Abu Dhabi-dooooo!!!!

Felix is here - The birth story

2010-01-18T21:52:00.000-08:00

At 4.30 am on the 17th of October, a Saturday, I was woken by what I was pretty sure was a proper contraction. None of this Braxton Hicks stuff, a proper contraction. The night before I had been experiencing some regular but mild pain about every half an hour but at about 11.30 pm it had stopped so I went to bed. But this was different, this was a real contraction, I was sure.

So I got up out of bed by myself and went downstairs to the computer to see if anyone was online that I could tell! I was excited as well as completely out of my brain scared. It was happening! I timed the contractions at about 10 minutes apart for about an hour. At this point I thought that I had better go and tell Chi Wai. We chatted for a while about what we should do. We decided to monitor the contractions for a while longer but get ready to go to the hospital just in case. I had a shower and got dressed and then when and woke mum to give her the news. By this time it was about 6.30 am and the contractions were coming about every seven minutes. The midwife had said to come to the hospital when I was having two contractions in the space of ten minutes, but still it seemed so early, when everyone had told me that I was likely to be in for a long labour. So we decided again to wait a while longer, have breakfast and keep monitoring the contractions.

The contractions kept coming during breakfast and at about 8.30 am we decided that we should make our way to the hospital. Just as we were about the walk out the door I realised that I had not had a contraction for a while. So we sat down and waited and the contraction didn't come. Humph! I decided to go back to bed and get some sleep while I still could.

I managed to sleep until about 11.30am despite the contractions coming at about 15 mins apart. We had some lunch, mum and I did some knitting and also some more napping. At about 6pm the contractions were coming between 15 and 10 minutes apart. We didn't really know what to do so we decided to have dinner and then head to the hospital, just to find out how far along I was. Brian our house mate cooked a bbq and I left the room every time a contraction hit so as not to spoil every one else's dinner. Aren't I considerate!

After dinner we headed to the hospital. We arrived there at about 8.30 pm and I was examined (ouch!) my a midwife who said I was only 3cm dilated. She said I would be a long while yet and suggested that we go home but we had to see a doctor first. We waited an hour to see the doctor, only to be told that I should be admitted to the ward. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing the midwife convinced the doctor that it would be okay for me to go home, so we went home.

Soon after arriving home the contractions really intensified. I was in an excruciating amount of pain. I had a shower which helped a bit. Once out of the shower I managed to get underwear on and nothing else and I was doing some very glamorous writhing and moaning on the bed. Chi Wai and mum had a discussion while I moaned, about needing to get me to the hospital NOW, so they managed to get me dressed and into the car.

When we arrived at the hospital (about 11 pm) I was poured into a wheelchair and delivered (pardon the pun) directly to the labour ward. Chi Wai and mum trotted behind with worried expressions. As soon as I was helped onto the bed in the labour ward I told the midwife that I wanted an epidural. I also have a memory of saying "This is ridiculous, whose idea was this?" The midwife proceeded to tell me how well I was doing and what a great job I had done of coping on my own at home. She said that if I did not have an epidural the baby would be born very quickly and that she thought I could hack it basically. While I was considering this she hooked me up to the gas and air and I sucked that stuff down like there was no tomorrow. I somewhat reluctantly agreed to go without the epidural, but happily accepted a shot of pethidine. It was about this time that I started to feel the urge to push. Now that has got to be the weirdest feeling in the world. Kind of like a dry retch but at the other end of your body. Yeuch!

After the gas and the pethidine, things get a bit blurry. I know there was pushing and lots of encouragement. I was still in a huge amount of pain, but it was what I was there for, so somehow it was different. The midwife positioned me on my side to push with one leg up in the air. It was very lady like indeed. Between each contraction and push she told me to put my leg back down, and I remember being worried that I was going to squash the baby's head! Just one of the funny things that went through my head.

At 2.30 am, Sunday the 18th of October, our baby boy was born weighing 3.69kg. We named him Felix, Gar Ming, Alfred Choy. Our little gorgeous Felix had arrived. As he lay on the bed, my mum said over and over again "Oh Charmaine, he's so beautiful, he's so beautiful!" and he is.

Here's Chi Wai having the first cuddle. I love this photo, he looks so proud and happy.

Here's me feeling pretty happy with myself on the second day.

All that happened three months ago now. The time has passed in a blur of breast feeding, nappy changes and absolute happiness. There is so much more to tell, but that will have to come later.

Blanket Love!

2009-10-13T04:05:00.001-07:00

Who would have thought that a baby blanket could bring a room full of grown women to tears!

Well this blanket did, twice!

But this blanket has a story behind it and the story is what is stirring up all the emotion. This blanket was specially knitted for my baby by my knitting friends back in Australia. Each of these friends (Zena, Ailsa, Donna, Kerry, Rae, Annie, Kate, Shirley, Becky and Sharon) knitted one or more of the squares and then Zena, my best friend, assembled them all together to make this absolutely stunning baby blanket. The yarn is Heirloom Bliss, a gorgeous soft merino which is machine washable for practicality and yet feels soooo luxurious. As Zena said on Ravelry, it will be a wonderful hug from all the girls when the baby arrives. I just don't know how to thank you all enough, it truly is so beautiful and so special.

Each of the squares is different and was identified with a small white tag as to it's creator. Here are shots of a few faves.

So what's all this talk of crying. Well, when Zena found out that my mum was coming over before the birth of the baby she sent the blanket to her rather than posting it directly to me. The post here in Abu Dhabi can be a little unpredictable and my guess is that she didn't want to risk something so precious to the possible perils of the UAE postal system. When mum saw it she couldn't help taking it to work with her to show her colleagues. Just a bit of background there, mum is a high school teacher, teaching Home Ec/Textiles and Design and most of her immediate colleagues are female. There has been much talk about the arrival of mum's first grandchild in the past few months. When mum produced the blanket at a special afternoon tea that they were throwing for her, the day before she was flying here, it was tears all 'round from the "Home Ec Aunties". They could really feel the sentiment behind the blanket.

The next round of crying came last Friday at our monthly Amiras meet up (our Abu Dhabi based knitting group). I proudly brought the blanket along to show to the girls and again the tears were flowing! Here's a shot of Sydney, myself and Rama, admiring the blanket at our usual haunt. Note the not very effective hiding of the bump!

I of course cried too when I first opened the blanket. Seeing all those little while tags with the names on them. Knowing that the girls were sending their love in this special way, really made me quite emotional. It might sound kind of corny to some, but this blanket really is going to be so special to me and my baby.

Thank you so much girls! Big hugs and kisses coming your way!

Baby Shower Bliss!

2009-09-25T01:54:00.000-07:00

I am so late in posting about this but even though it was two weeks ago I couldn't not post! So here goes.

Two weeks ago it was our monthly scheduled meet-up of the U-knit ted Amiras, our Abu Dhabi based knitting group. Because it fell in the middle of Ramadan, our usual hang out location was closed so Kundi very kindly offered to have us all over to her place, and because of the new locale it had been decided that we would have ourselves a little yarn dyeing shin-dig. Well, that's what I thought was the plan anyway.

When I arrived (half an hour late due to a brownie cooking emergency!) I was greeted with "Surprise!" and cameras flashing. The girls in secret had planned a huge Baby Shower, just for little old me! I had absolutely no idea and was completely stunned, although not lost for words of course!

In true American Baby Shower style there were fabulous themed decorations and party favours for everyone!

And once I had arrived, everyone was allowed to eat! Yay!

Such a yummy spread the girls had put together. And then, it was time for presents!

Just look at all those gorgeous colourful gifts. I was completely overwhelmed!

I have to make a special mention of the hand knitted and crocheted gifts, because of course that is was we are all about.

First of all there are the adorable crocheted booties and cap from Eva. I can't wait to try these on our little guy when he arrives.

Next we have the adorable knits of Miss Lindsay! One of the very clever Danger Craft Monsters and a gorgeous cotton blanket designed especially for cuddling up baby in when he gets out of the bath. (Ravelry project links here and here).

The monsters are just great and I can see them being a real favourite with bubba when he arrives. The big one is quite large, perfect for toddler baby bear hugs!

When Debbie (Rav link) decides to make baby gifts, well she just really goes to town! Check out this hoard of goodies from her!

There is an adorable little vest in purple Alpaca, the cutey cute Felix cardigan and an absolutely stunning crocheted blanket in lovely spongy merino that will be used for years to come.

And lastly, also from Debbie, presenting the Romper Stomper!

The romper is a vintage pattern from a South African knitting magazine (Debbie is from SA) and it has been knitted in a gorgeous soft and very UAE friendly bamboo yarn. I think it is just fabulous! Can't you just imagine fat pudgey baby legs coming out of this with white socks?

After presents there was cake!

This meet-up just happened to coincide with the 1st anniversary of our first ever Amiras meet-up, when we sat in the empty mall because it was Ramadan then too. When I got home from the baby shower is was feeling quite emotional about it all (baby hormones so they tell me) and thinking about how much has changed in one year. A year ago I had been living here for over a year but had still made very few friends. Now a year later I have this beautiful group of friends, all passionate about our craft and so thoughtful to have gone to so much trouble for me. I was really so touched. Big hugs and kisses to you all, thank you so much!

An extra special thanks goes to Lindsay who did the majority of the shower organising, to Louise for the gorgeous decorations, to Rama for the great part favours, to Kundi for having us all at her place and to all the girls from Dubai who made the trip specially. What a fabulous day it was!

What a difference a day (or two) makes!

2009-08-05T05:15:00.000-07:00

On Monday I was having a really bad day. Nothing serious, I just felt really tired, I was having to walk around in the heat at work and I just felt awful. Seriously, the heat in the factory is another thing all together, it actually feels like my skin is getting burned.

Flip forward to today and I am feeling soooo good! It's my 35th birthday today and normally that would only make things worse. I have a bad relationship with birthdays normally, but not today. Today I feel happy, thankful and overall good about life. You've gotta be happy with that!

I seem to be really bad at this blogging gig at the moment. I start writing posts and then re-read them, think they are boring and give them the sack. Let's see if this one gets out today.

One of the issues is that I don't have any knitting to talk about. There has of course been plenty of knitting, but I have been knitting presents and so I can't talk about them yet. Knitting is always easy to talk about.

And so I have to talk about something else. Here goes.

A few biggish things have been going on lately. Firstly we have hired a nanny/maid. She has started working with us now so that I can get to know her before the baby arrives. I'll refer to her as G. She's working full time for us already and living in our house (in the "maids quarters") and also cooking most of our meals. I have to say, it has been a very strange experience to let someone into you home and start looking after these things. I am by no means a clean freak (far, far from it) so having her doing the cleaning has been amazing, but when it comes to the cooking, I am struggling with the loss of control. Don't get me wrong, I love coming home to dinner on the table, but the idea that I don't know exactly what is going into each meal is difficult to get over. Back on the cleaning side, it is also very strange to have someone tidy up after you every day. Reading a magazine at breakfast in the morning at the dining table? Well it won't be there when you come back in the afternoon, and my make-up brush roll which has always laid open on the bathroom counter gets neatly rolled up and put on the shelf every day. Truly a strange experience. The other part is, I'm a working class girl, and having a maid (let alone a full time, live-in maid), makes me feel completely indulgent. I'm sure that I will get over that eventually!

The other big thing that has happened in my life (being pregnant aside) in the last few months is a little hard to talk about, but here goes. Without delving too much into my family history, I have two half-sisters which I have up until now never known. A few months back my brother Marc and I finally got up the courage to make contact with them. We've been talking on email since then, trying to make up for lost time, and I am so glad that I finally took the step to get in touch. It's been amazing to see all of the things that we have in common with each other, especially considering the age gap. My sisters are Caitlin, 19 and Jaime, 17 and they seem like really great girls.

The big discovery with the Caitlin, is that she is also a knitter! How amazing is that! I'm not sure that she is quite as obsessed as me, but I plan to work on that. When she found out that I am also a knitter and that I am pregnant, she got to work straight away. Last week, this is what arrived in the mail.

Isn't he adorable! He has proper working joints in his arms legs and neck, and such neat stitches. I'm still trying to come up with a name for him. Current suggestions range from something in Chinese to something that is derived from the word sister to signify his auspicious origins. Maybe I should find out (Chi Wai?) what the Chinese word for sister is! I was really touched to recieve this and I know he's going to be very special to our baby. Thank you Caitlin.

Last but not least, something else very special arrived in the mail last weekend. This!

It's always so exciting when friends start to do clever things. knitabulous, one of my knitting friends from Wollongong has started dyeing and selling her own yarn. This is her fabulous colourway "Count Sockular"! I love it! Knitabulous is doing some amazing things with colour, mostly with semi-solids which I always find more versatile. You can check out her Etsy store here.

Okay, I'm going to hit the "Publish Post" button NOW before I over think things!

Mother Knows Vest!

2009-06-28T05:35:00.000-07:00

My facination with the baby vest continues with these two projects.

Firstly we have what I like to call "How now green owl!"

Pattern: Owl Baby Vest by Jodi Haraldson
Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Sport in Honey Dew
Needles: 3.25mm
Modifications: A few, see below

This pattern only comes in one size, 9-12 months, and recommends a DK weight yarn. I wanted a smaller vest so went with a sport weight yarn and hoped for the best with the size. It has turned out really small, minute in fact, a true new born size, so it will probably fit our little guy for all of about five minutes after he pops out! It's so adorable though, being so small. I think I might use this as part of his coming home outfit so he at least gets one wear out of it.

I basically ignored the pattern after the cable and did my own thing for the armholes and v-neck placing. I did not like that the v-neck did not line up with the middle of the centre owl on the original pattern so I rectified this. I also added the shoulder opening as well. Leaning from the "Little Boy Blue" vest experience, this time I made the button holes between the ribbing band and the shoulder strap so that the button holes are a little further apart and I am much happier with the result this time.

Next up is "Mother Knows Vest!"

Pattern: Improvised
Yarn: Knit Picks Comfy Sport in Cashew and Honey Dew, Knit Picks Shine Sport in Willow.
Needles: 3.00mm
Size: 3-6 months

This one is knitted flat to avoid the stripe jog. Yes, I know that there is a way to avoid the jog in the round but I was too lazy to investigate it and I have no issue with a little bit of mattress stitch. The yarns were carried up the side between each colour change. Same deal as above on the shoulder opening. These cotton yarns from Knit Picks really are perfect for baby knitting. So soft and so cheap! Yay!

So why all the vests? Well for one thing, its about all that my baby brain can handle at the moment. The other factor is that I think as far as knitted baby garments go living in Abu Dhabi, a little cotton vest is going to be the most versatile and get the most wear. If we do get some cool weather in December/January (it does happen!) I can put some long sleeves underneath and short sleeves for when it is warmer. See how I spend too much time thinking about these things!

Hey baby!

2009-06-20T01:59:00.000-07:00

Yes I know it's been a while but I'm here now!

I'm now 23 weeks pregnant, more than half way, so I thought I would share some of my thoughts on this whole pregnancy gig.

Firstly, here is a picture of me showing off my bump!

This photo was taken about four weeks so things have grown quite considerable since then.

I would have to say that I am having what would be considered a good pregnancy. I suffered some mild morning sickness in the first trimester but was still capable of travelling to Australia, then London and Paris within the first 13 weeks of my pregnancy so really I shouldn't complain. So far there have been no real complications apart from being a bit anaemic. I've been sleeping fairly well, no need to get up and pee in the middle of the night, although I am starting to get a bit uncomfortable at the moment. I'm not suffering from any water retention (yet!) which is surprising given how hot it is here now and I seem to have been able to escape many other common pregnancy ailments. My only real complaints would be tiredness and some mild back pain.

Still I wouldn't describe myself as one of those people who loves being pregnant. I'm definitely in this game for the end result. I'm not a process knitter after all! To all the ladies out there who have had difficult pregnancies and then have gone on to do it all again, I salute you!

Apart from the physical side of things, the main thing that I have noticed is how much this has changed my life already. Already my brain is completely occupied with baby stuff! Which pram to buy, thoughts about cleaning out all the cupboards to make room for the baby's stuff, doctors and hospital appointments. I love to read and I am a member of a book club, but I have been having trouble reading anything that isn't related to being pregnant or parenting. Lastly, all of my knitting lately has been baby related. I have been trying really hard not to be one of those people that can only talk about baby stuff, it's always been a thing that has bugged me in the past, but I've got to tell you it is really hard, and I fear that despite my effort I am failing miserably! Big apologies to all of you that have had to put up with me going on, and on, and on.......

Speaking of going on and on, at this point I feel like I'm ready for it all to be finished and the baby to be here. He's kicking me everyday now and both Chi Wai and I are anxious to meet our little guy. Still, I have four months to go and really we do need some more time to get ready. There are still so many things to buy! It's a great marketing racket I assure you, but we have been sucked in like all the rest. At this stage we have bought a pram which we managed to get at nearly 50% off which was a bonus, and some baby clothes. I have been trying to be restrained with the baby clothes because everyone keeps telling me how quickly they grow out of things. There are so many cute things though!

Next time: Baby related knitting! See what I mean, I really can't talk about anything else at the moment!

Silliness

2009-05-21T23:26:00.000-07:00

Oh Phonky! How could you?

Not lazy, busy!

2009-05-16T22:35:00.000-07:00

I've just read two blog posts where the writers were talking about how they have not been blogging regularly enough. One blogger had not posted for two weeks while the other had not posted for five days! Makes my five weeks of no posts look really bad.

So what's my excuse? Well it's not that I haven't had anything to talk about, actually it's quite the opposite. Life has been busy, and I've had plenty to tell, just no time to do it in. Well that's probably not entirely true, I could post if I made the time, there are just so many distractions!

Anyway, I am here now, so where will I start? With knitting of course! Although some of you might like to know how the baby stuff is going as well. I'll get to that later.

The good thing about not posting for a while is that now when I show off my FOs I'm going to look really prolific! Don't be fooled, some of these projects have been completed for quite a while, as far back as February! The downside is that a lot of you would have seen these pictures already on Ravelry as I am much better at keeping it up to date.

Speaking of February, here's my FLS, finally photographed!

Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Emerald
Needle: 5mm
Modifications: I ditched the eyelet increases for a M1 increase on the yoke. I decreased the additional cast on stitches under the arm so that I wouldn't get a bulky sleeve and for the longer sleeves I changed to a 4mm needle to reduce some of the bell shape.

I'm really happy with the end result, although I have been toying with shortening the sleeves. It will be a good cardi for the arctic conditions of the cinema! Yes, feel free to comment on the visible bump in this photo, but don't say anything about the chubby cheeks!

I had five balls of the Mally for the FLS and after completing it I had nearly a whole ball left. Just before we left for the UK I decided to knit up a quick hat for my brother's girlfriends Jo. Here's the result.

Pattern: Hurricane Hat by Andrea Goutier
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Emerald
Needles: 4.5mm
Mods: None

A great quick hat pattern. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of the lovely spiral on the top of this hat, but I think the gorgeous Jo more than makes up for this. I still have more yarn left, maybe a baby hat?

Next we have the project I am most proud of at the moment. My first ever shawl! I just keep wanting to look at it, it's so pretty if I do say so myself!

Pattern: Ishbel from the Whimsical Little Knits Collection by Ysolda Teague
Size: Large
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Lace in Molly, 1 skein.
Needles: 4mm
Mods: None

I know it is a really simple pattern as far as shawls go, but I am still feeling quite chuffed with this. I have no idea what I will actually do with something like this. The most likely option will be to wear it a la the last photo, next time we go somewhere cold. I've read mixed reviews on the Mally Lace, but I really liked it. Then again, not being a true lace knitter I'm probably not the best judge of a lace yarn's character. I love the vibrant colour. I'm really into coral at the moment.

Last but not least is the first in what is sure to be a long line of baby knitting. Presenting "Little Boy Blue".

Yarn: Artyarns Supermerino in Colourway 149
Needles: 3.25mm for the ribbing and 4.0mm for the stockinette.

I used a few different baby patterns to get the rough dimensions and then just started knitting. Knit in the round to the armholes, three needle bind off on the left shoulder and button band on the right to allow for big baby heads. I will not make that mistake again!

A few weeks ago we found out that I am having a boy, hence the blueness of this, but I have still not decided that I will keep this for myself. There are other boys on the way as well! I'll probably make a few of this type of thing, so next time I will space the button holes a bit further apart. I might also try putting this over a little t-shirt to see if the armholes are big enough. I'm thinking that they look a little too small. Still, cute, don't you think? The puppy was in one of the first gift parcels that we have recieved, from our good friends Jason, Shino and their own gorgeous little boy Hinata.

Thoughts on this whole being pregnant thing? Next time. I'll be back I promise.

Next, London!

2009-04-10T00:02:00.000-07:00

Wow London!

By the time we got back to London we were pretty much museumed and art galleried out! This meant we spent more time wandering in parks, shopping, and doing some of the more touristy things. Also one of the big draw cards of London for me (apart from being never having been there before) is that my baby (6'4") brother Marc has been living there since not long after we moved to Abu Dhabi.

We started the trip (before heading off to Paris) with a visit to the famous Portobello Road market in Notthing Hill. It was full of colour and too many people.

The best part was all the interesting food stalls and fresh flowers. Here's Chi Wai and Marc enjoying their German sausages that we had for lunch. Yum!

The day after we got back from Paris we had a lovely morning walking through Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens, admiring the flowering bulbs, chasing squirrels and stopping off at the Diana's Memorial.

We had a lovely lunch at the Orangery Cafe next to Kensington Palace. The Orangery Cake with a pot of English Breakfast after lunch was divine!

After lunch we spent the afternoon at the fantastic Victoria & Albert museum, the only museum we went to in London. The V&A museum houses objects such as furniture, household items and fashion. It was really interesting to see the different fashions in home decor through the ages.

This was the chandelier in the main foyer. We thought it was cool, plus I like this photo that Chi Wai took.

That night we went out for dinner with my brother, his lovely girlfriend Jo and also her family, to a little Thai place near where my brother lives.

Here's Marc and Jo.

And here is me and Chi Wai. Chi Wai is sporting a lovely red wine glow!

The next day we met Marc and Jo in the Spitalfields area (near the famous Brick Lane) to have lunch and to check out the markets there. These markets were much better than those at Portobello Road. Lots of funky hand made things which I love. I bought some gorgeous handmade baby bibs (cluck cluck) and I even found a stall selling yarn where I bought some scrumptious cashmere, some divinely soft bamboo and some yarn made from banana (well I never!).

So that rounded off the weekend. During the follwing week we did some shopping in the city, the open top bus tour, took a trip out to Windsor to look at the Castle and went to the Tower of London.

The open top bus tour took in all the major sights of London. You know, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square. It was a good way to see a lot in one day.

We also stopped off, had a cruise along the Thames and went on the "London Eye".

The best part of this day, came right at the end when we signed up for what was advertised as a walking "Ghost Tour", part of the bus tour ticket price. When we arrived the tour guide (a slightly mad Irishman) advised us that the ghost tour was boring and that he would be taking us on a pub crawl instead. Everyone (including us) seemed quite happy with this arrangement and off we set. The guide took us to six fabulous traditional English pubs complete with low ceilings, winding staircases and pork scratchings. We met some great people on the tour, had a great time and got home after midnight (a late night for me in my current condition). We really enjoyed it because it was something that we probably wouldn't have done by ourselves and Chi Wai got to drink beer while I watched!

Windsor is an hour train ride from London and is home of Winsdor Castle, the place where the Queen likes to hang at the weekend. It's a working castle but quite a large section is open to the public.

The most interesting part was being able to watch the famous "changing of the guard". Talk about pomp and ceremony! The whole thing , complete with a huge brass band playing toe tapping jazz classics, went for about 45 minutes! I found it mildly hilrious and intriguing at the same time.

Chi Wai rather thought he'd like to get a job as one of the Queen's guards. What do you think?

All in all we had a fantastic trip. We loved both Paris and London. Great people and public transport in both cities! Paris was so beautiful and romantic, while London gave us the feeling that it was a city that would be really easy to live in. It was great to see Marc and finally meet Jo as well.

I'll leave you with one last picture of Chi Wai and I in a little park just across the road from our hotel in Paddington.

PS. Here's the answer to the question I posed in my last post in order of appearance.

1. Preppy Vest (in the winged voctory photo)
2. Loopy Scarf (top of Arc de Triomphe)
3. Fair Isle Tam (Notre Dame Photos)
4. Green Branching Out Scarf (Notre Dame Photos)
5. Chi Wai's Brown Irish Hiking Scarf (Pate photo).

The white fluffy hat threw a few people off. It's not a handknit, although it is knitted. So there you go!

Paris First!

2009-04-09T02:15:00.000-07:00

As promised the story continues..... (Beware a photo heavy post coming up!)

So four days after we arrived back to Abu Dhabi, we again headed off to the airport, this time going to London and Paris! I was so excited about this trip. Our first ever trip to Europe!

We had two days in London (I'll come back to the London experience) and then we caught the Eurostar train to Paris. It was really so convenient and I would highly recommend it. This idea of being able to catch a train from one country to another is really so foreign for us Aussies!

We had five nights in Paris and I was determined to see as much as we could. In the first day we saw the Lourve,

Chi Wai at the Pyramids

Winged Victory of Samothrace (just amazing!)

le Jardin des Tuileries,

Musee de l'Orangerie,

Monet's Water Lillies "in the round"

the Champs (des Champs-Élysées) and the Arc de Triomphe.

on the street

up the stairs (hard work!)

view from the top

us at the top

Phew! The next day I was completely exhausted (I was in my first trimester remember) and we only managed to see Notre Dame and walk around the Paris streets.

Over the coming days we did more museums (Musee d' Orsay, Rodin Museum, Pompidou Centre) and monuments (Eifel Tower, the Pantheon) but the best part was just wandering the beautiful Paris Streets and relaxing in the street side cafes watching the world go by.

Another highlight was was having Pain au Chocolat (like a chocolate filled croissant) and coffee (hot chocolate for me) for breakfast every morning.

Here's Chi Wai enjoying his in the park near our hotel. One of the downsides of travelling while pregnant was that I could not really enjoy all of the fabulous foods that France is famous for. No French wine, soft cheese or foie gras (a favourite of mine) for me. I did manage to come home with a tin each of duck and goose foie gras ready for me to tuck into when I come home from the hospital! I'll leave you with Chi Wai about to devour this huge slab of foie gras, and I just had to sit and watch!

Quiz: How many hand knits can you spot in these photos?

I love Weddings!

2009-04-05T02:48:00.000-07:00

So now that I have the really big news out of the way (thank you for all the lovely comments by the way) I can now get back to updating you all on my comings and goings.

First of all, at the end of February we went to Australia for three days (yes only three days!!!) to attend the wedding of one of my best friends, Alison. She was getting married to her wonderful AJ (fondly known to us as Yay Yay!). Big apologies for not really broadcasting the visit to everyone. I just knew that we wouldn't get time to see everyone.

The first day we spent with our families.

This is the three generations of McIntyre girls spending the day in the Botanical Gardens in Sydney (my Mum's favourite). From the far left is my Fabulous mum, then me standing on tippy toes to be anywhere near as tall as the Amazonian goddesses that I am related to, then my Nanny and my Aunt Didi. They were all very happy to hear our news.

I love this photo that Chi Wai took of the water lilly in the gardens.

Zena was there with her boys too. Here's Sam showing us a new trick.

By the way, I can also now say that Zena is pregnant again too (only one this time)! She is a few weeks ahead of me. My mum always used to say we should get pregnant at the same time! Who would know it would actually happen!

The next day we were off to the wedding. Alison and I have been friends since uni days (too many years to say how many) and Chi Wai and I were very happy to be part of her special day.

We picked up Al to take her to the ceremony and this photo was taken at her house. Note no champagne for me and big b00bs. The first telltale signs of pregnancy!

The gorgeous couple walking down the aisle together.

And the happy family together.

It was a great wedding and we had a really good time.

On the last day we met up with some friends at Doyle's in Watsons Bay for a lovely seafood lunch. Here's Hinni (short for Hinata, I love it!) the newest member of the group! Such chubby cheeks and such a cool dude!

That evening we were back on the plane coming back to Abu Dhabi and four days later we were on another plane to London, but I'll tell that story another day. Are we jet setters or what? What!

Belly full of arms and legs!

2009-04-02T01:37:00.000-07:00

The news is getting out there so I had better put something here. Yes Jocelyn you were correct.

I am up the duff! I got myself knocked up. I have a bun in the oven. I'm expecting, with child. I'm in the family way, preggers if you will.

I AM PREGNANT!!!!!

So there you go. It might help explain why I have been so quiet here of late. Too many things that I wanted to talk about but couldn't.

I promise I will still report on our trips away. Will be back in a day or two. Looking forward to catching up with a few knitting girls in Dubai tomorrow. Yay!

Long time no see!

2009-03-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

I've been a very bad blogger, haven't I? nearly two months since my last post! I'm a naughty, naughty girl. Plus I have so much to tell that I don't know where to begin.

There has been knitting (of course), travel to not one but two different continents and then there's the biggest news of all, but I'm not telling today!

Today, I just thought I would stop by and say that I am still alive and well and that there will be multiple posts coming very soon. So watch this space.......

Here's a picture to whet your appetite.

Taken by Chi Wai (no tricks!).

Gimme an F, gimme and L, gimme and S.......

2009-02-10T23:09:00.000-08:00

What does it spell? February Lady Sweater of course!

Yes I too have jumped on the FLS bandwagon! 4000 plus knitters can not be wrong! How could I resist when the it just seems to look so good on everyone. I had to have one for myself.

So I suggested to the Amiras (our Abu Dhabi knitting group) back in November last year that we make it as a KAL in Februaury. February Lady Sweater KAL in FEBRUARY, get it? The word got around, some girls in Dubai decided to jump on with us and now I think there are about ten of us in three different cities in the UAE knitting along together! There is quite a lively discussion taking place here, if you are interested.

On the 30th of January a few of us Abu Dhabians (is that the correct expresion?) headed to Dubai to meet up with a few of the Dubai girls for an afternoon of coffee, carrot cake and of course knitting! There were needles, cake forks and ball winders flying everywhere. Over the course of the afternoon I think we had about 20 knitters all up. It was just amazing. Anyway, at the end of the afternoon after we tore ourselves away from pouring over each others yarn and books, we had a bit if a group cast on. I finally feel like I am part of a community again!

Here's my swatch that I completed that day.

The yarn is Malabrigo Worsted in Emerald. This is the first time that I have used Mally (we've nicknamed it for convenience and in true Aussie style!) and I am completely in love. It really is perfect for this project and I just can not get over how good the garter stitch looks and feels in this yarn. I want to buy up the stuff!

The other great thing about this project is the speed with which it is working up! The photo below was taken on the weekend, a week after the cast on and now I am past my waist! I'll be on to the sleeves before I know it.

Okay, modifications. I used an M1 increase instead of a yo on the "eyelet" row. On the sleeves I am intending to decrease the additional stitches to reduce the bulk of the sleeves. I am considering doing a longer sleeve and if I do I may look at decreasing needle size as I go down the sleeve to reduce the "bell effect". I'll let you know what I decide on that one.

For the buttonholes I just went with the method suggesed in the pattern. They looked okay so I stuck with it. They might need a bit of reinforcement at the corners, we'll see.

The loopy lace scarf is finished! I sewed the ends in on the way to work this morning. Pics coming soon.

On a more sombre note, please spare a though for the families that are living the horror of the Victorian Bush fires at the moment. Whole towns have been wiped out, and whole families lost. If you have a spare dollar or two you can donate to the Australian Red Cross Bush Fire Appeal.

Son of SnB - A Review

2009-02-08T03:41:00.000-08:00

I have decided to do a review of all of the books in my "Year of the Book" list as I knit something from them. Here goes......

"Son of Stitch'n'Bitch" is the latest offering by the now famous (in knitting circles) Debbie Stoller of the "Stitch'n'Bitch" series of books. The original title in the series was my first ever knitting book purchase, back when I was first wanting to learn about five years ago. The style of the book really appealed to me at the time. It said to me that knitting was for funky young things like I knew myself to be (ha ha!). I wanted to make everything in the book! I think I have made about three things.

Since then I have purchased all of the other books in the series and have loved them all. So what about this one?

"Son of Stitch'n'Bitch" is a book of patterns for men, written by various designers, some of them also men. The blurb has this to say....

Son of Stitch 'n Bitch is the latest book in the SNB series, featuring 45 projects to knit & crochet for men. Whether you're knitting for a boyfriend or husband, or, if you're a male knitter yourself, Son of Stitch 'n Bitch has the boy-tested, boy-approved projects you've been looking for, plus plenty of tips to help you avoid the "curse of the boyfriend sweater."

The book begins with a section on how to make sure you knit the right thing for your man. A lot of it is common sense really, like don't knit him something pink, and a sweater with a ice cream cone on the front is probably not a good idea, but it does have some useful tips as well on fit and fibre selection. This section is presented in an interesting way with anecdotes from knitters.

Then the book gets straight into the patterns, there is no how to knit section. This I like a lot! I get so sick of pattern books (Debbie Bliss, cough, cough) that repeat the same old basic how to knit section in the front of every book. It always makes me feel like I'm paying for the same book twice!

Anyway, to the patterns. These vary from the fabulous (Uncle Argyle Scarves), to funky (Hacky Sack Hoodie, DJ Bag), to the silly (Hangover Helpers, Deady Bear) and the downright hideous (Checks and Balances). They are very similar in style to the previous books for men and there is something for everyone, I guess you would say.

The thing I like about this book is that for those of us who like to knit for the men in our lives, the selection is pretty slim. This book tries to fill that gap. The other great thing about this book is the cute boys modelling the knits!

Three and a half stars from me!

Book 1 down!

2009-02-04T02:02:00.000-08:00

Seven to go!

If you didn't see, I have committed myself to knit/crochet something from all eight of my as yet unused knitting/crocheting books in my Abu Dhabi library.

The first Year of the Book project is finished!

Here is Chi Wai sporting the Uncle Argyle Scarf!

Isn't he handsome! The project details are here.

After my singing of the blues, I seemed to get a second wind and this was finished a few days afterwards. It must have been a cathartic process!

I'm really happy with the finished product and I really hope that my brother Marc will love it (he better!). I don't like to say never but I think it will be a long time before I make another one of these.

That said, I have just started another scarf! "Are you mad woman?" I hear you ask. Well there is a very good reason for this. In about four weeks time, Chi Wai and I will be heading off to London (with a few days in Paris too) to hand deliver the scarf to Marc. I can't wait!

From these photos that Marc sent me this week, you can see that I am going to need something a bit warm!

Here's what I am making (and no the pattern does not come from one of the before mentioned books, I like to live life on the edge!).

Pattern: Loopy Lace Scarf by Katie Harris
Yarn: It's some luscious Misti Alpaca that I bought from San Francisco a few years back that I have been dying to use ever since.

I've also jumped on the FLS bandwagon but I will tell you more about that later.

Scarf Knittin' Blues

2009-01-25T01:27:00.000-08:00

Hear in you mind, if you will, a twelve bar blues, you pick the key......

I got the scarf knittin' blues, the scarf knittin' blues, yes I do.
I got the scarf knittin' blues, the scarf knittin' blues, yes I do.
I been knittin' this scarf so long now, will it ever be though?

It's gonna take forever, knitting this scarf, what can I do?
It's gonna take forever, knitting this scarf, what can I do?
I gotta finish knitting this scarf, before I can start something new!

I got the scarf knittin' blues, the scarf knittin' blues, soooo bad.
I got the scarf knittin' blues, the scarf knittin' blues, soooo bad.
You know when it comes time for knitting something else, I'm gonna be so glad.

So there you go.

Year of the Book Has Started!

2009-01-08T06:28:00.000-08:00

I have officially started on my goal for the year of knitting or crocheting something from all of my as yet unused knitting and crochet books.

So with out further ado, I would like to present Book Project no. 1!

Book: Son of Stitch'n'Bitch by Debbie Stoller
Pattern: Uncle Argyle Scarves by Lindsay Henricks
Yarn: Patons Merino Deluxe in Black (10) and Grey (3) purchased on our recent trip to Australia from CR & K Daisy Designs.

I bought this book for this pattern alone (it's a thing I do!). I've had a real thing about any sort of argyle since my mid-teens. There are however quite a few other good boy's (read men's, they will always be boys to me!) patterns in it, such as the Mixology sweater and the Skull Isle Hat.

This scarf uses the double knitting technique and I swear that it may be the death of me! For those who have never used double knitting before (this is my first time), you have to knit the front and back of the project at the same time which means you knit then you purl, then you knit and then you purl etc. across the row with two strands of yarn and moving the yarn from the front to the back or the back to the front between every stitch. Kind of like knitting a 1 x 1 rib only much worse. Aaaargh! The only thing that is going to keep me going on this (I hope) is that I am loving how it looks. I'm making this for my brother Marc who lives in London and is in need of warm wooly scarves for most of the year. I hope he likes it. It's taken me a week to get this far. Ugh!

Here's the other side of the scarf.

In other colour knitting glutton for punishmentness (I know it's not a real word!), I started (before Christmas) working on the Imprint Tote.

It's looking a little crumpled from be neglected at the bottom of my knitting bag while I have been working on the Argyle scarf.

I am using the pattern for the Imprint Tank from Interweave Knitts, Summer 2008. When I saw this pattern, I really liked the motif but I decided that it would look better on a tote bag. I'm using the recommended yarn, Mission Falls 1824 Cotton but in the colours Merlot, Peony and Pebble. I love the look of this yarn knitted up but it is a real b!tch to knit with (pardon my language). A contributing factor may be that I have been using a bamboo circular needle as I was knitting it on the plane. I'm thinking that the combination of the nubbly cotton yarn and the not so smooth tips of the bamboo needle may be making the process worse than it needs to be. I've put this down for the time being to work on the Uncle Argyle Scarf, but when I pick it up again I plan to change over to my Knit Picks Options. Let's hope that improves things!

Year of the Book

2009-01-02T23:19:00.001-08:00

This time last year, I set myself some knitting goals. Let's see how I went....

1. Knit at least one more pair of socks, preferably two at a time on circular needles,

Well I did knit one pair of socks last year but they were top down and knitted one at a time. I have a definite thing for sock yarn but it doesn't actually seem to extend to the actual knitting of socks. Although, there has been some definite drooling over sock patterns on Ravelry such as these, these, these and these. I'm not making any promises (or goals this time) but I would still like to knit more socks.

2. Tackle at least one new technique such as fair isle or steeking (or both together!),

I can give this one a tick although I think it was completed rather timidly. But that's okay, that's they way I do things. Small steps. So I had a go at Fair Isle. It was cheats Fair Isle (only two colours) but I was very happy with the finished result. Maybe some day soon I might actually get a chance to wear it.

3. Knit some proper lace work (with lace weight yarn),

I'm happy to tick this one off with the Seascape that I made for my Aunt. Again it wasn't a particularly complicated knit but I think it still qualifies as lace!

4. Try my hand at crochet.

Yay, I passed this with flying colours I think with these efforts! I definitely want to have a go at some more crochet in 2009!

5. Try to more of a process knitter (without completely denying my project knitting urges!)

Okay, there are some things in your personality that you just can't fight. For me it is all about the finished project and it's time that I embrace that. If there is an interesting process along the way to achieve the project that I am after, then all the better.

So all in all I think I did okay on my goals for 2008. So, am I going to set any goals for 2009? Of course I am!

In 2008 my thing for knitting books spiralled out of control. I am a knitting book hussy! I bought 12 new knitting books (including two "booklets"), and out of the 20 or so finished objects I completed during the year, only 6 of them were patterns from books I own! I have worked out, that of the books that I own that are here with me in Abu Dhabi (I have more books back in Australia too!) there are eight that I have never knitted anything from. Here's the list.

Son of Stitch'n'Bitch by Debbie Stoller, a book of patterns for men,
Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller, crochet patterns (I have used this for crochet instruction, but I have not used any of the patterns),
Knitting Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmerman,
The Best of Interweave Knits edited by Ann Budd,
DomiKNITrix Whip Your Knitting Into Shape by Jennifer Stafford,
Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles by Cat Bordhi,
Norah Gaughan Collection Vol. 1 by Norah Gaughan (booklet),
Norah Gaughan Collection Vol. 2 by Norah Gaughan (booklet),

So that's my goal, to knit/crochet something from each of these books in 2009. If anyone has a favourite pattern from any of these books I would love to hear what you think.

Wish me luck. Happy New Year to everyone! Here's to a great 2009.

Crochet Delight!

2009-01-01T22:34:00.000-08:00

Back in September, I started to make an attempt at some crochet. Remember this?

I was crocheting some toys. The crocheting part all went fine, but then something happened, something that often happens when I try to make toys. The pieces sat in a bag waiting to be sewn up until December. The only motivation then was that we were heading to Australia and the toys in question were meant to be belated 1st birthday presents for my best friend Zena's Twins. (Here they are a year ago!)

So anyway, in the mad rush of the few days before we left, I was sewing up toys! So now I can finally post about them!

Firstly there was Freddy Froggy.

He's made out of leftovers from the Tetris Blanket which was knitted in Knit Picks Swish Worsted. The pattern is Frogs on Holiday from "Kyuuto" by Tomoko Takamori, which is a book of Amigurumi patterns that I bought back in my birthday buy up. He's kinda cute don't you think?

And next was Phelephant, or Phellie for short!

The pattern is Henri Elephant from Lucinda Guy's Crochet Designs for Kids, another book from the buy up. The green yarn is Knit Pick's Swish DK in Asparagus and the other colours are more leftovers from the Tetris Blanket in Swish Worsted.

After all of the drama and procrastination, I am quite happy with how these turned out. Here they are snuggling up together.

And here is Sam doing his favourite thing with Phellie!

Finally here is one last bit of crochet that has been going on. When we went for our little holiday in India I mentioned that I was crocheting on the verander of our treehouse. Well this is what I made!

Pattern: So-Simple Baby Bibs (So simple it was too!)
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in Willow and Terracotta from my stash.

I made it for Kate's new bub Jude (hence the "J"). It's quite a big bib so I think it will be good for when Jude get to the solid foods stage. I'm also making a little vest for Jude, which should have been finished while we were away but never quite made it. Alas, it will have to go in the post. More on that later.

So, what is my verdict on the whole crochet thing? I'm ready for more!

Home Sweet Home

2008-12-29T04:48:00.000-08:00

We've just arrived home from our trip home! That is, we've just arrived back in Abu Dhabi from our trip back to Australia. It's funny having two places that you call home. While we are here we always say "back home" but while we were in Australia we were saying "when we get back home". Weird. Anyway, I digress.....

We had a fantastic time and we saw everybody, well nearly everybody. Get ready for a photo heavy post!

Highlights included (roughly in order of occurrence)......

A lovely wedding in a park in Sydney. (No pics of this one at the request of the happy couple)

Lots of gorgeous bubs (it's like they opened up a factory over there since we left I swear!)

Time in the garden with Nanny....

A day of knitting at my LYS and some of my Wollongong Stitch'n'Bitch pals.

A shop til you drop day with the girls on Oxford Street in Paddington.

Christmas with my Marmy (you know, like in "Little Women").

Spending time with our boy Lionus who now lives with his Grandma (my mum).

I was worried that I wouldn't want to come home (Abu Dhabi home that is), but by the end of our trip I seemed to be okay with it. Now what does that tell you?

Cherrylicious!

2008-12-28T03:07:00.000-08:00

Yes I know this has been a long time coming, but due to crazy work and a trip back home (yes, I will tell you all about it soon, I promise!) I've been a bad blogger. Anyway, here goes.

Tah dah! Here they are....

Firstly, here is the lovely Zena, looking stunning in her "Cherry Pie" complete with red ribbon and little brooch.

Zena ended up adding the snaps (or press studs) in between the buttons on the button band and as you can see, she has every reason to be really happy with her effort. The RYC Cashcotton that Zena used was absolutely scrumptious to touch. Yummy. All of the specs and mods for Zena's Cherry can be found in the previous posts here, here and here.

Now for my effort.....

During the finishing stage of this I became a complete perfectionist (which is unsual for me) and grafted the the shoulder seams and grafted on the button and neck bands. I wouldn't bother with that normaly, but I really just wanted to ge the extra mile for this cardigan and I'm really happy with the result.

Here we are together. Aren't we pretty?

Sooo......

Are we feeling proud of ourselves?

You better believe it baby!

PS. You may notice all the lovely yarn stacked up behind us. That's because we were enjoying a wonderful day of knitting at CR & K Daisy Designs in Fairy Meadow, on my recent trip home. What a perfect setting for photographing finished objects, don't you think?

Top 5

2008-11-21T00:57:00.000-08:00

The top five ways that you know you have been working bloody hard, physically AND mentally.

And the winners are....

5. Your voice is going from shouting over the noise of it all

4. Your whole body aches from running up and down stairs all day

3. You've eaten junk food for every night for a week

2. Every time you blow your nose, black stuff comes out (Ew!)

and the number one tell tale sign of too much work.......

1. You have barely done any knitting at all!!!!

Cherry Blossom

2008-11-14T23:52:00.000-08:00

Late on Thursday afternoon I got an IM from Zena saying....

It is done...

I am very tired so am going to bed.

Will block tomorrow. Should get some photos for you. Hopefully i can stretch it a bit during blocking, it's a bit snug at the moment!!

I could not believe she had finished it already. She is a machine!

This morning I received this in my mailbox....

Well it is done! I just laid it out to block and took some semi-happy snaps for you. Something seems to have gone west with my gauge as it is quite snug, yarn band says 22st/10cm, my swatch was 22st/10cm (just) so who knows what happened. before blocking it was more like a 33-34" than a 36" (I need it to be 35"). I've pinned it out to 35" but not sure how it will hold up. I am pretty dissappointed at this stage, as it feels like the shaping would be perfect if only it was a bit bigger. The buttons are just tied on so I could try it one properly although I quite like the simple mother of pearl and I think the size is about right too (will still need to buy buttons though as these are actually slightly different sizes/styles). Photo's attached for the fans.

Oh dear Zenes! I'm sure that once you try it on, the wonders of negative ease will kick in. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you darling! Doesn't it look fabulous though. I just love the colour.

Meanwhile I am still faffing with sleeves and spending way too much time thinking about buttons!

Here are the results of those deliberations.

Half an hour playing and dragging poor Chi Wai in to view five different button options! I also went through all of these options with the girls at SnB yesterday hoping for a unanimous decision which of course I did not get. I have managed to narrow it down to either the pink plastic flower buttons (two top squares to the left in the photo) or the creamy shell buttons shown in the centre square. Also note that I am planning to go for seven buttons rather than the five specified by the pattern in an attempt to limit gaping. See what I meant by "thinking too much about buttons"!!!

I have however finally made a decision on the sleeves. I've taken a similar path to what Zena has done. I wrapped the back ribbing section around my arm to see how many stitches I would need (61), cast on that many and then evenly increased after the ribbing to get to required number of stitches (74). I think it has worked okay. Sleeve one is knitted and blocking with sleeve two about half done on the needles. I still need to seam everything up and knit the button band and neck band. Still a little way to go before I catch up to Zena.

The saga continues.....

Getting our knit together!

2008-11-14T23:24:00.000-08:00

We had another very successful SnB yesterday. Yes, I know we have been talking about naming it something else, but when we get together we always preoccupied with other things. Kundi has a few great suggestions here. I personally like "U-knitted Nations".

We had another two new members join us yesterday bringing us to 10 people! Our two new members Asma'a and Rama are both new to knitting, in fact we were giving them lessons right there in the cafe. Hala always comes prepared for this with a spare set of needles and ball of yarn. Asma'a and Rama were both very excited to be learning to knit, and not at all put off by the level of obsession of the rest of us. Yay!

There was a bit of excitement at the Marina Mall yesterday while we were there. The Korean Navy Band (go figure!) was playing on the ice rink, complete with little dancing men banging on drums with streamers on their hats making quite a racket!

It was quite a lot to compete with, still we managed to lift our voices above it all and continue. I think this was our longest get together yet. We were there for five hours. Go us!

I've said it before and I will say it again. It's so nice to have some knitting friends that I can get together to knit with again. Yay!

Cherry Pie

2008-11-06T22:48:00.001-08:00

Last night I had a dream that Zena and I were both knitting the same cardigan. I walked into a room to find Zena's cardigan blocking out on the bed, almost finished. It was completely assembled except that the right front was not quite finished being knitted (impossible I know, but it was a dream, okay!). In the dream the cardigan had long sleeves, a small cable pattern all over it and this really interesting flared peplum done in short rows. It was more like a structured jacket than a cardigan I would have to say and I think it was pale blue. In the dream I was no where near this finished and there was a definite sense of panic. Weird!

In real life, we are both still plugging away at our Cherries, at slightly different paces, stopping to work on other projects from time to time, until the other person (me) has a chance to catch up a bit!

After my comment last time about the possibly small sleeves, Zena had this to say (earlier in the week)....

Ooh I see what you mean about the sleeves! I just cast on for the first one, only knitted two rows of the rib and I can see already that its not going to fit! The sleeves are cast on 57 stitches, rib for an inch and then do a bunch of increases to get 76 stitches. I just wrapped the back of my cardi around my upper arm and I need 75 stitches to get the rib sitting comfortably- which is pretty much exactly what I'll have after the ribbing and increases in the pattern, except that 57 stitches will definitely not fit. Therefore I think I'm going to make the call to cast on 75 stitches, rib away for an inch and then increase 1 stitch to get an even number and continue as per the sleeve cap in the pattern. It means my sleeves won't be puffy but hey I never expected them to be! At least this way it should fit AND I won't have to mess around with the sleeve cap- this is my first proper adult fitted sleeves so would like to just follow the pattern this time!

Can you see why she is my best friend! She is so clever. I still have not blocked my first sleeve to see how my solution to the problem turned out. I think I'm avoiding it, and I have a strong suspicion that I will just end up doing what Zena has done. Instead I went straight on to the left front and worked on something I knew would turn out okay. My usual denial technique!

Here's the left front (button band and all!) beside the back, after blocking,

and a bit of an artistic shot showing off the pretty stitch pattern. So much better without the flash!

I am now happily working away on the right front, still avoiding the issue of the sleeves!

Zena on the other hand has tackled it head on. A few days after making her hypothesis on the sleeves she had put it into practise. She sent me this....

Here are some progress photo's of my cherry- its growing!

I decided to go with the modified sleeves as we discussed earlier - I cast on 75 stitches for the 36" size, ribbed for an inch and then increased one stitch to give 76 stitches as called for in the pattern after the increase row. This meant I could just follow the pattern for the sleeve cap. It means the sleeve isn't puffy at all but it does fit and I think it looks fine. It was fun trying to fit the sleeve cap into place- I've never done a proper adult one before but it wasn't as scary as I expected.

Showing off her methodical approach to fitting the sleeve cap here,

and here with a sleeve that fits.

Note the yarn in the back pocket. Nice bum Zenes!

Ever the perfectionist, Zena has some concerns about the placement of birdies along the front openings.

I'm still really happy with the way this is progressing although I'm not 100% sure about the birdie placement in some areas- my guess is that it was designed for a smaller size (Miss Bell looks to be a bit slimmer than a 36") and the scaling up has thrown things out a bit. I won't really know if its a problem for me until its all finished, which feels a bit risky but hey that is knitting- if I wanted certainty I'd be buying a cardi in the shops not knitting it myself!

Looking at my photo above, I think the birdies along the front opening look fine once the button band is in place, and I hope for Zena's sake that she thinks so too. Otherwise I fear a lot of frogging. Yikes!

Just a little history on Zena and I. We met on the second day of University after moving into on campus accommodation and finding that we were next door to each other. Zena was studying Environmental Engineering and I was studying Materials Engineering. Being the only two female engineers in the place they must have figured that we would have something in common and that we would get along. They were right! That was fifteen years ago!

About five years ago (a little less) Zena and I continued our history of independently doing the same thing when we both decided (without any discussions between the two of us, hard to believe I know) that we wanted to learn how to knit. I had seen a blanket pattern in the "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine that I thought would look good on our new lounge in our new little house. I was newly married and must have been nesting. Zena found a fluffy white scarf that was a must have but didn't want to pay the $90 asking for something that was in her mind so simple.

Typical for the two of us, I went out and bought a book, and asked my Nanny to teach me how to knit, while Zena worked it out all by herself from her memories of knitting as a child. Zena still wears that scarf today (fluffy white angora in garter stitch with lots of tassels, just gorgeous) and my blanket did indeed look good on our new lounge. The rest as they say is history!

Cherry Ripe

2008-10-27T02:29:00.000-07:00

Yes I know you are all positively dying to know how Zena and I are going on a Cherries! Well no one has asked actually, but we are going to tell you anyway!

I have finished the back now and I've also blocked it to size. I think my guage is a little bit off (too tight), but this yarn is so stretchy, once it was wet I had no trouble getting it to co-operate. Here's a photo after blocking. It's not a very good photo, but this is what you get when you get home in the dark and have use the flash, yucky photos!

I have used short rows to shape the shoulders and have left the stitches live so that I can use the three needle bind off (or grafting if I'm really feeling energetic!) later on. Here's a photo earlier on which shows off the stitch pattern a bit better. I also think this is a closer representation of the colour.

So it was going pretty well up to this point.

Zena has this to say about her Cherry progress.....

Here is a photo of my Cherry to date.

Progress was going great until I looked at it and decided I didn't like the bits where I had omited a birdie because I couldn't fit a whole one in- and if I don't like it now, I'm really not going to like it when its finished, which means I won't wear it. Rippit, rippit, rippit!

Note the needle threaded through the middle? That is where I have frogged to. There are no post-frog photo's, its too sad. I am actually more surprised at my surprise about all this, I don't think I've ever knitted anything for myself that hasn't involved a LOT of knitting and frogging and re-knitting- good thing I like knitting eh?!

Apart from the frogging, I'm really happy with this so far. The RYC Cashcotton DK is lovely, a weird mix of cotton, angora, cashmere, viscose and a bit of plastic (polyamide). Incredibly soft although I do miss the spring that comes with knitting wool and I think this going to need some serious blocking. I'm a bit worried about the arms though, these fuhduhbuhdahs might need a few extra stitches for a comfortable fit!

Zena isn't the only one worried about her fuhduhbuhdahs (flabby arms for those who have not seen "Kath & Kim"). After finishing the back of my Cherry I went straight on to the first sleeve. The ribbing is done on smaller needles (3.25mm) and after my first attempt, there was no way the sleeve was going to fit around my meaty upper arm! I am thinking it must be a gauge issue. According to the pattern the finished size of the sleeve in the size I am making is 33cm, which is fine for my arm (I checked!), but on my first attempt I was only getting about 23cm! I frogged it back and re-knitted it on the larger needles (4.0mm). This time, it will be big enough, but only if I block the bejeezers out of it, so I'm not sure what I should do. Do I block it and see what it looks like, or should I add more stitches and then hope that I can fit the sleeve cap into the arm? The third option would be to work out my guage issues and end up with the right sized sleeve, but that just sounds way too difficult. Any suggestions anyone?

That's all for now on the Cherry saga. Until the next Cherry update, ciao from Zena and me!

PS. I am typing this, stirring the risotto with one hand, glass of wine in the other! Am I multi-skilled or what! Or perhaps the risotto is burning, my blog post is full of spellos and the only thing that is being done properly is the consumption of wine! Heh heh heh!

Knit One, Sip One

2008-10-25T22:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a bit of an impromptu SnB because well, sometimes once a month is just not enough!

We got together in the morning this time and on a Saturday for a change of pace, but at our usual location, the Caribou Cafe in Marina Mall. We even had new ladies!

What was most exciting was we had a visit from a lady named Jennifer who lives in Dubai and is going to start her very own yarn shop! Our very own lys, well almost local, Dubai is about an hour and a half away, but still very do-able!

Here's Jennifer (right) with Eva (left) eyeing off the yarn catalogue. Hmmm.......

And here are the other girls playing with the yarn that Jennifer brought with her!

From right to left we have Lindsay, Sydney, Lulu and Sharon, with all the lovely yarn on the table in the foreground.

Quite a few of us were tempted. Of course I came home with more yarn, which I need like a hole in the head, but this time I actually got to see and feel the the yarn before making my choice. What a luxury! This is earmarked for a particular project but I will talk more about that later.

Mission Falls 1824 cotton! I have always been curious to see what this was like in the flesh and now I have some of my very own. It's mine I tells ya, a-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha (evil laugh)!

You may remember last time I talked about our new SnB group, I mentioned Sydney (named after our fair city no less!) who is a non-knitter. Well, check this out! Lulu was a very patient instructor and Sydney managed a whole swatch of knitting and purling. We were all very impressed and I think Sydney was quite excited with her effort! I knew we would manage to convert her!

This is what I managed to knit in the few hours we were there (this photo really does not do it justice, ugh!).

I was inspired by Hala who was working on this the last time we met. Is called the Petite Pochette (meaning little bag!). It's a progressive knit-a-long with new instructions each week and Hala is kindly translating the instructions for me from the original French. The pattern is really easy but is a good mindless diversion from Cherry and I think the finished result will be a really cute clutch purse. I've had the yarn for a while and it was just begging to be turned into an evening purse of some kind. It's Tilli Thomas Disco Lights in Ruby Wine. Lush!

I am really loving having some knitting friends in the same country as me, again!

Cherry Baby

2008-10-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

A while ago my best friend Zena and I realised we had "queued" the same project on Ravelry. This really isn't very surprising for us, we have very similar taste. Whenever we go shopping together we are constantly reaching for the same item. When we were at university we would return from the summer break having been shopping with our mums, only to have purchased near identical clothing and then turn up to uni wearing the same thing!

So this time when we found that we liked the same pattern, rather than fighting the coincidence, we decided that we would both knit it, together, at the same time. We'd have ourselves our own little knit-a-long. Just the two of us.

The pattern we have chosen is called Cherry by Anna Bell. I am going to report on our progress here, so stay tuned!

With the help of Zena I have chosen Sublime's Cashmere, Silk, Merino blend in "Tease" which is a nice deep rosy pink. This yarn is soooo lush. I can't believe that I have not discovered before.

Zena has chosen Cashcotton by RYC in "Pool". Her Cherry is going to be so pretty! She has knitted a lovely swatch to show you all.

It will be interesting to see how the two cardigans turn out, with me using a bouncy merino based yarn and Zena with her not so bouncy cotton based yarn.

I have cast on for the back and have got as far as the 1x1 ribbing done. There has been some discussion between us about the virtues of straight 1x1 rib versus a twisted rib (knitting in the back loop). As it turns out I find my normal 1x1 rib to look much neater than my twisted rib, where as Zena prefers the look of her twisted rib. Isn't it fun how we all do things differently?

This is going to be fun. Let the knit-a-long begin!

Haaave you met Phonky!

2008-10-11T00:16:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Donna's daily Twinkie updates and talk yesterday of Lindsay's cat Princess, I would like to present, Phonky (pronounced with an 'F' sound).

Phonky came to us from Feline Friends which is an organisation that does what it can to look after all the stray and street cats here in Abu Dhabi. They have an "Adopt a Cat" program which was how we got Phonky. He had lived in a few homes when he came to live with us, and had had a few names as well. When we got him, his name was Phonkin and in true Aussie style we shortened it to Phonky. Don't ask me what it means, or where it comes from. Other aliases include Phonk, Phonkmeister, The Phonkster and Sir Phonk-a-lot.

Phonky has actually been living with us for a few months now. He was Chi Wai's birthday present back in July. It's taken him a while to warm up to us (he was 18 months old when we got him) but he's now part of the family and even Brian is quite attached.

He loves to play with random objects on the tiled floor. Just this morning he managed to carry a wine stopper from the kitchen sink in his mouth down to the floor and then proceed to fling it all about the place! He's also managed to get into my yarn on a few occasions and make a bit of a mess of things. Cheeky Phonky!

It's so nice to have little warm furry cuddly thing in the house again (Chi Wai is warm and cuddly too, but not furry!).

Meow!

Indian Escape

2008-10-04T05:18:00.000-07:00

Chi Wai and I have just returned from four days spent staying on a coffee plantation in a place called Wayanad in the state of Kerala in the south of India. We stayed on a coffee plantation called the Tranquil Resort.

We stayed in a tree house!

We even had a tree going right though our room!

The tree house had a fantastic veranda surrounded by trees.

There was a small creek running under the tree house making very soothing sounds. That, with the sound of bird song, monkeys running around underneath and the divine weather made the veranda the perfect place sit for hours alternating between my book and my crochet hook.

We saw lots of monkeys on the plantation, but they were a bit shy for the cameras. Here's one cheeky little guy we did manage to catch.

When we weren't enjoying the veranda, we were walking through the coffee fields,

taking in the lovely gardens around the main house,

and lazing by the pool.

The other major pastime was eating. The resort is a home-stay style resort where all meals were eaten in a communal outdoor dining area with the other guests and family members of our hosts Victor and Rangini. We were mostly served Indian food with a few Western dishes thrown in here and there. The food was delicious! Here's Chi Wai and I about to enjoy a traditional Kerala style meal served on a banana leaf.

We had such a fantastic relaxing holiday and it was made all the better by the hospitality shown by our hosts Vicktor and Rangini, their daughter Nisha and her husband Ajay. They really made us feel so welcome and looked after.

I didn't want to come home!

Eid Break

2008-09-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

The Eid holiday (pronounced 'eed') celebrates the end of Ramadan and falls this weekend. To take advantage of the five day break we are heading off to India to stay on a coffee plantation in Kerala for some much deserved R&R. We are staying here. I'm so excited!

I've packed a few balls of cotton yarn and my crochet hooks (can you believe it, me with the crochet hooks! I'll get over myself eventually, I promise) and I'm planning baby bibs of all things. I wanted something nice and simple to take along with me. I'm not sure how much I will get done really, but we will see.

See you all in a few days with lots of photos of tropical Kerala for sure!

Eid Mubarak!

Stash Enhancement.

2008-09-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

I don't have much knitting to show off at the moment. It doesn't mean that I haven't been knitting (don't be silly), I just don't have much to show off. So I thought I would show you some of my new yarn instead. All of this comes from the birthday splurge I had back in August.

Firstly, there's little beauty!

She's called "Miss Pink!" and was hand dyed by my best friend Zena on some Knit Picks Bare Merino Fingering Weight. "Miss Pink" was part of an amazing birthday package that Zena sent me full of lot's of goodies. Zena does good parcels, really good parcels. As this yarn was a special gift, I want to make something for myself out of it. I'm not thinking socks, I think Miss Pink deserves to be shown off, not hidden on my feet. I'm thinking either gloves or a hat (I will go somewhere cold eventually). Any suggestions?

The rest of the yarn I'm going to show off today is from a company called sKNITches. I visited this website a while ago via a link from Ravelry and really liked their colourways. Have I mentioned that I really love variegated sock yarns, despite the fact that I rarely knit socks and I rarely like adult garments knitted in variegated yarn. They just looks so pretty, all wound up into a skein. Anyway, sKNITches only does limited dye runs and they always sell out really quickly, so when I got an email to say that they had just stocked up, I knew I had to get in quickly. This is what I scored!

Firstly we have Big Tryst in "Brocade". Big Tryst is a sport weight yarn in a blend of 80% Merino, 10% Cashmere and 10% Nylon. It's a really bouncy yarn, and nice a smooth.

"Brocade" is described on the website as "regal lilacs, gold and yellow wheats", in other words, purple and yellow. It reminds me of pansies. I have two skeins of this colourway.

Also in Big Tryst, is one skein of "Blushing Brown" ("golden, light caramel, pink blush").

I'm not so sure about this one. It looks much prettier in the photo than it does in real life (ah the pitfalls of online shopping!). I think I need to see it knitted up.

Next we have Kettle Drum. It's made up of 60% Merino, 30% Bamboo and 10% Nylon. This yarn is still quite springy, but not as much as the Big Tryst. The bamboo content gives the yarn a cool touch.

This colourway is called "Quartz" and it's really pretty.

Last but not least is Velocity (50% Merino, 50% Tencel) in "Grey Cell Green".

I think this yarn will have a nice drape when it is knitted up. Is that a good thing for socks? It makes me think they would fall down. This doesn't bother me as it is unlikely to become socks anyway. I chose this colourway, because I thought it might suit some boy baby clothes for all of the boy babies my friends keep having. All of these yarns are superwash, which makes them perfect (if not too special) for baby garments.

Okay, here's a sneak peak of what I have been up to lately.

Yep, it's crochet! He's going to be an elephant, name Phelie. He's actually a bit further along now than this photo shows. I had been wanting to learn how to crochet for a while now, but it required me to sit somewhere quiet with my learn to crochet book to figure it out which just wasn't happening at home. A few weeks ago I went to Jakarta (Djakarta?) Indonesia for four days for work, so I took some yarn and my books with me and at night time, alone in my hotel room, I was able to sit down and concentrate. And guess what? I can now crochet! You would be so proud Yasmin! I'm pretty excited about this. So many more fibre possibilities......

We came, we saw, we knit!

2008-09-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the first ever meeting of the Abu Dhabi Stitch'n'Bitch (we are still discussing what our group's name will be). There were five of us, which I was very happy about. I was worried that I might turn up and be on my own! Unfortunately due to Ramadan, the cafe we planned to meet at was closed, so we had to make do by sitting in the near-empty mall.

Here we are....

From left to right the girls are :- Kundi, Eva, Lindsay and Sydney. Yes, we were sitting the wrong way around, using the back of the bench as a make shift table! Kundi has been knitting since she was 6 years old, Eva (with the fab Baby Surprise Jacket!) is a long time crocheter but started knitting recently with the birth of her son. Linsday is relatively new to knitting but is already producing some amazing work and Sydney is a non-knitter who stumbled on some of our blogs and decided to come along. We have vowed to get her knitting too!

We had such a great afternoon and all of the girls were really nice. It was so nice to meet some fellow knitters and it is definitely going to become a regular thing. Next time there will be coffee and comfortable seating, I promise!

We didn't get a whole lot of knitting done, but I did manage to sew in a few ends on my socks for Nanny.

Pattern: Sweetpea from Knitty
Yarn: Essential Sock Yarn by Knitpicks in Riverbed Multi.

I like the patterning that the increases and decreases make. I think that is was attracted me to the pattern. The slip stitch heel was also interesting. It makes for a slightly thicker fabric in that area.

I'm not altogether happy with this yarn though. It's cheap, so I can't argue with that, but it seems to lack elasticity. These socks have quite a snug fit. Once I get them on my foot, they fit really well, but getting them on is a bit of a task. I'm hoping that my grandmother has slightly skinnier feet than me.

The only modication that I made was to reduce the number of decreases on the toe by half as they were looking a bit too pointy for my liking. The result is quite a short toe, but I think it works.

And just to prove that I actually knit two socks, here's a photo of the pretty effect of the special cast on that this pattern calls for. If you have calves like mine, the effect is kind of lost by the time you put them on, but for ladies with slender legs, the effect is quite nice!

It's still on!

2008-09-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

I've had such a blonde moment! Organising our first Abu Dhabi SnB to be held in a cafe, in the afternoon, during Ramadan! Der! For those who don't live here, during the holy month of Ramadan, Muslim people are fasting during the day, which means that most cafes and restaurants are closed until about 6pm.

Never fear, it is still on! Because of the late realisation that the Caribou cafe will probably be closed at 3pm tomorrow afternoon, we will still meet there and then decide what to do from there. I have a few back up plans brewing in my brain. So please still come along. We will still have a great time.

I hope to see you there!

And we're back!

2008-08-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

Ravelry has been unblocked here in the U.A.E!

Yay, yay and triple yay!

See you there!

I love visitors!

2008-08-30T07:38:00.000-07:00

Having visitors is great! It revitalises the soul. Especially living over here with no family and friends living close by.

Last weekend, my cousin Judith, her husband Darin, and their two kids Joshua (ten) and Isabella (eight) came to stay with us on their way to Germany. Darin has some family living in Germany and is also planning to run the Berlin marathon, as you do!

We took them to see all the sights of Abu Dhabi, and a few in Dubai. Here's some photos.

At the camel farm during our desert safari.

Me with Mrs Camel.

A camel kiss for Joshua!

Desert sunset.

Fun in the sand.

Camel ride for Isabella and Josh.

At the Grand Mosque, only recently opened for visitors.

Josh on the big carpet.

Us inside the Grand Mosque (yes, that is me on the right!).

Isabella and her Henna Tattoo (don't worry, it's temporary!)

Joshua and Isabella are such good kids and they really seemed to enjoy the cultural stuff as well as things like the camels and dune bashing. We had such a fun time. I hope they are having a great time over in Europe.

It's my birthday and I'll buy if I want to!

2008-08-09T05:12:00.000-07:00

There's been a few shopping confessions of late in the blogging world. This one in particular made me want to fess up to my own recent indulgences.

First there was the book sale at Knit Picks. 40% off everything! Knitting books in bookstores are basically non-existent here so online shopping is my only outlet to feed my knitting book addiction. Here's what I got.

You'll notice that two of these books are actually crochet books. I have the other Lucinda Guy books, and I just love looking at them, so I had (HAD!) to buy that one. Also, since I finished the Tetris blanket, I have all this left over worsted weight yarn in a multitude of colours just begging to be crocheted in to Amigurumi. The pattern called for two balls of each colour, so I bought three balls of each, not wanting to run out (you understand) and for all of the colours except those I used on the border, I only used one ball. That's a lot of left over yarn!

The crochet books (and my desire to learn how to crochet) lead me to realise that I don't own crochet hooks! So online I went and before I knew it I had bought a complete set of hooks. During this process two Berocco Norah Gaugan booklets managed to also hop into my shopping cart. Whoops! I'm now waiting (impatiently!) for this package arrive. I love parcels!

The third online shopping expedition come about when I got an email from the people at sKNITches saying that they had new yarn in store. I have looked dreamily at their online wares before (hand dyed sock yarns in luscious colourways and interesting yarn blends) but had always been disappointed by the lack of stock. So this time I had to get in quick (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it). This little shopping trip ended up being a big shopping trip and the result is that my stash of sock yarn grew by six balls, each ball being enough for one pair of socks. "But you don't knit socks Charmaine!" I hear you say. That, my friends is a minor point indeed. This package also has still not arrived. I'll be sure to show it off when it does. Did I mention that I love parcels?

So I was thinking about all of this indulgence and how it made be feel. Of course I was having fun, but did I feel any shopping guilt? I decided that the answer was a resolute NO! For starters, it's my birthday this month so I think I am entitled to buy myself a few birthday pressies. Secondly, I work hard and I earn my own money, so if I want to buy myself something every now and then, I bloody well will!

Having said all of that, I have decided that I should tighten my belt for the time being and make sure I use some of these books and yarn that I have bought. Let's see how long I can last!

Speaking of knitting from my stash, I finally have some photos of the finished Seascape. Here it is artfully draped around my shoulders.....

.... and here it is artfully draped over the ironing board!!

Pattern: Seascape by Kieran Foley on Knitty
Yarn: KnitPicks Shadow (100% Merino) in Grape Jelly (One and a bit balls)
Modifications: None, other than I did nine repeats of the central chart rather than the recommended six, to give a longer scarf/stole.

This will get packaged up to go to my Aunt Didi as soon as I finish knitting some socks for my Grandmother. Both will be belated birthday presents. Yes, you heard me right, I am knitting socks. Photos of those soon.

Finally Phiaro!

2008-07-31T06:59:00.000-07:00

Back in May I was complaining of RSI from knitting my Phiaro Scarf. After I did the cast off and drop stitches thang it sat on the back of a chair waiting for the fringe to be plaited and the ends to be sewn in. Eventually I got around to that and I even blocked it and then it sat on the ironing board waiting to be photographed.

Finally, two months later I would like to present the finished Phiaro!

Pattern: Phiaro Scarf by Katie Himmelberg from Knitscene Winter 2007/Spring 2008
Yarn: Oasis by Southwast Trading Company in Chocolate #53 100% Soysilk
Modifications: None

I'm quite happy with it but it has turned out to be very long, perhaps too long. I contemplated cutting off some of the length, but that would mean doing all those plaits again. Noooooo!

Now while this is a scarf, I think that this is a garment that I will actually get to use a lot here. The soysilk is cool on your skin while providing a small amount of additional warmth that is often required in an arctic air conditioning! Yay!

SnB here we come!

2008-07-19T05:15:00.000-07:00

I'm going to do it. I've been talking about it for a while, but I'm going to finally start the Abu Dhabi Stitch'n'Bitch! I've had a few comments from interested knitters over the last few weeks and that has given me the motivation to finally get organised.

I'm thinking that we should call it something else here though. Maybe something a bit more culturally sensitive for living in this part of the world. I'm open to suggestions on this.

September will be the first month. A lot of people leave Abu Dhabi during July and August, plus this gives me time to get the word out.

Date: Second Friday of the month so September's will be the 12th September 2008
Location: Caribou Coffee at Marina Mall (1st floor near the Snow Dome)
Time: 3pm

I've chosen this cafe because it is never very busy, it's kind of out of the way in case anyone feels a bit self conscious about knitting in public and they have nice comfy lounges to sit on and pretty good coffee. The day, date and time are completely open for discussion, so to all the interested knitters (crocheters, and other needle crafters are welcome of course) please let me know what you think. Would you prefer it to be on Saturdays? Is 3pm too late? Does the second Friday of the month clash with some other activity? Please let me know.

Are you excited? I'm excited!

G-L-O-R-I-A! Gloria!

2008-07-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

You know the Van Morrison song right?

Today is my grandmother's 85th birthday. Her name is Gloria. To me she's always been Nanny. I wanted to talk about her today because I think she is a really amazing woman!

Here we are together on my wedding day five years ago.

My Nanny has always been such a loving and fun influence on my life. When I was born my Mum was 18 and had not yet attended University. While Mum went to college to become a teacher Nanny looked after me every day for the first three years of my life. I have memories of picking flowers with her in the garden, bath time with Nanny singing "here we float, in a golden boat..." and walks in the neighbourhood. Years later when I moved from the Gold Coast to Wollongong to go to University, Nanny and Grandad would come and visit me, and there would always be a big ice cream container full of Nanny's home made Anzac biscuits and $20 in my hand when they were saying goodbye. I always loved those visits.

These days Nanny is still really active and lives in her own home. She is very involved in the community and with her family. Later this year she is planning to take a three week tour of Vietnam! I just think that is so amazing!

Nanny has always been very crafty. She has tried her hand at almost every needlecraft that I can think of. Knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, embroidery, tatting, black work. You name it, she's done it. Back in 2004, I got this idea in my head that I wanted to learn how to knit, so the first person I thought of to help me out was Nanny. A lunch was planned at my Aunt's house to celebrate Nanny's 81st birthday and I came prepared. Here's Nanny on the day.

I turned up with some plastic 5.5mm needles, a ball of cheap acrylic yarn and a plea; "Nanny, will you teach me to knit? Please?"

Here is the result.

The is a photo of my first ever swatch of knitting (apart from a disastrous attempt at knitting when I was about 10). See how proud I am. The rest, as they say, is history.

Happy Birthday Nanny! Thank you for everything you have taught me. I love you.

Eye Spy....

2008-07-09T02:52:00.000-07:00

What's that? Don't tell me. Is it lace?

Why I do believe it is......

The pattern is Seascape from the latest Knitty. The yarn is Knit Picks shadow in Grape Jelly from my stash.

Okay, so the pattern is not that difficult, but it is lace and it was one of my goals for this year. My actual statement was "Knit some proper lace work (with lace weight yarn)". Do you think it qualifies? I think I will give this to my Aunt Didi. I think she will like it.

But o-oh! What's this?

I don't think it is supposed to look like that! Off to the frog pond we go.

Something that has been finished for a while but hasn't made an appearance here yet is the Tetris Blanket. You remember Tetris don't you, the computer game? Here it is in all its multicoloured glory!

Pattern: Tetris Blanket, free pattern here
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Worsted
Modifications: I ditched the "Mock Crochet" edging. It was a bit too frilly for the techno vibe in my opinion. I added a simple garter stitch border and finished off with Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Sideways Border" from the Knitter's Almanac to give it a nice stretchy edging.

The blanket if for Chi Wai's best friend Jason and his wife Shino who are expecting a baby boy in August. Chi Wai helped me choose the pattern. Can you tell? I hope they like it.

Just in case you were wondering, Ravelry is still blocked here. I just checked.

Things I miss.....

2008-07-04T00:29:00.000-07:00

Every now and then, I get a bit homesick and start thinking about the things that I miss. You all know I am missing my family and friends like crazy, but this list is for some of the funny little things that I miss sometimes. The not so obvious things.

1. Freddo Frogs.

Yes of course I had to start with something made of chocolate! For readers who are not from Australia I should explain. Freddo Frogs are a small chocolate sold individually, that are shaped like a cartoon frog. I especially miss the strawberry and peppermint cream filled versions. They are just the right size when you need a little something sweet. I hear you saying "but what about Carmello Koalas?". Well funnily enough, I can actually get CK's here in Abu Dhabi. It's just one of the weird imports stocked by our local Spinneys Supermarket along with Bulla icecream and Bega cheese!

My special memory of Freddo Frogs is from when I was at University, my friend Alison and I would go to the Uni book shop during the lecture break and buy a strawberry Freddo and a small plain milk. After that we would be ready for another two hours of boring Engineering lectures.

I miss you too Al.

2. David Jones and Grace Bros.

They really don't know how to do a good department store here. In Dubai they have versions of US and UK departments stores such as SAKS on Fifth Avenue, Debenhams and Harvey Nichols, but they only a capsule collection rather than stocking a good selection of everything, and mostly they only stock clothes, accessories and cosmetics. You know I love these things as much as the next girl, but I miss being able to go to DJ's and GB's (yes I know its not called that anymore, but I just don't care!) and looking at all the homewares, books, electronics, linen or just whatever. I miss shopping there with my girlfriends.

3. My LYS

Okay, so maybe this is one of the more obvious things, but I had to put it on the list. Shopping for yarn online is fun, I love getting the parcels in the mail, but it's just not the same and holding the yarn in your hands, giving it a squeeze, seeing the colours with your own two eyes. When you buy something online there is always risk, unless it's something you have bought before. What will the colour be like in real life? How will it feel? Will it be scratchy? My LYS was called Daisy Designs in Fairy Meadow NSW. Apart from all the yarny goodness at DD, the best part was the owners (Kerry, Rae and Christine) were friends of mine and every second Tuesday we would gather there, a small group of knitters and drink cups of tea with some Lemon Crisps and have a drool over all of the new yarns that had come in. It was tops!

4. Triple J (Radio Station)

In Abu Dhabi there is a choice of two English speaking stations, one is a "classic hits" station the other is a "Top 40" station. Both of them are crap in my opinion, but we end up flipping between the two anyway. I worry about the effect it is having on me (LOL). I'm a Triple J girl, what can I say. I miss the non-commercialness of it and all the local music.

5. Australia

It's funny how patriotic you become when you are not living in your home country. I am always excited and proud to find Australian products in supermarkets and shops. Recently we went to Dubai to watch the Socceroos play in a World Cup qualifier against Iraq and I was passionate and loud! Chi Wai even went out and bought an "Australia" t-shirt for the occasion. Here's my brother Marc who was visiting from London (with the stripey t-shirt and camera around his neck), Chi Wai (with the kangaroo t-shirt, arms folded) and Brian our house mate ("Australia") supporting the Green and Gold!

We lost by the way. :-(

There are many more things that I miss, but I think I have gone on long enough! All that missing doesn't mean that we are not having a good time over here and that we are miserable. Not at all. I just get a bit homesick sometimes. Nothing that can't be fixed with a slice of Vegemite on toast and Caramello Koala chaser!

Progress Report

2008-06-13T03:54:00.000-07:00

At the start of the year, back in this post, I set myself five goals.

Now at half way though the year I've managed to meet one of these goals! Yay! Ticking off goal number two on the list is my first ever fair isle project. Admittedly it was a pretty easy one, but I'm still quite happy with it. Presenting Tam C of the Three Tams fame.

The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Beige (102) for the background and Noro Silk Garden in no. 239 for the pattern work. I ran out of the Cashmerino at just the right point in the pattern and finished up with the Noro. There's one mistake in my fair isle (can you see it?) but I was on the home stretch and couldn't make myself go back to fix it. I absolutely love working with Noro yarns. Love, love, love it! I love the way the colours seem to change organically, blending from one to the next. I even love those unexpected colours that seem to have no business being there. Can you see the almost fluorescent yellow that has popped up on my beret amongst all the muted browns and blues. Love it! I know Noro yarns are not the most buttery smooth of yarns and this is where the Cashmerino comes to it's rescue. It's a great combination. I have plans to make more of these, so hands up, who wants one?

As for the rest of my goals, well I think I will have to get a wriggle on. Still no socks and no lace. I'm completely failing number five, with my project based obsession continuing. I guess there are some things in your nature that you just can't fight.

Something else that just flew off the needles were two Brea Bags. Unfortunately, after they flew off the needles they then sat around waiting to be seamed and lined. I have finally finished one of the bags. Here it is in all it's fully lined, handle attached, button on glory....

I like the way that the lining peeks through, although I can see why other people have decided to add a zip closure to this bag. I'm not sure how secure the items it is holding will be in its current state. Does anyone have any suggestions to rectify this (that don't involve lots of unpicking of lining to sew in a zip)? Here's a closeup.....

The yarn is four balls of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Hollyberry held double on 5.50mm needles. One of these days I'll around to lining the second one. One day....

I have a few things on the in the WIP pile at the moment, but I'll leave those for next time. So until then, here's a photo of me sporting the my beret in 38oC heat!

P.S.....

2008-06-13T03:45:00.001-07:00

I have noticed that my weather pixie has changed into her bikini. Poor thing, I don't think she will get to wear clothes now for quite a while!

What happened?

2008-06-13T00:55:00.000-07:00

It's been six weeks since my last post and people have started to wonder what's going on! I even had a concerned comment from the lovely Yasmin worried that something might have happened to me. I thought that was really sweet, so thank you Yasmin, you have given me the motivation to write this post.

I don't really know what was going on, but I was having a bit of a "downer" about my blog. It started with the blocking of Ravelry. For those who are not living in the Arab world, our internet service here passes through a Government run proxy which can block access to particular websites if they feel they are "inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates". I've been using Ravelry for less than a year and when they blocked it it was like a close friend has passed away! I was devastated. Chi Wai, my darling husband was on to it straight away, and filed a request to have the site unblocked. Here was the response we got just yesterday....

Dear Etisalat Customer,

Thank you for contacting us, we are extremely sorry for the fact that the site you have requested ( www.ravelry.com ) can not be unblocked.

Reason: Dating and Relationships.

Can you believe it? It's a knitting site people! What really irks me is that Facebook, the most perverted "Dating and Relationships" site there is, has not been subjected to the same fate. Grrr! Facebook was previously blocked but has for some time been accessable. I will have to live in hope that they will see reason for Ravelry also.

So you would think that the loss of Ravely would have spurred me on to madly write more blog posts, being the only outlet to share my knitting stories, but it didn't. It probably had something to do with the other major component of my life over here, work!

I have never talked about work on my blog before, and don't worry, I'm not about to start now, but let's just say, things have been really hotting up! For those of you who don't know, I'm here managing a project to build a factory. I'm not going to say any more than that because I know it's soooo boring for anyone who is not involved. We are now just a few months away (hopefully, fingers crossed, things keep coming up to delay us!) from commissioning the factory and it is consuming all of my brain power! When I come home from work, it's like I'm in some kind of vegetative state. The three of us, Chi Wai (hubby) and Brian (housemate) are working on the project too, just sit there and stare at the TV barely moving until it's time for bed. So sad really.

But fear not readers! This does not mean that I have not been knitting! Of course I have been knitting, I just haven't been writing about it. Phew! I can hear the collective sigh of relief from here! I even have a few FO's to discuss, but I will leave that for another post. I promise I won't leave it so long this time.

Thanks again to Yasmin and Zena (bf) for giving me the nudge that I needed.

EZ Delight!

2008-05-03T03:06:00.001-07:00

I finished my first ever Elizabeth Zimmerman project!

Here it is in progress....

Actually I finished it a few weeks ago. It's taken me until now to post about it. Here it is, my first February Cardigan.

The yarn is a hand dyed mystery yarn given to me for Christmas by Zena. It feels to me like merino because of it's bounciness. I think it works really well with this pattern. The lace pattern softens any colour pooling that might be going on. The cardigan is is shown here with a pair of "Magic Slippers". These were really fun and quick to knit, great for leftover yarn. Don't ask me who these are for. Surely someone will have a girl one of these days!

Before buying this book I had never read an EZ pattern before and boy was I missing out! She's a hoot, mad in a perfectly good way. I was sitting on the lounge reading the book like it was a novel, occasionally having a chuckle to myself. Chi Wai and Brian were having a hard time understanding how I could find a knitting book so amusing. I tried reading bits out to them, but they didn't get it. Non-knitters, humph!

I loved knitting the cardigan and love the finished result. I'm going to try a second one but modify it to make it more boyish, maybe with some cabling or something. A big thanks to the February Cardigans of Knitabulous and RandomKnits for inspiring this knit.

In other knitting news, I am nearing completion on a Phiaro Scarf. My main motivation for knitting this scarf was to try out the yarn. It's called Oasis by the Southwest Trading Company and it is 100% Soysilk. In ball form it didn't live up to my expectations, but now that it has been knitted up, I can see why people gush over it. The drape is just gorgeous. This is knitted in a big tube before you cast off and drop the stitches. Really, really mindless knitting, so much that I manage to get up quite a bit of speed whilst knitting it. I think I have delevolped a RSI in my left hand and it has been sore even when I'm not knitting. Everyday I say to myself "I won't knit tonight to give my hand a break" and every night, there I am knitting. Pretty sad really.

Here's the culprit!

Last night I finished the tube of pain and now I can start casting off and dropping stitches. All of those stitches that have caused me such pain! I'll get my revenge yet. Heh heh heh!

And it goes a little somthing like this....

2008-04-25T01:46:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to the beach. Let me paint the scene for you, paint by numbers style.

There was....

980 men, frolicking on the sand or in the water, in all their hairy backed glory
10 men playing the most serious game of beach soccer you have ever seen
6 women dressed in full Abaya and head scarf not swimming
3 women in bikinis brave enough to endure the stares to make it to the water
1 man swimming in white underpants!

Guess which one I was was.

Needless to say, once I had retreated to the safety of my beach towel with my dress back on, the people watching was quite interesting indeed!

Finally!

2008-04-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

Here's some photos of me in my Puff Sleeved Cardigan, finally!

These were taken today, while it was about 35 degrees Celsius outside! It might be a while before I actually get to wear it, at least until the next trip to the movies. The air-con is always arctic in the cinema!

Collar up!

Collar down!

A bit of a closer look.

This cardigan has taught me a few things. I think the high neck makes me look a bit more busty than I like. I think, for me anyway, cardigans with a v-neck or scoop neck are more versatile. Secondly I really should have realised, anything with a raglan sleeve, really isn't going to have much of a puff even if the name of the pattern says so! Lastly, the yarn (Knit Picks Swish DK in Maple) for a Merino yarn, has quite a bit of drape, so much so that the Mandarin collar doesn't really want to stand up by itself. That bit is bugging me about this cardigan. Apart from that, I'm pretty happy with it. I'm especially happy with the fit.

Speaking of people wearing their handknits, check out Sam and Archie sporting my handy work.

Such smiley babies!

Knit-Knack Paddy Whack!

2008-04-05T06:33:00.000-07:00

Since we got back from Australia (four weeks ago) I have been a bit of a knitting zombie, blindly plugging away at the familiar and boring. I just haven't been able to make a decision on what to knit next. Well, what to knit next that is interesting anyway. I think part of the problem is that I can't choose something and then just pop down to the shops and buy some yarn for it. Instead I need to choose yarn online and sometimes the results of this can be interesting to say the least. Then I have to wait for it to arrive. The whole process has been sapping my motivation!

Strangely enough, the result of all this has meant that I have been somewhat productive, even if the items are a bit boring.

I've had my eye on the Brea Bag by Norah Gaughan for a while now. I think it's really cute. I had a bit of a space out when I bought the yarn for this and then didn't realise my mistake until after I had finished knitting it. The pattern specifies to hold the yarn double to give a denser fabric which is good for a bag. Instead I just bought yarn which matched the guage and knitted it single (der!). No matter, I just need to find a dark sturdy fabric to line it with that will give the bag some structure and won't show through the knitting.

The yarn is Knit Picks Andean Silk in Chocolate and I have to say, that for a alpaca and silk blend, this yarn is not as luxurious as you would expect, but I guess at $4.29 a ball I shouldn't complain. I have bought a handle for this, but it just arrived this week, so I have not yet sewn it on. I think I will wait until I have sewn in the lining anyway.

So while this project wasn't exactly boring, I've now cast on for another one in my desperation to not stop knitting! Here's the first side completed, knitted in one session!

After I completed knitting the first Brea Bag I was at a complete loss as to what to knit. I searched through my stash and this is what I came up with. The twin baby shrugs!

The pattern is by Debbie Bliss and is from "Simply Baby". It's very similar in construction to the Ribbed Baby Jacket (also by Debbie Bliss) which I recently completed for baby Thomas, so by the time I was on the second one I was knitting with my eyes closed, well almost. The second one took me less than a week of night time knitting to complete. Yay! The yarn is Knit Picks (surprise surprise!) Shine Worsted, in Snapdragon and Wave. It really is a great pattern and I think I would make it again, just not for a while. These are for the girl baby twins in my life, Carlie and Sophie. The flower was knitted from memory from the "Head Huggers" pattern that I made years ago. I have just tied these on so that they can be removed for washing and/or if Mum and Dad decided that such frippery is not suitable for babies!

So as I said, I am now plugging away blindly on the second Brea Bag with plans for a third, but there is light at the end of the tunnel of zombie-ness. Yesterday I finally sat down and bought some project specific yarn. I spent a lot of money and it's not from Knit Picks! Now I just have to wait for it to arrive......

Speaking of stash enhancement, here are some pics of the fixings for the Brea bags which arrived this week from M&J Trimmings. How I love the Internet!

Yes, I know I went a bit overboard with the buttons, but you just don't know for sure if they will look any good in real life. So it's better to get a few different ones, don't you think? Needless to say, my button stash is getting quite large. Heh heh heh!

One Disaster After Another

2008-03-29T04:43:00.000-07:00

One week exactly after we got back to Abu Dhabi from Australia, Zena, Mark, Archie and Sam arrived to visit us. We were so excited to have them coming to stay with us, so that we could show them what life is like over here, show them all the new things that we have seen.

From the moment their plane landed however, things started to go wrong. I'm not going to go into too many details, but we had everything from sick babies, missing baby seats, food poisoning, hot water burns, nappy explosions and all of us had at least one day where we felt like absolute cr@p. I just know in years to come we are going to look back on this holiday and laugh! Right?

Despite the mishaps we still managed to have a reasonably good time. Needless to say though, any plans we made went straight out the window. Heres some pictures.

Sam and I at Mall of the Emirates.

Out side Madinat Jameira with the Burj Al Arab in the background.

Zena and I at the top of Jebel Hafeet in Al Ain.

Chi Wai and Archie.

After all that, there were tears at the airport (from me) as we waved them off to the UK. I hope they are having a great time and are not too cold!

Phew!

2008-03-27T03:55:00.000-07:00

I'm out of breath from everything that has been happening lately and I haven't had time to blog. Consequently, I have plenty to update you all on. A warning, this is a photo heavy post. So here goes.......

Three weeks ago we had our flying visit back to Australia to go to our friends' wedding. We left Abu Dhabi on the Thursday, arrived in Sydney on Friday morning (7am!), were back at the airport on Monday and back at work bleary eyed on Tuesday. That amounted to about 3 and a half days in Sydney, and boy did we do a lot!

We were met at the airport by my BF's Alison and Zena with the twins in tow. I got to have my first cuddle and I have to say they are just the cutest little things! Sam has a bright red Mohawk and Archie has the most gorgeous big blue eyes.

After a quick shower back at Zena's we headed off to the city to meet my mum (who flew down from Queensland for one night to see me, thanks Mum!), my aunt Didi and my grandmother, Nanny for lunch in the Queen Victoria Building. There was lot's of cuddles, presents and girly giggles. Here's some photos.....

Here's Nanny having a cuddle with Archie.

Now it's Mum's turn.

The girls.

And Chi Wai and I having a cuddle and a cuppa!

That night we went to a Spanish restaurant in Darlinghurst for Tapas, Paella and Sangria. We got to catch up with more special friends, Norman and Stephen, Linh, Martin, MJ and Kayne, and Al's partner in crime AJ brought up Ruby and Dalton too. There are no photos sorry. We were too busy with the sangria and the two bottles of Moet that we bought duty free. So good to catch up with good friends.

On Saturday it was the wedding of our friends Sylvia and Darren. They have been together for 16 years so the slogan for the day was "Hitched at Last!". The ceremony was in a park up high overlooking one of the Northern Beaches of Sydney (Queenscliff area) and the weather was stunning.

Some snaps from the ceremony.....

Location, location, location.

Good friends (Jason and Shino (newly expecting), me (der!), Mel and Mike (about to pop!) and Richard (happy being fat, well so he tells me!).

Getting hitched!

Chi Wai and I with the happy couple.

The reception was at a Chinese restaurant at the Esplanade in Manly which was also fabulous. This was the view from the restaurant. No bad eh? Tee hee!

Lastly, here are some snaps from the reception.

We had such a great time. I'm glad we made the trip over for it.

The next day we hit the Marigold in Chinatown for Yum Cha. At this point I think I was running completely on adrenalin! We had such a big group, about 30 of us, it was great, although I have to apologize for not getting to spend enough time with everyone.

My aunt Didi and uncle Peter came with my cousin Christopher and his girlfriend Kat.

Some of the knitting girls were there too! Donna and Ailsa made the trip up from Wollongong and Cambletown just to see me! Aren't I lucky. Here they are (left to right) Donna and Ailsa, with Zena, Alison and Sam.

Here's the rest of the gang.

On a knitting aside, in the bottom centre panel of the collage above is my friend Julie with her new baby, Thomas. I knitted him ribbed baby jacket by Debbie Bliss which I discussed previously here. Here are some finished pics.

That evening a few of us headed back to Chi Wai's brother's place for a relaxing BBQ. Well it was relaxing for me, but I think hard work for Simon and Jenny who put on such an amazing spread. It was nice to be able to spend some quiet time with Chi Wai's family and some close friends. Thank you Simon and Jenny, you guys are amazing.

One thing that I loved about that night was how well the kids played together. Ruby and Dalton had never met MJ and Kayne until two days before and they got along like a house on fire. Apparently Ruby developed a bit of a crush on MJ! Tee hee, so cute!

The following day (Monday) there was just time for one last cuddle before heading off to the airport.

Aw, aren't those boys cute!

It was such an amazing weekend! Special thanks to Zena & Mark and Simon & Jenny for letting us stay with them and to Norman and Stephen for being our event organisers for the weekend. A big thanks to everyone else that came to see us. It was so good to see you, I think it has made me miss everyone more! We love yous all!

Like I said, phew! And I haven't even talked about Zena and Mark's visit last weekend. I think I might break here for a rest and tell that story another day. Be back soon.....

News!

2008-02-29T06:18:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post about this for a while, but it just hasn't happened until now. I have big news!

Next weekend, in 7 sleeps, Chi Wai and I will be touching down in Sydney airport! That's right, we're going home. It's only going to be a flying visit, but I don't care. I'm soooo excited! The main reason for our visit is to go to our friends' wedding, but really I think it was just the excuse we needed to make a visit home. We'll only be in the country for three and a half days (crazy I know), but we're planing to fit a lot into that short time.

The other exciting news is, exactly a week after we get back from Australia, my best friend Zena, her hubby and the twins will be arriving here in Abu Dhabi to stay with us for nearly a whole week. How fantastic is that! I can't wait.

In knitting news, I have been somewhat productive since I finished R uby's cardigan. I have finished the vest for her big brother Dalton, made a jacket for her baby cousin Thomas, and managed to complete the long languishing Puff Sleeved Cardigan. I've madly blocked everything today so that the presents will be ready to take back with me next weekend (did I mention that it is only 7 sleeps?).

Here's some sneak peaks of these projects before blocking.

Dalton's vest......

Pattern: Vest with Splits and round neck from "Panda 8plys: 11 handknits for kids"
Yarn: Knitpick Swish DK in Asparagus

The only change I made to this pattern was to knit it in the round rather than in two pieces, to reduce seaming. This was sooooo boring to knit, but I think it will look nice on Dalton.

Baby Jacket for baby Thomas before seaming......

Pattern: Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss available for free here
Yarn: Knitpicks Shine Worsted in Seaspray

This was really quick to knit and I think it's going to look great. I've got some gorgeous buttons picked out for this. They are hand turned wooden buttons that I bought from the Berry Markets on a visit to see my friend Sharon. I love the colour of this yarn (the photo doesn't really do it justice) and the feel is really nice and soft. It does produce some fluff though, which I'm hoping will settle down after blocking.

My mods on the Puff Sleeved Cardigan.....

Pattern: Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan from "Fitted Knits" by Stefanie Japel.
Yarn: Knitpick Swish DK in Maple Leaf

As I have discussed before, this pattern and I had issues! I worked hard to resolve these issues and I'm reasonable happy with the result. I'll talk more on this once I have some photos of the finish blocked object.

And finally, here they all are blocking (with Ruby's cardi too)!

Phew! I feel so much better now that I have got all that off my chest!

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!

2008-02-22T22:35:00.000-08:00

The day after the big fishing trip was Australia Day (I told you I had fallen behind) and one of the local international hotels was having a celebration, so we decided to check it out.

It was a little bit strange. I didn't think there would be enough Australians here to warrant an actual Australia Day function, and while I think there were a few ring ins in the crowd, there was definitely a good Aussie contingent present.

They were serving Crown Larger with an Australian themed menu.

We were a little perplexed by some of the dessert items, in particular the "Blue Currant Cheesecake" and the "Strawberry Truffle".

They had also gone to quite a bit of trouble with the decorations.

The "Bush Band" was three middle aged Filipino guys trying to remember the words to "Give me a home among the gum trees" and "Waltzing Matilda" with the "Tequila Song" thrown in for good measure. It was quite hilarious.

Here's Chi Wai and Brian admiring the "Aboriginal Artwork" and enjoying a Crownie. For those who know Brian, don't fret, we haven't driven him to drink, that's actually my beer!

Happy late Australia Day everyone!

Gone Fishin'!

2008-02-22T00:31:00.000-08:00

About four weekends ago now (man, I really have fallen behind), our house-mate Brian took us on a fishing trip. Back in Australia, Brian is really into his fishing, I mean big time. I'm talking as big into fishing as I am into knitting! He tells us stories of his fishing tackle stash and we compare how much money we have blown on out respective hobbies. He wins! He really, really likes fishing!

The kind of fishing that Brian is into, isn't your ordinary stand on a rock wall and wait for fish to arrive kind of fishing. He's after big fish that are a real challenge to catch, the kind of fishing where you need a boat, an ocean and expensive equipment, the kind of fishing where you kiss the fish and throw it back in when after you've reeled it in kind of fishing.

So anyway, a few months ago, Brian announced that he was going to go on a charter fishing trip and asked if we wanted to come along. We said, "yeah! Why not!".

We had to get up early for the four hour drive to a place called Dibba which is actually across the Omani border. Can you believe we went to another country just to go fishing? Apparently this where the fish are!

So we headed out on the boat with our guide Galvin, a young South African.

I've never seen Brian so happy!

There were plenty of fish around.

My plan was to sit back and enjoy the scenery.

You know, read a bit, be the photographer, that sort of thing. Fishing ain't my thang! But somehow I got roped in too!

All in all it was a good, but very tiring day, and while I enjoyed it, I don't think I'll be rushing out to do it again any time soon. It's all the salt spray, the boat bashing on the waves, too much wind messing up my hair, fish slime and not being able to go to the toilet for 8 hours! I'll leave it to the fishing fanatics.

I'll leave you with one last photo. I find it quite disturbing! It looks like I'm enjoying myself, but really I'm thinking "Hurry up and take the @#ing photo. This fish is wriggling and it's all slimy!"

Weekend Round Up!

2008-02-12T04:38:00.000-08:00

Posting to my blog has been a bit slack the last few weeks, because I have been so busy on the weekend. I have lots to catch you all up on.

We have nothing planned this weekend, so I will be madly trying to get up to date on all that has been going on in my life. Keep your eyes peeled!

Here's another road sign that I thought was a bit apt for this post. There were no road works whatsoever around this sign, so we were guessing that they were apologising for the general inconvenience that is the UAE. Tee hee!

Cardigan Complete!

2008-02-12T04:18:00.000-08:00

I completed the cardigan for Ruby last weekend. Here it is.....

It is not yet blocked in these photos, however, being mostly garter stitch, it almost doesn't need it. I will still will block it though, just to flatten the seams. I think the colour is the most acurate in the first photo. I'm pretty happy with the result. The merino is soft and spongey. I hope Ruby likes it.

Here's the girl in question, with her big brother Dalton, on her first day of school, just last week.

What an adorable photo!

I have since cast on for a vest for Dalton. I am completely bored with it already (too much stockinette in the round!) but should finish it this weekend hopefully. Photos to come.

Last post I discussed the problem with the vests I knitted for Zena's twins. See here. Zena, my very clever best friend has fixed the problem! Yay!

Here is little Sam (the bigger of the two twins) sporting the newly rectified vest.

Look at that red hair!

I am soooooo happy she was able to fix it. Thank you, thank you Zena. You are a star!

Ruby's Cardigan

2008-01-28T07:17:00.000-08:00

Look what arrived in the mail the other day!

The main reason for the online button purchase was for buttons for Ruby's cardigan (strawberry buttons in the centre of the photo). Most of the other buttons were "just because" purchases. I think they will come in handy somewhere along the line.

Here's a progress photo of Ruby's cardi where I am playing with the buttons. I wish they were a bit bigger. I think the chunky feel of this cardigan requires something a little larger. Hmmm....

I finally received Ruby's measurement the other day (thanks Zena xxoo) and this cardigan is going to be quite big on her. She's a little whippet of a thing. Oh well, at least she can grow into it and it should last her a few seasons, unlike the vests that I made for Sam and Archie.......

My best friend Zena was going through all the hand knitted items that she had either knitted her self, or had been given by other kind knitters on the arrival of her twin sons Sam and Archie, to see which items they had grown into. She decided to try on the vests which I knitted, only to discover....

The blue one with the round neck fits okay (this is Sam modelling), but there is a slight problem with the green v-necked one....

Good grief!

I laughed so hard when I saw these photos, I just had to post them, despite my obvious feelings of failure! Archie seems to think it's pretty funny too.

Zena, who is very clever (those who know her will agree!), has promised to try and rectify the problem. I hope that she can, I was really happy with these little vests and the blue one looks so cute on Sam.

So now you can see why I'm not too worried about Ruby's cardigan being a bit (a lot?) too big!

Here's both of the boys together, for a few more laughs (at my expense). Tee hee!

The Year that was 2007.

2008-01-27T03:09:00.000-08:00

I was thinking about it, and 2007 was a pretty big year for me. It started out with a bang of fireworks in San Francisco Bay after spending Christmas in New York City.

Soon after that came a job offer in another country. Ohmigod! Where in the hell is Abu Dhabi? This was the cry from friends and family. Some were worried for us ("Isn't that near Iraq?") but most were excited for us.

So we had to prepare everything for the big move. Pack up our little house ready for someone else to move in. We also had to take our beloved Lionus up to Queensland to live with his Nanny (my mum).

I miss our little house and our little boy!

The rest of the year was taken up with settling into life in a new country. Dealing the heat, no social circle and having a house mate for the first time in about 13 years, were all challenges additional to the already huge challenge of having a new job, in a different country, working with people who regularly break into Arabic in the middle of a meeting! There were sometimes tears and yelling but I think we have handled it all pretty well.

All this reflection lead me think about my knitting year. Really, in terms if knitting, 2007 was a quiet year for me. There were large gaps where there was no time for knitting at all. The one achievement that I can think of is that I knitted my first pair of adult socks (whilst living in a country where socks are a completely superfluous item of clothing!). Apart from that I don't believe I really stretched myself as a knitter. As a result of that I have decided to set myself some knitting goals for 2008! Here goes......

Knit at least one more pair of sock, preferably two at a time on circular needles,
Tackle at least one new technique such as fair isle or steeking (or both together!),
Knit some proper lace work (with lace weight yarn),
Try my hand at crochet.
Try to more of a process knitter (without completely denying my project knitting urges!)

I think these goals are achievable but enough to stretch me a little bit.

Rain, rain, go away......

2008-01-16T02:59:00.000-08:00

It has been raining here constantly for four days and the whole country is in complete chaos! On the radio this morning they read out the long list of schools and roads that are closed due to flooding. People we know that have lived here for 10 years are saying that they never seen rain like this before in the UAE.

The other thing is, it's cold! I'm talking 10 to 15 degrees Celcius. Okay, I'm not about to break out the beanie and mittens, but I was really not prepared for this weather! I don't have any warm clothes. I'm sitting here shivering as I type.

It is kind of nice to have some cooler weather though. I've already planned to make a big pot of minestrone soup on the weekend. We don't get to eat food like that very often here. Maybe I should make some kind of hot desert as well. Hmmmm......

Brrrr!

Random Ravings Part 2

2008-01-07T00:53:00.000-08:00

But wait, there's more!

I knew there was a few things that I forgot to discuss in my first rambling post!

I wanted to thank everyone who has left comments on my blog. I really love hearing from all of my knitting friends back in Australia. All the girls that I met through the Wollongong Stitch'n'Bitch and the girls from "Every Second Tuesday Night Knitting". I miss you all!

I get a special thrill when I get a comment from a complete stranger. Aim left three comments on my blog recently so I went to check out hers. She lives in the US with her puppy dog and has lots of links to other interesting websites. This is where the knitting blog community is great. After looking at her blog and clicking on a few links, I think I discovered about 10 new patterns that I want to knit (I need more patterns like a need a hole in the head, but hey!). Then I went straight to Ravelry and checked out these new patterns, to see how other peoples projects looked. It really gives you a good idea of how a pattern will look on a real person (not a model) and then maybe an idea of how the garment would look on the intended recipient. Did I mention that I love Ravelry?

I just have to show you one of the links that I stumbled across from Aim's blog. It's a pattern for a crocheted, smiling poo! Laugh!

Speaking of loving Ravelry, I was discovered by another knitter who lives in Abu Dhabi! How exciting is that. Her name is Lulu (I have a feeling that is not her real name though) and she lives on the other side of the island to me (Abu Dhabi is an island, for those who didn't know) which isn't very far away. After reading her blog, 1001 Arabian Knits (great name!) I have deduced that she is South African, she has a cat (as well as a husband and daughter), she drinks wine (yay) and is a bit mad (in a totally good way of course).

This brings me to my last point (I promise!). Zena (BF) and I were talking about how I should start up the Abu Dhabi Stitch'n'Bitch to try and generate some knitting friends over here. I said I was scared that no one would show up! Now that I know about Lulu, at least there might be two of us! I'm still not sure though. We'll see.....

And, just because I don't like having a post without any photos, here's a pic of a sign on the way to Dubai. It always makes me laugh!

Random Ravings

2008-01-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

There's a few things that I need to fill you in on. I apologise in advance, I think it's going to be a long one.

I've been knitting the Puff-Sleeved Cardigan from Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits. As knitabulous commented previously, on 4mm needles, I was flying along. It was my first ever top down raglan and I was really enjoying it. See I'm happy in this photo.

This was all way back when I was making the strawberries. I was avoiding the felting stage of the first strawberry by knitting the cardigan, until I realised the date (about December 1st) and had to get my A into G and get back to the strawberries. When I came back to the cardigan I was approaching the peplum, this was where I began to hit problems. The pattern calls for a simple garter stitch lace pattern. After knitting to the second last row of the pattern (and encountering the error in the pattern) I decided that I hated it. So I frogged back to the start of the peplum and did my usual thing and avoided the problem by moving on to one of the sleeves. Now, I have to say that the sleeves are not particularly puffy for a cardigan called the puff-sleeved cardigan. I thought it might just be me and my big fudubuduhs, but after checking out how others had gone with this pattern on Ravelry, I found that I was not the only one with this issue.

Anyway, I eventually sat down with my stitch dictionary and settled on the "Ears of Corn" lace pattern. I knitted it up with the same number of decreases as the pattern called for and then tried the cardigan on. O-oh! While I was happy with the look of the lace pattern, the peplum was way too big and sticking out at all funny angles. Aaaargh! This is where this was a bit of a break through for me. In a previous life I would have just made the decision to live with the defect and then have been forever unhappy with the finished product relegating it to the back of the wardrobe, but not this time. This time I frogged back again and re-knitted the peplum for the third time, dramatically reducing the number of decreases and letting the negative ease (that I am so fond of) do it's thing. Yay! It was looking much better! It was at about this point that I realised that I was going to run out of yarn. Fan-bloody-tastic! So now the cardigan minus it's second sleeve and button bands is sitting in a bag waiting for supplies to arrive. That's all I have to say about that! I will post more pictures soon, I promise.

Speaking of Ravelry, I'm new to it and I just have to say, I lurve it! When I looked up the puff sleeved cardigan I was able see what everyone else had done. I was able to confirm that I wasn't going mad, yes there was an error in the lace pattern, and to get lots of ideas on how I could improve the pattern. Love it!

Okay, the next thing I wanted to ramble on about was the amazing Christmas present that Zena bought me. It's a gorgeous canvas bag that is just perfect for a big knitting project like a sweater and it has all these cool pockets for bits and pieces. The bag and it's pockets were filled with all sorts of fun things like Tim Tam Balls (already gone West) and Natural Confectionery Co. snakes (working on those) and Claire Bowditch's new CD (on high rotation). Thank you sweetie!

Here's the bag! I wish I could be more creative and have taken arty photo of it.

Are you still with me? I still have a few more things to get through.

Since the I ran out of yarn for the PSC I have been working on another red cardigan. Yes I know I have a bit of a thing about red cardigans, but this one is not for me. It's for my surrogate niece Ruby. Here's a pic of the progress about four days ago. I have since finished the back and am getting through one of the fronts. Nothing really that exciting to talk about with this one. It's a straight forward pattern from a Patons Kids Knits book and I'm knitting it in Knit Picks Merino Style in Strawberry (yes I have a bit of a thing about those too!). I think it will look cute on her.

Last thing I wanted to say was, Happy New Year! I'm a bit late I know. We (Chi Wai, Brian and I) went to an Italian restaurant that was having a special New Year's dinner. Here's Chi Wai and I at the start of the bottle of French champagne.

Here's me with Brian at the end of the bottle of champagne!

Tee hee! I wasn't that drunk, honest!

Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh! Hey!

2007-12-26T22:57:00.001-08:00

Now that Christmas day is over and all of the presents have been opened, I can make the final reveal of the Christmas gifts.

For my friends Zena and Alison, I made the Strawberry Clutch from Knitscene Spring 2007. It's knitted in Cascade 220 which was held double and then felted. This is the same yarn that I used for the Christmas decorations. The Christmas decorations actually came about because of a swatch I knitted to test the felting process. I felted the swatch by hand and it was such a pain I decided to have a go at felting my finished strawb's in the front loader. The first photo shows Strawberry No. 1 before felting.

This was my first proper go at machine felting and with the complication of the front loader I was more than a little nervous about it. I did some experimentation with the washing machine and managed to work out how to stop the machine mid-cycle (by turning off the power to the machine!) and with great trepidation I threw the first strawberry in with an old pair of jeans. I remember reading in a felting book to use the highest temperature available on your machine, so I set the machine at 95 degrees Celsius and turned her on. I stopped the machine quite a few times to check the progress and each time I did this I would have to re-start the wash cycle, hence adding a bit more water. The result was water all over my kitchen floor! Also I should have realised that 95 degrees was way too hot. The colour ran quite a bit, the white dots had become pink. Anyway, it felted pretty well and here is the result.

The gap between the columns of stitches is still visible in some places but I just couldn't seem to get rid of them. I had the same problem with my swatch. Maybe it has something to do with my guage. The pattern specified 9mm needles which I don't have so I used 10mm ones. I didn't think it would make much difference but maybe it did.

The next photo shows strawberry No. 1 felted and strawberry No. 2 before felting. You can see the difference in the colour of the yarn after felting quite well in this one.

Before felting the second strawberry I made two decisions. Firstly to drop the water temperature in the machine from 95 to 60 degrees. This worked out quite well as the colour did not run nearly as much. The second decision was to not stop the machine. The first strawberry took much longer than the machine's cycle to felt so I thought it would be safe to let the machine do it's thing and then when the wash cycle was over to check the progress then and restart the machine. This decision unfortunately did not turn out to be such a wise one. During the first wash cycle the strawberry got all scrunched up and must have stayed this way as the creases became permanent and in the depths of these creases the felting process got left behind. Even after I removed, flattened the piece before the second cycle, these spots never caught up and the creases were never really removed. It wasn't a complete disaster, but is definitively a lesson learned. You can see what I mean in this photo.

So the moral of the story is, 60 degrees is more than sufficient and check your felting progress regularly!

With the felting process over, the last thing to do was to sew in the lining. Did I mention that I found a little craft store in down town Abu Dhabi? It's a funny little shop called the Green Branch. It has oil paints, pencils, a few balls of yarn and knitting needles, some patchwork fabric and even buttons (a big container of miscellaneous buttons!). Much of the stock looks like it has been there forever. For example the steel press-studs had gone rusty on their cards. So with the help of the Green Branch, Chi Wai helped me chose some fabric to line the bags, and this it what it looked like....

All in all, I pretty happy with the end result, and I hear that Alison and Zena are pretty happy with their Christmas present too! Merry Christmas girls!

Christmas Cheer!

2007-12-25T09:03:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

Our Christmas this year has been an unusual one. There was none of the usual Christmas lead up social activities where you catch up with everyone you know before the big day. No work Christmas parties and not quite so much of the mad shopping frenzy that comes with the Season. Without all of those things it has felt a little less like Christmas, and highlighted how far away we are.

The part I have missed the most has been the happy gatherings that come with this time of year. The dinners, the champagne, the friends and family. That is my favourite part about Christmas.

Despite all that, we still had a pretty good Christmas. Last night Chi Wai, Brian and I went out for a special Christmas Eve dinner to a Japanese restaurant. It was very festive. Paper hats and all.

In the first photo, Chi Wai and I are showing off our haul from the posh Christmas crackers. Chi Wai's gift was a travel cork screw and mine was a retractable soft tape measure. It was like they knew we were coming!

On Christmas morning there were presents under the tree....

and my family was right there with me.

The far away family and friends were made to feel a little bit closer by the wonders of the World Wide Web.

For Christmas lunch we (Chi Wai, Brian and I) were invited to Zeina's house. Zeina is a colleague and it was so nice of her to invite us into her home for Christmas. Zeina and her family are originally from Syria and a traditional Christmas dinner consists of Arabic style food. This is the fantastic spread that she put on for us and her other guests.

Please note the dark brown football shaped morsels of goodness roughly in the centre of the photo. They are called Kebbeh (the spelling varies depending on the restaurant) but they are delicious and a particular favourite of mine. They are a bit difficult to describe but here goes. They outer crust made of similar ingredients to a falafel and the filling is spiced mince meat with pine nuts and the whole thing is deep fried until crisp. Yum!

Needless to say, we were well and truly stuffed and I had to have my traditional Christmas afternoon nap when we got home. Thank you Zeina and Joseph for having us!

Okay, so that's Christmas unwrapped. To all my friends old and new who read this, I hope your Christmas was a happy one.

xxxooo

Jingle all the way.....

2007-12-23T02:30:00.000-08:00

Okay, the Christmas presents have arrived in Australia and some of them have been opened so I can start talking about them.

For my darling surrogate nephews and niece I made some Christmas decorations. They started life as a knitted swatch.

It's Cascade 220 held double on 10mm needles. Next I felted it by hand to produce this.

Add some embroidery, some sequins and a bit of ribbon and this is what you get!

Personalised Christmas decorations for the gorgeous Ruby, Dalton, Sam and Archie!!! Yay!

I was pretty happy with the result. I think Ruby's one is my favourite. I would have liked for the embroidery to have stood out a bit better, but other than that I was pretty happy. I really like the look of the reverse stockinette side of the felt. Chi Wai said it looks a bit like the stitching on a Cricket ball!

There are still two more presents to be discussed, but I will leave that until Christmas day. I wouldn't want to spoil anyone's surprise!

India in a hurry!

2007-12-19T02:55:00.000-08:00

I just had a few days in India! It was all organised at the last minute. I just got back last night. What a whirlwind!

I traveled with Brian (my house mate) to interview potential employees for our factory. We interviewed about 25 people in two days and it was completely exhausting. Then we flew to Mumbai and interviewed three more. It's hard work I tells ya!

We went to a city called Vadodara (the city formerly know as Baroda) via Mumbai. It has a population of about 1 million (about the same as Abu Dhabi) but is such a different city. It's mostly low rise with a domestic airport only. We stayed in one of the two four star hotels and it was pretty comfortable. Here's a photo of me with the door man. His moustache was real and it was spectacular.

We ate some great food..... and no, it's not all for me!

The people we met were all really friendly and really happy to talk to us. One thing that really struck me was how beautiful the women were. Gorgeous big eyes, curvy bods and big white smiles. They looked so elegant in their saris and tunic with the long sash across their shoulders, hanging down their backs. Stunning.

Before this trip I had never really considered India for a holiday destination, but after this small taste, I really want to get back there and see more.

I'll leave you with one more image from India, one of the sacred cow. In Vadodara there were cows walking around the streets everywhere. They had long floppy gorgeous ears. Check out that udder!

Sweet FO's

2007-12-13T10:38:00.000-08:00

Can you believe that another friend of mine has had twins?

Sonia and Richard are now the proud parents of little Carlie and Sophie!

Such gorgeous little things, and here's my offering, ready to go into the post.

I just wanted something quick but sweet for two little darlings. They were knitted using Cleckheaton's Bambino Merino and the pattern is from a baby booklet I picked up from and Op Shop in Newtown. I can see them being worn over a little white romper.

In other Finished Object news, the Christmas presents are finished and posted. Here's another teaser.

I just hope they arrive in time.

Anniversary Weekend.

2007-11-28T00:36:00.000-08:00

It was our fourth anniversary on the weekend. Four happy years of being married to my sweetheart Chi Wai. We decided to go Dubai for the weekend and kick up our heels a bit.

There was wineing....

and dining....

and Cinnabon!

It was a great weekend.

Lastly here's a photo of us four years ago on our wedding day. Aren't we gorgeous!

P.S. I started writing this weeks ago. I just seemed to turn my head and away they flew. So here's the post at long last!

I think I have a problem!

2007-11-26T16:36:00.000-08:00

Look what arrived in the mail last Thursday.

As you can see, it's all from Knit Picks, and as you may have noticed, nearly all my other projects that I have blogged about so far (which have all been knitted since arriving in Abu Dhabi) have been knitted in Knit Picks yarn. This has led me to wonder, do I have some sort of Knit Picks addiction? Do I need to attend Knit Pickaholics Anonymous?

I will say, Knit Picks yarns are not my favourite yarns, I like them a lot but I wouldn't say that they were my favourite. So why the predilection to Knit Picks yarns? This is what I have come up with:-

You can't buy Knit Picks yarns in Australia, so there is definitely a novelty factor. You can't technically buy them here either but I have set up a mailing address in the U.S. to circumnavigate that issue.
The Knit Picks website is a bit of a one stop shop. I have yet to find a yarn shop in the U.A.E, I can't even find a shop that sells buttons, so I have to buy all my supplies online. For this reason, Knit Picks is convenient. They have a wide range to cover a lot of projects.
They are cheap! Even with the postage, it works out to be very reasonable, and I'm a tight @rse at heart!

So, do I have plans for all this yarn, all 2kg of it? Ah, of course not, it's because they had a sale on, I'm a sucker for a sale!

I do however have plans to make this.

It's from Stefanie Japel's "Fitted Knits". Actually I'm already 2 balls (out of a total of six) into it and enjoying every minute of it. It's knitted top down which is a first for me. I will post some progress photos soon.

Can I just say.......

2007-11-17T23:39:00.000-08:00

How gorgeous are these two boys!!!

And, ooh what a nice blanket in the background!!!

I wish I was there to give them a cuddle.

Jingle bells, jingle bells.....

2007-11-13T01:52:00.000-08:00

I am currently making some Christmas presents for two lovely ladies and their little ones. As it is quite possible that they might read this, I cannot post any pictures of my progress. Here's a hint instead.......

On a completely different topic, this morning when we left the house the whole city was covered in a heavy fog. We were quite amazed as nearly every day we have been here it has been a big blue sky day. Here's a picture taken from the car on the way out to our construction site. Can you see the date palms on the medium strip?

It gives you an idea of how consistent the weather is here, the fact that I am getting excited about a little fog! I dream of rainy days.....

Hello Josephine!

2007-11-10T23:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, here is another finished object. It is called The "Josephine Top" from Interweave Knits Summer 2007. I started this some time ago, practically finished but ran out of yarn with about half a ball to go. By the time reinforcements had arrived I was fully ensconced in the baby blanket and other baby related projects. Now finally it is finished, blocked and everything and I'm pretty happy with it.

It is knitted in Knit Picks Shine Sport in Coral. The colour was brighter than I was expecting but it has grown on me. What do you think?

This next photo is an attempt to show off the texture of the knit (not my boobs) that I really enjoyed knitting.

The only modification that I made to the pattern was to use a mitre in the centre of the "V" and to knit the neck trim in the round rather than joining it at the front after knitting. I'm happy with how it turned out. I thought that the short row sleeves worked well too.

Now back to creating some Christmas presents.....

Abu Dhabi Knits (Part Two)

2007-11-06T02:09:00.000-08:00

Here is part two in my knitting backlog saga.....

Next we have the knitting frenzy in preparation of the arrival of the t wins, Sam and Archie. The first picture is of the button-less cardigan. It is an old vintage pattern knit in Knit Picks Merino yarn (the name escapes me). The reason is is called the button-less cardigan is that I could not find any buttons here in Abu Dhabi, so it was sent off button-less! I'm not saying that I could not find any buttons that I was happy with, I'm saying I could not find a single shop that sells buttons, full stop!!! Can you believe that? The cardi is shown with a pair of booties from Debbie Bliss's "Simply Baby" knitted in Cleckheaton Bambino Merino. These turned out a little strange. Chi Wai's comment was that they looked like they were made for a baby with stumps. Needless to say I didn't knit another pair.

The cabled baby blanket is next. Its another pattern from Debbie Bliss's "Simply Baby" and knit in Knit Picks Swish DK in "Skybourne". Its a machine wash merino and it quite nice and soft. When I was knitting this, the cable pattern was all pulled in together so I had my fingers crossed that the blocking step would perform for me and it did. Yay! ZB described it as a triumph, so I was happy with that.

The final effort for the boys was the two vests shown below. The pattern, again, from Debbie Bliss's "Simply Baby" were knit in Knit Picks Ambrosia (80% Baby Alpaca, 20% Cashmere). So soft and luxurious for two little baby boys! The pattern had a round neck but as a variation I put a v-neck on the green one. I think they would look cute with a little white t-shirt underneath.

There, now I'm up to date, and I can start to talk about some current knitting projects. Until then, ciao!

Thursday Night - Movie Night!

2007-11-04T02:02:00.001-08:00

Going to the movies has become a bit of a regular feature on a Thursday night for Chi Wai, Brian and I. Thursday is equivalent to Friday night for us here. We head to Marina Mall to get a quick bite to eat before going to see whatever is on, usually an action flick, not usually a chick flick. I'm out numbered you know!

Last Thursday night we saw a movie called "Shoot 'em Up" starring Clive Owen (hot guy from "Sin City") and Monica Belucci (hot girl in a rubber frock in 2nd Matrix movie). Here's a synopsis of the movie.

There's this guy, Clive, eating a carrot, sitting at a bus stop in a really dingy part of town. This guy, just happens to witness a pregnant woman, apparently in labour, being chased by a mob of bad guys with guns trying to kill her. The pregnant lady takes refuge in a dark abandoned warehouse type location where she is followed by the mob of bad guys. Clive, who just happens to be a former special services crack shot, can't help himself and goes in to help the pregnant woman. He proceeds to kill most of the bad guys while delivering the womans baby. One of the bad guys is killed by Clive shoving his carrot into said bad guy's eye and out the back of his head!

During the scuffles, the woman, no longer pregnant is shot dead, so Clive has to take the baby with him, much to his disgust, he's a tough macho man after all. This is the point when we discover that the bad guys were actually trying to kill the baby, and of course the chase continues. So what is our guy Clive, going to do? Enlist the help of a lactating prostitute (Monica Belucci) of course! Now why didn't I think of that?

This pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the movie which is basically full of bad jokes, lots (and I mean lots) of shooting people, a few boob shots while the sexy Monica feeds the baby and a few more guys getting stabbed with carrots.

I really just wanted to write all that down, to see if it looked as ridiculous in print as it did on screen. Still, I'm not sure if it was the best movie I've ever seen, or the worst.

I wonder what we'll be going to see this Thursday night.......

Abu Dhabi Knits (Part One)

2007-10-27T01:43:00.000-07:00

We arrived here in Abu Dhabi five months ago, just in time for the summer. Summer here as you probably know is extremely hot. I'm talking 45-50 degrees Celsius every day and about 30-35 at night time. HOT! It's so hot that many Emiratis leave the country for a month or two to visit Europe. So imagine poor little me (me of the white, white skin!) trying to cope with it.

Anyway, during the peak summer months (June and August) it is really too hot to be outside for more than the few minutes it takes to get from air-conditioned house to air-conditioned car. So for me it meant lots of time indoors knitting. Here are the spoils.....

Above are my first ever pair of adult socks. The pattern is Monkey from Knitty by Cookie A. I really like her designs. I've used an unknown shade of Koigu sock yarn that I bought in New York in December '06. I was feeling so happy with myself when I finished these socks, I think I made quite a pest of myself around the house! hehehe Poor Chi Wai and Brian (our housemate) had to put up with my gloating!

To be continued.....

I'm an Auntie!!! Kinda.

2007-10-25T05:10:00.001-07:00

Look at these two gorgeous boys!

On the left is Sam (Samuel) Arthur and on the right is Archie Stephen (such skinny little legs!), born to my best friend ZB (what a star!) and her happy hubby. It's probably as close to being an auntie as I'll ever get. They were born on the 13th of October and here they are modeling some little rompers that I sent over. I'm such a proud auntie!! I just wish I was there to give them a cuddle and to help ZB.

Just to be fair, I do already have a gorgeous surrogate niece and nephew, Ruby and Dalton, pictured below, looking fabulous as always. I miss them terribly.

A long time coming!!

2007-10-25T02:58:00.000-07:00

So here it is. Finally I have a blog. I'm pretty sure that no one is going to read it and I think that is why I have taken so long to start one, but I have decided that there are things that I want to get "out there", so here it is.

For those of you who don't know me (just in case someone accidentally stumbles across this), I moved to Abu Dhabi earlier this year with my husband Chi Wai for work. Yep, just packed up everything and moved from Australia to the UAE.

So now I live my life on line through emails and instant messaging. So sad. This is one of my reasons for starting a blog, to keep everyone informed of our life over here.

The other reason for starting this blog is knitting related. I love knitting. There, I said it. In Australia I had quite a network of actual knitters to share my knitting related conversations with. In particular I was a regular member of the Wollongong Stitch'n'Bitch. Here in Abu Dhabi I have no one to show off my knitting to. Hence the blog.

So here goes.......