Gong Xi Fa Cai

It's that time of year again where I get the kids all dressed up in their Chinese outfits to wish everyone Gong Xi Fa Cai or Happy New Year. I really don't mean to exclude Zoe but she's just refusing to play ball during the photoshoot. There's 1 photo with all 3 kids but Zoe had tears streaming down her face and she was screaming like a banshee. We won't use that photo....

She was in a much better mood the next day and I even managed to get her to model not 1 outfit but 3 outfits. 1 outfit fits her, 1 is too big (it's for Keira) and 1 is too small (so it's going to her cousin). I'm very amazed with myself, I got 3 dresses made in a 4 week period. Yay!!! More details on my Rav page. here

This is her dress.
This dress is for Celeste (it's kinda tight around her belly!)
This dress is for Keira. I need to block it so that it grows a bit. It's kinda tight on Keira. And the worst thing is - I swatched and I measured her and I still managed to get it wrong. Oh well, live and learn.

Finally, here is my Socktopus Sock club package. The yarn is Chameleon Colourworks Evolution in Peppermint Cheer. It is perfect for a cold, dark, wintry knit. Now that I've finished my dresses, I can start my socks. Here's to more sock knitting in 2009.
Happy New Year and may the Year of the Ox bring you lots of health, wealth and happiness.

Progress on the dresses

There's been much knitting at Casa Ling. I'm on a bit of a deadline!! Chinese New Year is a week away and I have to finish 2 lil dresses. Must knit faster.

This is the new dress for Zoe. Top down construction with a little mandarin collar. I want to make an ornate button for it (we'll see if I have the time!) I think I'm going to have a lacy edging for the bottom of the dress. Which one - who knows!This is Keira's dress, knitted in Rowan Kid Classic. This might end up being a tunic rather than a dress as it depends on how much yarn I have. It has a twisted rib yoke, in the style of Shalom cardigan. I have a bit more knitting on this one.

Wish me luck, I have a bit more knitting to do!

Cold, cold, cold

It's been cold, cold cold and blooming freezing for the last few weeks, and maybe even months. My fingers are too cold to even knit (that may be an exaggeration!) This wintry weather is certainly making me want to knit up some warm and chunky knits, toasty socks and hats and mitts and great big huge blankets. I might just have to follow Mary (at Dim sum knitting) and cast on with abandon. Watch this space.
And today, it started snowing in London.
And finally to some knitting content, I had intended to make this for Zoe, but I miscalculated and it came out a bit too small. So it's going to go to my niece in HK. The pattern is Little sister dress and I knitted it in Jaeger Siena 4 ply (doubled). Apologies for the bad photo, it's the greyness of London that is to blame. What's great about this knit, it took 3 or 4 evenings of knitting. There are some seams to sew and buttons to put on, but I consider it done!!! Keep looking out for few more red knits coming up. It'll be Chinese New Year soon and I'm on a mission to make some red dresses for little girls.

My year in FO's

There's not very much to show, but here is the sum total of my finished projects in 2008. I'm sure I started quite a few more, frogged yet a few more and haven't finished yet some more.


1. allete 1, 2. Buster 3, 3. monsters, 4. dumpling, 5. DSC03679, 6. tess 3, 7. DSC03623, 8. IMG_6410, 9. IMG_6213, 10. dress 2, 11. P1030191, 12. Viv 2, 13. wave j 2, 14. IMG_2426, 15. Rusted root, 16. IMG_2428, 17. flicca 3, 18. iceland 2, 19. Lola 3, 20. earflap hat

I'm not making any resolutions this year and I'll see how I do.

Hope everyone has a great 2009!