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 :)

Sunbirds Again

I finally managed to get a picture of one of my friendly local Sunbirds. This is a boy - he has a glossy blue black bib. I snapped about 30 pictures but he is so small, that the camera had trouble focusing on him and most of the photos turned out blurry. These are the best photos but he's still a little fuzzy. Still you can see how small he is - about 2 inches from beak to tail!

Dr Sunbird

I wasn't feeling well today so I was lying in bed with the curtains almost fully closed, just a small bit of curtain was open at the very top. Suddenly a male yellow bellied sunbird flew and perched for a second on top of my window frame and then he disappeared. The next moment his wife flew to the same spot and sat there. She looked at me for several minutes while I held my breath in delight. She was really studying me, turning her head from side to side and peering in at me. Both my cameras were out of battery. Can you believe it?! She was so lovely with dark eyes and tiny spindly little black legs and such a bright vibrant yellow tummy. From the underside of her beak to her tail she was all bright yellow. She really cheered me up and I felt much better afterwards. The birds must have decided to pay a visit to my sickbed to check on me. Sunbirds are good medicine :)

The boy looked like this (image from here)

The girl looked like this (image from here)

This is not the first time I've had little birds come to look in my window and stare at me. I guess they find me just as interesting as I find them!

I deal the 9 of hares

I came across this collection of round playing cards on a blog and ventured over to the British Museum's website to take a look. The set of cards has five different types: parrots, hares, carnations, columbines and roses and there are ten numbers and four people: king, queen, knave and valet. They were made by the mysterious PW, a monogrammist of Cologne in around 1500. The British Museum has 39 cards of the set.

The Nine of Hares (from here)

Is that hare at the bottom about to lick his paw?

The King of Parrots (from here)

Valiant and brave, the king with his faithful parrot at his side!

The Ace of Roses (from here)

The latin inscription reads " PEPVLIT VIRES CASVS AIO Q TULIT EQVO" and says something about defeating or overthrowing your enemies with vigour and receiving a horse! Yes, this is my bad translation from a latin dictionary.

The Ten of Parrots (from here)

I like how the parrots are depicted in realistic poses such as preening their outstretched wings and biting their tail feathers.

Babette's Feast

The elderly guests enjoying their meal (image from here)

For some reason I was sitting at work the other day and the words 'Babette's Feast' popped into my head. So I did a little searching and discovered the 1987 film Babette's Feast was available at my library for borrowing.

Lets just say I loved the film and it was amazing. To fully appreciate the film you need to watch it. But it is a testimony to the power of food to heal and mend broken relationships, hearts and minds. Babette's meal has not just physical nurturing power but also spiritual and emotional. The film is a love story about friendship, family and good food. The actors were all amazing though I felt sorry for the cute little quail who were to become 'Cailles en sarcophage' and the turtle who was to become soup.

The story is different from other films about food in that it is not about greed or sensuality. Here food is a spiritually uplifting experience to be enjoyed and not shunned as a base physical experience. Babette prepares the food out of love and as a true artist. From the richness of her art she creates an extraordinary experience for all those dining, even if they don't quite know what they are eating!

The guests are members of a strict religious community who seek spiritual rather than physical pleasures. They vow not to mention the food at all during the meal...watch the film to find out why!

Babette at work (image taken from here)

I'm Still Here

One: Tired birdy

Two: Cute new pink-necked green pigeons to watch out my window

Three: Continents in one week

Four: Currencies in my wallet

Five: Outfits to wear to work - living out of a suitcase (again) makes dressing a challenge

Six: Repeats made on my tatted lace piece

Seven: Million things to do

Eight: Days back in the land of hot weather and cold soyabean milk

Nine: PM and I'm already sleepy. 6:30am starts and jetlag are not a great combination.

Ten: PM is when I watch Spongebob (if I can stay awake that long!)