Ten Thousand Dancing Stars

Well, my clean-freak sister (no offense, sis!) thought it was dirty and needed cleaning so, guess what, she threw it in the washing machine! Why, in the name of all that is holy, I asked her would you do that? The poor thing has now felted and shrunk to about a newborn baby size. My precious Malabrigo hat. *sniff sniff*

Anyway, to get over that and to give Isabel a new hat, I knitted this for her.

I started it before New Year’s Eve then left it to one side since the recipient is still away on holiday anyway. I picked it up again last week and I managed to finish it in two days. I love love love working with Malabrigo for its butter-soft feel. I hate hate hate working with Malabrigo because of the thickie thin sections of it. Is it just me or does everyone else find that highly annoying?

So, FO shots. Yes, twisted rib. I never thought I’d see the day that I would do twisted stitches! Cookie A patterns here I come!
I love how the decrease is constructed. I had doubts about it but then decided to trust the designer. And she is amazing!
It’s like little braids going down a little girls back. So cute.
Okay, just one more shot I promise.
This is all the yarn I have left. I managed to squeeze out two hats from this one skein of Malabrigo. Not bad.
Project: The Replacement
Pattern: Claudia by MJ Kim
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted
Colourway: Orchid, used half a skein
Needles: 4mm
Cast on: 30 Dec 2009
Cast off: 7 Jan 2010
Notes: CO 110 stitches and reduced to 75 for the body

Jackie’s twins go to nursery school across the road, as in literally across the road, from her house. She can look out the window and see the kids if they are out in the playground. How cool is that?

I got to see Jackie’s stash management system at her new home. Wow! All that Euroflax! And the Skein Queens! I love how neat her knitting is. I suppose not having a million other WIPs nagging you helps your concentration. Just look at her seed stitch! This is the Peak Island Hoodie she made for me mum.
Speaking of yarn, these are the skeins she needed to photograph for uploading to Ravelry. Tanis and some SQ I think.
I love how she has this perfectly and naturally lit backyard. Brings out the true colours of the yarn. Jackie and I seem to have similar tastes in yarn an dcolourways. We’re both signing up for the same clubs this year: Skein Queen and Rockin’ Sock Club (my second year!).
I got to tag along when she went to pick up the kids. And, oh my God, how they’ve grown!

Nathan was quite sociable before but he is turning out to be a real chatterbox now. And it’s funny how he has picked up a bit of Jackie’s accent already! Jackie is from Northern Ireland so you can just imagine how Nathan sounds. Nyah, shy, sweet, little Nyah is all grown up too. She is still a bit shy but she now joins in the conversation too.

I sat down with them while Jackie gave them a cheese-and-pickle sandwich lunch with apples, grapes and yoghurt. Yummy!
After lunch, Jackie got them ready for their afternoon nap. They must have been so tired from school because they were asleep until around 4.30pm! After nap they wanted to watch Buzz Lightyear so jackie put on Toy Story 2 and these two plopped themselves on the mini couch in front of the TV while we sat chatting and knitting.Before I knew it, it was time to go home! I was taking the Metro to meet with Bernie at Deira City Centre so Jackie dropped me off at the Nakheel Harbor station. But not before I snuck in this cheeky photo of Nathan while Mummy and Nyah were talking to Daddy Richard on the phone.
Thanks again, Jackie for a wonderful day. Debbie, sorry I seem to have forgotten to take photos of you! We should do this more regularly.

It brings together people who love to knit regardless of gender, race, religion or other status society might classify them in. You learn new techniques from people all over the world in the warmth of your own home, or you local coffee house. Through Ravelry you have access to thousands of patterns, both free and for sale, direct access to designers and fellow knitters who are ready to help you out and, best of all, you get to know about new yarny things coming out in the market.

Indie dyers who start hand-dyeing their own line of yarns get the exposure they need and from there develop a following. One of these new kids is Liz Abinante of Femme Fatale Fibers.

I first heard about Liz when I came across her design for a pair of socks called Temperance. It’s the first pattern on a series based on the TV show Bones. Being a fan of the show, I immediately fell in love with it but sadly have not had a chance to knit it yet. She has since put out two more patterns in the series, Traveling Woman and Saroyan. I am eagerly awaiting the pattern called Booth!

I got talking to Liz via email and on Ravelry and she mentioned that she is going to open up her own hand-dyed yarn business soon so her designing duties have been pushed into the back-burner. Next thing I know, she has an Etsy shop with lots of goodies!

I finally bought from her shop just before Christmas and they arrived the other day. I couldn’t be any more pleased with this purchase. It’s her Venus Fingering base which is 80% merino, 10% cashmere and 10% nylon. It’s so squishy and the colours are fabulous!

This red skein is called Once More with Feelings. Okay, yeah, I confess, the allusion to one of my favourite TV shows has something to do with the choice. But look at it – isn’t it pretty?
Red is such a difficult colour to photograph and this is the closest I could get to it.
For $25 and 385 yards, this is a very affordable luxury. Since I knitted with the MCN base, I keep wondering how knitters ever coped before they existed? I’d be happy to stick with this yarn base (or the 70% merino, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon Sundara FMC or SG Bugga!)
This blue skein will probably be used to knit up Liz’s Traveling Woman shawl. I love the darker bluey purply shades in it.
If I were to buy from just one yarn brand this year, I think I will go for Femme Fatale. I would like a sweater quantity of the Venus Worsted in a deep burnt amber or forest green shade. I’d like to knit a Mr. Greenjeans and I think this yarn will be the best for it.

Well done, Liz! Can’t wait for the club.

Because Abu Dhabi bailed out Dubai of a crippling debt, the Sheikhs from the Capital went on a shopping spree and picked out which world renowned landmarks of Dubai to take and make their own. Of course the first one on their sights is the one you could see from miles away.

I wonder which Sheikh cut the ribbon at the official inauguration? Oh well, I only went there for the fireworks. Let the show begin…
This here is my money shot. I love love love this part of the display. Only this part actually since everything else was quite meh.
How the heck did they manage to take the fireworks all the way up to the tip of the tower?
Burj Dubai can be the Third Tower, if ever anyone decided to add to the Lord of the Rings series.
See, that’s the Maktoum’s all-seeing eye. Or is it the Nahyan’s?
Whichever. Doesn’t really matter. It’s a big monstrosity in a city where excess is a common thing. Why don’t they just feed the hungry, help the poor and stop this stupid pissing contest.

After lunch, Bernie and I borrowed one of the bikes and off we went with the camera. I did ride the bike but damned if I let you see a photo of me on it!
We headed to the farthest end of the community, near the Marriott Courtyard where they have this gazebo and water feature plus lots of plants and flowers. This water area is lit up beautifully at night.I think this is the Marriott Apartments. I love the quiet reflection of the buildings on the man-made lake.
They love gazebos here! Here is another one which reminds me of a spider web.The benches were getting a make-over. I hope no one sat down on the wet lacquer by mistake! There is a running stream throughout the park area and even though the sun was high up in the sky, I tried to get a long(ish) exposure on this little brook just to see that silk effect they all talk about. The volleyball court was set on sand so I can only imagine it must be quite difficult to play here, no to mention very messy!
Rule of Thirds or trying my best to get the tower and the trees into the frame? You decide.I’m a sucker for this kind of pattern. The green grass is an added bonus plus it was freshly mown too so it wasn’t all bad.
I couldn’t resist and had to take this shot. The park bench leads to the playground area with the slides and swings.
Down the rabbit hole. I had to be careful not to fall in when taking this shot.
Then it was back to the house to say hi to the dogs. They were a bit shy though.
Snowy, the cat was a bit more friendly this time, esp as she just had a snack.
Aww, don’t you just love those cute puppy dog eyes?
Oh I forgot to show you the flowers! The Green Community has flowering plants all over the place. It’s a big smorgasbord for bees and butterflies.It rained the night before so these leaves look a little messy. But the flowers are gorgeous.
I love this shade of yellow. Not my favourite colour in the world but these flowers simply stand out.
More bougainvillae. The screaming fuschia was tolerable enough.
It’s no wonder red shades attract insects more. It is bright and cheerful – what’s not to like?
This flower is often used back home for funeral wreaths , but it is quite pretty too. Reminds me of Hawaii or some tropical island.
Okay I swear that’s the last of the 2009 photographs. Thanks for staying with me and I hope I didn’t bore you to death.

I want to take this opportunity as well to thank you for visiting the blog this past year and for the lovely comments . It would be great of you could let me know what you’d like me to blog about or take photos of.

See you around!

She talked about coming clean with the actual number of your UFOs. You know, the ones you don’t tell anyone. The ones that are not posted on Ravelry. Yeah, that’s the one!

Let’s face it, knitters are always in denial with regard to the actual size of their stash, whether it’s yarn or needles or notions. Only fellow knitters can understand one’s need to buy another skein of yarn in the same colour family, in the same yarn base, from the same indie dyer when she has a perfectly stashed skein (or two or three) of the same sitting at the bottom of the plastic bin at home. Or the need to have another set of Lizard Toes stitch markers when her notions carrier bag cannot possibly hold another stitch marker.

Only knitters would know.

And on that note, let me come clean with my UFOs. Let’s start with the ones in progress, i.e. I work on them a few rows at a time and they sit in a bag where I grab and dump them depending on what I feel like knitting at the time.

This Lacy Baktus was started in late October as a present for someone but for some reason I just couldn’t get back to it. I knit a row or two when I can but I hope to get this done as soon as possible. It’s not fair to my recipient! The good news though is that I have been knitting on this project this past couple of days and have made so much progress. I have started the decreases and now about halfway though the second section
You’ve seen this one already. I actually enjoy working on this Tea Leaves Cardigan, it’s out of Sundara Sport Merino after all, but I can only do a few rows of stockinette flat at a single sitting!
I started my first shawl using Sundara Silk Lace but with the really thin yarn I find it difficult to concentrate. I will get back to this at some point in 2010 since the pattern is quite easy.
This is not languishing so much since I started this very recently. I have had the yarn for a while now and the pattern has always intrigued me since there are so many beautiful FOs of it on Ravelry. Slowly does it.
One of my two most recent cast ons is this Thorpe hat for Bernie. It’s going okay but will need to be done during daylight as the black yarn is making me cross-eyed!There is also a secret sock project which I cannot show you. I hit a snag with the yarn so I left it for a while and then decided to pick it up again after completing the Family of Socks. I’ve almost to the heel flap of the second sock now but have doubts whether I have the right foot measurements!

Then there is a really quick and easy garment, which I cannot show you yet, but it’s this design. The first section came through really quickly but then New Year’s Eve happened and I have not picked this up again. I have a week’s deadline actually which is all the push I need to get this going again.

So those are the active UFOs. Now let’s take a look at the ones in hibernation. This one has got to be my oldest UFO! I’m ashamed to say that this was started back in September 2008! Well this is what it would look like if I were to finish the second pair! This is Rose’s Wristwarmers which I made for Sarah and I have a second pair meant for Alex, the first one of which is on stitch holders. I will get this done before the current Doctor Who specials are done!
I wanted to make a vest for my son Patrick but the yarn is not as I expected. I might frog this and use another, softer yarn. Plus the cotton has not much give so he will outgrow it very quickly.Another project for Patrick is this Pinwheel Blanket. The yarn bleeds so much so I cannot work on other projects without first scrubbing the dye off my hands! I will get it done, I promise!
This is not a proper project really. I just wanted to crochet a bit and I thought Granny Squares are the easiest thing, and it is! I joined the Granny Square CAL in Ravelry with the hopes of getting inspired to pick up this project again in the new year.
This will definitely be finished in 2010! I loved the fit of the socks so much and I want a complete pair soon.

Okay, that felt good getting all of that out of my plastic bins and project bags!

I have vowed to finish the ones on the needles before casting on another project. Can I do it? I am determined to do so. Does that count as an answer?

Next up, my 2010 knitting queue.

But that was not to be due to a few reasons *coughexcusescough*. So we rescheduled the park thing for Boxing Day instead. It was cold out but with the sun shining the whole day it was quite pleasant too.
But before that, let me share a couple of photos I took on the eve of Christmas Eve, uh, the 23rd December to be exact. We’re still trying to use up all the Entertainer dining vouchers and we felt like a bit of Italian at the time so we went to Carino’s at the DFC. I love their lighting and quaint decor!
We ordered from the grill and the steaks were massive! Plus they give you a side order of pasta which was a meal in itself. My Tuscan Ribeye was superb though with the caper sauce!
This is Bernie’s attempt at depth of field. He’s slowly getting converted into loving the bokeh! Hahaha! My evil plan is working.
So then, for Christmas dinner we were in charge of the prawns. At the Sharjah fish market, we bought 3 kilos of large prawns – yum! The sky had been doing some lovely things recently and I was glad I had the camera with me to capture this. There was this distinct streak of blue across the sky. I have no idea what it was but it was ohsopretty. Dang, I really need to invest on some filters!No photos of Christmas dinner. We were quite upset about not being able to spend Christmas with the kids so we just sat down for a quiet dinner. We attended the Tagalog Christmas mass at St. Mary’s in Dubai – the place was packed with so many Filipinos and I’m still surprised that I did not bump into anyone I know! Since we cancelled the park, we headed to Festival City again. Had a bit of walk around the marina side and caught some pretty sights.
Nope, this is not a balloon. I think it’s a street lamp actually.
It was either Avatar or Sherlock. The detective won. It was a good film too. I quite enjoyed it.
I didn’t bring a tripod so this shot was taken with the camera propped on the wall and set on timer. I just didn’t trust just any passerby to take a proper photo of us.
I was giving Bernie further lessons on depth of field and bokeh. He agrees with me on the aesthetics of the principle.
After our walk, we came across a presentation at the atrium on our way to the cinema. These kids played a few short pieces on violins accompanied by a piano. They were students of the Russian Music School in Dubai. They were quite awesome too!Meanwhile, back at the homestead, I took photos of a couple of gift items. Those are silver stud earrings for my girls plus some fancy rings. I had hoped to give these to them personally.
The boss gave me this huge Christmas hamper, well box really, and I opened it up when we got back home. There was so much in it! Sparkling juices, balsamic vinegar, Christmas pudding, jams, pickles.
And of course, chocolates! These are not to be touched and will be given to the kids. I put them away so that I won’t be tempted.
This brings me to the topic of this blog post: Christmas at the park. Finally, I hear you say! Sorry to disappoint but I don’t have that many photographs. I was busy knitting actually! But when I took out the camera I got these.
There was plenty of conversation, mostly catching up and reminiscing about Christmas back home.
Even Ruby’s earrings were Christmassy! She was the one who brought the Christmas cake on the first photo.
Yep, still talking and having a great time. Don’t let the sunshine fool you – the wind chill factor was quite strong that day!
They kept on talking and I kept on clicking. Three brothers in a row. The two younger ones are in Manila and New Zealand.
Cameras are not allowed in the beach here in Dubai so I had to use the 18-250mm to take a photo of the boats out at sea for some sailing. I think I spotted a couple of windsurfers as well.
That was our Christmas. It was alright, even if we were children-deprived. How was yours?