Striped Hand Warmers

Like all my winter accessories, my knit hand warmers were missing. It was a perfect chance to dig into my stash for a fast project. I really liked the Long Striped Hand Warmers by Whitney Van Nes from the Purl Bee. I was surprised at how fast this knit up. I used some Rowan Cashsoft that I had planned for Eunny Jang's Anemoi mittens. The Anemoi mittens was a sad failed project. I had knit up the first mitten, but it was huge and I had made the small size on smaller needles than the pattern asked for. I didn't have the patience to start over again after frogging.

For the hand warmers, I cast on 52 stitches and knit until 5” before starting the thumb. For the gusset, I k27 on both sides before and after the markers for the first round. I knit 4 rounds for the right thumb length. I really like the color combination of the terracotta orange and the tan.

I also can't find my beret, stay tuned for a beret project...

The Little Ox Greets the Year of the Tiger

Happy Chinese New Year! I can't believe Isaac is already 2.5 months old. It has been a roller coaster ride since we had him on Nov 30th: constant feedings, diaper changes, cuddling and tickling. It was quite stressful in the beginning, and I am so thankful that my family was willing to help us, or else we wouldn't have survived. Also, luckily my husband shares every chore enthusiastically.

Isaac, our little ox had his full month banquet the beginning of the month. His actual one month would have been near Christmas, so we had the banquet later. He was such a trooper, he allowed many people to hold him, without crying once. We hope people enjoyed the multi-course feast.

Very excited to receive red envelopes this New Year. This New Year is special, since it falls on Valentine's Day and President's Day weekend. I wonder which holiday more Chinese decided to celebrate: the New Year or Valentine's Day. Obviously, we chose Chinese New Year. Most of our festivities centered around food of course. My parent's house was filled with wonderful smells from morning to night. We had many meals with all the harmonious sounding dishes.

Since we were staying at my parent's, I watched more Chinese TV then normal. I was tempted to try a tea egg recipe from TVB's Pleasure and Leisure show. It was mentioned that northern Chinese use eggs in the New Year celebration. The recipe below is from Helen Ma, who is a well known Chinese actress. I haven't had tea eggs for a long time and the eggs came out pretty tasty.

Helen Ma's Tea Eggs
10 eggs
3/4 cup of soy sauce
2 star anise
2 tablespoon loose black tea leaves OR 2 tea bags
1 teaspoon sugar
Few drops of oil
2 small dried tangerine peel strips (optional)

1. Boil eggs, put in cold water to cool off.
2. Use ladel to hold egg, crack all around with back of metal fork.
Push fork thru to middle of egg.
3. Keep the water used to boil the eggs, add the eggs and the rest of
the ingredients. Make sure the water covers the eggs at least an inch
over. Simmer for 2 hrs.
4. Remove from heat, let rest for 1 hr with lid on.
5. Simmer again for 1 hr (optional).

Bear Rattle

With about 1 month left to my due date, I am feeling the pressure to complete my baby craft projects. I started this crochet rattle project months ago. As I mentioned before, I have not been able to concentrate much during pregnancy. I found crochet easier than knit projects, it just seemed faster. The form for the rattle is from this amigurumi book. I used leftover Sirdar's Snuggly yarn with a crochet hook size E 3.5 mm. The project was stalled mostly because I couldn't figure out what would make the rattle sound. I was hoping to use an empty Kinder Surprise egg or plastic Easter egg and fill it with rice. After months of looking, I found the Egg Cha Cha in a nearby toy store and it was a perfect fit for the bottom of the body. It sounds like an egg shell filled with sand. Then I couldn't figure out how to crochet the ears, I finally had to knit them. For some strange reason, the bear seemed amused to me, so that's how he got his expression. Doesn't he look jolly?

Umbilical Cord Hat

I was never interested in knitting baby hats, because it didn't seem challenging enough. I changed my mind when I wandered through Takashimaya and saw all the cute knit hats. They were so tiny and so soft, I knew I had to make one.

I chose the Umbilical Cord Hat pattern by Jennifer L. Jones from the Stitch n' Bitch knitting book, it seemed easy and had very little sewing up. My hat was knit up in Blue Sky Alpacas Organic Cotton in Wasabi on size 9 needles. I really like Blue Sky Alpacas yarns, but I was surprised at how lovely the organic cotton was. It's very soft and the colors are very vibrant. I was surprised I had to go up to a size 9 needle to get the gauge, guess I am a tight knitter in the round. The hat knit up within a few hours. This project hit the spot, since I can barely concentrate lately. My only complaint is that the pattern called for a lot of yarn, 197 yards. I used up less than 2/3 rds of that. I will save the excess yarn to knit a sweater or a romper suit (if I can find a pattern).

Barcelona

We came back from our trip to Barcelona several weeks ago. I have never been to Spain. I thought I could use my elementary Spanish to get along, but they mostly speak Catalan there, which is very different and closer to French. After visiting, it was clear why so many Europeans vacation in the Mediterranean. It is gorgeous in the summer time, not humid and there is always a cool breeze. We spent most of our days lounging on the beach, one of us got burnt badly (hint, it's not me). We also wandered through the old and new city, hitting the local market place and touring some Gaudí buildings. I didn't know too much about Gaudí before going, but quickly became an admirer of his organic and whimsical structures. We toured Casa Milà, Casa Battló and Parc Güell. Also, I have to point out how fresh and well prepared all our meals were, and this was from the market vendors to the restaurants we went to. It was a really nice break from the rainy New York summer we were having.


One thing hubby could not get enough of in Barcelona was gazpacho. So, on arriving back, I tried to make him the recipe from The Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook. In the process, I managed to get the walls and myself covered in vegetable paste. I am not very good with the hand blender. He seemed very satisfied with the end result, though he wished it were thicker. I don't like gazpacho, and this was no different, it tasted like spicy cold tomato juice to me.

Silver Lining

It has been a pretty tumultuous past few months, lots of work and personal happenings. Middle Bank announced the sale of our department last December, and we all waited anxiously for the close. Soon it became pretty apparent that the new buyer was not going to offer us jobs. I spent my days consoling upset/crying coworkers, while feeling numb and at times suddenly angry.

But there were 2 silver linings to this story:

1. We found out during that time that we were expecting. :)
   It no longer mattered to me what happened to my job or when it would end. I had something much more wonderful to look forward to.
   
   
2. Middle Bank was going to honor the Warn Act. They were going to give us 90 days notice for closing our group. Basically, this was "garden leave." I love this English term. I would be on call for 3 months, but not have to do any regular tasks.

I have been happily relaxing at home for the last 3 weeks, incubating.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to knit since my pregnancy, I am unable to concentrate. I did start the Hanami Stole a few months ago, but have not worked on it since. I'll share the beginnings of that in a later post.

Coming Up Orchids

Orchids: Moth, Elmhurst

Dendrobium

Something to cheer you up if Spring feels too far away. I bought the Wonderlite in November when 2 of my plants started spiking and boy did it pay off. The plants didn't bloom last year because there wasn't enough light. Well, okay the moth orchid did, but I got it last year in full bloom. It only had 6 flowers though. This year there are 10 hot pink flowers on the Moth orchid, the size of my palm, much bigger than last year's. There are 6 peach flowers on the Elmhurst the size of a nickel and 10 white/purple flowers on the Dendrobium, which is in between. It has made a dreary winter more than just bearable.