My First Knitted Top Without Pattern

Actually this top was finished quite sometimes ago, but because at that time my camera was not back yet, I could not take a picture of it.

I made this top inspired by this pattern:


However, since I got the yarn very cheap (only RM 0.80 or USD 0.22/ball), it seemed such a waste to spend USD7.00 only for the pattern. I also thought, this would be a good knitting practice for me. If it is turn out not nice, I can simply throw it away and forget about it.

Pattern: My Own (inspired by Simple Knitted Bodice)
Source: NA
Materials: Croft Nylon DK, 100% nylon, 20 gram each, Made in England, Red Color (13 balls x 50 yards)
Needles: 3.5 mm Addi Turbo circular needle
Total Cost: RM 0.80 x 13 = RM10.40 or USD 2.80
Start Date: 20 Sep 2006
Finish Date: 27 Oct 2006

It turned out quite OK, although I wished that I knitted a bit longer before started the lace pattern on the waist, because as you can see on the photo, my bra was showing. Probably I should wear natural color bra if I wanted to wear this out. My original plan was to make the long sleeve version, but since this is not cotton, in the end I made short sleeve version so it would not too hot to wear out. The yarn itself was quite stretchy, so although I made this top with negative ease, it’s quite comfy.

Other entry about this project: starting

Today, 6 Years ago, We said "I do"

Lauri Fishing

Nggak beneran mancing, cuma pura-pura mancing. Pertama dia nggak tau caranya gimana. Tapi setelah diajari 2 kali sama James, dia langsung isa. Lucunya setelah dia dapet ikan, dia akan nunggu sampe James dan aku dapat ikan, baru dia naruh ikannya balik ke tempatnya. Dia juga isa nakalan (berhubung dia liat James nakalan). Kalo dia frustasi nggak isa masukkan umpan nya ke mulut ikan, ikan nya sama dia diambil, dibuka mulutnya dan umpannya dimasukkan ke mulut ikan.

Well, not really fishing, only pretending to fish. At first she did not know how to fish. After James showing her two times, she got the idea. The funny thing was, after she got the fish, she would wait for me and James to got the fish first, before she put the fish back to the place. She also learned to cheat (because she saw James cheat). If she got frustrated after several attempts could not put the bait into the fish’ mouth, she would pick up the fish, opened the mouth, and put the bait into the fish mouth.


Dia juga isa pura-pura digigit ikan. Sama dia jarinya dimasukkan ke mulut ikan, terus teriak: “Mommy, help me…help me….!”

She even could pretend to get bitten by the fish by putting her finger into the fish mouth and screamed: “Mommy, help me….help me….!”

Pas James masih di India 3 hari yang lalu, suatu pagi pas Lauri bangun tidur, dia liat di sisi ranjang biasanya James tidur ada guling ketutupan selimut. Mungkin dia pikir itu James. Jadi dia manggil manggil “Papa…Papa…What are you doing there?”. Terus berhubung nggak ada jawaban, sama dia selimutnya dibuka. Heheheheh… Bingung dia kok papanya nggak ada.

One morning, when James still in India 3 days ago, Lauri woke up and saw a pillow covered by blanket on the side where James normally sleep. She thought that it was her father, so she called “Papa…Papa…What are you doing there?” When she didn’t get any response, she opened the blanket. Heheheheh…. She just confused why the father was not there.

Oh ya, Lauri punya potongan rambut baru. Poninya dipotong sama emaknya. Nggak rata. Diliat, yang sebelah kiri lebih panjang, jadi sama emaknya dipotong lagi yang sebelah kiri,. Eh, motongnya kependekan, jadi sekarang yang sebelah kanan yang kepanjangan. Gitu mau dipotong lagi. Sama aku nggak boleh. Soale kalo dipotong terus kayak gitu bisa habis itu poni. Hehehehe.

Oh yeah, Lauri got new hair cut. Her fringe was cut by her Grandma. Seing that the left side was longer than the right, grandma cut it again. Eh, she cut too much. The result: the right side now was longer than the left side. When she attempted to cut again, I asked her not to. I just afraid that she would keep cutting until Lauri has no more fringe. Hehehehe.

Aiaiaiaia... My left fringe is shorter than the right one

Progress on The New Projects

After two weeks working on my light green/sage cardigan, I manage to finish the back. Yes, only the back. It’s very slow progress considering I only working on this project. I didn’t even touch my other projects. Well, what can I expect? The gauge is 8 sts x 10 rows in order to make 1x1 inch.

The top strand is the original, the bottom strand is after splitting it into two (because I don't want bulky cardigan)

As you can see on the photo, I put some texture on it. This is in order to keep me not to get bored with never ending stockinette. So far, I like with the result.

At first, I planned to work on the round in order to minimize the seaming job. But, after thinking about it, probably it’s not a good idea, since this is my first design, I want to know whether my measurement is correct. If I can finish the back first, at least I know whether the overall measurement is OK or not.

I also plan to try kitchener method to join the shoulder part, so I will get more polish and professional result. I hope I won’t screw it up. In order to do that, I keep all the stitches alive and just run a string through it for later.

Anyway, after I have finished the back, I directly washed and blocked it. To my satisfaction, the measurement was correct. My tension was consistent with the swatch. Furthermore, after washing, the stitches look even and nice. And it drapes nicely.

Now, it takes me 2 weeks to finish the back, so, it will takes me another 2 week to finish the front, and another 4 weeks to finish the two sleeves. Very long time.

Walking on The Sand

Hari Selasa kemarin aku ke dokter gigi. Habis dari dokter gigi, makan siang di restaurant dekat pantai. Waktu mau masuk ke mobil, kok cuacanya bagus. Nggak panas dan agak mendung. Jadi aku ajak Lauri jalan jalan di dekat pantai.

Waktu jalan-jalan di jalanan yang semenan, dia seneng sekali, tapi pas aku ajak dia jalan di pasir, dia takut. Nggak mau jalan dan minta gendong. Hehehehe. Mungkin karena dia nggak biasa, dan pikirnya kok jalannya nggak stabil. Jadi lebih amannya lebih baik minta gendong.

Dulu yang rebutan nonton TV ada 3 orang. Aku senengnya liat TV komedi barat. Mamanya James senengnya nonton serial kantonese, James senengnya nonton filem action. Sekarang tambah satu saingan. Lauri. Dia maunya filem kartun. Jadi kadang kalo James pulang kerja dan saluran TV nya dirubah, Lauri pasti protes: “Aaaah… Don’t want… Don’t want!”


Ini foto Lauri kalo di mobil. Tampang dia agak aneh berhubung mungkin udah kelamaan duduk di mobil. Hehehehe.

New Projects

I have finished my knitted red top. However, since I don’t have my camera, I can’t take a picture of it. It will have to wait until I got my camera back. I am planning to wear it on Chinese New Year.

Since I have no other WIP on knitting, I started planning to make another one. This time, I want to design it myself. Long time ago when I worked as an assistant lecturer and had to teach in non-AC room, I used to make my own cotton dress. I learned to make pattern and sew from my mother. Then later on when I worked in a big company, wearing a home made cotton dress did not look professional.



Anyway, I think knitting should be similar like sewing, I only need to translate it into stitches. Well, I have to try to find out.

For this project, I use 100% cotton yarn called Wendy Supreme that I got from Cucumber Path UK. Once again, I split the yarn in order to yet finer yarn. I use 3.25 mm needle. It will take forever to knit this, but I want to achieve thin and not so bulky result for me to be able to wear in this country.

Beside this, I also started another lace project. Its Candle Flame Scarf. This time I use JaggerSpun Zephyr (black color). Knit in black is not such a good idea. Very difficult to see the stitch. And I use black color to make lace? What was I thinking?

Lauri With Hat

Ini tingkah Lauri kalo lagi maen. Di foto ini dia lagi pake kaosku dan pake topi nya Bipa (alias grand-pa).

Kalo aku lagi melipat baju yang kering, biasanya aku suruh dia membantu. Nggak membantu yang repot-repot, cuma nyuruh dia ngambilin baju dan dikasihkan ke aku. Kalo aku udah selesai melipat satu baju, aku bilang : “Lauri” pasti dia cepetan ngambilin baju yang belon dilipat dari tumpukan. Tapi celakanya, kalo dia senang sama baju itu, dia pasti minta dipakaikan. Contohnya ya kayak di foto itu. Dia senang sama kaos merah ku. Akhirnya ya dipakai sama dia.

Pas Hari Raya kemarin, Lauri dan aku diajak James ke apartmentnya temen James (Andrew) dalam rangka kumpul-kumpul aja. Aku sama James udah kuatir aja kalo Lauri nakal. Apalagi di sana banyak barang barang kecil mudah pecah keleleran. Ini pertama kali nya sih aku sama James ke sana sejak Andrew pindah 3 tahun yang lalu.

Tapi ternyata Lauri lumayan nggak nakal. Pertama dia duduk di sofa anteng. Tapi mana bisa dia duduk diam diam lebih dari setengah jam. Tapi paling nggak kalo dia mulai mau megang barang, aku bilang NO, dia masih mau nurut. Jadi 3 jam di sana nggak ada barang pecah kok, hehehehehe. Ini pertama kali dia berkunjung ke rumah orang yang bukan family.

Cross-Stitch

My camera has not back yet. So, I can’t show my progress. I actually can use my handphone camera, but the result not so clear. So, better I wait until I got my camera back.

Since I don’t have camera to show photo, I used my scanner to scan these two cross stitch FO. Actually these are belong to my husband. He made them when he was 8 years old (I think). All these years, my mother in law still keep them. Now, she gave it to me and ask me to keep. Aren’t they precious.


The other day, I asked him whether he is interested to learn to knit. Too bad that he is not interested.

But, after more thinking, probably it’s a good thing he is not interested. Otherwise, he would ended up using my favourite needle or using my yarn. I think I let him stick to his golf.

Lauri's Hair

Rambutnya Lauri sudah lumayan panjang, ya? Biasanya kalo aku ajak dia pergi, pasti aku ikat pake karet. Kadang kuncir satu, kadang kuncir dua. Dia juga udah ngerti kalo mau jalan-jalan mesti ikat rambut dulu. Makanya, kalo dia liat aku salin, pasti dia tanya: “Kai kai? (maksudnya jalan-jalan dalam kantonese). Kalo aku bilang iya, dia bilang: “Mommy hair” maksudnya dia minta rambutnya untuk disisir dan diikat.

Akhir-akhir ini dia juga kalo habis bangun pagi, bisa nyanyi nyanyi sendiri. Kalimatnya sih nggak jelas, tapi ada nadanya. Kadang dia nyanyi: This Old Man atau Old McDonald has a Farm, atau kadang juga nyanyi Tammy.

Minggu kemarin dia ke Dokter untuk imunisasi. Berat dia sekarang 14.7 kg. Seperti biasa waktu disuntik nangis. Belon disuntik aja udah tau kalo bakal disuntik dan udah pasang muka mau nangis.

Next Project?

I am thinking to make this for my next project (after I have finished the current projects on hand hopefully).

Ivy from Knitty

The pattern called for Alpaca yarn. However, can you imagine wearing alpaca in this kind of climate? I don’t think so. I will be sweating like a pig. Or it will ended up in the closet.

So, I am thinking to substitute the yarn with cotton yarn. I bought cotton yarn from Elann. The yarn itself is very cheap, but the shipping cost is quite a fortune. I decided to ship using surface shipping, so it will quite sometimes before I got it (I need to finish the currect project anyway).

I choose this purple color (they call it Victorian Grape) because I want to match it with the necklace that my hubby bought for me recently.

My WIP news: it’s quite slow on my blue crocheted cardigan. This week I concentrated on my red knitted top. I almost finish the body part. Probably next week, I can start the sleeves. No picture because my camera is on repair. Need a month or so before I can get my camera back.

Mooncake Festival

Minggu lalu di dekat rumah ada pameran lantern dalam rangka menyambut Mid-Autumn Festival atau Mooncake Festival. Aku sama James bawa Lauri ke sana. Dapet lentera dari kertas, terus beberapa snack dari sponsor. Nggak lama di sana soalnya kebanyakan orang, jadi nggak isa relax.

Lauri was posing in front of one of the lantern. Very difficult to ask her to look at the camera as she kept looking at the lantern.

Habis dari sana kita ke Pizza Hut. Aduh, Lauri maunya makan sendiri. Padahal mangkuk, piringnya dari porselen. Aku takut kalo jatuh aja itu mangkuk. Tapi dilihat dari cara Lauri megang mangkuk sup, kayak dia udah ahli aja. Padahal ini pertama kalinya dia pegang itu mangkuk lho.

Lauri in Pizza HUT. This time she sat on the normal chair but she had no difficulty to reach food on the table

Hari Minggu yang lalu, Lauri diajak naik ferry dari mainland to Penang. Dia agak takut dan minta digendong terus, padahal biasanya dia minta jalan sendiri. Mungkin karena kapalnya goyang ato mungkin karena anginnya kenceng makanya dia takut.

Ride a ferry the first time. A bit afraid.

Film kartun favorit Lauri sekarang Shrek. Tiap kali aku mau nyetel TV pasti dia teriak: "Mommy Shrek". Kalo aku nyetel lainnya pasti dia protes: "Don’t want, don’t want this!" Terus kalo aku tanya: "Oh you want to see Shrek?" Dia jawab sambil ketawa: "OK, Shrek."

Terus dia juga paling hobby makan es batu. Kalo aku minum air pake es, pasti es nya diminta. Makanya aku sekarang menghindari minum pake es.

Finish the Back (of the Blue Crochet Cardigan)

I manage to finish the back of my blue crochet cardigan. I blocked it right away to make sure that everything is OK and the sizing is correct. The result? I love it. The drape, the softness, the stretch, everything. Knitting yarn is definitely softer than crochet yarn.

The shaping modification that I did also works well. This is the first time I modify the shaping. Normally, I am too lazy to do some modification. Afraid that if it’s not working, I have to rip the whole thing. However, I want this to be something that I will wear a lot and not something that only occupy my closet and never see sunlight, so I have to make sure it fit well on me.

By the way, the handphone on the photo was only to keep the book to stay open.

Lauri is 2-Years Old

Yesterday, Lauri was celebrating her second birthday. Time flew so fast.

Keeping in Touch

My friend A from Thailand (she has a very long name, so we are just called her A) just e-mail me saying that she is getting married next month. She was my class mate in US. Beside her, I still keep in touch with the other class mate. Sophie from China and May Ling from Taiwan. We were the only international student in the class. It happens that all of us are girls.

Thanks to the internet, we are still able to keep in touch.

My mother once told me that her grandfather, in order to get a better life, went back to China and left the pregnant wife and 4 childrens. The plan was, once he settled, he would pick them all. However, somehow there were no news from him EVER. Probably the ship sunk and he died. Another possibility was that he made it to China and somehow could not contact the wife, then got married and started a new life. There was no phone, no e-mail, no internet connection at that time.

The possibility that I might have relative that I never know make me freak out.

Anyway, the blue cardigan is making a nice progress. I almost reach the armpit decrease. Oh ya, before I forgot, here the pattern that I attempt to make:

The other day, when I am about to take this photo my battery is off, so I have to recharge my battery first. It’s from the same book as the white cardigan. However, the original pattern does not have shaping on the waist, so I made some modification there.

Bola

Lauri akhir akhir ini senang sama bola. Bola apa saja, kecil besar pokoknya bentuknya bulat. Padahal dulu pertama kali dibelikan bola dia nggak tertarik sama sekali. Sekarang dia paling seneng. Tidurpun maunya megang bola.

Nah yang untuk tidur ini aku pinjam bola golfnya James. Supaya dia bisa tidur sambil megang bola. Kalo bola biasa soalnya kegedean. Kalo bola golf khan enak, bisa digenggam sama dia.


Satu lagi, Lauri sekarang paling seneng makan es batu. Kalo aku minum air es, dia minta es batunya.

Daster yang dipake Lauri di atas adalah daster yang aku beli di Tunjungan Plaza pas pulang pertama kali sama Lauri. Cuma Rp 6000. Murah ya.

New Projects

Since I have finished my Kiri Shawl, I can start another project. I started not only 1 but 2 project at the same time. One is crochet and the other is knit project.

Let me describe the crochet first. Remember Lauri Cardigan? I love the Miami Four Season yarn, so I kind of wondering how it looks if I use it for crochet project. However, this yarn is kind of thick for crochet. For crochet I like to work with thin yarn/thread so the result not too bulky although it is time consuming to finish. When I was working with Four Season yarn, I found the yarn split a lot. It’s nine ply yarn. I experimenting with this yarn by splitting it by three (see the photo on the left side). Thus, I got 3-ply yarn. Just a nice thickness to crochet. I know…I know… I am crazy, but after crochet several row, I like the result. So, I will continue doing it. By the way, I am making cardigan again since I like the result on my white cardigan project and I wear it a lot.

As for the knitting project, I found this yarn on cheap sale. It’s Croft Nylon DK, 100% nylon, 20 gram each and made in England. The best part is each only cost me RM 0.80 or USD 0.22! Yup very cheap. After swatching using my 3.5 mm Addi needle, I found that it is too tight and bulky, so again I split the yarn (somehow splitting yarn become a habit). I plan to make a top using this yarn using a top-down knitting method. I don’t know how it looks like yet. Hopefully it will turn out nice.

Lauri in Toy-R-Us

Ini gaya Lauri kalo ke Toy-R-Us. Dia suka maen di sana, terutama ke bagian soft toys. Dia juga suka mencet mencet kalo ada tombolnya. Kalo pas dipencet keluar music dia pasti joged. Suatu ketika pas dia mainan ada anak lain (cowo dan kayaknya lebih tua dari Lauri) yang juga pengen dengan mainan itu. Tapi mainan yang dia pegang nggak bisa keluar musik (wong belon dipencet tombolnya). Berhubung maenan dia nggak bisa keluar music, dia ngrebut maenan yang dipegang Lauri. Sama Lauri dikasihkan, terus dia ambil maenan lainnya. Celakanya, mainan yang direbut ini setelah musicnya habis, dia nggak tahu cara mencet tombolnya lagi. Jadi dia berusaha ngrebut maenan yang lagi dipegang Lauri. Kali ini aku turun tangan dan Lauri aku gandeng pergi ke tempat lain jauh dari anak itu.


Lauri lagi senang senang nya belajar ngomong. Kalo dia nggak tau apa nama barang yang lagi dipegang, dia suka tanya. Caranya tanya: Dia pegang barang itu ato ditunjuk sambil ngomong: “This is ……..? (terus dia liat aku). Kalo aku bilang: Shoes, sama dia diulang lagi: This is shoes.

Suatu saat waktu aku nyetel filem cartoon Mulan untuk Lauri, dia tanya: This is….? Aku jawab Mulan. Nah seminggu kemudian waktu aku nyetel Mulan lagi, pas filem baru mulai adegan pertama tiba-tiba dia bilang: This is Mulan. Sampe aku kaget kok dia masih ingat kalo itu filem Mulan.

Lauri juga suka memperhatikan orang kali lagi pake sepatu. Terutama kalo James pake sepatu dia perhatikan. James khan sebelum pake kaos kaki, dia pake talcum powder (untuk kaki). Nah, suatu hari pas Lauri lagi mainan di lantai, James mau pergi dan pake sepatu. Pas James mau pake kaos kaki, sama Lauri bedaknya dikasihkan ke papa nya. Dia ingat kalo sebelum kaos kaki harus pake bedak duluan. Hehehehehehe.

My First Shawl

Finally my Kiri is DONE….or I decided that I got enough of it and done with it after 18 repeats. This was my first attempt of making shawl. I kind of like it. Although the beginning was very slow since I haven’t memorize the pattern yet and keep looking at the instruction.

Pattern: Kiri Shawl
Source: Here
Materials: 100% Cotton DMC Tradition Natural color (2 balls x 400 yards)
Needles: 3.75 mm Pony circular needle
Total Cost: RM 12.5 x 2 = RM25 or USD 6.75
Start Date: 29 July 2006
Finish Date: 14 Sep 2006

During the process of blocking, to my horror, I realized that the color of the shawl is different, I mean the shawl has 2 different shade of color. I checked my stash and I found out that the 10 balls of DMC that I got from e-bay has 2 different lot numbers and 5 balls has darker color compare to the other 5 balls. Just my luck that I picked up 2 different balls when I knitted this shawl. Now, I have 3 choices: unravel until the part when the color is different and continue with the matching color, dye the shawl with darker color, or leave it as it is and think the 2 tone color is on purpose.

From this above picture, you can see the 2 different shade colors

I tied the shawl on the back to get the shrug effect and freed my hand

Anyway, I saw this and this finished shawl and make me want to make another one. I was thinking to use the Sundara yarn. But, after checking out the price: WOW. That is too expensive for my pocket (not to mention have to add the shipping cost).

Lauri's Favourite Fruits

Kecil-kecil dia udah punya buah favourite lho. Dia paling doyan makan lengkeng. Kalo udah liat lengkeng wah dia langsung ketawa ketawa. Selain lengkeng dia juga seneng makan jeruk. Kalo udah liat jeruk, pasti dia minta: Orange...orange... want.....

Selain itu dia juga suka mangga. Dia bisa ngabisin mangga separo sekali makan. Kalo jeruk bisa habis satu biji. Kalo lengkeng aku batasin 5 ato 6 biji sekali makan. Soale khan takut panas.

Sekarang Lauri sukanya ngomong: WHY? Kalo aku nyuruh dia apa, selalu dijawab Why? Cara ngomong why juga kayak orang beneran tanya.

Di TV khan ada iklan "Miss World Vote For Me". Terus ada adegan salah satu peserta ngacungkan jari sambil bilang "Vote for Me!!". Lauri tiap kali liat iklan itu juga selalu ikutan teriak: Vote for Me!! sambil ngacungkan tangan juga.

Just my thought

Have you ever experienced that when you want to write something you ended up writing totally different thing? It happened to me on my previous entry.

After wrote that post, I still keep thinking about the past. How was the life in close community. When everybody knows everybody. They knows who did what and who bought what or who fighting with who. They all very busy body too. No such thing like mind your own business.

If you have big argument with your husband for example, you will find a bunch of people in front of your house looking at you. Yes really. I am not joking.

If you are a stranger and you happen to pass by, you can be assured that many eyes will following your step.

I just thinking, if you happen to live in this kind of neighborhood, probably you will finish your project faster. Otherwise, everybody start talking about it. Or at least you will think that way.

Eerrr, my kiri is not done yet. Here is the photo with a lifeline dangling. I need to put a lifeline as although I am a slow knitter, I am still capable to make mistake. I always count the stiches everytime I finish one row. Most of the time, my stiches was not add up. Managed to forgot the YO several times (OK, very often).