Ember

With a little bit of focus, I've finished another project. This is Ember from Kim Hargreaves' book, Cherished. It's knitted in Rowan Big Wool (a yarn I love) in Commodore, a dark grey (a colour I love). Overall, I'm pretty pleased with it. The sleeves are a little too long after blocking, but I can live with it. Oh - I need buttons and to sew up a few details. But I'll consider this done! Luckily for me, the weather is set to get colder again for the next few days, so it might get some wear before I have to put it away for next winter.
Here's a rare picture - sunshine in February in London. Boy, did we need it!

Baking

It's half term for me (again). Aidan had his half term last week, which included having the girls off sick from school for 2 days! This week, with Aidan back in school, the girls have their half term. I've spent the last 2 weeks pretty much entertaining various children. The knitting has been pretty stop-start, so I won't bother showing any progress shots. It'll be the same as last time!

I will show you what we've been baking. Kuih Bangkit - a traditional Malaysian biscuit that is normally served during festivals, like Chinese New Year. I remember my grandmother making these biscuits for Chinese New Year and they were delicious! (certainly much better than the shop bought ones) I found a great recipe from my favourite food blog.

Here's my attempt. Check out the wooden moulds, which my brother bought for me from Singapore. And the biscuits were delicious! They were coconutty and melt in the mouth. They are a lot of work, so maybe I'll be making them only for special occassions!

My kids - the Models

Last August, I took the children for a photoshoot for a new kids knitting book. And it's available now from Amazon. They can be seen on the preview pages on Amazon in this book. I can't wait to get my hands on the book!!!!!!

Here's a little sneak peek of one of the pics!

One sock done

With a little bit of focus, I finished sock no 1 from my Bloodlines kit. Isn't it looking great! It's for hubby but now I'm wishing I made it for me.

I love how the pattern changes for the toe shaping! Genius!

New Projects

It's been super busy here in Casa Ling in the last week. Mainly because hubby was away skiing (or as he says, he's presenting at a conference!) and running around after 3 active little ones is tiring. The first thing to suffer was the housework (you should have seen the mess in the house!) and then after that, it was the crafting. But before I got too exhausted/distracted - I started some new projects.

First up - socks from The Bloodlines Sock Club. The first installment is a True Blood themed installment. These are all the goodies from it! Project bag, pattern tamers, vampire fang sweeties, vampire blood hand gel, Sam (the collie) charm, Eric keychain, Bon Temp fridge magnet, Area 5 sheriff badge and charm barcelet. The yarns were specially dyed by the amazing Alice from Socktopus. The blue variegated skein is Eric Northman and the red skein is Bill Compton. I think she's done an amazing job with the dyeing!


I decided to knit up the pattern - V-Junkie in Eric Northman. I'm making the socks for hubby as he seems to have worn through 2 pairs of handknitted socks already! I'm enjoying the knitting so far! I love the honeycomb pattern.
Not content with one project, I also started another project. This time Ember from the Kim Hargreaves book - Cherished. It's a project that is the complete opposite of sock knitting. Sweater knitting in Rowan Big Wool on 10mm needles. Now, this is progressing very quickly!

Happy New Year

We've been busy celebrating Chinese New Year over the last few days. We've decorated the house in lots of chinese decorations. The children performed at their Chinese School today. They've really been enjoying chinese school - learning about the language and a little bit about the culture.

Wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy and Prosperous New Year!

An exciting day

I have totally non-knitting, non-crafty news today. I've reached another milestone in my life. Today, I turned 40! A new decade begins.

I woke up this morning and didn't really feel any different to yesterday. I guess it's because my physical age has never really mattered or bothered me. In the build up to today, I've been mentally preparing myself anyway, (you know, just in case the depression started!) My mantra was FIT, FAB and 40! I think I'll keep reminding myself of this.

I am very grateful for what I have in my life. 3 beautiful children, 1 loving husband, amazing friends, fantastic family, my health, passion for my crafts, everything really. I've had a fantastic day and hope to have many more.
Ps - Blogger keeps rotating my pics. These are flowers from my wonderful knitty friends.