Adventures of Socktopus - Hand Dyed Yarns & Knitwear Designs by Alice Yu

First Antenatal Class – YEURGH!

by alice on 6 January 2012

Winner for 5 DECEMBER 2011 - Eirwen due to Lesley being a lovely sweetheart. Next draw will now be in January.
Win my new Socktopus book, and enter a draw to win a pair of socks, custom fit and hand knit by yours truly. Help out Hong Kong Dog Rescue by donating to help them rescue, rehabilitate and rehome abandoned dogs. More details here.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. How about a video?

DH and I went to our first antenatal class last night. Where we were shown a video of a home birth. I have not a thousand words to describe the video. Just one. Yeurgh! Though I did have 10 going through my head while watching it – “Is it too late to get off this ride now?”

I’m a pretty calm person under normal circumstances. I can deal with most situations without getting hysterical. I’ve got a high tolerance for stress. When needs must, I can manage with lack of sleep too, though I know it makes me pretty crabby. When something has to get done, we all have incredible reserves that enable us to manage it. I have great confidence in my reserves – they have never failed me before. But … but…. watching that video… I fear my reserves may just be for getting things on a long list ticked – actions, putting things in motion – kind of like being a puppet master. Pulling on a number of different strings at one time to achieve an end result. I’m good at that kind of stuff. Stress & pressure stuff. But where things are in motion and it’s about the stamina and determination to withstand the winds and hold out, the patience and the will to wait and reign in an action …. that, I’m afraid, is not my strong suit. I also dislike pain. So an elective c-section is out. The thought of slicing through my muscles – muscles I’ll need to, well, move and function – is most unappealing. I want to opt for gas and air since an epidural can prolong the first stage of labour. Not being able to feel means no pain but also means less effective pushing/stretching of the cervix and hence a longer first stage of labour.

Still, planning is one thing, and what happens at the time can be something totally different. Best to have a plan, and a BAFO (best and final offer).. or in this case, the bottom line – which is to have a healthy baby and mom however the doctor gets there.

So the whole very informative video has definitely freaked me out. Next class we get to see a hospital birth. Blechblechblech. At least the babies look quite small. Not quite a football – more like a softball. That’s a small(er) (dis)comfort. Three more delightful classes to go.

Meimei is totally in love with DH. She very rarely snuggles against me (sometimes, when she is sleepy, or feeling a little small, she’ll come to me for a little snuggle), but she is always following hubby around, and wanting attention from him. The other night we had her up on the sofa and she fell asleep against DH’s leg. She looks pretty cozy.

Deuce on the other hand, always wants snuggles from me. If he could, I am sure he would live in my lap 24/7 (at least, when he’s not sleeping on the toy box, his current location as I write). He’s a mama’s boy through and through. Meimei is clearly a daddy’s girl. Go figure! I wonder how it will be for Blueberry?

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Growth Spurts

by alice on 3 January 2012

In the space of 10 weeks, Meimei has gone from wee little fluff pup:

To a proper doglet with ears, snout and wee little vampire teeth:

She now looks more like a proper dog, and her fluffy ears stick out like she has big fluffy pigtails. She is incredibly curious about baths, especially bubble baths and tries to eat the bubbles. I wonder whether she’ll be a water dog and enjoy swimming? That would be nice as there are some good beaches over on Lamma where dogs can play.

She’s growing beautifully – from a little ragamuffin with bowed legs into something long and sleek.

She now has straight long limbs and an elegant gait (when she isn’t running around like crazy and trying to attack our toes). The fur on her back quarter where she’d been shaved has all grown back in – you can’t even see where anymore. The tip of her tail where it had been bald (after an inch of her tail had fallen off from injuries) is also now covered in shiny black fur. And the way she gallops around the flat you’d never know she had those horrific paw injuries. She’s a happy girl, and full of life. Do you remember how truly teeny she was when we first got her?

She’s now almost Deuce’s height, and of course at 3 months, she still has some growing to do. It’s hard to say how big she will get since she’s a mixed breed, but my guess is she’ll be a smallish medium size dog – like a smallish border collie.

We’ve settled into a routine, where Deuce keeps us up at night with his lip smacking, ear scratching, head butting (cause he wants under the covers) and big huffy sighs when he doesn’t get his way, and Meimei is our very own rooster barking us awake at 7 am on the dot every day. It’s quite a treat when the two of them settle down for a nap which usually happens once they’ve had their crazy play after they’ve eaten. They look so cozy curled up in their beds.

Thankfully Meimei has no territorial issues and is quite okay with Deuce taking away her play things – after all there is a basket full of toys for them to play with. Deuce, maybe because he’s been an ‘only child’ for so long, doesn’t share quite so well… as you can see here perching dragon like on what he considers his hoard of treasures! And he makes these awful shrill shrieks when Meimei tries to play with him and he gets all possessive over a particularly high value toy in his clutches (usually squirrelly or the bigger of the two antler bones). My silly little man.

And as for Blueberry – she’s been growing too! This was at 23 weeks, just before heading over to HK.

And now at 34 weeks 5 days:

I’m feeling pretty awkward – like all those pregnant women in the movies who do a weird pelvic thrust and backwards push up to get up and off sofas. And I’m definitely waddling – I can feel and see the world tipping side to side as I walk. Otherwise though all is good, and thankfully no swelling! The only irritations are being very itchy over the bump (sudocreme and aveeno help alot), having to pee like every 5 minutes (quite inconvenient if I want to leave the house!) and of course, Blueberry taking up room that normally is allocated to some pretty important organs, like my lungs and stomach. So breathing is sometimes a chore and I go from being almost pukey full to absolutely starving in a space of a heartbeat. I can’t quite believe Blueberry is going to get bigger, but we still have 5 weeks more growing to do. Eek!

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Macau Memories

by alice on 2 January 2012

We made a quick trip to Macau last week. I have to validate my Hong Kong visa, and to do that I had to leave the HK SAR. We decided we’d head to Macau for lunch at Fernando’s, a popular place for Macanese food. Last I’d been there was in early ’96 – a long time ago so I barely remembered the place, other than it being off a quiet side road. It’s no longer a quiet side road but a rather busy area with a large parking lot and some shops next door.

As it’s incredibly popular, we were sent to wait for our table in the beer garden, or rather, sangria garden, with picnic tables and an open bar where David got us a pitcher of sangria, some grilled chorizo and olives. A very civilised way to wait for our table. I can imagine it being a lovely place to hang out with friends in the warmer months. We thankfully didn’t have to wait too long to be seated as we arrived just as the lunchtime crowd were finishing up and heading off. We had grilled sardines, a really simple green salad with incredibly tasty beef steak tomatoes (where on earth did they get them I wonder? I haven’t had such yummy beef steak tomatoes in a very long time), grilled suckling pig, and crusty fluffy bread rolls. We hopped the restaurant’s own taxi back to the ferry terminal and were back at home by dinner time.

Next admin task is to get my Hong Kong ID card, though I only have to go to Wan Chai so not quite as exotic as Macau!

The past week I’ve been trying my hand at caramels. My friend C loves (and I mean LOVES, with a bordeline obsessive passion) salted caramels and I suddenly had an urge to have some myself.

So I did a bit of research and settled on a David Lebovitz recipe where he caramelizes the sugars first to pretty much the hard crack stage, I assume to get the requisite depth of flavour, before adding the cream and butter and then heating the mixture up to a firm ball stage. So armed with sugar and corn syrup, I got to boiling.

I heated the second phase too long and ended up with toffee… tasty but quite hard.

As neither DH nor I are big fans of toffee, I decided to put it to better use by melting it down with cream to use in millionaire’s shortbread.

Very yummy – am quite pleased with the results. But I still yen for salted caramel so will give that another go today or tomorrow.

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2011 Retrospective

by alice on 1 January 2012

It’s become a little tradition of mine to look back on the year just past as we start the new one – partly because I have a memory like a sieve (not helped at all by pregnancy brain), but also to take some time and appreciate all the good in life. Glass half full and all – though I feel like 2011 has been more like cup runneth over. This year has easily been one of my most exciting so far and I’d really like to remember all the wonders in years to come.

January we rang the new year in with our nearest and dearest and an Arkansas BBQ. There was some seriously competitive Wii table tennis and bowling amongst the cowboys and sheriffs. We got a waffle iron and found the best waffle recipe ever which we’ve been using ever since. My poor teeth from all that maple syrup! Cookie A and Anne Hanson crossed the pond to join the Socktopus Cornwall Retreat, and the first of the year’s Knit Love Club kit went out with the very first Club edition of Sokkusu yarn.

February the big news was Libya’s civil war, and trying to get my dad evacuated from Tripoli. Working continued at a hectic pace for my book, reading, proof reading, rewriting, checking, tech editing…. not to mention all the sample knitters busily knitting all the socks to be photographed. Signed a contract on a new dye studio space for Sokkusu.

In March was the terrible earthquake in Japan, the tsunami and Fukushima the nuclear melt down. Photo shoots for my book, and my cousin J’s baby Scott coming into the world. Moved into the new studio space. Knit Nation class schedule went up.

April was the month we first had an inkling Hong Kong was on the cards. The Royal Wedding took place, giving us a whole lotta long weekends and myself a rather bad hangover from too many margaritas.

May lovely Sandy came from Sweden for a visit and a dye class at the studio. I went for a quick jaunt across the channel to Paris with Michaela and Yuvee to visit L’Oisivethe our Paris stockist of Sokkusu-O. Knit Nation sign ups went live.

In June Loopy Ewe had their first sneak-up of Sokkusu-O. Days before DH leaving for Hong Kong, we found out we were expecting a wee one. Deuce had a nose job in preparation for our move to Hong Kong in October. Knit Nation preparation in full swing!

July Cookie arrived to help with the preparation for Knit Nation. Knit Nation in a flurry of yarnie and knitterly fun came and went too quickly. I had an amazing team of volunteers for which I was truly grateful – though I had no morning sickness I was very very VERY crabby alot of the time, and strangely aggressive (my driving during that period is not something I am proud of). Spent a lovely few days in Brussels with Anne, Cookie & Carole, eating way too many chocolates, peppered with 6 hour naps as I was crazy tired. Had my 3 month ultrasound and blood test for Blueberry – which turned out fine. Huge relief. Then off to Hong Kong to see hubby and flat hunt!

August passed in a whirr of house packing stuff – replacing worn carpets, getting estimates for packing, finding a stager to furnish the flat (since we took all the furniture with us when we moved to HK) – and naps. Lots and lots of naps!

September DH came home for the actual packing, then we headed off for a last baby-less vacation. My brother-in-law got married in Columbus, and we followed up with a babymoon in Malibu and a few days in West Hollywood feasting on delicious sushi.

October marked my last weeks in London. Two glorious weeks visiting favourite places and hanging with friends, and my book launch. Ling came on board as production dyer extraordinaire and keeper of the London fort – a welcome addition to the Socktopus team. Then the big move to Hong Kong with four huge cases and Deuce in tow. Adopted Meimei a teeny rescue pup who against all odds lived when the vets thought she wouldn’t make it. We unpacked a lot of boxes. And then unpacked some more. I started to bake, alot. Comfort and all that, plus an awesome kitchen that begged to be used. My cousin Christine got married.

In November my goddaughter turned 6. My mom came to visit (got lots of TLC!) and we flashmobbed Lan Kwai Fong. There was a lot of furniture torture shopping and unpacking. Cookie came to visit with her hubby and we did a sponsored walk (for me a waddle) down from the Peak to Lan Kwai Fong in aid of Hong Kong Dog Rescue.

December saw my cousin Ed married to Shau-ru. I really hate missing weddings – they are important rites and a rare opportunity for family to get together. Luckily we have a family reunion already planned for next year so I’ll get a chance to see all the cousins I missed in December, plus new additions to the family. We had our first Christmas in Hong Kong. Did some crazy last minute gift knitting and churned out a a jumper for DH in 6 days. Deuce & Meimei began properly playing with each other. Good sign for next year when Blueberry joins us. And my friend J had a baby girl! What a lovely way to end the year.

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Resolutions

by alice on 31 December 2011

As 2011 draws to a close and a shiny new year opens up before us I thought it would be a good time to have a look at my New Year’s resolutions for 2011 and see how I did:

The Good:

::eek:: update my stash page on Ravelry which is now about 2 years out of date: I updated my stash page (after a serious culling before I moved to HK) so it is up to date.
add projects I’ve knit to Ravelry along with photos: Along with updating my stash page, I also photo’d and listed all my WIPs and cleaned up all the WIPs that I no longer have or were frogged.
cook more: since moving to Hong Kong I definitely bake more. That counts, right?
read more blogs more regularly: This is my part of my morning ritual now, though come February next year I’m afraid my morning ritual is likely to change significantly!

The Bad:

create (and use!) a gift knits schedule to avoid 3am crazed and blurry eyed last minute knitting: Um, I did avoid 3 am blurry eyed knitting for Xmas, and I did create a gift knit schedule… but it was completely crazed last minute knitting (only one, but it was a jumper that I finished a day late).
be more diligent and less hedonistic about working on and finishing personal knitting projects. Have less than 5 knitting works in progress (WIPs) at the end of the year: Oops – I have 12. But I ::feel:: like I’ve been more diligent on finishing personal projects… does that count? AND all the WIPs I have are ones that I want to finish….
give my post titles better names – makes the retrospective slightly easier! Some of the post titles were easier for me to identifiy, but not all since I totally forgot about this resolution. Oops!
do my taxes on time Um, they were submitted, mostly on time…

The Ugly:

blog at least 4 times a week: Epic fail. April, May, June I didn’t even manage once a week – and July and August not at all! I sort of picked up again in the fall after moving here…
no more missing people’s birthdays! Make a list and use the thing: Epic fail. I don’t even know where that list is.
ski more Another epic fail – but for good reason! Can’t be skiing with this huge belly. Next season though I’m on the hills for sure! I just hope my Strolz boots still fit.
make it to Monday knit nights more Bleh. Didn’t do so well on those….
cycle more so I can go on cycle trips with hubby! Another bleh. Still, I feel like I have a pretty good excuse! LOL Blueberry my scapegoat….

My 2012 Resolutions:

Apart from the usual resolutions to try harder, be better, do more, these are my resolutions for the coming year:

Blog at least 4 times a week.
Finish my 12 current WIPs by the end of the year
Make a Gift Knits Schedule BEFORE the 18th December. In fact, plan the schedule by the 1st September, buy yarn in September and start knitting by 1 October
Keep Rav stash up-to-date.
Keep Rav projects page up-to-date.
Knit 3 pairs of socks for myself
Stay me when Blueberry comes into the world. I’d hate for her to think I’m someone else.
Remember birthdays and key dates. I’m going to have to print my own calender for this….

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DH’s Xmas Jumper: FO

by alice on 27 December 2011

You remember my last minute whim decision to knit hubby a jumper, and how Kim at the Woolen Rabbit totally pulled through for me and sent me the yarn at record speed? I knit away like a demon possessed, but despite my rather optimistic/delusional belief that I’d finish in time for Christmas dinner, by dinner time on Christmas day no matter how I looked at the sweater, I had to admit that DH could not wear it out as it was. That sucker was not finished. Close, but no cigar. I still had the neck to finish and the collar to knit, not to mention all the blasted ends to weave in (at this point I was on my seventh skein).

So I continued to knit and knit and knit…. and finally, finally! on Boxing Day victory was mine.

So, in pictures, the story of a Woolen Rabbit WW Kashmir yarn (80% Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon) that was dyed lovingly in New Hampshire and sent post haste halfway across the earth to Hong Kong, and which with the clickety clack of needles, some entertainment in the form of a very dialogue light cowboy movie (hubby’s choice: Once Upon a Time in the West), Harry Potter’s Order of the Pheonix, and a couple audiobooks, grew up to be a cozy jumper for my hubby.

8 skeins of WW Kashmir in Enchanted Forest arrived 18 December

20th December

22nd December

Christmas Eve

Christmas, end of day

And the finish line on Boxing Day, the FO (finished object)!

Back of sweater

Front of sweater, lattice detail

And hubby himself modelling the finished, blocked product with all ends woven in! Fits him perfectly and is nice and cozy and warm. Perfect for the coming colder days.

DH’s Xmas Jumper (Rav project link)

Pattern: Carol Feller’s Lattice Sweater (aka Terry’s Pullover -Rav pattern link), 44 3/4″ size

Yarn: WW Kashmir from the Woolen Rabbit, 175 yards (160 metres) per 115g skein

Gauge: 19 sts and 28 rows per 4″ in st st.

The called for gauge was 19st and 25 rows. I got the stitches per inch gauge which is the most important one. I used 7 skeins plus 10 grams of the 8th skein to finish – approximately 1240 yards/1134 metres. The pattern calls for 1232 yards/1120 metres so despite my rows per inch gauge requiring slightly more yarn than the pattern calls for, the estimated yardage from the pattern was spot on.

Mods:

-Knit arms in the round rather than flat.
-Added a crochet reinforcement to back neck as I worried there would be stretch there since the collar is knit in one piece up from the raglan decreases of the chest/neck.
-Used shadow wraps for short rows on the collar instead of the w&t method.
-Used EZ sewn bind off on collar to match long tail cast-on for cuffs & hem.

Otherwise knit to pattern as specified. Nicely written, easy to follow, simple and pleasurable knit.

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Merry Christmas!

by alice on 25 December 2011

Post present opening playtime. Hope you are having a wonderful day.

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Cookies & Sweaters

by alice on 24 December 2011

Merry Christmas Eve! There has been crazy knitting and I’m pleased that I’m sort of knitting to schedule -

This was the knitting schedule:
22 Dec: Finish body (7″ inches more) & split for arms. Knit arm
23 Dec: Finish first arm, knit other arm.
24 Dec: Finish other arm. Join to arms to body, knit neck. Finish & Block.

So far I’ve managed:
22 Dec: Yay! Body done & split for arms. Boom!

23 Dec: Arm number 1 done. Boom!

24 Dec: Arm 1 joined to body, boom! Knitting on arm 2.

Realisation has dawned that I’m not going to finish the neck and arm number 2 today. I can knit about a skein and a half in a day, but as I completely omitted including the chest/shoulder decreases into my knitting schedule I think that after the arm is done (1 skein) that the chest and neck will take another 2 skeins. But, am happy that there is a good chance that the sweater (lol not overalls! now that would indeed be totally nuts J!!) will be done, though not blocked, tomorrow night in time for our yuletide fondue Christmas dinner fest. Woot!

Now that Coookie’s last sock club packet has been issued, I can show you what I’ve been baking! I was lucky enough to be asked to be a guest baker twice – the first time was for my favourite white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, and the second time for these socktastic sugar cookies (my favourite festive cookie)! I just love how they came out.

Aren’t they just the cutest? And they were tasty too. Glad though that all the cookies have been baked and eaten (not all by me thankfully!) as my blood sugar got a little too high with all the Christmas cookies (I got a little finger wagging at my last OBY appointment).

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve – I hope Santa is good to you!

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Festive Wishes

by alice on 23 December 2011

From our little furballs, happy holidays!

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Delusional Holiday Knitting

by alice on 22 December 2011

My two furballs are actually playing together!! It started earlier this week – and they are really started to have a good time. Here’s a little vid I captured this morning – you get to glimpse my awesome Life is Good pjs. Playtime sort of ended when hubby decided to wipe Meimei’s butt as he thought she sat in her pee (**rolls eyes**).

DH is now officially on holiday until after the New Year – so this morning we took Deuce down to the park for a little run around. He’s now snoozing away after coming home and playing with Meimei some more. So sweet!

I decided, at the last minute, to knit DH a jumper for Christmas. Of course, the yarn had to be from the Woolen Rabbit in the US who only dyes to order, who also happened to be undergoing back surgery on the 16th of December…. but when I sent my crazy email asking if Kim could dye the yarn and send it express to Hong Kong, Kim didn’t balk. She dyed up my yarn in 2 days and posted it to me the day of her surgery. What incredible service – and beautiful yarn and colourway to boot! I got it two days later and cast-on.

This was progress as at the 20th December – about 2″ worth of ribbing.

And today midday 9.5″ of jumper.

This is the knitting schedule:
22 Dec (today): Finish body (7″ inches more) & split for arms. Knit arm
23 Dec: Finish first arm, knit other arm.
24 Dec: Finish other arm. Join to arms to body, knit neck. Finish & Block.

I’m not entirely sure how realistic this schedule is; in fact, I fear it may be plain delusional; but what’s a holiday gift knit if it doesn’t have an edge of insanity to it? So I plan on doing all our activities today while knitting – took Deuce out for a walk and knit the whole while, later we’ve got to head out to the pet shop and get some dog food for Deuce so I’ll be shopping and knitting. Ooh boy, I like to live life on the edge.

Doesn’t Meimei look sweet and innocent here? This was taken right after she was finished being a little terror running around and pulling anything she could reach off the coffee table and chairs and hiding with her treasures (tissues, toilet roll, my knitting!!!) under the sofa so I couldn’t reach her. She is a clever little imp. When she rolls around on her back looking so cute, who can stay mad?