Starry Craft

Knit for Love

Knitting can be really frustrating for many beginners. but not when the love it strong!

my first knitting student, my sister! decide that she's gonna knit a scarf for her lovely boyfriend who is living in Perth. they're gonna meet in 3 weeks. 3 WEEKS!!!!

She chooses a pattern she want. and what? she gonna learn the cast on, the knit, the purl in 3 weeks! I offered my grey milk cotton yarn.

She knit every night after work. whenever she have free time, she will knit. there are so many "beginner mistakes" sometimes i have to fix it for her. She's very determine to finish the whole thing. Turns out the scarf is a little short and there are hole here and there. But i'm so proud of her! The work is tough, but love is strong!!

Hey lucky man u better treat her like a queen!! haha!

So to all beginner, if you're thinking of giving up? think of my sister. She can do it, you can do it too! keep it up!! ;)

Yi

DIY your guestbook with everything you can get from bookstore | scrapbook

Hello all, it's been a while since i last "check-in" starry craft and i'm so so sorry i've been neglecting craft work due to my job.

So here's something new. Non knit or crochet related. I've always wanted to do some scrap-booking and didn't have the time for it. until recently i'm forced to come out with something because of my dog's big day! (and yes! i celebrate her every year's birthday since she was 9. she's 12 today)

Every material used was bought from the book store! and i mean it! I didn't even check the craft store for material i want. So i bought an acid-free 12 x 12 card stock from Times book store. it's two sided and pretty thick. went home and figured that oh damn! how am i gonna get my guest to sign on a colorful paper? everything will look really ugly!

I'm so attracted with the stripe card stock i bought it anyway! At the book store, my sister suggested Stickies! why not get your guest to sign on stickies and paste them all over the guestbook? i thought it was a great idea. so i bought so many colorful stickies.

But nope, with ideas flying in my head.. i eliminated the stickies concept! instead, i took out a paper bag from my room and reused it. i start to cut up the paper bag and make pockets for the guestbook. (as shown in picture)

Then i took out a starter scrapbook kit i bought from the popular bookstore. and paste the die cut "New Friends" and "my best friend" on the pockets because it looked really plain without anything on it.

Then it's the notepad. i tried looking for colorful notepads in the bookstore, but it's really expensive! so instead of buying new pads that cost me bucks i Re-use paper bag again. and took out my old color papers from school (like 10 years ago?lol). i decided to stick the theme to "colorful". So i cut out as many colors as possible. Some colors are bigger in size and some smaller. (you know? some people can really write alot on your guestbook.)

The square cards i cut out looks really plain! So i cut both the top right and left edge. i didn't measure correctly. just simply cut it. then idea pops again!

next i punch a whole in the middle. Note: i didn't buy any single hole puncher from craft store. i'm using the two hole puncher and carefully punch it using one side.

and then i uses the straps from the knitting and crocheting. reuse it to tie a knot through the hole. i've also used some ribbons.

Color of paper bag always look too plain to me. So i uses these color mask tape and some are washi tapes i bought from bookstore and dollar store to stick the bottom of the card. check out the difference of the one with tape and the one without!

here's how it look like! simple but not too plain! with beautiful ribbons tied on top!

variety in size and color for my colorful theme guestbook.

Last part is to put up the wordings. Same thing! Word "Snowie" is from popular bookstore. Check out their craft section in the bookstore. I'm using the same kit to make the word Guestbook. and the word are actually stickers!

and we're ready to go! ;)

a recap for what are the things i've used:-
1. 12 x 12 cardstock from book store
2. scrapbook starter kit with die cuts and ribbons
3. old paper / recycle bags
4. Wording stickers
5. Color paper / cards
6. Ribbons or straps from yarn
7. Color mask tapes or washi tapes from bookstore or dollar store

* you can choose to buy everything from the craft store! there's no craft store around my area and online purchase are too costy to me. so i choose to re-use and recycle. and try to buy everything nearby my area.

Hope this post is able to help friends out there to work out with a simple and quick guestbook for your party. Please note that i'm not good at paper craft. This is merely sharing my last minute work to you. hope u enjoy it!

Happy Birthday my sweet heart! Be healthy! I love you very much!

Love,
Yi

Tools for Beginner | Knitting

I promised to post this up earlier i'm sorry for the delay. Too many projects in hand! :'(

Here in this post i will give some little advice for beginner, or interested-to-begin knitters of what are the stuff you need to buy.

You may choose to buy Online or your nearest yarn store.

Since you're new and unsure whether "you're gonna make it", you won't want to buy in bulk to begin with.

If you're interested to KNIT, you need:

One pair of Knitting Needle (i'd advice 6mm or larger)
One Skein of Worsted Weight Yarn (a worsted weight or thicker yarn will help beginner to find stitch and learn quickly, therefore i recommend a worsted weight.
TIPS: it's better to use Wool yarn or acrylic yarn)
Darning needles
a pair of Scissor

KNITTING NEEDLES and YARN
When buying Needles and yarn, think of what would u like to knit? What is your first project. I recommend to start with knitting a Scarf. Scarf is the easiest to learn and you only need to knit in rows.

Learn: Cast on, Knit, Purl, Cast Off.

Where to learn?
some shops give classes once every month. The place i purchase my first yarn give free class for every purchase from their shop. but i did not attend any of them. You can learn your knitting simply by going in to YouTube Tutorial videos. I recommend:

1, Very Pink Knits - the only thing is she's knitting very fast.
2. New Stitch a Day - it's actually a site for people who wants to learn new pattern each day.
3. Vantha Sao - this is the site where i learn all my Cast on, knit, purl, and Cast off. it's my all time favourite.
4. simply type: knitting for beginner

The reason i suggest wool or acrylic for your first yarn is because they are firm and won't split easily. Even if they split you will be able to catch them all back in place. Cotton yarn will confuse you if it starts to split.

If you're living in Malaysia. you can try the japanese RM5 store call Daiso. They are selling Acrylic yarns and also Plastic Knitting Needles, and bamboo needles(sometimes). if you're really not sure that you'll do good in knitting maybe you can try with something cheap like that first :)

was playing the Vantha Sao tutorial in the laptop while knitting. that's how i learn!

Here's a picture of my first knit stitch. a very fail knit stitch. it's always hard at first but slowly you will be able to pick up this interesting hobby!

Picture of my first finished KNIT work from the wool yarn i purchased.

After you've mastered these simple basic skill you can move on to try Cotton yarns. Malaysia is hot and cotton is more comfortable for wearing.

picture from google.

Darning needles are use to seam in threads. watch either one of the video above and you will understand. it's often used when finishing your piece of work. they can be purchased in any yarn store, online store, or Daiso shop. Sometimes they are not in Steel/metal but plastic.

That's about it for Knitting. I'll do another post for Crochet so that knitters won't get confused with a share post. Any question just drop me a comment below. i will get back to you as soon as i can. :)

Good luck and happy knitting!

Yarn addiction

Yarn here, yarn there. Until my mom got so fedup and put them all in a box before i sort them out. I'm SURE crocheters and knitters out there understand the urge of buying yarns! It's an addiction!
Ok, let's not scare the beginners out there. Rational reason is, i love buying yarn, and after i bought my yarn I'd do something with it. Until recently, i start to buy when people give a good price or a yarn store is on sale. Normally I'd buy one skein if i'm not sure what I'm gonna do with it. So it always end up thinking, i have only 1 skein, based on my experience i can't even knit one scarf, and using it to crochet amigurumi is such a waste ( take silk, 100% wool for example).
So next project I'm gonna stock up again, leaving the old yarns untouched! Sometimes i don't even remember what color yarn i have. But I'm sure you knitters know how i feel right?
My advice for newbies, always buy 2 skein of same color if you planning to start your first knitting project with scarf. But don't say that i didn't warn you, the yarn SPREE is there. You'll end up buying more! Specially when u successfully finish one project. :p
Stay tuned! On next post I'm going to give my advice to new comers what you should purchase when you're in an unsure mode. Cheers and good night! :)

First Dog Sweater | Hand Knit

Check out my first two dog sweater. The green one is for my own dog. It was also my first try. I'm using a worsted weight milk cotton yarn and knit it with my size 6 bamboo needle. This pattern is very simple. i'm just knitting two piece and then seam them together.


This item is not for Sale

I only wears it on my dog when she's shaved bald. it fits perfectly. i even tried it on my boarding dog. She's a smaller breed so turns out it's too big for her.

Got my first order from a friend. It's going to be my second dog sweater project. This time i'm using a circular needle. Knitting in one piece. i failed the first time. and manage to make one in after few weeks.

Knitting in circular needle size 5. Worsted weight milk cotton aran.

Fits her well. :) would love to sell the pattern but i'm still in progress of setting up my shop. Will put up the pattern once i have the chance to sit down and re-make it in progress again.

Kingston hat by Crochet Geek tutorial

Made this kingston hat few months back when i first started crocheting. crochet was hell for me! :P

This is a really cool hat tutorial by Crochet Geek. i definitely recommend this to beginner crocheters.

i made this with DK light yarn, milk cotton red. you might want to get a thicker yarn -say worsted weight if you want to follow the pattern completely. Alternatively you can do more increase in between. go to Crochet Geek Blog to find out more pattern. Teresa from CG is definitely the best teacher to start with. She have very clear video tutorial for your understanding.

Tips: i started crochet with her baby booties tutorial video. try it out ;)

I regret to say that this item is not for sale. First, the pattern belongs to others, second, it's the size of a kid's head ;) Cheers!

Pei Yi

Borned ~Baby dragon Louie's dream

This little fella is such a character! and i can feel it. he have his little dream ;)

this is the before and after photo.

This dragon is made of milk cotton yarn. it's my first try using cotton yarn instead of acrylic. it's a little tough to shape the little one. but i shall say it's rather neat compare to amigurumi made by acrylic yarn i bought from Daiso.