Baby sock

Made another baby sock for my nephew. Looks so christmas-y right?

Nightsongs finished!

After blocked. The size is 144 cm (width) 68 cm (length). I'm satisfied with the result.

Nightsongs on block

Currently blocking my night songs

recycling

im trying to grow something on a recycled container. anybody can guess what is the plant i am using?

to open a store

 I am seriously considering in opening a store at etsy.com.

I know that I am not that productive as a knitter. However, I have a lot of projects that I want to try, and I know that it would be beautiful, but ... I'm not sure I am fashionable enough to wear those :p. You know how conservative I am kekekeke...  I tend to like the same things again and again. It is probably different when I stay in Taiwan. But here?

Most of the stuff that I sell will probably ... lace shawl. I am fascinated with lace shawl and hope that in the future, I can design my own. I am thinking to get inspirations from Indonesian traditional textiles, but so far... I had problems in implementing the shapes into lace pattern. So, I figure out that I need to increase my experience in lace knitting. I think, lace shawl (and/or lace scarf) would be enough for that.

Hm... what do you think?

nightsongs... almost

almost finished!!!

oh... my hands are so tired! i need to stay away from fingering or lace yarn...

Nightsongs has just started

 I've been eye-ing a project from EmeraldEmpress from Ravelry, the project is made from a pattern called Gail (Nightsongs). I like her project because it looked like a peacock feathers. I fell in love with the pattern already, and decided that I should make it with a green yarn. It is just so obvious that I do love green so much.

So, I started few days ago, after I finished my nephew's blanket and socks (I'll upload the socks later). The yarn was already bought months ago. Another product from Pierrot, called Sawayaka, made from 100% cotton and it's fingering weight. I'm using another 4.00 mm circular needles. I guess circular needles and me is almost inseparable right now.

To my disappointment, I didn't understand the pattern from Jane Araujo, the creator of the pattern. So I just go with text pattern EmeraldEmpress used. It was quite clear and easy, although I hate that everytime I want to knit a row, I must see the pattern, rather than just follow the holes. Just like what I did with my summer blanket and all crochet projects.

Anyways... so far, the project is still going on smoothly, and I quite like the result. Although, after I think abot it, if I want to use this shawl as a classy piece, I should've add beads to add some sparkle on the shawl.

Anyways... Hopefully I'm finishing it soon...

The summer baby blanket, finally finished

After several months, I finally finished this project. I can't say it's a masterpiece, but looking at the result, I feel proud! :D



I used Pierrot yarn tre, leaf green color. I used approximately 5.5 balls of yarn (I bought 8, and the left over was 2.5 balls). I really recommend this yarn for lace, because it lays very beautifully. I also don't think that blocking is not that difficult for this piece, since it already looked so nice and "flat". I'm not sure about whether other pattern should be blocked or not, since when I used tre for a basketweave pattern, it needed a blocking.



I used 4.0 mm circular needle (40 cm long), made from bamboo and plastic hose. I bought the needles on ebay from kashi6688 store. For you who don't really that into branded-snob knitting needles, I really think that his store offers good price and good products. I use the needles larger than Pierrot suggested just because I want to make sure that I don't do it too tight. I have the tendency to knit too tight. If you want to use the size of needle as Pierrot suggested (I believe it is 3 to 3.25 mm), I believe the differences would not be much with my result ^^.

Ok... so I used a chevron lace pattern. It's a 12 sts repeat. The Chevron pattern repeat is:
row 1: p1, k5, p1, k5
row 2 and all even (ws) rows: purl the purl sts, knit the knit sts.
row 3: p1, k3, k2tog, yo, p1, ssk, k3
row 5: p1, k2, k2tog, yo, k1, p1, k1, yo, ssk, k2
row 7: p1, k1, k2tog, yo, k2, p1, k2, yo, ssk, k1
row 9: p1, k2tog, yo, k3, p1, k3, yo, ssk

and the blanket pattern is:
Part 1: Ribbing
CO 12 + (12x12) + 12 sts = 168 sts
row 1: k1, *p2, k2* until the end of the row.
row 2: knit the knit sts, purl the purl sts.
repeat row 1 and 2 until the ribbing reaches 12 rows (or 2 inches)

Part 2: Blanket
row 1: k12, *row 1 of Chevron pattern* repeated 12 times, k12
row 2: k12, *row 2 of Chevron pattern* repeated 12 times, k12
row 3: k12, *row 3 of Chevron pattern* repeated 12 times, k12
row 4: k12, *row 4 of Chevron pattern* repeated 12 times, k12
row 5: k12, *row 5 of Chevron pattern* repeated 12 times, k12
row 6: k12, *row 6 of Chevron pattern* repeated 12 times, k12
row 7: k12, *row 7 of Chevron pattern* repeated 12 times, k12
row 8: k12, *row 8 of Chevron pattern* repeated 12 times, k12
row 9: k12, *row 9 of Chevron pattern* repeated 12 times, k12
row 10: k12, *row 10 of Chevron pattern* repeated 12 times, k12

Repeat the rows until the desired length achieved. Mine is 20 times. I encourage to put marker on each repeat so that if there's any error, it would be easy to track.

Part 3: Ribbing
Repeat row 1 and 2 of the Part 1 Ribbing until the ribbing reaches 12 rows (or 2 inches)

Bind-off
Using the Kitchener stitch. Make sure that you don't pull too hard, other wise the length of the bottom and top part of the blanket would be dissimilar.

Block if necessary.

I think, this project is also good for a lap blanket, to warm your laps during the late autumn and early winter. But I do think that the holes on the lace made it a perfect summer blanket. Recommended for you who lives in the tropical region too! :D Like I do.