Little Purl of the Orient

This and That – Part 2, Project Spectrum edition

I've been clocking 12-hour days at work for the past 6 months. And this is starting to take its toll on me. Time with husband has increased a bit because I commute home with him now that my working hours are matching his. However, I'm not spending as much time with my daughters as I used to and every weekend is very precious now, even a quiet afternoon of colouring and drawing is very much cherished.

You might have noticed my appearance here has been getting scarce. Not only that, my unread Bloglines has stayed well above 3000 for quite a while. But I still do knit, albeit now always in mindless stocking stitch, garter stitch or ribbing. Sometimes, when the adrenalin stayed high after a day's work, the soothing clicking of the needles really do help calm my nerves and help me go to sleep.

For the bus and for bringing-everywhere knitting, I now have this Gathered Scarf in green Araucania Ranco, a gift from Joy. It is sock weight yarn so I've modified the number of stitches and row to achieve a similar effect as written for a DK weight yarn. I'm loving the different shades of green and not minding one bit it is knitted in small needles (3.6 mm and 2.75mm). JY likes it too and this will go to her when finished. It will take a while though.

For the at-home knitting, I'm immersing myself in some Habu goodness. I've finally cast on the Kusha Kusha scarf in Terra Cotta and Brown from Olga who's been spreading the Habu love and showcasing some fantastic Habu knitting. My husband has already 'booked' this scarf and it'll go to him when completed. Yes, it's kinda orangey-reddish-brownish and not quite a guy colour but yes, he'll wear it, and has been asking for his 'zen' scarf. And opening up to this Habu knitting is scary-crazy, all you can think of next is Habu-Habu-Habu. Try it and you'll know what I mean.

Speaking of Olga, she sent my little CY a scarf too. And I can't help marveling at the fascinating construction. The pattern is from Knitting New Scarves.

Now that everyone in the family has or is going to have a new scarf except myself, maybe it's time to go cast on for one more.

This and that

Thank you for the Japanese tunic love. Seems that such longish vest is la mode right now and I have another on the needles, this time for JY. It is almost all done.

The pattern is from a new old Japanese kids' knits pattern book which I really like and have been hunting for a while. The pattern is written for knitting bottom up but as the yarn was bought last year in Beijing and not replenishable, I'm just converting it top down so that I could adjust the length should I run out of yarn. It is easy to do that because the vest is basically made up of 2 rectangles, double rib for the bodice and garter stitch for the bottom.

Some this and that FOs from a while back that are not blogged.

A Thorpe(pdf) for JY, which turned out a bit too big, meant for the Paris trip but she wore it only once or twice. I used 2 balls of chunky Japanese yarn and some orange Jaeger Como for the contrast. And pompoms were added as per JY's request.

Another hat for CY. Just simply top down according to Barbara Walker's tried and tested formula in Knitting from the Top Down, knitted in Knit Picks Andean, a gift from P. And I just couldn't resist adding a crochet flower, pattern from the above said Japanese book.

Last but not least, mitts for JY all the way from Olga! If I'm not mistaken, the pattern is from this Japanese Nordic Knitting Book showcasing some interesting knitting techniques. I bought myself the second volume and can't wait to experiment with it. More photos from these 2 books here and here.

Tunic or long vest?

I'd wanted to talk about the new magazines I got from Olga on Friday and the lovely gifts she knitted for my girls. The Spring VK is great, in my opinion and I feel so inspired to cast on. I've been me in anticipation for a knitterly weekend to finish up some WIPs and maybe swatch some new projects since we'd be homebound with a passing typhoon anyway. The storm came as forecast but so did the flu. Bah.

So the weekend knitting plan remained a plan and the discussion about the new mags will have to follow later. Let me show you then the latest FO which is now far too warm to wear.

The pattern is from this Japanese book, which also contains the pattern for the orange crochet scarf that I made earlier.

The greyish blue Chamonix in stash knits to the exact gauge called for but I have just one colour. I had wanted to hunt for some more contrast colours to do the fairisle band but I just didn't have time to do that. So one colour it will be.

It was a relatively quick knit on Clover 15 (6.6mm) needles. When I reached the neckband, Olga suggested that I knit a textured pattern so I went to look at the Barbara Walker Treasuries and saw the Swag Stitch or the Scallop Stitch in Book 2 which I liked immediately.

So tunic or long vest, you decide. It'll go into the closet until next Fall, I guess, unless the weather went freakish again.

Paris, Paris

I can't remember if this was the 4th or 5th time I've been to Paris. The last time must have been at least 14 or 15 years ago. Each and every visit had been done on a shoestring but it didn't diminish the charm of Paris one bit.

When we first landed at the new-to-me wing of the Charles de Gaulle, it felt so foreign. As the RER progressed into the heart of the city, the nostaglia crept slowly back and in no time, all is familiar once again. I wonder if my husband felt the same, I guess the feeling must have been stronger for him as he had lived there for 4 years once upon a time.

This was the first visit for our two daughters, so the Effiel Tower was a must-go.

We went, too, to the George Pompidou Centre, which is one of my favourite places in Paris, and the nearby Brancusi Artelier.

I went on a 'pilgrimage' to La Droguerie at Rue du Jour but came out empty-handed. And it was the one and only yarn store that we had time for, thanks to its proximity to Les Halles.

Looking back, I'm so happy of my self-restraint but it didn't really felt like that. Strangely, I was contented just by soaking in the ambiance in the shop. I didn't have to own any of those beautiful, foreign hanks of yarn.

The foul weather had frustrated me a bit in the beginning as we were not able to bring the girls to most of the sights around Paris. Then I realised, monuments or no monuments, the girls were having fun, no matter what.

CY was thrilled every time she saw a Smart car on the streets and requested to have a photo snapped.

And both JY and CY were equally excited to be just visiting the neighbourhood boulangerie.

And me, I felt happy just being there, in Paris, in the rain and the cold with my loved ones right beside me. And I felt happy, too, to have my big Misty Garden scarf wrapped around my neck.

I used the feathers and fan stitch pattern called Misty Garden in Scarf Style but added a few more repeats to make it broader. The yarn is Chieti from Puppyarn which had been in stash for quite a few years and I was lucky to find one more last ball at Cheerwool in the same dye lot to make it just long enough. It took 4 balls of yarn at 215m each, and I used Clover 10 (5.1 mm) needles to knit it.

Love the colours of this scarf, they are just like those from one of Monet's Waterlilies. Next time, we'll have to pay a visit to the Orangerie like Anne has recommended in her blog.

And it snowed in Paris …

We arrived in Paris on the first day of Spring. And what a cold Spring it is. We nearly didn't make it as little CY came down with a fever before departure and the mood for a holiday so far away nearly vanished. After some struggle and with CY's condition having improved, we decided to leave as scheduled.

I have yet to sort out the photos although there are not too many of them as it was raining almost everyday while we were there, and it snowed on Easter Sunday evening. This photo sums up what we did the first 2 days there.

Nevertheless, we all had a great time, the girls saw, heard and learnt a lot, they didn't want to leave, and neither did we.

So, a knit-related Paris photo: Beanie (which was supposed to be a Beret) Gaufre at the Metro.

I saw mil looking at this hat longingly the other day, and then she told me she accidentally shrunk the Short-row Hat that I gave her earlier on in the washing machine. Oh well, so this hat will go to her too. No problem. I have another ball of Rowan Tapestry from Erin (oh Erin, where have you been?) which I'll keep to knit a hat for myself later.

After the series of knits-gone-bad, I've started another string of WIPs. I've decided to chuck the Big Wool for the moment and started with the thinner Jaeger Chamonix. This one is a tunic on big needles from this Japanese pattern book which I had wanted to finish and wear in Paris. We are now back but it is still missing armhole bands and sewing but I do hope to finish it by this weekend before the cold snap and the chance of wearing it disappear.

A Series of Unfortunate Knits

The series of unfortunate knits happened over these past few months. I'll give a run down in a chronological order.

Way before Chinese New Year, I have some hope of knitting a red hoodie pullover for CY to wear for CNY. If I didn't remember wrongly, it was started after the Cosy Tank Top was finished. The fact that I would run out of yarn was as plain as anything. This red, squishy extrafine merino yarn was bought in Beijing while on holiday last Easter so there's rather limited possibility of replenishing it. Nevertheless, I chose to ignore all the little voices and knit ahead. With the back and one sleeve later, and after a very kind Maryann tried unsuccessfully to track sufficient yarn while she was on business in Beijing (knit pals are the best, aren't they?), I finally put this to the frog pond.

One evening during CNY holidays when there were no visitors, I took out the pile of magazines Olga sent me, one of them is the IK Holidays issue. There are a few projects that I really like in there, one of them is the Quivik Scarf and I thought it would be the perfect project for the Habu Cashmere Nep in stash. So I quickly cast on. The above is the 2nd or 3rd attempt and I still don't like the fabric it was producing, so it was ripped again.

After 2 failures, I turned to a tres bulky knit, hoping for instant gratification in this Big Wool pattern: Cinnamon from New Shapes. Unfortunately, husband hasn't got very encouraging comments on the style and it has been put on the back burner. What do you think? Should I continue or make a Shopping Tunic a la Twinkle instead, or Nob Hill from the new Knitty? I've only 4 balls of Big Wool.

We've planned for a holiday in Paris this Easter! Bearing in mind that it might still be cool and rainy, I've made notes to knit hats for the family. JY requested for an earflap hat and it was successfully done (more on that later). Then it's CY's hat , and this IK pattern has been on my to knit list since it was published and there just is enough leftover yarn from the Cosy Tank Top for this. 4 attempts later, I'm still not getting the pattern. I've googled for any errata, comments from other knitters but it seems to be just me having the problem. So ripped.

And Paris brings to mind berets. How about the Beret Gaufre by Veronik Avery pour moi? Since there're just 2 balls of RYC Cashsoft Aran in the perfect colour for this. Love the details like the turned in hem, the reversibility of the beret. But, it turned out just not puffy  and slouchy enough for a beret. It was finished eventually but just not it.

Yes, Paris, here we come. We depart this Wednesday. Not included in the above list are a tunic from a Japanese book for myself, a sweater for CY and a vest for JY, all cast on like 2 weeks ago hoping to finish all in time for the holiday but hope is just hope, we leave in 2 days and all is still undone. Nope, I'm not going to burn the midnight oil. The flu outbreak is bad here and I'd better stay in good shape for the holidays.

Knitting mishaps aside, would you have any suggestions where to go for yarn, fabrics, notions, crafty stuff in general in Paris?

Old Pathway for This Sock Knitter

During one of the previous knitting meet ups with my local pals, I had a chance to look at Ingrid's New Pathway for Sock Knitters. What a mind boggling array of new sock architectures! One day, when I'm not so work-tired, I might invest in the book and attempt one of those techniques but right now, the old pathway is the way to go for me.

Figure 8 cast on 16 stitches, increase until the sock fit my around the foot (in this case, 52 st) and then mindless stocking stitch, my favourite no-wrap short-row heel and more stocking stitch, ribbing and sewn cast off.

Ta-da. A new pair of tall socks for JY. Aren't they lovely?

JY has not been able to take them off during the nights and the socks have been keeping her feet warm this past cold winter. I wish there was more self-patterning or striping yarn in my sock stash for more socks like these.

Details: 1 ball of Patons Self Patterning yarn and some Sundara sock yarn leftover from this pair Mad Color Weave socks. Clover size 1 needles.

So I got 2 pairs done this year. Time to think of the March pair.

And the crochet slipper found her mate too. I'm going to give them to eldest sil. A recap, the pattern is from this Japanese pattern book, the yarn is Brown Sheep Handpaint Originals in the Sunbaked Earth colourway, and I used size 8/0 hook.

There are a few more small FOs that are still not yet photographed. On top of that are lots visits to the frog pond visits. Next post, maybe.

Let's go back to socks

February is already upon us. I managed only one post in January, and I guess this would also be the last post for the Year of the Pig which ends tomorrow. Where should I begin now?

Let's start with bigger type to match with the bigger photos, no more squinting.

And knitted socks. They have been keeping me nice and toasty these few cold weeks. China has been experiencing the worst snowstorms in fifty years and here in Hong Kong, we are having a rather long stretch of cold weather as well. Anyway, I finally finished the pair of Mad Color Weave socks back in January and I'm happy that this pair is keeping my knitting pal, Olga, warm across the ocean. Check out Olga's photos at Flickr.

I absolutely love this pattern. Maybe I should knit a pair for myself too but there are just too many patterns out there to try out. Let's peak at my sock stash.

Just 14 pair of socks' worth. A very reasonable stash, isn't it? The best part is that most of the yarn are generous gifts from knitting pals, thank you all! If I knit a pair every month of this year, my sock stash would be more or less consumed by the end of the year.

The little ball of pinkish self-patterning yarn is fast becoming a pair of socks for JY, my elder one. There's nothing more reassuring than mindless, toe-up, stockinette stitch socks which are keeping me company on the bus. The toes and heels are knitted in the leftover Sundara sock yarn from above and the self-patterning yarn, which turns out surprising well, is from Patons, a gift from Joy. I'm getting a pair of almost knee-highs, sized 7.5 years out of one 50g ball. Not bad. I didn't plan for identical socks given the limitation in yarn but it so happens, really not bad.

See you soon in the Year of the Rat!

Head Start

Hardly a head start as it's already 2 weeks into the New Year. I've been knitting here and there but have yet to catch up on my photo taking and blogging.

So without further ado, let's start off 2008 with the Short-row Hat (free pattern, pdf) by Veronik Avery. The pattern is an absolute genius, so cleverly written and so fun to knit. Only mod is that I left out the i-cord tip. I made it with 1 ball of Rowan Tapestry, a lovely gift from Erin. I have another ball and it's going to be another hat.

My little CY loves the hat too but my mil is the recipient as she's very appreciate of the Odessa I made her last year that I'm happy to make her another.

And a belated Christmas present for elder nephew, the Toddle scarf knitted with the remaining yarn from JY's Brambling. I made it bigger than the pattern to fit almost-8-year-old nephew who's very happy to have it too.

What else am I knitting? This bigger Misty Garden. This photo completely fails to capture its beauty. I absolutely love this knit and have not been able to put it down until it is too bulky to take it with me on the bus. So I've started yet something else and more on that later.

And how do you like the bigger photos?

Foot Note

I've finally arrested my procrastination and finished the first Mad Color Weave sock. Not that I'm not enjoying the pattern or the yarn (delish Sundara yarn) but knitting the toe involved Decision Making, having to make up my mind if the foot length is now long enough to begin the toe. Being one who is not very good with measuring, coupled with too much thinking during the day for work led to a stalemate and the poor sock-to-be just sat there in the pile for months. Now that one is done, the second sock hopefully could be knitted in a relatively shorter period of time, provided that I don't stray.

It looks like it might be a difficult task. I've added more WIPs to the already ample pile. Here's one lonely slipper waiting for its mate. I was thrilled to find a simple enough pattern to showcase the lovely Brown Sheep Handpaint Originals (this is the Sunbaked Earth colourway).

And the pattern is from this lovely little book which has 8 irresistible footwear patterns like these:

And in the earlier book that contained the crochet scarf pattern are these slippers. The Japanese just seem to have a thing for these foot warmers.

These slippers also attracted me to add this book to my library.

Now that we've reached the 'foot' of the year, (and what an eventful year this has been) hope that you'll enjoy viewing these knitted/crocheted footwear as much as I do.

Happy 2008!