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Well, I've been trying to stay out of the computer, knitting/crochet, crafts, and cooking for 2 weeks now... LOL and let me tell you, it is NOT working! eeeekkk!!! Well, i can stay out of doing household chores, but not with knitting. I will totally screw my life! well, hopefully not! hehehe.. The reason is, i'm trying to study for an exam, which I am hoping to schedule soon. But, it is not working. I started reading, and right now, if you will quiz me, i probably would not remember anything. My husband told me not to worry, and that it will come back to me when I'm taking the test. But my test anxiety level right now is bigger than me, so I don't know. But please, pray for me that I will make it and just do it and get it done and over with so I can concentrate on knitting and crocheting! yipppeee... happy days!

So I finally finished my Clementin Shawlette, which I love so dearly. The yarn is so soft and the color is yummy! I think i can use this with a black dress? what do you think? The only part, i really didn't like is the connection of the 2 pieces at the back.
Ok, i would like to apologize for the photos, my hubby took the pictures and he just won't follow my instructions... yeah MEN! LOL, but hope it's ok. I actually asked him if it's sitting equally on my shoulders and he said yes! but look at the photo! LOL but he said, he can only take max of 5, and the others are just a mess like the 3rd photo. Again, MEN! tsktsk..

Oohhh... if you haven't met my baby yet, here he is, the stinky-maximus himself --- MAX. Isn't he adorable? He usually jumps in front of me every time I try to do a closeup photo of him.I love close-up photos of pets. I don't know why... ;) But anyways, he just would not stay still! But for once, he let me do it, and it's paww-fect!

I'm a new Hooker!

Ok.... before you react strangely to that, let me tell you a story. My Friend, Sharon, has been doing some awesome tutorial on crochet on her blog. I've always wanted to learn how to crochet, but when I tried it once, i always have tight stitches and was having a really hard time doing this. Last week, my co-worker and friend, gave me bunch of books from her collection. They are crochet/knitting books. She is awesome! =) So when I started browsing, i saw some cool crochet patterns that I want to make. Obviously, I cannot make it unless I know the basics. I found this site and started to look for some of my hooks. I found this headband and decided to make it. It has the basic single, half-double, and double stitches. The good thing I noticed with crochet is that it works faster than my knitting. Or maybe it is the size of the hook that I'm using. ;) The not so good part is that it hurts my hand! urgh! So yeah, I am a new hooker!

Here's my finished product:





I will try to find some nice, easy crochet patterns again. I think I will make some more. But i still love knitting and knitting will always be my first love in crafts... hehehe... So yeah as for my knitting, I'm going really really slow.. but it is going... I will post the finished product soon (I have 5inches more to go), but here's a closeup of the stitches on my knitting project:

Nostalgia

A few days ago, I started a group at Facebook for my high school batchmates... sigh. I miss the good old days where all we think about is what to do on weekends, where to go and what's our excuse to our parents so we can all hangout. The days where you have most of our firsts... first bf, first crush, first kiss... first time to try new things out. The days when we are still young and free. This is the time where we meet our best friends. Those were the days.... twelve years ago. LOL

Today, I was browsing through my yearbook and started reminiscing. Now, we were all thousand of miles away from each other.

and yeah, here's my class picture circa '97

Multiplicity of Booties

From my last post last month, I started making some baby booties. They are very addicting. It is a small project, so I always carry it in my purse. I made a pair while watching the Superbowl last Sunday. The others are made during lunch breaks at work. heheheh... Today, I decided that it is time to put some buttons and they turned out great! I'm happy. Expect more baby booties in the future. ;)

My Collar Shawl Vest

Last January, I purchased the Needful Cara Mia yarn from Elann. This is my first time buying yarns from Elann and did not realized that there's a lot of knitters who are actually wanting for 10am PST to buy their yarns. For those who are not familiar with Elann, every week (mostly on Tuesdays) this yarn store offers new yarns. I usually miss out on their yarn sales although they always have good prices for yarns. So when I saw this Cara Mia, I fell in love with it. It looks so soft and I think it will just be perfect for the Collar Vest Shawl pattern that I want. So I waited for 10am PST and was supposed to get the Chocolate Brown color. As soon as I was about to check it out, to my dismay, it was all gone! That quick my dear friends... LOL It's not even 1010am and the color that I want is gone. So I went back again, and I chose a green color and as soon as I click my cart, it's gone too! I was about to give up when I saw the grey color yarn still available. So I tried and viola! I finally bought it! It seems like an auction at Ebay. hehehe.. But I am happy with my purchase. And did I tell you the shipping was great too? I received it the same week, I think. I cannot remember now.



After I received the yarn, I started to make the vest. Oh to those who don't know me that much, I hate checking my gauge. This is one reason why I refuse to knit hats and garments. I remember I made 3 hats when I was just starting, and all of those turned out to be big! But since I really love this vest, I decided to check my gauge! woohoo for me! =) And I am glad I did.


There's a lot of ribbing in this pattern! And since I have to cast on a lot of stitches, I checked my count for about 5times! LOL just being my OC self. The pattern is so easy to follow. I didn't really do this project all the time since I can't carry it out with me coz it's heavy. ;) I usually knit this when I'm watching sports on TV with my hubby. Little did I know that i'm almost finished. It has been sitting on my closet for a week now and this morning, I decided to finally finish it up.

Front

Back

The only part missing is a button/pin to hold them together. My friend, Sharon, mentioned about the sweater pins and so I looked it up online. As I was searching, I found some shawl pins, which would be appropriate I think... but they are expensive! The one that I like costs $25! urgh! It will be more expensive than my yarn! LOL So I think, I will try to find a cheaper version of this somewhere so that I can finally use this vest soon. I love it! It is soft and really warm, just perfect for this freezing temp here at Florida.

No knitting updates

It's a little over a week since my last blog. Well, there is a reason behind it. I haven't been able to knit last week since I got sick. I was literally in bed for 3 days because I'm not feeling really good. I did not have any appetite nor any strength to do anything, even to watch TV. sigh... It's not a good start. tsktsk... I guess it is a result of the change of weather and stress. Okay, I admit, I have been letting small things affect me lately... mostly work-related! sigh! But I know it is not totally worth it. So now, I will try to defend myself from all this craziness around me. How will I do it? I don't know yet... haha! I guess I have to knit more ;).

So anyways, today, January 27th, I heard a good news from one of my sisters... =) I have to leave it that way until she gives me a go signal to spread the good news. But all I can say is, I'm happy! =)

My husband and I went to watch Slumdog Millionaire in theater today. My brother refused to tag along since he said it is not his kind of movie. We were supposed to watch the Underworld but we missed the time and I refused to go to the later show. But we enjoyed the movie. It is very inspiring. It makes me want to take my board exam. Don't ask me how... hahahaha! I'm crazy as it is.

That's it for now. Hopefully I will have some updates next week. =)

Presenting... Mbag

So after a few days, I finally decided to felt my Mbag last Thursday... I used the washing machine with the hottest and lowest setting of water. After 10 minutes, my bag looks weird... it looks bigger and soggy.. but of course because it is still wet:

Mbag after 10mins of felting

Base: 10x12
H: 11.5 in.
Handle: 21 in.

I am not quite happy yet with the outcome.. I like the size but i kinda want it smaller. So I let the cycle run for another 10 minutes. And after that... ta-dah!

And I love it! I love how I can still carry it on my shoulder and I love the color too... I will definitely make more of this in the future. ;)

Jewelry 101

As part of my hubby's gift to me for Christmas, he asked me to choose a class that I want to enroll at so that I can do something different. We both will try to learn something new/different this year. Everybody knows, I love knitting, and so far he is not against it! Lolz. I'm afraid that he will be mad of my yarn expenses, but he's been cool with it. That's one reason I love him sooo much! He lets me explore whatever I want to do and totally supports me. I am a total craft junkie. I want to make almost everything I possibly can. I have a long to-do-and-try list for 2009. Jewelry making is one of them. So I went to my local Jo-ann's store and sign up for Jewelry 101. I had a coupon for 50% off which made the class cooler. It was fun! I learned the basics of jewelry making and I was able to make some dangling earrings and a mini bracelet.



As soon as we finished the class, I signed up for the Jewelry 301 class, which is mainly wire wrapping. I had that class tonight. It was fun. But of course, my wire wrapping is not perfect. Urgh! Did i tell you that it can hurt your hands? O boy, my fingers hurt right now. But then, it's all worth it. I made new friends and I even found two of my co-workers at the same class! One coincidence is that I think 4 out of 8 of us in the class are nurses! I guess that just proves that nurses are creative or that we all don't have a life... hehehe (which btw, I totally disagree). ;)

my wire wrapping set

So, I guess expect more pics of my future jewelry projects on this blog! Special thanks to my uber crafty friend Sharon for all the encouragement. =)

Cute Booties for Babies

Baby boom stage is in the air... too many babies, too little time.. ok, first off, NO, i'm not preggo.. YET. So no babies for me... but for the people around me, it seems like everybody's having one. I have two co-workers who gave birth last December, 2 co-workers who are now grannies, and lots of new babies in our neighborhood. Even the lady who does my nails are on leave since she's going to have her baby.. i think tomorrow (Jan. 10th) is actually her due date. Then I have some batchmates/friends in highschool and college who just had their babies or are expecting. And this inspired me to try to do some booties... they are oh-so-cute and so easy to make. I made this pair last night since for some reason, I can't sleep! I guess i got too excited for my day-off today. LOL!


Ok, so I have to admit a boo-boo that happened. So from my earlier post this year, I mentioned that I organized my needles. I was supposed to use 3mm for this one. After finishing the first one, i just noticed that my needles are not of the same size! urgh! I was actually using 3mm and 2.5mm. what the heck?! LOL... but then, I continued using my non-pair needles hoping that the booties will be almost of the same size. Urgh... i feel stupid! haha.. What happened was, I organized my needles by size and since 2.5s and 3s are pretty small, i put them altogether. tsktsk.. lesson learned: always double check your needles! ;)

This project is not finished yet since i still have to put some buttons on it. Don't get me wrong, I love the buttons, i just don't like putting it on.... but nevertheless, i still love them.

My Almost Finish Mbag

I started knitting this bag before Christmas following the pattern for French Market Bag. I love bags and when I started knitting, I want to make them! =) This is my second knitted bag. I made some modifications since I want it bigger than the suggested size. I enjoyed making this. I so love the colors! I used Sensations Kashmira yarn I bought on sale at Joann's.

Completed project:


Base: 12.5 x 10.5
Body: 12.5
Handles: 20.5

I still have to do the last and most important step... felting! urgh... here I am crossing my fingers and hoping that this will turn out fine. Til my next blog. =)

knockoff hat

I finally get the chance to put a button to my knockoff hat... and ta-dah!


So I love it! i should probably make it a little bit longer next time to cover my ears. It's a fun, quick knit.

My New Year's Knitting ResolutionS....

January 2009... I'm still not used with writing '09! sigh... well, at work, i basically charted with 1/1/08 yesterday... urgh! So i went back to all the charts and changed it to '09. O well, i think it is understandable.

So today, I am off! And one of my new year's resolution is too wake up earlier than I used to last year; and I did woke up an hour earlier. I started my day by organizing my pantry. It is a mess! lolz... I went and throw a lot of stuff that we don't need or use anymore. After that I kinda organize my "craft" closet aka my "catch all" closet! lolz...:
So yeah, the pic above looks way better than how it looks like this morning... =) I don't have that much yarn like most knitter have... I organized it by it's color and type of yarn. I put all my knitting needles together, but i still have to organize my circular needles, lighted needles and the DPNs.

While I was organizing my stuff, I found lots of UFOs (UnFinished Objests). They are mostly socks that needs its pair... urgh! I'm pretty bad with this.. so one of my resolutions if to make sure that I finish these socks which are probably missing its pair.

jaywalker socks

Entrelac socks

SPA socks

Tote bag

So yeah, I found 4 unfinished objects which will definitely be on top of my knitting list this year.
I will also try to knit my Christmas gifts early to avoid the knitting panic! hehehe...

Obviously, i won't give up on knitting since knitting keeps me sane! =)