Giving in to nephew's request aka what's on my needles

...so I haven't made any progress at all in my second design attempt for a shawl. I did chart a few ideas and even swatched one, but nothing concrete still, as of today.

All that there is are the ideas, which I will write down here. You know, in case I feel sad about having made no progress:

- Inspiration: gossamer web shawls
- Yarn to be used: thin but pretty yarn bought from Dreams last year. This yarn has been featured in passing several times on the blog, but no actual projects have been finished.
- Fabric/texture: light and airy. Pattern to be worked on every row, as opposed to every other row. Make use of traveling stitches over purl backgrounds. Lots of yarnovers.

And that's that.

I'm not completely stuck in a rut though. There's is something on my needles, but it isn't a wearable. It's a blue Jubilee Bear for my nephew!

New favorite technique and other updates

Hello there, I'm still alive!

Talk about being unproductive. I haven't finished anything nor started anything either, to be exact. And oddly enough, I'm not beating myself up about it, as I normally would. I guess I really am resigned to the fact that my mind is just too busy with other things these days.

I think I've been taking a cue from Silvio these past couple of weeks

We're still adjusting to the new routine at home, what with the boys living with us now. Initially, tensions were high at home. It's not that we didn't want to have the boys, but we were mostly frustrated with the situation that led to this new set-up.

What isn't on the needles

It's been more than a week since I had anything definite on my needles. I can't seem to decide on a single project to make! This is the most times I've ever knit and frogged in the span of two weeks.

Ever since the boys came to live with us, I haven't had time alone to think for myself. Financial concerns are definitely what trouble my sister and I right now, though she does shoulder more of the burden than I do.

Or maybe here I am over-thinking again?

Anyway, I noticed that, to compensate for the lack of WIP's on my needles, I've been going on an organization spree:

I redid my needle organization!

Using my needle sizer, I was able to more accurately label my unmarked circular needles and organize them according to size.

I used a clearbook recycled from my TEC sessions three years ago, and placed same-sized needles in one sleeve. Each sleeve has a note with a short description of the needle, its length and color (click the photos to see!)

I still don't know what to do with my straight needles and DPNs though... I'm worried they'll puncture the plastic sleeves and get lost. Any suggestions?


P.S. I did finish something three weeks ago:

My space invaders pouch/swatch! Double-knit, reversible! :D
Now to transpose this into a bigger project...

Weekend fun!

Because today is a holiday, I feel like it's the weekend already! :)

Last weekend was muy fun though! I met up with two knitter friends: Imana and Catyanna. And we spent practically the whole afternoon talking about knitting while knitting! haha just kidding, we also talked about a lot of other things. At last, I found knitters who live near me and we can have regular meet-ups.

This photo is NOT scripted. We just ended up doing the same thing. So funny :)

When evening fell, Marc took me to Cubao to meet up with my work friends.

At the office, we don't really get to talk much, so this was a much-needed catching up dinner.

Sunday found us taking my two nephews for an afternoon in UP. My nephews are going to live with us from now on; they grew up in a province in Mindanao. We were worried they'd get tired of being inside a small house all day everyday, so we're lucky to be living near UP Diliman. We can easily take them there to see open spaces and such.

I often complain about how I never seem to get any rest during the weekends, but I know I shouldn't. Deep inside, I'm really grateful for the people in my life who are awesome and accept me for who I am. :)

Modified slip, slip knit for twisted stitches

Here's the modified slip, slip, knit (ssk) I used for the twisted stitches in my Undulate hat pattern.

Once again, excuse the sniffling, the low voice, and the background noises.

And here's the photo tutorial: