back for a minute

Almost 6 months had passed since my last post here. Perhaps a lot of people had forgotten to check this blog. A lot had been going on with home, work, shopping and knitting.

Although this space had been left alone, I never did put down my knitting. THe longest that I did not touch my needles was around 2 weeks. I simply had no idea what to cast on. No patterns nor yarn called out to me. I did not buy yarn for quite some time too, this exclude the Madelinetosh sweater club which i joined earlier and got my last shipment not too long ago. On clubs, Colleen joined the Cookie A sock club with me. How could I stand by and do nothing when this is one club by my favorite sock designer. FYI, the club is sold out a few days after we got in. I am still looking for a lace club.

So what have I finished so far in 2011? 1 pair of Milo socks, 1 Cusp sock. And hopefully many more to come and make 2011 full of knitting good-ness.

A quick one

I think my mojo is getting back after binding off the last pair of socks. I can't help it. I refused to rip backwards to mend a mistake. Anyway, its fine to have 1 sock bigger than the other but nobody can tell. :p

Cast on for Cinnamon Grace last friday, coz Col wants to KIP. And since, I had bind off the scarf on tuesday and started Briochette last evening. Hope to finish by coming Monday, better still Sunday if I'm not busy with housework.

Till then, happy knitting.

Positive points

1. Moved in to new place since 21/5.
2. Work has improved.
3. Nearer to workplace.
4. More food variety in the precinct.
5. Most probably adopting a kitty. (She matches the color theme of our home. lol)
6. Jailbroken my phone. YAY to more free games, though I hardly have time to play more.
7. Managed to get my first load of laundry done with the new washer. It wasn't that intimidating with the knobs and buttons afterall.
8. Finished a few knits.

Hope to write about the new life in the new home.

Space planning

So we were back at the unit for some real space planning. The main objective was to have plenty of storage space. So we were hoping to have wardrobe on one full wall with adequate space for movement between the bed. And here's what we were left with after marking the "used up" areas; slightly more than a foot.Since the foyer is so tiny, we would be deprived of a shoe cabinet. Hence, no way would we settle for a small wardrobe.

Anyways, the worst had yet to come till I notice a hairline on my living room wall. A knock at the spot, it was clear to tell there a hollow in there. This will definitely cause a delay in the renovation schedule. DUH!

not a Knitting post

Thanks for all the kind comments and support for my sock pattern. I have 2 up my sleeves, so watch out for them.

As the title says, I'm going to talk a bit more on my new home. There might be a little insight on renovation stuffs. Now, getting a HDB flat in Singapore is not easy. Especially if one has to go through numerous ballot exercise (direct purchase from HDB). Also there's lots of regulation the buyer has to adhere to. We were rejected after OTP on the first try due to income ceiling. On the second and also the last attempt, we managed to scrap past the conditions. The entire process took us almost 3 years till we possess the key.

Recently, I had been lurking between home&decor forums in the locale. It was both interesting and knowledgeable reading the various contributions. It had also given me lots of ideas on how to make this new space a live-able one.

One of my intention is to knock down half a wall of my kitchen. Plenty of sunlight will be pass in from the living area. However, budget is a big question here since additional $3000 will be required. Anyways, I was back at the scene just a few days ago. We saw a notice that invites people to a showflat. Least to my expectation, it wasn't open. Instead, the neightbour of that flat invited us to take a look. Their ID was on site, checking the progress with the owners. Very much to my surprise, they actually hack a "hole" into the kitchen wall, large enough to lit up the kitchen. I thought that would cost less. Hope the M will agree to this.

A lot of discussions were upon
- open concept kitchens, hacking of kitchen walls,
- whether to engage IDs or go straight to contractors
- lightings: coves? or false ceilings?
- positioning of the hod/sink/fridge
- storage or instant water heater?

Click to see notes on my flickr page.

I will continue on my findings in another post.

What a boomz

I started 2010 with a boom.
- Mom and I were trapped in the lift at my new place, with 3 other strangers.
- This was the first time I got trap-in.
- Did I mention I got keys to my new place on 31st Dec 09?
- Then I flew more than 1500 miles for 2 concerts.
- This was the first time ever, I spent 4 days with myself in a city I've most visited.
- and I wore several of my hand knits in the cold weather. (it's consider cold comparing to where I reside)

Now it's back to reality.

Fa Fa Fa Socks

As promised in my previous post, here's the surprise in the form of a sock pattern. The cable stitch is adapted from stitch books, using one of my favorite yarns.

Click on the picture for the pattern.

Greetings

I better post something if not I will have murmurings that I had disappear from this dimension. It had been rosy on the knitting front despite some hiccups. I shall not do more explanation here and let future postings do the talking.Pattern: Vivian by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 12 Ply - Agate
Needle: Addi Turbo, 5mm, 5.5mm, 6mm
Size: XS
Time to finish: ONE year!!!

Click on the picture to access more photos (pardon the wispy hair). Do come back on Boxing Day for a little surprise from yours truly. Meanwhile have fun and lots of food.

A Dog's Life

I got this from a friend and its so true.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A butcher watching over his shop is really surprised when he sees a dog coming inside the shop. He shoos him away. But later, the dog is back again. So, he goes over to the dog and notices it has a note in its mouth. He takes the note and it reads "Can I have 12 sausages and a leg of lamb, please? The dog has money in its mouth as well."

The butcher looks inside and, low and behold, there is a ten dollar note there. So he takes the money and puts the sausages and lamb in a bag, placing it in the dog's mouth. The butcher is so impressed, and since it's about closing time, he decides to shut the shop and follow the dog.

So off he goes. The dog is walking down the street, when it comes to a traffic junction; the dog puts down the bag, jumps up and presses the button for pedestrian crossing. Then it waits patiently, with the bag in its mouth, for the lights to turn. Then it walks across the road, with the butcher following him all the way.

The dog then comes to a bus stop, and starts looking at the timetable. The butcher is in awe as the dog stops a bus by pulling its left leg up and gets in it. The butcher follows the dog into the bus. The dog then shows a ticket which is tied to its belt to the bus conductor. The butcher is nearly fainting at this sight, so are the other passengers in the bus. The dog then sits near the driver's seat looking outside. As soon as the stop is in sight, the dog stands and wags its tail to inform the conductor. Then, without waiting for the bus to stop completely, it jumps out of the bus and runs to a house very close to the stop..

It opens the big Iron Gate and rushes inside towards the door. As it approaches the wooden door, the dog suddenly changes its mind and heads towards the garden. It goes to the window, and beats its head against it several times, walks back, jumps off, and waits at the door. The butcher watches as a big guy opens the door, and starts abusing the dog, kicking him and punching him, and swearing at him. The butcher surprised with this, runs up, and stops the guy.

"What in heaven's name are you doing? The dog is a genius. He could be on TV, for the life of me! "To which the guy responds: "You call this clever? This is the second time this week that this stupid dog's forgotten his key."

Moral of the story.....
You may continue to exceed onlookers expectations but shall always fall short of the boss' expectations.

It's a dog's life after all.....

Knitters spotted

I had been spotting knitters and crocheters on the commute to and fro work. There are so far and between, that I though I was the only commuting knitter. But I was wrong. I was hoping to be proved wrong.

Getting back to the grind, has indeed placed knitting on the side. Especially when I need to put in extra hours to see through things. And being new to the industry just makes it tougher. As the saying goes, as tough gets tougher, the tougher gets going.

My very fabulous mom bought a Kenwood mixer recently. So, a bit of time had been spent on baking. I'm still trying to figure out to make better sponge cakes. The durian cream cake was nice, all thanks for attending the demo class held by the oven maker. Hope to make chocolate sponge and freshly baked breads very soon.

Pictures soon, I hoped.

090909

How can I not drop a post today? a short one mind you.

Plenty of good news. My new place will be handed over in December. Finally I can wake up at 8am and not be late for work. About work, yes I've move away from the previous scope. The current one is entirely a new forte to me.

Few weeks ago, I had a blocking party. Took plenty of photos of the party-goers. Hope I have time to upload them.

With the busy schedules, now wonder it had taken a tow on my knitting progress. Maybe you will see more of WIP pictures than FOs.

Take care till the next post.

My favorite character

Take the Quiz here!

I finished 2 audio books and already a Jane Austen fan. More audio books for now.

Snippets of last 3 months

Aeolian

Esther

Pacific Islands

Bex

Aquaphobia

I had also finish Whisper cardigan, Outside In sock and Buttercup too. I think I missed out a few others.

Finally I began to see the back of my shelves, which is a good sign. This meant that I had less stuffs to take with when we move to a new place next year. Yes, finally we got our little haven.

Team Knit, Jenny and Rain: thanks for the compliments.

Craftlover: do watch out other yarns from Wollmeise.

was it 1 month ago?

And June is over.

The weather is hot and humid, despite the occasional rain. I dislike going for interviews in the afternoons, gives me migraines.

Game-wise, I had completed all dishes on Restaurant City after hitting level 27. Also a Farm Town retiree at level 34.

Knit news would be the WWKIP day, cum Ingrid's farewell. She brought baby Aemilia with her. Hope she enjoys plenty of knitting time back home.

My Aquaphobic socks is still only 1 done. Meanwhile, I finished Aeolian on the eve of WWKIP and Artichart yesterday. Time to hit the sock before it hit me. Maybe its on 4" dpns that I'm reluctant to go on. I thought I changed to the bamboos when it was time for heel flap. Probably, I might have a looser foot since I knit much tighter on the 4".

I did a bit of yarn stalking and all packages arrived. I thought I'd a stash update on my sockyarns (WM category).
Collected them for over 3 years? Notice the old labels?

The 8 skeins from the sock club. Pity there won't be a sock club in the near future.

Disruption from gaming

Time for another post before May slips away. A very hot afternoon which made it difficult to concentrate on games and double difficult to knit.




Pattern: Ribbed Lace by Charlene Schurch
Yarn: Knitpicks Gloss sockyarn - Porcini
Needle: 2.25m, Knitpicks Harmony
Size: n/a
Time to finish: 1 week

Nothing to add, just did as per the book's instruction. Love the round toe.

May I?

Its May already, and almost half of 2009 passed us all. I only have a fair bit of knitting to report since time has been mostly devoted to Restaurant City and Farm Town. Hoping to turn 30 on my farm. and join the ranks on the farm town forum.

Anyways, I did finished a few socks. None to say, I am so behind in documenting the FOs on my ravelry account too. Well, here goes Maelstrom.


Pattern: Maelstrom by Cookie A
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock Yarn - Impressionist Sky
Needle: 2.25m, Knitpicks Harmony
Size: n/a
Time to finish: 1 week
Notes: Only added 1 extra repeat to the leg section. I have nothing but positive comments for most if not all of Cookie's patterns. Just a minor thing which I might change would be the toe. I still much prefer a more rounded toe than a pointy one. Malabrigo Sockyarn has joined Louet Gems on my ranking of favorite yarns, both share the top position. It give good stitch definition and its so buttery soft. I can't wait my lay my hands on other colorways too.




Rain: yep that's Farm Town on Facebook. Its been days since I last level up.

Mabel: bookdepo was half a good reccomendation. i made 2 orders, 1 was cancelled cuz they decided to increase to the price and not fulfilled my order which was of cos placed prior to the increase.

Ruth: swaps are addictive!!!

Tp all: thanks for all the well wishes for this post.

Where was ME?

Of online shopping

I think I got into online retail therapy after swapping for cosmetics/skincare on Makeupalley.com for almost a year. The surprises I always get from package through out the many months were very fun during that year. And a time to learn more about grooming myself. (Even though I have slackened a lot.)

There were swappers who refuse to ship international. Since I always ship outside of Singapore, I can totally understand the cost of postage and the anxiety whether the package will reach the recipient safely. Anyway, there's always swappers who were willing to ship to Singapore. Postages back then were much cheaper too.

Then came a time when I realised I had turn into a makeup junkie. That's when I sold off items which were 99% used, threw away stuffs that were not touch for a long time and would probably have gone mouldy.

Alright this is a knit blog not a makeup blog. So why did I start writing about the above? Well, since I stash mostly via online retailers, I thought I might do a little write up on my online Stash Enhancement Experience.

- Freeshipping
It's not always inexpensive to buy online. Especially when one buys alone. Shipping charge is 1 HUGE factor to consider when shopping. Very often, I will look for Freeshipping Worldwide. However, you might need to hit a minimal order amount. And there's no freeshipping for books and magazine, That's common sense, isn't it?

- Flat shipping charge
This is not usually available to me. And I love to organise bulk purchases. There's once which I need to seek out USD300 just to claim the deal. I'm never in the right mind to stash $300 worth of yarns at one go. I'm still very sane towards my yarn hoarding. By sharing shipping cost with other like-minded, it is more wallet-friendly.

- Free/Flat shipping within US/Canada
I might need to do a bit of maths and judge whichever is more cost-effective; to ship via a forwarding company or direct to my doorstep.

It pretty sad that some sellers do not ship international. And I think that's simply closing doors to more business. Given the current economic situation, turning down a sale is turning down a potential long term customer.

As a customer, I think it is very helpful if a seller goes all out to help save shipping cost for me. I will most probably return to buy more and recommend them to more people. Word of mouth is very powerful in this sense.

And now, I'm crossing my fingers (and toes) that my last package willl reach me within this week.

angelknits: thanks for the congrats!

Aw: it was raining and traffic was very slow, thus the long wait for the groom.

Rain: hahaha, i guess we agreed to take a pic of me knitting in my gown. will really be unforgetable.

Snippet from the BIG day

I thought I should start sharing some pictures from the BIG day. So here's one which I was knitting.

picture grabbed from Adrianne.

Boxes and envelopes

These were the things that kept appearing at my doorsteps and mailbox. 2 more and I shall hibernate till April.

Finally, they are in my possession forever. Can't help it, when the pounds is low and the temptation from the lovely photography.

One more work day to endure and the start of a knitty weekend and hopefully also something that gets bind off from the needles.