Last FO Of The Year

I really can’t believe that it is that time of the year again. I am glad though, that I can squeeze in one more FO before the end of the year.

After I finished this project, I have to say that I quite like the result. I haven’t attached the button, but I think mum would like to pick her own button later. I still believe it would look better in a brighter colour, but… oh well…

I will definitely get some photo of her wearing it, but unfortunately it would have to wait until I see her again when I go to Indonesia for the next visit.

Anyway…

Just in case anyone would love to see some photos I took from my Christmas visit to Wales. Here are some pictures of my in laws small holding.

I have to say that the place was so beautiful both when it was sunny, and when it was frosty. My husband and I have been talking about the possibility of us to move over there. First, it would be nice to live in a countryside. And, second, it would be wonderful if we could live near the in laws, as they have got older, and it would be easier to keep an eye on them if we live nearby.

Who knows I would be able to have my own sheep, and produce my own wool?

or some mohair, or alpaca, or angora…

Oh well, that’s an idea to think about, isn’t it?

Anyway…

I might not have time to post anything until next year (which is only a couple of days from now), so I would like to wish you all a festive and joyous New Year, and a wonderful adventure for the year ahead.

See you soon.

Love,

x ❤ x

Mel

At The Same Time!!

No… Seriously. Have you ever done Drop Design’s patterns? I realised that they do this a lot, and almost every single time I would end up picking up stitches because of this silly pattern writing style.

“AT THE SAME TIME”

After a long elaborated way to tell you what to do, they added “AT THE SAME TIME” in the end. Why?

I know… read the pattern carefully. Twice. But sometimes the excitement just get the better of me 😦

ginger bread biscuit to impress in laws… who happened to be a chef and a master-homecook… wish me luck

Never mind… this is the time to be jolly. And I will have to finish this post soon because I am going to go on a road trip to Wales with hubby to visit the in laws 🙂 Might not be able to update in near future for a while, so… just in case I could’t be here tomorrow, I would love to wish everybody a very merry Christmas, and a wonderful happy New Year 🙂

x ❤ x

P.S talking about Mother’s day a couple of days ago, I just realised that my little sister is also a mum now 😮 Should have give her a quick “Happy Mother’s Day” shout out lol.

Restarting is Not A Bad Thing

I could go all philosophical about this vague sentence, but I better leave the philosophical thing to those who are expert in it. I am talking about restarting a project.

As you know, my last WIP is no longer a WIP… It was a frogged mess. Not quite a mess really, because I did it carefully. Do you know that it is so easy to get your yarn tangled if you don’t wind it right away after frogging a project? I didn’t, but I am a learning being…

A reminder of how to frog a project 😦

As far as the new project, I went to Ravelry (of course), and found this from Garnstudio. I am a bit leary about doing Drops design because although they have lovely projects to do, some of the patterns are not easy to decipher. But heck… Challenge accepted 🙂

This is the next project, and this is how the pattern looks in black:

Not bad at all. The lace is still very visible in black, and it would work well in a humid warm tropical country like Indonesia. Wish me luck 😀

x ❤ x

P.S Do you know that today is Mother’s Day in Indonesia? I think it is a good sign that this project will be “approved by Mum”.

Uhm… Nope!

Girls (and guys), I did try to love this project. But, unlike some of the better project I have made, I couldn’t fall in love with this project.

Yes, Ladies (and gentlemen), I was talking about the cardigan for my mum.

I am not sure if it is the colour that put me off, or if it is the pattern. But, I have gone as far as finishing the right front part, but the piece just didn’t seem right. The shape was wrong, the motif was wrong, and I just couldn’t see how it would be finished properly.

Oh, you know where i am going with this. There will only be two options for this: letting this go… *sci fi music illustration in the background* UFO, or… *horror music illustration in the background* frog it.

I can’t remember the last time I had to frog my work, as I don’t usually end up with horrible pattern. The last time it happened to me with the baby jacket I found out that I just misread the instruction, therefore I didn’t frog it. This time, it didn’t matter how many times I re-read the instruction or redoing the part I thought wasn’t make sense… it just didn’t work 😦

So, frog I did… and the quest to find a new pattern for my mum has begun (again)…

Oh well…

x ❤ x

[Arguably] The Greatest (early) Christmas Gift (so far)…

Lol… Sorry… I was pushing it, but I just couldn’t help it. I am so overjoyed with the new development in our family, so I have to share it to everybody. I mean, I promised to update it in my blog anyway, but even if I didn’t I still would update you guys…

Yes, it is about the visa.

I have granted the visa extension, and it feels as if the whole gloomy black cloud has disappeared from our home. I felt much happier, my husband too, and considering how close it is to Christmas I do feel like Christmas is coming a week earlier than it should. I took this as the best Christmas gift the Immigration Office can ever give to me.

I booked an appointment at Croydon, as I used the Premium Service. It was much more expensive than the standard service, but having to be able to get the result in a day is really worth it. We did have a little chat with the officers and they admitted that during or close to Christmas time like this, the standard service could take up to 4 months. My husband’s facial expression says it all…

The last time we did this, it only took around one to one and half hour to get the result. But it was in June, and we took the earliest appointment slot, so the process was understandably faster. This time, the result came after 5 hours of waiting… 5 hours! If I knew it would take that long, I would have brought my knitting, wouldn’t I? Noted for the next time.

Talking about the knitting… it took longer than I thought it would be. After working with baby clothes, it feels like forever just to finish 6 cm of ribbing in an adult size clothing. Am I the only one that doesn’t like making 2k2p ribbing?

The lace bit… meh… I don’t really care about it. It looked much better in the photo I saw on Ravelry, but it doesn’t look interesting at all in mine. I tried to convince myself that it would look better after blocking. Hopefully..

Anyway… There you go. A good week indeed, seems like I could enjoy the rest of this year smiling 😀

x ❤ x

 

Working With Black

After making some cardigans for my niece, and showed it off to my family, my mum showed her interests in handmade cardigans. Nope, she didn’t say she wanted to make it herself, instead she hinted that it would be nice to have a handmade black cardigan she could wear to the church.

I told her that I don’t use black yarn much. I usually use black yarn to make dolls because black yarn is a little bit difficult to work with. Especially the bit when I have to count stitches. Plus, sometimes it is difficult to see motifs in black yarn…

I don’t know…

So I found this pattern from Ravelry — I don’t have to remind you again of how I love that site.

The pattern has lacy motif, so it will be airy enough to be worn in a warm place like Indonesia. And short sleeve too, as requested by her. On paper, this is going to be a good project, but something is not right… I just can’t put my finger on it yet.

Oh well… wish me luck for my new WIP.

x ❤ x

One Last Spurt…

Anyway… Last weekend was really stressful as it is getting closer and closer to the appointment for my visa application. I think it is helpful to have something to do during the weekend. Much better than letting the mind wander to somewhere murky and scary. Pink*)… is how you do it…

I finished the main part quite easily. Like I said, with st st, it is hard to screw up. The difficult part is the crochet bit. I had to frog 3-4 times before getting it right.

First mistake I made was the stitches to pick. The pattern said that I had to pick the stitches from the back (wrong side), and I was not used to do it so it was really slow first attempt. Then, it is about finding the correct tension as crochet and knitting has different gauge. In the end I found out that picking two for every three rows with smaller hook is the best way to get it right.

Now… there you go…

I don’t have buttons yet. I will let my mum choose it later. Mum has her own garment factory in Indonesia, so she has better and larger selection of buttons than I do. She could do it better than me. So… I am done with this for now 🙂

x ❤ x

*)PS. I love doing this jacket while listening to Pink by Aerosmith. Ah… Bliss…

Are You A DPNs or A Magic Loop Person?

I’ll come back to that question. But first, a quick update about the WIP.

Once it progressed past the armhole bit, working the body part is easy peasy. It is just a straight st st with garter stitch border. I feel bad doing it, and I kind of wonder if I could have done something about it…

But oh well… It might look simple now because it’s not done yet. Anyway… back to the question… Are you a DPNs or a Magic Loop kind of person?

Me? I am a DPNs person… definitely.

Don’t get me wrong, I do love circular needle. I think they are very practical thing to have, I even think of ordering shorter circular needle that I might be able to use to knit socks. I also love them for a big project where it gets heavy with straight needles. It is very practical to bring them while travelling because it would less likely for me to lose one needle — or drop the stitches as they slide of the needle.

But I have never got around to like magic loop.

Like when working on the sleeves for this WIP for example. I always think DPNs is the best way to do it because I don’t have circular needle small enough for the sleeves.

I do realise though, that DPNs are not a very practical method when you’re travelling. I can’t imagine bringing this on the plane. It is going to be a nightmare, isn’t it? I wonder if it is done properly it is going to be much faster to work with magic loop?

x ❤ x

Hmm… I Wonder…

So, I started this new WIP. I found the pattern from Ravelry — of course. I have to remind you again how dangerous Ravelry is. Once you get in their site, you will get lost in thousands of awesome patterns, and you will stay there for the whole day… none of the household chores would be done. Yes… that place.

I found this pattern, and I love it. So I decide to make this for my niece (again). However, this time I do it for Mum’s request — as if I need an excuse to start a new project. Tee hee.

I didn’t have red wool in my stash, but I did have a bright fuschia baby yarn there. As I have this awesome plan to destash, I decide to use this yarn instead. Mum agreed that it is acceptable for CNY celebration, so I go ahead with the plan.

Right, it is Robin Bonny Babe. But somehow it is not the same with the usual Bonny Babe yarn I used. In the label it is said that it is New Soft Blend, and it was much softer than the usual Bonny Babe I used. And, no, I am not paid to say this.

The pattern is made from top to bottom. I have done it before for my first ever baby cardigan, but somehow I still found it difficult to follow pattern. I think it depends on how the pattern was written, but I also believe that I am still a novice in reading patterns although I have been knitting for 10 something years.

Anyway… Since I have made jackets and cardigans for my niece, it got me thinking… Does she need that many warm clothing? I mean, Indonesia is a tropical country, and it is warm almost all the time. But mum said that babies can’t produce heat like adults from their body, so they need warm clothes to keep their body temperature.

I don’t have babies, so I don’t know anything about how their bodies work. But my mum has four kids, so I take her words for it. But is it true, though? I mean, I don’t mind knitting more for my niece. I just wonder…

x ❤ x

Do You Block Hats?

It might sound like a stupid question, but do you block your knitted hats?

The hats I’ve been making finished really quickly. I quite enjoyed doing the fair isle Panda for the hat, I think they are quite cute. I know I still need to practice more to make sure that the hat wouldn’t skew too much.

Usually blocking helps with the shape, but I never knew how to block hats.

Because of its shape it doesn’t do flat properly, so I don’t know if it is even blockable. Do I need a dummy head to do this? Or people generally don’t block hats?

Anyway… I have to finished hats today, and they are for couples. I was thinking it might be cuter with pompom, but I am not sure if everybody likes pompom. So, I leave it at that.

Next one?

Well, Mum asked me if I could make something for my niece for her first Chinese New Year — since I will go back to Indonesia for Chinese New Year. She likes it to be red, or any shades of red or pink. I told mum, I will look at patterns and good soft yarn for babies.

Next WIP sorted 😀

x ❤ x