The Artful Hooker

But on the upside...

CrochetMe is giving away a free eBook: 6 Free Crochet Hat Patterns: Crochet Hats with CrochetMe.

You just have to subscribe to their newsletter though. :)

So I logged in tonight just to delete my last post about the giveaway. I received some feedback that some people were not able to post comments on the album. So in fairness to them, I just took it out of Facebook too.

Boo. Me. Boo.

I've just been busy at work with a new project for our client. Combine that with writer's block and laziness and you're going to come up with the laziest worst blogger ever = me.

Boo. :(

On the other hand, my crafty life is not dormant (as my blog would make it seem). I have a lot of projects that I haven't uploaded here and even at Ravelry. There are no pictures either. Dry spell much for digital creativity? Sigh.

The big news I haven't shared is that my mom bought me an awesome insanely cute little sewing machine. :) I hope I get around to blogging about it sometime in the near future.

Public Menace at Large: Carlyn "Cahz" Delos Santos

I was involved for a while in buying/selling online at Multiply. I had a lot of fun making connections with great sellers and buyers. There was only one person with which I had a FOUL experience: Carlyn Delos Santos or Cahz Delos Santos or Carlyn Eve Delos Santos.

This girl had also scammed other beaders and sellers at Multiply. She still owes me money. After our "incident" she erased her account instead of taking action to rectify the situation. She also stopped using her mobile phone and YM account for a while.

After a few months, she started using her phone again. (Yes, I ring it once in a while. I was THAT angry at her.) By the way, her number is +63915.535.9140 and she also used +63927.779.4917 to contact me. She even logs in at YM again (username princess_cahz20).

And then horror of horrors, I find out that she has a Sulit.com account: http://cahz.sulit.com.ph/

And a Facebook account: http://www.facebook.com/carlyn.delossantos

Twitter account: http://twitter.com/princess_cahz20

I just want to warn everyone who would want to make a connection with her. Looks like she's at large again (pun intended, LOL).

She describes herself (carefully leaving out the scammer part of course):

"nAmE -cahz
DOB - 10/30/1988
hEiGhT - 5'1 jz a short gal,but cute......('' feel like vomitting'' )
emm..........wat else about me????????
Mmm.......actually i jz a simple gal..i like to sing n dance..when i'm primary school,i took part in singing competition every year oh......but when secondary school i bcome laz to do dat....it is better i take some time to sleep....hehehe
bcoz now i'm a hrm student n alwiz not enough time to sleep...hahaha
im....
A bit clumsy but smart sometimes
A bit careless but Caring
A bit stupid but friendly~
A bit fierce but easy going
A bit chubby but like 2 act cute lol~
And like 2 meet my friends n hang out all d time ya!!
So conclusion is..im a trouble maker but nt faker n a nice person dat u guys looking for(coz most of the times i like 2 joke n geh boh lah!!)
So if u guys interested in me?remember add me up ya!!wait yah.."

***
So if you see this mug, be warned.

THIS PERSON IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.

Victorious!

Let's flash back to the first ever shrug I made. It's the Shells and Flowers Shrug by the wonderful Mimi Alelis.

Perfectly lovely, soft, pretty, nice, beautiful, yarnlicious. The only problem -- It didn't fit me.

I always thought of this shrug as the one that got away... Yes, that was how much I loved it. It hurts, putting so much effort into something so pretty, and eventually ending up not having it. So I promised myself that I would make another one and make it right, demmit.

But then other patterns got in the way, and it got shoved in the back burner of the crochety part of my brain. ... Until I came across this lovely beige shade of Monaco Raylon. :D So last December, in the midst of my yuletide mass production frenzy, I hunkered down and made this.

Hurrah! Success! Altered the pattern by adding more repeats and changing some things here and there... Forgot exactly how I did it, but here it is! It came out a little loose in the back. But I do love that I can wear it with both light and dark tank tops. And that it gives me modest coverage, but is still very open. I absolutely love Monaco Raylon for wearables -- they always feel fresh to the skin, light but drapey.

I apologize for the poor photos -- I took them myself. Never mind the bizarre lighting -- I never know how to arrange myself harmoniously while posing for the camera! :|

I felt like a hardcore DIY-er for life today, wearing this shrug with a necklace and earrings that I made too. I can't believe that I'm that girl--the one who makes her own clothes and accessories. :) Just last year I never would have thought this possible.

Crafting has really changed my life... *sigh* :)

Goodness gracious, great balls of...

I reach the office early today, my McDonald's breakfast in tow and brimming with anticipation of what the new day shall bring.

I boot my computer, and as part of my usual routine, log in to Ravelry and peruse the recently added patterns to the database.

And what do I see???

Men's Jock Strap*

*I'll let the title of the link warn you about itself.

It is too frakking early in the morning to encounter something of this magnitude. I still haven't even had a cup of coffee, man!

As if to add to my early morning distress, the pattern is FOR SALE for $5.00. Wowowowowow.

New year, new threads (yarns?)

What were you doing while you were waiting for the new year?

I was crocheting. Working on this quick project. Here in the Philippines, Christmas and new year are big events–specially for kids. They parade their brand spankin’ new outfits on Christmas day and new year’s day. I remember always having new outfits for these special days in my childhood.

On the first day of the year though, it’s popular belief that wearing polka dots will bring luck for the whole year. LOL. My grandma never failed her tradition of wearing her red and white polka dot house duster, reminding me of clowns… I miss my lola…

Anyway, since I didn’t buy new outfits for either Christmas or new year’s, I made something! I love this pattern, turned out so well and so quickly. It's Doris Chan's Anisette Vest from her book Amazing Crochet Lace. Made this with yarn I bought in Baguio by the kilo. Unlabeled, of course, the vendors simply called it “velvet.” It’s a little furry, kinda bulky. Came out feeling like terry cloth in this vest. :)

I love that it gives me coverage, but is still breezy. I made it in S-M size width-wise, but made it in L-XL size length-wise (it wouldn’t cover my chest if I made it shorter :|).

I so love Doris Chan’s designs – they are almost always very flattering for most women’s bodies. And I love that her patterns almost always come with a diagram. Other crocheters find her patterns a little difficult to understand, but I don’t. :) It helps that each of her creations has a story behind it. It makes every garment not just an ordinary project, but a journey taken with her.

Happy new year everyone! :)

Handmade Gifts Fail

I promised myself that I would personally make all my gifts for this year's holiday season. I happily saved patterns I found that I thought useful. I even purchased acrylic yarn by the bulk (I planned to give home accessories, hats, and small bags).

But then... the orders started pouring in. My mom requested 15 snowflake doilies for her corporate clients. My sister-in-law asked me to make ten hats and ten bookmarks. I crocheted all of those in less than two weeks. By the time I finished them all, I didn't know if I had the perseverance to finish everything for everyone else on top of the massive orders.

And in between these, I made a triangle scarf, a shrug, and a beret for myself (yes, I put my needs ahead of others >:D). I haven't even managed to take pictures in the holiday rush. :|

So... In short, my family was able to gift hand-crocheted items to their friends. While I had to sneak to the mall to buy myself some mass-produced 2010 journals. :|

Here are some of the items I made (I wasn't able to take pictures of everything):

I hope everyone has a happy new 2010!