Spring time again!

I just love Spring so much, in Canada, the flowers start to grow nicely!

in our front yard, we have some nice tulips, and just in time to take some pictures for them.

My favorite PINK color !!

My favorite PURPLE (ALLIUM)

After the trip to Hong Kong, we are still adjusting the jetlag problem.

Erika didn’t sleep well in the past few nights, and she woke up so many times at nights that I couldn’t sleep neither.
And ,the worst thing is : she had runny nose on the day flying back to Toronto, and till now, she still has it.

And I caught the runny nose from her as well.
So, we are sick now, and have no mood to knit at all.

I hope the jetlag will be over soon and recover as soon as possible.

Today we went to Church, and while the worship was going on, Erika and I stayed in the nursery room. After the worship finished, daddy came down and stood at the nursery’s door, Erika was so excited!

just simply click the link below to watch her excitement and joy!

Erika welcoming Daddy in Church.wmv

Summer Of Yarn Love Swap (Questionnaire)

Here’s the list of questions for the SUmmer of Yarn love Swap!

1. Do you knit or crochet? How long have you been at your craft?
   I love Knitting more than Crocheting, and I have been knitting for around 4-5 years.
2. Do you spin? What type of spinning?
   I do want to start spinning, I have a spindle spinning tool ,but not yet start.
3. What are your favorite yarns/fibers? What are your least favorite yarns/fibers?
   My Favorite yarns/ fibers: silk, cotton, alpaca, wool, bamboo
   my least favorite yarns /fibers: acrylic , anything too coarse to knit
4. What are your favorite colors? What are your least favorite colors?
   favorite colors: red, pink (not hot pink), purple, brown, orange, grey, blue (not light blue, teal)
   least favorite colors: white, black, greens, yellows
5. Are there any yarns/brands that you are dying to work with but never have?
   Soy yarn
6. What is/are your favorite types of projects to knit/crochet?
   scarves, shawls, camisole, tank top, cardigan (For babies), mittens and socks.
7. What are you currently working on? Anything you plan to work on this summer?
   shawls, camisole and socks
8. What is your favorite FO? (Post a pic if you would like.)
   
9. What is your oldest UFO?
   my baby  hexagon blanket i guess…
10. Are there any techniques that you want to learn?
    knitting with colors , Fair Isle knitting AND Spinning and Weaving.
11. Are you on Ravlery? What’s your ID?
    yes, craftlover
12. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
    yes, size 10 ladies (adult large)
13. Do you collect anything?
    YARN! and Knitting books!!
14. Do you have a yarn winder and/or swift?
    YES! BOTH!
15. Do you love sweets? What are your favorites?
    Yes, I love chocolates.
16. What are your favorite scents?
    Jasmine, Lavender
17. Where do you keep your needles/hooks?
    in a wooden box and a needle case.
18. Do you have a wishlist (Amazon, Etsy, etc?)
    no… may be I shall make one…
19. Having a birthday this summer?
    Yes, June 27th!!
20. Are you allergic to anything??? Please let your pal know!
    I am allergic to SMOKE!

My swap package!

WOW, I am sooo happy to see this package from my “Knitter’s treasure swap”.

This is the best one I received since I joined the swaps.

You know, it’s hard to find gifts for your friends, and I think it’s even harder to find something for someone you don’t know, and just from what’s described in the questionnaire!
but, Cindy, you’ve got what’s in my mind!
I really love them all.

Here is the package

:

You are so thoughtful and cute, because you used ribbons to wrap everything neatly and also left a tag with your lovely notes there! It’s wonderful!

Thanks for the magazine that you sent me, I love this magazine and the ‘recycle bag’ that you tagged. it’s really cute!

The yarn is yummy!
the color is my favorite PINK!

I will definitely use those yarn with the patterns that you gave me. You just gave me lots of inspirations and ideas to knit with this beautiful, fantastic yarn!

i-cord maker, I have never try this, but I think it’s faster to make an i-cord with this if compare with using two dpn needles. RIGHT?

A very fun pen, great for me as I love to write sometimes.

Also thanks for the patterns that you printed out from your ‘library’.  I love all the patterns you shared!

Cindy, you are the best swap partner!!

Thanks for everything!!

On the other hand, I also received a gift from another “Ravelry member” - Annette.  She sent me some linen yarn and also gave me some surprise too : post cards of San Diego, Dried Cranberries…. etc.. !

Thanks  I love them all.

Last but not least,
I also received another package from my Taiwan friend, She helped me to order some ‘on sale’ japanese yarn (silk)…they are just beautiful and elegant!

and this:

Happy or Sad?

We have been in Hong Kong for almost 3 weeks, and tomorrow, we will go back to Toronto!\

This is my first time to bring a baby to Hong Kong, it’s not easy at all, because no everywhere accessible for strollers/babies (diaper changing is not accessible for all public washrooms.) , there is no crib at my mom-in-laws’s home, and the baby food is different with the ones we bought in Canada.

Talking about baby food, I thought that if I buy the same “brand”, it should be no problem. However, when I go to the supermarket , they do have the same brand (Heniz) , but the packaging is different and my baby has little reaction to the baby food. So, I turned back to the OLD CHINESE WAY - cook some congee for her.

So, everyday, I have to prepare the fresh baby food for Erika.
To be honest, it’s not easy to use other people’s kitchen (too many different reasons.)

Hong Kong is a small place, but very crowded with people, cars and buildings! So, it’s not very ‘wise’ to use strollers I guess, because when you take a bus, you have to fold the stroller before you step into the bus. but, at the same time, you have to carry your baby with you! My stroller needs two hands to fold, so, I actually have no hand to fold it while I have to hold my baby with my another hand. Luckily, sometimes, there are some nice people who give me a hand to fold the stroller.

Some people asked me why not use a sling, the reason is: I tried many brands , but still have shoulder pain after using it. So, I told myself not to use it because of my poor back problem (scoliosis).

Shopping time is Hong Kong is fun. Oh well, compare with the past few years, the price of EVERYTHING is higher !

In the past few years, while I didn’t have a kid, I shopped a lot for myself. But, this year, I shopped things for my baby Erika instead.
For myself, I treated myself some Japanese yarn (as introduced in my previous post), felting stuffs, and books. I hope I will have time to knit more. I know that as Erika grows up bigger and bigger (as a toddler), I will have to pay even more attention on her.

Probably I have to wait for another two years until I can have my own ‘longer’ private time to knit and do whatever I want to .

In Hong Kong, my parents-in-laws live in Discovery Bay, it’s a very nice place:

I took a picture of this place from their living room, we can even see the Disneyland. At night time, around 8pm(?) , you can see firework at Disneyland as well!

I love this place, however, if you love shopping, you have to spend at least 30 - 50 minutes on bus /MTR/ ferry, which is not very convenient though…….

HAPPY: meeting family and friends here, found some nice Japanese yarn with better deal (compare with Canadian stores) and Erika loves Hong Kong…

(in my last post, i said that I went to the shop with many japanese yarn and craft stuffs, here is the picture that the store lady took for me. as you can see, it’s not a ‘fancy’ place, it’s quite messy, but they have many goodies there! I saw a Japanese lady went to this store too! They are helpful and happy for worldwide shipping ,just kindly send them email to order! )

SAD: the weather is hot and humid, not ‘baby friendly’ in the shopping mall/MTR/Restrooms/nursing room…. the FOOD is yummy but expensive!!

Hong Kong yarn shopping!

I have been in Hong Kong for almost 2 weeks, it’s a wonderful trip here!

It’s not easy to go shopping with a baby in Hong Kong, so, I only have little time to do some shopping.

But still , I could leave my baby at home with someone to look after, and then I went to shop for the yummy Japanese Yarn!!

I went to 3 different stores so far, seems like the last one was the best one that I dont’ think I need to go to the others.

The first one that I went to is Emma Wool, located in Tedford shopping mall. It’s a small place with quite a selection of Japanese yarn. The yarn is just gorgeous, but EXPENSIVE! i bought some :

Emma Woollen
Shop 531 Telford Centre Plaza II
Kowloon Bay
Kowloon

The second one that I went to is Cheer Wool, it’s a bigger store compared with the previous one, and the store ladies are actually more friendly though. I bought two different kinds of Yarn over there. (but, still, I think the price is a bit expensive….)\

Cheer Wool Co. Ltd.
1 G/F Tai Sang Commercial Building
24-34 Hennessy Road
Wan Chai

Telephone 2527 3919

http://home.netvigator.com/~cheercom/

The third one is NeedleClub (裁縫舖) , although it looks a bit messy inside the store, because there are SOOOOO many yarn and craft stuffs over there! It’s all over the place!! I found SO MANY nice things in this store, and I think I will go there one more time before I come back to Canada.

Besides the yummy yarn, I also bought some felt too, the lady showed me a book that I can do some felting project with my knitting stuffs too. So, I planned to learn how to felt as well.
I am going to show you what I’ve got in this store, and you might probably be interested in this felting art too!

The good thing in this store is: the price of the yarn is same as the previous stores, but, I joined as a member ($100 HK registration and for LIFE LONG!) and they give me a 15% off everything! (when I checked the receipt and I found that there are some 20% off, I think they do have some sales items as well!)
They also accept mail order as well, (even oversea) so , whenever I find anything that I want on Japanese yarn , I can order the yarn through them, and they can ship them to me with local postal service. Isn’t it GREAT?

And again, the store ladies are very helpful and nice!

This store is located in Causeway Bay, not too hard to find if you know Chinese, or else, you can ask the people around that area , I am sure that they can give you a direction.

IF YOU WANT TO FIND JAPANESE YARN, I THINK THIS STORE HAS THE MOST OF THEM! AND LOTS OF BOOKS!! It’s a MUST GO Art and CRAFTS shop (includes yarn, needles, accessories, books, felt and fabric!!)

地址
銅鑼灣軒尼詩道 467 -473號
建德豐遘商業大廈14字1402-03室

Address :
Room 1402-03 14/F
Kin Tak Fung Commercial Building
467-473 Hennessy Road, Hong Kong

(next to 漢陽苑 Korean Restaurant, Causeway Bay MTR exit B )

電話 /Tel : 2836 5103

click this to view the map!

I also bought some felted art kit.
it’s fun!