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I love red. (As if you didn’t know.)

And that is why I made what are possibly the only red sunflowers on the planet.

I started working on this immediately after finishing Mom’s satchel. This one is large-sized, and took approximately two more skeins of thread compared to the first bag.

Again, I used my 3.00mm hook and two strands of Cannon thread held together to ensure a sturdy FO. The darker red was Daren’s idea; she insisted it would make the variegated reds stand out more. She was right, too.

Maybe one day I’ll be able to do this in Noro Silk Garden yarn, as the designer intended, but I’m more than satisfied with the current result.

Now here’s something I am really proud of.

Two weekends ago, I was browsing the Friends Activity page over at Ravelry when I came across Mimi’s Crochet Pattern Giveaway, where she generously offered two crochet patterns for free — one of her own design, and another (USD 4.00 or less) from any other Ravelry designer. Yes, this is EXTREMELY generous, and heretofore unheard-of.

After choosing Mimi’s pattern for a Cropped Pullover Cardigan, I went through the Ravelry pattern downloads and eventually found the Sunflowers Satchel designed by Asami Kawa. Mom liked it so much when I showed it to her that I went ahead and entered it in the promo.

Surprise, surprise … I was the first winner! Thank you, Mimi!

It was only last Saturday that Mom and I were able to go to VC Trading to choose her thread. She settled on three Cannon colors (dark brown, dark brown variegated, cappuccino) and one Monaco ombre (caramel). After making some test flowers, I decided to do the whole bag using one strand each of the Monaco and the Cannon (cappuccino).

The other colors have joined my stash for now, after the test flowers turned out too dark.

Me being OC, I stayed up till 3:00 on Sunday morning working on the bag, till I eventually ran out of thread. The first skeins yielded the bag body and bottom edging:

Sunday afternoon, I was able to get more of the required colors, and resumed work on the top edging, bag straps, and finishing SC’s. Two more evenings (plus yesterday’s lunch hour), and lo!

Can’t wait to see her face when she gets this.

(And again, me being OC, I will not rest until I make a similar bag for myself. Watch out for that one, and for the Cropped Pullover Cardigan following Mimi’s design.)

Woe is me. I was only able to crochet Christmas gifts for four people, thanks to procrastination.

For Marta and Clara, my cousin’s daughters, who will be moving to Canada with their parents later this year, I made Shell Lace Fingerless Gloves in Vanilla and Rose Pink. Yes, one reason was that I still haven’t tired of the pattern, but I do think they’ll have good use for these over there.

I made Marta’s gloves the same size as my own, while Clara’s pair was based on the ones I made earlier for Diana.

I also made Simply Striped Shrugs for Haidee and Florence at the office. Both were made using Mimi’s pattern, but with only 81 rows each for the main body.

Ladies, let me know if these need to be adjusted before you wear them in Boracay. Haha.

Next Christmas, I should get started earlier. Much earlier.

About 11 months earlier, to be exact.

Thanks again to Mimi for the pattern of this scarf:

Am also making a regular-size scarf using the same pattern, just to see which size is better.

Much as I love my Short Wristers, I wanted something better. A search at the ever-dependable Crochet Pattern Central ended with Rachel Choi’s pattern for Shell Lace Fingerless Gloves. I liked it so much that I made three pairs — one for myself, another for Donna at the office, and the third for Dana-mee. There are at least two more pairs in the foreseeable future, which I will be working on as soon as time allows. In the meantime:

The first pair took some of the black Monaco thread I recovered from my first unsuccessful project (the black bolero mentioned here). I made an FC of 60ch per glove and a total of 25 rows using a 1.65mm hook. After reaching the end of the last row, I joined the edges of each glove by working downward with single crochet for 4 rows (wrong side out), switched to slipstitch down one edge only for another 8 rows to make the thumb opening, then back to single crochet again all the way to the bottom. Result: a beautifully Gothic FO.

Next I did a pair for Donna, in fulfillment of a promise made way back in September. Her gloves are the same width as mine, but ended up a tad shorter at 21 rows each since I only had one ball of Monaco beige. I also used single crochet all the way down the joins instead of slipstitching for the thumb opening. Neither Donna nor her hands seemed to mind:

Diana’s gloves were made using the leftover Cannon thread from her Renaissance Place Mat. I made an FC of 54ch and a total of 21 rows, and joined the edges with the all-SC technique.

(Now, does that look like a nine-year-old’s hand?)

I’ll be making another pair in silver/grey for myself, and one for Daren in blue, and who knows how many more.

(Yes, I know the shell design is reversed in the pattern photo, but I like them better this way. Hope you don’t mind, Rachel.)

I started working on these last month …

… and decorated my office with them right before Daren was confined.

The original pattern was part of a Cross with Poinsettia Flowers design from Freepatterns.com, and called for only 5 petals per motif. However, my first attempts looked more like starfish, so I used a 6ch starting ring and added 1 petal. I made 26 motifs in all, but one of them ended up embellishing Daren’s jar, which holds my pens and whatnot.

And we’re back. The previous host suspended my account for reasons unknown, so a big thank-you to OnTheHouseHost.com for taking me in.

While we were down, Daren was confined for three and a half days due to dengue. We initially thought her fever was caused by fatigue and lack of sleep — come on, staying up until 5 AM to watch anime IS rather extreme — but after five days of on-off fever and a drop in her platelet count (189 to 164 and then to 143) over a two-day period, confinement was inevitable.

She stayed in a muted pink room in Villarosa Hospital; we hate pink, but at least it wasn’t hard on the eyes and there was sunlight through the windows. Plus, we had cable TV to while away the long long hours. Her major complaints during the hospital stay were not being able to lie on her left side (the IV was in that arm), and the rash which manifested the day after she was admitted (treated with Claritin). I kept her home from school last week following her discharge, on doctor’s orders, and have resolved to buy organic mosquito repellent from Ilog Maria as soon as our supply of Off! is depleted.

I missed out on two days of a major work activity because of said confinement. (Argh.) And on Diana’s First Communion, which was last Monday. (Double argh.) Dern took some photos which I will try to upload over the weekend. Hmm … where have I read that before?

I used my trusty 2.25mm hook and leftover thread from earlier projects to make these coasters for use with my coffee mug:

Well, that’s actually Mom’s mug; we gave it to her on Mother’s Day
of 1989, but I’ve used it ever since I started working. End of
digression.

The coasters were very easy to make; the pattern is here. Am thinking of doing a couple more in Christmas colors in honor of the season.

It’s been a busy time.

The old place is almost exactly the same. The first few days were the strangest; mostly it felt like I had come home after an eight-year vacation. Some disorientation was inevitable, of course — there were many new faces, quite a few old ones (I mean that in the best possible sense), and one I would have preferred not to see!

Ah well.

I miss my RSCI friends; seeing them on Facebook is not the same as spending time with them. Ste, Pao, Jinx, Chris, Euge and all the rest — I’m sorry I haven’t updated lately; I need to get my own PC at home if I’m to stay in constant touch.

Still, the work is familiar, and reassuring. People who knew me from before say I have changed, apparently for the better.

I’m glad to be back.

I first noticed the lump in my right breast last summer, but thought nothing of it until I went for a physical exam last August 15. After the doctor said it might require surgical evaluation, I hied off to DLS-STI Megaclinic with Dern in tow. After a session with an ob-gyne and the recommended breast ultrasound, I received a report, excerpted as follows:

There is a well-defined, slightly lobulated, hypoechoic solid nodule at the 2 – 3 o’clock position (zone A) of the right breast measuring 3.9 x 3.1 x 2.9 cm

IMPRESSION:

SOLID NODULE, RIGHT BREAST, AS DESCRIBED, SUGGEST FOLLOW-UP

Right. Well, I wanted it out and examined. Who knew what this thing might turn out to be? I talked to Dr. Agno, the surgeon on call, and she scheduled me for an excision biopsy on August 22. I spent the intervening week cleaning up my office files and trying not to think of the procedure.

It wasn’t as bad as I thought. They gave me a local anesthesia and a curtain to keep me from seeing the proceedings in all their gory detail. After about an hour, a lump vaguely resembling a miniature brain was extracted, and I was all stitched up and ready to go home.

We picked up the biopsy results from the lab today. Again, an excerpt:

Sections disclose a benign breast tissue

Highlight mine.

I’m healing nicely now. Thanks to Dr. Agno for her care and attention, and to Dern for being more patient than the patient herself.