New handpaints going up on Ebay: some Superwash Merino/bamboo/nylon blend and some superwash BFL sock yarns.

Milkweed shawl knitted in garter stitch lace. Very easy to knit and turned out pretty too. The yarn was hand dyed by me, a superwash Merino/bamboo/nylon blend yarn, too pretty to use on socks.




And here it is being modeled by Emily, a fullsized shawl on her and a shawlette on me, the way I like it. Too big shawls make me feel like I have an afghan on.

some new knitting:


another Ishbel shawlette that I finished.




Elegantly simple lace shawl, a feather and fan version, designed by Jackie E-S. Here's a closeup:

The family hasn't taken a vacation in years and it seems that this year is the time to take one... or two. After San Diego and Vegas, we headed for a day to Yosemite. What a truly beautiful place.



Entering Yosemite, this is the kind of view you see along the winding zig-zag road.




The beautiful Bridalveil Falls as seen from a distance.



My kids beside the creek.

more to come

This is what I'm currently knitting, a lace stole (rectangular shawl) for me made with 100% cotton yarn, great for cool summer evenings out.






A picture of the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas, where my friend's wedding was held last Saturday. Glad to be home.

Carlsbad, California

Arrived here yesterday after a really bad traffic jam in LA (Sacramento traffic is tame compared to it). A little cold in Carlsbad, cloudy, foggy, and cooold. Hope it lifts up.

On the way here, I've taken some pictures of the beautiful San Fernando Valley, and the reservoir, Vista Del Lago.

We're back from a day trip to San Francisco. Like always, we stopped by Emeryville, at the International market and food court. Ever since Joel took us here years ago, we never fail to stop by for a nice meal. International, I say. I always get Vietnamese spring rolls. Emily goes for the shrimp Udon. It is so amazing since that's what I used to eat when I was pregnant with her. Shrimp Udon was the only one I can hold down when I suffered through morning sickness the entire 9 months of pregnancy with Em.

We headed up to Ghirardelli Square for some chocolates and the wonderful Kara's cupcakes. Her's is the best tasting in California. Spent an hour at the Marina eating the cakes, took some pictures. As always, I forgot my digital camera and used Joel's old one.

Some knitting done but not much. Came home and played Farmtown on Facebook.

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These are images of my latest finished project, the Ishbel shawl, a design by Ysolda Teague. Like what other knitters have stated, this was a very enjoyable knit and very hard to put down. I already gave this one to my mom. I'm off to knit another one for me, out of superwash wool and bamboo blend. yumm.

the 40th day

May 22nd was the 40th day after my Uncle Romy died. My Catholic relatives celebrate this day because they believe that on this day, the soul finally goes up to heaven, after staying here on earth. Or maybe,they believe that the soul of the departed goes to Purgatory, where it's sins are forgiven through prayers of its loved ones still living. Kinda like being given a second chance.

Being a Christian, my beliefs are different. The Bible says that when a Christian dies, "absent from the body, present with the Lord". I have believed all along that Uncle Romy's soul is with my Lord and Savior the very day he died.

We went and visited the cemetery, took some pictures, and just enjoyed the peace and quiet, except for the cemetery workers who decided to have a race with their little golf carts carrying tools, zooming around the tombstones. Total disrespect.





Beside this tall monument and inside the enclosure is my uncle's gravesite.










That's my sister, Nerie, on the left, and me with my kids.

In connection to the Twilight theme, these are what I have been knitting:

Ooh, I got bit by the Twilight bug. I've seen the movie a while ago. My daughter has all 4 books. I figured, why not read them. Of course, I started with the first one and finished it in one day. Could be because I already knew what was going to happen.

Next comes the second one, New Moon. I finished it by day 2. This one was my favorite. Very hard to put down. I fell in love with Edward.

Day three and I'm off to reading book three, Eclipse. I liked this one too but not as much as New Moon. Bella's being wishy-washy. Still madly, deeply in love with Edward, I am.

Book four, Breaking Dawn, and finished it by day 4. By this time, my teenage image of Edward and Bella is gone. I can't picture Rod Pattinson as Edward anymore. I don't know how they can make this into a movie with a PG13 rating. No way.

SO, off I went and saw the DVD again with a more critical eye.

I am so looking forward to watching New Moon when it comes out in Nov '09. I might go see it with my teenager.

As you can tell, I didn't get any knitting, cooking, sleeping or computer time done the past 4 days.

I am knitting again but too tired to do anything else. The weekend after the funeral, I caught a bad cold (sore throat, coughing, fever, the works). I was getting worried about the swine flu. Went and saw the doctor, of course. Not swine flu, not strep, just the common cold. Plenty of rest, liquids, yada, yada, yada.

Here are some token pictures to make this post a little less boring:

Windmill dishcloth

Some tawashis I've been crocheting



Picture of me and some of my cousins from all over. Our kids are here too. My uncle brought us closer together more now that he's gone than when he was alive. We took lots of things for granted. Not anymore. I hug and kiss my mom and dad more now. I'm not shy to say I Love You anymore. And I think I might have lost my stage fright.

Romeo Bautista DeCastro

Visitation for my uncle was last night and again today. I'm totally amazed at the number of people who were there last night, some family whom I haven't seen in a long long time and hundreds of friends. The place/chapel was overflowing.

I'm also bothered at how superstitious beliefs can rule one's life. One of the long removed aunts refused to let Christian music be played during viewing even after my cousins and aunt requested it. It had to be one of those sad wailing Catholic music that only depressed everybody. We explained to her that we wanted to celebrate Uncle Romy's life and that he would not have wanted us to grieve so much.

She's also the one who won't let the family bring home some of the leftover food that was brought to the chapel. She also can't explain why. Most of the food had to be thrown out.

I was once a Catholic before I became a Christian. I prayed the Rosary before and attended Catholic church. But my relationship with my Savior now is more personal. Last night, they prayed the rosary not once but twice. The second time, they changed the words. It appeared to be more of chanting, more of repeating one kind of prayer over and over, prayed by people who probably did not even know my uncle.

When it was the Christian chaplain's turn to pray, I noticed the total disrespect of the Catholic ladies present. They started talking and laughing amongst each other while the chaplain was speaking and reading from the Bible. Unbelievable.

Tonight, I will have a chance to speak my eulogy. Hopefully, people will listen. We'll see.

My favorite uncle in the whole world, Uncle Romy De Castro, passed away yesterday morning at 6:34 am. I know he's with the Lord now, body whole, no more pain, no more suffering. But we will miss him sooo much. I won't say goodbye. I know it's a temporary separation. We will see him again, someday, in heaven.



You are home now, Tito Romy! Welcome home.

Here are some pictures from last Winter Camp at Sierra Pines. It was a church sponsored event for our 5th and 6th graders. It was a fun time even though I realized that I am truly a tropical person. We stayed in rustic cabins, well, maybe not so rustic, since we had heat, toilets, running hot and cold water, and bunk beds. From our cabins, we walked up this road to get to the lodge for meals and assembly.



I didn't account for elevation and the road's steepness. After a few minutes, I was totally out of breath and woozy. I got the hang of it by the 3rd day.



We had to cross a tiny covered bridge to cross this tiny creek.



I didn't realize how high the snow was until I saw this picture.



And this is what we saw on the way down the mountain, on El Dorado Hills, when the snow turned to rain.

My current obsession is knitting dishcloths and washcloths. Others ridicule the art of knitting dishcloths. What's the purpose, they say? You can buy washcloths at Walmart at $3.00 a dozen. Sure. But have you ever used a handknit dishcloth to dry off your dishes or wipe off your counter or even use a washcloth in the shower? You can't compare them to those puffy nylon tulle fuzzballs. I am definitely a walking ad for washcloths.

There are so many free and for sale patterns on line. Most designers will let you knit their patterns and sell the finished item. And let me emphasize, only the FINISHED item, not the pattern itself. When in doubt, ask the designer. Knitters, crocheters and crafters are very generous people.

One of my fave dishcloth designers is Knits by Rachel. She has lots of freebies and for sale patterns. Another one is Maile Mauch. Her website has lots of freebies. A third one is Designs by Emily.

Now, with this obsession of mine, I have knitted over 20 dishcloths so far.


baby washcloths



I packaged them into these:




with some of my handmade glycerine soap, tied them with a neat ribbon, with tags and instructions and they SOLD! My sister-in-law, Flynn, bought them all. (Did I mention she's one of my favorites? ;-)

BIG mistake

Okay, so, before you go running to join the Yahoo Monthly dishcloths group, I just realized a big mistake I made. Rather embarrassing because the dishcloth I featured yesterday-- that's not how it's supposed to look. ha, ha! The mistake is all mine. I reduced the cast on, made a big boo-boo and my resulting dishcloth does not even look like what it's supposed to look. But I'm developing an attachment to my little error. Emily says it looks like a garden, with the furrows in between. Actually, to me, it looks like a caterpillar, but what do I know?

I don't want to correct it even if that small voice says so. I am so moving on. I have so many patterns I want to knit.

midmonth feb09KAL back

midmonth feb09KAL back
Originally uploaded by SuanKnits

This is how the back looks like.

midmonthFEb09 KAL
Originally uploaded by SuanKnits

This is the latest Knit Along for Feb 09, mid month. Very textured. I made a smaller cloth by casting on 32 stitches. You have to be a member of the Yahoo group to get the pattern. Monthly Dishcloths

Tawashi

Ahhh, these things fascinate me! They are simply dish scrubbies (scrubbers) in Japanese. So I designed one. After crocheting one in 5 minutes, I was aghast. Oh my! It's easy. And used up all my tiny bits of cotton yardage leftovers.

Note: This is a very rough draft and is currently being tested. However, if you guys want to try it, go for it. I love feedbacks!

Front

the back (see the ridges? Perfect for scrubbing those dishes)

Oh MY!Tawashi ( crocheted scrubbie)
© Vicki Suan 2009

US size G crochet hook
a few yards of cotton yarn or acrylic

Abbreviations:

Ch – chain
Sc – single crochet
dc- double crochet
st- stitch
sp – space
Fpdc – front post dc
Fpsc- front post sc


Round 1: Ch 4. In 4th chain from hook, crochet 9 dcs. Join with a slip stitch to the top of ch 3. You now have a total of 10 dcs in the ring including the ch 3. From now on, every ch 3 counts as 1 dc.

Round 2: Ch 3. Fpdc around ch 3 below ( in round 1). * Dc in next dc. Fpdc around the same dc. (Do you see what you’re doing now? Round 1 has 10 dcs. You want to increase to 20 dcs in round 2. You are doing 1 dc and 1 Fpdc in each st to make this possible ). Rep from *. Join to the top of ch 3. (20 sts)

Round 3: Ch 3. In the next st, make 1 Dc and 1 fpdc (inc made) . * Dc in next dc; in the next st, make 1 dc and 1 fpdc (inc made in same st) **. Repeat from * to **. Join to top of ch 3. (30 sts)

Round 4: ch 1, sc in same sp; fpsc in same sp. * sc in next st, fpsc in same st; (60 scs). Join with a slip st to first sc.

Loop: Ch 20 and form a loop for hanging. Weave in ends.

This is a free pattern and must remain so. Can't be sold. If you want to share with a friend, point them to my blog. You may however sell items you make from this. Enjoy!