Tuesday, 12 December 2017

Christmas Countdown Crochet Challenge #20 - Snowflakes

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I've missed a few days of my christmas countdown crochet challenge because of busy preparing for christmas celebration at church.

 Although I've skipped a few granny square, but I promised myself that I will finish all the missed granny square within a few days.

 This is my 20th granny square, a pattern from cut, Nela, cut.

Monday, 11 December 2017

Christmas Countdown Crochet Challenge #19 - Snowfall Square

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Crocheted snowflakes are super easy and addictive to me. They are work up in round and every time I finish one round I stop and stare at my work and I would be just amazed as how a simple yarn over and draw up a loop action would create such a wonderful and intricate design.

 Aurora Suominen of DragonFlyMomof2 Designs created this snowfall square. Check for the pattern here. 

 It's 13 sleeps before Christmas!

Sunday, 10 December 2017

Christmas Countdown Crochet Challenge #18 - Winter Wonderland Square

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This is originally a pattern for a blanket. Since the motif of the Afghan is a beautiful snowflake, I say why not. Let us do a granny square!

 Since I will be only working on one motif so the instruction on the website of allfreecrochetafghanpatterns can be quite overwhelmed. I attached here the pattern for the one granny square.

 My 18th Christmas granny square and that's mean it's 14 sleeps before Christmas! Just 2 weeks away!

 Here is the pattern;
Yarn Weight(4) Medium Weight/Worsted Weight and Aran (16-20 stitches to 4 inches)
Materials:
  • Patons ® Decor ™ (3.5 oz/100 g; 208 yds/190 m) BLANKET: Main Color (MC) - Coral (87430) 10 balls, Contrast A - Winter White (87614) 6 balls; PILLOW: Main Color (MC) - Frond (87521), or Oceanside (87103) 2 balls, Contrast A - Winter White (87614) 2 balls
  • Crochet hook: Size U.S. H/8 (5 mm) crochet hook or size needed to obtain gauge.
  • 14" [35.5 cm] square pillow form
Size: Blanket: Approx 48 x 55" [122 x 139.5 cm]; Pillow: Approx 14" [35.5 cm] square (excluding edging)
Gauge: One Motif = 7" [18 cm] square. 13 sc and 14 rows = 4" [10 cm]
Abbreviations: Approx = Approximately Ch = Chain(s) Cluster = (Yoh and draw up a loop. Yoh and draw through 2 loops on hook) 3 times in sp or st indicated. Yoh and draw through all 3 loops on hook Dc = Double crochet Dc2tog = (Yoh and draw up a loop. Yoh and draw through 2 loops on hook) twice in sp or st indicated. Yoh and draw through all 3 loops on hook Hdc = Half double crochet Rem = Remain(ing) Rep = Repeat Rnd(s) = Round(s) RS = Right side Sc = Single crochet Sl st = Slip stitch Sp(s) = Space(s) Tog = Together Tr = Treble crochet WS = Wrong side Yoh = Yarn over hook

INSTRUCTIONS:
Note: When working with 2 colors in rnd, carry yarn not in use loosely across WS of work and crochet around yarn not in use to avoid long strands.
Motif
With A, ch 6. Join with sl st to first ch to form a ring.
1st rnd: Ch 4 (counts as tr). 1 tr in ring. Ch 2. *(Yoh) twice and draw up a loop in ring. (Yoh and draw through 2 loops on hook) twice. Rep from * once more. Yoh and draw through all loops on hook – tr2tog made. (Ch 2. Tr2tog) 10 times. Ch 2. Join with sl st to top of ch 4.
2nd rnd: Sl st in next ch-2 sp. Ch 3. Dc2tog in same sp – counts as cluster. Ch 2. *Join MC. Ch 1. Cluster in next ch-2 sp. Join A. Ch 3. Cluster in next ch-2 sp. Ch 2. Rep from * 4 times more. Join MC. Ch 1. Cluster in last ch-2 sp. Join A. Ch 3. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. Break MC.
3rd rnd: Ch 5 (counts as hdc and ch 3). Skip next ch-3 sp. *(Cluster. Ch 2. Cluster. Ch 4. Cluster. Ch 2. Cluster) all in next ch-3 sp for corner. Ch 3.** Miss next ch-3 sp. 1 hdc in top of next cluster. Ch 3. Skip next ch-3 sp. Rep from * twice more, then from * to ** once. Join with sl st in 3rd ch of ch 5. Break A.
4th rnd: Join MC with sl st in next ch-3 sp. Ch 4 (counts as dc and ch 1). *1 dc in top of next cluster. Ch 1. 1 dc in next ch-2 sp. Ch 1. (Cluster. Ch 2. Cluster. Ch 4. Cluster. Ch 2. Cluster) all in next corner ch-4 sp. Ch 1. 1 dc in next ch-2 sp. Ch 1. 1 dc in top of next cluster. Ch 1. 1 dc in next ch-3 sp. Ch 1. 1 dc in next hdc. Ch 1.** 1 dc in next ch-3 sp. Ch 1. Rep from * twice more, then from * to ** once. Join with sl st to 3rd ch of ch 4.
5th rnd: Ch 4 (counts as dc and ch 1). (1 dc in next dc. Ch 1) twice. *1 dc in top of next cluster. Ch 1. 1 dc in next ch-2 sp. Ch 1. [(1 dc. Ch 1) 3 times. 1 dc] all in corner ch-4 sp. Ch 1. 1 dc in next ch-2 sp. Ch 1. 1 dc in top of next cluster. Ch 1.** (1 dc in next dc. Ch 1) 7 times. Rep from * twice more, then from * to ** once. (1 dc in next dc. Ch 1) 4 times. Join with sl st to 3rd ch of ch 4. Fasten off.

Saturday, 9 December 2017

Friday, 8 December 2017

Christmas Countdown Crochet Challenge #16 - Snowflake Granny Square

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How to crochet granny square as beginners? Visit Repeat Crafter Me and follow her tutorial. I always loved Repeat Crafter Me patterns. The lovely Sarah, provide easy to follow instruction complete with picture step by step.

 You can also learn from her youtube channel here.

 My 16th crochet Christmas granny square, this is an easy granny square even for beginner. 

 Click this link for the free pattern.

Thursday, 7 December 2017

Wednesday, 6 December 2017

Christmas Countdown Crochet Challenge #14 - Blizzard Warning

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Yes, it's harder than it looks. This intricate granny square even though look very detailed and I find it hard to understand the written instruction but the end result is amazing. 

 But I advised who want to try this pattern watch the video first then read the written instruction. You either have the option to the hexagon or square pattern.

Heads to Every Trick on The Hook now!

Monday, 4 December 2017

Sunday, 3 December 2017

Christmas Countdown Crochet Challenge #11 - Snowman

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Sarah from Repeat Crafter Me is where I learn to crochet in the beginning years of me as a crocheter. Her blog provides free and easy to follow tutorials.

I found this cute snowman granny square and falls for it. Too cute not to crochet!

 It's my 11th day day of the Christmas Crochet Challenge and that's mean its 21 sleeps before Christmas!

Saturday, 2 December 2017

Friday, 1 December 2017

Christmas Countdown Crochet Challenge #9 - Sweet Angel Granny Square Ornament

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Sweet Angel Granny Square. There's lot of version online on crocheting angels into a granny square but this is the most realistic looking angel. 

Donna Wolfe of naztazia.com video's is easy to follow even if you are a beginner in crocheting. 

Instead the usual white use your favorite color to crochet this granny square. You can even use it as an ornament on your Christmas tree. Click here to watch video. 

Thursday, 30 November 2017

Wednesday, 29 November 2017

Christmas Countdown Crochet Challenge #7 - Santa's Hat

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A week passed from the day I started my daily Christmas Granny Square challenge. The challenge is to search for patterns available for free online and crochet daily before Christmas! At the end of the challenge I'll be compiling all the pattern and maybe for future make  a blanket out of all the pattern.

 My 7th day granny square is Santa's hat from Wiam's Crafts.

 Pattern will guide you to crochet hat then the granny square by attaching yarn to the bottom finished hat. Add pom-pom on top of hat and you're done. 

Get pattern here, Santa's hat Crochet Granny Square.

Tuesday, 28 November 2017

Christmas Countdown Crochet Challenge #6 - Christmas Candy

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Pattern of this Christmas Candy granny square is supposedly a treat bag by Sonya from Blackstone Design. 

Crochet this adorable candy applique and attach to a granny square instead. Or, you can make a Christmas treat bag for children on your Christmas party.

 Here's how to make the candy applique:

INSTRUCTIONS:
*applique is worked in round with no joins or chains

1. With White: Magic ring, ch 1, 6 sc in ring (9)
2. *1 sc white, 1 sc red* in each st arnd (12)
3. *1 sc white, 2 sc red* arnd (18)
4. *2 sc white, 1 sc red x 2* arnd (24)
5. *2 sc white, 1 sc white, 1 sc red x 2* arnd, sl st to 1st sc; Fasten. (30)

Enjoy.

Monday, 27 November 2017

Sunday, 26 November 2017

Christmas Countdown Crochet Challenge #4 - Magic Poinsettia Granny

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Fourth day of christmas countdown crochet challenge. Today's pattern is poinsettia granny square. The flower's pattern is from a crochet christmas wreath design by Vendula Medurska from Magic with Hook and Needles. 

Here's another pattern Link by Laura from bakingoutsidethebox.com for the poinsettia.

Saturday, 25 November 2017

Friday, 24 November 2017

Christmas Countdown Crochet Challenge #2 - Christmas Wreath Granny Square

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It's my second day of daily crocheting christmas granny square challenge before Christmas. It's 31 days before Christmas. So I still have 31 more different granny square to crochet.

This is Christmas wreath granny square from Carol Wijma. I've compiled random free tutorial of Christmas-inspired granny square in the Internet. But this is the cutest granny square I can find! 

Although I think the wreath can be much puffier than this. You are supposed to make puff stitch around the wreath but I guess it wasn't puffy enough. Some of the pattern can be quite tricky for beginner but for intermediate and onward crocheter, it shouldn't be a problem.

Enjoy. 

Thursday, 23 November 2017

Christmas Countdown Crochet Challenge #1 - Snowflake Granny Square

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I decided to do a challenge of daily crocheting christmas-inspired granny square before Christmas. There will be 32 days before Christmas so this is my first granny square. I haven't decided on yet on what to do with the granny squares once done.

Here's the link for this snowflake granny square. 

Friday, 22 September 2017

DIY Project from Popsicle Stick

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Make this simple and super cheap home storage/deco/hexagon wall art with using only popsicle sticks. I got this colorful popsicle stick from Mr. DIY, my favorite store to look for affordable craft supplies. 1 packet of 51 pieces of popsicle stick costs only RM3.90. You'll be needing 2 packets for this project. 

Materials
Popsicle stick
Glue Gun


Instruction
The idea is to arrange the popsicle sticks in a hexagon so it's best if you draw a hexagon shape on a piece of paper to get the right angles and arrange the foundation in that template.

But I'm just going to eyeball the shape here. Glue the end with a glue gun. 


 Layer the sticks. 



Continue stacking and glueing until your hexagon shelf is as deep as you would like it to be. 


With about 100 sticks you'll get as deep as this photo here.



Find the space to place this cute wall art. 


Enjoy making yours today!

Sunday, 17 September 2017

Easy Tapestry Crochet

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I've been crocheting from 2012. Crochet is a handicraft in which is made up into a patterned fabric by looping yarn with a hooked needle. In the beginning, babies item are my favorite to crochet. From baby booties/shoes, dresses, hats and sweaters.

Upon stumbling on tapestry crochet, I found the whole new meaning of crochet. Tapestry crochet is fairly new in the world of crochet even in western countries. Only in recent years tapestry crochet suddenly become a craze because the outcome of this type of technique looks so intricate and beautiful when in fact it is so easy to make (if you have the basic of crocheting that is).

But I'm not in no way an expert of this technique. The above photo is my first tapestry crochet purse. 

Read an introduction of tapestry crochet from Carol Venture who discovered the technique in Guatemala. Check out her Ravelry page here. 

Get the above pattern tutorial from The Spruce. I would say this is the easier pattern to start learning tapestry crochet. 


Saturday, 16 September 2017

Crochet Baby girl dress

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Little baby dresses are so adorable and to even make one is satisfying as the parent who receive it. This design is from a Chinese crochet book. It will require about an intermediate skill level as you will only be referring to the diagram (if you can't read Mandarin that is).

The bodice starts at the top using lace as the foundation. If you are a crocheter and interested in this design, I'll be gladly to share you this design. 

Leave a message too if you are interested to order this dress for babies. 





Sunday, 3 September 2017

Make your own Air Freshener

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Air freshener smells can get overpowering for me sometimes. That’s why I opt for making my own homemade freshener. Au naturel and saves money too.

For this DIY recipes you will need no more than 5 minutes of your time.

Materials


Glass Jar
Baking Soda
Essential oil
Aluminium foil
Ribbon or string
Toothpick (not in photo)




Method
1. Pour a good amount of baking soda in the mason jar.











2. Mix a few drops of your choice of essential oil.











3. Mix thoroughly.









4. Cover lid with aluminium foil.









5. Tie rim of mason jar with ribbon.









6. Make holes on aluminium foil with a toothpick.

Air freshener is ready to be used! Place in rooms, kitchen or even on your office table.

Wednesday, 23 August 2017

How to guide children in Mandarin homework if you don't even know one word in Mandarin

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Guiding my child in his Mandarin homework is like…..


Luckily I have Pleco, the Chinese dictionary in my Android. I’m so much in love with this app. It is so easy to use. All Julian has to do if he wants to know the meaning of certain Mandarin character, is just to draw them on the screen.

I could say it is 99% accurate as it can identify the character you are drawing even if you the ugliest handwriting in the world (ok, that’s a bit too much). But still, I think it’s a great app, as you pick the correct character at the bottom of the app and out came the definition in English.


And, for some reason, the app can’t recognize your handwriting, you can use the OCR feature. Using your phone’s camera and a yellow box as your guide, point it at the character and the app will try to detect the strokes of the character and you’ll get the translation in pinyin (pinyin is roman spelling of the chinese phrase).

Type out the pinyin phrases and you'll get the definition.

But depending on the app alone is not enough. So, for non-mandarin speaker, it’s better to send children to a mandarin tuition class or on a one-to-one tuition.

Julian previous tuition teacher advice to;

* Expose children to a Mandarin-speaking environment

* If you let your children watch cartoon on television, let them watch once in a while, cartoon in Mandarin audio (at astro channel).

* As parent, I think it’s a good thing to learn with them. Try to learn a few easy Mandarin phrases; such as good morning or how‘s your day at school like; and try to communicate with them at home.


After all, we want the best for our children.



Tuesday, 22 August 2017

Healthy Living - Secret to make Sabah's famous Ngiu Chap without MSG

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Drool drool - The best Ngiu Chap of Sabah
I missed KK and the food. Whenever I’m back home, I will always look for this one particular dish that I will never get bored of and that is Ngiu Chap.

There’s so many version of making Ngiu Chap or Beef noodle you can find in the internet. I’ve tried to replicate so many recipes and ended with adding lots of MSG just because it doesn’t taste like the ngiu chap I had before.

Hunting recipes online, I found this this recipe from mama adib of dapurarazmunir.blogspot.com. Tried it and I’d swear flashback of my childhood flew across my thoughts.  With a few changes here and there, I’d believe I recreate the ultimate homemade ngiu chap (or so I thought).

NGIU CHAP / BEEF NOODLE
INGREDIENT
Vermicelli noodle or yellow noodle 

BROTH
300g beef bone
300g beef meat 
200g beef tendons (or tripe)

Beef balls
100g soya bean paste/tauchew
10g lump sugar
2 tsp white pepper
2 large onion
5 cm crushed ginger 
5L water

SPICES (Roast spices and place in a small square mesh bag)
½ tsp Szechuan pepper (you can either replace it with black pepper)
4 star anise
1 tsp cumin seed
4cm cinnamon stick

SEASONAL
Salt to taste
Sugar (I prefer to use lump sugar for its mild taste)
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ tbsp dark soy sauce

GARNISHING
Crispy fried onions
Scallion or parsley

CHILLI DIPPING SAUCE 
5 chilli pepper
10 bird’s eye chilli (more for intense spicy sauce!)
5 clove garlic
2 tbsp rice vinegar
4 tbsp lime juice
Salt & sugar to taste
¾ tsp shrimp paste (optional)

First thing first before I reveal the method of cooking, let me tell you the secret to make a good ngiu chap (note that this is fully my opinion).

 Start with good beef bones: The broth base is very important. To make a good broth, you must have all the BEEF PIECES especially the beef bones. Knuckle and leg bones are the best.
Use lump sugar or yellow rock sugar: To avoid using MSG, balance the taste with LUMP SUGAR (or even yellow rock sugar) not coarse sugar. There’s a different in taste when using lump sugar or regular sugar in dishes. Lump sugar has  a mild taste to it than regular sugar. I used this brand of lump sugar;
     
                                                        

Simmering it long enough: Everyone knows this, the longer you cook the broth the tastier and intensely flavored it is. Heck, soup taste so good the day after you cook it. I boil the broth for a good 4 TO 5 HOUR. So, use large enough stockpot without you diluting or adding more water afterwards when you find that you don't have much liquid left in the broth after hours and hours of simmering. So find a large good quality stainless steel stockpot.

                                    
  
                               
Roasting spices: Before adding to soup, ROAST SPICES (Szechuan pepper, star anise, cumin seed and cinnamon stick) and place it in a mesh bag. Otherwise you can use convenient packets of 'sup bunjut'. (But i prefer the latter).Roasting the spices gives you naturally sweet flavor.

 Now let's get to the method of cooking.

Parboil the bones: Fill large pot with water. Boil water and add the bones while keeping heat on high. Boil for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse the bones. Clean stockpot and refill pot with bones and 5 litre of water.

 Boil the broth: Bring water to a boil before adding the beef bones, meat and tendons. Add all the ingredients in the broth section (except the beef balls); soya bean paste, lump sugar, white pepper, onion and ginger. Add spices (roasted and in a mesh bag) to broth. Simmer for 1 1/2 hour before removing the beef meat. Put aside meat. Continue simmering until broth has reduced by half. Taste broth and add seasoning; salt, sugar, soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Add beef balls and simmer again for another 15 to 20 minutes. Taste broth again and adjust seasoning until tastes perfect.

 Prepare noodles and meat: Cut beef meat and tendon and set aside. Blanch noodles in hot water. 

 Prepare chilli dipping sauce: Blend all the ingredients.

 Ladling and garnishing: Fill bowl with noodles, cooked meat, tendon and beef balls and pour boiling soup on it. Garnish with crispy fried onions and scallion/parsley. 

 ENJOY YOUR HOMEMADE NGIU CHAP WITH THE CHILLI DIPPING SAUCE!