Hobbies Category

Thursday, August 12th, 2010

Crochet and Knitting Booklets from Saizen

When I learned about the new branch of Saizen in Trinoma, I just had to go there myself and see the goodies. XD In Galleria, I am overwhelmed by the sheer number of items. In Trinoma, there are a lot of things but it’s not that overwhelming compared to Galleria.

So one Sunday when my sister and I met up with PJ for time to catch up, we dragged her to Saizen. And she was the one who first spotted the crochet and knitting booklets. At the time I bought two. The amigurumi one and the crochet booklet.

Crochet knit
It says crochet knit but it’s really crochet and more crochet. XD I really like the scarves and hats in that booklet. The cloche looks quite intimidating because there’s a part that you crochet over the finished hat. So the embellishments are all crocheted too.

The amigurumi booklet has patterns for different creatures but I love the panda here. And the patterns are not in spirals but rounds which are joined by a slip stitch. It looks like a good reference ^^;

Amigurumi

The other two booklets, just got them over the weekend. I couldn’t resist after a trip to Saizen in Ali Mall because of the 58 peso small skeins of yarn which have three colors and are bulky. Argh! I want to crochet and knit so much these days!

So speaking of knitting, I decided to get the other two booklets. The knitting booklet has a moss stitch scarf which I’d like to make, as well as hats! Hats are awesome but it has cables so I am not sure I could make the hat already. :(

This is what the knitting booklet looks like:
Stick needle knit

And lastly, the small article knit/crochet booklet. I found the tawashi cute and well, there’s a bag pattern too!

Small article knit

All these booklets cost 85 pesos each. So far I just saw all of them in Trinoma but maybe Galleria has them too, hopefully. My friend Jonette said she saw big knitting needles in Galleria. Weird. I don’t recall seeing yarn and knitting needles in Trinoma. I should go check out the Galleria branch soon.

That will be all for now because I need to sleep. XD

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Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Learning to Crochet

Looks like knitting might take too much time and effort in finishing a scarf so I decided to try something small. A headband. But as I was looking for knitted headband patterns, I found the crochet ones prettier and simple looking. An evening with Jonette helped me learn the very basics of knitting. I even started making my own scarf. But considering how much time could be allocated to finish the project, it’s not doable at this time. :( Anyway, so I saw a knitted headband with crocheted ends which you need to tie behind your head. Being a small project, a headband also seemed like a good thing to accomplish to learn basic crocheting. And so in a span of 24 hours and some browsing on the net, some watching of videos on tv, I now have two finished products. :) Both of them are headbands. XD

The first one was to basically practice the single crochet stitch and a bit of slip stitch.

Colorful headband

It’s a very basic headband. Just a lot of rows of the single crochet stitch, over and over and over and over again. I just measured the headband against my head to determine when to end it

The second headband I made is based on the pattern I saw on another craft blog. She calls it the simple crochet headband. I like the fact that it’s basically just chains and single crochet stitches put together. Its’s 3 layers which all meet together at the ends. :) It’s all twisted when not worn though.

3 layered headband
See how twisted the ends are?

3 layered headband while worn
This is what it looks like when worn. Sorry I couldn’t take better pictures because I took it in front of the bathroom mirror only.

This crocheting bug is brought to you by Jonette who has taught me how to knit and who has shown me bigger crochet hooks which didn’t intimidate me.

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Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

I have my own butler XD


Image Credit: Dang Ching

Guess what came in the mail last week? :D The picture above says it all! That is a figure of Sebastian (from the anime Kuroshitsuji) which my friend Jonette sent me as a late birthday present. :) He’s taller than my usual dolls and figures but hey, at least I have my own butler. *LOL* If ever I have my own workspace at the client’s office, I’d make sure I could bring him along with me and pretend he’s the one pouring me tea during break time or crunch time. (Well, I drink tea when the mood strikes me so…)

Too bad I can’t ask him to literally protect me from harm, but here’s hoping he could protect me from insanity. After all, he’s one hell of a butler. :D

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Saturday, March 27th, 2010

Telling Stories with Talecraft Cards

This afternoon, JM and I decided to meet at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Before that I was just looking for drawing supplies when I decided to check out the games sold in National Book Store. Near a wooden checkers set were boxes of Talecraft cards. I have seen them so many times in various cons but I never got myself a set until today. Wanting to try something new, I decided it could be a fun way to spend an afternoon.

So I got myself something to drink and then started checking out the cards while waiting for him. Talecraft basically has the following types of cards:

Talecraft cards

  • genres – the type of story you’re supposed to be telling; examples: romance, sci-fi
  • archetypes – the characters in your story; examples: reluctant hero, siren
  • key – key things needed in your story.
    • keywords – could be anything like objects, places; examples: church, lock of hair
    • plotlines – certain twists in the story; examples: revenge, pursuit
    • pick – you need to follow what it says in the card. it would usually tell you to pick another card type
    • swap – you need to follow what it says in the card. would usually mean swapping out one of your cards of a particular type with a new one from the deck.

Each player has to get 1 genre card, 2 archetype cards of which one will be the protagonist and the other the antagonist, and 6 key cards. Now if a player gets pick or swap cards among the key cards, then the player must do as the card says.

JM's turn at talecraft

I started writing a story when JM showed up and we decided to play the cards. It was interesting really, because there was a time when I got 3 pick cards which all said pick archetype card. I ended up with a story of 5 characters! We ended up telling several stories and it was interesting to hear JM make thrillers and mystery stories. He seems to have something in his head right away. As for me, I am terrible at making horror and thrillers. There were moments when JM suggested to me how I could improve my stories. Once he even suggested I ship the twin brothers instead of making them rivals because that is an even more forbidden love than one of the twins marrying the daughter of their employer! Haha! I like JM’s historical fiction set in the time of Lapu-lapu with Pintados and all. And this is one of the times I wish I recorded our stories. XD Oh well, maybe another session?

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Monday, February 1st, 2010

Knitting time!

Ok, so after asking Jonette to commission 2 scarves for me I started wondering if I could also learn how to make my own. And we only got around to that teaching and learning session this weekend. :) (As a bonus, I got to meet Tweed! Her handsome cat!)

I got #5 knitting needles and a ball of grey cotton ease yarn. She taught me how to do the knit and purl. Well, she ended up teaching me about frogging too because I am terrible at some of my stitches. Tension is something I haven’t quite gotten the hang of just yet.

Jonette and PJ are both addicted to yarn work XD In their blogs you will see their blog entries about projects they are working on. PJ is crocheting a hat similar to the one Jonette gave me.

Grey crocheted hat by Jonette

It’s a nice and comfy hat and I really love it :)

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