Ooh La La Slouchy Beret!

I love to knit berets. They are chic, easy to knit and it requires only 1 ball of yarn!

I remember the very first beret that I knitted for myself to practise my increasing and decreasing. It certainly does feels kind of nostalgic talking about it. Well, I made it using cheap white acrylic yarn and it was a little tight. I didn't think I looked good with it so I shoved it all the way to the back of my shelf.

But I have never forgotten about that beret. I have been wanting to make a slouchier version of it. Slouchy hats are all the rage right now in the fashion scene, aren't they? So when Kelly passed me the one ball of yarn that she didn't like, I decided to make a beret out of it.

What she gave away...

Actually, I still don't understand why she didn't like the yarn. It's a soft 100% acrylic with beautiful colours. It's almost like a self-striping yarn!

It seems to be self-striping! (^_^)

So to make the slouchy beret, I used needles that are one size bigger (5.0mm from the original 4.0mm)  and I did 19 more repeat rows in stockinette stitch after the last increase. Meaning to say that After the last increase row I didn't increase anymore, but instead did 19 more rows of stockinette stitch before I move on to the decreasing rows.

The result was a jumbo sized beret. I think I should have started off with smaller needles (I used 4.0mm)  for the ribbings in the beginning. Fortunately, my beret was knitted flat, so I simply stitched up more of the seams again and again after I achieved the desired result. 

So much bigger than my hand! I didn't even have to block it...

I am definitely going to make one for myself. (I have 3 balls of this yarn at home!) 

(^_^)

R is for Ravelry

I finally got an invitation from Ravelry!

Apparently my invitation was sent long ago in June this year. I think it went into my junk mail section instead. Thank goodness for the system where we can check for our invitation queue!

Link: Crochet a covered headband!

I am so gonna make this! Imagine making a headband with all the wonderful colours of your choice! AHHH!

Link

Yarn storage solution!

I have to admit that I have a very mild yarn addiction even though I am just a beginner at crochet and knitting. So what happened was that the shelf I cleared last year for my set of Kare Kano comic books was filled up with all the yarns that I own. Some of them were bought, some of them were given to me. 

Whatever it is, they are still yarn and I love them all the same. But as the shelf continued to get filled up and my projects gets on hold, I think I had to find a way to organise them and to keep them clean and safe. 

So I bought this box of Ziploc bags at Daiso last week and put my yarns inside them. 

I organised them according to the yarn brand and the colours. 

In the end, this is what I got:

Long live ziploc bags! Now I hope that the shelf will get less packed as I have more or less settled on the patterns to knit and crochet.

DIY: Retro/Mod Earrings

These earrings are really cheap and easy. With the liberty to choose any patterns or image for your earrings, you can make various styles of earrings!

The idea came when I was thinking of something to make and sell during the hospital charity drive this Wednesday. I wanted to make something with scrap materials that I can find at home. So this is what I came out with in the end. I really hope that they will like the earrings and buy them!

Supplies:

Glue stick

A pair of scissors

Magazines

Postcard/other cardboard

Clear nail varnish

Push pin

Round rings

Earring hooks

Pliers

Cut the 2 edges of the postcard to get 2 identical scalene triangle. (I felt that scalene triangles will look more chic as earrings compared to isosceles and equilateral triangles.)


Choose a picture from the magazine that will work great as a graphic for your mod earrings. Geometric patterns and neon colours work best. Choose geometric patterns for mod earrings or cartoons for a cute pair!


Place your triangle over the design and trace using a pencil.


Flip the triangle over. This step is very important. If you use the same side of the triangle to trace the design, you will find that the pieces you cut from the magazine cannot fit one of the sides of your triangle!


Cut along the lines that you have traced, then glue the pieces onto the respective sides of the postcard triangle.

Do the same for your other postcard triangle.


Apply clear nail varnish evenly on both sides of the triangles.


When the nail varnish has fully dried, snip a little from one of the corners of the triangle. This creates a flat end for the triangles to hang freely from.

You can choose any corner to snip from. Do try snipping the different corners as they all yield different looks!


With the help of a push pin, poke a hole near the snipped edge.

Do choose a larger push pin to ensure that your round rings can go through the hole created.

The hole should not be too near the end of the triangle.


When the push pin is pushed through, give the pins a good twist for a more prominent hole.


Attach the round rings and the .

Make sure that the round part of the hook is aligned to the same side as the right angle of the triangle.

This ensures that the longest side of the triangle faces your cheek.

This part will be different if you have chosen to pierce a hole through a different edge.


This is how it should looks like in the end.


Try it on!


Experiment with different patterns, colours and shapes!

I'm gonna make a diamond one soon! :)

Link: Magic Ring (right-handed)

Gosh how I wish that I had stumbled upon this earlier! 

I made my first amigurumi cupcake in joined rounds and without the magic ring. :(

Link

Link: Sweet Heart Crochet Pattern

Link

DIY: "Sweet" Ribbon Dispenser

This is a How-to that I have previously uploaded on Cut Out and Keep. Thank you all for your support on Cut Out and Keep! I'm absolutely flattered!

I love collecting scraps of ribbons. It can be an unused bundle I found in a corner of my house or a bunch of leftovers from a school project. I save them all up because you never know when you need it for gift wrapping or other crafting projects again.

But sometimes seeing those piles of ribbons can get rather depressing. Then I saw that TicTac on my table and I knew it's time I did something about my problem...

Grab that messy, distressed pile of ribbon.

Finish a container of TicTac. You don't have to finish all at one go!

Peel off the label slowly to make sure that you get a non-sticky container.

Remove the cover.

Roll the ribbon up neatly. This may require a bit more patience!

Then insert the roll of ribbon into the container. One shortcoming of this dispenser is that the roll cannot be too big, if not it can't fit into the container at all.

Make sure you leave a tail of ribbon (about 1 cm) outside the container.

Line the cover and the direction of the ribbon as shown.

This arrangement helps ensure a smooth dispensal of ribbon.

Close the cover while leaving a tail peeking out from the SIDE of the cover.

Do not leave the tail peeking from the front as the crease at the front may spoil the ribbon!

Tape the container lengthwise. You can use coloured tapes to decorate the dispenser.

The tape is needed as TicTac covers become loose after the removal of the label.

Open the cover to dispense ribbon as and when needed!

A neat and green solution to your piles of distressed ribbons! (^_^)

TIPS: Other potential dispensers are candy boxes with just a small opening but big, roomy body. But the good thing about TicTac containers is that it is clear, so we can see the contents!

***

And I tried baking - AGAIN and AGAIN

I have never given up on improving that cake/muffin 5 mins easy-bake recipe. So this is the most recent results of my baking attempt #3 and #4.

I guess generally there are improvements in the way it looks. There wasn't any spillovers compared to Attempt #2 and the muffins rose quite nicely.

baking attempt #3: the muffins kinda sags down at the centre...

baking attempt #4: i like the way the muffin breaks open at the centre!

It's also a little softer as I added more milk and less flour. But Kelly commented that it tasted like rubber and then refused to have a second serving.

Maybe it's the problem with my toaster. Kelly suggested using a microwave, just like what the recipe was initially meant for. I think I'll bake it again when I bunk in with Geokhan in her hostel next week.

That will be my baking attempt #5.

I want a Fat-bottomed bag too!

I've recently saw all these crochet fat-bottomed bags on the net. It seems like most of them got the pattern from the book, Stitch n' Bitch Crochet The Happy Hooker. There's even a tutorial for lining the bag.

Apparantly there are also videos on Youtube that teach you how to make the great FBB, but the only problem is that it's not in English.

I really like the way the bag looks. Classy yet not too old-fashioned. I thought I'd make it for my friend too! The one who's been wanting a knitted bag from me...

I WANT A FAT-BOTTOMED BAG TOO!

So I'm gonna find time to watch the videos and maybe even crack the code within...

DIY: Easy Reconstructed T!

I like tee shirts. They are comfortable, casual and chic. Everyone can look fabulous in a simple tee. But sometimes I simply don't feel like wearing the ubiquitous tee. And sometimes I get tired of my tees.

So the remedy for such problems is to reconstruct the tee! The best part of this is that no sewing is needed!

First and foremost, you gotta choose a tee. A good tee to choose is one that fits nicely and has nice graphics/words/designs in front. Take one last good look at this old tee.

Get a pair of sharp scissors.

Wear the tee and mark around the collar using a fabric chalk with the help of a mirror. How far you mark from the original collar depends on how deep you want the scoop to be.

Pin the front and back of the tee together. This helps to ensure a smooth finish to the cut. We don't want the scoop for the front and back to be different!

Take a deep breath, and cut along the line that you've just marked.

This is how the edge will look like.

To complete the look, we gotta fix the sleeves too. Turn the shirt inside-out to reveal the seams of the sleeves

The bottom of the sleeves. This is where we start.

Use the scissors to make a little snip at the bottom of the sleeves, just after the seams.

Then cut along the side of the seams, around the entire sleeves, bearing in mind to cut just after the seam. Do not cut both sides of the sleeves at the same time.

This is how the sleeves looks like after the cut.

Then wear the tee again to make sure that you are satisfied with how it looks! If you want the collar to be even deeper, mark a line around and cut it again. Do trim the collar slowly to achieve what you want, don't be too impatient!