Cold

I have given the Shamrock Bibs to the new mum. There is the usual, 'thank you very much'. I always wonder if people really appreciate handknit or they are just trying to be polite. I mean, just go on any knitters forum, you will hear so many people actually secretly think that is 'cheap' to give people handknit instead of 'real gift' from expensive stores (read: Brown Thomas in Ireland; Le Bon Marche in France, the Lane Crowford in Hong Kong). I don't know what the new mum really thinks, but I am happy to have done that anyway.

Another happy news is, since the new mum is back, I am going to be a bit less busy and can concentrate more on my own job since I was sharing her workload during her maternity leave. While I was happy for this change, the bad news is, I have probably got a cold from the man. So we made some Irish Coffee. Or was it supposed to be Hot Whisky? I have no idea. Fellow Irish knitters, please confirm which is the one that cure cold, or both?

I know I said I was going to do Mason Dixon Knitting review, but I am at the edge of knocking my head to the wall because of the headache (no, I am not drunk from the Irish Coffee), alright, I will do that tomorrow.

To end with a funny note, here is an incredible solution to make sure the CDs, DVDs and books stand straight on a shelf.


The Big Boss Man said, 'back off!'

Shamrock Bibs

Today is a beautiful Sunday, the sun is shining. When the sun is up, it just makes people feel more motivated in doing things. So I decide to be a better blogger from now on.

The thing is, it is not that I didn't try to be a good blogger before, it is just that the whole blogging thing is rather new to me. I know, it is not really new, it's been around for a few years now, but I never really read other people's blog much, I am more of a book person, I like to feel the paper and all.

But knitting brought me to Ravelry and to the rest of the internet knitting community. I kinda know what a blog is like but knitblog is then another thing. I had no idea what people usually expect to see on a knitblog. These few days, I read a bit of other people's blog and kinda have an idea. I realise picture is very important. Correction: FUNNY picture. And maybe a bit about one's life as well to put environmental picture of the speaker. Leave a comment if you have any other suggestion or advices.

Back to business, FO is up!!

Tomorrow is the coming-back day of a colleague after her maternity leave. She has been away for as long as I joined the company, which is almost a year ago. I have met her a few things in company functions during her leave. Since I am going to be working closely with her, so I figured I might as well make her baby something as a friendly gesture. (it is not just all about being nice, to be honest. It is also for the fact that I am curious about making baby thing since I have never made any before.) So that's what I made:

Yes, it is a bib. The pattern is inspired by Baby Bib O'Love from Mason-Dixon Knitting.

Since I am in Ireland, of course I am going to put a shamrock on it for a blessing to the baby girl.

Ok, I heard what you said just now! You said I should have shown you the process of the making-of the bib, like what we have discussed before. Yes, but guess what? It is impossible! Why? I finished it in NO TIME! Really!

I casted on this while waiting for the bus to go to the town yesterday Saturday morning. I knitted all the way on the bus to the town, then on the way back, then the afternoon, I finished it before I went to bed last night! It is such an easy pattern and it turns out lovely for a baby gift. Very practical as well and I love practical.

THOUGHT warning is here: Button holes are bitch (I am sure you know it already, just that it is my first time to make button holes) I don't know how did it happen but maybe it was my choice of button (it is a little pink flower, look carefully), the 'flower petal' on the little flower buttons just kept tangling with the yarn around the original simple eyelet button holes I made!

I could have just leave it, but imagine a baby struggling to be rid of the bib, food, her mum, no less. How can the mum put the bib on if the darn flower petal keep getting into the yarn? I am a considerate person, so I decided to do something to save the mum from this problem or my bib being disgarded to the bottom of the drawer.

Yes, I ran yarn all the way around the holes to make them into more of a REAL button hole. I am sure it is some sort of embroidery stitch or something, but I have no idea, I just did it with my instinct.


I know I know, details details details make better blog, here you go:

Dear knitters, if you know of any other way to make button holes that look more like button holes, especially on baby stuff where the mum has like only 3 seconds to put the darn thing on before the baby starts screaming, please leave a comment, so far, you have seen my current solution.

So will the mum colleague like it? Will see tomorrow.

You might ask how did I get the shamrock pattern? Nowhere, I just made it up as I went and it turned out ok. It is just one of those time when you have the free-knitting power. But if there is anybody interest, I could write it down somewhere, leave me a message.

Preview: Booking review - Mason Dixon Knitting, you heard me enough talking about stuff I made from this book, I figure why don't I just talk about this book so that you know what it is all about? I will do that tomorrow (or the next day, whenever I can make myself sit in front of the computer for one hour doing all the links and stuff...)

Not happy with Lucky

Continue with the last post, what the hell is the sleeve doing there?

Yes, I haven't been talking about this project at all, I have been hiding from you guys about this project.

The story is when I first decided that I need a cardigan, I went through the limited knitting books I had at that stage (don't dare to look at how many books I have now on my Ravelry account, yes don't) It was few months ago after I have successfully finished my first sweater for the man. It was also the time when I first got my Ravelry account. So to try out the wonderful world of Ravelry, I have searched for this pattern and see what other fellow knitters talk about it. It turned out a lot of knitters said similar things like, 'don't do it, you will like the finished project, but it will drag on for so long that you wish you didn't start the project' Some others also warn that the pattern is not super clear. This project is called Lucky and many of us are not very lucky with it ironically.

I wasn't sure, I was a rather new knitter, so I decided to try...

Turns out, it's been 4 months, that's what I got:

And these...(don't ask me about the cat, I don't know why he seems to have some sort of detector to know 'there is a knitting picture taken, I gotta go and step on the knitting RIGHT NOW MAOW' then there he is again...)

See? Think I am almost there? No, I don't think so. Accordingly to the comments on Ravelry, it is going to take a long time for the strap and all and got tons of finishing to do as well. One more thing, if you will ever knit this pattern, please check out Stephanie's solution to the confusion of the decreases on the front. It is very handy solution indeed.

Back to the beginning, why did I hide this project? Because I was freaked out. I wasn't even sure that I was going to be able to progress, less finish it.
Then why am I talking about it now? Because my sister recently complained that I don't talk about my WIPs on my blog enough and it is boring to see only the FOs. She also said that it is interesting to hear about different knitting stories no matter with good FOs or not, since people can learn from mistakes. Well, that's why I am trying to write about this tricky WIPs. So tell me about it, do you enjoy reading about that?

Happy Sunday

Today is a happy Sunday...

LarmLarm the king is watching the window, looking at the sea. How many cats in the world will have his exclusive view of Dublin Bay on his catpost?

The man cooked a wonderful breakfast for Yarncat. Look! Even the sleeve wanted to be on the beautiful breakfast photo!


You may ask what is this sleeve doing here? It is a very very long story. Will need a separate entry for the story of Clover Cardigan...

A Cat Story

Larmlarm the king is looking out from his window to observe his cat-dom...

He said, 'how dare you spying on the king?'

'Your king is in anger! I am going to...I am going to...''

'...walk on your computer to pay revenge, maow!'

WWKIP Day Dublin

Yesterday was the long-waited WWKIP Day Dublin.

Knitters from all corners of Ireland and some even from outside Ireland gather together at St Stephen's Green for a lovely afternoon knitting, eating, spinning, or just hanging out.

There was Satu from Finland who came to Dublin for a weekend holiday and joined us for the WWKIP Day since she missed the one in Helsinki!

Lindy is the knitter, spinner extraordinaire, she was working on a cat scarf using cat hair from a persian cat, handspun on her wheel with cat paw pattern. Plus, guess what? She bought a potato spindle!

See? It proves Irish people use potato in everything!!!

All in all, it was so much fun to see all the knitters gather together in the usual causal environment. It is so weird that we just sit together and talk to each other like we are old friends though we met each other just now.

After yesterday, I got 4 new friends on my ravelry list, tips from Lindy on spinning, and fun time that I will remember for a long time...

Look at that! The handspun yarn I tried at home myself before yesterday...


See? It was all uneven and overtwisted. Basically, a lump of twist lying together...

After yesterday having the tips from Lindy...

(sorry for the cat leg again, he seems to like to be on a photo with yarn for some reason...)

It is now all even and nice and yarn-looking...This much of yarn is spun only since last night when I got home from WWKIP Day! Can you believe I spent 3 days to spin the lump of twist before?

Apart from the demostration, one of the main point Lindy told me about spinning is = relax! She kept saying, 'you are probably too nervous, you have to relax...' It is ironically hard for me. I grew up believing in 'working at something' to achieve my goal, so I tended to all tense up and work at things that sit ahead of me. Not with spinning. You have to relax and let the feeling of your fingers guide you, it is such a big lesson for me. Maybe it is

a sign for me somehow that I need to do that in other things in life too?

'Technical issue' + WWKIP Day countdown

You might notice (if you are reading this blog frequently which I doubt since almost nobody ever leave a comment!) that I haven't been updating my blog much last week. This is because my workplace has a new policy regarding to internet access. Any address that links to a blog will be filtered, so I couldn't update my blog as frequently as I hope for. But I will try my best to update as frequently as possible in the evening.

A few highlights:

1. My sister has finally casted on her first 'coming back' item - Swiss Cheese Scarf, please check here to see her story of struggling to get her hands back on the craft.

2. EXCITING EXCITING! WWKIP Knitting Picture Scavenger Hunt 2008 will officially start tonight midnight! There will be a week to finish the tasks. I am still a bit 'knitting shy' at this stage (I am not a shy person but I am shy to knit in public and people ask me knitting questions), so I guess this is a great opportunity for me to really get my knitting self out and face the public. So the coming week, I will try to upload the photos daily, that I will be taking in public with all sort of folks with my WIPs. This is going to be so much fun and keep an eye on this space.