Meet Gertrud

Let me introduce you to my new companion, Gertrud. She's a beautiful two-day old iPad 2 and she'll be my survival tool for the next few months until I can get my laptop to work properly again. Having it repaired here would've been almost as expensive as buying Gertrud, so I hope hope hope to be able to fix my laptop at home without paying an insane amount of $ on it.
I'm not quite used to typing on a touchscreen yet and it will be another week until I get a camera connector (you don't wanna know how long it took me to import this one imagine to my laptop and upload it to flickr.) so there won't be many posts in the next few days.

Have you ever imagined life without a laptop/computer? It is painful, especially if you have several short essays and online quizzes due for school. I'm really grateful for owning a smartphone because without it I would've been completely lost.

Happy Valentines Day!

52 Knits // Winter Blues Mittens

Pattern: Cruiser by Cailyn Meyer (size M)

Yarn Used: two skeins Marks & Kattens Eco Ull Color (80% wool, 20% merino), color 305

Needles: 5mm DPNs

Modifications: Cast on 36 stitches, increased to 40 stitches on the last row of the cuff.

Note: I'm not happy with the decreases - they are clearly visible and make the mittens look oddly shaped. The technique for the thumb was refreshing, but they don't fit very well. Also, the cuff is still pretty loose. It was a quick, simple knit but I'm not very happy with the result, although I love the yarn and its softness :)

This is project #5 of 52.

As part of my 2012 goals, I want to finish 52 knitted items this year. You can see all the items I knitted so far on my blog or on ravelry.

See knits 1, 2, 3 and 4

V-V-Valentine

I can't believe it's almost Valentine's Day! Time flies these days... though I'm not a huge fan of 'commercial holidays' but I love it when cute DIY ideas pop out all around the internet. Here are some DIYs I'd love to try... can't wait to have an apartment full of craft supplies! hehe

heart socks knitting pattern by drops

felt candy hearts by the purl bee

small stitched valentine card tutorial by kwerner design

valentine tags by the creative place

valentine pins by the purl bee

tea bags by a beautiful mess

52 Knits // farewell socks

Pattern: my own

Yarn Used: one skein Superba Chinée by Rico Design (75% new wool, 25% polyamide)

Needles: 2.5mm DPNs

Modifications: shorter calf

Note: This is the sock pattern I use for regular socks. There's nothing fancy about these but they fit my feet perfectly :)

I knitted a rather short calf this time (out of laziness...) and used the kitchener stitch to graft the toe (what the hell is wrong with me?! Didn't realize it was a bad idea until I was halfway done with the second sock).

I call these the 'farewell socks' because I started knitting these in August 2011(!!!) on the way to the airport when I left for Vancouver. Funny enough, I didn't pick these up until my flight home for winter break. But I figured I should just get over it and finish these. So I guess these count as finnish an UFO?! :)

Also, I realized that taking pictures of socks is boring. And awkward.

Note to self: before photographing socks, vacuum you room! and shave your legs.

This is project #4 of 52.

As part of my 2012 goals, I want to finish 52 knitted items this year. You can see all the items I knitted so far on my blog or on ravelry.

See knits 1, 2 and 3

52 Knits // Noro Striped Scarf

Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf by Jared Flood

Yarn Used: 2 skeins Noro Silk Garden (Color 337); 1 skein Berroco Ultra Alpaca (Color 6206)

Needles: 5mm circular needles

Modifications: casted on 41 stitches to get a slightly wider scarf (mine is about 6.5 inches)

Note: Another striped Noro scarf! This was a quick and fun project that didn't need much attention. Love how the edges turned out. 

(photo taken by Katja)

This is project #3 of 52.

As part of my 2012 goals, I want to finish 52 knitted items this year. You can see all the items I knitted so far on my blog or on ravelry.

See knits 1 and 2

Update

I apologize for being rather quiet lately - school is already super stressful with lots of midterms, quizzes and tons of readings. I went to Whistler last weekend with my friends Molly, Cassie and Katja. Molly and Katja went skiing whereas Cassie and I rather spend the time exploring the cute village and talking over a cup of hot tea for hours :)



The weather wasn't quite what we expected: + 3°C and RAIN!



 But oh well, we're used to the weather and it was still nice to see the beautiful landscape and snow and getting away from the campus for a day :)



In other news, I finished this hat a couple of weeks ago but I didn't get a chance to photograph it. This is item #2 out of 52. I'm currently working on a pair of socks and another hat. Hopefully I can share them next week :)

5 things you (probably) did not know about me

So, I love reading embarrassing/interesting things about others so I thought it's fair to share some guilty pleasures and weird habits. Feel free to join me and share a link in the comments - it's fun!



1. I've had glasses for as long as I can remember. I don't like contacts because just the thought of something touching my eyes make me wince.



2. I bite my lips when I'm nervous. Or concentrating. Or when I'm about to say something I shouldn't be saying.



3. I love 'cuddling' yarn - it's just so soft and warm and wonderful. I'm pretty spoiled when it comes to yarn - I usually only use natural yarns and the softer the better :)



4. I have several go-to outfits - the plum shirt I'm wearing in the pictures is never in my closet for more than 2 or 3 days after I did my laundry.



5. I don't buy clothes that aren't on sale or used - even being limited to the sales section in a store leaves me way too many clothes to choose from. But I prefer buying high-quality brands over cheap brands because I always look at the materials that clothes are made from. Also, I love sweaters with thumbholes which are rather hard to find nowadays (that's why I love roots sweaters).

outfit details: tank top/hollister ; top/urban outfitters ; sweater/roots ; necklace/handmade ; earrings/six ; prescription glasses/prodesign denmark