Chinese New Year is just around the corner (next Monday) and 2012 will be the year of the Dragon. CNY is my favourite holiday! I love the celebrations. My relatives will all gather at my home on the first day of CNY and we will have a big feast! It’s always so fun!

I’ve been getting the CNY decorations on, shopped for some stuff at Chinatown last night in the very hot and humid Singapore weather!

And I’ve made some decorations too!

here are my little ang pow fishies on the wall! I got the tutorial from here!

I hope in the new year, I will be a little craftier than I was in 2011.

Gong xi fa cai everyone! Happy New Year!

super easy!

cookies, make 2 with worsted weight yarn
6 sc into magic ring, join
ch 1, 2 sc in each sc, join
ch 1, *1sc in next sc, 2sc in each sc*, repeat * to * till end, join
ch 1, *1sc in next 2 sc, 2sc in next sc*, repeat * to * till end, join
ch 1, *1sc in next 3 sc, 2sc in next sc*, repeat * to * till end, join
(you can increase until the size is big enough for your tape measure)
weave in ends

white cream centre
placing the tape measure (the kind which is retractable) between the 2 pieces of brown circles. Sew the 2 pieces together with white yarn (in my case, i used fleece) at the edges. The stitches should be rather loose the first round. Stitch it up somemore to make the “cream filling” thicker. Leave a gap for the tape measure. i sewed the fleece onto the tab for the tape measure as there was a hole on the tab. if not, you can glue it on or something.

and there you go! a oreo cookie tape measure!
colours can be changed to suit your preference. A cream sandwich with raspberry top would be yummy! or make it in light brown and make little french knots in dark brown for choco chip cookies!

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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 18,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 4 fully loaded ships.

In 2010, there were 77 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 86 posts. There were 23 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 7mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was November 28th with 576 views. The most popular post that day was A Knitted Flower (with pattern).

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were knittingpatterncentral.com, ravelry.com, craftster.org, oneprettything.com, and dailyknitter.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for crochet bag pattern, eyelash curler before and after, maybelline magnum review, yarn pom poms, and crochet.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

A Knitted Flower (with pattern) November 2010
2 comments

Pattern for Crochet Version of Ribbed “Lace” Bolero June 2010
10 comments

Pleated Crochet Bag – Part 1 (NEW BAG!) January 2010
5 comments

Convertible denim skirt April 2010

Ribbed Lace Bolero (Crochet version) June 2010
3 comments

The cardigan is coming along pretty nicely I think! not shy. heh.

So anyway, to break the monotony of the knit & purl stitches, I’ve been making amigurumis. Yesterday, the bunny. Today, the sleepy lamby! Isn’t he the cutest thing? I got the pattern free from here.

Back to knit & purl. Have a great day!

I haven’t been a very good blogger. I’ve made a bunch of stuff but haven’t been updating. Hehe. Perhaps you should check out my ravelry account instead as I update my projects there more often than on my blog.

But, I made something today. My first project in 2011 and completed on 1 Jan 2011 too! hehe. I can be fast sometimes. LOL.

Say HI TO BUNNEH!

The pattern is free from here. Super easy to make too.

Well, I hope 2011 will be a very good year for all of you! Keep crafting! Best wishes!

I totally enjoyed making the baby stuff. The flowers were fun and the hats & hairbands were super easy. All of it were easy and quick projects! The best kind.

So I started to wind …… first couple of balls went ok because it was not a lot of yarn. Then, I started to wind something more and I realised that my ball winder was unable to wind a bigger ball of yarn. I don’t want to break my yarn and sometimes, I have a lot of left over yarn! I was beginning to think that I’ve wasted my money on this gadget . boo.  Oh well …. I tried to wind as much yarn into a ball anyway. Then something struck me.

When the size of the ball of yarn gets too big for the spindle to handle, the yarn overflows to the top & bottom of the ball. I thought that if I had a taller spindle, it will solve this problem.

So, here’s my make-shift spindle.

It’s the paper holder for my paper kitchen towels. LOL. Somehow, this paper tube fits the plastic spindle perfectly. Well, the paper tube has to fit your spindle firmly & securely. If it’s loose, it will fly off when you’re winding. LOL.

I made a small cut at the top of the tube with a paper cutter. This is to hold the end of the yarn before the winding starts. I slide the ball of yarn out from the paper tube after the ball of yarn is wounded up.

And now, I can wind huge balls of yarn, no problem! yay!

See the picture below for comparison of the size of the balls of yarn I can wind now. The blue tweed one is about the size that can be wound up using the original spindle. The 2 larger balls are wound using the kitchen towel paper holder. Yay for paper kitchen towel holders!

from left: 1 ball of blue tweed Sirdar Click DK yarn (50 g, 150m), less than 1 original size ball of purple Sirdar Wash n Wear Double Crepe DK yarn (original sized ball is 100g, 270m), 1 hank of El D. Mouzakis Super 10 mercerized cotton (125 gr, 220m)

When I was done winding up each ball, I cut strip of paper and write the name of the yarn (if I remember) onto the strip and label the ball. I am having so much fun winding up these little balls of yarn! I like how I can store them away by stacking them up. hehe.

Materials
DK weight yarn
3.5mm needles (straight or circular, doesn’t matter)
Sewing needle
Sewing thread (matching colour as yarn)
Beads, pearls, buttons or sequins of your preference

Optional (if you’re making it into  a brooch):
small piece of felt
Safety pin or brooch pin

Abbreviations
CO – Cast on
k – knit
p – purl
sl1k – slip 1 knit wise
sl1p – slip 1 purl wise
k2tog – knit 2 stitches together
p2tog – purl 2 stitches together
YO – Yarn Over
BO – Bind off

Pattern

Petal (make 6)
CO 8
Row 1: sl1k, k7
Row 2: sl1p, p7
Row 3: sl1k, *K1, YO* (repeat from * to * till end of row) (14 stitches)
Row 4: sl1p, P to end
Row 5: sl1k, K to end
Repeat rows 4 and 5 till the work is around 1.75 inches.

Start to reduce on a knit row as follows:
Reduce Row 1: sl1k, k2tog, k to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1
Reduce Row 2: sl1p, p2tog, p to last 3 stitches, p2tog, p1
Repeat Reduce Row 1 & 2 till you have 3 stitches left on a knit row. BO all 3 stitches, weave in ends.

Assembly
Thread your sewing needle with thread. Hold the base of the petal and sew it tight for each petal so as to create the “crease” so the petals will curl. Sew all 6 petals together.

Sew on your beads, pearls, sequins or a button to the centre of the flower.

For Brooch
To make a brooch, you may sew the flower onto a small round piece of felt that fits the underside of the knitted flower and sew on a safety pin or brooch pin onto the felt. You can also sew or hotglue this onto a hairband.

Notes
With DK weight yarn (I used Sirdar Wash ‘n’ Wear double crepe DK),  my flower came to about 4 inches or so. If you are using a thicker yarn and larger needles, you can CO less stitches. I tried with Caron Simply Soft yarn and CO only 6 stitches. It works too. I find it easier to sew with sewing needle and thread rather than tapestry needle and yarn for assembly. It’s really up to your own preference. But with sewing needle and thread, you will have to make sure that the stithces sewn are very tight otherwise the petals will come loose.

I suggest using yarn that has a bit of sheen, especially if you are putting pearls in the middle. It make the flower a lot prettier!

Hope you enjoy this pattern! have fun making flowers! I did!

A set of KnitPro interchangeable cables knitting needles!

They are the same as Knit Picks …. same manufacturer,  just different branding. Knit Picks is for USA/Canada market while Knit Pro is marketed to the rest of the world.

I’ve transferred my current project onto the needles and they feel wonderful to knit with! :)

2 skeins of El D Mouzakis Butterfly Super 10 yarn … 100% mercerised cotton, 230 metres per skein, S$15 each. Decently priced I’d say. Good quality too!

Clover’s Shamrock Yoyo maker.

Happy day for me! heehee