Congrats to the 2009 Crochet Calendar Contest Winners!

If you're interested in submitting to the 2010 calendar, go to the website for details.
If you want to know what patterns are in the 2009 calendar, there is a link there to the Table of Contents.
And yay, I have two patterns in the 2009 calendar:

Multicolor Sling Purse

Poinsettia Coaster

New photos of some old projects

I was looking for some zippers in my old plastic drawer, when I saw some old crochet projects. I have totally forgotten that I had these...


The heart is a valentine coaster. The tissue pouch is a plain one I just made up, and it wasn't really that good since I had to squeeze in the tissue on the small opening :p


The swatch is actually an attempt to make this cellphone case pattern from DMC.
The coaster is made from scrap rug yarn, and I just found out that it makes a good tawashi.


Some little purses I made incorporating beads into crochet... Pattern for the white cotton one came Crochet Fantasy magazine. I made up the pink one... yarn is acrylic and a bit scratchy.


This is supposed to be a squirrel...I most probably got the pattern from Crochet World magazine. Made of cotton thread, and with so many parts to put together... I was crazy enough to make one :p

A new, old crochet book

I bought a crochet book today...I saw it on a used book sale and it was only P190. ($4.40)... I asked myself, do I really need another book, especially one from 1975? Oh, but this is Anne Halliday's book - the projects and photos look wonderful! And when was the last time I posted about buying a book? Must have been a long while ago since I can't remember...so this isn't a syndrome or anything bad at all now, is it??
Anyway, what I like about this book is, not only does it encourage the crocheter to be creative on one's own, but the patterns in it are still current. I might not be making a project from it soon, but I feel lucky to have found it to add to my collection :)

3rd blogiversary...

Another blogiversary, oh my! Its been three years and 368 posts ago, since this first post. The pictures now look ancient to me - but my blog basically remained the same, like me - same color, same style. I'm a bit old-fashioned as you may have noticed already...
Anyways, some of you had been visiting me here for the past three years, and you're still here now (yay!). Thanks so much for looking and reading and most especially for your inspiring comments! I am so looking forward to sharing a lot more crochet and other stuff with you all.

Btw, I'm not having a blog party this year - no food and drinks, no prizes...
But I am giving you all a crochet flower pattern, which I hope you will enjoy making for yourself or for gifts ;)

Little flowers with leaves - free crochet pattern

I already have a flower applique pattern here published a few years back, but it had 6 petals instead of 5. Also for this pattern, I added leaves to complete the design.
Using scraps of thread, this is a very practical embellishment. However, this is so little, measuring only 1 1/8 inches from one leaf end to the other. You could make bigger flowers by using yarn and bigger hook.

These little flowers look cuter here in the picture, so I'm very pleased with this shot ;) I'm also glad I had something to post here today... Thanks for looking!



Little Flowers with Leaves
by Mimi Alelis copyright 2008
Note: This pattern is for personal use only, not for distribution and not to be posted on any other site.
Original link: http://mycrochetstuff.blogspot.com/2008/05/little-flowers-with-leaves-free-crochet.html
Materials
Cotton thread, small amounts main color and contrasting color for flower, and green for leaves
Size 2 or 1.75mm steel hook, or size preferred

Flower
Rnd 1: With contrasting color thread, ch 2, 5 sc in 2nd ch from hook. Join with sl st to first sc. Cut off thread.
Rnd 2: Attach main color, [ (ch 2, 3dc, ch 2, sl st) in the same sc, sl st to the next sc], 5 times, making 5 petals. Cut off.

Leaves
Rnd 1: With green, ch 5, * 2 dc on 3rd ch from hook, ch 2, sl st on top of last dc made. Dc on same st as previous dc. Ch 2, sl st on same st**, sl st on next 2 chs. Ch 3, repeat from * to **. Cut off.

Finishing
Sew leaves to the back of flower.


Other popular designs:

Chic Cell Phone Purses
Stylish Crochet Mesh Bags
Stylish Makeup Purse
Shell Halter Top
Shells and Flowers Shrug
Cute Tawashi Designs


All my designs in one page - thanks to Ravelry!

Bolero/shrug FO

I call this the triangle-stitch bolero/shrug. I thought I'd like it more as a shrug, but now I like it too as a bolero. Because it is close fitted, it is quite warm even if the stitches are mesh-like.

Project details are on Ravelry.

Mothers - four generations

This was taken around 1965! My greatgrandmother, grandmother, mother and eldest sister - four generations of mothers. The three older mothers all crocheted, my sister never did...so why wasn't I in the photo? Well, my sister is also the first granddaughter (not to mention, the favorite) ; besides, only one of each generation was represented :p Though I could not remember, I was also on that occasion as shown in this photo.

Happy Mother's Day to all my blogging, crafting, mommy friends!

Crochet Shrug and Chiffon belly dance hipscarf

The triangle-stitch bolero/shrug I've been working on is now a finished shrug. I will continue working on it for the lower part which will transform it into a bolero ;)



I also want to show here one of the chiffon hipscarfs that I bought a while back. I didn't pay much attention to it and kept in the closet, until my sister came here for a short vacation. Actually, my sis asked if I could make a crocheted version. (Btw, I saw a few patterns for sale on Etsy and was so tempted to buy it...)



I saw the hipscarf for sale here at a nearby store at a low price so I bought two. I gave my sis the red one...though she already bought some at an online (Turkish store) in UK, she didn't have a red one.
Anyways, when my sis and I found time together, we put on our hipscarfs and she taught me some belly dancing moves. Believe me, I instantly loved it...the jiggling of the coins and the music was captivating.
My sister flew back to UK last weekend, and (other than the thought that I'll be missing her so much again...) I thought to myself I'm sure I'd forget the dance moves she taught me. So I searched online for some tutorials, and was thrilled at all the resources that I found online! And that's why I went on and created my Belly Dancing blog to put it all together ;)

Come belly dance with me :)

What could be a better activity to balance our crocheting or knitting? I could not think of any that would be as enjoyable and beneficial as belly dancing. Yes, ladies this is it! This is the right exercise, and I'm in. If you want to join the fun, go over my new blog, and you will see. I will try to convince you. Also, watch the video on the first post and I bet you will want to dance!

Another goal in Crochet

There is one more thing that I've long wanted to do: to make projects from all the yarns/threads that I've received from gifts, swaps and online purchases. But most of all, from the gifts I got from my dear crochet friends, (you all know who you are) and from my dear sister. One of these days I'll take them all out from hiding, sort them and feel them. And maybe one by one they'll speak to me and tell me what they ought to be ;)

Gray Cardigan FO and Bolero/shrug WIP

As promised, my sister modeled the gray cropped cardigan. I finished it a day late though, and its already dark outside to be taking a photo with my camera...here's the best I could do with the photos:

And here's the latest on my triangle-stitch bolero/shrug WIP: