Fats, Vitamins and Minerals

We finally managed to go swimming yesterday! Edward did complain that we aught to get up early, and that day we woke up 7:30 in the morning because there were these people chopping down branches of trees right outside our apartment window.

There weren’t too many people in the pool but the water wasn’t very clear. They also had this machine running to filter the water. It was rather ‘chemically’ so it probably isn’t advisable to go swimming everyday.

Odd, however, while swimming, I looked up to the sky and saw two lovely airplane tracks across the sky. Then suddenly I saw what looked like a white kite billeting across. My partner saw it too and he thought it looked like a large piece of paper or a bag flying across, not quite a kite because it was moving very fast over very long distance. It was a strange lovely triangular or diamond-like shape, certainly not flat as it had gray shadows near the corners. It reached a cloud, we could see it rush across under the clouds and suddenly it just disappeared.

I was hoping it would fly out of the cloud but it didn’t. It was just suddenly gone. Maybe it went into the cloud? My partner said it could have been a small plane or a weather balloon, or even an alien space ship!

Actually, when one sees such things, it is quite understandable how stories of “sightings”come about. It could indeed even be a spy plane (it certainly almost had the shape of a stealth plane), something that shouldn’t be there in Philippine skies.

But it was a beautiful sight. These things always are. Like those jets ripping across the sky in southern Taiwan. Like those birds rushing for shelter at dusk. Like those black spots circling against the blue skies in my dreams.

Finished Prince Edward crocheted bag no. 002, now logged in Edward’s CnC of course with the pattern instructions. I was too excited to put it on-line even though I haven’t done the lining. I hope to do that this week.

Another earlier “sighting” is this (photo below) - a cat in our apartment! That evening my partner saw it go inside the living room (perhaps to check out the trash bin!). Then one morning it was there at the laundry-drying area of the apartment looking towards the corner.

Then the other day, as I walked into the laundry area, I heard a scuffle and saw this gigantic rat, you know, those Norwegian rats the size of a cat. I saw it run down the same corner where the cat was staring. My partner asked if I was sure it was a rat and not a cat and I said yes, of course, those rats the size of cats are not so unfamiliar in the city.

So maybe that’s why the cat was there earlier. Hmmm… I certainly prefer cat to rat!

We do have a small mousey here in the kitchen, living/hiding under the elctric stove. I don’t mind mousey at all.

Finally! The second Prince Edward crocheted bag is here!

Unlike the Princess Louise and the Prince Edward 001 crocheted bag which are constructed radially from a center point, this Prince Edward 002 crocheted bag is constructed from four large medallions joined together by smaller medallions.

The large medallions were made using a technique called Maltese crochet (also referred to in this website as hairpin lace crochet). The small medallions were made with simple chain and double crochet stitches (to make picots).

And here’s a photo of moi wearing moi bag! Nyuk-nyuk!

Prince Edward crocheted bag no. 002
(A sample of maltese crochet, improvisation of Princess Louise crocheted bag no. 275)
by Fatima Lasay

Materials

Yellow Monaco raylon crochet thread 8-3 ply 200 grams
Crochet hook no. 6 (for bag)
1″ Hairpin lace staple
Cotton (stuffing for the slip balls)
Blue crystal/glass beads
Suitable lining
Sewing needle and thread of suitable color

Pattern instructions:
Maltese medallion (make :
Make 8 strips of maltese crochet lace with 24 loops on each side. For instructions on hairpin lace/maltese crochet, see this entry.
Note: This pattern is a tightwad version of a pattern originally using 36 loops on each side intended for a nightgown yoke design (The Priscilla Yoke Book, 1916).

Drawing together the center of the medallion: Take 3 loops with hook, twist once and slip stitch through. Repeat to end. You should have 8 spokes.Use needle and thread to firmly stitch together the ends of the mid-knots of the lace before proceeding with drawing together the outer loops of the medallion.

Drawing together the outer loops: Take 2 loops with hook, twist once and slip stitch through, ch 5 and continue around. Join. (You should have a total of 12 spokes). * 3 dc in the 5-ch space, ch 4, 3 dc in same space. Repeat from * onto next 5-ch spaces to end. Fasten off.

Small medallion (make 10):
Ch 8, join to form ring. * 2 dc, ch 4 to make picot, repeat from * making total of 8 picots. Fasten off. Using needle and thread or with slip stitch, join the maltese medallions and the small medallions together through the picots as shown in the photo below. Make for 2 sides of the bag.

Creating the mesh body of the bag:
With the joined medallions as central body of the bag, picot and chain loop meshes are made around, increasing the stitches at the places where there are corner turns. This is the same structure as the Princess Louise crocheted bag no. 275 and the Prince Edward crocheted bag no. 001.

Starting at the upper-center of the bag:
Rnd 0: Sl st into right picot of small medallion. Ch 6, sk 1 sp, sl st in next p, * ch 6, sl st into 3rd ch, ch 26, sl st into 3rd ch, ch 2, sc into picot of large medallion (forming picot group). Repeat from * twice. ** Ch 6, sl st into 3rd ch, ch 6, sl st into 3rd st, ch 2, sc into picot of large medallion. Repeat from ** with sc in same picot (this increases the st making the corner of the bag). Repeat * 3 times making last sc into p of small medallion. Ch 6, sk 1 p, sl st in next p, repeat * through ** to end. Sl st to center of first 6-ch loop made in the rnd.
Rnd 1: *Ch 6, sc in rd ch, ch 6, sc in 3rd ch, sc in center of p group of previous rnd, repeat from * to end increasing at corners.
Rnd 2: Same as rnd 1. Fasten off.
Rnd 3: Sl st to center of p group. Ch 7, * tc in same space, ch 4, tc in next p group, ch 4, repeat from * to end without nincreasing at corners.
Rnd 4: Sl st into 4-ch space, ch 2, 2 dc in same space, ch 1, * 3 dc in next space, ch 1, repeat from * to end increasing at corners. Fasten off.

Joining:
The two sides of the bag are joined with the chain picots with blue beads between the picots (replacing 2 chain stiches between picots). The beads of the needed quantity must first be stringed through the thread before beginning the crochet. The beads are then drawn one by one into the crochet as needed. Don’t forget to increase stitches at the two joined corners of the bag.

Top frills of the bag:
Rnd 5: Sl st to 1-ch space, ch 3, sc in next sp, repeat to end around top of bag, making 3 loops at sides of bag over the beaded p group.
Rnd 6: 2 dc in loop, ch 1, repeat to end.
Rnd 7: Same as rnd 5. (Rnds 6 and 7 make the heading through which drawstrings are run).
Rnd 8: 3 dc in space, ch 1, repeat to end.
Rnd 9: Sl st to 1-ch space, ch 5, sc to 2nd ch, ch 5, sc to 2nd ch, ch 1, sc to same space (one p group). Repeat to end.
Rnd 10: Same as rnd 9 but pull beads between picots (bead replaces ch st between p).

Drawstrings:
Using 2 strands of thread, ch to appropriate length (I used 225 ch). Run through heading of bag. Join ends of drawstring together with sl st, fasten off.

Tassels: (make 2)

Make 2 maltese strips for the tassels. Draw together the center loops as in the instructions for the medallions. Do not draw outer loops together as these form the frills of the tassels. Slip the tassels through the drawstrings before attaching the balls.

Balls:
The size of the slip balls can be adjusted by simply adjusting the number of rnds that increase and decrease the stitches to form the shape of the ball.

Rnd 0: Ch 6, join to form ring.
Rnd 1: Make suitable rnd of sc in the ring.
Rnd 2: *1 sc in sc, 2 sc in sc, repeat from *.
Rnd 3: Repeat rnd 2.
Rnd 4: *2 sc in sc, sk 1 st, 2 sc in next sc, repeat from *.
Rnd 5: Repeat rnd 4.
Rnd 6: Repeat rnd 2.
Rnd 7: *1 sc in sc, sk 1 st, repeat from *.

Weave in all ends.
Make suitable lining for bag.

The kalachuchi branch that my partner and I got from the Veterans hospital has started budding! There were these two women cleaning the golf areas of the hospital compound who kindly helped get the branch (one of them climbed the tree to break off a branch!) and told us how to grow it.

This one is planted in a pot in my mother’s garden which I visited yesterday. There is another one (a smaller branch cut into two) here in our apartment. It hasn’t shown any signs of growth yet but it’s not dead either as far as we could tell. My partner has been looking after it. I suppose it might take a while to grow since it is quite dark in the apartment.

Kalachuchi flowers are quite fragrant, known in English as frangipani (the fragrance), and as temple flower. This one we got from Veterans has white-yellow flowers although I’ve seen others of different colors (violet, pink). I also vaguely know that kalachuchi are not favored (some superstitious belief), perhaps something to do with the term “kulasisi” (sounding very closely with kalachuchi) which means a concubine or “the other woman.”
Anyway, it was good to see the plants and flowers I’ve planted in my mom’s garden again.

After soaking the hard thing that looked like dogpoo for several days, it finally became soft enough to open. Apparently there was a nut inside. I heard that it is called a “pili” nut and has now been planted in one of the pots.

Perhaps one day we will have a dogpoo tree growing here….

I have just printed over a hundred pages of text about Prolog for Edward to read. I have over a hundred pages of text about crochet for me to read! It would be good if we spent less time printing, reading and writing/blogging, and more time getting some physical exercise.

I did go out of the apartment with my partner to go swimming but we came back shortly, rather disappointed. It seems that the pool is full - or the fool is pool or something like that. The other moral of the story is for us to learn to get up early in the morning so we can have the pool all to ourselves.

Anyway,below is a photo of Edward with a new crochet medallion that I’ve just started. It’s a nice pattern that uses the crossed treble stitch in the round.

What I’d like to do now also is to make looser stitches so that I don’t stress my hands, wrists, fingers too much. The other night I had this really awful pain in the left hand - I had to lie down, take paracetamol and put painrelief ointment on my hand and arm. The hot water bottle under my left shoulder was a great relief. But it was so bad that I was already crying with the pain …
I don’t understand it … I havent really been doing too much crochet work recently. Anyway, I thought maybe diet had something to do with it too. So today my partner and I bought some bananas (I used to eat lots of bananas when I was still staying in my mom’s house, and I haven’t been experiencing as much join and related pains).

Or I must be just getting old!

Some time ago, the humans bought a “citronella” plant because they thought it would keep away the mosquitos. Apparently, it didn’t work, because it wasn’t even a real citronella but only a “citronella geranium” (which ia a geranium that looks like a citronella)…. and even if it had been a real citronella -it still wouldn’t have worked -because one actually has to do soemthing like rub the leaves on one’s skin to keep the insects away.

Anyhow, it seems that there wasn’t enough daylight in the room, so the plant slowly died.

However, while it was still healthy they did pull off a few leaves and planted them in some of the pots. Most of these died too -but one just sat there, day in day out, doing nothing much in particular (just like my friend George). However, this morning, it had apparently started sprouting in the night..

So the plant is now in two places at the same time -both dead and alive.

I wish I could do that……

What a surprise, Alwin rang yesterday. He had to call to tell me that he has seen germs through a microscope. He remembers when I brought out my microscope (an old one I had as a child, a gift from my dad when he worked in Saudi Arabia) to show him how it works and when I came home from Amsterdam with my partner’s old microscope. Hmmm … I wonder how many people have their own personal microscopes!

Anyway, afterwards Alwin told me about playing chess. He knows how to play it and has been asking if I know too. Then I told him I’d get him some Edward t-shirts. That got him excited and said I should also bring Edward pants.

Today I went out to get Edward t-shirts printed. I got a big one for myself and a small one for Alwin. Below is a photo of the t-shirts (with Edward and Maria). Tomorrow Friday I should visit and give the t-shirts to Alwin.