra yo's in my rows and how painful it's to put the stitches ( in lace designs) back on the needle. With this process, my poor yarn was splitting all over, very sad. Luckily, just like in a rose once I conquered the thorns ( my mistakes), I was able to enjoy my knitting and it grew super fast afterwards.

I am also feeling happy as I did more progress on my Lavender. I had to halt on it because I ran out of yarn! ( usual from me? :D) I think it's because I knitted a longer version as following the pattern would be just way too short for me. I thought that changing to plain sts in between the slanted eyelets would yield some extra yarn. Apparently, it wasn't enough to cover the extra lenght I've added.
I am missing yarn to finish a few rows of my second sleeve and the collar.I am just waiting for my yarn to arrive and I will be able to finish this one. Did you notice that I already have the shell buttons ready to go? Interesting that these shell buttons have this iridescent effect that will reflect with the color they lie on.

My Gardenia top had been neglected for a while. I didn't want to knit it because I was kind bored on this design. Somehow finishing the inner top felt like I was done with this project. So I forced myself to work on this one and made a good progress. Now, it's just missing the sleeves and another piece of crochet for the front. It was kind slow knitting this one up as this cardigan is knitted in one piece. Oh, so many stitches in a small size needle. Well, I am glad that I am almost done with it.

On this last photo I am showing my failure to stay away from colourway yarns. I have the hardest time to match a design for this kind of yarn but could not resist them. The white ones are justified as I am in need of some neutral colors in my wardrobe. ;)

A special cake for a knitter

2006-05-15T12:53:00.000+08:00

On Mother's day I don't have the chance to celebrate the occasion with my mother as she lives in the US. So yesterday, the day was focused on myself and it was full of surprises that I wanted to share in my blog. With all the excitment, I took plenty of pictures to later find out that I probably have too many to show. But not until I stopped this morning by Erin's blog.. She had a beautiful collage photo and it looked so great that i decided to borrow her idea!

The weather was perfect for me to debut Calla Lily, except for the wind that didn't allow my lace border to stay still ( where I live is known as "wind city").
Thanks everyone for the nice words on my knitting, I truly enjoyed reading all the compliments on my Calla Lily. Despite that the pictures always look better than my real work I am still very satisfied with it.
In the evening, DH had reserved a dinner for us at my favorite Japanese restaurant. There were plenty of food( the manager asked politely if were not ordering too much!) but I could only snap those two because my son said it was too embarassing to take photos at the restaurant. ( oh, teenager!) In fact it is but not for the blogging purpose.
Last photo is a gathering of mother's day gifts. The orchid was a gift from younger son and he wrote me a sweet card. Older son presented me a box of Godiva and the dark rich chocolate cake. The other cake was a surprise gift from the restaurant's manager.

This morning I woke up early to take a picture of the cakes as I wanted to serve the chocolate one as breakfast. Still half awake, I took them out from their boxes and I was appreciating the design of my son's chocolate cake. Then, I took a look at the other cake and was intricated by the huge ball. I even commented of how strange the design was to myself. Somehow the big rounded thing reminded me of a yarn ball. And there was even a small one. Oh i thought, I must be thinking too much about knitting and yarn that I am hallucinating about it. Another closer look, it even has these two sticks that ressemble needles. Crazy me, i was even laughing but there was a pink sweater and the more i looked i couldn't believe it. Take a look!

Did you notice the loosen yarn thread hanging out?
I am so fascinated by this cake and wondering if there is a banner ( Hellooo! I am a knitter!) on my forehead . :D DH knows well the manager of this restaurant as he often has business dinners there but I wouldn't think this cake was specially made for me since I saw other customers ( mothers) walking out with a cake box. But how appropriate it was for me, it wouldn't suit anyone better than a fanatic knitter as I am! :D :D :D Ah...Nice way to wake up on a Monday morning. ;) Can't eat the cake yet, haven't had the chance to show it to my guys!

Well, with all the extra calories that will take off my waistline. I had this for lunch today...only greens, plenty of carrots hidden underneath and yellow kiwis with sesame sauce.

I have been waiting for a good excuse to bring these home and nothing like on my special day. It has been on sale for couple weeks and never mind that it cost almost double of what I paid in Singapore ( bought in two other shades). There were good excuses as i had intended to get the the ruby red but there weren't enough balls availbale in Singapore. Besides for each set of six balls, a set of Clover needles was included with a free pattern. Not so impressed by the design but the needles are nice add-ons.

To close this post, just a little sampler of my newest WIP.

It's a nice surprise!

2006-05-12T13:00:00.000+08:00

I am finally done with Calla Lily! All the 472 rows for the lace border was worthwhile ( it wasn't 270 rows as i mentioned in the last post).
I am so happy with this knit and it's a nice surprise for me. I didn't have high expectations on this one since I was using a yarn from my "Broken Hearts" collection. I used a partially frogged yarn that had been waiting for a long time to be chosen again.
Here I am posing with Calla Lily! I am pairing it with a pink cami so that the lace border is more visible.

I have seen many Spring knits that despite looking hand knitted, were machine made and had very loosen stitches. With that in mind i decided to try on my knits too. I have the tendency to knit tightly and most of my Cotton FO's are super heavy.
I acted as a detective and made a little discovery on Richmore Magazines. On the last page it has a summary of all the yarns used in the edition and it contains the gauge for the yarn. Normally in the pattern section it only specifies the gauge for the given stitch pattern and not the gauge for the yarn in stocknitte. On the pattern instructions,there is a section that specifies the yarn name, color #, # of balls and the total price of the project. You have to play a matching character game here to match the yarn name. Some patience is needed as the names are all alike!
So my intuitions were right, I was happy to find out that the pattern was using a bigger needle size than the advised for the yarn. Although the gauge wasn't an exactly match, I still wanted to give it a try.

pattern: Richmore Vol.92
Yarn : Cotton Silk 90% cotton 10% silk ( used 6 balls of 40g)
Needle : Japanese size 9 ( 4.8 mm) ( size 6 -7 /3.9 - 4.2 mm required for the yarn)
I had some trouble with the lacy border as there was two consecutive yo's and also in the part of binding off for the tip of the leaves. The yo's were demystified as i knitted. However,for the leaves tips, I did my way and it may not be correct and i think I won't be able to find out if I'm wrong or the diagram is incorrect. Hehe, i find that the leaves look just like in the pattern!;)

I would like to thank you for the comments on Gardenia! I am starting to like it more, now that the weather has warmed up. ;)

Can you spy.... Gardenia?

2006-05-03T10:04:00.000+08:00

Can you spy Gardenia? Not the ones in the bushes, my Gardenia. :D The flowers are just so fragrant and beautiful. These bushes are just located by the front of where I live, thus I've been monitoring their buds and hoping that they will bloom in time for me to catch a snippet photo with my latest FO. Unfortunately, most of the flowers have been damaged with the abundant rain for the past week.

Sorry, this is the best shot I've gotten, they were all not very clear and DH was rushing to go to work. Maybe the setting wasn't correct or it could be the cloudy skies. In fact, I went in and it started to rain... But you can see it better in the photo below,

pattern: World Knitting Spring/Summer 2004
Yarn: Sirdar Pure Cotton for the body ( only used 1 ball of 100g) . Crochet thread that I bought at Michaels, sorry I can't remember the name and the labels were gone last summer as i was trying to knit something else.
needles: Japanese size 4 ( 3.3mm) for knitting and crochet size 2
I am working on the matching cardi that I will show the progress on my next post. Right now, it's all crumpled with 267 sts in a straight needle. I still don't get used with circulars. :)

Ah I finally decided to work on Calla Lily, I was avoiding this project since the lace border needed more attention than my other wips. I got it to work yesterday night and I hope that I will be able to sew the border properly. Still long way to go for the lace border, about 270 rows to knit on...

Lavender is coming up fast as it's an easy knit and I simplified it even more by substituting for plain sts ( between the slanting eyelets) instead of small diamonds shape sts in the design.
I was supposed to search for the shell buttons for Lavender but due to the rainy forecast of this week I will have to postpone for next week. That's the reason for the sts from the right front being in a holder. It was set to go for a matching button session on Tuesday but it was pouring with rain . See , i even got one button hole ready for the try out.

I'm not so happy with the uneven cutaway curve. I was careful on the curve but still it doesn't look very neat . I've checked the design and theirs are not perfect either. I felt better ... :) I was thinking in crochet a thin border but it may look good. Hmm, will think about it later.

Well, it's time for lunch and since I did some ironing while posting, ( waiting Blogger to load my pictures can take some time) I can excuse myself from housework and do some knitting. ;) Need to knit faster, I am having this urge to start new projects, specially that I got the new Summer Keitodama in my hands.....

I am planning to knit the cover design and another super lacy one ( it reminds me of lacy shawl patterns) from this issue. I am so happy with the fact that I was able to get a copy from the air shipment lot from Kinokuniya. I found out that the bookstore receives a few copies in advance and once sold out I'll have to wait for at least another couple weeks for new ones to arrive from their sea shipment. Hehe , it may not be too relevant for you... but you can imagine how happy I feel to get it earlier in my possession. :D Well, it isn't a super edition but at least there are few designs that i would like to knit, much better than the Spring edition.

Back from a little break...

2006-04-26T06:46:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the recent lack of news. I've taken a little break from my computer in an effort to improve my kids' grade. I've decided to dedicate my time for their midterms and ensure that they would study. It was supposed to be just for a few days but then my hard disk had a failure at the same time ( only got it back yesterday night). I should say it was an appropriate incident as my younger son used the time to read books instead of chatting with his classmates at msn.

During the couple days prior to the tests I had a good progress on my crochet/knit project that I've named as "Gardenia". As I sat with the boys at the dinning table I was able to concentrate on the crochet borders that before looked to be an endless work. BTW, my job was just to serve snack and occasionally help on testing their subjects. The real guard, DH had to seat next to them teaching mostly math and ensuring their concentration.:)

I am almost done with this top, just need some mending. I just love the little shade contrast between the knitting and crochet yarn.

Gardenia
Right now, I am working with the outer sweater as this is a set. So more crochet to come...
My off-white bolero, "Calla Lily" has it's outer shape formed already. It's just waiting for its lace border that i still need to figure out how it's knitted. The task needs some concentration and i am lacking of that at this moment. :)

Calla Lily
I have also started a new wip and have allowed myself to indulge in a yarn from my "In love" ( new acquisitions) collection. Since Gardenia's yarn was selected from the "Past love" (not recent purchase) group and Calla Lily from the "Broken heart"(frogged yarn) one. Don't you group your yarns this way?? ;)
For a total fresh look, I've chosen a design from the latest World knitting Spring/Summer 2006. The back is all done and i am working with the fronts and i just can't wait to buy the three big shell buttons as in the original model. Good excuse to go shopping in the textile district again.

Lavender

I am using Egypt Cotton yarn (Japanese)in this super light lavender shade. It's so pretty and it looks even nicer when knitted up.

And now I'll show my prize from Yuvee ( here is her site link www.yuvee.blogspot.com, all my bloging functions are unavailable, don't know why...)
There are my luxurous silk yarn from Knitpicks, a so soft pink Alpaca yarn, a nostalgic knitting card ,cute lady bug tape, a fragrant Lush soap, a bath fizzers with my favorite flower fairy box, yummy candy and peach-rasberry tea and even dark chocolate. All the gifts were in my favorite violet shade, including the wrapping tissue! ;)

Yuvee's gift

I have been behaving like a little girl and pampering my gits. Once again Yuvee, thank you for putting so much effort on these lovely gifts!

Look! Is she wearing a scarf?

2006-04-10T23:30:00.000+08:00

I am so delighted that I am finally able to go back for walks in the nature. My kids don't enjoy these outing anymore ( hum, I should say they have never enjoyed). Nowadays, the difference is that their off from school time is spent with their friends and I am left alone with DH and we can go for our walking again.
A few days ago, I asked DH to take me to a local reservoir. I haven't told DH that my excitement was for the photo section. :D :D I think he will have a good guess from now on that I carry my knitting bag with all the supplies.

You have to applaud on this one because it was 31C (88F), hot and super humid! I had to pretend that I was very normal wearing my newest FO and ignore the many by passers probably saying," Look! Is she wearing a scarf? In this hot weather? "
Pardon me for the unevenness of the scarf length. I am shy and I had to put it quickly, no time for adjustments. :D
My efforts were worthwhile, look how nice this photo bellow turned out.

Pattern: Scatter Rose Quartz - My own (? took from a stitch pattern book)
yarn: Kid merino wool ( Italy)- 3 balls
needles: Japanese size 5 - 3.6mm and crochet size 5 for the bobbles
With the sweat session, I was rewarded with a refreshing rest along with fresh grapefruit juice and some homemade cookies at the tea house just by the lake. Sorry forgot the take a picture of the area, as I had one more shot to take:

This is the back of my newest WIP. Will leave some suspense for the design but if you have the newest Rich More you can search for the pattern!

It was a great afternoon and I relaxed well( after the photos) flipping through a fashion magazine and we were just sent home by the late afternoon rain!

Can't make my mind...

2006-04-06T13:38:00.000+08:00

I started to attend a knitting class a few weeks ago. It's not a structured course as I just go for help on a specific project. It fits me well as I know the basics and wouldn't enjoy to go for every details of knitting a project.
I chose a combination of knitting and crochet for my first assignment, that way I also get help on the crochet part that I am really a novice.

Here is a preview of my work. I am using Sirdar Pure Cotton in off white color. I am knitting the body with Japanese needle 4 ( 3.3mm), and crochet size 2. The crochet swatch was done in a thick yarn, just for me to practice, as the real one will be done in a very thin thread ( the big ball on top). I am working very slowly in the crochet part, it's hard, the sts are so tiny. So wait patiently on this progress...

Here was the progress of my yellow top I was working last week. I was about to finish the back of it when I noticed that my pattern had a mistake, all the way down to the lace part.

A close look on the picture ( right side) will show that there are extra rows of eyelets on top of the designs. It's supposed to be plain by the end of the diamonds. Not a big deal but somehow it was just the excuse I needed to cancel this project. I wasn't so happy with the combination of yarn and design. I wanted it to be knitted in a thinner yarn. Oh no! I even spotted more errors in the diamonds, good that by now it's just a picture!

I played with my winding machine, it's fun and makes the frogged yarn look so much neater. Thus making me feel better to start over again! As you can see, I need to practice more. I found that putting the hand wound ball in a box ( instead of letting it run on the floor) helps the process.

I started another design. Though it seems to me ,that the sts are too loose for this yarn. Many times, it's a complicated task to find a perfect match for the yarn and design. More frogging.....Anyways, I wanted to take a picture of these beautiful roses. They calm my senses, don't you think I am in need of that by now? :D

*** Thanks for the lovely comments on my Violet. I didn't like it that much when I first finished it; however, now with all the great assurances I sure enjoy it and I can wear my sweater proudly. ;)

Violet in full bloom

2006-03-28T17:52:00.000+08:00

I was finally able to make my Violet in full bloom this Saturday. I didn't blog about it as I couldn't take any pictures outdoors . It has continuously rained in the past four days. A short period of sunshine in the afternoon allowed me to have this picture taken outdoors. With the sun out, I thought that wearing this sweater was going to be so warm, but a sacrifice for an outdoor picture would justify the action. Ah, I was relieved that Violet was perfect for today's weather.

I feel that the neckline is a bit low but proper for the design. ( Thanks Joy for your support! Sometimes we just need someone to approve it. :D)
It's an easy pattern but my yarn split in a few spots making the stitches not perfectly uniform. This time I decided not to be lazy and tried a new seaming method for the reversed stockinette. And now my mending seems much better though to be honest, it still needs much improvement. In overall, I am happy with the outcome and I think the pattern would fit well cotton yarn.

I hope you are not tired of the purple carpet background ( it will be around as long I have purpleish projects), here it comes again! LOL I added a necklace to fill the big neckline. Btw, it's one of my creation made of amethyst and Bali silver beads.

Pattern: Japanese magazine - World Knitting 2005 Fall/Winter
Yarn : 9 balls of Cool Merino - Kid Yarn ( Italy) 100% wool
Needle : Japanese 6 (3.9mm) for the body and 5 (3.6mm) for the borders.
Modifications: I used one size up for the needles. Often the Japanese patterns are a bit small for me , so I decided to try to use thicker needles and yarn. In addition, I increased the armholes but forgot to enlarge the sleeves cap thus it's not as loose as I like around the arms.

To wrap up, how about some food photos? Pardon for so much red, I know, X'mas and Chinese New year are over but I was rushing to find something nice and this new tablecloth was on top of the pile.
In an adventurous mood, this past Sunday my guys decided to take over the kitchen and cooked their specialties. DH is kind out of touch in terms of cooking ( Since we moved to Asia, DH has been too busy to be in the kitchen), oops too much soy sauce in the fish and prawn. Though he is a great cook. I actually learned to cook from him when we first got married. :D
Older son had a Geography project at school and his group was in charge of Israel and he made this Israeli fried potato and onions dish at school and wanted to make a replicate at home( it's the small dish on the right). Initially the idea of them cooking was so delightful, you know, imagine the extra hours for my knitting. The fact is I spent a great amount of time in the kitchen afterwards doing what you just have guessed: cleaning all the mess left! Can't complain, it was a fun evening for all of us. We also had wine and sparkling soda for the boys.

The second photo shows what I prepared for tonight's dinner. It's all Chinese dishes, what we normally eat at home. On the left top is Salted vegetable with fresh soy beans and bean curd. On the right is a simple stir-fried cauliflower with garlic. Bottom left is chicken fillet with onion and mushroom and last, on the right is a cold dish, jellyfish with cucumber and sesame oil.

It's past 8:30 PM and I am anxiously waiting for DH to come back and have his dinner, so that I can start my knitting session!
Hope you are all having a good knitting time! ;)

Knits and Beads

2006-03-22T09:30:00.000+08:00

Knitting has been really slow nowadays but it wasn't lack of interest but rather an issue of concentrating in a project. I wanted to knit violet super fast but ended up reknitting the sleeves over and over. Now, I finally got a matching pair with perfect pattern. The diamonds are relatively easy but it's not one of those that flow logically for me to memorize. So I think I've lost track of the pattern a few times and just realized the mistakes later on.
I only got indoor pictures this time as this week, we have only cloudy and foggy days.

Here is curly Violet , in unblocked pieces, the back is also done.
I am just concerned about the neckline, it seems way too low, though it's just as in the pattern. Need to rethink about the problem before the mending job takes place.

So I decided that it was time to start another project. And how about some Japanese chocolate and rose tea to make things more pleasant?

I wanted to knit a vintage top that Erin and Siow Chin knitted last year from World Knitting magazine but somehow the pattern has very strange measurements, it's way too small. And I am just not in mood to decipher or recalculate anything at this moment.
Before things got unpleasant I turned the rib part to this:

I found a new Japanese yarn at a LYS, the brand name is Kanebo and the price is more attractive compared to other brands I have used before. It's also a bit thicker than most of my cotton yarn stash though not as soft as my Italian ones. I think it's going to be good for the Japanese Needle 6 (3.9mm) projects.
The design is a short sleeve from Keitodama Spring 2005. It looks quite simple but I had to follow the diagram for the diamonds again. Strange, I feel that I am having diagrams phobia lately! :D

Past Sunday, I was nearby the Jade market in Taipei and decided to just browse a little bit but I walked out with a heavier purse and less money in my wallet . The cause was these green things
Growing up in a western culture has not given me a chance to enjoy and appreciate jade. Now, I kind started to like it, so they are going to be part of my bead collection. They look green boring but with pearls and coral I fell it will look nice. Buying beads has a similar gratifying feeling as adding yarns to your stash! ;)

By the seaside

2006-03-09T09:30:00.000+08:00

Past Sunday, DH and I went for a walk by the seaside. Besides the exercise, I had other plans in mind, such as to take some photos for my post. As you heard before, sport is not my forte, so it helps to add some knitting excitement to the occasion. A few days ago, I found a vest I had knitted couple years ago and have completely forgotten about it and is not even included in my gallery. Take a look, more bobbles? You know I like to knit them! :D

DH was a bit curious of why I was carrying a bag for the walk! Hehe, there was a reason behind, in the bag I had my camera and my newest WIP. We do all these weird things to fulfill the hobby.
As Spring is just around corner, I've decided that I will start to name my future projects with flower names to add more enjoyment to the colorful season. Thus, giving a break to my stones' name. Now presenting, my violet sweater in progress by the seaside...

It was a bit awkward to take this picture with people around and specially that the yarn ball rolled down on the ground as I was trying quickly to to unroll the sides. :D It was worthy, I like this picture, much better than my usual photo background at home!
This is a design from the latest Fall/Winter World Knitting 2005. I had planned to knit with cotton but the weather still permits me to touch wool, so I picked up my violet yarn in the stash. Sometimes, I have a strong desire to have a design in a specific color, don't know why, just feel that the design will look better only in certain colors.
I decided to share a photo of my newest knitting bag that I bought in my last trip to Singapore. I found that it's wide enough for my straight needles ( I still prefer the old straight type), it's fully equipped with small compartments outside and inside as well to accommodate a good amount of knitting gadgets, in addition it's super light. The bag is from Kipling , did you notice the little monkey hanging on the side?

Last is a display of my latest acquisitions in knitting books. Yes, I am still addict to it, though I have seen some improvements.

The first top left is for DH, to my surprise, he wants more sweaters! Middle top one has a lot of easier and simpler patterns but nothing very extraordinary. So is the same for Keitodoma Spring 2006 and Rich More, which I only have liked the cover one, it has an interesting composition, similar to the Sunrise Jacket from the latest Vogue.
Amu January edition has a beautiful crochet wedding dress and bouquet; however, nothing that I would knit in the rest of the magazine. And the last one is a great stitch pattern magazine. It has lots of very intricate designs. I think it's worth to add it to the library, most of the patterns are new ones that differ a lot from the conventional stitch books.

Cotton Candy went outdoors...

2006-03-05T16:08:00.000+08:00

Last Tuesday was a holiday for us and it was an unusual free time for DH from his recent work schedule. I was excited as we were able to go out as a family and our plan was to go biking with the boys. Unfortunately, it rained all day with ocassional breaks, so no biking only a lunch and a visit to a park. That didn't stop my enthusiasm,why? I had planned to take my newest Candy Cotton outdoors for a photo session. I worked hard the night before with the mending and I sew in the buttons next morning. I thought, i would have time to go to downtown in the morning to check for some buttons (ah, i often plan too many things in an unreasonable schedule!) . As time was short, i had to look in my button collection ( only a few ones) and found some purple buttons that i've bought in Korea.

They were going to be temporaly ones but i kind like them on this cardi. Did you notice the
uneven buttons spacing? I had originally planned to add a collar to this cardi but left over yarn was not sufficient, thus i had to make the first button hole higher. Redoing the front border would mean undoing the mending too. I opted for not minding the uneven spacing.

It is not my favorite one but i am very satisfied with the result in terms of fitting, mending and that i was able to add the front border nicely. I think, i've regained my confidence back.... :)
Proof of rain? Check my umbrella handle!

Did you notice the pink colourway collar? Yeah, the cardi looks a bit puffy because i was
wearing my diamond sweater underneath of it.

Lots of pictures this time! It was a way to compensate for the quick finishing up, the rain and the entrance fee to this park! :D BTW, just one more photo! It's not everyday that i have the chance to take my FOs outdoors and have handy photographers!;)

I am working in a new project that i'll share on my next post. I can tell you that it's a design from Winter World knitting and it's purpleish! Have a great knitting weekend!

Thinking about knitting all the time!

2006-02-27T15:44:00.000+08:00

I think about knitting all the time and I have to say that it's a pleasure for me to find hand knitted things! This past Saturday , on my way to the bookstore to buy the latest Interweave knits magazine , I saw something new on the streets. Imagine how excited I was to find a stall selling hand knitted items. I was thinking so much about knitting and perhaps that's why these knitted finger puppets appeared in my sight:

Aren't they so cute? Well, handling the puppets in my left fingers and taking a photo with the right hand was a bit hard. So here is a better view,

I had to buy a few as they come from the other side of the world.. Can you imagine that these puppets were made in Amazon, Brazil. Delighted as much as the little teenagers girls besides me I had a hard time to choose among little socks, witches, birds and various cartoon characters. My favorite is the white sheep ( alpaca?) made of seed stitch.
The seller is originally from Amazon and travels around the world selling hand crafted articles. His next stop will be in Thailand and South Korea.

Next, I will present my forgotten Topaz cardi ( taupe one). I finished it a month ago but i was undecided on the buttons( yes, I used my Swarovski buttons) and was waiting to take a better picture. However, the weather will not bring any good weather this week, only clouds and rain. So I think I will just show it now. Btw, I wore it on my belated bday dinner and I think it was cozy and comfortable.

I only wished that I had used a thicker and new yarn. Remember this yarn was an unraveled one from the bolero I was knitting some time ago? The frogged yarn was used for the back and I can tell the sts don't look so even compared with the the sleeves and the front that I knitted with a new yarn.

Pattern: Puppy winter 2005 book
Yarn: On line - Linie 39 Kaschemerino
Italian yarn ( wool/cashmere/acrylic) 8 balls
Needle: Japanese 7 (4.2mm)
Modifications: I've enlarged the cardi in general to fit my yarn. Also, I had to redo the sleeve caps as they are always small for me. I wished that the botton part of the sleeves had a more visible bell shape but it was hard to recalculate the pattern.

Thank you all for the supportive messages on my last post! They truly gave me a good encouragement to move on my Cotton Candy project. Have you notice that I am in better spirit today? :D
I think it's because I got the border in place and finally the leaves don't seen to be so twisted. The sewing process of the border wasn't as bad as I predicted and I even got the border bottom matched with the rest of the front border ( improved mending skills?). Take a look at my border, please!
Ah, nothing like comforting words from knitting friends! ;)

In search of knitting fairies

2006-02-25T15:14:00.000+08:00

I've been so unlucky with my knitting lately! Nothing seems to be working...:(
So I think I am in need of help, from knitting fairies? I haven't given up yet but taking things a part are not fun but rather frustrating. I thought my latest lilac (lavender?) cardi was coming up nicely but the front turned out so skinny. I tried to stretch it and convincing myself that an additional border would help until the reality was so obvious.
I started another project on Monday with hopes to regain my confidence. It just happened that on Sunday, I found Jaeger Luxury Tweed on sale . It was a difficult task to choose a color as all their shades are so pretty. I almost walked out with two colors but with some control I only bought a bag of China Pink which reminds me of cotton candy, so soft and yummy. As usual, I could not wait to knit with the new yarn and this time I had a good excuse to knit it right away as I had no major WIP, at least not any working well.
I used double yarn and Japanese needle size 10 ( 5mm ) as advised by the saleslady. I don't enjoy so much thick yarn but the idea of a quick knit wasn't so bad after all. I started with the usual back side and the first attempt turned out very big and I had to unravel it. Sighs, no knitting fairy around! I just had to start it again and with positive thinking I got this far:

The design is from a Japanese book "Sweater Collection" published in 2003. It looks like to be a reprint because the cut of the patterns look somehow outdated.

Right now, I am a bit worried about the uneven border formed by the big leaves. Hopefully, the ribbed border will help to straight it out.
It's definitely a winter cardi, I wonder how it would knit as a single strand. One thing that i didn't enjoy much was the fact that a lot of white hair were shedding all over. I would not advise this yarn if you are an allergic person. I am hoping that it will stop eventually.

As I don't know the existence of any knitting fairies, I'll hope that these flower fairies extent their luck to my knitting!

Here is a close up,

I simply adore my new fairies. Did you notice the left one is a tulip fairy and the right orange one is a hawthorn fairy? I have been searching for them for a long time and to my surprise I found them a month ago just nearby a yarn shop. I was waiting for the yarn shop to open and while window shopping the nearby stores I spotted these figurines. As I only had heard about it from my sister I had no visual clues. Indeed, I found my flower fairies and I hope they will double as my knitting fairies too! ;)

In the mood for leaves

2006-02-19T09:36:00.000+08:00

I am back! I've recovered and I just can't wait to go back to my knitting routine. Thank you, my friends, for sending me "get well" wishes! Although, I was physically weak, my spirits were lifted by the nice encouragements from your messages.

The next day, I worked hard on starting a new project. Leaves, I'm in the mood for more leaves...For a long time I have been dreaming to knit this from the cover of "New Style of Heirloom knitting". I even bought the Rowan Lilac yarn thinking about it. Somehow, i just love those leaves. Don't you? I knitted the border and about half way through the first leaf pattern I had to stop it because the pattern was so small and my eyes were having difficulties to focus on the little grids. I wonder if my eyesight has declined due to my illness or it was just a coincidental time. I waited for couple days but still felt too tired to go out to enlarge the pattern. Then, i decided that i need to knit , see a faster progress and be able to memorize a pattern, so that my eyes could rest a bit. Without too much hesitation, I unravelled it and restarted another cardi instead. I found another pattern with leaves and this one is not so intricated.

This cardi is from World knitting, Winter 2003. And i was right, after a couple of leaves i didn't need to follow pattern. See, the back is all done. Now, i am working on the left front. It has a odd shape as the sides curl inwards. Well, I have to say that i should had enlarged or used a thicker yarn instead. As long i keep my weight , it should be fine. :) This Rowan yarn is such a nice yarn but also so thin.

I will then postpone the original pattern for next winter. I am so glad that i finally got to knit a design from this book. I have a tendency to buy all the knitting books that i see in the shelves and if i don't get to knit anything from it , i feel so guilty...

I've been waiting so anxiously for the Spring books to arrive. And finally,this week, I received my AMU book and the newest Spring Keitodama. Hmm, i have to say that i am trying hard to enjoy the designs. I hope that the other Spring/Summer books will be nicer.

My knitting corner

2006-02-10T19:03:00.000+08:00

Thank you all for the happy bday wishes! I will have to postpone my celebrations as DH got tied up at work again. Just as he had planned that we should have a week of commemorations ( to make up for his busy schedule) I got sick with some kind of stomach flu. I passed to the rest of my family, one by one. Just my younger son was spared as he's away in a hip hop dancing camp with his friends.It hit me so bad that I could not even KNIT. So I will not advise my knitting friends to knit while sick as I used to. I have not been ill like this for the past 10 years! It always sounded so logic to me that be bedridden was the best excuse to knit. I did try for a good part of the day, not really realizing how bad I was until I fell apart and finally agreed that I was really sick and with fever.By now we all seem to be in better shape, just with bugs there is not much that we can do besides resting more. Well, I can knit now.... ;)
Since knitting was not the best choice ( I did started some new ones but nothing worked by the end), I opted to flip through my knitting magazines and realized that I should be going for a magazine diet. Would be hard though with the new Spring ones coming out....

I've been tagged by Lyn some time ago about my knitting place. Thank you for remembering me Lyn, but sorry for the delay, it took me a while to post it . It was due to the rush of the new year events that left me postponing the post.

So here is a little peak into my favorite spot! Yes, it's by my bedside.

Maybe one day, I could have my dream room, Mimi's knitting corner... Yes, I dream of having a room that has a cabinet full of beautiful and colorful yarns, knitting books, all my knitting accessories and a mannequin! Nearby, a nice and comfortable chair in a good lighting and nice view....
Although, DH was not certain that he would like to have a mannequin around. The thought of a headless body in the house was not very attractive to him. :D But then there would be no need of me holding up my creation by the mirror and my final project could be displayed for my own pleasure view .
My boys are growing up faster than I can keep track of and the older one will be off to college in less than 4 years, then I will have spare rooms. Thinking it over, it wouldn't be a so happy trade-off. Like i earlier mentioned, my younger ones has been away for less than 3 nights and I already miss him!
I have a space in the hallway of our second floor where I keep most of my yarn in plastic containers and also have a book shelf for my knitting books. It was an attempt to use it for my own corner, or at least, I called it "mine" when I first moved in this place. It's large enough for my knitting corner. However, I had to put a large table there to accommodate my boys' computers. DH ordered them out of their rooms so that supposedly I could supervise my boys while they were using their computers for homework instead of chatting with their classmates. Besides, I also need the space for ironing my clothes and you can have an idea that it's not easy to keep this corner in order! ( sorry no pictures, you guessed it right, it's in a mess now with all the clothes that I did not iron this week). I can't knit well in a messy environment.

So to makeup for my lost space, I tried to fix this little corner by my bedside, which I onlyoccasionally seat there. I don't know why, maybe the chair is not comfy enough or could be that the bed looks cozier and softer.

Sorry, no knitting pictures in this post. I finished the taupe cardi ( on the day I was really sick, I mended it, i think, that is why the result is not so neat.
Well, I hope I did not bored you with this "no knitting" post and the news that I am sick. Hopefully, I will have better things to share on my next post.
Have a great weekend!

Adding purple-lilac palette to my yarn stash

2006-02-05T15:59:00.000+08:00

Finally, I am able to post as I am home alone! With my kids off from school, CNY and a last minute trip, knitting and bloging also got their little break. Not that I wanted one from them...

Thanks for the comments about my FOs from the previous post, it always make my day shining as I receive the nice messages! I had the chance to wear my colourway sweater for the CNY even though it was considerably a warm evening. As for the taupe sweater, I run out of yarn ( yes, it happens to me very often) and that was a good excuse to put aside for a while. I should work on it very soon as I am almost done. Just need to finish the top 1/4 of a sleeve cap.

I just came back from a vacation from Singapore Friday evening. My boys wanted so much to visit it again and DH though it was a good idea for us to have a break. I am not used to go abroad without DH but Singapore is very convenient and safe for us. I even let the boys by themselves for hours while I shopped ( bad mom?). Well, I had to let them shop their sporting goods in exchange of my free time. Talking about shopping, I did it until I dropped because I wanted to stop by in all the places I missed at Orchard road and my foot got swollen every consecutive night. Imagine 10 hours of walking per day, even the most comfortable shoes would hurt!

The best part of my trip was that I had the chance to meet Erin! I had so much fun spending the day with her. She is just a nice and sincere lady. Even we had only exchanged emails, our encounter was just like we were old friends. There were just so much to talk and know about each other and of course, knitting ideas to exchange and wips to show ( yes, we both had ours in our bag) . We went to two LYS , Arab Street, Tanglin mall and finished at Takashimaya. She must had been very tired after a day of shopping with me! Even my boys were so lucky, they got CNY red pocket ( ang pow) from her. Thank you Erin for the wonderful time!

Now let me share my yarn purchase with you,

On the left is Filatura Di Crosa Millefili Fine ( 100% cotton) in mauve and off white. In the middle section is the Japanese yarn Egypt-Super ( 100% cotton) in pale pink and light lilac. From the right top is Filatura Di Crosa, Ramie (70% Ramie and 30% wool) ( it was an unusual sale according to Erin). On the bottom right is Rowan 4 ply soft ( 100% merino wool) in lilac.
Have you notice the tendency of colors here? So lilac , isn't it? Somehow, when I was selecting the colors nothing but the palette of lilac was appealing to me!

I also want to show my precious finding of Swarovski buttons,

I have been thinking about them and not knowing where they were available. But now, here they are, in my possession ! :) They are so pretty but unfortunately it's hard to photograph them because of the shining reflection. My favorite are the white transparent ones with iridescent effect.

And to convince you that I am really into the purple - lilac shade, some more yarn that I bought last month ,

On the left is a Japanese yarn that looks similar to the Noro Silk Garden. Mine is also a mix of silk and wool. It feels a bit rough but the color is so nice. I've yet to find a suitable design for it . On the right is just merino wool. I think I have plenty of lilac shade to indulge for the next few years! :D

Yesterday, I got to be an year older! Just a numeric feeling this year, not feeling so old!;) My sis had surprised me with this package that she put together from her trip to Europe.
And sure it made my day! It's all my favorite things !

There are the yarns, perfumes, bath salts, chocolate, tea ( green tea with mango!) and also some knitting magazines!

And last I will show a scarf in progress. It took me two hours of plane time to decide what design to knit. It's hard, at last moment I found that I didn't had a good project to take along to the trip. Once I was settled, I was so contented because it made the flight more enjoyable! I had no problems with the security, even my metal crochet needle was ok! :)

On the backstage

2006-01-25T22:42:00.000+08:00

Sorry for not posting any news for a while. It has been almost 2 weeks since my last post and it was due to my busy schedule with my boys' finals and after that I had to work on registering winter camps for them and work on a last minute trip arrangement.
With the boys at home ( in and out), I am even busier because that means more driving and cooking on my normal routine and less time for my knitting and blog. :(

Knitting had slowed down but on the backstage I have two FO's that were finished couple weeks ago. I wanted to post them asap as I am happy with both of them.
First in line is my colourway sweater, take a look

Pattern: Keitodama winter 2005
Yarn: Kid - Cool merino
Yarn: 100% merino wool
# of balls : 9 (50g)
needle size Japanese 5

It fits me quite well and the final product is a very soft sweater that I have in mind to save it for the Chinese New Year as long the weather permits. I absolutely love this merino yarn, it produced even sts and a good texture showing well the design (hmm, not so well in the picture but in reality it's).

My second FO, is this scarf that I was knitting secretely to my older sister for her birthday. The pattern (my creation) has this long tree with leaves that remindes me of the story "Jack and the magic beans" that i used to read with my kids when they were little. So I named it as Magic tree scarf and i think my sis will be able to have a good use for it as she lives in a windy city. The scarf was knitted with an Italian yarn ( Kid Silk) that is 70% wool and 30% silk. It's very soft and super light as it only used less than 3 balls on a Jap. needle 7. I am surprised that this yarn could give such a good and clear sts.

And on my needles now I have this project using my frogged yarn from the taupe bolero. This yarn is so soft but is not great for giving even sts. Even before it was frogged I was already not satisfied with the seed stitch I was using in the bolero. The yarn seens to be thinner than before, maybe I pulled it too hard when I was wind it up into a ball.

I added a waistline to this design but don't know if it's a good thing. We'll see how it works at the end. I have slimmed down recently maybe that's why I wanted to have a waistline! :D
I am working on the second sleeve and I have the feelings that I 'll need to redo the caps as it looks small and short on the first one. The bottom part of the sleeve was casted on afterwards and knitted down. Here is a close-up of it.

The design is from the Puppy winter 2005 book, same as the former bolero.
Can't wait to finish it so I will be completely free of wips. And that means the green light will be on for me to start new ones. Just don't know if I should start to knit for Spring. The weather here has been cold and occasionally warm that makes me think that winter is almost over. And to help this thought, Keitodama Spring 2006 is available, only in Japan though. Need to wait a bit more to have it in my hands! I think it will be in the shelves of Kinokuniya in a week around Asia. Unfortunately, their site is not giving so many previews as they used to. So do you think is it too early for Spring knitting?

A cardi from last year

2006-01-05T10:14:00.000+08:00

Happy 2006! Time just went by so quickly that I have yet to believe it's a new year. Thanks to you all for taking the time to leave comments on my posts. As usual, I was very happy to know that you liked my Amethist and Ruby cardi. I wore many times in the past week with great satisfaction and people were giving compliments about Ruby cardi. ;)
As this is my first post of the year I would like to present another FO. Yes,I saved one for this post. Here is Lapis Lazuri Cardi ( strange name, I agree. lol Just don't understand why i chose this complex name. The stone was just a matching color of the yarn. Anyway, I am not so happy with this cardi because the sleeves came out a bit long. It got worse after a steam blocking.

This was a picture taken at 7:30 AM just before i dropped the kids at school. As usual for early mornings i dressed with whatever my eyes spot first. My son only allowed me for one shot. Here is a better picture without me!

pattern:AMU September 2005
yarn: Extra nomotta - Schachenmayr 100% wool
needle size : Japanese 6
modification: longer sleeves instead of 3/4 length.
I am satisfied with the collar and the way the mixed color border came out. Doesn't it look like intarsia? ( ok, it's just a bit). It's knitted with alternate double rows of dark blue and the tweed blue yarn in seed stitch.
Looking at this cardi, it reminds me of the Chinese jackets that i have.

The shape is very similar. One of these days i should try and knit one, perhaps just like this one. The collar would need a small adjustment though. Well, it's just a thought! There are just too many projects in the queue and with ready to go patterns.
Since the weather was good,I took the chance to take a better picture of Rubi cardi as requested by Joy. Still, not great shot but better than the ones from last post. Take a look at the pattern!

I didn't knit much this week due to my shopping for the weddings tomorrow ( one at noon time and one at night ). I was able to buy one item per day(in slow motion as I could be)! In a total of 4 producing days, 1 day in Hsinchu and 3 days of shopping in Taipei ( oh, add 2 days with empty bags). My last trip was yesterday to search for a small black purse and it took me until the day went dark and on my return I got lost in the suburban area of Taipei. It was dark and rainning. I was tense because the traffic was so bad and i wanted to rush back to fix dinner for the boys. That made me I ask for the wrong direction to get home. Had gone north instead of south of the freeway. I was kind scared as it wasn't just an easy turn around, the following exits were merging to other freeways. Had to call DH and he was in a middle of a meeting and could not just leave the room, kind embarassing. ( luckily, it was not with his boss) Can you imagine me getting instructions from him mixed with talks from work. haha , it's funny now that i am safe home. A good thing about when your kids get older is that they can walk back home from school and order pizza when you are not around. You come back from shopping starving ('cause you skipped lunch to save time) and you get dinner, the left over pizza ( even though is not your favorite food) . Pizza couldn't be as yummy as the one from yesterday night! lol . Well, in spite of this lost incident I am happy that I will be going back to Taipei by myself again in the near future to search for the textile district. I want to go to look for buttoms, zippers, beads and of course some traces of yarn stores as well. :D
And last, the progress on my colourway sweater. As you can see, I finish the back, front and one sleeve. Can't wait to finish this one so that I can start on a new project. Hopefully, next week my life will go back to normal. ( no more shoppings!)

De-cluttering my knitting basket

2005-12-30T12:58:00.000+08:00

I hope you all had a very good Christmas. After all the shopping and party preapration I was able to do some knitting. I normally travel during the holidays but this year is going to be an exception due to DH's busy schedule. He was planning to take us to Hokkaido and I was day dreamming for the yarn hunting over there. Humm, I guess I'll have to keep dreaming for a while. Well we can't have the good all the time...

It's almost end of the year so I decided to do some de-cluttering in my knitting basket. WIP's ,last year UFOs and some recent impulsive yarn purchases have been taking all the space in my big basket. As the lid is already loosing it's balance, I decided that something needs to be done.
First in line was Amethist Cardi from last post. Do you still remember it? I had to redo both sleeves ( I knitted them at same time)as I used different yarn lots and by the end you could see a clear marking line. As I still had the original lot, I redid them ( the sleeves used less yarn because I knitted in plain sts) . Luckily, the yarn was thick and the process wasn't so painful.

Pattern: Keitodama #124 Winter 2004
Yarn :Bazic Wool (superwash) from Classic Elite 100% wool
Color:2995 (eggplant)
Needle :Japanese size 7, 4.2 mm
Modifications: I just changed the sleeves' pattern to reverse stockinette st.

I got another UFO and I was going to save it for the Chinese New Year since it's red. But to clear my basket sooner i also finished it. I only had to attach the collar and it was an instant gratification:

Pattern: Keitodama #123 Fall 2004
Yarn : Chinese yarn I got from Shanghai 100% wool
color: deep red
Needle : JApanese size 7, 4.2 mm
modifications: Originally it was a long coat. I just knitted in a short version.
I am fascinated about this cardi! I love the collar,the double buttom rows and all the sts patttern. It fits me well and it's comfy. Look the sleeves lenght, armholes size are all in place. I think I 'll be wearing this a lot this winter. :)

I also finished Lapis Lazuli cardi that I will show it on next post. That leaves me only with pink variegated sweater and a new scarf that i started last week. Photos to come later on. Isn't it just great that i don't have any UFO left behind for this year?

I was trying to finish it all but I've been busy shopping for clothes to attend two weddings next Saturday. I shopped so much that my head was spinning around! :D The worse is that I was having a hard time to find a suitable attire. I haven't been to too many social events in the past years. Now that the kids are older, DH is finally able to take me along on the weddings.( mostly from his young co-workers) and I need to shop from head to toe! I mean dress, shoes, purse etc...

Talk to you again next year. I whish you all a very Happy New Year with lots of knitting, of course! :)

Right in time!

2005-12-19T14:26:00.000+08:00

Hi! I wrote this post on Monday but could not paste any pictures( the post editor's toolbar from blogger was unavailable for me !!??? ) until now ( Wed. night)

Thanks for the comments on my cardi and scarf! It's great to be able to share my knitting experiences ( good and bads) with you all.
I have a pile of WIP's and UFO's waiting for their turn. My first on list and priority number one was DH'vest. It took me several stops mainly due to the uncertainty of the size. It's hard as I am only used to knit for myself. Then I also run out of yarn for the borders of the armhole. Yes, I know I left for the last minute but I knew I could make it... Here it's Charcoal vest for DH as today it's DH's Bday!
And modeling for DH is my little son,

I should say my big boy as he is almost 1.70 m and wears size US12 shoes!!?? DH is super busy at work and I don't think it's a good time for me to ask him to take a picture for my blog. So my second son was really nice to take the picture. He immediately agreed but asked if it could be a headless one. He said it's a little embarassing for him to be wearing his dad's vest! Oh, well! He doesn't know what he is missing, the vest is so comfy because it's a mix of merino wool and cashmere. :)

For this vest, I learnt to do the tubular stitch for the border by following the illustrations from a Japanese book. It was a bit hard but I like the result very much. I was not able to sew the borders of the armholes and the V neck in the same way. I tried many times and the yarn was starting to split. So I just did a regular elastic bind-off. I need to practice in a simple swatch to learn the new techniques.

Update: DH seems to like the new vest, he wore it the next day to work. I was already asleep by the time he came back ( yes, he works hard!) and when I opened my eyes I wasn't sure if it was indeed the new vest as he had wore inside out!! I sure did a good job with the seaming, don't you think so? I still can't believe that he wore that way all day long through all the meetings!! :D

I had started another project using a variegated yarn. It's so hard to find a design suitable for this kind of yarn. I have a tendency to buy this type of yarn because i like multi-colors. What I actually wanted was the self stripping yarn. The yarn is from last year purchase, now I know how the self stripping yarn look like.
This design is from the Keitodama Fall 2005. I couldn't take a picture of the design as it was too small.

And last a progress on an UFO that's been negleted since last winter. The reason was because I didn't have enough yarn to finish the sleeves. Last Spring,my sister was able to find it for me but the weather was already warm by then. So now it seems to be a good time to finish it. Only the lot was diferent, in terms of color is just a slightly difference but I am not so happy with the thickness of the new lot. I am using for the bottom of the sleeves, that way the color and the different texture should be less noticeable. I am also changing the stitches on the sleeve as i find it too busy. It has a different pattern that is not present in the body section. As last year I still enjoyed the multi stitches in my sweaters. Now I find that they don't look so nice on me. Although, I think i like to knit them as it's exciting to see new patterns coming out. Should do this in an afghan! Now I am a bit worried that the sleeves will be too plain against the body.
Again I don't have a picture because the original color of the design is black and it won't show well the design on the screen. If you have Keitodama Winter 2004, you can take a look on page 46.

Stay tuned, as I have another FO for my next post. See you soon!

Two bad news and two good ones...

2005-12-12T13:16:00.000+08:00

I like to tell the bad news first and finish with something nice. I think it's more positive this way. That way we all feel better! :D

The first bad one is that I had to abandon my Taupe mini sweater. It was a total disaster in terms of sizing (too small) . And it was not well knitted ;I could see all the uneven stitches. So now it has turned into small hand wound balls, just as I have predicted. I don't know what to knit yet, maybe i'll just leave the yarn to rest for a while.

The second bad news is that I worked on the lacy edge for the front of the peacock cardi and it did not fit well. I mended it all around but it didn'tt fit properly as you can see from the back collar area. I have to redo it but before that, all this work deserves a picture.

That's a lot to undo(more than 400 sts), it was a two days work. My mistake was that I blocked the back and the front sides; however, didn't block the swatch for the lace edge. And this caused it to be too long.
I couldn't frog the lace edge, somehow, after blocking it with the iron , the stitches got a bit felted. Get the picture?

Wait don't click me away! I still have the good news . I worked again on the edge and this time it fitted better. The picture below shows an accurate color of my cardi. Overall, I am satisfied with it except with the back of the collar. I still think that I didn't need to follow the pattern as it calls for increases in this area giving a bulky look. But not so unhappy that would make me knit it again...( Just ignore the white halos. I know, I shouldn't have a so white cami underneath. It was late and I really wanted to be able to post this soon!) :D

Do you feel sorry for the wasted lace edge? So, do I. It didn't take me too long to realize that I could save it in this way:

In fact, I already worn it twice this past week and was even useful for me to buy the buttons for the cardi. There was no need to pack the cardi with me. It was so handy just to use the scarf to match for the size and color of the buttons. Indeed, a great solution from a knitter! ;) (ah..two days of knitting saved)

I was not obedient!

2005-12-01T10:56:00.000+08:00

Hello my knitting friends! Many thanks for the comments on my scarf! I sure was delighted by your compliments. Wow, there were even suggestions for me to send the scarf to Knitty or Magknits !!! ;) I didn't even know there were such opportunities. Maybe one of these days... when I become more proficient in knitting! Sincerely, it's such a nice feeling to be able to share my knitting adventures with you all!

What's new? I was not obedient!! Why? I've been telling myself not to start any new project as my WIP's are fighting for a space on my tiny knitting corner. Not to mention how guilty I feel for not finishing my wip's. My little excuse story happened this way. The day after finishing my sis' scarf I found myself in downtown just close by the LYS. Although, I told myself that there was no significant need to go there... Forget about all the good reasons for not just stopping by. :D It was gratifying that I walked out the store with 6 balls of On line - Linie 39 Kaschemerino in a taupe shade. My plan was to knit my Topaz mini sweater in which my hands have been itching to start since I spot it in my newest magazine.

This mini sweater is knitted in one piece ( minimum seaming), an easy one I thought when I saw the chart , plus it only has seed stitches ( moss stitch?). I was too naive, did not see the previous page where it has a chart with short rows for the collar. The problem when I work with the Japanese books, is that I have to forget about the pages order. Even though I open the book from right to left, the patterns don't follow the scheme. Besides being in separate pages, the sequence could be from left to right or in any little corner of any other page. Get the picture? I am sure the cause is that I can't read the directions, there should be some indications. How do I decipher the recipe? I mostly search by the pattern number but sometimes I just miss them.

Going back to short rows, I am a novice in this topic and of course I can't just follow the chart. I did some size adjustments ( as usual) and that didn't help at all! Needless to say , right? Besides the short rows, there was a picture of a small rectangle that at first I thought it was a pocket. Hey, but the design has no pockets !! It took me a while to connect it to the collar part. The trick is to knit this small piece ( which is part of the back collar) and continue to knit with the collar in the front , so there is no need to mend ( have no idea how to do invisible seaming in seed stitches, is that possible?!)

Oh well, I was about to rip the whole thing last week because that little bottom curve was not coming out nicely. After a few deep breaths I came back to my normal mind and I decided not to end up with five hand wound balls. :)

Hopefully, with a few more work I should have a mini sweater that resembles this picture below: Design from Puppy magazine - Autumn/Winter 2005 Vol. 4. ISBN4-07-249372. This magazine was recommended by Eva and has lots of cable works and some intarsia as well. It's my first acquisition in this series and I like the designs. My first impression is that their pattern is not so clear ( at least for this project) compared to the Let's knit series. Also this book is not so popular. I have not seen it in shelves of bookstores I normally shop. However, I was lucky to find it at bookstore when i was about to check if they could order it for me. And it was the only copy available ( lucky me).

If you are interested in this magazine, I believe it can be ordered through a bookstore that carries Japanese knitting books or check this site given to me by Eva.

Have a nice weekend and stay away from your LYS if you have many wip's. Look who's giving the advice! lol Actually, go for it, have lots of fun shopping for what we all love... yarn, yarn,yarn...and knitting books!

Mysterious project

2005-11-24T13:10:00.000+08:00

Remember about the suspense on my last post ? Yes, all the lack of posting was because I was working vigorously on a gift for my sis that is coming up this Friday. It was all of a sudden, that I realized I had not knitted her anything for a long time. I halted everything and thought that a scarf would be appropriate as she is going for a vacation to Europe next month. I only had a few days to buy the yarn and decide on a pattern for the scarf. I wanted to mail it to US asap so that it would arrive by her Bday .
Believe or not, this is my first scarf project after so many years of knitting. The night I bought the yarn ( Line 38 Kaschmerino, blend of wool/ cashmere and acrylic, an Italian yarn) I went through my magazines and I couldn't find any scarf pattern. Maybe one or two in the magazines, but none anything I had in mind. I went to sleep and hoping that the next day I would be able to browse more on my magazines. Surprising, the next morning I woke up with a design! Don't laugh at me, I used to have my computer programs debugged in my dreams before. That's on the old days.
I quickly sketched it on piece of paper. Are you curious? I won't be showing you a nice drawing ( although I wished I had done it nicely :) ), instead it's was just done in a paper I found at my bedside. Just thought it would be fun to share it!
Don't ask me about the numbers, my memory is short and I even do the short math in paper.:D

This is my 7th attempt to paste the photo below. I don't know what is the problem, maybe it's this new version on Picasa2. The picture stays for a while and disappears by itself. Very strange! Anyway, I've tried all the possible ways, so I'm sorry if you just see an empty frame.

My first attempt was not successful, it was too narrow. I tried more sts, the width was then fine. Something was not right with the pattern, this time were the cables (having in mind that cables would hold the roses). Apparently, it looked so busy and I redid the pattern without the cables and I was happy with it.
My yarn was a rose pink, that linked me to roses and led me to Nicky Epstein's book. I tried the roses on the cover of "knitting over the edge", the one in the capelet. Didn't work well and I decided to try her newest rose design featured in the latest Vogue knitting. Opted for one rose instead.
And I was able to create this scarf for my sis!

Yes, my sis have already received it ( I mailed it express service) and I am so happy that I was able to give her a surprise. Of course, she loves my scarf and so do I. Somehow, we have a tendency to like similar things. That's why we are SISTERS!

Multi-task

2005-11-17T16:40:00.000+08:00

I am having a hard time being multi-task. Somehow the combination of being mom, wife, housekeeper and knitter is very demanding and I don't seen to be handling it well. I know it all has to do with I becoming a multi- project knitter in the last few weeks. I've hidden my thoughts of starting any new project before having a FO and suddenly I have T.T cardigan waiting for it's border 'cause I can't decide on the color yet. Then, DH's vest is having a problem with it's armholes decreases ( redoing it on it's third round). On top of that, I was suddenly interrupted by a new project that I had to knit ASAP( some suspense here, will show and explain next post).

I also started another project that I just could not resist . So here on the side, is my newest WIP that will be transformed into a colorful lacy cardigan.
In other words, I hope it will turn into something close to this picture below,

This is a design from the latest Keitodama Winter 2005.
Knitted on needle size 6 (3.9 mm) and using a colorful yarn that I purchased last year in Shanghai. My yarn isn't as pretty as in the model but it should give a similar effect.
The yarn is very thin, so I have to redo all the figures. I finished the back and the front panels and I am stuck on the Peacock border. It's knitted in one piece, a very long one. How about casting 275 sts at once? I actually need more sts since my yarn is thinner. Truly, I did a swatch yesterday, but who wants to do the math here? That's a complain coming from a lady that went twice thru the math school. :D To add to my frustration, the other day I met a knitter at the hair salon and I was sadly telling her that I am bad with the knitting calculations and she replies back saying that is what she does the best! I need to ask her where she got her knitting lessons! Haha, isn't it funny that my mechanical engineer friends don't know too much about fixing cars. I am sure that I can justify myself that I am not good with numbers!
I am still in search of a knitting course that teaches you all the calculations you need to size any garment. There should be formulas to it, like get the measurements and plug in the numbers. I believe this is how the software programs work. Um, I actually want to learn how to do the curves calculations like shaping the armholes, neckline and waistline. Just thinking aloud..... lol
What I don't want to admit here is some laziness on my part to figure things out. Recently, I have noticed that I don't want to deal with anything that requires brain work. I'm even selecting stockinette or garter patterns. Just check my latest FO's compared to old FO's. Well, knitting is for relaxation and occasional challenging for me!
Guess what? ( I know where I got this phrase... It's from my younger son) Today is Friday, the house is clean, no dinner to cook as DH has business dinner and the boys have an Interact event at school tonight ( both will be working as volunteers). That means none of them will be back before 9PM. And I will have the rest of the day just for knitting ! Happy knitting for you too!

About my knitting preferences

2005-11-10T17:24:00.000+08:00

I've been busy recently, that's the reason for the lack of posts. Eva tagged me with this knitting meme. Thanks for thinking about me Eva! So here are my answers:

1.What is your all-time favourite yarn to knit with ?
Most of the times I don't have a chance to knit again with a specific yarn since myyarn comes from different regions. However, I could say that a blend of merino wool and cashmere ( the yarn I am using for DH's vest ) has my best vote. I also enjoy to knit with soft Egyptian cotton that gives even stitches.

2. Your favourite needles ?
I am used to knit with my straight Clover bamboo needles. I am tempt to try the Lantern Moon needles, although I think they are too expensive. Recently, I was able to find a circular aluminium Addi, but I find it hard to take the clicking sound of the metal. The label didn't say Turbo though , does anyone know if there is a difference?
I also have a set of plastic Clover needles that deserves a picture!

Why? This set is so special to me because I have wished and dreamed about it for years during my younger knitting days. I was able to buy the Japanese knitting magazines but the needles were not available. It was hard to follow the recipes because I had no idea of the needle sizes ( Japanese needle size are different). So it was always a guess and wishing for this set thru the pictures in the magazines.
It's almost a relic!! DH got it for me about 15 years ago on a business trip to Japan. I told him that he had to find it for me no matter what! I still treasure it and like to look at this set, even though I don't use them that often. The plastic needles tend to curve, look at number 6 , the blue set.

3. The worst thing you ever knit
I have many many on this category. But considering shape, yarn and time invested. I'll pick
"Cloudy day vest"

I started to knit this vest during a Winter vacation in Tokyo, while my boys were skiing. Took the design from a sweater and did not do a proper reshaping in the shoulder area and the result is a too wide shoulder top. Also got this poor quality wool yarn and spent too much energy on the pattern. I still wear it but at home, it's comfy and can endure the housecleaning activites, not that I do too much cleaning nowadays! :D

4. Your favourite pattern
I have a passion for lacy& bobbles patterns and anything with ruffles. So I have to select this one :

This sweater is really heavy as I used double strands and knitted with needle Jap.4. The yarn is very thin but solid and I believe it's more adequate for crochet. The good thing is that this piece didn't stretch despite my frequent wear.

5. Most valuable knitting technique
Finally got to learn the tubular stitch and short rows. There are endless techniques to catch-up!

6. Best knit book or magazine
I have this special inclination to all knitting magazines :D ( can you tell?). But my vote goes for Keitodama and Vogue knitting magazine. I also like " knitting on/over the edge" from Nicky Epstein.

7. Your favourite knit-along
I haven't joined any yet. um, the thought of deadline sounds stressful to me. :)

8. Your favourite knit blogs
All the blogs I read are my favorites. I love to see what others are knitting and their yarns too!

9. My favourite knitwear designer
I am not sure 'cause I knit from Jap. magazines and don't know their names ( sad, isn't it?)

10. The knit item you wear the most.
This "Mint Tea" I wore quite often this past Spring and Summer. It fits me well and I like the shade of this green color.

11.Who to tag?
How about you , Erin , Laura Y.,Vivian, Yuvee, Vanessa, Lyn, Mona, handknit , Doreen
Did I forget anyone? It's fun to read about other knitters preference, so join the fun even if your name is not in the list. Got to make dinner now, the boys are hungry after their basketball session. Otherwise, I would make sure everyone is in the list.

Knitting a vest for DH...

2005-11-04T13:50:00.000+08:00

Oh! I had a busy schedule this week because the boys had their midterms (glad is over!) And I had accidentally scheduled a dental appointment and a health check-up all in this week. Not the smartest and pleasant thing to do since I hate both of them.
At least, I was looking forward to the health check-up day, not the procedure itself, as a day out with DH in Taipei. And just imagine all the free time that I would have for knitting. So the night before, I was checking on my current project, a vest for DH that is going to be his Bday gift next month. I didn't finish the back because I need to resize the armholes. That's the problem when you knit without a pattern! I couldn't find any design that I liked as I only have a few men's pattern in my magazines. Here is the progress on my first knitting gift to DH ( he is finally showing more interest and giving more support to my hobby) ,

I only managed to knit a small part for the front ( on a full day in the hospital). I packed so many things in my bag, look ( I know it's not a very elegant bag but I treasure it because it's transparent and I can check quickly if something is missing)

DH's vest( Graphite cables, I am using this combination yarn of merino wool and cashemere, indeed it's so soft), extra needles (thinner ones for border), a book ( KnitLit) in case I feel like reading, an extra project ( pink wool and colorful mohair to turn into a scarf) to substitute when things don't go well with Graphitte cables.
When we arrived at the check up counter, I found out that I would be separated from DH. That's because my appointment was for a half-day check-up. I thought I could save money ( and spent it in a nice way, how about getting some nice yarns?) and besides, there are a lot of tests in the full-day package that I was not willing to do. I always skip tests on my yearly check up and I feel is a waste of money. However, this time ended up not been a savings at all sinceI had a lot add-ons tests. :(

So I was hopping from station to station and carrying my "knitting goodie bag" and in every stop someone would ask me wether I wished to have my bag stored away. I guess people don't bring anything with them on check-ups. :D
I was so thankfull to have my knitting, it kept my mind away while I was waiting for my turns. I was a bit stressed out in that big hospital and going thru places that looked like mazes. Not only that all the signs were in Chinese ( can't read it) but also because I had to run around with this huge pajamas that could probably fit two Mimis. Anyway, by noon I managed to locate DH and guess what? He was in this more private place and he even got his own room with bed, TV and bathroom. I had two more tests in the afternoon and I was advised to keep the pajamas. I was so SMART, I couldn't wear those pajamas a minute longer. Imagine that I would had to run to 4 more stations in the afternoon wearing that costume??! No way, I changed back to my clothes, even though Halloween was just the day before!
We were able to get out around 4 PM and DH asked where I wanted to go. I don't know the district well, except that there is a Japanese bookstore nearby. And I found this men's knitting magazine, a small treat after a hectic day. I wish I had this magazine before I started DH's vest but I am sure it will be useful for my future projects.

Last but not least, thanks for all your warm comments about my shrug. When things don't go well we need some encouragement!! :) Have a fun knitting weekend!

Hidden FO

2005-10-27T11:33:00.000+08:00

Do you still remember my Rubellite shrug? I've tried to forget about it and hid it together with some other UFO's. I had it almost done right after Summer, with the exception of the crochet border of one sleeve. My first attempt turned out into a huge ruffled border, then I tried picking up less sts on the other one and it didn't look good. I decided that the first attempt, even big, was still a better choice. At that point, I was a bit tired of the yarn and the crochet border. It takes long time even to do one sleeve and with my "snail speed in crocheting" I decided that a break would be the best for the moment. Who likes to unravel things? Not me! It just happened that I started to knit other projects and did not feel like to return to the shrug. However, on the back of my mind this shrug was always haunting me, even though I put out of my sight.

So I took it out and redid the border and now I have it as an FO!
I just don't know when is that I'll have the courage to wear it! :D
My boys reactions to the shrug were:

Mom, you want me to take a picture of you wearing THIS??
It looks "nice", just the sleeves look DIFFERENT!!

Such encouragement for the photo section, LOL . I decided that since is an FO I should still show it. It does look better on the picture than in reality! I put a pin maybe because the thing was so small, and I am trying to see if I can cover more! :D

Here is the back, sorry for the messy hair. I always do the photos at night just before bedtime.
I think it will look better if it was a 3/4 length sleeve. They look longer as the yarn has Viscose and the weight of the border pulls it down even more. Well at least it's done, out of my mind!

I am now working on this new project that I named "Lapis Lazuli ( blue stone with some white patches) Cardigan". Yes, it's wool! It's so comfy to knit with wool , it's light and I can use Japanese needle #6. The yarn is Schachenmayr - Extra 100% wool with twists of dark and light blue that I bought in San Diego.

So far is progressing really fast, it's a very easy pattern , only one more sleeve and the border to go. I need to go to a LYS to find a navy blue for the border, dangerous place to stop by. I may walk out with more than the yarn I need to complete this cardigan!! I am still undecided with the pattern for the border. I am following this pattern from Amu that I showed on my last post

After many runs to the mirror to check the length of my sleeves, I chose to knit mine longer. Maybe the designer knows bettter and I also like it short 3/4 lenght but the reason I made mine cover my whole arm is that I will be wearing it in a cool weather and it will not be so practical to have part of my arms freezing!
As for the border, I can't make my mind yet of how to knit it. With two colors as in the picture or with a solid navy blue. Any suggestions?

Want to take a look on my Mauve Lattice?

2005-10-21T11:33:00.000+08:00

Yesterday morning I couldn't wait to send the kids to school and DH to work. The older son walked to school by 7 A.M. ( It's a miracle, waking up by himself and even got his own breakfast?) as this week is the Final for the Running context at their school. It is not his turn but he wanted to watch his friends. The younger one woke up a bit later , but much earlier than usual, and wanted to go earlier to see the context too. So I sent him to school earlier and rush back to prepare DH's breakfast. Only one more left ,but DH ,for some reason took longer than usual to go to work or it could be that I was rushing my daily morning duties so that I could work on my Mauve Lattice. :)
I used my "best" skills for mending as I tend to be impatient most of the times. And that's because I want to finish my projects soon and end up doing a poor job on putting the pieces together. This time I told myself, I should behave and do a better job. I even redid the sewing on the sleeves as it turned out all squeezed and tight on my first attempt. I could not believe how it turned out to be small because this pattern was a 'sure fit' for me. It must be something else! Ah, I found my problem, it was the crochet needle size I was using for mending. I normally use a thin one and that was pulling all the stitches too close. However, going for a bigger size, the result was satisfactory. Here it's Mauve Lattice,

I was so trilled when I tried it on! It fits me so well, no extras on the side or tight armholes.
I only had very little yarn left and I was even able to knit a longer sleeve. I increased 14 rows to extend the sleeves length. This way I can wear it for fall here. So I can't wait to wear it this weekend, just need to find a bottom to go with it. The weather is just perfect for me to debut it around!
Not so perfect, I did two mistakes on the pattern by twisting two cables in wrong direction. The front and back is the same shape and pattern. I should wear it with the mistake on the back, this way is less noticeable as most people look more in the front, right? :D I only found it out when I finished sewing the shoulders. And I wasn't going to unravel it because the first error was on the bottom. Though the second one was close to the armhole. Still, I did not feel like to undo all the mending. See, I am not perfectionist! I can live happily the way it's.

The phone just rang! Good news!! Today my younger boy was competing for the 800m racing and got first place! Can you imagine the proud and happy MOM here! Sorry, it's not relating to knitting but I am so excited that I can't help not to brag about it! LOL
I am just so bad in sports and believe me I have tried and played most of the sports during my childhood and younger days. Unfortunately, I just have to accept that it's missing some sports genes on me! :D For my consolation, my boys seem to be great in sports.

Some info for Ling ( sorry, I don't have your email ) and those interested on Mauve Lattice. It's from Let's knit series and the ISBN # 4-529-04142-5 .
And from my previous post" Is it Fall yet?", the white blouse #11 , the ISBN# is 4-529-04141-7
The covers are also on the post, for M. Lattice it's the magazine with the blonde girl with a gray cardigan. And the second one is the right bottom with a lady wearing a white sweater.

And here for Vanessa ( remember you have request some time ago?) and all my knitting friends , I will leave you with some pictures of my latest AMU.
Today is Friday , the house is clean and I am ready for my favorite activity: Having a nice hot rose tea with Godiva chocolates (if any left) and search from my pile of knitting magazines for my next design. :)

From my new fall books

2005-10-12T09:10:00.000+08:00

My new project is from one of my new Fall magazines ( finally!). As I mentioned on my last post, the weather has not allowed me to knit with wool. So I am still knitting with 100% cotton and using Egypt Cotton yarn that I bought in Singapore. It is still one of my favorites so far, as the yarn doesn't split as in some other brands.
Here is the original design,

And bellow is the progress of my Mauve Lattice. I couldn't get the true color of this yarn, but it's not as pink and vivid as in the photo. Rather is a darker shade of mauve and very fall color.

For this design you have to like making cables. It is not as hard as it looks since you do cables in every 6th row. Then to relieve you from all the twistings you are allowed to knit stockinette for the next 5 rows. This is also the first time that I am using a cable needle that I bought long time ago. I've never found an use for this tool, but what a help when it comes to an entire row of twistings.
I made a mistake about 1/4 of the work and had to unravel it and restart all fresh. I even had the wrong # of stiches! Don't know where my mind was. :(
I have 10 skeins for this WIP that I thought I could have a quarter sleeves instead and it would be more appropriate for the Fall here. However, this design is comsuming my yarn at a super speed. I estimate I will need 4 1/2 skeins for the back. That will leave me with one ball left for the two sleeves. Oh, also there is this curly collar that I am not so sure about it. Looks cute on the model but I don't know how it will turn out for me. What do you think?

Remember my last racing to get Rich More? Here is a preview of it:

There were many designs using thick yarn as shown in the cover which I don't like so much.
Like many other magazines sometimes you only find a few designs you'll appreciate.

DH is in a very short business trip in Silicon Valley , so short that he doesn't even need to adjust for the time zone. By the time he changes it he'll be back since he left Sunday eve and will be back tonight. Each of us ( myself and the boys) have given him a list of things to buy ( well do be fair only I had the list the boys just asked for candy and a book :D) and my priority was some knitting books of course. Yesterday he was able to get "Knitting over the edge" that I so long waited during my Summer trip but it wasn't released yet.
I called last minute for another request ( he complained a little, had to go back to the bookstore :D). I was hoping he could find Knitscene, the new special edition from Interwave. Too bad, it's not in the bookstores yet! The same fate as for Vogue. If he could only stay a few days more.... I guess I 'll need to be more patient and wait it to arrive here.

Is it Fall yet?

2005-10-06T10:58:00.000+08:00

First of all, thanks so much for the well come back and get well wishes. It certainly helped to lift my spirits as I was a bit down for not feeling well. After a week of medications , I seem to have been recovered. Of course, also thanks for all the compliments on my FO's.

Is it Fall yet? I was told by the locals that after the Moon Cake Festival, the weather would cool down and also on my calendar it marks, Sep. 22 as the first day of Autumn. So, here I am waiting impatiently for this change as the temperature is still on the 90F (31C). I actually enjoy warmer temperature, but the weather here is humid and make my hands sweat. That means I can't knit with any wool yarn yet.
You can see from the picture below that I am ready for my Fall knitting adventure!

Couple of weeks ago I went to Taipei and bought these 5 magazines at once. Can you imagine my excitement to find them in the shelves? :D
The good news is that DH doesn't seen to mind "that much" to take me to buy them. And that is more than an hour drive from where I live. Of course there is a trade off of favors here as he gets more "golf days" allowances. lol
DH doesn't seem to understand of why is that I can't get them locally. The reason is that it takes 3 to 4 weeks for these magazines to arrive here. As the bookstores Kinokuniya and Page one ( both in Taipei) import them directly from Japan and their arrival time is much faster. For the local yarn stores here they get from a distributor and things are much slower.
Here are some designs that I have added to my ever growing list!

Yes, I still love to knit laces. I don't think I will be able to knit any of these soon.
Look at this design below. It's from Keitodama Winter 2003 and it's been on my list for a while.

I first followed the pattern and ended up with a huge back side. First the decreases from the waistline were fine, then when I had to do the increases, just below the armhole, things started to look very odd. It got huge and I had to unravel to whole thing! I could blame on my pains of not feeling well those days and wasn't careful enough with the pattern.
A bit frustrated, I waited a few days and restarted again and this time I decided that I was going to change the top pattern to a simple stockinette stitch so tnat the increases would not be confused with the stitches.

Still it was not a successful FO. I did a very poor job on picking up the stitches by the collar and the trim of the opening. Also, my usual problem is that the armhole section are kind small. I don't know to recalculate to a looser fit for the armhole and the sleeve arch. Does anyone know how does the formula work on this problem?
Anyway, to my consolation after I tried on , it wasn't so bad. I will wear it fitted or not. :D

Now hope you are having an enjoyable knitting time. As for me, I am all excited because I just called a yarn shop in downtown and they have received the latest Rich More magazine. Get ready, Set and Go... I am ready to run to the store now. See you next time :D

Tagged

2005-10-05T09:40:00.000+08:00

I've been tagged by Doreen. Here are my answers:

Ten years ago

I was living in Silicon Valley and working as a programmer analyst . I was a busy working mom with two little boys ( 2 1/2 and 4 years old) and my main hobby was African Violets!
In January of 1995, DH told me that he had an offer to pursue his career in Taiwan. So what I thought would be just a couple of years overseas turned out to be 10 years!!! :D I also worked on my transfer as there is a branch company here but with our new life, I decided to stay home and take care of the family. Stayed for about an year and DH was sent to work in Japan while I went back to US. That lasted for about 1 1/2 years and then we all returned to Taiwan. This time we lived here for another 2 years and DH was transferred to Singapore for 3 1/2 years. Now we have been here in Taiwan for 2 years. Kind complicated, isn't it?

Five years ago

The kids were older and school hours were until 3 PM, so I had more free time. Things were more "East meets West" so I was living a more relaxed life in Singapore. I would go to the bookstores very often and one day I found Japanese knitting magazines. The temptation was great and soon I was collecting these magazines. Who could imagine that I would start knitting again in that hot climate!
Started to look for yarn and even found Japanese cotton yarn! Found that knitting was so much fun and I was even knitting by the pool side. How could I had abandoned this hobby for so many years!

One year ago

I was really into knitting and my friends were teasing me that they will see me only wearing knitted clothes. Decided to check in the internet to see if I could find yarn info in Hong Kong or Shanghai ( for future yarn hunting trips) . To my surprise, I found Eva's blog and the Asian Knitters Ring. I was fascinated to learn that I was not the only person in this earth that was so fanatic about knitting. :D And with great courage I started to blog, even though my boys questioned me of how I was allowed to meet strangers in the internet as they are not.

5 favorite snacks

Dark and White Chocolates
Dried fruits
Nuts
Cakes
Fruits

5 songs I know all the worlds

I have to say that I don't know any completed song. Maybe is because I don't sing but like to listen to the music.

5 things I would do with $100 million

Have an ocean or mountain view house with a a huge greenhouse and of course a dedicated room for Mimi's knitting corner.
Travel more
Share with my family
Help the needed
Save the rest ( if any left :D )

5 places to run away to
Italy, Hokkaido, France, Holland, England ( These places I know I can find plenty yarn)

5 things I would never wear "nowadays"
Bikinis, low cut pants, tights,platforms and clothes made of really synthetic materials.

5 favorite TV shows
Korean and Chinese dramas
news
crafts shows
Travel channels
Good movies

5 biggest joys

knitting ( of course)
reading at night
browsing knitting magazines with some fruit or herb tea and chocolates!
going to orchid nurseries
buying yarn

5 Favorite Toys
Yarns
knitting accessories
snuff bottles ( I have a collection)
gemstone Beads
tea spoons ( the ones that is used to get the tea, I also collect it)

5 things to do, just for me before I die
I haven't really thought about it. However, I am sure I need to have my dream house with the greenhouse and my Mimi's knitting corner.

People to pass this on to:

I think most of you have already done it. I 'll tag Noriko , no obligations, only if you would like to participate.

Hello! I am back!

2005-09-22T10:51:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone! Sorry for not posting for such a long time. I missed my bloging activities and my knitting friends as well! I came back from San Diego on Aug. 8 and left again on Aug12 for a vacation to Bali. This time Hubby came along and was our family vacation. Beautiful beaches and hotels but no signs of yarns, except mine that came back intact, although I had planned to knit in the plane and beach .
It was only a 5 days trip but combined with my return from US, I was totally exhausted and homesick. For the next few weeks I was trying to reorganize and clean my place even though I came up with a series of cold episodes.
Believe me, I had all the plans to post in San Diego. However, my schedule was so busy that it was hard to find a time to blog. So I decided that I was going to take a break from the computer and also knitting. Yes, I even did not knit much, just managed to finish Pink Beryl and work a bit on Blue Jewel. My time was mainly spent on my shopping because it's my once a year shopping time in US , so I felt I needed to visit every corner of shopping in the area. That' s why I came back with 4 big luggage and 2 small ones.

Of course my sis took me to yarn stores, I only took a couple of pictures since my camera was kind heavy to carry around.
This time, I didn't buy a lot compared to last year. There were plenty of novelty yarns which I don't like much to knit with them and thicker ones. It was a bit overwhelming to choose the yarn. Too many decisions in a short time! :)

I think I visited 7 yarn stores 2 in La Jolla ( Knitting in La Jolla) but just bought in Encinitas ( Common Threads and Black Sheep).

Here are some photos from Common Threads!

Take a look at my yarn! Can't wait to knit with them! It's supposed to be cooler but the thermometers here are marking up to 94F ( 34C).
Not so colorful yarns! And the reason is that I have so many bright colors and I just wanted to diversify a bit.

Now to compensate my lack of posting for such a long time, here are my FO's !

First, presenting Pink Beryl. I had hopes that my Sis would finish the crochet border for me but she was so busy and I had to try it myself. I can't believe that I did it and now I can follow some crochet patterns. I got some hints from her and I was even able to align the crochet border with the knitted part.

Also, my Blue Jewel is all finished. I added some short sleeves and substituted the original high collar to low neckline style.

And my last FO, which is sort of my own creation. I normally don't tempt for this kind of adventure as I like to knit following a pattern without worrying for the decreases and increases. On this project I had hard time to find a pattern to fit the yarn as I was looking for an open cardigan style and I really wanted a ruffled border. Also, I wanted a fall style, even though it's super warm around here. The gray color and cotton yarn made it possible for me to finish this early fall cardigan. Here is Gray Ruffles.

Last week, I was really contemplating my Gray Ruffles on how original and unique it was. Not until this past Sunday, while I was shopping for my new fall/winter Japanese knitting magazines I found one in which the cover shows a very similar design. I couldn't believe it on how similar it was to my Gray Ruffles. It was also light gray, with ruffles and even the pattern is alike. Theirs look like a trellis pattern as mine ressembles many mini Gucci logos( not on purpose). I still like mine, after all I made it myself! :D Now I need to confess that the sleeves came out a bit slim ( hopefully it will stretch after I washed it! But please just the sleeves!) and the back neckline is looser than I hoped it for. Now let me post it soon. I had hard time posting these pictures as the automated photo pasting function in Blogger was not posting all the photos successfully.

For a while, I have being through a sort of bladder problems. Went to the doctor yesterday but he could not tell me for sure if I have a bladder infection. I still have pain on my right abdomen and lower back side and that I am not sure if it is from my workout (Pilates classes), PMS or as the doctor said it could be a bladder stone. I am taking some medication and I'll have to see if things get better. Otherwise, I'll need to go back for more tests. Now I will rest and knit my next project ( will show next time) and hopefully not focus on my pain. What would I do without my knitting, right? :)

Home Sweet Home

2005-06-30T18:10:00.000+08:00

School is over for my boys. Yeah, tests are over...Why am I so happy? That's because I don't need to make them study anymore. Indeed it was a stressful time for me and the kids. I wish they could enjoy their childhood as much as I did. Nowadays, children education is so competitive that you just can't relax. If you have kids in school, you sure know how it is, don't you?
Tonight, I don't need to cook dinner. :) :) Dear hubby just called and offered to take us out for dinner. Of course I accepted the invitation since I am in mood of celebration too. A lot of excuses, only 3 left for dinner ( my older boy went to a sleep over), tests are over and is too hot. Actually, not so many excuses, but sufficient for not cooking right?

I just realized that I need to pack soon as I am heading to San Diego next week. It's summer, time to go back and visit my family. Home, sweet home, here I am coming...
I am all excited to go back and buy all the new fall knitting magazines and books. And the yarns, of course! I have been in such a good control and only knitted from my stash for the past 3 months until this past Sunday. I could not find anything to knit from my stash. I needed to find something nice to knit during my flight. I went to a LYS and bought a nice cotton yarn for a quick project. This time, I am choosing a very short sleeve model from Keitodama summer 2000.

Below is my progress on ------, hmm, can't find a name. I am short of stones' name. :) I will then name as Blue Jewel!

I chose this bright blue as a first impulse. It was love at first sight but then at home I kind regretted. Maybe is too bright for me! Well, considering that as you age you may prefer more colorful tones... No, I am not that old yet, just a bit older ! :) I think I feel older as my boys all grew taller than me this year.
This yarn is absolutely wonderful to knit. I am really satisfied and should buy in other shades too. Forget to mention, is a 100% cotton yarn from Mondial and made in Italy.

Have you notice the mesh on my yarn? I normally start to knit from the outer layer of the yarn instead of the inner end. That's because many times the ball will not hold the yarn well, specially at the end of it. So the other day, I was doing the dishes and saw the mesh for the sink drain. I got an idea and I tried on my new yarn. It holds the ball perfectly and is so inexpensive! Now I can pull the yarn from the center, no fallen layers of the yarn anymore! I think this type of mesh is only sold in Asian countries.

BTW, I just realized that I forgot to name my shrug! Batteries are low, I'll be eating a lot of blueberrries next week to recharge my brain! Well, it will be Rubellite shrug. I finished the knitted part and did not try the crochet border yet. I'll take both Rubellite shrug and Pink Beryl to my Sis for help.
Hopefully, I will have time left for crochet.

So this is my last posting before I leave, I will try to blog and check your posts from US.

And I wish everyone a great summer and happy knitting!

Guess what I'm knitting...

2005-06-23T10:11:00.000+08:00

Can you guess what this is?

It could be a scarf, a very long one. However, I am not a scarf lady and specially it's summer now. And is so hot nowadays, just the thought makes me sweat! :)
Have you notice the stitch markers? Some are for mending purpose ( pink ones) and others (green ones) are called in the pattern.

Can't figure it out? It's a shrug ! Amazing that this long knitted piece will turn into a garment. I found this design from my AMU( March 2005 ) magazine. I have not seen this magazine being sold in stores. I believe it's available only by subscription.

Don't you think this is a cute shrug? I just hope I can get the crochet border easily.
I am using this violet Italian yarn from Grignasco, named Bermuda ( 54% cotton/ 46% viscose). Not my favorite yarn though. It's the most difficult yarn I have knitted with so far. You need a lot patience and time to detangle as you knit. :( The yarn will fall apart at the first attempt to take away the label. This ball bellow is the only one that still looks intact and I saved for this shot. I found out that the yarn does not tangle so much when it's inside my bag and is hold in place because I normally have knitting magazines too.

There is some gain after the pain though... it turns into a very soft and cooling knitted piece. It's going smoothly now that I am half way through the end of the shrug.

Do you remember my Pink Beryl? It's still waiting for the crochet border. The border has being crocheted many times and the poor thing is still in my bag being carried many times to Sogo. I have been to the short class 3 times and it's not working out. The problem is that I need to have the crochet border to be aligned with the knitting design.
Finally, I got the first row straight out before my third visit but the teacher decided to do her way. I was watching her fearfully as she was unraveling my hard working few stitches and crocheted the border again in a wrong way.... I had difficulty to let the teachers understand my point regarding the alignment. I felt uneasy to say too much, you know, I am the student and they are the teachers.
By the end, my alignment was correct and all I wanted was to learn how to start the second row. So yesterday, I came back without any progress.
Now, Pink Beryl will travel with me next month over the Pacific Ocean to be rescued by my sister. Sis and I probably have better communication skills even though we chat in three mixed languages. After all, we are sisters! :)