title-less or Buttonless

After bringing my corset around for button hunting, there's still no luck in finding the right one. its either out of stock or it just dun suit the corset. is finding a simple button so tough? *pouts*

My second project with KSH within a month. as the photo says, i am on my second ball. Birch is really an easy pattern. I have not been refering to the pattern instructions after the first pattern repeat. I would do this again, if not for the 299 cast on.

I'm on the hunt for rectangular lace shawl patterns. would be using the Jaggerspun Zephyr. yummy!!! any free patterns to reccomend?

Ruth's in town

Ruth, together with her hubby, was in town 2 days ago. Cara, Matilda and me met up with them. brought them around central area for some yarn store hopping. You can find our group photo on my flickr account.

Singapore SnB Ball Winding Party

This session was planned with the purpose of teaching those who has never wind any yarn in their life before, or need motivation to get the windig process going (yes, people like me). Needless to say, we all had great fun winding up hanks of Shimmers and Alpaca Clouds. You can see all of us were busy winding and none were oblivious to my photo taking. Why is Yours Truly not in the photos again? cuz she finished winding first in time to catch the rest in winding action on photos.

How many more yards to go? arghh...my wrists and arms are aching... :(


ok! last few yards to go.


at last, all our hanks of yarns into balls.


hope you girls have not developed a phobia on ball winding. LOL

Last but not least, we had vanilla_sea79 joining us. and Ghostknitter dropped by to say hi.

After the party, i made a trip to the bookstore and found a similar pattern of the UO shrug. Take a LOOK.

Butterflying

Reporting on my Butterfly progress, it had been a love-hate thing with KSH. I used the prescribed needle size and found the YOs to be too huge. as many KSH fans had experienced, ripping KSH is really a pain at you-know-where. if a mistake is discovered early, unknitting would be very much encouraged. And sometimes a dose of dark chocolate is the best remedy when you need to do stitches like p3tog, p2tog tbl and etc. As I'm blogging now, I'm waiting for the rain to go away so that i can bring my tripod to the park for some photo taking on the completed Butterfly. seems like its going to continue till the sun goes down. Till then please enjoy this photo of the lacey frill. and the chocolates are courtesy of a special friend.

Look out for the long awaited Audrey, the sleeve-ed Spring Fling and the Lucky Clover wrap on my next post

Next up is yarn porn. scroll down if u dare and tell me the colors you can spot.

Tagged One

Ten Years Ago
I went for my first campfire on St John island, a place where it used to house inmates and drug addicts many many moons ago. I don't usually get the chance to stay out for a long period of time without my folks. You can tell how protective they are towards their children.

Five Years Ago
A fresh diploma holder back then. Found a job quickly even though the economy was quite slow after the crisis hit Asia. and i stayed in that company for almost 3 years.

One Year Ago
I was in a sale position which allows me to travel in the Asiapac region. gain lots of experience and know lots of people. no longer was I a country pumpkin :p more street-wise i guess.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Five Snacks
-Dark Chocolates, at least 70% cocoa content
-Potato Chips, give me sour cream & onion anytime.
-Ben & Jerry's icecreams
-Pocky
-Meiji's range of snacks

Five Songs I Know All The Words To
-Heaven Knows by Richard Marx
-Everything i do it for you by Bryan Adams
-To Where You Are by Josh Groban
-Perfect by Simple Plan
-Superwoman by Karyn White

Five Things I'd Do With 100 Million Bucks
-Start a charitable foundation
-Provide for my family
-Get a yarn mill (then i can knit to my heart's content, never to be afraid of running out of yarn)
-Create job opportunities
-Invest, invest and invest (make money grow)

Five Places I'd Run Away To
-Paris
-Maldives
-Vienna
-Europe
-Artic

Five Things I Would Never Wear
-Fur
-Anything that's chilli red in color
-Fishnet stockings, garter belts
-baggy jeans
-no punk stuffs

Five TV Shows
-Desperate Housewives
-Charmed
-Lost
-CSI
-Hong Kong dramas

Five Joys
-each time i finish a project
-Yarn Shopping and all forms of spree
-opening boxes of goodies like yarns, clothings...imagine xmas
-able to knit fulltime when i'm still looking for a job :p
-spending time with love ones

Five Things To Do, Just For Me, Before I Die
-Find the ONE
-Try all extreme sports
-Ride all the roller coasters on the world
-Reach the highest peak
-more MEMEs

I think lots of people have been tagged on this one, so shall tag other next time round.

a little break before i continue

Modeling my FOs

Finally I found the tripod in the house. The adjusting of the tripod height and angle, the zooming and etc took quite a while. I still need to adjust the lightings of the room. Seems like there's not enough natural light coming into my room.

First photo is me in Mariah. The zipper looks kind of weird in the photo. For my next sweater, I'm going to get more shaping and plenty of cables. More stories on Mariah is here

Pattern: Mariah from Knitty.com
Yarn: Caressa from Patons (500g)
Needle: 4mm (US 6)
Size: Small
Time to finish: 1 month

The very well known Tivoli. This is my first seamless project. Learnt stuffs like bind-offs/casting on mid-row. This pattern calls for the exact amount of yarns, I was left with less than a metre of yarn. I think i left out one increase as i have a smaller hip. This is great for mindless knitting in front of the TV or on road trips. Did i mention a portion of this was knitted during my trip to KL. And also there this new version called Picovoli

Pattern: Tivoli from Grumperina
Yarn: 4 balls of Debbie Bliss Cathay in black
Needle: 4mm (US 6)
Size: Small
Time to finish: <2 weeks

Needless to say which lace pattern this is. I actually knitted this in the round after the armholes and only had 3 inches of ribbing, cuz the ribbing was boring me to dreamland. and Mom is showing interest in this piece as well. I might have to knit her in a bigger zize, which means more yarn and more $$$ spent.

Pattern: Orangina from Glampyre
Yarn: less than 4 balls of Jaeger Siena in Phlox
Needle: 3.25mm (US 3) and 2.75mm (US 2) for ribbing
Size: X-Small
Time to finish: <2 weeks

Edited to reply to comments:
Tari: due to the difference in gauge, it was my first sweater, so gauge was not my first priority.

rosalynn: i think its Patons from Australia

To All: thanks for the kind comments. You girls really spur me on for more knitting.

Stashing again

These are Jaggerspun Zephyr. and were aquired during a recent spree with the girls in the group.

Erin, take a look at your Lady Slipper which is on the top, Cara's Coral on the right. My Aegean Blue's on the left.

The Good begets good

and the EVIL begets EVIL

I have been too frank/blunt/straightforth/honest/naive/nice to some people. The first phase's aint true at all. I hope with all my heart the second would.

*** ***

My heart goes out to those who were in the affected areas where Katrina blast by.

Knitting content will resume once I get over things within myself.

Kiri is a FO

This was an easy knit but it did get tedious with 200+ purl stitches when i was up to the 9th repeat. *fakes fainting*

Eilene, here's pics of my kiri after blocking.
I know I did not do a good job in blocking again. on the other hand, my cast off was rather tight, even though i used a much bigger needle.

A close up of the motifs. Lovely isn't it?

Pattern: Kiri Shawl from Alltangledup.com
Yarn: Alpaca Cloud in Iris from Knitpicks, 1 hank
Needle: Birch 4mm and 5.5mm circular needles

I'm Interchangeable

You are interchangeable.
Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every
eventuality covered and every opportunity just
has to be taken. Every fiber is wonderful, and
every day is a new beginning. You are good at
so many things, it's amazing, but you can
easily lose your place and forget to show up.
They have row counters for people like you!


What kind of knitting needles are you?
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Being Loved

My Flower Basket Shawl Tutorial is being loved by ChicKnits.

This cast on is also great for the Kiri Shawl or any neck down triangular shawls.

Gonna finish my Kiri today. pics of blocking to follow. :)

From hanks to balls to UFOs

a peek at my knitting basket.

I really hate seaming sleeves, worst still when it comes to lace patterns. The picture is proof.


I need a quick fix of stockingnette stitches, so here's the back piece of Ginger from Rowan Summer Tweed Collection.


Last up is Kiri in Iris, from Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud. I'm on the 7th repeat.

My First Sock Update

Never have sock knitting crossed my mind, even after seeing other knitting socks away. I have always been skeptical that, who would want to wear wool on their feet in the midst of 34 degrees C??

Armed with sock yarns from my wonderful SP-oiler, i started google-ing for basic sock patterns. and i decided to start with here. however, I'm currently stuck with the short rowing of the heel.

Here's a few pics of my progress.

This is achieved after frogging several times. *sigh x 69346596349*


Slightly more than 24 hours later.

I shall summarise a little of my meetup with the KL knitters 2 weekends ago. (Oh my gosh, i didn't realise that time passes so fast even when one's not holding a job.)

The first thing which impressed me was the traffic in KL. I have never experience jams at 10pm+ in SG. The coach driver decided to stop like 2 blocks away from the terminal and had all passengers to alight. thank goodness i had been to KL before and Vanessa was there to pick me up. a BIG Thank You to Van for letting me bunk in with her during my stay in KL. <<< HUGS >>>

The next day, I met up with the majority of the gang. I have no photos to show, cuz the waiter wasn't well versed in photography. anyways, pics can be found here and here.

Not much shopping done, but i still scored 2 tees (Thanks to Van again!) and 3 pairs of sandals.

Stay sock-tune

I've caught the bug for sock knitting. do hang around for updates on what this bug has done to me.

too sick for laces

had a cold yesterday and by 7pm last night, it had turn into gastric flu. vomited like a dozen times before taking a jab on my left butt. the doctor was gentle enough with the needle as i only felt a little more than an ant bite.

I managed to seam up Audrey and only left with the lace border. I can't continue knitting lace without feeling dizzy. so the best way to keep myself occupied while not under the drowsy effect of medicine, i started on Tivoli. The yoke should be done today.

Taking things easy today.

A more proper update

This post is about 1 week late. pardon me please! =P

Audrey is on Sleevie Island while Lucky had been winded into 2 lovely balls by Cara. Orangina would be blocked before making her way to KL next week.

Met Sally to pass her some stuff from our cyber-SEX today. then we took the MRT to another LYS and I had the chance to meet Jasmine (friend of Sally's). I had the best surprise at the LYS, though this is the first time which I look thoroughly through the stacks of patternbooks. after dreaming many days and nights of this pattern, i finally found it in this LYS. and i thought it was out of print. I will call this the Mysterious Sweater. the next thing is to look for the correct yarn for Mysterious. can't wait to knit it up.

I will end this post with a suitcase full of Knitpicks and Rowan stash.

Knitting Inventory

YARNS

10 x Rowan Cotton Glace 115m/125yds
Shade: 810 Splendor
Lot: 20E4
Gauge: 23st/32rows

8 x Jaeger Siena 140m/153yds
Shade: 423 Petunia
Lot: 1414240
Gauge: 28st/38rows

8 x Rowan 4 ply Cotton 170m/186yds
Shade: Trutti Frutti
Gauge: 28st/38rows

3 x Rowan Kidsilk Haze
Shade: Majestic

4 x Debbie Bliss Cathay 100m/109yds
Shade: 01 Black
Gauge: 22st/30rows

4 x Sirdar Pure Cotton 4 ply
Shade: Pink
Gauge: 28st/38rows

10 x Rowan Summer Tweed
Shade: 502 Lilac
Gauge: 16st/23rows

10 x Cleckheaton Machinewash 8 ply
Shade: Dusty Pink
Gauage: 24st/30rows

3 x RYC Cashsoft 4 ply 197yds
Shade: Baby Blue
Gauge: 28st/36rows

5 x Knitpicks Wool of Andes 110yds
Shade: Coal
Gauge: 4.5 ~ 5 st

2 x Knitpicks Merino Style 123yds
Shade: Fog
Gauge: 5.5 st

4 x Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud
Shade: Iris x 2, Midnight x 2
Gauge: Lace weight

2 x Knitpicks Sock Garden 220yds
Shade: Hydrangea
Gauge: 7-8st

2 x Knitpicks Simple Stripes 231yds
Shade: Snapdragon
Gauge: 7-8st

2 x Regia Sock yarn
Shade: ?
Gauge: ?

NEEDLES
1 x Boye Needlemaster
1 x Denise Interchangebles
and 5 sets of assorted circular needles

NOTIONS
1 x Clover pink chibi
1 x retractable measuring tape
40 x beaded-head pins (for blocking)
5 x stitch holders
10 x beaded stitch and row markers


The above info is based on my best kept memory

Blogcastinate

Yes, i have been doing the above, BLOGCASTINATING. lots had happened, and i'm glad that knitting really clears my head during the many moments which i may have exploded. and also at time i really want to whip out my knitting stuffs and carry on knitting and be oblivious of the reality.

You are right that i'm making use of knitting as a form of escapism. I think this is the only form that makes me feel good. at least its productive.

I shall not bore you all with my ranting so i shall sign off here.

a quiz before i update for the whole week

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting
and do it all the time. While finishing a piece
is the plan, you still love the process, and
can't imagine a day going by without giving
some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation
involves leaving ample space for the stash and
supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn
ends and you begin.
http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
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