Orange Sunshine

Thank you everyone! For giving me encouragement and support to Lelah. :) Most appreciated. And Agnes, you asked where I am in the photos? Well just look for Ms Specky. :) Just a short update on Lelah. I've frogged the boob tube and left the laces alone for now. I've decided to go slow and easy. I cut it down to 132 stitches and then did an increase 4 rows up to add another inch. It's a play by ear situation. I think I'll string a life line through midway and pull out my circs (too short to go around me) and try it on first.

As for the rest, hardly worth talking about, I manage to justified to myself another project start up once I finished Lelah. I need something to knit in the car. It just helps soothe my temper and something to do while in the jam. I think the girls who have been in my car can testify to the hurl of words and rhythm of my drive rant..:D So....something that doesn't require concentration like lace means stockinette stitches. Hence, my swatch.

for this

Now I have said before that I wasn't impressed with Jaeger Trinity but I must say, it feels and looks nicer as a swatch than a ball. Good sign. Phildar babydoll, here I come!

And since this post is already so full of orange goodness, I'll throw in a picture of Kiri as well.

It has grown a little since. I've switched to circs cause it's getting too big for straights. So big I can't spread it out, so I'm only showing half the shawl here. The pen is there as a gauge. I better get back to it soon before I forget how the pattern goes.

That girl Lelah!

Did the weather forecast predicted a FO? Well the weather forecast was wrong. Lelah got frogged. Lelah was breeze to knit and the lace part is beautiful but! I verestimated the measurements for the top. Let's start from the beginning shall we?

After frogging Vanilla, I started Lelah. I needed a quick fix. So I got really into it. I knitted Lelah with abandonment. In fact I was half way throught the laces during teh 18th Meet up. Lady Marmalade and the rest was all forgotten. On Monday, I was almost there, I incorporated shortrowing and was pleased with the results and then I realized..Gasp! I am running out of yarn fast! On Tuesday, I consulted my 'gang'. Tuesday night was another furious knitting frenzy. And then, with a sigh of relief, yaey! See the pic?

That little bit of tail on top was all that remained. I barely made it. Now that's what I call fully utilizing the yarn.

Let's try this groovy outfit! I can't wait.....now wait a sec! wow! I lost quite a bit of weight! oh hang on! Bummer, this is ridiculous! Ok, nope, I didn't lose weight. It was the boob tube, it was way too big. The darn thing just slides down my hips. It looks more like a hip warmer! Gawd dang!

I checked the gauge. Yep 5 sts per inch but I didn't count on the cotton to expand that much. Measuring it with a tape measure, it tell me I'm off by 3 inches. Grabbing a fist full of material while wearing it tells me I'm off by 6 inches. So, go figure. Wibbit wibbit ribbit rippit. Until the next epsiode. On a positive note, I guess I don't have to worry bout not having enough yarn second time round. I'm gonna try take off 5 inches and see if it works.

Meetups Meetups

What a week! One word, hectic! Those who read the Malaysian Knitters will probably know or have seen some pics...:) We had 2 different groups last week.


First, we got a visiting knitter, Jenny from Sweden. You will have to excuse the quality of the pic. It's the best I have. The restaurant was so dim and we had asked someone with shaky hands to take the photo for us. But anyway, on with the story....because of our time schedules it was hard to find a good time for everyone. Some of us did manage to meet up after work in the end. I could only join them after dinner and couldn't make it in time for the 2nd one the next day. By the time I could, they were all going home. Bummer. I would have loved for Jenny to join us for the one below but she was already going off somewhere else. Oh well. I do hope that Jenny and her baby had fun and enjoyed Malaysia...:)


Then, on the Saturday, 18th June, we had another meet. We had Pauline and her kiddos from US and Cara over from Singapore and they both brought goodies back for us. A big Thank You to both of them! The meet was really great! Boy did we have fun! There was an crafts & vintage flea market held there every Sat/Sun. We had fun trooping about the stalls, knitting in Starbucks and chatting. Of course there was also there ever important ritual of fondling new yarns. ;-p Time flies by so fast while you are having fun. Before we knew it, it was evening and time to go. On hindsight, I should have taken more photos, my excuse? :p I was having too much fun and too many things were happening at the same time. I forgot. I'll try harder next time. :D I haven't forgotten to knit but I'll post that another time.

Busy busy busy

Yes, I've been really busy. And yes, I haven't blogged for a week, and yes, I'm still alive and kicking..:)

I have the usual work has been busy excuse.

Last week was a very busy week for us all. Jenny from Sweden came for a visit. So did Pauline from US and Cara from Singapore. I'll be posting pics and the tales soon, but if you can't wait, some of the other bloggers have already post pixs.

I've got some yummies in the bag but I'll wait for the photos as well. Weather forecast predicts an FO in the next few days. Yep, been busy knitting too sporadically. Till then, tudelo!

On Tadpoles and Frog Ponds

You know, I don't know what is it with me. I should have known that with my luck with knitting and with things going so smoothly, something has got to give.

My Vanilla Seed and I had a falling out. She is now a huge ball of yarn waiting to be reborn. I was being really stubborn you see. Something was nagging my mind whenever I knit this one but since I'm normally driving when knitting this, I always forget about it as soon as I get out of my car. Finally when I reached the armholes, I finally gave it and tried it on. It looks huge, like a balloon. So much for shaping. I grab an overflowing fistful of extra material at the waist. In short, it looked like a rucksack. Two choices, either grit my teeth and make myself a rucksack which I'll never wear or ripped and recalculate. I was thinking of all sorts of ways to salvage it. In the end, what's the point of making a rucksack. Totally defeats the purpose of recycling this yarn... I'll chuck the rucksack in my cupboard never to see daylight again. Doh!!! So.. ribbit! ribbit! and another ribbit for good measure. Looks like my February Fix-it is now June Fix-it... or is it Neverending Fix-it, it's beginning to sound more like ribbit then fix-it.

Instead, I'll put away the heartache for now and do Lelah. Ok, I did say no more new projects till I finish something. But with 1 frog in the pond, I figured I deserve to start something else. I'm using a black worsted recycled yarn for this. Starting tonight I hope. I certainly hope it isn't going to be a tadpole in the making. Wibbit! If it is one, I fervently hope it would be something that can turn into a prince with a kiss.

Marmalade Kiri is growing alright. I'm still at the tail end of the 1st ball of yarn. KSH has amazing yardage, it just goes on and on and on. Incidentally for all those who want to know, the end of the 1st ball would be in the middle of my 9th repeat. Anyone knows where to stop the repeats and start the edging to make it exactly 2 balls of KSH?

Reporting in for my Secret Pal!

It's way time to post my questionaire..:) here you go Secret Pal!

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
Well, I wouldn’t call myself a yarn snob. I’m a fledgling and yarns over at my end are pretty limited. Fledglings tend to be pretty curious about different yarns. But because mine is a tropic country, I tend to go for summer yarns. For tanks and camis, I go for better quality stuff. For small little items or things I wanna felt, I’d try other sort of yarns. I’m leaning towards natural fibers and blends. Nothing too scratchy. There are a hundred and one yarns that I haven’t tried or sample.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I do crochet but very seldom. I'm more into knitting. I'm interested in spinning and dyeing but one hobby to learn at a time..:)

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
Nickel. As much as I fancy trinkets out there, my ears think otherwise. It likes pure silver and gold and kicks a big allegy if I don't give in and I don’t even like gold. Lousy ears. Cloyingly sweet and powdery perfumes give me an occasional migraine. Apart from that, no other allergies that I know of so far, oh except for my face, skin there is very sensitive. The rest of my body is fine. Weird.


4. How long have you been knitting?
I learned it some 12 years ago, never completed my garment. I found it 4 years ago and I decided to teach myself through the net to finish it. Completed it and sent it to my aunt. Too warm for our weather. Since then I have been knitting on and off. I get my know hows mostly from the net. Then at the beginning of last year, the knitting bug bit me real hard. So I've been hooked ever since.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Unfortunately no, but I do have a wish list at my side bar. I guess I can set up a online wish list if requested..:)

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Let's see, fruity and earthy stuff like mango and likes. Lavendar, orange and of course, vanilla, chocolate and coffee! I like unique earthy fruity smells.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Are you kidding? Dark chocolate, tiramisu and orange flavored chocolates does it for me. Don't ask me why, I just have a thing for it.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I like making things. I sew a bit. Bead a bit. I use to make cards, revamp stuff and draw. It’s just sad that working life makes it really difficult if not impossible to now. Ah! The joys of being a grownup.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
No particular category of music. I just like music. It depends on my mood really. I listen from Josh Groban to Celine Dion to funk and rap. I don’t have a taste for is heavy metal, heavy jazz, house, acid, techno and heavy country though.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
Again, don’t really have a favorite. Only colors I don’t take to is yellow and muddy browns and greens. I love warm rich autumn colors, bright cheery colors and cool pastels like ice blues and of course, who can forget the classy off whites, creams and the darks like charcoal grey and black. See? I told ya..:)


11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Single with 1 fur kid in tow. There’s some pictures of my fur kid in my blog.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
I have wander lust and a dormant creativity streak. Would like to achieve enough in life to live comfortably and indulge in my 2 passions. Don’t we all..:)

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
No favorites yet. I’ve tried too few yarns to make a good comparison.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
The really scratchy ones cause my skin gets real irritated and very splitty yarns gets me irritated.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
Yarns and mags.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Strappy tank tops, camis, jackets, shrugs, lace shawls and bags

17. What are you knitting right now?
Right now? You can see it from my WIP progress at the sidebar. It is always updated. There is also a post last month on my waitlisted projects.

18. What do you think about ponchos?
It’s ok, but not something you can get away with wearing over in Malaysia.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Circulars are preferred but I do use straights.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Bamboo because I like sharp points. I also have Inox and Pony. Then again it really depends on what I’m knitting. I have a pair of Addi Turbos circs in 4.5mm which I don’t quite like. Too bulky and blunt. Smaller sizes would be ideal. But I love the anti-curl string. Not like we have a lot of choices here, we only have bamboos and metals.

21. Are you a sock knitter?
Nope, it doesn’t do a thing for me right now. Except for one pair I saw in Knitty. A simple one with a pompom attached.

22. How did you learn to knit?
I think I answered in Question 4.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
My current oldest UFO is about 6 mths old.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
I used to have some favorite animated characters, mainly Jap Anime but not anymore. I’m an animal lover but if I really have to choose, it would be dogs, cats, dolphins and horses.

25. What is your favorite holiday?
All holidays are a favorite ..:) gives me more time to knit and relax.

26. Is there anything that you collect?
Books, magazines and of course, now, yarns.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
None, I don’t see the point. We can’t really knit anything from the Winter and Autumn issues here in the tropics.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
I’m always dying to get my hands on interesting books..:) I’m a bookworm. I gobble them up. As for magazines, the recent interesting one that I spotted was Knit1.

WIPS

So finally, I have some progress to report.

Lady Marmalade

We all know Lady Marmalade ain't easy to live with. We've our spats. After frogging 12 rows the last time, I was so demoralized, I tried to chuck it aside for a while. But I find myself picking it up time and time again. I still had problems until I took out the stitchmarkers. Weird huh? I figured a easier way to keep track of my pattern count. This is what happens when you up yourself suddenly from stockingnet stitch to lace with KSH, use lots of markers and disregard what is staring straight at your face all this while. I'm pretty sure everyone but me knows. I'm feeling pretty stupid here.

It's a 12 stitch repeat. To simplify, the last 3 stitch of the 12 stitch repeat is a YO, K, YO. That K stitch there needs to be aligned at the center of the fern motif. If it doesn't align, I made a mistake at that particular repeat. The other thing is, if I still have the wrong count after finishing the row, I mark the begining of the stitch repeat and start counting 12 for each repeat. If the offending repeat has more or less stitches than 12, quite obviously that particular repeat has problems. Makes it a lot easier and faster to find my mistakes. Now, if I had paid more attention to that and not gotten so dependent on the stitch markers, I might have it figured out earlier and save myself much grief.

Good news is, I'm at my 8th repeat, 3rd row and my first ball of KSH is finishing. I'd say that it'll finish in the next 2 rows and it's time to open up another ball. I may have to change back to circs too.

Green Tea Cables

As you can see, almost finishing the 2nd repeat. But everything is pretty much on hold while I obssess with Marmalade Kiri. Green Tea Cables is a slow going project.

Vanilla Seed
I'm not going to show Vanilla Seed, cause it the same old picture only slightly longer. It's about mid way. Another couple of inches more and I can start on the armholes and neckline.

Need some votes here though! I'm going to try a wide v-shape turtleneck, cowl style. I'm wondering here, would the neckline look better as a plain stockinette stitch or ribbed or should I stick to Seed stitch all the way? Vote vote vote. Stockinette, Ribbed, Seed???

Branching Out.

I broke my promise to myself on not starting anything until I finish my 3 WIPS for this. Frogged abit after the first pattern repeat cause I wasn't paying attention. I have to say, love this mystery yarn. No one can tell me what it is still. It's wool blended with a few very smooth strands of I dunno what, silk? poly or nylon that ranges from yellow to red, giving this yarn a unique dual tone with a sheen. You can't see it in the pic, it's blue(quite obviously) but the color sheen..:) I'll try to take a better photo of it next round.

That's all folks..:) Have a good weekend!

Knitters Community

This is a short one.

Firstly : -
Check this out! :) Knitters Community
It's totally new and I think it's pretty cool and it's hosted at my part of the continent!

Secondly :-
Secret Pal 5 started! Yipee! Guess I better pull up my socks and do my list of questions soon.