My Bumble Bee

I wanted to try crocheting a bumble bee after the 10 legged octopus. I started a little, then went on the Bali holiday. While on holiday, I almost finished another scrunchie. It was finally done when I met the aunties form lunch last Sunday. 

While I love to crochet the scrunchie, I don’t use them. So when Auntie H asked for it, I was more than happy to gift her. 

After the scrunchie, I continued with the bumble bee and recognised how important to count the stitches. I think I did better with the counting this time. 

It looked like I am crocheting some beanie for some doll or pet. It wasn’t difficult to follow the YouTube, just a lot of pausing and then rewatching when needed. The stitches are manageable too. At some point, I lost count again bcos the video didn’t tell me how many stitches to count. 

After several nights, I finally got my bumble bee. 

So cute! I duno why the wings are so humongous, such that it looks like bunny than bee. The eyes and mouth were supposed to be stitched on. I tried. The 1st attempt made it looked like some psychotic murder bee with a crooked smile. The 2nd attempt led to a lopsided bee. Lol.

The bee needed to be stuffed with cotton wool to make it fluffy. I did, but other than cotton wool, I also stuffed the 10 legged octopus into the bee. Hohoho. Like I say, I only like and want to crochet. No sentimental values. 

I have not decided on what to crochet next. Maybe I should brushed up on my sewing skills 1st. Haha.

Mummy Lim

Crochet-ed

The initial plan was to go back to Grace after we are done with the scrunchie crochet, so that she can teach us the “real stuff”. We all wanted to learn how to crochet plushies. 

Then, I started to look at some YouTube videos on crocheting plushies for beginners. The octopus is highly recommended and I also realised that the stitches are variations of the basic crochet stitch. I thought maybe I can try with YouTube. 

The 1st step is to buy yarn and my crochet expert colleague pointed me to buy “milk yarn” and said that she usually uses a 2.5mm crochet hook. Grace provided us with 4.5mm hook during class, which is supposed to be easier for beginners. I bought a 2.5mm hook and an extra one for Auntie S. The yarns were delivered the next day. 

So pretty! 

I think it will take a long time to finish them all. 

I googled and found a video on how to crochet the basic octopus. Like Grace said, instead of crocheting a straight line, crochet in a circle instead. 

I duno if it is the yarn that was used, to try to count the stitches was the most difficult part. After a while, I gave up and just agar agar. I was able to follow, the single yarn over, double yarn over… 

It is very interesting how some stitches just naturally make the crocheted piece curl. I was very glad that I could follow how to crochet the legs too. It did take me a couple of tries. The 1st tentacle.

The 2nd one. 

Again, counting and hooking under the right count of stitch was the most difficult. After a while, my agar-ation naturally took over. As a result, my octopus has 10 tentacles instead of 8 in my attempt to fill all the space. Lol. 

My octopus has no eyes bcos I didn’t buy eyes. Lol. The whole thing is supposed to flip inside out but the tentacles go all funny when I tried to do that. The stitches aren’t the neatest and could be tighter but I didn’t quite care and just wanted to “finish” the project. Also, tightening the stitches will make counting the stitches and hooking under even more difficult. I cannot do it properly even with loose stitches. 

I am super proud of myself despite the not at all perfect octopus. Daddy Lim and the kids also laughed at my extra legged octopus. Hoho. I searched for the next project and have decided to do a bumble bee next. I told Zaky and he asked if I have yellow and black color to crochet the bumble bee. Hmmm.. I have started with the same blue yarn. Hohoho. 

Yes, I am having fun. 

Mummy Lim

Crochet!

This year, one of my new year resolutions is to learn a new skill/ sports; basically to learn something. After procrastinating for half a year, I thought maybe I should go find somebody to teach me how to crochet. Auntie S was keen to join me. 

I found G on Carousel, who is ok to teach us at a cafe in town. We needed to meet somewhere in town given that Auntie S and I live in 2 different ends of Sgp. G charges us $25/pax/hr for the 1st pax and subsequent paxs at $20/pax/hr. We also had to pay $5 each for material. G said that the class needs to be at least 2 hours for us to learn how to crochet. 

The offer was also thrown to the other aunties. Guin was keen to join us. She told us that she has this classmate who crochet expertly and is able to turn up an octopus in mins. Wah….

We met at 7pm last Friday at Suntec and found empty seats in BK and reckoned that we can easily park ourselves in BK for 2 hours. G came and asked if we wanted to learn to crochet a scrunchie or a keychain. Guin opted for the scrunchie and so we all learn to make scrunchies. Our aim is to do one of those plushies one day. G said that the strokes are the same, just what we were doing goes in a line, left to right, while those plushies strokes go in circles. Huh? Lol.

The starting was really confusing. Sometimes the crochet needle goes above the yarn, sometimes below. Then poke here, poke there, then drag the yarn over. We all had to retry many times before finally getting the hang. Despite do, we still made mistakes and had to redo a few times. 

After a good hour, we finally completed the 1st layer, and the 2nd layer is slightly different from the 1st. The redoing starts again. Haha. At some point, I had to remove my contact lenses and change to my classes. 

Though we complain loads, we had a lot of laughters too, mainly at each other. Haha. 

The 2 hours passed so quickly. We didn’t complete the scrunchie. G taught us how to use some of the tools that come with the material and also how to end the scrunchie when we are finally done (and if we get there). Otherwise, there is always the YouTube. 

I continued with my scrunchie on Saturday afternoon after my ride. Finally! 

Yes, I learnt how to end via YouTube. Hoho. So proud of myself. 

What’s better? I wanted to make sure that I remembered how to start the crocheting and so started a new scrunchie! I do remember how to start! Hohoho. This time, I am also much faster. Tadah! 

The 2nd one comes with 3 layers. The 1st and 3rd layer has the same stroke. 

Auntie S also finished her scrunchie. Her 2nd and 3rd layer has the same stroke, thus much “taller” than mine. 

I peeked at the YouTube video just now, the octopus is the easiest plushy to crochet and the strokes look the same. Hoho. 

Mummy Lim