Little Purl of the Orient

Everything I do, I do it 2 times

In our household, there is usually fairness and squareness. Ok, husband and I try as best as we could. So when I decide to make a tiered skirt, I made 2. Some fabrics came recently from an online shopping binge and I've got some cotton double-gauze, double-sided gingham fabrics. And out came 2 tiered skirts.

The checks are different sizes on each side of the fabric so I played with it for the different tiers. The first tier is on the bias and gave me a bit of trouble because it stretched so much. The pattern is from this Japanese pattern book.

A pink one in size 130cm for JY.

And a beige one in size 120cm for CY who is growing so tall, there's 3 years gap between them but only 10cm difference in height.

Can't resist showing you the flower shoes CY is wearing. Bought them in Singapore. I've got a fondness for them. Too bad there aren't any my size.

2 girls, 2 skirts. Skirts made up of rectangles and elastic bands are good for my ego. They make me feel that I can sew. So I'm sure there'll be more of them in my future.

Don't trust them to stay still even for a while for the photo shoot. The action du jour is 'doing the robots'.

I'll be off to Shanghai over the weekend with hubby with the kids. I'm going to miss them! I'll bring along the yellow cotton fleece cardigan that I'm knitting for CY, hopefully to complete it in time for her birthday on the 15th. She's going to be 6.

Happy weekend, all!

February Lady Sweater downsized

Lest you think I don't knit nowadays, here's a finished February Lady Sweater downsized to 8-9-year-old size for JY. My gauge with this Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece is 21-22 st on 4.5mm needles and I just used the numbers for the second size of Pam's fabulous pattern. It fits JY perfectly.

Pink-a-boo! That's the name of this colourway(#CW240). Used just 3 hanks with some leftover. Absolutely trouble-free knit.

JY requested for black buttons but I got some simple charcaol grey ones instead. Sewn them on with red thread for a bit of interest.

My mum's Vine Lace Vest is done too, now needs the right moment for some modeled shots.

Pink Baby (?) Quilt

Here's the pink baby quilt that I made recently.

It started as I was getting some fabric from my stash and saw this shocking pink fabric. I knew what I had to do with it. It is calling for a Six of One, A Half-Dozen of the Other quilt from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts. It goes so well with the linen floral print that went into the making of this dress/top last year. And here's JY modeling the quilt. She's grown so much this past year and now likes to wear black!

The quilting is simple, just straight lines in orange thread to pick out the orangey bits in the floral and also the copper-y brown binding.

The original intention of this quilt is for my friend who's expecting her first child, a girl. I became hesitant giving this to her because well, you know, the straight lines are not straight, something is not quite right with the binding, etc, etc. The same old anxiety when the intended gift is not as good as I would like it to be.

And I kinda of like it, and husband likes it a lot (yeah, I know it's pink), and my girls like it. Then the decision is made when my friend told me, enough pink for her coming baby. So the quilt now stays with us :).

Now I can happily plan for another quilt in a colur that she likes.

I think I temporarily quilted out

Thank you for your compliments on husband's Morris. It is now packed up high on the cabinet and hopefully he won't forget about it come this winter. I had wanted to reply to your comments and blog earlier but work calls. Knitting has been going rather slowly but on weekends, my heart really turns to quilting. There's so many I wanted to do but so little time. For the past 2 Sundays, I stayed at home and sewed while husband brought our 2 girls out to play. Today, Sunday, I decided to get out of the house. I think I've quilted out, enough for now. Why, I finished the white/yellow coin quilt, the brown/yellow blanket, the pink baby quilt. And these.

A Flock of Triangles quilt top for my brother's baby son who just turn one. I've always wanted to make a quilt out of the Indonesia batik fabrics I have in stash. They are so part of my Asian tropical roots. Yai Ann's modern batik quilt gave me ideas how to apply them into something contemporary. I decide to use the Flock of Triangles pattern from the Denyse Schmidt book (now also available online here). As this is the first time I'm working with triangles, I've made a smaller version. I really like this outcome. This colour combination of charcoal and pumpkin is inspired by what I saw from one of the design blogs. And grey is as good as white which is used frequently by other quilters for this pattern.

I've got leftover triangles from the Charcoal and Pumpkin Flock of Triangles quilt. As I needed more practice with sewing triangles, I cut them smaller and assembled this mini quilt. It measures 15"x13.5". I'm very happy with it, mistakes and all! Now I feel more confident to embark on a pinwheel quilt next, after a good rest and finishing this up quilt properly.

Here's the inspiration for this quilt which I see in Sarah's Flickr user profile photo all the time. I realized how similar it is to Sarah's after I finished it. It must have stayed in my subconsciousness. Thanks for the inspiration.

I used plain linen for the quilt back, debated whether to use a contrasting thread but decided against it as there's something wrong with the tension of my machine.

Photos of the other finished quilts and blankets will come. My husband thinks that he could take better ones than me (especially for the bigger stacked coin quilts. So let's wait and see. Have a great week, everyone!

Posted at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Of course, you need a chunky wool cardigan in summer

In the heat of summer, my husband finally receives his chunky cardigan. He has been asking me for it every other day. The yarn is a tweedy cashmere blend from China. The pattern is Morris from Rowan 34 and also available free on the Rowan website but beware some symbols for the cables are missing.

It all began when I was knitting Linden using the light grey yarn bought years ago for my husband. He didn't like it then but called it sour grapes, he kept asking me to knit him a sweater when he saw me using the yarn. At that time, I was in a rather advance stage with my own sweater. So new grey yarn has to be bought and by accident, the tweedy batch arrived instead of the plain grey ones. All the better as the tweedy-ness does give character to the cables.

And I do enjoy knitting cables but not sewing the parts together. The chunky cables got done quickly but the finishing got stalled for over a month. I decided to complete it and move on to summer projects.

The pattern calls for 7 buttons. I found mine in the neighbour lys. The saleslady just couldn't find the 7th despite searching high and low and she even had to cut the 6th fron the sample board.

All's well that ends well. The fit is good (I made the first men's size). Husband is happy with it and he even volunteered to show the back!

Posted at 09:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (21) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Quilty Week

Thursday was Dragon Boat Festival and was a bank holiday. The night before, tired out from work, I declared to husband who himself just arrived home from work in Beijing, that I'm going to sew tomorrow. Poor guy, didn't quite know what to say to me having himself just returned from a 3.5 hours flight. And sew I did. Finally found a fabric that I like after a quick browse at Etsy the other day and ordered the yellow birdie fabric from Matatabi (excellent seller) which arrived promptly. This fabric allows me to finish up JY's white and yellow quilt that I pieced last year during a typhoon-in day. Called it startitis, over-zealousness or multi-tasking or whatever, not only did I not finish the white/yellow quilt, I ended up with 2 more quilt WIPs yesterday.

See, I got help. Husband was designated the job of drawing the quilt lines for the white/yellow stacked coins quilt (pattern from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts). Anyway, he was muttering under his breath how bad was the movie that he was watching so I asked him why not do something more meaningful like drawing the lines for our daughter's quilt as professionally as he made his architecture drawings?

So while husband drew the quilt lines, I attended to making the quilt sandwich of this darling baby quilt (based on the Six of One, A Half-Dozen of the Other quilt, also from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, love this book, so many quilts in there that I like). This will be for a friend who is expecting her first baby.

And look, there's another quilt top on the ironing board. Since I have too much stacked coins, why not piece another one with brown sashing using the fabric I have in stash?

Today is Sunday and husband asked me if I wanted to continue with my sewing and he'd take the kids swimming in the afternoon. Must be because I finished his Morris (from Rowan 34 or available as free download on Rowan's website) this morning :O). Modeled shots to follow. And sewed I did, the white/yellow Stacked Coins is done, and so is the pink baby quilt. The light's no good for photos after I finished them and I also I would like to give them a wash first. Hopefully I'll get a photo session in the coming weekend.

After the intensive sewing/quilting session this week, I have the following thoughts:
- The curved quilters' safety pins are fantastic, facilitating the quilt sandwich making process so much.
- The method of using masking tape to hold down the quilt back for making the sandwich is another cool trick, thanks to Pink Chalk Studio Kathy's tutorial. I didn't use enough tape to hold the quilt back tight enough though and there was some puckering. Next time, tape more firmly.
- Cutting fabric and making quilts results in lots of scraps and potentials for even more quilts. But what to do with the leftover battings, too small for quilts but too big to discard?
- Sewing/quilting is a good work-out, I was completely burnt out after the sewing sessions of this week.
- I have a few more quilts to make for friends who are expecting, and also for my younger brother's baby boy. And maybe a few more for my girls. This summer is going to be quilty

Posted at 09:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Rainy Day at Causeway Bay

Huge sign box advertisement.

Bamboo scaldfolding.

Crowd.

Rain.

This is Hong Kong.

8pm, on the bus home after work on a Wednesday evening. Tired out. So
glad tomorrow is a bank holiday. Some fabric arrive from Japan yesterday. Hope I'll get to do some sewing.

Posted at 09:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, May 24, 2009

What's knitting

I've never been a one-project knitter. There's always something on the needles or on the hook. I would definitely be embarrassed to list them all. Here are some recently started ones that are holding my attention.

Thanks to Domesticshorthair and KPurl's suggestions to for down-sizing the February Lady Sweater (another design from the fantastic Pamela), I've start this ubiquitous sweater for JY in Cotton Fleece. After stashing all the yellow which is her favourite colour, she now wants pink. Anyway, I'm enjoying the pinkness. I got 22 st for 10cm on 4.5mm needles and after some calculation, decided to use the numbers for the second size which should work out to a size that would fit my 9-year-old-to-be.

Also on the needles, close to the finishing line but also close to running out of yarn is the Vine Lace Vest (free pattern from Classic Elite) for my mum in Singapore. I'm recycling the All Seasons Cotton from this sweater which I wore only once or twice after finishing it. This is a colour my mum likes and I hope she'll get more wear out of this top.

Using the leftover yarn from my recent Marigolds and some grey leftover yarn in stash to make a pair of socks for CY. Simple toe up formula, starting with 20 st figure-8 cast on and increasing to 56 st. I'm making the jogs joglessly and so far happy with it. CY is calling this the Bumblebee Sock and it's obvious why, isn't it?

So long for now, let's see how far I can go this week.

Posted at 09:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

What colour is your weekend?

My weekend is yellow as I wallow in my recently expanded stash, dreaming of the possibilities. Until very recently, there is not one ball of yellow yarn in my stash. Now I have:

- Sweaters worth of sunshine

1. Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky - yellow, 2. House of Yarn Cashmere - lemon, 3. Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece - Soft Gold

- Dollops of gold

1. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock - Sunshine, 2. Madeline Tosh Aran - Alabaster, 3. Madeline Tosh Sock - Butter

- And Marigold Socks for the feet. Thanks to Pamela of Flint Knits for the lovely, summery pattern. I made the medium size in Dreamworks handdyed yarn, Sunflower colourway.

I just have to have a pair of yellow socks and here they are, flying on the needles and finished even before I blogged about their making.

Hope you're enjoying some sunshine on your part of the world too. Have a great week ahead.

Posted at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Saturday, May 09, 2009

I decided to FO it

Thanks to the blog, I'm able to check when this project was first started, and it was in August last year. Certainly not too long compared to my other UFOs but long enough. I had wanted to add another tier of blue/grey yarn but decided that I want to finish it as a shawlette and use the yarn for another shawl project.

I like it at this size, just enough to cover the shoulders on a chilly spring evening or on the bus when the air-con is stronger than desired.

To recap, this pattern is the Eva Shawl, free pattern available here. I made the border differently, simply in chain loops because it was an impromptu decision to FO this shawlette and because that's all the grey yarn I have left.

My inspiration came from these three shawls. The yarns I used are 4 ply weight leftovers, odd balls I have in stash and the fibres are a mixture of silk, cashmere and alpaca, while the hook I used was 5mm.

Another FO to be finished, husband's Morris. The knitting for the main parts is done for quite a while but the finishing is taking forever. After this, I really would like to move on to some summer knitting. There is another pair of socks on the needles which should be finished soon. And then I would like to knit a cardigan for JY. Any idea for a pattern for lacy summer cardigan for a to-be 9 year old?

And since the weather is warming up, you might have noticed in the photos that I've cut my hair to above the shoulder. What a breeze it is now when it comes to shampoo time :).

Posted at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Next »

In the heat of summer, my husband finally receives his chunky cardigan. He has been asking me for it every other day. The yarn is a tweedy cashmere blend from China. The pattern is Morris from Rowan 34 and also available free on the Rowan website but beware some symbols for the cables are missing.

It all began when I was knitting Linden using the light grey yarn bought years ago for my husband. He didn't like it then but called it sour grapes, he kept asking me to knit him a sweater when he saw me using the yarn. At that time, I was in a rather advance stage with my own sweater. So new grey yarn has to be bought and by accident, the tweedy batch arrived instead of the plain grey ones. All the better as the tweedy-ness does give character to the cables.

And I do enjoy knitting cables but not sewing the parts together. The chunky cables got done quickly but the finishing got stalled for over a month. I decided to complete it and move on to summer projects.

The pattern calls for 7 buttons. I found mine in the neighbour lys. The saleslady just couldn't find the 7th despite searching high and low and she even had to cut the 6th fron the sample board.

All's well that ends well. The fit is good (I made the first men's size). Husband is happy with it and he even volunteered to show the back!

Thursday was Dragon Boat Festival and was a bank holiday. The night before, tired out from work, I declared to husband who himself just arrived home from work in Beijing, that I'm going to sew tomorrow. Poor guy, didn't quite know what to say to me having himself just returned from a 3.5 hours flight. And sew I did. Finally found a fabric that I like after a quick browse at Etsy the other day and ordered the yellow birdie fabric from Matatabi (excellent seller) which arrived promptly. This fabric allows me to finish up JY's white and yellow quilt that I pieced last year during a typhoon-in day. Called it startitis, over-zealousness or multi-tasking or whatever, not only did I not finish the white/yellow quilt, I ended up with 2 more quilt WIPs yesterday.

See, I got help. Husband was designated the job of drawing the quilt lines for the white/yellow stacked coins quilt (pattern from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts). Anyway, he was muttering under his breath how bad was the movie that he was watching so I asked him why not do something more meaningful like drawing the lines for our daughter's quilt as professionally as he made his architecture drawings?

So while husband drew the quilt lines, I attended to making the quilt sandwich of this darling baby quilt (based on the Six of One, A Half-Dozen of the Other quilt, also from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, love this book, so many quilts in there that I like). This will be for a friend who is expecting her first baby.

And look, there's another quilt top on the ironing board. Since I have too much stacked coins, why not piece another one with brown sashing using the fabric I have in stash?

Today is Sunday and husband asked me if I wanted to continue with my sewing and he'd take the kids swimming in the afternoon. Must be because I finished his Morris (from Rowan 34 or available as free download on Rowan's website) this morning :O). Modeled shots to follow. And sewed I did, the white/yellow Stacked Coins is done, and so is the pink baby quilt. The light's no good for photos after I finished them and I also I would like to give them a wash first. Hopefully I'll get a photo session in the coming weekend.

After the intensive sewing/quilting session this week, I have the following thoughts:
- The curved quilters' safety pins are fantastic, facilitating the quilt sandwich making process so much.
- The method of using masking tape to hold down the quilt back for making the sandwich is another cool trick, thanks to Pink Chalk Studio Kathy's tutorial. I didn't use enough tape to hold the quilt back tight enough though and there was some puckering. Next time, tape more firmly.
- Cutting fabric and making quilts results in lots of scraps and potentials for even more quilts. But what to do with the leftover battings, too small for quilts but too big to discard?
- Sewing/quilting is a good work-out, I was completely burnt out after the sewing sessions of this week.
- I have a few more quilts to make for friends who are expecting, and also for my younger brother's baby boy. And maybe a few more for my girls. This summer is going to be quilty

Huge sign box advertisement.

Bamboo scaldfolding.

Crowd.

Rain.

This is Hong Kong.

8pm, on the bus home after work on a Wednesday evening. Tired out. So
glad tomorrow is a bank holiday. Some fabric arrive from Japan yesterday. Hope I'll get to do some sewing.

I've never been a one-project knitter. There's always something on the needles or on the hook. I would definitely be embarrassed to list them all. Here are some recently started ones that are holding my attention.

Thanks to Domesticshorthair and KPurl's suggestions to for down-sizing the February Lady Sweater (another design from the fantastic Pamela), I've start this ubiquitous sweater for JY in Cotton Fleece. After stashing all the yellow which is her favourite colour, she now wants pink. Anyway, I'm enjoying the pinkness. I got 22 st for 10cm on 4.5mm needles and after some calculation, decided to use the numbers for the second size which should work out to a size that would fit my 9-year-old-to-be.

Also on the needles, close to the finishing line but also close to running out of yarn is the Vine Lace Vest (free pattern from Classic Elite) for my mum in Singapore. I'm recycling the All Seasons Cotton from this sweater which I wore only once or twice after finishing it. This is a colour my mum likes and I hope she'll get more wear out of this top.

Using the leftover yarn from my recent Marigolds and some grey leftover yarn in stash to make a pair of socks for CY. Simple toe up formula, starting with 20 st figure-8 cast on and increasing to 56 st. I'm making the jogs joglessly and so far happy with it. CY is calling this the Bumblebee Sock and it's obvious why, isn't it?

So long for now, let's see how far I can go this week.

My weekend is yellow as I wallow in my recently expanded stash, dreaming of the possibilities. Until very recently, there is not one ball of yellow yarn in my stash. Now I have:

- Sweaters worth of sunshine

1. Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky - yellow, 2. House of Yarn Cashmere - lemon, 3. Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece - Soft Gold

- Dollops of gold

1. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock - Sunshine, 2. Madeline Tosh Aran - Alabaster, 3. Madeline Tosh Sock - Butter

- And Marigold Socks for the feet. Thanks to Pamela of Flint Knits for the lovely, summery pattern. I made the medium size in Dreamworks handdyed yarn, Sunflower colourway.

I just have to have a pair of yellow socks and here they are, flying on the needles and finished even before I blogged about their making.

Hope you're enjoying some sunshine on your part of the world too. Have a great week ahead.

Thanks to the blog, I'm able to check when this project was first started, and it was in August last year. Certainly not too long compared to my other UFOs but long enough. I had wanted to add another tier of blue/grey yarn but decided that I want to finish it as a shawlette and use the yarn for another shawl project.

I like it at this size, just enough to cover the shoulders on a chilly spring evening or on the bus when the air-con is stronger than desired.

To recap, this pattern is the Eva Shawl, free pattern available here. I made the border differently, simply in chain loops because it was an impromptu decision to FO this shawlette and because that's all the grey yarn I have left.

My inspiration came from these three shawls. The yarns I used are 4 ply weight leftovers, odd balls I have in stash and the fibres are a mixture of silk, cashmere and alpaca, while the hook I used was 5mm.

Another FO to be finished, husband's Morris. The knitting for the main parts is done for quite a while but the finishing is taking forever. After this, I really would like to move on to some summer knitting. There is another pair of socks on the needles which should be finished soon. And then I would like to knit a cardigan for JY. Any idea for a pattern for lacy summer cardigan for a to-be 9 year old?

And since the weather is warming up, you might have noticed in the photos that I've cut my hair to above the shoulder. What a breeze it is now when it comes to shampoo time :).

Of course, you need a chunky wool cardigan in summer

In the heat of summer, my husband finally receives his chunky cardigan. He has been asking me for it every other day. The yarn is a tweedy cashmere blend from China. The pattern is Morris from Rowan 34 and also available free on the Rowan website but beware some symbols for the cables are missing.

It all began when I was knitting Linden using the light grey yarn bought years ago for my husband. He didn't like it then but called it sour grapes, he kept asking me to knit him a sweater when he saw me using the yarn. At that time, I was in a rather advance stage with my own sweater. So new grey yarn has to be bought and by accident, the tweedy batch arrived instead of the plain grey ones. All the better as the tweedy-ness does give character to the cables.

And I do enjoy knitting cables but not sewing the parts together. The chunky cables got done quickly but the finishing got stalled for over a month. I decided to complete it and move on to summer projects.

The pattern calls for 7 buttons. I found mine in the neighbour lys. The saleslady just couldn't find the 7th despite searching high and low and she even had to cut the 6th fron the sample board.

All's well that ends well. The fit is good (I made the first men's size). Husband is happy with it and he even volunteered to show the back!

Quilty Week

Thursday was Dragon Boat Festival and was a bank holiday. The night before, tired out from work, I declared to husband who himself just arrived home from work in Beijing, that I'm going to sew tomorrow. Poor guy, didn't quite know what to say to me having himself just returned from a 3.5 hours flight. And sew I did. Finally found a fabric that I like after a quick browse at Etsy the other day and ordered the yellow birdie fabric from Matatabi (excellent seller) which arrived promptly. This fabric allows me to finish up JY's white and yellow quilt that I pieced last year during a typhoon-in day. Called it startitis, over-zealousness or multi-tasking or whatever, not only did I not finish the white/yellow quilt, I ended up with 2 more quilt WIPs yesterday.

See, I got help. Husband was designated the job of drawing the quilt lines for the white/yellow stacked coins quilt (pattern from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts). Anyway, he was muttering under his breath how bad was the movie that he was watching so I asked him why not do something more meaningful like drawing the lines for our daughter's quilt as professionally as he made his architecture drawings?

So while husband drew the quilt lines, I attended to making the quilt sandwich of this darling baby quilt (based on the Six of One, A Half-Dozen of the Other quilt, also from Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, love this book, so many quilts in there that I like). This will be for a friend who is expecting her first baby.

And look, there's another quilt top on the ironing board. Since I have too much stacked coins, why not piece another one with brown sashing using the fabric I have in stash?

Today is Sunday and husband asked me if I wanted to continue with my sewing and he'd take the kids swimming in the afternoon. Must be because I finished his Morris (from Rowan 34 or available as free download on Rowan's website) this morning :O). Modeled shots to follow. And sewed I did, the white/yellow Stacked Coins is done, and so is the pink baby quilt. The light's no good for photos after I finished them and I also I would like to give them a wash first. Hopefully I'll get a photo session in the coming weekend.

After the intensive sewing/quilting session this week, I have the following thoughts:
- The curved quilters' safety pins are fantastic, facilitating the quilt sandwich making process so much.
- The method of using masking tape to hold down the quilt back for making the sandwich is another cool trick, thanks to Pink Chalk Studio Kathy's tutorial. I didn't use enough tape to hold the quilt back tight enough though and there was some puckering. Next time, tape more firmly.
- Cutting fabric and making quilts results in lots of scraps and potentials for even more quilts. But what to do with the leftover battings, too small for quilts but too big to discard?
- Sewing/quilting is a good work-out, I was completely burnt out after the sewing sessions of this week.
- I have a few more quilts to make for friends who are expecting, and also for my younger brother's baby boy. And maybe a few more for my girls. This summer is going to be quilty

Rainy Day at Causeway Bay

Huge sign box advertisement.

Bamboo scaldfolding.

Crowd.

Rain.

This is Hong Kong.

8pm, on the bus home after work on a Wednesday evening. Tired out. So
glad tomorrow is a bank holiday. Some fabric arrive from Japan yesterday. Hope I'll get to do some sewing.

What's knitting

I've never been a one-project knitter. There's always something on the needles or on the hook. I would definitely be embarrassed to list them all. Here are some recently started ones that are holding my attention.

Thanks to Domesticshorthair and KPurl's suggestions to for down-sizing the February Lady Sweater (another design from the fantastic Pamela), I've start this ubiquitous sweater for JY in Cotton Fleece. After stashing all the yellow which is her favourite colour, she now wants pink. Anyway, I'm enjoying the pinkness. I got 22 st for 10cm on 4.5mm needles and after some calculation, decided to use the numbers for the second size which should work out to a size that would fit my 9-year-old-to-be.

Also on the needles, close to the finishing line but also close to running out of yarn is the Vine Lace Vest (free pattern from Classic Elite) for my mum in Singapore. I'm recycling the All Seasons Cotton from this sweater which I wore only once or twice after finishing it. This is a colour my mum likes and I hope she'll get more wear out of this top.

Using the leftover yarn from my recent Marigolds and some grey leftover yarn in stash to make a pair of socks for CY. Simple toe up formula, starting with 20 st figure-8 cast on and increasing to 56 st. I'm making the jogs joglessly and so far happy with it. CY is calling this the Bumblebee Sock and it's obvious why, isn't it?

So long for now, let's see how far I can go this week.

What colour is your weekend?

My weekend is yellow as I wallow in my recently expanded stash, dreaming of the possibilities. Until very recently, there is not one ball of yellow yarn in my stash. Now I have:

- Sweaters worth of sunshine

1. Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky - yellow, 2. House of Yarn Cashmere - lemon, 3. Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece - Soft Gold

- Dollops of gold

1. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock - Sunshine, 2. Madeline Tosh Aran - Alabaster, 3. Madeline Tosh Sock - Butter

- And Marigold Socks for the feet. Thanks to Pamela of Flint Knits for the lovely, summery pattern. I made the medium size in Dreamworks handdyed yarn, Sunflower colourway.

I just have to have a pair of yellow socks and here they are, flying on the needles and finished even before I blogged about their making.

Hope you're enjoying some sunshine on your part of the world too. Have a great week ahead.

I decided to FO it

Thanks to the blog, I'm able to check when this project was first started, and it was in August last year. Certainly not too long compared to my other UFOs but long enough. I had wanted to add another tier of blue/grey yarn but decided that I want to finish it as a shawlette and use the yarn for another shawl project.

I like it at this size, just enough to cover the shoulders on a chilly spring evening or on the bus when the air-con is stronger than desired.

To recap, this pattern is the Eva Shawl, free pattern available here. I made the border differently, simply in chain loops because it was an impromptu decision to FO this shawlette and because that's all the grey yarn I have left.

My inspiration came from these three shawls. The yarns I used are 4 ply weight leftovers, odd balls I have in stash and the fibres are a mixture of silk, cashmere and alpaca, while the hook I used was 5mm.

Another FO to be finished, husband's Morris. The knitting for the main parts is done for quite a while but the finishing is taking forever. After this, I really would like to move on to some summer knitting. There is another pair of socks on the needles which should be finished soon. And then I would like to knit a cardigan for JY. Any idea for a pattern for lacy summer cardigan for a to-be 9 year old?

And since the weather is warming up, you might have noticed in the photos that I've cut my hair to above the shoulder. What a breeze it is now when it comes to shampoo time :).