Look Mummy, I Can Cable !

I've done it, finished Danny's muffler, but it seems its a bit too late! The kids tell me that its passed over to Spring officially and so they are switching to lighter jackets. I admit its nice and bright now but still a little chilly, oh well, we can keep it for next winter :) 

He loves it though and still insisted on wearing it to school today, I'm a happy mommy

I changed the pattern from the one I started below. It became a bit too tedious making 2 baby cables every 2nd row, so to make my life easier, I used knit3, purl6, cable 6/6 ,purl6, knit3. So I ended up only cabling every 12th row which wasn't bad at all. However, even though purl stitches accentuate cables, purl6 stitches made the whole piece much to elastic and pulled the fabric in, so next time need to reduce the purls in between.

The whole cabling process was demystified by Lily Chin's excellent new book, Power Cables. She really explains the science behind designing cables, with illustrations and there is a cable stitchionary and lots of beautiful projects, but all are for winter wear though, thick sweaters and wraps. But I love the book, even feel confident about designing my own cable project.

But who can't be happy that spring is here, the whole country is blooming. Smiling happy faces are seen sitting outside cafes soaking up the sun. I could never understand before why westerners come to Malaysia and sunbathe till they become loabsters, but now I can say I do and I would definitely do the same !

A broken Ankle and some Knitting !

Its been quite a while I know. My stuff finally made it to my front door and finally the last of the paintings have been hung and the last book put on the shelf, so now it does resemble a bit more like HOME. Kids are also much happier with their toys and books around them, not to mention not having to wear the same clothes every week :-)

I broke my ankle! Yup, ran down these miniscule dutch steps completely forgetting I was not in KL anymore, missed the last 2 steps and crashed to the bottom. I opened the door to the postman with tears streaming and nearly dying of pain. And of course hubby happened to be away the whole week. I only managed to get it treated and put in a cast the following week. So, I was housebound for 6 weeks dragging my foot with nothing to do, what a bad start! 

So thats how my adventure with knitting started! and now I am totally hooked. It does keep one's mind and hands busy and to be able to create gorgeous things from a ball of yarn is amazing. Here's my first knitting creation :

A simple muffler for Shasha, its in alternating k2 p2 stitch, then single crochet the sides and added simple crochet flowers. I like the idea of making a sort of sleeve for the muffler to go thru, the kids were always complaining tying a knot at their neck felt like being stranggled! I got the pattern from this book, yes its in Japanese, but as usual they make it so easy because of the full stitch illustrations at the back and stitch schematics that a beginner like me can even do it :-) Below is a sample sweater schematic

I'm hoping to make one of these sweaters for the kids too, a bit daunting but i will persevere!

Danny complained 'why is everything for kakak ', so yes, have to be fair, I let him choose his yarn and I'm making him a manly little muffler too! Decided to up the ante a bit and try cables, and voila, I have cabled! As of today, its nearly done yeahhhh, then have to start on another for Adam!

I find crochet goes much faster though and its really great for making lacy motifs , knitting however makes a lighter flatter piece of material , better for garments. I found a great resource here that helped me understand the Japanese terms better, made sense of what number needles to use and gauge size. To start with knitting, I used Vogue Knitting, really excellent illustrations,  a stitch dictionary and even explains how to design and knit your own sweater. The best thing was I managed to get it at KL's bookxcess for just RM34 just before I left! 

My ankle is better now but too much walking and it starts to throb, I can't even run yet. But the weather has turned and its sunnier and the crocuses are poking thru, time to go exploring soon :)

Have I stopped sewing, not on your life! Thats in my next post, and shasha does need some new spring / summer tops haha. Auvoir for now