Moroccan

It was recently brought to my attention by some knitter friends that it's been a while since I last updated (some subtle and not-so-subtle hints were dropped). So I came back and found that my blogger account had been suspended! I guess it has been a while....
Then I found a draft that I never get around to post of pictures from my trip to Morocco, so here it goes.

Hats in the souk (traditional market). I don't think they're knitted, look more like crochet though I'm not entirely sure...

It's a dye bath the traditional way! I doubt our indie dyers do it this way :)

There's wool hanging all over the street!

Camel bone table and chairs set, so beautifully handcrafted.

At a rest stop on our way to Essaouira (coastal town west of Morocco), I saw a local woman who's guarding the toilet knitting. So I pulled out my knitting to show them and they got really excited (Tres bien Madame!) and passing it around to each other. One of the women went to get something, and right at this moment my friend came out of the loo. The woman proceeded to take off my friend's jacket, much to my friend's puzzlement. She then pulled out this knitted outfits and put it on my friend. It's a dress and cardigan suit with really interesting details, the dress is knitted sideways with short rows and in stripes! Thankfully my friend Maja is a good sport and she let me took a few pictures while she models for me. It always amazes me how knitting can link people through all boundaries.
And if you're wondering, yes, this all took place in front of the toilets.

Well, right at the end of that trip, the Auto Focus on my Canon 450 D stopped working. I still have no idea why and would have to take it to a shop to figure out what's wrong with it. So I guess that's my excuse for this hiatus!
Hopefully I'll be back soon to keep you updated on what I've been up to since my last post!

Obsessed

In my last post I've shared with you all my latest hobby(it's not an obsession, not yet anyway). Here's a product of my there new hobby.


(It's the same bag, fully reversible!)
My sewing machine arrived even before my loom did, but I couldn't just sew ANYTHING. I had to make sure it has proper lining, and let's try making bias tape shall we and oh why not add pockets and oh wait it can be reversible too! And let's make sure all the stitches are super straight too! The bag ended up taking me 3 days to finish (ok, I started at 2 am), and I'm really happy with as far as first project in more than 3 years go! I'm amazed that I can actually sew straight stitch (for most part), when I was using my old college sewing machine ages ago I had to call my sewing 'freestyle'! And I completely adore my bias tape maker that I might need one in every sizes!

And here's another one of my latest hobby *ehem*obsession*ehem*

I used to get them from friends who are destashing casually, until I chance upon a shop update in time to get a grab bag of 2 skeins. Then 2 weeks after that another grab bag and before I knew it I was waking up at 8 am (this doesn't happen often if you know me) to check for shop updates! I haven't managed to get any since but I'm seriously considering training to become a full-fledged Wollmeise stalker!
The weird thing is, while I like her variegated colourways, it's the solids I'm crazy about. As in I want every single colours crazy. I might have to save up and make a trip to Germany to visit her shop!

I know, I know, it's a knitting blog. So here's some knitting for you.

This is my swatch for Demi, from Rowan Vintage Knits, that I'll be knitting for the Ravelympics 2010. I'll be converting the pattern to knit in the round, it might take 2 weeks of crazy amount of knitting and dealing with carpal tunnel syndrome to finish this sweater but I'm game! What are you knitting for Ravelympics?

Anyway, I'm leaving for a short break (a friend asked, from what?) to Marrakech in 4 hours! Will be back soon hopefully with a lot of cool pictures, bye!