DPNs, 2 Circs and Magic Loop

Sometimes, the best of plans just don't seem to work the way we want them to! My first pair was knitted with DPNs and this one on 2 circulars while the next pair with magic loop. Then I'd move on to toe-up and other fancy patterns and techniques.

Call them what you will, porcupines, barbecue sticks etc but I miss my DPNs!!! The resting cirular and its dangling needles irritated me so much, I left the gusset and went surfing for magic loop instructions. I switched and am happy I did! How is it that I think 5 dpns look so neat while a 2nd circular drives me up the wall beats me too!

I've been busy knitting, moving from one WIP to the other but with no FO to take pictures of with our new camera. It's got all these cool features, especially the Indoor function that I'm dying to try out, so let me introduce you to my duck collection.

mmmm mm

They're bought during my travels and some are gifts from friends and family. There's duckie pictures on my wall too, but I'll have to take each one separately to show them off properly. Showing them all would make this blog entry crawl I'm afraid.

Happy knitting in the week ahead everyone!

Fruits of the drink

The reading homework had been done ages ago and I reckon I can't go wrong with Knitty. Still it took so long to get started. Perhaps it was the fear of messing things up and not getting the colour schemes I wanted that had me procrastinating. There really isn't an artistic bone in me I'm afraid. The Kool-aid, I've had for a while but Wiltons icing dyes, paint brushes and ketchup bottles took weeks to put together although they were easily available at the local Mall.

Anyway, been there, done it and I'm more confident now so can't wait to start on the 4 skeins of sock yarn from Knitpicks I've ordered for hand painting.

The tools

Yarn : 200 gms, 7 ply, 100% wool, natural colour

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1. Kool aid- lemon lime and cherry (10 m)

2. Kool aid cherry, tropical punch, lemon lime and Wiltons sky blue (100 m)

3. Wiltons brown, Kool aid lemonade and leftovers (92 m)

It's good to know that they're non-toxic food dyes. The yarn is cooked in the microwave oven while leftover mixes are kept in the fridge and can be reused.

A word of warning though, to those who're thinking of venturing along this path. It is addictive and I'm totally hooked. If you're a soft drinks junkie, this hobby could be the 'cure', as the sweet smell can be off putting after several hours of painting!

It's time for another pair of socks! Socks -2 with Knitpicks - Dancing yarn on 2mm circulars. Pattern is from Cat Bordhi's book.

An old, old friend

We finally met over the weekend, this 27 year old FO and I. It was mentioned a few posts ago here. It has kept well except that the white acrylic has turned a uniform creamy colour over the years. Strange, I can't remember much about it except that the pattern is definitely very familiar. Other than that, no flashes of the past, not where I knitted it mostly or how long it took.

Kenny's baby wrap (1979)

Yarn : acrylic

Size : 55" x 36"

Not bad, not bad at all, if I may say so. The body was knitted quite nicely but the border, rather disappointing. One of the longer sides looked as if I had ran out of yarn or I was too impatient to knit a few more repeats. It's probably the latter! Of course I would never let that happen now!

Fushia Gable saw a lot of progress this week and should be done in a few days. The collar does look like it needs a row of crochet or garter stitch to take out the slight curl though.

Cozy is about 25" in length now but my Feather and Fan stole has been neglected for a while. I'm contemplating making it into a scarf, the alpaca is so soft, I think it'd look good tucked inside a jacket and jumper.

Fushia Gable

And so, there I was on Saturday, miserable with a sore throat and a bad cold, pondering if I really wanted to cast on DH's jumper with the sombre brown Rowanspun.
Life was getting more miserable by the hour. A pounding head, non-stop sniffles and the chaos at Heathrow airport unfolding on BBC World were enough to make me want to crawl into bed and hide.
I kept wondering what if passengers were to find out their flights were on the list of targeted planes, would they ever fly again? Would they live their lives differently after this?

I definitely needed some cheering and went for the more uplifting Fushia Bendigo yarn instead. Green Gable as Office Casual 3.

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In the meantime, the pair of leg warmers for a colleague's daughter is completed.

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Yarn : 100% 8 ply DK wool from Waverly Mills Australia

Length: 14" Circumference: 11.5" fully stretched

Pattern: k2p2 Rib

Needles: 4mm DPNs ; 4.5mm casting-on and binding-off

Withdrawal symptoms

I chicken out of my self-imposed 'no new projects until all WIPs completed' diet. The withdrawal symptoms appeared this week, plans for new projects were swimming in my head all the time and I was stealing longing glances into my knitting basket where yarn for new projects had been prepared in ziplocks with patterns.

I missed working on a mindless stockinette jumper project where I can knit endlessly in the round with a good movie or the quick gratification of sock knitting. I missed swatching and discovering how a new yarn feels and the excitement of starting a new project. It was frustrating when I settle down in the evenings to the same two projects.

Well, now I know, I'm a knitting junkie and loving it! So here's Cozy in Bendigo 4 ply cotton.

Remember this ? I've decided to recycle and spent the best of today unravelling months of knitting.

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DH knows this strange behaviour all too well, but daughter YL can't believe I could bear to take everything apart. Maybe it's not such a good idea doing this in the presence of people we are encouraging to take up knitting? It'd scare them off for good!

Surprisingly there's very little wastage and I should be able to knit another jumper with the yarn.

Gosh! it's grand-aunt

Yes! my baby blanket is ready and will be in blue wrappings for a boy. I plan to write on the gift tag, "every stitch knitted with love, from great aunt Sally".

My first baby wrap was knitted for DH's nephew while at Uni and this is for his son! How the years have flown by. I had completely forgotten about the little white cotton attempt when he mentioned his mum has it at home.

Imagine, an FO from 28 years ago! I'm definitely going to make an effort to take a picture of it for posting here.

Pattern: Fun stitch baby blanket

Yarn: 100% wool of Japanese origin

Skeins: 10 x 50 gm x 85 m

Needles: 6.5 mm

I can't wait to swatch for Cozy and Office Casual 3 but have to make another one of my detours again since I've promised a colleague's ballerina daugther a pair of leg warmers. She's been having trouble finding some that would stay up on her slimmer legs and suffers cramps.

My friend wants to learn to knit the warmers but don't you think it's less stressful for me to work on a ribbed pair myself ? There's plenty in my stash for a small gift anyway.

Office Casual 2

Finally completed while watching the World Cup, Wimbledon and British Open Golf Championships. Unblocked and slightly crumpled, here it is!

Office Casual 2 (no 1 is here)


Pattern: from Bendigo......................................... Green Gable


Yarn: Bendigo 4 ply 100% cotton
Skeins: 1.25 x 200 gm x 670 m (838m)

Needles: 2mm & 3mm




Modifications: Ribbing with 2mm instead of 2.75mm , number of stitches adjusted to knit in the round

Rose - a wool, cotton and acrylic blend will be number 3 and probably something as plain and 'boring' to knit like its sisters. There's been so many lovely lace FOs from the girls in the knitters community recently and it's tempting to go for something lacy at the collar like Green Gable.


In the meantime, it's back to my baby blankie and stole, I will not succumb to the temptation of casting on anything new until I'm almost done with them!

What yarn budget?

Its that time of the year again - corporate budgeting and the pages and pages of justification and statistics to cook(knit?) up.
I wonder how much lighter my stash would be if I apply the same principles of budgeting at work to yarn purchases?? Let's put some Budget Challenge questions to the test.

Why do you need this amount and explain the project?
err...no project yet..on e-Bay...good reviews on Forum..

Can you postpone the project to next year?
NO! I want more sock yarn..lacewight..a discount.. it's so soooft...alpaca..never knitted with it...only 7 WIPs....can manage more

Is there a cheaper alternative?
Yes, but the acrylics....blah blah...KnitPicks..no International deliveries....not the same as Noro....

Tell me about ROI (return on investment)
err...well..socks cost 4x...yes cheaper to buy..ahmm.. lost frogging man days?..FO? no deadline...

Come back with a 30% slash down
But...I need 10 skeins...long sleeves...love cables

Last year, I discovered a cheaper mosituriser (Olay Regenerist) that works wonders on my 'aging skin' and decided to switch from Creme de La Mer of which I had been swearing by for years. Now you see where I'm coming from, my savings yarn (pun intended)? Yearly cost difference between the creams pays for more yarn that I can ever knit in two!!
Now, what better lame excuse can anyone have to buy more yarn? I haven't thought of another for this year yet, anyway let me show off all my WIPs - only 3 !


Baby blanket - deadline August

Office casual - second sleeve in progress

Feather and Fan stole - 15" done







Sunday afternoon was spent on board the MV Doulos, a christian ship cum floating bookstore. The last time it berthed at Port Klang was 4 years ago. YL and her Youth Fellowship got to meet some of the crew at a concert and wanted so much to visit the ship. The queue was horrendous and it took us almost an hour to get on board.
I am a little disppointed that there were not many Craft books and none on Knitting but look what we got!

Attempt at Lace

The Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud was ordered with Trellis (IK Spring 2006) in mind.




I came back down to earth very quickly while swatching; when I couldn't find an easier way to K7 together other than with the help of a crochet needle for a major section of the pattern. It's such a lovely design, there must be lots of KALs out there I could visit to find a way I guess.
Anyway, it's gone into my 'future projects' folder and perhaps I'll make another attempt when I'm more experienced with lace knitting. Had I stubbornly went on with Trellis I'm quite certain it will be set aside out of sheer frustration.



So it's now an easy Beginners 4 rows Feather & Fan pattern.
Hopefully it will grow up to be a 20"x 50" stole.




Here they are, my socks! They badly need a wash as I insisted on wearing the completed one while knitting the other. The excuse is I need measurements but really I'm admiring them whenever I put my feet up. The pair has been all over the house and shown off to whoever is not bored with hearing how comfortable they are and how warm they're going to keep me during my winter travels.

Pattern: combination of various, short row heel flap, Kitchener stitch toe

Yarn: Opal sock yarn, 75% superwash wool 25% polyamide

Skein: 75 gm, 319 m (3/4 of a 100g 425m sock yarn)

Needles: 2 mm

Sock making made easy..God is a great designer

I haven't got a pair to show yet, but want to show off my first attempt. So here it is, the first born!

I chose to play safe and knit for myself, and this darker yarn to start with as it will hide mistakes I might make along the way, but surprisingly there were no laddering and the much talked about 'gap' between the heel, cuff and instep does not exist. (small pat on the shoulders)

I learnt that, 'for the majority of us, the foot is exactly the length of your forearm from the base of your palm to the inside of your elbow'. Phew! what a relief. Isn't it much easier and polite to measure the hand rather then for someone to turn his/her foot out for measurements? It could be rather annoying when one is in need of a shower too!

And the length of our foot is about equal to the circumference at the widest part. All this trivia from sock knitting!

I believe God created us and all these 'coincidences' are not chance and evolution. Sock making made easy - because God is a great designer!