Crocheting a small bag

I crocheted a small bag, using a gold sparkly yarn, which is one of my favorites.

Would you like to know how small the bag is?

Well, as you can see, it's so small that it can sit on my palm like this!

Here, I attached a chain to the *tiny* bag to make it into a necklace...

Or I can shorten the chain and hang it to my handbag like this.

This morning, I noticed that tomorrow is the last day of September, and I overheard our girls talking about what they want to be for this year's Halloween (October 31).   And I'm thinking... it's Halloween already?  Then comes Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year... OMG I'm feeling old again (lol)...

Well, I am going to enjoy my autumn days with more crafty moments (hopefully) before we hit that  holiday rush again this year.  Good bye September, and hello October.  Hope you treat me kindly ;)

Handmade kitchen scrubbie with a ribbon

For a quick project, I crocheted a square shaped kitchen scrubbie using 100% acrylic yarn from my yarn stock.   I've made a couple of these scrubbies in the past , in different shapes and colors, and I find them very useful, eco-friendly, and gentle on my hands, when I do the dishes.  BTW it's machine washable and dryer safe.

Of course I still use the ordinary detergents and a kitchen sponge when I clean greasy dishes or after I cut meat, poultry, fish, etc., but for non-greasy dishes, cups, and utensils, these kitchen scrubbies do the job just fine.  These acrylic scrubbies work just like microfibers so in most cases, they make the dishes and glasses even shinier.

The size of this scrubbie is approximately 5 " x 5 ", or 12.5 cm x 12.5 cm.   I did not follow any pattern to make this, I simply double crocheted several rows and then added a simple edging all around and a loop at the end.   Yes, I know that white ribbon at the corner of the scrubbie wasn't really necessary, but I just wanted to add a little cuteness to our kitchen sink... ;)



I will hang this scrubbie like this at our sink.

Happy crocheting and happy dish washing!  ...Well, hopefully ;)

Handmade room slippers

I made a new pair of room slippers for myself.  

I have cold feet (and hands), and I wear socks and/or room slippers throughout the year when I'm home.

To prevent from slipping, the back sides of the slipper soles are made of synthetic leather, which are machine washable.



The slipper exterior is made of 100% linen (navy blue).  For the lining,  I used 100% cotton double gauze fabric (roses on pale blue) which makes it very comfy to slip my feet inside!

Inside out of the slippers looks like this.     You really can't tell from the image, but for the sole part, there are two layers of fleece batting sandwiched between the double gauze lining and the synthetic leather sole  (which makes it a total of four layers).



I used slippers pattern from this Japanese craft magazine and made some minor adjustments.  The slipper size is approximately size 5-6 in U.S. women's sizes, or 23 cm - 24 cm in metric size, which fit me perfectly :)

Magazine Title: Cotton Friend  2011 Spring edition (vol. 38)

Publisher: Boutique-sha




Image from the magazine.

It was my first attempt to sew handmade slippers on my own, and boy, how it was challenging!!

I almost gave up during the process... but after several trial and errors, I was glad to be able to complete it. Phew...

 

Above, my slippers are worn by my older daughter, whose height and shoe sizes are almost identical as mine (and she's only eleven years old!)

Stitching for (another) baby

Hello my fellow crafty friends :)

  Our girls' schools started last week and we are back to our full swing schedule.  I haven't had much time to sew lately, but I managed to stitch a special gift set for that special person...  Yes, another baby gift set created for our friend's baby boy.

As you may recall, I've already made two of the similar baby gift sets in the recent weeks, one for the baby Kaito (boy) and another for the baby Reina (girl).

This time, it's for baby William...  I handstitched his name using the chain stitch technique.

 I selected the fun goat prints on aqua blue as main fabric, and combined it with linen and polka dots flannel.

The drawstring bag and the bib are fully reversible.   Reversible side is super soft flannel in powder blue polka dots.

Once again, the reversible drawstring bag is made based on the awesome tutorial by Pink Penguin. 

Well, this handmade gift set for William is the last baby gift item on my list (for now)... I really enjoyed making stuff for babies, and I can't wait to make another one! 

Anyone expecting (lol)???