Chinese New Year 2017

First of all, I would like to thank everybody for the warm New Year wishes. I apologise once again because it seems as if I have abandoned this blog for far too long. Like I said on the earlier post, I am still in Indonesia, and — surrounded by friends and family — it is hard to find an alone time where I could sit down and write.

But here I am…

The year of rooster…

Chinese New Year in Indonesia used to be banned before 1998, as the Chinese Indonesian has been repressed by the New Order regime, under our former president Soeharto. My parents told me that for more than 30 years they were not allowed to celebrate Lunar New Year — which means they could not celebrate their own tradition.

Since the Chinese New Year is now no longer banned, it seems like the Chinese Indonesian have appreciated this celebration more, and no longer taking it for granted. In Solo, for example, we decorated our little “Chinatown” with hundreds and hundreds of red lanterns.

The crowds, and the lanterns…

I have to admit that this year was the first time I went to see the lanterns, although they have been doing this for the past few years now.

People from all around Indonesia came to see this too, and every year more and more crowds gather in this place to enjoy the night view. IF you happened to be in Indonesia or Solo in particular during the Lunar New Year, try to come and see… Not only to see the lantern, but there are also a lot of street food to try too.

Nightime is when the party starts…

Anyway… I am not going to talk about food now, because… really, it would take a whole new entry to talk about CNY food 😀

An Update!

What a horrible blogger I am.

I promised not so long time ago to keep this blog updated regularly, but I ended up neglecting this place for so many days (weeks?!). For that, I apologise.

However, I am now in Indonesia, and I haven’t touched either the WIP nor the laptop for the past few days. That’s not an excuse.. that’s a reason.

Yes, I am back in Indonesia for another visit. The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and it means a lot of tasty food and meeting family and friends. I will be back to Norwich soon, but I will try to update a thing or two about my visit before then.

But I am afraid, I cannot post too long for now, so… I will see you soon.

x ❤ x

The Twiglets…

I started noticing Twiglets since I am in the UK, but I am haven’t really tried it up until last year. My husband introduced it to me, after he found out that I actually enjoyed Marmite. Marmite is… I actually am not sure what it is, but it is a kind of thing people here use in their toast to make it very tasty…

Twiglets are basically a type of crisps, taste like Marmite. If you are from Australia, my husband said that it might be something that reminds you of a stronger Vegemite.

I thought Twiglets are popular in any western country — means everywhere else that is not Indonesia. But apparently I was wrong.

Anyway, I got hooked after I tried this twiglets thing. They are much better than potato crisps, and some swears that they are even healthier. I know… I know there is no such thing as healthy crisps, but if there are any, it must be twiglets.

However, Twiglets are rarely on sale on supermarket, so I have to be very cunning in storing them. Like — for example — when I found them in poundland (it’s like one dollar store, but in poundsterling…). Yes, I stash them. Same thing happened when I found Guinnes flavoured potato crisps…

And no… I don’t feel guilty stashing crisps at home.

Away from the nibbles… I just realised that the photo I uploaded last time was from the wrong side. How bizarre…

Here… the right side, and a bit of progress 🙂

x ❤ x

That One Thing About Stockinette Stitch…

This new WIP is basically a very simple cardigan with stockinette (or stocking) stitch. I like stockinette stitch, because it is something that I could do while watching telly. You don’t need to keep looking at your work, as you do not need to keep counting stitches to keep a lace or cable pattern.

But that’s also the problem with stockinette stitch. As it could be quite mindless, it could get a bit boring before the shaping (neck or sleeves) needs to be done. And, I have to say, that I am on that bit of the project now…

Oh well…

But… looking at the positive side. The wool is very very soft. And since it is a 4ply instead of a DK –that I usually use, it is also much lighter and I think it would be mor suitable for my sister in Indonesia where it is much warmer than here in the UK.

I bought the wool when they were on sale on my local Hobbycraft. They were £10 for 10 balls — which I think is a huge bargain, especially for this brand and quality. But it was about two years ago, I wonder if they would do it again this year?

So much for new year wish?

Happy New Year 2017

Hello you, and you, and you 🙂

Yes, you can see how cheerful I am today. Not only because this is the first day of 2017, but also that I have these:

That’s my new year sorted.

I know… I really wish next year I could be more classy than beer and twiglet kind of person. But, seriously, I couldn’t see what’s wrong with twiglet and beer while watching Tarantino’s film?

Alright, I am going to present you the first WIP of 2017 too.

There you go. It is going to be a cardigan for my little sister. This is my first time ever to work with 4ply wool, and it does feel like it takes forever and ever and ever to get to 5 cm rib — and you know how I feel about rib.

Have a wonderful year, you all… and I will see you soon.

x ❤ x