I am back!

You must be wondering why I have not blogged for so long. Well, to cut long story short, I was not feeling well for almost a month. I lost 80% hearing in my right ear somewhere in late January this year. You may think that loosing hearing on one side is not a big problem since I still have my left ear. It is not that simple because there was this very disturbing loud noise I hear on my right ear. So I actually can hardly hear. I couldn't eat or sleep and lost a lot of weight. Doctor couldn't explain the reason for the sudden loss of hearing. Life was totally upside down and I felt so helpless and lost. Didn't know how to live the rest of my life. I was hospitalised twice and I all I can do was to pray hard. One day, I heard my phone ringing so I automatically used my right ear to hear. I could hear my husband talking to me! My hearing is back, thank God!

I am back with my knitting again and have completed these projects:

My first project is Liesl.


This is Duet by Linda Wilgus from Knitty.com.  Yarn and buttons are gifted by Nikki and Karin. Thank you ladies! :)

My own design that I call Sonata after the name of yarn which is Elann's Sonata Pink Pearly. At first I thought that lace weight yarn would be perfect for the flounces, but I  found out that dk weight work as well too.Love how it turned out!:)


This is an earlier project that I designed myself too. Saw this beautiful cable stitch pattern from a stitch library and simply fell in love with it.  The name is of course none other than Cables, Cables, Cables which explains it all!  Yarn used is Rowan 4 ply soft in Bright Rose and buttons are made from key rings. 
This is a pretty and cute hat for Candy's niece called Lacy Girly.  Modified to add bow instead of ribbon which I feel is more practical for a new born baby.

And, my latest design is Autumn Leaves knitted from my spindle spun and hand dyed yarn.  This is a simple and easy knit that will bring out the beauty of hand dyed yarns.  I love the wavy effect of the scarf.  If you like it, these are the instructions:

Yarn weight : Fingering
Yardage : 245 - 248 metres
Gauge :  7 stitches and 8 rows = 1 inch in stockinette stitch
Needle : 3.5 mm

Cast on 28 stitches.
Knit 3 rows.
Row 1 : Sl 1, knit 1,* k2tog, yo*; repeat * * 3 more times, knit 8, repeat * *  4 times, knit 2.
Row 2 : Sl 1, knit 1, purl to the last two stitches, knit 2.
Rows 3 to 12, repeat rows 1 and 2.
Row 13 : Knit 10, *yo, skp*, repeat * * 3 more times, knit 10.
Row 14 : Sl 1, knit 1, purl to the last two stitches, knit 2.
Rows 15 to 24, repeat rows 13 and 14.

Repeat Rows 1 to 24 till end of scarf but when you come to the last row of scarf, do not repeat last row of pattern.
Knit 3 rows and bind off.

Wet block and gift it to someone you love! :)

Trinity

I first cast on for this top in November 2009. Can't remember it was that long time ago! Finally, I finished knitting it on 15th January 2010. I used Jaeger Trinity Zest yarn which is a mixture of silk, cotton and polyamide fibre. The yarn is not so smooth and my arms just ache after knitting for an hour or two. That is why this is the longest time that I have taken to knit a top.

The original pattern is supposed to be a cardigan. I modified it to a short sleeve top and made some changes in the pattern too. It is knitted in the round from top down. That is my favourite part...no seaming! :) I also added crochet edgings for the neckline, sleeves and hem.

I am glad that it turned out well. I hope that my friend, Soon will like it!

Fire

I had a shock of my life when I woke up last Saturday morning. The night light that was in our store room caught fire and burnt up a calender that was lying on top of my oven box.

Miraculously the fire died off! That was so close! I couldn't imagine what would have happened to us if it didn't stop there.

I did smell something burning when I was sleeping but didn't wake up to check. I thought it was just somewhere faraway burning rubbish. Now, my whole house is covered with soot. This is just one of the things in the entire house look like before cleaning :

Four days has past and I have not finished cleaning the house. We have decided to install a wall lamp instead of using a night light. It is much too dangerous. I should be more careful next time and always wake up to check!

Rhapsody in Blue

Happy 2010 everyone! :)

My first project of the year happens to be a quilt! Yes, it is not a knitting, crocheting, dyeing or spinning project. This is how it began. One day, I was looking at my 13 year old son and realized that his long pants he was wearing seems to have shrunk! Of course it didn't shrink, silly me...he has just grown taller! And that lead me thinking about his blanket that he has been using for a few years now. I wanted to buy him a bigger blanket but he said he wanted a quilt.

I went to the book store searching for a quilt book and found this beautiful pattern called Rhapsody in Blue from Quilts And More Winter 2009 issue. Since blue is my son's favourite colour, we immediately drove down to town and got the cotton fabrics. I had a hard time trying to match the colours as closely as possible to the pattern.

It took me a whole week to machine quilt it and I can tell you that it was back breaking and more tiring than exercising! I think that's because I am always trying to finish a project ASAP. Lol... Cutting the fabric alone took me 3 days to complete and I am glad that I bought a rotary cutter which just make cutting easier and faster. Talking about buying the rotary cutter and cutting mat was almost like a treasure hunt. These craft supplies are so difficult to find here.

Anyway, after ALL the hard work, I present you my labor of love:

If you look closely, you will see that some of the squares are not in line. Haha! That is because it is my first quilt! I have learnt a lesson though, ie cutting the fabric as accurately as possible is important for a perfect piecing.

Do you know what I am thinking now? Make a guess! Another quilt you say!? Yes!!! I am thinking of making another pink quilt for myself :)

Cabled Cowl

I saw this beautiful cowl from Elaine's blog and cannot stop myself from knitting it. The actual pattern calls for an aran weight yarn but I am using Dream In Color Smooshy Blue Lagoon which is a fingering weight. Needless to say, my cowl is much smaller and it is short of 6 rows. The circumference is 31" and the length is 10".





I use a 5.0 mm circular needle for the whole cowl and cast on 228 stitches using the cable cast on method. Cast off using p2tog, slip stitch back to the left needle and repeat till the end for a stretchy edge. This is my first cowl and also my first Dream In Color yarn. I just love the subtle colour variation of the yarn and it is so soft and fun to knit too.

Wish that I had bought 2 hanks instead of one, then I would have a bigger cowl!

Butterscotch and Peach Punch

Yes, these are the names of my recent natural hand dyed and hand spun. The first photo is Peach Punch which is dyed with balsam flowers. It is 2 ply merino yarn :

And this is Butterscotch :



It is 200 gm of superwash merino yarn(600 m) and it just take the colour of yellow onions beautifully. I love this combination of bright and intense colour.

Natural Dyeing

When I first saw Ishbel, I just fell in love with it. I was waiting for a suitable yarn to knit this simple and yet beautiful shawl. Finally,when I was spinning my Gingerie, I knew that this is the colour graduation that I am looking for. I am glad that I have added tumeric during the dyeing process with red onion skins. It just enhance the colour of the yarn. I knitted the smaller size shawl using 4.0 mm circular needle and used about 60% of my yarn (approximately 300 m).

Wonder what I should knit with the rest of the yarn. Any suggestions, please?