New projects

Unable to resist myself from casting on. Two more new projects are added to my needles. Opps... They are rusted root and icarus shawl.

Rusted root
I bought this pattern from . It is a simple nice top that I think I could wear it out to work or on weekend. This is the first time and I attempting to knit in round. Everything is going on smoothly as of this moment. *Crossing my fingers* I am using Brown sheep cotton fleece for this top. It is nice to knit but I found that it is too thick after knitting one inch of it. But I decide to go ahead with it. At most I would wear it only in the Nov or Dec. :P Here is a peek of its progress.


The current length is alot more longer. Guess it still need another few inches before I can move on to do the ribbing.

Icarus
This pattern is from Interweave knit Summer 2006. I fall in love with this pattern the moment I saw it. I am still on the boring stage of the pattern - the 6th repeat of chart one. But it is growing. Zephyr teal is used for this project.The yarn is so nice to knit with and I just bought more. If you are wondering how many yarns I have now, I have over 150 balls now. LoL which is sufficient for me to knit for more than a year I suppose. But I just can't stop. ;)

New or Old?

We went to watch the movie "Sinking of Japan" last sat. It is a nice movie with an idea that might really happen in real life. But what make me wonder is why is there only two submarines in the movie? This movie is based on a novel. Anyway there is a similar film of the same title in 1973. This really make me wonder if this is a new or old movie.

Overall it is a nice, touching and sad movie. Worth watching. I give 4 star out of 5 ba. ;)

Hottest place in the town

Vivo city is now the hottest place in town. It is the largest shopping mall in Singapore. It has a very nice roof top environment facing Sentosa and with pools for kids to play in. Nice view!

This is the second time (24-Oct) we went to vivo city. This time round we went along with my MIL. The mall is super crowded. We jammed for 30 mins from the keppel roads before we reach there. The road was too small and due to public holiday many people are going to sentosa too.

This time round I aimed to visit the Fashion city (a shop that sells a variety of cloths at reasonable price) again. The last time I went I saw a lot of nice dresses. But I did not manage to get any this time round. The dresses do not suit me at all. However I manage to get a short sleeved shirt. *Grin* Hb is saying that I do not need to buy any more clothes for Chinese new year.

We also went to the Vivo mart which has a gaint in it. Hb managed to buy 3M mat for our car at a very good price $53.90 usual price $89.10. When we were making the payment, the scan price was $89.10. We were shocked and wanted to cancel our purchase but the cashier say cannot. We were stunned and angry looking at the long queue, we proceed with our payment and went to the customer service for refund. Luckily, it was really $53.90. So do take note if you are making purchases in Gaint (I had encountered several times that the cashier's price were not updated.)

Beside the short sleeved shirt, i bought this.


Have been eyeing this for quite some time. Despite the u channel is airing now, I cannot make it on time to reach home to watch. Hence I decided to buy and there is a 10% discount for it. :)

Have a tiring day.

Get to know you questions

I got these set of questions from one of the SP hostresses blog.

Here are my answers to the questions.
1. Where is your favorite knitting spot?
Sofa in the living room or my study table

2. If you suddenly could never knit again (shudder) - what would you do instead?
Maybe beads jewellery or pick up sewing.

3. If you could travel anywhere in the world - where would you go and why?
Anywhere that experience 4 seasons with my loved one. I experience summer all year round. Hence it would great to experience the 4 different seasons.

4. When you were little - What did you want to do "when you grew up?" Are you doing it?
Teacher, doctor, lawyer
Nope. I am far away from all these jobs.

5. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Chocolate, strawberry. But I am in love with green tea red bean ice-cream for these few months.

Value-add

"You must do value-added task in order to get promoted or increment." This is the hottest phase that your employer say to you when you go for your appraisal.

What is the definition of value-add? what are the tasks that we perform are considered value-add? Task that are not within our job scope are they considered value-added task? Doing things that you are not in charge of, waking up early in the morning like 2am to work till evening time, slogging alone to complete jobs that required a few people to do are these value -added task?

Well all these are seemed to be normal tasks for my hb's employer. I feel really upset for him that the effort he put into his job are unappreciated. Sighz... Maybe we should serious considered to move on.

SP9 is going to start officially soon

Yeah SP9 is going to start.

I finally got the pal who I supposed to spoilt. Can't wait to spoilt her. I had dozens n dozens of plans and items on my mind. Hope she enjoy it.

But my SP had not contact me yet. :( Guess he/she is busy ba. Hope to reach email from him/her soon. :) 1 more day to 15 oct.

My first experience with blocking

Finally after weeks, I managed to push myself to block my swallow tail shawl. This was the first time I going to block my knitting FO. I decided to use the normal way of blocking. Put the shawl into warm water for 20 minutes. Then squeeze it dry using a towel. Then pin it on top of a towel and some board.

STS taking its bath in warm water

Pin out in my winnie the pooh towel

After one night, the shawl is dried. The pattern is more obviously now. However, the edges are still not obvious enough. The shawl is now softer after blocking.

Details of the pattern

STS after blocking the edges are still in a mess

Note: I had reblocked the edges using steam iron. Slightly better but seems like this yarn has super memory.

My project plans

Here are some of the projects that I plan to do in the near future. Notice the word “some” that means I had more than the list here. Kekeke

Lotus blossom tank from IK Summer 2006
Hb’s vest (I had not thought of the design yet)
Hb’s short sleeved top (I had not thought of the design yet)
Green gable
Hanging garden stole
Clapotis
Mum’s shrug (I had not thought of the design yet)

Mid Autumn festival aka Lantern festival

Lunar 15^th of the 8^th month (6 Oct for this yr) is the mid autumn festival also known as Lantern festival. The moon for that night supposed to be full and round but this year I could not even see the moon it is super hazy. Argh!

As usual u would see a lot of stores selling moon cakes before the festival. This year there is a lot of new flavors like Strawberry yogurt, passion fruit etc. The passion fruit moon cakes taste super sweet like passion fruit candies. As usual I got moon cakes for my MIL and mum. For me, I bought my moon cakes on the day before last minute shopping hahah and I manage to get some offer ($14 for a box). Being greedy and tempted by the moon cakes, I end up buying more than I need. 1 box of big moon cakes ( white lotus , pandan lotus, red bean and chocolate), 1 box of yam moon cakes (this is my favorite) and 1 box of mini moon cakes (green tea and durian from my mum). So till now I still have some moon cakes at home.

Beside moon cakes, there are also lanterns for the festival. There are those batteries operated as well as those traditional candle lanterns. I love those traditional candle lanterns. This year, I bought 5 of them and send 2 to my brother (don’t know whether he receive it already or not) and 3 for decoration at home. Hahaha

Another FO - my OSW

This is my version of osw. I knit this with help from my friend. Thanks gal.

Yarn(s) used: Sirdar
No. of balls: less than 2 balls
Needles used: 4 mm and 4.5 mm circular needles


The no. of stitches to cast on and so on are all based on own's instinct. It tooks me around 2 months to finish it maybe because I am a multi-project person so it tooks me longer. The knitting process is quite smooth except that I picked up 2 times for the necklace. Picking up stitch is such a headache. But after some help, I manage to do it right now ;)

Can't resist

Who can resist all these yarns when the colors are yummy and the prices are cheap?

All the yarns are acrylic yarns. I don't like to knit with acrylic yarns but they are juz too yummy that i cannot resist. I bought all these during the spotlight sale today. Each ball of yarn is only $1.59 after discount. I am going to knit cushion cover and bags out of these yarns and a clapotis using the purple varigated yarn.

SP9 Questionnarie

Finally oct is here. This is my first time joining SP. I had been looking forward to it. So excited and happy.

Hi to my secret pal !!!

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Cotton blend or wool blend are my favorite yarn.
No acrylic n alpaca pls. I can’t knit well with alpaca despite that I love the feeling of it. I don't like to knit with fancy yarns too.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I store my needles in a dmc thread holder. Those straight needles are stored in ziplock bag.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
coming to one year. I learnt from a lys, then went for lessons and now I knit with my friends. I had done simple pattern and working on cable and lace now. Maybe can consider as advance beginner.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Nope.

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)
Lavender or any flowery scent. No peach and vanilla pls.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Depends on my mood. I prefers chocolate then candy.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I do bead jewellery, cross stitch, crochet and scrapbook. Nope I don’t spin. But I am keen to learn to dye my own yarns now.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
Jazz /love song/ smoothing music. I play MP3 on my computer and MP3 player.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
purple, blue. Basically I am fine with most of the color.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Living with my hubby and I don't have pets.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Nope. Not in my country unless I go for holidays overseas.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Nothing in particular. But I do prefer lace pattern then cables.

13. What are you knitting right now?
I am someone who like multi-tasking.
1 shawl, 1 tank top, 1 shrug, 1 top, 1 cardigan (the list just keeps growing)

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes. It is so meaningful to receive handmade gifts.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Circular needles (bamboo/aluminum)

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
I own a yarn winder. Just bought it. Don't think i need a swift as of now.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
6 months

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Birthday and christmas. I enjoy all holiday as I do not need to work.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Yarns and beads.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Interested to get JB40 Roma collection, Rowan Magainze 39 to add on to my collection.
I have IK magazine subscription.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
Not too sure depend on the pattern that I want to knit.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Nope. Going to start with my first pair soon. Foot measurement:UK 8

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
Dec 19


Really hope that we would enjoy SP9. Yeah!

Yarn winding

I meet up with my knitting friends last sat (23-Sept). We had a nice time chatting and discussing over our projects and looking at the shade card. Planning to buy new yarns or planning to constraint myself to buy new yarns. *lol* it is always a 2 way things isn’t it? Hehehe

Beside that, I collected my zephyr (Lady slipper) from Karyn. It is definitely a nice yarn n colour too. After that, Karyn and I spent most of the time on yarn winding. Thanks to Lois for lending us the yarn winder and weighing scale. It was a fun and tiring experience. Imagine either one of us have to hold on to the cone of yarn cannot be tilted and the other one winding the yarn. Here are the end results. Aren’t they looked like pieces of delicious yummy cake? ;)


After the yarn winding session, I called GD and order a yarn winder immediately coz I having alot of yarns to wind. Heehehehe.

Piling up

I’m back to head office for almost a month. Work has been piling up. More and more documents that need to be read and analysed. I had been reading few hundreds pages and there are a lot more to go. Of coz it is definitely better then nothing to do right. I am now involved in more stuff like testing competency. Have to come out with flowchart and document. In addition, I had a project assigned too. Going to start in oct (hopefully on schedule) it is going to be a start of another SDLC for me :p