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.

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.

Temptation everywhere! Argh!

This is terrible, just terrible! I know I made a mistake blogging about my wait list! Now everytime I look at my existing WIPs I heave a sigh and stare soulfully at my other yarns. They seem to be hynotizing me, asking gently " But what about us?". I guess the grass is always greener on the other side until it's on your side. Ok ok, so I cheated. I gave into temptation and started Branching Out with my mystery wool. I'm still trying hard not to start something right now though I have a feeling I'm losing the battle.

On the knitting front, nothing much to post on my 3 WIPS, not much progress. I've barely managed to knit Kiri back to where I stop before frogging 12 rows. She is a very tricky dame and I've got more and more knitalicious stuff lining up in the wait list too. Shrugs, laces shawls and socks are the in thing right now. Personally, socks don't do it for me. There was only 1 pair in Knitty archives that I like. I'm more into bags, tanks, camis and shawls. Now, add shrugs to it too. It's high on my knitlist now.

What's that? Last weekend you say? Let's put it this way, see my Inky Mood at my side bar? Notice that it's been "Tired/Sleepy" for a loooong while? Yea, still that way. In fact, coffee didn't help me today either.

So, today I'll entertain you with mugshots of my furkid. Quite simply because I have no good WIP shots. So, presenting her

before and after. :) It's amazing what a haircut can do. My parents didn't want me to cut her fur. They wanted it long. But furkid grew up in Aussie with me, so she couldn't take the weather here when she came back and I didn't have time to comb out her tangles like when I was in Uni. So I cut it routinely and experiments with different dos. I still like the puppy cut best. That pic represents the most unkempt furkid look I can take before I whip out my scissors despite protests from dad. I think kiddo feels better with the cut too. Not too hot.

Oh yes! Here's something else too.

Sewing patterns that my mom got for me in her last Aussie trip. I'm still hunting for some nice fabric for the right most pattern pack. Yea yea I can hear some of my friends laughing already. Since when do I wear a skirt yea..:P Well, with this little number, I just might make an ocasional exception..:) After all, most of them seem to be getting married this year.

Now.. I'll go drift in outer space for a bit more....

Knit Style Doldrums

yes yes, I've been terrible this week about posting and pictures. It hasn't been a very productive week for me. I'm getting sucked into a conspiracy by the WIP gang because they've decided that I'm moving too fast. After that tiff with Marmalade, Green Tea decided to join the fun and I ran out of yarn with Vanilla Seed and couldn't knit until I go home to get more ammunition. Then, I caved in and started negotiation with Branching Out armed with a ball of my mystery yarn. That didn't work out too. So yes, I'm hiding out now. Shhhh!

To top that up, a deal I was 'negotiating' fell through. We got betrayed by another gang up at the Post. (Errrr... what I meant was a magazine that I bought from a fellow knitter didn't arrive.) The dope was sent to Hawaii but was never arrived. It's now 20 days. It's gone missing.

Sigh.. dispensing with that gangstar talk...Did I mention also that I haven't been sleep well and there are a hundred and one things going on in my life right now? My parents are going off on a business trip and my relatives are coming and my application is running and I don't know what nots. I'll post pics next week. I promise.

Oh! I actually finished the wedding garter for my friend. It looked gorgeous. Excitedly, I took it to her and she loved it too. The only thing is, I made it exactly her measurements. I didn't take into account of the 'stretch'. So now I have to make another one and cut it back 3 inches. Then in our excitement, she wanted to keep the first one with her. And so, I forgot to take a photo of it before I pass it to her. Never mind..:) I shall take a photo of the second one.

On a lighter note, good news is, I managed to negotiate a deal with Green Tea after frogging some cables. And also, like a yarn addict I am, I spy with my own eyes, a new batch of vagriated 100% bamboo designer yarns in Axelle's site! Just yummy! Well what are you waiting for? Go look! shoo shoo !I'm so tempted.

A tiff with Marmalade Kiri

As said, Marmalade Kiri and I have what I describe as a very tempestuous relationship. It's never smooth sailing, always interesting and is never quiet for long. In fact, it is downright fiery because both of us are just as stubborn. What started as a misunderstanding that became a huge tiff...shouting matches, tantrums and tears. At the end of it all...it had to be frogged 12 rows before we came to a compromise. Reminds me of the song "I love you, I hate you" sang by Celine Dion and Pavarotti (My fav version of the song). Things are calm now but I wonder when our next episode will start. Sigh. As for the rest, I haven't had the heart or the strength to deal with them after. It's been a very busy weekend otherwise.

Bits and Ends

Yea yea, this is my second post for the day. I'm pissed with work and the office stinks because they painted the bloody conference room, they turned the aircon off and spray some bloody smelly stuff at the reception area. It's driving me to distraction. I'm making up for lost blog time and I feel the urge type more too. Need anymore reasons? *wink Anyways, I was reading up my bloglines today. Lori from Lorispeak certainly caught my attention. My goodness gracious, I think I've only been bitten by 3 things in comparison to her collection of bites! Let's see, I got bitten by mosquitoes, red ants and my furkid, end of my collection. I can't imagine cat fleas jumping up from the carpet to bite legs either. Eouch!

MeetUp Alternatives

Our little Malaysia group have been using Meetup.com for a few months. It was pretty sad for us that they decided to charge just as we were starting to get comfortable there. The active members are now at Google groups.

But for others who might still be looking for an alternative, I'm sharing what I've found. Hope it helps. Many of these substitude are similar but not a complete replacement for meetup.com.

List of Meetup alternatives

http://www.evite.com/pages/homepage/index.jsp (allows u to send out invites)

http://www.suretomeet.com/

http://upcoming.org/

http://evdb.com/ (I don't quite like this one)

http://sanfrancisco.tribe.net/

http://www.barnraiser.org/ (Beta versions)

http://www.meetin.org/ (Closest match to meetup.com)

Those interested in news of Meetup replacements or alternatives may want to look here. http://freemeetup.blogspot.com/

Ok, I've finished rambling. Now lemme get back to my blog reads..:)
Cheers

Progress Report duly submitted

Marmalade Kiri

The pen is just there as a gauge. I've gone from Inox circs to wooden circ and finally on to wooden straights. Metals points are simply not sharp enough when it comes to KSH. And I really hate the way the circs twist and turn because the KSH is not heavy enough to weigh it down. Wooden straights seem to work out best for me right now. I'm almost finishing the first ball of yarn now. The pattern is much easier after the 4th or 5th repeat. I'm more comfortable with Marmalade Kiri and don't make as many mistakes. I'd strongly advise you to count your stitches religiously everytime you reach the center stitch and the end of the row though. I know I do. Trust me, it's worth the hassle doing so. I'm probably going to finish at ball No. 2. That way, I can use the other 2 balls for another shawl pattern. Then I get to give one to my granny and keep the other for myself rather than end up with 1 extra ball without any idea what to do with it. *grin

Green Tea Cables

Green Tea is going waaaayy too slowly. I've started on the second ball. Siow Chin is right, cables eat up your yarn like there is no tomorrow. But it is lovely though. I've got 3 balls of 100g Sirdar DK Cotton. I hope it is enough, I do wanna try and incorporate short row shaping at the bust area for experiment. Let's rephrase, I'll just have to make it enough.

Vanilla Seed Shell

This one is going moderately well. The yarn is very nice to touch. Cotton with viscose but it is not plyed and that spells as "Ms Vanilla Split-a-lot" if you are not careful. That having said, I'm knitting this brainlessly. It's what I call a "No Eye See" session. That is, I knit this when I'm chatting with ppl or while watching TV or in my car during traffic jams as I look at all the bored drivers in the same sardine jam. I'm pretty amused by how every time I pick up my knitting, the queue always starts to move and I have to put it down. I've not brought it along for the past 2 days and lights and jams seems to be taking way too long. A matter of perspective? You know you are a knit addict when you don't know whether to be irritated you couldn't knit a single stitch or happy that the jam is moving at times like that.

Meanwhile, I'm still impatiently waiting to finish something so I can start on my Phildar babydoll, Phildar Pink Jacket and Portofino. I've also finally found some things to knit with my mystery wool. They are really lovely lovely stuff. Inspired by Southern Cross Knitting and their Diamond Patterned Scarf, I'm going to do just that and Branching Out each with one ball of the mystery yarn. Let's see how those will turn out. I'm so so tempted to start already. sigh... I need some quick instant gratification knit fix.

Bits and pieces, here and there

I haven't been knitting much for the past 3 days. I was engrossed with another project. Remember my post eons and eons ago about a friend whom I promised a crochet wedding garter to? Yup.

It's actually been quite interesting. I was very curious to see how the lace pattern would turn out. It was 80% complete when I took the picture. I've finished it late last night. That's 3 late nights in a row so you'll have to forgive my bleary eyes and stoned reactions today. I promise to take a picture of the complete garter soon.

Also! Candy for the eyes! More stitch markers!

I really like these colors. At least it makes things more interesting when you knit.

Lelah - which one, which one?
Lastly, I would like opinions. I've dug out these 4 babies for Lelah.

Do you think 2 tone will look weird? I was thinking a darker shade for the bust and the lighter for the lace pattern. Eenie Minnie Mina More - Gimme votes.

1.) Forget about 2 tones and stick with 1 color.

2.) The first set - Off white and cream (*Note that very brown looking ball there is actually Gedifra Califonia in a nice light cream color)

3.) The second set - The blues (Sirdar Denium(Slightly lighter shade & Schachenmayr Punto)

I promise I'll be good and post up my progress with my 3 WIPs tomorrow. :)

Funny little things!!!

Wow! Thank you everyone for responding so enthusiatically. This is something so warm and wonderful about our little world of blogging knitters. :) I'll be knitting all those I posted there and somemore. I guess the ribbon tape would be for X-back. I have other yarns for Lelah. I'll post that one up for opinions next week.

Funny Little things

Not much pictures today. So…! I had time to knit early this week, Wednesday specifically. Did I knit? Nope. I got caught up with these funny little things.

Wondering what on earth is that?!?!? :D

Well, the long story goes, a couple of bloggers started showing off beautiful custom made stitch markers. Since then it's been at the back of my mind. Then they decided to nudge me some more. They posted tutorials! How could a girl resist such outright invitation to do some herself!

By bits and pieces I suddenly found myself with all the materials at hand. Like for instance, couple of weeks back while rummaging through my stuff, I absently dug out some beads and stuff, bought previously and left them aside. 2 weeks later, I conveniently wandered into a handicraft shop, found and got myself some chain rings and pin heads. On Monday back, all pretense thrown off, I got myself a pair of long nosed pliers.

Wednesday nite, I sat down, stared at my loot, thought about it and made myself 3 pairs of stitch markers from a necklace. Yea yea I know, the picture above sucks..:) There you go. A better look.



This is what I've made.

You see, I had this wire choker necklace that I bought on impulse 3 years ago. I have never worn it and probably would never wear it. The beads were light and it was just lying about and I thought it would be a perfect practice piece before I use my beads, chain rings and pin heads. So I took it apart. I wish I took a picture of the it. It was a wire choker piece with beads dangling down the front.

This was what I basically did. I cut the end of the necklace and poured all the beads and dangling pieces out. Then I took the dangling pieces apart. I cut the wire necklace into 6 pieces. For each piece, I inserted 1 dangly piece and curled up both ends of the wire. Then I wrapped it best as I could around the biggest knitting needle I have to create a rough circle and Viola! You got yourself some stitch markers.

Mind you, it is very rough. For one, the stitch markers isn’t a perfect round. In fact, it looks a little mishapen. And I think I made it too big. Good thing is, because of the way I made it, the size is adjustable. My excuse? It’s my virgin piece. I didn’t exactly follow instructions. :P Well, it’s for my own use so I guess it’s ok. I’ve been using them for 2 whole days already and I’m happy to report that it doesn’t snag up any of my yarn and they don’t make my palm itch with I knit, not like the plastic ones that I have. (Note to myself : Need to make them heavier to weight it down slightly.)

All in all, it was a 3 hour exercise and my fingers hurt a bit after. It was good fun though. And now, I'll move on to my chain rings and t-pins. More! More! More!

These wonderful knitters were my resource. Just in case anyone wanna make some themselves

Glampyre

Illana from Knit Powers To Peace

Stacy from Sheep In The City (Look for her April 28th post.)

Laura(not me mind you :D) from Poor Miss Finch

Impatiently WaitListed

I think some of you visiting would be wondering what the heck is happening with my blog nowadays. My apologies, I wanted to do slight modifications to it. Ended up being fascinated by codes and my blog got all wonky. Still not getting it but learning, so be prepared for more changes...if I ever get to it. :D

WaitListed
Speaking of a long knit waitlist, I can only mourn that there is not enough knitting time in a day. I won't list my entire wait list. I'll just pick and choose from those I can't wait to start. I'm forcing myself finish my 3 items before I start on anything else.

Filatura Di Crosa - Portofino

The minute I saw this, I just had to knit it. The bust area of course would have to be modified a little. I'd prefer to cover up more. My olive color 4ply Rowan cotton was initially dedicated to it then my Peruvian Baby Silk from Elann finally showed up. That was it..:) I think I'll swap it in.

The Rowan Cotton tape you see there with the Peruvian silk is for the dark border. It's of different gauge but I'll work something out. You can see Rowan River Tape at the right side as well. I'm trying to fit it into the equation. I have no idea what to do with that one.

XBack or Lelah?
I need help here. I got 3 more balls of the Rowan Tape(picture above) from ebay, just arrived. This is going to be either Lelah or XBack project. What does everyone think? Lelah or X Back?

Phildar Flirt Jacket

Yes, I swatched this eons ago and have been doing nothing but staring and feeling it all this while. I wanted to do the jacket featured, then I realized it requires 3 types of yarn together. Since I only have Phildar Flirt, I'm going to use just that. In fact, my idea of a jacket includes lapels, which this Phildar Jacket doesn't have. So it's gonna be modified. I did the swatch first in stockinette for the first half, then I followed Phildar's knit in both Right and Wrong side of the swatch. I like the effect. I think I'll use that effect for the cuffs and lapels.

Phildar Baby Doll

This little number is going with my Jaeger Trinity in Flamenco. Speaking of Flamenco, I wasn't suitably impressed. I'm pretty luke warm about it. Love the color, it's gorgeous. But the yarn itself is another story. Probably my expectations is way off. I had expected some sort of sheen to it, I didn't expect it to be so matte and well, not well defined?

Yes, you get the idea of the sort of designs I like..:) I don't know yet, I might just swap the yarns around the patterns again. Anyone with suggestions?

Vintage Nyonya kebayas!

First, a big thank you to my friends and fellow knitters. Your encouraging comments are well appreciated and does wonders to spire me on. :)

Second, this is a totally knit unrelated post. So for those not interested, I guess you can stop reading here. It's a vintage craft post. So, on to the topic of the day.

The Nyonya Kebaya
There are quite a few varieties of kebayas around. Nyonya kebaya, pronounced as no-nia ker-buy-yar, is one of my favourites. It has it's roots in Peranakan communities in Malacca and Penang. They have a very unique blend of Malay and Chinese influence in their culture. Females are referred to as Nyonas and the males, babas in their dialect. Hence, the name Nyonya kebaya.

Traditionally, it is worn with a shift/cami inside and a fited, embroidered, translucent blouse outside, fastened with a set of chained brooches called kerongsang. A matching hand-drawn batik sarong goes with it. Nowadays there are many modern adaptations to it.


First Pic : Traditional wear Second Pic : Modern Adaptation (These pictures are taken from Star newspaper)


There is also a book on Nyonya Kebayas published by Datin Seri Endon Mahmood, wife of Malaysia President that is out in the market.

In the olden days, the translucent blouse is made of voile. It is now very hard to find the material as most are factory made and uses linen, cotton and other like materials. Handiwork is very intensive. It's an age old elegant classic over here and very expensive. It's haute couture in our culture.

I can go on and on but please I'd invite you to this site. For those who are already bored with this story, I'll stop here. For those interested to find out out, please read more about it here (*Highly recommended) and here. My short intro doesn't do this justice.

Now, for all those wondering where this post is leading to...:) I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm one very very lucky girl. I got these vintage nyonya kebayas from a dear elderly neighbour, Aunty X. They belonged to her mother. Her mother use to love wearing these and it was passed on to her daughter, Aunty X. She doesn't wear these so she just kept them. She asked me to choose from her collection. So I ended with 6 of these lovely vintages.




Notice all the lacy hand work.

Now, off to buy some sarongs for evening wear. For a more casual day wear, I can always wear it as a jacket with a simple cami and jeans to match..:)