Posts Tagged ‘cotton and cloud’

Lifestyle

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

The word “lifestyle” seem to be the current buzz word. Lifestyle this and that… etc.

How I live, craft and eat is all about having a minimum impact on the environment. I guess it comes from the fact that I am a Buddhist. I am a green beginner, but am determined to be good at it and do my best to incorporate much more of the green lifestyle into my living. Sometimes it’s confusing because you see some lovely lifestyles, but if you look carefully you would be asking lots of questions… how are they produced? what are the ingredients? where do they come from?. I want to make sure that my lifestyle functions as efficiently as others but is also environmentally sound.

Anyhow, I have been a huge fan of Ecover for a long time. They are good detergents (love the smell and their cleaning power is not compromised only because they are green) but the only thing is that their smaller packs you find in the local supermarkets are a tad more expensive than some of the other non-eco-cheaper alternatives.

Recently I found out you can buy large packs of Ecover products so I did not hesitate to buy them. This meant I could help save money, plastics and environment! :D yipppee!

Even Wata likes them (LOL!)

Even Wata likes them (LOL!)

The more I read about them, the more I love Ecover :D

No phosphate = Does not starve river from oxygen

Fast biodegradable surfactant (makes lather) = Protect frogs and other water-living organisms

Citric acid based limescale remover = Quickly breaks down and non-toxic

Their toilet cleaner needs much less water to neutralize the detergents = save you water

Plant-based chemicals and fragrances = Unlike petrol based chemicals, they are biodegradable, non-toxic and sustainable

No optical whitener and foal booster = No dodgy chemicals that are nothing to do with the cleansing power and cleanliness of things

You can watch a general info about Ecover company here (I liked watching how Ecover products are made in a factory). Below is also a short video clips about their collaborative work with WaterAid in Ethiopia.

I just think it is amazing for a company to do something good for the environment and people AND be profitable. I hope that one day Cotton & Cloud will be like that (fingers and toes crossing big time).

So why am I talking about Ecover? Because I am so happy and want to let you know that we are having a LIMITED ECOVER OFFER. Basically you will receive a 100ml bottle of ECOVER washing up liquid (lemon and aloevera) for FREE with every order (i.e. physically posted orders). I thought I will spread my enthusiasm of eco lifestyle and Ecover products through the world of C&C.

Hope you have a great week ahead :D It’s been forecasted to be quite warm in London!

9PUUA3X66SEW

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Posted in Behind Cotton and Cloud | 14 Comments »

Spring / Summer 2010 Collection Progress Update 1: Theme

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Right now, C&C is developing a set of children’s knitwear patterns which are planned to be released in March (BTW I am super excited about the designs and I know you will all love them!)

The theme of 2010 Spring / Summer “collection” is ocean.

We all love the sea (I think… whether you can or cannot swim – I do have a big phobia whenever I swim in the open sea). I would certainly like to continue to enjoy the beautiful ocean like coral reefs, lots of different fish, whales, dolphins, mangrove etc. for the rest of my life.

Anyway, in 2009, I was totally into watching a BBC documentary called South Pacific. Nerd-ishly enough, I also love checking out on Marine Stewardship Council website and try my best to buy certified sustainable fish in my local supermarket. One of my challenges is eating out. I love eating out with my friends but it’s hard to know whether the ingredients are environmentally sound – probably not. Nothing is perfect so all we need to do is to minimise the impact.

Going back to the Ocean theme for this season, until March I will be blogging about the progress of my projects (mood board (I am no good at this tho!), swatches, inspirations, techniques etc.). I think it is really nice to have a positive message in the design so that mums or someone in the family who knit my patterns for the kids can really enjoy them rather than just “knit”. After all, you would want the kids to wear the best handknit garments- but at the same time you would want to make them relatively quickly. So I have a lot hurdle to jump until March.

So, today I would like to share with you the images that inspire me to create my Spring / Summer 2010 designs. Also I have listed some Ocean related sites which are both fun and educational.

Mood Board Spring 2010

It has waves, kelp, mangrove, endangered creatures, blue sea, sand. Don't you just love the feel of the ocean even just by looking at it?

Google Earth -You can check out under-the-sea view. Super cool.

BBC Ocean Games – Loads of fun games about the ocean. I would say this is a “good” time-waster.

Marine Stewardship Council – Gives you great info about where to buy and how to cook certified sustainable fish. My favourite site.

Protect Planet Ocean – A huge website all about protecting our planet ocean. I love the fact they have all the collections of podcast, videos etc.. and I found this… This is a video by the University of New Hampshire research group who are monitoring the coastal marine ecosystem in the western Gulf of Maine.

It’s amazing that there are many people who are working so hard for the good of the earth. I must get my needles and work hard too ;D

Hope you are having a productive week ;)

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Posted in Behind Cotton and Cloud | 6 Comments »

FREE PDF Knitting Pattern – Knitted iPhone Purse

Thursday, January 7th, 2010
knitted iPhone purse

FREE iPhone Purse Pattern

Hope you’ve all been having a great first week of 2010. Today as promised, I would like to share with you my brand new FREE knitting pattern for an iPhone (well, you can put anything you want :D ).

My cool electrical gadget must travel in style. So I made this retro-style iPhone purse for me to take everywhere I go.

knitted iPhone Case

My knitted iPhone case.

This Knitted iPhone Purse…

♥ has an external pocket where you can put your earpiece

♥ is seamless

♥ is knitted in one piece (i.e. no joining required – grafting is involved but this is optional as you can cast off and join the bottom anyways you like)

♥ Is double-layered for extra protection

♥ has flexy internal purse frame to securely hold your precious gadjet

♥ is very simple, very fun, very stylish

♥ works really well with tweedy yarn

♥ involves Judy’s Magic Cast-On method. Her site is here and my short blog post is here.

knitted iPhone case open

Inside view. The purse is double-layerd for extra protection.

You can dance with it.

You can sing with it.

You can sing with it.

You can dance with it.

download now

Finally…

✔ If you like this pattern, please “retweet” it by clicking the re-tweet button next to the post title.

✔ I write FREE patterns to raise money for charities (currently raising for WWF). So if you really like this pattern and my work, please donate directly to my JustGiving page (I have set it so that you can donate anonymously) or you can just donate to your favourite charity instead! :D

Have a wonderful weekend! ;D

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Posted in Charity, Free Patterns | 24 Comments »

Happy New Year! 2010, Cotton & Cloud New Year’s Plan

Monday, January 4th, 2010

A very happy New Year to you all! Hope you all had a good one. I must say my New Year’s eve was a little quieter than usual but nevertheless I enjoyed my year-end break. I did quite a lot of knitting done ;)

Do you all have a New Year’s resolusion for the year 2010? The world of C&C has many things planned this year!

One of our "furry staff" just wanna say hi!

One of our "furry staff" just wanna say hi!

JUST GIVING
The first exciting news is that C&C now has a “JustGiving” account. This means that money donated by anyone through this account will be processed directly from there. I don’t have to touch it, calculate it and process it at all!

To fund raise, I will be doing the following throughout the year:
1) Releasing FREE knitting & sewing patterns
2) Register and RUN 5-10k (hopefully) for charity

FREE Patterns:
♥ If you like it, please “retweet” the post.
♥ ♥ If you really like my work, please donate some money via C&C JustGiving page. I will be more than grateful for any amount donated by you.

RUN for Charity:
I will be announcing for the run and blog about it. If you are around and would like to run with me, let me know!

er.. yep.. I did eat this... We now have a store in London and we couldn't resisit it...I must run to burn off the cal..

er.. yep.. I did eat this... We now have a store in London and we couldn't resisit it...I must run to burn off the cal..

GOODIES FOR YOU
There are loads of new things to come.
To start of with, I have just unpacked the sassy-est, Japanese vintage-inspired fabrics from Japan! I am itching to sew some nice girl’s dress with some of these fabrics.

Japanese fabrics 1Japanese fabrics 3Japanese fabrics 2Aren’t they just sooo pretty? I am so happy with them!

PATTERNS
Yep. You will see more of them:

1) All my pattern will be released at Spring (Feb / Mar) and Autumn (Aug / Sep). I will announce the release dates in the blog as well as all the updates :) It will be really fun!

2) Since so many of you requested children’s knitting patterns I will be focusing on designs for kids between ages 2-8. Though don’t worry, there will be other patterns including the FREE ones for grown ups!

So below are some sneak previews of my designs which are nearly complete.

preview 3

preview 1

Currently FF is on break (need to build up a list again). I have a grrreeet free patterns to share with you so I might post it IF i finish is by then.

May this year bring you lots of happiness and good health to you all! *bug hugs* ;)

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Posted in Behind Cotton and Cloud | 14 Comments »

Cotton & Cloud Quarterly Charity Donation – 2009 (4/4)

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

It’s officially the last month of 2009. Since the launch of the new Cotton & Cloud site, I have had amazing time just interacting with you guys. I appreciate every comments you post and grateful for all your support.

Cotton & Cloud (CC) still needs to find it’s ground but I am remaining faithful to the core of my business which is to craft a difference. The idea is to connect crafting and a good cause to make a positive difference in the world in CC way.

We collected LOADS of used stamps. This is just a fraction of it.

We collected LOADS of used stamps. This is just a fraction of it.

It’s been three months since the launch of my site and I am ready for the very first CC quarterly charity donation.

With the help of all my friends and families, I have also been collecting stamps to donate to charity. Last year I have donated to WWF. This year I could do the same but it would be nice to donate to a different charity. If you know any charities that collect used stamps, let me know in the comment section!

Other charity activity I did was the 5k run back in September. This really was an amazing experience and I would like to run again whenever possible for a charity in future.

Onto the most important subject. I have been thinking really hard to decide which charity to donate from CC for this quarter. After a lots of research and consideration, I have decided that our first quarterly charity donation should go to David Sheldrick Wildlife Foundation Trust.  What I want to do is to adopt orphaned elephants and donate the rest of the money to the charity.

They twitter and have a facebook page.

Reading the stories about orphaned elephants and rhinos really made me cry. I am deadly against ivory poaching and other animal trafficking. Many orphaned elephants and rhinos don’t survive because they are just too destressed and sad to live. I want to help and am determined that the world can be a better place by everyone helping the helpless together little by little. If you wish to donate or adopt an orphaned elephants and rhinos yourself, this is the page to read.

Towards the Christmas I will let you know where I posted my used stamps and who I have adopted as CC elephant :D It will be the highlight of CC blog in 2009.

Hope you have a good week! ;)

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Posted in Charity | 10 Comments »