a change of scenery

Dear all who reads this blog. I am moving this blog over to mknit.com... please redirect your bookmarks.

dear Blogger... you have served me well... but it is time to move on... thanks for the great memories.

who needs to sleep when you can knit the night away? not i that's for sure. got a talking to today by dad. he feels i need to set a better example about showing up to work ontime. I've never been one to show up on time... even when i was in the US... on time is for suckers!

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw

Yarn: A japanese brand with a kitty on the label that i got in taiwan. 100% wool.
Skeins: 2, one brown, one blue... (112m 50g)
Needle: DPN 6 & 7.
Pattern: a free one from Charmed Knits.
CO: 6:00pm
BO: 12:30pm

Out of no where, I thought I'd cast on for the house beanies. Most likely because I wanted to decrease my stash... or maybe because I want to participate in the deathly hallows swap, but I don't think I have time to complete the swap.

I worked these in DPNs the whole way even though the pattern had called for circs. I think the circs are harder to work with because you have to get the circ length just correct... well I manage to fudge the DPNs to work even though the cast on was way too much for one single DPN.

I made the small size, although I elongated the length a little bit.. i think the next time, I'm going to bring the strip down a bit more, it sits too high on my head. I was afraid that it wasn't going to fit me...

dang it.. it's 1am already. i need sleep. goodnight!!

keep your mitts to yourself!

Cast on: 6:00pm
Final BO: 11:00pm
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

The two pairs are actually matching... It's amazing... I am amazed at my own skills hehe. nah, it was a pretty easy pattern to follow... I think I have a whole skein left over with the original piece.

The only way I can tell the left and the right apart is from this imprefection on the back of the right hand of the glove... it's how I can tell... if there were no imprefections then I think i would constantly wear them on the wrong side.

the colors are way off in all of the pictures... i don't know what's the best way to describe this color.. but i guess it's teal like...

I think if I work with dpns more then I'd find it less intimidating to work with... although truth be told, all those extra needles just makes it weird for me to move out of the way.

I ended up ordering the sunflower yellow for e off ebay, and an extra lilac for my sister to make fetching with. I'm having them mailed to my sisters. It's ok... it takes like 5 hours for one glove, so one car ride to Vegas can do it! hehe. well one car ride and some will do it.

I went thru sorting my yarns today... sorta organising them and putting them into categories. Like... sock yarn bag, yarn bag, noro bag, and just sorta grouping them into yarns. Then I separated the ones that were already on the needle into a suitcase, and the ones that need to frog too. that took up my afternoon nap...

I don't know what i should start next, or... what i should finish next.

Deja Vu? Deja you!

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran
Color: 330010 (blue)
Needle: DPN Clover 6, 4MM
Started: (left) 17 Sept 7:00pm
Finished: (left) 17 Sept Midnight

the left one again... i know. I should have made the right one, but I wanted to make the sizes right for my own hands. the smaller needle size, size US 6 4MM DPN works fine. Perhaps I can make the thumb smaller, but i think it's ok.


Here are the modifications I made based on other people's suggestions before me.

a. the Picot BO was switched to normal BO, it makes the edges not curl out as much... although maybe it's not as pretty, it's functional.

b.the 18 rows of K4 P1 rib was changed to 15 rows of rib cuz my hand is not as long.

c. instead of ending with just one repeat of cable at the fingers, I length it to two repeats.

d. I did more rows on the thumb too to cover my thumb better... but i didn't count the rounds so i'll have to literally watch what i'm knitting on the right hand side when i'm knitting it tomorrow.

I think I shall make the right one before I frogg the original left one. E actually asked for a pair... it's a quick knit... i think i shall look thru my stash to see what colors she'd like... most likely some drab color like black or gray or brown...

Fetching from Knitty

the left one.

I've conquered cable! hehe. It wasn't that hard when reading the easy directions for only ONE cable row. I really like how cable looks... I may even tackle the owl beanie. the owl beanie is super cute!!

But since the fetching pattern wasn't written in row one row two parts, I misread directions and made the wrist part longer. I think for my matching side, I'm going to make the wrist part shorter and the fingers part longer.

the glove fits me a bit big... maybe i need to go down a needle size... since I have tiny hands.

Having to make a second pair is going to take some determination on my end to finish... i should strike while the iron is hot...

off i go to make the right hand fetching.

I have finished the Hello Kitty swap. the Scarf has really nothing to do with Hello Kitty except for the fact that I'm giving it in the Swap... but I think those colors are really bright and it's a lovely scarf anyway. Other pieces in the swap package are hello kitty galore, so I think it should be ok...

i should put more of an effort, but i couldn't find anything much crafty around here... I'm limited in my craftyness when i have no craft stores around. I'm not really a guerrila craftster... i'm more of a wanna be craftster... i can only craft things with the exactly the right craft items.





The hello kitty scarf can be worn wrapped around the neck many many times, and still have enough for it to hang down to your waist, as demonstrated by my pictures... or wrapped around the head to keep the ears warm since the ears get cold at wintery times.



the stitches are simple, it's just a different crochet chain lengths... I really like how the different lengths in the chains makes such a contrasting texture. I really like it. I want to keep it for myself... but I can not take all the credit for such a scarf, the greatness of this scarf comes for the amazing colorway called Scream from sKNITches Bebop sock yarn.

The scarf it self sorta fans out since it's worked widthwise, and has a sorta ruffles feel at the end. I love all its imperfections... can i just keep it for myself??

well i guess since I've already wrapped it up all ready to send, then I guess I will have to send it to my partner. ::grin::

********

11:00pm: Casted on for Trekking is for Necking with my left over sKNITches Bebop Scream. It's slow going with the 3mm needle.

stop the insanity!

I have start hooking up a scarf, and don't know where to stop. It's super long... but I think it might need to be a bit wider... do you sometimes just start casting on, and since you're working from no pattern don't know where to stop?

this is why i don't like working without directions, I don't know where to add more, or subtract... if I had a pattern, i can just not follow it, but without a pattern, i don't know what rules I can break.

from someone's weblog, i saw this cute pair of converse with animals on it... and it had one with a pink elephant on it. eeeeeeeee! so cute! must own a pair!! one can see them on zappos.

The new Knitty.com reviewed the new Harmony interchanged needles... makes me want to get them even though I nixxed them due to the rainbow colors... i dislike the rainbow colors, but love the fact that they are wood. I think the color is the only thing that is standing in my way of purchasing them.

Have been looking at online shopping for things to be sent to the US, since I shall soon be there, and be able to pick up a couple of things...

I have asked to be taken out of the deathly hallows swap, cuz i think i'm going to be super busy and uninspired to work on things, so instead of flaking, I rather just opt out.

sigh... i have run away thoughts... thought this last night... thought about actually telling my dad I want to move out of the dorms and into a place of my own. I think instead I shall just tell him that I want to have my own kitchen up stairs... i shall cook my own dinners and etc. I am going absolutely bonkers here in china... having my own kitchen may save my sanity.

I have found a use for my ever growing stash of sock yarn. I combined it with another yarn, and am using it for a scarf. this scarf is turning out quite unique... i really like the gray, it tones down the bright color of the blue & red.

working on the scrap blanket...

knitting for a cause.

The latest Cast-On by Brenda Dane has a link to these cute little hat knits that tops the top of these smoothie drinks from the UK. It's to bring awareness to knitting hats to keep old people warm. Apparently old people get cold easily and can easily die from being cold.

It's super cute. I may knit up a few it up... right now!! seems really simple too!

WIP update: I am on the third skein of the black not so straight scarf. I have pretty much memorized the pattern for the "straight" rows... it's pretty simple after you figure out how it work... now just getting the scarf long enough is the issue.

the not-quite-straight scarf

Here's my WIP shot.

Here's a close up detail

It should look better when blocked. I'm on a second skein... the skeins are small, so I use up the skeins pretty quickly. I've noticed this when i knit the baby love blanket.

someone suggested that the baby blanket can be used as a bed liner or something... I'm happy that there are other uses for it... I guess in the end if it doesn't achieve it's purpose as a blanket, I can knit up another identical side and make it into a small couch pillow or something.

My hello kitty swap deadline is coming up. I need to conjure up something hello kitty ish quick!! I have lot of little side items but no real hand crafted item.

knit on a bias

Have casted on for yet another scarf. also knit on a bias, called, The Not -Quite -Straight Scarf...I don't know what is with me lately, but apparently I am into bias knitting! The clapotis, the baby blanket, and now this scarf. thus far I've found an error in the pattern... but maybe i just didn't follow it correctly... but whatever... mistakes in patterns are unique.

It's done in the black yarn that corresponds to the peruvian highland wool of the baby blanket. with a US #9 needle. so far I can't memorize the pattern, but it should be easy since it's mostly knit and purl and then for the increases i'm doing ktfbl & ptfbl. (knit through front and back loop & purl through front and back loop.)

Insert Baby Here!

Baby Love Diagonal Blanket.
Casted On: Aug 28 2007
Finished: Sept 3 2007
Yarn: 4 skeins of 100% Peruvian Highland Wood from Elann.com, Spun in Peru exclusively for elann.com (Col 2766 Lot 132) 50g 100M (109 yards)Sorta a buttery yellow.
Needle: US 7 Addi 80cm

I finished the baby blanket today... how fitting that also in the drama, one of the couples is also having a baby. I told you babies are everywhere in my life... makes me itchy to want to have a baby too. sadly... no partner = no baby. eh... whatever I say! i am also on the last Disc of the coffee prince k-drama.

I wonder who I should give this blanket to... and if I should block the blanket??

Either the circ was too short, or the yarn was to bulky for it... anyway, i think 80cm was too short for 200ish stitches... all be it, i stopped counting and was just using the tape measure to measure the length of it...

I think it turned out a bit small... but for a baby it might be ok... Maybe it could just be like a comfort blankie as opposed to a real blanket to which one would use to cover the baby...

I think the next one that I'm going to make shall be made with superwash wool... so that a mother may just throw the blanket into the washing machine.

Let's Knit!!

due to the lack of computer at work for the past two days, I have took to read whatever reading material I've brought over from home, and read each word carefully so that I'd have something to do... (there's very little work for me to do without my computer.)

so one of the things that I've got lying around is my Let's Knit series book from Japan that I got. It has these color illustrations & picture illustrations to teach how to make mittens, gloves and socks for men and women.

I read over the instructions... it's in Japanese... so i mainly have to rely on simple Kangi characters and pictures & roman numerals to help me decipher what the heck the instructions are.

I think I have sorta figured out the mittens one... it's the first one in the series, and i think I may cast on for it... if I don't end up trying to finish the baby blanket. I'm on the decreases, but it's a lot slower doing decreases as the increases... i don't know why.

There's a sort of feel with Japanese knitting... sorta organic, sorta functional... sorta vintage... weird huh? I don't know what it is about it...

knitting saved my life!

well i've started the other side of the baby blanket. the Decreases side. Instead of counting the stitches, I just measured. and what seemed like a good length, I just started decreasing... I think if I continue knitting today, this item might be finished soon!!

I was having a real emotional time last night sprung from a phone call that I know was only concerned about the results, and didn't want me to have to delay shipping out dates for work... i know I shouldn't have taken it personally, but just the way he yelled at me and the things he said, and so very out of the blue, i took it personally.

so i took to knitting and more knitting to drown myself in the garter rows to avoid thinking about how bad I felt, it sorta helped.

on other knitting news. My sister who has gotten the knitting bug finished a Cable Scarf!! Cable! Something that I just gloss over because I find so hard, has finished it. It's a two color cable scarf pattern from the LB site, plus a hat to match. Go Sister!! From the conversation I had with her two nights ago, it seems like people in her life are also getting knitted gifts this year!! :o)

oh baby 2

well as it turns out, my US 7 addis are a little too short for the baby love blanket... wait a minute. 80cm is 31.5 inches... that should be long enough. Hm... but how come when I measured last night it wasn't long enough... maybe my addis are only 60cm... i don't have it on me, so I can't know for sure. But I converted cm to inches last night and it wasn't long enough for the Baby love blanket....

Having to do such a large piece takes sooo long to knit one row. It's a good thing it's just garter... pretty no brainer.

i didn't stop to count the last stitch, but i think i may be on 100 ish stitches by now, or close to it... ONLY 100 more stitches to go!! Maybe I just just fudge it by scrounging it all up, and it should be ok... hm. I'd hate to have to go out and buy a whole new set of needles just for this project... although i'm not adverse to do that.

look at this cute baby item!! A Day to Night Soaker

Sudoku one more large square down

i got soooo bored with knitting my faux noro scarf that I thought I'd spice it up by trying to finish that one last grey square of my sudoku afghan. so i frogged the caplete that i hooked up, and used the remaining greys to finish the one tiny square.

it was enough... and i used that one square's finished momentum to break out the rest of the 8 color squares and finish one large square.

Let me tell you this, it takes a lot longer to combined the squares as opposed to just hooking up the squares.

well it's now 4 large squares down, and 5 more to go!! i'm almost, almost there!

i really enjoy starting new projects!!

oh baby!

In response to the baby boom... i have put on my needles this Baby Love Diagonal Baby Blanket with some Peruvian Highland wool I was going to use for another project that I ordered... but since I haven't gotten around to that project, I thought I'd just go ahead and cast on for the BLDBB with it.

Thus far it's a nice soothing knitting project... you just do a YO after the first 3 K and continue until you have 207 stitches, then you start decreasing... sooo easy.

Even though the peruvian highland wool is 100% wool... thus i think it's handwash only, not really practical for a baby blanket... it's soft, and warm so i'm going to go with it!

i have yet to decide who will be the mother-to-be who will be receiving this blanket.

Chevorn Baby Blanket!!

Tested out the Chevorn stitch on large needles and double strands... I rather like it. I think it would be a nice baby blanket. plus on such large needles, it makes the knitting go by fast. that is the kind of instant gratification i like!!

Baby Boom!

It seems lately as if everyone I know is pregnant... with this onburst of babies soon to be here, what's a girl to do but to try to knit/crochet up a suitable baby item for the mothers to be.

i'm going to have to start thinking up of great ideas!!!

I think this stitch in these colors looks great! A chevron stitch for baby blankets... brilliant. Plus it's easy to sub colors and yarn! so simple yet so brilliant!

Officially it's a Clapotis!

Project Started: June 22 2007
Project Finished: Aug 25 2007
Materials: US 7 Addi Turbo Circular.
Yarn: Appliance from GeeYouKnit.etsy.com (a fellow craftster.)
Skeins used: 1 full skein, and 1 partial, with plenty left over!!!

With the ends weaved in, it's officially a Clapotis... and not to brag or anything, someone just said that it was their current favorite clapotis thus far out of the WHOLE knit along thread! Yay!!! that's my first compliment like that!! :: glow:: hehe.

This is the second Clapotis that i started, i abandoned the first one cuz i ran out of yarn... I had abandoned the project for awhile, and finally when all the others started to post their finished pictures, it made me also want to finish it.

I finally finished the project in taiwan, but didn't weave in the ends. Even though i only had 4 ends to weave in... i still had it on the back burner until today. Having the ends weave in totally makes it complete some how... it's weird how weaving in the ends completes the project.

I'm going to look around for some yarn to make another clapotis with... i really like how it turned out... it's a nice scarf/shawl thing... i think maybe esther would like something like that.

I finally brought my SWS from my magic yarn ball swap to china... where my FBB instructions are. I might hook that up since i have the handles for it.

I am currently working on the block stitch scarf out of sempre... i am getting quite bored of it... it's moving too slowly right now. i need a quick project, or maybe one that lets my attention be distracted...

sigh, i'm so A.D.D. sometimes!!

Never!!!!

My sister got the copy of Never Knit your Man a sweater... and the Noro scarf also caught her eye, and she emailed it to me. It's pretty simple... and I knit some of it up already. I've got about a few inches already... I am using the Filatura di crosa Sempre... it's a stripping yarn. With the 36 CO, it's at the right length for it to strip perfectly... I don't know who i'm going to give this scarf to when I'm finished with.... Maybe by the time I have finished it, the giftee will present itself.

Progress pic

I have yet to weave in the ends for the clapotis... it should be pretty easy since there's only 2 strands to weave in... yet, I'm just totally putting it off.

Tada!!!!!

I have finally finished knitting the Clapotis, and dropped all the stitches, but not weave in the ends yet...

I LOVE IT, in it's unfinished state... BUT i'm sure going to weave in the ends so that I can really use it, instead of parading it around my brother's room, and complemnting myself. hehe.

I don't know what my next project should be... besides finishing the sudoku afghan.

on the last last leg.

I am on the last section on my Clapotis, and the decrease section is so much fun... It's way different, plus it's going a lot faster for me because I am not using stitch markers, but the purl method. Plus I have the whole ktbl, k3, ktbl part down that it's much faster. Who knew using stitch markers slows one down so much. I am flying thru the last section... I think I'm going to take this with me back to taiwan to try to finish... then I can give it to my mom, if she wants it.

I need to finish the last square of sudoku afghan... i think i'm just going to ask my sister to buy me another skein of the light grey... i don't want to substitute it with a different shade of grey... sigh. But i don't really want to wait for it to arrive...man, Should I try to hook up a different color all together? Perhaps I should frog that caplete I made to see if I have enough Gray... it might just be enough! Here's to hoping... i'm frogging tonight!

I think for my next project, i'm going to work on mittens... super cute no? I think I'm going to make mittens for my swap partner...

swap partner

I got my partner for the Hello Kitty & friends swap. My partner does not like hello kitty. well what i mean is, it's not listed as one of her favorites. she lists, domokun, that bread guy, tarapanda and tissue-san. so all those hello kitty items that i got earlier, i don't think i will put into the swap...

I have to be super creative as these characters are not the cutesy ones... shall have to think hard on this one.

task zero!

I have finished all my squares except the one lone light grey square.

:: time elapse.. went out of breakfast.. ::

Went about sewing together one large square last night. I couldn't push myself to make a second square...am now 3 large squares done, and 6 more large squares to go!! I know these sudoku updates are a bit boring, but... i need to do this to keep myself motivated.

how to assemble the squares now that you've finished hooking them up!

task one: gather all the squares.

task two: make 9 piles of squares with one color per pile... you will have 9 piles of 9 small squares.

task three: decide what color represents what square by following the chart.

task four: with chart on the side, sew up the 1st pile in according to the chart. Assembling the squares one by one. When finished with sewing the squares, using black yarn, and sc in each loop leaving a 3 chain for each corner.

task five: repeat task four until all 9 squares are finished.

task six: sew up the 9 large squares in similar fashion as the smaller squares.

task seven: sew in all the necessary ends, and cut.

Congratulations! Give yourself a pat on the back! You are finally complete with the Sudoku afghan!!

so on the way...

I am on the last two Avocado squares until I complete all of the squares, except the lone light gray square that i don't know where i'm going to scrouge up the yarn from. Then it's all the assembling... which I think I would be able to get done 2 squares per night or MORE at a time. I am so on my way!!

I simply can not keep a secret.. i was working on the squares and blurted it out to my dad that i was making him something for father's day. i suppose it was meant to be a surprise... le sigh. I am such a big mouth.

I got tired of doing squares, so I picked back up the claptois once more last night, and have finally finished all the straight rows, and is now onto the decreases... exciting times are ahead. I am soon... ok...maybe not so soon... to be finished with that. I think after i'm done with this clap, i'm going to give it to my mother...i think she would like it. The colors seems like colors she likes... the bright motherly colors. she could use it as a scarf, or a shawl or lap blanket...what a great gift to brighten up anyone's day.

I have thought to start Vicks' Hogwarts scarf... I must say, i dislike dpns...i rather just like circs... though i should get those interchangable ones, so i don't have to keep buying them. le sigh. if you peoples want to get me an xmas gift... please note, i'd like knitpick's optional circs... you can follow the link. or of course more yarn! like Vanna's new yarn... it's on sale at joanns for 2.99.

anyway a bit off topic. so vick's scarf. i thought i'd get a start on it... but thus far on the dpns... stockingnett the whole time is sorta boring... i sorta want to change it up... maybe make it a rib, and just make it the gryffindor colors? it was be stretchy... but not the traditional hogwarts scarf. I don't know if that's what she's looking for. I sorta want to just knit it in the straight, that way i don't have to use the dpns... Maybe i can find a shorter circ to work with.

thus far there has been no progress on anyone else's xmas gift... everyone might end up getting bought presents after all. tis much easier, doncha know!

I'm in the home stretch!

9 green
2 gold I'm not going to use this gold... I'll just use the yellow.
9 sparkle White ...I scrounged up enough white sparkle!...
9 lavender
9 Cranberry
8 Gray maybe a new color?? or just one more different gray.
1 Sempre Col 10 I don't think I'm going to use this one.
9 Colonial Blue
9 Buttercup
7 Avocado
9 turquoise

There you go ladies & most likely no gentleman. I am on the last possible color... the Avocado. I just hooked up the rest of the turquoise...while watching Episode 1-3 of Devil Beside You. I'm in the home stretch!! After this will just be sewing together the large nine squares, and then weaving in the ends. Only 4 1 more hours, for the small squares... I might get it all done before I head back to Taiwan next week for my grandmother's birthday!! (If I'm ambitious enough.)

The only thing standing in my way is the Gray... I can not find enough Gray in my stash of the same color to make the last square. i am totally bumming... i have gray's of other color, but not the same... and now it won't look right unless I get the right gray.

Someone I know is having a baby... I have been looking at Baby Blankets... trying to decide which is the best one for me to knit. Nothing too complicated, or that will take long to make, since i only really half like her, but i have been wanting to make baby items for awhile..and i think a baby afghan would be nice. I guess i like her enough

ok, it's the taiwanese father's day... I didn't make the deadline for the afghan. It's a good thing I have a backup. the Belt. I think it's a good hold over until I finish the afghan... although with no deadline pushing me, i'm less likely finishing it... hm... come on. I can do it!

I managed to read DH in one day... on full day. apparently i don't have much work to do, so... i snunk in reading time. while i was reading it... a lot of phases popped into my head as really good t-shirt designs.

am heading into HK on Friday... have joined another swap... the hello kitty & friends' swap. Will pre-shop. this way... i will not send out late. I hate sending out late.

My sister started knitting...she's only doing garter stitch & is on the first 3rd or 4th row, but it's a start!

Progress picture!

Finished 2 large squares tonight... I now have a pattern, and now I am more familiar in how to make it. 7 more large squares to go!! The assembling the squares isn't as hard as I thought it would be and it's actually going by really quickly. I only wished I had all the necessary yarn for all the squares.

The afghan is surprising large...

Almost!!!

Got back last night, and have taken an inventory look at my Sudoku Squares... only a few more left!! 17, I think... I frogged the white beanie to make the extra squares, and then I laid out all the colors for the square to see how assembling the squares would be. I have thus far decided to sew it together using the mattress stitch? I think that's what it's call that is...

I sorta worked on 3 of them to test it out. Then I tried to read the rest of the directions to see how the squares are assembled... Hm. I think I shall try to finish up one square tonight.

After all the possible squares are hooked up, I would have missing one white one, and one gray one... unless I sorta just fudge it, and use other yarn... I am debating whether to use a different yarn, and just do the white one over again... sigh. But I really don't want to add 9 more squares... what's a girl to do? Maybe someone can send me one skein of the white sparkle...so I only need to make one more instead of 9 more??

OK. so I might not get the afghan done in time for the father's day gift (8/8/07) I had hoped... so I bought my dad a belt on the flight over from the Duty Free. I think he would like it, it's a rather nice belt. I was going to give it to Eric for his birthday, but I already got him the bedsheets, so I'm going to give my dad the belt.

woo-hoo!

July sock Club from Pick Up Sticks arrived in my mailbox... I heart it. I heart the color... it's the apple green color that i love... asparagus. Enclosed the pattern is a real complicated looking cable knit... When will I ever get to that level of sock knitting??

Yesterday I started the buttercup yellow of the sudoku afghan. My mother commented that the afghan was rather large, and that it would be hard to wash. I hadn't realised that! Hm... well it's too late now, I'm more than half way done, so I'm going to go ahead and finish it. I rather think my dad will like it... it will be a nice piece to hang at the sofa in China for them chilly nights.

there are no other knitting/crochet news.

more squares

9 green
2 gold I'm not going to use this gold... I'll just use the yellow.
8 sparkle white (need to purchase one more skein.) or maybe a new color?
9 lavender
9 Cranberry
8 Gray maybe a new color?? or just one more different gray.
1 Sempre Col 10 I don't think I'm going to use this one.
9 Colonial Blue
9 Buttercup
1 grass green
2 turquoise

This is the Final Sudoku count... and here are the colors left!! I am more than half way done... only 3117 more squares left!! YAY!!

let's make it interesting!!

Sudoku Square count Update:

9 green
2 gold
6 sparkle white (need to purchase one more skein.)
9 lavender
6 Cranberry
8 Gray
1 Sempre Col 10 (black & white with color twists in it.)

are you tired of this Sudoku Square updates yet? I ran out of Gray woolease. am thinking about just using the matchmaker gray that i have and just make a square out of that as a substitue... but I don't want the gray squares to have one square that is off in color...

was thinking about stopping making the squares since i didn't have the same yarn type.. woolease that is in the rest of the colors... but then i thought, lets fly by the seat of my pants no?! So i eyed the Filatura Di Crosa Sempre that i got, and looked at the yardage. 4 skeins equals about 2 skeins of woolease.

Hmmm... let's hook one up to see how it looks.



Interesting pattern it makes so far... i can live with that... let's go for it. This way, I won't waste any time in waiting for woolease, and perhaps I CAN finish the afghan in time for father's day. My deadline is Aug 8th.

I just don't know if I should lug all the squares to taiwan so that i can continue working on it, and incase I finish all the squares in time, i can just give it to my dad, or... just leave the finished squares here, and just give it to my dad the next time he comes to china... which should be soon. Hm... I'll ask when he's thinking of returning... so that i'll have a better gauge.

******

A new client came by the factory today... whilst making small talk, he asked what i did at night after work. I said I knit. I think when people find out that i knit, they have this weird reaction... it's not they come right out and say, oh isn't that an old lady thing... the asians are too nice for that... but rather they think it's just something i do to pass the time. Which is true i suppose, to pass the time. BUT i could be passing the time with doing something else meaningless... like just plain watch tv, while wasting time. I feel like knitting or crochet, it's occupying my time... not passing time.

oh the drama

I am tired of working on the Sudoku Afghan.... it's boring making all those squares. Square after square after square. I am onto the Grays now... but... it is rather boring. I think I hooked up 7 squares or so last night while watching my dramas. the Summer x Summer one...

Vicks has put in a request for a thick bar Gryffindor scarf... shall go shopping for it...

I got an angel assigned for Hogwarts House round 2, cuz the first package got lost in the mail... I'm excited!!

3 down & 2 more to go

This is my slow progress on the blanket for my dad's father's day present...
I couldn't sleep last night, so did a couple more squares...

Sudoku squares count is as follows:

9 green
2 gold
6 sparkle white (need to purchase one more skein.)
9 lavender
5 Cranberry
5 Gray (have one skein... shall substitute other yarn that is not LBWE) I'm going to scourge around for scrap LBWE gray...

Moving onto Gray now!! Yay!

i live a square life

Sudoku squares count is as follows:

9 green
2 gold
6 sparkle white (need to purchase one more skein.)
9 lavender
1 Cranberry
0 Gray (have one skein... shall substitute other yarn that is not LBWE)

the difference

whenever I am working on a crochet item... it's like, I am speed hooking, I need to just hurry up and get this row finished so that i can finish this square so that it's one more square completely before I start on the next square, and thus the whole process is repeated... I am rushed when i'm working on a crochet.

whenever i'm working on a knitting project, I don't get that sense of rush... it's sorta a calming feel, especially while working on the garter stitches of eric's scarf that i'm dubbing it. It's mediative...

that is the difference I've noticed in between knitting and hooking.

sky blue, baby blue & beige

got tired of hooking away the sudoku squares, so I broke out the yarn from Spotlight and the translucent 8mm needles. I am actually really loving how this garter stitch scarf is turning out... the colors are really pretty...I just love how the colors work together, and I really like how the garter ridges are forming the scarf.

I was thinking that it might be a nice scarf for Eric (although I don't think he wears scarves)... I just need more yarn skeins though... I only have uno skein, and it's not nearly long enough for a scarf.

It's a Moda Vera Harmony in the color of no. 21 Dye lot 611237. It's 50% acrylic & 50% wool... yet it feels rather nice against the skin. Not itchy at all!

I think the next time I'm in HK, i'll make it over to Spotlight again, and pick up more skeins. Dang it. I always pick up enough skeins, or at least two, but this time I only got one...

sudoku part II

Ok... so after some time measurements, it takes me like half an hour to make ONE square... this makes me needing to recalculate the hours. I have finished the 9 green blocks for the sudoku afghan, and dug out 2 golden squares that i previously worked on. I also dug out 2 skeins of the sparkley white woolease yarn, and hooked up one square. I am now 12/81 squares into the afghan.

These are the colors that I have in my stash that's woolease.

2 green
2 lavender
2 white sparkley
1 gray woolease
2 black - for outline
1 cranberry

I think I have some left over Jaeger matchmaker that will do for the woolease substitute... I think I shall have better gauge of what I have for the blanket once i get home. I think there are some more woolease in taiwan...

sudoku sudoku

If I can get eric's camera hooked up to my computer without downloading all of the 266 pictures on the card, since I only want the last couple of pictures... I could have shown you the Sudoku blanket pieces I've worked on... I have done a total of 5 squares thus far. One Skein of Wool-ease makes 5 squares with some yarn left over which i balled up and am saving it for later. 4 more squares and I'm done with the a least one color of the blocks... and only 8 more colors to go!

I haven't thought of how I will sew together all the squares or what i shall do when i run out of the colors required... but we'll just get to that road when we get to that road.

I've calculated, it takes me about 2 hours to do 3 squares, and about 4 hours to finish one skein which produces 5 squares. This is on average, without being all in a hurry and speed hooking or what not, and just leisure hooking. It takes 9 squares for one color block (2 skeins), and 9 different colors per each block, it should take me about 144 hours or less or 6 days full days of nonstop hooking to complete the sudoku afghan. But at the rate I'm going, I do about one skein per two days, it would take me 36 days to complete the squares... and that's just the squares, we're not counting the sewing it together parts.

whomever is the recipient of this afghan better be darn thankful for it. speaking of, who is the recipient of this blanket??

Yarn shopping in Tokyo

took a little trip over to Tokyo last week, and visited the well praised Tokyu Hands, I believe the store was in Shibuya. It was this large large store filled with many many different things. wood, curtains, jewelry, printing stuff, and MORE!

But I was most interested in their yarn section, and cuz maybe they'd have some Noro yarn, and I'd be able to see this grand Noro in person. And sure enough, Noro Yarn!!! come to think of it, I should have taken a picture of it, but I was just so overwhelmed with what yarn I should buy that I totally forgot.

I looked at all the Noros that they carried, and ended up buying 3 skeins each of 3 different types. Cost?


Noro Gerbera : 630JPY ~ $5.14 USD per skein
(100 % wool) No. 13 Lot A @ 50gr 80m


Noro Shikisai : 1029JPY ~$8.39 USD per skein
(35% Cotton, 22% Acrylic, 15% Silk, 15% Kid Mohair, 13% Wool) No. 4 Lot A @50gr 155 m


Noro Kureyon : 819JYP ~ $6.68 USD per skein
(100% wool) No. 150 Lot A @ 50gr 100 m

I was also able to have them VAT free, but the percentage is only like 5% or so... barely any dent, but it's nice to say VAT FREE no? I wonder if this price for Noro is good?? Hm.. shall head over to Webs to check it out!(not knowing what type of Noro I got makes it hard for me to compare...)

I also purchased a cute book on beginning knitting for mittens, gloves and socks. It's super cute really, it's from the Let's Knit series. They also had cute buttons...I got some Doraemon ones, and some Hello kitty heads. I don't know what I'm going to do with those, but I know if I didn't buy them, I'd never forgive myself for it!

I was also able to pick up Print Gocco Supplies. I needed more bulbs and more screens. I should have bought the whole display, but i limited myself to what i think i could carry. Plus I got more colors and a drying rack, and pre-cut paper ready to print. I should got more pre-cut paper now that i think about it. It's ok though, my brother will be going to Japan soon, maybe i'll ask him to buy some for me.

what a good time I've had in Japan, shopping for crafty things. I also got some knitting done too whilst traveling. I am on the last repeat of the straight rows for my Clapotis, and on to the decreases I go...

I thought of knitting a sock for a friend, but... the time is too short for me to knit one up... i think. plus I don't know his sock size... can't very well go around stealing his shoes to measure... or can i?

I thought maybe I'll crochet up a blanket, so I tackled 2 green sudoku squares... it goes by fast yet slow at the same time... But there is no way I can finish that size of a blanket within 4 days. PLUS i don't have enough yarn...

maybe a bought wallet or a watch is the way to go

********

looking at the Shikisai, I remembered I thought perhaps I'd use it for Wisp... noted.

Spotlight @ Megabox

Took a day trip over to Hong Kong on Thursday, after getting all the business part of the trip over, I had the rest of the day free to roam about all over the place.

On my agenda for the day was 1. the Nougat thingys at Queen's Cake, and 2. Spotlight @ MegaBox. I went in that order because I was already at the Central Stop, so it made more sense to take the subway over to Causeway Bay first since i was already in the neighborhood.

After purchasing copious amount of different flavors of Nougat, I took the train over to Kowloon Bay... which is pretty far away from the hussle and bussle, but it was worth it because I also stumbled upon Ikea!!!!!

After hearing about how great Spotlight was, I was seriously looking forward to this haven of craft supplies, fabrics, loads of yarn, and craft supplies. Instead I think the hype was just too much... I should not have listened to the hype. I blame the hype for letting me down. It felt like a cross between bed bath and beyond and Joanns.

I walked in, and it was exactly BBB feel, the whole bed sheets, curtains and towel section...the same sort of layout. the wall to wall sheets, and the large isles stacked with knicknacks, and the registers to the right.

Then the fabric section... felt like walmart when they had the fabric section, and then the yarn. I guess I was expecting LYS yarn, or some sort... but it's just michael's or Joanns feel, they even had some lionbrand, homespun, chenille, and a few magic stripes. At first glance, it was the same wall to wall feel of yarn. WOW, that's a lot of yarn. But upon closure inspection, the yarn quality isn't LYS great... it's just everyday ok. It was a good selection of different yarn, nothing too fancy, but mostly do able... I had thought of not buying any yarn... but of course I couldn't go all the way there and not come home with something! I bought some clear handles for a future FBB & 2 pairs of acrylic straight needles that I don't need, but liked how they looked. Maybe i'll take a picture of it later.

So... there it goes... it's pretty far away for one to travel to get there, so maybe i won't be going all the time... since HK island already has a few travel worthy stores...

maybe if i feel like heading over to Ikea, I'll stop by. It is a pretty big mall type... plus Megabox had a skating rink, it's small, but useful...

ok so Megabox is a pretty useful place... it's worth your time to go, if you can make the trip over.

green for luck!!

Am taking a break from knitting the Clapotis to knit a piece of clothing for me... remember the knitted swatch from way back when?? Yep.. I frogged it, and knit up the start of the back... am going with the small size... i think it should be ok.

I've never attempted clothes before...wish me luck!!

I also dug thru my sock stash, and i think there are plenty of socks for my 3 friends. I'll just decide on a color all on my own, so you guys don't get to decide... you all get girly pinky colors...

christmas preview!!

dear friends who read this blog...

i was reminded yesterday that there's only 6 more months til christmas... so i should start planning and knit away those gifts. thus far I have decided on socks...looking thru my stash I have plenty of sock yarn... i shall go thru my list of people and match up sock options...

so there... u are all getting knitted items again this christmas!!

researching Japan

Progress on the Clapotis. I have dropped four stitches... It's starting to look like it does on the computer screen. I have been able to knit it while waiting for back episodes of why why love load on youtube. Man it's such a hassel watching drama's on youtube... one has to wait, and then it's like in 10 mins increments. OK so in real life tv, it's also 10 min increments, but with all the commericial inbetween it does not seem as bad as sitting there waiting for it to load.



the rows don't drop as easy as just forcing the stitches apart, sometimes it gets caught... so to help it along, I use the knitting needle, or a tapestry needle to help drop it. It's not too much of a pain, since it's a nice break from the knitting and the purling...

am planning on my tokyo trip... there are a few places I want to hit up... hehe. i know big nerd...

Gee you knit a Clapotis?

While waiting for songs and podcasts and such to download, I thought... why not use this time to knit or crochet? I was going to start the sudoku, but then... thought... maybe I should work on the clapotis again with the new appliance yarn i got from geeyouknit.etsy.com. so... I casted on and then knit til I'm finished with the first repeat of the section 2 at around 11:45pm. and it's now 2:47am.

I should really be sleeping, but i think it was the two cokes i had before work was let out... I am totally going to be paying for it tomorrow... sigh. I fear I won't wake up in time tomorrow for work... it's a good thing, i already sent out the emails that i needed...

I read up some threads on craftster about starting an LYS... sounds inspiring and a lot of hard work. It's like my dream of owning a cool hip clothing store... that has turned into a cool hip LYS. But I think there's no real need in the boondocks town that i live in for an LYS. it's too boondock...well there's that annual Mazu festival time where a lot of people come down to my boondock town... but still. I don't think there's a market for it... it would be purely for my own benefit... it would in no time break my bank, and thus not make any money. The only upside to the whole thing is that I could start the business lease free because my parents just bought a house that can be converted into a storefront on the first floor. And I suppose if i advertised, i can create a need for it... u know.

yes, no one thinks of working with wool in the summer times, BUT since sometimes projects takes awhile to finish up, one can start one during the summer months and have it be finished in time for the winter months, no?

Cynthia actually finished a full size blanket... ok so it took her like 6 months or so... it was suppose to be a christmas present, but at least she finished it. She showed me a picture of it. I won't post a picture because she might want to gloat about it herself. I know I keep mentioning the sudoku afghan, and etc... but have you yet seem me working on it.

Yes that's what I thought!!

just keep swimming...

Haven't done much lately in the past couple of days... am just relaxing and doing nothing really... waiting for packages to arrive I suppose. I heard from my mother that my pickupsticks sock club for the may month arrived. i think i also ordered other items with it...

i was told by my mother to not buy anymore yarn. i think she doesn't know what i should do with all that yarn. Little does she know, I only buy yarn with projects in mind... most of the time...

Maybe I'll start on the Sudoku afghan...i have more yarn for it... at least enough for a half of the afghan...

how much is too much??

my dad arrived today with my brother in tow. My brother brought along with him his DS lite BLACK. His items are black, my items are white. anyway.

we talked about animal crossing the whole time, sharing the information that we both knew. my dad was lost in the whole ordeal.

then when we got back to the office, i thought if eric was home we could plug the wii up to his tv, and play, but since he wasn't home, Sunny & I just played on our Animal Crossing. He ended up getting all the possible fruit, peach, coconut,cherry & apple. He already had pear & his original orange fruit.

My brother bought me more yarn to which i didn't realised what i bought them for... then as i was putting them away, i remembered. The Sudoku Afghan. hehe.



and the fingerweight yarn from geeyouknit.etsy.com. I'm thinking maybe I'm going to use the appliance yarn for a clapotis...

scrap DC afghan

that's all i wanted to say

you want me to do what with what??

i am a bad teacher... i tried to teach Lulu how to knit, and well i don't know how to teach. all i could do was show her, but not teach her. i only know how to do it my way, not how the book teaches it, or a correct way of teaching... this is bad.

i learned on my own really, just using the book, and when i couldn't get purling, i asked cyn to show me... then i was off. from there, i relied on mostly the Internet... but i couldn't even help lulu how to knit.

so i just left her with two skeins and two sets of needles, and hopefully one of her hair washer guys can show her how to knit better.

it's odd seeing guys knit... they learned somewhere in their past i guess. It's odd seeing them knit, but then at the same time, it sorta fits their feminine stature to knit... since i find Asian men to be more metrosexual.

I did a couple more rows on my scrap blanket... it's coming along. It's hard to try to find real scrap yarn like that... sure i have left over yarn that i don't know what to do with, perhaps it should go into that afghan... like the yarn that i purchased extra of to make sure i didn't run out of yarn for the scarves. although i think i'm going to not put full 100% wool in the blanket, since maybe i'd like to be able to throw it in the washer to wash it.


Here's my progress picture thus far... looks pretty good no? & warm!!!

A close up of the colors & the stitch, which is just rows and rows of double crochet.

I think i'm going to do more rows of the solid colors, later to mix up the double strand with two different colors...

i finished watching stranger than fiction today, and noticed emma thompson wearing a clapotis at the end of the movie... i thought that was cool. ok, well it might not have been a clappy, but it had the same dropped stitch pattern, and it was shawl like... so i'm calling it a clapotis. It was gray.

i think i might go to bed early today... i am a bit tired from doing nothing all day.

quick make another one!!!

I have started the k-drama Que Sera Sera. there's a lot more kissing than the normal k-dramas that i've watched. Most other k-dramas are more timid in those kissing scenes, but this one... it starts out with a car make out! Racey i say! But you're not here for that...

Here's the sock i've been working on...
more progress pics!!


by this time i have pretty much figured out that using a stitch marker is good for you. and all i have left is the toe area... i sorta winged the foot length after the heel part.. it's a good thing i have my own feet to measure or else i've be stuck at the exact size of it...



Tada!!
Yarn: sock yarn from the personal swap Javede and I did.
Hook: #6 of the Clover, which measures about F hook.
Pattern: Crochet Socks- crochetandknitting.com ( i have made something else from her website, the flip top mittens for fill that were way too big.)

all done!!! one sock down, and one more to go. i hate making seconds. really i do. But this sock was a quick hook... as most crochet projects are... i wonder why?? maybe i should start the other sock while the feeling of socks is still hot.

i uploaded more progress shots on my flickr, but lately flickr hasn't been working right for me... so if you're unable to see the pictures let me know.

I labeled this entry slytherin as well because i personal swapped the yarn because it was slytherin colored... and i was going to try jaywalkers for the sock yarn, but knitting socks takes sooo long. So i didn't make up making it for my swap partner for HHR2... maybe if i finish this shortly and the swap isn't over yet, I'll send it anyway to her. i think she'd like that.

i broke my yarn diet again. i forgot that i wasn't suppose to buy yarn, but pickupsticks just called out to me. she makes buying yarn too easy for me. paypal sucks me in, plus it's Canadian dollars so it's a little bit bless... oh! I am bad. OK no more yarn until i make all my projects that the yarn was suppose to be for.

Crochet this instead!!

Instead of the Sudoku Afghan from knit.1, I picked up the hook and started hooking the crochet sock. I am thus far finished on around the heel and am on the rest of the foot part. It's a bit snug, and i'm not really keeping a good track of how many rows and how many stitches, and just sorta winging it... which is not a good idea for a thing where you have to make two of... as I have learned from the crochet mittens situation.

I had to frog and remake the same mitten like 3 times to get it correct, but i kept at it cuz it was mittens for the then fill... this time the socks are half for me... maybe i'll make it and send it to my latest Slytherin friend Dancer4ever, since we have the same size feet. we'll see how quickly i get it done, she said she wanted socks, but i'm sure she meant knitted socks, not crochet socks, but socks is still cool no??

i just need a little of your time

I packed up the Hogwarts House round two to send off to Sarah in TX, USA. it's just sitting there waiting for the courier to pick it up. I am having it sent from china with the expedite shipping because I don't want to do the slow way with the regular china post.

secondly, i think i got my MYB from Canada. my mother said it rattled when she picked it up, and the post office made sure to let her know that it was like that when they got it... hehe. adorable post office people.

thirdly, i think i'm going to start on the sudoku afghan today while i watch the rest of witch yoo hee.

i should take another inventory of my yarn stash...it's getting large...

hi, my name is mary and i am a knitter.

talked to a new friend about knitting today. Lulu, my china hair stylist. one of the salon helper asked me what i do in my down time, i said knitting. Lulu then asked me to bring some spare needles and yarn to teach her, the next time i visit.

i said that i would.

she mentioned that she wants to knit sweaters. i guess i will teach her basics stitches and then set her free to make a sweater.

Lulu is the first person that has asked me to teach her how to knit... yay!!

speaking of knitting, i need to get off my butt and send off the hogwarts package.... i think i'll send out the ones i've already finished tomorrow, and then mail out the scarf when i'm done with it.

sounds like a plan no?

it's only been 4 days and i've already forgotten i was suppose to be on a yarn diet. ergh. I will practice entralace with the yarn i already have upon finishing the slytherin scarf. I can not get myself to finish the last trapped bar... 2 more days until i have to mail out... if i don't make it to HK, i guess i'm mailing out in china.

break me off a piece of that.

I was thinking of signing up for another swap, a little visitor swap 7, the deadline to sign up is June 6. But I am hesitant because I feel a bit swapped out. I felt like I hadn't done any knitting for myself, just kept knitting things for other people, and not having time to knit things that i want to knit...

i mean don't get me wrong, knitting for other people is great, but it just seems like all i've been doing for the past 3 months or so is knit in the circular in stockingnett... and it has been getting boring.

I am seeking to knit something new, something where i can work on something that is not stockingnett the whole time...

perhaps not the time to start on that rowan long stockingnett sweater either.

Maybe I will get back into the Clapotis with that pink yarn, or start over on the thuja sock, and try the jaywalker sock... crochet the afghan, etc. all of the above!!!!

I am on the last leg of the slytherin scarf... this last trapped bar is taking a really long time. I'm hoping to finish it tomorrow... perhaps I'll pop in the new korean drama dvd called Witch Yoo Hee or Witch Amusement or A Witch in Love

almost finished!!!!

well after asking my swap partner about what size her shoulders were, she replied that her shoulders are 21 inches across. So i re-hooked up a teensey caplet, but this time I used two strands to hook it, and put the stripes towards the bottom of the caplet.

BUT

i think it's too big, and it looks ugly.

SO

I'm going to frog it. I like the one strand look, not the two strand look. The two strand look is too thick for this design.

I am on the last trapped bar of the PoA scarf. I'm excited to be on the last leg.

I think i'd like to add one more item if I could to the package. Perhaps a better presentation of the owlie. Like a cage... that would be cute no??

quick! A teensey Capelet

Teensey Capelet From Vicky Howell's a pattern a month
I didn't have the right yarn for the gauge, but i hooked it up anyway...

yarn used: Woolease, green & grey Heather.
Hook used: 7mm

It's a quick hooking. I added one more round cuz it seemed too short...and i still think it's too short, it's short compared to original... I don't know if it will fit my partner. I'm hoping she's really skeletal skinny, or at least with not so wide shoulders.

I hope it fits her.

enough of this... no more!

I think I have a significant stash of yarn now... each yarn is project specific. I think I'm going to have to finish those project specific yarn off before I let myself purchase frivilous yarn. OK?

So I hereby declare myself on a yarn cut off. No more yarn purchases until I finish all the yarn projects I have lined up.

as for the frivilous yarn that aren't project specific, find a project for them, and use it up.

Immediately!!

stolen goods

stolen goods, originally uploaded by mlee.

I personal swapped some items with javede from Germany for her handdye green yarn seen on the right. I sent her blank yarn for her to play with.

I have wound one skein up, and i think if I find the right size needles, I will make the Jaywalker socks with it!

the hello kitty magazine was a bonus gift. she saw in my profile that i like hello kitty, and had an extra magazine lying about, so she passed it along.

I kept trying to read it, but it's in German and I don't read German. It's sad really... trying to read German, and not being able to. It's for little kids, but i love little kid magazines.

Thuja update 3

OK... so a misread pattern directions in the toe shaping part and I just couldn't recover from it. sooo I had to frog it... well, I didn't feel too bad about frogging it due to the inside out foot part... ok. so i will do better next time... totally a learning experience for sure!!!

and now, i have to get on the mindless stockingnett for the scarf! I have less than one week.

thuja update 5/21

OK, you might not notice a difference from yesterday's progress from today's progress, but i can tell the difference. I made a couple more rows on the foot part. I am actually on the foot part as opposed of the gusset area of the sock. so there is your difference.

for some strange reason i am extremly proud of my inside out sock.

I need to do the foot part for awhile before i can start doing the toe part... exciting. I had hoped to work on it some today, but i went for a car ride, and it made me dizzy, and then on the way home it was too dark to knit. Perhaps tomorrow I'll have some time to spare at night to finish it up!

Exciting times ahead!!

please to meet you Owl!

Owl Name: (unamed)
Sex: Unknown until later...
Birthdate: May 21, 2007
Likes: to meet new friends and hang out with nemos!
Dislikes: heavy letters & flying during the day.

Thuja update thus far

OK... a whole day of sock knitting gets me here...I did it all ok, until i got to the heel part. that heel part is tricky, but I'm determined to go with my inside out sock.



it should be ok right? just cuz it's garter on the outside doesn't mean it's not wearable... plus it's my first single pair of sock.

This was suppose to be for my dad, but i think it might just be for me... cuz when i fit it on my feet, the heel just sits snuggley... hm... i guess i will see how this one single sock goes.

At the home stretch yo!! so easy... who knew.

::knock on wood::

work work work away

the electricity went out at where i lived, so instead of being in a large building all alone without electricity, I came to work to sit here with all of one of the worker. Everyone else is either getting the day off, or working away not in the office. Just me and the girl who failed my english test.

Logged on craftster and saw that they added a new board called LIMBO. It's rather entertaining for me to read actually, perhaps I'm just suffering from boredom, so i find it funny, but i find the whole thing hilarious. The point of the Limbo board is that the Mods move a iffy posting there and send the Post-er a private message, asking them to fix whatever they thought was iffy about it, cuz they posted official new rules about fishing for sales, directly going off craftster to see tutorial and etc. It's the red Mod warnings on top of the postings that makes me laugh. But maybe it's just me...

thuja

in a fit of desperation for something else to do besides knitting in stockingnett the whole time, i've started the thuja socks for dad... i'm not getting gauge... it's way small, but i think it might be ok. i hope. well worse comes to worse, i'll jus frog this and call it a learning experience... sigh. i hate gauge. & casting on.

I also rolled my first hank... you should see the proud little ball i have. I'm sooo proud of it lookig half decent i may just roll all the sock yarn that i have just for fun! this is how lame i am.

i have finished reading the 7th horcrux by melinda... i cried, such a sap i am. i won't spoil it for anyone just incase you want to read it. it's pretty good. although there were parts in there that i was like... uh do you really have to go there?

i got grey's so perhaps i'll pop it in later and knit to that. hehe.

what i've been up to!

have been prusing the classifieds at destash.blogspot.com for when people post their yarns for destashing purposes. so far everytime i've emailed someone about what they have posted... I am always too late. there was a knitscene magazine that i wanted, these sock yarn... too late. i suppose it's better that i am too late... don't really need MORE yarn i suppose.

::raise hand:: i am a big geek. I read harry potter fan fic. I am on chapter 12 or something. I read the chapters and knit the scarf that i'm working on for the swap at the same time... so far so good. I am on the 7th trapped bar... i had a lot of free time lately, but hadn't felt like knitting all the time. just sometimes.

i haven't been knitting anything else lately... i sorta want to start on socks for my dad... but i guess i'm waiting until i'm done with the scarf, i like doing one project at a time. not multi-tasking of the any sort.

WIP updates...

there's the Slytherin scarf project as promised. I am on the 5th trapped bar, and onto the 6th trapped bar. It shall be 14 trapped bar... so... 8 more to go. I had some knitting time earlier this week. This was all knitting done sitting in front of the tv watching movies. first there was 300, then there was blood diamonds yesterday. Since blood diamonds was about 2 hours long, i had plenty of time to knit thru that. I don't know why, but i had been picking very graphic violent movies lately... i couldn't help it, it's what's out there.

the jogless jog is very apparent in the picture above. as you can see the 3 trapped bar at the beginning of the scarf is at this diagonal, but the ones above that are very well in the round. nice huh?!

i don't think i'll post anymore progress pictures of the scarf until it's done. it's sorta boring seeing all the trapped bars coming into fruition... it's just the same old. everyone knows that it looks like.

I think I'm going to re-try the knitted backyard critters from Crafty Alien with the correct feltable yarn this time. Yes, I can read!!! i swear. The Jaeger DK yarn said it was machine washable. Dang it, why didn't I see that little graphic before?!?! seriously i need to get my eyes checked or something. :)

takes so little to make me smile

i am a geek. I opened my itunes to listen to some music, but then noticed the podcast section searching for Cast On podcasts... and noticed it started downloading a new podcast!!! Exciting!! now i don't have to listen to older archives, i can listen to the new one. Not tha i have listend to all the archives, but a select few.

yay!!!

as for knitting updates, i am making progress with my slytherin scarf. since the big bar is only 20 rows, it's going by a lot quicker than the previous 27 rows. Plus now that i've got the jogless jog down, i've been doing it that way for the color changes, but my rows are looking a lot nicer. I shall take a picture later on for show.

i also have been a bit of a nerd and have been reading fanfic for harry potter. I was listening to the pottercast this week, and it mentioned this one fanfic that was getting passed off as the next installment or spoiler or whatnot... so i thought, i sure take a look. I know, slow on the bandwagon, but hey better late then never huh? It's ok... so far. i mean, i feel as if it's not really the way Jo would write it. It's too artificial for JKR work... well i'm only saying that cuz i know it's fanfic. i still enjoy the story line.. thus far...

it's sorta like reading the babysitter's club, and then reading the large summer special ones where they all go to CA for the summer or whatever. It's like the same characters, but different setting.

so now i have to stay awake while the itunes DL the new Cast On!!!!!

i think this scarf, shfting sands will be lovely as a present as well.

the jogless jog succeed?!

i think i figured out how the jogless jog works that i was missing from before. I think i need to do one round first, then lift the stitch and knit it that way...

as you can see in the picture above, the color change at the very top is straight. while the color change underneath that is not straight...

I'm going to try this method again at the next color change to see if my theory is right...

yay... another technique conquered.

felt update

my faith in felting has been restore. I KNEW as soon it (the yarn with the cat on the label) felted that the jaeger matchmaker was not the right wool to be used in felting. It was most likely superwash even though it didn't say that it was superwash.

the solid mesh you see above used to look like those stockingnett stitches behind it before it was felted in the hot water.

felting is easy when you use the right kind of wool.

...maybe i will give felting another chance.

oops i did it again!

i realised I never posted picture of the swap items from the end swap. Here they are.
1. PoA Scarf with initials E+D, it's really really long.
2. His and hers toothbrush.
3. extra yarn even though she doesn't knit or crochet.
4. green and silver makeup slytherin style.
5. beautifying potion in green and white.
6. edible wands from olivander...
7. a pop up card of London... so she can feel like she's right there.
8. pygmy puff candy
9. set of harry potter stamps... for evil licking!
10. pens to do some evil writing with.
11. and tissues incase she needs them for the last book.

ok... so not all slytherin things are evil... but most of them are. evil is their middle name.

ok i lied.

So 20 mins before the end of the day, my dad calls me up and says that he's able to eat dinner after all. So me and him ended up having a birthday dinner all by ourselves, at the Shabu place where they serve fresh shrimp. By fresh I mean, so fresh, they will jump right into the hotpot for you, literally. He ordered Kobe beef, i ordered some other part of Japan beef & shrimp. after dinner, we picked up cake, and ended up cutting the cake also just by ourselves. although it was a bit lonely just the two of us. we made do, it was still good to spend time together as a family, since we used to not regularly.

now back to your normally scheduled program.

while i was waiting for dinner, I managed to knit a couple of rows. after dinner i also knit more rows. I am on the second repeat now. I have made the solids not so thick, only 20 rows not 27, so it looks a bit squished... but i'm thinking it should be ok with more repeats. I'm just not used to it because i was used to having the 27 rows.

A felting thought occured to me. what if the Jaeger matchmaker that i was making the owl with superwash. I know it didn't say so on the package, but that thought occured to me while i was handling my 100 % wool yarn with the scarf, this 100$ wool yarn from Japan is coarse, not like the DK. the jaeger dk was soft to the touch... thus making me feel like it was superwash, thus not felt-able. hm... defintely worth trying felting with this japanese yarn... i have a swatch that i may use in my felting experiment.

(oh why must i always try to felt non-feltable items???!!! this isn't the first time!!!!!)