Ten Thousand Dancing Stars

Sorry about the silly 80′s pop reference there. I am an eternal child of the 80′s.

Anyway, I am behind on posts again, but only because I still have so many photos from last week that I am uploading and downloading and moving between the home and office PCs, so bear with me.

I hope this post would help to distract you from the fact that I have not posted in a few days.

I never meant for this blog to become yet another knitter’s blog, but that’s one of the things I am passionate about so deal with it. I broke my diet by plunging in and checking out these items sitting in my shopping cart over at Blue Moon Fiber Arts. Yes I have a lot of Socks That Rock skeins. Yes I cannot possibly outlive them at this rate. But these babies practically knit themselves once they get on the needles so I don’t see a problem.

Just look at these yummies and let me see you try and resist!

I have been admiring some of these colourways from the past Knit Alongs in the Socks That Rawk! group on Ravelry but until now have not found any reason to buy them. From left to right we have Valkyrie with some lovely deep purples, Basan with its rich orange and ochre shades, Crazy Lace Agate which should give interesting stripes, Oregon Red Clover Honey which I think is less orange and more clover honey and Pond Scum whose name doesn’t do the colours justice.
Another group shot please. Look at those colours on the Crazy Lace Agate! I can’t wait to see this knitted up.
Oregon Red Clover Honey was a colourway that caught my attention during the Q2 KAL. Tracybug did a pair of Shur’tugal in this colourway and I just fell in lve with it. I just signed up to knit a pair of Calvin & Ripple Socks for the Q4 KAL using this colourway. What can I say, I’m a sucker for shaded solids!
Again, the Shur’tugal KAL brought this colourway to my attention. Angeluna’s pair is so pretty that I had to look up the colourway immediately. I have other yarns in a similar shade of green: Sundara Sock Prickly Pear, Malabrigo Sock Lettuce, Miss Babs Yummy Frog Belly but this is the best green that I love by far.
I said I would avoid wild multis but this colourway is so muted that I love it. I bet the stripes would come out really nice too. Any suggestions on pattern?
I originally wanted to use Basan for the Q4 KAL but being mediumweight I thought it might be a bit too dense. I’m going to reserve this skein for something a little less busy. I love how it’s perfect for autumn! Okay we don’t have autumn here in Dubai but I can dream, can’t I?
I think this skein of Valkyrie will become Love Bites scarf for my daughter Eileen (yes you!). This scarf is otherwise known as True Blood scarf in some circles.

Moving on … I am not a big fan of alpaca, the short hairs bother me a bit but I have seen a lot of knitted scarves and cardigans out of alpaca and blends and I realise I love how soft and drapey it is. Thanks to Charmaine and Hala, I am a full convert.

I bought two skeins of Old Aunt Maiden Alpaca Silk, one for me in Gothic and one for Jackie in the limited edition colourway Ysolda.
Only 200 skeins in existence, not sure if OMAY will dye them again.
Here is the skein in Gothic which I will knit up as Scroll Lace Scarf, designed by Ysolda. The yarn is so soft.
Okay, show and tell’s over. I still have to:

Yes, I finished my LSS shawl. The whole knitting and blocking process took exactly one week, but the project got stuck in the needles a few rows in while I finished another shawl. I still have a bad case of WIP-itis but trying very hard to finish whatever’s on the needles now before I cast on another project again.

The shawl was a great knit, just garter stitch for miles and miles. I made a mistake in the short rows though since I totally forgot that I was not supposed to wrap and turn, but simply just turn. But bleh, I went and wrapped every turn anyway and actually think it was better since the ruffly bits showed up more, I think.
The only glitch is that the turning round on the edge seems a little untidy that if I didn’t wrap. Still I love this shawl. My poor husband unknowingly modelled it for me. I stretched it out a bit when blocking because I wanted to be able to wrap it around me when it gets cooler. My officemates have seen the shawl and wants me to make them one. I said yes as long as they buy the yarn themselves!

Project: Jazz n Roll
Pattern: Shawl That Jazz by Samantha Roshak
Yarn: Luscious Single Silk, colourway Winter Solstice, 1.3 skeins
Needles: 5mm
Cast on: 30 Aug 2009
Cast off: 18 Sept 2009
Notes: As per above

I am!

Last Saturday, Bernie and went back to Stu Williamson’s studio in Jumeirah to look at the photos taken the week before. The idea was to select the ones we wanted and then decide which ones should make the final portraits. Problem is the cost. Man, was it expensive! When I finish this photography class and the advanced courses to follow and I set up my own studio and photography business, I will not charge US$950 for a collection of 3 photographs mounted on a 90cm wide frame!

After being robbed blind, we went to the Mall of the Emirates to try out the new Metro!

There were so many people and yet there were only two gates to let everyone in and only one for those disembarking at the MOE. The system works on NOL cards which is pre-loaded with a certain amount of money and comes in three different types: Red, Silver and Gold. More info can be found here. Here’s Bernie with our Silver NOL cards.
This is the Metro station at the Dubai International Airport Terminal 3, about 2 stations away from the end of the red line in Rashidiya.
On the foreground is the white tower of the old terminal and in the back is the new tower.This is the track that would take us back to the other side of Dubai. The red line’s track goes underground through a great length underneath the Dubai Creek to cross from Bur Dubai to Deira so you get a good few minutes of a dark dimly lit tunnel. A few stations are located underground too.
The Etisalat building at Al Jafliya station near Zabeel Park. A lot of the stations are still under construction so we just whizzed past them.
Example of bad photography. You can even see the lights of the metro cabin!
And flare! I kinda like this photo though but could have used a filter to block out that flare.
These photos were all taken whilst we were onboard the train so they were not the sharpest. After doing the roundtrip, we got off at the Mall of the Emirates again but since it was still Ramadan we headed to the Madinat for a spot of lunch. Good thing the Dome is open!
I bought the shawl as well thinking we might go see a movie but since there was nothing good on I just took a photo of it.And then Bernie and I went crazy with the camera.


One can never get enough of these wind towers!And the mandatory shot of the Burj of course!Just one more catch up post to do. Promise!

Speaking of weekend, two Fridays ago Bernie and I drove to Abu Dhabi so that I could attend a surprise baby shower for Charmaine. More about that later. On our drive back, Bernie stopped at a petrol station so that I could take photographs of this beautiful sunset. Taken sans filter because I don’t have one that fits my new lens.
When I started knitting, everything I needed was bought locally. I was desperate to have knitting needles and yarn, any type of yarn and what did I know back then anyway? As long as the colour was nice and the price was not an issue I bought it. Then two months later I found out that not all needles and yarn are the same.

I browsed around so many yarn shops and bookmarked the ones who shipped directly to the UAE. One of the first ones was The Woolly Workshop. I bought the supplies first before I browsed at patterns. When I discovered Ravelry, all that changed. I discovered that yarn has different weights and material and use. I found out about circular knitting needles and DPNs. Ooh, and cable needles! And notions and all that sweet stuff that a knitter must have in her knitting bag. Or stash.

I have become a more discerning knitter when it comes to the types of yarn that I buy and knit with. If it’s going to be a lifelong hobby which gives me fulfillment and relaxation then I damn well should be using supplies that makes it all worth it!

The yarns I most stash include Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock, Sundara Yarn and Malabrigo. I have a few others but these three brands are the dearest to my heart. I know those are what’s called snob yarns, but seriously once you’ve tried knitting with STR no other superwash sock yarn will feel as sproingy ever again, nor any worsted yarn would feel as buttery soft as Malabrigo (or Mally as we like to call it in the UAE!). And colours will never look the same again once you’ve feasted on Sundara’s genius creations. Over the last few months I have been seeing brand names in other blogs which make me want to try. One of them is Miss Babs Yummy Sock Yarn.

I went and browsed in her shop recently and came away having placed an order for the Frog Belly Monochrome colourway in the 2-ply sock and 4 skeins of the Solo worsted single ply in the Tiffany colourway. When I received my package I got a very nice surprise too!
The little purse is perfect for stitch markers or other notions, or even loose coins! There’s also that sample skein of what I think is the Yummy sport weight. Below is the Tiffany Solo worsted which I think I will knit up into a bag to be felted.
What do you think?
And my very first Miss Babs Yummy sock yarn. Yay! Will have to pet this one a few more times while I decide its fate.
It is so pretty. Jackie said she was expecting the Sundara Sock Yarn in Prickly Pear to look more like this than what she actually got. And I have to agree.
And yes I have a finished project! Yay! It’s not my first shawl since I started knitting, but this is special in so many way. Let me run it down for you.

Here it is pre-blocking. I finished casting off on the way back from the baby shower and the roadside stop we had to shoot the sunset was as good as any to photograph the shawl.

I used the numbers provided by Kate in her Ravelry project page to knit up a larger shawl. I was eyeing that shinking ball of yarn all the way down the Airport Road and this is how much I ended up with. That was close, huh?!

And here she is all blocked and dried. My sister-in-law modeled it for me right off the blocking wires!

From my Ravelry project page:
One thing about the pattern, it could have been my stupidity but I totally didn’t get the *k2tog 3 times, yo, k1 6 times, k2tog 3 times* part of the F&F edging correctly. I wondered why I was getting uneven amounts of stitches at the end of each side section and I knitted and frogged that first repeat of the F&F row three times until I spoke to Jackie and she explained it to me.

Charmaine so kindly got a second skein of this hand-dyed yarn from Knitabulous when it came out on the Etsy shop. it’s a colourway called Count Sockular. I think it’s perfect for Zombie Socks. Thanks, Charmaine!
Debbie and Jackie have been spreading the Posh Yarn love and I think me, Lindsay and Caroline are now converted. Debbie brought along some skeins which she could bring herself to spare and left it for everyone to call dibs on. She says this is my colour and although I am more of a blue/green/purple person, I do think this will make a great shawl. I’m thinking about knitting a Swallowtail Shawl with this Sylvia 2ply in the Tart colourway.
Again, I am not into girly pink but this skein is amazing. This is Diana 2ply in Flamingo, which I think will become a Featherweight cardigan for my sister. Jackie has a second skein which she so kindly offered to split with me so that I can complete the cardigan.
Purple! This is Sylvia 4ply in State, which I am not sure yet what to make. Maybe a shawl, can’t bear to knit this as socks. A while ago, Preeti posted about some silk yarns she found during her trip home to India. I followed the Rav link and the website and contacted the owners who immediately replied with a selection of the yarns and the colourways and the costs. The UAE knitters were trying to put an order together when Mohammed from Silk Indian emailed me to say he is visiting Dubai – and just in time for our meeting at Jackie’s!

We pre-ordered some yarns but asked Mohammed to bring whatever he can anyway. So around 3pm last Friday, he came in with a suitcase and opened it up in the middle of Jackie’s living room and all hell broke loose! Just look at these skeins.

Everyone’s digging in!

That skein on Debbie’s lap is made of the softest bronze colour but it was in dental floss weight so no one bought it. Or I think Jackie did.

These guys made a killing in less than 2 hours…very worthwhile trip to Dubai if you ask me.

Ruth, Caroline and Yanti discussing patterns from a book. Ruth is one of our newest members, who is such a lucky girl who will be at I Knit in London this weekend! I didn’t quite like the blue and green skeins I pre-ordered so I ditched them for more of the undyed worsted and a lace weight in the most subtle gold and purple colourway.

The coral worsted will be knitted up as a Liesl cardigan for my sister. The purple will be for Eileen and the lace weight will be a shawl, not sure which pattern yet.

There was plenty of yarn around, it was a knitting meet-up after all. This is the dining table with Debbie’s stash of Posh Yarn.
Caroline was contemplating the nice blue pure alpaca and Debbie kept saying how it was her colour.
Debbie in full Posh Yarn spokesperson mode. Oh and yes she dyed her hair a darker shade and had a trim too. Isn’t she pretty?
There were still a few swap packages left to be,er swapped and Debbie’s was one of them. here she is with the package from Jackie including two skeins of custom-dyed Skein Queen yarn. Lucky woman!
Jackie is absolutely thrilled with the purple banana fiber yarn she got from her swap package from Lindsay!
Our gracious and lovely hostess, Jackie with a glimpse of her husband Richard in the background who was tending after the sausages cooking in the oven.
And here are the sausages, all done and ready for eating!
Nope, that is not Debbie’s baby. This is Hamed, Shyma’s sweet little boy.
Jennifer also brought along wee Aren, who was mostly asleep or feeding.
This little lady has grown up so much sicne I last saw her. Just look at her! Isn’t she the cutest? This is Nyah, Jackie’s 2 year old daughter.

Next Friday: dyeing party in Abu Dhabi! Woo-hooo!