The One About Inori

There once was a girl woman young woman who went into a local yarn store (despite her owning a yarn store herself……and even if she didn’t have a yarn store, her personal stash was enough to be a store and she had no yarn stash), she came across this particular wool.

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

Hellooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s been soooo long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you everyone for the comments left while I was gone…. I will try to reply them one by one so please be patient! I’m not ignoring anyone!!!

So.. yes… as you can imagine, I have much to say and many pictures to show.

We reached our destination in mid December but because of the Xmas and New Year holidays, it took so long for our furniture to arrive as well as the phone AND internet to be connected. The phone would have been connected earlier but the telephone company made a huge mistake and cut off my neighbour’s line instead of installing ours!!!!!!!! *Duh!*

THEN, our removalists managed to lose A LOT OF items. For example, Sunshine’s wooden table (very sad over this as Ikea doesn’t produce this anymore!), our bed slats (what good is the bed frame without the slats!?!?!?), parts of my armchair (again, from Ikea)… our hot water flask, my lace blocking kit and mats!!!! (ARRGHHH!!!), and many more items.

We are of course, very miffed and will be filing a complaint as well as claiming from insurance.

We had to buy wood boards from a hardware store (I love Bunnings, don’t you?) to use as the bed base, try not to wobble the armchair from side to side and grieve over the other lost items. (T___T)

Alright. I’m going to break our trip into 2 parts. To be honest, I don’t know when I can write part 2 of this post as we still have plenty to do around the house but I try my best.

There are 40 pictures in this post so if you have slow connection, or limited time, consider yourself warned.! Hahaha. Otherwise, click ahead!

(more…)

I’ve been busy studying. Exams are this Tues and Wed for both sciences and next Mon is my Maths exam.

So I’ll leave you with a quick pictorial update:

Us at the park.

Chubbs was wearing gloves coz’ he’s breaking out in heat rash and scratches his neck very often.

I know. I need to lose weight. *Sigh*.

“Hi?”

“Mum, this is getting old. Put it down.”

I’m not biased ok. Sunshine hates taking photos. Back to study.

So………. these are the other items I’ve been rushing like mad to complete:

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.)

I can barely contain my excitement as I type this entry. It’s 1.35am now and I’ve just finished writing, proof-reading and publishing my 1st sweater pattern for kids!

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!