I’ve been busy busy busy with the reopening of my online store and hoping to reopen very soon! It’s currently undergoing a face-lift as well as spanking new (handmade!! by me!!) products in store.

So.. yes! After taking many readers’ advice, I’m finally selling my handmade stuff online. You’ll just have to wait to see what I will be offering!

I forsee 2010 to be a very very busy year for me. I’ve enrolled as a full time student (but studying from home) and will be sitting entrance exams to Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery in July as well as in November.

I will be taking 5 pre-tertiary subjects this year, namely Maths, Physical Science, Chemistry, Biology and English. (Yeah, don’t ask why English. It’s compulsory… -___-” )

Really hope I can cope with the store + studies + kids!

School starts end of February so I have from now till then to work extremely hard for the store. Then it will be time to balance these 3 jobs of mine. Pray that God will give me the strength to do this and still remain sane and cheerful!

Anyway, I just dropped in to introduce to you some new guys in our family!

Remember I mentioned a couple of posts down that the mover guys lost our bed slats and we had to go out to get wood to lay under the matteress?

Well, we had to cut the wood to size (the warehouse guys do this service for free!) and thus we had some off-cuts.

I looked at them (the off-cuts, not the warehouse guys) and thought that I would put them into good use.

So with these:

Wood, sandpaper, nails and hammer, I made this:

And it sits happily on my sewing/work bench. I’m very happy with it.

And then there’s this fellow:

Haha. Don’t worry. We haven’t adopted another cat. That would be highly unfair to Kelly. This stray visits us from time to time and he’s very friendly. He likes to sit on top of our car for some reason. I fed him with some doggy food on some occasions.

I named him Mr. Bingley (No prizes for guessing what classic I’m reading right now) but Nad suggested “Mr. Bing” (after Chandler Bing from FRIENDS, Matthew Perry’s character).

Mr. Bing doesn’t come very often nowadays. Well, that’s the style of strays I guess. Easy come, easy go. I saw him yesterday perched on the neighbour’s porch and promptly ignored me when I mewed to him. Tsk. Cats.

Then, on my mum’s birthday, she bought me this:

Yes.. you read it right. SHE bought me a present on HER birthday. Hahaha. She’s an awesome mum like that.

An overlocking machine to help with my online store creations!

I named her Lizzy Harmony and she’s sitting right next to Brother:

I love how they are colour coordinated, like a happy little family. She’s a dream to use and is a perfect companion to ol’ Brother.

And then we have a surrogate mum:

Her name is Mama Chooki and she’s a loan from a very dear friend of ours. She’s currently sitting on 8 eggs (well, she started with 9 but kicked one out yesterday) and we hope to be chicky parents on or around 20 Feb.

Don’t worry about the eggs sticking out. I eased them back under after taking this photo.

We won’t count our chicks before they hatch so fingers crossed that there won’t be anymore cases of the chicken version of an abortion or miscarriage!

I read somewhere that in summer, a higher percentage of chicks would be males so HOPEFULLY, we get a couple of female chicks!

Mama Chooki is a good mama and although she looks pissed (well, a broody hen is always pissed I guess), she’s rather patient with my peering into her little house to make sure she’s okay.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with a picture with chubby Chubbs…

I followed him into the room and found him in this position, bobbing up and down in a little baby jiggle.

SOOOOO CUTE!

I made two of these:

They look like that when both are hung up behind the car seats:

It’s to store the kids’ books, toys, flash cards, umbrellas, hats etc etc.

We already have a mesh pocket at the back of both front seats but it was over flowing and driving me nuts. Besides, we need more ‘slots’ to store those various stuff in!

Here’s a close up:

If you look closely, you can see the tabs I made with velcro sewn on. These are to hold plastic bags of rubbish or to hang my knitting bags on road trips

I also sewed on these purdy labels:

Nad likes the organisers. I guess that hard work didn’t go to waste afterall!

Ever since Chubbs started to sit in his baby chair instead of the infant car seat, I’ve been wanting to make seat belt covers for him.

Sunshine has a pair that someone gave to us when she was born.

So I made these:

to match with the car organisers!

Then I thought that I should make one pair for Sunshine too.

So that she won’t feel left out! (And the backseat would also be more coordinated… hehehe)

How do you find my new car ‘decorations’? I think Chubbs likes it pretty much!

(Notice the car themed fabric? I love the blue!)

So why all this rush and why the sudden urge to sew stuff for the car?

Remember I wrote about The Project not long ago? Because it’s a HUGE Project, it comes in many parts.

Some parts have been done now and the next part is actually to move house.

Uh huh. we are moving. Relocating. Woohoo! And not just across the street. Not across a few suburbs either! Not even across the same state! Yep. We are moving INTERSTATE.

We will be taking the road because we want to punish ourselves /are out of our minds/ want to see Australia and it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.

3 adults (including my dearest sister who so lovingly offered to come along and squeeze in between two babies in the car), 2 babies, 2 dogs and I would imagine, quite a lot of luggage. All in our not-so-big car. Woohoo! Fun times! (Not?)

We plan to take the drive slow. No rush and would probably be on the road for more than a week.

Apparently, if we drove for 24 hours straight a day, we can reach our destination in less than 2 days. Lol!!!!

So therefore, I had to rush through my spinning and sewing projects because we have to pack. My sewing machine has been kept away in her box and my sewing table dismantled. My spinning wheel has to be put aside too.

The side effects of that is that I have severe castonitis. I want to cast on 4 sweaters and like 5 shawls and many other projects now. AND bring them all on the trip with me.

What? You’ll never know what can happen! Our stuff might be delayed for a year and these projects would be the only ones I’ll have for that year! We could be stranded in the desert (although apart from sanity reasons, I don’t see how knitting can help us in the desert) *touch a lot of wood*! We could go through a snowstorm!!! (In summer.) Hey! Anything can happen!

So yeah!

My exams are in 2 to 3 weeks and we are moving right after them. If I had a stress level gauge, it would be hitting the sky by now. I think I’ve been acting rather cuckoo recently due to all these…..factors and probably stepped on Nad’s toes quite a lot. Sigh. I need to take a chill pill.

So would you help me move by going to my store:

And buy some yarn?

Relocation sale, baybee! (We ship worldwide. Just send an enquiry for a quote.)

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!

So, who knew? Sewing IS addictive… Almost instant gratification and with so many cute fabrics around, who can resist building up a fabric stash as well!?

I’ve been sewing lots recently and have some pictures to show!

A couple of months back I sewed this:

The outer fabric is some Japanese fabric my mum bought for me and the lining is Chubbs’ old rompers which he outgrew. I also added some batting in between lining and fabric.

It’s now home for:

Tadaahh! My brand new PSP 3000 that my dear hubby bought for me when we were in Melbourne.

For those curious gaming people, I’m playing Final Fantasy: Crisis Core. Because I ONLY ever play Final Fantasy yeah? -___-

Pretty slow on the progress, what with school and kids and sewing and knitting and spinning and crocheting and housework (my gosh… I AM busy!) but taking the game slow has its advantages – mainly stretching my dollars’ worth.

Also, leveling up in this game is a pain. Combats are so predictable and repetitive. So playing too much of it kinda turns me off.

While I’m at it, I have to say that I hate the way they portray Cloud Strife in the game. They make him seem so weak and sissy…. He’s my hero, okay?

Ok, end of gaming rant.

When my mum was over for a week, she gave me a refresher course on how to sew long pants using a preexisting one as template.

This cotton flannel was used to sew a baby sling which Chubbs happily outgrew within a week of his arrival -___- , (that fatty). I cut it open and reused it for a pair of pants for Chubbs. Which turned out too big. So was given to Sunshine instead.

Now for the item that I fell in love and can’t get enough of sewing with:

Baby soft sole shoes!

The muchroomy ones were the prototypes. Both pairs are way too small for Chubbs. Probably could fit a wee newborn though.

I actually cut open some old baby shoes and used that as a template. I also used some of the many soft sole shoes on the internet as a rough guide to sew these.

These 2 pairs are going to 2 lucky babies whom my friend gave birth to. Twins! You can read about their birth at her blog, Coffeejelly.

Here’s another view of the shoes lined up in a row:

I did two blue ones because I wanted one pair for Chubbs.

The soles are made of soft suede leather and smell really nice. Well…. by nice I mean ‘leather nice’. Sunshine often puts the shoes to her nose to sniff -___- .

The outer fabric is made of Japanese cotton which mum bought. The linings for the mushroomy ones were cut from a towel, since we have, like, a lifetime’s worth of them. And the linings for the 2 blue pairs and the green pair were cut from my old cotton t-shirt which I can no longer wear because I’ve grown fat / my boobs grew bigger it shrank in the wash.

I love cutting up old clothing and giving them a new lease of life. Hehehe.

Well Chubbs seems to like them. I’m definitely sewing more of these! I had to buy the suede leather in bulk as they don’t cut them into smaller pieces so there are many pairs of these cute little shoes to sew!

PS: If you look to the right of the page, you’ll find a new link category “Inori’s knitting patterns” at the bottom. That’s where my own creations are and you are welcome to download and print for personal use. There isn’t much now (1) but I’ve got a few ideas up there in the noggin waiting for a chance to be brought into this world!

Remember not to use these patterns for profit as it’s intended to be free to all!

The parcel felt very hot. I think it was because it had been in the post van since morning. It’s supposed to be Autumn now but the afternoons can still get to be rather warm.

I ripped the package open and squealed in delight. Yes I know. I’ve been squealing a lot lately, haven’t I? Like a pig.

Please pardon the extremely blue shot. Lol. I kinda did it on purpose because I love blue.

I got a bag that is in:

• PERFECT COLOURS
• PERFECT SIZE
• PERFECT POCKETS

My partner, Jen, had put together such a thoughtful package and I’m so touched!

I love the notions pouch/ pencil case and will be transferring my knitting accessories into it…..err as soon as I clear the junk out from the old pouch.

I’m already using the bag. I brought it to church this evening and in the car, I kept admiring the fabric, the neon green thread she used to sew the handles with, the pockets…… I love the bag!

I actually dumped my old bag – a freebie from a magazine, right after I transferred my knitting projects and wallet/ coin purse/ pens/ etc into the new bag. I hated the old bag and only used it because I thought I would be sewing one for myself soon and that bag will be a temporary one. I procrastinated for 4 months. Up till now, I still have not sewed my bag. -___-

I hated the temporary bag because it had no pockets. Whenever my mobile phone rings, I can’t get it out in time because it’s lost in the abyss. Then when I need to open the door/ drive, I can’t find my keys. Sometimes I’m alone with Sunshine and digging for keys while carrying her in the parking lot isn’t the easiest thing to do.

I love the wool that Jen dyed up for me. Don’t the colours just scream “JOLENE!”??

I think I will make some cute booties from the blue merino and maybe a beanie or scarf with the thicker one.
I don’t know! So many possibilities! Yummy yummy wool!

I forgot to mention, Jen has an online store here, selling hand knitted baby stuff as well as hand dyed wool!

(Oops, I just popped over to her website and added something to my cart…. BIG OOPS! It’s all your fault!)

The bag is VERY sturdy. Jen used a material called Buckram to reinforce it. It’s like interfacing but multiply the hardness by 100. Okay I’m exaggerating but I think my sewing machine will protest if I used it to sew through Buckram!

She also sent me chocolate which is in my tummy now. Nyahh nyahh nyahhh~

I’m so spoilt by my latest two swap pals and my faith in swaps has been renewed!!!!

I’ll end my post with pictures of Sunshine – I caught her doing this this afternoon:

She was lining the oranges up in a line and COUNTING them!

“One, twoo, three, four, five!” she said to herself.

She can pronounce ‘three’ better than me! I sometimes say ‘tree’ out of sheer laziness but she pronounces the ‘th’ sound perfectly. Sounds like “Shree”.

I also love the way she says ‘Seven’. It sounds like ‘Sheafen’. Hahahhaa.

Okay, off to bed.

I will blog about the scarf I designed and knitted for Sunshine soon. Maybe tomorrow.

PS: The soap I wrote about in the previous entry? It’s usable! I don’t have to throw it away!

I unmolded it this evening. This is a castile shampoo bar. Castile soap is made from Olive Oil (and it’s damn expensive to make!!!!!!).

This is it all cut up into sample sized blocks. I made this batch with Goats Milk. It smells heavenly!

Next, a secret soap bar.

The colours were perfect! This is the first time I’m working with colours and the subtle swirls were exactly what I want.

HOWEVER………………………….

See the tiny white specks? Those are tiny little air bubbles.
I’ve read up different books and different websites and they are all so contradictory! Some say that the bubbles will be caustic and best to discard. Some say it’s only aesthetic.
Sigh.

I’ve emailed someone for help and hope and hope and hope and hope that the soap is usable! Otherwise I would have to dump it and it’s my FAVOURITEST batch yet! It smells heavenly and looks so good!!!!!!!

What a huge learning curve in making soap!

I’m going to end the post with a re-constructed sewing project.

A TABLECLOTH!!!!!!

This was how my dining table looked like.

Red is not my favourite colour.

We had a shower curtain that became toooo grubby and dirty at the bottom. So we bought a new one and dumped the old one.

The next day, I picked the old shower curtain out of the bin and decided to snip off the dirty bottom, washed it and put it aside to be used for sewing projects.

I collected more scraps of cloth and managed to put this together:

(spot the baby)

Yay! Blue table cloth with orange and blue edges!

The cloth was hard to sew, though, due to the nature of the fabric. It was slippery and the machine didn’t handle it very well. Therefore the cloth had very very very bad stitches. A lot of thread gathered on the underside and I can’t be bothered to re-stitch it. Just remember when you come to dinner, don’t look at the underside of the cloth. In fact, don’t scrutinize the cloth at all. Thank you very much.

As Mr. Nikon is in Nikon Hospital (costing me a bomb at the same time), I will have to ask you to pardon the low quality, camera-phone, grainy, out of focus pictures for the time being.

And you know, 18 month olds, with jiggly beans in their bodies, will never keep still for a photo. So ALL her photos are a blur.

She kept asking me, “Done??? DONE??? DONE????” when in the first place she had never kept still for me to snap any proper shots!!!!!!!!!!

Uh. She’s not used to the headband and so will tug it off her head after a few minutes. Have to get her to wear it more often so she doesn’t feel uncomfortable.

I miss Mr. Nikon although I’m also pissed off with him for being corrupted. He will only be back with us in about 3 weeks time. I wonder if he will be in time to capture Chubbs’ first few moments.

And oh… where has everyone gone? I got no comments on me posts past few days. Yous alls donch loves me?

I took photos of all the stuff in the box (Sunshine was standing beside me and “WOW!!!!!”-ing at everything I took out. And she kept saying, “NICE!” – uh huh… I don’t know who taught her that?)

I then packed all the goodies away.

Then my trusty little Nikon Shite threw a spaz and corrupted my CF card. This is not the first time it’s done it but this time it caught me UNAWARE. ARGGHH! I will never be able to show the package that Debra and her daughters put together for me! There were so many goodies! Including:

- A cook book

- Chubbie’s baby socks

- Chubbie’s new suit and mittens and booties set

- Hand knitted hankies by Debra! All BLUUUEEE!!!

- A soft blankie

- Sunshine’s socks

- A jigsaw puzzle for Sunshine

- Some yarn to knit Elmo with

- A packet of double ended clothes pegs (lol)

- A sign for the car ‘Baby on board!’

- A picture and a card drawn by Debra’s daughter, Bree.

- An alphabet set for Sushine (which she loves!)

I think that’s it. I might have left some stuff out. Stupid camera….

ANYWAY……… the alphabet set also meant that I had 26 new things to pick up after. So last night I whipped up this drawstring bag:

It now holds the alphabet set and Sunshine will have to learn to put all of them in after she plays with them.

Thank you, Debra. This came at a great time – she enjoys ‘naming’ the alphabets and will aid her in her learning!

Now to show you what I made for the Ravelry Project Bag swap.

I will only show you the bags for now as the extras would give the recipient’s identity away.

One Japanese Knot bag and one teeny pyramid pouch.

I added a closure for the knot bag as well as an internal zipped pocket.

This is how it looks like when you carry it:

I’m sending them out today. Hope my swappee likes them!
I’m done with all the swaps I signed up. Well, I only signed up for 2. Hahhaa. And it’s time I started to sew and knit for myself and my own family. I’m not planning to join swaps until at least 2 months or so later – and that’s only because the Ravelry Aussie Rainbow swap would be ‘BLUE’ by then and how can I resist a blue swap!??!?!

I’m also trying not to and resisting the urge to cast on new projects for other people now. Only knitting for my own family/ myself from now till……. further notice.

Name of project: 2 Day Baby Sweater

Yarn: Patons Merino Totem DK in Light Blue

Needles: Knitpicks 5.5mm

Cast on date: 18 March 2009

Cast off date: 19 March 2009

Learned: Nothing

Modifications: Knitted 4 more rows of garter at the bottom hem. Used DK weight and 5.5mm needles for newborn size.

Mistakes: None that I know of.

I know the pattern says it takes only 5 hours. But it’s hard with a screaming toddler around. Haha.

I have no idea what buttons to use or where to place them. Might crochet 2 or 3 chains and attach them to the front. It’s a little late for buttonholes now eh? If only the pattern had it stated that you have to add your own buttonholes.

Name of project: Koru

Yarn: Patons Merino Totem DK in Light Blue

Needles: Ivore 3mm DPNs and Addi Turbo 4mm DPNs

Cast on date: 19 March 2009

Cast off date: 19 March 2009

Learned: Nothing

Modifications: Used 4mm needles instead of 4.5mm. Was afraid that 4.5mm might make the hat too big for newborn. I also did 2×2 rib instead of 1×1 rib for a snugger fit.

Mistakes: I may have missed out 1 or 2 decrease rows because I had more stitches than the pattern states. But it’s okay. I decreased to the correct number of stitches after realising the mistake.

I love this hat pattern. Really hope Chubbs will be able to fit into these items when he’s born.

These will be going into the hospital bag. Am still contemplating washing them. Hahaha. I’m so lazy!

I’ve completed the Aussie Favourite Colour Swap on Ravelry and waiting for Monday to come to post it out. Here’s a peekie:

I made a project bag, a teeny bag, hand dyed silk/wool lace yarn and that skein is Malabrigo Silky Merino in colourway Nocturnal.

The two soaps are from TheSoapDish. I’m currently using the Sandalwood soap (concurrently with Honey Oatmeal and sample pieces of Green Apple and Lemon) and I loveeeeeeeeee it! The Sandalwood soap smells sooo strong and aromatic that my entire living area where my sewing desk is, smells of it! I cut it into a few small blocks and will sew some organza pouches for them and will hang them in the bedrooms as room scenters. Hope that works!

I thought the package was a little bare so I decided to add this:

Some body lotion with bath liquid.

Hmm, come to think of it, my swappee would have at least half a year’s supply of bath/shower products!

I’m having a little performance anxiety now… most of the other participants knitted or crocheted something for their swappees. I didn’t want to as I would have taken way too long do knit anything and I hate knitting with a dateline – takes the joy away and adds stress!

I normally work very well under stress but knitting is not work. It’s a form of relaxation for me.

I’m almost done with the Project Bag Swap too. Just have to sew the little pyramid pouch for this swappee and the package will be ready to go. Perhaps on the same day as the Favourite Colour one.

I wouldn’t be able to post a picture of that until she receives the package though as it contains a couple of items that would be a dead giveaway as to who the recipient would be. I will, however, post the picture of the two bags I’ve sewed for her once I’m done sewing the small one. Hopefully by this weekend!

On an unrelated note, I’ve been experiencing Braxton Hicks Contractions. I don’t remember having it with Sunshine although Nad said that I had. Probably a much milder and at a lesser frequency I guess.

It makes me feel like I want to poop sometimes. But most of the time it just feels like a mild menstrual cramp.

He’s still kicking and moving violently in there. He’s much worse than Sunshine. At least Sunshine didn’t make me feel so BRUISED. This is Mummy-Abuse, I tell you. Sometimes he can make violent movements for up to half an hour non-stop. Rest for a little while, and start again.

I can’t wait for him to be in my arms. He can kick all he likes then.

Ok. Time for bed. *Yawn*.

So I decided to reverse engineer it. This is the first time I’ve done something like this.

I am pleased to say that it was a success! After hours of maths and thinking.

That’s where my good maths skills come in handy.

I made a teeny prototype at first and then when that was a success, I made the life sized one.

I am making this for the Ravelry Aussie Project Bag Swap. I am going to make it in my swapper’s favourite colour of course. I hope she likes it!!!

Meanwhile, this bag is all mine and it is already housing my Anisette Shawl (WIP).

Close up on the cute wittle hippopotamus button!

Oh, I am not sure if I am allowed to post a tutorial of this bag on my blog if it’s not my original design. Although the instructions and steps would be from me…. but I did not design this bag. I would love to provide a tutorial but am really not sure of this and I don’t want to get into trouble. I will check with others and let you peeps know. Do leave me a note if you know anything about copyrights, please. Appreciate all advice!

Ok, this is where I have to rush through this blog post – Nad woke up and wants to go grocery shopping NOW. NOW NOW NOW. -___-

I made this box a few nights ago following a pattern from a Japanese sewing book. (The same book as the one I tried to follow instructions for the pencil case before.)

I modified it a little – made it bigger and added a button.

Fabric was from Spotlight (I LOOOVEEE the mushrooms! Mogu mogu!)

The strap to go around the button is actually a hair-tie. Lol. Make use of things around the house!

The button was bought by my mum from Singapore. Finally found a use for these cute little pig shaped buttons!

And this is what it’s holding right now:

Yep! Thread!

Itobako ( ??) means thread-box in Japanese.

Finally have an organised stash of thread.
OK GOTTA RUN!!!!!!!!! CYA!