Yarn

Who won the give yarns this christmas part two contest?

You might have not heard from me who won the “Give Yarns this Christmas, Part II” Contest, so I will update you guys. Let’s hear first what our dudettes made for christmas.

One entry came from a dear friend, Gina – who crocheted purses, bags and headbands for her friends. Lucky them!

She said that:

This year since I’m busy too much I decided to crochet gift items but sadly I cannot crochet as much as I want so my gift is limited to those who are near my area and to those who I see everyday.

Whoa… to the people who will receive these gifts, you are very lucky for having the opportunity to be in her Christmas list. Devoting your time to crafting and giving is not easy especially for a full-time employee/mother like Gina!

Here’s a peak to what she created:

Gina's Crocheted Christmas Gifts

Gina’s Crocheted Christmas Gifts

My most favorite from the treats is the green mesh bag on the right side. :) My favorite color is green so I am actually biased. I requested her to take a closer pic of the bag though before she gave it away. Hopefully she would update me for a nicer photo.

The other entry came from Ms. Girlie, who won the contest and received loads of yarns from me, crocheted big stuffs, like boleros (long sleeved ones, mind you) , scarves and shawls. She said that:

I just crochet these from October to this day and here it is, I had to share. I know it’s cold where they are specially now as its winter season so I made some wearable long sleeves, shawl , scarf and hat to keep them warm, pouches and bag for their accessories.

Girlie's Crocheted Christmas Gifts

Girlie’s Crocheted Christmas Gifts

I like the white version she made :

Girlie's White Bolero as crocheted christmas gift

Girlie’s White Bolero as crocheted christmas gift

To these gals, thank you for joining and sharing your gifts! I salute you for actually taking the effort to handcraft your gifts.

Watch out for new contests next year! Have a happy and fantastic new year everyone!

 

Give yarns this Christmas: Part Two

Give Yarns this Christmas Part Two

Give Yarns this Christmas Part Two

 

I am going to give away another bag of yarns for free!

So many to receive!!!!

So many yarns to receive!!!

So many yarns to receive!!!

Here are the mechanics:

Create a blog entry about making crocheted items as christmas gift.

 

Entry is only valid for residents of the Philippines

I will announce the winner (or winners!) before December 15, 2012. Deadline of entries will be on December 7, 2012.

 I will announce the winner (or winners!) before December 20, 2012. Deadline of entries will be on December 18, 2012.

Hope you will join and have colors of ginantsilyo!

 

>>  You should be able to tell a story about the item you are making and to whom you will be giving it away and why.

>> The post should contain pictures of the finished item and if you can tell how you made it/pattern, the better.

>> Notify me about your entry and submit a comment below containing the link to your blog (or facebook album or facebook notes)

>> include a link of my blog in your  entry

>> Share your story on https://www.facebook.com/pages/Crochet-in-the-Philippines/250963308355948?ref=hl

 

Good luck! I will include yarns from my Indonesian Yarn, Turkey Yarns, Feltable lambswool, Baguio Yarns, Japanese Yarns  and Cotton yarns :)

Good luck!

These are the yarns you will receive from me!

1. Japanese Fancy Yarns – they are soft and fluffy. I have last lot of two balls. I previously made slippers from these yarns and they are terribly comfy! Great for gift giving!

Japanese Yarns - white & fluffy FANCY YARN

Japanese Yarns – white & fluffy FANCY YARN

2. Indonesian Yarn from www.crochetandme.com. I had difficulty choosing which to part. Since I have three balls of these (Oh no, please do not beg me to give them all!) and its my favorite shade! I just have to let go of one just for christmas! One ball is enough to be a small bolero or a bag. :)

Indonesian Yarn - from www.craftandme.com Soft Cotton

Indonesian Yarn – from www.craftandme.com Soft Cotton

 

3. Nature Cotton – these are bulky mercerized cotton threads (You can request me to give you same color if you won!) that is great for amigurumi! Coz I already made one using them :)

Mercerized Cotton - (bought in Saudi Arabia)

Mercerized Cotton – (bought in Saudi Arabia)

4. Turkey Yarns – just arrived! Yes, these are my newest yarns to date. I am going to let you have one alpaca yarn and one mako cotton yarn so you can get acquianted to a different variety. The alpaca yarn is very thin. Great for a very light shrug or cardigan. It’s 50g at 600m

ICE YARNS from Turkey (www.yarn-paradise.com) Alpaca and Mako Cotton

ICE YARNS from Turkey (www.yarn-paradise.com) Alpaca and Mako Cotton

5. Baguio Yarn – Green. Yup one big ball of baguio yarn. You can make a long sleeve cardigan from just this one big ball

Baguio Yarn Acrylic - One big ball

Baguio Yarn Acrylic – One big ball

6. Lots of yarns. I have lots of these loads. These are acrylic except for the mint green which is cotton. :) I will never use them probably, but you might want them. This is just bonus, you can tell me to keep it if you do not want them.

Mixed lots

Mixed lots

7. Feltable lambswool from china. They are made from 90% sheep wool. You can use this for felting. I have made a lot of projects using this. I will give two small spools in beautiful navy blue color

Feltable Lambswool from China

Feltable Lambswool from China

If you so want a particular yarn in my stash we could negotiate : D

 

Yarn – dread

Yarn dread – when a yarn might not be enough.

Yarn Dread

Dreading the end of yarn

This is my problem with my current stash. Most of the yarns I want to crochet are only available in one full skein or two and I usually make wearable crochet. Whenever I pick up one big skein of yarn, I always wonder if it would be enough for a garment or not? Then sometimes, I just shrug it off and continue crocheting until I come to a point that I can no longer deny that the yarn will not be enough,

Improvisation is usually the solution to this. Sometimes what you do to improvise, actually works, sometimes it does not. As for me, since I usually crochet just to destress, thinking about what will work would defeat the purpose of crocheting at all. So I crochet and crochet. :)

Current Status of Violet Blouse

Current Status of Violet Blouse

I attached a very soft cotton yarn on the top part of the blouse. The white yarn is very very soft and I almost have forgotten about this yarn I liked so long ago but only comes in two small skeins. Now I am thinking this might look good on this project. I am not yet so convinced but I will proceed with finishing this top. The violet monochromatic wool blend yarn complements with the soft texture of the white part, so I think I am heading the right direction.

On the other hand, I am thankful that I have 8 skeins of this yarn:

Ply Luxury Khaki Grey

Ply Luxury Khaki Grey from www.yarn-paradise.com

Specially if I am planning to make one full garment. The top part of the dress is done in one full skein while one  sleeve of this length  consumed half a skein. Hopefully I can still crochet amidst tons of coding I have yet to do. Aja!

Dress#2 progress

Dress#2 progress

Colors of ginantsilyo

Crocheting is fun because you get to learn a variety of textures based on the content of yarn you used. And through the years of my crafting, I have accumulated a number of stash both given by my friends and purchased from my own money.

Indonesian Yarns from www.craftandme.com

Indonesian Yarns from www.craftandme.com containing mohair, wool, cotton, and even plastic yarn

My favorite is still the ‘soft cotton yarn’ from Indonesia from an online store www.craftandme.com.

Soft Cotton from www.craftandme.com colors violet and fuschia

Soft Cotton from www.craftandme.com
colors violet and fuschia

My Indonesian friend offers a variety of yarns from cotton, mohair, wool, rayon and plastic yarn. I still have a lot of mohair and bulky soft cotton yarns on my stash in two balls or more and they are all scattered everywhere in the house. I have to pile them up properly so I can take a decent picture of all of them together.

Though my supplier tells that the yarn weight depends on the supply, I prefer most the lighter weight yarns I got from her a few years back. As a testament to this, almost all my lighter weight Soft Cotton Yarn were used up and I am still itching to replenish my supply but this lead me to another discovery of getting my supplies from Turkey’s online store – www.yarn-paradise.com, which offers a lot of variety when it comes to yarn content and yarn weight.

Ice Yarns

Ice Yarns

Recently I have made two separate purchases at www.yarn-paradise.com. I have finally found a decent lace-weight yarn to work on for a dress. I have been wanting to make a dress but all my previous attempts were not so successful because the yarn tends to make the whole dress bulky and heavy.

My Ice yarn stash compose of three metallic yarns – green, silver and gold. One alpaca, merino blend, one mako cotton tape yarn, one cashmere-silk blend. All in all, they are luscious and lovely (except for the tape yarn). Since I prefer lighter weight yarns, working with tape yarn is a bit disastrous for me since they create big stitches.

Then here comes baguio yarns. During the times when I am limited on choices, I prefer working with these yarns, no matter that we only go to Baguio atleast once a year, I always have 2kg of acrylic and cotton yarns. I have a lot of projects from these yarns. They are soft and warm enough, but not too warm for the kind of weather we have in the Philippines

Baguio Yarns

Baguio Yarns

And this is the craziest purchase ever when I attempted to sell yarns three years back. I bought a huge amount of these feltable wools in China. I sold a lot, mind you, but there came a time when I just want to hoard them all because of the lovely colors. They used to sell at P300 per 100g and P140 for the smaller cones.

Feltable Lambwool from china

Feltable Lambwool from china

To achieve the right felting, you have to wash the finished project a number of times so that the yarns would start to ‘bloom’. This takes hardwork and I let mine be felted through repetitive usage, over time.

I also have some bulky acrylic yarns from another friend Liz, this is the second time she gave me a dozen bulky yarns in big skeins. The first one, we made a nice blanket for my baby and this second batch will be made into toys as promised. Hopefully I can do them :)

Bulky Acrylic Yarns by Caron Simply Soft

Bulky Acrylic Yarns by Caron Simply Soft

I also got some luxury yarns from all over the world. Virigin Wool and 100% Cashmere from US, Tibetan Yak from China, Kid Mohair from Singapore, Alpaca and a variety of other threads from Germany, Merino Wool from France. The yarns from this next photo does not have them all because I still have to tidy some more of my stuffs so I can decently show them here but here are some of them:

Luxury Yarns

Luxury Yarns

My most expensive yarn is the 100% cashmere that cost my husband approximately $21 each hank. He bought me three and they are on its way to become a small jacket.

And I also have another story where I met a Singaporean dudette named Janice, online and became friends with her. She sent me nice yarns too. I love surprises containing yarns. I was really happy everytime some friends send me yarns throughout the country. Take Jen, my husband’s close friend from Germany who sent me a lot of yarns I had never had before. They were all luxurious and beautiful. I really love them a lot to the point I cannot dare to use them because they will be gone and I will be sad.

And I also acquired a huge lot of japanese yarns, a fraction I already gave away. The baby yarns and boucle yarns are gift from my org buddy, Loren. I think she’s one loyal reader as she loves me and posts comments on my blog a few times. I was surprised one day that a package came containing those yarns. Another friend, cheska from Physics sent me a number of Jelly Bean Yarns which I was supposed to make into pillows. I never finished them though.

japanese yarn lot

japanese yarn lot

My bestfriend Mylein gave me three big hanks of yarns. The biggest I have ever seen in my life. I used up the third ball of yarn to include in my baby blanket but the two other yarns are reserved for incoming baby girl if I will ever have one. That is what Mylein told me.

Small, Big and Giant

Small, Big and Giant

And then I have lots of pink yarns. Each yarn has a different story. Most of these unique yarns came from Jen.

Of pink and purple

Of pink and purple

See the plastic yarns? They are from indonesia. They are lovely.

And of course, as a Filipino, I started crocheting using cotton yarns from monaco and canon. And I actually have some unused balls. They are the staple yarn here in the Philippines. My nanay also gave me lots of bulky cotton threads from Saudi Arabia. I haven’t found the last lot she gave me, I knew it’s somewhere around the house.

Cotton Threads Galore

Cotton Threads Galore

I hope to finish tidying my room up in a few weeks time since I am planning to weave baskets to house them. I managed to tidy up four boxes but there are still a lot more I need to do.

Still need to tidy up

Still need to tidy up

Two deliveries in one day

I got two visits from LBC and Postal Office, one for the knitting book I bought at multiply.com and the other is for the yarns I bought from Turkey.

The book will be given as a gift to my nanay, because she wants to learn how to knit.

This is such a happy day because I am not expecting the yarns to come any sooner. :) But since my kiddo is the only dude in the house, he gets to inspect if the goodies his mommy received are the right ones

kiddo inspecting my goodies

kiddo inspecting my goodies. he is actually holding the receipt on the other hand.

You would actually think he is inspecting the yarns the way he holds the receipt and look into the yarns and look into the receipt again.

mmm what is next on the list

mmm what is next on the list

Mmm… I think my kiddo is checking if I got everything right.

Hehehe.. as if he is not satisfied, he even opened a set of yarn

just to be sure, he is opening one

just to be sure, he is opening one

And after the inspection I get to really touch and drool! Yei! I got my yarns. Louie is laughing with me as I jump and jump 😀 haha.. Today is a happy day, indeed.

Yarn Review: Ice Yarn’s SuperFine Wool Metallic Gold Cream

Online Store: www.yarn-paradise.com

Item Link: https://www.yarn-paradise.com/mohair-angora-wool-superfine-wool-metallic-gold-cream

SuperFine Wool Metallic Gold Cream

SuperFine Wool Metallic Gold Cream

The yarn is composed of two individual strands of highly opposite characteristics. The cream strand is a blend of acrylic and wool which makes it soft, dull and easy to break, while the gold strand is Lurex, a metallic yarn which makes the yarn shiny and sturdy. These opposing characteristics make the yarn not easy to work with. The strands somehow ‘split’ as you work with them and with a thinner yarn that you cannot stretch; it easily slips on your hook and gets misplaced.

You have to work around a few rows to be able to get used to working with this yarn but it will reward you with softness and allure. It is so lightweight that a single skein of 50g will give you 650m length. That is enough for me to create the top part of this dress:

gold cream dress back part

gold cream dress back part

Just be very careful when working with this yarn, because its thin and rough and soft at the same time, threading it around your finger tightly may hurt if you are crocheting too fast. The friction from the Lurex yarn can cause a small striation on your index finger as you work your way on each rounds. I usually wind my finger with a bandage just so I can avoid this friction.

Overall, I love this yarn. It made me realize a dream of mine to crochet a dress. The yarn is superfine and very light in weight. The dress consumes 4 skeins of yarns and that is just 200g which is the usual weight (if not heavier) of the tops/shorts I make.

I recommend this type of yarn for crocheters who want to create big projects that requires long yardage.

 

 

 

Give yarns for christmas

I have two friends who I want to give some yarns this christmas season, they are very good followers of my blog plus they are mostly used to using the cotton yarn, staple to the Philippines. I want them to try something different.

The first lot is a mixture of off-white wool knitting yarns in bulk weight. The label even says ‘extra thickness’.

Bulky Wool Japanese Yarn

I do not know how to make full use of these yarns since I mostly do wearable crochet. I think if they will include it in their wearable items, it would be useful as accent or border. But the thickness of the yarns turns me off, sometimes I wonder why I even bought this lot. I was just excited to acquire yarns. Now, it’s time for them to be used by people who might be able to appreciate them more. The color is nice, that I can tell. I used some of the lot  to make flowers for accents but that did not really used all of them. I know I had more of these than in the pictures but some of those are not in a good ball shape anymore, they might need some rewinding.

The second batch only has one skein each kind (though I am not sure as of this moment, I know I had two balls each but maybe I have used them for something else and wasn’t able to properly keep the leftovers)

merino wool blend acrylic japanese yarns

merino wool blend acrylic japanese yarns

The violet yarn has a lovely shade. It would be nice for a purse or any small pouch. I could say the same thing for the navy blue one. Though I am unsure if the yardage would be enough for bigger projects. They are both wool blend. I am unsure of the exact fiber content because everything is written in japanese. The yellow monochromatic yarn is 100% acrylic, but the texture is same with the wool blend.

The next lot is one of my beloved yarns three years ago. I wasn’t able to use these because I was an idiot for even buying them. I just loved the texture, but did not know for what purpose they will serve me. The yarn brand is Linie Taiga and cost me around 200 (or 250 pesos per ball).

linie taiga wool yarn

linie taiga wool yarn

They would be very nice as lining for a hat, that I can tell. I love them that I know it’s already time for someone to be able to actually use them.

The next lot are leftovers from a purse-making project I got three years ago for Christmas. When I offered to sell small purse for giveaways. I hated that time that I got to finish  a lot of coin purses. But these yarns have velvety texture that is soft to touch.

velvet textured yarns

velvet textured yarns

crocheted coin purse

crocheted coin purse using velvet yarns

These are the purses I made before from these velvet yarns. I do not know where I put the lighter shade of purple of these lot so it’s not included in my giveaways.

This is my last skein of this yarn. I used two yarns for making slippers for my sister. It is nice and warm and soft to touch. These would be nice shoes for a toddler and would certainly be enough for that! I am not so sure about them making slippers for themselves though.. :)

fancy yarn

fancy yarn

I have loads of these yarns. They are thick and sturdy. And I use them for bag handles, or for shorts.These yarns came without labels, so I am not so sure about the fiber content, but they feel like cotton.

cotton yarn

cotton yarn

The next ones are ‘baby yarns’ according to the labels. But I am not recommending to be used for babies because they have not been kept properly.

Baby yarns

Baby yarns

The next ones are my feltable wool yarns in moss green shade. These yarns would be lovely for any project. One spool is enough for a beret.I bought a lot of these yarns from china. I still have lots of leftovers but i have so many greens so I can spare to give two spools away.

Feltable Lambs wool

Feltable Lambs wool

And this small ball of feltable wool yarn too :) I personally wounded this yarn into a ball using my small manual ball winder. The color is very very nice and would be great for accent.

Feltable wool yellow

Feltable wool yellow

And oh, I also said that I will give bamboo hooks but I cannot find them! I do not know if i have much left too because through the years I love giving them to friends who find them fascinating. I am not comfy using big hooks so if someone can appreciate them more than I do, then I give them away.

Hopefully they will like these yarns.

My Winter Solace Yarns

The ‘ber’ months are coming. And it’s already cold outside. The weather’s sometimes a bit tricky.I find it bothersome to wear long sleeves or sweater because, even though it’s raining, the sun would still show up sometime in the afternoon or if I am inside crowded places like MRT or passenger jeepneys, a cardigan may still be too hot to wear. But once i stepped out I could feel the cold breeze around my shoulders. It’d be nice to make another bolero. Just the right size to cover the bare shoulders. Something I could easily take off once the sun shows up or before entering a crowded train.

On my newly arrived yarns there’s a very cool shade of turquoise. The shade will remind you of the coming season.

ICT Variegated Turquoise

ICT Variegated Turquoise

The yarn is 100% mercerized cotton. It’s a locally produced yarn from Indonesia. One ball is 100 gram. Just enough for a small-sized bolero. Hook-size to use would be 2.00 to 2.10 mm. The threads kinda thick. Thicker than the locally available monaco thread. If you wishes to buy a similar yarn, this multiply user has this on her for sale list. Or you could buy from craftandme.com

It’s a good thing too, that I have this soft plush yarn from Pasig.

Soft Plush Yarn - Color Blue Green

Soft Plush Yarn – Color Blue Green

I don’t actually know what’s the official name of this yarn (as all the yarns i bought there :) ) But looking at the Berocco’s yarn list, their Soft Plush Yarn comes closest to the one I have.

If these two yarns are actually of the same kind, it’d be 100% Nylon. Hook size to use can be 3.0mm to 4.0 mm. I have a medium size ball (weight is unknown).

Berroco Plush™  100% Nylon

Berroco Plush™ 100% Nylon

Funny, coz i never found any use of the soft plush yarn from Pasig. Since it’s too thick to be made into any comfy clothing. Especially here in Philippines, even if it’s cold it’s not practical to crochet anything from this yarn.

Apparently these two yarns are great for each other. The colors are almost homogeneous and the textures are complementary. The plush yarn is soft to touch while (as all mercerized cotton threads are) the ICT is a bit rough and hard.

I am gonna use the cotton yarn for the body of the bolero and the plush yarn for the borders. Just to add accent.

Incidentally these two yarns are freebie for purchasing 2 kilograms of yarns from each store. Wow.. Great deal :)