Sunday 28 June 2009

A lot of knitting!

Phew. WIth so much time on my hands, I've been able to do a lot of knitting and even found a local knitting group in Hong Kong. I finished my little shrug.
P1070947
P1070945
P1070942

It fits like a dream and is exactly what I needed. The colour looks very black on the pictures but it's more of a charcoal. Really nice. I may make another with one less repeat in the width to make it narrower.

Then I've started another new project from my queue on Ravelry. That is the Spiral Cowl by Keri McKiernan. I'm using some Vinni's colours Bambi that I bought while in South Africa. Its a cotton/ bamboo mix in a lovely seagreen/ turq colour. The pattern is a nice mindless one and very similar to the 1000rpm socks.
P1070952
P1070956
P1070954
I'm really like this yarn and the stitch definition apart from the fact that it has stained my Denise needle tips. :-(

I've also managed to finish a shopping bag from some local unknown yarn. I think its a cotton/ acrylic blend. You can clearly see the cotton and then something shiny inbetween. The pattern is the Monteagle Bag by Ann Hahn Buechner. Many people seems to have difficulty with the pattern. It had a bunch of new stitches that I've never used or heard of before. But I found this exciting rather than daunting. The base has a cross over stitch which is ended off with a horizontal stitch.
P1070933

Next is the complicated stitch for some people. Its a weird twisted knot. You wrap the yarn around the outside of both needles 5 times. This leaves bunches behind which is later pulled out.
This is the before with bunches...
P1070927

And this is after it's unravelled...
P1070932

And this is the bag before unravelling and after unravelling. See how it grows!
P1070924
P1070929

And the finished bag in use.
P1070938

I love this bag and again, will probably make it again but with a lighter weight yarn.
And I've committed to finishing my vintage sweater. I really want to get it done. Right now I've finished the back and one sleeve. And I've cast on the front and knitted about 4". So really working it. The sock yarn blanket is on going.

P1070846

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Knitting update

I've made major progress on the shoulderette. I have about an upper arm to knit and then I'm done! Yeah!! It will be perfect for the aircon here in HK. You walk outside and it's 32 celsius. Go walk into a store and the aircon blasts at 18 degrees! This will cover my upper arms and keep my nice and snuggly. Most people even walk around with long sleeves outside. I don't know how they do it! It's too hot!

Anyway, so will try to finish this guy in the next 2 days.Then I've also started on the sock yarn blanket. It's really addictive making the little squares!





Only problem is I might run out of left over sock yarn. I have tons of little balls in storage in the UK with the rest of my stash. I'm going out to visit a LYS or maybe two today. Hopefully they have some sock yarn.

My also reorganised my queue on Ravelry. I have allocated all my current stah ( which isn't much) and allocated patterns to all of them.

The Rockstar is off to Macau today for meetings with clients. Lucky him!

Oh and look what I found!!!
P1070681

HELLO KITTY STORE!!!

Enjoy the week!

P1070589

Wednesday 10 June 2009

Project pics

Ok, promised pics of the shawl and new shrug.

P1070344

P1070346

P1070348

I'm particularly pleased with this shawl. Probably because I'm fond of black and the geometric patterns speak to me! But alas, as usual I have promised it to someone else. Always the same story. I promise one day I'm make myself a nice shawl too!

And secondly, new project.

P1070350

P1070352

Nothing much to see yet though I've made a lot of progress since yesterday. I think i'm going to wear it a lot!

Monday 8 June 2009

I'm baaaaaccckkkk!!

Yup. I'm back and writing from Hong Kong. Follow my adventures on the HK blog.
So due to the whole process of moving to another country, knitting took a bit of a back seat the past few weeks. Today, I picked up the needles again and finished the Matilda. Looking good. I just need to block the sucker-not sure where yet as we're in a small serviced apartment- but will find a place. Maybe under the equally small dining table. It's looks fab though. Then I will send it on to South Africa to my SIL.

After a week here, I've realised that aircons on full blast tend to leave me a bit cold. Compared to the 32 degree C outside, a full cardigan simply doesn't work. So I've started a little shoulderette with HK bought yarn-yup, found a lys here-and am about 4" in. Looking good.

Re the lys, an experience if any. The first was Tailor and Alteration which, as per previous reports, is tiny! Shelves are so close together that you can't lift your arms to pick something off a shelf. And my handbag on my shoulder kept knocking things off. So had to put my handbag down and carry on without!! I bought 6 balls of Mondial superwool in a charcoal grey. Thought i'd move away from my usual black. Ha!
The second shop is near our apartment. Its called Filo Kilo. It is one of those shops where, the moment you step in the door, you have an instant tail. This chinese lady followed me throughout the store. And it's not a big or cluttered store. She could probably keep her eye on me from the till area. I was looking for some cotton akin to Peaches and cream. But no luck. So I settled for some random yarn in a peach/orange colour. I really need it for a market bag. Not my choice or taste but would have to do. I'm thinking of doing a large order of Peaches from the US or UK and save on shipping that way. Either way, the 4 balls of peachy yarn cost me HK$40 for all 4! Cheap as chips. Less than £4 for all 4.

I've also emptied my stash on Ravelry and started again with the stash that I have with me. I figured that this would be a good time to not accumulate past my current projects. I read somewhere on Ravelry that someone filled her whole queue with projects made from her entire stash. So I will try to allocate all my current stash to projects and will complete ( I HOPE!!!).

So will get onto that tomorrow inbetween job hunting/ passport renewal and chinese supermarket shopping! Yikes!