a different kind of stitch

i am feeling lately knitting needles much more on the stash bag.. maybe since it now summer and people love to get out and feel fresh air and warming their body under the sun.

the trend in needle craft starting moving to other kinds like cross stitch and patchwork (quilt) or a bit of sewing..;)

as for me, when i was in school (elementry and high school), we still have craft teacher (do they still have now?) . the craft class was separate between girls and boys. boys having typing class (using old manual type machine.. a good work-out for our fingers, compare typing on our light keyboard now). the girls, we had cooking, sewing, cross stitching, embroidery ( a bit of hardanger style too).

sewing class was not too bad, it's fun too, when we practiced the skirt pattern (A line model), my mom forget to bought the fabrics, then she offered the fabric stash she had. at a glance, it looks big enaugh for my body size.

guess what, when i copy the pattern to the fabric, i found that it was not enaugh!! the pattern consist of 4 parts, 2 parts of fronts and 2 parts of backs. my fabric only can fit fo 3 parts plus the waist band.. he.. he.. at other time, we made a shirt too, and i brought enaugh fabrics this time..;p i still passed the class though, coz i was made good calculation on my own pattern size, the cutting and sewing technique were ok though..;-) thanks to my mom, she gave me extra sewing class at home...;)

few weeks ago i received my books from amazon.com (after 3 weeks journey from US to Indonesia, those were shawl and scarves - the best of knitter's magazine, the amazing lace, folk shawl, heirloom's knitting) . knitted lace is on hot spot now.. too bad i was a little bit late with the KAL amazing lace.. Good luck to you who joined! :)

i asked my sis to bough me mason-dixon books too!! and i got hooked with the colorful cabin log and blanket. good job ann and kay! :-)
some pictures will upload soon and share with you ;)

as now i am on knitting world, when making cardigan or sweater, it will be nice to have a fitting model... a good one i spotted in lincraft store while i was in perth few years ago, the fitting model can be adjust from small to extra large body size. if price was not a concern, i already bought that one!! he.. he... that stuff is very cool...like having a robot in our craft room!! ;)

but our body sometimes have an extra here and there , however if we want to have a fitting model that close enaugh with our body shape, maybe we can make this, make a clone of ourself,
to you who already kids, this is another nice activity playing with duct tapes!!

i put this activity in my list, summer now is too hot he.. he.. and better i get back to my squares and kiri's shawl!!

the color of life

been in very lazy period to update my blog.. i have some pictures now!! all this time I was diligently crochet the squares following the colors theme from Project Spectrum.
few months ago, i think started in march, i bought all colors range, each 1 skeins (except indigo, white, blacks, beiges and grey) to crochet squares from Patricia Hewitt's patterns.

Since all the skeins come up with color number instead of name, i named it by myself ( i got to dig the left over from each skeins and checked for the labels).

Now.. here it is my squares from March Project Spectrum, which was RED and PINK.. so I have pale pink, pink, hot pink, magenta, chili red, red wine and red...he.. he..

And these are from April - ORANGE and YELLOW:



And these the latest months, May - GREEN... watch out for the spotlight colors ... those greens almost blinded my eyes while i crocheted it.. ;p


totally i think i had crocheted like 70's of them, since i had grey and indigo blue before this project spectrum began, my estimatition i need to make like 30 more squares...

last week when I went to LYS (not really Local.. since it located in south part of jakarta and my house in north part.. he.. he..)i have eyes with this yarn... it's japanese yarn, mercerized cotton with sparkle thread plying together. Using yarn harlot terms, this yarn talked to me.. turn me to a shawl.. and deep in my mind, i already plan to make a kiri (from Tangle Up)so...here, i bought 1 package (10 skeins, each skeins has 56 metres.. short i know, that's why I bought 10!!) .

i like knitting this kiri.. simple chart and easy to memorize after the 2nd repeat for chart 2..i already on my 6th skein now and perhaps i will do like 14-15 repeats of chart 2 to get bigger size.. this what kiri wrong side look like when i am knitting it:



if other color may added in this project spectrum , it would be black.

I would like to thanks for all my friends that had checked me out regarding the earthquake happened last week in central java. thank you cynthia that already emailed me, once she heard about it... sorry for the late reply cyns. i am fine but people who living in south of central java had got this terrible disaster. more than 4000 people died. Thanks God that support and help both in material and medical already started, from some countries too, like Malaysia, Singapore, US, China, Japan and United Nations. Thank you to you all. God is not in good mood lately.

i am here...

i am still alive and apologize for all of you that already dropped in this page and still seen the green bird for few weeks!!

up till yesterday, i had finished like 50 square (carousel) for our sofa at the living room... still 50 more to go.
i plan to take the pictures of it and shared with you tomorrow.

2 days i started another project, a kiri shawl from All Tangled Up , using cotton yarn, and it's .. ehm.. a new stash... *hik* since it's color baby purple-bluish.. it can consider a too early project for project spectrum..;p

so... see you tomorrow people..;)

welcome spring ... welcome green...

welcome green!! after being spoilt for whole month with lovely pink and fiery red and cute orange and yellow..our eyes now being cooling down with this refreshing green.

for some of you who stayed in 4 seasons area, i am glad winter was over now, as for us who living in tropical island, well.. goodbye raining welcome hot hot hot sun shine!! :)


this is something green first for may :







so cute!!!!

red-pink project spectrum - part 1

it supposed to be posted last month, since the pink-red theme from project spectrum was on march (always mistaken with feb. .. guess it becoz of pink thing....)
and these are my first attempt of making baby stuffs... i like to knitting all these cute things.. those planning to be my gift for my friend, whom pregnant her second kid and most likely would a girl.

i can say, for who you like to see quick result, making babies stuff is one of them.. i can finished these booties in about 2 hrs. not too bad...;)










Myers's book The Joy of Knitting is a good one.. I got it in the book store who have sale.. and this one was about 80% disc... go to have it!! :).. it's hardcover too.. but put aside the cover when i reading the book.


and this one was on my plan to crochet using hairpin lace.. but not so into it at this moment.. so perhaps...later...;)

got to have this !! :)

i love cardi and already make 3 (none havent been showing off before in public) but i already want to make other new one.. i have the yarn..
but dont want the casual model.
when i wondering around the blogger and dropped by at savanahchick's and see this from garnstudio





lovely right?

it maybe not for beginner knitter but i think it's good challenge.
the good news, this is free !!!! the best thing, this pattern also have the chart!! 2 thumbs up!!

hurry!! and make one for you!! or 2 or 3.. ;)

lace like wave

i was browsed around on bloggers' world and when i dropped by at eunny's .. i must gave my 2 thumbs up for her.

she really great knitter and generous to share her great knitting knowledge with us. she wrote about steeks, which is i am still not dare to try, first the real wool yarn is very expensive here and 2nd and the most important, i am not dare to reach my scicors and cutting the expensive yarn .. he.. he.. then i saw that she also share a great wave lace shawl. this is kind like shetland's lace that i always want to make. her pattern called "PRINT O'WAVE" shawl.
after downloaded the pattern (she already make the pattern in pdf file), i am back to my LYS (which not a really local since it about 20-30 kms from my house.. he.. he..) and checked for the suitable yarn.

so, the LYS have new yarn which just arrived and still in the FEDEX box... it's nylon and the owner already warned me that this yarn would be very very very easy to split out and dont even dare try to crochet this yarn (sorry crocheters...) but the colors are really lovely. for me i choose this : the champagne color. the yarn is KATIA sevilla. with good yardage (137 yards or 125 meters per 50 grs). using inox circular (got to buy new one 2 1/2 cms with 40 cms length).

while i do provisional cast on the yarn already split up and easily dropped (umm...not sure what is the word in english) but it fell all over from the cones...*sigh*



but i keep casted on (i am using the acrylic thread, the one that i dyed using dylon coloring powder)... and without much longer i already finished the 1st repeat (each repeat is 12 rows).



but on the row 20, i made mistake and got to frogged... and guess what.... it's splitted very badly that i really want to cry... but on the other hand.. i really like the color.. so i decided... i should keep going.. so... i have finished the 3rd repeat.

i already put the sleeves for my pink sweater too and now working on the neck... at this moment no pict yet... i want to frogged the sleeves (for 3rd times) since i found it not too fit with the armholes... ummmm... if i can finish this, could this become my finished project for march project spectrum ? :p

btw, if you want to join project spectrum, please check lolly's blog for better explanation. the point is you can do anything craft work you like (knit, crochet, sew, dye, weave, spin, cross-stitch, even painting - though i wonder what kind of painting that consist only max 2 colors.. he.. he.. ). the best thing that this project is no pressure.. no deadline projects..so... come one drop by and join :)

playing with the color

i love yarn
i love colors
i love knit
i love crochet
i have too much stash at this moment
i wish i can combined all those!!

after read Siow Chin's blog, i hurryly dropped at Lolly's blog and ta da....



i join this knit along



and this is the button for this month, starting from march which is red and pink




i have some on designs in mind, but got to work on some sketch and check out again my stash. i plan to use the acrylic yarn that i dyed last year (*sigh....* so long ago....). i have blue, aqua, pink, marron, orange, green, yellow, gold, and for sure black and white. i may need to dye some other colors like violet or purple...ups... i think i have purple using kitchen cotton thread...hik..hik.. that one i got from my bro, who had experimented with dye process like 3 years ago.

the color for each project would be:

march RED and PINK
april ORANGE and YELLOW
may GREEN
june BLUE
july VIOLET/PURPLE
august NEUTRAL/Black and WHITE

i wish i could spend more time with KAL... and preferably working with crochet... faster...faster.. :)

yuummmm...yuummm.. want some dessert? :)

I have to confess, I like watching people making dessert or snacks also like watching those on shelves in bakery stores, but thanks's God not really like to eat it.. he.. he.. I also love the idea of sewing. Before I knew about knitting, I like to collecting sewing patterns, mostly are clothes (I made some for craft classes back to school time, it's like a home-economic class)

If you have 2 hobbies like that, perhaps this can be a good inspirations. This calorie-free and no expired date.. ;)

I got these pictures from work-mate, no info about where it came from, but my guess, it's from japan or taiwan. Those 2 places are well known to creating something like these.. ummm... so how about having nice tea time tomorrow afternoon? (bring your yarn and needles and hooks too! ) :)

sneak peak from my 2005 trip (more yarns!!) - part 2

some pictures from my trips to japan and singapore end of year 2005. if you are knitter that have seen knitting bok from japan, you probably familiar with puppy yarn. while i was there, this store was one of the "must visit" yarn store.
the store is very nice, large collection, from cheap to novelty yarn, but other than the yarn i like their logo too...the puppy playing with skein (that's why they called their store puppyyarn..i think... :p)

the closer look of the cute puppy!!

and here are the result from my Japan S.E.X (Stash Enrichment Xperience) trips :

the green one i got from a supermarket near Fukiage (i think it's called itoya), the small city about 1 hour 30 min by train from Shinkoiwa-Tokyo. My friend (I called her Auntie Kim Soan since she much older than me but younger than my mom) brought me there since she knew that this trip theme was "hunting the yarn store". So, when i was there, the have the fukubukuro, it's like boxing-day sale. She the one who seen this yarn first on the shelves. Can you guess the price? It's 1000 Yen (one thousand yen for 10 skeins for 1 package)!!!! Each skein is about 84m, suggested needle 6-8 (japan size, or about 3.25 - 4.5 mm). But should buy 1 package, there's only left 3 colors green, blue and pink. i choose the green (look like sage green for me). Materials is 70% wool and 30% acrylic.

the white - boboli yarn were from puppy yarn also the purple mohair from filature di crosa. for the boboli yarn, the store owner gave me free shawl pattern!! yippe!!

and these are from Golden Dragon Singapore on my 2nd visit from 4 days I stayed. The white skein and red-black yarn are brand from Greece, which hard to speeling. But based on my new-friend, Wendy from singapore-knitters, those yarn are one of her fave too because it's nice to knit, not piling and have great length and economic price. The Breeze Sirdar are also her fave too :) Same here Wendy!! :)

dont asked me the damage cost from this yarn trip..it's a lot but i love it!! :-)

here are the cushion cover i made before i went to japan. made from kitchen cotton thread and i dyed it myself for the blue color using dylon. it turn out like baby blue when i use cotton, but it would turn brighter when i use acrylic.

this was also my first attempt working on granny squares (yes people it's crocheted..) and using crochet needle to assembly the square... not too bad.

and now I am working on this. Using Schachenmayr Catania 100% cotton, dark brown, on 3.25 mm inox circular. The pattern is from Let's Knit Series - Spring Summer 2005.

This also my first attempt working circular. I am starting from half way up. and now reach the row to shape the armhole. I put on hold for awhile since I need to make some calculations since the gauge is different between the real pattern and yarn I am using and feel too lazy to do the maths.. :-p

something from chinese new year

finally we closed the chinese new year season for this year!! the festival was celebrated for 2 weeks, the final closing is the Cap Go Meh Festival (Cap Go means 15 in Hokkian, one of the most common chinese dialect using for chinese overseas).

i was bought this when i was in japan. this is a green tea with gold dust..seems it's a good idea.. and a little present for my parents too.. so do you see the small gold envelope ?
that is contained this one:

that is the gold dust.. don't asked me about the carat.. he. he.i think it's like 22 carat.. but mom said it may be about 24 carats.

the tea itself is green tea, just normal one, with the leaves. so i put it a tea spoon full of tea leaves and put the boiling water and wait for a sec, then put the gold a bit.

and if you wondered about the taste.. it taste like .. green tea.. hot green tea.. he.. he.. he.. since the gold dust is tasteless. btw, this was the tea that my mom really care with the rest of the tea leaves. she did not want any gold dust left in the pot!! he.. he.. *kidding*...

and on the day 8, we were having another prayer for chinese new year. it is held by chinese who came from Hokian etnic.

during this prayer, we should have a pair of sugar cane, fresh from the soil. the story behind this prayer (as far as i remembered- sorry if it's not exactly like the right story), long time ago, during hard time in mainland china, there was war in a village. near to end of year, the enemy was attacked the village and all people was ran away with their families and left everything on their home. they were finally arrived near big empty land, without a place to hide themselves from the attackers. so they prayed to God and then suddenly there were thousand sugar cane trees erected from the soil, for they place to hide.

so they hide there, and after few days they came out and when they back to their village (off course they made sure there was no attackers left.. he.. he..) they realized they already missed the new year's eve for about a week. but they still managed the new year's eve prayer but now they add the sugar cane tree as symbol the kind and love from God that already saved their life.

as for chinese, lots of symbol also using too.. btw, on this prayer all are vegies or fruit, no animal contained. the fruits are banana, apple, oranges, chinese pear (Xiang Li), then white bread and sticky rice pastries (nian gao) plus the flowers and for sure a pairs fo sugar canes!!

the white bread are shaped in peach or called shian tao (God's fruit) filled with sweet black bean paste. the next one is made from sticky rice with brown sugar. the white bread symbol of "HUAT" means growing bigger.

and the brown one means harmony..coz it sticky.. it bring the family closer and make a good bonding..;)

we waited until about 2 am or around that then went to sleep..

btw.. i will find out more about the exact story and mean while i am apologize if the story i have here not exactly match with you.

sneak peak from my 2005 trip - part 1

here are the sneak peaks like i promised... :)
first is needles :
* this one is from puppyyarn (yes, the original puppy yarns store!!)

from okadaya :

i had tried the bamboo noodles and it's slided smoothly on mohair yarn. very light too!! :)

and this is from Golden Dragon Singapore - the brand is Panda. It came up with 1 set contained 4 mm, 4.5mm, 5 mm and 5.5 mm. it's very light. i think it's made from China. price .. about Sin$ 2-3.

these are the "hardware" from Golden Dragon, Singapore.

From left to right :

1. Panda Crochet Set (4 mm, 4.5 mm, 5 mm and 5.5 mm)

2. Clovers Crochets (7/0 - 8/0 2 sets - 1 for me, 1 for my bro)

3. Oreo Crochets (2 mm)

4. Measurements Sheets from Clover. If you are familiar with the japanese book, they use this when make project using irish crochet or freeform crochet.

5. Tunisian Crochet Needle from Clover (3 mm, 3.5 mm, 4.5 mm, 6 mm and 6.5 mm)

and yarns from japan....:

1. cortuna

2. mario
3. mohair

I have some more yarns to show off, but seems have problem with time to do all my knitting and blogging (i want to do both), i took an opporturnity at this office to show this first part first while my boss on meeting .. he.. he..he...