Ten Thousand Dancing Stars

Here are a few recent acquisitions which have been tucked away into the ever-bulging IKEA bins-on-castors.

Yarntini Self-Striping sock yarn in Chocolatini Stripe. I will definitely make a pair of simple socks with this, maybe even plain vanilla ones. I want stripey socks.
I am loving Yarntini’s Semi-solid Sock Club since it charges monthly and you can stay subscribed to the club until you have had enough semi-solid yarn, which is probably never!
January’s colourway is Flirtini, so cute. I love love the pinks in it. I’m not a pink girl but this is not a scratch-your-eye-out pink so it will make a pretty pair of Olympic Socks or maybe a shawl or scarf. Jessie, you are the queen of semi-solids!
More semi-solids, this time Wollmeise 100% superwash. These next 2 skeins are destashed from Lu in the USA, she is a Filipina Raveler. This blue is called Rittersporn.
This gorgeous red is called Rotkappchen. I thought about knitting a Daybreak shawl with these two skeins and then I realised I might be mistaken for Spiderman’s bride! So probably socks with the red and shawl with the blue. Or socks with the blue and shawl with the red?
We now come to my favourite sock yarn: Socks That Rock! When I bought that skein of Ilanaaq, it didn’t come on its own, it had sisters. Four of them in fact. Meet Sunstone, Saffron Jungle, KMBFLA (or Kiss My Big Fat Lavender Ass as rumour has it) and Jengu.
Sunstone will become Plurk Socks. Saffron Jungle will be Uncle Frank Socks. KMBFLA will probably be Argus Shawlette and Jengu maybe a Saroyan scarf.

Two weeks ago, our photography class was out at the Heritage Village for our first outdoor activity. Since I am now on the next level of the class, our topic is on Flash Photography. We had a lecture on fill-in flash the week before and that outdoor event was supposed to test our knowledge and also to apply what we have learned. If we did!

I asked a friend if she would come in and be our model. She graciously said yes, but then got lost finding her way to Shindagha! She made it anyway and golly other students gate-crashed our group shoot. Why? Because this is our model, Ched.
She came in and practically took charge of the whole thing. We just pointed the camera and took as many shots as we could without burning our flash units.
She did a bit of modelling when she was younger and she is quite pretty so perfect choice huh?
We didn’t have to give her any directions, she just kept posing and playing with the cameras. We just had to ask her to turn this way and that so that we don’t always take a photo with her looking the other way.
It was a cloudy day so we had very little chance to practice fill-in flash techniques. But flash units kept on popping on this side of the Village! Would you believe that this pretty thing is mother to an almost-teenage boy?
Such a tease!~ She enjoyed every minute of it, and so did the photographers. Some of them even asked me if they could sign her up for their future shoots.
Yes, guys, but that’s a 10% commission to me as her pimp. Agent, I mean! Thanks, Ched!
Okay, pretty people are gone. Time for the people who usually stay behind the lens. This is our group: Jerry, Jessica, Divine, me, Pauline and Orly. Small (group) but terrible.
On Friday, we are out at Zabeel Park again. This time we tackle panoramic photography. Yikes!

Dyed specially for Ravelympics 2010, it features all the colours of the official emblem of the Winter Olympics.
Medium repeats of the colours will make for some interesting stripes in a plain stockinette field but can be broken up nicely with some slip-stitch pattern.Wound up, the colours all mix to make a really gorgeous harmony of colours.I cannot wait to knit this up! It will be one awesome pair of socks.

This is what it must feel like to be floating on air. The shawl is not blocked properly though now that I look at it because the fir cones are not opened up correctly. I want a chance to knit this pattern again and will have to block it until it screams.

Thanks to the Murphy sisters, Sundara, Alana and Mikaela for featuring the shawl and for the gift certificate. It’s a great feeling seeing something I made featured on the blog.

I can’t really believe that it has been a year since that first joint meeting at The Lime Tree. Prior to that meeting, I had only met with Lindsay, Charmaine, Hala and Analisa once. It was at Madinat Jumeirah, at The Dome. The AUH knitters had known each other a few months but only met me and Analisa then. It was a bit weird testing the waters with everyone, but I think we went away knowing we have made new friends.

At the meeting a year ago, I first met Jackie, Debbie, Kundi, Rama, Yanti among others. Now sadly, our number while it has increased has also diminished. Lindsay is heading back to New York. Charmaine is off with her husband and cute wee Felix to the land down under. Yanti is freezing in Holland. Preeti is cheering on the Winter Olympic torch relay in Vancouver. Madli is going to London in about a year’s time. Despite all of this, we remain united, albeit online and from time to time at Caribou Cafe!

When we meet, no matter how long ago our last meeting was, we have fun. We talk about what we’re currently knitting. We bring out our recent yarn purchases and discuss techniques and patterns. Oh and we love love to wind yarn! Here is a skein of some really huge skeins of yarn from Hala. Debbie brought some of her beautiful handspun. Just look at these beauties!
In addition to all that personal yarn, we also have the Roaming Bag which is bursting at the seams with all the leftover yarns it contains. We met a couple of new knitters this last meeting and they happily helped themselves into the bag. Better than having it go to waste. Kundi is taking the bag to Africa when she travels later this month I think to give to the women in Tanzania or Kenya I think.
Speaking of projects, Ruth showed us this gorgeous cable gloves. I think it’s a pattern called Knotty. The cables are just pretty.
Jackie modeled this cowl made by Shyma. It’s cozy and warm, perfect for cold evenings. It was a great meeting, ladies. I can’t wait for the next one!
Another thing which has turned a year old is my membership to the Rockin’ Sock Club! The first kit has arrived and it looks awesome.
This year’s club is different in that it contains on skein of yarn but two different patterns. Your choice as to which pattern to knit with the club yarn. I have decided to knit the kit this year as and when it comes. I chose Christina Bain’s Flabella with it’s bobbles and fan pattern and elegant ribs. Thi sis my progress after one day. I already cast on for the second sock and worked on them until both socks were at the same point, and I am now knitting the heel flap for one sock. It’s great fun so far!
More on yarn clubs, I received my first shipment of the Skein Queen clubs which include her 2010 calendar. Beautiful yarn, beautifully photographed!
And the yarn is gorgeous as always. This is Benjamin Bunny from the Film Club inspired by the film Miss Potter. Gorgeous, delicate blues. I imagine something for Patrick, maybe not socks but something cute.
This time I signed up for the Reading Room too, but for the larger shipment of 4 skeins Plushness for two shipments and 4 skeins of Blush for one shipment. This shipment has 4 gorgeous purple skeins of Plushness, enough for a garment, which is inspired by the film Twilight. The colourway is called Bella. How gorgeous is this, huh?

I am itching to knit with this yarn. This is one of the bases that I have only seen but never actually bought for myself. And now I have enough yarn to make a vest or a cardigan.

More yarn coming up soon.