Rainy evening

Yep, that's the weather right now while I'm blogging. It was way too hot and humid in the afternoon and not very suitable for yarn store hopping. somehow, I only have today and tomorrow to spare before real work kicks in on wednesday.

The story goes as I met Evelyn in the late morning and off to this 'newly' opened store at Thomson Plaza. As a matter of fact its been there for 2 years, just as Evelyn moved out of that neighbourhood. According to Jane, the owner, they were previously at Bukit Timah Plaza(pretty near my place) for 5 years. OMG, I wasn't knitting at that point of time. So Best Collections is not exactly new, about 7 years old I supposed.

A very brightly lit store, with beads and cross stitch items. Jane is an avid collector of knitting magazines, and they are all neatly stored. You can find Sandra 4 years ago, color charts of Rowan/Jaeger yarns. Not forgetting Gedifra and Austermann, a few packs of Katia and assorted Japanese yarns. Did I mention that its the only place in Singapore that stocks Addi Turbos? Needle prices range from SGD15 to SGD20.

A friendly owner with kind services, generous with her collection of magazines and books (she kept me busy with loads of VK magazines). Prepare cash as no NETS or VISA is accepted, the ATM is just one floor below.

Address: 301 Upper Thomson Road, #02-20 Thomson Plaza, Singapore 574408
Tel: 6453 2628
Opening Hours: 12 noon to 9pm

Set off to our next destination, Golden Landmark. I have always managed to came out of this store unscathed, even though it stocks the most yummylicious Filatura de Crosa Zara. Its a quaint little store, which I labelled as Singapore's true blue yarn store. One of our local artiste used to be one of the partners, she sold her share due to plans of immigration.

The store may look old, but if you do go through the boxes, treasures you would find. Plenty of wools in odd balls, abundance of European yarns like Filatura, Austermann, Schoeller Stahl. Another friendly owner, and gives discounts whenever it is. Spring/Summer yarns would be in early March. I can't wait for the new stuffs. How to get there

Last stop was Golden Dragon, the must-go store in Singapore. Stocks Rowan, Jaeger and Sirdar from UK, Richmore and other Japanese brands. Its one of the major craft store in Singapore. Located on the second storey of People's Park Center.
Address: 101 Upper Cross Street, #02-51 People's Park Centre, Singapore 058357
Tel: 6535 8454, 6535 8234
Opening Hours: 9am to 9pm

You might be wondering why I have not report on my purchases today, I came home without an extra knitting related item. The reason being, I overspent on shopping during my holiday, my online purchases have burst my budget. First yarn-porn in a long time.
With so much stashing going on, I need to get destashing going on too, simultaneously. Here's Wavy in its WIP pose. More details when it turns FO. Hope SO doesn't read this blog. =p
Off to wash off the strawberry yogurt mask on my face. smells so lovely that i wanna lick it off my chin.

Ruffle Love

How everyone loves the Ruffles from ScarfSTYLE...truely easy, too easy that it sent me to dreamland during the round trip flights to Taiwan. and yes, i did had 2 SEX during my trip, update done on another post soon. ;)


Pattern: Ruffles from ScarfSTYLE
Yarn: 3 balls of Cleckheaton Country 8 ply in #1858
Needle: 4mm Addi Turbo circulars
Size: NA
Time to finish: a week

This is what I have been knitting for the week, the week before I'm back to work. DUH!! I may have the spending power but money can't buy me time to knit.

Off to knit another scarf for the Significant One. This is going to be my first knit item for him. March is going to be one loooooooong month~~

Bring It ON

Finally I have the whole computer for the whole day, since my brother is down with a cold.

The next few posts will be all on my latest knitting related news. First up is another wrapped cardigan from Rebecca #31. In fact, I told myself to stop knitting anything "wrapped". However when i saw the pattern, I can't help it and I have the right yarn for it.Pattern: #6 Lacy Wrap Jacket in Rebecca #31
Yarn: less than 3 balls of Rowan Yarns Classic Cashsoft 4 ply in Dive #427
Needle: 4mm circulars and 3.75mm circulars for ribbings
Size: 32
Time to finish: 4 days

This is truely a fast knit. The sleeves took me 3 hours total. This is part of the destashing plan. I still have 1 ball left and its for sale. Going at USD9, shipping inclusive. I accept paypal transfer. If you need more of the same color just leave your email in the comments. This yarn is soft and squashy in the ball and feels just as soft when knitted up. 2 balls would knit up a pair of socks.

I have some real comments regarding this project. Remember how does a "slip 1 knitwise, k2tog, psso" looks like? Take a look below, click the picture for a larger view.Don't the stitches look so twisted and ugly?

And here's what I did: Now it looks neater. You might want to do "slip 2 knitwise, k 1, p2sso" the next time u want to decrease 2 stitches at a time.

the Hiatus' mini hiat

Singapore SnB blog has been updated.
- New events posted
- updated on previous knitout

Mini updates
- Rebecca lace wrap on the way to finish
- I have been meeting loads of knitters this week, 4 meetups in total
- I may not be in town for next week if things work out smoothly

The Hiatus continues.

Off to Maple land

I have neglected my Suziesushi, so I gonna spend some quality time with her. Here's 2 shots of her latest makeover.
Meanwhile, I'm still available over MSN and YIM.

a mini hiatus.

Somewhat finished at last

Firstly good news, I finally landed myself in a permanent job. Its been more than a year of job hunting, temp assignments, meeting people and surviving under different company cultures. This means, my knitting priorities will be stepping down, as i focus more on my work.

As I mentioned in a couple of posts earlier, Somewhat Cowl had shown good progress and was finished last night after binding off the left sleeve. As usual, the light isn't coming in and this was taken after the rain. I photoshopped it heavily, good time to polish my photoshop skills.
Pattern: Somewhat Cowl by Wendy Bernard
Yarn: less than 3 balls of Sirdar Breeze in Cream
Needle: 4mm circulars and 3.5mm circulars for ribbings
Size: 32
Time to finish: started in Jan 06, as I realised I did not have a 80cm 3.5mm needle for magic looping the sleeves, I picked up other projects. Stricly speaking, this would have taken me less than a week to assemble.

This is the second pattern I knitted from Wendy, and I have to say I HEART her seamless designs. Those out there who just put off by seaming, please try her designs. Wendy's instructions are written plain and simple for anyone to follow. I look forward to more of her designs.

Given another chance to do this again, I would pick a finer gauge yarn on smaller needles. Hope to see more Cowls around.

Back to my dreading sleevie islands of Lacy cardigan.

Apricot Jacket

As promised, here's a shot of Apricot in a dusty pink yarn. Pardon me for my unruly curls, as the wind is rather strong today and I just came back from outside.
Pattern: Apricot jacket from Rebecca #27
Yarn: less than 4 balls of TLC Cara Mir
Needle: 4mm circulars
Size: Small
Time to finish: 4 days + 1 day for seaming

The pattern translation is not very explicit in a few areas. I had to do a lot of guesswork, frogging 17cm of ribbings and reknitting it twice. I'm quite satisfied with the final product. Its the most fitting garment which I have knitted so far. I'm also fine with no buttons. There's something I want to comment about TLC Cara Mir. It sheds like CRAZZZZZZY!!! I have to avoid wearing dark color clothes if I'm taking Apricot with me. Otherwise this is a very soft piece. Hopefully after a few washes, the shedding will cease.

Next up is this slubby yarn i got for $2/ball. Its already more than 1 feet long, 5 more to go. This is going to be an easy and fast knit. The yarn is surprisingly soft considering its 100% acrylic. Yes, I'm using 10mm plastic needles.

Meanwhile, I have grown bore on the sleevie islands of VK Lacy Cardigan but Somewhat Cowl's is progressing.

my First pair of Socks

It seems quite a while from my last post. I have been in a knitting frenzy, finished the scallop top on the eve of Lunar New Year and Apricot Jacket 5 days later. I really need strong natural light for good pics since I'm slow with photoshopping the pictures.

just an hour ago, i cast off my first pair socks. Pattern: Elfin socks by Anna Bell
Yarn: <100g of sportwieght Japanese wool/acrylic blend
Needle: 2.25mm Aero circulars
Size: n/a
Time to finish: 2 weeks with about 2 months of hiatus in between

Its the Second Sock Syndrome on the loose. I tried to avoid by casting on the second sock right after casting off the first. Anyways, they are done and fit nicely on my feet. Thanks to Anna for such a fabulous sock pattern.

These pair pf socks taught me magic loop and short rowing. so my next pair will be 2 socks on 2 circulars. Hopefully this can prevert SSS from happening.

On the needles are Somewhat Cowl, and pat me on my back for touching the sleevie islands of the VK Lacy Cardigan.

Knitting content not.

I can't help but to share this wonderful Japanese drama 1 Litre of Tears (1OT). It had been sometime since I watched a Japanese series, it was a Korean one a couple of months ago. 1OT is really touching, its about a 15 year old girl diagnosed with a disease called Spinocerebellar Degeneration, and how she continued on for the next ten years of her life before the diease took her life at 25. More synosis here.

This is a real touching story, i was bound to cry after the 3rd episode. I guessed i might have collected a litre of tears towards the end of the story. If you like tear jerker stuffs, this is for you.

You can also find snipets of the drama at youtube.com

Sorry for the lack of knitting content, as you can see, I have been watching the drama for the past 3 days.

Tagged again.

I have been tagged by Jade of Bee Knits.

Four jobs you have had in your life:

1. Asst Engineer
2. Marcom Asst
3. Product Engineer
4. Customer Service Exec

Four (random) movies you could watch over and over:

1. Sleepless in Seattle
2. Matrix
3. Silence of the Lamb
4. Lion King

Four places you have lived:

1. Singapore

That's the only place but I have travel to a few places.

Four TV shows you love to watch:

1. Sex & the City
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Lost
4. Grey's Anatomy

Four places you have been on vacation:

1. Thailand
2. Australia, Gold Coast, Brisbane
3. Malaysia
4. Hongkong

Four websites you visit daily:

1. google.com
2. Yahoo
3. Knitters COmmunity
4. knittyboard.com

Four of your favorite foods:

1. Mum's cooking (anything she cooks of course)
2. Pringles chips
3. Taiwanese Oyster Noodles (Ah Zhong Mee Sua)
4. Macau Almond Biscuit

Four places you would rather be right now:

1. Korea - for skiing
2. Taiwan - for skincare shopping
3.
4.

2 at the moment, and any fiber fest in the future.

Four Bloggers you are tagging:

1. Erin
2. Vanessa
3. Kessa
4. June

No obligations at all. :)

Frappr Bug

As always, I'm late to the Frappr party.

Click on the title of this post and leave your mark on my Frappr map.

Ruth: take a look at your map. :)

anything Japanese

I have always been fascinated by yarns from Japan. Noro is definitely one of them. An Angel called me while i was having a cold over christmas, asking me about yarns and stuffs. With her help, I was able to get a ball of Noro Silk Garden in #82. So what can one do with just one ball of silk garden? A Silk Garden Beanie of course!

Pattern: Silk Garden Beanie from And She Knits Too
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden #82
Needle: 4mm DPNs
Size: n/a
Time to finish: under 4 hours while watching TV.

Consider the above as the first FO for 2006. In fact Marilyn's Not-so-shrunken Cardigan should be the first. Somehow its in the washing machine doing a few spins while I'm documenting, will talk about it when i have pics for it.

More Japanese stuffs...
no prize for guessing the pattern to the photo on the left. The yarn was actually meant for a Rebecca pattern, but i found something more suitable for it and so i need to destash this Katia yarn. I might have enough to do another Orangina. or more than enough for this

By the by, thanks for the recommendation on the cable cardi. However, I just can't bear the idea of knitting loads up and having to frog everything. So the plan's to stall it away and follow nature's path. Good luck to those who will be knitting this up, can't wait to see the cables popping out.

And have you watched Memoirs of a Geisha yet?Definitely a must watch. i have not read the novel but i hope the movie covers most of the important details. And now I need to hunt for a copy of this book.

Cheers!

Pre-knitting jittery

I can't believe I'm experiencing this for the cable cardigan. Am I losing confidence or what? The cardigan seems too large for my liking. Take a look at the comparsion between my favourite cardigan and the ribbings. There's about 1.5 inch extra which means 3 inch extra. Furthermore, according to the instructions, there's a need to increase stitches. The final results will be at least 6 inches bigger then my usual garments. I don't think i need something so big in my wardrobe. I'm thinking through whether to carry on this project.

Types of Knitters

Being in a knitting forum, I get to meet knitters. Thus i met different types of knitters. This post is my personal views, no names will be mentioned. I'm not talking about anyone in particular, so stop being over sensitive. *winks*

Everyone starts as a beginner, and as a beginner, I was always overwhelmed with the pattern and FOs I came by. Very quickly, I became a pattern whore. I'm still one till now. Better to get that magazine in case one fine day I found something interesting to knit. Regrets will become a frustration.

As you gain more experience, you start to buy more expensive yarns or just more inexpensive yarns. a yarn junkie i became. you start to stalk online retailers if they have sales or free shipping promotions. you start to calculate the economy of scales. you start yarn sprees. you breathe, dream, sleep on yarns even. then you start salivating on yarn not available at your LYS.

then when it comes to yarn fiber, you detest most acrylics, going for merino wool, the superfine alpaca, silkiest silk and cashmere stuff. oh, what a yarn snob might i claimed. I just wanna do away with the itch which acrylics and superwash wool will cause. serenade me with Filatura di Crosa, Rowan, Colinette, Lorna's Laces...etc

you start to change your tools. no longer are you using Birch but Clover metals and bamboos, even interchangables like Clovers, Denise and Boye Needlemaster. you have the 4mm needles in all lenghts (16" ~ 32") and brands (include Addi Turbos) and materials (rosewood, how luxurious). not only that you buy 101 beads and start making your own stitch markers.

with so much yarns and needles at your disposal, you start whipping up a lot of projects. promising yourself that you will finish them. and before you realise, you have a basketful of WIPs and UFOs. you are always so tempted by the things done by others and knowing that you have so little time for knitting each day, you knit straight into the dark nights, waking up to lament about the eyebags and dark eye circles.

think that's enough for the day. i shall go out to catch some sun for photo taking on my FO and more time for my sock.

2006 knitti start.

These are the fronts of Lacy cardigan. I added beads to it using Paula's method of threading them on. Very useful, if you do not like the idea of having tons of beads on your yarn while knitting.

on another note, my gauge had been deviating between the 2 fronts. The right is a tact shorter. I think i will stick with knitting both fronts/sleeves at the same time. And that means winding another hank of alpaca cloud in order to restart this project. I shall wish for a ball winder.

Working on something while i have the extra time and yarn. The instructions are found in VK Holiday 2005, Twisted Stitch Rose. I shall try it with bulky yarn for a bigger rose. This was done with DK weight yarn on 4mm needles.

The swatch for this cable cardi is done but I'm not happy with Knitpicks Merino Style. I did achieve the required gauge for stockingnette stitch but take a look at the picture, the cables just wont stand out. Should i swatch Wool of the Andes instead? That would be a cheaper alternative but I prefer merino on my skin.

Lastly, i need buttons for my first FO in 2006.

2005 Project Rundown

1. Mariah

2. Flower Basket Shawl

3. Cozy

4. Clapotis

5. Kiri

6. Ribbed Corset

7. Tivoli

8. Orangina

9. Cable sweater for a friend

10. Cork screw scarf

11. Butterfly

12. Rebecca Warp Cardigan

13. Secret Sweater

14. Silk Garden Beanie

15. Birch

16. Lucky Clover cardigan

17. Audrey

VK Winter 2006

some interesting pieces which caught my eyes.





rest of the preview HERE

I started another project during Xmas holiday. and yes, hope everyone have a good knitty start to year 2006.

Before its over

Wishing everyone a Merry merry Christmas!
Best wishes for the year ahead.

Cables, cables, cables, i HEART you

I'm on the heat for cable patterns and as I was reading Purlwise, I happen to come across Bergere de France. They have such yummilicious yarns and patterns. on a sad note, the whole site does not have English translations. Not even the patterns.

Pity me for spending half the day, trying not to get Lost in Translation. With the help of this very good french knitting stitchery and after flipping through the print outs for the zillonth time, I translated the whole pattern into 4 pages of English instructions.

Here's the French instructions. I don't know whether I will be crossing any copyright laws, if you want a copy of the English instructions, do leave your email in the comments. However the English instructions has not been tested, but I'm most willing to guide you along.

If this translation goes well, my next target will be Phildar patterns. since only some of its magazines come with the english inserts. It would be a good thing to know more about french patterns.

Edited to add:This is the yarn called for.

News about the Knit-a-Long over at Knitters Community.

PS. thanks for the comments on my secret sweater.
Kessa: the receiver is yours truely
Ruth & Vivian: cuz I've been poring over the pattern for eons and I did not factor in the hours I had for planning.

the SECRET is OUT

May i present the Secret sweater. Frankly speaking its not much of a secret, if you have bought the yarns from elann.com. i had the photo taken just after installing the zipper. got the zipper on Friday from Daiso, a Japanese thrift store. coincidentally the yarns were from there there too.

A close up on the cables.
Pattern: Schoeller Stahl Winter 2003/ 2004
Yarn: less than 10 balls of 70%wool/30%acrylic blend
Needle: 4.5mm (US 7)for ribbing, and 5mm (US8)
Size: Small
Time to finish: a little more than 3 weeks