The One About Inori

Why?

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!)

I’ve been working on a bag for WIPs.

You know how when you knit a sweater/jumper/jacket/blanket/shawl… it starts off really small but grows and grows? Before you know it, your tiny project bag can’t hold it anymore. I usually resort to using huge ziplock bags.
I looked up a few tutorials and put together this bag:

It grows as your project grows!

(expanded once)

(expanded twice)

This is how it looks like when closed:

And with your WIP in it:

Plenty of space!

The bag was put together using a few tutorials from online as well as from my Japanese bag pattern books.

Main fabric is from Japan and contrast fabric from Spotlight. Buttons are very old ones from my mum.

It measures about 33cm across (66cm all round) and 40cm tall when fully expanded so it’s a very roomy bag for big projects!

I’m wondering if I were to make these to sell, will any one be interested? I reckon it’d cost about $30 to $35 because the fabric isn’t very cheap!

What do you think?

I’ve been carrying this bag around as a replacement for my handbag. Hahahaha. I love it and would probably make another (or three or four) for myself!

The tops can be folded down as well as you sit and knit. I may improvise on the handles too.

Anyway, the wip pictured above has become an FO and here’s a sneak peek at it:

I’m done blocking it and waiting for Nad to be home so that we can take a few pictures of it in action. Then I will pack it off to it’s recipient and blog about it!

Meanwhile, thoughts on the bag please? Would you want one? Would you buy one? Fair price for it? All comments much appreciated!!

About a week ago, I gave Chubbs the bottle. Usually he screams and refuses to take it. That morning, he took it, chewed on the teat and was happy to hold it.

I walked away for awhile and when I came back to him, he was sucking from the bottle!

He had never done it before and has always refused the bottle until that day. He was 13 months and a few days old.

I refilled his bottle with more formula and he drank everything again. And another. And the 4th.

That day was the day I stopped breastfeeding my little baby.

Sunshine wanted to join her brother in the happy bottle session so I made her more milk too that morning:

It feels a little weird and sad not to breastfeed anymore. But yet, I’ve been tired and his teeth hurt me from time to time. We didn’t expect it to last for more than a year. We thought we’d breastfeed till he turned 8 months or so…. so these 13 months has been quite an achievement! Sunshine was only boobed for 2 months (I had to return to work then).

Anyway, I’m relieved as milk supply had been dwindling due to infrequent feeds and I was worried that Chubbs wasn’t getting enough calcium. Sure we give him lots of veges but children this age need much more calcium for their bones to grow.

So it’s a bitter-sweet moment for me. I don’t know if we will be having anymore children so he might be the last baby I’ll ever breastfeed. And I’m glad I did it. It helped us to form a strong bond and I’ll miss his snuggling up to my body every night. He still sleeps beside me but because he no longer drinks from me, he prefers to place his foot in my face instead of snuggling.

:/

Anyway here’s some pictures of the kids.

We gave him an apple to gnaw through church service. It really helped in keeping him quiet!

Look at his big eyes!

Peekaboo mummy?

Chubbs understands what ‘ball’ is. If you tell him to get the ball, he would. Notice Nad running away in the back? Lol.

Huh? Where daddy go?

Hi from my butt!

Cheeky bugger.

Chubbs is rather agile for his age we think. He’s able to climb up and down our bed with ease. A few days ago, I turned my head for a few moments and imagine my shock when I turned back to see him sitting on the dining table!

He had crawled up a stool, up the chair and then up to sit on the table! Amazing.

I’ve sewed a kick-ass bag which I love so much but the sun is hiding behind the clouds now so I’ll take pictures another day.

I will leave you with a link to a funny video of my heartthrob, Kimura Takuya. The guy who I’ve been in love with for about 15 – 20years!

Donguri Korokoro

It’s funny because everyone thinks he’s going to sing an emotional song but the song he sang, Donguri Korokoro is actually a children’s song. It’s about an acorn which rolled down the hill and fell into a pond. A loach (carp) then says hi and invites the acorn to play. The acorn is happy and plays with the loach but after awhile, starts to miss the mountain. He embaresses the loach by bawling.

Our daily temperatures now average from 0 to 15 degrees celsius.

We do love the cold and use heating sometimes which can be quite painful on the pocket. We (all four of us) usually just huddle together under 3 thick quilts, each wearing 3 to 6 layers of clothing and socks to sleep. That way we don’t need heating while we are asleep!

My school requires me to travel quite a bit to their campus for my Chemistry practicals. The campus is about 4 hours drive away from where we live.

I dread going everytime because although Nad is the one driving and he never ever complains, I dislike long car rides. I’ve had car sickness since I was young. My mum had to time my meals – no food within an hour before going in the car or bus… either that or bring lots of plastic bags to catch whatever I throw up!

Because of this, I cannot knit and I cannot read in the car and I find it a waste of time, just sitting there, doing nothing.

I dislike driving as well… because it comes with a huge load of responsibility. The lives of your husband, your kids and yourself in your hands. *Shudder*.

I would cast on a project that requires only stockingnette stitch or simple stitches so I won’t have to look at the pattern or the knitting just so I can knit in the car but I already have SO MANY WIPs going on… urgh.

Anyway. I digressed. As usual.

These few mornings have been so cold that we have had frost on our garden beds, our lawns and even our windscreen!

Nad was wiping/chipping off a layer of ice from the windscreen with a rough glove.

Most of my friends just pour warm water over their windscreens.

Almost the entire journey to school was covered in fog.

This was what it looked like from afar:

And when we’re in it:

Some parts look like scenes from a creepy horror movie.

It’s been much colder than this nowadays. I’ve had it flash 0 degrees for the past two days.

We also saw something interesting… well.. not REALLY interesting but I thought it gave the term ‘Moving House’ a whole new meaning.

Literally.

Moving. House.

This is the 2nd time we’ve seen people move their houses this way. The first was an old weatherboard house and we could look into the front door as the truck past us and see kitchen cabinets still attached.

Haha, why don’t they just build another house instead?

Maybe they like their old house too much?

I needed to get some homework done and desperately needed Sunshine and Chubbs to leave me in peace.

Nad brought Chubbs out to the library that day and I thought of something to keep Sunshine occupied.

With these ingredients:

I made play dough!

If you google around, you’ll find heaps of recipes for making home made play dough. McKenzie’s cream of tartar also had the recipe printed on the back! How thoughtful of them!

So I mixed the ingredients together:

Set it on medium heat.

Sunshine chose the pink food colouring.

This is how it looks like when it’s ready. It will congeal and become rubbery-ish.

QUICK, what do you think of when you see the word ‘PINK’????

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I think of  ‘elephant’.

How many of you think the same? Lol.

I made a pink elephant to test the new dough. It was great to work with!

Sunshine had fun:

So I managed to do some homework with her occupied with the pink dough. But oh! The temptations!!!!

I started to play with it too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Pardon the horrible picture. The sun goes down very early nowadays and it was dark when I took this photo.)

I also made a spastic person which reminds me of Lulu.

Just kidding.

And then I made peas in pods.

Yeah.. I had fun.

I did manage to complete my homework though…. (at 1am). T___T

Sunshine rolled some of the dough into fat strips and proudly declared, “Mummy it looks like poo poo!!”

Funny little woman, that girl….

I also gave her a plastic knife and spoon so she could practice her motor skills, cutting strips into tiny pieces. She puts them in her toy teacups and pretends that she’s cooking. (Please supervise your kid when they handle knives! Plastic or not!)

Because I’m nice, I’m going to list here the recipe for the dough:

- 1 cup plain flour
- 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1/2 cup salt
- few drops of food colouring
- 1 cup water

Mix all ingredients into a pot and put over medium heat. Stir until mixture congeals. Bring it off the heat and leave to cool. Err.. then you play with it.

There you have it – safe, cheap, homemade play dough for your little kid/s!

However safe it may be though, I don’t reckon you should encourage any child to eat it. :S   Chubbs isn’t allowed to play with it as he is only interested in putting things into his mouth right now.

I store the dough in an airtight food container and it’s been keeping well for 3 days so far. I reckon, like PlayDoh (the ones you buy in stores), it would dry up over time and all you have to do is to moisten it with some water.

Or make more in another colour.