Weddings, princesses and tiaras

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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.

Getting ready

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!

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!