Expanding Horizons

What one new thing (or two) are you excited to learn or explore in 2019? 🙂 (We gotta keep levelling up, right?)

Howdy amazing folks! We are moving into the final month of the current year which … likely means that you’re giving a think about the year ahead, right? 😉 And if you haven’t yet then I would love it if you used this prompt to do so 😀

So that up there is Question #4. Give it some thought and share your answer/s below so we can inspire each other with awesome ideas & positive intentions 👇👇👇 And don’t worry if it’s not final yet, we’re all entitled to brainstorm! 😀

~ My answers:

1.  crochet earrings
2.  working with t-shirt yarn

 

What are your answers? 😀

Knit Racerback Tee

Look at this pretty thing that I finished this month! She is gor-geous!  🤩

As a neophyte knitter, I really, really love it whenever I make something that I can wear. It’s just so amazing, I’m still not used to it (and I hope I never get used to it).

Just look at how she transforms when I add a necklace. She’s so versatile 😘 I could knit this in more colors, so easy!

Here‘s the free pattern if you’re interested.

May: Parties, Heels & Lace

The marvelous month of May turned out to be much, much more than I anticipated 👍

This coffee date earned me 3 invitations to all-wives-only get-togethers that did wonders to my soul. Of course, they were a bit challenging to work up to, not just because as a SAHM with a small baby I have difficulty finding time to even get a decent shower every day, but that I’m also an introvert whose default mode is a preference for solitary activities.

Nevertheless I noticed that these get-togethers energized me so much that I felt like treating myself to some heels 🤣 🤣

Out of all the urgent things that my wardrobe needs RIGHT NOW, I focus on my feet (which is not the first time) 🤣 Well, for one they’re so easy to dress up, they don’t have flab to skillfully camouflage with cut or color!

I bought them for special occasions (or just for walking around the house when I’m feeling sassy 😉😆) since I’m always scrambling at the last minute for what to wear whenever a special occasion pops up. I guess the vague plan is to work from the bottom up as far as updating my wardrobe is concerned 😆

I also finished a huge lace doily. Is it still a doily if it’s that huge? I think it’s earned table cover status 🤔

Channeling my inner home decorator ….

This house, although spacious and I love its location, is old and old fashioned. It’s got paint chipping off a few of its boring white walls, the furniture is ugly & uncomfortable (but they came with the house and they function 🤨), and it only has windows on one side so it can get hot and gloomy during daytime. I am grateful but resigned. 😏

— digression:

We can’t do any remodeling because it’s a “staff house” that comes with my husband’s expat package, rented long-term by the company to house any given foreign employee for certain periods of time. We can only request for repairs and maintenance; re-painting walls would fall into that category but we have a baby so we’re not very keen about that at the moment.

— end of digression:

Anyhoot, I decided no harm could come from letting my colorful personality shine now that I’m no longer pregnant & sleepy! So …

We had an A/C unit installed in the living room to counter the heat, I then claimed one of the boring walls with some frames, & put a carpet on the floor.

And now this is where the family loves to hang out, including the baby 😍 It gets really cozy in the evenings when only the lampshade is on, there’s a good movie on TV, and a huge bowl of popcorn is being shared 😘

The kitchen also needed some color so I was truly pleased that a simple yellow tablecloth could make such a huge difference!

What else …?

Oh yes, I did read a book, just need to finish a few more pages, but it’s technically done so I can rake this up to a May finish as well:

And the reason why I’m taking so long to finish this book – which is a lovely read by the way 💘) is because right after the pineapple table cloth, I went right in with my knitting needles for a racerback tee:

This is the back portion of the tee. I’m working on the front portion now alternating work on another project, a lace crochet pullover. I don’t know, I guess I’m just on a creative roll right now 😁

And that, my sexy friends, was May for me 💖

How about you guys, what did you do in May?

✨ First Finish of 2018 ✨

📢  Ta-daaaaaah!

I finally finished “Anne” and I’m so proud because it’s actually something that I can and will wear 😄 (Oh and, I already hid that tiny tail at the front of the cowl, so that area is perfect now 😍).

Anne is a cowl-neck pullover knit in 100% fine weight cotton. Perfect for Indonesia’s sunny climate.

Other than when work on the cowl shaping overlaps with the shoulder shaping, this truly was such an easy (mindless) knit perfect for days when you just feel like plastering yourself to the couch and binge watching on Netflix (or Iflix here in Indonesia).

Unfortunately, the tailor’s dummy that I’m using is the same size as my 10 y.o. daughter 🙄, so the pullover looks longer & larger than it actually is when I wear it.

But on me it sits just right on my hipbones where a belt is tied to the side.

Perhaps one of these days I’ll come back to this post & model Anne myself to give her enough justice 😉

And I just realized, we’re almost halfway through 2018 and I only have 1 FO to show so far. Hmmmm … 🤨 I better get a move on it. I’d love to be able to finish 1 item per month, the better to look back on the year and enjoy the accomplishments 🤪

What Is Your Idea of Bliss?

I have a gazillion answers to this question but right now, what’s making me feel blissful is the creation that’s taking place on my knitting needles:

“Anne” & Mr. Piddles 🙂

Challenge number 4 is about adding captions to your image. At the same time, you’re being asked to take a picture of what your idea of bliss is.

I didn’t want to overthink my answer to this question. I could have woken up at the crack of dawn for instance, and taken a picture of the sun coming up to represent early mornings, my favorite time of the day, and always a time of bliss for me. Or posed a book, a cup of coffee and my feet propped up on the coffee table – but we already have a picture of my feet 😉

So a photo of my latest creation-in-the-works it is then, because it is always bliss to have a crochet or knitting project to work on, with delicious yarn that you took hours to finally choose. It is always bliss to contemplate the final product, how exciting it will be to post photos of it on your blog. How blissful the feeling of getting to wear something you’ve created and mayhaps, people might throw a nice word or two about it your way too 😘

Being able to work on a project is bliss because right now it also represents small pockets of time when I can put my feet up and rest.

How about you, what is your idea of bliss?

Stashbustin’ Like A Boss Part 1

What do you do with something that has lost its purpose? The first answer would be to give it away to someone who might have use for it. The second answer would be to re-purpose it.

Well, prior to us leaving for Indonesia,  I had already donated quite a lot of my cold-weather yarns to my daughter’s school in Melbourne. I don’t know why precisely I hung on to these that I chose to keep but likely, I was feeling wasteful and wanted to redeem a bit of my guilty conscience.

At this point though they’re at a risk of seriously inhibiting my crafting mojo if I don’t do something really soon.

So I made the decision not to buy any warm-weather/tropical/beach yarns unless my stash of cold-weather yarns are at least  80% used up.  I figured I would still use the yarns to make items – even if these items are for cold weather and will be shipped off for donation at the end of this goal – as long as the projects expose me to new lessons in crochet & knitting.

Kinda like investing in collateral materials in a self-imposed knitting & crochet class.

Genius! 😎😎

And so for this first entry, may I present a knitted cowl and a crochet baby cocoon:

Ze Cowl:

This project presented me with the opportunity to knit in a particular stitch pattern that required copious amounts of expletives and the frustrating experience of frogging 7 times (I kid you not, I actually counted the times so I could tell you afterwards).

This pattern required absolute concentration lest I forgot a single “K1” or “YO” or whether it was a “K2tog” or an “SSK” and whichever came first 😵😵😵. As a matter of fact I ended up reciting the individual stitches out loud while executing them to help keep me on track. For all 12 pattern repeats! I couldn’t wait for it to get finished 🤒

As you can see, I persevered and am proud to be able to claim having experience in the following:

• Following a lace stitch pattern – it’s my 1st time to do it and I just find the result very encouraging even with the frogs and the errors 😍 😆
• Provisional cast on – my tip: be very careful when unraveling
• Kitchener stitch – mine is a bit wonky but still exceeded my expectations
• How to frog with grace 💩

Here is the beautiful pattern if interested.

Ze Baby Cocoon:

Now this I might end up actually using for B3 😍 – although I still have to check later on if it won’t be too stuffy. Compared to the 1st project, this one was a breeze and I learned the following:

• Crocheting in the chevron pattern
• Crocheting in the round (I need to improve my joining stitches)
• The back post double crochet (or bpdc)

Here is the pattern if interested.

I think I reduced my stash by 2 1/2 skeins of yarn by the end of this project 😁 Yay!

Now on to the next!

Knitting Cables While Pondering The Fate of My Chosen Craft(s)

I was inspired to learn knitting because of the prospect of moving to Australia where colder weather was to be experienced.

Oh the shawls, mittens, hats, sweaters, socks and what else I would knit!

Now that we’re back in sunny, tropical Indonesia however, I’ve temporarily lost my mojo (this includes crochet) 😟 😕 🙁 ☹️ Will it just be doilies and curtain tiebacks henceforth?

But my hands are restless and want to create, so while I’m assessing this tangled situation that I am in I decided to knit a Kindle cosy and practice knitting some cables while at it 😌

Turned out pretty okay 😁 I shall find my crafting way very soon. Like next week soon. Because the best way to get back on track is to just do it 😊

Have a wonderful weekend, y’all! 💋❤️