Musing and doing

Blanket madness

2011-09-07T17:36:00.003Z

I have decided to (maybe) finish one of my many blanket WIPs before I embarked on another blanket adventure. I love the Beekeeper's Quilt or the Hexipuff, as I call it. I envisage that to be a LONG term project - one which will take years and years to complete!

So, in a rare moment of focus, I sewed up tons of small miters into bigger miters and joined up all the miters into strips and then, the 3 strips together. This is what I got. It's a good lap-sized blanket (3x4 squares). Hubby decided that it was too small and it needs to be at least 4x5 squares - so here I am knitting a yet more squares. I haven't even thought about the edging - and that will require more focus.

Kim - my summer tank was a little creation from me. It was knitted in the round from bottom up with no shaping. It would be the perfect top if I could find the right yarn. The bamboo tape is annoying!

Summer tank

2011-08-31T22:01:00.001Z

I have knitted myself a summer tank in Rowan Bamboo Tape that was on sale few ago. I now know why it was on sale. It grows, and grows, and grows and i think it's still growing some more. And the annoying thing is that I made a swatch and washed it and took into consideration that it would grow. Oh well - you live and learn. Anyway, here it is when it still vaguely fits me!

My baby's all grown up

2011-08-14T20:03:00.002Z

The one thing I dislike about summer holidays - how little time I have. Blink and suddenly it's mid August. I swear - how did that happen?? There's one important event that happens in August - Zoe's birthday! She turned 4 earlier in the month (again - where does the time go!!) We had a little party for her. I knitted her a cute little sundress. She's happy as a clam. Happy birthday my little darling.

Knit Nation part 2

2011-07-20T21:44:00.001Z

Knit Nation was amazing. It was fun. I had a great time catching up with old friends, making new friends and honing new skills. I was part of the volunteer crew again this year. But this year, my friend, Kate and I were in charge of the Knit Nation and Socktopus Stand. We were selling Knit Nation merchandise of mugs and projects bags and Sokkusu O yarns. It's the first time where we've had a range of the colourways available to purchase. Everyone seemed to enjoy being able to fondle the yarn - which is amazingly squishy and soft!

This was the selection of colours that we had - most of them proved very popular.
And we had a selection of socks knitted up in the yummy yarns. No - I didn't knit all of them. I knitted 1 pair - the red ones! The socks will be appearing in Alice's new book - Socktopus.
The trouble with manning a yarn stall is that after 3 days of being surrounded by yarn, I didn't have much desire to shop for yarns! Isn't that just awful! Fear not - I did buy some yarns, a project bag and some fun notions. But that's for another post!

Knit nation - Part 1 - all about the shawls!

2011-07-19T16:36:00.004Z

I've suddenly realised that I haven't updated my blog in ages!!!! So - firstly, I must apologise for not doing that. Secondly - it was because I've been super busy doing mummy things - like attending the children's Summer concerts, end of term parties, birthday parties etc,etc and also getting ready for Knit Nation!

Alice from Socktopus was showcasing the Sokkusu yarn at the show. I had volunteered to knit up some shawl samples for the show. In the period of 4 weeks (give or take a day or two), I transformed myself into a shawl knitting monster and finished (and blocked!) 3 shawls!! Dear readers - if you're surprised, so was I.

The first shawl I finished was a Swallowtail in Sokkusu O in Denim Blue. The only modification I made was to not knit the nupps in the edgings, not because I don't like them, but because I wasn't sure if I'd have enough yardage. Looking at what I have left, I needn't have worried!!

Next up is Gail (aka Nightsongs) in Sokkusu O in Fontainebleu. I made 1 small modification in the pattern - I didn't knit the double YO's in the centre of the shawl, instead I knitted a centre stitch. Looks pretty good!

Last but not least, it's Gingko Shawlette in Sokkusu O in Goldenrod. This shawl nearly didn't get finished on time! I finished it at 12.30 midnight and was blocking by 1 am. By the time I took it to Knit Nation at 7am in the morning, it was still slightly damp! I think the shawlette is a bit on the small side. I think I will undo the edging and make a few more repeats of the leaves.

One final word - it's about the yarn! It is sooo lovely to knit with. It's a high twist, superwash merino - custom milled for Socktopus. It's extremely squishy and soft. The stitch definition is amazing. Anyway, I'll sign off now - as that's more than 1 word. My next post will be about KNIT NATION and the amazing time I had!!!

Strawberry Pimms cupcake

2011-06-12T19:12:00.002Z

I've been busy on the baking front - cupcake baking, to be exact. The task was set on cupcake challenge to bake up cupcakes using at least 2 of the 6 ingredients as set. This month's ingredients are strawberries, Pimms No 1, lemonade, orange, mint and cucumber. I've gone for the easy combination of strawberry, Pimms and lemonade. I made a Pimms syrup and soaked the strawberries in it (for the adults). For the kids, I soaked the strawberries in a lemonade syrup. I used a basic vanilla cupcake recipe and placed the strawberries in the middle of each cupcake. The icing is some fresh double cream whipped with a small amount of icing sugar.

It turned out really well. I think for the adults, I'll drizzle some Pimms over the cupcakes for an added kick. Yum!

Wollmeise

2011-06-09T20:49:00.004Z

My BFF had a road trip to to Germany which included a trip to Munich. You know what's just outside of Munich -The Wollmeise Store. I researched into colours which I liked, gave her a list and this is what I got. (Actually, the Turkise Markise and Graf Ratz was from Marja in her destash, and My Old Blue Jeans and petit Poison No5 Light was from Knit Nation last year)

I notice I like certain colours, quite dark colours.

Cola cupcakes

2011-06-04T21:10:00.008Z

I think I'm going to get fat, very fat. I bought a new cookbook and it has amazing cakes, cupcakes, cheesecakes, whoopie pies, cookies, biscuits etc......... It's the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book.

We've decided to try out the Cola cupcake recipe. And it is good! And easy to make.

If you like cupcakes, you should check out the Cupcake Challenge blog. I intend to participate in it - any excuse to make more cupcakes!

Watermelon socks

2011-05-31T15:51:00.003Z

Remember when Aidan dyed his own yarn and I knitted him a pair of socks. Well - the girls decided to play the jealousy card and insisted they needed to dye their own yarn and I had to knit them socks too. What could I do except give in! I had some undyed sock yarn, out-of-date Kool Aid packets and some time on my hands - so we embarked on a little home-dyeing.

Zoe insisted that her socks had to be Watermelon socks. She was very definite about this point as 3 year olds can be. Unfortunately, I had only 1 packet of lime flavour, so the green is a bit washed out. I even added Berry Blue to brighten it. It's still not quite right - but it'll do.I'm making short socks - plain vanilla socks. Hopefully, they'll be done in no time at all.
Speaking of watermelon - I love Watermelon Martinis. I usually make them over summer. I haven't made any it this year!! I guess I should rectify this soon! I make mine with these ingredients:

Fresh watermelon juice
Fresh lime juice
Martini
Extra vodka
Sugar syrup

Socks for my little man

2011-05-22T20:09:00.003Z

Remember back in March when Aidan learned to dye yarn with Alice - well, he's finally persuaded/begged me to knit up some socks for him. We checked out some patterns from my books and from Ravelry and he decided he liked 3x1 ribbed socks with short row heels. Luckily, he has small feet and skinny legs, so I could make quite fast progress. In less than a week, they're finished. He's very proud of his colourway and has even named it. It's Poseidon. (And it might even appear in Alice's shop - Socktopus!)

Shawls, shawls, shawls

2011-05-18T22:26:00.004Z

In the last 2 weeks, I was a demon with the shawl knitting. Not only did I finish 1 shawl, I finished 2 shawls. I mean - who would have thought that!!!

First up - Spriteling. Remember that lump of pinkiness, well it became this. Isn't it gorgeous. I have to say big thank you to Alice for a gorgeous design and a fun Mystery KAL.

Next up, Holden Shawlette.

Unearthing treasures

2011-05-05T19:54:00.001Z

Way back in 2005 (OMG -that's 6 years ago!!) I started knitting a whole bunch of mitred squares when the first Mason Dixon book came out. I'd occasionally knit a square or 2 over the years but did nothing with it for forever. As I was tidying up one day, I found a boxful of squares. I don't remember what I intended to do with the arrangements of the squares, so I just put them together and spent some time sewing up. Look what I managed to do in a few days.

The original plan was to knit a blanket big enough for my super king bed. The revised plan is knit a few more squares so that the blanket measures 3 x 4 big squares. I have 7 finished squares so far, so I might have a finished blanket in the not too distant future. (Please don't let it be another 6 years!)

Weddings, princesses and tiaras

2011-04-29T21:36:00.003Z

Wasn't the wedding beautiful! I enjoyed watching it, especially with my 2 little princesses. They work up early this morning and insisted that they needed to be princesses for the day, just like Princess Catherine! (I know, she's the Duchess of Cambridge but she'll always be Princess Catherine to me). The other thing they insisted was that they needed tiaras - pretty, sparkly ones - that needed to be made by mummy, right this minute.

So with one eye on the proceedings, I managed to whip up 2 tiaras for the princesses. One is pink and sparkly and the other is peach and sparkly. They were certainly happy with the tiaras! (The tiaras were wire wrapped beads on a metal headband - I made it up as I went along!)

What I loved about today:
- it brought everyone together. There was an amazingly large crowd who was just enjoying the day with the happy couple. Street parties are still taking place all over the UK!
- the affection between the happy couple
- the weather stayed dry. It was cool and windy, but dry!
- there was no terrorist bombing/shooting
- And the Dress - She looked beautiful.

Spring Spriteling

2011-04-20T13:14:00.003Z

I love Mystery Knit-alongs. I joined the Spriteling Mystery Shawl-a-long on Ravelry. The design is by Alice and can be found here. We get a clue every 2 weeks. I cast on in early April and I'm now on clue number 2.

I'm knitting this is Dream in Color Smooshy in Wisterious. So far it looks like a heap of mess but I'm looking forward to finishing it. Can't wait!!

Little shells

2011-04-16T21:20:00.003Z

One of the things I enjoy about going on holiday is the escape from mundane daily duties. And in place, having the time to knit and to enjoy my knitting. I managed to finish a project and start a few new things while on holiday.

This is Little Shells. The pattern calls for it to be knitted in DK weight yarn but I decided to knit it in fingering weight yarn. The yarn is Sunshine Yarns Classic sock in Swedish Short Snout Dragon. Due to the finer gauge, I had to make a few adjustments to the calculations. I made the stockinette section much bigger but kept the lace section the same. It was a very quick and easy knit, the hardest thing was remembering to make the correct number of yo's.

The minute I started knitting it, Keira asked if she could have it. So I said yes. She couldn't wait to wear it once I had finished it. Here it is on its first outing - unblocked and with ends still not sewn in!

More of Portugal

2011-04-12T16:06:00.003Z

More conventional pics of my trip:
The cliffs at Ponta de Piedade:
One of the few family shots:

A pottery store which had the whole storefront covered in plates and bowlsEvidence that I was knitting:

Sun and fun

2011-04-10T21:29:00.003Z

I've been a well-deserved break. We took a trip to Portugal - to Lagos, in the Algarve. I've never visited that part of Portugal before, so it was all exciting. The main aim was to get out of London, get some sun and have some fun. That we did! I managed to knit quite a lot, read quite a lot and ate quite a lot!

Standing over a very high cliff in Arrifana, near Aljezur on a very windy day!

On a castle built in the 13th century

Walking down the cliffs in Ponta da Piedade, near the lighthouse

At the beach in Porto Mos - sandcastles built by the kids

Walking on the river beach in Carrapateira

A boy on his dyeing adventure

2011-03-29T19:55:00.003Z

I had spent the day with Alice, helping out in her studio with the dyeing business. Aidan was with me as he was already on his Easter holidays. He was a helpful little minion for us - he soaked yarn, helped with the rinsing, blocked 6 different socks, did little errands and the best part, didn't complain at ALL, not once! As a reward, Alice let him dye up his own skein of yarn. Here's his effort - in Royal Blue, Navy and Green. He's very proud and pleased with his effort. He carried the wet yarn home, lovingly in his arms. He wants me to knit socks for him. I guess, I'll have to!

Fascination

2011-03-26T20:53:00.002Z

I've not knitted many shawls but I'm developing a real fascination with them at the moment. My Ravelry queue and faves are full of shawls.

A few that I love: (links to Ravelry)

Gingko
Swallowtail
Laminaria
Gail (Nightsongs)
Travelling Woman
Peacock
Aeolian
Anything by Susanna IC

I've decided to cast on for a shawl (more likely shawlette). The shawl that made first choice - Little Shells. Keira's already laid claim to it and I've only knitted 20 odd rows!

Spring has finally sprung!

2011-03-20T22:31:00.003Z

We've had 2 warm days and sunshine galore. It's equinox tonight - that means the days are getting longer, more sunshine, more warmth, barbeques, picnics, parks, outdoor time are all coming up. Can you tell I'm a bit high from the thought of spring and summer being round the corner??

Distractions

2011-03-09T22:55:00.002Z

I'm doing some secret knitting at the moment - nothing I can blog about, yet. But this is a good opportunity to show my new distraction. I'm being pressed by a certain little girl to make her a quilt. I've been putting together the fabric and I'm happy with what I have. Now, I just need to have some time to make this darn quilt. Oh yeah - I need to figure out a pattern too!

More, more, more

2011-03-03T22:41:00.005Z

More pics from the Knitting for Children book - I have a copy in my hands!!! Please excuse Aidan's goofy smile - he did have 2 very wobbly front teeth! I am such a proud mummy!!

Ember

2011-02-27T22:59:00.003Z

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

2011-02-24T23:44:00.002Z

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

2011-02-17T21:38:00.000Z

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

2011-02-16T10:44:00.002Z

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

2011-02-07T23:11:00.003Z

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

2011-02-05T16:58:00.003Z

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

2011-02-01T22:38:00.004Z

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.

Getting ready

2011-01-28T13:31:00.004Z

It's that time of the year where I start getting ready for Chinese New Year. I've done some spring cleaning, mainly of the yarn stash and fabric stash. It's actually frightening how much stuff I have. I really must try to knit/sew from stash this year. (Must. be. strong... and not be tempted by any yarny goodness.....)

The other thing I'm doing for Chinese New Year is baking cookies. The store bought cookies are just not the same as the ones I remember from my childhood ( a long time ago!!) So first up is Pineapple Tarts. I tried this recipe last year and it was delicious. I tried them again this year and OMG, they're delicious. I'm really glad I made the effort to make them again. And this year, I'm going to try making a few more different ones.

Ps - before I forget, the recipes come from my favourite food blog - Lily's Wai Sek Hong. All her recipes are pretty accurate and totally delicious!

The pastry is from this post - Pineapple Open tart recipe
The pineapple jam is from this post - Pineapple Tart recipe

Another FO!

2011-01-26T20:33:00.002Z

I know - you're all thinking - what the hell is going on with Ling. She's knitting. She's blogging. She's finishing things. I have to say - I feeling very motivated and enthused, so I've decided to keep going strong. This is another fair isle cowl. It's for Aidan. Knitted in Crystal Palace Mini Mochi in blue shades and Rowan 4 ply soft in a pale blue. I chose a motif from this book. A few evenings of knitting later, this is what I made!

Sock 1 of 12

2011-01-23T21:18:00.002Z

Finished a pair of socks and there's at least a week left of this month! ( I don't know why the pic is on it's side - blogger issues?!)

Pattern: Hedera
Project/page: Ling’s Hedera
Yarn:Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock
Colourway: Forever at Sea
Needles:2.5mm dpn
Cast On Date: Jan 6, 2011
Cast Off Date: Jan 20, 2011
Mods/Comments: I made the leg a bit shorter than was called for in the pattern.

I have 2.5 pairs from last years sock club and 5 pairs from the previous years and 1 from the Bloodlines sock club to catch up on though. Next up, I'm going to knit V-junkie from the Bloodlines sock club.

Progress and New project

2011-01-17T23:21:00.002Z

I am loving Hedera. It is a super fast project (for me!). I have now finished 1 sock and I'm at the foot of the second sock and I cast on 10-12 days ago. This is practically unheard of!

And since I was doing so well, what better time to start a new project. This is going to be another cowl for the little man. I had some issues with the fair isle pattern that I chose, but pattern no 2 is going well. Sorry, I only have the picture of the corrugated rib, which is uninteresting to say the least.

More sock knitting

2011-01-12T20:22:00.004Z

On Ravelry, I joined the knit.sock.love group and for the month of January, I'll be joining in on their Hedera knitalong. I'm very glad to have done because, these socks are just speeding along. Probably my fastest pair of socks (if I stay focused! - big "If") I started it a few days ago and I'm now on the foot. I'm knitting in Sunshine Yarns in the colourway - Forever at Sea.

I love this pattern and yarn!

First FO of the year

2011-01-10T13:21:00.002Z

The Fair Isle Cowl is done. It took a few nights of knitting and tada!!! It would have been faster if I had paid attention to my knitting. I had 3 episodes of unknitting. It's so obvious when there are mistakes in the diamond pattern!

Here's Zoe with her cowl. I have to make another 2 - 1 for Aidan and 1 for Keira. I'm going to be busy.

Newest project for the year

2011-01-05T23:52:00.002Z

I took a fair isle class with Alice Starmore 2 years ago. Have I done any fair isle knitting since that class?? Well, you probably know the answer.

So, it's high time I did something about it. Here's my first attempt. Not bad even if I do say so myself. It's the Mini Mochi Fair Isle pattern but I'm making a cowl instead. Keira has already laid claim to it. Hopefully, it won't be too long before an FO makes an appearance!

Resolutions

2011-01-03T21:55:00.003Z

It's that time of year when everyone's thinking - new year, new start, what will I achieve/do this year. Me - I'm pretty bad about setting resolutions, mainly because it means I'm guaranteed not to meet them. Surprisingly, I'm feeling pretty positive and enthusiastic this time round - so I'm going to challenge myself for 2011 (I think it's also because I'm going to hit the big 4-oh!)

In no particular order:

I'm going to run a 10k race in under 1 hour (I've signed up for a few races already!)
I want to lose the last 5 pounds that I've been intending to lose for the last 3 years
I'm going to knit 12 pairs of socks
I'm going to knit 3 (different) shawls
I'm going to blog more
I'm going to sew more - quilts (I've just been reviewing what I have - I have enough fabric for quite a few quilts) and clothes for me and the family (again - I have too much!)
I'm going to make sure I have a fab year celebrating my 40th

I was going to say I won't buy any more yarn and fabric until I make a dent in my stash, but really, who am I kidding! ;)

A year in review

2010-12-31T22:46:00.005Z

I know I've been pretty bad on the blogging front but I have been busy. Not just with the three kids, I've actually made things. Obviously, I knitted. I also sewed a few things this year too.

I knitted 3 shawls - the same pattern (Haruni) in 3 different yarns. The Neighborhood Fibre Company Studio Sock in Dupont Circle, Sunshine Yarns Twist in Phoenix Song and Sunshine Yarns Classic song in Mother's Day.
I've finished 3 pairs of socks - all part of the Knit Love Club - 2luvcrew, Spring Shoots and Rumpled. I think I started 2 or 3 more pairs but they're languishing in a WIP black hole somewhere.

Other things I've knitted (not many, I know!)

Things I've sewn.I'm sure I've done a few more things in 2010 but i can't remember them, can't have been important!

Have a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T22:58:00.003Z

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope 2011 will be a good year for you. For me, I intend to blog a little bit more than I have.

Enjoy the holidays!

Knit Nation

2010-08-04T21:44:00.000Z

I have had the most fun ever on 3 days of Knit Nation, held at Imperial College on 29 - 31 July. I had the privilege of being a member of the crew, helping Alice and Cookie A. This involved packing the shopper bags, putting up the booth - doesn't the boot look great!

- helping out at Class Registration (this was where I hung out with all the other crew!)

- I also signed up for 2 classes. One was with Nancy Bush, knitting an Estonian Lace Sampler and the other was Spinning for socks with Judith MacKenzieMcCuin. They were both amazing teachers. I'm so inspired to start many new projects!

- Of course, there was the Marketplace as well. I was tempted by so many of the stalls but was quite restrained in my purchases. This is all detailed below (from left to right, Laceweight Wollmeise in Amethyst Light, Laceweight Wollmeise in Ballerina (this was a gift from Alice and Cookie for all the volunteer work), fibre from Artist Palette, BFL fibre from John Arbon)
Next row - signed copy of Nancy Bush's book, stitch markers from Tricot de Plume and The Bothered Owl, 3 skeins of Wollmeise sock yarn in My Old Blue Jeans, Petit Poison No 5 and Peppermint Prinz and some grey alpaca fibre. Can't wait to knit up some of these!

Now be ready to be astounded. This is what the Wollmeise stall looked like. Have you seen so much Wollmeise yarn in one place. These shots were taken just before the Marketplace Preview. (should have seen the rush and the crush when the doors opened!)

Sew more skirts

2010-07-17T21:45:00.004Z

Spurred on by the recent sewing success, I decided to sew a few more ruffled skirts. 2 more for my lovely girls, in slightly different colours. Now, I want one too.

Sew, sew,sew

2010-07-15T21:14:00.000Z

So it's been weeks since I dropped in on the blog. I do have my excuses/reasons but that would be boring (because it would just be about mundane life!) However, I have been busy on the craft front.

I've been busy with my sewing.

First up, a gathered skirt for a little girl. It's being modelled by Keira, which has meant that I need to make another one for her. It's a fairly quick and easy project - cutting a few strips of fabric, sewing and overlocking and an hour (or so) later, a finished object. I've actually cut a few more pieces of fabric for my 2 little girls. Can't wait to sew them up.Next up, fabric bag for a lovely friend who brought me a ton of fabric from USA. The pattern is from Sew Hip magazine. I had the fabric pieces cut a long time ago (in fact, I have several more projects which just needs sewing up!) and it just needed sewing up. The outer fabric is some medium weight upholstery linen mix fabric and the lining is some patchwork cotton from my ever growing fabric stash.

Flurry of FO's

2010-06-03T17:22:00.001Z

The blogging may be intermittent but I have been knitting. And here's the proof. I finally finished my Blithe top from Kim Hargreaves book Nectar. It would have been finished a lot earlier except that I ran out of yarn. After a quick trawl through Ravelry, I found a few people with 1 skein in the stash. Before I knew it, a very kind soul offered me her skein for free. A few days later, 2 sleeves and neck edging were completed and I can finally wear my top for the summer weather we're having! You gotta love the kindness of knitters. They are the BEST!

I also managed to start and finish a little top for Keira. She had a birthday coming up and wanted a handknit something as part of her present pile. 2 weeks of effort later, I finished this cute little top for her. The pattern is Heidi from Yarn Forward magazine. Keira loved it so much, she wore it for 2 whole days.

Spring shoots

2010-05-13T19:29:00.002Z

This is the second instalment from the Knit Love Club. Don't they look gorgeous. The yarn is Soft Strength from Brooklyn Handspun in Persephone. The pattern is Spring Shoots from Alice.

The socks look like any normal sock but they're constructed very differently. It involves knitting a tube for the foot, putting some lifelines and making a cut and unraveling the knitting to make an afterthought leg. Oooh - it was scary stuff, especially the cutting bit. The socks fit really well. There are some great tutorials on Cat Bordhi's website the subject. Go check it out!

Pinwheel Jacket

2010-04-29T20:44:00.004Z

I've been on a bit of a finishing frenzy. I have so may unfinished items hanging around that I'm feeling swapped, pressured and unmotivated. So I decided to tackle some of them I started this baby pinwheel sweater over a year ago. It was almost finished - it needed 2 sleeves and some edging. A few nights of focused knitting and miraculously, it's now finished. Hopefully, Zoe will get a chance to wear it before she outgrows it.

New things for Spring

2010-04-24T13:13:00.003Z

I love Spring. New starts, new beginnings, new shoots. I love the weather - just warm enough, but not too hot. I particularly love when the sun shines. It really motivates and inspires to spring clean and start afresh.
On the knitting/craft front, I've decided to focus on a few long standing WIPs and getting those done before starting anything new. I've finished a few jewellery projects and I'm working on those knits! Here's one necklace I made for a friends birthday. Turquoise nuggets, crystals on a chunky chain. Looks pretty good!

More FO's

2010-04-20T16:37:00.002Z

Remember the cardigan and beret for Robynn from Purlescence, well I still had yarn leftover. So I decided to make something else for her. Here's the Little Sister Dress, well Tunic because there wasn't quite enough yarn for a dress. There's amazing yardage from 1 skein of the Fleece Artist Organic Wool. I love this yarn. The colours are great and the yarn is soft and squooshy. Really lovely.

Easter holiday

2010-04-14T17:53:00.003Z

I've forgotten how reliant I am on the internet. We took a family holiday to Malaysia to visit family and to get a much needed fix of warmth and sunshine. While we were there we had no internet connection, for pretty much 2 whole weeks. I felt like I had lost all connection to the outside world. We had a great holiday, but I'm glad to be back home.

The one good thing about not having any internet connection was that I didn't waste time on Facebook, Ravelry, internet shopping, etc etc. I actually started and finished a few projects. Amazing - I know!! The first project is Haruni shawl, which I started on Day 2 of the holiday and finished on Day 14 of the holiday. The yarn is Sunshine yarns, Classic sock in Mother's Day colourway. It was an easy and yet interesting pattern. I love the leaves in the edging. However, beacuse the yardage was less than the recommended amount, I had 1 less repeat, so the shawl is slightly smaller than I would have liked. Having said that, I love it all the same.

t

Knit Love Club

2010-03-27T22:30:00.002Z

These socks are Rumpled by Alice (previously of Socktopus). The first installment of our sock club socks. The pattern is great, the yarn is yummy (if a bit splitty) and they're keeping my footsies nice and toasty.
You should wait and see the second installment of the sock club. Scary!!!

A hoodie

2010-03-18T22:54:00.003Z

I've been thinking about knitting a hoodie for myself for a very long time. If you check out my queue on Ravelry, it's got quite a few hoodies on that list. My favs, in no particulare order:

Cardigan for Arwen
Vivian
Apres Surf Hoodie

However, I decided to cast on for the Heather Hoodie from Knitscene Fall 09. I started it in December and I finished it a few weeks ago. I've been wearing it without any closures. I thought I'd put toggles but I didn't like them. So I think I'm going to put in a zip. I just need the time to find one and take a deep breath to sew it in.

Apologies for the bad photos - they were taken by the 7 year old.

More handspun

2010-03-04T11:30:00.002Z

Like a proud mummy, I'm showing off my handspun. This is what I've managed to spin over the last 3-4 weeks.
This is my latest handspun. 140g of BFL fibre dyed in pinks and purples. There's approximately 220 metres of yarn. This was my first lot of handspun on the wheel. I had approximately 80g of white undyed BFL and approximately 80g of orange, yellow mystery fibre ( I think it's also BFL but I can't be sure as it had no labels!)
This I showed off in the last post.

And finally, this is merino silk fibre which I had dyed in indigo at a natural dyeing workshop. I think theres 100g of fibre.

Adventures in Spinning

2010-03-01T20:29:00.002Z

I have been a very busy trying out my new-found hobby. Spinning on a wheel - so much faster and easier than on a drop spindle. No - I haven't splurged and bought a new wheel, I borrowed a wheel from a friends who was travelling and will be moving house. I've had it for 3 and half weeks and I've been spinning practically every day. The first few days were soooo frustrating - I just couldn't do it. I perservered and voila! - It clicked and I've had a bit of success. So far I've managed to spin about 400g of fibre.

Here's one little example. The fibre is from LimeGreenJelly, which I bought ages ago.

And this is the end product! What shall I make with it??

Baby knitting

2010-02-04T22:47:00.004Z

The lovely thing about knitting baby things - is that it takes almost no time at all (except when you screw up the sizing and have to reknit it again!!)

I knit this cardigan and beret set for Robynn of Purlescence for her daughter who's turning 1 soon. It's being modelled by Zoe. The cardigan is simple top down raglan with rolled neckline and hems with 2 rows of eyelets on the yoke and near the edges. I even found matching buttons in my button stash for the cardigan. The edges are 1x1 rib for 5 stitches. The cardigan is inspired by a cardigan from a Phildar magazine ( I need to hunt out the magazine number and a picture). The yarn is Fleece Artist Organic Wool in the colourway Flirt. It's really yummy to knit with (unless you have a wool allergy!)

Sparkly things always cheers me up

2010-01-20T22:43:00.002Z

Apart from the knitting, I've also been making bits of jewellery in a bid to cheer myself up. Making and wearing sparkly things really does lift the spirits.

This is my amethyst and rose quartz necklace.
This one is made from mookite.This was made for Keira who chose the beads and had the vision/inspiration for the necklace. I was merely the maker.

Winter blues

2010-01-15T18:51:00.002Z

I can't quite believe half the month of January has gone. One day it was New Year's Eve, next thing I know it's mid January. Where does the time go??

I think I'm suffering from the winter blues. We didn't go anywhere during the Christmas break and it has been cold, grey and snowy for the longest time in London. The only good thing about the cold weather is that it's encouraging me to knit again.

Just look at how grey and snowy everything is....

Somewhat belatedly - Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T21:26:00.002Z

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Ready for Christmas

2009-12-13T22:09:00.002Z

I know it's nearly mid Dec but I have literally lost 2 weeks of my life. Kids have been really ill. I've been really ill. It's only now that I'm feeling like myself.

My major achievement this weekend - putting up the Christmas tree. It took about 2 hours because the children were helping me. Zoe insisted on carrying every breakable glass bauble and dropping quite a few but luckily not breaking any. Here's our tree in all its glory.

Little angel I made years ago.....Rudolf ornament
Angel
Beautiful bauble from Chicago

Off the radar

2009-11-25T12:49:00.003Z

I was feeling quite please with myself with regular updates of the blog. Then 10 days of nothing. The reason for that is the children - they're all sick! Coughs, colds and fever. Luckily, nothing more serious (swine flu, anyone!) but it has meant that I've had 1, 2 or 3 children at home with me. So,time for me has been more limited.

Even so, I did manage to start and finish 1 thing for me. It's a litte shrug, Bella from Kim Hargreaves book, Amber. I knitted this in Rowan Big Wool in Merry, a lovely warm red. It took hardly any time and it's very warm. A success!

Baking with little helpers

2009-11-13T22:16:00.002Z

Everything I do that involves the children, just takes 6 times as long. Take for example, when I decided to bake a joint birthday cake for hubby and Aidan, the children were desperate to help. I let them but the mess that they created took forever to clear up! Actually, I don't mind - they really like baking!

Here's the final product - a very decadent, almost flourless choclate cake.
If you have good cholestrol, please feel free to try out my version:

150g of butter
200g of plain (dark) chocolate, broken into pieces
125g of caster sugar
4 eggs, separated
142ml of double cream
4 tablespoons of plain flour

1. Melt chocolate in a bowl over some simmering water. When the chocolate is almost melted, add in the butter. Stir until all melted, taking care not to overheat. Leave to cool slightly.
2. In a separate bowl,whisk egg yolks with caster sugar until thick and creamy.
3. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.
4. Stir in the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Add the double cream, mixing well. Gently fold in the whisked egg whites.
5. Grease a 10" round loose bottomed cake tin. Pour in the mixture. Bake in a preheated oven (180 deg Celsius) for 25 minutes. Don't worry if it sinks a little as it cools.
6. Finally, enjoy!

Dotty day

2009-11-05T22:58:00.004Z

The children's school encourages them to be aware of different charities around and to participate in the fund raising activities. Tomorrow the children are fundraising for a charity for the blind and they are to go to school wearing some dotty accessories (braille) and to make a donation for that privilege. I was going to buy my children some spotty socks but the both of them actually requested that I make them something instead. What's a mum to do except answer the request.

I didn't have time to knit them something but I had time to sew them a few things. First up, a yoyo flower brooch with a dotty Kaffe Fassett fabric. It took all of 10 minutes and it looks so cute that I'm going to be making lots of them.I also made scarves for them. I found more dotty fabrics in my stash (I have a lot of dotty fabric in my stash - I might add!!) and some white polar fleece fabric, cut 2 long strips, sewed them up on the sewing machine, cut the fringe and voila! - spotty scarves.

Halloween

2009-11-01T12:53:00.002Z

Halloween -one of the children's favourite holiday (after Christmas and birthdays!) As it was half term, I had devised a few Halloween activities to pass the time with the children. One of it was make Halloween cookies, which was a success. The only problem was that we couldn't find any bright orange icing for the pumpkin - so they look a bit pale and washed out.
The next thing we made was a Halloween wreath - from recycled plastic bags, old wire coat hanger and some black card. I think it makes a good Jack-O-Lantern.

Finally, I made some food for a Halloween party - severed fingers (sausages with cheese fingernails, wriggly worms (more sausages!) and deep fried eyeballs (mini scotch eggs). It had great reactions from the kids.

Autumn

2009-10-27T21:12:00.002Z

Cold nights = more knitting! (I sincerely hope)

Teeny, tiny blankets

2009-10-24T20:04:00.003Z

for Kathy for the neo-natal ICU where she works. These blankets are tiny - 9" x 13". I've really forgotten how tiny premature babies can be. Aidan was 6 weeks early and he was tiny (4.5lbs) but we saw lots of much younger and smaller babies in the ICU, which made us very thankful for our little man. I've got Zoe's little baby modelling the blankets!

Look who's knitting

2009-10-19T22:14:00.003Z

She's been pestering me to teach her to knit and sew for ages now. I've finally relented and I'm teaching my little girl to knit. I guess being surrounded by yarn and fabric and little homemade goodies does encourage the love to learn. She's making progress. So far, no dropped stitches. She's very excited to be making a blanket for her dolly.

Alexandra Palace

2009-10-12T13:20:00.002Z

I had a lovely few days doing a few things for me. On Thursday, I went to Origin and had quite an inspiring time looking at other people's work. There were lots of textile artists and jewellery designers with amazing work. Speaking of which, I really must dust off the loom and practice some weaving.

On Friday and Sunday, I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Alexandra Palace. There was just so much to see and buy (although I didn't do too much damage to the credit card!). I was very well restraint and didn't buy and yarn, I'll tell you why in a second. I did buy lots of fabric for more quilts. I love making quilts. One of the kits I bought was the Hungry Caterpillar quilt kit - I've been looking at it on the internet. When I saw the shop sample hanging up, I knew I had to have one. The kids are fighting over who should have the quilt, as it's one of their favourite children's book.

I also bought a few beads and findings for more bead crochet.Now the reason I didn't buy any yarn because there was a yarn mountain in my home. I mentioned to my mother-in-law, on her way to Hong Kong, to keep an eye out for a good bargain. Guess what turned up at home - 12 bags of yarn with 6 balls in each bag and weighing 500g in each bag. That's enough for sweaters for everyone twice or three times over. OMG!!
And this is Zoe at Ally Pally - having a great time charming the stall holders and visitors alike. She was so well behaved and patient eventhough she was being dragged around looking at more yarn, books, fabric or beads by mummy for about 3 hours!!

Projects galore

2009-10-03T20:37:00.003Z

I have been so busy working on loads of things, one or two things in secret, one or two things which I forgot to photograph and they've gone to new homes, but everything under time deadlines. In fact, a few things are still under some deadlines.

I've been bitten by the quilting. In fact, I have 5 quilt projects on the go at the moment. They are all very similar. Here's one I finished this week. It's for my baby niece, Celeste who turns one this month. The quilt measures approximately 1 metre by 1 metre. It's just strips with some hand quilting (and some quirky little details!) Hope she likes it.

Next up, some cute and creepy little fellows from The Cute and Creepy Crochet book. These are for my brother in law who bought me the book. This is the corporate zombie - as he is one!And an army of ninjas, for protection!

Hello again

2009-09-15T21:00:00.001Z

It feels like I've fallen off the planet - a whole month with no blogging updates. I do apologise.. It's them pesky kids. They just create this time black hole......

Having said that, the two big ones are back in school and I only have one little one to distract me. And the little one turned 2 in August and she's just started nursery (preschool) for 2 mornings a week. That means I have 3 hours of mummy time, 2 mornings a week. Hallelujah!!! Have a glass of champagne on me, wherever you are.

On the knitting front, I've been working on Blithe, from Kim Hargreaves book, Breeze. I have nearly finished the front. It's a summer tank. The weather is definitely autumnal in London, so much so that I'm contemplating turning on the heating. I guess, I won't be using this much until next spring. Oh well.

On the beaded crochet jewellery front, look at what I made for a friend's birthday. I crocheted the necklace with 2 different beads, so that it spiralled. Then, I found the focal beads which worked so well with the necklace. What do you think??

Finally.....

2009-08-15T06:58:00.002Z

A post, not only a post, but one with some craft content! I finally finished mum's cardigan. It took approximately 5 weeks ( I was distracted other craft bits during this time). I finished it on the second last day of the holiday. Mum's happy with it. She's got to find 3 buttons and wash and block it. It's not a bad job considering, I "winged" the pattern.

Ahh the joys of a holiday

2009-07-21T00:28:00.004Z

I haven't got much access to the computer or the internet at my parents in KL. When I do manage to get on, the kids are continually bugging me to let them get on it too for games etc....

We're having a great time in KL, eating too much and catching up with old friends and shopping (sadly not yarn shopping - too expensive and not that I need anymore yarn!!)

On the crafting front, mum requested that I knit her a cardigan as she had 16 balls of yarn just lying around. So what is a dutiful daughter to do, except do that!! I'm just knitting a top down garter stitch yoke cardigan. I'm at the point of knitting the widest bit and the boredom of knitting 300 over stitches for one row is killing me!!!! Not bad progress for about 5 nights of knitting.Also, I've been practising on my bead crochet, I'm making a necklace for me! Going great so far!

Summer finally arrives

2009-07-04T21:37:00.002Z

Apologies for not blogging in the recent weeks, I've been super busy with end of term stuff with the kids (sports day, summer concert, parties......). I have managed to finish one thing recently. It's the Garter stitch cardigan in Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran. Just perfect for the super warm summer that we've been having.

More King and I

2009-06-20T18:55:00.003Z

Apologies for the lack of craft content, but please indulge a very proud mummy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcvELubAJpA

The King and I

2009-06-16T19:30:00.003Z

My recent exciting news - Aidan is in the production of The King and I, showing at the Royal Albert Hall (from now until 28 June) with Daniel Dae Kim (very hot and sexy) and Maria Friedman. It's been quite a nightmare, in terms of the logistics and timings. But it's been worth it. He loves the whole experience.

here's 2 shots from the show :

Here he is with Daniel:

ETA: Mummy likes Daniel a lot, especially since he is soo lovely to the kids. He knows them by name and chats to them and the mummies. Plus he is hot and shexy!

Crochet Crazy

2009-06-08T19:37:00.003Z

I'm being unfaithful to my knitting. It's been all about crochet recently. I've been a blah about my knitting, so I thought I would pick up something else and have fun with it. Boy, was it a welcome distraction. And look what I managed to achieve in about a week or 10 days.

I was teaching a friend to make granny squares for a blanket and I was inspired to make a few squares as well. While making the squares, Keira requested that I make her a bag. As it was her birthday, how could I refuse. 2 days later - voila! Bag - completed. Child - happy. Result!!
I've always loved the hexagon blankets on Ravelry. So I thought, why not start one of my own. I had bought on ebay 750g of DK cotton in 5 colours (pink, light burgundy, pale yellow, gold and cream) and I'll be using that for my blanket. I need 99 hexagons for my blanket and I've done about 25 so far. Watch this space.
Finally, I've finished my beaded crochet bracelet. I may have mentioned it before, it was Keira's birthday. I had another request by the Princess herself, that she needed the bracelet. So I made it for her. (DH is always telling me off that I spoil the children - I know!!) And because I enjoyed making it so much, I decided to start another one for me. I'll show that another day.

Natural Dyeing

2009-06-01T20:12:00.004Z

or look at what I did this weekend....... Yay!! Yay!! Yay!! I went on a Natural Dye workshop at West Dean College and had a lovely, fascinating and educational time. I think it was great fun also because this is the first time in 2.5 years that I've managed to have some time to myself without hubby and children. 2 nights and almost 3 whole days - it was good.

I had fun learning about indigo dyeing, using different natural dye stuffs - madder, brazilwood, weld, golden rod, persian berries, logwood, marigold, using mordants and finding stuff from the garden to dye up - like using mint leaves, solomon's seal and dandelion root. Here's some of my samples.

A new hobby

2009-05-24T20:29:00.004Z

On Thursday evening, I went to Socktopus to take crochet beaded bracelet class with the very talented Zsuzsana. We had to thread the beads and then crochet a spiral tube with teeny, tiny 1mm crochet hook. After about 3 hours, this is my pathetic effort. But I have to say, I am totally hooked!! I loved it and I'm looking forward to devleoping this new hobby of mine.

New hobbies aside, I'm making great progress on Keira's birthdy present. I actually knit about 8 blocks of colour (80 rows in total) before I decided that I didn't like the colour combination. So I ripped it out and reknit it. I like this much better!

Projects galore

2009-05-18T20:30:00.002Z

I can't believe how time flies! Keira will be turning 5 in 10 days time. She obviously thinks that Mum is knitter extraordinaire and has asked for Snakey for her birthday, like the one I knitted for Aidan, except with more pink. Can I say No - obviously not. Dig around the stash and I suddenly realise I have a lot of DK cotton. Cast on last night and this is what I got. Can't be long on the interwebs tonight, must keep knitting......

I also resurrected the sewing machine and have been making stuff. Some's not so good, some better than others and the one thing they have in common, the sewing is sooooo bad. I'll show you a somewhat good one, pillowcase dress made for Keira.

Museum of Childhood

2009-05-16T20:00:00.003Z

The girls and I had some time to kill this morning, so we made a visit to the Museum of Childhood in East London. It's a very sweet, little museum and just perfect for the children. They had a dressing up corner, sandpit, rocking horses, dolls houses, train sets all for the kids to play with. What was amazing was the Roald Dahl exhibition - lots of illustrations, books, the BFG. We had a brilliant time!

1. VA 17, 2. VA 16, 3. VA 15, 4. VA 14, 5. VA 13, 6. VA 6, 7. VA 11, 8. VA 10, 9. VA 9, 10. VA 8, 11. VA 7, 12. VA 5, 13. VA 4, 14. VA 3, 15. VA 2B, 16. VA 2A, 17. VA 2, 18. VA 1

My next post will have some knitting/craft content. Have a good weekend!

Race for life - Battersea

2009-05-07T08:50:00.003Z

I had a great evening last night. I joined Team IKnit London in the Race for Life at Battersea Park. Race for Life is a women's only race in aid of Cancer Research UK. There were about 15 of us all knitting and walking. I walked it in about 1 hour and managed to knit about 8" - we're knitting pink scarves for the Jenny Chant appeal to knit the longest scarf for the record books.

This is me at the finish line.This is some of us before the race.

New hobbies

2009-05-03T10:23:00.003Z

I'm been a bit unfaithful to my knitting at the moment. I am knitting but I seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut. Hopefully, I'll revive my knitting mojo soon.

But in the meantime, I'm learning a few new things. I bought a loom recently and I'm learning how to use it. Here's my first project. I'm being taught by a good friend who is an amazing textile artist. I'll show you some of her work. My sister, from Singapore, came over for a visit last week. She was on her way to Tuscany for a holiday with some friends. And like me, she is quite crafty too. She makes paper from recycled materials like used envelopes, paper and threads. So I had a quick tutorial with her about making paper. This is our first batch. the stripes were an accident - I had used some fabric quarters to couch the paper, but I forgot that I had not washed them yet. Oops. Luckily, it had a nice effect.Finally, I'm really enjoying my cooking and baking. I made banoffee pie which has caramel, biscuit base, bananas and cream - what's not to like!!! Yum!

Pretty in Pink

2009-04-28T20:57:00.000Z

Amazingly, I'm going to be showcasing a few FO's over th next week. (pick yourselves up from the floor, dear readers!!)

I actually finished this last week. Molly Ringwald from Knitscene Fall 06. Knitted in RYC Luxury Cotton. I now need to go shopping for a girly top. Any excuse to go shopping.....

Not only have I been knitting this last week, I've also been experimenting with cooking. One of Kevin's favourite desserts is Apple Pie. I normally just buy something from the shops. Then, I had a thought, I could learn to make one. This is my first attempt and I'm pretty proud of it. More importantly, the family loved it.

Not so Frugal Swap

2009-04-21T11:44:00.002Z

Look what arrived through the post box on Saturday. It's my swap package from Bianca. It's supposed to be a frugal swap, but look at the package I received - it's not so frugal after all. Thank you so much Bianca.

I've been meaning to post more often but haven't had the time as the kids are still on their Easter break. Thankfully, they go back to school tomorrow. One quick note to say, I've started a new project. The Garter Yoke cardigan from Knit 1 Winter 08 in purple Rowan Scottish tweed aran that I bought during the sales. It's looking good.

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T21:38:00.002Z

I hope everyone is having a good Easter break. We've been having a good break. It's hard trying to keep the kids busy while they have 3.5 weeks off school. I try.....

I think it's especially hard when there's soooo much chocolate around. We've got chocolate coming out of our ears. We have chocolate bars, chocolate bunnies, chocolate eggs, mini chocolate eggs..... I, for one, am so sick of chocolate. I'm happy to give it up for another 40 days.

In order to keep the kids busy, we made chocolate nests with chocolate eggs. The nests contain Shredded Wheat and that's the only healthy bit of this tasty snack.
Can you see how excited the kids are?

Current projects

2009-04-07T18:43:00.001Z

I've been working on a number of projects these last few weeks. Some have been more successful than others. I've started and frogged at least 2 projects. It was the case of wrong yarn for the project and major gauge issues.

Thankfully, it hasn't been all bad. Molly Ringwald has been progressing well (well, in comparison to the other projects!!). I had to reknit the straps twice. But I think it's going to work out OK now.Next up, is my Gryffindor socks (yarn from Kathy - thanks!!) I'm knitting the Diagonal rib socks from Knitting Daily. It's been a bit slow going as I'm trying some 12" circulars and I'm not really enjoying the needles. I think the pattern is great, so I'm going to need to find some 2.5mm dpns from some where.

Offline for this week

2009-03-28T21:27:00.001Z

Hello
I'm offline for this week as I am on a little holiday in Switzerland. Yay!!! See you all shortly.

Z is for Zebra

2009-03-18T22:25:00.004Z

I've been practising my sewing skills again this week. Aidan has a special assembly on Friday where the children perform a little piece and parents are invited to watch the performance. Unluckily for me, he's a zebra. Zebra costumes (along with most other costumes) cost a lot of money, so I decided to make one. £4 for the material and some free resources from the internet and pattern from this book . A few hours later, voila!!!

More new things

2009-03-15T23:29:00.002Z

I know I'm inspired by something floral, something spring but I didn't start anything floral. Instead I started something spring inspired that has been in my queue for ages! This is Molly Ringwald from Knitscene Fall 2006. I decided to knit this in the round and so far I'm about 30% done. Going well.........

I'm also under a few deadlines. My neighbour will be celebrating her 60th birthday at the end ofthis month and I thought I'd like to make her a lap quilt. She likes bright, vibrant, strong colours. I had a hard time choosing the colour scheme, but I think I'm happy with aqua and red for the quilt. Now, I just need some time to make this.I'll also be going on a Cookie A sock design workshop this Saturday and I need to do some research on patterns for my own sock design. Any hints and tips would be most welcome.

Socktopus Sock club socks - finished

2009-03-06T13:14:00.002Z

Wow - try saying that quickly!!!

Finally finished the socks. I love the pattern. I love the squishyness to the yarn, but I'm not loving the inconsistencies in the yarn - variation in the thickness of the yarn, variations in the colour, knots in the skein. Ho hum.....

Pattern : Om Shanti Bed socks
Yarn : Chameleon Colourworks, evolution
Needle size: 2.75 mm dpns

Inspiration

2009-03-01T14:48:00.004Z

My lovely neighbour bought me these flowers.........
I rediscovered a vintage top for Keira to wear. I wore that as a child in the 70s.

Makes me think of flowers and spring projects. Hmmm, what to cast on??? Some of the considerations from my Ravelry queue:

Cabled Rangoli Hat

Fairytale Dress

Prickly Girl Tank

Rambling Rose

Eden scarf

Guess what

2009-02-27T18:40:00.002Z

I have a pile of WIPs to finish, both knitting and non-knitting, but I decided to start a new project instead. I really like the look of the Reaglan Jacket from the newest Vogue Knitting and decided to cast on for it. I'm not entirely sure that it'll suit me but here goes anyway. I have lots of Rowan Big Wool in the stash and decided why not just cast on. One evening later, I'm pretty much done on the the lace section. I will have to shorten the jacket because if I followed the instructions, the jacket will be past my knees. Not a good look for a shorty like me. I also think I need to lose a bit of fat around the tummy to carry off the jacket. Oh well.......

It's all about hats

2009-02-22T19:33:00.002Z

The kids have been on half term. I have had no time to myself. thankfully, they are back in school tomorrow. I have managed to knit a few hats. The 2 for me are because I'm growing out my hair and it looks pretty grm until I can get to the hairdressers.

F is for ....

2009-02-08T23:31:00.002Z

Focus, Finishing and Frenzy and Fabulous. Well, only one of the projects is fabulous. The other one, I just don't want to talk about it!

First up, Dumpling from Rowan Babies. I made one pink for Keira about 3 years ago, but I accidently felted it. So I decided to make another one for Zoe. I don't often reknit things, so it would have been helpful if I kept some notes from the last time. I forgot the sleeves didn't fit into the armholes. 3 attempts later, I got that to work. The yarn is Rowan Big Wool in Mulberry which I had leftover from my project, Tess. I didn't have quite enough to finish the project, so the cuffs and the tops of the sleeves are in Sugar Spun.

Anyway, here is Zoe working her charm!

Finally, I finished my Embossed Leaves socks. I started them in August 2008 and finished sock one. Cast on sock two, and forgot about them. I was desperate to use my 2.75mm needles, so I thought I might as well finish them rather than putting them on holders. 3 nights of knitting later, I finish them. Can you guess what's wrong with them???? I accidently added half a repeat to the leg pattern, so 1 sock is slightly longer than the other. Doh!! I'm just going to live with this mistake. Moving on.....

Socktopus House Quiz

2009-02-03T21:50:00.001Z

SOCK(topus)CLUB House Sorting Quiz

My Result: Yarnacre Cottage

socktopus

Welcome to Yarnacre! A Yarnacre loves life, enjoys the good times and rolls with the bad. You're easy going, love love yarn, and don't mind taking a risk now and then (ever finish a knit with 4 cm of yarn left? Oh yeah, you're definitely one of us!). Adventure! Daring! Lots and lots of yarn!

Yarnacre Cottage's mascot is a monkey. The House colours are cinnamon and granite.

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Snow, snow and more snow

2009-02-02T23:16:00.002Z

Today, London has had the most amount of snowfall in the last 18 years. Schools were shut. Public transport ground to a halt. Shops and offices didn't open. The theatre had shows cancelled. The economy suffered. And the kids rejoiced.

We spent our day having snowball fights.............
Building a snowman(or at least attempting to build one - sorry kids, your momma grew up in the tropics and has no idea on the proper construction of snowman, snowball or anything to do with snow!)
Posing with snowman (obviously, not built by me!).....................
Feeling stranded in the snow......................
This was what it was like when I drove home from knit night on Sunday.

Gong Xi Fa Cai

2009-01-27T20:13:00.004Z

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

2009-01-19T13:42:00.003Z

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

2009-01-10T23:33:00.003Z

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

2009-01-04T21:59:00.002Z

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!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2008-12-25T10:40:00.000Z

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.Decorations as provided by Keira (age 4.5) this year - The angel at the top of the tree and the wreath on our front door.

A forest

2008-12-13T08:42:00.003Z

The trees have grown into a forest....................

Swap package and more

2008-12-10T12:46:00.000Z

And if you thought I wasn't busy enough running around after 3 kids and knitting, I've been embarking on some sewing projects as well. Madness, I know. I really want to share these cute Chrstmas trees that I've been making. the pattern is from
here ( little bird handmade). I haven't put much decoration on as I've used Christmas fabrics. I've got a whole forest worth, which hubby and kids want to give away to colleagues, teachers and friends. Thank goodness they take no time to whip up.

I took part the the Socktopus Secret Santa Swap (SoSeSaSw). My first swap!! look what came in the post for me. Isn't this fab!! Sock yarn on the left from Old Maiden Aunt in a lovely Rust colourway. And some handspun from my Secret Santa ( Yoshimi on ravelry).
And the full package. Thank you so much, Sarah.
I forgot to take photos of the goodies that I sent out to my swap giftee. But I wanted to show you the little pouch which I made for her. The fabric is from Liberty. It has knitting on it!! I followed a tutorial on the Purl Bee. I think it turned out pretty well. I had to resort to hand sewing because I couldn't get the sewing machine to sew a perfect circle! Perfect for 1 skein of sock yarn.