1st project: belt

i must admit, i only did 10% of the work & mom did the rest. what can i say, she couldn't resist it once she saw my yarn & needles! she'd knit away when she sits down to relax. trust me, knitting can be very soothing & calming! i can now cast on stitches & do plain simple knits with confidence. it took me forever to get it right but i did it! yay! right now i need help with casting off, i.e. securing all the stitches once you're done. since neneth is on a long break, jurra has been our (ulai & myself) replacement teacher. terima kasih di atas bimbingan dan tunjuk ajarmu!

my first ball of yarn which cost me RM6.80.
bravo color yarn by schachenmayr
weight of yarn: 50g (150m)
fibre content: 100% acrylic

needle size: 4mm

i'm going to have to buy myself another ball of yarn for practice cos mom did most of the knitting for my belt which doesn't count as my work. i think i'd get mom her own needles as well! to my knitting buddies, ulai & oojiez, gambatte ne!

knitting bug

i've caught the knitting bug from neneth which i find very addictive. my interest began when she knitted a beautiful sweater for baby ethan & i'd been bugging her ever since to teach me. neneth is very kind & gave me my first lesson in knitting yesterday (thanks heaps!). it was initially mind-blowing even when she taught me the basic stitches which is knit & purl, the reverse of knit. my fingers felt so clumsy & awkward around the circular needles although i did manage a few imperfect rows until they began to relax & the rhythm of knitting soon got me into a hypnotic state. haha!

neneth gave me the link to a site called knitting help where you can learn to knit with free knitting videos which is great for someone like me. i've also found other knitting sites with gorgeous patterns & one of 'em is garnstudio with its fabulous drops design. another site i absolutely like is vogueknitting. it's colourful, funky and trendy all at the same time!

click on the individual images
to view their pattern.

i'm going to take baby steps & not get too excited over my new found hobby. my first project (fingers crossed) would be to make meself a nice knitted belt, preferably in red. wish me success!

knitting totes by berroco
where you can get more
free patterns from here.

sergeant hassan

...is totally made up by hubs! he used the quite effective sergeant hassan when the kids are being difficult. he'll say, 'daddy will call my friend sergeant hassan if you don't keep quiet,' or 'sergeant hassan is only outside & he'll come to take you if you make anymore noise.' hubs will sometimes look out the window & the boys will magically settle down.

lil han can be cheeky at times & before hubs could pretend to call his make-believe sergeant hassan, han would be on the phone first pretending to speak to him & asking him to come. so when hubs fetched him from the playschool last week, his teacher came out to ask hubs who sergeant hassan was. hubs could barely contain his laughter & burst out laughing. apparently our lil boy had said something along the lines of, 'keep quiet. sergeant hassan wants to come.'

hubs did explain to the teacher who this imaginary person is. i suppose she'd thought that han is actually well acquainted with a real police officer!

toothless

an lost his front tooth 3 nights ago. he has been wanting to put his tooth
under his pillow for the tooth fairy but i told him not to
for the reason that it might be misplaced after a night's sleep
& i wouldn't have the time to search for it in the morning.
so i told an that i'll keep it in one of my jewelry boxes instead.
he protested by saying that the tooth fairy can't possibly open the drawer
& know which jewelry box to look for. he got me there!

tooth fairy, wherever you are, this is an obvious photo evidence of an
having lost a tooth :o)

shhhhh...i spotted a tooth fairy! she's coming for the tooth! yay!

click to enlarge. tooth fairy certificate to print
courtesy of the tooth fairy herself.

pollen jocks

if you've watched the bee movie, i found one of 'em pollen jocks in my backyard in the wee hours of the morning. dad tends to plant all sorts of vegetables in his garden & i'd voluntarily photograph his produce. this time round i was more fascinated with the pollen jock that was going from one flower to the other of a gourd family. i must say that the bee movie has made it all the more interesting when you actually see one of 'em real ones going about doing their thing. haha!

bread story

first there was a cake story & now, bread story. i was down with a bad cold since new year eve & having to consume antibiotics just made the whole thing worst as i lost my sense of smell & taste, thus my appetite was nil. what have i been eating mostly for the past weeks? uhuh, it's bread! for those that know me/work with me will say that that's what i normally eat on a daily basis (ha!ha!), so i suppose i eat more of it when i'm sick as a dog. woof!

since we're on the topic of bread, i love the combi of peanut butter & chocolate, plus i'd spread 'em on really thick, gooey & yummy! the kids love bread just like their mommy, be it white, brown, black or blue as long as it's bread. we especially enjoy the bread from the ever popular fook yuen kopitiam @ damai & their newest outlet in asia city complex.

an likes to have his bread with butter & kaya/roti kahwin, or with just a slice of cheese, whereas han goes for the tasty peanut butter & hubs can always eat it plain. what about you? how do you like to eat your bread?

zen garden resort 15-16 december 2007

this is definitely an outdated post that i've been meaning to write about
a month ago which i think is still never too late to blog about :o)
by the way, i love the pictures that came with it!

hubs had been wanting to bring the boys up to kundasang
& we did just that when he finally got a break from work
to get on with the christmas hols. yay!
off we went with 2 of hubs' cousins & their families for a getaway
from the hustle-bustle of the city, even if it was just for a night :o)

beautiful & bright red poinsettias sold at the kundasang's vegetable market,
perfect for christmas!

pretty chrysanthemums

han enjoyed the market especially with so many things to look at.

'what's this mommy?'

taken outside the restaurant of zen garden resort where we stayed the night.

trying to get the kids to sit still was no easy task.
my superboys with their cousins mayesha & flynn.

this picture of my 3 boys i like a lot!

pine 1- the lodge that we stayed in was very comfy
& definitely great for families.

hubs woke us up for the magnificent & majestic view of...

the glorious mount kinabalu

an wore 4 layers of clothing including my sweater.
it was freezing cold in the morning but the breathtaking view was well worth it.

the kids having their breakfast while playing outside on the veranda.

we took a drive to poring hot spring.
since it was a weekend, the place was awfully crowded.

we'll have to come back another time to do all of the above.

i love the green feel of this picture. it's so refreshing!

time to head home!