FOs and WIPs

I have one question- where has this year year gone???? Blink and suddenly we're almost at the end of October. I haven't started many summer knits and now it's time to start the Winter ones (I'm bypassing autumn knits, as the weather is super cold in London!) And with the end of October looming, I have to find time for gift knitting. Hubby and Aidan both have birthdays in November. Christmas is coming. Oh the stress!!


Being the slow knitter that I am, I have almost fnished one gift for the hubby. I started it way back in May or June as an anniversary present (due in July). I finally finished knitting the main bag last week. I've tried felting it a few times but the Noro Kureyon is refusing to co-operate, while the grey Cascade 220 felted beautifully. My next washing machine will be a top loader.Watch this space to see how this will end up.
I also made hubby a manly cowl. I knitted this in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Bulky in Camouflage. I think he'll like this and at least find it useful (he rides a motorbike to work.)

Lastly, I also started the Baby pinwheel Jacket for Zoe. I'm up to the division for the sleeves. I'm making good progress so hopefully, this will be finished soon. (Famous last words, I've actually got a million other things on the needles and which need finishing up soon!)

Ally Pally

The exciting thing that happened last week was The Knitting and Stitching Show at AlexanderPalace. I went as a consumer on Friday. And I went again as a volunteer at the Learn to knit stand on Saturday. I had so much fun on both days. Both days were tiring for very different reasons. I also met lots of people I knew from Ravelry. It was fun.

Here's the Hyperbolic reef that was on display. (I had meant to crochet some bits for it, but had failed miserably!)

It was also one of the first few times that I've left the kids for so many hours with my nanny. This greeted me when I got home, after a long day. The kids wrote - "I love you Mum" at the front gate. It was so sweet.

I'll post about the rest of my purchases another time, but here's some fabric I picked up. I'd better dust the sewing machine.

Tie dyeing

Or what to do with the children on a rainy day or week. Buy cheap white t-shirts (2 for £4) and a few Dylon discs. Find rubber bands (we have hundreds accumulated over time!) and marbles. Involve children in tying up marbles. Follow simple Dylon instructions (but still managing to forget to add salt to the dark pink dye - those t-shirts are gonna run!) .

A few washes and a few days later, happy kids.

Here's a gratuitious shot of baby, even though she didn't get her t-shirt, she was happy!

SoSeSaSoSw

I joined the Socktopus Secret Santa Sock Swap, not actually swapping socks but a sock kit. My record for socks this year has been abysmal. I think I've only completed 1 pair so far. UGH! So, here's my questionnaire.

1. What are your favourite colours and fibres?

Colours - Black, grey, neutrals, purple, brown, pink and blue.

Fibres - I like most yarns and have been known to knit some novelty yarn, (although not much since I discovered the "nice" stuff!)

2. Anything that makes your toes curl? (Fibre, colour, other)

I'm not hugely keen on orange, yellow and certain shades of green - they tend to clash with my skin tone.

3. Would you describe yourself as a beginner, intermediate or advanced knitter?

Intermediate knitter who is up for a challenge. I'd like to try new techniques.

4. Do you have an online wishlist? (Amazon or other)

Not as yet.

5. Any new techniques you'd like to learn?

Fair isle, steeking, continental method.

I'm learning spinning and dyeing at the moment, and I'm really enjoying the new activities.

6. What is your favourite:

Snack? - savoury snacks - olives, crisps and especially Malaysian/Oriental/Japanese snacks. I love wine, is that a snack?

Book? - I like a whole range of books - mystery, crime, chick lit, high brow, Harry potter,classics.... My recent favourites are The Time Traveller's Wife, The Memory Keeper's Daughter..... can't seem to remember any more.

Movie? - Gawd, I have so many that it's hard to choose. Pretty much most things except silly guy movies like Borat, American Pie, Adam Sandler movies (except the Wedding Singer!)

Music? - Again, I like a whole range of things, it just depends on my mood.

7. What are your favourite items to knit?

I like making things for the kids, as it's nice and small. And stuff for me as there is such a huge range of designs available now.

8. Any patterns that are top of your queue?

My queue is sooo long that I'm never realistically going to knit all of it! The next thing I want to knit for me is a hoodie of some sort - Cardigan for Arwen, Central Park Hoodie, Riding to Avalon, Apres Surf Hoodie.......... But I'm probably going to start something else completely.

9. Do you have any other hobbies?

Spinning, dyeing, crochet, cooking and baking, reading, tennis and swimming, cardmaking, jewellery and beading,....................

10. Tell us about yourself. When did you first pick up your needles? Who/what encouraged you to start knitting? How would you describe your knitting style? Are you a process knitter or a product knitter, etc.

I learnt to knit from my grandmother when I was 8 or 10. The first I made was a purple acrylic garter stitch scarf, which i can't now find. I also knitted and crocheted a huge wadrobe for my Barbie doll, which I only recently found again! But I started seriously knitting again, when I fell pregnant with my eldest boy, who will be 6 in November. I wanted to make so many baby things for the kids and I've only been somewhat successful. I do intend to make more things for them.

I love knitting. I love making things.

Tess

Don'tcha love the big chunky knit. Start it on Friday. Before you can say WIP, it's finished. I need 2 big buttons and that's it. Ends all sewn in. It's ready to go!!! Just in time for Winter as its about to set in any minute now.

Pattern : Tess from Kim Hargreaes
Yarn : Rowan Big Wool in Lucky shade 20
Needles : 12mm and 10 mm

Notes: Easy pattern. Quick knit. Love it.

Fascination with purple

I seem to be very drawn to the colour purple at the moment. The 2 newest project are purple. The next few intended projects will be in purple and I obviously also have some WIPs lurking around in purple. Wonder why????

First up. This is Daydream from Rowan Babies (one of my favourite knitting books - I must have made 6 or 7 patterns from that book). I made this for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law who are expecting their first child in Oct. I'm glad I finished it in time.

Project details:
Pattern: Daydream from Rowan Babies
Yarn : Jaeger Baby Merino in Lilac
Needles : 3.25mm and 3mm
Size : 6 -12 mth
Thoughts: Lovely simple pattern with lovely details. I really enjoyed making this.
Here is Zoe modelling the finished article. It was a little too small on her 13 month old body.
I also started Tess from Kim Hargreaves' book Heartfelt. I started this on Thursday, as evidenced in the photo. I have now finished the main body and the left sleeve. Amazing progress!! I've got to admit, it's knitted in Rowan Big Wool on 12mm needles.
And for some eye candy that is NOT in purple. This is some Sunshine Yarns sock yarn in the Harry Potter inspired colourways - Chinese Fireball Dragon and Accio Firebolt. I'm looking forward to knitting these.

IKnit day

Note: I suddenly realised that I drafted this post but never actually posted . Duh! So here it is.

I had a fantastic day at IKnit day on Saturday. I got to meet lots of Ravellers and other friends, admired the architecture, drooled over the wares (lots of yarn and fibre and other stuff), heard the Yarn Harlot speak, watched the fashion shows (I never realised how much I liked the fashion of the 50's). I brought a camera, but sadly I forgot to charge it. I did manage one photo of the Yarn Harlot, but it was so blurry that it wasn't worthy of posting. But here is link to the photos on flickr as posted by everyone else. IKnit Day

Finally, here are purchases from the day. I was very well restrained - I didn't buy any yarn, but I bought loads of roving.

Progress knitting and spinning

Finally,I got the 2 kids back in school on Thursday. Peace and quiet in the house from 9 till 3, well as much peace as a clingy 1 year old is willing to give. I did have some time to tidy up my WIPs, stash and Ravelry. I have embarked on ripping some unfinished projects which I know, I'll never finish. I have also made some progress on photographing the extensive stash. There will be a destash happening sometime soon.

I just wanted to show that I have been knitting. This is sock one of Embossed Leaves sock and I am making slow progress on sock 2.



I have also been spinning. This is my first full skein of yarn!! YAY! The pink/purple single is BFL dyed by Dianne and the cream is superwash BFL. I think i have about 120 feet of yarn which is a bit uneven, overly twisted in parts and a bit badly plied in others. But I'm very proud of my first attempt. I think it will be knitted up into a cowl/scarf for Keira, who loves the colours.




ANd finally, I'm off to meet the Yarn Harlot tomorrow at the IKnit day!! Hurray!!! (Completely off topic, the IKnit day will be held at The Royal Horticultural Halls in Victoria, in London. This was the venue of my Law Society Final Exams 15 years ago! It brought a tiny shiver to my spine!)

London Knitters with kids

I helped Mel and Luise organise a picnic in Kew Gardens for our little Ravelry group - London Knitters with kids. The idea was that we would drag our other halves and kids for a knitterly meet up. We could knit and the kids could go play with daddies. The picnic had been in the diary for months and I kept my fingers crossed for the weather to co-operate. I needn't have worried. The weather was glorious - practically the first sunny day in London for months! The kids played well together. The menfolk got on well together. We got to knit and spin. Just brilliant!

Baby bell bottoms

I used to enjoy summer. The prospect of going on holiday and relaxing, barbeques and not having the kids on a strict regime for school and activities. But since being back to London, with no help and no extra entertainers (I mean grandparents and extended family), I have had enough of the kids. The constant attention and entertainment and cooking and cleaning after them is KILLING me. Plus the extremely crap weather in London has meant we've spent a lot of time indoors.

I have had very little time for anything else. Luckily, I booked them into a summer Day Camp program for this week, and I'll only have one baby for most of the day. this means I get a chance to get on the computer and update my blog!

I signed up for Ravelympics for a few events and heaven knows, how I'm going to manage as we've got less than a week left. I've managed to finished one project - Baby bell bottoms. I made this for Zoe in the 12 month old size. Unfortunately, it's still a bit too big. I'll arrange for the modelled shot in a few months time.

Notes:
Pattern - Baby Bell bottoms by Alison Hansel
Yarn - Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Pink-a-boo (1 skein) and Tea Rose (0.3 skeins)
Needle - 4mm
It was a relatively quick knit and I love cotton fleece. It wears well and is soft yet strong. I hope Zoe likes this.

Spinning course

I had the best time yesterday. I signed up for the Drop Spindle masterclass at Socktopus. The first instalment was yesterday and 3 hours later, here is my first hank of handspun. It's undyed BFL and I must have spun about 15g of yarn. You can't see too much from that pic, but it looks a bit like Rowan Chunky print - thick and thin. Yay!!! I see a new obsession developing......

Here's more roving to be turned into lovely handspun.


Photo courtesy of Alice of me getting a hang of using the drop spindle.


ETA : Kim, we'll be trying out spinning wheels for our next course in 3 weeks time. I can't wait.

Zoe is 1 today!

I know I must have said this before (at least twice!), but I can't believe how fast a year has gone by. Zoe celebrates her first birthday today. Happy Birthday, darling! A year ago, you were causing so much stress by turning up a week late. When you were ready to come, it took very little time for you to make your appearance. In fact, the midwife was completely surprised by your quick arrival, she didn't even have her gloves on. Look at you now. You've grown, but not by much (some 6 month old babies are bigger than you!) You can talk and certainly scold, without actually saying any words. You've learnt so many new things in the last few months - clapping, waving, crawling, cruising, almost walking - the list is endless. We all love you so very much - Happy Birthday!

Quick stop in Hong Kong

In our tour of the Far East, we also managed a quick stopover in Hong Kong to visit my BIL and SIL who are expecting their first baby.

What's even better, I got to visit some HK lys, well only 2 but it was great fun! I didn't buy any yarn, mainly because I didn't need any more and it was quite expensive. Anyway, here is Keira having fun in Yarn Mart in Causeway Bay. Sorry, I have no pictures of my adventure in Cheer Wool in Wan Chai.

But I did succumb to a few Japanese magazines. Yummm......
And I also managed to finish Keira's Ruby dress. It fits perfectly - mainly because I had to frog it and re-knit almost 70% of it. There was also "Will there be enough yarn?" drama. Because of that, I had to redesign the arm hole shaping and the straps. And because of all that, I made a little mistake with the neck shaping. I had to add button holes on one strap, otherwise it wouldn't go over her head. But it finished! And it looks pretty good.
Pattern notes:
Pattern - Ruby dress from Patons booklet, Sugar and Spice
Yarn - GGH Samoa in a dark pinky red, instead of Patons Fairytale DK
Needles - 4mm and 4.5 mm
Modifications - Knitted in the round. Changed the straps and neckline.

Holiday shots and holiday knitting

After the travelling saga, we did manage to have an enjoyable holiday. The whole family decided to meet up at Langkawi Island - us from the UK, parents and 1 sister from KL, brother and other sister from Singapore. Apart from forgetting that it's the South west monsoon (heavy downpours everyday), we had a brilliant time. We ate loads, drove around to visit interesting and ate some more, rested and ate some more (like the good Malaysians we are!). I must educate the kids about the Malaysian attitude to food because Aidan started complaining about having to eat some more.

Here's some of the beautiful sights we saw.



And I also managed to get some knitting done, although cocktails and knitting aren't always the best combination.

Stash enhancement

Before flying off to Malaysia, I was lucky enough to hit the sales at both Liberty and John Lewis. (I know, i know - not that I need any more yarn, but a sale is sale!! A girl can't help herself especially if it's on 50% off!)

I won't bore you with the details- but this is the addition to my stash. There's Rowan - Summer, Tweed, Kidsilk Haze and Night, Calmer, Bamboo Tape, RYC - Silk Cotton and Cashcotton 4 ply and Debbie Bliss Cathay. Most have been bought with projects in mind. But now to find the time to knit them all. Hmmmmmmm...............................

I also managed to buy stuff for other people as well. Kate - this is your stash!!

Lastly, I finished my Socks on Fire socks. They're great! I really love the yarn. It's Araucania sock yarn in the semi solid red. And there's loads leftover. Probably enough for a pair of toddler anklets.

Nightmare flight

I've had such a huge nightmare the last 2 days. We were supposed to fly to KL, Malaysia on Friday to visit my parents. But instead, we embarked on our second worst travel journey ever!!!

Here's the catalogue of our nightmare journey
1. Taxi we ordered went to Heathrow instead of coming to pick us up from home.
2. I got the time wrong so we arrived 2 hours early to Heathrow, at 7.15 in the morning.
3. Zoe wasn't booked on the flight, so we spent 1 hour getting her on.
4. Malaysia Airlines couldn't let us sit together, so that was another fight
5. Security at Heathrow was so overzealous that they confiscated the sealed baby food. And made me taste the boiled water I had for baby. WTF!!! (On the good side, they took one look at my knitting and waved it through!!)
6. Technical fault with airplane and after 5 hours of waiting around, we were sent home at 3 pm.
7. With a sense of deja vu, we set of again on Saturday morning. Our flight took off at 2 pm, even though it was advertised to leave at 10 am.
8. Zoe caught a bug on the flight and now has a fever, cough and runny nose.

It's a wonder that I fly at all!

Trip to Central London

We took the kids into the South Bank for some culture and fun.


View on Hungerford Bridge - St Paul's Catherdral, the City of London in the background
Enjoying the performances at the Alternative Village Fete, at South Bank.

Making icing sugar tiles for an exhibition. The butterfly and the flower are ours.



We love public transport.
Back soon with more stash enhancement and knitting news.

Life is busy

but that should not be an excuse for me to not update my blog!!!

I had the most enjoyable Friday. I went to Aidan's first school Sports Day. The morning session was only for the little ones (Reception and Form 1, ie 4/5 year olds and 5/6 year olds). It was so sweet to see the little legs running and the joy in their faces for winning a race. It made really my day.
I know everyone seems to talking about the February Lady sweater. I just wanted to show you the baby February sweater, knitted by Polly for Zoe. This sweater (actually a cradigan!) has seen so much wear. She wore it as a 3 month old and is still wearing it as a 10 month old and still has space to grow into it. Brilliant!! We love this knit. Thank you, Auntie Polly.

Purchases

Look what arrived in the post a few days ago. I succumbed to the word "sale" and made a few sneaky purchases. These are from Alice at Socktopus. From left to right:
Koigu, Cherry Tree Hill in Winterberry and Cherry Tree Hill in Java.

A meme

I've been tagged by Mel (ages ago, I might add!) and I thought it might be fun to do this.

"Peeps I want to know more about" meme.
The rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
10 years ago in April- I started my second "real" job. I'd moved from a 3 partner accountancy firm to one of the Big Six (now Big Four!) accountancy firms and was probably suffering from a huge culture shock.

I was also going through a huge personal crisis during this time. Hubby and I were going through a separation of sorts after 8 years together. We did manage to work things out but not before a few years passed and major changes taking place. I guess, we do know that we do want to be together and we are really loving our little family.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

Spring clean - I'm being overrun by mess everywhere
Update my poor neglected blog
Photograph new acquisitions and progress on WIPs
Make sure I have enough things for 3 four year old girls to do for 3 hours
Cook and freeze food for Zoe (who will be 10 months tomorrow!!!)
Laundry - I have 3 loads to fold and put away and another 2 loads to wash and dry. UGH!
Look up how to graft toes AGAIN (I do this so infrequently that I never remember - I think it's knit, knit, purl, purl- but how??)

3) Snacks I enjoy:
Japanese rice crackers
Seaweed snacks
Nuts
Chocolate with nuts
Crisps
Malaysian snacks like dried plums, pickled mango and plums, dried cuttlefish etc
I could go on and on and on .........................

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Make sure my family never worries about money
Make sure the kids are set up for life but also teach the value of money. I'd hate for them to be rich, spoilt brats!
Give most of it away to deserving charities (obviously making sure that I had enough for myself first!! I love to travel)
Oooh - How could i forget - own the biggest yarn store ever!

5) Places you have lived:
Kuala Lumpur - for 18 years of my life
Bristol - for 3 great years
London - up until now. I've lived in various parts of London - Notting Hill, Chiswick, Putney, Richmond. I don't think I'll move out of London, it's home.

6) Peeps I want to know more about

Anyone who feels like doing this!