Moved

I have decided to move this blog. Old entries will be left here, but I will be blogging there from now on. This is part of the new plan to be more organised and document my projects properly. The new blog is:
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http://kessainstitches.wordpress.com/
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See you there! =)

Disappointment

I am utterly disappointed with IK. I renewed my subscription more than 2 months ago and when I asked about it, they gave incomplete and unsatisfying replies... Almost like brushing me off or that I'm trying to cheat a subscription out of them.
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When questioned about the supposed-to-be-renewed-subscription?
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We did not receive payment.
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Thats it? End of story? Ok, what about the INET # that never seems to work and changes everytime?
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It changes with everytime.
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This is it. No more IK subscriptions. I'd rather get magazines like Phildar, Rowan and Rebecca.

Hello Knittrs

I've put up a collection of photos taken while I was in USA. For those who are interested to, clicky on the picture. There are no knitting contents, though.

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Can you spot the 'trident'? I wanted to get a skewer but thats the nearest thing I could find. Its perfect for making smores, though. See:

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I finished a cabled beanie last night. I used less than 1 ball (50g) of Paton's Caressa. I dyed that about 1-2 years ago and stashed it away.. Only recovered it last week when I was going through my cupboard. The beanie is a little too short for my liking so I think I will frog back to the decreases, do an inch or 2 more before doing the decreases again. Once again, I did not follow any pattern. I started out with 2x2 ribs and just let it flowed. Its just a simple beanie, anyway. You don't need a pattern for that. =)

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My plan now is to finish up my UFOs... Rumtoffy (anyone still remembers that? The sleeves had 2-3 inches worth of work when I forgot about it), Moth (Still needs the lining), Rebecca Wrap (the tie), a red raglan pullover (sleeves. Needs to be frogged 2nd time), an acrylic mohair handbag (needs to be attached to handles, somehow) and Hanami. That should be all, I think.

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Now I need to go settle my lunch. I'm making pizza from scratch.. Wholemeal crust with tomato, mushrooms and 2 cheese for topping. Too bad I can't photograph that. (I lost my camera and have yet to get a replacement) Till next time, then!

Hi There,

I wonder if anyone is actually reading this horribly neglected blog. Ok, so my last update is less than a month ago, but I haven't exactly been updating about the knit-status, especially the days when I was in USA. I was still knitting quite abit while in USA, in case you thought my needles were hidden in my bag under the bed. A few FOs that came to mind:
1) A textured bag knitted with some bulky chenille yarn (Lion Brand, if I didn't remember wrongly)
2) 2 scarves in garter st + some holey patterning (some Lion Brand yarn, too. I believe it was Homespun yarn, in grey/black and dark blue/black)
3) That intarsia-meets-fair-isle scarf (I think it was Filatura's Primo yarn.. Or something like that. From WEBS)
4) An oven mitten (Peaches and Creme cotton yarn)
5) A potholder (Peaches and Creme. Leftover from number 4)
6) A little cabled purse (Valley Yarns, Longmeadow)
7) The Phildar Pullover for my friend
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I can't remember if there was anything else. In any case, numbers 2,3,4 and 7 are all gifts. Sad to say, I didn't take pictures of number 2, 4 and 7. I think number 4 is really cute, though. I gave it to an American who loves to fish, but can't eat fish. He asked me for one many times (because he saw me knitting) but I always said no. Later, I found out that he was a little sad that I refused to knit for him (I knit for people selectively) and felt bad about it. So the next time I was at Walmart, I grabbed a ball of Peaches & Creme and knitted him an oven mitten. I didn't follow any patterns so I couldn't link to anything similar to what I've knitted.
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Other than finishing those FOs, I passed on the joy of knitting to my new international friends. First, an adorable girl from Taiwan, Bear (yes! Bear!) approached me and asked me to teach her to knit. She wanted to knit a scarf for her bf back home in Taiwan. So I told her to get yarn and a pair of knitting needles, then look for me again. She got a blue variegated Red Heart yarn and a pair of Susan Bates straights, and I taught her to cast on (backward loop method and the normal method). We were in the lobby of our dorm when I taught her. A few of her friends got interested and tried their hands at it. Her best friend, Fanny, also from Taiwan, approached me a few days (weeks?) later with a skein of yarn and needles and asked me to teach her, too.
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Other than Bear and Fanny, my buddy QQ picked up the needles again as she wanted to knit something for an American friend. I taught her the Long-tail cast-on method I learnt in EZ's book, lent her my needles and taught her how to knit again. Last I checked, she've finished the project. She used a cabled cotton E. Lavold yarn I helped her buy online. I think it looks really cute. ;)
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Talking about interesting names, there was this girl who called herself "Easy" at the Roosevelt location. QQ and I were looking at her nametag in horror when we went there to visit QQ's friend. I can understand what the girl really meant but I cannot imagine what the others will think that her name meant. lol..
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Sorry that I do not have any pictures for this entry. I think I have lost my camera for good. =( I don't mind losing the camera as much as I do for the 1 GB SD card. It contained my farewell pictures and those are really meaningful. Sigh.

Home.

Knit-obsessed homo sapien finally came home.
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Home sweet home?
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Not necessarily.
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I'm flabbergasted and freaked out.
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I feel I need to run to the nearest supermarket to grab a few boxes of gallon-sized ziplocks...
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Its a nice change that I don't need to drive 2+hrs to get to a supermarket though...
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And I have a confession to make... Everyone probably knew it but I didn't.
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Hi, I am Kessa. I am 20 years old and I have a yarn addiction. I didn't realise that I was in danger of being buried in yarn until I went overseas and came home 3 months later (with new yarns and absolutely NO space for them. How horrifying...) If I checked in to a rehab, it will be only to run away from the yarns and procrastinate packing them.
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If I don't love all my yarn, I would've just sell them or something. But I love them all. I have plans for all of them. So I'm going to pack them.... Once I get my hands on ziplock bags.
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So many things have happened since I left USA.. For one, I accidentally left my camera on the plane and couldn't contact them because its the weekend. =(
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When my family picked me up, the first stop for us was a japanese restaurant for me to get my sashimi craving fixed. Then we came home, where I bathed and concussed for more than 12 hours. Its great sleeping in my own bed in my own room.
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Ok, now I'm going to try to talk my parents into driving me to a supermarket to get the ziplocks... Will update soon.

FREAK accident

Why do I have the luxury of time to blog today?
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Because I had a little accident and had to stay in bed.
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No need to go to work. (with good reasons)
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Nowhere accessible to go. (Going to the lobby of the dorm includes hopping on one leg all the way.. And down the stairs.)
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No one to entertain me. (Most of my friends are at work)
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At least I'm calm now. Last night I'd start crying whenever someone mentioned the fact that I'll haveto wash my wound.. And slept fitfully all night, freaking out at the thought of me unconsiously banging my wounded feet somewhere (like the window). No doubt I was pretty badly traumatised.. And being a big baby. =\
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But heres what happened anyway: I tore my entire big toenail on my foot out. Well, not the entire thing.. my nail is stil hanging on by the cuticles (Yuck). I was tidying my room and somehow, when I was moving my luggage, it hit my toenail and the whole freaking thing came out. I was stunned at first.. I'm kinda myopic so I had to look pretty long to realise that my toenail came out. Then I walked over to the adjoining room and giggle-spoke to my suitemate. I said "Hey Jamie, I have something really gross to show you.... Look at my toe... I feel like Sadako....." and then I started crying in earnest/brawling and she was like "OH. MY. GAWD..." There was blood dripping over my flipflops and stuff. It was freaky.
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Somehow she managed to lead me to sit down, and dress my wound. I kept my eyes covered the whole time becuase I get seriously freaked out by blood and wounds. The first aid box didn't have any gauze (wth...) so Jamie had to use plaster (I brought all the way from Singapore) and some eye-patch thingy (nearest thing to a gauze). My right toe is a big stump of plastered thingy now. I can't even get into my flipflop without hurting the toe-through-the-bandage.
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Tonight I think they'll be trying to get me to let them open the filmsy bandage, wash (UURRGGHHHH....) and maybe pull out that nail. I think I'm going to start crying. =( No. No. No.... =(
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So.. I treated myself to online retail therapy this afternoon. Bought some yarn, books and CDs.. One interesting fact: I've never bought any CDs before. That is probably unheard of nowadays.. Everyone I know have their own CD collections and stuff but I was never interested in that. I only like this particular genre of music, for which I don't know the name. Its a little Jazzy, oldies-ish, light and melodious. My friend told me its "easy listening jazz" but somehow that doesn't feels like that.
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Oh, look at me blabber. Sigh.
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Anyway, I wanted to talk about this for the longest time but never had the chance to... Dear Secret Pal (10), who are you? You never got in contact again after I received the package. I got hooked on yogurt pretzels after that. ;P
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And... Oh yes, I went to Idaho Falls a few days ago and visited some craft store called Roberts something. They have shelves of Lion Brand, Red Heart, Patons.. And I forgot what else. THey sell Very American Yarn. I did indulge a little, but not too much. I needed good reasons to justify buying any yarn, so I got 2 big skeins for scarves (for the funny Serbian guys I met here) and one for a bag. I think every knitter who comes to USA should get some Very American Yarn.. Its kinda like a knitter's souvenir, IYGWIM. =)
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Sorry that this entry does not have any pictures. I'm using the guest acount on my friend's lappy that does not allow me to read my SD card.. I kept forgetting to tell her about that. Maybe tonight I will.
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My suite-mate woke up. Gtg. Ciao.

Pictures I Promised

A little late, but here they are anyway..

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Cooking REAL Asian food. The food they serve at the EDR ( Employee's Dining Restaurant) is Awful.

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Some waterfall we saw enroute to somewhere.

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At a Japanese Restaurant in Cody, a town 3 hours from where I work.. They serve some seriously good salad (I love their sauce) and tempuras.

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At Buffalo Bill HIstorical Museum.. This little statue caught my eye.

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And of course, theres lots of art pieces about bisons.. I like this picture the most..

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On a hike to Osprey Falls.

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Hike to Osprey Falls.

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Osprey Falls

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Proof that I was there. =) It was quite a steep hike down crumbly rocks... But we survived.

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A squirrel we saw on the way out from Osprey Falls.

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Catching little fishes at a little stream that flows into the Yellowstone River..

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Lamar Valley.. Theres a herd of bisons at the bottom right of this pic.

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Night at the pub.. There was some dance competition going on.. Which is why there were so many people there..Usually there is less than 10 people in the pub, inclusive of 2 people at the counter.

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I did not neglect my spinning while I was here. I bought a simple spindle and some rovings..

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I think they're of fingering-lace weight. I don't think I will ply them because the colours looks better in singles.

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This is 'Gossip' in plain wool.. I got it from Amy over at Spunky Eclectic. I got a few others (no pics, sorry) and I love all of them! =)

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The scarf I made. I ended up steam-ironing it because I didn't have needles. Its still curling quite abit but a lot better now..

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My work in USA will end on 14th August.. And my plane only leaves on the 30th August. That leaves me with more than 2 weeks to travel, but I only plan to travel next year. (I'll be leaving alone because my friends are staying much longer than me.. I had to be back in Singapore for school, wheras my friends-who are older- had graduated) I have no idea how I'm supposed to spend that 2 weeks. 2 of my friends might take off-days to go Vegas with me.. But thats only for 2 days maximum. So.... Any reccommendations, anyone?