Tuesday, June 21, 2005

FO - Baby Dress

Here is my latest FO, simple baby dress with some little roses and bear button. Is it cute? Hope the little girl will like it.
The original pattern is consist of 9 little "love" along the bottom edge, personally I found it is too wide, eventually I reduce the number of "love" to 7, and re-calculate the required shaping. Although the number of "love" have been reduced to 7, but the final result is the almost the same as the original design, except for the widest part of the dress.
Design: Amended version of baby dress from Japanese baby pattern book
Yarn: 5 balls of Rowan Cotton Glace (4 purple, 1 pink)
Date of completion: 20/06/2005

For those who interested with this baby dress, here is the cover of the pattern book (ISBN: 4529035859), and, the orignal look of the little dress.

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Little to go

At last, the simple baby dress is almost done. The neck, armholes and bottom edge are required some crochet work to complete the whole project. I tried on the crocheting, but the result didn't turn out nicely, therefore, I am thinking to ask the help from the LYS. Besides that, I bought some "little rose" to enhance the outlook of the dress, I will sew it up when the edge-band is ready. Hopefully I can post the picture of the complete project by next week, by then, it would be the time to deliver the dress to the little girl. Overall, I am not too happy with this project, it is due to the problem on uneven stitches, therefore, I give the project only 70 marks :( ...
How to maintain the even stitches of the knits? Any expert knitters out there can give me some tips on it?

Baby dress without decorative work

Saturday, June 11, 2005

Stash

These 6 balls of pink Kanebo's Cotton Chanvre arrived on last Friday to enhance my stash. It is the yarn exchange I got from Siow Chin. Once again, thanks for getting me this soft cotton yarn. I am thinking to have a sleeveless vest with this pink yarn, but it is in the queue now ... there are some other projects in the queue now, and I am yet to decide which to go first. I am in the dilemma for next project ...

Kanebo - Cotton Chanvre

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Secret Pal 5 Questionnaire

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
I like soft and high quality yarn, especially yarn with cotton, linen and silk, I believe it could be due to hot climate in Malaysia.
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2. Do you spin? Crochet?
I know a little bit on crochet, but, I like knitting more than crochet, maybe it could be due to the speed. Persoanally, I found knit a row is faster than crochet a row … haha, what a lazy and impatient person :o)
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3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
I do allergy to dust. My skin (especially for my face) will easily feel itchy when the environment is dusty.
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4. How long have you been knitting?
I start to knit 4 years ago. I learnt it myself from the book “The Knitter’s Bible” (by Kate Buller) and “Harmony Volume 1 - Knitting Techniques”. Before that, I never thought I can knit and have a knitwear by myself.
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5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No, but, I do have a wish list in my mind.
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6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Lavendar, white lily, fruity scent like peach and mango.
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7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
I like chocolate (especially dark chocolate), cake and ice-cream, so, what do you think?
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8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I like Chinese Knotting and Beading. For Beading, I haven’t make any for myself, but I like to read on those magazines.
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9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I like music, but only on soft, sentimental and classical music. Why? Because I am a sentimental person :D
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10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
I like most of the pastel colours, but, pastel blue is my favourite. Other than pastel blue, pastel pink and yellow will be my next choice. Generally, I like those colour in light and soft shade, also, I like varigated colour too.
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11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
Haven’t found my Mr. Right, therefore, I am still single by now. Pet? No, thank you. I don’t like or should I say I scared with dog, cat and all kind of moving animals, therefore, no chance for me to have pet.
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12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
Living at countryside for a quiet and peaceful life. Scotland, Australia or New Zealand might be an ideal country for me :o) … Maybe I watched too much of sentimental and romance’s movies, could it be??? Am I too young to have such a retired life??? Also, a living without office political and human problem, but, it would be extremely hard or maybe impossible :( ... Lastly, not to forget, I would love to own a yarn shop too.
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13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
Not many yarns I knitted with so far, so, it is hard to say which is my favourite yarn to knit with. The 100% bamboo yarn from Madil (an Italian yarn) is too interesting, but I haven’t got the chance to cast on with it.
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14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
Hairy and acrylic yarn.
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15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
1 project at any 1 time.
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16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Sleeveless top and knits with raglan sleeves. Do you know why I like raglan sleeves? Haha … because I am very poor in sewing the sleeves into the armholes, while the raglan type of sleeve is more easy to set in. With the 365 days of hot weather, sleeveless vest is an ideal project for all the times.
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17. What are you knitting right now?
Little baby dress in purple and pink. Hopefully I can post the FO very soon from now.
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18. What do you think about ponchos?
It is nice, but it is not a project that I would consider now. I have too many projects in mind, but only have a pair of hand and limited knitting time for it :(
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19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
Straight needles.
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20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Bamboo, unfortunately it is hard to find a high quality of bamboo needles like Clover in Malaysia. Anyway, I do have a set of nice bamboo needles (straight and dpn with selected size) gifted by Eva as my last year birthday present. Once again, thanks Eva for getting me this nice present from Japan.
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21. Are you a sock knitter?
Not for the moment.
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22. How did you learn to knit?
Learnt it myself from instruction book.
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23. How old is your oldest UFO?
A lace cardigan which have been frozen in my drawer for almost 1 year.
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24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
huh … let me think about it first :D
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25. What is your favorite holiday?
Autumn and winter holiday would be great for me. I like cooling climate. A 365 days of hot climate in Malaysia is more than enough, therefore, I prefer to have autumn/winter holiday instead of hot summer holiday.
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26. Is there anything that you collect?
I like to collect CDs, books, magazines, … for majority of of books and magazines, it is being wrapped nicely and arrange according to its category in my bookshelf.
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27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
None for the moment. Previously I did subscribe for Rowan, Knitting and Interweave Knits. And now, thinking of re-subscribe for Rowan.
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28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
Not really, but I do visit to bookstore frequently for new or old books. As long as there are interesting books or magazines, then I will bring them back to my own bookshelf, but, I need to pay before I can bring them back to their new “home” la …