Would posting a heap of photos help you forgive me for abandoning this place?

Okay.. just roll along with me here….

First up, recent photos of the kids!

I love his feet and toes.

Through my (fisheye) lens.

Look at the way he is looking at her! LOL.

He was about to push her!!!!

So…. are we interested in what I’ve been up to recently?
Well.. I’m having school holidays at the moment and return to Uni early July (which is soon!!)

I’ve been knitting loads and reading loads, happy to be away from assignments and exams for a bit!
Here some photos of my WIPs (Work In Progresses):

My Olive blouse, knitted with Wollmeise (Blau Tinte 100%) and the collar was knitted with Malabrigo Sock (Caribeno). It’s an endless Stockingnette stitch right now and I only work on it when I need a project that doesn’t need much brain juice.

Well I thought knitting a blouse or cardi in sock weight was bad enough…. Clearly I’m insane to start a Featherweight cardi with malabrigo Lace. I know, right? It’s not in hibernation yet but this is at the bottom of my WIP list. Grrr.

This is my Huntington Castle Pullover. Knitted in Rowan Summer Tweed. I’m left with just a little bit of the hood and seaming the sleeves to go!!!

Uh… another semi-abandoned project… This is crochet and I’m trying to make a hexagon blanket throw for our sofa.

I have another major WIP (possibly the last of its kind too) that I’ve been brewing and that is this:

Which kinda explains why I’ve not been updating much (on top of the school work and housework I have!)

I know my tummy is big for weeks (16 weeks now) but I am assured it’s normal as it is our 3rd baby and my insides expand much faster for subsequent babies.
I’ve JUST finished with feeling nauseous and horrible everyday and am now able to keep my dinner down much better. My spirits have improved although I still feel tired a lot of the time.

We are not finding out the gender of the baby and he/she already has a nickname! It happened when one day we asked the kids,

Me to Sunshine: Do you want a baby brother or a baby sister?
Sunshine: Hmm.. I want a baby sister.
Me to Chubbs: Do you want a baby brother or baby sister?
Chubbs (eyeing the carrot in his food bowl): I want a BABY CARROT!!
Thus, we have our little baby carrot.

Okay dokey. If you are on my list of Facebook friends, you’ll be able to see the other photos I’ve taken……
Once again, sorry for the absence… I will try to make up for lost time.

Yeah.. I’ve been busy with dyeing yarn and sewing for the store! Here are some sneak peeks at the bags:

They are expandabags.

Have you ever started a project (knitting or crochet) for… say a sweater or a blanket? It starts out small with only one ball of yarn… then it grows and grows and grows and soon you won’t have space in the project bag. Most times I use a huge ziplock bag to contain the project when it grows out of my bag but with an Expandabag, you can use the same bag for the entire project!

Dimensions are 36cm across, 22cm tall at the smallest size and 38cm at the biggest size. The base is 15cm by 22cm. I’ve shoved ten 100g worsted weight yarn cakes in there without a problem.

They are made of sturdy cotton denim fabric and high quality 100% cotton contrasting fabric. Snaps are durable and tested for each bag.

They each come with an Inoriz.com label:

I have not taken many photos of the yarns but here’s a small peek:

There are many other colours that would be included in this update.

The store, http://yarnandkisses.com, will be updated this coming Sunday (19 Dec 2010) at around mid-day. I had posted on Facebook that I will update before I receive my exam results. Exam results are released on 20 Dec. So I’m working overtime to keep that promise!

I’m very anxious about the results and especially for the university entrance results. But, hey! Today (17 Dec) is my wedding anniversary and I get to go out on a date with my husband alone (kids with our best friend) for the first time in more than 3 years! And the day after is my birthday… which I plan not to celebrate because….. it’s just depressing to grow older and older.

Okay! See ya!

I was feeling down for a while as I found out that there is a high chance I won’t be getting into Bachelor of Med/Surgery. This is because my UMAT score is on the low side. I had 56 points and the lady at admissions said the lowest they had taken in so far for this coming year is 59 points. However, there is a glimmer of hope as another lady told me that I may have a chance as I am in a ‘special’ category but it would depend on my exam results.

So………. I am counting down 17 more days before results are released and 18 to 20 more days for the uni offers me a place. I have decided to put Bachelor of Nursing as my 2nd choice if I don’t make it into Bachelor of Med/Surgery.

This will be the longest month ever for me. All the waiting! I’m all nervous and jittery and stressed. On top of that, both kids and I are sick. We have the dreaded cold and cough. Chubbs even had fever for a day about a week ago and I spent the whole day cradling him in my arms.

Anyway, I will be spending my time dyeing wool and sewing bags for the shop. Progress is slow but steady. I can’t wait to update!

Few days back I gave Sunshine a treat by letting her dye some yarn with food colouring.

She chose green and blue dyes.

Looking very professional!

Monster green hands!

She’s showing us what a good job she did here!

Here it is, all dry and skeined. I will be teaching her to knit with it soon. Now she enjoys wearing the skein like a scarf and she hangs the skein on my spinning wheel. Hehe. I think she had fun because she’s been badgering me, “Mummy can I dye my wool please?”

Here’s a picture of Chubbs modeling the vest I finished quite some time back but didn’t outline the owl until now:

The yarn was leftovers from Nad’s jumper. Perfect vest for the warmer weather now!

Okay dokey. I will try to update again soon! I’ve just finished sewing a ring sling and will try to get pictures of it tomorrow.

1. I’ve released the pattern for Ulverstone Stole on Ravelry.

This stole is knitted with Malabrigo Sock yarn and takes two skeins. I was left with about 30g from the second skein so was cutting it pretty close!

When I blocked it, it took up the ENTIRE length and width of a single mattress. Didn’t expect it to be that big! I’ve encouraged people to use smaller sized needles as the stole was a little too airy. Some knitters have also expressed interest in using lace weight yarn for the stole. I’m looking forward to seeing the projects of other knitters!

I included diagrams to help with the knitted on edging and what I hope are detailed instructions. This is my first time doing a knit on edging too so if I can do it, so can you!

I’ve offered the pattern for free until January 2011 when I will start charging a small token for it.

I was pleasantly surprised to see 431 downloads on the first day, 123 downloads on the second and 66 on the third upon its release! I had a flood of comments and well wishers congratulating me. Made me soooo happy! Thank you all for your support!!!!!

2. Fun on a pony

We’ve been bringing the kids out quite a bit!

I called up this horse riding school one day and asked if they had a pony for a 3 year old (and hopefully, for a 1.5 year old as well). He said yes, they have a pony but only the 3 year old can ride. We were so excited and thought of Sunshine riding on a miniature pony (think Shetland pony).

When we arrived, the pony is this big:

Apparently, a horse that is less than…ummm.. 16 hands (??I cannot remember how many ‘hands’) in height is considered a pony. This ‘pony’ is one hand short of being a horse.

Look at her glum face…
She wasn’t unhappy. Just a little apprehensive. I had to hold her hand the whole time we walked in the bush. If I let go, Sunshine whined and wanted me to hold her hand again. So being the poor mother I am, I had one arm up, holding on to her while walking beside the horse pony and bumped at the side by the pony’s buldging tummy. -___-

Some parts of the bush had really thick foliage and it was hard work walking beside the pony as the path was so narrow. Once uphill, I tripped on some branches and fell. -___- The things we do for our kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. Fun at the beach

Since it has warmed up a little, we brought them to the beach.

They enjoyed playing with the sand, flicking it into our hair and eyes. Chubbs even tasted some just to make sure he didn’t miss out on yummy food.

No.. he didn’t like it at all and we had to wash out his mouth. Silly boy.

Their cheeks were really rosy as it was rather warm. Nad held up an umbrella to shield us from the strong rays. I sat knitting while enjoying the sea breeze. Granted, I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn’t wearing jeans!

4. Fun in the backyard.

Here are some pictures of the kids in the backyard. Chubbs is very hardworking. He sweeps the grass instead of the paths.

Am I cute with pouty pouty lips?

I love her smile.

Nad reckons they are twins. What do you think?

Our chookies. Lizzy is on the left and Penny is on the right. I love them so much, esp lil Lizzy. She lays the most awesome eggs. Penny is broody at the moment and not laying. She keeps sitting on Lizzy’s eggs. We have to take it away and lift her to the branch to try to break her broodiness. Hope she snaps out of it soon.

5. Fun at home

Some random shots from home.

They crawled into their highchair and Sunshine read to Chubbs her bible story book. SOOOO SWEET. He was listening to her too! I didn’t know until I heard her reading and turned around to see this. *Heart melts*.

Random shot.

They each have a piggy soft toy. And they love sitting in their toy box, pretending to be in a boat.

He put the headband on his head all by himself. Soooo funny.

Chubbs is the happiest with food in his mouth.

He’s pretty serious about food.

So happy that we can’t see his eyes.

6. Of Lizards

So 2 days ago, I was in the backyard trimming the bushes when I heard benji growling and emitting low barks. I took a look at what he was growling at and saw what I thought was a skink. Except it had a long tail.

It was stuck in the bird netting we drape over our pots of veges. Walked right into the net and got its head and upper body hopelessly stuck.

I came in and told Nad about it while shooing Benji back into the house. I reached for the scissors but Nad said to look up online about it first.

We found out that it was a Eastern Blue Tongued lizard. And that it makes a good pet.
Nad wanted to keep it. -________________-;;;

I said no… we do not need more pets. I can’t say I wasn’t tempted but we simply have no time!!!!!!!

Then we went out together and freed the poor fella.

It’s a fat fat lizard. Look at its waist line!!!!!!!!!

I was surprised when Nad put it in the bush. I asked if he changed his mind about keeping it. He said yes. Because he read it wasn’t advisable to keep with children under age 5 since it may spread reptile samonella. (Hence the gloves we wore while handling it).

I think it looked relieved and happier in the bushes. Don’t you think?

We think it’s a beautiful creature. Sunshine had different opinions though… but then again she has a growing list of animals she is afraid of/ dislikes. Spiders are number one on her list and flies are another. I suppose the lizard made it on the list as well.

7. Exams

Well I’m done with the pictorial part. My exams start next Tuesday and ends 24 Nov. I cannot wait to finish! Part of me wants to drop all studies and run screaming from it. It’s really really tiring. I know how hard it is to get into Medical Science so I have decided to let God decide if I should enter or not.

It’s not surprising for me to be rejected as the entry levels are really high. You really need to be one of the top students to get in and I cannot say I am one. So….. there is a high chance I might not be accepted and if this were so, I will not persue. I will stay home and be a good wife/mum. While knitting. And sewing.

I will still study hard for my exams, of course. Thus far, I am getting majority of  ‘A’s in my school work except for Biology and English. English is a tricky subject to score in. I never liked languages as a school subject! They are so subjective. Heh heh.. see what I did there?

So I guess I will be MIA again until exams are over. Then I can be a normal person again.

8. My granny

My granny who is 95 years old, had a stroke a few days ago and is now in hospital. It pains me to be miles apart from her. She is not doing very well and I hope she feels as comfortable as she can be and not in pain. She has my other family members around her, although she cannot remember a lot of people but I am relieved that she is not alone.

I feel for my sister as she is doing her major exams there now too and still she visits granny every day. She’s a good girl.

My other relatives are flying there to see her this Saturday. I don’t know if she is waiting for them or not but I do hope she goes peacefully. I do miss her at times.

Rightio. I’m going to snuggle in bed now. I’ve a LOT of yarn to dye up after exams! I’ve been reskeining some coned yarn and also dyed up a sample which I am very pleased with. Can’t wait to play with yarn again! I just look at the yarn blanks (undyed yarn) and am filled with inspiration! Soon! Soon!

Sometimes I have so much to say and it’s all written in my head but when it comes to typing it out, I don’t know where to start!

I’ll just ramble along and insert the appropriate/ matching pictures. They may or may not appear in order of the events that have happened. So much has happened in the past month that I cannot remember what happened when exactly.

It’s been rather cold lately. Snow fell on the mountains which we can see from our front door/window. It only stayed a couple of days before melting. This winter hasn’t been as wet as the last. I’m worried because our backyard badly needs rain. We’ve been carting out bath water and since there’s a fly screen on the bathroom window,  we can’t pass buckets of water through the window to the backyard so we have to cart bucketloads out of the bathroom, through the length of the living room and through the kitchen/backdoor, walk the entire length of the house before we’re able to douse the lawn with water. Very exhausting.

And yes. Grass is dying. Especially the spots where Chiyo pees on. Grrr.

However, Sakuras are blooming all over town. We love the white ones most but the pink ones are more common. We even cut some branches for our kitchentop!

And yes, we don’t have a vase so an ex caffiene bottle would have to do.

The buds opened after a few days and it really brightened up the room. Unfortunately, it also started to shed the petals like ezcema and I had pink petals in my food. So the flowers are sitting on our front step now. Most of them are gone though.

The reasons why I’ve not been updating my blog is because of the mountain of homework I have to wade through. I barely get much sleep nowadays, averaging on 5 to 6 hours a night.

I know to some people, 5 hours is a luxury. But to me, I need sleep. I become very cranky when I don’t have enough sleep. But yet the wee hours of the morning is really the only time I can do any form of study without interruptions. Sometimes I would hear my neighbours starting their car and going to work at 5 or 6am and I’m still struggling with my essays. All these and I’m still very very behind especially with my Biology.

I’m 3 chapters late for Bio!

When I’m not up in the weird hours of the night doing school work, I’m busy preparing updates for the store. My recent fibre update went really well and most of the braids were snapped up within a day or two!

I also enjoyed designing the labels of the braids.

Like this ewe is spinning wool from her back so her top is naked. Tee hee hee.

Now I’m busy sewing bags. Expandabags and smaller project bags for the store. Progress is painfully slow though.

I enjoy sewing and knitting and dyeing yarn/fibre a lot. I love bright and saturated colours. I love being creative and I love my yarn store (mainly because I get the first pick of the lovely Malabrigo yarn that arrives!!!) Thoughts have passed through my head if I should just sod (pardon the french) the whole school thing and just relax and enjoy my hobbies. I have one less issue to deal with in my life.

However, I cannot see us surviving on the yarn store. It started as a hobby business and it will always be a hobby business. It can support my stash acquisition and perhaps pay for some groceries here and there but it will never become a main source of income for my family. I am more than happy for it to be a hobby business and I like it the way it is right now. It’s not overwhelming me (it’s the juggling of my multiple lives that’s killing me) and I like that I can ‘work’ any time I want to.

To have foresight, my studies is the only way that I can support my little family, inclusive of my dearest mum. To have foresight, we really really want to eventually own a little farm. To have foresight, would mean that I have to plod on with my studies. I don’t want to earn ‘big bucks’. I just want to earn enough to afford the kind of lifestyle we want. Not that we are lavish or anything like that! A simple, humble little farm would be great!

So the only thing other than whine about my lack of sleep to my poor husband now is to bite on my lower lip and plod on. 5 more years. I hope I make it till the end.

Not all of the month was bad for me though! I got quite a bit of knitting done:

I casted this on when Sunshine was a little baby. It hibernated for a very very long time and I finally decided to get on with it or else it won’t fit either kid.

Horror of horrors, this wool was discontinued. It’s Cleckheaton country 12 ply from Spotlight and I had 7 balls each of white and black. I needed just ONE more ball of each to seam the jacket up. Lucky for Ravelry, a very kind lady sent me a ball of each so I could complete this jacket.

Then I got a shock when I saw this:

Can you spot the colour difference? There’s a line running through which you can see- one side is whiter than the other.

At first, I was really shocked. “WHO PEED ON MY DONKEY JACKET???” But I realised the ‘pee line’ was tooooo straight to have been a pee line.

I’ve actually run out of wool for this project once before. I ran into Spotlight few years back to grab more balls of yarn but I must have failed to look at the colour. I must have grabbed a few balls of off-white instead of white.

Never mind. It’s the lining of the jacket and unless I point it out, people don’t notice!

Ohh, check out the cute carrot buttons!

How apt for a donkey jacket!

We also went fishing with our close friend and her teenage sons one very nice day. I took my knitting of course.

We enjoyed ourselves. Especially the little ones.

The waters were so clear!

Nad was teaching Sunshine how to skim pebbles but it looks like this one would land on his head……..

We seldom ever get a family portrait so I love this picture to bits:

I was wearing my favourite hat:

Knitted with Malabrigo Twist, Paris Nights and Malabrigo Worsted Oceanos. My two favourite colourways from Malabrigo. I wear it everywhere I go now! Not at home though.

Sunshine also had a lot of fun as she tried her hand in baking.

All under tutorage from our close friend, Lena. (The same one we went on the fishing trip with.)

She enjoyed herself and I would, one of these days, bake with her too. Only I’ve never baked muffins in my life before. I’m sure I can follow instructions though!

I also squeezed some time to make some soap:

The ones on the left are Oatmeal. My favourite scent! The ones on the right are Aussie flavours – Lemon myrtle, Tea tree and Eucalyptus. They make the house smell lovely.

The oatmeal was made hot processed so it could be used immediately. The Aussie one was cold processed but I don’t think I can wait a month before using it. It smells too nice! So shhh, I’m going to use it tonight (it’s been curing for a week now).

The oatmeal batch was made with a swap in mind. I’ve sent out the soap and scrubbie yesterday to my partner.

A few weeks ago, Chubbs started to have purplish and flakey toes. We didn’t know what to make of it. Applied Eucalyptus oil and aloe vera cream on them and changed fresh socks for him everyday. Then, his ring finger on the left started to become red/purplish and swollen as well. We thought it was an insect bite.

Then 3 nights ago, the swell spread to his middle finger and his pinky. That prompted a call to the after hours service and the nurse advised us to bring him to the hospital.

A hospital trip it was, at midnight! Both Chubbs and Sunshine slept blissfully through the whole time we were there. We waited about an hour or two and he was finally diagnosed with fungal and secondary bacterial infection – cellulities.

He was given a course of antibiotics and fungal cream. We reached home at 3am and crashed into bed. That was the earliest I’ve slept the entire week.

For the first two days, Chubbs willingly drank his medicine. Now, we have a huge struggle and our wardrobe has been updated to ‘retro pink spots’. Most of the pink, nasty liquid ends up outside his mouth! Urgh.

There’s still no marked improvement on his fingers although his toes seems a little better. Pray that he gets well soon. Sigh, poor boy.

We have been constantly amazed at his level of understanding lately though. A few days ago, Sunshine was sitting on the toilet and she said to Chubbs to bring her the ‘Hungry Baby’ book.

He walked past my sewing room into the living room and walked past again holding the correct book!

A few moments later, I saw him wearing the kitchen slipper (one side) so I said to him, “Can you put the slipper in the kitchen please?”

He looked lost for a moment until I bent over and pointed, “Slipper”. He immediately took the slipper, walked the length of the house and dropped the slipper into the kitchen, over the baby gate!

Ho ho ho… this little boy knows more than he lets on!

He’s starting to say Eh Pa (apple), Nana! (Banana), Bye bye! and he’s also responding to our questions.

“Chubby?”

“Ya ya!”

“Do you want water?”

“Ya ya!”

Sunshine has been a good girl. She is toilet trained now (like, finally!) and we only put her diapers on when she sleeps. She is reading new words with little difficulty now. The other night when I was ironing on interfacing unto fabric, she read the words on the iron, “Slip Stream!”.

She doesn’t get it all correct though as she has an idea of phonics. So she pronounces the first few letters if she is unsure of the new word. Sometimes she gets the word right. Sometimes she only gets the beginning of the word right. But she’s getting there! She’s also writing most letters in the alphabet now.

There was once I read on a forum (not Ravelry!) and some parents have very adverse criticisms on babies who can read and write (aiming the attack at the learning program that we use for both Chubbs and Sunshine). They believe kids should be playing and not be forced to read or write.
Well, little do they know that kids are NOT FORCED to ‘study’. Learning can be fun and enjoyable too! Both kids of ours love their learning DVDs and Sunshine regularly (read: everyday) wants me to put the disk on for her.  She takes out her exercise book on her own free will and writes in it.
We ASK if she wants to do ‘some writing’ or ‘some reading’ and only proceed to do so when she replies in affirmative. I don’t think anyone can force a young child to study or to learn. But one can always make learning a fun process.

Our kids still get to play in the sun, go for walks in the park, play in the playgrounds, feed the ducks etc… but rather than spending time at home watching mind numbing TV shows, why not encourage them to learn something? A good foundation and a boost at the start is always a good thing.

Yes, while most kids would reach the same level of understanding when they reach a certain age, there’s nothing wrong with giving the kid a boost at a younger age, when their brains are most like sponges and when whatever they learn stays in their memories better. We’ve never forced any learning upon the kids. They are happy, healthy children who do not neccessarily have exceptional IQs. I believe all children have this same potential in them and it’s up to their parents whether they want to unleash it or not.

On the knitting front, I’ve casted on a Huntington Castle Pullover with Rowan Summer Tweed which is a Cotton/silk blend. I’ve never smelled such strong cottony smell from yarn before!

It’s one of my first stranded (a kind of knitting with 2 colours.. not that it’s stranded on an island or anything like that) projects. I casted on the second size but it was too huge so I ripped back (I was about 5 rows into the pullover) and casted on the smallest size. I know this is cotton and won’t be as stretchy as wool so I have to be careful that it’s not too small or I won’t be able to squeeze in! It’s looking good, though!

I’ve also wound 3 Malabrigo Sock yarn into yarn cakes, ready to design my first shawl/stole.

From top to bottom: Caribeno, Impressionist Sky and Abril. What lovely colours. No wonder I’m keeping Yarnandkisses alive. Hehehehe.

Alrightio… off to take a warm shower! Thanks for hanging around.

This character is called a Moogle. Mog (as he is often named) is a permanent special guest in Final Fantasy games.

His pom pom is fixed on top of a chenille stick/ pipe cleaner.

The hat was knitted with 2 strands of 4-ply wool as I initially wanted to use an 8-ply (DK) but couldn’t find one in moogle-colour.

Okay I got to go back to my studies. I have other FOs to show but really would have to finish my school work first.

If I get enough responses asking for a pattern of this hat I’d write it out.

Meanwhile, this is its rav link.

Kupo!

Because of this:

So it’s finally done – the handspun shawl that used handspun-from -scratch-fleece-to-yarn.

This is how it looked like, fresh off the needles. Not very good looking.

While blocking, I fell in love with it. I really thought it wasn’t going to look good since it was always so scrunched up.

Today was a dark and dreary day. So what was I doing out in the backyard with only a halter top on? (I was wearing pants too, just in case you misinterpret my meaning.)

This:

I had no dress or long sleeved black tops so I had to chatter in the cold wind while snarling at Nad to hurry up and take the picture already!!!!!!!

I also had to photoshop 3 or 4 pieces of doggie nuggets (poop) from the grass. -___-

I understand that the lighting is not very nice but I have to send out this shawl by tomorrow. And even then, tomorrow’s forecast is an overcast sky.

I don’t think my pictures did my shawl any justice. I need a better place to take photos. Like an emotionally charged, by-the-window-with-sunlight-filtering-through and light bouncing off the seed beads making them seem like diamonds shining.

Think I can commission this kinda photo on etsy’s alchemy? Lol.

So it’s now folded neatly and awaiting to be packed in some tissue and hopefully I can find a decent box to contain it before it takes it’s flight. I hope the recipient would be obliged to take a photo of herself wearing it and I can post it here!

Name of Project: Photosynthesis Handspun Beaded Shawl

Yarn: Handspun from scratch

Needles: Knitpicks Harmony. Can’t remember the size.

Cast On Date: 1 November 2009

Cast Off Date: 2 June 2010 (with a HUGE hibernation period!)

Learned: 1st time beading a shawl!

Modifications: Did two extra repeats of chart B.

Mistakes: Nil

Ok. I’m still cold from that ordeal. Everyone else is napping now and I’m very sleepy but I shall continue to knit!

Thank you for your comments on the bag. I will reply to everyone soon! (I’ve already replied most of you though I think!)

It wasn’t blue.

I had to state that first just in case you’re already shaking your head, thinking that since I’m such a sucker for blue items, I bought the wool because it was blue.

ANYWAY.

It wasn’t blue. It was light beige. It wasn’t merino (my absolute absolute absolute favourite kind of fibre). It was only 50grams in a ball but cost a whopping $9.50.

Now a 100g skein of Malabrigo Worsted only costs $13.90 (from my store… ) and if you double that $9.50 (it’s $19 for those who can’t double it – don’t worry, I needed a calculator as well because it was just in front of me and I only had 5 hours of sleep last night so I’m not judging you), that’s like……… a lot of difference. Because it wasn’t Merino. And because it wasn’t blue. And also I found it rather scratchy. But then again, anything not merino and is scratchy to me. I even find Cascade 220 (which I knitted my Central Park Hoodie in) scratchy. I don’t know why. Maybe I got sensitive skin.
And because I grew up in a family that believed in thrifting (actually.. just my mum… my dad splurges… don’t ya, dad? I know you are reading this… hehehe…) and Nad too is a very very thrifty person, I would have put that ball of yarn back into it’s shelf.

Did I forget to mention that it was also scratchy?

BUT!

Somehow… that beige colour was beckoning to me. And with Sasha by my side… she wasn’t the best person to go into a yarn shop in…. I mean… she doesn’t splurge… she’s more self-restrained than I am… but her problem is that she CAN’T restrain others!

The conversation might have been like this on that day… (it was in year 2008 I believe….)

Me: You have to stop me from buying any yarn that I don’t absolutely love, okay?
Sash: Okay.
Me: Oh look!!!! Should I buy this? I like the colour but I don’t LOVE the colour… and I don’t like the texture and I don’t like the price.
Sash: Don’t get it then.
Me: But I kinda like the colour.
Sash: Okay. Get it.

See? Doesn’t take much to get her to cave. *Pout*

Anyway… I bought 3 skeins ($28.50) and started a cardigan for Sunshine.

I didn’t like the way it behaved. It was scratchy, it was flakey, it was rough (on my tender hands), it was scratchy, it was flakey.

I knitted on it with full steam……. determined to finish it before my hands get calluses. And in my fervour, I picked up way too many stitches on one side of the cardi and as a result, both sides of the button/buttonhole panels do not match.

I got fed up. There’s no way I’m ripping back with this stupid wool!

Let’s just say it was banished and never saw the sun for more than a year.

Until a week ago, my mum was helping me get organised and we came upon the dreaded cardi again.She lovingly stitched on the buttons (which were all that it needed, really, to be considered as an FO).

I grudgingly weaved in the 3 ends I’d left and decided to try it on Sunshine.
It still fit her.

(I can’t seem to get her to pose nicely for a photo anymore.)

With the buttons, you can’t really tell that one side is longer than the other.

It’s not so scratchy in this bitter cold weather (same goes for my Central Park Hoodie…. the colder it is, the less scratchy wool feels to me). But er, I don’t think Sunshine really likes it because she was begging me to take it off her.

According to my Ravelry page, it says that this project was

MOSSY!

This baby sweater is knitted in one piece from neck down. No seams!

Sunshine has a small little toy that she named ‘Mossy’. It’s actually Gonzo the Great but because he looks so much like a mosquito, she’s been calling him Mossy from day 1.

Mossy has been her favourite toy for a while now and since I’ve always loved the texture and look of the British moss stitch, I decided to design a sweater that uses this stitch, just so I can name it after Sunshine’s favourite toy.

I made a mistake while knitting the ’1st draft’. I used a variegated yarn despite knowing that the moss st will not show up well in variegation.

But, I’ve had these skeins of Malabrigo Merino Worsted in the Oceanos colourway marinating in my stash for a long long time and I’ve been dying to use it!

Oceanos is my favourite Malabrigo colourway (no prizes for guessing why) and I tell you, knitting with this buttery soft yarn and watching my favourite colour change from one shade to another……. woohoo! It’s like knitting on high! (I wanted to say ‘knitting org–m’ but I won’t, on the risk of sounding dorky and rude).

Anyhooo… I made the pattern in 3 sizes. 3 months, 18 months and 3-4 years.

Chubbs is modeling the 3 month old size and Sunshine is modeling the 18 month old size. Apparently, my children run small.

Well, not Chubbs though. He was practically bursting out of the seams. No, wait… there are no seams… hmm… out of the sweater, I mean.

(In case you are wondering why the big grin. I asked her to ‘smile’ and she flashed me her dorky-grin-with-no-eyes instead!)

The pattern is easy. If you can knit in the round and do simple increases, you are good to go!

Malabrigo Merino Worsted is a dream to work with. I think it’s value for money as it has good yardage per 100g. It’s one of the softest yarn I’ve ever worked with and have you seen the colours they come in?

(Shameless plug of the day: Visit http://www.yarnandkisses.com to buy your Malabrigo! )

I’m knitting up the largest size now just to make sure my calculations are correct and also trying a summer version of this sweater. I am using Malabrigo Organic Cotton and I’m pleasantly surprised at how light the cotton feels! Cotton is usually heavier than wool but this has greater yardage than the Merino Worsted per 100g!

I am also humbled while writing up this pattern. Now I know how much hard work designers put into creating and putting everything in to words.

It’s not easy, people! I’m saluting to all designers out there, especially those who are so generous to share their patterns for free! (I think I’ve said all these before, haven’t I? But I think it deserves another mention!)

The pattern is colour coded for easy reading and referencing. I hope everything is correct and although gauge and measurements are ‘not rocket science’ (as per Nad’s words), I hope that no one will have problems reading it or ‘getting gauge’.

Whenever in doubt, always knit the larger size for kids. They grow soooo quickly!

I hope to create a page for my patterns in the near future but for now, I’ll link you to the PDF file for download.

Here it is, clikity click!

Comments and criticism most welcome. And before I forget, PLEASE DO NOT SELL OR REPRODUCE THE PATTERN IN ANY FORM AND DO NOT SELL THE FINISHED GARMENTS TOO. This pattern is free for everyone and I’d be very pissed if anyone tries to be funny.

If you wish to knit for charity, please contact me; inoriz88(at)gmail(dot)com or send me a private message through Ravelry (username: inoriz). I am not evil and I certainly will not bite you if you ask me!

I’m also entering the Ravelry Malabrigo Junkies October Stockpile 2009 Malworthy Design Contest (phew! What a mouthful!!!) and if you like my design, you can vote for me in this thread. >clickity click<

Thank you very much!

Name of project: Purple Forest Canopy Shawl

Yarn:Moda Vera Bamboo/Cotton

I cannot remember the details of this shawl because it was a quick knit (finished less than 2 weeks and to me, that’s pretty quick!)

And I didn’t have time to record what I did etc… and there isn’t time to model the shawl either! When we had time, it was rainy and overcast. When it was sunny, Nad wasn’t in to take pictures of me modeling it.

So sorry, you’ll have to see it being modeled on a bush.

I used a thick yarn and big needles so that the shawl would go quickly. I made it for my neighbour who is getting married this month! That was why I needed a quick shawl pattern and this was perfect!

The yarn is rather splitty (can’t expect much from a Spotlight brand) but when knitted up, it actually has a very nice drape and is not so warm – perfect for the cooler summer nights.

The pattern is easily remembered as there are really only 3 rows to memorise. It has an 8 row repeat but 4 rows are purl-back rows and the 1st row is a set up (knit) row.

This is how it looked like during blocking:

and how it looked like before blocking:

I created a care sheet for my neighbour as she is not a knitter and I would imagine that she might want to, at some point in time, wash her shawl.

You are most welcome to use this care sheet for handmade shawl gifts. Click HERE for the care sheet (or use the link to the right, under ‘pages’).

Comments and criticism welcome!