Progress Report

Front side of Squarey is done. Now I have 10 rows for the backside. Somewhat Cowl is progressing slowly, too slow for me. Too many stockinette stitch! I'm still a little more than halfway on the raglan increase. There's still 5 more inches to go. I'm getting bored already. But I HAVE to finish this before I went back.

Today I have lunch with two new friends. One doesn't want to have anything to do with knitting and the other one wants to start again after seeing my Sweater with Wide Collar. We went to Temptations in Dublin and she (the friend that knits) had a great fun. She found a pattern but didn't have the time to find the yarn because she need to pick up her kids. I just sat in one of the tables and chatted with a nice old lady. It's really great to interact with other knitters. I wish I could do it more.

New Projects

I've started to knit two new projects, Squarey from Jess Hutch and Somewhat Cowl. I hope both will be done before February ends.

Squarey in Lamb's Pride Worsted, I love the green stripes

Somewhat Cowl in pale blue gray Tahki Cotton Classic

Meet My New Friends!

On the background is the green monster that I got at Plush Rush. The bear is from Jess' booklet (which is unfortunately no longer on sale). Both of those are from December. I made the dark blue Juju for husband. The head is not completely round, looks a little bit like pumpkin head. His ugliness doesn't prevent him being in the picture because he's new. I'm gonna banish him to some dark place where I can't see him. Finally, the small yellow thing in the middle is Odd Fellow. Another cute little thing from Jess. I plan to make one more today, it's either Spherey or Dolly.

My SP got her package yesterday and she's happy. That makes me happy too. I can't give you pictures, but I can tell you what I send. One hand-kntted thing, one hank of yarn, and candies because it's Valentine. I still have to make one more thing for her and send it before I go back.

Fiery Apple Bolero

Here it is!


Pattern: Fiery Bolero, Interweave Knits Summer 2005
Yarn: RYC Cashcotton in Apple, 3 skeins

I added the lace pattern (from Rebecca 29) and shorten the sleeves by 4 stitches. I've been wearing it around the apartment and the mohair is starting to appear. It's not shedding though, I didn't see any on my tee. It's so soft and fuzzy but you can still see the stitches. I want to make this again and add some more length to the body because this is really small.

Next project is Somewhat Cowl. I've ordered the yarn from my LYS, Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Nymph. I placed the order last Saturday, I hope they have it before February ends because I want to wear it in Indonesia, if it's not too humid.

Last weekend, I checked on the weather in Indonesia and Singapore. Everyday, the hi-s are around 90s and the lo-s are around 70-s. Humidity from 89% to 95%. Whew, few years ago I didn't really care about the weather, now it seems like it's too hot! I'll have to bring bottled water everywhere.

Where?

I've been looking at my balances and everything. Apparently, during the last 6 months that I have moved to Ohio, I have spent over $700 on my craft supplies! So far, I have finished Picovoli, Hourglass, husband's sweater, Bolero Jacket, Sweater with Wide Collar, and Fiery Bolero, also some small stuff like plush, pouch, headband, and scarf. Those would take up more than $350 (based on my rough calculation). I also have maybe 4 or 5 cuts of fabric, none of those is over a yard. An alphabet stamp set that I got in Chicago, scrapbooking papers, giftwraps, tissue papers, and ribbons.

I think that's it. So where did all the money went? If I gave it a little more thinking, the average spending is about $100 per month. So it is possible. I need to knit much much slower so I don't have to buy yarn that often.

Because I Love Sesame Street

Snuffleupagus
You scored 52% Organization, 53% abstract, and 50% extroverted!

This test measured 3 variables.

First, this test measured how organized you are. Some muppets like Cookie Monster make big messes, while others like Bert are quite anal about things being clean.

Second, this test measured if you prefer a concrete or an abstract viewpoint. For the purposes of this test, concrete people are considered to gravitate more to mathematical and logical approaches, whereas abstract people are more the dreamers and artistic type.

Third, this test measured if you are more of an introvert or an extrovert. By definition, an introvert concentrates more on herself and an extrovert focuses more on others. In this test an introvert was somebody that either tends to spend more time alone or thinks more about herself.

You are somewhat organized, both concrete and abstract, and both introverted and extroverted.

I bet you didn't think you were Snuffleupagus. Let's find out why.

You are both somewhat organized. You have a good idea where you put things and you probably keep your place reasonably clean. You aren't totally obsessed with neatness though. Alloyius Snuffleupagus (and all Snuffleupagus') is not sloppy by nature, but he moves so incredibly slowly that it is impossible for him to be totally organized.

You both are about equally concrete and abstract thinkers. You have a good balance in your life. You know when to be logical at times, but you also aren't afraid to explore your dreams and desires... within limits of course. Snuffy generally has very basic interests, but he explores his abstract sensitive side when he plays his snuffleflute.

You both are somewhat introverted. Originally Snuffleupagus was very shy and was only Big Bird's invisible friend. However as he has aged he has started to build new friendships with new characters. Like Snuffy, you probably like to have some time to yourself. However, you do appreciate spending time with your friends, and you aren't scared of social situations.

Link: Your SESAME STREET Persona Test written by greencowsgomoo

Good News (--or Bad News for My SP?)

I'm going back for holiday in Indonesia for a month! Yay! It's actually for 5 weeks, starting in early March to mid April. I'm sorry if I put any pressure for my SP. You're welcome to send your package any time you like. My husband is still gonna be here so he can receive it for me and I can open it as soon as I'm back.

As for my giftee, I'm gonna send her one package before I leave to explain everything and I will send one more package after I got back. Hopefully I'll find something in Golden Dragon or Kinokuniya in Singapore (I'm going there with my mom). Anyway, I just prepare another package for her. It will be sent early next week.

Cherries

I got one! Apparently I'm too paranoid. It's only sold out on Target.com. They have a bunch of these at the actual store. Well, not a big bunch, maybe only 6 or 7. But I have one now!

Dreams, Hopes, and Wishes

I wish for this cubby hole to appear in my apartment, complete with endless supply of yarns, fabrics, papers, and every crafting tools and notions that I might ever need. All organized neatly in vintage containers. I wish...


This is actually a picture from one of my Japanese craft book (ISBN 4-177-43064-3). I love looking at it and daydreaming about the possibilities.

The Luella clutch that I posted about a few days ago is sold out! How am I gonna get one of those cute thing?

On The Way

One Fiery Bolero coming up soon!

This is the knitted piece as of 10 am this morning
(after about 4 days of knitting, frogging, and reknitting)

Getting Better

It's been a week since I posted. Not so much going on this week. Our tax return is done and on its way to the government. I started two new projects, Bad Juju and Fiery Bolero. I need to make one more arm and finish the juju head, embroider the facial feature and heart, and it will be done. This is for husband, he likes that kind of things.

I cast on Fiery Bolero on Wednesday using the yummy apple green RYC CashCotton. The yarn is soooooo soft and fluffy and warm and everything! I love it to death! I was gonna use it to make Somewhat Cowl, but I just can't see myself wearing it in green. So, it's gonna be a lovely little shrug for summer.

This bolero pattern seems to be coming along quite nicely. I'm thinking to make another one in Cotton Fleece. Red would be nice, or deep purple. The hard thing is none of my LYS carried it. There's this one Ebay store that sells almost every colour of Cotton Fleece, but I can't imagine the colour just by watching the monitor. I haven't decided what colour I want for Pale Blue Jacket either. Why do we have so much colour to choose for?

I found this little coin purse by Luella. It's just too cute! They have the clutch too. Anyone wanna buy it for me? hehe...

We went snowboarding today, the longest that we've ever stayed there. I'm getting better! I can zig zag but not too far because I get tired easily. I never would've guessed that I could be this good. I'm proud of myself.

*Edit* AAAARRRGHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I just had to frog 6 inches of Fiery Bolero!! I didn't do one yarnover way down there so I HAD to rip it. Oh yeah, I do an all-over lace pattern from the Wrap Cardi in Rebecca 29. I don't want to just do a big boring piece of stockinette stitch. I got my inspiration here. Of course my lace pattern is not that elaborate. That's why I had to rip out 6 inches of my hard work--I already done like a hundred tiny frogging on the first few inches because I kept making mistakes--this is quite a setback.

One more last thing, last night I was pretty upset because I can't solve this one particular sudoku puzzle. I hate sudoku right now.