Another Featherweight ....

.... Cardigan ! Remember the 1st one that I knitted last year ? I just love wearing it so much that I knitted another.

It is such a great pattern - top down & all knitted in one piece & allows for some creativity especially for the bands.

I used a feather & fan stitch pattern for my 1st FW & now a chevron stitch pattern. This cardigan is knitted with a shorter length & shorter sleeves too for a more casual look. I just love how it turned out.....

Once again, I used Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Lace, a merino/cashmere blend which is so soft & nice to knit with. I use only 3/4 of a 1200 yds skein. Knitting lace weight on 3.5 mm needles can be tedious but I just love the feel of the yarn & the relaxing rhythm of stocking stitch.

This pattern is a good template for creating endless versions of a cardigan & I am sure I will be knitting another one !

I Love Lace, I Love Shawls

Yes, I am so much in love that I knitted 3 in the last 2 months ! They are great projects as lace knitting is interesting but not too much lace that will complicate matters. Plus shawls are great as gifts, so I gave 2 of them away.

This is the 1st shawl that I designed & it's a simple flower & leave design from Evelyn Clark's book, Knitting Lace Triangles. I designed this shawl for a special friend, Danuta who had given me so much help, advice & inspiration in starting my own vegetable garden.

This Cottage Garden Shawl is knitted in Zen Yarn Garden Bamboo yarn & I added beads on the border. The shawl turned out so well & Danuta loved it !

The 2nd shawl is also given away to a dear friend that I worked with in the school canteen for her birthday. It's the Travelling Woman knitted in Dream In Color Smooshy ......

This is another great pattern which knitted up very fast. I started this shawl when I was on holiday in Melbourne & finished it in 3 days but could not cast off as I did not have a bigger needle. So I had to wait till I came home to do the cast off.

I did an extra repeat of the pattern & also added a couple more rows to the border. The size turned out a little bigger & I love the curved shape of the shawl. I may have to knit another one for myself.

The 3rd shawl is the Haruni which is one of the popular patterns in ravelry & it's gorgeous ....

I love the border as it's really unusual but the knitting was tough as at one point, I had more than 500 sts on the needle ! It took a long while to get through 1 row but I enjoyed every minute of it. I will knit another one if someone wants one ( a good excuse for me to cast on). The yarn I used is so soft & silky & knitting it was heaven - it's the Mini Maiden in Topaz color. I love this yarn as the shawl looks drapey with a little sheen on it.

The crochet cast off is a new technique for me & it was fun doing it but not when I was blocking. I had to pin out all the little loops & that took a while. Anyway, all the efforts were worth it as the shawl looks great. This one I am keeping for myself.

I have also a couple of projects which I finished recently but I am suffering from blogging burnout. I am sure some of you may have noticed that my last post was more than 1 month ago & it took me a while to gather the energy to do this posting. I can't explain why as it's just the mood. Every morning when I sit in front of the computer, I prefer to just browse through ravelry & then read a few of my favorite blogs. Then that's it!

So, I think posting on my blog will be more irregular from now but I will try to update my projects page on ravelry. I will keep in touch !

Shop Till You Drop In Melbourne

That's what I did during the 1st week of my holiday in Melbourne & had to buy a new suitcase for all my purchases and also many of the books that my daughter bought at the sales in Border. I think the problem started when we checked into our serviced apartment. I can't believe my eyes when I looked left, there was Myers & then right across the street (3 steps away) is David Jones & GPO & on the right is Chinatown. To top it off, it was 5 days before Christmas & the shops were all opened from 6am to midnight. So all I did was eat, shop, eat, shop, eat, shop ......

Of course, there was shopping for yarn as Morris & Sons was 10 mins walk away & they were also having a 20% sale. But I was very restrained & only walked away with these .......

These 7 balls of 4 ply merino are gorgeous & soft & I know they will be perfect for a cardigan.

I have been wanting one of these for a while & when I saw it in the shop, I had to buy it ......

I used it immediately when I went back to the apartment & starting knitting on my shawl. It is great & now my chart is not all over the place & I can keep track of my knitting with the magnetic ruler.

After all the shopping & eating, I was ready for my BIG TRIP ! We took the train from Melbourne to Bendigo & it was a nice ride. We arrived in Bendigo by 10 am & took a 10 mins walk to town & another 20 mins to find the Tourist Information Center. By then, we were all hot & sweaty as it was a hot day. I got all the information that I needed from the Center & then we started walking for another 15 mins & we arrived at Bendigo Woollen Mills ......

OMG, this can't be happening! I had just spend almost 3 hours & my husband & daughter are all hot & tired & I can't get into THE PLACE that I have been dreaming of for the past few months & all the yarn that I could get my hands on ....... I wanted to climb over the fence ..... I guess it's all my fault - I checked the website for opening hours & did not think of calling them to find out if they are open. This was my biggest disappointment & we had to walk back to town in the hot sun looking for a place to cool down & have lunch. I could not eat ! I just wanted to get out of Bendigo & go back to Melbourne for more shopping therapy. We caught the next train back to Melbourne & I managed to calm down with some knitting ......

The only good thing that came out of this trip is that I got the information that I needed for the Bendigo Wool Show in July which I am planning on attending & Bendigo Woollen Mills better be open !

On Boxing Day, we left Melbourne for Canberra & our 1st stop was this lovely seaside resort, Lakes Entrance. I think my husband had planned this trip very well as he knew that he had to get me away from the Boxing Day Sales as the shops were opened at 5am ! Anyway, I really enjoyed the peace & quiet of this resort & the seafood was so.... delicious .....

I managed to knit quite a bit on my 2nd Featherweight Cardigan during the drive ......

Canberra is so different from Melbourne as it's less busy & the streets are so wide & clean & everything seems so orderly. We did most of the tourist staff - Parliament House, Black Mountain Tower, Botanic Gardens, Chinatown & Central Shopping Mall. I love Canberra & I don't mind living there & it's close to Melbourne & Sydney - maybe one day.

We drove back to Melbourne & by then I was quite tired & ready to go home. We visited our favorite chocolate place for our last dessert before leaving Melbourne .....

I had a good holiday & will love to go back to Melbourne again ..... hopefully in July !

Little Projects - Quick & Easy

Another month had just whizzed by & it's almost Christmas. So much had happened during the last month - final high school exams, graduation ceremony, concerts, presentation, year end functions - I am just exhausted & can't wait for the school year to end - another week to go!

But I have been knitting little projects ...... I saw this pattern on ravelry & knew I had to make one & I did over a weekend.....

..... with my Jo Sharp cotton leftovers. It is a great crochet pattern for a beginner like me as I just go round & round. I love this bag & have been carrying my projects in it. I want to make another one so that I can use it for shopping too.
This bag gave me the inspiration to come up with these ......

..... mini bags for scraps of soap. I use natural soap for washing my hands & dishcloths & towards the end, I always end up with little pieces of soap. Now I put these little pieces of soap into one of these bags & when I wet the bag, I have an instant scrubber for the stove & kitchen top .......... it's great & I love my creation.

I have also knitted these dishcloths as Christmas presents for the ladies that I work with in the school canteen. They are Grandmother's Favorite dishcloths ......

Now that I can crochet, I finished off the dishcloth with a crochet edge & also added a little loop for hanging the dishcloths ......

..... this really finished off the dishcloth so nicely. All I need is to add a piece of natural soap with each dishcloth & they are ready. I am really glad that I learn crochet as it's such a handy add-on to knitting.

All these little projects are so great to work on especially with the little time that I had in between all those events.

In the meantime if any of you are looking for a nice sock pattern, check out my latest sock pattern release on ravelry - Fields of Clover !

I may not be posting again until next year as I am off to Melbourne for a 2-week holiday with some of my projects that I will be casting on ..... Travelling Woman, Rose Buds Socks, another Featherweight Cardigan and maybe Sabbatical .....

Have a Merry Christmas & all my warmest wishes for another Knitty 2010 !

It has been more than a month .....

.... since my last post. There's no excuse for not posting .... just plain laziness ! In the morning, I usually check my emails, read the news, browse through ravelry & other fav blogs - this takes up more than 1 hour & by then, I will be too tired to do anything else.

I would rather spend the time knitting & I have been knitting lots - a couple of secret projects & a couple of Christmas presents. They are all done but I can post any pictures. But I do have a project that I can post .....

Lydia (my musician daughter) is going on a Europe Music Tour in April 2011 & it will cost us $9000 for the 18 days tour. So the Music Support Group is organising a major fund raiser event, Auction of Promises . So I made a promise , picture of shawl is just a sample, this is the actual shawl ......

..... Swallowtail .... this is my 2nd as I knitted the 1st Swallowtail 2 years ago & had a terrible time with the nupps. So this time, I had replaced the nupps with beads & it has came out so gorgeous but I wish I had use bigger beads.

The shawl is knitted in Mini Maiden & I don't the know the color as this skein has been sitting in my stash for the past 2 years. I love the colors & the yarn is so lovely although the silk does not really block very well.

I feel so sad to give this away but a promise is a promise .......