Craft Lover

I have to admit that my English writing isn’t that great, and I hope all English readers would understand my poor writing.

This sharing is for Summer of Yarn love swap’s contest - to write down my favorite Summer time memory. 

Honestly, I have three, is it too much?
but, these three summers were my BEST ones, really hard to pick the Best of them….

1) My wedding August 28, 2004

It’s a turning point in my life. It’s not easy to be someone’s wife, especially this guy is from the Mars! 

I remembered how much effort I put in my wedding, I spent almost two months on preparing the souvenirs for the guests!

 I played the music and my husband sang the song. (I love this part the most in my wedding ceremony) 

Marriage life is a long journey, and I know that I still have a lot to learn how to be a good wife!! 

2) Cruise with my parents and in-laws. (without my husband, Yes, just 5 of us! )

It’s a wonderful Cruise trip! 7 days 6 nights in 2006’s summer.

Some people wondered why my husband didn’t go with us, just because he had to work and couldn’t make it.  WE five people were very happy in this trip, we all love the food there! It’s just yummy and yummy and yummy!! The sight seeing was fabulous in Mexico! That’s the picture I love the most in my photo album! love it?!

3) June 21st, 2007, my baby Erika’s born!!!  

She was only 4 pounds 9 oz on her first day ! Right now, she turns to one year old, and weighs about 16 pounds and 6 oz. Oh well, not too heavy compare with the others, but she stays healthy and happy! 

according to the CDC length age percentile, she is below 3rd percentile…. oh well… 

Here is the link:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhanes/growthcharts/set1clinical/cj41c018.pdf

THanks God for giving us a very happy family! 

I love summers, and seems like every summer is special to me.

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

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!!

Today, I brought Erika to the Unionville Library for the Baby goose story time!
she loves it, although we missed the session for ‘pre-walker’, we went to the one for ‘walkers’.

She could stay for 30 minutes there with other walkers!

The story teller was amazing, she showed and told stories, and Erika loved to listen to her!
She even followed the story teller to wave hands, raised her hands up ,etc.

SHe laughed a lot during the whole time!
I think I will bring her more to this story time program, it’s just great for her to know more people and LEARN more !!

I brought the baby goose handout with me after the class, however, I don’t know all the songs that are printed in the book, probably I need to search them through the internet, and see if there is any file I can download and listen to them.

It’s also the time for me to learn how to sing the songs , rhymes….

After the Baby goose time, Erika fell asleep in the car (it’s her napping time..) so , I drove her with me to Aurora and visited a new store.
I was planning to visit a store named “Knit or Knot”, however, when we arrived the plaza, I found that it was closed!

Then I found another knitting store just few blocks away from there.

It’s called “Needles and Knit” , the store is located on 15040 Yonge Street (it’s a HOUSE.)

Intersection : Yonge & Kennedy

They have lots of yarn there, and with quite a lot of varieties too.
I am amazed to see the NEW Louisa Harding’s Jasmine yarn there!
I bought 4 balls and a set of double pointed needles.

They have lots of pattern books and magazines there, including Louisa Harding, Phildar, Impression, and Rowan magazine!

I wanted to buy the Rowan Magazine, however, when I see that the price is $30, I held back, I was thinking, it might be a bit cheaper in Romni, right?

As I said, the yarn selection is big, they even have some Anny Blatt, Phildar yarn!

There are some eco yarn, bamboo yarns and new Debbie Bliss bamboo yarn as well.
I got a chance to touch the new Louisa Harding’s Mulberry yarn, wow, very soft with the touch of silk (it’s 100% silk!) ! oh well, almost 12 dollars for a ball (I am not very sure about the price.. )and the yardage is about 136 yards.

The store ladies are very nice though ,they helped me a lot on choosing the yarn for a summer scarf!

There is a cat there, she is very cute and she even touched my baby’s hand! haha

The store back is called “York Region Knitting Guild“, but I didn’t have to time to ask and explore more, I only had a chance to take a picture of it.

Store hours:

Mon 12:00pm-6:00pm;

Tue-Fri 10:00am-6:00pm;

Sat 10:00am-5:00pm

Contact number: 905 713-2066

Knitting group meets Thursday evenings 6:00pm-8:00pm

I am so happy that I finally finished one project in a week!

too bad that it’s  not for myself (I am really longing for one!) , it’s a cute cardigan for my love one: Erika.

It’s so cute on her.
However, seems like her shoulder isn’t wide  enough to support the ‘wide neck’.
so, next time, I shall reduce the stitches for the neck section.

Other than that , this cardigan just fit her perfectly.

The colorful cardigan on Erika brightens up my day!!

No seaming - my favorite pattern!!!

Very colorful with the Dream in Color yarn!!