WIP Wednesday

Wow… It’s been so long since the last time I actually say that… WIP Wednesday. I must be really bad at doing this discipline thing. Ha!

Okay… the sleeves of the hubby’s green cardigan looks better than I thought it would be. The stripes which were originally made to save the green yarn, turned out to be quite good. The blue stripes tone down the brightness of the green, and I kind of regret that I did not think of making these stripes much earlier.

It did cross my mind to redo the front pieces so that I can make the stripes, but husband said he would rather have pockets instead. Maybe I could add blue pockets later? Hm… something to think about.

My jumper looks great, and I love knitting it a lot. In no time, I have finished the back part. Not that often I could surprise myself.

I think it knits much faster than my husband’s jumper, mainly because my size is way smaller than my husband’s. I wonder if I would have a FO anytime soon…

When these are done, I would have to start to make a hoodie pullover for my teenage nephew. Do you have any good pattern for a pullover jumper? I have several jumper and hoodie patterns, but they don’t look… right. Especially the hoodie bit.

I mean, hoodies are supposed to drape around your face instead of snugging your head like a balaclava aren’t they?

x ❤ x

Weekend’s WIP Report

Now now… what have we here?

Nope… we haven’t forgotten this neglected beauty

I am now working on 3 WIPs. The crochet top still needs some cleaning up. It is so boring, I put it away for awhile until I gained some discipline.

The jumper with two different yarn went really well. I really enjoyed making it. The only thing that slow me down is that sometimes when I purl I didn’t catch one of the yarn. Grr…

But it’s fine. I am quite happy doing it, because even with stst, there is enough challenge to keep the project interesting for me. I have to say it again now that I am really happy with the random flecks effect.

The cardigan for my husband is also right on track. One thing that makes the project more interesting than it should be is… that I think I would have to improvise a bit.

I am doing the sleeves now, and I realised I wouldn’t have enough green to make two sleeves. I miscalculated the amount of yarn needed, and pretty much underestimated how my husband XL size would use the yarn. So I decided to make stripes using the same yarn I used for the ribbing, so at least the colour combo would work.

Now, hopefully we could have enough green to make a complete cardigan.

x ❤ x

What Goes Well With Tea?

Have you ever thought of that? What goes well with tea?

I started to think about that after my husband introduced me to one of the best British delicacy called Rich Tea biscuit. I mean, the name says it all, doesn’t it? Rich Tea… the biscuit that makes tea drinking experience even richer? Am I pushing it?

The traditional Cream Tea — Tea, scone, cream and jam

Then of course, along came Cream Tea. Scone is probably one of the best thing that can happen to tea. Those are new to me, because in Indonesia, and in my Chinese culture, tea is not enjoyed the way people do here in the UK. Completely different.

For example, in Indonesia we don’t need to drink tea from a cup. We enjoy it hot or cold, with or without sugar. But never… with milk or any whitener. Or lemon, as lemon is not widely accessible in Indonesia — expensive because it is an imported fruit.

Chinese Tea in a Bakutteh Restaurant in Malaysia. Definitely a must try… 

While my mum is a coffee drinker, my dad is a tea drinker. He enjoys a good tea, and only drink it black. I think I learn it from him. The difference is, while I am not too fussy with my tea, my father could be a mini pain in the neck when he started making comments about what tea should be. Come to think of it.. almost all his siblings are pretty fussy about tea.

Whenever I come back from Indonesia, I always bring some boxes of tea for me and my sister in law. Indonesian tea (especially the jasmine tea version) is generally more fragrant than tea in the UK, which was imported from India. I am not saying they’re better, but I am used to tea from the other part of the world, and processed differently too. I mean, there are hundreds or thousands of tea variety in the world, in the end it is all about your preference, isn’t it?

Right… while in that part of Asia we enjoy tea with almost everything — including savoury food, here we have a special kind of tea drinking experience called Afternoon Tea, or High Tea.

High Tea or Afternoon Tea… Three Tiered Yums

I was finally able to convince my DH to go with me to enjoy an Afternoon Tea in the city. He is a coffee drinker, so he swapped his tea with coffee — don’t mind the heathen. He thought Afternoon Tea is an overpriced cake eating experience. I beg to differ…

I believe that afternoon tea is not just about eating cake and sandwich while drinking tea. For me it is a way for us to allocate a time for just us, enjoying the finer things in life without distraction from computer games, or mobile phone apps, or tv show. It is a great way to go on a date as a couple.

Seriously.

And you know what? When we finished the afternoon tea (we were allowed to bring the leftover home, so… bonus), he admitted that he quite enjoyed the whole experience. See?

Anyway… what else goes well with tea? You guessed it…

Knitting.

x ❤ x

 

Everybody Loves Bank Holiday Weekend :D

Especially me! Because it means my DH would spend the whole day at home, and I can bug him with horrible jokes I invented during the day. I mean, knitting on st st didn’t really take up too much space on the brain, did it?

Alright… alright. I will tell you one of the joke I made up (while — of course — watching L&O).

“What do you call the security personnel at Samsung store?”

“The Guardian of the Galaxy”.

He didn’t laugh.

Aah… doesn’t matter.

Anyway, with this rate of progression, in the end of the holiday I would end up an FO. And THAT would be the glorious icing on the bank holiday cake, wouldn’t it?

x ❤ x

P.s. I am still learning how to modify expressions. Husband think I am really bad at it too.

 

 

The WIP and The Workshop

Because of the wrist situation, WIP went very slowly. BUT, I managed to make some progress, so yeah well done me.

In between time, curbing myself from exerting my wrists to a heavy duty knitting, I sew buttons. I just found out that a lot of my FOs did not have buttons in them. I did buy some buttons months ago, but when they arrived, I forgot to attach them to the jackets. What a silly me.

So, here you go.

These are the baby lacy matinee jackets with pearly buttons.

And, don’t forget the latest projects.

Now all buttoned up.

My husband and I also spent time doing workshop in Bury St. Edmunds. Workshop? What kind of workshop can possibly done there? Well… actually, the kind of workshop we do together is “He works, I shop :D”

His job sometimes requires him to go on site, and sometimes he was sent to a nice place. And when that happens, I would tag along, and spend the whole day going around adventuring by myself. Last time it was Bedford… this time it is Bury.

Bury is a lovely little heritage town, known as the jewel of Suffolk. Well known for its abbey ruins, and its wonderful cathedral. Although of course, for me the Greene King Brewery is as important too.

I have to say, I quite enjoy a day trip there. It is definitely a very welcomed change of routine 🙂

x ❤ x

WIPs Progress(es?)

It makes me wonder… if there are more than one WIP, would the progress should be in plural form too? To be honest English confuses me a lot, especially when it is learned properly (instead of the basic one used for daily conversation). But oh well… Let’s not let it distract me from sharing the progress I have made so far…

The first one is the crochet project I made during my trip to Edinburgh. You’d be surprised how much one can make during the train trip. The first few pieces that’s been connected looked slightly wonky, but the latter ones looked much better. Overall, I am loving this project… I think green is good for summer too, don’t you think?

And, I just realised that the other project was also green! It has gone very quickly too… before I accidentally nicked my finger with the sharp edge on the tin when opening a spam. Damn Spam… But the back and the front is done, and I am halfway on the first sleeve.

HOPEFULLY… I would be able to post more regularly again. It is nice to return to a routine…

x ❤ x

Fund Your Hobby Without Breaking Your Bank…

Okay… If you know how to do it, you should let me know…

Like I said earlier, I have a lot of hobby… I cook, bake, knit, crochet, and cross stitch. And they do require a lot of money if you want to make something really good.

Cross Stitch WIP D1

For example, knitting and crocheting… I could buy a nice pair of needles or hooks at the charity shops, but cheap wool is not easy to find. Most cheap wool I found is not well spun, or nice and fluffy like the more expensive one. Sometimes they would have a dodgy knots in the middle, making your knitted project really ugly, or a uneven plying.

Cross stitch is slightly easier for now. And, as cross stitching takes longer to finish (at least for me), it is cheaper if you calculate it by the amount of days you’re doing your hobby. But with hundreds and hundreds of colours, it will take around 30-40 pounds for one project.

Cross Stitch WIP D2

This HAED for example… I am lucky that I have at least a third of the threads that I would need to finish it. But, I honestly can’t imagine funding a bigger project than this one, as much as want to 😦

So, if you don’t mind me asking…

How do you budget for your hobby? How much roughly do you allocate for a project?

x ❤ x