Whoot!

Owls. I became OBSESSED with them last week. For no particular reason that I could fathom. I mean, I haven't even seen The Owls of Ga'hoole yet (I'm not particularly excited by the story, but it amused me to no end that the owls had English accents). I noticed that there are a lot of crochet patterns for owl-y things. They ranged from fugly to frakking cute.

Hands down, my favorite was Rupert the Owl by Irene Strange. I gazed at it during all my breaks at work for one week before caving in and buying the pattern on Ravelry. I both love and hate that designers can have pattern shops there--it means easy access to all the lovely patterns. Instant gratification which unfortunately equates to increased spending (at least for me :D).

But for this particular pattern, I knew that I was going to get my money's worth. I've seen how the author explains the pattern via written instructions, graphs, and photo tutorial. She has some free patterns available on her website and on Ravelry.

I immediately set off to work on it. But I didn't make a toy... I made a cozy for my MP3 player! My player looks like Mickey Mouse. Seriously.

Whoot with Mickey

close,

I attached a button on the back so I can open and close Whoot's head, and a loop on top so I can wear her on a necklace. :)

open!

I don't often make things that have color changes after every single row, and lots of sewing and finishing involved. But I'm really happy with this one. I just might make another. :D

Mama for my Mommy

Catholics here in the Philippines affectionately call the Blessed Mother “Mama Mary.” My mom has always been a devotee, specially to Our Lady of Guadalupe. When I showed her this shawl, she literally begged me to make it for her. :) The pattern is called Blessed Mother Shawl, and is available for free (!!!) at Crochet! Magazine's website.

I love how it came out. With such light rayon thread, it feels like a hug when worn. Doesn’t really make you feel all that warm -- perfect for my mom who scarcely feels cold.

Finished the shawl in 3 days. Delayed adding fringe until the last minute. Just in time for mother’s day! :)

Love the pattern, even though the tiny filet chart may have caused permanent damage to my eyes (I swear they’re a little closer together now).

If you want to talk shop, visit my project page for this shawl at http://ravel.me/clairethere/bmps

I hope you all had a wonderful celebration of mother's day! :) I think no matter how much we do for our moms, we'll never outdo all they've done for us... Hurrah for moms!

Oh Baby, Baby, Baby (pronounced "bay-beh")

I just finished making the first ever baby-related crochet project. ... And now I understand why people skedaddle to crochet things at every drop of a baby.

Soooooo frakking cuuuuuuuuute... I wish it fits my head. But then again, only a cute innocent little angel can do justice to this hat. :)

Thanks (a million times over) to Ms. Mimi for the free pattern... She posted about this on her blog, but the pattern is available only on Ravelry (login needed).

 The flower is from Suzann Thompson's Crochet Bouquet. The five-petal Traditional Rose. :) Lovelovelove.

Hole-y Week

As I was going home from work last Wednesday (Holy Wednesday), I mentally prepared myself for a long weekend of contemplation. The following days, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday are observed traditionally at our home. I found myself wishing that I'd bought "Crochet Today" magazines at Booksale--what better way to pass quiet days than working on a mindless crochet project, right?


I decided against that though, since I felt guilty of all the books and magazines I had at home already. Lent is partly about shedding unnecessary trivialities, after all.


So I get home. Waiting for me is a package from a local courier. It's my Interweave Crochet magazine! :D And it's the Spring issue, too! I subscribed to Interweave Crochet last year... I was disappointed when January rolled around and I hadn't received my Winter issue yet. I let their office know, and they sent another copy. February rolled around, and I had lost hope. Not in Interweave, but in our local post office. LOL. So I was SHOCKED when I saw the magazine calmly waiting for me (Yes, it appeared so very calm as opposed to my shock. :D).


THE VERDICT:


I love it. Comparing it with Crochet Today, it's meat compared to fluff. Crochet Today is filled with easily completed projects. Whereas Interweave Crochet has in-depth discussions, and a wider range of difficulty levels for projects. Don't get me wrong, I like Crochet Today too. Mainly because the projects they publish look so current and are easy to complete. But I especially loved the designs from Interweave because a lot of them used shells, plus there was a complete article about shells from Doris Chan. She discusses the varieties of shell stitches (all of them lovely) and how they can be used to contour garments and projects.


So, without further ado, I present to you my first Tunisian entrelac project:


This is the Forest Petals Shawl (or at least a miniature version). I loved learning how to do Tunisian, and entrelac at the same time too! Granted, I made quite a few attempts before the thing bore a similarity to the picture... All the same I'm proud of myself because I managed to learn how to do it based on instructions that assumed readers knew the basics of Tunisian entrelac. Here it is, totally unblocked and curling at the edges. :D

I used a regular size F hook -- the diamonds were small so I could use the normal hook. I was just so happy that I was able to manage the gauge swatch, that I just continued on until my Canon size 8 thread ran out. Here is a closer look at the diamonds:

Oh and as for the free pattern, Interweave is giving away an e-book with 8 Free Scarf Patterns.


And the fabulous Mimi Alelis just published a free pattern, perfect for summer. :) It's the Tropical Shawl -- a lovely openwork shawl made in multicolor Cannon thread with a large hook. The pattern for the cute flower accent is also available at her blog. :)


That felt good.*sigh* This is what happens when I don't blog often -- sorry for the uber long post! :D Happy hooking everyone!


Oh, and update: I got the Interweave Crochet winter issue today! :)

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* :)

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!

Wordless Friday -- Merry Christmas from the artful hooker! :D

Feeling angelic

I finally made the angel. :)


I was depressed yesterday. Just from watching the news. So I wanted to make something to remind me that there still is beauty in the world. And that no matter how bleak everything starts to seem, I can help transform it with some yarn and a hook.

So, let me rant now. :D

1. The Maguindanao Massacre

I cannot believe that I actually live in the country where such a horribly evil tragedy happened. The day I read about this, I actually felt tears burning in the back of my eyes, from anger, from helplessness.

It's not the number of deaths that depressed me (although it is quite large -- 57 casualties discovered to date). It's the way the whole thing was staged. And how very brutally violent their deaths were. And how maddeningly rich the Ampatuan clan is -- when they live in one of the poorest provinces in the Philippines. And the fact that they have their own private effing army. How could this all have happened under everyone's own noses?

2. Martial Law in Maguindanao

I think this is a good call from PGMA. Suspending the writ of habeas corpus enables the Philippine army to go about the region without further delays. I don't think the evidence against the Ampatuans would amount to much today, if it weren't for this.

The only thing I don't like about this is its name. Saying "martial law" here in the Philippines amounts to the same thing as saying "Voldemort" in Harry Potter world. Anti-administration officials and lawyers are all shooting their mouths off, saying that this is clearly another power trip on PGMA, and that this could lead to proclaiming martial law in other areas, or even for the whole country. These people are only encouraging more fear in the term.

Martial law, in today's Constitution, is not the same as it was in the Marcos regime. I'm confident in this. I mean, the media is covering the movements of the Army in Maguindanao. In the Marcos regime, media reports were heavily censored -- some stations and newspapers were even forced to close. But today, the media run alongside the government's forces as they uncover evidence concerning the massacre.

So, while there are some who reasonably question the legitimacy of the President's call, I support it. Given the way that the legislative government operates, the Army should be able to go in and out of Maguindanao by the time all of this is sorted out *crosses fingers*.

3. The 2010 elections

Amidst all the sadness and outrage that the Maguindanao massacre created, candidates in the upcoming elections are still busy campaigning. Why can't we all just set down our personal agenda, and unite against this? I mean, if all the money these politicians spent on advertisements and commercials, were spent on protecting the massacre witnesses, I bet a lot more will come forward. And people can hold all the prayer rallies and demonstrations they want, but that won't directly help bring justice to the victims' families.

I mean come on, our country's been disgraced enough. We've become the crime scene where most journalists were killed in one day, in the same place. Add to that a former president (who was ousted for corruption) seeking reelection. And the family of the man who put the nation under dictatorship for more than 20 years, all seeking office as congresswomen and vice-president. And a current president running for congress in her home province. What's happening to us? Is the nation just a carnival to these people?

So. I'll go back to crocheting now.

Haro Baggu

Haro is a handly little robot in the anime series Gundam. He's a personal assistant of sorts to his owner and inventor. More information on Haro here: http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Haro

My friend and co-worker Paolo was given one for his birthday this year by his lovely girlfriend Maris. Yes, a real one! Well, as real as possible -- it can't violate laws of physics and gravity like its animated counterpart. But it does talk, and wobble, and move. And has appendages. :)

Paolo asked if I would make a crocheted pouch for him... And here it is!

He always did joke around that if I ever did crochet anything for him it would be black, covered in spikes and burning in flames. Haha. My bad--everything I crochet is girly and lacey, and he of course doesn't want that.

But he's perfectly happy with this pouch made with tapestry crochet. And so is Haro:


This is my first time making color changes in tapestry crochet with three yarns. My hands and eyes were all a-goggle from the effort. Here's Haro looking piteously at the confunded yarns:

I like it, so I put a ring on it.

Finally finished!

The WR1935 Everyday Tote from Coats & Clark -- a free pattern.

Added the last stitch and wove the last end in last night. Started this before Ondoy hit Metro Manila. Was sewing the pockets into it when the water entered our house.

In the flurry of saving whatever we can, and preparing to flee to a safer place, I promptly forgot about this.

Then I saw New Moon during the weekend, and I remembered my abandoned project. This bag's colors and accents were inspired by the Twilight series. Although I don’t care much for its literary worth, I am amazed at all the things that the series inspired into being – shirts, bags, necklaces, bookmarks, dolls and all manner of teeny bopper accessories.

So last night, I added the last flourish – an apple-shapped button for closure. :) And it was done!

I love this bag – my first venture into tapestry crochet. It has a bottle pocket on the side, a back pocket, and a tiny coin purse that can hang either inside or outside.

I added my favorite key chain -- one shaped like a diamond ring. I helped my mom host her friend's wedding anniversary last year, and the keychain was the lovely souvenir. :)


By the way, I don't care how many death threats from Twi-hards I receive... But I'm sorry, the movie was sooooooooo funny. :D I guess only Twilight fans can really enjoy the movie seriously... Although Taylor Lautner did look hot. Team Jacob, yay! Mrawr.

Ondoy's Wrath

Our country is no stranger to strong typhoons. We're desensitized to images of streets and lands submerged in water. But typhoon Ondoy, which hit Metro Manila last Saturday, literally took us by storm. It's the first time that floodwaters entered homes in our area.

I took this picture from our front door. Night was about to fall, Saturday. This is the last I saw of our first floor, before I took refuge in the second floor of our home. No proper light because authorities turned off the power supply for our own good.


The two pictures above were taken Sunday, from inside the house. The water partially subsided, and we were able to wear rubber boots to protect our legs from the murky water.

We sought shelter in Grace to be Born, a shelter for pregnant women and abandoned babies. We helped build this halfway house about a year ago. Ironically, we're the ones seeking shelter there now. We packed a week's worth of clothes and supplies, and braved the waters outside our home to get there. It's only knee-deep inside our house, but outside, the flood reached up to waist level. Farther away, whole houses were swept away in Marikina and Cainta. I still feel fortunate even after all this -- all of my family are safe, and we were able to save most of our belongings.

I specially appreciate my brother Michael, for coming to Grace to Be Born last Sunday:


He had to brave the muddy wake of Ondoy in Marikina, just to get to us and make sure we were safe. He panicked because we were unable to respond to calls and text messages (all mobile and landline service providers were down). Note the remnants of mud on his backpack. :|

I had to leave all of my accessories back home. And all my yarns and books. :( I feel... orphaned without them. I bought some relief yarn and hooks yesterday, and made this for myself:

Crocheting keeps my mind off my worries. I worry about Ate Vita, who stayed back at our house to supervise the cleaning and to take care of our pets. I worry about my dogs, who I left shaking with fear... :( I worry about everyone who lost their homes-- much more about those who lost their loved ones.

This calamity is bringing out the best and worst in everyone. Reports of selfless heroism appear side by side with reports of looting. If there's anything I can count on, though, it's the cheerfully resilient spirit of the Filipinos. We'll get over this soon.

Colorrificacious

I saw this bag at the Coats and Clark website under their free crochet patterns section:


... And I fell in lust. :D

I love the color changes, and how the dots look like little hearts. This is a challenging project for me--I hate tedious construction. But I love it so much that I'm willing to try it. :D

The first part to make is the base. This is what I've got so far:


Tres cute, right? Wait till you see the back, though:


It looks like a houndstooth pattern drawn by a kid. Or a houndstooth pattern made by a hound with his tooth. :|

This is my first time doing colorwork, and I'm afraid I'm doing it wrong... :( Hope it's supposed to look like this.

P.S. Yes, that's my spankin' new glow in the dark crochet hook! Found it in CraftWorld Megamall. Oh, and you can get the free pattern for the bag here: http://www.coatsandclark.com/Crafts/Crochet/Projects/Accessories/WR1935+Everyday+Tote.htm

Baguio Bagyo

In Tagalog, the word "bagyo" means typhoon. Something that occurs in our country a lot. Even though we've been through countless typhoons, a lot of disasters still happen, unchallenged and unprevented -- flashfloods, soil erosion, heavy flooding.

Which describes our trip to Baguio City quite well. :|

I was so excited to go up there because my parents and boyfriend all need and deserve a break from work. And we're celebrating my birthday! What better place to be than Baguio to kick back and relax, right?

WRONG.

Everything was going okay. We found cheap lodging, and knew our way around the city well enough to know the good places to be and eat. On the second day of our trip though, my mom slipped near a grotto/fountain... Her back was sore and she had gashes on her right elbow. My boyfriend caught a dreadful cold. My dad had to go back early.

And THEN the worst thing happened... My camera got stolen!!! :(( I cried. People stared. I didn't care. All of our memories, gone...

On our way back, my mom, my boyfriend and I had to go on different buses because of the number of commuters.

We bought two kilos of yarn. Wonderful.

But I can't effing post effing pictures because my camera got effing stolen.

:((

I cry.

My first Japanese pattern success!

I've had this book for over a year now:


I bought it when I first started to learn how to read stitch diagrams for crochet. Looking back, I understand now that I was so full of myself then. LOL. When I got home, I realized that I couldn't understand any of it. I mean, I understand the stitches well enough, and could make good guesses about what kind of yarns and hooks would work for the projects. But. And this is a very big BUT. (That last sentence reminds me of a song... I like big... hmm. :D) I couldn't make heads or tails of the construction of the projects! Which is of course the most important part of the whole thing.

So it stood on my bookshelf. Not forgotten, though. From time to time I would pick it up, in the hope that my brain rewired itself somehow.

Well. I decided I needed a tote to carry my current WIP. Something not too big and not too small... I picked up the darned book again, and something just... Clicked. :)



And so, without further ado... I give you... My first ever Japanese pattern success!




Ok fine, so the construction is simple. It was designed for the body to be made in one piece, and the straps attached after that. But I patted myself on the back when I thought of a way to incorporate the handles into the pattern, to make it sturdier (and not to have too many ends to weave in!). I also finished it off with a crab stitch to make the last round sturdier. And I didn't sew or glue that ribbon. I tied it around a stitch. So simply stupid and lazy, it's ingenious. Yay, me! :D

Thank God the stitches are snug enough to not need a lining. :D

I'll use this to carry around my WIP's. Here's a sneak peek of my current project:

Happy weekend everyone!

How can you tell if someone's been crocheting too much?

...
When this happens:



Okay, so this particular hook has been under a lot of stress. I made three shrugs with it in the span of three weeks, with many in-between projects to boot. And it didn't help that I was carrying it around in my spacious bag without a cover or case. I shared this with Ms. Mimi (who created the shrug pattern I'm so addicted to making). She replied, "Anong klaseng hook ang nababali?!" Roughly translated, means, "What kind of hook gets broken in half?!"

Well, erm, this one. It sort of looks like Ron Weasley's spell-o-taped wand in The Chamber of Secrets. :|




Teeheehee. :)

I've been too lazy to write down separate entries for my recent FO's. It's so much easier on Ravelry. XD Here they are, in a wordless flurry and no particular order:

Red Rose SSS for Ms. Meikah

Green Lacey-the-not-so-lacy Headband for me

Anti-CarpalTunnelSyndrome Cuff (based on the pattern for Nancy's Wavy Scarf) for me

XL denim blue SSS (looks like this is going to my mom, or someone else)

Green necklace for me (polymer clay pendant not by me :D)

Green Archer shrug for me - SSS with clover edging

Just gotta shrug it off...

So I've been pretty excited about working on shrugs -- the very talented Mimi Alelis' shrugs.

For the past weeks, the beautiful shrugs have occupied my brain and my hands. I've been crocheting away and I finally finished my first shrug last Sunday, on the last day of June. I had it washed, and I was planning on wearing it to work today:



But alas, the shrug is too tight! :( The shrug is forcing me in a perennial couture pose! You know, the shoulders-hunched-forward-with-slightly-pained-expression pose. And it's soooooooooo prettyyyyyyy tooooooooo =((

Anyway, I'm looking for someone to adopt it. My officemate says it looks nice on my anyway. But I am not one to suffer for fashion. I take being comfortable over looking great, any day.

I'm not giving up on this though. I'm working on a second one, with purple Anchor thread. I'm moving up a hook size, and hope that fixes things.

I'm also working on a new shrug: the Simply Striped Shrug, by Ms. Mimi, too. I love love love this one, because I can fit it as I go. I also moved up a hook size just to be sure. :D It's so easy, but the shrug looks fab-yuh-lous! Can't wait to finish this one.

Crochet ADHD Therapy

I think I've mentioned before that I have crochet ADHD. I always decide to make small projects. And if I do have to make bigger ones, I try to use the thickest yarn and any shortcut I can do to make the project faster to finish. Small projects = instant gratification, yey!

Mimi Alelis has the cure.

I met her last Saturday at Jollibee Philcoa. I bought some (read: A LOT) of crochet threads from her for some projects I had in mind. I was so honored to meet her... Being a successful Filipina crochet designer, in my eyes she was a goddess. LOL. She started showing me some of her projects. And I drooled. And envied. And lusted after the beautifully detailed designs. A sort of... Overwhelming artistic guilt (?) came over me as I stared at her works. The stitches were so perfectly executed -- even and consistent. I felt like such a poser. LOL.

I had so much fun talking with her, I didn't realize that we've been talking for hours! In the end, I made up my mind to start on one of her shrugs this very week. I bought her pattern for the Shells and Flowers Shrug:


I love the motif, and the innovative way that the whole thing is put together. I am making my project with the pink Anchor thread that I got from Ms. Mimi, too. I'm now on my third row. I hope I can do this pattern justice...

Thanks so much for everything, Ms. Mimi! Looking forward to our next meeting. :)