Thursday, October 27, 2011

Eaten



A little skeleton leaf I found on the pathway. 
This is one of the nicest ones I've found. 
Its been almost completely eaten up.
Its so delicate and beautiful.
Like fine lace.
Can we make anything as beautiful as even the half-munched left-overs of nature?
I'm inspired (and more than a little humbled)

Monday, October 24, 2011

Those little shrooms just grew there...


As I rushed hither and thither
I came across these shrooms
So tiny and so small
they almost didn't look like shrooms at all!

White and shell like
hidden amongst the leaves
minding neither hide nor hare
those little shrooms just grew there!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Another project...


The Mr and I just moved into our own place. Right now its box-town and not quite ready to be shown to the world. But here is a picture of my floor. Its the original floor from the first owner who had it put in in 1984. Its a nice white and grey/beige terrazzo tile. Since this photo was taken 10 days ago we have had it polished and its nice and shiny and pretty. I'm tired from the moving and unpacking, but my mind is thinking of all the little projects that I want to do to make this place a nice comfortable home...but first I need to finish unpacking all those boxes...

It is so so so nice to sit at your own table in your own kitchen in your very own house.

The birds around here are nice too, some new types to share with you soon and some old friends fly past regularly. The Asian Koel sings all day and I heard night birds last night, but I don't know what they were... Once I unpack, I'll search my bird book to find out who it was.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Some October Birds

We have had some feathery visitors these past few days and I'd like to share some of them with you.

Today I saw a turquoise coloured Kingfisher, two Hawks and a elegant white Heron, but I didn't get a chance to take pictures...next time...


Green Pigeon surveying the neighbourhood.


I spy with my little eye...black and white birdy tries to hide from me!


Next door's garden looks tasty...


New mystery bird! I think it might be an Oriental Magpie Robin - nice clear picture here. The site also has some lovely pictures of other Singapore birds (much nicer, clearer photos than mine!).


Zebra Dove getting stuck into the grass seeds..


A family of four came to graze in the garden...I was so happy I couldn't talk!


Four in one flowerpot - they were all tucking into the grass seeds. So much cuteness at once!


I'm spotted! But they didn't care, just kept on eating. (I was sneaking behind the curtain to take the photo, the four of them were just a metre away!).

Today I saw a bird-catcher in the street. I hope he didn't get any of my little friends. These guys come around and put seeds out and a little wire trap and the birds leg gets caught in the trap while they eat. The guys then grab the birds and take them away to sell them in the market as pets. Poor birdies!

(Though when I looked, all the pigeons and doves in the neighbourhood were perched on my neighbour's roof watching the bird-catcher! I think they knew to keep well away!)

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Pretty Pretty


I love this dress from Primozea so much. Its simple, but with enough nice little details to be interesting like the keyhole button closure at the back and the little ruffle sleeves. You can see the Primozea shop here (that's where the photos are from too). It comes in two colours (grey and oatmeal) both knit in alpaca yarn.. Oh, it would be so soft and lovely to wear. I love the way it is styled in the photos too- with the little striped or floral tshirt underneath. I'd love to buy this but its not a practical dress for the tropics...though I could just stay inside in the air-condioning the whole time I wear it...Its just so lovely...Is it wrong to suffer to wear a cute dress?!!


Bleh. (and some knitting)


So I'm still sick. I've been poked, prodded, x-ray-d, had my insides photographed and taken far more medicine than I would like to. But the good news is that I'm finally starting to feel a little better. I started September with a virus which turned into asthma/haze-induced breathing problems and ended in a stomach ulcer and some very irritated insides. I'm currently only able to eat baby food and am sleeping 10 hours a day and spending the rest of the day lying on the couch or sleeping. 

However, all this resting time has meant I've had time to read (in between my sneezing and coughing fits) and plenty of knitting (in between my naps!) has resulted in my enforced resting time. Cause, there's only so much Spongebob a girl can watch without going mad and I can't just sit on the couch all day and look at birds (well, I can for an hour or two!).



I finished my cardigan. Finally a prefect tropical-weight cardigan that is comfortable and weights only 100g. Its good for stuffing in my bag (as you never know when you need a cardigan). Though I've had to be careful with the bag-stuffing as I pulled a thread on a pencil in my bag! (I used a crochet hook to carefully persuade it back to its rightful place - cardigan rescue accomplished!)


The yarn is the softest silk-alpaca blend and is warm without being sticky-warm. The pattern is from KnitScene magazine but I modified it a bit by lengthening the sleeves to wrist-length and adding a second band of garter stitch trim. I also adjusted the pattern for my thinner yarn (the pattern calls for something much more medium-weight and I used lace-weight).


I had to go with red buttons - they remind me of sweets and my primary school uniform. I loved my first primary school uniform - it was red and white check cotton in summer with 4 big red buttons down the front.  I wore it with a red cardigan and red socks (though most of the other kids wore grey cardigans and socks). I like to think I was a trend-setter from way back, but in reality, it was just what my mum put me in.


I've been busy knitting baby vests. Lost of friends and family are having babies at the moment and this pattern from Interweave Knits from about 2-3 years ago is easy to make and I found it a  fun canvas to experiment with colours. I've knit this about 8 times now, so the pattern is in my head. Its good for when you are sick to have knitting patterns that you don't have to think about. I've just been enjoying watching the coloured stripes blossom.



The latest series of baby vests.


This one is a 'spare' vest. I'm stockpiling vests for when the Mr. and I finally have babies of our own. I dream of a whole week's worth of hand-knitted vest goodness with matching hand knitted nappy/diaper covers. 

This vest is knit with red raw silk and natural coloured soya fiber. I think my future babies will appreciate that when they are puking on it! Hahaha.


This one is for a friend. For a baby girl. This vest is knit with a bamboo/cotton blend so its soft but sturdy.


And so is this one. I don't think baby girls have to wear pink always. Blue and green are nice too (and so are red, orange, yellow and natural cotton). This one is a mix of bamboo/cotton and natural cotton.

I've also got plans for a third baby -girl vest (its baby girl season apparently). But that one will have to wait until I unpack my yarn box from Canada :)