A Belated Gift

Yarn: Meillenweit cotton yarn
Tool: Clover needle #6
Period: 1 week

This shawl has a beautiful name - sun ray shawl, it was a free pattern at Elann.com and was also a project of TKA. Sun ray shawl is a traditional triangle shawl, quite easy to knit actually. The only frustrating part is the picot ending...I am not against this technique at all, but since I've spent two more hours doing this picot thing, I am not sure if I am willing to do this all again next time!

After blocking, the pattern is much clear to see, at least I could imagine thos falling lines as Winter sun ray throwing from the window.

The shawl will be packed and sent to Switzerland, to a professor who I like very much. The professor used to teach Civilization when I was an university student there. I love the way she teaches, and I think the most part her teaching was so interesting to me is because what I've learnt from her was completely different from what I've got in Taiwan. History is always like this, two sides, and you could inteprete either of them depending where and who you are...

Professor told me she loves the porcelain of Ming dynasty, but it's rarely to be seen in the market. So I promised her to send her some info on this, and 10 years has passed, I've not yet done anything!

Having this shawl done, I am going to the National Palace Museum on the weekend and hoping that I could be able to find some books or CDs about the porcelain of Ming dynasty.

This belated gift will be sent out soon and hopfully professor could get it before Christmas.

Shiny White Cardi

I should have done this cardi before my scheduled trip in October, because I wanted to give it as a gift to my ML. But since the trip was canceled, there seems no reason to continue the work...well, the truth was that I was just too lazy actually!

Autumn is past, and having too many half done work is not very comfortable. So I picked up the hook again, and finally finished this on the weekend. :-)

Yarn: from China, called九色鹿. It 's composed of bamboo cotton and silk. A golden colored silk was wrapped together with the white bamboo cotton, it creats a shiny feature and a soft touch , they are actually a big plus to the yarn! Besides, the price is really attempting as well, for one bag(40g per ball, 8 balls packed in one bag)it costs less than NT$1000(US30), compare to those pricy bamboo cotton, 九色鹿is really worth buying.

The only thing that I find no good about this yarn is that its QC process is not very professional cos I found a long hair wrapped together with the yarn, and blue ink identifying the lot number has polutted a small part of the yarn. I can not say anything about it, because no one will expect to pay such low price and receive goodies having strict QC process as what other big brands do...

Tool:Clover crochet hook#4 (JP size)

Pattern: Hand knits for Grandma 2006 Sping & Summer



Three different pattern for the edging, waist and the body. It's an easy cardi to crochet and this is actually my first time to connect the sleeves with the body...and I have done a pretty good job! :-)

the collar shaping...i love the small angle it creats, so elegant!


Sleeve close up...

Twinkle Cardi for Baby Justin

It's been really long time that I did not update my blog...I have been doing all fine, but just lost my motivation to knitting stuff. Guess it's all beacuse of the Autumn weather...The air is just too cosy and that makes me too relaxed. :-)

For the entire September and October, besides my office job, I've been helping my sister taking care of her new born son-Justin.

The set of baby cardi and the booties are for Justin and the peach colored booties is for Sherie, an old friend of mine. Sherie will have her baby girl delivered before Christmas.

The yarn I used here is all organic yarn manufactured by Hamanaka. The price is a bit higher compares to those of non-organic, but I think it's worth speding the money, not only because I like the soft texture the yarn produces, but also because babies' skin is very sensative and we should always takes very good care when choosing stuff for them.

So why I named it Twinkle Cardi? It's because while knitting, the colorful dots on the yarn will produce a star like shape. I like the way how the dots going along on the cardi, they are like stars twinkling to me.

See Justin's smile? He's such an adorable baby that all my family members love him so much!!!

It's actually my first time crochetting baby cardi and I am pretty happy that my first experience goes to Justin.

C'est bon! Fifi

So, I am finally done with my beautiful FIFI!!!

It's my first time knitting that many cables...

It's my first time knitting cables without a cable stitch

AND it's my first project with Sexy Knitter's Club!

The knitting process is enjoyable, but I wan't very concerntrate on this project actually. Maybe it was because the pattern is just too easy to follow, or I was at the same time busy crocheting booties for my baby nephew.

I used 5 1/2 skeins of Berroco's Touch (Toe Shoe #7990), cast 120 stitches on a XS size and later 7 stitches increase for both sides.

Yarn: Berroco's Touch (Toe Shoe#7990)
Needle: Clover JP size #7 & 6

It took me a while to figure out how many stitches I actually had to increase on the sides cos from the pattern it says add stitches to get a even number, and if it's the case, there'll be only 2 stitches added on each side, which would not make any sense! Well, one of the benefits of joining KAL is that people could share with others about how they've gone through with the same project. And gladly that I found very valuable info at SKC, and my problem's solved! It's always good to knit with group of people, you'll never know how you gonna end up with a beautiful project and gaining really skillful information from the group.

My FIFI is actually in a beautiful pink color and it fits on me perfectly! :P Touche is good in sheen texture and stretchness, but if I have a chance for a second FIFI, I'd love to try that magic Camer for sure!

My Fifi-progress

view seeing from office window

Summer time is never a cosy season here in Taiwan. Temperature sometimes would rise to over 37 degrees celsius in the midst of Summer, which is indeed quite annoying! What you could do is nothing but stay in an air-con place, it's the only way to successfully get rid of the hot and the humid.

And about my Fifi, so far I am about to start to separate sleeves from the body. I'll have to try it on tonight when I am back home and see if the size fits me.

My weekday knitting time is so little that I could knit only during lunch break between 1 p.m. through 01:30 p.m., and a few hours only in the night...

My Fifi---having a swatch

Many of the SKC members have already started the project, and I am just done with my swatch...seems that I am a bit behind...

Instead of the pricy Calmer, I chose Touche of Berroco for my Fifi. The color I bought is the Toe Shoe (7990), which is an absolutely pink and I think pink color should match perfectly with this pattern. :P

I am using on a #7 (JP size) for my swatch, which is exactly the same as the pattern indicates. I wear size 36 (38 in rare situation) normally, and considering the "negative ease" that my final size of Fifi could stretch much bigger than expected, I decided to go for the smallest size, so that my final Fifi would be either just fit to me or be a bit tight on me, which would be all fine to me.

I'll start the knitting tonight and hope that everything will go just as smooth as I expect!

2007/07/17 update

This is so far what I've done. I am doing the 6th row increase and am done with two times cables...pattern is easy to follow, but it's weired doing the cables without the needle, but it's faster doing this way though... :P

Pineapple Lace Blouse---Finally a FO!

The finished garment is just far beyond my expection! It's truly romantic and femenine and that you would look just sooo stunning by wearing it! :P

The crocheting of this blouse is tiring and it's much more difficult to me after I actually started to crochet. I was thinking it's easier and what I had to do is simply connect the two round pieces...ummm...what I could say now is that I am happy that I mistakenly chose this not so easy blouse to crochet, or I wouldn't have been able to have such beautiful one to wear!

It's worth spending the whole weekend working on this. And I am planning to crochet a second and third one. :P

The center core of pineapple starts from the underarm and go extend to the front and back piece and part of the sleeve.

Close up pic of the wavy sleeve ends~

Hot Summer Afternoon in a Cafe

Sitting in a Cafe in the hot summer afternoon is definitely the most satisfying thing of the day. My buddy Kim and I sat the whole afternoon at Fong Da Cafe in Ximentin area today, with a cup of Mendeling for myself and a glass of iced coffee for Kim.

With not too many chattings, we both were concentrate on our crocheting work. It always prooves to be good to have a partner doing the same project with you. Kim and I discussed about the pattern pretty often because there are parts that really got me putting down my hook and lost my mind...Luckily we figured it out and the work just went smoothly.

So, this is what I've done for the entire afternoon, to connect the two rounds, before doing that, I did alot trimming jobs, which was quite challenging actually. I will try to finish the other sleeve tonight and do the rest tommorrow.

To show my appreciation to the waitress for not kicking us out for sitting too long there, we ordered an extra cup of Mendeling for myself and a bowl of tremella and lotus seeds soup, which is a traditional Chinese snack, for Kim. :P

Pineapple Lace Blouse

OK, I am crochetting another pineapple pattern! :) This time it's a lace blouse, which comes from a Japanese pattern book 美しいかぎ針編 春夏NO.14. I am using a #2 crochet hook and sky blue yarn bought from online yarn shop of 哞哞毛房. The yarn is pretty thin and creats a shiny outlook that matches perfectly with the pattern! I am very happy to see how it turns out with the pattern, but still am not sure how the blouse would look finally...

The instruction is to connect two pieces of round pineapples to create a blouse model. I am hoping that I could finish the first piece of round pineapple and start the second one in the weekend so that I could be able to finish up the blouse by next weekend...but this is what I hope for, anyway, I'll work hard to follow my schedule! :)

close up~ beautiful pattern!

This is one of the two round pieces. Two were both done on July 11. :P And tonight I'll start the more difficult part---to fold the piece and shape into the front and back side, and also the sleeve.

So here's what I've done so far...one side sleeve is halfway done and after that, I'll have to crochet and make the round angle of the back piece straight, then do the same thing to the other round piece...hugh...hope this could all be done by the weekend!

Pineapple Lace Top

The original pattern was designed for a toddler using a clover JP#2 crochet hook. My friend Kim has shown me some FOs crochetted by bloggers, some made it a kid wear, yet some made it an adult one using larger size crochet hook. All these garments have very elegant style that I hardly could resist, especially in such a humid summer time, what could be more suitable than a crocht wear? :)

Therefore, Kim and I decided to make it as our small knit along.

Yarn:pink purple cotton yarn bought from a yarn stand in Taipei. The stand owner is called Mrs. Tseng, she's famous among knit bloggers. It was my first time to buy yarns from her, and the experience was quite pleasant. Mrs. Tseng told me she's been selling yarns for more than 30 years, seems like she's also an experienced knitter cos she would tell me which type of yarn goes to which specific pattern...

Tools: Clover JP#3 crochet hook

Pattern:Sheep House

The finished Pineapple Lace Top. It's better to wear a camisole inside, the drapping has made the garment a lovely taste!

How the beautiful pineapple pattern glittering through the sunshine.

Three buttons used on front top, it looks good as well without buttons up.

Buttons up. It's better to wear jeans instead, isn't it! :)

The frustrating French knitting

Ok, I know I am making my own trouble. I can not read any French at all, and I chose this project to knit, it's written in French!!! It's not that I am crazy or something, it's just because the garment is just so attempting to me that I MUST knit it! Isn't the tank top shown on the above photo fabulous? I could even smell the summer by seeing the photo only!

The local distributor here says they import the French versions only and it should be no problem for knitters to figure out the pattern. I've been online searching for a version with English translation, but the only way I could have is to get it from the states. See how much I'll have to pay for the postage along with the English version?! It's not cost effective at all and thus I would rather to having my soul crashing instead. Some experienced local knitters here have told me that they could knit the pattern without any difficulty by seeing the PHOTO only. Isn't that amazing?! Thus, I have gained more confidence that MAYBE I could do this as well.

The first thing is to find a translation on the french knitting abbreviations. A really big thank-you to CHEZPLUM for posting a valuable article talking about knitting the French way and the English way, in terms of knitting cultures and abbreviations. By having the conversion list of the abbreviations from French to English and vise versa, I have more clues on figuring out the pattern.

My buddy Kim has learnt French for years, though she said she almost forgot everyting on French, but indeed she helped me alot. And here's the results.



This is the pattern on the garment and I finally made it! I really want to screm out loudly when I saw the pattern coming out through my busy hands!

To figure out the pattern is just a beginning. Kim and I "studied" the pattern for days, and we figured out the knitting sequences clearly. I'll have to increase 10 stitches on both sides of the pattern, and have to increase by following the pattern...it's not easy though...

I am still looking for yarns for this garment and it's not easy since most summer yarn here are either fingering or DK, which will not match with the required gauge...but I'll try my best to finish this!

Green Mango Bolero

Having struggled with the crochet project of Romantic Wave Bolero (浪漫波浪小外套) for more than three weeks, I decided to shift to another project-the Green Mango Bolero (綠色情人果).

The outcome is fabulous indeed! I did not follow the pattern exactly, the little Nupp stitches were missed and I've added the lengh of the bolero because I am just not used to wear a short bolero.

Tools: Clover #3 crochet hook

Yarn used: cotton yarn from 哞哞毛房. The yarn was wrapped in a center pull ball and weight roughly 220g, there's still 2/3 remaining after the bolero was done.

Pattern: Joey's KAL

線材:哞哞毛房 點點色.棉線-藍紫

I'd say that crochetting is never an easy task for me and if it's not that humid summer is coming, I'd never pick up my crochet hook for a trial... But, it's weired that once you started to crochet, you just simply fall deeply into it and never want to stop... Guess it's all because the crochet pattern is just too beautiful to have my hands off the hook. :)

Evie Tank Top

It's my first time to knit with worsted summer cotton yarn and I am happy with the result. The yarn I chose from a local web shop is a strap like summer cotton, with elasticity. I use US#8 circular for a swatch and happily that my gauge is exactly the same as the pattern book.

I casted on 81 stitches and follow exactly with the pattern book for size XS. The pattern is too simple that I had to take a break for a cup of tea or coffe during the knit process or I would fall asleep.

Pattern: Debbie Bliss
TKA#19

Needles:US#8 circular needles

Yarn: 草莓斜紋網紗

It's also my first time doing the short rows following the instructions in English and it's pretty interesting and looks much easier than that of the Japanese one. While doing the Japanese way, there'll be calculations and many things to do, which is quite frustrating to me.

I look good when wear this top tank on me, but...I would not wear it if I am not able to stay in an air-con environment! The weather here is absolutely a sub-tropical type and this top tank suits for early spring or autumn time, what we need here is T-shirts, and sun glasses! :)

Reading in Bed Shrug

Pattern: IK Spring 2007

Needles: Clover #4/5/6 circular needles

Yarn: Soft Feather Summer Cotton

This pattern comes from IK Spring 2007, which is an easy to knit project. Everything followed the pattern book, and I made a little change to the edges. The shrug will be a gift to my pregnant sister and I am afraid that she'd hesitate to wear it because this is not a jacket or a bolero, but a SHRUG, which is not familar for her. Therefore, I added the edge and made it a wave like, so when she wears it on, it'll looks more like a bolero. The pattern of the edge comes from the book of "Knitting beyond the Edge" and which took me almore one ball of yarn to knit!