First And Last Crochet Project

I started this project almost exactly a month ago on June 12. I saw a made up cardigan at the Textile Art Festival and thought "Yeah, I can do that. Shouldn't take too long."

RIGHT! The last time I did any crochet was when I was in Grade 8. We didn't even make anything real back then, just a few sample stitches for a little rectangle. The pattern that I bought only cost $3 but the recommended balls of wool was something like $15 per ball and it needed 4 balls. I felt confident that I could get something done but I didn't think I should be spending $60 on wool just in case it didn't work out. So, I bought $2 balls of wool. On hindsight, after all the work I went through, I do wish I got some $5 balls instead.

I was very excited about getting started. It quickly became apparent that I only knew the most basic stitch and that one isn't even used very much. The first step was for me to decipher the pattern.

Crochet patterns come in a language as foreign to me as programming languages. Look at this :

2ch, 2htrtog twice, 1htr in each st to end.

With the help of the Google and YouTube, I finally figured everything out and got started. I swear, I worked on this every day since June 12. It has been tedious, tiring, frustrating and not as much fun as I thought it would be. Its no like sewing something where I can see the results within a few days. This one month delay in gratification had me quite discouraged. I even forgot to follow the instructions for the buttonholes because I was in such a hurry to see the end results.

When I got to the sleeves, I started thinking that I'll make them extra long because all this hard work means that Adrian MUST wear the cardigan in winter 2011 AND 2012.

I finally got everything finished at about 1am last night. I got long buttons that fit through the gaps in the stitches.



It looks pretty cute on him but now I'm worried that he's going to get it dirty or hook it on something while he's climbing around everywhere. I don't even know how to wash woolen stuff!

I enjoyed the initial stages of this project when I felt that I was learning something almost completely new. And now, I do feel a sense of accomplishment that I've completed the cardigan but I definitely will not be jumping into another crochet project anytime soon. I'm grateful that Aaron has felt the need to ask me to make him one as well. Phew!

Knitting Isn't Only For Grandmothers

Everybody knows that life with little children is full of surprises. I've come to expect them to say and do amusing things. That expectations sometimes cuts down a little on the effect.

Yesterday, I had a genuine surprise. I did not see it coming at all. I wanted to go to the Textile Art Festival, and I wanted to go alone. Its everything to do with fibre, yarn and fabric. Unfortunately, I had to take Aaron with me because Richard was helping with Adrian and it was nap time. I prepped myself for lots of complaints and whinging.

Aaron sort of dragged himself around, not verbally complaining but definitely showing that he was not interested. And then, he saw a lady flicking two sticks around a piece of string. She was knitting but he had never seen that before and it fascinated him. The lady was more than happy to talk to him about it and he was completely engrossed with it. After that, he went around looking out for more people knitting and started identifying pieces of knitting clothing and pointing to all the yarns that were used. He thought that the knitting needles might have been sharp because they were called "needles" so a lady let him touch hers. He wanted to know all about it.

From there, the whole exhibition seemed to open up to him and he wanted to see everything. The weaving was another intriguing exercise that he was fixated with. Co-incidentally, he had recently been asking me how material was made so this was a perfect way for me to explain. We also saw ladies spinning some wool (almost straight off a sheep) into yarn. It was amazing to watch Aaron be fascinated with all this information that he previously had no idea even existed.

I bought him these kid's knitting needles.


He wanted to get started as soon as we got home. I don't know much about knitting so, this first ball of yarn I bought was a little hard for him to learn with. We eventually changed to an easier type. His aim is to make a scarf for Hector, the dog in the background.


I went for a shower and I came out to find Aaron trying to work at his scarf but dropping all the stitches. He had to knit before bed again and the first thing he did this morning was grab his knitting needles.


He was at it again after lunch!


I'm just showing him off here with all the photos because firstly, I never expected him to be interested. Secondly, and maybe this is what I am most proud of, I never expected him to persevere with it. It is something really tricky to get the hang of.

All the ladies we met yesterday went out of their way to tell him that knitting was not only something for women. I wish they hadn't because he didn't know what type of people did it. He's so into it he wants to tell all his friends about it. I just hope that they don't laugh and tell him its for grandmothers. One lady did tell him that in the past, knitting was a man's job. Women spun the yarn and men knitted. I don't know if its true but he has taken her word for it.

So, are there any knitting men out there?

Home Made Dragon

Its Saturday morning and I'm feeling very lazy. Wouldn't it be great to have a lazy day at home doing nothing? Unfortunately, there wouldn't be much chance of 'doing nothing' in this house so instead, I've negotiated for a few minutes to myself now and then we're going to head off for our usual couple of hours at the state library.

We go there for the sing-a-longs as well as the low craft tables and ample amounts of kid friendly craft supplies they have laid out. This term, they have have the area setup as a kitchen table with a giant walk-in saucepan, kitchen table and chef dress-up area.

Here is Aaron's and my creation from out more recent trip. I wonder what we'll make today.

I've Made My First Shirt

Its time for me to be a bit of a show off :D.

This is the first time I've made a proper shirt with collars, buttons and sleeves! I'm definitely proud of it and he's going to be wearing it every week from now on.



The fabric was bought way back in October 2009 and was intended for his then, 3 years 2 months size. He's now 4 years and 8 months and I can say that there were only the tiniest little pieces of scrap material left after I was done.

I didn't have a pattern for the shirt but instead, used a shirt from when he was 2 years old. I traced out the various pieces, put them on a photocopier and enlarged. Strangely, it worked for every part except the sleeves. Making this shirt was relatively simple but with all the interruptions through my days and nights, and of course the need to laze around watching TV, it took me nearly a month to complete!

Sewing gives me a real sense of accomplishment but it is so time consuming because I'm such a beginner at it. I guess the only way is to get more practice in.

First Time Paper Mache

Aaron and I have been working on our first big-gish crafts project. We've always done little things that took 30 mins but this mask took us three days. So there was a lesson in patience in it as well.

Initially, he was very keen and wanted to do everything. That lasted for about three rounds of the sticking the newspaper on. So, we stopped and then picked it up again later in the day - thats why it took us two days to complete.

Here we are getting our fingers sticky with the tapioca starch glue. When we were kids in Malaysia, I remember calling this 'gum'.



I fully expected him to paint the mask in some dinosaur color but he insisted on pink - because thats the color of humans (according to him).



We used a balloon as our oval mask mould so here he is popping it with a needle. I was a split second too late with the camera.



His intention was to make a scary face mask but I'm not a very good artist and he doesn't have a very steady paint brush yet...Just imagine fierce bushy eyebrows and a big curly mustache.



I think we'll try doing this again and get Richard to help us when it comes to the painting. He's good that all that arty stuff...

I'm A Shoemaker (sort of)

Look what I found the time to do :



Its good to be sewing again. I took my time with this (two nights) and tried to do everything as neatly as I could. It wasn't a very complicated pattern at all but all the curves in it were tricky enough to cause me and my rudimentary skills several rounds of unpicking and re-sewing.

Adrian goes about his exploration as if there weren't a cute pair of shoes on his feet but I'm very pleased with the results. He wouldn't even hold still for me to get a good shot of the shoes in action. This is the best I could get :



Alright, now I'm going to go make more shoes to match all his outfits :)

Photostory Friday - Sewing Apnea!

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

My grandmother was a seamstress and my mother has picked up quite a bit from her so I'm hoping the sewing gene is in me too. I've never learnt how to sew and my mother didn't do much of it when we were growing up in the house but I really enjoy it. I make up my own techniques as I go along and end up with less than perfect creations but I always find it so fulfilling. The main problem is that I hold my breath whenever I step on the sewing machine pedal and I always end up with a headache after awhile!

I don't have a sewing machine in Palembang so I'm hoping to make use of my mother's one while I'm here. This is what I made for my mother.

Its a type of tote that closes up without zips or buttons. Not quite perfect but I'll be making another one for myself so at least I'll know where the pitfalls are.

Fun Monday - Projects

This week's Fun Monday is hosted by Blue Momma. The assignment is to share any unfinished projects that may be lying around the house. I only have one around the house and thats because I started it yesterday. Usually, if I start something, I can't wait to see the end result, even if it means cutting down on sleep time.

The project I started yesterday is a Shopping Cart Cover for Aaron. Can you imagine how many hands, that also handle money, touch a shopping cart? So, I'm going to make a simple cover that I can throw over the front part where Aaron sits in. There are fancier covers in the market with padding and leg holes but I'm just going to make mine a single layer with a leg flap. This is going to be hand sewn so I'm not going to be too ambitious.

A single meter of this cute print cost me USD 2.50 and its nearly two meters wide. I'll have plenty left over for something else. Yesterday, I got as far as getting my measurements, marking them, cutting the material and hemming one side.

Sewing Apnea

Today is a day of accomplishment. I made this for Aaron:

I discovered sewing when I was pregnant with Aaron and was too stingy to spend any money on clothing that I would only wear a few months. My grandmother was a seamstress and my mother, while not a seamstress, made my wedding gown. So somehow, the skill has made it into our DNA and I can now say that I 'sew' too. Well, I can
produce something that doesn't fall apart. I definitely want to go for lessons one day but for now, I am a slow and steady/better to be safe than sorry tailor. I am like a lemur when I'm sewing. AND, I hold my breath. Its an unconscious thing but sometimes I hold it so long and so frequently that I find that I have a headache after my sewing session.