Show Off Your Shell – Sreisaat {mis}Adventures

A few months ago I was an excited and eager participant in the Stash-buster Challenge at Lanas de Ana and at Snapee Turtle’s Show Off Your Shell. I was able to make crochet pieces one after the other and posting them, but then, in April, I temporarily halted my crafting projects. April was the hottest month in Cambodia and other things just got the better of me.

I didn’t totally shelve my projects but the heat made me tired and cranky and could not get anything done. Except for this one ribbed beanie.

ribbed beanie front post double crochet — This is the only project I completed in April. I’m going to make a smaller version of this beanie for my nieces and nephew next time.

The beanie features the ribbed stitches, the front-post-double-crochet and the back-post-double-crochet (fpdc & bpdc) that are now my favourites! I had fun and I really love the result. The fpdc and bpdc stitches pop out from the rest of the stitches giving the beanie a nice “texture””. Both of these stitches are used to create some sort of a 3D feel or look to your crochet item. Yes, that’s the trick. Remember that.

I used a chunky yarn and was thinking of using only one solid colour but, since I’m on a mission to use up all my leftover yarn stash (scraps) no matter how little of each colour is left, I just have to use them. Hence, the beanie’s mixed colours. I do not have the heart to just toss the scraps away. I know one day I can make something out of them so… they stay in my stash box for now.

I forgot where I got the pattern from, must be from Ravelry.com. Anyhoo, I’ll check later on and update this post about the pattern source.

Now that the rainy season is here, the weather is cooler (and hopefully no more power cuts) and I could go back to crafting soon. I hope I can still make the infant booties and beanie set that I promised to my sister.

See you next time 🙂

In Cambodia life, Crafting with Sreisaat, Crochet adventures, Expat Life

Stash-Buster Challenge 2013, Project #4: Tablet/e-reader sleeve

sreisaatMarch 7, 2013June 11, 20135 Comments

Hi. How are you all?

Things are hectic at home at the moment. Nothing major, just spring cleaning of sorts. It’s the height of summer in the kingdom and it could get really, really dusty. Add to that, my two dogs are shedding at the same time so just imagine the amount of fluff, in addition to the dust, that accumulates inside the house 🙁

Okay, enough of the excuses. I finished one project yesterday. Actually this wasn’t part of my list but – because this month is my birth month – I received an early birthday present from my thoughtful in-laws all the way from merry England. I was so delighted when I opened the parcel. Mum and Dad, you are the best!

So I had to make this right away. For “protection”, you know. Tee-hee-hee.

I used a pattern I found in this blog, Handmade by Haniyya. But unlike her design, I opted for more colours in one project. I’m in love with stripes of various colours, thus the choice. I attached the bottom ends by using single crochet stitches. I think that looks better than sewing the ends of the sleeves. But that’s just me. To each her own 🙂 In addition, I also added a lemon yellow crochet flower and olive-green button that not only as serve embellishments but also to catch the latch to fasten the top ends.

In Cambodia life, Crafting with Sreisaat, Crochet adventures, Environment

Stash-buster Challenge, Project #3: Colourful granny squares

sreisaatFebruary 27, 2013June 11, 20131 Comment

Hi there.

I’ve been meaning to post the finished baby beanie that is my second project for the Stash-buster challenge. So here it is:

The pattern indicates that the finished beanie should measure 6.5inches. As you can see, mine is just 6inches. I don’t know if it’s going to be problem later on, but, aren’t newborns tiny, right? This should fit.

For my third project, I haven’t really thought much about it. I was still recovering from our weekend kite-flying activity outside of Phnom Penh. We flew kites for three hours under the baking sun! And not just ordinary kites – they were handmade by my husband and fitted with a camera to take pictures while up in the air. It was worth it, sunburns, dusty feet, sweaty clothes and all!

Anyways, back to the project. For my baby project, I wanted to make a pair or two baby booties but could not find patterns that I like. I think I need to search more so I just tossed this idea aside and looked for something else to do so I can share it here. And guess what I’ve finally decided to make… granny squares. A lot of them, actually.

I love mixing and matching the different yarn colours. They look really great, aren’t they?
I was also crocheting from memory. The pattern was taught to me by my mum and the very first one that I “mastered” when I was beginning to crochet 🙂 I think it’s a pretty simple pattern and very easy to follow. I’ve made a lot of these way back so I know the pattern by heart. Funny thought that while crocheting the squares, I was feeling a bit nostalgic. Thoughts about the many summers spent with my mum and sisters, sat together and learning how to crochet, flashed in my head. Please excuse the sappiness, it must be the hormones, hahaha.

Now, what to make of these again?
I think the squares will make a nice cover – of what, you ask, of just about anything. Hahaha. It can be a table runner, sofa cover, or even a laptop sleeve or something. But I just don’t know how to attach the squares altogether 🙁

Any suggestions? Please do. I would love to hear from you. Meanwhile, I’m going to visit other Stash-buster challenge participants’ sites and hopefully I can find inspiration from their works.

In Cambodia life, Crafting with Sreisaat, Crochet adventures, Expat Life

Stash-Buster Challenge 2013, Project #2: Baby beanie

sreisaatFebruary 20, 2013January 17, 20162 Comments

I’ve been quiet these past few days but my silence doesn’t mean that I’m in the throes of idleness. It’s actually the opposite of that as I was busy revamping my other blog. It has a mini shop of postcards and I wanted to do a total makeover. Since I am no-web designer, it didn’t happen but. at the very least, I managed to organise the categories and tags.

Anyhoo, today was a good day. I’ve accomplished a lot of tasks and it was only tonight that I was able to sit down and touch my crochet paraphernalia. Since the news of a new family member’s arrival, my goal is to finish one project for the baby once a week. Sounds a lofty goal but we’ll see…

This week, I’m meaning to do a baby beanie. We do not know of the gender yet so I’m going to use gender-friendly colours until I am told so 😀 I already started on this very easy pattern for a baby beanie. All double-crochet stitches (US) and if I can finish one a little later tonight I’ll post the picture.

Meanwhile, here’s a sneak peak of my beanie. I love the colours. I think most of you will be reminded of autumn 😀 (which we don’t have here but I have the good fortune to witness when I went to Japan some years ago)

I’m using a 5mm hook and medium acrylic yarn. After three rounds, I measured to see if it is the right size. Smaller by half an inch 🙁

In Cambodia life, Crafting with Sreisaat, Crochet adventures, Expat Life

Jar of hearts and other heart stuff

sreisaatFebruary 15, 2013January 17, 20169 Comments

So this is an update of yesterday’s post.

Yesterday, I ended my post with a picture of crochet mini hearts and left a question about how am I going or what am I going to make of them.

I draw my inspiration from Pinterest and a host of other fantastic craft blogs out there. But the thing about these sites is that there are too many beautiful stuff and I end up ooh-ing and ahh-ing at other people’s boards for hours and hours… which doesn’t really help me at all because the more time I spent pinning what interests me on my boards, the more I can’t follow or do what I’ve pinned because I’m buried deep in the images! Lol.

Anyways, going back to what I made out of the mini-hearts… I managed to rein myself and actually finished some things to show you, guys. I kinda like the slide-show feature here at WP, so enjoy the slideshow 😛

Crochet mini-heart buntings

The crochet heart buntings. It was difficult to photograph them. Please excuse the messy background, this is like our workshop where all the crafting and DIY actions happen. And that's my dog there, if you can spot her 😉

Crochet mini hearts bookmarks

Mini-bookmarks, hand-drawn, with baker's twines and washi tapes. Can also be used as gift tags.

Love is all we need Valentine's card, 2013

Jar of hearts. The mason jar is hand-drawn using a metallic pen and a coloured pen, and I glued the hearts onto the card.

You Have My Heart, Valentine's card, 2013

And this one's for my husband. Hand-stamped V-day card with crochet heart applique.

The buntings actually look nice but I have to find a better spot for it. I think the hearts are too small so I’m going to make another batch of bigger hearts to add to that.

Well, I hope you had a great Valentine’s Day. My husband and I are not really big on V-day but we appreciate the holiday. Loving gestures, in my opinion, should be every single day. And I believe you don’t save them up for just one day.

See you all again next… post. Lol.

In Cambodia life, Crafting with Sreisaat, Crochet adventures, Expat Life

Stash-Buster Challenge 2013: Project #1, Crochet hearts

sreisaatFebruary 13, 2013January 17, 201612 Comments

Last week I signed up for the Stash-Buster Challenge 2013 over at Lana de Ana’s site. Well, I was already preparing to crochet something when the news of my sister’s pregnancy came out, I got so excited that I forgot all about it.

So I have this box full of yarns, yes? There are a lot of things I want to do for the challenge and it’s difficult to select an idea or a project to do first. But since it is February and Valentine’s day is tomorrow, I decided to make mini-hearts. I found a very simple love-heart pattern via Google search and after two practices, I was crocheting non-stop! Look how many mini-hearts I made?

Who doesn’t love hearts? They’re tiny but cute and they can be used in various ways, like an applique to use on your sewing projects or embellishments to your craft projects, glued or sewn onto a card for a sweet Valentine’s card, or even as cute decorations in your room or even a Valentine’s party?

Now that I have enough hearts, I wonder what am I going to do with it? Luckily for me, there is Pinterest that offers a lot of inspiration. I’ll post what I decided to do with the mini-hearts a little later. (UPDATE: Here’s what I did with the mini-hearts!)If these were yours, what would you do with them?

In Cambodia life, Crafting with Sreisaat, Creative Crafts Thursday, Expat Life, Sew-tas-tic!

How to alter an old blouse into a sundress top

sreisaatFebruary 7, 2013June 12, 20131 Comment

This is one of the many tops that I haven’t used for a very long time. I actually got bored of it but, at the same time, I dreaded the thought of getting rid of it either. So, I thought, why not alter it into something wearable inside the house?

Since my sewing skills don’t lie (yes, I don’t have any formal training!), I don’t want to do a horrible thing and toss it out of the window. However, I took comfort in the fact that the blouse has a dark, printed material so I wouldn’t worry about my newbie-not-so-straight-stitchings! Lol.

So okay, here’s the blouse I was talking about, a short-sleeved version of the Indian tunic (kurta), except that I already cut the sleeves off before I took this photo:

I may sound like an apologist for saying this over and over but — really, I’m just a trying hard DIYer so please excuse if the end result doesn’t look that much 🙂 I actually based this on Heather Ross’s sundress pattern. But instead of a dress, mine ended up as a top because of the original length of the tunic and I just left the slits on the sides as they are. With the current hot weather here, it is just perfect!

I’m not so much of a tutorial maker myself but, if you are interested, I created a slide show below documenting the steps on how I altered the blouse.

And so, this is my first attempt at altering my clothes. I had fun, really, especially with the shirring part. It’s actually my favourite part.

Sewing demands a great deal of skill, expertise, and patience. I have a completely renewed respect for the dressmakers and admiration for people who choose to remake their own, after doing this myself.

I also want to thank the countless talented dressmakers and crafters out there who selflessly shared their tutorial videos online for free. Keep them coming. They’re very, very useful for people like me.

And this is my entry for the following weekly parties:

Showing all posts tagged Show Off Your Shell

Stash-buster Challenge 2013, Project #5: Ribbed beanie

Stash-Buster Challenge 2013, Project #4: Tablet/e-reader sleeve

Stash-buster Challenge, Project #3: Colourful granny squares

Stash-Buster Challenge 2013, Project #2: Baby beanie

Jar of hearts and other heart stuff

Stash-Buster Challenge 2013: Project #1, Crochet hearts

How to alter an old blouse into a sundress top