crocheted wrist bag

*update: realized that "tote bag" means "large, 2-handled open-topped bag (usually of canvas material)". so i've renamed this as a "wrist bag" instead.

here's my latest craft... a wrist bag for N, who just started working for a new company. it's for her to carry her purse and handphone in when she goes for lunch.



found this pattern free at www.katcrochet.com

angel amigurumi

my colleague, A is leaving the company to go backpacking in china. so i made up an angel amigurumi as a farewell gift to her, to watch over her and keep her safe in everything that she does... completed it yesterday.

front view...

side view to show a bit of the wings and halo...

close-up shot...

read also:
1) i'm ami sifu!
2) more amis
3) amigurumi angels

crocheted baby booties

remember this? well, as i was making the carrier bag in the office, my colleague saw it... and immediately ordered one for her niece! so here it is... completed it before cny, but as i was already on leave, i can only pass it to my colleague tomorrow (she's on leave today). anyway, here it is... in pink as requested. photos taken by the brother, who dubbed it "goody 2 shoes"...




read also:
1) ah bao's baby booties

what i've been up to lately...

hmm... what have i been up to ar? mostly work, work and more work... cny coming, so need to get all the pending job out before the long break. i hope i won't need to turn on my notebook once during the whole duration. keke... fat hopes lar!

other than work, been ingesting the latest and hottest TVB drama series --> the gem of life. blame it all on N for getting me hooked! coz she's my official supplier lar.

but even though i'm watching so much of drama series lately, my hands were not idle ok? i've been crocheting! hehe... lately i've been itching to pick up the hook again. so watch this space for my latest project, ya!

oh, and i've been bz with practices... first was for the new year performance. then immediately after that, we started practicing for a performance for this coming sunday --> klpac open day. so we've been practicing hard, even tho' it's so near cny and all other gakkai activities have stopped.

ok, just a short 'report' for now... gotta get back to the grind!

new year gift...

see what N made for me as a new year gift!

tic-tac-toe coasters...

while i like to work with yarns, N is more of a felt person. below is the 1st coaster she gave me, abt 4 months back... this is her first few attempts and i think she used too much fabric glue on this. so the edges are a bit jagged. but i still love it. cute, right?

tree and flowers coaster...

ah bao's baby booties...

actually i finished making this for ah bao more than one month ago, but was just waiting for N to buy the buttons. coz she said she'll take care of the buttons mar. but until now, i've yet to even get a whiff of the elusive buttons, and i think if i wait longer, baby ah bao's feet will no longer be baby feet anymore!

so i went to buy the buttons myself and finally completed the booties yesterday night. red and pink buttons are to make the booties more colourful.



as i sewed on the buttons quite late last night (2 am!), i did not have time to look for a nice paper bag to put them in. and anyway, i dun think any normal paper bag will be suitable. so i fashioned out one that has a broad base so that the booties can be placed side by side. i did it in the office, using whatever resources i have --> coloured A4 papers, cardboard, green ribbon (from our new year performance, still tied to my cello case), double-sided tape and paper clips! nice effect?



read also:
1) new project...

new project...

i guess everyone must be thinking i've stopped making any crafts, now that i'm so bz with my job. not true! actually i've done a few items, but just did not post them up. will do so one of these days lar...

anyway, here's my latest project... have just started lar, so can't show anything yet. it all came about when i saw jullie's blog on the cute bootie her friend made for her baby joel. it's just so cute! then i remembered that i was supposed to crochet a baby bootie for N's sister's baby ah bao... but now baby ah bao is already abt 4 months old, and baby booties is still... hehe... bayang pun belum nampak lar (not even the shadows of it)!

actually, it's not that i procrastinated lar. it's just that i can't seem to find a nice pattern to work on. so when i saw jullie's blog, i straight away asked her abt it and she directed me to sylver, who's selling her patterns on etsy. boy, this seller is really great. so many cute booties patterns to choose from!

and seeing that baby ah bao is a girl, while jullie's baby joel is a boy, i decided not to make the same one as baby joel's, but chose a sweeter pattern instead. here's a pic of how the finished work is supposed to look like, taken from sylver's etsy. cute right? hopefully my end product will look just as cute lar! :P



as for my work, i've only just finished the soles of one shoe. i'm such a slow worker! hopefully by the time i finish, baby ah bao can still fit into them!

my first sale!

woohoo! i finally sold something on etsy! hehee... so happy...

i had a tag done with my shop name and url... nice touch?



after searching for a suitable box, i then remembered that actually i know how to make boxes out of greeting cards... here i used a chinese new year card from my ex-housemate.


i fashioned my box based on the matchbox concept...


ta-dah! nice?

so excited to be making sales. but oh how i wish i have the time to make more stuff for my shop... *sigh*

someone keep me away from craft shops, pls!

ok, so i was so impatient to start my x-stitch kokeshi that i decided not to take up on emily's offer to help me buy the x-stitch threads from a shop in pj old town (SinWah?) that's selling per skien 10 sen cheaper than the shop i surveyed in ampang park (Haby & Wools). she said she'll be going to SinWah(?) the next day, and won't mind getting all the things for me and then post them to me. i was thinking, "aiyo, have to wait for the post lagi!" hehehe... so i headed on to Haby's after work on sat and realized what a big mistake that was! *sigh* i just can't help myself! in the end, i spent abt RM150!!! and the woman still refused to give me discounts! ^@&^*&%$!


list of items bought:
1) 50 skeins of (different coloured) dmc threads
2) 1/2 meter of aida cloth
3) a pack of 6 x-stitch needles
4) 3 balls of nona yarn
5) a tulip crochet hook
6) a pair of clover tatting shuttles
7) a dmc metal tatting shuttle

3 shuttles??? and i dun even tat that much also! i'm so disgusted with myself! *urgh*

see, so pretty right? who can resist?? WHO, i ask u???

i've never seen a metal shuttle before. and this one
has a winch sort of thing in the middle! so i must have it!

and purchase no. 5 was also a fancy buy. i mean, i already have crochet hooks and i dun need one in this size at all. but i've always wanted a nice hook with handle! all these while i've only been using those cheap normal metal hooks, so i thought it'll be nice to have a nice hook for crochet. hehe... excuses, excuses, excuses! i know!

that night, i was so curious abt the metal shuttle that i decided to try it out, since i wanted to make a bookmark for my colleague (the girl i'm to replace at my new work place), to go along with the book i've gotten her. it was after i started tatting that i remembered the reason y i dun really like tatting... tatting threads are so fine that they'll cut when pulled too tight. and i've always liked my tatting to be tight, so it's quite a torture when closing rings. the last time i tatted, the thread even cut right thru my skin and left a gnash on my forefinger! and i'll always have broke fingernails when i tat, due to trying to close the rings too. all that came back to me when i tried out the metal shuttle... but actually it's quite nice to use lar. coz of the winch, we don't have to snap the thread out of the opening. the wound-up thread would just keep feeding out from the shuttle. in fact, unlike an ordinary shuttle, there isn't any opening for the thread to be pulled out at all!

anyway, i've abandoned my tatted bookmark project and decided to present instead my previously tatted bookmark. maybe next time when the mood returns, i'll tat another bookmark for myself. only god knows when that will be! hehe...

look what i'm up to now!

been having a kokeshi fever these past few weeks... hehehe... so when i saw this cross-stitch pattern on etsy, i just have to buy it and make it up! never mind that i dun do/have never done any cross-stitching before in my entire life... but look, it's so cute right? so who can blame me? WHO???

but it's quite a big project for a newbie like me... 200 x 150 stitches! every single square crossed! not even a tiny bit of cloth showing! *faintz* so hopefully it'll be done in time for when i move into my new home end of 2009. or am i too ambitious?

p/s: hmm... dunno y the pic turned out so yucky. must be coz it's very low res. nvm lar...

bake a doll lah...

ta-dah! this was what i was baking this afternoon lar... a kokeshi handphone charm. cute?


did i mention that i've set up an etsy store? so this item will be on sale there! check out more pictures of the handphone charm and the other items selling there. u can find the button for it at my sidebar. i just got it set up 2 days ago, so there are only 5 items listed in there and also there's no banner or anything yet...

anyway, some of u may be confused by the items listed, coz they have all been given away at one point or another. well actually, i'm just using the photos of the items lar. if there's any order for it, then i'll just make another one!

bake a WHAT?!

hehe... that's the housemate's oven toaster. experimenting with something (with her permission for the use of the oven, of course!). so what am i baking? ah, that'll have to wait till i'm done! so stay tuned!

*hint: click on the pic to enlarge it for a clue of the thing i'm baking

Pay It Forward

saw this in Faizon's blog, and thot it might be fun!

My Pay it Forward Pledge

“I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.”

so come on, let's all jump in and experience the joys of giving! :)

SVE sent and received!

recently, the Shuttles n Needles group in yahoo! that i belong to had an exchange ---> Secret Valentine's Exchange. now, i'm not very good at making anything yet, but still i jumped into it coz it sounded like fun. hehe...

ok, here's how it worked. those of us who wanted to take part in this exchange replied with an 'aye' to the group e-mail. then our organiser (Jullie's our organiser for this SVE) made a secret draw with our names. we were then informed secretly on who we are to send our exchange to, but have no idea whom we will be receiving from. hence the name "secret valentine's", get it?

the criteria for the exchange is:
1) one handmade card
2) one motif - to be independent or as part of the card
3) one special supply for our crafting

well, after knowing who i'll be sending my exchange to, i decided that i wanna make an amigurumi for her as an extra. coz she has not tried making any amigurumi before, but is a great sifu in needlecrafts and threads. so this is what i made her: a floppy-eared bunny! cute?

back view... i love the tail! so cute...

but i had a hard time deciding on my motif. granted, i was on the net a lot, looking for motifs (that i can do with my limited skill) that would look nice on my card. but i didn't have any plan going, so i was kinda just choosing choosing choosing... in the end, i ran out of time! on the last week we were supposed to mail out our exchange (mailing-out date: 6th Feb), i only had my floppy-eared bunny (not even part of the criteria!), a very fine crochet hook (as special craft supply) and halfway thru my motif (which i'm not even sure what use my partner will have for it)! and i have no idea abt my card yet! panic! panic!

my motif: a vintage pattern i found on the net...

so in the end, i resorted to a store-bought valentine's day card, and just added in a few crocheted hearts on the front. it was really pathetic, but it was all i could do with my 'half-pail' skills!

so here's the stash i sent to Faizon:


then when i got back from my extended cny break in m'ca yesterday, i received an envelope from my housemate who was in s'pore for cny. it's from my secret valentine, Jullie, who conspired with housemate M to hand-deliver my SVE to me! nice touch!

cute and bulky envelope waiting for me in kl...

Jullie is really creative. her card is really hand-made and very sweet too! 3 different coloured, crocheted heart-shaped balloons took up the front of the card...

a close-up of the crocheted balloons...

on the second page is Jullie's message to me...


and on the last page is my special craft supply - some plastic eyes for amigurumi! i've not seen these eyes being sold here in KL, so it's really very sweet of Jullie to get them for me!

already i'm itching to get out my hook and start making use of these eyes!

~~~~~

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, EVERYONE!

i'm ami sifu!

ok, at least to my 2 friends, i am! but actually fake one lah, coz i'm also just an ami beginner! hehe... anyway, remember the meetup of old friends i mentioned the other day? well, they saw my amigurumis and decided that they wanna learn to make it too! so one fine day (during the thaipusam holidays lar...), we (mon and i) had san come over to our place for a day of ami lesson!

we went to pick up san from the lrt station, went to buy our supplies, had lunch at endah parade, went to another needles & craft shop there to look at their stash, did a little grocery shopping detour at carrefour, came home and started our class at abt 4pm! haha... so much for "a DAY of ami lesson"!

well, san did pretty well, having learnt crochet at std 4. so she was able to pick up pretty fast...

mon, on the other hand, was a little slow. not only has she not done any crocheting before, she claims to be hopeless in craft. and on top of that, she's a lefty! so in the beginning, she held the crochet hook a little funny. but after a while, she got the hang of things and was able to crochet pretty well! so proud of my two 'students'... *beam*

here are some pics to share...

giving mon some pointers, while san is diligently crocheting away on her own...

everyone concentrating hard on their own ami...

the ami gals! smiles for the camera...

ta-dah! here are the results! my bunny i'd done earlier for a secret something
to be revealed later, san's ladybug and a diagram of mon's pig...

mon's work in progress. the one on the left is her 'practice' piece. the one with the marker is her 'real' work, which she was finally able to get all the stitches' numbers correct!

san's ladybug. she managed to finish 2 ladybugs that day!

more amis...

an amigurumi chewie for the bf! look like chewie or not?

amigurumi octi for the housemate M.

had wanted to make this for M for christmas, but had too much work! so ended up giving to her well after the new year!

got the octi pattern free from here, but need to register first for the patterns. and even tho' i followed the pattern closely, i still managed to create a big flaw to it! my octi has only 7 tentacles!!! hmm... dunno y, i just can't seem to squeeze in all 8! only has enough space for 7... well, M would just have to live with it! haha...

more tatted bookmarks...

did these bookmarks sometime back... the green one (named as Two Shuttle Bookmark) is for the bf, coz he was sitting for his final acca papers... wanna show some support lar! hehe... the pink one (Simple Bookmark) is for myself

amigurumi angels!

remember my post abt N's birthday present? took me such a long time to do it, coz of work, orchestra and so many other things! but it's finally done, just in time for N's birthday! they're Angie and Elvis Angel amigurumi! for those of u non-craft ppl out there, amigurumi is the japanese art of knitting or crocheting stuffed toys. anyway, i first saw this pair of adorable angels in Julie's blog and i fell in love with them instantly! so even tho' i've never completed any crocheted project before in my entire life, i decided to give it a try. so i clicked over to saplanet's 'shop' on etsy and bought the patterns...

well, needless to say, it was quite difficult to grasp at first, but Lis of saplanet was very helpful. i kept e-mailing her to ask abt tiny details and her replies were always prompt!

anyway, after a few false starts, here's the finished result... i can't find a cream colour in the 'aminah made in japan' yarn series that the shop lady insisted is the perfect yarn for dolls. so i ended up using a light brown, which the housemate said made the amigurumi looked like 'afro-angels'! hehe... and i'm not so good at sewing, so my amigurumi's smiles are a bit weird!



i did the Elvis Angel first, coz i know i'll make lots of mistakes and i wanted the 'girl' angel to look really nice. so i decided to practice with the 'boy' angel and i did make a huge mistake! my Elvis Angel was made inside out! compare the stitches between the 2 angels in the top pic and u'll get what i mean. luckily Lis e-mailed me another additional file later on and i was able to make Angie Angel the right way.

Elvis Angel hanging...


back view of Elvis Angel...

i think i stuffed Angie Angel with too much fibrefill, coz her shape turned out to be like that of a bee! and she looks much bigger than Elvis Angel, which is so wrong! girl angels should be smaller than boy angels... ok, i'm stereotyping, but what the heck!

Angie Angel hanging...


Angie Angel side view...


back view of the wings...

this is how they're supposed to look originally... so cute rite? but compared to mine... *sigh* dun laugh, ok?

after finishing the angels, i put it into a box and fashioned a music box out of it! i found a shop selling those raw 'wind-urself music box' thingy some time back, so i got the idea of creating a music box with the angels inside. then i covered the box up with a piece of hard plastic (those that we use for book binding) which can be slipped in and out. that way, N can take out the angels to be used for ornaments or hang them somewhere if she doesn't want them to stay in the box. and i can still use the box cover to cover over the plastic and tie it up with a ribbon.

ta-dah!

N loved it!

latest project...

preparing a birthday surprise for N. watch this space for my completed work!

overdue gift...

remember this failed tatted piece? well, i finally gotten round to finishing it... it was meant for N for her exam, but her exam ended last monday! hehehe... anyway, she was fascinated with it when i presented it to her on sat. keep asking me how it was done and was amazed when i told her it was done not using a crochet needle, but a UFO kinda thing called shuttle. i met her outside for dinner, so didn't have any of my tatting tools to show her exactly how it was done. but then she moaned that blue is MY fav colour, not hers! her's bright yellow, orange or pink. then i reminded her, "eh, the waist pouch u got me for my birthday is not in my fav colour also mar" - the waist pouch is pink.

here's the finished bookmark... kinda uneven, that's y it's a bit curved. guess i was impatient in finishing it and didn't pull the thread snug enough in the 2nd half.