I’ve finally popped my Malabrigo cherry. Yea, I know it’s not the wildly popular Merino Worsted (which I’m dyyyyingggg to try) but it’s still Malabrigo, so it still counts, right?

Goodness, the colours are freakin’ awesome. The yarn feels soft and smooshy in the hank but I’ll only really know if I truly love it when I knit it up. I’ve rather sensitive skin and often the yarn feels great in the skein but itchy and prickly when knit up.

So what should I knit? I don’t want to do Monkey since I’ve already knit it once. I’m thinking maybe Embossed Leaves, what do you think?

Previously, every time I wanted to buy some Knit Picks yarn, I’ve always joined a spree. This time, I decided to do everything myself. Knit Picks doesn’t ship international so I had to use VPost (third party shipping service). From ordering to receipt of delivery, it took about 2 weeks. Not bad at all. However, the shipping fees aren’t exactly cheap so I’ll probably only do this when VPost has one of those $10 promotions.

I bought a little bit of everything from needles to books to yarn. I even bought a view sizer. I also bought some pocket pages for the new needles to put in my binder. Now, I don’t know if the ones sold separately are of a different quality from the ones that came in the options set but when I tried to use one of the newly purchased pages, the zip broke into pieces. Annoying.

As for the yarn, I bought some Cotlin, Comfy, Gloss, Merino Style, Essential and Risata. At first glance, although the Essential and Felici appear to have the same yarn base, it’s not really the same. Felici uses finer Merino so it is softer. Kind of disappointing for me actually. Oh well.

Of course, after I placed my order, I realised there’re still a couple things I’ve forgotten. Oh well, gotta wait till the next time I place a big order again which could be months from now.

Unfortunately, I’ve also discovered the joy of eBay yarn shopping. Very dangerous for my wallet. I ended up buying 40 balls of Rowan All Seasons Cotton. Yes, 40 balls.

Individual yarn pictures will be up on my Ravelry stash page and Flickr.

After all the reds I’ve been using for my projects recently, I decided to take advantage of The Yarn and Fiber Company‘s April Fool’s Day sale to score some neutral-coloured yarn.

Rowan RYC Cashsoft DK

Grabbed 4 balls of RYC Cashsoft DK. I know a lot of people have pilling problems with this yarn but it’s sooo soft and squishy! It feels better than the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran I bought previously.

Rowan Little Big Wool

Also bought 3 balls of Rowan Little Big Wool to knit the cute little unshaped shrug which I’ll never get to wear in Singapore. Then again, I’ll probably never get to wear 90% of my knitting here. Wool and tropical weather just don’t get along.

There’s no dye lot number on the yarn label.

GGH Mystik

Then there’s the 4 balls of GGH Mystik for the Honeymoon Cami, not that I’m going on a honeymoon any time soon. The yarn is super shiny so I imagine it’ll be super slippery when knitting with it.

Moda Vera Corn

I’ve been intrigued by the Moda Vera Corn yarn ever since I first saw it in their catalogue months ago, but every time I stepped into Spotlight, it’s sold out. When I saw them yesterday, I quickly took the chance to grab 4 balls. The colour reminds me of chocolate milk!

As seen on label:

Composition: 100% Corn fibre
Grams: 50g
Care Instructions/Washing: Cool gentle wash 30deg. Do not bleach. Do not iron. Do not tumble dry.
Meterage Per Ball: Approx. 130m
Needle Size: 4mm
Tension: 20 stitches x 28 rows (10cm x 10cm sq)

The other yarn that I was really interested in was Moda Vera Bamboo/Cotton but there were only 2 balls left so I didn’t get any. Oh well, next time.

Spotlight 8 Ply Cotton

The other yarn I bought was the Spotlight 8 Ply Cotton. Usually I stay away from pastel colours but the deep red colour they carried only had 1 ball left. Although it’s not stated on the label, I think the cotton is mercerised because there’s a slight sheen to the yarn. I bought 5 balls of the yarn. They also carry a 4 ply version of the same yarn.

As seen on label:

Composition: 100% cotton
Grams: 50g
Care Instructions: Hand wash. Do not bleach. Do not iron. Do not tumble dry.
Meterage Per Ball: Approx. 85m
Needle Size: 4 – 4.5mm
Tension: 22 stitches x 27 rows (10cm x 10cm sq)

Bella Baby Layette

Lastly, I bought Bella Baby Layette. It’s a baby yarn so it’s pretty soft! The range was all pastel colours though so I chose a very light brown and bought 5 balls. Oh, this yarn is machine washable too!

As seen on label:

Composition: 20% Australian wool 80% Bamboo
Grams: 50g
Care Instructions/Washing: Cool machine wash 30 deg. Do not bleach. Do not iron. Drycleanable.
Meterage Per Ball: Approx. 95m
Needle Size: 4mm
Tension: 22 stitches x 28 rows (10cm x 10cm sq)

I seldom knit/crochet in public because I tend to lose my place in the pattern if I put it down and forget to make a mark. At home, I always knit/crochet with pen and paper next to me. I bought a row counter so maybe now I can KIP/CIP more often especially on the bus rides to work!

And… now I need project suggestions for the yarn I just bought! Camisoles? Summer scarves?

Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (colour Candy Apple) x 3

Brown Sheep Cotton Fine (colour Candy Apple) x 6

If you haven’t noticed by now, red is one of my favourite colours. I also ordered Cotton Fleece in Olivette which was intended for Juliet but unfortunately, the colour has been discontinued. I wonder if I can wing the pattern (the shorter version) with just 3 skeins of the yarn I have in Candy Apple if I do it without doubling the yarn. Sounds doubtful, eh? I don’t have any patterns in mind for the yarn anyway, or rather, I think I did but I’ve forgotten for which patterns. I really should make better use of my Ravelry account for keeping notes. But I think if I do decide to cast on for Juliet, there’ll be Maths involved. Eugh.

I’ll also like to start posting some yarn reviews and online yarn store reviews (from the perspective of an international customer). I think they’ll be useful?

I grabbed the chance to enhance my stash when Lois decided to destash (she still has some lovely Malabrigo Baby Merino Lace for those interested). Strictly speaking, I’m not a fan of pastel colours (prefer deep reds, olive greens and generally autumn colours) but I really wanted to try the yarn, especially the silky tweed. I ended up with 17 balls of yarn.

Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed (colour 21) x 7

This yarn feels so soft!

Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4ply (colour Blessed) x 10 <- discontinued

Any ideas what to do with the yarn?

Also, my Ravelry tee arrived! This was a mirror shot and I had to flip the image to get the words to read right!

I placed 3 orders with The Yarn and Fiber Company, one in October, one in November and one last week. The order from last week has arrived but the other 2 orders are still on back order. Prior to these purchases, I’ve never bought anything on back order before so I’ve no idea how long one usually has to wait. Whatever it is, I certainly wasn’t expecting to wait for more than 2 months. Oh well.

What I really like about The Yarn and Fiber Company is that they’re really responsive, however, many of the yarn in specific colours that I’m interested in ordering seems to be on back order. But they have really low prices and free international shipping!

On to the yarn! So what did I buy?

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (colour 300101) x 3
Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool (colour Bristol Red) x 5

I’m a little sensitive to wool but the Silky Wool feels really good so far although it’s still too early to say. Plus, I really like the slightly tweedy texture. I was trying to decide between Bristol Red and Claret but I couldn’t see much difference on my monitor. I wish I could get some colour cards though. Anyone knows how the Claret differs in the shade of red to Bristol Red?And yes, I already know what to knit with this yarn!

2 days ago, I paid a visit to a local yarn distributor and sustained damage amounting to 12 balls of Olympus cotton novia. I’ve no idea what I’m going to knit or crochet with them.

Brand: Olympus
Yarn: Cotton Novia
Weight: 40g
Yardage: 105m
Fibers: 100% cotton
Needle size: 5-6 (Japanese)
Gauge: 22-24 stitches / 32-34 rows = 4 inches
Machinewash: Yes
Quantity: 6 x colour no. 8 and 6 x colour no. 17

For Singaporeans who are interested in visiting the yarn distributor, here are the contact details:

Ondori Pte Ltd
8 Jln Kilang Timor #01-06 Singapore 159305
(Tel: 6273-9922; Fax: 6278-3828)

Some of the other knitters have done a review of the distributor on the Knitter’s Review forum.

My order from Knit Picks a few weeks ago has also arrived. Unfortunately, I placed my order days before the Harmony set came out. It’s ok, there’s always next time. :D

The damage includes:
1 x Options Nickel Plated Interchangeable Knitting Needle Set
1 x Nickel Plated 6″ Double Pointed Needle Set
2 x Felici (Hummingbird) SOOOO OMG SOFT AND SQUISHY!
1 x Felici (Clay) WHY DID I ONLY ORDER 1 BALL?!
2 x Risata (Grass)
2 x Risata (Burgundy)
1 x Gloss (Woodland Sage)
6 x Shine Sport (Orchid)
3 x Shine Sport (Grass)
2 x Wool of the Andes (Coal)
2 x Wool of the Andes (Tomato)

Right. It’s time for dinner and then off to update Ravelry. :DDDD
Oh yeah, I don’t put up pictures of the individual skeins/hanks here because I don’t know if anyone wants to see it. If you’re interested, you can check out my Ravelry or Flickr pages tomorrow.

PS: I know the obvious solution is to make two scarves but let’s just pretend for the moment that I can only make one, mmmkay?

Edit (17 Jul 07): You know how sometimes you’ll like to change your hairstyle and there’re all these software out there that can show you what you’ll look like with the new hairstyle before you take the plunge? Well, Bimmy from FrogBlogDogLog (a really cute educational blog for children) has kindly done the same for my scarf dilemma. So which one looks better on me?

That’s right. I’ve popped my Knit Picks cherry. I participated in my first Knit Picks yarn spree organised by Lois and spent enough to bust more than a month’s worth of yarn budget (I’ve a teeny weeny budget). Now that I’m holding the yarn in my hands, I can finally understand what all the fuss with Knit Picks yarn is all about. I ordered the yarn with specific projects in mind, but now that the yarn has arrived, I can’t for the life of me remember what these projects are. I just want to keep looking at my yarn mountain or hold the yarn and squish them a million times. I think I’ll sleep with them under my pillow tonight.

The stash includes 28 balls of yarn:
* Shine Worsted (Watermelon) x 8
* Shine Sport (Violet) x 8
* Shine Sport (Orchid) x 3
* Shine Sport (Blush) x 3
* Merino Style (Frost) x 2
* Merino Style (Maple Leaf) x 2
* Wool of the Andes (Evergreen) x 2

Also, I’m dying to learn how to knit socks.

Now that I’m such an accomplished crocheter (I made a bag!), it’s time to work on my knitting. I found out that the secret to not getting stabbed in the tummy by those long, straight knitting needles was to knit with circular needles instead. I had read on one of the websites that it’s possible to knit flat with circulars (I wasn’t ready to learn knitting in the round yet) and remembered that I had a pair of 80cm 4mm circulars which I bought a while back. The problem I had with straights was that I found them too long and difficult to balance. Moreover, I love to knit (and crochet) while leaning on the arm of the sofa so the long needles always got in the way. Anyhow, I decided to try with the circulars instead. My goodness, circular needles are definitely the best thing since sliced bread! Well, 80cm was kinda long for what I was doing and it kept doing twisty things, so it was… SHOPPING TIME!

So far, I’ve been practising on cheap acrylic yarn and I decided to try wool instead. I ended up picking up 12 balls of some generic supermachinewash wool carried by Spotlight and a pair of 40cm 4mm circs. I thought the wool I picked up was 8-ply (DK weight) since this particular weight of yarn is more common around these parts, but now I’m not so sure. It seems more worsted weight like. Can any of the yarn gurus check out the information below and confirm?

Brand: Spotlight Basics
Yarn name: Delight
Composition: 100% supermachinewash wool
Grams: 50g
Care Instructions/Washing: Cool gentle machine wash. Dry flat. Dry cleanable. Do not iron. Do not bleach.
Meterage per ball: Approx. 90m
Needle size: 4mm
Tension: 22 stitches x 30 rows (10cm x 10 cm sq)