Alpaca Sleeveless Top with Garter and Lace

I knitted this beautiful top with Garnstudio DROPS Alpaca yarn for a friend.
The lace pattern is one of the nicest I've ever worked with.
Although the material is a bit heavy and I struggled a little bit with the bottom lace part of the top, the result is really impressive.
The pattern is really easy to follow, the texture of the garter top part is really comfortable to wear.
DROPS Alpaca yarn is definitely soft and gentle on skin, but the most important thing is, the colour range is massive and beautiful.

(Completed 4th April 2012)

Christmas Collection 2011

This year, I’m making most of my gifts. Well, I did the same thing last year.

Anyway…

The point is, I love handmade gifts and it’s Christmas, who doesn’t like gifts?

The only difference this year is, I’m using my stashed yarn, all those odd ends of yarns in my big box of yarns. So, I didn’t buy more yarn to make these gifts.

Mum’s Placemats, crochet with Drops Cotton Viscose and shinny Drops Glitter. A really quick project, made 2 placemats in the train on the way to work and on the way home. Couldn’t be happier with my crochet speed.

Hot Pink Loose Shawl, I wanted to make something for my friend that can be worn in a warm to cool climate, so I decided on this. And I had spare yarn from making my bolero. (I guess, now you can see the actual colour of the bolero…). I’m so loving the lace pattern of this shawl. Thinking to make one for myself now.

Funky Slippers from Drops Nepal yarn, I had 4 leftover balls of Nepal yarn after making the black Nepal dress and dog little black dress a few months ago. And they’re perfect for these slippers. I love the cute buttons.

Things from Drops Paris yarn, lots and lots of Paris yarns left after making my Paris blanket.

I managed to make 2 crochet pot holders:

1 knitted pot holder:

1 FAIL knitted pot holder and now turning into a mini sling bag: << wrong measurement, turned to rectangular instead of square.

A flower wrist band for my cousin, love this by the way. Maybe I can get away wearing this on my wrist, or maybe not, maybe I’m too old for this… Hmm, thinking really hard about this.

And I still have spare Paris yarns, seriously, what else could I make??

Mobile Phone Pouch, for my cousin using Drops Kid Silk yarn. This is a spare yarn from the triangle shawl I knitted a few months ago in winter. And I still have some more. I love this yarn though, so, the next project using this yarn will be for me J or for my mum.

Plastic Bag Holders, I have lots of DK knitting yarn left from making Christmas dolls 2 years ago. So, I’m turning them into these plastic bag holders.

Daffodils

Lily of the Valley

(Completed before Christmas 2011 – hurray…)

Christmas Tree Skirt Kit

I bought this kit on sale a few months ago and were planning to complete it on time for Christmas, which I did.

It was approved by Baron. And it was his sleeping spot during Christmas period :-)

The start of addiction on the plastic canvas - Christmas Tissue Box

Yet another attempt on plastic canvas. This time is a square tissue box cover.

It’s really fun to make and easy. I got better at joining them together. Eventually I read the whole instruction and realised there is a note saying ‘remove remaining plastic from the sides..’.

D’oh, no wonder I had difficulty when I made the coasters. Well, now I know.

I cleaned up the sides very neatly this time, so, they’re smooth and the yarn fall on a perfect angle on the border.

(Completed 27^th Nov 2011)

Juliet – Soft and Hazy Pink Cotton and Silk Jacket

I love knitting with cotton yarns, they’re lightweight, usually have lovely colours, easy to work with. And for this project, it was a combination of cotton and silk, which is truly amazing. I knitted this jacket for my friend’s (and fellow bloggers - ) birthday . I’m hoping I’ll see her wearing this soon.

Tried this jacket myself right after it was completed. It’s so soft!! I have no regret knitting this jacket.

The time it takes to knit it wasn’t too long either. It was completed in only 10 days.

At first I didn’t know what the actual pattern is for the main part of the jacket. It turned out to be some sort of flower; I have to say they look like lotus flowers. I really like them. They’re intricate, but not overly difficult to make.

This jacket is so perfect to hang around the country side on a lazy weekend.

(Completed 1^st Nov 2011)

Long Overdue Sweater

I can’t believe I have to hold off posting this entry for so long!! Well, it’s my fault.

This hoodie was supposed to be given to my boyfriend for his birthday present in August! (D’oh!)

But when I bought the yarn from UK, I misread the pattern, instead of buying for Medium size, I bought the Small size! Aargh… it was so annoying. On top of that, there was a delay delivering the yarn to Sydney.

So, I actually bought him another gift for his birthday and save this one for Christmas. I had to swap the gift.

We’re planning to go to New Zealand when we got a chance, so, this sweater will be a wonderful companion for the holiday. Hey! I should knit myself one too… Brilliant! I’ll start looking for a pattern now.

I chose this colour instead of the recommended colour combination in the pattern to match his brown eyes. J

Oh, I almost forgot, I had to use an interesting sewing technique to join the two sides of the hoodie. Well, the technique was invented a long time ago, but this is the first time I used it. The result was amazing. I knitted hoodies before, I should’ve joined them with this technique. It’s just perfect! They look seamless. This is magic I’m telling you! Cool!

(Completed 4^th September 2011)

What have I got myself into?

(9th Dec 2011)
I really don’t know why I was lead into this dark valley? I know in my deepest heart that this is a spiritual attack, a tremendous spiritual attack. It seems like I’ve been getting so many obstacles since I made my decision to lead the Christmas combined choir. I have people saying to me that it’s impossible to do, that we don’t have the skill nor time to become a good choir, it’s gonna be a train wreck, and so on. Some said that once I jumped into this, more and more requests will come my way and they won’t stop until I burnt out. I mean, what is it that people afraid of? I honestly don’t understand. I’m trying to do a good thing here but why am I being attacked, being scared off to not do this thing?

And who ever said I don’t have these thoughts myself? All I need is encouragement that everything is going to be okay. Encouragement and support. And what did I get? These comments that weighted me down. I feel like I’m drowning and my foot is tied with this bag of gold and I keep trying to swim to surface but it’s just so hard.

It was really eerie last night as I sat down in front of my TV. I felt I was back in the same spot as I was 5 years ago. The only difference is I have Baron sleeping on my lap :-). Random thoughts started flashing in my mind and these questions popped up in my mind. Questions of, ‘Why?’, ‘What?’, and how am I going to go through all this by myself.

Last night was in fact the first time in 5 years that I felt so alone and so small on earth. Thank God for a friend of mine who lent me this awesome book, Captivating, by John and Staci Eldredge. NOW I know that this is another spiritual attack and not something that is my fault. So, my situation last night was slightly different than what I experienced 5 years ago. Instead of blaming myself and crawled into a dark corner, I actually stop and try to converse with God and asked for direction (and ask Him to save me). And I believed that He answered me, in a strange way I have to say, I had so many questions and I didn’t know what to do, and then I saw ads on TV, the news headline, conversations in movies, that kinda resembled answers or guidance.

And then I remembered a radio talk I heard that very same morning about why people do bad things to other people. The voice on the radio said, most people who do bad things to others don’t really realise that they did a bad thing or say a bad thing or the effect of what they did. Although it’s hard to imagine how someone could do that to you. Remember that, it’s almost certain that they do it with no purpose, that it was just accidental.

So I thought, this is Christmas after all, a very happy but yet stressful time for most of us. Pressure to be on top of things at work, with family and friends, responsibility to church, giving ourselves a break and so on. So, I decided to take a step back and take all of these into consideration. I think it’s best for me to not be affected by non constructive comments and push on to finish what I have started. People may say what they say out of the blue without giving a second thought, and I shouldn't overthink it.

The battle is not yet won, but the fight continues on and I promise that I will be on top of every challenge that will come my way.

So, bring it on non constructive comments!
I dare you!
I dare you to break my spirit!