Fingerless Gloves!

After the socks, I was itching to do more knitting and at the request of my princess, a pair of fingerless gloves are born!

And she loves it!
And it seems like I have problem stopping at a pair.... :P

Knitted Socks!

The last time I touched a set of knitting needles was about 5 years ago and I was just doing simple things like scarves and hats.

Some time ago, the temperature our part of the world dropped to minus 20 something degrees. Hubby and I were talking about buying thicker socks for the kids and suddenly he said,"But you can knit them!" (ok, his actual words were "But you can make them!" That's the engineer talking, he MAKES everything! ^.^) I was hesitant because I have never used double pointed knitting needles and have never tried knitting socks, they just look so complicating to do!

So after doing some research online and found a few wonderfully made Youtube films, I started knitting my very first sock!

This was the first prototype. I was just trying to get use to the needles and trying out the different stitches and decreasing methods....

This was the second prototype, getting there....

Ta-da! Ladies and gentlemen, presenting my first sock! And it looks quite ok!

And most importantly, the recipient of these socks are happy with them! ^.^

And now I'm on to make a pair for my princess! ^.^

2011 Calendar

We usually will receive free calendar for the new year from the county. However, there wasn't any this year... (budget issue?) I have never buy calendar. Back home in Singapore, you'll get new one from several sources, the gas company whom we order the gas cylinder (for the stove) from, the banks or just bring home some from the office (the office was usually just flooded with calendars!). Sometimes we will even get them as free gifts when we buy products like rice. I guess in Singapore, calendars are used as one of the marketing tools.

Here in Sweden, I'm not sure where we can get free calendar, or even if free calendar exists! Since we don't have any and I definitely am not willing to spend more than 100SEK just to buy a calendar, I decided to make my own! ^.^

I got the templates from a free printable calendar website (there's plenty out there!) and within minutes, I've got a new personalized calendar!

January...

February...
May....

December...
I've used some pictures of my crafts, holiday pictures of us enjoying ourselves (for the summer months!) and pictures of my love ones for the months when they have their birthdays. Initially I wanted to use pictures of my favorite food in Singapore to celebrate the foodie in me! :P But after considering that it may be really tough for me if I decide to finally go on a diet, I trashed the idea... :D I've also colored the public holidays in red, special days like father's day, mother's day, Christmas eve, etc are in yellow and friends and family's birthdays are marked with a purple heart!

Go on, make yourself your own calendar today! ^.^

Hubby's Christmas Present!

I always find it tough to buy presents for my hubby. The stuff that he wants, I can't afford them. The stuff that I can afford, he already has loads of them... Last year I thought I did a good job getting him an electronic photo frame, one which you can put in a memory card and it'll just flashes pictures randomly from the memory card. He was surprised and was very happy with that. This year I've really been cracking my head on what to buy for him... Since budget is an issue here, I decided to crochet him something!

And this is what I came up with!

Mythbusters - Jamie and Adam!

Hubby is a great fan of "Mythbusters" and has always been saying how fun it will be to be working in the same team together with those guys. Well, it's beyond my contacts to get him a job on the show, but I brought the main characters to him! (well, at least I tried...)

Adam's shirt says "Mythbusters"! (sorry for my poor embroidery skills! :P)

And Jamie's says "Rotosub", which is my hubby's company! ^.^

I thought they are quite cute! ^.^ And I really hope that hubby will like them!

St. Lucia Day

Here in Sweden, the schools celebrate St. Lucia Day. On 13th December, there will be a procession in schools. There will also be procession done in the church early in the morning and broadcast on tv. Usually a girl will be selected to be Lucia and a few more to be her maids. And in school, there will be boys selected to be "Stjärngoosar" ("Star boys")and "Pepparkaksgubber" ("Gingerbread boys") or "Tomtenissar" ("Santa's elves") .

And in my children's elementary school, the Lucia procession is always done by the kids in Year 3. Last year, my eldest prince was a star boy. This year was my princess's turn and she was to be one of the maid to Lucia. Princess A has got an old costume which she wore 3 years ago during the Lucia procession in the kindergarten. Thinking that she'll only wear the costume once, I was very reluctant to buy a new one. So I took out the costume which Prince J wore last year and announced bravely that I would try to modify it into a maid's costume! And if it fails, then we'll shop for a new one....

So this was how the star boy costume looked like before I started taking some stuff apart...

I started by removing the standing collar...

Took out the collar from Princess's maid costume from 3 years ago and attached to the "new" costume...
Took out the lace from the sleeves of the old costume and attached to the "new" costume...

Sewed in elastic bands close to the end of both sleeves...

Ta-dah! There you have it, a "new" maid costume!

And of course this has to get an okay from Princess A, who was the one wearing it. She was very happy with the result! A little DIY and we saved 199kr! Yippee!

Happy Birthday Little Brother!

Was cracking my brain on what to get for my little brother's birthday. Since we're trying to budget our expenditure nowadays, I decided to make him something. And he has been a true Doraemon fan since young, so I decided to brave the uncertainties and make him a Doraemon keychain.

And this is the result. Not perfect, I know. There are so many places I need to improve on if I'm gonna make this again. I hope he receives my best wishes and warm thoughts though...

See I even remembered to put on his tail!

Happy Birthday my little brother! *hug*

A Little Coin Purse

This is my first attempt in crocheting a coin purse, so I stick to the basic shape without any pattern. I've also crocheted a butterfly appliqué to make it look a little more interesting.

I think I'll try to sew a lining the next time so it looks more finished.

But I'm happy with this for now! And like most of my prototypes, this one has already been adopted by my princess! ^.^