Slaving over the weekend

no 'nitting,'nuff said





Have you seen Emy's ring pillow??

I never had one - the best man did the honours. Would anyone else like to share theirs?

I am so pumped up by this pillow I feel like making more. I have so much lace and jazquard and stuffing from my last Crazy quilting craze that I think I could make some for sale.

Stay tuned for the finished product.

A little bit of this and that

I am rich!!! I sold off some Cross stitch patterns on Ebay UK and made a cool US$40.00. What a dilemma - what shall I buy?? On my eBay watchlist I have handpainted Jaggerspun Zephyr, Lorna's laces sock yarn, Handpainted yarn from South America, Turkish Novelty yarn from Yarnart.
BUT what I really want is some Knitpicks Shimmer yarn - will someone help me buy some? She doesn't ship overseas.

I am in a major lace kick currently. I keep looking at lace weight yarn and lace patterns until I'm really dizzy.

I started a little bit of Kiri with some Cherry Tree Hill laceweight yarn I had (colourway Dusk) and was mucho dissapointed at how the colourway pooled - I guess I need either bigger needles (I used 3.5mm) or different pattern to get the best out of this indigo- purple-green colurway.






The good news is my Kid Silk Haze order arrived yesterday so I will probably start this again with the Nightly colourway and bigger needles.

Then I also casted on for this top

Forgive the funny reflection of the ceiling lights in my office.


I am using a fuschia Turkish cotton yarn from Yarn Art I got from ebay. A whopping 400 mt to a 100gm ball. The yarn is light and perfect for lacy tops BUT very splitty. Splits don't normally bother me but with a complicated pattern as this , the frogging is almost unbearable. But still I plug on and here's almost one little sleeve done.

For a close look at the detail, click here


BUT no more knitting for me for the next few days - I have a ring pillow to do for my sister-in-law's wedding. I've been postponing it for a while, it's hard to pick up an old hobby while one is still crazy about another one. But since the wedding is next weekend , I guess I better get a move on or I won't be able to show my face at the church.

Midnight Show

I was sorting out my stash yesterday and found some scarf yarn that I hadn't touched. Before I knew it I was sitting down and casting on for a two hour scarf, forget the housework and the tax returns I was going to do...

What's a two hour scarf? well you take the biggest needle you have and cast one about 100 or so - I used 10mm needles and casted on 120 - That's the length of your scarf. Then you knit one or two alternating rows with each yarn - using a combinations of 3 or 4 yarns for a fun effect. Leave about 8 inchs tail at each end for a fringe. Keep going until you have the thickness that you want.

And if you don't understand all that - please go here for the Berocco version - only you can substitute which whatever yarn that you have on had. I used a Schachenmeyr Salsa yarn for the fur element, Sirdar cotton chenille and Schachenmeyr Jupiter.

And after all that you get a scarf - presenting the Midnight Show




*Forgive the gratuitous advertising of our company logo but it's T shirt Friday and we HAVE to wear our company t shirt on Fridays.*
And a closer look

Why did I call it the Midnight Show ? well it was past midnight when I finished it - it wasn't really a 2 hour scarf - it was 3 hours - but then I was kind of caught up a little by West Wing Season 3 finale on DVD and American Idol on Cable.

Then I also thought it would be just the type of thing you'd wear to the freezing cinemas during a midnight show, especially if you're trying to avoid getting hickies from an over- amourous boyfriend. I used thinner yarn cause I wanted it to be wearable in tropical weather but the fun fur gives it just a little hint of being warm. The whole thing is incredibly soft though and a lot of fun -think I'll do a pink one next.

In the meantime - I casted on for I do" but ripped it cos I didn't think it was the right yarn. Lace in circulars is also the pits. I have a phobia of putting it down just in case I forget which row and where in the row I left off.

On a more happy note - here's my april stash of yarn ( more coming but we won't talk about that right now.)



That's Lorna's Laces in Motherlode and Hawaii and the ball on the bottom left is a Japanese carry along yarn called Flowery and Thready ( yeah they have some strange names for their yarn ). It's ruinously expensive but it's gorgeous and I am thinking of running it together with my Kid Silk Haze yarn for a shawl.

Catching up

Just a few things happening in my life at the moment.


Last Friday the KL Knitting Meet up group went met up at Jackie's place for a slap up gourmet dinner. Check out the pic on Vanessa's blog. we were all supposed to act natural, but when Laura clicked on the button, everyone looked up and smiled. I was still trying to act natural, instead I look liked the glutton! But seriously, the food was great and the company was even better.


Lyn from Knitties was admitted into hospital for an appendectomy on Friday itself so she missed our meet up. Do send her your well wishes. Thank goodness she has mountain of NEW yarn to cheer her up.


My secret pal sent me a great Easter package which arrived on Friday too. I couldn't take a pic cos I don't have the camera with me, but I received
1. two packs of candy
2. a peeps backpack clip
3. a bar of botanical soap and a bottle of Euclan(sp??)
4. an Easter chicky that peeped when you pressed ( my son thanks you for this, he absolutely loves it)
5. An easter Bunny filled with notions.
6. Hello Kitty! clips.


I'll try to take pic of all these goodies tonight - minus the candy - they're long gone (YUM!!!)


On the knitting front, I'm in a little bit of a rut at the moment. Since I finished the FBS, I've been casting on and abandoning swatching several projects with no clear objective in sight. I really have to start work on my sister's cardigan again but I'm unmotivated. I have a million scarves I want to Knit from Scarf Style but am discouraged by the fact that I would probably not be able to wear them.

Hopefully I'll feel better knitwise tonight as just settle into something that will hold my interest for more than a week.

Yarn-orexia

In my short yarn fast last month I seemed to have accumulated a very long list of stuff I really reallly want. I actually did break my yarn fast by making a totally impulsive Best Offer on eBay for a lot of Noro Silk Garden in the colourway #88. Oh and an order for some Malabrigo yarn from the yarn co-op group.


I thought I'd put up a pared down list of what I am looking for in the next few months.


If anyone would like to sell their copy of any of the magazines I covet below - please email me.

Phildar Ete 2004
Can't seem to find an english version.


Knitters Summer 2004
I'd love to do this Lily of the Valley shawl.


One skein of green based KPPPM and Charlotte's web shawl pattern
Do you know I have been trying to place an order for this but have been faced with shipping being ridiculously high at Patternworks, and colours out of stock at Threadbear and pattern out of stock at Kaledeiscope yarn.


The following yarns are listed in no particluar order, just what will probably be my next purchases -whenever I find a good deal on any.

Jaeger Siena ( any colour but white)
RYC Cashcotton DK in Quartz
Elann's Alpaca Silk or Baby Cashmere
Hand Painted yarn in Candy Colorway
KSH in Trance (as many balls as it takes)


And after that I just... might... go for another long yarn diet.