Malorca, arrival

Despite feeling rather ill, Adam was still pretty excited about going on an aeroplane. He slept in the plane and the moment we land, we woke him up. He was groggy and all of sudden, projectile vomitting all over the place! He didn't even eat hisdinner so it was all his lunch thatcame out. Poor baby..

After that he did feel slightly better and told me he didn't want to go home. He said 'Nak lain house' meaning he want to go to a hotel. I said,yes thats where we're going. When we arrived at the apartment, he was happy and suddenly he realised there is no television. 'cannot find tv mom. i cannot find tv..' over and over again. 'Lets find lain house mom' It was 2am.

Oh dear.

Daddy's Birthday trip

We're off to the airport for Daddy's birthday trip.

The location is a secret, the birthday boy doesn't know yet where we're going. All of us are not 100% well. Adam has quite a bit of fever, Mia's nose is runny but luckily it doesn't stop her from being her usual cheeky self. We have plenty of Calpol and Lemsip packed up but please pray for us!

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead.

To my dear husband

Yesterday, at the tube station, you carried Adam in his stroller down a flight of stairs. When we reach the bottom of the stairs, there was a lady with her child in a stroller too, struggling and looking around for help. Without a moment's hesitation, you offered to help and then proceeded to carry her child in the stroller up the stairs.

This simple act of kindness reminded me again of who you are and why I love you.

You have a heart spun out of pure gold. May Allah bless you always, my love.

Happy birthday.

Abah

I remember calling my father on his 47th birthday in 2002. I wished him Happy Birthday. I remember him saying ' Abah dah tua, Kak Long...' in a very sad tone, which was very uncharacteristic of him. A year later he was diagnose with cancer. And then began a painful journey of illnesses after illnesses, that claimed his body, his mind and eventually his life.

I want to remember all the good happy memories with him. There were so many of those. But somehow this is the memory that keep popping in my head today.

There are so many things I wish I could've done, things I wished I could've said.

I miss him so much...

I would give anything to have him back..

But I pray and trust that the Almighty is looking after my dear father in the afterlife.

He would've been 56 today...

Happy Birthday Abah...

The British Museum

London is full of great museums and most of them are free. Last weekend we decided to explore the British Museum. We haven't been here before and was pleasantly surprised..

The museum building itself is rather old and magnificent.

They have a stunning display from Ancient Egypt..even Adam was quite entranced..

Also, an exhibition of mummies...although, i found it quite creepy...i mean...there are dead people in there!

Their African section was very interesting...especially the African textiles..

This piece of work was my favourite..

They also have an Islamic History exhibition with some beautiful, interesting pieces...

The museum was so huge we didn't get to visit all the exhibitions but it was a really good Sunday trip nonetheless...and after the museum we walked leisurely around towards a tube station and stumbled across a lovely park that the kids really enjoyed...i think that deserves its own blog post actually....

I Knit, London

Why is it I always 'blog' inside my head and not on the computer and then before I know it there's a backlog of unwritten entries unpublished? Oh well. Let's just get on with the entry before my cheeky daughter wakes up from her nap and I finish the entry in my head again..

One of the things I love most about living in London is that the city never fails to surprise me. After 2 years, we are still constantly discovering new things to do and new places to go. I realise that London has plenty of beautiful local yarn shops, but I normally do my yarn shopping online or on Oxford/Regent Street. But I have since discovered that there are plenty of other cozy charming shops, and that a lot of knitters travel a long long way just to visit these shops. So I made a point to visit one of these shops. I didn't really go to buy any yarn, just to stare and oooh and aahh and fondle the gorgeous yarns. Even if you're not a knitter, I'm sure the sight of these beauties might be quite inspiring.

This is the shop. I knit London. Small, but very popular in London.

This specialty yarn is made out of buffalo hair! Can you believe that? Somewhere on the underbelly of the buffalo, i think? It is quite soft! And, it costs about 35 quid a pop! I suppose it would cost quite a lot...afterall buffalos don't have that much hair...

gorgeous colours...i wish i can decorate my home with yarn like this...but my kids love to play with them too! (they call them ball, or snake, or 'mommy bag knitting')

This yarn is very rare! with stainless steel. I can't believe I missed this! I didn't realise it was there so didn't get to feel the yarn..My husband was the one who took this photo...

Oh man this is the stuff...I've been eyeing this yarn from The Natural Dye studio for a very long time. It's 100% silk and just soooo beautiful and soft (also so expensive).

I came home with a magazine on light spring knitting and some needle blocker. And a bucket full of inspiration. Anybody want to join me go to their knitting group?

Big Fair Isle

I realise that my previous post may make some people uneasy, which is understandable because it contradicts a lot of things we believe in. But it's ok, it's important to questions things, get out of our comfort zone for a little bit and not to just follow everything blindly. At the very least, exploration of this issue has made me look at my children and at life differently, and helped me appreciate my children's innate ability for unprompted learning. I am making a point to learn more about unschooling, and to observe my own children's fascinating capabilities. Maybe we will explore this topic further in another entry.

For now let me distract you with this BIG Fair Isle project I was working on.

The colours are just amazing. The pattern and yarn are from Alice Starmore. I love her work.

The buttons are from Liberty. They have the loveliest buttons there. I chose ones that stand out because of their shape and not colour (so the colours of the fair isle work stands out more)

I am in love with this vest. I want to wear it, sleep in it, rub it in my face, put it on my wall, stare at it....but...it is a quite a BIG disaster!

Did I mention BIG?

There's about 10 inches of positive ease..

Kinda make me look like a BIG silly monster...hehe...

But I love it anyway. Sigh. You don't choose who (what) you love, you know? I learnt so much from knitting this - continental knitting, stranded knitting, fair isle, knitting with both hands at the same time, colour blends, and steeking! (i'll try to explain more about this amazing technique. i have met knitters who has been knitting for more than 20 years without ever trying out steeking). this is the most fascinating knitting project I have ever done and I do not regret knitting it at all, even though it doesn't fit...any ideas what I can do with it? I was thinking I'll hang it on the wall of my (future) dream studio...hehe...