Uses for Crochet 2: Container

Just because I haven't made containers out of crochet, I made some :) As quoted from the book where the pattern used for this is taken, it says that, "Crochet is a great textile for containers, as it is firmer than knitting and also offers interesting, but easy-to-work textures." Indeed, I agree. The containers were suggested for the storage of nursery "stuff" for babies like cotton wool and little toys. In my case, I used it to store my small balls of yarns.

Pattern for the container is from Baby Crochet book by Lois Daykin ("Storage Pots," p.53).

From the top, the three different-sized containers I made even looked like a flower.

It looks hard to make, but the entire pattern is just made up of single crochets - which is the most basic crochet stitch. It just takes a good amount of patience to actually finish it.

A Week of Crafty Gatherings: Craft Soiree & Etsy Craft Party

Last week, I attended my very first Craft Soiree, organized by Alessa Lanot of Life After Breakfast.

It was the perfect girly gathering of crafters. It was great to meet others who just love doing crafts and who have made good business out of them. I was amazed by the talent and passion of the other crafters. I was inspired to be creative and to create. I made rose brooches and they were given out as takeaways for other crafters. 

Photo Courtesy of Alessa Lanot of Life After Breakfast

You can check out Alessa's blog feature on the Craft Soiree and its crafters here. And as if one craft party wasn't enough in one week, I attended another one organized by Craft MNL for Etsy.

Etsy is probably the biggest online selling site for handmade stuff, while Craft MNL is a cool craft workspace in Makati. They hold various craft workshops and host craft events. Check out Craft MNL's blog feature on the Etsy Craft Party 2012 here. 

Watch out for my Crochet Workshop on October 27, 2012 at Craft MNL!

Tools of the Trade

They sort of look like torture tools - the kind used when you need spies to tell you the truth. But no, they're my crochet hooks. I crocheted in public the other day, in a coffee shop in Greenbelt specifically. And when I brought my crochet hook case out and opened it, I suddenly got dubious reactions from people around me. I can't blame them. They really look deadly.

So yeah, crocheters can be pretty deadly. You'll never know what your grandmas might be hiding in their crochet hook cases :p

My Convenient Source for Mercerized Crochet Cotton

Carolina's Lace Shoppe is my convenient source of mercerized crochet cotton. Almost every time i'm in Megamall, I visit their branch in the 2nd level of Bldg. B. I salivate every time I see that wonderful wall of different-colored balls of yarns :p

Carolina's Lace Shoppe in Glorietta 5

Each ball of mercerized crochet cotton costs P35 for the plain colors and P40 for the mixed colors. Prices apply both for Cannon and Monaco yarns. It's been a while since I visited their Divisoria branch but I think their prices there are cheaper. They also sell acrylic yarns.

Also, I got this note from them when I visited their store this morning:

I will be featuring on a later entry the various sources of yarns here in Manila. It's my goal to let all the crocheters (and knitters) out there know where they can get good deals on local (and possibly imported) yarns.

The African Flower Challenge

The African Flower Motif is a classic crochet pattern. It has allured many crocheters because of its many possibilities in terms of its applications and the color combinations that can be used. The motif is usually in a pentagon or hexagon shape.

I was challenged by a friend to make an afghan (the term for a knitted or crocheted blanket) made of African Flower Motifs. The size is expected to be around 4x6 ft. 

Here's a teaser. I hope to get this done by next month. 

The motifs are still unstitched. I chose to stitch them up by motif instead of crocheting each one to the next while working on the last round of each motif, to avoid any unnecessary stretching. So far, I've worked on 24 unique color combinations for this project. This afghan requires around 480+ motif pieces. I can't wait to show you the finished product soon!

Hooray! I have a Color Card!

I've been working on a lot of color combinations lately for an upcoming project (sooo excited to share it with you guys once it's done...let's just say it will take a ton of patience and time for me to finish it). I have used 50 different-colored yarns so far to make 20 sets of color combinations. Each set is composed of 5 different colors. Phew. That's a lot of color. Unfortunately, when I bought my yarns, I threw away the labels so I wasn't able to list down the right shade numbers that correspond to each color. Having a list of the shade numbers allows me to have an inventory of the required colors for the combinations I  made. This is useful when I need to buy the exact same-colored yarns. This also assures consistency among colors for a project.

Just today though, like manna coming from heaven, I was given this:

And look, there's more for their acrylic yarns! Yum.

Come to think of it, I could have done something like this on my own with just some board paper and puncher - had I not thrown my labels of course. 

Thank you for this, Coats Manila Bay! :)

My Stash (The Legit Kind)

The Philippines, especially Luzon, is practically submerged in floods due to the unending rains. I can't believe it's not even a storm or typhoon - it's "just" a Southwest Monsoon. The flood in my area is thigh high so that makes me stranded in my own house. Since I'm stuck here since Tuesday, I got O.C. making an inventory of my yarns in Ravelry. It's about time I did this actually.

I started with the labeled yarns since they were easy to encode and identify. Check out my stash y'all (well, I selected the pretty ones of course, which were bought from Australia as gifts to me by, ahem, my boyfriend).

They're so pretty I'm so afraid to use them! I just want to lie down on my bed of yarns and roll over them :p

I Made a Beanie for a Coffee Cup. Whut.

It's for the 2012 planner of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf here in the Philippines. Check the beanies out on its November spread.

And guess what, you can make your own (if you think your paper cup needs some styling). Pattern is available here for free.

Thanks, Alessa and Belle De Jour for making me part of the project!

Blast from the Past: Crocheted Earrings & Accessories 2006

The first time my creations were actually sold in the market was in 2006. My friend Alessa had an idea of selling crocheted accessories through her line, "Accessories by Alessa." We brainstormed with patterns and colors and came up with great pieces. I didn't think I could make money out of a hobby, well, it didn't really cross my mind that people out there would be interested in what I was doing :)

It was definitely a successful run. Thanks as well to Alessa's network in the fashion industry, it got featured in magazines such as Preview, Mega, Yes!, and Girlfriend.

Even Pia Guanio wore one of our earrings for the Enervon ad. All pictures courtesy of Alessa Lanot.

I started working on a new collection under my own line. Watch out for the new pieces in the near future!

OMG. So much yarns!!!

So my boyfriend Rob said he had a surprise for me today. Then he gave me a bag full of this:

I have never received so much yarns in my life...IN MY LIFE!!! It's just like Christmas! 18 skeins of Morris Estate 8-Ply Wool Yarns from Australia.

I've been drooling since I got them. You da man, Rob! :p

Two Target Projects for 2012

There are 2 (and I must say geeky) crochet projects I must do before the year ends:

The Mask of the Blue Demon image was taken from Wikipedia and the Yoda image from Wookieepedia.

There's something odd about this pairing :p The luchador mask will be for my boyfriend and an amigurumi Yoda will be for a friend. I hope I get to post the finished products before 2013.