My new baby...

This month as a celebration of my better financial situation I decided to buy myself this tinsy tiny little laptop called an Asus EEE. It's really small, so small even that my boyfriend calls it my calculator.

The operating system is Linux (very easy to use!!), but you could install a low spec Windows on it. It has 512 MB memory and a 4 gig hard drive, build in speakers, microphone and webcam. Battery is small and lasts circa 2.8 hours (I find this shorter).


A cutie small little laptop.. aka my calculator!

It has build in wifi so connecting to the internet is a breeze. The Linux operating system is very easy to use. I bought this little gem at PC World for £249.99 (circa $500) which is a whole lot cheaper than most laptops. This is because of the size, and it's spec. The EEE is a notebook that falls into a catagory of it's own.

Initially developed for children to use for school and developting countries Asus is finding that here in the richer west the demand for this little beauties is quite high. I had a lot of trouble finding one. This also because I wanted a green one, which seemed to be sold out everywhere, and I didn't want to pay more than £250.


Pretty colours

I choose this tiny simple laptop in favour of a more posh powerfull one because of practicallity. This mini baby fits in my handbag (no one knowing i'm carring a laptop) and is great for travel. And so later this week I will test it out as I'll be visiting family and friends back in Holland. :)

I might review it properly at a later date when I've spend more time using it. Verdict so far is a big fat: SUPER DUPER!

YNZzzzzzzz

Spotted on the net! This funny gadget you can use in your bedroom to communicate silently. After a short explaination I'm sure you can guess the use (don't scroll down, just read on, unless you don't want to guess).


What is this mystery object used for...

Clue:

Y stands for Yes!
N stands for No!
Z stands for Zzzzz (I'm sleeping/need sleep)

There is a forth side (an upsidedown Y) which you could use to represent indecision. An unspoken 'Maybe' if you like... so you guessed it yet?

One more guess?

Alright I'll tell you. It's to indicate ones willing to make love. You can display this item in the bedroom and based on it's facing communicate silently what your mood is. Other than that it just looks like an oranament. Funny eh!



The YNZ is a design made by Tomohiko Sato.

bon bon(d) wrappers

Pretty colours... nice scent

Like Gwen Stefani sang: If i was a rich girl.. la la la la la la lalala la. Well if I was a rich girl I might have bought this little box full with colourfull wrappers. Inside is a little glass vial of perfum. However I would need to be quite rich in order to spend £182 ($264) on something so indulgent and unnessesary. Until then I thought the pretty colours could brighten up my blog for nothing. Hehe. Inspiration is free!!!!

Spotted on the Kiss and Makeup blog in February, made by Bond no. 9 and sold by our very own Harrods.

Icy Blue Koolhaas

Although it is spring the weather here in London has been very changable for the last few weeks. Some times it's really nice and then the next day it's pooring down and icy cold. So last month I cast on for another hat. This one I fell in love with the moment I saw it. It's called the Koolhaas hat, named after the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. Some of his work I really like, some I do not. But this hat is a good design and has a fantastic structure. It reminds me of designs both modern and arabesque.


Great structure...

The pattern is published in Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2007 which I ordered online around Christmas. The magazine is chuck full with fantastic projects as I stated in my blog post: Knitting books & magazines. If you can get your hands on this mag I strongly advise you to do so as it's well worth it. However it seems to be pretty much sold out. No worries, you can also purchase the Koolhaas hat pattern seperate for $4.50 at the Interweave shop

I had two skeins of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky that I bought for half price in the John Lewis sale. I really liked the colour and wanted to make a hat, so I decided to make the Koolhaas hat even though the pattern asks for a lighter weight yarn. I tried making a gauge swatch, but it was no use. The pattern was directed for knitting in the round and the gauge was not stockinette but the pattern. My test swatch would have been so big, I though I might as well cast on and try it out. So I tried several times until I found that 80 stitches was the right gauge for my head. The Koolhaas pattern is a multiply of 10 stitches so 80 would do.


Matches my eyes.

Project Details

Pattern: Koolhaas hat
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky
Colour: 17011 (blue)
Amount: 2 skeins, 130 m / 142.0 yards (I had about 1/2 skein left over)
Needles: 5 mm (US 8) for ribbing, 5.5 mm (US 9) for pattern

Cast on 80 stiches using 5 mm needles. Switched to 5.5 mm (us 9) needles for pattern. Pattern repeat over 8 sts, hence the 80 sts cast on instead of the 104 (needed for thinner yarn).

Repeated pattern 3 times then worked the crown decreases. Was not happy with size. It didn't came down enough and left my ears too exposed. So I put it back on the needles after froggin it a bit and added about 5 extra rounds in the decrease crown section. It now has a slight point which you can only see when it's not worn, but when on my head you can't really see it.

Over verdict: Absolute Gem! Fantastic to knit and great look. Colour is fab too as it matches my eyes. I am thinking of making a lighter weight yarn version later in the year in boreaux red.

Ravelry links:
My Koolhaas hat
The Koolhaas hat pattern

Picnic gadgets

Okay the London weather isn't quite sure yet if winter is over. After snow at Easter and snow last weekend it's hard to believe it's April, but it is any sometimes it's quite nice out. Plus how long can it be.. it will be spring soon. And then out come all the picnic blankets. It seems that here in the UK people go for picnics more often than in The Netherlands. I have no idea why, but I think it's true.


Maybe I should knit the olive a coat...

A few years back I was in Scotland and visited a performance of Macbeth at Scone Palace. It was performed on Moot Hill. The place where the Kings of Scotland where crowned of old and there at the end of the afternoon people sat down unpacked their hampers and enjoyed the play, nice food and a good glass of wine. In short Happy Living to the max.


The stylish way to dine on grass!

So hoping for a better summer than last year I was scouting about and found these two smart beauties found on The Style Files. First off a Picnic rug and bag in one... with quite a posh look to it. I like the idea that the whole picnic experience is contained in one easily portable and very stylish bag.



First aid kit? Oh no great picnic set...

Also quite stylish, although for some reason it makes me think of a first aid kit, is the second picnic portable. It's this compact dinnerset in one that has 2 plates, cutlery and a corkscrew (v. important). I don't think it would be much use for a full picnic, but this would be very nice for touristy visits. I'm just thinking of my parents visiting London a while back. They had a blast of a time and liked the Southbank area loads. There are tons of nice place to sit and have a nice bite there. And if you go on Friday or Saturday there is tons of the best food in the world available at Borough Market. Then take that yummie stuff get your all in one picnic pack and go to:

1. The Major's building so you can have a bit while viewing Tower Bridge and The Tower.
2. The lawn (if allowed) of Southwark Cathedral. A very nice tranquil place, except during lunch hour when it can get busy.
3. The grounds in front of the Tate Modern. This old building has such a nice vibe and with the Thames so close.. you can't go wrong.

Cheers!

Yarn Crawl

The Thursday before easter we got the afternoon of at our office and so me and my friend Louisa thought it a good oportunity to head to some yarn stores in London and buy some yarn.


iKnit, you knit, we knit!!!

We discovered that iKnit London had moved... closer!! It used to be in Vauxhall but now it’s moved to Waterloo. So we did a test run (walk) and it is now possible for us to walk there in 20 minutes from our office near London Bridge. So that means: 20 x 2 = 40 min walking which leave: 20 min shopping! Hooray! Ofcourse on our first visit we stayed much longer and inspected everything they had. A very nice customer (who was knitting on the comfy sofa they have gave us advice and joined in a chat. What a nice vibe it was. Hooray once more for iKnit.


Summery colours...

In the end I bought wooden dps (tiny ones for portability), a pattern booklet with something I liked and something Lousia liked and a skein of lovely yarn: The Natural Dye Studio Dazzle - Blue Faced Leicester 4ply/Sock. This yank reminded me of watermelons, summer, nice bright weather and all things cosy. Talking about watermelons... my Ravelry friend Just Claire posted some very fun watermelon stitchmarkers on her blog! Very nice! Makes me think of getting back into fimo.


Super cool 'summery' stitchmarkers

After this nice purchase we left to proceed to our next yarn shop: Loop. Ofcourse it rained. It’s London in March what do you expect. It was very windy too and I just managed not to get soaked and not loose my umbrella (or fly away like those horrible nannies in Mary Poppins). The bus (number 341 a direct line to the next stop on our yarn crawl) just didn’t want to come and we wondered if we would felt. In the end we didn’t felt and the bus did come and we managed to find Loop (with the help of a lovely lady. She saw us on the bus and hear us talking about the stop. It then seem the most important thing to her to get us off at the right one. She kept word and we left her happy in the knowledge she’d done her good deed of the day.


Loop: cute but lacking a warm welcome


Stepping into Loop was completely different from what I expected. It was the tinest little shop and very cute. It was stuffed full with yarn (<- very good), but there was no place to sit and socialise (<- not so good). The vibe was not bad, but it lacked that ‘feeling welcome and at home’ vibe. The single member of staff (owner?) didn’t seem very happy, perhaps because of the weather, but it was a little bit of a let down. We saw the cutest things though like this little felted chick filled with sand that could sit on a ledge with it’s feet dangling down. Soooo cute. We also saw the famous Knitted Vases. I was planning to do a blog post on this, but a pic will do just fine. When you can see there is not much more to add.


Knitted or not...

Anyway back to yarn. I also found two good candidates for my One Skein shrug that I am planning to make. The first was a very nice fluffy Alpaca (if I remember correctly) that was loosly spun and very lovely. The second and the one that ultimately came home with me was two skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand Dyes. The first felt very nice, but the colour of the second suited me better. And I have to say I’m well pleased with my purchase. It’s a bit ropey and looks ‘thight’ not loose and fluffy if you get my meaning. But this means a very ‘structured’ knitted feel to the ‘fabric’ once I knit it up... well I hope.


Yummie yarn soon to be my shrug

And finally we stepped into a ‘cornershop’ type yarnshop just around the corner from Louisa and I tell you it’s a good find. It looks cheap and is filled with ‘cheap’ acrylic, but they also carry the good standard brands, like Rowan. And it’s very affordable as they are not overpricing like the ‘posh’ yarn shops. The shop also sells tons of other craft stuff and it’s a good thing we are redecorating and I can’t get my sewing machine out... Such nice notations. Sigh... And on that note I’ll end my long long post. Happy Knitting everyone (and me!!).

If you are not in the UK you can visit these shops online:
iKnit Online Shop
Loop Online Shop

Noro Striped Scarf

Sometime in January I went to John Lewis and took a peak at the yarn department sales. There I fell in love with Noro yarn (that wasn’t on sale). Up until now the Noro virus had passed me by and I just didn’t get it. To me Noro was an expensive yarn with too many things going on both colour and structure wise. And it’s still true that there are heaps of Noro that I feel the same way about still, except for this one skein I grabbed and took home. It’s Noro Silk Garden Lite 2010. It goes from Lilac to grey then red, bright pink, purple, dark inky blue to sky blue then aqua, light grey and finally lilac again. Gorgeous.


Pretty colours... love Noro Silk Garden Lite in 2010!

So there I was with one skein and no idea what to make of it. As so manny knitters I had just grabbed it and didn’t want to let it go. After some cuddling with the yarn (yeah.. I know, but it’s not called a virus for nothing.. you end up doing things you normaly might not do) I decided to see what I can make with one skein... So I visited the one and only place to start such a pilgrimage.. Ravelry!?


The Slim Noro Striped Scarf...

There I saw the Noro Striped Scarf. A fantastic scarf that used the colour changed of the Noro to make this quirky funky scarf that just screames: COLOUR! I usually wear muted colours because I think they look good on my. I love a bit of bright, but a whole top in a screaming colour is just a bit much for me. I try but it’s hard. So a Noro Striped Scarf of my own would be a fantastic way to add a splash of colour without feeling like a Telly Tubby. In the end I decided to knit a punk-scarf. So the Noro Striped version, but thin and long. A hip look for my nice (but boring) black coat.

So I set to work to start my sample to see how wide I should make it and ofcourse if I liked it. I loved it! But one skein would not do. I knitted it all up because I couldn’t stop... I wanted to see how the striped turned out, etc. Now I also knew how much ‘scarf’ one skein would knit into. I calculated that I needed about three skeins, but I ordered three (ending up with four) to be on the safe side. I ordered via Fabstract who sold me the skeins for £5.95 and didn’t charge for P&P.


One of my failed attempts...

So I ripped back my original 1/3 of the scarf and started again. Happily knitting away. There was one section that didn’t stripe. When knitting I thought this wouldn’t be bad as there might be other non-striping bits. I was wrong, it was the only one and it looked odd. So I fixed it. I didn’t rip back as it was about 1/4 into the scarf, so a lot of reknitting if I frogged. I used two dpns and stuck them through the rows above and below the plain section and cut the yarn, then ripped out the section between the needles. From the bottom one I re-knitted the frogged bit (taking care to make it stripe) then coming to the top needle I sewed the two ‘halves’ together by studying the way k1,p1 knitting looks from the website How Stuff Works. I had to redo it about 10 times due to errors. It’s really though and quite hard because the stitches dont stay put the same way as in the drawing. They hang around the needle from front to back as the needle sticks through them sideways. And on paper ofcouse all the stitches are neatly lined up side to side. But I managed and the result is fab, it looks just like a knitted row and even I can’t find it no more.


I love how the colours change again and again