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.