Lone post for 2016

So I had time to check my blog today and really??? My last post was more than a year ago?? Really???

It only felt like a few months a when I scheduled a blog post for automatic posting.

I haven't had a lot of free time (obviously!) this year. I was able to finish a few projects though. Like this mermaid tail blanket.

I made it for a 2-year old girl so it should fit ok. I only looks small being modelled by my daughter.

I also had time to discover Perler beads! Late bloomer, I know. It's frustrating for me trying to find supplies now. Here are some stuff Andi and I worked on.

From left: Ariel (heavily modified a pattern I was copying so it will be the same scale as Aurora); Snow White (my own pattern), Belle (heavily modified a pattern I was copying so it will be the same scale as Aurora); and Aurora (copied from a photo I saw online with only slight modifications to add the mouth and lengthen the arms).

A cactus I made for my office table. This is my own pattern as well. 

My daughter's gifts for her classmates this Christmas. Little boys and girls wearing their school uniform. I made these into bag charms.

Andi's own personal project!! Her own pattern too. I'm one proud mommy. With very little assistance from me (i.e. adding the legs, shaping the bow, and shaping the shoulders).

And there you go. I don't think I will be able to post more for this year so this is my one and only hurrah on Blogger for 2016 before I go on holiday.

Happy holidays! (if you are still reading me :D )

Lambie, the Lalylala Lamb

Have you heard about Lalylala by Lydia Tresselt? This site has the cutest amigurumi crochet patterns!

I bought her Lupo the Lamb pattern from Lalylala's Ravelry store last year but never had the chance to make it until now. I initially wanted to make this to give as a gift for one of my nieces this Christmas but the little girl at home saw it and begged and begged to let her have it so...

Anyway, since Andrea likes Lambie from Doc McStuffins, and she doesn't have a Lambie doll, I decided to make Lupo the Lamb using Lambie's colors and this is what I ended up with.

My finished product is BIG... Around 15 inches. I did not use the suggested hook size because the yarn I used is also not the suggested yarn weight. But I don't really mind because the little girl loves it :)

Once Upon a Dream

I am too lazy to check if I already used this title in a previous post. However, since this post is about princesses (since you know, I am raising one... at least one that feels she is one), I thought the title fitting.

From left to right: Aurora, Rapunzel, Bell and Cinderella. All costumes crocheted by me :)

She loves princesses, I collect Sylvanian Families / Calico Critters... you put them together and you can see my daughter and I get along very well :)

The Dragon's Hoard

So you know all those time I spent not blogging? Most of that time was spent being a responsible adult... you know, working and caring for the family. But all that time, I had dreams of time... spare time to be able to do the things I love, and right now that's crochet. And I wanted to be ready for when the time comes so I bought and bought and bought supplies... until...

My dragon hoard.

And no, I don't sell what I make. For some reason... I was thinking this is all for personal use only and I just wanted to make sure I have the colors I will need, whatever that color is, for when I get the time and find a perfect project to make. 

So now you know that everyone will be getting something hooked from me for Christmas. 

Crochet Granny Square Bag

I rarely make anything for me, and this was initially earmarked as a gift for Christmas. But when I finished it... um... well... I already used it today so I guess it's mine now :)

This project is actually part upcycle. The bag is crocheted using thick cotton cord and the handles are from an old bag I am using as a make-up kit, so you know, it doesn't really need a  handle.

I hardly get to use my sewing machine anymore so it was soothing to hear it's motor whirring again as I made the lining and attached the zipper.

It goes well with my watch, don't you think?

Watch from Swatch.

Someone posted a photo of this watch from Swatch in one of my Facebook groups and of course, all crochet addicts, including me, wanted one. The crochet design is printed on the strap and watch face. I was so happy when I saw a local Swatch store selling the design. 

Let Down Your Hair!

Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!

Gown from the Disney Store, Crocheted wig made by me :)

"Gladly," says Rapunzel.

"Gladly, too", says little Rapunzel...

huh???

Crochet dress and wig made by me :)

I need not say that Rapunzel was the princess of choice in our household for a few weeks. It changes based on which movie the Disney channel is showing at the time. 

Happy Teacher's Day!

Hello! Happy World Teacher's Day to all the teachers out there!

My daughter brought these for her teachers today:

I made crochet covers for the mason jars and filled it with sweet treats. It may seem like a quick project but errr... those covers actually took a few hours.

It feels so good to be able to post something after a very long hiatus... and before another very long hiatus, I suspect. Big hugs to those who are still following this blog in spite of the lack of recent content. I've been a silent lurker on my favorite blogs, checking every now and then for inspirations I know I will never have the time to make. But such is life, We go where it takes us and trust that God is leading the way. 

And I am rambling so I'll say good bye before this turns into a monologue of my daily struggles. Till next post!

Something old and something new

Wow, time does fly. I never realized my last post was so long ago.

I'm still deeply mired in this corporate set-up I entered a couple of years ago. It's still tiring and it leaves me very little time to do the things I like, but I am getting used to it. Also my baby girl is now a little girl and doesn't require me to be at her beck and call all the time, you now, to survive :)

With the very little time I find for myself, I did manage to use it wisely and have managed to complete some projects. I didn't get a chance to photograph all of them though. Lately, it has been cold in our tropical country, a welcome respite before the burning summer hits us. Cold weather always inspires me to start grand crochet projects which I never finish because summer hits before I know it and it becomes too hot to even hold any type of yarn. With the start of this year though, I started focusing on smaller projects and what do you know, I finished quite a few!

Here are 3 small bags I finished during a long weekend we had this January. When I say small, I do mean small... like the length is only around 10 inches. I didn't really follow a pattern for these and I used mostly scrap or recycled yarn.

This next one was made by request. This is what happens when I let my daughter watch me as I browse Ravelry. She saw this and pleaded and pleaded until I agreed to make her one. 

Apple Bloom from My Little Pony

Yey, my first amigurumi project! To those of you who are not in-the-know (you know... who doesn't have a little girl aged 4-8), this is Apple Bloom, a school-aged pony from the My Little Pony animated series. You can find the pattern from Knit One Awe Some right here.  

Emboldened by my success at finishing the smaller projects (hooray! hooray!!), I embarked on a bigger scale project which I hope to finish before summer gets here. 

(NOTE: I had to suppress a "haha, yeah right!" retort, an automatic response from my brain, after typing that last sentence).

Linking up to A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success.

Pretty Little Crocheted Dresses - Sylvanian Families Edition

Cold weather, like we have been experiencing lately, always inspires me to crochet. Anything made with yarn is usually too hot to wear in weather like ours but it has been unusually cold lately. However, making anything for me takes time... and summer is coming. And I know that when summer comes, all thoughts of crochet usually melts with the heat. So, I focused on making small-scale stuff. And when I say small, I do mean small. 

Rompers for Freya and the Dingles' little girl (does she have a name?)

Dresses for Sybil and daughter Stephanie

I don't like the original dresses that came with Clearwater women. You can check them out in this post. So it was high priority for me to make new ones for them because... well, someone special is coming home soon ;)

A new dress for Delia Doughty

I got Delia Doughty second hand. She came with the Kindergarten Music school that I bought online.When we got her, her original dress, especially the apron part, was looking very worn. Her dress took the longest to make, as it was also my first attempt and I was not using a pattern. I was doing trial-and-error, fitting-fitting-fitting and more fitting, before I managed to complete it. 

The dresses are supposed to go with accessories, but I haven't had time to make the accessories. I hope I find the time soon to make shoes and other accessories to go with their new outfits. 

Cabbage Patch Kids Hat

About a month ago, I saw an article on Yahoo! about crocheted Cabbage Patch Kids hats.

Photo source.

I started hunting around Ravelry and sure enough, I found a free pattern from Dearest Debi. You can check out the pattern at her blog. More than a month after, I finished mine.

Not the best photo but it was the best I have using my phone with my model twisting and turning and running off... Anyway, I think the hat looks better on babies that are less than a year old. It must be the cheeks factor. Andrea has lost her puffy baby cheeks look *sniff* *sniff*. My baby is all grown up and... and... ok, emo attack over :)

I finished some other crochet projects including a raglan-style top for me, yey!! I've worn it twice, only I haven't been able to take a photo. This new job is killing me! Not the work itself, mind you... but rather the commute to get to the office. Takes up so much time. I had to give up all my CT work *sniff* *sniff again* and I miss it. But with my new schedule, there really isn't much time to devote to creating digital scrapbook pages so it will have to go for a while. Here's me hoping I might have some time to dabble in it again in the future. 

This is also the first time in my career that my office is not located near a mall. Hmmm... maybe that's not really right, but with the traffic in this area, the mall might have been located at another town for the time it takes for me to get there and back again. But I did discover an establishment located conveniently beside my office that gave birth to my new hobby/business idea. 

Perfume-making!

The scents are inspired by the popular (and expensive!) signature scents. I am so proud to say that I now know the difference between cologne, body spray, eau de toilette and eau de parfum. Yey again! I decided to make the perfume grade kind, because I make it mostly for me and it lasts longer than eau de toilette. It's a little bit more expensive to make, but still way cheaper than buying signature scents. I sell what I don't use, and in the past 3 weeks I've been in business, I can say that this new venture is doing well. And my house (and my couch!) has never smelled so good.

Anyway, I hope I get more crafting time and posting time in the  near future. All work and no play makes me a very bored and cranky person. 

Zippered Crochet Purse with Lining

My sister bought a small portable sewing machine last year. You know, the one being sold on the TV Home Shopping channel? I don't think she uses it though. Because for small sewing projects, she still asks me to do it for her.

Case in point.

Pretty huh? Love the colors. She made this crochet purse and wanted to put a zipper on it. I told her it needs a lining first before we can put the zipper in. She said she didn't know how. I said I didn't know how too. The first time I ever sewed a zipper on a project was for my Old Jeans to Bag project. It wasn't perfect. I ended up doing the job for my sister's crochet purse too. It, too, wasn't perfect (hence, no close-up photos of the lining and the zipper, LOL).

So is there a special sewing foot I need to make sewing zippers easier???


(and someone needs to learn how to use her sewing machine! otherwise, just give it to me!! LOL)

Doll Rehab - Part 1

Some little girls are doll people, and some are just not.

Andrea is a doll person. By doll people, I mean those little girls that are so into dolls. She has a LOT of dolls, and she remembers all of their names. She remembers which accessories came with which doll ("Mommy, that is not Smurfette's brush, that brush belongs to Dora!!"). And she even made up stories about which dolls are friends with which (Ariel, the Little Mermaid, is friends with brunette Barbie and apparently, they live under the sea in General Santos City in the Philippines, as I heard Andrea narrating the story one morning).

Now, Helaena, my niece and Andrea's permanent playmate, is NOT a doll person. I don't understand how two little girls who have been playing together almost everyday since Andrea was born evolved into 2 different little people... but I guess that's how it goes. Given this, Helaena's dolls have been a little neglected.

However, last October, Helaena received a Doctor playset and since then, she has been playing with one of her dolls all the time and carrying it around everywhere. By this time though, the little baby doll has lost her pajamas ("I don't remember where I put them, Tita Janelle." Helaena, when asked where her doll's clothes were), and she has gotten a little grimy ("I do clean it!! I just can't get the dirt out." My sister, on being asked why Helaena is playing with a dirty doll).

I asked Helaena if I can borrow "Emily" (Andrea named Helaena's dolls a year ago, after she learned they don't have any names) for a few days so I can make her some clothes. She agreed. And so last Monday, Emily came home with Andrea and I got to work.

I forgot to take a photo of Emily before I started working on her... the "Before" photo was taken after I already scrubbed Emily with soap, water and a wash cloth.

Elements from: Mi Casa collaboration kit by Bee Creations and Digiscrapange

And of course I had to make a layout for this because we all know I have too much time on my hands right? *chokes*

Anyway, after cleaning her, I crocheted a dress for her using Maxine Gonser's Angel Wings Pinafore pattern. I had to adjust the pattern to make it smaller. I added sleeves to cover her arms, and I made matching pants to cover her legs.

Here's a closer view of the dress:

I also made her "hair bonnet" like the one I made for Bonnie last year.

"Emily" is going home to Helaena today! Andrea has been a little jealous of the dress I made for Emily so I promised her I'll make one for Isabella too. Isabella is Andrea's first baby doll that we bought the day before she was confined to the hospital for the first time when she was a year old:

Remember this?

When I noticed that she loves this doll so much, I asked daddy to go back to the mall to get her another one in blue, so they can be her "Super Babies" like Dora's brother and sister. Hence, we named them "Isabella" and "Guillermo" after the Super Babies.

Anyway, Isabella and Guillermo are looking a little worn after 2 years of playing with Andrea so I told Andrea we will make them new clothes next.

Part 2 coming soon!

Yarn Shopping in Baguio

My family went to Baguio last weekend for the Holy Week. We left Manila on Friday, thinking traffic might be better then, since most people already left on Thursday. But it was still a 6-hour road trip to Baguio (On a good day, you can reach Baguio in 5 hours I think). We saw a lot of these when we passed Tarlac:

I will not post photos of those other guys who beat their backs bloody with some sort of whip. The images might be disturbing for some and I try to keep my blog with a GP rating (General Patronage). And when I say we passed a lot... I do mean a LOT. Like every few kilometers, the entire time we passed through Tarlac.

Anyway, when we finally did reach Baguio, we did the usual stuff tourists do:

For P15, I was able to sample Baguio's strawberry-flavored taho. It was delicious!

We were supposed to go strawberry-picking at the strawberry farm but it rained a few minutes after this photo was taken so we passed on this activity.

We visited Tam-Awan Village in Benguet. After all the times I visited Baguio, this is my first time to visit this place. It was COLD. See the fog? We could barely see the road in front of us on our way here and my mom kept asking the driver to turn back... Only, there really was no space for us to turn back on the steep, twisting roads.

For P100 (approx $2.50), I had a local artist do a sketch of Andrea. The finished sketch doesn't look a lot like her, but you have to give the artist credit for trying considering Andrea was moving and talking and squirming for the 20 minutes she was being sketched *sigh*

Since it was Andrea's first time here, we took her boating.

Someone had a lot of fun shopping...

...and playing dress-up.

And though we were all tired, only one certain small person had the space to put her feet up in the cramped van.

And since we were there, I decided to pay a visit to this place I keep reading about: Hangar Market. It's supposed to be the place to buy yarn in Baguio City. Hangar Market is a building located at Hill Street, and it's near the Baguio Public Market. One small tip if you plan to go there... parking anywhere near Hangar Market is non-existent. Our van had to park illegally outside another building some distance away. So if you are coming from another hotel... walk. Or take a cab.

Anyway, I wasn't able to take pictures. It was starting to rain and we didn't have an umbrella, and our mom was rushing us so my sister and I had to run from the van to the nearest entrance to Hangar Market, which was called Vegetable Alley. From this alley, we went straight until we saw the stairs to our right. My sister said that she saw the yarn stall featured on TV and it was on the 2nd floor. Good thing she told me that. The market was quite big and I had no idea exactly where the yarn stall was. Up to this point, all I saw around us were vegetables.

Up the stairs we went and there it was... YARN. A lot of yarn. In huge plastic bags piled on top of each other. I was a little disappointed with the price. The guy there told me it's P300 per kilo or P30 for 100 grams. It cost more than the yarn being sold at that bodega in Pasig. I was at that yarn bodega in Pasig a couple of months ago and yarn was being sold at P250 per kilo... well... after sizing me up in my office attire, the guy there told me it was P280 per kilo, but others who went there said it's only P250 per kilo.

Anyway, since I was there already, and since there were more colors available here than the one in Pasig from my last visit, I decided to buy anyway. I just grabbed balls of yarn in the colors I wanted and piled them on the weighing scale. This is still cheaper than buying yarn at the mall. The yarn being sold here are not labeled and each ball is not the same length. I'm not exactly certain but I think I was able to get yarns of weight 2 and 3. The guys selling them calls them 'ply'. They kept telling me it's 2-ply or 3-ply (you know, like tissue) and upon closer inspection, I think they are referring to the number of strands of thread twisted to make the yarn. Anyway, those I got are thinner than the standard weight 4 Red Heart or Monaco yarn you can get at the mall.

My new yarn stash

That big bag, plus the 4 balls my sister got, cost us P900. Not bad... Not bad at all! Considering 2 of those balls are what those guys at the stall were calling "velvet" yarn. They are like this soft and fuzzy yarn and those 2 big balls only cost me P77 total. To illustrate how big each ball of yarn is... I made Andrea pose beside my plastic bag:

And all this yarn got me excited to start crocheting again! I actually have an unfinished blouse I started in December... and an unfinished cape I started a month ago... maybe I'll finally get to finish those.

I have a few other crochet projects finished after that mushroom hat. I made a couple of pom-pom hats, without using a pattern, for Andrea and my niece for our trip to Baguio (only we don't have pictures of them wearing them... aaarrgh! I'll just make them pose for me this weekend), and a couple of simple dresses for Barbie and Dora from some leftover yarn I had. Pictures of those some time soon.

EPILOGUE: We left Baguio on Sunday afternoon... the trip back took us a good 8 and a half hours. 

Crochet Project: Mushroom/Cactus/Sundae Hat

I was working on a sewing tutorial yesterday... you know taking pictures and documenting my steps and all that. In the end though, the end result did not quite look the way I wanted it to so I'm going to do over and hopefully, have that ready by next week.

Here's a preview of my supposed-tutorial:

Scrap fabric, and batting.

But I did manage to finish my daughter's crocheted mushroom hat last night! Although, from where I'm looking, it doesn't look very much like a  mushroom *sigh*.

Here it is anyway:

I think it kinda looks like this type of cactus:

Photo credit

And the Jollibee character representing their Sundae too!

4th from left. Photo credit.

 And of course, taking photos of the hat on her head was hard! We had a LOT of this:

I don't want to wear a hat right now mommy!!!

...and some of this:

Why are you doing this to me mommy?

...until finally, FINALLY! A couple of these before I went crazy:

I tried to prepare a pattern and will post the pattern tomorrow.

Linking up to the following parties:

Craft-O-Maniac Monday at Craft-O-Maniac | A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success | Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative | Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple | Craftastic Monday at Sew Can Do | Inspire Me Monday at Singing Three Little Birds | Market Yourself Monday at Sumo's Sweet Stuff |

Crocheted Christmas Gifts

Since it's after Christmas, I think it's safe to assume that my friends opened their gifts already and there isn't a risk of spoiling the surprise anymore. Here are some of the handmade gifts I prepared this year.

Giraffe Beanie

This hat would have otherwise been too hot for the Philippines, but I made it for my 5-year old godson who lives in Baguio City. Baguio City a city in the mountains up north and the only place in the Philippines with colder weather. I'm hoping he will send me a photo of him wearing it.

My favorite project so far... because it turned out so cute! 

I made these crocheted baby booties that look like Converse shoes for my office mate who is expecting a baby boy. I also made a matching white bear hat (no photo, sorry) to go along with these booties.

Those are it actually. If I had more time, I would have made more. I downloaded several free patterns for baby booties which I would love to try. I'm currently on vacation and working on another crochet project. A bigger project this time. I hope I get to show it to you guys soon!

Bonnie's 'Hair' Bonnet

I am FINISHED!

• 7 crocheted hats (including the ones for the dolls)
• 1 pair of crocheted booties

It might not look like much but those projects took me quite a while to finish. I can't wait to share pictures of some of the stuff I made for gifts but I don't want the recipients to accidentally stumble onto my blog entry and ruin the surprise so I will be sharing them after Christmas.  They are already posted on my Ravelry account though. So if you are on Ravelry, please visit me!

Here's one of the projects that I can share though.

I made a hat for Bonnie, my daughter's other doll that burps when you tap her back, and says "Mama!" and "Dada!" when you press her hands. And the dress? It's the same one I made for Lizzie, it just gets passed around for both dolls since it fits them both. I really need to make more clothes for her dolls.

What's so special about this hat is that it comes with 'hair'... because you see, Bonnie is a baby doll that came to us wearing pajamas and a bonnet and without any hair.

Hello there!

But since she's all grown up now (according to Andrea), she needs to have more hair (according to Andrea too... she's 2 years old, where does she get these ideas???). I initially wanted to make her another bear hat, because that has braids... but I have already made several other bear hats since the time I posted about it to give away as gifts in a span of a few days and to be honest, I wanted to try something new.

Without a design in mind, I set about making the hat. I didn't use a pattern for this. I just kept fitting it on Bonnie's head until I was happy with the width and length of the hat. I wanted to make it 'girly' so I added scalloped edges. To make the scalloped edges, change your hook to one size smaller than the one you used for your hat and:

Row n+1 (where n is the last row on your hat): YO (if you are using different color yarn, if not, and still using the same yarn,  skip to Chain 1), Chain 1, *SC and HDC on one stitch, HDC and SC on next stitch*, scallop made. Repeat * until you have covered the edge of the hat in scallops.

 I also added a flower using this pattern on Ravelry (I think you have to be logged in to view the pattern). Then comes the fun part, adding the hair! My method was a little rudimentary: 

STEP 1: I  held a piece of yarn at the back of Bonnie's head where the hat meets the nape;

STEP 2: Stretched the yarn to the length I want Bonnie's hair to be and then doubled that length and cut the yarn. 

STEP 3: I then cut more pieces of yarn of the same length as that first piece. The number of pieces you need will depend on how think you want the hair to be. 

STEP 4: Then I attached it to the hat from the side, to the back, to other side, like this:

I bunched my yarn pieces in groups of 3... then using a large crochet hook, I  inserted one end from the inside of the hat through one of the stitches at the bottom.. and then inserted the end again on the next stitch. 

STEP 5: Repeat until all your yarn pieces are hanging from the hat. 

STEP 6: Then part 'hair' in the middle, and secure with pony tails. Yep, the only thing securing the hair to the hat is the pony tail holder. 

I used non-slip pony tail holders for Bonnie's Hat to make sure Andrea does not accidentally undo the pony tail and pull out all of Bonnie's 'hair'. I was so excited about this after I finished because I couldn't wait to make more 'hair' hats for Bonnie! I'm already working out several ideas in my head.

Linking up to the following parties:

Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou | Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings | Making Mondays Marvelous at C.R.A.F.T. |