too glamourous to be a makcik – Lace Knit Top

waaaaaah. Suddenly The Knitwit is in the mood to blog.

But she needs to get into the zone, u know?

*looks around messy room inclusive of unmade bed* Ambience? check.

*checks ciggy stock* Inspiration? check.

*MTV’s I love 80’s & 90’s on TV*  Body-shakin mood enhancer? check.

Alrighty, I should be raring to go.

The title of this post came from this quiz that i did, “What Kind of Makcik Are You?’.

And of course I Am “Too Glamourous To Be A Makcik” la kan? Thank goodness. I was apprehensive about doing this Quiz at first, for fear that i’ll be placed as “Makcik Icon of This Century… and Next”….

Soooo anyways.

I started knitting this piece months ago…. In November I think. I was going to wear it at an event, and since i needed to be uniformed in white, i made it in white (which is sooo not my colour ok?). But of course, the event was in January, so I was literally fooling myself that I could have it done by then eh?

Anyways, i picked this very cita-cita tinggi berangan tak sudah Short Sleeve Knit Lace Top pattern.

It’s actually not too difficult a pattern. But as always, I get a bit bored of repetetive patterns, yet get irritated if I have to change pattern too often, just when I was about to get the flow of the pattern? *Sigh* Such is human nature I suppose.

Anyways, i knitted, I abandoned, and i knitted.

So yes, it was completed. Tapi kan, you see the original picture? Quite nice kan? Sekali Bila Aunty K yang pakai….. VERY makcik makcik k? No matter what i tried to match it with….ayo.. like very tak sesuai lah you know?

Hm.

i WAS going to put the finished product here.. but cannot lah… too embarrassing.. Geli.

Benzene Bag

So here’s the 411. I’m working on my first big project for Nicks. Nicks of course, supportive as ever, rolls her eyes and started counting my other big projects that never came to fruition.

Well.. it got started. That’s something innit?

Ok, let’s recap (with Nicks sniggering over my shoulder)

ah-ha. See that tiny arrow? those straggly bits are the only ones not done yet ok? (er.. yes they are STILL straggly bits not weaved in as we speak)

AH-HA. There is a sad, sad story behind this one (whacks Nicks as she breaks out laughing). I was working on.. Gawd i can’t remember now what I started this as. But it was from a free booklet, and you like knit squares with different patterns and then join them together? So anyways, I was knitting the squares, and carrying them around with me.. and i lost them. The bag, the needles, the yarn, the booklet. *Sigh* So in the end, i just thought I’d join them together anyways, and give them to Nicks so she can selimut-selimut herself at the ofice like nenek-nenek omputeh gitu. But if you noticed the ghastly stitching I did? So i wanted to cover them with the I-cord (note arrow). Yeah… the bankie STILL looks like this as we speak.

So aaanyways *glares at Nicks*. I am currently working on a cardigan.. my first ever seh! And well, my knitting has always been… sporadic and subject to mood.

As it happens, the one day that I felt like knitting, That was the day i left my knitting at the office.

But I sooo wanted to knit, you know? (Tetiba gatai tangan tu namanya). So I simply simply picked out a pattern off the net.

Ta-dah! Hexagon Purse.

cute right? Fairly simple, just increases and decreases, seed stitch at the opening and strap.

So I used my 6.5mm straight needles, number 66 and 20 Minlon Yarn 40g (because single yarn would be way too thin for my needles) and got started just as Akademi Fantasia came on.

And a week later (i.e. yesterday), Voila!

Tapi kan, macamana the pattern says “Purse” and akak punya turned out to be “Bag” ntah, akak pun tak tahu.

I did make the strap extra long, that’s true. Instead of the 100 stitches, I probably did something like 150 or more (I basically casted on until the needle could take no more), tapi itu pun when i sling it over, it nestles somewhere right on my tummy (NOT a fashion statment k?), i.e still a bit short.

But i thought it looked nice. I’m still waiting to try its strength though, as I hadn’t bothered to line the inside or anything.

But it was a relaxing, nice short project that actually looked functional.

I have plans for this pattern. (eh wah).

Oh and i called it the Benzene bag because the benzene ring is a hexagon. (Sila rujuk buku kimia organik anda, sekian)

Knit Knacks

It’s not like i haven’t been knitting. I have  I have. Not extensively, but I have. (Who am I trying to convince here?)

So anyways, let’s cut to the chase, and see what i’ve been up to.

ah-haaa. This was of course, from my fave baby site, Bev’s Country Cottage, all updated! I actually also made the booties, but I’ve lost them, somehow. Revealing that I’ve lost them, and lost them in my room, actually reveals the sorry state of my room eh? This is for Baby Eryna. I also made another set with smaller needles, but apparently they don’t fit. Oh well.

Nexxttttttttt.

I also made a scarf for someone. The pattern was from the ever useful book:

thank youuuuuu Sati babes!

This is what mine looks like:

Haaaa.. can do, no? But i think it’s a little too big for the person I gave it to. But it was fun and challenging too. Great project, i thought.

And lastly, this was an attempt meant for Baby Erina too.

Ah-haaa. This pattern was taken from the Five rectangle knitted sweater site. This is like the test piece? I think it’s too big, so Lulu got it.

Here’s a closer look.

Sekiaaaaaaaaaaaaan.

Baby stuff: Pink sweater and shoes

I made this like…. 500 years ago? But I only gave it to the owner like…a few months after I made it. So the idea was not to publish it before I gave it away la kan…but apparently after I gave it away pun..I didn’t put it up, hik.

Both the patterns were from a magazine and a book, so I guess no way I can discuss the pattern without going to jail. But here are pictures of my creations anyways ehehehe.

I got the shoe pattern from this magazine..(which was an old issue, but hey still looks good no?), relatively easy to knit and assemble.

cute eh?

mine turned out like this…. ok la kan?

aaaandddddddd the sweater was from this book: (Thank you sooooooooooo much Miss Sati babe!)

In the beginning I wasn’t really confident that I could do it, u know? But try je lah, ehehehehe

and mine turned out like this:

Of course, as per usual, I must make make modifications lah you know? to match the shoes eh?

But not everything is as it seems….

I somehow got the neckline wrong…so it was like skewed to one side? so I adjust2…

See the senget neckline? (mistake mistake all can only show small pictures ok? hikhik)

Sooo…i sewed the sleeves to adjust:

eheheh.

the body of sweater..also has some mistakes (where i missed a stitch or two..) Than Goodness the owner was too little to notice ( I hope)

ho ho ho. AND this picture is too smal for anyone to notice either.

But, I did it all… I even crocheted the collar ok?

Ah-ha suddenly the picture so big eh?

I’m quite proud of this one actually. Tak la malu sangat nak bagi kat orang.

All in all the sweater took me a bout two weeks, and the booties..about a week i think.

Remember..that was power up hard core knitting..and not oh-let’s-do-all-sorts-of-other-things-then think about knitting-THEN finally get down to doing it- knitting ya?

Baju Jala Glamer

In allll that excitement of posting about the dinner show, I totally forgot that i actually had a knitting project in tow for that night, which should be the main topic of my blog! (because as usual akak lari konsep ye?).

I really had nothing to wear for the night, which was why I shuddered and shivered when they said the theme was ‘Glamourous’. I remember discussing with the lil pwincess what we were going to ‘glamourize’…. as if we weren’t glamourous beings to begin with (ehem).

So I decided to knit myself a Glamour Wrap, forever known as the Baju Jala. The first one I made was in pink. Aiyah no need to rack your brains, here is the picture again, and justt in case you even wanted to make one, here is the original recipe.

But this time I made the very same thing in black with a smattering of silver thread knitted with the black.

I actually started out to knit the whole wrap in silver and black, but some honest (mind you, very honest) friends said maybe it was a leeeeeeeetle too much glamour.

Hmph. 

Soooooooo, the first few rows were all silver, and after that it was silver every few rows or so…

Voila! My Baju Jala Glamer!

I actually procrastinated on this one, which meant that I ended up knitting and sewing and whatnots into the wee hours, hours before the dinner. I simply had to finish it, or else I’ll be wearing my “Hari Keluarga Pasaraya Kenanga 2000” t-shirt and that’s it you know? Glamour? NOTTT.

Of course in the end, on that night I was at the back, working, and not actually up on stage or anything, but hey, akak rasa glamer malam tu ok?

Aaaanddd I actually had a model for this on that night!

Presentingggggggg the fabulous Lady B, with my fabulous creation!

Absolutely faaaaaaaaaaaaabulously glamourous, darlings!

Coochie Coochie Coo Part Dua

So! Hence the failure of the most ambitious project to knit the Mary Jane’s, I stepped down from my narcissistic megalomania stool and looked for a simpler pattern to try. And I found this really simple pattern at Bev’s Cottage. See, you get better succes when you know what you’re capable of. hik. Let’s take a look of what I did murid-murid.

Here are the booties before i sew them up:

Aaaannnd ta-dah! all sewn up!

No, the colour DID NOT change after you’ve sewn them up ya? They are two different sets altogether.

I also did the mittens and the hats.

So excited I was with my succes that i knitted something like 3 sets of the same thing? Ahahahahahah. Come, come we take a look:

This one is all light blue. The first one i tried.

This one is the same pattern, but i knitted the ribbing part in dark blue. (Because I get easily bored with doing everything in one colour heh).

Now I went all out on this one, by doing stripes, eheheh. They are actually yellow and brown, a friend said they look like bumble bee..soo cute! (Ok, this was taken with my OLD camera phone, I only got the new canggih phone after I’ve given these away heh).

All the time while knitting these I kept going ‘aaawwwwwww’ and gushing away because they are sooo cute!

I love knitting baby stuff!

Coochie Coochie Coo! – Mary Jane Booties

In the last few months, babies have been arriving. Not my own of course. But they inspired me to try out some baby stuff. To knit, not on my body.

In the beginning, I wanted to try out these really cute Mary Jane Booties, and found a pattern here. This is what it looked like:

soooo cute kan?  Ah-ha. But not that easy to knit….Maybe because I didn’t count properly or what, here’s what my first attempt looked like (without the strap)

*sigh*. But Aunty K still gigih want to try and do the booties. Because they are sooooooooo cute!

So, second attempt.

Ah-ha. Finally got it right. This is before Aunty K sambung sambung jadik kasut.

Yeay! Success! But this took a lot out of me. Counting, figuring, sewing.

So I’ve abandoned this project for the time being.

Baju Jala Kaler Pink

I have decided that I will be an Acrylic Queen. A Local Acrylic Queen. I’ve decided to only use local yarns although the gadis-gadis at the yarn shop always tell me that the local yarn is no good. Which I don’t understand. Just because it’s cheap, it’s no good? I mean, the yarns they reccommend are mostly acrylic too no? Some are blends, but some are 100% acrylic. All are imported, and therefore cost like, well, a lot? And do we really use wool? Apparently some people are allergic to wool even.

Eh, chop. *looks at entry title again*. *sighs*. Akak salah konsep lagi….

So anyways, what I really wanted to write about is yet another one of my knitting project. I think this one was quite successful actually. Square projects usually are. That’s why it’s Hip To Be Square kan? Hik.

Where was I?

I keep missing the point eh?

Yes, my knitting. I really don’t know what it’s called. But one of my friends intelligently called it “Baju Jala”. How apt. So Baju Jala it is.

The pattern is dead easy. Really. I got it off one backdated magazine I found on sale, and adapted the pattern for cheap Malaysian use. Ok, ok I give pattern.

Material:

6.5mm straight needles

 About 3 balls of Minlon yarn 40g whatever colour you like.I used number 170.

Stitch markers

Pattern:

Cast on 40 stitches. Knit 1, *knit 2 together(k2tog), Yarn Over(YO)*, repeat * until last stitch, Knit 1.

Ta-dah! Knit until the length is about 150cm. Well for me it would be about that long. For more petite girls, about 130cm ought to do it.

Assembling:

Fold knitting in half,

Sew together lengthwise, until about 35cm or so from the folded part, that will be the neckline.

Voila! and you can wear it whichever way you want!

If i put my mind to it, which I did for this one, it took me a bout a week to complete. As per always, I did drop some stitches, and me being me, was too lazy to unravel and start over, so i just cincai cincai sewed the gaping holes, as long as they don’t show too badly……

Ahh..the smell of success…is sweet!

*afterthought add*

Every post i forgot to add something… eeeveryyy post lah! haiyo.

1. The cost for this is erm..about RM5 i think? Since it took about 2 3/4 balls, and let’s assume one ball is about RM1.50… I usually got it for less since i buy bulk ekekeke.

Retro Entry – Green Trash

So anyways. Flushed with the success of the ruffly pink bag, I was totally excited to try another bag. I had this free booklet on knitted bags, and i thought i’d try this easy peasy bag.

Cute, no?

Alas, my reign as the successful bag knitter was not meant to be. Of course i used a totally different type of yarn and so…

It was a pleasure to knit, though..just stockinette and garter stitches.

But seriously, I didn’t like how it turned out at all.

Just for variety,  I did one side fully in green, and the other side red at the top (reason for choice of colours: those are the colours that I have ok?).

And the fringe didn’t turn out nicely either…

*afterthought add*

Ah..so consumed I was with thefrustration that I forgot to put in some notes about the bag.

Let me consult my notes (yesssss I have a log book for myknitting project tau?. The researcher in me never left, apparently).

1. It took me 4 days to knit this bag.

2. It cost maybe about RM3.50? Maybe less since I used leftover yarn. The whole ballcost me RM3.50

3. I used my circular 6.6mm and 6.0mm.

4. Why Do I bother with these notes? Because just in case one day I wanted to knit this again, I have a record of what I used and how long it took me…ekekekeke

Oh well, Her Royal Highness got this bag as well.

Latest update: I saw the bags recently. Apparently they are being used in all seriousness when the Royal Highnesses were playing Shop.

Now we know….beg pegi pasar rupanya….

Retro Entry – Pink Ruffles

OMG.

Has been that long since I was away? Everything has changed, has it not?

Aaanyways, I have set my mind (well, sort of, in between Diari AF, Cerita Artis Malaysia and Tentang Bulan – The Series) to update my blog. So many stories to tell, so many pictures to tell the stories, yet so little time. Ok, so much time wasted was what I really wanted to say, hik.

So here is a knitting project I did waaayy back last year, but at first kept it under wraps because it was meant to be a present for Her Royal Highness. Well, her birthday came and went……and only now  ( as I keep getting distracted by House on TV) will I show it to the world (ie people who read this, ie ME).

I got the pattern off a book given by my boss,

 

so I’m not really sure if i can actually discuss the pattern? Oh well, I want to show it off anyways.

And here’s what I made..

 

Not bad eh? Kinda looks like the one in the book, I just made everything brighter to stimulate my little niece’s brain (eh wah! admit it, you looove bright colours!).

I added the beads just to practice beading (hik, I am so sorry little niece, you are my guinea pig)

 and here’s a view of the back…

I also learnt how to line a bag to make it stronger. Hey it wasn’t that hard when you put your mind to it, heh. Since this is experimental, I just used some of my old clothes that I haven’t quite thrown away yet.

*postadd*

I forgot some other notes to be included about this bag.

1. It took me 3 weeks to knit. 

2. The cost is probably about RM7-RM10? I can’t really figure out how much the beads cost because I bought bulk hik.

3. The beads were like one every 3 stitches? Too much I reckon. This is for further projects consideration *ehem*

*sigh* seriously? I think I have soo lost any ability to write with feeling. This post reads like an old crone rattling off nonsense trying to be smart.

Wait a minute.

I AM an old crone.

*sigh*