Pondering on the Grindstone

The quietness on this blog is due to the fact that I'm on the look for job. It had been rather physical and mentally exhausting with each interview. However, I'm hopeful that the next one be better than the previous. So here's a brief rundown.
I shall not name the companies but just their initials.

Company A
- US MNC, wrong job scope, its the furthest part of the country that I'd been to. Rejected on the spot, even though they are willing to train. Seems like they are rather desperate for someone to fill up the role.

Company C
- US MNC, job scope was something I'm looking for. The deal was that I would be employed under Company F as C had a frozen headcount. I wasn't very comfortable with this arrangement I guess. Even with a direct bus from my place, I need to do with a slight paycut. I thought I could have this straighten out myself, somehow I still felt insecure and depress. Depression shouldn't be how I feel, it a totally different feel from my previous appointments. I did not want to celebrate or put a smile on my face. So C was outta question as of today's turnout.

Company G
- US company, 6 months contract work. Cuz they weren't able to tell me whether this is going to renewable, I weren't in the least interested. It might be glam to work in town, but that means I would spend more on daily expenses like food and transportation.

Company K
- local SME (small medium enterprise). I butted at one of the questions asked, it would be total different environment from a MNC (most if not all of my previous experience were with MNCs). I think even the interviewer was doubtful if I would be adaptable to such arrangement. Anyway, it did open me up to the structure of SMEs.

Company V
- didn't even have a chance for interview, cuz the role was taken up by their contract staff!!! ARGH!!!! I really wouldn't mind V.

Above all, I'm still optimistic with the hunt. I just received another call, hopefully I will have another interview coming up next week. and a brand new workplace in 2009.

WISH ME LUCK.

Before i sign off, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR.

XOXO

Reappearance

Before I know it, October had slip passed. No, I have not taken a month off for honeymoon or anything close to it. It was plain laziness for the blog silence.

The needles have been busy. I'm done with 3 shawls and 2 pairs of socks and 2 tops if I'm able to do up the finishings. Meanwhile, I'm trying to find my way to a new grindstone since the stash master needs to be fed periodically.

I'm setting up the 4th installment of destashing. Sock yarn lovers please stay tune.

And Happy 1st Anniversary to my Dearest!

Another destashment

Keep a lookout these 2 days for another destashment. I had been looking at these yarns for the last few hours and still clueless to what I will make out of them. Taught myself a lesson of Buying Without Plans. Moreover, I need to liquidify the yarns for my recent membership fee.

Since my last update, I have 2 FOs, a shawl and a pair of socks. The blocking wires had been busy so did the darning needles. I blocked 3 shawls and seamed Minimalist Cardigan. I thought I do lost a bit of my mojo. Hope to be back with a WIP report soon. Meanwhile, I need to destash.

Unfortunate incident

Something I received in the mail yesterday. I'm fine with uneveness in the dyeing. But this is absolutely OUT. It doesn't matter if its from the mill end.
Shouldn't the retailer check on each and every hank before sending out?
Didn't they realise that international shipping is on a bullet train to the north?
Even for a 25% off from retail price, they were not obliged to send yarn of decent quality?

I'm definitely getting an exchange.

Happy Valentines 2008

I felt so loved today and many days there after.

PS. Hope to come out of hiatus very soon. I've got so much to show and tell.

Day 14 of 2008

The hiatus will continue with the clip below

M-R-S in about two weeks

Oh gosh, time really flies by fast. With most of the things out of the way, I'm still having a little crisis. I haven't found the right shoes(I've cut down my expectation from "perfect"). The hand bouquet which my makeup artist offered wasn't what I was looking for, and I aint got a BIG buidget for the commercial ones. And I have not start making my own accessories, though I bought the crystals and materials last week.

Now I wonder if SO has been doing his bit.

ROM Checklist
- Date OK
- JP OK
- Venue OK
- Photographer OK
- Make Up & Hair OK
- Efile OK
- Rings OK
- Dress OK
- Ring Pillow OK
- Shoes
- Flowers
- Invitation Card N/A
- His’s Shirt ???
- His’s Pants ???
- His’s Shoes ???
- His’s Belt ???
- His’s Tie ???
- His’s Cufflinks ???
- Guestlist ???

A glimpse of my WIP Sarcelle. Amidst the preparation, I managed to squeeze time for knitting. Currently its on the decreasing section, so I guess it should be ready before the ROM. If so, Sarcelle will come in good use.

Acessories Shopping

As part of the crafting community (if you consider knitting as a craft), I would very much like to have some handcrafted accessories for my ROM and perhaps wedding day. First thing that came to mind was beading. I had tried very simple beading like threading through plastic beads with fine nylon thread. And that was just a earring kit bought from Daiso (aka 100Yen shop).

The past few days I have been surfing and gathering bridal infos and came upon this picture. I'd fallen hard on the necklace so next I decide to DIY my accesories.

Meanwhile I've also searching on etsy.com for ideas. Below are what I've spotted. Click on the picture will bring you to the etsy page for more pics.

Domain-ed

After considering for a very long time, I finally got my domain name.

GIK can be accessed at HTTP://WWW.GEDDITKNITTED.ORG

take note of the WWW.

I shall be back for more overdue updates.

Knit and Preps

Knitting has definitely taken the back seat, with the impending stuffs waiting to be settled. And knitting was all about ripping back and forth during the past weeks, till I found this to be suitable for this. I should have more than enough yarn so worries about running out of yarn is not here. The feeling of whether this yarn will be suitable for this or that is driving me nuts. When I found the right yarn, then would I have enough of it to finish? And a long list of other questions.


Thanks to Adrianne for the rocker badge! Not much people to nominate since most got this badge much before I do. Grab it if you haven't.



Apart from knitting, the preps is coming up real slow but steadily.

ROM Checklist
- Date OK
- JP OK
- Venue OK
- Photographer
- Make Up & Hair
- Efile OK
- Rings OK
- Dress
- Ring Pillow OK
- Shoes
- Flowers
- Invitation Card
- His’s Shirt
- His’s Pants
- His’s Shoes
- His’s Belt
- His’s Tie
- His’s Cufflinks
- Guestlist

Blame DS Lite

No reports on knitting this weekend. I managed to done half of the right border.

You may be wondering why so little progress....

Well, all credits should go to this black box, which looks like a sleek box of eyeshadows from the outside. I totally sinked in right after the purchase. I guess the novelty will take sometime to wear off.

So I'm off to a mini hiatus with my DS Lite.

Ravelrised

It's time to talk about the latest time sinking thing (besides knitting) which I'm in. It's Ravelry, what else could it be? I had retired from the local gamings so that I can focus all my time in this passion. Ravelry is addictive as more and more people join the community, everyone is busy updating their profiles, stashes, FOs and etc. Its always encouraging to see my FOs "favourited" by others and reading comments left by them.

I am also thrilled to find some of the famous knitters on my friends list and vice versa, particularly Brenda Dayne from Cast On and Olgajazzy. The former being my favourite podcaster and I admire the latter's FOs.

If you are on the big R, look for me HERE.

Have you Ravelry today?

Its really to the occasion

You Are a Ring Finger

You are romantic, expressive, and hopeful. You see the best in everything. You are very artistic, and you see the world as your canvas. You are also drawn to the written word. Inventive and unique, you are often away in your own inner world. You get along well with: The Pinky Stay away from: The Index Finger

What Finger Are You?

Its really to the occasion.

Weird/Random Meme

I got tagged by both Jade and Maryann, and I'm pretty bad on the backlog of posts. Talk about procastination, I can score As.

So here's 7 random cum weird facts about me.
1. I think I'm born with shorter hemstrings than most people. Some of yoga posts almost snap them.

2. I love eye shadows. I have loads at home for collection. Most were used like only once. But I enjoy admiring them in my Muji acrylic drawers.

3. I have not been buying heels for more than 2 years till recently I need a new pair for replacement. I got it online and it came up 1 size too big. So did my feet skrink or something?

4. I love to burp. I will drink soft drinks if I feel like burping.

5. My yarn shelves are neater than my closets for clothes.

6. I have been keeping my hair long for 9 years and dyeing my hair more than 3 years.

7. And today is the 4th anniversary for being together with the Man in my life.

I try to tag these people below, no obligations ok?
Adrianne, Karyn, Iro Knits, Jackie L.

Another Beginning

I will talk about the title at the end of this post. Now I should update on my recent trip to the Fragrant Port also know as the Pearl of the Orient, Hong Kong.

Poor SO touch HK with a minor food poison. We suspected it was the breakfast he took. The first day was spent loitering along the streets alone while SO rested in the hotel. Anyways, he managed to pull himself up and accompanied me to Sammi Cheng's concert at the HK Coliseum. Just to share a clip of Sammi's rendition of I will Follow You. In fact the round platform is actually suspended real high. I guess the fans were actually quite worried that she might fall. The acapella at the end was great too!

Nothing beats attending Sammi's concert in HK. Even her concerts held in Singapore was only 75% of the full concert. Sad to know that, she's going to skip Singapore for this round of world tour.

Day 2 was spent shopping and eating, then more shopping and eating. The process just continues till we almost drop dead. It would have been more fruitful if not for the rainy weather. Anyways, on the third day, the sun came out and we made our way to Ocean Park. I think the picture on the left tells a better story of Another Beginning. Yep, he actually popped the question on the roller coaster. How innovative can he be? It was the least expected from him and it set me going dizzy even when the coaster wasn't that exhilarating. Thank goodness the ring wasn't lost while we were on the ride. Of course you may have guessed my answer to him. :)

Not Exactly a Bag Whore

At least I hasn't been one for a long time. Who would complain of having too many bags? My SO only laments on the limited space he has for his clothes and shoes. Anyway, that doesn't stop him from shopping more. I would be the one to drag him out of the sales and shopping malls. I just hope he doesn't drag me out of yarn stores. Anyways, my yarn stash isn't as horrible as his bursting wardrobe. LOL~

Just to share some of my WANTs here, from my wishlist of course.
Batognolles Horizontal

Montaigne Clutch in black (can't seem to find it in black) This is so much more classy in black Epi leather. And it's love at first sight.

Both are about the same price range, however if it comes to practicality, the Batognolles Horizontal will have lots of uses. In the first place, it is spacious enough to chuck my knitting pouch inside and still have plenty of room for my other stuffs. So far, I have spotted 2 BH users on the subway every morning. Will I be the third? Although the GST hike is a good encouragement, I still have my reservations, and if the local boutique has it in stock.

*crossing fingers and toes*

On to knitting news, Thermal currently up to the point where there's a lot of shaping and stuffs to be done and isn't a great project to bring while traveling. So, I started a lace shawl project its from THe Best of Knitters called Lace Dream. Will get back with more updates once I'm back home. Have a good week ahead!

To remain focus

I have been driving myself too hard on the knitting front. I think I seriously need to slow down, take a step backward. Last year was pretty steadfast on projects like the FFL and Lady Eleanor. This year I intend to hit another milstone, that's to take on fair isle knitting and also another lace project.

After knitting more than 2 years, I managed to change from holding the yarn between my right thumb and index finger to the typical way of English Knitting. It's not easy to begin with. Imagine after going through millions of stitches, it took me quite a while to swtich my knitting style. At first, I started with the continental. However the tension was far too tight, so I tried the english way. The problem which I faced was ribbing. The switch between knit and purl, having to placed my yarn in front and behind the work. It felt pretty awkward, tension was horrible to begin with. I still remembered I tried english knitting on Sorrell (which I intend to frog and use the yarn on another project). Tapestry was soft and smooth on my pinkie, the almost zero friction tend to be problem, since pinkie isn't that strong, the yarn tend to go out of control. So ended up with uneven tension.

I think I only managed to even out tension was while knitting with Madli. Maybe it was the yarn or was it the pattern or needle that made me stay with english knitting style. Now I only have to tackle continental knitting in order to do fair isle.

Needless to say, I gonna do Eunny Jung's Venezia Pullover. This garment is definitely impractical to wear in this local climate. But when was the last time I knitted something Singapore-weather friendly? I can't remember for sure. As I work towards the goal of knitting from my stash only, I think I've really been working hard on that aspect. Of course the main purpose is to clear more space for future stash. Opps, did i say future stash? Yes, yarns for Venezia.

Not forgetting about lace and entre lac, I am going to take on both together at the sametime with the Forest Path Stole. I was first introduced to it when I was pretty fresh into knitting. I was taken aback by the complexity of the stole's contruction. However, with the KAL and lots more of the WIP pictures, I am definitely inspired to take this on. Moreover so, I have been keep my toes on Colourmart.com. I want to treat myself to something that's really soft and a different fiber (from zephyr). So far there isn't any shade which made me look twice. Will keep looking.

So far, Kimono is on its 4 repeat. I'm still 2/3 away from her's :P

Where the h3LL am I?

I guess with the lack of updates, some of you might have forgotten me, 'cept those whom I have contact over MSN. Anyways, its been pretty busy with the local knitting group. I have tried to increase from once a month to twice a month and it seems like Sunday is a good day for most of us.

New Singapore Knit bloggers:
Eileen aka MLC aka miserylovescompany - iro~iro 色いろ
Adrianne aka ayumi - ennairda knits
Jackie aka JL - Jackie's la la za za

Yes, I have so much to report and so much back log to catch up with that one post isn't gonna be enough. I feel so remorseful for my 88 subscriberson bloglines.com.

*waves to the 88 readers*

I will post up pictures very very soon, I PROMISE!

Its Chinese Lunar New Year

Year of the Golden Piggy, and its only here once every 60 years. And today is the 1st day of the Lunar New Year, and I have to remind myself so hard not to indulge in too much tidbits and sweet drinks. Also there's plenty of other sumptuous chinese dishes, like the ever popular Yu Sheng (which happens to be available in this part of the world). Anyways, whichever festivity, its bound to be over commercialised.

On the knitting front, anyone remember this? It was finished same time last year. However weaving all the ends turn me off, and it was left in the wardrobe till my mom was cleaning out my stuffs. She decided to take on the weaving task, in turn this top is bestowed upon her. I think it fits her better than on me.

And this is what happened, when I meddled in the kitchen. 2 loaves of banana cake. Might bake another 2 more since I'm expecting loads of visitors tomorrow. Its a norm for my place to be overflowing with people on the second day. I guess my mom loves the stress of cooking for 20+ people.

Testing

Prior to the latest earthquake, I lost the ability to post from home with my PC. I was able to surf all over but just unable to post through blogger. It started when I upgraded to Blogger Beta. But hey, I manage to solve this by upgrading my Firefox and setting the security to the lowest. So if I gonna disappear, means I've got virus somewhere. *sigh*

Anyway, back to the knitting front, I've got so much to update you people that I don't know where to start. First thing first, Peacock Feathers Shawl was off the block days before Christmas. And I cast on for Cherry during the holidays but found out I was out of yarn. So time to check out Ozeyarn.com for stuffs. Hope to get the last ball of cotton soon so I can finish the bands and seaming. So I cast on for Hourglass Sweater with Cash Iroha. The yarn wasn't as nice as I expect it to be. Maybe it's because I down sized the needle. Hence this project is rather slow going, with more time spent at work since some colleagues are on vacation. I think I need a break just to knit to my heart's content.

Boxing Day isn't called Boxing Day for nothing. I got 2 packages, one from Yarn Aboard and my order from Littleknits.com. I think i need to go pack the goodies and get them ready for the post office tomorrow. Tomorrow would be a good day if the heavens stop opening (it pouring everyday in Singapore). Hopefully I can go off work early afternoon. I will try to post pictures in the next post.