Bring on the knits!

It's been a while since we have up-to-date ACTUAL knitting contents, no?
I was hesitant to post this, because all I have are low-res pictures taken with my iPhone 4, but I decided to go ahead anyway because otherwise it might be another 2 months before another post!

This one is another design of mine, but I'm not crazy about it. I call it Burning Love handwarmers after the name of the twisted cable pattern I used on the cuff, the romantic in me just couldn't resist.

Another design project. I've been wanting one of those big cowl that looks super cozy and cushy for a long time, and I had the perfect yarn in my stash, Rowan Cocoon. I've been looking for a cable pattern that's just right and finally found it in a Japanese knitting pattern book. I would write up the pattern for this cowl, if not because of my inability to create a cable chart. Any suggestion?

Right now all I have on the needles are a pair of socks for a Secret Santa Swap with the Socktopods. I just finished 2 shawls (Annis & Citron from Knitty) but am already craving another one, so I might cast on for Maia Shoulderette by Rosemary Hill.
Other than knitting, I've had a craving for some weaving action lately, so the loom finally made an appearance last Friday and I had this by Sunday!

I've been wanting to try the clasped weft technique in ages, but finally bit the bullet when I found this video tutorial that demystifies it. It's SO unbelievably simple and yet you end up with such striking result. I used my rather substantial stash of leftover sock yarn and barely made a dent. My imagination is already running wild for the next project, I can't wait to start planning for it!

I've decided to take a little break from job-hunting(I mean the stress-inducing, rip-my-hair-out kind) and figure out what it is I want to do and where do I want to go with it. So I'll be crafting for a few days while looking for a part-time job to keep me going. Wish me luck! The plan for today is to get some sewing done, I've got some dried lavender to make moth-repellent sachets for my swap partner. There are loads of the lavender so I might make some extra for sale on etsy!

Warning: RANT AHEAD

The past week has been rather depressing, to say the least. Can I just say again, how much I HATE job hunting. WHYYY does it have to be so hard and discouraging? I know some of you have been in my position before, and hopefully can sympathise with all these angst. The thing is, I'm mainly disappointed in myself, and banging my head on the wall for not preparing myself sooner, like when I was still in uni and not running out of money. Everyone around me has been incredibly encouraging and some have even offered help, which I'm really grateful for. Unfortunately, nobody can tell me what to do when it comes to my life, so it's down to me to make up my mind and work my butt off for it. Still, I do wish that it's not this hard, while other people around me make it seem so easy. I do realise that this is my biggest shortcoming, in uni I've always worked according to a brief/task, and following a deadline/set schedule. Now that I have no more framework to what I have to do, I'm embarrassingly lost. Like they said in Avenue Q "I wish I can go back to college, in college you know who you are......I need an academic advisor to point the way!..."
*END OF RANT*

Phew, hope I haven't scared off all of you. Since I've been such a slacker in taking pictures of my knits, can I just share pretty pictures from my trip to Spain?
Madrid


Toledo

Granada



Valencia


Barcelona


Girona

If you like my pictures, there are loads more in my Facebook page here

A bit of knits and a lot of travels

Ok, I'll admit it, I have no idea how this time thing work. Surely it can't be almost 6 weeks since I last wrote a real post?
In that time, I've been on 3 different trips to 6 different countries. Let's look at pretty pictures and see if I'm forgiven, shall we?
First, I was in Graz, Austria for a day trip

Then we (that's Maja & I) went on a road trip around Slovenia with a detour to Trieste, Italy to visit a friend.

Yep, that's a Baby Surprise Jacket you see there, I made it with 2 skeins of some lovely Koigu that was gifted to me a few years ago. It's for my new baby niece who STILL doesn't have a name after 2 weeks.
We went swimming on a wild beach

(starting to think there's no way I can share all 3 trips in one go, so I'll just do the first one)
Then spent a lovely afternoon in the coastal town of Piran

Before heading down to Trieste to catch up with my friend and got to meet the loveliest little girl in the world

Then we went into an AMAZING cave, no pictures were allowed though. Next to the beautiful Lake Bled, where I had a little photo shoot session with a sample of Spring Fountain shawl that was Diane's birthday present (I ceremoniously presented it to her, then rudely took it back for a photo shoot trip)

Then we went to a mountain, where I got on a ski lift for the first time in my life, pet (tried to) some sheeps and had some amazing barley soup that I'm dying to learn how to make.
The next day, we actually CLIMBED a mountain (Maja said it's a WALK, I strongly disagree).

But I made it anyway (not without some difficulties and name-calling)

I got to spend a whole day on my own exploring Ljubljana and it was such a delightful city (I took way too many pictures to share though) before I made my way back to Maja's parents' place in Maribor and let them feed me with more meat.

At the beginning of this post, I was planning to do one of my let's-recap-what-happened-in-past-3-months-in-one-go post, but it was proving impossible since I had so many amazing experiences that I'd like to share with you. So next I'll be sharing my Spain trip with you (that trip was more than twice longer, so might be 2 posts!).