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.