April New Knitting - WIP

I have started TWO projects in April already.

1st Project: Orna bag by Nathalie O'Shea

I found this pattern (was free) somewhere in 2009. Why I picked this? Wow,because at that time Spotlight shop was NEW in HongKong (I used to shop there when i lived in Sydney, Aussie) and it was so nearby my work back then. So I went there very often for window shopping & real shopping! haha I bought this light green yarn. I like the color and texture very much although it is 100% acrylic yarn still very soft to me! 

Then I was searching around for pattern to use this yarn and I found this Orna bag. Unfortunately at that moment I did not knit for some years and my last knitting experience was just cable stitches... and this bag involves Lace stitches , "YO" thing.... I could not figure out how to do it and the counting... and another misleading thing was....

The instruction is saying need size 10 needles and the yarn recommends 10mm needles... Do u see my problem here??? >.<
I bought the 10mm circular needle and when I was knitting it, the bag was HUGE!....

Then later on I was guessing the "size 10 needles" is meaning US Size 10 that mean 6mm needles... wt.....

So after some cast on and ripped off .... this project was frogged..........

In Oct of 2011, I solved the problem of "yo" by watching a Youtube video to do my  ribbed lace bolero... YAY... I got it finally! 

So, now 2013 I think I should finish it up and should not keep it as my stash, rite? 

Ok, the base of the bag the instruction says just Garter stitch but after I learnt the Sock knitting and I used the Sock gusset knitting to make it more stronger (I think)...

Up to now, I have finished 3 rounds of this 8-row pattern. Total needs 6 rounds! so 50% done. 

The 2nd project in April, I will show here on tomorrow! :)

love love, k

2nd Block is on the way

My second square sampler of my YearLongAfghanKAL2013 is blocking now! 

After the first round experience (SS#23), I use a triangle ruler to check the 4 corners & the lines if straight or not. So it was much much faster then the first one. 

The first one took me around 45 mins and this one I think is around 20 mins! Wow! :P

BTW, I bought 3 packs of pin (@60pins per pkg) means 180pins. Wow I am collecting pins or what!?!?! XD 
But sure, more pin you use mean better it comes out!!! :)

***Side story***
When I was knitting this SS#38 I was watching TV and I thought I did count "carefully". HOWEVER, when I was knitting around the last 3-4 rows.... I finally SAW the 2nd round of the pattern is missing ONE part...... @.@ At the end, I decided left it like this! LOL

WIP: 

Square Sampler #23: 3/26-27/2013 

Square Sampler #38: 3/28-31/2013


love love, k

Knit Along on Google+

I am so happy to tell you that I just join a group on G+ called, "Knit Along on Google+".

The name already tells the story, rite?! ahahaha 

1. Monthly projects for anyone to knit along. 

2. Year Long Afghan project, the patterns from: 
Knitting Primer | 100 Easy-to-Knit Stitches plus Instructions for Sampler Afghans | Volume 34


I Pick up the Year Long Afghan project, and the first one I knit is: Square Sampler No 23.

This sampler is easy to knit but the pattern instruction has some missing but not too hard to find out! :)

WOW, the Blocking is the challenge for me actually. As I do not have experience on it & no appropriated tools.... anyway, learn from mistake! XD but next thing to buy is PINS as so quick to run out of pins! 

Keep on knitting! 

love love, k

my first shawl is completed!

wow, last Aug in 2012, I bought 4 balls of golden mustard cotton yarn, Mondial Cable 5 Filo Di Scozia, to knit my first shawl, Ginkgo Shoulderette Shawl by Maggie Magali.(free download from Ravelry.com):P

Aug-Sep 2012
At the beginning, I thought 2/3 is Stocking sts & 1/3 is the lace  should be okay to finish it by 2 weeks.... (Obviously I was wrong). Cos the first part is boring just keep knitting bigger & bigger... so I stopped it somewhere in Sept. 

Dec 2012 - Jan 2013
I thought, "Hey I have to complete it and I cannot leave it halfway (not really 50% work done)". So I picked up again although a bit long boring journey. Knit, knit, knit... 

The Pattern instruction wrote abt the calculation & the chart was a bit confused me.... so at the FIRST round, I knit 8x15 per side Plus 2 sts at the beginning. HUH! The wrong thing began. I was happy to start my Lace part... I think it was around 2 to 3 rows of Lace (I was watching TV).. oh no... sthg wrong and the counting was not right.... then I frogged as Chinese New Year & holiday was coming....

Mar 2013
I know & I want to KO it ASAP. So one nite, I undo the lace and some part of the stocking sts. I also read again the instruction. THEN, I FINALLY finally understood how the calculation works!!!! 

The calculation should be (also my shawl used) 2 Garter sts + ((9x15)+2) + 1 Centre st + ((9x15)+2) +  2 Garter sts = 279 sts 

Remark: [the instruction said if you want to increase the size before the lace part you need an odd multiple of 15 stitches + 2]

When I got this calculation clear,... continue to knit knit knit my Stocking sts... When I started my lace was not smooth, the counting had some problem, my yarn was a mess & knots.... I spent my nearly 12 hours on Sun to keep knitting & solve the yarn mess!!!! Anyway,... I spent 2 more nights to finish it! YAY!!!!! 

Then I bought a set of Baby mat as this is my first time to do Blocking. So followed the instruction, I soak the FO into some cold water for 30 mins, then dry it and laid out on top of the mat. Tried to stretch it out evenly. wow! Looking good! 

So after one day drying! Viola! DONE!!!! 
So happy that I can finish it on time for my own birthday! 

love love, k

Knitting Journey

My knitting journey started from highschool.... my 1st teacher must be my mum, then my home economic teacher (although she questioned my work if it was knitted by my mom instead of me, that made me so sad), my homestay mother & her daughter(She is genius in knitting & esp. sewing); later on knitting experts on Youtube, Ravelry, and some knitting books! 

So you can see now I mainly learn knitting online! 

During my holiday in Feb, I took some Free online knitting course!!! 
Q: Where?
A: Craftsy.com

This is very interesting online course! 
Easy to use, they also provide some instruction for you to download, you can make notes, ask question and even encourage you to post your work after you learn.

Right now I am enjoying their FREE ones! hehe 













Latest eMagazine I bought: Vogue Knitting 

The magazine has so many knitted fashion to follow! But most of them are big projects for me,... I need to think clear before take action otherwise I will produce a lot of "FROGGED" Objects in my room! LOL

Hope you will join me to take some courses or having fun to watch on youtube. Here is one of the Knitting Experts on Youtube that I like: Very Pink Knits! Her teaching & demonstration are very very clear!!!! You will LOVE her! :)

love love, k

Feb 2013 - Holiday Month

This year the Chinese New Year was on Feb 10, 2013. 
My holiday started from Feb 9-24,2013,...hehehe 

First stop: I went to Kuala Lumpur with my Dad, my sister & my bf. Mainly EAT EAT EAT! LOL
We did walk up to the Batu Caves.... WOW many steps & for me was very difficult to walk down..... T_T

Second stop: I went to Sanur, Bali, Indonesia with my bf alone, stayed at a villa (private pool) yeah!.. [a bit sad that 2 days out of 5 days were raining non-stop in the day time] 
So, we mainly, sleep, eat, drink, sun tan & a bit of swimming! hehe 

Breakfast: Butler will come in to cook & serve for us! 
Everyday around 6pm, the hotel will send us glass of drinks & satay!  Yeah! 
You may see from my picture here (the right bottom corner, the BeanaLisa!) hahahah I have to stop & take picture! So cute! :P
They have good price for seafoods & drink! The seafood platter here is around HKD450+16% tax (incl 2 soup/ salad + 2 desserts) 
Yummy yummy! 

love love, k 

Coffee Cozy

2013,... I have been knitting "something" but not all in good progress BUT finally I have one finished object done! haha

This one is a birthday gift for my friend and funny thing is that we (her husband, our gf & I) made a surprise for her!!! hahahahahah She was so shocked to see us when she arrived at the cafe! :P

This is my first attempt to knit a coffee cozy & I picked this pocket one as I think it would be nice to insert a Starbucks gift cards with it!!!! I am happy that I can learn a NEW SKILL of how to knit a pocket like this! YEAH!!!

As her name is PEARL, so I made a crochet flower with a "pearl" bead! Isn't it so sweet?!?!! XD

Hope she will enjoy her coffee with this lovely cozy!!!!! 

love love, k