These days we are so caught up in the rounds of parties and gift-giving, that the meaning of Christmas gets lost.
Thank you Lord for the following (and more!):
1) gatherings full of good food, music and laughter
2) the enjoyable company of good friends and loved ones
3) peace to the troubled
4) rest for the weary
5) forgiveness and understanding from the people whose items I have not finished knitting
6) the ability to surprise people in a good way
7) patience when planning for successful events
8) good cheer in trying times
9) strength, good health and safe conduct for all
10) abundant love all around
There's more, but they'll come to mind later.
Special prayers go out to my college friend Margie E, who is recuperating from her operation in New Delhi. As Amy says, we're storming the gates of Heaven for this one :)
Have a wonderful Christmas!
Showing posts with label Inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Inspiration. Show all posts
Monday, December 22, 2008
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
A Knitting Portrait
While confined at the hospital, my mom got busy sketching. Me! Knitting! I love this! I will scan it when she's well enough to be brought home. I just realized I don't have any pictures of me knitting. I take pictures OF my knitting, but that's all. It's my mom's birthday on Oct. 25, I think I'll make her a knitted summer tee.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Knittipina Report 001
This last week was my little niece's birthday week, so things have been a little topsy-turvy around the house.
Incredible Joie was a little freaked about the tainted Chinese milk business, so instead of crafting or blogging this week she has been madly researching distributors of infant milk brands here in the Philippines. As a result, Lilo's birthday party is milk-candy free (no White Rabbit, folks *sadness*).
Our Tita Nora D. passed by the house recently, visiting from LA. She's leaving Manila in November, so that gives me time to make some cable rib merino socks for her grandchild. The 3yo Pavel is German-Filipino, son of our close friends Annie and Ingo, who are based in Germany but are spending Christmas in LA. According to Annie Pavel's feet measure 6.5" from toe to heel, which would make his socks a child's medium (according to Ann Budd's book). Since baby merino is the only sort of appropriate sock wool available locally, I'm using olive green. (My other baby merino yarns in the stash are in pale pink and cream, and Joy's using her cream one for Annie's crocheted scarf.) As of this writing I'm 75% done on the first sock.
It's a weekend, and I'm enjoying my dose of TV series, so I would need some mindless knitting to keep my fingers occupied, right? When I started this blog I wanted to make a free-style tank dress for Lilo, using a buttery yellow Cannon crochet cotton. After an inch or so I realized it would be a drag to knit two sides, sew them together and finish them off with a crocheted border. So I frogged it. Then I cast on again and tried a circular knit this time. Only I used circulars that were too long and it became a drag to Magic Loop something that's supposed to be 30" in circumference. Yes, there's a reason why Magic Loop is recommended for SMALL circumference knitting. I frogged it again. All this frogging was frustrating but also part of the learning process: a knitter should find the most efficient technique for whatever he/she is knitting. Good thing I remembered my 16" Milward circulars, and they were the very thing for the project (although the bent ends ala Boye and the join really annoy me).
By now you must be wondering, what pattern am I using? The pattern should be what's most efficient. Ordinarily it is, but I wanted TV knitting. Which means, right now, no pattern: just knit a basic tank-dress, using stockinette and some shaping, and then embellish later with crochet or crocheted appliques. Why the crochet and crochet appliques? This is for Lilo, this is sister-bonding crafting. Incredible Joie does the crochet. She can embellish the plain vanilla knit dress with whatever she likes. Give it some personality. A mom knows her kid best. That's how we divide the work. We were able to do it the first time around with Lilo's coral babydoll blouse.
The ballet slipper project is temporarily shelved because of the Pavel socks.
Amy is requesting local knitters to make hats and scarves for Mongolia, to be sent through her sister who's coming home from San Francisco in February. I have never knitted a hat before, but maybe it's about time to learn. Besides, we're going to Baguio end of January, someone in the family might like to wear a hat there too. Amy would like everyone to check out WarmWoolies.org, a charity knitting site whose latest campaign is to send items for orphans in Mongolia. I don't have a lot of wool, actually, but it says in the guidelines that you can use acrylic for a baby blanket.
This is definitely an eye-opener for a lot of knitters like us outside the US. Knitting for those close to you is an expression of love, but knitting for people you don't know really extends the boundaries of love. Of course you only knit what you can, how you can, but think that a worldwide effort gives your participation a bigger picture. Isn't it great that you can help people and enjoy your hobby at the same time! Of course critics will say, why don't you do that here at home first? So many people have been victimized by floods and storms! Baby steps, dear readers. One day Amy and the rest of us will learn how to do it properly for here. Let's say right now donations get too politicized for our taste, and knitters might get frustrated and fatigued. Baby steps.
I have also started moderating at a local tech forum where I have been an active member for some time now. I'm not an IT professional, by the way. But I think there is a role for intermediate-level tech users who have ventured into areas where newbies fear to tread: software tweaking and hardware configuration. People who save money by doing the easier things themselves. We're relatively easier for newbies to approach, don't you think? I'm one of three such mods trying to attract more participants into the discussions: first-time gadget owners, parents choosing gadgets for their children, more GIRLS. The tendency is for these kinds of forums to be populated mostly by guys, but we're going for more balance. These days, GEEKY IS HOT! My current role model: blogger Gina Hughes, the TechieDiva.
Over the past few nights my guilty pleasure has been reading the books that I recently got. My fellow Pinoy Raveler Jinky and I were discussing fun topics like size conversions, yarn substitutions and dyeing, and out of curiosity I tried to find out how we could do things here in Manila. We don't have a lot of wool available to local knitters, but then I aim to find out other unpublished sources. I won't be deterred by the idea that I can't make something because I can't find yarn or needles to produce the right gauge. The size conversions, however, was a great discussion, because it led me to re-examining The Knitting Fiend online knitting calculators. Going over my books I realized that getting Debbie Stoller's Stitch n' Bitch Nation (apart from Ann Budd's Getting Started Knitting Socks) was one of the best investments ever. Why? She simplifies knitting as a process and makes sure crafters have a RELAXED, practical, and fun approach to knitting. A lot of knitters are discombobulated by the math involved in adapting sizes different from what is in the patterns (if other sizes are not provided specifically). They get wistful or tense. I was one of them. If I were you, I'd read and re-read the chapters before the actual patterns. Debbie Stoller, you just removed the woolly gauze from my eyes!
Incredible Joie was a little freaked about the tainted Chinese milk business, so instead of crafting or blogging this week she has been madly researching distributors of infant milk brands here in the Philippines. As a result, Lilo's birthday party is milk-candy free (no White Rabbit, folks *sadness*).
Our Tita Nora D. passed by the house recently, visiting from LA. She's leaving Manila in November, so that gives me time to make some cable rib merino socks for her grandchild. The 3yo Pavel is German-Filipino, son of our close friends Annie and Ingo, who are based in Germany but are spending Christmas in LA. According to Annie Pavel's feet measure 6.5" from toe to heel, which would make his socks a child's medium (according to Ann Budd's book). Since baby merino is the only sort of appropriate sock wool available locally, I'm using olive green. (My other baby merino yarns in the stash are in pale pink and cream, and Joy's using her cream one for Annie's crocheted scarf.) As of this writing I'm 75% done on the first sock.
It's a weekend, and I'm enjoying my dose of TV series, so I would need some mindless knitting to keep my fingers occupied, right? When I started this blog I wanted to make a free-style tank dress for Lilo, using a buttery yellow Cannon crochet cotton. After an inch or so I realized it would be a drag to knit two sides, sew them together and finish them off with a crocheted border. So I frogged it. Then I cast on again and tried a circular knit this time. Only I used circulars that were too long and it became a drag to Magic Loop something that's supposed to be 30" in circumference. Yes, there's a reason why Magic Loop is recommended for SMALL circumference knitting. I frogged it again. All this frogging was frustrating but also part of the learning process: a knitter should find the most efficient technique for whatever he/she is knitting. Good thing I remembered my 16" Milward circulars, and they were the very thing for the project (although the bent ends ala Boye and the join really annoy me).
By now you must be wondering, what pattern am I using? The pattern should be what's most efficient. Ordinarily it is, but I wanted TV knitting. Which means, right now, no pattern: just knit a basic tank-dress, using stockinette and some shaping, and then embellish later with crochet or crocheted appliques. Why the crochet and crochet appliques? This is for Lilo, this is sister-bonding crafting. Incredible Joie does the crochet. She can embellish the plain vanilla knit dress with whatever she likes. Give it some personality. A mom knows her kid best. That's how we divide the work. We were able to do it the first time around with Lilo's coral babydoll blouse.
The ballet slipper project is temporarily shelved because of the Pavel socks.
Amy is requesting local knitters to make hats and scarves for Mongolia, to be sent through her sister who's coming home from San Francisco in February. I have never knitted a hat before, but maybe it's about time to learn. Besides, we're going to Baguio end of January, someone in the family might like to wear a hat there too. Amy would like everyone to check out WarmWoolies.org, a charity knitting site whose latest campaign is to send items for orphans in Mongolia. I don't have a lot of wool, actually, but it says in the guidelines that you can use acrylic for a baby blanket.
This is definitely an eye-opener for a lot of knitters like us outside the US. Knitting for those close to you is an expression of love, but knitting for people you don't know really extends the boundaries of love. Of course you only knit what you can, how you can, but think that a worldwide effort gives your participation a bigger picture. Isn't it great that you can help people and enjoy your hobby at the same time! Of course critics will say, why don't you do that here at home first? So many people have been victimized by floods and storms! Baby steps, dear readers. One day Amy and the rest of us will learn how to do it properly for here. Let's say right now donations get too politicized for our taste, and knitters might get frustrated and fatigued. Baby steps.
I have also started moderating at a local tech forum where I have been an active member for some time now. I'm not an IT professional, by the way. But I think there is a role for intermediate-level tech users who have ventured into areas where newbies fear to tread: software tweaking and hardware configuration. People who save money by doing the easier things themselves. We're relatively easier for newbies to approach, don't you think? I'm one of three such mods trying to attract more participants into the discussions: first-time gadget owners, parents choosing gadgets for their children, more GIRLS. The tendency is for these kinds of forums to be populated mostly by guys, but we're going for more balance. These days, GEEKY IS HOT! My current role model: blogger Gina Hughes, the TechieDiva.
Over the past few nights my guilty pleasure has been reading the books that I recently got. My fellow Pinoy Raveler Jinky and I were discussing fun topics like size conversions, yarn substitutions and dyeing, and out of curiosity I tried to find out how we could do things here in Manila. We don't have a lot of wool available to local knitters, but then I aim to find out other unpublished sources. I won't be deterred by the idea that I can't make something because I can't find yarn or needles to produce the right gauge. The size conversions, however, was a great discussion, because it led me to re-examining The Knitting Fiend online knitting calculators. Going over my books I realized that getting Debbie Stoller's Stitch n' Bitch Nation (apart from Ann Budd's Getting Started Knitting Socks) was one of the best investments ever. Why? She simplifies knitting as a process and makes sure crafters have a RELAXED, practical, and fun approach to knitting. A lot of knitters are discombobulated by the math involved in adapting sizes different from what is in the patterns (if other sizes are not provided specifically). They get wistful or tense. I was one of them. If I were you, I'd read and re-read the chapters before the actual patterns. Debbie Stoller, you just removed the woolly gauze from my eyes!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Needled by Two Grandmothers
Lola Nanay (mother's side) taught me how to crochet, and Lola Mama (father's side) taught me how to knit. I think I was around 12 or 13 at the time. I started showing interest at the precise age when I was captured by the beauty of the finished products and had the manual dexterity for it. Of course, my vision was 20:20 then.
One summer three cousins and myself attempted a very basic white grid crochet curtain (one panel for each of us). I was the youngest in the group. Needless to say, it took the whole summer, and the curtains were left behind in Lola Nanay's old house in Negros, and I have never seen them since. Because of that I never quite attempted such a large project again, but would occasionally knit odd granny squares,asymmetrical flowers and lopsided doilies. I even made doily skirts for my Barbie doll Francie. (Come to think of it I never actually played house with the hand-me-down Barbies. My play consisted of making them clothes from scrap cloth from the dressmaker. I think that's where the fiber and fabric arts interest began.)
Lola Mama lived with us in Quezon City when I was in high school. She was quite pleased when I asked her if she knew how to knit, and whether she could teach me. An Ilocana who lived most of her married life in Baguio City since the 1930s, she was exposed to American-style needlecrafts and took to knitting quite naturally. Apparently, I was the only grandchild who ever showed interest.
For 16 years our family lived in a 1950s style house in UP Diliman, which we rented from a Chinese mathematician who had immigrated to Maryland. On rainy Saturday afternoons I would open the cabinet Dr. Lin left behind, and inside were some of my childhood treasures: a
stained white silk short dress with lace overlay, a vintage green-and-gold chocolate bonbon tin filled with fancy jewelry, a wooden cigar box filled with unsharpened pencils and old fountain pens, a real corncob pipe, and postwar Sears and Jaeger catalogues. Not to mention a pair of US size 3 metal knitting needles that had begun to rust.
The Sears catalogues had really pretty feminine clothes and sexy shoes in them, as Christian Dior's influence on postwar fashions had just begun to emerge. There were lots of glamorous fitted twin-set knits, to fit women wearing the pointy bras popular at the time. All the models looked like Elizabeth Taylor or Grace Kelly. And all the men were pictured with martinis lounging in cashmere cardigans, or playing golf in Argyle vests. The Jaeger catalogues showed more of the same, only with instructions for making everything from socks to shawls to separates. I was fascinated. (The catalogues didn't survive our moving house.)
I have knitted on and off through the years. My fiber arts bible was the Reader's Digest Book of Needlecraft, a hardcover compendium of stitches and projects which must be around 20 years old now. I have knitted drawstring purses, scarves that fell short of yarn, and teddy-bear sized garments. Last year while I was spring-cleaning my bedroom I discovered a horseshoe-lace scarf in a fine cream yarn in a plastic bag. SHETLAND LACE! IN WOOL, NOT ACRYLIC! I was amazed that I had reached a certain level of experience. How sad it would be if I didn't use that! I was galvanized. Of course I had to relearn EVERYTHING from that point on.
Fortunately today there are more sources for yarn, and needles, and patterns. Fortunately I read my friend Amy's knitting blog, because now I have someone to share all this craziness with. None of my other friends seem to have any interest in fiber arts and crafts, apart from wearing the results. They prefer to cook, or bake, or maybe scrapbook for their children. Fortunately I have my little niece Lilo who inspires me to make REAL garments, not teddy-bear ones.
I have recently finished knitting Lilo a coral-colored mercerized cotton babydoll halter top! It took me a week of knitting a few hours a night in front of the tv, plus some time for assembly. It is currently being embellished with crocheted shell borders by my sister Joy. Pictures later.
Things made by hand (and eye and mind) are precious. Special. One day I'll make something beautiful enough to sell or swap in the online handmade crafts market Etsy.com.
One summer three cousins and myself attempted a very basic white grid crochet curtain (one panel for each of us). I was the youngest in the group. Needless to say, it took the whole summer, and the curtains were left behind in Lola Nanay's old house in Negros, and I have never seen them since. Because of that I never quite attempted such a large project again, but would occasionally knit odd granny squares,asymmetrical flowers and lopsided doilies. I even made doily skirts for my Barbie doll Francie. (Come to think of it I never actually played house with the hand-me-down Barbies. My play consisted of making them clothes from scrap cloth from the dressmaker. I think that's where the fiber and fabric arts interest began.)
Lola Mama lived with us in Quezon City when I was in high school. She was quite pleased when I asked her if she knew how to knit, and whether she could teach me. An Ilocana who lived most of her married life in Baguio City since the 1930s, she was exposed to American-style needlecrafts and took to knitting quite naturally. Apparently, I was the only grandchild who ever showed interest.
For 16 years our family lived in a 1950s style house in UP Diliman, which we rented from a Chinese mathematician who had immigrated to Maryland. On rainy Saturday afternoons I would open the cabinet Dr. Lin left behind, and inside were some of my childhood treasures: a
stained white silk short dress with lace overlay, a vintage green-and-gold chocolate bonbon tin filled with fancy jewelry, a wooden cigar box filled with unsharpened pencils and old fountain pens, a real corncob pipe, and postwar Sears and Jaeger catalogues. Not to mention a pair of US size 3 metal knitting needles that had begun to rust.
The Sears catalogues had really pretty feminine clothes and sexy shoes in them, as Christian Dior's influence on postwar fashions had just begun to emerge. There were lots of glamorous fitted twin-set knits, to fit women wearing the pointy bras popular at the time. All the models looked like Elizabeth Taylor or Grace Kelly. And all the men were pictured with martinis lounging in cashmere cardigans, or playing golf in Argyle vests. The Jaeger catalogues showed more of the same, only with instructions for making everything from socks to shawls to separates. I was fascinated. (The catalogues didn't survive our moving house.)
I have knitted on and off through the years. My fiber arts bible was the Reader's Digest Book of Needlecraft, a hardcover compendium of stitches and projects which must be around 20 years old now. I have knitted drawstring purses, scarves that fell short of yarn, and teddy-bear sized garments. Last year while I was spring-cleaning my bedroom I discovered a horseshoe-lace scarf in a fine cream yarn in a plastic bag. SHETLAND LACE! IN WOOL, NOT ACRYLIC! I was amazed that I had reached a certain level of experience. How sad it would be if I didn't use that! I was galvanized. Of course I had to relearn EVERYTHING from that point on.
Fortunately today there are more sources for yarn, and needles, and patterns. Fortunately I read my friend Amy's knitting blog, because now I have someone to share all this craziness with. None of my other friends seem to have any interest in fiber arts and crafts, apart from wearing the results. They prefer to cook, or bake, or maybe scrapbook for their children. Fortunately I have my little niece Lilo who inspires me to make REAL garments, not teddy-bear ones.
I have recently finished knitting Lilo a coral-colored mercerized cotton babydoll halter top! It took me a week of knitting a few hours a night in front of the tv, plus some time for assembly. It is currently being embellished with crocheted shell borders by my sister Joy. Pictures later.
Things made by hand (and eye and mind) are precious. Special. One day I'll make something beautiful enough to sell or swap in the online handmade crafts market Etsy.com.
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