Rambling my rumbles

I'm going to ramble today. Nothing knit related so those who are not interested please skip. I'm not going make much sense here anyway. This is more for myself, for me to vent on the accumulation of things happening.

Been rather stressed lately at work and outside of it. I've put in too much in some instances and got toxic people for my efforts. There's all kinds of mean, toxic and crazy ppl who enjoy playing their childish and spiteful games of intrigue in earnest and I wonder why the heck was I being nice. It got to the point where I was grouchy and an absolute ogre to be around (Poor SW can attest to that). Consolation is, at least there were still a few genuine gems out there. It's time to take a stand on some things. Time to re-evaluate, time to take a step back, time to take a dump and refresh.

SW probably realized I'm reaching my tolerance limit before I did and whisked us off for a quick break. Isn't he a dear? We needed one badly. We haven't had a decent break for quite a while. Timing was always off. I haven't been in a proper one for 3 years. This short one made me crave for more. Probably plan for another soon.

Things are falling into perspective again. K.I.S.S (Keep it short and simple) I guess being a working adult gets to you sometime. Gosh! I certainly don’t want to become like them little toxic petties. I'm still piqued but they'll be barely worth the mention soon. Detox, detox. I wonder what took me so long and why I was so accommodating in the first place. There are important things to deal with in life Girl! So.... Write off. Dump, Detoxify, *DELETE* *end of story*

Off topic but kinda related to my present situation, my brother in London with his pregnant wife gave us a scare. Thank goodness they are alright. The London bombing was a very sad day for humanity. Another wake up call for me. I say again, what's wrong with the world nowadays. It's either you are petty or you are psycho. I guess it all got to me for a while.

Anyway, if I've never mentioned it before, I'm at Stage 2 of my PR application. It's time to think things through a bit. That's the thing about Asian families, you have to think bout taking care of the family and that. My life needs tweaking, my family, my career, my commitments. Everything is starting to converge. I need to adjust to the shift in my direction in life. Sigh.... Ok, I got my vent.

On to rediscovering the simple fun in life. I've finally got some good advice on washing spots off my vintage kebayas. My first attempt with ordinary detergent failed. The material was extremely delicate. Those wondering what this is about, refer here. So! I was rumaging my cupboard and generally mucking about when I thought I might as well have some fun. So, fun I had. I tried on the 2 Kebayas to see what I can come up with.



Here is a close up on the lace pattern for the white kebaya just for the heck of it. And that, is my orangina lying on it. They have become close friends.



This is what I came up with. The traditional way of wearing it. (Left) And the modern variation(right) teaming it with jeans and a cami. Conclusion? I need to get more of my vintage kebayas washed and I want to get more sarongs. Anyone knows where to get nice sarongs and at what price? :D I got more funnies but I need to sort them out.

Kiri

Kiri was done last week. But I had no time to block it so it had to wait. Kiri was an anti climax in a sense. Reason? Well, I knitted this piece especially for my granny. My aunt was here from Aussie and I was rushing to finish it off so she can bring it back for my granny. The minute I casted off, my mom and aunt tells me it is probably too bright for my granny but it is beautiful and I should to make another duplicate in a darker color for Granny.

My aunts don't dare to wear this color cause they feel it is too bright for their age. I still feel that this burnt autumn orange would go very well with their dark clothings and wouldn't look that bright with dark colors. Anyway, I still love Marmalade and though it's a bonus I get to keep it now, somehow, my enthusiasm kinda wilted upon the news. I don't know how else to explain it.


I took my time to block it. By the way girls, those who want to or are doing Kiri or Birch take note, the cast off has to be really loose. My intepretation of loose was apparently still not loose enough. As a result, the edging couldn't stretch as much and wasn't pointy enough for my liking. I have reblocked it twice and it is still not pointy enough. There is simply not enough give at the edge. Taking it apart and redoing the edge definitely isn't an option with KSH.


I used up almost 2 balls of KSH. I was left with a mere few metres of KSH from the 2nd ball. The measurements are : width - 62 inches x length 30 inches. 13 repeats.



It's amazing how it looks before and after blocking. So! It's very very lovely and I'm happy with my first attemp of a lace shawl but I think I'll take a break from KSH lace for now. :) My other wait lists are calling.

By the way girls, I have 2 new balls of KSH in Marmalade I didn't use for Kiri. A swap anyone? Since I'm keeping Marmalade Kiri, I'd love to have KSH in the colors of either Jelly, Heavenly or Dewberry for something else. Email me if anyone is interested.

Orangina KAL & Lelah

Lelah is technically finished so I can start something else! On to my next project! ! Yes I joined a mini KAL started here. It started on the 1st of July. We've been seeing some yummy ones on the net. Some of the girls started at the stroke of midnight LOL. I'm already late. I think we spur each other into Orangina frenzy! LOL I'm gonna swatch tonight. Others who still wanna join the fun are still welcome to! Just click to the forum!



Lelah's finished. And this is the best of all the lousy photos I took. So until I can get better shots. I'm stuck with this. Overall, I'm quite happy with my Lelah. It's one of my very rare ladylike tops..:) It's not completely done up yet, but here's what I learned.

1.) Cotton stretches like mad! I went by the gauge and it didn't work for me. So I did it the other way. I grabbed the excess material, measured that, ripped and knitted again minus the extra 6 inches. The gauge method also told me that I'm only suppose to cut back 3 inches which I was glad I didn't follow. I got what I was aiming, that the tube does fall off when I take my hands off it. I still think it could have been tighter a bit, but at least I can breathe. LOL!

The other modifications that I did :-

1.) I did 8 or 9 repeats I can't remember exactly now. The large size called for 7.

2.) Short rowing the bust area for a better fit. Very glad that turned out well. My thanks and credits to Knitty's how to article. Very useful.

3.) I did a few rows of purl on top as border so it wouldn't curl outwards since I didn't have enough yarn left to follow instructions.

4.) I did straps. I didn't want to become an accidental flasher. I also positioned them where the bra straps would be to make hiding it more subtle.

5.) Because of all the reasons listed at the top, I decided on black elastic cords instead of elastic tape. Weaved them in on the wrong side. I think it worked well.

It's not completed yet though. I blocked but I think I didn't do a good enough job. So I'd probably block again. The elastic still doesn't have the right tension. And I need to tuck in the free flying strands properly.