Endless Night

It's 3:30 am and I am still up. We had a rather distressing power failure at 11.45 pm. It was not part of the six hours daily "load shedding". It has been a very hot and humid week so far and our street's power grid suffered an overload, probably due to too many airconditioners at work. Well it was sooo hot and humid without the AC, though we did have our fan going thanks to our invertor (UPS).(We had the invertor installed at some expense, last month, because of the load shedding).
So with our clothes sticking to our backs, we tried to put our kids to sleep. Our son was very tired and soon fell asleep but dd was very restless. I dozed off a couple of time but she kept waking me up. Finally it became unbearable after one hour and we decided to move downstairs as it is usually a little less hot on the ground floor. So we carried the pillows and kids downstairs and tried to settle down.
But almost immediately, the invertor's battery died down on us and we were left without even a fan. By then, it was already 2:00 am and dd finally fell asleep. We used newspapers to fan the kids. We could hear folks in the neighborhood having similarly tough time. Finally by 2:20 am, ten minutes after my angry call to the complaint centre ( the first three calls were quite civilized), we finally had the power restored.
So it was back upstairs again. After settling down the kids and having the shower, here I am, wide awake. It's nearly four in the morning and it will be time for Fajr (morning) prayer by 4:30 so I will be going to bed in one hour.
I feel so much like having an angry rant about all this and more but a little voice at the back of my head tells me that it might not be wise in today's world, especially since my thoughts are qiute militant at the moment ;)
On a lighter note, I am working alternately on the two cardigans that I mentioned in earlier posts. The first one is for my son. It only has the sleeves remaining to be knit. The second one is the Lilac Lace cardigan for myself. I frogged quite a bit of the back yesterday as I was getting off-guage. It may take a while to post the FOs. Bravo to me for knitting not one but two DK wearables in this heat! My husband has gone as far as to threaten to make all my yarn disappear if I do not cut down on my knitting time.

Lilac Lace in Progress

I started this cardigan for myself last year. I wanted to knitted a cardigan with at least two different lace patterns. I had knit about 7 inches of the back piece but then the project was over taken by several others.
Well, last week I again took up the cardigan. In the meanwhile, on the net I came across two designs that I found inspiring. I got the idea of using horseshoe lace pattern form this and the idea of having a ribbed high waist from this. So my amalgam of a lace cardigan comes out to be such so far:

This is a earlier pic. By now I am almost done with the back. I am working out the decreases etc as I go along. I hope I get the right fit.

My First Doily

I made this for my friend Ulla. She got it yesterday. This is my first attempt at a doily. The pattern is from a magazine (british, I think). I initially wanted to used solid color thread but could not find the right color at the local shop. So did it in variegated. It is Anchor size 8 thread and hook size was probably 2.00mm. The finished diameter of the doily was about 32 cm.

And The Winner is....

Congratulations to Kenyetta whose name came up in the contest draw. She liked the sockbag with red hearts so I will be mailing it to her in a few days, inshallah. Thanks to all who participated in the contest.

My Blog Turns One Today!

Today is my blog's first blogoversary. In this one year this blog has become a regular part of my routine I have tremendously enjoyed the experience. At this momentous (LOL) occassion, I thought I should celebrate by a summary of some of the blog stats:
Total Blog Posts: 81
Total no. of Visitors: > 99,ooo
Comments: 209
No. of FOs posted during the year: 37
No. of free Patterns: 16
Also, the deadline for my blogoversary contest is tonight at 6+ GMT (about four hrs from now). I will draw and announce the winner tomorrow, inshallah.

The Pinwheel Sweater

The pinwheel sweater for my daughter is finally done. And even if I say it myself, it looks gorgeous. I enjoyed knitting it although the last rounds on the pinwheel were a little tedious. I did the i-cord edging in two colors like in the adult version. The main yarn is Bally ( a local pakistani acrylic dk yarn) and the contrasting one is local boucle-like yarn. The needle sizes I used were 5.00mm and 4.50mm.

It was hard to get my daughter to agree to the photo shoot in this heat, but I did manage to get a picture. It is still a little large for her. But she is still only 23 months old and the sweater is supposed to fit sizes upto 4 year. Hopefully, she will better fit into it by winter and be able to wear it for a couple of years more, inshallah.

Some Baby Stuff

Over the last three days, I switched over to finishing some gift items. One of these is this set of newborn cap and booties. It is for Holidays in July at Crochetville.

The cap pattern is Angel Lace baby cap. This is the second time I knit this pattern. The first one was for my son about five years ago. It was his most adorable caps and I have loved the pattern since.

The booties are Saartjee booties. These remind me of the booties I learnt from my aunt when I was a teen. Those were very similar to the Saartje pattern except for a single strap ( i.e mary jane style.) I used a larger needle size than the one in pattern but still the booties seem to be on the smaller side.

On The Needles

I seem to have started a lot of projects at the same time. I am knitting a cardigan for my son. It is my own design. I still have done the back and right front. I am using a cable pattern down the middle of each front. The cardigan is going to have two pockets as well.

The other knitting project is a sweater for my daughter. It is the Pinwheel Sweater pattern. I am nearly done with the body. Have to do the egding and sleeves. The picture is an earlier one before the armholes were knit. The armhole instructions are a bit tricky, otherwise it is a straight-forward knit and quite quick too.

I am also doing a few gift projects in crochet. I will post details and photos later. In the coming week, I also plan to sew the sockbags for my contest(inshallah).

My Heart Belongs to You :)

This is what my husband presented to me on his return from the grocery store:

My First Handspun

It took me a while (about ten days to be exact) but I have finally spun my first yarn. It was fun and enjoyable. Considreing the homemade spindle that I used and it being my first proper attempt, I am quite pleased with the results. And the flattering color also helps. This was the roving:

My single was a bit overspun but when I plied the yarn, it lost its extra spin. I suppose spinning with a wheel must be a lot faster. Also the spindle can hold only a limited amount of yarn. The final numbers.... 200 yards of 2-ply handspun.

I have limited spinning vocabulary so I hope I got all the terms right.

My Blogoversary Contest

I have the first anniversary of my blog coming up. The past year was so much fun and I love blogging. It gives me the extra impetus to finish my projects and share my meagre designs. So going the well-trodden way, I have decided to celebrate my blogoversary with a small contest.
Just leave me a interesting comment on this post and I will add your name to the prize draw. The prize will be a handmade sockbag like the ones I showed in a previous post.(I'm sorry there is no exotic stuff). Also mention in your comment the fabric print that you like best. So if you win, you can have sockbag with that print.
The contest will close July 24th at 12 midnight PST (Pakistan Standard Time which is +6 hrs GMT , I believe). I will draw the name the next day inshallah. Looking forward to your comments!

A Few More RAKs

Over June, I received many more RAKs (Random acts of kindness) through the RAK group at ravelry. Each of these is so special because all sent me things that I needed and not available here. These will vastly improve the quality and scope of my craft, inshallah.
The first was from Indiajoy who sent me a set of DPNs, some circular needles and a ball of lovely sock yarn.

Then SueF from USA made me dizzy with her two package. One had some lovely purse handles, magnetic closures and a set of bamboo DPNs. The other had four ball of Patons Classic Wool in such gorgeous colors and a needle sizing card.

Then I got some Peaches and Creme and Silky Wool from zortified in the USA.

And lastly, Lyndystitches sent me a afghan crochet hook.

I want to express my gratitude to all of them again. I love all these sweet gifts.