Um, can we have knitting world cup?

Now, let me explain everything....
When I bought the yarn to knit the vest, I was only thinking about how luxurious and yummy the RYC Cashsoft DK is, that it didn't occur to me that I'm not supposed to use blend, only pure wool to make the crochet steek successful. So, Eunny, the designer of this gorgeous piece, said that it's okay as long as I machine-sew the steek.
Yep, you hear me...machine sew. So...since I left my brand new Brother sewing machine at home(which I forgot to share with you), I simply need to get a new one, ain't I? So I got myself this baby instead....

Very cute, but obviously doesn't do its job. Maybe my lack of sewing skill is the problem, but I strongly doubt that's the case.
And even worse, I have no idea how to do machine-sew steek. Eunny has got some fabulous steeking tutorial on her blog, as Nona said, but I can't find any on machine-sew steek. I might go to my friend's home(who just bought a brand new proper sewing machine) to try it out though.
Even though so, knitting it was quite a blast. I really enjoyed the colourwork...and I can't wait to do more! Here it is now anyway, in its un-steeked glory.

Honestly, it looks very long and very small, but still gorgeous anyway.

Being an art student, it's only normal to have artistic(and eccentric) teachers. They were really excited to know that I knit, and started to think of millions artistic stuffs I could do with it. They aren't really interested in the normal kind of knitting that produce beautiful, wearable stuffs. My interest was a little bit tickled.....so I made this...

Yep, recycled plastic bag. It's not quite finished though, I'll need to make it much more *WOW* before I could call it art. Knitting with the plastic bags was quite easy, though I had to buy myself a pair of gigantic needle to knit it.

Here's another crafty stuff that I made, being inspired by my teachers' passion for recycling...

A mags clutch! I quite like it actually, what do you think?

Anyway, my WIP at the moment...

I LOVE the colourway! It makes me happy ;)

Uhm....guess what, I might go to Europe for my Easter break! Woohooo!!! Can you tell I'm super excited? Of course, I'm going to travel the way a poor college student should, staying at budget hotels and go around by metro, but who cares??!! The plan so far is to go to Paris, Italy and Germany. Duh, I can't wait to go!!

The end of my Olympic vest

Sorry for not updating for such a long time.
But you know I've been busy with my Olympic knitting, projects, dramas, etc. I must confess that all I've been doing this week is watching Korean dramas and knitting(plus come chips, of course).
The knitting went well till yesterday...I'm getting really used to knitting with 2 colours...and even though my knitting looks suspiciously long and small...it still went well. Then I finish knitting it....and the time has come to steek...then I'm lost.
So that's it, I've got no idea how to steek, and the Olympic ends tomorrow. No gold for me.
I'll explain further tomorrow, sorry.

I really need to starve myself

You know, when you don't blog for some time, and you have so many things happening within that time, you just don't know where to start.
So I'll let my (poor quality)pictures do the talking, of why I really need to starve myself.



These are from Creative Stitches & Hobbycrafts last weekend. There were only 2 yarn stands there, but I still manage to get these ;), and some other crafty stuffs.
And here's my Valentine's Day present for myself....

I actually didn't expect them to arrive today, but they did. The postman even left it inside the big green rubbish bin beause nobody was home. Those are Rowan mags, no 30, 31, 32, 34, 39 and a free subscriber gifts. Yes, I'm a Rowanette now! At least I know they'll keep me company for some time.

And the knitting olympics?
Here's proof that I've been training hard...

I made some mistakes with the pattern, the stitches were wonky and uneven, and surprise, surprise...my gauge was totally off.
But I decided to just go ahead with it anyway, and switch to a bigger needle(my lovely #6 Addis).
4th day of Olympics, and here's all I got...

I didn't have much time to knit, in case you thought that I'm suddenly becoming very slow. But I really am much slower when knitting with 2 colours, because I'm not used to knit with yarns in both hands at once. I think it'll be much better if I could knit Continental style from the first place.
I'm not too sure if I could finish this before the Olympic ends, but I have hope, since I'm having 2 extra days off for mid term starting Thurday.
I wanted to go to London for a day trip, but I don't know what to do there(I'm broke!)
Oh well, I don't mind just staying at home and knit anyway.

That's all for now, I must do my homework. If I manage to finish it in under 6 hours, and still have energy left, then maybe I'll knit.
Oh, and happy Valentine's day to you all. I love you guys ;)

I think I need to starve myself

Tracy! Look what you have done to me...


10 skeins of RYC Cashsoft DK in Poison and Sweet to knit Eunny's Deep V Argyle Vest. I had very limited colour choices from the shop, but I think these look fine.
I can't bring myself to start knitting it. Honestly, the chart looks very intimidating to me, I'm scared! Oh well, I just signed up for the Olympics with this pattern, I'm sure everyone knows which Olympics I'm talking about. Looks like I'll be missing a couple of days' sleep.


1 skein in Sage to knit Odessa. I can't find the right beads though, and it's not helping that I'm clueless about beads. I went to a beads shop today, probably the only beads shop around here, and they don't stock size 6! Help!


2 skeins of Regia Mini pringles to knit the ever so famous Jaywalker that every(well, almost) bloggers seem to have knit. Well, I love them too!


3 skeins of Rowan Plaid in Bramble and 1 skein of Rowan Calmer in Tinkerbell from the sale bin, each at GBP 4.12.
No prize for guessing how much money I spent. I'm broke.
(Since this post was written, I've went there again and get another ball of Plaid, I can't just leave it alone, right?)

The store where I got this mini treasure from is a fabric store, with a nice(and hidden!) yarn department upstairs. They stocks Rowan and Jaeger, and the cheaper novelty kind like Sirdar, Wendy's, etc. Too bad they don't stock all the shades, only about 5 shades of the RYC Cashsoft DK that I bought. I had a chance to see(and fondle) in person Rowan's latest yarns. Nothing tempting though. I saw a new Jaeger yarn called Roma which looks very nice, but didn't get a chance to touch it. It looks very promising, I tell you. The customer service is nothing to speak of, you know, GD style.
But I think you know where my money will go for the rest of my 7 months here.

I went there again today(the rest of the post is written yesterday) and I saw some old ladies admiring novelty yarns. One of them was holding a ball of white fun fur, and said to her friend "Will you knit me a jumper out of this?". I hope she's joking.

On my way back from church(me and my housemate go to church every Sunday, have lunch and do a little shopping), I stop by at a charity shop, and found these...


3 packs of yarns at 99p each. Most is acrylic, but there are 3 100g skeins of "I Can't Believe It's Not Cotton" acrylic yarns that's really nice. One pack(the dark blue one) has got no fiber contents written, it's from "The Yorkshire Mohair Mill", but feels nothing like mohair.
I think it's funny how one skein of yarn from the yarn store could be more expensive than 3 packs of yarn from thrift store. I'm not ever going to compare acrylic to Rowan though.
But I love bargains, so I guess I'll be checking out those charity shops every week!

Yesterday was really tiring, I had to do homework the whole night! For more than 7 hours. Our teacher expect us to spend 6 hours a day doing homework! Hello?? Somebody needs to remind her that we only have 24 hours a day.
Well, anyway, I went to take a walk around the shopping area during my 3 hours break today, and came across a Chinese grocery store. Imagine my joy to find Maggi hot chilli sauce there! And they even have Indonesian instant noodle. I was so happy!

Oops, I almost forgot....I knitted this 2 days ago, finished in about 5 hours.


It's a Panta!! I'm late to the game and it seems like millions of it have been knitted by now. It's knitted in Silk Garden, which I just fell in love with. I love the colours! I wore it a whole day yesterday and have been planning to knit some more, my friends love it too ;) This one is the thinner version, since I wasn't sure I could wear the original size, but I've changed my mind now.

Well....off to do my homework now, and all my lovely yarns will be screaming at me because I won't knit them!

Mini yarn porn and a hat

I'm so tired! I went to Cambridge today with the school to attend higer education day. We actually spent 6 hours in the car and ony 2 hours in Cambridge!
But here's the exciting part, I'm going to British Museum in London tomorrow! I can hardly wait. Museum trip is always exciting to me, and I love going to London.
Anyway, remember from last post I said that I ordered some yarn to "console" myself for not celebrating CNY? Well, they're here on Tuesday, all the loveliness of yummy yarns. More than sufficient to make me happy, though I can always use some more ;p

That's a whole pack of Rowan Cork, which I've "heard" is lovely to knit with. Then 3 skeins of discountinued shade of the lovely Noro Kureyon, and 8 skeins of the ever so famous Rowan Calmer(5 in teal and 3 in red). And finally these


2 lovely, lovely skeins of Louisa Harding Kimono Angora. I'm so in love with this yarn, and will definitely buy more, and more, and more. It's so colourful, so soft and squishy, simply wonderful. I'm currently searching for the perfect scarf pattern for it. I considered Misty Garden from Scarf Style, but unfortunately *smack in the forehead* I left the book at home. And pattern ideas?

I've been kinda busy lately, and will be for the next few months. I'm ashamed of myself to admit that no knitting has been done for the past few days except for the few rows of Orangina knitted in the coach today. But I did finish this last week


A Hat (Can't think of a more interesting name)
Pattern : My own
Yarn : Leftovers from Hayden Hat
What do you think? ;) It's great that I could actually knit 2 hats from 3 skeins of yarn, and still have leftovers. Anyway, do you notice I'm getting fatter? Ick.

Talking about future cast-on, I promise everyone of you, and most importantly, myself, that I will knit more. I'm just being lazy here, with all the homeworks and projects lying around, and my freezing hand too lazy to do anything else than surf the net.
Fret not though, I've already been eyeing Odessa, and even joined the knitalong.
And for bigger project, I just purchased the pattern for Eunny's amazing argyle vest.
Great isn't it? First beading and first colourwork projects.
Now for the yarn...I'm going to get Rowan Cashsoft DK for Odessa, and since the vest requires DK yarn too, why not use the same amazing yarn? Now to choose the colours...
I have to share with you this, Tracy left a comment about where I can find yarn here in Brighton and nearby. It's great! I never realise that they sell yarns in the fabric store. So I'm definitely going to check the store out this weekend. Thanks a lot, Tracy!!*hug*
I'm sure I'll "manage" to buy something from them ;)

Anyway, there'll be a Creative Stitches & Hobby Crafts exhibition here in Brighton next weekend. I'm so excited, and you can be sure that I'm going there, and I promise to share with you! All I have to worry about is the HUGE hole in my pocket that I'm going to leave. So I shall consider it "consolation" for being alone in my 19th Valentine's Day. Who need guys when I can have all the lovely yarns anyway?