Fighting Startitis

Just a short post to let you know that I am still alive my friends, LOL!

As usual, nothing is new, busy with work as ever.  Tho every night, I managed to put in some 100 or more stitches in my Tropical Fruits cross stitch.  And despite the slow stitching, my hands are itching to start a project or two.

Here are some doilies I wanted to make:

Sorry for the not-so-nice photos. They were taken by a not-so-nice camera :D

Well, let's see until when I can manage to avoid the Startitis, LOL!

Have a great week ahead my friends.

What's In My WIPs Bag

First week of April was holiday here due to holy week that Philippines observed yearly.  So, I took the opportunity to do some cleaning and tidying up since  I noticed that my hobby (cross stitch, crochet and knitting) things are everywhere.  Due to being busy, it is only now that I was able to post this.

I put my current WIPs in this paper bag although they are not all of my WIPs.  I've got so many scattered almost everywhere in the house.  That's what you get when you suffer from Start-itis, LOL! My Tropical Fruits cross stitch is not in there since it won't fit in the bag.

A crochet doily that needs only 4 more rows to finish.  Thread is Cebelia No. 30 and hook is Susan Bates No. 7 (1.5mm):

Royale crochet thread no. 30 which I intend to use for a future doily project:

More threads for the Tropical Fruits cross stitch:

Yarns and granny squares for a blanket project:

DMC mini cross stitch kit:

Japanese crochet book, mostly motifs:

Japanese crochet book, mostly doilies:

Lace shawl I started knitting a month ago, with cotton thread no. 10, and Knit Picks Harmony circular needles size 3.25mm:

My cross stitch glass set, reading glass+magnifying glass.  With my 43 year old eyes, this set is really a big help:

Can you see that my reading glass needs replacing?

This is all for now and thank you for dropping by, most specially for leaving your comments.

Cross Stitch Update

I thought my camera has eaten the dust but I found out that it was only the memory stick duo that was defective.  I was thinking of replacing it

Sony DSC-W230, 12.1 megapixels

with this


Sony DSC-WX70, 16.2 megapixels



or this

Samsung ST600, 14.2 megapixels

But now that my old camera is properly working, I don't know... I'm still enamored with these two and justifying that one of them will be my back-up just in case my old one will not function anymore.  Maybe I am just in love with the colors... We'll see....

Anyway, onto the proper post...

It's been awhile since I last touched my Tropical Fruits cross stitch.  Since I started working, I just did crochet and knitting.  Then two weeks ago, I did some cleaning and saw my neglected cross stitch, so I started doing it again.

This was my last update as of August 9, 2011

 And this is my progress as of last night:

I noticed the fabric got dirty due to dust.  Anyway, when I'm done with it, all it needs is some proper washing and I guess the fabric will go back to normal.


Thanks for dropping by.  Take care everyone!

Knitting Practice

There are so many things I wanted to write about yet so little time. . .

When I was learning in Dreams how to crochet, I have classmates who are into knitting and looking at what they're doing, I thought it was hard and said to myself that I will never study it.  Then one day I saw a finished piece of a knitted lace shawl done by one of the lovely ladies there and fell in love with it.  Sorry wasn't able to take a photo.  After seeing that shawl, I changed my mind and asked Ms. Lilli, the owner and teacher of Dreams, to teach me how to knit.  And here I wanted to show you my practice piece.  It's a dishcloth done in garter stitch.  I learned that garter stitch is all knit while stockinette is knit and purl.  

 Now I wanted to buy a complete set of knitting needles but I was torn between this:

Photo courtesy of:  Knit Picks

and this:

Photo courtesy of:  Knitting-Warehouse

I know that I wanted pointed needles and Harmony has sharp points while Boye has blunt based on my point of view.  I know that I also prefer wood because I don't like the slip of metal.  Maybe I'm just drawn to Boye because it's cheaper than Harmony, $45.49 against $84.99.  What do you think?

Here's the comparison of the tip of Boye to my bamboo knitting needles,

got this Boye straight needles from a starter kit like this (sorry too tired and lazy to take a photo of mine),

Photo courtesy of:  Weekend Kits

I've got some Harmony circular needles to show you for further comparison, but as I've mentioned, right now too tired and lazy to take photos.

Any inputs from you would be greatly appreciated :-)

This is all for now.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great week everyone!

Forgotten Doily

In my previous post I mentioned about a doily that I completely forgotten about.  I've done it last year.  In the pattern page, it was noted as done June 9, 2011 with 1 & 3/4 balls more or less of DMC Perle Cotton 12 in shade of old rose.  Hook used was Susan Bates No. 10 (1.15mm).  Pattern was from a Japanese book called Crochet Lace 2009. 

Here it is being dried on my styrofoam blocking board (really love those pearly map pins!):

Already dried:

I noticed I didn't blocked it properly and my camera didn't capture the true shade:

 

This is all for now.  Hopefully I can post something again next week.

Thanks for reading and take care everyone.

Liebster Award

"I know it's been so long since I last posted here" and it seems that I always start my posts with this phrase or something like this.

Work has been stressful as always and although I'm busy all the time, I can assure you that I make sure to find time to do some knitting or crocheting.  And oh how I miss cross-stitching big time!

Anyway, yesterday while doing some housework, I was thinking of posting something here.  So first, I dig my hobby box, that's what I call the box that I got from Crabtree and Evelyn set (will try to take a photo sometime soon) and saw a forgotten doily that I finished last year.  More to that on my next post, hopefully soon.  And then after doing the house chores, I logged in to my blog account and to my surprise, there's a comment from Rose of Christmas City Stitcher blog, a friend whom I met at the Cross Stitch Forum of About.Com, telling me that she awarded me the Liebster Blog Award.  

Thank you so much my friend for choosing me to pass the award to.  I really appreciate your thoughtfulness.  This is her explanation of the award:

"In case you didn' know (I didn't lol) Liebster, which means 'favorite' in German, it is a way for bloggers to help each other out by spreading the word about their blogs."  (Copied from Rose's blog)

Upon further search in the net, beloved, dearest, and sweetheart are also translations of the word liebster. 

And to quote Rose, these are the rules of the award:

"As part of the Liebster tradition it is passed along to 5 bloggers that have motivated and inspired you. To accept the award you must -


1. Link back to the person who gave it to you and thank them.
2. Post the award to your blog. 
3. Give the award to 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers that you appreciate and value. 
4. Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to let them know that they have been offered this award.
5. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know about you. "

Okay, so Rule No. 1 is done. Rule No. 2 also done.  Now, onto Rule No. 3 - this one is very hard as all the blogs that I follow are all favorites.  Will do my best to choose but I assure you, am finding it the hardest.  So, it is my honor to pass the Liebster Blog Award to these 5 bloggers:

1.  Kim of Wired To My World blog.  She's been with me since the beginning of my blogging and even though both of us are so busy, she never forgets to email me, lending me moral support in this crazy, busy world we live in.

2.  Linda of Linda Crochets blog.  Oh, how I drool over her doilies, they are all wonderful!!!

3.  Knitted Lace.  I recently discovered this blog while searching for knitted lace patterns.  Lately, I'm very into knitted lace shawls and her finished pieces inspire me on pursuing to learn more about the craft.

4.  Donna of Donna's Crafty Cross Stitch Blog.  Another fellow cross stitcher who's been with me since the beginning of my blogging.  I enjoy following her morning projects.

5.  Susan of The Florida Crochet Garden.  Her blog photos are all interesting, featuring not only our craft but other interests, places, etc.

If I have my way, I will pass all the awards that's been given to me to all of you my friends :-)

Rule No. 4 - to follow.

Rules No. 5 - Five random facts about me.  Actually, there are plenty but I will stick to the rule :-D

1.  I love collecting things, in fact, almost everything, LOL!  First that comes to mind are makeup, candles, pouches, cute ballpens and notebooks.  No need to mention yarns, threads, cross stitch patterns and kits since everyone knows I'm addicted to these things.

2.  I prefer writing notebooks over tablets or Ipads.  At the office, I call my notebook Ipad, short for "ink pad" as my boss said it.

3.  I watched the Bourne movie series several times and never get tired watching over and over again.

4.  I cannot wear lipstick without using lipliner first.

 5.  I cannot walk around the house without slippers.  I envy those who can do so.

Again, thank you Rose for the award.  And thank you to everyone who always find time to check and read my blog.

Missing You

I am sorry I am absent for so long.  And I really do miss you all my friends.  I miss your stopping by, your comments and I miss reading the blogs that I frequently visit.  I miss the times when I was not working full-time, I miss waking up late and I miss writing posts on a regular basis.  Oh sorry for ranting....

Anyway, last October 1, DMC Philippines held an exhibit in our local mall and they invited stitchers, including me, to showcase their works.  Without much ado, here are some of the photos that I took.

And here's my piece (which I have featured here before in one of my posts) that has been shown in the exhibit:

Since it's more than a month since I took the pictures, I cannot recall anymore the details of each of the photos featured. Some of the pieces were done by some of my online friends.

Thanks for dropping by and take care everyone!