Le Petit Prince

A baby hat inspired by the Little Prince book.

1) Cast on 2 stitches
2) Knit 1 row
3) Increase 1 stitch at each end. You should have 4 stitches on the needle.
4) Purl 1 row
5) Knit 1 row
6) Purl 1 row

7) Increase 1 stitch, knit all stitches in between, increase 1 stitch on last one.
8) Purl 1 row
9) Knit 1 row
10) Purl 1 row

11) Repeat Steps 7 and 10 until 48 stitches are on the needle. The piece should measure 11” long and 12” wide at top. You should end up with a nice triangle.

12) Knit & purl in alternate rows for another 15-20 rows (or more if you want a longer length)

13) Knit 1, purl 1 for the next 15-20 rows.

14) Bind off loosely.

15) Sew the long edges together to form hat. Leave the ends on for sewing on the star later.

16) Crochet the star:
a- Make a magic crochet ring.

b- 10 sc in the ring

c- 2 sc in each stitch

d- *sc 3 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch* repeat to end of circle. You should end with 25 stitches in the round.

e- sc 5 ST, ch 1, turn

f- sc all ST, ch 1, turn

g- sc2tog, sc 1, sc2tog, ch 1, turn

h- sc all ST, ch 1, turn

i- sc2tog, sc 1, ch 1, turn

j- sc 2 ST, ch 1, turn

k- sc2tog

l- slip stitch down one side of the star arm

m- repeat steps e through l to make the other four arms

17) Make another star. (My first star tend to curl up, so I made another one to stablize the arms.)

18) Sew the stars together to make a stable unit and attach to the pointy part of hat. Weave in ends.  Done.

10 years later

It’s been 10 years. Someone on LJ asked “Where were you?”

I was stuck on a train on my way to work. I was dozing away in a windowless spot in the subway car like I usually do on my 2 hour commute. I was pretty annoyed that the train stalled on the track for the longest time; still in Brooklyn at 8:55 am and ticked off about being made late to work because of it. There was no way I’ll make it to my office in Queens in 5 minutes.

As the train made its way across the Manhattan Bridge, I was roused from sleep by gasping passengers pointing out the window at something. I couldn’t see anything because of my position and angle in the car. So I went back to sleep, completely unaware of what went on outside.

I finally reached Queens to find huge crowds of people standing at the bus stop gossiping about some bomb threat at World Trade Center.

It was not until I arrived at my office at 9:45 am when I learned of the whole story of the attacks. I dug out my radio in time for the news of the South Tower collaspe.

How to eat a soft boiled egg. (a tutorial)

Baffled on how to properly eat a soft boiled egg? Fear not, I can show you how!  With this handy snarktastic guide you’ll be able to expertly tackle these eggs in no time!

This post was inspired by a group of Chinese tourists in Austria who spoke no English or German and had absolutely no clue about Western food. And then to top it all off, they had the gall to loudly complain in Mandarin that the food is not like back home.

egg tutorial part 1

egg tutorial part 2

egg tutorial part 3

 

A couple more tips:
1. If you’re trying an unfamiliar food for the first time and don’t like the taste of it, discreetly and quietly spit it into a napkin. There’s no need to make a yuck face and chuck the food onto the next placemat.

2. Don’t hock a loogie on the side of your plate. That’s just nasty.

Switzerland

Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge)
The sky’s starting to brighten up after the heavy rain.
Location: Lucerne, Switzerland

switzerland2011a

 

Masseneinwanderung stoppen! (Stop mass immigration!)
Anti-immigration poster by the Swiss People’s Party.
There’s usually some group of conservatives in every country who don’t look kindly on foreigners.

To the right of the poster (though most of it is clipped off) is an ad for McDonalds with the fries arranged on a red background to resemble the Swiss flag.
Seen in Lucerne, Switzerland.
switzerland2011d

 

An alpine flower
Location: Mt. Pilatus in Switzerland.
switzerland2011b

 

Snow capped mountains
It’s pretty cold up there. I came down with a cold soon after.
Location: St. Moritz, Switzerland

switzerland2011c

Liechtenstein

When I stopped by Liechtenstein, the locals were setting up tents and booths for the festival to celebrate National Day (August 15).
There were stamp art posters like this one dotting the ground along the street.

15aug2011

 

Not bonsai. But they’re trimmed and shaped to look and behave like bonsai trees.

16aug2011

 

Vaduz Castle of Liechtenstein:

17aug2011

spinatknödel

6aug2011

One of the few noteworthy meals on my European tour simply because you don’t see too many spinach dumplings in restaurants where I’m from.

I was having Südtiroler Spinatknödel (South Tyrolean spinach dumplings) for lunch in Austria. It’s made from bread mixed with milk, cheese, eggs, flour, and spinach. Knödel is a good way to use up old bread.