Hope you are all having / had a great Easter weekend! Wesley and I had a really good one
My best friend Maria and her fiancee Jan came over on Saturday. She baked yummy scones and brownies which we ate. We walked to the O2 (formerly known as the Millennium Dome) to see the Star Wars exhibition…. We saw Chewbacca taken away….
Last year, I found an odd parsley plant growing in the bush on the way to the O2 (photo below is taken then). We were wondering if it is still there….
… and there is!!!!! ;D I was so happy to say hello to this odd parsley. He has grown bigger!
The thing was that my digital camera ran out of battery because I kept taking silly photos of parsley and other things… and I could not take a photo of my favourite Ewoks!
Craft wise, it has been very active. I have been making more cosmetic purses with tweed and felted fabrics with crochet flowers on them. It is very satisfying (and at the same time scary) to knit something yourself and felt it!! But I am very please with the outcome.
Also the cosmetic purse kit has been selected for the Gift Guide for new mothers on Etsy (thank you!)
Happy Easter everyone!

Thank you for your such a kind word from the last post. It really made me feel so supported and I am finally recovering. I feel alive again! Honestly I was so ill that I thought I would never get better. The last time I was seriously ill was in 2006 according to my med record. I guess I did well for 2 years without flu.
It has been nearly a week since I went outside. W took me to the ecology park behind our flat for a fresh air and feed the bird as usual. Today there was a new face… Mr Squirrel. He was brave and was standing right next to me when I was feeding the bird (obviously used to humans).
Cute… I thought. Then I remembered reading our community newsletter about “squirrel attack” in the park.
Not cute anymore….
So I threw a piece of bread away so that he would go and fetch it (so that I can run away!).
…Then this big black bird ate it!!!
The angry squirrel climbed onto the tree where the bird was…
… and nearly got him!
What a drama! All I could think was how to remove angry squirrel on my head should he attack me. It was good that the attention was re-directed to this bird.
Anyway, I have been behind my craft schedule. I must first finish off my customers’ orders. Thank you for being so patient with me. I will do a good job!
I also wanted to show you my newest creations. It is on my Etsy shop at the moment.
It is knitted with British Shetland yarn. It is wonderfully textured, solid and so cute! I am planning to produce a pattern for this purse. Hopefully it will be done soon.

IT and knitting seem to go quite well. Starting from Ravelry, there are many many great knitting sites out there.
Here are 5 my very favourite knitting links. They are really useful and hope you like them!

1. Tatao – Both Japanese and English. Comprehensive information about knitting in general. There are lots of projects you can knit, tutorials, international needle conversions, software. A MUST CHECK.

2. The Brioche Stitch – There is no other site for brioche stitches as detailed as this one. I love this site. I have learnt so much about different brioche stitches and techniques. You will love it too.

3. TECHknitting – A blog about all the knitting techniques. I don’t know how she does the illustrations but they are really good. Very useful.

4. Purlbee – From Purlsoho. There are lots and lots of beautiful and fun projects (both knitting and sewing) you can do. I LOVE this tulip socks!!!! Gosh, I wish I were living in either the US or Canada. I could knit all day with Koigu yarns!

5. Knittinghelp.com – Many great knitting tips and help videos. They are also on twitter. I am following them now.

While I am busy knitting and sewing, my sister sent me this photo of my niece with newly made crochet cape. Isn’t she beautiful?

In the morning, I finished off my new glove…
…and a matching cup sleeve.
I used organic yarns. Really pleased with the way the cable motif floats along the hand…
.. and I would like to hold a free giveaway competition!

Please leave your answer in the comment of this post by Sunday 22nd Feb. I will select one person randomly and will announce in later blog. The winning person will receive…
… a multi-purse! Please make sure there is a link to your blog or something so that I can contact you should you win!!! How exciting!
In the afternoon Wesley and I walked to Greenwich Market and tested my newly made cup sleeve. The coffee somehow tasted better!　
Hope you all had a great weekend!

I have finally finished a pair of reversible mittens for my mum. It was meant to be for Christmas gift…
It is now wrapped and posted on its way to Japan! Hurray! I really wanted to embroider Fuchsia because she loves the flowers but as it turned out to be too difficult for me to do, I decided to stick with what I know – dahlia (well, kind of)
The reverse is a nice stripes with deep green and various pinks. She might say that it is too colourful for her but why not? I love the way the stripes turned out. I might make a vest with the same pattern next time.
Hopefully her hands will be kept warm with these!
… and Kumo just wants to say hello!

I have been so inspired by many sock-knitting bloggers since the end of 2008 (my recent witness of sock knitting bloggers are Hetty’s Happy Days and Roobeedoo). I am happy to announce that I have finally casted-on for my first socks for 2009! It’s not finished so I can’t show you the top part (you can see a shadow of dpn on the photo below…)

Needle: 2.75mm dpn (I am using Brittany dpn because they are much shorter than other dpn so really good for knitting socks and glove fingers)
Yarn: Sock yarn from Yarn Yard (I am not sure if you can get the same colorway, but don’t worry they have lots of great colors!!)
Pattern: My own

The pattern is taken from The Harmony Guide knitting stitch book. I have modified it a little to add some eyelets, because I wanted the pattern to look like layers of Ginkgo leaves.

Sort of..?

I love knitting from the toe using short-row technique because it is neat and later I can adjust the length later.

Heel turn..
I have recently decided that I will knit max of two things at a time (usually I have about 4 on-going). So this will be completed hopefully next week rather than next year (even, next decade)…

While I am busy knitting, Kumo is completely in love with Tempur pillow….

This weekend I visited V&A. I have been there over 10 years ago but since I missed Kaffe Fassett’s exhibition few years back, I always wanted to go there again. Unfortunately there weren’t many knitting collections on display. Furthermore, the textile room closed earlier than usual so we could not see as many items as we hoped.
BUT, I saw this most beautiful hand-knitted children’s cotton lace dress in the British textile room. Isn’t it soooo wonderful? (photo taking was allowed in this room lucky me!)I just can’t believe it is hand-knitted. The thread is as thin as normal sewing machine thread. I spent a good few minutes just admiring it. I am wondering how long it took to complete it… I really don’t want to think about it. I bet it took ages!
The pattern is the same as Print O’ the Wave Stole from See Eunny Knit!..I think.
Side panels… I love the stitches.
Zooming in..I really tried to recreate the pattern but I do not have the right concentration this weekend so I gave up. May be one day I can figure out. Has anyone seen a pattern like this before?
My very favourite is this lace edging. I have seen many before but not this one!
On the way back in Waitrose I bought MangaJo‘s green tea and goji berry drink to quench my thirst. It was very refreshing. Highly recommended.
It was snowing a little on Saturday but apparently it will be warmer in London. Is it the end of winter? I must get on with my knitting!

I have so much to write this month!
Maria‘s fiancee Jan gave her an antiqe sock knitting machine. So we decided to visit her and see what it is like. Actually, I have seen some in the book and at Wool Fest in Lake District, but this is the first time that I see it working so close. There seem to be lots of people addicted to sock knitting. If you use “sock knitting machine” and Google search you can see many interesting sites.
This machine can knit up to 4ply thickness yarn. I think Maria is using the standard 4ply sock yarn.
It doesn’t come with the table. So this machine is screwed onto the work top of Jan. I love this machine! It is so exciting

I took this video with Maria using the machine. You can see how it works. The sock is coming from the bottom.

I think I will get a pair of socks for my Christmas gift this year.

I hope you all had a great year end and the New Year! We had a very busy one meeting friends and families (no time for crafting…). The highlight was a family gathering at Novellino in Golders Green. It was wonderful to meet W’s relatives and I am so happy to be a part of his family
We decided to have a quiet New Year’s Eve though. We treated ourselves with nice food (some we had to eat by the 31st to clear out the fridge…!). One Japanese tradition I wanted to keep was the “big clean up (ou-souji 大掃除) before the eve (ou-misoka 大晦日), so I am glad I did that, because the flat really needed a big time tidy up.
Also a huge thanks to W’s mum who gave Kumo and Wata this great toy from the US.
They absolutely love it..
Back to crafting (hurray!). I made this beret for myself (you might notice that there is a pattern for this you can purchase). This beret has been highly used and I am planning to make another one for myself.
More reversible fingerless gloves for my etsy shop (will be listed in mid Jan – more colors and other styles)!
And lastly…for my Japanese visitors (thank you so much! ありがとうございます！) I decided to blog in Japanese properly.
日本からの皆様、新年あけましておめでとうございます。いつも私の（とりとめも無い）ブログを読んでくださってどうもありがとうございます。私の日本語は恥ずかしいほどめちゃくちゃですがこれから日本の皆様にもロンドンからの編み物を楽しんでもらえるように新しく日本語でブログを始めます。内容は同じ英語のブログと同じになると思います。がんばりますので２００９年も何卒よろしくお願いいたします。
Next post will be how to knit hexagons and octagons – my first tutorial of the year!