To be or not to be?

It's been a rather busy week this week..lots of loose ends to tie up before I am off on a two-week holiday home to see the family.. YAY !! Mind you, these past two months leading to this trip has been a challenge of collecting/buying various presents and goodies for the family members -- chocolates and toys for the nieces and nephew, perfume and cosmetics for mum, jewellery for the Sis-in-law, Twining tea for Mum's friends, more cookies and chocolates.... The most difficult bit I have to say is buying for the two men -- Dad and my brother. I have one or two items for them, but I feel that it might not be enough. So, I still have this weekend before I fly off on Monday to try and sort something out. But I don't want to make the mistake I made last year when I went home --  I bought so much that in the end they woulnd't fit in the luggage and I had to leave some of the cookies and biscuits behind !! And this time, because I'm not going home with Steve, he has promised to bake some chocolate chip cookies that I can take with me for my parents because my dad loved the cookie that we brought back for them last year.

The office is finally back to normal this week with me being able to 'bug' my colleague incessantly while she's trying to get some work done. And from her holiday in Cornwall she brought me the most B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L and functional souvenir for me !! It's not a great picture because being my usual anal self, I am reluctant to open up the plastic wrapping and take them out in case I dirty them. But aren't these just so cute and adorable?!!

I haven't yet quite decided where and what to use them on so they'll have to stay in the plastic for a while longer but once in a while I do pick them up and ogle and admire them because they are just so cute !

Right, totally unrelated... I am in a mad quest of finishing my blanket because I am hoping to bring it on the plane with me for some warmth because I always find that the air conditioning is often too cold for me on the plane. But there are two dilemmas... 1. the blanket is surprising heavy and bulky (Duh, it is called a 'blanket') and 2. once I land in Malaysia with the guaranteed heat of up to 30 degree C and the humidity that envelopes you the minute you walk out the plane, I'm not sure if it will be worth while carrying all that weight just to use it on the plane... I don't know.. I guess when it comes to actually packing for the trip, the matter will resolve itself. But for now, just a couple of pictures to show you.

There is no system to the colour sequence. I basically use whatever colour that I come across first in the bag.

You can see Steve's foot sticking out in the background and the general messiness of the room. Can you see that bag sitting in the corner (next to Steve's foot), that's a whole bag of toys and stationery and goodies for the family. So tonight when I get home from work at 10pm, there will be more toiling to expand the size of the blanket. Now that it has grown so big, it takes soooooooo long just to finish one round of colour !! Fely, I've finally used the new bedlinen set I showed you not long ago... Nice?!

Okay chaps..... I will be in an Internet-less zone for the next two weeks.. so when I come back, there'll be lots of blog entries from you guys that I can catch up on (yiippiieee). Till then, take care and see you soon !!

This is a test...

well for quite a while now i’ve had the software MacJournal and i’ve been trying to use it to publish my blog entries. i haven’t been successful because the pictures never seem to end up in my blog. after reading various online forums, i managed to find some tips which i am hoping to try. i took these pictures when i was on sick leave yesterday. one shows a rare moment -- sasha resting her head on my leg, and the other shows my project growing bigger and bigger...

let’s hope this post goes on successfully and the pictures will show.

keep fingers crossed.

I can't do without them (Part 1)

Hello people.

I reckoned I have left my blog for too long, the memory of ever having a blogpage is beginning to fade slightly.

And what's worse is that everytime I tune in and look at Fely's blog she has managed to make nice little changes to her blog page and that really puts me to shame, staring at my out-of-date and out-of-style blog with its layout dated back to the Japanese era. (By the way Fely, I lurveeeee your blog design, so country, so quaint and so stylish at the same time!!)

Anyhooooo, back a while ago, Fely shared with us a list of things she is thankful for...not wanting to be left behind, I have also decided to share with you the things (non-living) that I simply cannot do without, and also not in any order of importance.

1. My Blackberry (you knew that was coming didn't you?)

Well, where do I begin? I know I sound like a techno freak when I say that life is not the same since I've got my BB but it is indeed very, very true. One of my most favourite hobbies -- take random pictures and share them on FB. I love it !!! I don't really care if people will look at them, but I just love sharing random, irrelevant, photographic moments !! These are some of them...Can you guess what they are?!

When I used to catch the bus to work, while waiting for the bus I used to read all the headlines from around hundreds and hundreds of different sources, all thanks to Google Reader. You know sometimes you see at the bottom/top of a webpage that says 'Subscribe to RSS feed'? Well basically, you click on that, and choose to subscribe that page on Google Reader (you must set up a google account, obviously) and Google Reader will pool together all the latest updates and news from the webpages that you subscribe to and you can read them through Google Reader and you can also organise them into different tags like 'technology' or 'blogs' or 'crafts' or 'cookery' !! I get all the latest blog updates on there as well so basically I am up to date where ever I go and it's a never ending supply of things to read, the latest celebrity gossip, the latest news about the Blackberry technology, gaming, computing, the latest news headlines and I am never bored where ever I go. And not to mention the latest thing that Fely and I do, which is having a daily conversation on the BB messenger. It is a must for us !! Even if it's just to say a quick 'hello' or to send each other funny pictures of what we were up to at the time (we draw a line at pornographic images) and I am really thankful to be reconnected with my MPIK soulmate again. It's really changed my life (thanks Fely, HUgS). And also the other little conveniences that a Blackberry brings to you like being able to go online anywhere, so looking up the telephone number of a restaurant or the opening times of a shopping centre, finding out the directions to a certain place, or checking prices and information of certain things have become much much easier. It's basically any information at your fingertips.

2. My knitting bag

Okay okay, this is screaming the 1960's with a granny style !! But I honestly love finding new projects to do (although I hardly ever finish any) and collecting new yarn to add to my collection, again quite pointless seeing that I never finish any projects that I have started. Yessss, even the American Blanket is now classified as an abandoned project (but I might pick it up again, you'll never know). And not to mention I now have 3 crochet and knitting books and I have got all sorts of knitting needles and crochet hooks of varying sizes. Project to date -- ONE, perhaps two, or maybe three... One of my most successfully completed projects is of course my laptop pouch which I am immensely proud of. Till today, I am still struggling to churn out another proud project like that one. Wait for it.... miracles DO happen, people!!

3. My Mac

Well, what can I say?? I love my Mac. Mainly because it is hassle free installing and deleting programmes. And it takes no time at all to start up and shut down the computer, unlike PC. Most importantly, the gamessss I am hooked on, on my Mac. Before this, I was really into playing my Cafe World on FB, and now, my latest craze is discovering the joys of building and designing a dream home on The Sims 2. Although the game has been out for yonks and there is even The Sims 3 out in the market now, I have just got really into it and got all the software and extension packs installed on my Mac. So far, I have picked a valley and built a house by the edge of the sea which I have named 'Ocean's Edge' and with Steve's suggestions and ideas, I have created an open plan house with a really big kitchen area and a bar... this is when I make use of my knowledge from watching episode after episode of Grand Designs on TV. Tonight, tonight I shall be building my bespoke bathroom with state-of-the-art bath accessories !! Can you sense my excitement?!!

Okay, I have spent long enough on this entry and it is time to do some proper work.

I shall continue with Part 2 in my next entry and mean time, keep well and have a happy week.

Little pleasures

Okay... I think Fely made herself quite clear when she said to me in one of our 'SMS conversations' -- go and update your blog so that I have something to read.

So here I am, sitting here, typing this, as usual, having nothing in particular to share but various bits and pieces.

Last year Christmas, I received £60 worth of John Lewis voucher and I was beside myself with excitement because John Lewis sells theeeee BEST and the MOST LUXURIOUS kind of yarn from the Debbie Bliss and Rowan range and they are quite pricey. As keen as I am in knitting and doing crochet, I don't really feel right forking out my 'hard-earned' money just to have expensive and luxurious looking yarn when I can get cheaper yarn elsewhere. But if it was a gift voucher, it's a completely separate issue altogether, because anyhow, I will have to spend that amount of money, so might as well spend it on something that will give me immense pleasure for quite some time!!!

Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately), the closest John Lewis store is in Southampton, which is about an hour's drive away from here (1 hour for me; 40 minutes for Steve). So last month, I managed to cajole the semi-reluctant Steve to make a visit to the West Quay Shopping Centre to splash out on some luxurious and colourful yarn. 

Despite the fact that I had £60 to spend, I was still EXTREMELY reluctant to buy full price yarn and being a typical Malaysian (always looking for bargain), I soon found myself digging through the 'reduced to clear' basket full of 'discontinued' or 'slightly damaged' (when it is labelled slightly damaged, it usually means that it's come loose and therefore deemed unsellable) balls of yarn, and instructing Steve to start digging as well, trying to find as many balls of yarn from the same range and same type as possible. After what-must-have-seemed-to-Steve-like-yearssssss (I think it was about 10 minutes) of digging, deliberation, more digging, and more deliberation, I finally ended up with around 9 different colours of extremely soft yarn balls made from Bamboo.

I've been thinking for a while now what grand project I was going to turn those yarn balls into and the more I thought about it the more clueless I got mainly because the yarns were so mismatching in colours and no way was I going to be able to harmonise the colours !! And also, there is only a limited amount of yarn to each colour, which makes it even more challenging. Then I started to regret not thinking about the colours carefully and merely picking them up because they were cheap !! (serves me right) As you can see from the photo, the colours absolutely don't go with one another, do they?! So I thought, alas, have I spent my precious John Lewis voucher on something that will end up being useless?

So anyway, I thought, I have got to start somewhere, so I started just browsing through websites to get ideas and browsing through the collection of lovely crochet books that I have slowly and surely building up (will telll you about that in another post, a bit of a delight I must say)... and I started making something. Not entirely sure yet what it's going to be, so it will be a surprise project but I will show you what it looks like now. Surprisingly, the colours go really well together, don't you think?

Anyway, I have rambled on and on about some silly yarn (some of you might think) so I'm going to love you and leave you.

Any ideas what I can turn this into?

Nineteen Days to X'mas

I have been on a major shopping spree this weekend.

Was at IKEA yesterday and came up close and personal with the Billy Bookcases that escape2 was raving about. They were actually very nice. My favourite was the BILLY BJASTA. I was oh oh so tempted. It's extremely lucky that we have very limited space, otherwise I would have bought half of IKEA.

There was one thing that I could not resist buying though. Knowing full well that I HAVE NOT GOT SPACE for it I bought myself the lovely DAVE Laptop table. There were Black, White and Red, guess which colour I chose? Yuppp... the Red one. I love it.  I love it. I love it. I know that the contrast between my Mac and the table would be so elegant. Never mind that I don't even have standing space in my bedroom, never mind that there would be no space even for a small table downstairs in the lounge, I was possessed by a demon that told me I HAD TO GET THAT TABLE. So now I have the table still in its flatpack leaning against the TV cabinet in the room. Until I decide that something else in the room has to go, until I can get a bigger room, or until I can move into a new place, I cannot unpack it and set the table up. However, I can tell you about this wonderful table. What was clever about this table is that the table top can be tilted and also the stand can be adjusted to different levels. Where on earth can you find such an ingenious design for a price tag of £16.99?? I knowwww !!!! I left IKEA a lot poorer but happier, haha. It's amazing how every little adds up. You pick up small items like Christmas lights and cheese grater, or cereal box container, thinking that they only cost a couple of pounds but they soon add up and the whole bill made me more than 50pounds poorer.

Another precious find this weekend was my very first crochet book from Borders. Borders in the UK has unfortunately gone into administration and they were having a closing down sale and I managed to dig out from amongst a pile of books 'Stitch N Bitch, the Happy Hooker'  by Debbie Stoller and got a 30% off from the original price. What I love about this book is that it's got really clear explanation with pictures and illustrations for all the patterns and not only that, there are some really cute and creative patterns in there that I can't wait to try out.

As weird as it may sound, one of the things I enjoy most is browsing in the shops on my own, taking my sweet time looking and choosing stuff without worrying that someone is waiting for me. Last week, I went to Hobby Craft and got totally 'drowned' in the yarn section. I went up and down the isle hundreds of times, not having any projects in mind but just picking a selection of yarn balls in a nice range of colours and I must admit I was quite happy with my selection and could not stop admiring them when I got home.

Like I said, I don't have any specific project in mind yet, but I'm sure I'll keep you posted about it. The picture was taken with my phone so the colours in the picture definitely don't look as vibrant as they should.

Today, we went to an outlet shopping mall and again the plastic 'MAGIC' card made several appearances and again I came home a lot poorer than before I left the house in the morning.

In my next post, I shall tell you all about it so stay tuned :)

My very American blankie

It was a typical evening after work yesterday.

Got home and Bea rang me on my mobile and we decided to have a video chat for the first time because I wanted to show her my ripple blanket.

It turned out to be a really nice video chat where the only thing Bea didn't manage to do was make tea for me like she usually does when I visit her.

So I showed her my ripple blankie so far and she confirmed what I was thinking as well... that my ripple blankie looks extremely 'American'... although at one time, she mentioned something about it being French as well... but what ever it is, I'll let you be the judge of it and you can tell me...

So what do you think?

Looks very American, don't you think?

Spider web on my blog

I was pressured into writing this new entry because Fely has laughingly commented that there are now spider webs on my blog....

I was going to drive down and see Fely in Eastbourne this weekend, but with gale force wind of up to 80mph, I think I have made the wise decision of postponing this trip of mine. Plus, I can't see very well driving in the rain, surely that is a bit dangerous?! And our missus in Eastbourne is busy getting the whole family back to Malaysia for a two-week holiday and I don't want to risk being accidentally 'packed' into one of the bags amidst the chaos :P

Steve is a lot braver than I am so he's taken my car and two friends, to go up to London to have a 'boys' get-together', leaving me plenty of time for my little projects, my cafe world and my 'one tree hill'.

When I was in Reading last, Beatrice gave me a brilliant idea of making a pair of baby booties for a friend's new born and in fact, she managed to find a pattern and made a really cute one.

So since then, I've also managed to find a really useful and simple to follow tutorial on youtube, and successfully created a pair of really cute looking mary jane baby slippers, except that I've taken such a long time to finish them, the baby's feet could have possibly outgrown them by now.

Since I don't have a real baby as my model, Felix the cat has volunteered her pretty long legs for me to test the slippers on and they look just so cute. And digging through my knitting accessory bag, I found some teddy bear buttons that go really well with the slippers. As usual, pictures were taken with my Blackberry camera so quality of the picture leaves much to be desired for. Speaking of camera on my BB, when we were in London, my phone was unfortunately dropped on the floor and the camera ceased working. Rang up Orange, got a new phone to replace the old one.

Everything's good after I have successfully backed up old information onto the new mobile, except I have now lost my 'home-brewed' theme which I spent hours creating and the ability to read and write Chinese characters because I have lost the multilanguage software pack on the phone which I painstakingly installed. Writing a letter to my mum last weekend was a struggle because usually I have a vague idea of the shape of the Chinese character but have to look up my BB to get every stroke, dot and dash in the word right. I studied the Chinese language for 12 years in school and this is how I ended up.

Dad used to tell me, 'Make sure you read and write Chinese as often as you can so that you don't forget'. I know now the true meaning in this advice. Sadly, these days I express myself better in English than in Chinese.  But I get the occasional forwarded emails in Chinese so I force myself to read the emails word for word so that I don't forget the language all together.

My latest project is a crochet ripple blanket with the instruction from the great Lucy in Attic24. I just love Lucy's blog and her posts are really inspiring and uplifting. She's got such charisma and positive energy in her that every time I read her post, I feel like I'm sharing her joys in life. To think that we are all total strangers reading about each others' lives on the Internet, it's truly amazing.

As usual, in my determination to be Little Miss Perfect, I have spent the past two days, doing and undoing, redoing and un-redoing my project because I really want to get the foundation right. So we shall wait and see if this is going to be another one of my infamous 'abandoned' projects, much like the building construction work in Malaysia.

Okay folks, I have duly performed my duty and shall now go back to my 'project' and I will keep you posted with my progress (or non-progress).

Ciao.

I haven't given up!

Remember a few days ago I was quite upset about the fact that my laptop pouch has left funny stains on my laptop? I know, you must be thinking, OH NO, ENOUGH OF THAT ALREADY?!!

After that incident, I was so desperate for a laptop pouch that there were two occasions where I came very, very close to placing an order for a new pouch. The first one was a funky looking one, and quite cheap as well. Just when I was about to hit the 'place order' button, fortunately I saw a close up picture from another website and realised that it is made from very cheap, tacky and horrible looking denim material, and I was instantly put off by it and cancelled my order immediately.

After that, I found the Applesac, an environmentally friendly pouch made especially for Macs and fell madly in love with this particular one. Unfortunately, this can only be found in the US and hasn't yet become popular here (the more reason to get it). After reading various forums, I found out that ordering from the main website means that on top of the $30 you have to pay for the bag, there is a shipping cost of approximately $34 to add to that as well. As much as I would love to own that Red Delicious, I am not about to pay more than the odds just to have it. So I managed to track down another cheaper method of purchasing it, which it through mygearstore and managed to get the shipping cost down to $9.99. But it still means paying $40 just for a laptop pouch and it's really not worth it so again, I became sensible and cancelled the order.

Then I realised it. The reason I am reluctant to place an order for a new pouch is because I still have not given up on my 'precious' hand-made laptop pouch. There was no way I was going to give up on it so easily.. and my rescue mission has gone another notch higher, and more desperate. After giving it some thoughts, I came up with what I thought was the best solution. I decided that I needed to sew an inner lining in the pouch, in order to prevent any future colour run. Now I remembered that a few weeks back, in my haste to iron my skirt ready for the Conference, I had ruined a perfectly beautiful and nice formal skirt and there is an inner lining just waiting to be used!! As soon as I have established that it is indeed a 'do-able' idea, I quickly got down to work and  started unpicking the stitches of the skirt to take out the lining. And work was underway to stitch it into the shape of a pouch in order to be sewn into the pouch and be turned into a smart looking inner lining. 

After working on it for two days (wish I had a sewing machine coz it's really no fun hand stitching and making sure that the stitching is neat and 'invisible), the project is finally finished and I am pleased to announce that the good 'ol hand-made laptop pouch is very much in operation again (until fresh new streaks are discovered, that is). So I am glad that I have managed to come up with a solution to salvage that much loved creation and hopefully, this will be the end of it and that I shall not be writing another post concerning 'the laptop pouch' (fingers crossed)

Have to go to bed early now and rest that poor neck of mine. Adios people !!

This is it !!!

For the past few days I've been working really hard on the project... first because there are people out there waiting to see what's happening and this is definitely not the kind of project I can abandon.... second every minute I spent on it brought me closer to the finish line and I got more and more excited as I raced towards it.

So on Sunday night, I finally finished it but by then it was 2am so it would be crazy to start taking pictures and to blog about it.

Then I got home from work on Monday and Steve helped me take some pictures of it, with me posing left, right and center. Just when I was ready to blog about it after having picked a few good photos, the WIFI upstairs refuse to work !!!!! So I was in my dressing gown and couldn't be bothered to go downstairs to use the pc.

Tonight, here I am, ready with me photos and to proudly show you my finished product. Well, I don't really want to build up your expectations at this point. Now thinking about it, it's actually a bit embarrassing the way I'm fussing about it because really and truly, it's just a tiny and humble project which is a very practical thing that I am desperately in need of.



These three pictures show the project in its mid phase. As you can probably see, the third picture is showing you what it will turn out to be. And yess you guessed right, it was a pouch for my new laptop.


(click on the collage to see bigger images)

This collage is a collection of pictures showing the pouch from all angles. I hope you can see the doggy wooden buttons clearly. I really love those buttons and don't regret paying £1.85 each for them. I just love wooden buttons and think they're perfect for the pouch. I know it's just a simple rectangular pouch but when it comes to bags or pouches, I love simplicity and always stick to 'nothing too funky or funny'. Although it's a simple looking bag, it was quite a job trying to make the stitches look 'invisible' during the final stage and avoid making it look 'messy'.

So there you go, my home made laptop sleeve that is both practical and useful (I saved myself about 10 pounds as well) and I am extremely chuffed about it and cannot stop running my hand over the line pattern. :)

What do you think?

Progress so far...

I know, I know, Friday is supposed to be the grand finishing day but try as hard as I may, coming back from work each night at 10pm and toiling away, it's unlikely that it will happen Friday so I thought I'll reveal its current status, without giving away too much of what it's going to be. So you can see the progress from this poor quality pic which I snapped with my blackberry camera out of sheer laziness (I know, the modern human nature who can't be bothered with using a proper 7megapix digital cam sitting in the drawer and having to upload the pic on the pc). For those who have a thing for needle craft you can probably tell that the pattern has changed slightly from the last picture and it's now got a beautiful line texture to it (again I apologise for the poor quality) and I do not regret at all the first four times I had to re-do, un-do and re-do before I got it right.

And many have commented on the nice blend of colours. It's very soothing and I really really can't wait to finish this project and I promise to use a proper camera when taking pix of the finished product to show you guys!

Sorry Bea this one's a keeper. Perhaps if I have more yarn left after this project I'll make you something from it :) but you know me very well, don't hold your breath on it (at least I made you a scarf with flowers bah!!)

Can't wait to see you all again soon for the BIG finish day! Xx.

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

What is it going to be?

As Bea and Steve can tell you, I am the queen of unfinished projects when it comes to knitting, crochet and cross stitch. Lately, I've picked up me needle and yarn again and started making something that was on my mind. Today I'm having an off day, having worked last Friday when it was supposed to be my off day, so am enjoying a great Monday with the TV remote and my project.

Since I've never finished most of my projects and am totally embarrassed by my lack of determination, I've refused to disclose to Steve or anyone else what the project is going to be. And I keep telling people, you'll see, you'll see (or not), haha.

So people, keep watching this space and you might be lucky enough to see the end of my project with a picture of my finished product!!

Can you guess what it is??!