Why Crochet?

Yeah... why crochet? It's a total waste of time and a form of self-torture. When we were in Australia, the hubby said the precious has bought crochet needle and yarn to make something to sell online. Oooooo.... that's very productive of her. I taught her how to cross-stitch but she doesn't like it much until today, I still prefer cross-stitch as it is very easy, something that you do not need to use your brain power to even think, so it's really relaxing.

The hubby said the precious will teach me when I return from holiday. To my horror, the crochet project was totally abandoned and she asked me to teach her instead. I cannot see something sitting there unattended so I decided to take up what she has abandoned.

The hubby bought me a book. The book was really good but just for the beginning two stitches of chain stitch and single crochet after that there is no mention of clear instructions anymore. I'm a reader so I want everything to have words and more words to explain in detail.

Finally, we went to Sin Seng Lee in Penang Road. Bought a few ball of yarns and asked whether she can teach us how to crochet. The lady said she can only teach if we already know the basics. Hello~!! If I know the basics and everything, why will I need you to teach me? But she makes sense actually. It's like someone asking you how to write an essay without learning ABC yet and I will definitely tell that person go learn up your ABC and swallow more vocabs before I can teach you how to write a proper essay. She makes real good sense. It's also the same as asking the students to learn up their basic maths before going into additional maths. I love you auntie~!

So, I came back and am adamant to learn how to crochet a simple headband. My teacher is YouTube. I'm being very honest with this here. I watched the 15 minutes video for more than 10 times. I couldn't even get to the second row correctly. It's just a start of chain stitches and went on with slip stitch and half double crochet. I couldn't get the half double crochet right at all and when I thought I got them right, I couldn't figure out how to get to the next row and how do you go to the bottom of each chain. I almost tear my hair out and on the third day, I told myself, if I could not get it right for the last time, I will totally abandon the project. I watched the same video again and it clicked in my mind that I have missed out one crucial step and from then on everything went smoothly.

Why you need to practice the same stitches over and over again is so that you know the perfect tension to each stitch. It can neither be too slack or too tight. I taught my precious how to make the same thing and I could totally understand her frustrations when she said she could not see where the stitches were. Again, I could totally understand the auntie in Sin Seng Lee who said that you'll need to learn up the basics only then she can teach you further. I was really frustrated with my precious for not grasping the skill fast enough. She gave me two options: If she learns up crochet now, she will delay taking her practical exam in piano. If she proceeds with the practical examination, she will abandon the crochet again. This is a form of quiet blackmailing. I chose that she abandon the crochet because I have no patience in teaching her the basics.

It felt really wonderful to see a ball of yarn turned into something wearable. It's really hot putting on the headband so I wore it once only for less than 2 hours and it's going to sit in the wardrobe till kingdom comes.

The 5/4 Dress...

I wanted to make a simple dress to attend the birthday luncheon. I still could not understand the measurements given on the pattern book. If I follow the measurements given, I could not even go into the dress. Then, I follow my own measurements and somehow or other it could fit one and a quarter of me. I wanted to try the same pattern but I'm not one who likes to repeat on the same thing over and over again.

I did wear the dress to the luncheon. I don't care whether it looks hideous or not, once you do something for yourself, you must have the courage to wear that out. If you flip through the newspapers, the fashion page does not show you any decent clothing on the models. The designers designed something that you will not dare to walk out even to the nearest wet market or night market. I would rather wear my cow pyjamas bought in China than wear the curtain drape.