Owls and Motifs

I saw this adorable owl tote and just have to make one for my niece, Elaine. At first I was quite reluctant to start a tote project with motifs as I just dread weaving in ends and seaming, but I was wrong! It is very addictive and here is the result:

I added a lining with zip:

The ears of the owls curl badly, so I will need to pin and steam block before gifting to my niece.  

A glimpse to my next  project is this African Flower motif:

Make a guess! What do you it's going to be??

Turnips and Sweet Potatoes

About a month ago, I saw that there were shoots growing from one of my matured turnip and purple sweet potato.  Both are my favourite vegetables.  I was curious and decided to grow them to see how they look like. With the help of my husband not me, they have grown to this:

This is the first time that we are planting vegetables and didn't think that the leaves and flowers are so lovely.

It really is a sight to behold, don't you think!?  It will take at least 6 months for them to mature but I think it is just worth waiting.  Every morning I will spend some time in my little garden and just admire them!

A Special Card

Last month I got to know that my friend's mother is suffering from cancer and undergoing chemotherapy.  I decided to knit her a cotton/acrylic hat, hoping to keep her spirits high and at the same time providing some warmth.  It flew all the way from Malaysia to Washington.

I used 3 techniques for this hat. Crochet for the band, pick up stitches and machine knit with tuck stitch and finally hand knit the decreasing part for the crown.  The name of this hat is Edwina, after the name of Carole's mother. I think it's such a beautiful name!

Today I have a lovely surprise when I peek into my post box. It's a card from aunty Edwina:

Did you notice that it's her favourite colour? I didn't know what her favourite colour was and was afraid that she might not like it. So glad that she likes it.  I heard from Carole that her mum said it is the most comfortable thing to wear on her head!

Take care aunty Edwina!

Patterns For Sale

I am currently waiting for my testers to finish testing this sideway cardigan. It is knitted on my SK280 with my own hand dyed single ply superwash merino Mulberry silk yarn in a muted colour of the rainbow:  This simple cardigan has two rows of hand manipulated eyelets.  The eyelets stitches are different for the first and second row created by short rowing. The wrong side is equally pretty enough to be worn as the public side so I have designed it without a button hole band. A long i-cord is knitted as the front closure.  If you find that you do not like the large neckline, simply knit an i-cord long enough to thread through the eyelets along the neckline and gather before tying. This is a super fast project that can be completed in less than 5 hours!

The wrong side

This is another top that I am thinking of publishing as well:

Hope to publish these patterns soon!

Smile!!

I was reading my mail today and saw this breathtakingly beautiful landscape, fields of lavender in Provence, France. I can almost smell it from here!

Awww...Yeah flowers!

I also love this cute photo of a Hazel Dormouse.  It just makes me smile. Thank you for brightening up my day Dormouse!

Misai Kucing Tea

I have read that the Misai Kucing tea is known for its therapeutic value for generations. It grows up to about 1.5 metre high and the flowers's long filament was the factor that gave the plant its bizarre Malay name which literally means cat's whiskers.  It is recommended for good kidney function, prevention of urinary tract infections, maintaining optimal liver function and preventing gout. It has been used for generations to treat circulatory disorders, kidney stones, hypertension and diabetes. The leaves have diuretic elements that help eliminate uric acid in the body, a source of many physiological problems.

I was so happy when I found this plant growing nicely in my sister-in-law's house and immediately planted it in my little garden. This is my little garden of Misai Kucing in full bloom:

 I just love this beautiful flower with long filaments.

Even the side view is such a pretty sight don't you think!?

WIP

I have started my first project for Tunisian crochet. It's a mobius wrap called Mystifying Embrace on the cover of this book :

This is my progress so far and it is slanting towards the right :

Yarn: DreamPassion Bambaroo

40% Bamboo 40% Merino 20% Nylon

Colour: Sage

I chain 68 instead of 80 because I only have 2 hanks of this sage colour yarn totalling 700 metres. It now measures about 13 inches for the width. Looks like it's going to be a small wrap.  Hopefully after blocking it will be bigger and solve the slanting problem.

My First Punch Card

Today I manage to knit a little swatch with a punch card that I have punched:

I have been trying for days to knit with this first card that I made:

Lots of mistakes there as you can see! This is actually a fashion lace card that is meant for a Brother machine.  A friend told me that it can be used for my Silver Reed SK280 machine since my lace carriage can transfer and knit at the same time just like the Brother lace card. So far no luck yet but I will keep on trying. 

I love this lace pattern and am thinking of using it for a top with this yarn:

 Maybe I will knit the lace for the hem and yoke or sideways from sleeve to yoke and then sleeve again. Will see which one works better. Wish me luck!

Tunisian Crochet

I recently received a little surprise gift from my dear friend Riki. It's a size 10 Tunisian or afghan crochet hook :

Always wanted to try this out so I managed to get hold of a tutorial and crochet this little swatch:

It's not as difficult as I thought it would be and the large size hook makes crocheting real fast. I like the texture and it looks good for my first swatch, don't you think? This will be a beautiful stitch  for cowls and wraps.

My dream MY PASSION!

Yay! My sweater is finally finished! I did not name it DreamPassion. I like this name better! The sleeves, front and back body were blocked before seaming with mattress stitch. Yes, my favourite stitch for seams. I did not seam it on the machine because I just like to sit back, relax and enjoy seaming. I used to hate seaming but since I've learnt to machine knit, this is the most exciting part for me!

Didn't realize that stripes can be very pretty until I knitted this sweater. Looks like more projects in stripes will be coming up! I still have some Dark Byzantium yarns left. Don't know if I should unravel the sleeves and make it longer?

DreamPassion Sweater WIP

I have knitted the back piece of my DreamPassion sweater yesterday and it looks like this:

This is the right side.

..and this is the wrong side. I prefer the wrong side because I like the tuck stitch yoke. I should have turn my work over before knitting the yoke. Anyway, the yoke and raglan sleeves will not look nice because of the vertical lines. So I have changed to stripes for the yoke and knit only 1 inch of the tuck stitch just before shaping the raglan sleeves. It looks like this :

Do you think it will be nice??

What's On My Mind Now?

So sorry that I have neglected my blog again. Being so busy with machine knitting and latest craze is amigurumi. Just can't stopped making those cute and adorable amigurumi. Most of the them were gifted to friends, nephew and niece. Oops..sorry, got carried away ...I am suppose to tell you what's on my mind at the moment! I was looking at these odd balls and thought maybe I can turn them into something useful like a top or even sweater ... AND definitely knit it on my Silver Reed 280....

Top: Berry, Falkland British Merino Sock

Bottom Left : Aqua, Dancing Toes 

Bottom Right: Dark Byzantium, 2 Ply Sock

Oh I forgot to mention that these are my own hand dyed yarns. Since I am using my own yarns, I will name this project DreamPassion.  I think the combination of colours will be nice! What do you think?

Folly Pattern Available For Sale!

I am so excited and happy that after months of testing, Folly shorts is finally published here!

It is a pair of shorts machine knitted with tuck stitch and no ribber nor punch card is needed. The instructions are simple to follow and even beginners can knit it.

Looking for Testers!

I have completed another pair of cotton shorts in a bright folly colour with light yellow and orange tuck stitches.  This is another machine knitted project that is going to be published for sale! If you are interested to test knit, please send me an e-mail to patriciatph@yahoo.com. Thank you!

My first machine knitting pattern published!

I am so excited that my first machine knitted project is finally published for sale after been tested by my Ravelry friends. It is called Somewhere Over The Rainbow, a cowl knitted with my own hand painted yarn in long colour repeats. I want to thank my testers Dana, Liz and Cindy for their lovely work and time. Most importantly, my heartfelt thanks to Sandy who has taught me to write up a simple and easy to follow instruction. It was with her help and encouragement that I have decided to give it a try. Hope you like it!

Available on Ravelry: Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Crusty Capelet

Crusty Capelet
Originally uploaded by patriciatph
Another project on my machine and going to publish the instructions as well!

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Originally uploaded by patriciatph
Another cowl knitted from my own hand painted yarn in long colour repeat. I like the colours a lot!:)