Tiger Mom

There's been so much buzz about this Wall Street Journal article by Amy Chu.  I feel that I have to put in my two cents.  Personally, I got a good laugh when I read it.  Having been raised by Chinese tiger parents, I know that I have a very relaxed parenting style.  None of my kids played piano (though the youngest just started playing violin through the school), they were allowed playdates and sleepovers, and (gasp) all three girls took ballet lessons.  In fact, E is attending an arts boarding school where ballet is her "major".  She is actually auditioning to study dance at college next year.  My oldest daughter, A,  is studying Art at a private liberal arts college (double gasp!).  My son, J, plays computer games constantly, and youngest child, M, swims on a swim team.  I guess I'm not a Chinese mom, according to Amy Chua.

I don't think we need to go to the extremes that Ms. Chua is going through to raise successful children.  Though I guess success can mean different things.  My children are well-adjusted and happy.  They don't get straight A's, but A's show up more than any other letter in their report card.  Unlike me, they actually like spending time with their parents and look forward to coming home during their school breaks.  I know I'm much more permissive compared to immigrant chinese parents, but I'm also much stricter than my non-Asian friends.

In the end, I'm just surprised.  Out of all my siblings, cousins, and American-born Asian friends, none of us are as strict as Amy Chua. But then again, none of us are trying to sell a book...

Hats

I checked out a book called "Hat Heads" by Trond Afinnsen from the library and it inspired my to knit some hats.  The first hat I knit was a beret for my niece.  It was cast on and bound off while I was visiting my parents during the holidays.  I forgot to take a picture of the hat before I left it for my niece.

The next hat I knit was also a beret.  The pattern is called Urchin by Ysolda Teague and I used a discontinued Classic Elite yarn called Bravo.  It's a bulky yarn and it looks like a fluffy mohair yarn twisted with a thick rayon thread.  I was afraid that the hat might be a little itchy, but so far, no complaints from the recipient.


E's Urchin

The third hat was from the "Hat Head" book.  The book had a lot of cute patterns, but I don't know how the Knitkid (the author's alter-ego) was able to knit all those hats using a worsted weight yarn with size 4 needles! The first attempt, I used size 2 and 6 needles.  I had read some notes on Ravelry and noticed that some people had problems with the sz 1 and 4 needles the pattern called for. There's no way a toddler could have worn the hat I knit.   Maybe Norwegians have small heads?  I ended up using size 6 & 8 needles and a tubular cast-on (thank you Ysolda!) to be able to knit a hat big enough for a teenager to wear.


J's Silje

The last hat I knit is called Randi.  Since the pattern calls for bulky yarn I had to make some changes and calculations so I could use up some leftover Cascade 220 I had in my stash.



M's Randi

If I ever knit another hat from "Hat Heads", I will use the patterns only as guidelines.  Maybe my kids have extraordinarily large heads...

T-shirt quilt

My niece turned 18 last month and I commemorated the occasion by making her a t-shirt quilt using shirts she got through her high school band.  The shirt designs were different sizes and shapes, so it took me a while to decide how to place the blocks.  Her only request was that the quilt have purple in it.

I didn't want to make a boring typical t-shirt quilt with uniform sized blocks and sashing around, but wanted the blocks to look as though they were appliqued on top of a big piece of fabric.  The pattern of the black leaves help mask the seams of the rows.  At least I think they do.  Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with the result.  Most importantly, my niece is pleased with her new quilt.

New Year

Happy New Year!  It's January and I'm thinking of this year's gift-knitting.  The neices looked adorable in their new sweaters.  Maybe a knitted dress for Evelyn?  Her birthday is in June.

These are the bunnies I knit to go with the sweaters

Sweaters for Nieces

I finished sweaters for my two of my adorable nieces. The yarn I used was Knit Picks Swish DK in Peapod and Sugar Plum. I found a pattern in IK's Weekend 2010. In fact, it's the cover sweater. This amazing design ranges from infant size all the way up to adult. It took me less than a month to knit both sweaters. Of course both the little girls are very small...

Choosing the buttons took me longer than actual knitting time! I really wanted the same style of button in different colors for each sweater. There were so many buttons that I liked, but couldn't find a similar one for both projects.















A month after knitting the sweaters, I finally sewed the buttons and posted the pictures on Ravelry. To my surprise, someone favorited my sweater. I clicked on the heart button and found that my green sweater was favorited by someone named Hannah Fettig. Wait! That name sounds familiar... Hannah designed my sweaters! I was thrilled to have my sweater favorited by the actual designer. It really made my day!

I spent the next hour looking at Hannah's other designs. Lo and behold, I have a few of her patterns in my very own favorites file. She wrote Closely Knit: Handmade Gifts for the Ones You Love in 2008. She also has many designs in other publications and magazines and her own blog.

Lazy Blogger

I'm definitely not a very good blogger. I really have been busy and a bit blue. Let's try to catch up on some of my projects. The most recent one is this wallhanging I made for my friend, Andrea. She's a coffee-chugging, funny, gregarious friend. She also loves the color purple. I started out with the border fabric from my stash (It's purple in real life, but looks royal blue on the computer screen).







The rest of the fabrics were recent purchases from Joann fabrics. I'm pretty happy with the coffee mugs. They're all based on mugs I have in my kitchen.


Even the backing is cute with cute little birds.

Scarf Saga

I "discovered" Noro two years ago while I was visiting my sister-in-law in Connecticut. While my husband was enjoying one of his many games of Majong with this parents and sister, I ventured out to the local yarn store, Saybrook Yarn. The store had a nice assortment of yarns and patterns and the woman working there was very friendly. I fondled their many knitted samples on display and enjoyed digging through their ample sale wall. As I was deciding on which sale yarn to purchase, I spied a pair of beautiful socks that looked like it was dip-dyed. I loved how the colors flowed seamlessly into the next. I was sold. My first purchase of Noro was made with two skeins of rainbow-colored Silk Garden Lite.

Not knowing what to do with two skeins, I perused Ravelry and discovered the Noro Striped Scarf. My problem was getting my hands on two more skeins. Well, two skeins were found at my lys in greens, blacks and orange. Not exactly my colors, but I was willing to give them a chance. I cast-on for the scarf during a Girl Scout camping trip and was hooked. I couldn't wait to see the next color change and see how it blended the other yarn! Less than two weeks later, my first Noro scarf was completed.

Now since both my older daughters also liked the scarf, I vowed to knit at least another one some day. Last December, during a trek to a little town called Brunswick, I found the Brunswick Yarn Depot. I almost missed the store. It had no real sign and was a converted garage attached to someone's house. Not a huge selection, but the staff was friendly (aren't knitters always nice?) and helpful. I found some Noro-like dyed yarn called Poems. It's an aran weight, so I guess it more like Noro's Kureyon. I finished the scarf during a visit to my parent's and my mom really admired the scarf. Of course, dutiful daughter that I am, I gave her my Noro scarf. E loves her new scarf, Mom loves my old scarf and I'm left with a cold neck.

I knitted up a new Striped scarf with random skeins of silk garden lite that I had picked up here and there. I finished this scarf during another family visit. This time we were at my sister-in-law's. Since I wasn't crazy about the end product, I gave sis-in-law the new green striped scarf. I picked up more Noro at A Good Yarn in Brookline, MA and knit yet another striped scarf. Now I have my very one Noro Striped Scarf (again), my neck is warm and I can stop knitting scarves for a while. A long, long while