Rahardjo-Knits

It looks like I’m back to ground zero again Yeah I was pretty much sad but it’s reality. So I took my good friend Vita and went to United Noodles, and Rosedale mall. There’s nothing better than favorite snacks and good-deal-sale shopping and friends’ support can’t fix a heartache.

I don’t want to share the details but be positive. Even though I have this job for less than a month, it was a good experience. Therefore for that I must be thankful for the experience and just be positive that another one will come by to me.

So in the mean time I am back to knitting more (and other hobbies), back to my Wednesday’s night knitting group and chatting with friends from back home. Yeah my job was a night shift.

And it looks like I may be able to visit home this year. Yeah been feeling a little homesick too.

Sorry for the late update.
I didn’t meant to abandon my blog, but everything has been so busy since I got a job. Yes a job finally
I don’t want to tell the details since I’m still in training and audit. I am hoping I can get out of audit.
Wish me luck.

I love cherry blossom. They are so pretty when they bloom in spring and when they fall like snow. Think of snow but in pink petals.
This is my neighbor’s tree and I wish my back yard was full of these trees.

I suppose Spring did come to Minnesota finally. Ha ha. Some of my friends didn’t believe that we had snow in April.

more sock surgeries
I knitted some pair of socks for my in-laws, 3 pairs so far. They all told me that they wore my socks at home, and one particular in-law told me that she wore hers until they have holes in them. I, from a country where sarcastic is rarely in used, thought it was a sarcastic comment believing that she wore them alot. She said she wore them like slippers and very comfy. Let’s just say she wasn’t joking. She literary wore the socks I gave her and they have 2 big holes at the sole.

My reaction when I saw the socks with holes was a smile. Because that means she loves wearing them so much. What else can a hand knitted gift want other than… “wear me”

My friend ClickingSticks told me that she used to darn socks for her brother. I asked her why people darned socks in the past. This is her reply.

Because people did not have money to buy new socks so it was better to make your socks last as long as possible. And people didn’t have this “throw away” mentality. They made things last a long time. Now people are very wasteful…but that may change with the new economy.

Back then people darn sock to save money. Nowadays people just throw away socks. Of course back then people know how to do other crafts like sewing, crocheting, etc. Crafting was popular and relatively cheap. Now… sadly. Making a sweater is more expensive rather than buying one at a store. Likewise with socks. Why even darn socks if I could just make another pair. Well I could make another pair for my SIL, but darning takes 1 hour and making another pair takes 2-3 weeks.

I am one of those people who likes to make stuff and wants to know how to make stuff. Craft I believe sadly is a dying art. However when I do craft I feel like a piece of me is being recorded in my craft and people remember me in those hand made things that I made.

Anyway so here I am with a pair of socks and 2 holes and no clue how to do it. Fortunately the internet shows me how to darn socks and it wasn’t as bad as I thought. It was fun actually. I’m sure with practice it’ll look flawless, but right now it does the job just fine.

So I’m making her another pair of socks using ShiBuiKnits sock yarn in Chinese Red. It’s a lovely red. Very vibrant.

Another pair of socks that I darned.

These socks have been darned before as seen on this post. But my husband somehow loves these Japanese socks made with Lion Brand Babysoft rather than another pair made with KnitPicks Essentials. Which is fine by me. I just wish he prefers other color than black. Seriously knitting in black color is not fun.

I have a sock surgery tutorial post in progress. I feel I need to write up one due to many sock surgeries I have in my knitting life. It’s more like an answer for Jackie’s comment in this post.
Sorry Jackie. It took me this long to answer you.

Hiya it’s a long post today. However you can just skim and go through the photos That’s what I usually do. Look at photos first then read. Ha ha. One thing I learned from my Type class at school is people tend to look at photos first, then the title, then the sub title, and last text body. It’s like human nature or something.

Oriental Jade Merino/Silk 80/20 by Louet
One of my goals in spinning is to spin lace weight. At the time and maybe even now my hands are not trained enough to spin lace weight on my wheels. So I decided long time ago to spin lace weight on drop spindles. It is finally finished. After 7 months of on and off spinning this merino/silk, it is done. Unfortunately 0.5oz of the fiber was ruined by Iori (yeah.. again). Iori is such a trouble maker but she’s very cute and luckily for her. She got a new nick name now, the 9-lives cat. A friend says that she is a 9-lives cat because of all the things she’s done like chewing my spindles, chewing my wheels, chewing my yarns, ruining my lace project, dragged my yarn, etc; still surprisingly she is not at the shelter.

(The photos go chronologically from corner left top and go clockwise)
1125yd / 1029m for 3.5oz / 99g.
fiber: Oriental Jade merino/silk 80/20 by Louet
bought: Knitter’s Palette, MN.
spun single on drop spindles: BGD 0.5oz, Bosworth 0.5oz, and golding 0.5oz
ply with Pocket Wheel

I am still shocked that I got 1029m for 3.5oz. I hardly go over 350m for 4oz let alone 1029m. So I’m hoping my homemade yarn counter is correct. Ooo I must have not posted about the homemade yarn counter.
Hubby and I made a homemade yarn counter for about $40. Since I spin, I would like to know accurate yardage for my handspun.

I searched around online and found this on ravelry. Which lead us to make a simple yardage counter. Thanks Coral for posting that on ravelry.

So here’s mine.

To see more photos of the yardage counter here. Mine is technically not a yardage counter more like a meterage counter because my wheel measurement is in meter.

I have several patterns in mind for the handspun lace yarn. However the one that calls my name is Paisley Lace Shawl. The pattern calls for same yardage as my yarn does. And it’s a square shawl which one I never try to knit. It will be an interesting to see how the handspun yarn will look for the shawl.

Yarn Over 2009

I don’t think as far as I remember took a fiber class except a beginner spinning class at Creative Fibers when the store was open. I meant in terms of knitting class I never took one until Yarn Over 2009. The class that I took was Explore Japanese Knitting by Donna Druchunas. She was an awesome teacher. Thanks Donna for teaching us that class.

When it comes to Japanese knitting, I get so weak to resist their books. I even have some non-knitting-or-crochet-related books like sewing. So when I knew that there would be a Japanese knitting class, I signed up for the class the first thing in January. The class was worth the wait and money.

me and Donna.

I have never been to Yarn Over either. It was alot of fun. But the most fun of the Yarn Over is the classes that they offer, so I’d like to take another one next year.

people at Yarn Over 2009.

what I got at Yarn Over 2009. Bohus Sticking Lace Lace Collar Cuff and Kollage needles.

FO: handspun Calorimetry
I spun this Targhee in Northen Lights color on a whim. The yarn is very pretty but when it comes to handspun especially with colors has difficulty to find a pattern. Safe bet for multi color handspun are StSt, ribbing, and garter.
So I thought Calorimetry from Knitty Winter 2006 would be great for this handspun.

fiber: Targhee in Northen Lights color
bought: Fiber Studio, MN
spun on: Mach 1 on 1:5 ratio.
draft: backward semi-woolen
yardage: 136m for 96g

pattern: Calorimetry
yarn: Targhee in Northen Lights color. handspun
needle: 4.5mm
duration: 2 days
modification: added elastic thread on the wrong side of headband so the headband will bounce back to original shape.
future modification: will reduce amount of short rows so the headband’s width is not too big.

That’s what I wanted to post so far. This weekend hubby and I are attending the Festival of Nations 2009. I didn’t attend last year so I’m hoping to see fun dances especially the Taiko Drum and eat good ethnic food this year. I also would love to see the vendors and ethnic demos. Ooo it’s going to be so much fun.

I believe I told Limedragon (my long time reader) long time ago, at least in her comment, that yarn diet was overrated. Yarn diet is basically trying to reduce your yarn stash either by using your yarn for project and not to buy new yarns or give up your yarn away to someone who will use it. Well I tried this yarn diet during my blog absence including giving away my sock yarn leftover to a friend whom needed in Canada. Even after all that I failed at this yarn diet. I’m sorry Limedragon, I didn’t know that yarn diet is hard.

I for some reason don’t mind buying tools because tools are tools and likewise with knitting/ spinning books because I can always learn something from books. However I try to buy books or magazines if I like more than 10 patterns inside that book or magazine.

How did I failed at this yarn diet? I blame my spinning and unexpected KALs. Because I spin, I produce yarn. The problem is I sometimes don’t know what to do with that handspun yarn which is contradictory with my yarn buying policy (only buy yarn for a project). I would love to someday to spin specific yarn for a project so I don’t have to search pattern for my handspun. Yeah.. I’m not there yet. So right now I have handspun yarn here and there with unassigned projects. How sad is that?

However thanks to Ravelry, I can search patterns for my handspun specifically by yardage and weight. And Ravelry will list all patterns that have my criteria. Isn’t Ravelry best invention since slide bread? At least for fiber lovers.

Anyway. I have an FO from handspun.

FO: handspun basic hat
fiber: Tequila Sunrise, 4oz, coriedale, bought from Fiber Studio
produced yarn: 2ply in DK weight-ish
needle: 3.5mm
pattern: the knitter’s handy book of patterns by Ann Budd
duration to knit this hat: 1 week (not including spinning the fiber)

I like my hat big so I can put my hair inside the hat plus I like to have my ear covered.

New found fiber tools:
I made st markers. It was actually fun to make st markers and kind of easy I think. This would be a fun project during raining and the end result is so pretty!

Ha ha. I’m having too much fun with this fd’s Flickr Toys. As you can see, I moved my photo system to flickr, and it makes my blogging easier especially inserting photos and no more I have to resize and all that stuff. Plus flickr has lots nice features.

Ever since I started knitting GAAA (Great Aran American Afghan) blanket, I carry circular needles from 3.5mm to 5.5mm in my knitting bag. The problem was I didn’t have a circular needle case, so I carry my circular needles with their packages. That was fine until I got disorganized inside my knitting bag. Then one day I found my old CD case in a closet. The light bulb went on; my CD case is now a circular needle case

Isn’t that neat?

Well I hope you have good weekend and hopefully spring will come which I’m afraid we’ll have very short spring.
Iori was looking outside on the first day of April or so. Thinking “snow again???? Noooo I want go to outside and rolls around the concrete”

I have been spinning since Mother’s Day in 2007. That day I got 3 spindles. I made yarn. A few months later. I got Louet Victoria S96 from ebay. Next 1 year I spun on and off… Let’s put my spinning history in a time line which hopefully will make it more self explanatory.

Please don’t ask how many spindles I have currently. Because I honestly don’t want to count.
I don’t have every spindle from every maker. I just have a lot from various makers. There are some spindles that I would love to try like Tracy Eichem spindles and Merlin Tree spindle.

My spinning friends at Knitter’s Palette thought that I’m good with drop spindles. Well I’m sure there are other people whom are more skilled using drop spindles, but I don’t mind extending my skill using these neat tools. And besides they are a great travel companion plus I believe I can get more yardage done if done with drop spindle. Because I can spin whenever and wherever.

This post talks about my wheels. What wheels that I have encountered in the past and current wheels own.
When I started spinning, I got me a Louet Victoria S96.

A few months later, I still spin on and off with drop spindle. For some reason we, Victoria and I, stopped responding to each other. Then I saw Mach 1 by Spinolution. So I sold my Victoria, rather than with me not being used, replaced her with Mach 1.

I love this wheel. We are very happy together and spun lots of fiber. See the whole photos of Mach 1 here.
O by the way, this is wheel is 22lbs which is why this wheel is a stay home wheel. However I did bring this wheel to spinning guild… Let just say only brought it twice and no more. So he’s contend in my room near window and bookshelf waiting for me faithfully to spin together.

Then a couple months later, I saw Pocket Wheel by Doug Dodd. First I ever saw this tiny wheel was in askthebellwether.blogspot.com. I couldn’t help it. It was half the weight of my ex Victoria and I could put it into a tote. So I ordered one back in Summer 2008 and it got to my door on March 14, 2009. My wheel is the lucky #82. See whole photos of pocket wheel here.

This wheel’s ratio is… awesome. I ordered for a high speed ratio which is 5 to 15. But don’t let this little wheel fools you. This wheel has a continuous range from 5 to 15. So I can get 6.3 ratio if needed. Something like that. However most likely I tend to use 0.5 interval. Like 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5,… 14.5,15.

That’s it as far as wheels have come into my life. I kind of want to write “my spinning history from spindle perspective”, but that post will be very heavy photo post. Poor readers using dial up.

Let me end this post with kitty photos.

“Is spring coming yet?”

BIG wake up call
As you know I haven’t updated my blog for the past 9 months. To summarize why that happens is because I promised to post after I get a job. Which turned out reality sucks. I don’t even have a labor job i.e work at Jo-Ann or Michaels.  I’d been applying time to time like even local jobs like Bed Bath and Beyond, etc. Nope, nada, zilch. Even not accepted for part time jobs. How sad is that? Too many degrees? I do have 2 degrees: BA Statistics and AAS in Digital Photograhy. Too many internships? Too many volunteer times I’d done at Posing Paws and sometimes at Rebuilding Together? Here I thought experiences are good for job hunting. Ha ha.. nah.

People says “I hate my job” or “I want a better job” Sometimes they don’t know what they have and not appreciate in this crappy economy. Feel lucky you have a job than no job. Even a part time job. Sometimes I loose myself and say “You should be lucky you have a job” in a tone than polite one. Every time I hear that “I want a better job”, it really gets to my nerves.

So I think if this job hunting is not getting better, I would like to start my own photography business. And since I have a Statistics degree. I can search on consumers and financial to help the business. But before that I need to have a website and price list.

Speaking of my own business. I have decided to open up an esty store. I could have sworn people are nowadays on etsy. What am I going to be selling? Handmade books. I love making journals and experiment with different type of book looks, chiyogami paper, book cloths. Now I found there’s faux leather book cloths. How awesome is that?

Here are samples of my handmade books: This one is particularly my knitting notebook.

So please come to my store, rahardjo959803.etsy.com, time to time and check out my stuff. Currently I have no books listed, but some are going to be listed soon.

Nowadays websites use flash to enhance their websites. My problem is I don’t know much of flash but somehow I feel it’s OK. I mean in today’s technology where people use their cellphones to surf the net like iphone, blackberry, etc. However cellphones are not compatible with more than just basic web coding like flash and maybe even java script. That is what I think: pro and cons. So I’m designing my photography website as simple as possible to get the uncluttered views out of the coding.

Fiber related
I’ve been knitting and spinning. But lately I’ve been knitting this KAL. It’s argyle knee high socks from Knit1 magazine. And OMG. Now I know why people hate argyle. It’s the unaccountable ends to weave in. And thank God I cheated on my argyle socks by not knitting the crosses but duplicating the sts. I believe it’s so much easier and the end result looks fabulous.

And my other ongoing project is the Great Aran American Afghan which seems taking forever. The only downside of this project is to get the gauge for every single square but as long as I have 12in on the either horizontal or vertical sides of square and at least 11in on the other sides. I’m good. And the yarn that I’m using, Lion Brand Wool-Ease, seems to be pretty gullible to be block to 12in square.

This is my recent square, 8th square (12 more square to go). You can see all the finished squares here.

Speaking of FO. I did managed to finish 1st FO of 2009.



Pattern: Fingerless Mitts in Weekend Knitting
yarn: my own handspun
fiber: Targhee in Chinook color.
needle: 3.50mm
modifications: I used invisible CO and graft at both CO edge and BO edge, so the seam looks seamless.

This fingerless Mitts takes about 1 day to knit. I love it. It’s fast and the pattern has different gauge and hand circumference sizes. It’s great for those handspun yarn. Plus doesn’t take lot of yardage.

PODCAST
I’ve been thinking to do a podcast in Indonesian language. I’ve been in US for so long and almost none of my relatives lives here. Therefore my native language is sort of rusty but I still don’t want to loose it either. What a better way to talk about my favorite hobby in my native language? PODCAST. And you Indonesian people back home can ask me about knitting techniques, hopefully I can answer that in a way I don’t confuse you

OMG. It’s June already? I guess it’s summer where action-pack movies will be reeled into movie theaters and famers market will pop up everywhere. Yay for farmers market. We love their strawberries and honey. Speaking of strawberries there’ll be strawberry shortcake ummm. DH got me hooked on strawberry shortcake.

Anyway, I’ve been feeling up and down. Job hunting is slow, and the health insurance is a nightmare. But we’re not going to talk about those. I’m sure they’ll turn up OK. Of course the gas price nowadays make me sad every time I pump my cars.

I have been spinning lately instead of knitting and finishing my friend’s sweater the Cardigan for Arwen for Marlyn. Marlyn if you are reading this, I’m almost done. I just need to knit the left front, and sew all the pieces together.

And speaking of spinning, I found a website called Smartflix. It’s like Netflix but the content of Smartflix are educational DVDs or how to DVDs. They have from math category (like calculus) to knitting and sewing. So they cover lots of ground basically that you want to know how.
So I’ve been borrowing their spinning dvds, and all of the sudden spinning starts making sense. It’s definitely more expensive than you borrow from Netflix (besides Netflix doesn’t have most craft related topics), but knitting, spinning related craft costs about $20 to $60 per DVD depending what craft you are interested in. I’d rather borrow them rather than pay $30 per DVD.

Cat update
Really nothing to talk about other than they keep annoying me like sleeping on my waiting-to-be-dried hand knitted items. I’m sure you have this happens to you a lot. And by the way this cat below is the heaviest of all my cats. She’s 12 pounds. Tomoyo (grey cat) is around 7pounds and Iori (black cat and oldest) is 10.5 pounds. We knew that Sakura is going to beat Iori someday, but seriously at 15months and 12 pounds??? We think it’s her type of breed, so hopefully she’ll be fine.

Sakura (below image) tends to sleep on towels especially when knitted items are present.

We got a new toy form PetCo. And they love it to death. I snapped a picture when Sakura was up in the air showing her behind. DH envies her because look at her belly. Still that much belly and can flip in the air no problem.


Tomoyo really loves her new toy.

Iori ready to attack the new toy.

FO: Shaping Knee Socks
I finally finished the Shaping Knee High socks after the sock surgery. The new cuff is k1p1 instead of k2p2 rib and much longer cuff about 5in high, so it can be folded to add more grip. I promised Jackie to show her how to operate on the cuff. I’ll post it on the next post.

Shaping Knee Socks
pattern: Shaping Knee Socks by HJS Studio Pattern
yarn: Pair of Sox bought at 2007 Sheperd Harvest Festival, Louet Gems Opal in Charcoal for the cuff
needle: 2.5mm 100cm (40in) circ needle
method: cuff down, magic loop, 2 socks at 1 circ
duration: 3 weeks

I like the new cuff much better because it’s much longer and it can be folded down which adds grips to my knee. And the color actually matches quite nicely with the hand dye.

FO: crocheted Dalek

Dalek
pattern: A.M Downs
yarn: Cascade 220 in Chargrey color. 1 skein
hook: F 3.75mm
duration: 1 month

What can I say? DH is a Dr Who fan. He always wants me to make this Dalek specifically life size dalek. Well this is a 10in high Dalek and that’s he’s going to get. The pattern is well done and written.

Speaking of Dr Who knitting or crochet pattern, BBC is trying to get any Dr Who patterns removed from web. Even the Dr Who scarf website is in danger. I heard it started with Dr Who fans whom are annoyed to see Dr Who handmade items on Ebay, then they complain to BBC, and here it is. And the funny thing those patterns on the web are FREE and not supposed to made money of. So these people whom made money of these patterns should be targeted by BBC not whomever created those pattern. I think people do stupid things and not consider whom they hurt. It’s sort of sad really.

Spinning update


It is finished. I’ve been spinning this Opal superwash Merino on a drop spindle since last December. I did make mistakes where the twist was in the wrong direction and what no, but it was fun. I definitely can control how thin I want on a drop spindle rather than on a wheel. It’s all about practice really.

And I did finish this worsted weight yarn a couple days ago. It’s about 328yd, 8 oz fiber. I bought the fiber long time ago from Creative Fibers and never got time to spin it until now. Now I’m knitting Shruglet Eyelet from 101 Designer One-Skein wonders book from this yarn. The pattern asks about 256yd, and hopefully I’ll have enough to make the shrug.

Go Tournament
DH asked me if I can take pictures of Go Tournament that happened last week. Go is a game originated in China and nowadays it’s more popular in Japan, Korea and of course China. One easy way to get to know Go game is by watching Hikaru No Go anime. That’s how DH got into Go. The anime is pretty well done at explaining go and the plot is very interesting. And for the girls, there’s bunch of cute guy especially Sai XD.

That’s DH playing at the Go Tournament. If you want to check Go games, check out the Twin Cities Go Club website and check where they play every week.

Fiber Studio
During the game, I sneaked out to see a recent opened up store in South Minneapolis. The store name is called Fiber Studio.



It is a really nice store full of fiber spinning related or needle felting related and lots of variety too.
Do you think spinning is getting more popular nowadays? I notice more yarn stores carry fibers like Yarn Garage, Knitters’ Palette, Depth of Field and now The Fiber Store. Not that’s bad because it’s nice for us spinner to get fiber and not drive far away to Shepperd Harvest Fest or similar.

I have not abandoned my blog. Though lately I can’t seem to post anything good other than FOs.

This post is about socks, well more about operating socks than blogging about finished socks.

I made my DH two pair of Japanese socks, or known as split toe socks. He wore them constantly in the fall and winter. He loves them so much to the point there’s a hole at the sole.

I could just make him another pair of split toe socks, or I can try to darn the hole as many people in the past did. Luckily in my book stash, I got a book called “Flawless Knit Repair” by Rena Crockett from the 1st Treasure Hunt in Twin Cities. The book talks about fixing a hole in sweaters and it’s not as complicated as it sounds, but requires patience and good lighting.

It took me an hour to fix that darn hole. The finished result is bit bulky around the hole however DH doesn’t fell the bulky area, so I can say mission accomplished.

I thought I hope I won’t do another surgery, knitwear wise, later this year. Ha ha no it’s not the end of this surgery apparently. This event has sneaked up on me to do another surgery for a pair of socks later on.

This is how it started.

I have this Louet Opal Gems from Needlework Unlimited from 1st Treasure Hunt and been wanting to make Leg Warmers from One Skein by Leigh Radford. You know that feeling. “Pick me, pick me, pick me, make me, make me” imaginary sounds from your stash. So finally I picked up this yarn and make the leg warmers. But it wasn’t enough yardage. How could that be? The patterns says only one skein of Louet Opal Gems. Then I noticed my leg warmers is longer by 0.5in.

Therefore I ended buying another skein of Louet Gems Opal. I love my leg warmers. It’s so cute especially with a mini skirt.

patt: One Skein by Leigh Radford
yarn: Louet Gems Opal in charcoal 2 skeins
needle: KnitPicks Options US 6 (4.00mm) 40in (100cm) cable.
method: magic loop
duration: 2 weeks
price: $27.90

Then these leg warmers got me thinking that I have never made a pair of knee high socks. All the hand knitted socks of mine are about 5-6 in high. So there’s the imaginary scream again “pick me, pick me, pick me” lead to handspun yarn that I bought from last year Shepherd Harvest fest. It has 430yds with 6 sts / in using US 2.

I asked knitters’ opinions whether the yardage from this handspun will be enough for me to make a pair of knee high socks. Some knitters agree and some think it’s iffy. Nonetheless I went ahead and knit them using Shaping Knee Socks pattern by Holly Shaltz.

There’s nothing wrong with the pattern. I think the pattern is great except that I forgot to include in my calculation to minus 10% ease for my measurements. I like all my socks to have 10% negative ease in width and very little negative ease for the top of toe. It just gives that snug feeling to my feet.

So I ended with very loose cuff at the top and whenever I walk the socks would go down and create a puddle at my calf. DH doesn’t think it matters so much. But to me they do.

I was going to give up on these socks. But until someone gave me an idea to rip out the cuff and re knit the cuff longer and less sts. Thank you Pam and Nancy!

So I did another surgery.

I decreased the cuff sts by 10% and re knitted the cuff in k1p1 rib instead of k2p2 until 6in. And so far the new cuff hold just fine.

Lace Season
It’s almost summer again which means lace season is knocking on my door begging to have my lace-planned-project stash knitted. True I do have some yarns especially for lace projects from shawls to sweaters. But I don’t usually work on them until warm weather start sneaking on us. However shawls are an exception (well shawls takes forever to finish). Shawls are one of those year-around project like socks project. They don’t take a lot of space plus they have very rewarding end results.

Speaking of lace. Do you remember this?

It was a disaster when I was knitting this shawl. My cat jumped on me while I was working on this project which ended up loosing sts off the needle. My cat is fine. She survived my wrath thanks to DH.

Finally I picked this project again and re knitted the whole shawl again. It took me a while to figure out the border. I think I ended up with fewer triangles for the border about 2 triangles. Doubt that would matter, because the shawl is beautiful other than it’s huge. About 91in wing span and 42in down.

Curved Shawl with Diamond Edging
patt: Victorian Lace Today
yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 in lavender. 2 skeins
needle: Addi Turbo Lace 3.00mm 32in (80cm)
duration: close to 9 months
cost: $24

I did managed to finish a pair of washcloths from Fiber Trends. They are so cute and lovely and seriously I don’t have the heart to use them as washcloths but as house accents. Like for my tea set and key holders.


Bath Time Blossoms
patt: Fiber Trends
yarn: Patons BumbleBee Baby Cotton. 1 skein for each washcloth in Daffodil and Water Lilly
needle: 2.75mm
duration: about 3.5 weeks
cost: $6.58

I also recently finished a crocheted bolero from SnB Happy Hooker. Technically it’s a lace project. OMG this pattern was very addicting. Hm… am I going into crochet then? Or have I fallen deep into crochet?


Short N’ Sweet
patt: SnB Happy Hooker
yarn: Cascade Luna. 8 skeins. red color
hook: F (3.75mm)
duration: close to 2 weeks
cost: $42.40
modification: added 0.5 more patt repeat for body

Mother’s Day weekend
Unfortunately before I can start any future planned lace sweater project, I want to finish a mobius cat bed for MIL. It’s been taking me forever probably because I have knitted 3 mobius cat beds for my cats and my BIL’s cats. So hopefully I can get one done before Mother’s day. Speaking of Mother’s day, Nancy and I are going to Sheperd Harvest Festival on Saturday. The festival is always on Mother’s day weekend. Thanks to this festival, I learned how to spin. Yes I’m still spinning by the way, just very slow because I’m doing it on drop spindle and spin only once a week.

origami bookmarks
I’m very bad at reading books. I don’t read continuously and finish a book within a month like some people do. I tend to stop reading and pick up other books on and off. A bad habit I suppose. But I get bored so often. It’s not like I’ll never finish a book, just eventually I will. I used to have bookmarks that you can find in bookstores. You know the rectangular shape with quotes, photos, graphics, etc. They have gone missing or lost probably from moving from CT to WA and finally to MN.

Anyway my other hobby saved me from the disaster of missing bookmarks. I saw an origami bookmark from a book long time ago when I was in Borders back in CT. It’s a very simple origami bookmark, small, surprisingly holds on the page. As a result I have lots of these type of bookmark because they’re quick to make and very pretty to admire.





Do you see what I mean by pretty to admire? They’re like added accents to books.