How's this for a title - "Agatha Christie Travelling as Hercule Poirot to NYPS Mooncake Festival to Knit and Crochet Wonders of Nature?"

The title links all I'm going to talk about in this post!  Sure remind me of linking memory exercises :)

Ok, here we go.  Remember the famous detective swap?  I did Dectective Conan for Cindy, and my own paper doll from Phyllis Boggs (USA) finally came - Agatha Christie as her famous detective Hercule Poirot. It really is just 1 doll; the suit, hat and moustache are layers added on top of Christie. Funny that I have never read any of Christie's novels although I like detective stories. Ok, I just downloaded and is now reading her first novel "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", and enjoying it.

The Map Mania ATC Swap, hosted by Roselyn Pratt (USA) of the Paper-Traders group, came fast in the mail.  Paris seems a favourite place for most people!  Going clockwise from top left corner - Paris street directory & femme in watercolour by Pam Prosser, "Road trip" by Mel Dunkley, "Travel Broadens The Mind" by Jo Murray and "Bonjour!" by Beckie Holso.

Roselyn also enclosed a vintage-looking handmade card.  I must really look into starting a file binder for all the greeting and often handmade cards that came with swaps.  I never dispose any, but they are scattered everywhere now!  But before I forget, thank you, gals, for your fantastic works and Roselyn for hosting!

Mooncake Festival fell on 19 Sep this year.  Mooncakes is one of my favourite festive food, but we seem to have a piece too many this year.  Ok, this is not the point.  Accompanied my girl to her school celebration.  While she was busy demonstrating Chinese calligraphy and writing couplets for the crowd, I was painting away on Project Batik 360 meant for presentation in the grand opening of Chingay 2014.  Great idea/activity to kill 2 birds with 1 stone!

I believe knitting and crochet are pretty common in a lot of places/countries, and I think it would start a verbal war debating which is easier – knitting or crochet?  Perhaps more may say knitting, but personally, I feel that crochet is easier.  After all, there is only 1 loop to work with in crochet, but every 1 stitch in the whole width is 1 loop on the needle in knitting. Lose concentration for a second, I will drop 1 stitch and hopelessly make a bigger hole when I try rectifying it!  I must admit I’m not expert in both, though I did attempt to learn both when I was still a child.  Never master knitting well enough to do even a small project on my own without someone guiding and helping me with my mistakes, though I manage to crochet bookmarks, teddy bears and small projects.  But nothing beats tatting for me!

Why the sudden talk on knitting and crochet?  Cos’ I brought my girl with me to Betsy’s knitting and crochet workshops in the Bishan Library last Sunday.  Kristine has not done either before. Her verdict: Her eyes were going to burst after the 1 hr and 2 hr workshops respectively in 1 afternoon!  No knitting or crochet project anytime soon for her.  But she was sure thrilled to complete the crocheted owl, although we only crocheted the last few rows and not from scratch.

That evening, I captured these lovely colours of the sky on my handphone from my bedroom window.  Talking about wonders of nature!