Month: June 2018

Half-Year Report: Ticking Off Items in Bucket List

At the beginning of this year, I made a mental list of some crochet-related things I want to do. And, 2018 has been good that I was able to tick off 90% of them.

JOIN / SELL AT A BAZAAR

I joined the bazaar during my kids’ school family day bazaar. I was only able to sell 4 items. It was probably not that good, but I was happy to be able to endure it. You can read my bazaar experience here, “BAZAAR: #OOTD >>.”

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I also made a collection with crochet friends, the UNDYED TABLESCAPE Collection >>. And, I haven’t sold any thing from the collection yet! @.@ But, I’m proud of what we made.

The photo shoot we did the collection was the best part. =)

CROCHET WORKSHOP

I’m not really a good teacher / tutor but I put it in my 2018 bucket list. I just feel like sharing crochet to others, and that hopefully it will chance upon on a few persons who would turn to really love it.

And, the universe connived when Sarah Palmares aka @tomatofire_crochets messaged about an upcoming workshops she’d be doing with Casa Gorordo. Then, Bernadette Dy / @5chubbyfingers also messaged to volunteer for the workshop. And, yay! We probably had done 4-5 crochet workshops. (You can read about my crochet workshops in Cebu experience here >>.)

Photo from Sarah Palmares

YARN BOMBING

This was just a wild far-off wish, but it happened. And, we did it more than once. It’s surreal!

For my yarn bombing experiences here in Cebu, you can check my previous blogposts:
“Ganchillo Artistico for Art in The Fork, The Outlets at Pueblo Verde, Lapu-lapu City: 1st Yarnbomb / Crochet Installation in Cebu?!? >>”
“Bringing Your Grandmother’s Art to Cebu Design Week >>”

Yarn Bombing / Crochet Installation at The Fork, The Outlets, Pueblo Verde, Lapu-lapu, Cebu
Crochet Installation / Yarn Bombing, European Chamber of Commerce Philippines, Cebu City

Yarn Bombing for the Spartan Race at Foressa Mountain Town

BONUS: CROCHET WORK at an ART GALLERY

One time, Sarah, Dess, and I were talking about where is our dream place for crochet installation. Dess mentioned about Ayala mall, Sarah talked about doing the Pari-an monument (if I remember it right), and I mentioned something about displaying it in a museum.

And, then Voila! Well, it’s not really a museum but it’s an art gallery, QUBE Gallery in CrossRoads, Banilad, Cebu; hey, it makes me want to do a cartwheel! Please do check it out; and, also we’ll be doing more crochet installation there. =)

There were a lot of people who were involved in this project so I’ll be creating a separate blog post for this. =)

with Judy Cimafranca

CROCHET FOR A CAUSE or something like that. This is one in my bucket list that is yet to be realized. Honestly, I’m not such into this thing. I mean that I don’t really want to “label” it as such. Like if I wanted to do it, I just want to do it without labels or did I make sense? So there, universe, please help me understand this. =)

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who helped me tick off items in my bucket list! =) Seize 2018!

Bringing Your Grandmother’s Art to Cebu Design Week

Related story: Ganchillo Artistico for Art in The Fork, The Outlets at Pueblo Verde, Lapu-lapu City: 1st Yarnbomb / Crochet Installation in Cebu?!?

I felt intimidated when Cebu Crochet Group was invited to “yarn bomb” a tree in front of the ECCP (European Chamber of Commerce) in celebration of Cebu Design Week (which is part of the Cebu Business Month celebration) because “Cebu Design Week” sounded like something for sophisticated high art or something like that. And, then here we are a bunch of people hooked to this craft they categorized that is for grandmothers, CROCHET…

I mean I know there is so much art about crochet; but still, even as a crocheter, I could not help but underrate it as something any grandmother can do. Hey, you don’t really need some art degree or some highly creative skills to do crochet. You just get a hook, yarn, and a lot of time and patience; then viola, you have a beanie, mandala, etc. You suddenly then become this uniquely creative person to the unknowing friends.

But I guess at the end of the day, there’s no such thing as high art or low art. It’s all art!

But us, we got GRANNY ART!!!

So most thankful to Aboitiz and European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines for inviting Cebu Crochet Group for letting us share Granny Art for the Cebu Design Week.

And, also mad love and thanks to all of us, crocheters, who turned into grandmother mode, shared time and resources in yarm bombing a tree for the Cebu Design Week. (If I missed out a name, I’m sorry. Please message me.)

Sarah Palmares
Yasmin Jumao-as
Bernadette Dy
Sharol Valdez
Jodessa Dayanan
Raquel Canedo
Jori Canedo
Geofel Flores
Judy Desamparado
Leigh Castillano
Machina Suganob
Joanne Trinidad
Irene Del Mundo
Enriquita Enriquez
Geraldine Yap
Trisha Veliganio
Fe Palmares
Maria Cielo Aljecera
Cory Campus Ortiz
Mil Ann Cabigas
Margaret Buenconsejo
Avril Jzaniah Cimafranca
Jocelyn Amo
Enille Zen
Zerah Canedo
Yaweh Canedo

We were supposed to just yarn bomb 1 tree, but there were so much love shared; we ended up spreading the love to all the neighboring trees. Grandmothers are really the beast and best!

I guess that’s what make CROCHET such a cool “art” because it’s just like your grandmother — there’s so much love to spread.

Here are some behind-the-scene photos from the preparation to installation of ECCP Tree Yarn Bombing. (Photos from me and Sarah Palmares)

The different faces of your Grandmother’s Art. Plot twist: There is as young as 9 years old crocheting doilies / circles contributing to the yarn bomb.

Thank you Casa Gorordo Cafe for accommodating us! =)

Thank you, ECCP Cafe, for the space!

Again, BIG BIG THANK YOU to all! I wish I had some deep thought to share to end this post so just let me #bloggerpose. Kidding! =)

Yarn (Window) Shopping in Hong Kong

We went to Hong Kong last March 2018, and for this 3rd world citizen (I should retire using 3rd world but I could not find any better adjective to use), I could not deny that I definitely could not afford that much in Hong Kong. But I definitely could afford topping up my Octopus card (HK’s public transportation card), and just go around to find some yarn shops.

We stayed in Kowloon area in first few days, and so I was just really able go around this part of Hong Kong. I did not feel crossing to Hong Kong Island because I felt it’s really quite far and it’s probably more expensive there. I mean Kowloon feels more like I’m in downtown Colon of Cebu, while Hong Kong Island feels like more you’re somewhere uptown in business districts of Cebu. You know what I mean.

I’m just going to post photos of the shops I was able to find while I was trying not to get lost in Hong Kong.

Lai Chi Kok Area

We stayed in this area, somewhere near the Mei Foo station. The first time I tried to go around, I got lost after 500 meters it’s because my google maps’ Location Services setting was not set on “Always,” and I just realized that when the address says “Street,” it can mean the whole long Highwayyyyyy. @.@ There was a big stupid blooper story on this but I’ll spare you from the boring details.

HandCrafter

It’s inside D2 mall. This was really more of a craft store for your different crafts so there was not much type of yarns there. Mostly, yarns that can be used for other crafts not solely for crochething or knitting. But this store also has crochet hooks. It’s on the pricey side.




KPC Yarn

This place is just near HandCrafter but in a different building. But KPC Yarn is actually a yarn brand so this place was really more of an office. Their yarns are wool. There was showroom for their yarns, and some crochet and knitting gears from Clover and Addi. It’s where I actually find the lowest prices of Clover and Addi stuff among the shops I stumbled upon in Kowloon area.

I think you can also stay in their showroom to work on your projects.







Mong Kok Area

The next area I went to was Mong Kok because it’s like the most familiar to me, and google search results also pointed a lot of shops in the area. So on a Sunday, I went there alone, and it was a bad idea because some of the shops are closed on Sundays.

So I just do with what were open on that day.

I landed in Fa Yuen Street Market because I thought it was like a bazaar market, like Ladies’ market. But it was really literally a wet market / farmer’s market.

Is it just me? But English is a bit harder in Kowloon area compared to Hong Kong Island or Lantau Island. Thankfully, I was not so bad in picking up a noodle dish by just making “turo-turo.”

Thankfully, someone in the diner was able to point me out to the “street market” that I was looking for, and from there it was easier for me to navigate to other yarn shops nearby.

Just one more block away from the Fa Yuen Street Market was a street market of wearables, like Ladies’ Market. One of the stalls there is selling yarns.

This place was where I found the lowest priced yarns. Its yarns mostly reminded me of those I found in Vietnam so I was not that tempted much. And, it’s still way cheaper back in Vietnam because well HK’s 1st world.

Double Knit Yarn

This was just along the street market, and nearby the stall above. But it was closed on that so I was not able to see what they have.

One of the struggles in looking for a yarn shop in Mong KoK was some of them have no English corresponding names so it’s hard to look them up in google, as well as navigating them in real life.

Wools City

This on a parallel road of the street market, which building was facing the main road / highway. This is definitely YARN HEAVEN, but every thing was just expensive for my 3rd world pocket so I just stare and feel. =)





Living Plaza

DAISO is called Living Plaza in Hong Kong according to google search results. So if you want to look for Daiso shops in HK, search for Living Plaza.

This Living Plaza was along Nathan Road, which was the nearest from Fa Yuen Street.


I tried visiting other yarn shops in my list, but either they were closed because it’s Sunday or permanently closed. Anyhow, I had fun roaming around Kowloon.

And, coffee to end my yarn-roaming day!