Adult Cloche

Last Christmas, I had a blog post about a hat I made for my daughter. I also shared a version for adult hat in the post. I like the floral cloche on Crochet Today, but the flower is quite fancy to me. I mean, in my country, only girls or babies wear big flowers. Therefore, I really enjoy looking at women in the US with flowers on their hair or hats. They look so femine. I know that but I still can't change my mindset yet.

So I made this cloche, changing a little bit int he pattern. I added decreased treble crochet to make V-cabled on the hat. I bought the yarn in IDEA Store, too. The yarn is 50% wool, and I ended up buying 10 skeins of this yarn. No other colors. It is quite itchy at the forehead. My friends complimented on this hat a lot but I can't use it for a lot of reasons. Wait for the spring, maybe.

Adult Cloche

Bernat Chunky Neckwarmer

This chunky neck warmer I made from Bernat Softee Chunky Yarn, as required in the pattern. You can find the free pattern here.

This neck warmer was made quickly due to the thickness of the yarn and the pattern. My aunt in-law also wants me to make a black one for her. 

I may try to make a trip to Jo Ann or Michaels to look for Bernat Softee Chnuky in black.
--
Updated (Feb 15 2014)
This is the black one.

I couldn't find Bernat Softee Chunky Yarn, so I used 3 strands of Bernat Satin Ebony. The combination of 3 strands also made this neck warmer thick enough.

My favorite hat pattern of the year-Bubblegum beanie

Wandering in IDEA Store, I found Inside Crochet, a magazine from the UK. I bought it because it has an attractive hat pattern I really want to make. You may buy the pattern from Ravelry.

Here are several of hats I have made for 5 days.
This pink hat I made with Lion Brand Baby First yarn. The pattern requires really chunky yarn and this yarn is really good, chunky but soft. The hat is cabled, reversible and stretchy. I call it "2 in 1" and "one size fits all" hat.

The cable

The reversible side

I like this twisting cable here, an embellishment made during the hat making process. I don't need to make any flowers to attach on it.

I made this hat as a Christmas gift for my friend's daughter. I made another red hat for another friend's daughter too. This time I used Hobby Lobby yarn "I love this cotton". I combined 2 strands of worsted weight to make it, the result was the hat also looks chunky. I love the color, too. Red is Christmas color, right?

The hat also fits my head.

Yesterday, 24 Dec 2013, I went to Walmart and bought 2 skeins of Lion Brand Hometown USA, Honolulu Pink yarn. The yarn is bulky so I worked more quickly and tried it on. I ask my husband to take a picture of me wearing that so pink hat. I have never tried any pink things before.


Love this hat pattern so much!

Polar Bear and Gold Fish Hats

The pattern is here, on Crochet Today Magazine. You have to buy the magazine to have the pattern. Sorry about that. The yarn you need is super bulky and the hook I used is N/15 or 10 mm.
I got the yarn from IDEA Store. Just one skein, and just enough for the hat only. I like shopping at this store very much. You don't know what you can find there because the stock depends on what people donate. Like a treasure hunt. The result is I stock a lot of yarn and fabric at home.
 I made this hat last year, when I just found the yarn, but the season is not right to try it on. Until this winter.

Here is the Gold Fish hat whose the pattern I found on Crochet World Magazine. My daughter wanted me to make her 2 more hats, orange and red. So this goldfish hat satisfied her. Just one more red hat to go.

Happy crocheting!

Mommy's and daughter's hats

I found the pattern for the hat from Fave Crafts. But you can find the original pattern from Red Heart.  I decided to make one for me, but I couldn't find the yarn requested. I used Caron Simply Soft instead. While I was crocheting for me, my baby asked what I was making. I answered "A hat." She said, "For me." So, I made one for her first, then one for me. One skein of Caron Simply Soft can make almost 3 hats. I also made one for my aunt in-law.

The first one- for my baby

2 more hats. 

Here she is, with the flower cloche.

You may want to try the yarn requested. As I finished, my hats don't have the texture like in the pattern picture.

Happy Crocheting!

White floral hat

With the same pattern of floral hat on Crochet Today, I made about 5 more hats last year. They needed flowers and leaves to become lovely gifts. But I couldn't make any flowers to embellish them.

Yesterday we went to a restaurant to have a farewell party with a friend of my husband's. Their daughter was one year older then mine. We had celebrated birthdays together for all children here born in September and October, including my and their daughters. Now, one of those hats I made must be a farewell gift.

The flower I made here is based on this pattern - colorful flower. The leaf I made from this pattern - Leaf face Scrubbie. You can look for the hat pattern on Red Heart Yarn or Crochet Today. One of my old posts also has the link to the pattern.

Cardigan for 3 year-old girl

I'm slow. Slow in doing anything, with sewing, crocheting, crafting, cooking. So when I saw the book Crochet in a Day for Baby (sample), my eyes shone. I may have a cardigan made on my baby's third birthday. The idea was so inviting.
My baby wanted a yellow cardigan for her. She liked the yellow dress Belle wearing in the movie "Beauty and the Beast," and she wanted the yellow cardigan to go with the yellow dress she has. Haizz, movies do affect a lot in life. My baby is not an exception.
I have to explain more about the yarn I used here. I stocked yarn. There was a time I kept going to Michael's to look for clearance yarn. I intended to make this and that dress for my baby, I downloaded and saved the patterns but most of them required light weight yarn. I found some Bernat Softee Baby yarns on clearance and grabbed them. But, they have been in my boxes for a long time. No time to work on those patterns any more.
Now, my baby is in preschool. I try to have more time for me. Drop my baby off at her school, stay in the car to crochet for a little time, then head to the library to study something. However, I have been spending more time on crocheting than studying. I am addicted.
Now, yellow yarn. I don't want to buy any more yarn. Digging in the boxes, I found 2 skeins of Bernat Softee yarn. They are 3- medium weight yarn, not the worsted one as required in the pattern. Sigh, I had to calculate the stitches. Luckily, I have another cardigan made by the same yarn but in the color of aqua. I got it out, counted the stitches and made some simple calculations. Done.
Smaller yarns cost me more time to complete this cardigan. The texture doesn't look the same with the one in the book but it's still fine. I may try another one in future. Love the colors the author Candi Jensen used.

Aqua cardigan for 1 year-old girl

2 years ago,I made this cardigan for my baby and tried to finish it on her first birthday. She was born in October, and I thought it was perfect for a cover with a sleeveless dress. I also thought fall was not so cold so a cabbage hat was fine. My baby was eager to wear it everywhere until she is 3 now. The sleeves are short now. Luckily, the cardigan was tied by a bow so it was not so tight for my baby though she is tiny. She still wore it on her 3rd birthday.

The pattern of this cardigan is here but my cardigan is quite different. I didn't make the people applique. , I bought 2 skeins of Bernat Baby Soft for sale, and they were medium weight. At the time I made this cardigan, I didn't like the idea to make pieces and seam them together, so I tried to calculate, crocheted, rip it off, crocheted again, trial and fail, and finally, I made it. I also added scallop edging and flowers to embellish. Maybe another time, I have more time to post the way I made it seamlessly. 

Handmade gift lasts long. Happy crocheting!

Another unfinished project now finished

I like surfing books for ideas and usually I want to do this and do that. But time is limited. I always feel teh day is shorter.
I love this book, I [love] patchwork. Just google the name of the book and you will see so many products made by customers.

I started to study a writing course last semester. As requested by the teacher, I had a triangular highlighter instead of 3 highlighters, a set of index cards, a pencil, an eraser, a pencil sharpener, and a pen. Registering for a Coursera course, I need a small and portable headset to listen to video lectures on Coursera.org. Also, I need them separate from other stuff in my backpack with my baby's food, clothes inside. There, this cosmetics pouch is a perfect thing I need.

I cut cloth squares from fabric stash I have but let them lie in the drawer for a few months. Thanks summer for coming and now I have time to finish it.

2 days. I tried to be more patient now. I learned from those impatient times in the past. It is better to work slowly and carefully than to correct it later. Voila, it's here. Thanks Rashida Coleman-Hale for bringing it on me.

What are these?

I had a presentation about Vietnam, my home country last April. And I got an email from a Japanese friend last week asking about this picture. Her daughter didn't know what these people were carrying in tiny bicycles. In spite of safety issues,they look artful, thanks to the unknown photographer.

But what are they on the bicycles? You can see them more clearly from this picture:

 I know these things are but I don't know the English words. Even Vietnamese people who don't live in the country can't distinguish the different names, shapes ans sizes of the tools. Even with the same function, it will be named different due to local dialects. The things in the picture above is named "đó" (pronounced as "door" with higher pitch, no "r" sound).

As you can see, in image a, "đó ruộng" is the tool used in the rice paddy, while "đó đầm" is used in the ponds and lakes. They are made of bamboo. The farmer put "đó ruộng" in the small current and left it there. Following the current, fish swam into the entrance of the tool and couldn't escape. Unfortunately, fish is becoming rare because people tend to use more chemical fertilizer and herbicide. Consequently, these tools are disappearing and can only be seen in the private museum.



These are fishing tools weaven from bamboo in the South of Vietnam

Luckily, someone may see through their decorative side and use them in country-themed restaurants. "Đó" was used on Nguyễn Huệ flower street in Lunar New Year.

Just hope this explains something in the picture on top.

I am a writer

I tried to write this essay to submit on coursera.org. The class I am taking is "English Composition 1."
--
I am not a writer. It was not my profession, and now, as a stay-home mom, I am not a writer at all. But I have to write. I write in my Vietnamese for my baby's blog, telling about her events so that my mother living in another hemispheres can know about her grand-daughter. I sometimes write something not important on my facebook notes to let my thoughts out of my brain, in Vietnamese too. So, I am an amateur writer in my mother tongue. However, I want to write to communicate with my foreign friends, who usually see my writing awkward.
I am from Vietnam. I was educated to become a teacher of English in high schools. Then I studied Master of TESOL to teach English in colleges. I should have been a teacher if I had not followed my husband to the U.S. He is studying for Ph.D while I become a stay-home mom with a brains always filling up with so many questions. Sacrifice or not sacrifice? Family or Work? My baby or my career? 3 years staying home because my visa status does not allow me to study higher or work, even part-time. Therefore, writing is my relieving solution.
But I used to writing in my mother tongue, I wrote well when I was in high school. In my country, students depend on sample essays to learn more beautifully-written phrases to write well. However, I didn't follow that. I read a lot instead. Regretfully, I didn't do the same when I learned to write English essays in college. I still read Vietnamese novels then and felt it hard to digest the thinnest English novel in the library. Another reason is I didn't practice writing much. That's why I am not a good writer in English.
I am trying to correct that mistake by learning to write in English again. 3 years staying home with my baby, I have chance to read materials about parenting and children books. Still, American people find my writing "awkward", the word they describe my writing. I am also worried about grammar mistakes. From my language background, I am not used to using articles, prepositions and tense. That's the reason why I enroll this class with the hope to be helped from others.

Be Creative in Poverty

I have 2 essays to write but can not help sharing this. Writing this way is also some kind of practice, so... Write!
The news is in Vietnamese. The context is in Vietnam. The school is in Yen Bai, north Vietnam where teachers have to live together in the same room. Although the school was funded to build a two-story building, teachers have to use their creativeness to furnish the school.
While many people complain about the government's wasting money in other projects, I feel the teachers should feel proud of themselves. They don't let poverty conquer them but make creativeness flourish.
Here are pictures from the news:

This is the picture of the school. It has a 2 story-building with about 10 classrooms, I guess. They have the gate but the fence is made from bamboo branches.

This is the picture of a room where teachers live together. They sleep in metal bulk beds.

They painted mathematical formula on the side of the stairs so that students from the yard can look at and learn by hearts. However, I don't understand why they painted a picture of Snow White and 7 dwarfs. They should have painted a picture of an ethnic hero in their literature. Just my opinion.

The container of shuttlecock is cut into halves and used as a flower vase. Green, right?

The flowers on the windows are from old CDs. Beautiful classrooms, huh?
Creativeness has no borders. Hope that all school in Vietnam can learn their green ideas.

I am studying about GE Food

What Is Genetic Engineering? | Union of Concerned Scientists

Let's see.
--
I tested to share this website when I learn to evaluate it. Is it credible? Sometimes it's hard to know if a website is credible at the first time. My teacher showed us how to evaluate it.
The people behind the website want it to be widespread so it has a "Share" function. The difference is that it can be shared via more than 300 weblogs, emails all around the world. Last time I tried sharing it on blogger.

However, I ended up using sources from books in addition to this website. I don't have time to stay on the computer to read internet articles. Moreover, I can borrow books from the library. I can read books while playing with my baby. I tried to let my baby away from the laptop as much as possible. But, usually, she found me in the other room working on my essays on the laptop and she insists watching some video clips.

Oh, she's awake. Stop now.

Reprting verbs to write an article summary

I am taking ESL 101 in Parkland college. It is more heavy load than the Research writing course I studied when I was junior in my college 8 years ago. The class teaches me different kinds of academic writing with the most basic structure. I may have written them when I studied Master of TESOL from University of Canberra from 2005 to 2007, but I have a little impressions about them until now...
The first week, 3 page opinion essays. I missed the discussion on the first day. Then the class discussed more about typing format, basic structure of an American essay and culture differences affecting how to write essays among international students. Then, the essay was due last Tuesday. Boom, no ideas, a lot of ideas to narrow down, my baby being sick, housework, and so on. I feel I was behind.
Next Tuesday is the due date for the second assignment- an article summary. Just in one page.
After 3 years staying home, totally devoted to housework and baby care, I had no ideas to write, if yes, I wrote in my mother tongue. Now, If I want to be prepared for back-to-school, I have to learn again, seriously.
I started this blog. I force myself to write English on this blog. Just tell myself to write more, and read much more. If you find grammar mistakes or silly sentences, please help me by telling me. This blog is a place I try to write naturally by trusting myself, as my teacher suggested, but I need help. Thanks a lot.
Hey, I found this very useful material for writing the summary. Just want to share with you.
First is VERBS used to report the information in the article. Sometimes I can't distinguish when to use "argue" and "reckon". Here is the explanation. Thanks to University of Adelaide. It has explanation about meanings, patterns and some examples to use in a summary.
Secondly, you can practice paraphrasing and summarizing on this website. It is so useful. I love websites having exercise for me to practice.
Just one class but I feel overwhelmed. Now, a course in Coursera is waiting for me.

How to make a paper gift box

Here is the instruction for making an origami box, using a square paper
Video: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-a-paper-box-2?sourcelink=verticalrecommendation

It's a good source when you have a lot of gift wrap paper around your house. I made some tiny boxes, put several chocolate candies in and voila, a tiny gift from Santa Claus. My daughter didn't have any desire for Christmas gift, and after California trip, she was so happy to find 2 tiny gift boxes for her.
Here they are:

 And this is a pillow gift box making from the core of bath tissue paper. The instruction is found here.

Thanks to all creative crafters.

Crocheted mittens and fingerless gloves

I pinned these useful instruction to make fingerless gloves and mittens. They are for adult size but I used Patons sock yarn (number 1), which is 80% washable wool. I drew my daughter's hands on the paper and tried to try them on when I was crocheting. I intended to make for her first because they will be faster to make.

My daughter love them and doesn't want to put them off though she is in the class. A boy in her class also likes them and ask his mom to make a pair for him.

Here are the instructions:

http://crochetandknitting.com/mitglov2.htm

tutorial: http://itzibitzitinka.deviantart.com/art/Crochet-Glove-Tutorial-106948905

http://www.woolcrafting.com/crochet-gloves-pattern.html
fingerless gloves: http://petitepurls.com/Winter12/winter2012_p_wristy.html
http://myfavouritethingsblog95.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/confessions-of-crocheter.html

how to make a cardboard box

I am frugal. I don't know what you feel but I feel regretful to dispose all the cardboard boxes after unwrapping gift boxes though they were torn so I kept them in my closet. Garbage huh?

I saved them and made a smaller box to contain my crochet hats, wrap them up and send it to my friends.

I have to figure out how people cut and glue it to make a box  so it was not so nice but still acceptable. Here it is.

You can make one by following the instruction in this page.

Other pages for your reference:

http://www.echocartons.com.au/Style.html

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-A-Cardboard-Box/

http://zedomax.com/blog/2009/01/23/warehouse-diy-how-to-make-a-box/

Happy box making!