Little Purl of the Orient

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 :).

Noro Entrelac Scarf

I'm definitely behind in my blogging. This scarf was completed back at the end of March while I was in a mad rush at work before leaving for Easter holiday, so didn't have time to blog about it.

4 skeins of Noro Silk Garden in #268A.
Clover 8 (4.5mm) needles.

Love the entrelac pattern (pdf link) put together by Freckles & Purls* which displays self-striping yarn to its full potential. I had nearly wanted to cast on another one but then again, there is the stash to contend with, and my queue of to-knit is not short, so to speak, hehe.

The colourway of this Noro Silk Garden is 268A with the blues, greens and greys which I so love. I just ran out of yarn for the last 2 triangles and instead of ripping of and leaving a fair bit of Noro to waste, I used some leftover grey yarn in stash to finish the 2 triangles and I would say, the difference is very subtle.

Edited to include: The Noro Silk Garden is indeed rather scratchy on the neck and if you have sensitive skin, it might not be the first choice yarn for a scarf. But the colours of Noro are just too mesmerizing to let pass. In this colourway, while you are just enjoying the soothing subtle greys, pale greens and blues, there are surprise jolts of turqoise, forest greens and even hints of lavender. The colour voyage is just splendid.

Here's a Happy Labour Day holiday to one and all. Better to sleep early, stay home and knit in view of the flu going around. Stay healthy!!

* It's true there are lots of entrelac instructions and formulae out there in the web but nothing beats the effort of knitterly and crochety folks out there who spend time to put together a pattern so that people like me could just follow and knit relatively mindlessly. Thank you to you all!