Purple V-lace and Cable Vest

This is the vest for my friend and she pick the purple colour - one of her favourite colour. The stitch pattern is a combination of v-shape lace and cable, the difficulty is that I have to calculate the exact stitches to fit her size and she is in big size. To order to figure out her body shape, I need to shape the waist section which I don't do this on my cardigan or vest. After knitted inches, the pattern turns out quite nice. She will read this blog and has a chance to have a preview of her vest.

Cross Stitch Keyring

This is my first time to do the cross stitch.

keyring bought at Japan

the kit of the pack

the leaves are stitched

also the flowers

It is completed and I like it very much. At the beginning, really don't know how to start. Once you have started, you will like it and eagerly to complete it. It takes me about 3 hours to have it done.

Knitting progress
*****************
1. Sienna cardigan
The back, left and right front are completed. The sleeves ...... not my favourite part, but need to knit it.......

2. I start to cast on a vest for my friend. The stitch pattern is extracted from this and that and the sample looks quite nice.

The yarn is 100% merino wool and it is very fine that 3.5mm needle is used. Let's see how it looks like when inches are knitted.

Yarns from Japan

Come back from Japan. My dream comes truth is that I can visit the Yuzawaya Shop. There are many Yuzawaya shops at Japan and I go to the one at Kamata. This shop is near Tokyo and just nearby the JR Kamata Station. This Kamata shop has 5 towers selling fabric, japan traditional fabric, yarns, and all kind of handicraft material etc. In tower 6, the 5/F & 6/F are selling all the imported and local japan yarns.

I spend about 2 hours browsing all the yarns, there are too many that I don't know how to choose and can't give them up, but time and money are limited. I have applied a membership card (need to pay YEN500) to get a 10% discount of all the purchase within the shop. There are further discount when buying yarns. If you buy 1 to 9 balls of the same colour and same yarn, you will get 10% discount. But buying 10 balls or more, you will get 20% discount and some even at 30% discount. It is more economics to buy the japan yarns than the imported yarns.

These are what I got :

*****************************************************************************


yarn : Mariabehty - 100% wool - 40g/120m
price : 1 pack of 10 balls special price at YEN2079 (about USD17.47 if @YEN119 = USD1)
*****************************************************************************


yarn : Alpaca Peru (made in Peru) - 100% Alpaca - 50g/100m
price : YEN609/ball - 10 balls have 30% discount - total at YEN 4263 (about USD35.82)
*****************************************************************************


yarn : Puppy yarn : Multico - 75% wool & 25% mohair - 40g/80m
price : YEN685/ball - 10% discount and total at YEN3085 (about USD26)
*****************************************************************************


yarn : Puppy yarn : new 4 ply - 100% wool - 40g/150m
price : YEN483/ball - 10 balls get 20% discount and total at YEN3864 (about USD32.5)
*****************************************************************************


I bought these cross stitch keyring for they are lovely and mine is broken coincidence
price : YEN480/keyring - 10% discount and total at YEN864 (about USD7.26)
*****************************************************************************


FEMALE - dressmaking book - price at YEN800 (about USD6.7) - brought at Japan Narita Airport and tax free
Knitting Patterns Book 250 - price at YEN2520 (about USD21) - if buy at Hong Kong, it cost about USD35.5
*****************************************************************************

So anybody go to there, must apply a membership card. This apply to any foreign visitors, not limited to local Japanese. BUY MORE SAVE MORE.

After that, we (my sister & I) go to tower 10 to search the fabric and buttons, and it is too difficult to select something in a mountain of goodies. And my parents always push us to leave for they have impatient to wait for us outside for a long whole day. I only pick up some yarns in a rush. Next time, should only go with my sister so we can have plenty of time.

These are what my sister got :

She bought the quilting fabric, japanese fabric, ribbon, lace crochet yarn, crochet hook, lace edge, etc....

Really want to go again.

Sienna Cardigan and Go to Tokyo

I am now completing the left front of the cardigan and v-shaping the neck. The front cable pattern is simple and easy and look quite good.

I have planned to go to Tokyo with my parent and sister on this Friday for 5 days. Now is busy to exchange the YEN and travel insurance. We travel by ourselves and our purpose (my sister and I) is to visit the Yuzawaya Shop - one of Japan largest handicraft shop. It sells fabric, japan traditional fabric, yarns, and all kind of handicraft material etc. This website is in Japanese language, but you can click the "corporate brochure" for a simple version in English. I also don't know Japanese language, just guess the meaning of their Chinese character. Hope that I can have a big harvest and will show after my return.

Cotton Cardigan - let it says

Sleeveless Cotton Cardigan
Pattern : my own using the lace diamond stitch pattern
Yarn : Soft Feather - 100% Mercerized cotton
Yardage : 3 x 50g, 400m length each
needle : 4mm and knit at 2 string together

At last I can model my cotton cardigan. I love it very much and it fits me a lot. You will notice that I seldom model my knitting wear for it is very difficult to take a good shot of self-picture. As I just buy this cotton yarn by chance, always worrying whether yarn is enough along knitting. I keep on weighting the yarn when every part is finished - the back, the left front, the right front ..... Always do not have any idea what to knit when buying yarn which is so tempt to you. There are still some yarns in my drawer waiting for me.

A new project from IK

The right and left front is finished. Next is to joint them with the back and crochet the border. I like to crochet the border.

From my previous message, I say I will tell you how I block my knitting stuff. You can see that I pin them in my non-used pillow. It is a good idea that I don't have to do it in my bed, otherwise, I have to block it early in the Sunday morning in sake of it can be dried at night. Now, I can block them at any time and anywhere. And also it is good that the fabric pattern of the pillow cover is rectangle, this can be treated as a ruler to guide the straight line and inches.



This is my next project - Sienna cardigan from IK Fall 2006 using this mohair + wool yarns which are given by my friend many years ago. As the tension is not the same as the pattern, I have to use some time to calculate the no. of stitches and adjust my size.

Nothing is done

Re my friend's blue cardigan that I have finished at July, here are the photos sent by her recently. It is a little bit larger but not so bad, I quite like it. I will try to adjust her measurement by viewing these photos for future use.

During these few week, I knit nothing and no progress for my pink colourway cotton cardigan. It seems the weather will become cooler, I should be hurry to finish it otherwise it will slip to next year.

What am I busy now? Scanning my travel pictures and store in CD. There are so many albums (before digital camera is invented) that don't know how many hours are needed to do this tedious task. I only want to space out more places for the knitting books. It is always very hard to find spaces at your home to store your favourite collection, especially at Hong Kong - small house.