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.