pinku

Um yes Jake will be getting one of these

Thank goodness for talented people like Judy Lamb for posting free patterns like this Tuxedo Sweater!!

Pink Fix Sunday

Wow it's the last day of November! I can't believe that I pretty much managed to post once a day for 30 days. The content was not quite ground breaking stuff but it was enough to get me back into blogging! I don't think I'll be posting everyday from now, but you'll definitely see much more regular updates.

Here is a knitted FO that I'm pretty sure I never blogged about. They are pink so I figure it is appropriate to post a pic of them today. These are knitted slippers from some Japanese craft book. I sewed on some lambskin lined leather soles and voilla - winter slippers. I pretty excited about them because for some reason I threw out my other two pairs of slippers earlier this year and my feet were getting cold. I thought that I would buy another pair from Uniqlo but I came across these all folded up in my sock drawer - yay!

Progress has a price

I stayed up way too late last night knitting on Mary Jane. And I paid the price today. It's 10pm and I'm knackered. Blogging then going straight to bed!! Lucky it's a long weekend!!

Here are some MJ progress pics. I'm using Rowan Felted Tweed in red.

Oh and here's a pic of my smiling boy - just coz!

You are such a copy cat!

Wow my knitting mojo has come back with a vengeance! I seriously have had very little desire to knit this past year since J was born. Personally I think I was too sleep deprived and distracted. But now I really look forward to my knitting time after J goes to bed. The only problem is that knitting has NEVER been relaxing for me - it's way too exciting to be relaxing, so I end up staying up much too late!!

I've been scouring through Ravelry more than ever lately and came across a very prolific and talented knitter in Malaysia whose knits are very flattering, well executed and of course are super cute. While checking out all of her FOs, I came across her scarf version of the fan bookmark crochet pattern. I immediately loved the colours and was keen to use some Noro Kureyon since I've never knit with it before. So after work I stopped by Yuzawaya (Japan's largest craft store, which just happens to be directly above our train station so I can pop in there very easily on the way home from work - this equals danger, danger!) and bought some Kureyon. I checked out all of the other colourways but had already fallen for colourway 215 which Loopy had used!!

This is a very fast and easy project which would make a great gift for yourself or someone else. Shame the Kureyon is so scratchy though - it would be THE perfect scarf if it was soft and cozy.

So here is my copycat 'fan bookmark' scarf:

La la love you cowl

I've been a bit ambivalent towards the knitted accessory known as the 'cowl'. They are popping up all over the place. However I have a friend whose neck needs a whole lot of extra love right now, so instead of a scarf, I decided to dive into the world of cowl knitting.

I'm a convert, people. Cowls are warm and cozy and who knew that a keeping your neck warm would make your entire body feel warmer.

I decided to knit Sandra's La la love you cowl from Popknits. I didn't have any MDU in my stash, but I did have some very luscious dusky pink merino yarn that I bought directly from Uruguay a few years ago. It's so soft and knits into a very sturdy and warm fabric. I really do love the end product and I hope my friend loves it just as much. I will be knitting another cowl for myself!! So much easier to deal with compared to a scarf!!

This LLLY cowl still needs a blocking to really bring out the lace pattern, but it is cute nonetheless.

I didn't deviate from the pattern much - I just cast on 12 less stitches. Actually I was going to cast on 24 less, but my circular wasn't small enough and I couldn't be bothered digging around for my DPNs.

And who said a cowl can only keep your neck warm! Knitted fabric is so versatile!

Wanna see that stitch pattern close up? Here you go! Thanks for such a cute pattern Sandra!

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Counterfeit Crochet Project

A couple of years ago when J was just a twinkle in his father's eye and I was madly buying up as many Anti-Factory garments possible, the multi-talented visual artist behind AF, Stephanie Syjuco, started the Counterfeit Crochet Project.

I participated in the project and crocheted a Louis Vuitton belt and had big ideas to do a bag too, but the yarn is still sitting in the cupboard. It may eventuate one day. Counterfeit Crochet is an ongoing project so if the idea of crocheting a name brand bag sounds like 'something you might be interested in', you should check out the details on the site and contact Stephanie.

It has attracted a lot of attention and last year the CCP travelled to Beijing, Istanbul (particularly jealous that my belt made it to Turkey without me), and Manila. I've been meaning to blog about this for ages so I'm glad that I've finally found the time. Congrats to Stephanie on the success of CCP!

Tachiyomi shimasen ka?

Ooh yes a crafty post to start off the week. No babies here. How exciting!

Well a year after J was born I'm starting to get my crafty mojo back, but alas I still don't have a lot of time to ACTUALLY craft unfortunately. I can dream though, right?

So last week I bought a new Japanese craft book, which is exciting because I haven't bought one in a very long time.

It contains a whole bunch of lovely wearable and cute sweater/cardigan and accessory patterns that are based on aran knitting - lotsa cables.

I thought I would scan a bunch of picture to show you what is inside, but when I visited the Nihon Vogue website I discovered an AWESOME new feature. That's where the blog title comes in - 'tachiyomi' in Japanese means to stand and read. This is mostly encouraged in Japanese bookstores unlike in Australian newspaper shops. Anyways, Nihon Vogue has added a 'tachiyomi' feature to their new craft book online store, which means that you can check out 16 pages of any new craft book - it's REALLY good. It doesn't show you the whole book but definitely enough to whet your appetite. It also clearly shows the ISBN if you are keen to find a copy of a book you want.

So it is all in Japanese but laid out really simply. Here is the link to the book shown above:

http://book.nihonvogue.co.jp/search/searchDetail.do?screenType=5&productId=3256

Under the picture of the book cover, there is a yellowy/orange button - this is the tachiyomi button - click it to view the patterns inside the book.

Go here to view more Japanese KNITTING books. Remember to click on the cover, then the tachiyomi button!!! Enjoy!

While we are here, I'm also loving this book - Scandinavian Jacquard Hats! Check out the cute boy/girl white and red one. I'm so gonna knit this one.

Pinwheel present for a pretty girl!

Hello November!

I'm blogging on a Saturday which is pretty much unheard of, but J is napping so I seized the opportunity to start my month of blogging off on a good foot.

So when J was small he had a harem of girlies to hang out with - it was great!

But as is always the case in Tokyo people leave, so did two members of his harem....however one sweet girl (pictured on the right above) is still here and is J's best girlfriend! He used to ignore her but now they play together fabulously. They even had a joint birthday party since they are only 10 days apart.

Today it is sweet Aisha's birthday - Happy Birthday Aisha from us! To celebrate her first birthday I cast on for a pinwheel cardigan for her and although it has taken a good couple of months of train knitting, it turned out well.

I haven't gifted the cardie yet, so no modelled photos, but I enlisted the help of clowny the knitted coat hanger to model the pinny. I did not knit this amazing coat hanger by the way - it was knit by my great aunty joyce - amazing isn't it??!! We have a bananas in pyjamas one too.

I pretty much followed the pattern mostly, but after reading the comments about the pattern on ravelry and how the cardie was turning out small especially the armholes I made them bigger. I also for the life of me could not understand the armhole directions in the original pattern so i used the alternative 'afterthought heel' method for the sleeves!! Much better! I also made up my own crocheted edge which turned out pretty.

It feels nice to be knitting again. Next up, I'm going to knit the La la love you cowl by Sandra in the amazing Popknits!

I hope sweet Aisha loves her cardie - it was knit with lotsa love.

Nectar

So Kim Hargreaves has finally released a book containing some of the most classic patterns from her website.

This is exciting.

Is it enough to get me back to knitting for myself? I don't know. After the almost instant gratification of baby knitting I'm not sure whether I have the patience to knit 'big' items anymore.

It's a little pricey at 16.95 pounds plus 5 pounds shipping, BUT there are 21 patterns and finally you don't need to buy the kits. That's pretty exciting.

You can view all of the patterns in the book HERE.

FO alert!

It's so nice to be knitting again. It may only be a small baby hat but we have to start somewhere. And who doesn't love a cute project that can be completed in a night. To find a project I, of course, went to my Ravelry page and checked my queue and found the Kiddie Cadet pattern. I immediately bought it and went to Yuzawaya on the way home from work and purchased some yarn.

Here is the result:

I made a few changes to the decreases on the top of the hat so it fit Jake's head better so it doesn't actually sit flat like in the pattern photos but it fits J's head perfectly. It's definitely a keeper. I've nearly finished my second one to give to a girlfriend who is due in July. Hope she likes it.

We also added one of Darin's Heroin Skateboard pins

view from top

view from the side

Oh and Jake is wearing one of my favourite purchases of late - a stylized freddie krueger tshirt. I am loving Japanese baby clothes!!