O Xmas gifts

See what I got for Xmas.. ! A lovely Swaroski pendant from my dear hubby. Hope your Xmas wishes come true too! MERRY CHRISTMAS !

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas ..

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know

Where the treetops glisten and children listen

To hear sleighbells in the snow

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

With every Christmas card I write

May your days be merry and white

And may all your Christmases be white!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !

Happy Holidays !

I love the cold rainy season now that Christmas is just round the corner.. and this is what makes me feeling excited :

1. Xmas tree !
2. Xmas presents under the tree
3. Xmas stocking
4. Xmas wreath hanging on the doors
5. Xmas songs playing at the shopping malls
6. Xmas gift wrapping
7. Xmas feast with roast turkey, honey baked ham (YUM YUM!)
8. Xmas log cake
9. Xmas carolling
10. Xmas lighting at shopping malls and of course, Santa Claus and Santarina !

Are you still busy knitting your Xmas gifts ...

I pledge to Buy Handmade !

Stumbled onto the Buyhandmade.org website and made a pledge with it (# 9104). You should support and pledge to buy only handmade too. Hooray for handmade !

Hurry up for Xmas knitting..

Down with the flu bug because of the hot and humid weather. Stayed indoor and surprisingly it rained cats and dogs today. Took the time to pack my wool and realised i had stocked up some wool but forgotten all about them. Dont know whether its too late now to start taking them out to knit them into some gifts from Xmas. I'd better hurry up to start knitting...

Yippee!

Completed the pink purse / tissue pouch last week. Now left with sewing in a zip... Here's how it looks!



Am going to resume knitting the shoulder warmer for the time being again ..

Whiz away !

I was away in Shenzhen China last week. Did not get to knit anything over the one week stay.

While I was in Shenzhen, visited the Dongmen area in Luohu District. In the Dongmen area, found lots of wholesale centre selling wool at the basement of the shopping centres - literary underground shopping centres! The wool were cotton ones in particular! and were rather cute too - most of the wool were little round pom-pom balls of wool!

Shop proprietors were selling these cotton wool in bulk prices and were also busy knitting away some of their wool to produce things like knitted caps, hats, toe socks and wool slip-ons to be put on sale. After much bargaining, we manage to get a grey and white colour cotton knitted hat at a rock bottom price of RMB15 (approx S$3) ! Due to time constraints, I was unable to bring back some of the wool... maybe next trip.

Its Sun Festival here!

The "Sun Festival" was here in Singapore! This was an event organised to celebrate the Arts, to appreciate the art of living well, a feast for the senses, and to have an experience of a lifetime.. It was a 2 week event from 18 - 30 Oct 2007. Events like film, literature, visual arts, cuisine and wellness abound for you to pick and join.

My hubby and me went for the free outdoor movie screening at the Botanic Gardens on last Saturday, 27 Oct 2007. They were screening "Under the Tuscan Sun" by Diane Lane (playing the role of "Frances Mayes" so I brought along my knitting to do. It has to be some easy knit... hence I started to do the simple square again with the final aim to do a pouch :

Knit 25 stitches
Purl 25 stitches
Knit 25 stitches
Purl 25 stitches...
To continue till the piece measures about 20-30cm in length
After that, to turn the piece inside out and sew up the sides, leaving the top side to sew in a zip.

This was the piece brought back..


The movie was great and we had a fun time having an outdoor picnic having our packed food for dinner!! Plus having time to knit.. it was great fun! Cant wait to have another outdoor picnic like this again...

Make a shoulder warmer

This piece of knit is what I am working on at the moment. To make a shoulder warmer like the one in the "Contemporary Knitting" No. 34 magazine by Jo Sharp. The pattern seems easy enough for a beginner like me and is light enough for our weather here.

The lovely Kid Mohair wool was purchased from Jo Sharp, through my brother and sis-in-law who visited New Zealand last year. This is the problem with knitting here in Singapore - finding the right wool/yarn and its cost. Stockists are limited and I would really like the idea of stocking wool up for knitters here and for myself some day ...

Get finger puppets for a good cause!

Look at these cute finger puppets! Handmade from Peru Puppets. Wanting to learn how to make some cute little finger puppets and surfed to the site of Peru Puppets ... wish I can knit those cuties. Anyway, if we cant do that yet, maybe can get some from Peru Puppets for a good cause ..

Read that these puppets are handcrafted by the disadvantaged and disabled women in Peru. Buying the puppets will make great, socially responsible gifts as they provide fairly compensated earnings to these women. They are also true "fair trade" products. And, for each puppet or doll that you purchase, Peru Puppets donate an additional one dollar to the non-profit cooperatives that have made these cute puppets and dolls. So, for those who love cute finger puppets, you may want to feed your soul while disadvantaged women in Peru feed themselves and their families!

Hello wool here and there

Packed some of my knitting wool into a nice round kit I got from IKEA. Dont the colours look pretty? Have to keep them nicely so that I dont mess up place. My wool wool wool ... and just to let you know - my first piece of knit was the pink tissue pouch... in the left corner. Its a simple piece but I was able to do it. I think it was done in about 2 or 3 weeks... by a beginner like me! I CAN KNIT !! So can you too!

Hari Raya holiday in Singapore!

Weekend just flew past like this!! It was a public holiday here for us in Singapore on Saturday, 13 Oct 2007 ... We were celebrating the Hari Raya holiday (typically celebrated by the Malays, its like their New Year celebration).

I understand this is the day where the Malays break their fasting after a period of about 1 month as a form of their religious commitment. Boy, what an amazing feat to be able to fast without food in the day for this long! And then it is after this day i.e. Hari Raya day that they finally break their fast and can have their normal meals again. So the Malays will celebrate by visiting their relatives, friends to eat and feast on homemade food, goodies, cookies and tarts etc on this day! Being a holiday, I was also out and didnt get to touch any of my knits...

Anyway, before I forget I have finally managed to put up a picture (see above) of the "Pink" book I am now most pleased with - "The Bumper Book of Knitting" (refer to previous post below for details) ....

Pink Bumper Book of Knitting

Received my copy of the "The Bumper Book of Knitting" via post yesterday ... and am so excited about it. There are 162 pages of fabulous knits and I would probably be very occupied for the next few months. Knew about this through the "Simply Knitting" magazine (known to be British's best seller Knitting Magazine). The magazine's a great read and I believe this new book will be so too. You can also get your hands on it. If you need details, post me a note.

Official Blogging Day

I am so excited ! Today is the first official blogging day for this Handknitting Craft Journal ! Have been wanting to write about my knitting adventures and finds here in tropical Singapore... since I started learning about this hobbycraft last year. Realised knitting is not as prevalent here as compared to the West and Pacific. It could be because of our warm climate here? But hey wait, this cant be the showstopper for knitwits-to-be, even in a warm country here. I would like to know how many of you out there are also knitters.. in the tropics or temperate countries, wherever you may be ..