I Must Have Done Something Good

Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So, somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

This is one of my favourite song from the movie "The Sound of Music" , which I think a lot of people should know it. Why did I suddenlt think of the song? Because after I mailed out my swapping package in one afternoon, I got a big lovely package waiting for me at home, from my spoilee from the Ravelry Group "Swap of a Budget"!

I felt so loved when I started reading the words on the custom declaration form (It's my usual habit after receiving a package), which shows: 5 project bags. Oh yes! 5! We had to include a handmade item in the package, and I received 5! Totally spoiled. And then I read on: 12 skeins of yarn. What? 12? 1-2? which means 1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1? and Chocolate and magazines and all sort of things. I couldn't wait and read further. I just have to open it.

Here are all the goodies. Nothing disappointing. I am wholly spoiled.

I got 5 project bags, YES, I counted. Jackie (aka jikiknits on Ravelry) lovingly included 5 suggested projects for me, each of which is put in a project bag with nice squishy yarn. :)

This is the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark. It has been sit in my queue for a very long time. Jackie also included a skein of Heather by Terilyn Needleart of beautiful purply colour. It's 100% wool and should become a pampering shawl for me.

Jackie sent me the Spring 2009 issue of Interweave Knits Magazine, and sent together 3 skeins of KnitPicks Gloss Lace, which should be enough for a Fountain Pen Shawl in this issue. I've been eyeing on the magazine for quite some time and I like quite a number of the patterns inside. I am coming Fountain Pen Shawl, Whisper Cardigan and ZickZack Tunic!

Jackie also included a pattern booklet using the famous cotton yarn Sugar'n Cream. It's my first time getting the chance to touch it. Here in Hong Kong we got sub-tropical climate, cotton has been the best friend of a lot of people. That's why I wanted to try the yarn. And Jackie sent me 8 skeins of Sugar'n Cream Twist in various colours for 3 projects! So lovely! First is the tote bag.

And a set of drawstring bags.

And three small baskets! They are really lovely.

Can you see all the project bags? I will be able to work on more project at the same time without messing things around then!

I must have done something good.

Embossed Leaves

Pattern: Embossed Leaves in Favourite Socks
Yarn: Handdyed Superwash Sock II from Simple Scarves
Tools: Knitpicks Options 2.75mm 100cm Circular
Duration: 13/04/2009– 20/04/2009

Following Maeby, these are the second pair of socks that I made. And it's gracefully modelled by my fatty feet. :)

I had a very enjoyable moment dealing with these socks, partly because of the fact that I learnt a new skill - Knitting 2 socks at a time. Level up! I know I know, it's not something new and not something worth noting for most of the more experienced knitters, but I just wish to share with you my happiness. :D I think next time, maybe I can try knitting 2 mittens at a time, or maybe 2 sleeves at a time?

The yarn was purchased from one of the most lovely indie dyer Mabel. She is a cheerful Malaysian girl who married and moved to Switzerland. Her handdyed yarn are lovely and the colours are so wearable. Again, I am not much a pastel colour girl but her colours really catches your eyes. You may always wish to take a look at her yarn. If you spin, I think her rovings should also worth a look, but I have no idea as I do not spin. :) She is also a responsible and responsive seller! My friend had a lost parcel from her and she followed it up nearly immediately and contacts were kept between my friend and her. Finally the box was returned to Mabel and she immediately sent it again to my friend, noting that she was willing to refund if the parcel was really lost. My friend was in no way upsetted. That's what a good seller means.

Back to the socks. They are lovely, and I knitted one half repeats as stated in the pattern, and as you can see, it fits! I have to admit that my feet is much smaller than most Westerners, which means that I can make a pair of socks with less yarn, is it a good thing? Maybe next time I should try to knit a pair of toe up socks so that I can knit a longer tube and have less left overs. For your information, I only used half of the 100g skein for my last pair of Maeby. This time, I have not weighed the left over yet, but I think at least I should have ~20g leftovers. Is it normal?

I am going back to crochet now, and working on a cresent moon shawl. I hope I can finish it within 2 weeks.

Mohair Stole

Pattern: Handmade　ニットスタイル
Yarn: Diakeito Diagenie 75g
Tools: Addi Turbo 5.0mm/ Japanese Crochet Hook #5/0
Duration: 07/03/2009– 12/03/2009

Ravelry Link

Close up of the frills.

I got the book some years ago and fell immediately in love with this scarf. (Although it's referred as a stole in the book, it looks and works like a scarf more) In particular I love the gradual change in colour of the mohair yarn in different shades of pink which never be too cute for anyone. It's worth noting that pastel colours, especially pink is simply not my colour and I try to avoid any of it. But this colour, is gorgeous, and I like it.

It's a very simple scarf, and somewhat boring for many people. It's somewhat constructed by knitting a rectangle in stock stitch and then crochet a border to add the interest. I love doing stock stitches as I can do it anywhere and anytime. :) mindless knitting. And it shows the colour well.

The result was great, but the mohair's itchy.

Maybe I should wear a turtle neck underneath. Sigh. Beautiful roses do have thorns.

Online Purchase (Finale)

Following my last post on my unpleasent online purchase experience, there's an update. We got refunded.

Although we got refunded, the 1.5months of waiting and dealing with the seller were completely an expected nightmare for us. I am very disappointed and will remove her from the potential yarn provider for me. I feel sorry, but I wouldn't give her a second chance. Her attitude's simply not right, and did not try to make the thing correct before it's publicized.

Anyway, I got my money back, I should go and purchase some other yarn to make myself better. :)

A brief note on the progress of my knitting

Although I stopped posting the progress of my knitting for sometime, I have continued doing the job. I've finished my Icarus Shawl from Best of the Interweave Knits in 3 weeks time, which I was not really satisfied with the progress. I will post the picture of the shawl and write something about the FO a little bit more by that time.

And then, I finished the hand-made item for the Swap on a Budget on Ravelry. I was still struggling what I should put in the box apart from the hand-made item while keeping the cost to be below 20 US Dollars...... I got something from the 10 dollar shop in Hong Kong, which I hope my spoilee would love, and then I should get some yarn, but still, not too many ideas.... -_- But I will try to get everything gathered and organized soon.

Experience with Online Purchase

I do a lot of online purchase every month, mostly for yarny things from all round the globe including Mainland China, Japan, US, Switzerlands and UK. Luckily, all my orders were processed fast and nicely and I received what I wanted and expected at the right time. And my confidence to do online purchase has increased a lot since the first time I do. Something haven't been changed was that I would normally buy in a small quantity to test the quality of the yarn and the service before I order a lot.

This time I ordered some yarn from US, my first time with this seller on February, approximately 1 1/2 month from now. I understand that the yarn would take time to arrive, and so my friend and I waited for some weeks to look forward to the yarn. As the international shipping charged was quite high and we expected that the yarn will be shipped by priority mail, which should arrive our doors approximately a week after it's mailed based on our experience. After 2 weeks from ordering, my friend, who placed the order, emailed her once, twice, and no response was received. She wrote a comment on the seller's blog and pm-ed her on ravelry, yet received no response.

We both started to be a little bit panic after 4 weeks, especially we were still seeing her very actively updating her blog and posting on Ravelry forums. We thought that the emails might have been wrongly delivered to the spam folder and the seller might missed the pm's on ravelry. (you know things could just go wrong) I started PM-ing the seller and we got her response! Finally! More than a month after we ordered the yarn and 2 weeks after we first approached her.

The seller told me that she was just to reply to my friend's email and blog comments. Her response to my friend said that the yarn "must have been lost" and she will resend the yarn again, without further questions. My friend has established a connection with the seller and I moved myself out of the conversation so as not to make the thing more complicated. It has been a week after I first pm-ed the seller and the seller replied me, yet we have not received a tracking number from her. I hope the seller has shipped the yarn and we could have it say by the end of next week.

I do not mind waiting, as far as I know when I will get the yarn and I am assured that I will get the yarn. It can make people very desperate if I purchased something several thousand miles away and waiting here and got no response from the seller even if she has been contacted. It's just not the proper way to do a business. I do not think the seller was cheating in anyway, as she really mailed the yarn to some of the customers, and they were truly satisfied. But I really wonder her attitude in dealing with her mailings, and customer service. We would be much comforted if she replied the emails or pms once they were received. Someone on ravelry commented on the quality of an "average seller" and we should not expect everyone to be "excellent sellers" who will reply promptly and do the mailings at the first instance. I was wondering if the seller cannot fulfill her responsibility, i.e. mail the yarn within a reasonable time (say a week?) and did not say anything even after she has been approached, can she be still called an "average seller"? I don't think I am too mean to call her a "lower-than-average seller" who cannot satisfy my expectation.

I will keep this issue updated when I received the yarn I will try to make things clearer by drawing up a timeline for all the incidence. :) I hope I can receive them soon.

Crochet Japanese Lace Shawl

Pattern: 上質素材のレース編み ショール・小もの・ベスト by 雄鶏社
Yarn: Yarn Chef 100g
Tools: Clover Crochet Hook 1.5mm
Duration: 18/11/2008 – 03/12/2008

Ravelry Link

I have been the fans of Yarn Chef for quite some time and this time I got a skein of her 2-ply silk lace weight in lime green. When I received it, I was so amazed by the softness of the yarn and the subtle colour change of the bright lime colour. But then, wait, what can I do something wearable using this bright colour? I am sort of a dull girl and go for earth colours for my clothes...

Um, maybe I can try to crochet a shawl. A shawl is something that I would put on my body with bright colours, and if I do crochet, the large amount of holes. I hope it would balance out the oh-so-bright colours.

So here comes the results:

Stunning!

I think it comes out to be better than I expected. It perfectly fits my favourite sweater in teal colour, which is my current favourite. My friend said that I look slim in this photo, umm, I have to agree. I look approximately 20 pounds less. :)

The yarn was a little bit splitty at the early stage, and then when I continue and get hold of the yarn, it becomes much better and I can crochet like wind. The softness and smoothness of the yarn really gave me very good experience and I could not help myself in buying more. Oh My God. I now have many spun sugar from Yarn Chef and Silk Lace from Sundara, which I believe they are using the same base yarn. AND, I highly recommend Yarn Chef, because it’s such a good bargain for the spun sugar, and you should also look at her fingering weight series. The colours are REALLY nice!

Knitted Shawl by Hitomi Shida

Pattern: #12 Triangle Stole by Hitomi Shida
Yarn: Hamanaka Extra Fine Lame
Tools: Addi Turbo 4.0mm 80cm
Time：22/02/2009 - 03/03/2009
Ravelry Link

During blocking

sparkling yarn!

I've been long time astonished by the works of Hitomi Shida by their elegance and beauty. I have not picked up the needles for any of the works because of 1) time, 2) wearability, 3) concentration. The works are so beautiful but I always wonder if anyone would wear them in a normal occasion. Finally, this shawl came to my eyes, they are nice, simple, elegant, and at the same time wearable.

The yarn sparkles a little bit, and is DK. If I have to do it again, I would possibly switch to thinner yarn and smaller needles. It's a little bit too heavy.

I learnt new techniques this time, knitting borders for shawls through knitting one edge stitch of the body with each row of the edge. It comes out to be nice. I was so satisfied with the results.
I love Japanese patterns because: (list again, well, engineers like lists)

1. They are systematically chartted using standard symbols which I learnt from my teacher. I can foresee how the pattern would come out just by looking at the chart, so attractive right?

2. They are easily accessible in Hong Kong. We can order our books fairly easily through our LYS - Tailor & Alternation, and they are cheap compared with the US books we have to order from US and the shipping is really killing.

3. Patterns are more fashionable and the trend in Hong Kong is quite similar to the one in Japan. The clothes are very wearable in general.

4. Crochet patterns are JUST GORGEOUS. Well, possibly not that relevant in this post, as the shawl is knitted. :) But I like the crochet pattern books in Japanese so much more than those from US. The motifs in Japanese pattern books are also far more than granny squares. If you crochets, I highly recommend you to get any copy of those pattern books and have a look. Once you can manipulate the charts, it's easy, and a new world's there for you.

Maeby

Pattern: Maeby by feminsty
Yarn: dkKnits technicolor dream toes – Graduation Day
Tools: Knitpicks Fixed Circular 2.25mm 100cmTime：14/02/2009 - 21/02/2009
Ravelry Link
Yarn - Graduation Days - Shows my gown colours. Becky's really a genius!

This is the first pair of socks that I knit!! Although I have done several baby boots in the past but the construction is far different to adult socks! Maeby is designed by feminsty on Ravelry and was distributed freely to subscriber of Dkknit’s sock collection - I wool dye for ewe sock club. How generous!

I used the January skein – Graduation Day for the socks, and through magic loop, a new skill I just acquire, to make my first pair of socks!! I feel myself much upgraded! LEVEL….. UP!

It’s a fast knit, the lace pattern is not difficult, and the lace section can be finished within a day after going home from work. You can see how fast it is. I am somewhat decreased the speed for the second sock due to second sock sydrome, but I finally managed and work it out! Next time, I would try to knit 2 socks at a time. :)

Sable Yarn Purchase in China

Dear friends, let us first put aside the animal issues, and please stop your mind thinking how these yarn are spun from.

I recently read some posts by fellow ravellers on Sable Yarn, and was so attracted to it. Then I went to taobao.com and purchased some from a seller whom I have previously dealt with. It was not really a smooth progress during purchase as the seller can hardly be reached. However, when everthing's settled, it goes so fast and I received the yarn from Mainland by NEXT DAY.

I ordered different brands and different colours to see how exactly each skein is going. If you can read Chinese, you may follow the link to the seller's page and get a brief idea on what this is. However, I would try my best to describe the yarn here.

I purchased 6 balls of sable yarn and this is how they look like upon arrival.

They somewhat look a little bit dirty when they arrived so I washed and wind them into
skeins for storage, and photo shooting. :) I love how yarn looks in skeins. In general, they are soft and I do not have any itchy feeling at all, but my oh-so-delicate mom says they are a little bit itchy..... Again, I will stick to plant fibres/silk for her. -_-

No swatches done for these yarn, so let me just describe them a little bit, in an ascending order of how I like it.


I like this colour very much, lovely orange red. Compare with other yarn I purchased, it's a little bit coarse and reminds me of hemp. I'm not sure how it knits up, will it soften a bit after swatching and further washing? Bleeding is not serious considering the heavy colour on the yarn. I think it would knit up with a little bit feeling of tweed.

From the information provided by the seller, it contains 40% white sable, 50% australian merino and 10% nylon. It costs 43RMB/50g ball. Link here: http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-4763e63e2234967f620c6a497cbdd95f.htm

I do not have much feeling for this yarn. It's soft, but not as soft as the following ones. The colours are not that loving. Everything is on the average. The colour should be subtle enough to make a garment, but wait, a garment using lace yarn?! It's nearly the thinnest among the 6 balls and there should be over 500m in the 50g ball.

It contains 80% sable, 20% fox and costs 40RMB/50g ball. Link here: http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-deb55fb26d92560fd161a9e47b6ca2ae.htm




This ball shows beautiful purple, but it bleed so seriously and there was a layer of blue remains after washing the yarn. The colour of the beautiful purple remains after the washing which is worth noting. It's soft. Starting from this yarn, the softness is at least comparable to cashmere, AT THIS PRICE.

The yarn costs 38RMB/50g ball and Link here: http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-135d9a3d073e129804effc4c96e6e195.htm


This yarn shows light green which is a little bit too bright for nearly anything. It is the finest of all and should go beyond 500m/50g. It's manufactured by one of the biggest yarn producer HengYuanXiang and the quality if actually quite good. It's soft, without a lot of fuzzy thing coming out. (Umm, how can I make it seem more technical?) It makes me think of cotton threads but it's much softer.

The yarn contains 80% sable, 8% cashmere and 12 % nylon. It costs 29RMB/50g ball and link here:
http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-644790a93af3823e9bf42b369bf95217.htm

I love it! It's so soft and comes to a close second! It's a little bit fuzzy and the yarn is somewhat "thicker" than others. It is so soft and lovely and I like the colour of it. It bleeds a little bit not severe considering it's dark colour. If you like mohair/angora, it's a good choice.

The yarn contains 40% sable, 50% wool and 10% nylon. It costs 40RMB/50g ball and the link is here:

http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-b1f8993e80227acf2b6836192b9b56e8.htm

The champion comes!! It's SO SOFT! Not too fuzzy and not thread like, smooshy and lovely. If you take a close up at the photo, you may see some darker fibres sticking out of the yarn, I think it would be the sable part of it. I am thinking of a lacey scarf using it. :) It's also a product of HengYuanXiang.

It contains 40% sable, 50% wool and 10% nylon. It costs 39RMB/50g ball and link here:

http://item.taobao.com/auction/item_detail-0db1-14ac7fe479e6a21db13ba1f539fd15b0.htm

The next job: I have to swatch. :)