The One About Inori

Ok, almost 6 months ago when Chubbs was born, I sewed this:

Yukatas are a thinner, more casual version of a Kimono, usually worn in warmer weather and when Japanese attend spring or summer festivals (Omatsuri).

I waited so long before letting Sunshine wear this because it only just begun to heat up. Temperatures are hovering about 25 degrees (Celsius) now in the daytime and yes, I’m COMPLAINING ABOUT THE HEAT. COME BACK MY WINTER!!!! Winter is always over too soon! I wish I lived in Canada/ Greenland/ Iceland/ Antartica. Lucky the nights are still nice and cold at 6 to 10 degrees.

My mum was here for a month when Chubbs was born and she was the one who figured out the Yukata pattern from a Japanese Kimono pattern book.

We did not follow the exact instructions (as we didn’t really understand the Japanese words….) and also used my Yukata (which my Japanese friend gave to me when Nad and I got married) as a template.

My mum, the professional seamstress, taught me to take Sunshine’s measurements and we sewed the Yukata to fit.

And it still fits her now which means she hasn’t grown much for 5 months.

I only finished sewing the Obi (sash) 2 nights ago. I cheated a little a lot. It wasn’t long enough and I had run out of fabric so I attached an extension haphazardly, causing the whole Obi to twist at the end.
But never mind! You won’t be able to see it because it’s tied into a bow anyway!!!!! Shhh!

I learned to tie a Cho Cho Musubi (Butterfly Obi) and managed to tie it on a very very wriggly little girl. She wore the Yukata to Church yesterday and SO MANY people came up to her to exclaim how cute the outfit was. I would then beam and say, “I MADE IT MYSELF!” and their eyelids would flutter in amazement. Hehehe.

What? I can’t help it! Hahahaha!

The Yukata was such a hit that some church members were still asking me about it today and some asked if I sewed the dress Sunshine was wearing today. (No)

I’m thinking of letting her wear it again tomorrow to Church.

On some knitterly news, a very nice lady named Elena from Ravelry had offered to translate my Honeycomb Scarf pattern into Russian!

If you read Russian, you can find the translated pattern here:
http://moreknitsinrussian.blogspot.com/2009/10/honeycomb-scarf.html

I can’t believe so many people like this scarf I created and it certainly has spurred me on to continue designing other knitwear.

I’ve finished knitting the first ‘draft’ of the sweater I was designing and have written up the smaller as well as the bigger versions on paper. I’m test knitting the smallest size right now and will be asking for a test knitter very soon.

Here’s a sneak preview:

Watch this space!

Now we dawk wike dad because we all have a coud.

Nose is clogged and the symphony cacophony of coughing and sniffling and sneezing in our house right now.

My heart aches whenever the babies, especially Chubbs, coughs or has difficulty breathing, as he is still too young to take meds. I refrain from medication too as I’m boobfeeding him.

But we all must try to get better AS SOON AS POSSIBLE as it’s the Feast of Tabernacles right now and we yearn to fellowship with our church. Lots of rest and lots of water for all 4 of us and of course, prayers too.

Just popping in to update on my new design:

I’m left with the bottom hem and the sleeves and then I have to cast on to knit a smaller size as well as one size bigger and then write out the pattern and then save in pdf format and then I can upload it and then I can share with everyone of you!

And because many people asked, here’s a pic of Chubbs in his bathtub today:

Chubby turkey thighs!!!

Anybody lurking around still?

Here’s what I’ve done for spinning:

This is blue merino roving that I bought from the Bendigo Wool show. I had 150g of it and managed to spin them into 2 bobbins of very fine singles- a great improvement from slubby thick/thin singles!

Then I plied them together:

Looks good no? I’m so proud of my first, non slubby handspun!

I wrote down the yardage but misplaced it (whats new?) and will have to reskein it to find out the yardage again. Grrr.

Now for pictures of little Chubbs who fell asleep at the table in Nad’s arms:

He’s into sucking his thumb nowadays and has been very interested in his toes/feet. He would grab on to them and stare at them while gurgling to himself! Very very cute.

And this is what I’ve been doing with myself these few days:

I’m designing some knitwear for kids! This is the first ‘sample’ I’m knitting up.

It took many days of planning and rough sketches before I sat down to start knitting this. (Actually, I was trying to finish a shawl as a gift to my neighbour for her wedding before I cast on *yet* another project.)

While writing this pattern this morning, I did the calculations and wrote everything down. BUT, had to rip back 3 times because I couldn’t get the stitch counts correct!

It was when I spoke to Lulu over msn that I realised that I had written;

8 x 8 = 48

on the very top of the pattern.

-__________-

And I am supposed to be one of the top students in maths class!

I must say, however, that I have new respect for all the knitwear designers out there who have amazing designs offered for free. It takes A LOT of patience and calculations to get stitch counts correct! To translate a design from a sketch on paper to a ‘real’ knitted garment takes a lot of brain juice and time. The generosity and ingenuity of these many designers warms my heart and I think one should never take free patterns (or even paid ones for that matter) for granted, let alone breaching copyrights and doing other despicable acts like selling them illegally etc. Doing such things will only discourage designers and jeopardise the availability of these free patterns.

I am trying to give back to this awesome community of knitters by coming up with these patterns which I hope will not cause me too much anguish and time to write. I might have to look for some test knitters but will advertise for it after I’ve knitted up a successful sample.

The yarn in this project is Malabrigo Merino Worsted, one of my favourite yarn (seeing how I’m selling it in my store). And the colourway is also one of my most favouritestestest – Oceanos.

I’ve been winding my skeins by hand into yarn balls instead of using the ballwinder to wind them into yarn cakes. Although I risk having the skein slipping from my knees while I catch falling children/ wipe their snotty noses/ die from a myocardial infarction, I still prefer the feel of a ball to a cake in my hands. If ya know wad I mean.

Besides, a yarn ball is harder and I can fling it in the direction of Nad’s head when he says something unpleasant to my ear. Tee hee.

So there’s a lot going on in my life… and obviously the blog is the first to be neglected.. hur hur hur.. I’m sorwie…

We celebrated Sunshine’s 2nd birthday on Sunday and it was a quiet but enjoyable affair.
Sunshine still hasn’t grasped the concept of ‘birthdays’ yet although she’s been going around asking, “Want to open presents??”

Hehehehe.

She got presents from her Godma, Jan, as well as her granny (Nad’s mum). She loves the books and the pair of shoes that her Godma gave. And the pink pants from her granny!

Most other pressies were in form of money which is good because that means we can get her things she really needs or set aside for future use.

We’ll be getting her more educational videos which she and Chubbs both enjoy very much.

Then at night, we went on webcam with my daddy and Lulu. We sang her birthday song and she I blew the candles. Well.. she doesn’t know how to blow out candles yet!

Here’s a photo of Chubbs the cow:

On the fibre arts front,

I spun up some fibre and Navajo plied for the first time!

The learning curve wasn’t as steep as I thought and the only problem I had were tension problems.
I still prefer 2 ply handspun to Navajo for now.. Until I can perfect it I guess.

The skein is about 108g and is of 4 ply (fingering) to 8ply (DK) weight.

I don’t know what to make with this!!!!!!!!!! Any suggestions?

(To be frank, I don’t like it so much…   )

Nothing much on the knitting front… but I am crocheting a pear from a kit which dearest Salihan sent to me!

These were not crocheted by me, obviously… I’m such a noob at crocheting… I just found out from watching Salihan’s videos that I’m doing it wrong! -___-

Do check out her store for more pears and pattern!

Alright.. I have more to write but will leave it till next time.. Life’s been very rush and jam-packed with stuff to do. I wish things would slow down a little!!!!

I was surfing on Ravelry when Chiyo started barking. I jumped out of my seat, grabbed Sunshine and ran to the door. The post lady was just walking away but turned around and told me, “Parcel for you!” and motioned to the parcel at my doorstep.

I happily ripped open the parcel and the gifts were all individually wrapped…. which… sadly…. I did not have the patience to wait till it was captured on a photograph and I ripped them all open!

At first I was really careful in opening the wrappers thinking that the wrapping paper could be reused…… but Sunshine was already tearing them into shreds (having fun!) so I did the same too.

Throughout the opening of the parcels, Sunshine was exclaiming, “It’s too nice!!! It’s too nice!!!!”
Hehehe.

Photo taking of swaps with toddlers can be trying. I’ll explain in the photos;

“Sunshine! STOP touching it!!!!!!!!”

“OI! I’M WARNING YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Ok this went on for about 3 more shots before I got the perfect one:

I got from my swapper, Gabrielle (yarnovercoffee):

- A card

- Patterns for dishcloths and a knitted child’s hoodie

- A pink cotton tiny hankie which Sunshine has claimed

- A crocheted dish/face cloth with cotton chenille… I’ve never knitted with chenille before!

- 2 balls skeins rolls of Lambs Pride Worsted. (85% wool and 15% mohair) to knit a pair of soakers for Chubbs!

- A printed pattern for Kanoko pants which I had in my queue! I actually printed that pattern out too but it’s always good to have 2 sets… Hehe.

- A ball of Sugar n Cream cotton

- A ball of Moon Night Lotus Yarn (95% lambswool and 5% cashmere)

- Some body lotions and barrier creams for babies!

- Seaming T-pins! I was JUST wishing for more of these T-pins for my blocking set! (Which reminds me that I haven’t posted photos of my finished Luna Moth Shawl!)

- A card for Nad!

Which I will get Sunshine to scribble in for his birthday. Hehe.

- A Needle roll!

and last but not least,

- Awesome stitch markers!!!

I feel very spoilt and especially this will be the last swap I’m joining for a long long while, it sure makes it last for very very long!

Thank you very much Gabby! You did an awesome job.

On another note, I’m planning another blog giveaway sometime soonish… maybe in a few weeks time. Also, my mum is coming to visit this weekend to celebrate Sunshine’s 2nd birthday! Yippee! I will go shopping with her!