Crafts: Crochet

I've seen countless of times crochet booties, beanies and head bands for baby girls and I simply love it. I love the simplicity of the design and the fact it's hand sewn, which gives it the whole unique vibe. However that many times when I was looking for head bands online, the price does not come cheap. I've seen a pair of tiny crochet booties cost like RM30 or more. It can't possibly be that expensive. I'm cheap that way. Unwilling to spend on something I feel I won't be utilizing frequently or unwilling to pay for something I feel cost much lesser. But as a friend shared with me, it's totally worth the buy even if it's on their little one for just 5 minutes or for the purpose of photography. I figured I could look at it from that perspective. Baby girls after all are meant to keep all the mummies out there busy dolling their baby girl up. So seeing all these super über cute crochet booties, beanies and headbands, I was so inspired to DIY it myself. Telling myself, it can't possibly be that hard and it would be a good new hobby to pick up. I figured I could do this and maybe end up selling it. Some ambitions I've got there. My resolution for year 2013 is to finish up this huge piece of cross stitch I bought some 10 years ago right after high school which I never bothered to finish it. I figured since we'll be moving into our own home soon, I wanted to have a beautiful piece of art to hang. That's how I came up with the resolution. It's April and I've yet to start. Truth is I don't know if that resolution if achievable considering I've got two kids who keeps me really busy. As it is that I can't even find time to even start on my piece of cross stitch, here I am wanting to pick up a new hobby. Impulse buying got the best of me. I walked in the handicraft store, saw the sample of baby booties went to the lady and said 'Oh I would like to pick up knitting. Do you have a basic one I can start on?' She asked, what would I like to knit and I point to the obvious, which was Cadence. Baby stuffs. She advised me to start with clothes, it's much easier. She got all the things I needed like yarn, crochet hook and books. I think that was my first time swallowing my saliva worried about the cost of the books. So I told her I don't want to buy a book just yet since I'm only starting out, moreover the book is in Japanese, she told me no problem. I can just photocopy a page for RM3.50. That was the first WTF I had in mind. RM3.50 for a piece of paper? Felt like I'm being ripped off. Right after she got everything I needed and place it on the counters, she looked at me waiting for my next request. That was my second WTF running through my mind. What did I get myself into? So I asked where do I begin? I've never done this before. She looked at me with wide eyes open and went oooh coz she assumed I've done it before. Then she started explaining the difference between what I heard as "crochey" at that time and knitting advising me to start with crochet since it's much easier. For the third time, WTF is crochet man? Big mistake apparently, I should've read upfront about wanting to start on whatever I plan to. I thought wanting to start knitting or crochet would be as simple as cross stitch. I was soooo wrong. But since I didn't want to look stupid, I just nodded my head along. Moreover if I wanted them to teach me on how to start, I have to sign up for life time membership which would cost me RM 500 one time charge. The problem is I don't have the time to drop in for lessons or stay for as long as some Tai Tais does. Nevertheless I still went with my guts to buy the things for crochet as a start. I figured I'll read from the net or rely on YouTube to start. In the event I still can't figure it out then I'll sign up for membership. So as she was calculating the cost of the yarns and hook, the total came up to RM135. That was the last WTF that kept playing in my mind over and over again. How the hell does a yarn cost RM 20 + per roll? She took 4 roll for me. Never have I thought that picking up crochets would be so expensive! To add salt to the wound, I had no idea what the hell is crochet and didn't even know where to begin! Damage was done, I wasn't gonna backdown. So I read up a little. That got boring quickly because there's just sooooo many terms to learn. From one link to another and that seem never ending. It's pretty confusing for me since it was my first time doing crochet. I watch clips on YouTube which was much more helpful and it resulted in some progress at least. So I figured a baby shirt at this point just seem like a real challenge and I'm gonna start with something simpler. Perhaps a head band or booties. So fascinated by baby booties with flowers, I decided to start with flowers. Here's the result.