The One with that Gold Necklace

The One with that Gold Necklace is a shrewd businesswoman who finds her way out in office politics. Take good care of The One with that Golden Necklace and your face will appear on the Year 2020 Annual Issue of TIMES magazine.

The One with Fingers

Ever seen a Gingerbread man with fingers? This is truly the only one. The One with Fingers gives you nimble fingers to maneuver your compasses. Take good care of The One with Fingers and your wonderful ideas will be sprouting from your head. Just look at its head of crazy hair!

The One in Golden Bikinis

The One in Golden Bikinis blesses you with great beauty. Take good care of The One in Golden Bikinis and you might find that the Fountain of Youth is really just the tap in your kitchen.

The One with a Crimson Heart

The One with a Crimson Heart blesses you with great relationships with your peers and family. Take good care of The One with the Crimson Heart and it will lead you to your love.

*P.S.: He's a guy with a crimson heart beneath his shirt, not outside.

Stayover with Weiwen and Amanda

I finally got to bunk in with Weiwen and Amanda in their hall last Friday! I know it's been almost a week but I've been rather busy lately to put up the photos and to write about it. Anyway, here goes!

First of all, I finally got the chance to give them the presents that I have knitted and crochet for them.

Please ignore the legs. Anyway it's not mine!

It's the Blanket Buddy as seen in 101 Designer One Skein Wonder and a Cupcake from BitterSweet. Actually I finished knitting the Blanket Buddy a long long time ago but never got around to fill up the head, embrioder the eyes and then give it to Amanda. The cupcake was an easier project that I finished in a single day.

The proud owners!

Hopefully Amanda will feel more comforted during her lonely nights in hall with the Blanket Buddy with her! And I certainly do not wish that Weiwen will get too tempted to eat the strawberry cupcake. She'll be choking on the whole furball!

Then we baked the whole night away in the hall's kitchen. Well, almost. It's supposed to be Weiwen's Double Chocolate Chip Cookie, but really it's simply a recipe she got somewhere and she added double the amount of chocolate chip required. There was so much cookie dough that we couldn't finish the entire batch that we baked that night! I'll try to post the recipe up soon. (^_^)

Hmmmmm...

This is my favourite piece (^_^)

Last but not least, I tried baking my cupcakes (yet again!) using the REAL oven in the hall kitchen. I thought it's gonna come out great. But it turned out HORRENDOUS, and this is not an exaggeration. The cupcakes was dark, flat, dense and tasted rubbery. 

I wonder if it's the problem with the mixture or the heat. The mixture had turned all watery by the time we started pouring it into the paper cups. But it also could have been the heat settings of the oven. Don't tell me how high I set the oven, I really don't remember.

One thing that I have to say is that this is the WORST baking attempt ever for the cupcakes. I kept trying to explain to both Weiwen and Amanda that it really isn't supposed to turn out this way and I've made it 100 times better in my previous attempts using my toaster oven.

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

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!

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A gentleman's ascot

Recently I've been into knitting ascot. They are mini projects that knit up quickly to give almost instant gratification and also, they can be knitted with one ball or less!

I've actually knitted Vickie Howell's Lana and Clark Ascot using Moda Vera Jelly yarn, the blue-white one that you can see from my previous post. It's meant to be a present to my friend, so I don't think I"m going to upload pictures of it so soon. What I can say is that I really felt like making another one for myself after that. (^_^)

But before I do that, I decided to make a black and white ruffled ascot look-alike. It's actually inspired by the Vickie Howell's The Formality Scarf and the ruffles seen in the knitted project "Pretty Pillows" that was featured in the Knitty Gritty Knits book that I got from the local library.

I really like the way it all turned out, although I didn't thought it'd actually look like this when I first started out. It's not really an ascot anymore. I think it looks more like a unique necklace. But one thing I have to admit is that the back doesn't look pretty with my haphazard sewing.

Knitting with fabric strips

I think this is the first and the last time that I am trying knitting with fabric strips.

I started out by cutting a piece of old teddy bear prints cloth into long strips and then tying them together to form one single ball of fabric yarn. Initially the whole process was kinda exciting and the yarn looked really yummy to me.

Then while i started catsing them on and knitting them in garter stitch, I realised what a horror it turned out to be! (T_T)

The fabric were all fraying and the result wasn't the least bit like what I have imagined it to be!

And in the end, i ripped it out from my needles and threw it all into the bin.

Finger-knitting

I've just found a great site with a tutorial for finger knitting here.

Perhaps I should try finger knitting with of of those chunky, funky yarns soon. :)