So why it became a mix of bamboo and aluminum? I first bought the aluminum / metal pair, an Aero brand. As a very first timer, I had a very hard time controlling the yarn and needles so the yarn would always slip off from the needles because metals are “slippier.” So an “auntie” advised me to get a bamboo/wooden pair, which did help with “slipping yarn” issue. So I got another pair, a bamboo knitting needle by Clover.
A friend / cousin-in-law, who was also a newbie, joined me later on of the day. So I mixed and matched the needles so that each of us would have not to suffer much with the “slippery” issue.
So for very first timer to learn knitting, get the wooden ones until your better at controlling. Then, later on, you might want to use the metal ones because you can go faster with it as you can just easily slide the yarns from one needle to the other. For the wooden ones, try to double check that it’s “finishing” is smooth enough — like no rough parts where yarn will get tangled to.
First Cebu Art Book Fair 2022 was held at Crossroads, Banilad. The main exhibit is inside From Here coworking space, and there’s a poster exhibit inside Qube gallery also. There were few stalls/display along the corridor of Crossroads, and where I just got stuck.
There was quite a long line to get inside the exhibit area so I decided to just loiter at the Pawn Press stall. I got few books, and collection of art postcards, Postcrude. Then I went home because I feel so odd being the “oldest” among the very young crowd, which was such a wonderful sight to see, cultured young people. In this time of “enlightenment” suppression, it’s hope to see people appreciate art and books. 🙂
I got a free tote bag from Pawn Press; they have shopee account if you want to get books and art items from them.
The art cards that got my attention at first glance, from PostCrude
One of the books I got is written By Lilia Tio. She was my 1st year University teacher in English, or I think it’s called Communications 1.
So I have this memory of Miss Lilia Tio. In one of our exams, about singular and plural, there was this “Pair of scissors (is, are)….” I answered “is,” and I was confused why my answer was marked wrong because I believe that “pair” is taken as singular but she said that it’s not indicated as “one pair or a pair of scissors” so it could not be taken as singular. I felt like getting my English high school teacher to defend me, who happened to be also a teacher in the University but… Anyhow, I gave up. But after that, even after University, every time I’d see her, the “pair of scissors” is the first thing that pops up in my mind. No hurt feelings in there, just pair of scissors.
Looking back, I feel so lucky that there was no fear of challenging my teacher. And, that my teacher did not hold any grudge that I still believe that pair of scissors is singular.
I’m always grateful to all my teachers!
Thank you to the organizers and exhibitors of Cebu Art Book Fair.
(I wrote this draft of blogpost before Odette, and I never got to finish it. So I thought of just keeping it in the “draft” box forever, but then who cares, I’m just going to publish this.)
“The art displays were really on another level.. There were art pieces that are amazing like how did the artists achieve it… but still they lack that extra oommpphh, depthness. I did not get offended.” A gist of Mark’s comment about the art displays on Cebu Design Week as we drove home.
I was like, “does art really need to be offensive?”
Mark and I are not really that deep into art but between the 2 of us, Mark tends to have the eye for it than me. I honestly do not get art; Like how would one tell that this is great, and that is trash? From time to time, there are art works that would get to me but mostly they are so pop, like threadless tshirt kind of popness.
I was really not expecting to see a lot of visual art displays this Cebu Design Week 2021 because the first CDW was more like of a furniture show. So it was pretty exciting and new to me to see that many display of art pieces that I could not help but talked about it on our way home thus we got into arguing about “art needs to be offensive.”
So any way, I had a very quick go thru the art displays during the Day 2 of Cebu Design Week. I only had less than hour to view the displays as I need to be at the Crochet Workshop our group was hosting. And with the amount of art displays , half-day would probably not be enough.
So here are few photos I was able to take. I guess based on these photos, it kind of reflects my taste in art.
Sio Montera. I went straight to Sio’s display. His’ is probably the very first art that really makes me want to own one. The first time I encounter Sio’s art was in Aboitiz building. They have this huge Sio painting on their lobby, which got me paralyzed for a few minutes. I was like, I got to have that art; of course, it’s not happening because I cannot afford. So I just keep an eye if he has displays.
Art pieces from other artists.
This is so I!
Which are you in the below 2 art pieces?
I so want this one below. I told you; my taste is so threadless shirt designs.
This art piece confirms that I’m a piece of art.
With the living art piece, Larry Ypil. It’s rare opportunity to meet a Palanca awardee so I got to document it. And, thus the reason why I’m writing a blog post again. Bekenemen? =)
After finishing my knitted top (see previous post), I’m like, “what if I just handmade, by knitting / crocheting, my tops for this year 2022?” It’s pretty doable because I do not really need loads of dresses. No, I’m not advocating minimalism or slow fashion or whatever fancy term we call it; I’m just plain lazy to dress up. Plus there’s pandemic; who gives a sh*t what we wear these days unless you’re Heart Evangelista.
Anyway, the point of this blogpost is I just want to flex my photos of this top I made last year or was it back in 2020. This top is modified from Dotty Top pattern by Lena Fedotova, IG: ravliki.
There are so many things in my head that I want to write down to get them off, but I’m mentally too tired to do it. Odette was/is exhausting. It’s just the start of the year but I think I’m so done. I know, we have it better, and I’m grateful for that; but let me just do some mental dump.
It’s been over a month after Odette, and we’re still trying to find the rhythm of going around in our daily lives. We’re caught in between establishing a new routine, or waiting for things to go back to normal in our old routine. If only I/we had an option, I do not want to do any thing but just wait it out. But the world / responsibilities do not stop and wait for us. So we’re… I don’t know how to explain it.
So anyway, I knitted a top, and finished it last Friday. It’s over a week, and I have not done an OOTD of it yet. Yeah, it’s so petty that’s why I want to tackle it.
I started knitting this top after I crocheted the skull shawl (I need to blogpost thar skull shawl also, for memory’s sake.). Electricity and internet were not back yet when I started this. I wanted an easy stitch pattern that I do not need to constantly look at it because we do not have electricity so I need to save my phone batt. I could not print out a pattern because duh no electricity. I had to get out of the subdivision to get a decent internet connection just so I could find a pattern. Woe was me, guise!
So the stitch pattern is “Staggered Eyelets.” I actually wanted to make that lacy heart stitch but pattern was too long to remember.
I used roughly 2 balls of this cotton yarn. I do not know the length/weight. I’m guessing that each ball is around 100g. This is probably 5-year old yarn. I used a 3.75mm circular knitting needles.
As much as possible, I avoid sewing pieces together so I would really prefer knitting in rounds top to bottom. But seamless top patterns need more time to prepare, measure things well before I can start. My mind was/is too tired to go thru that so I just go for making 2 panels, front and back and sew them at the sides, then done.
I ran out of light pink yarn so I just got the closest color to pink. I’m wearing whichever side. So let’s call it “Reversible Top.”
For the sizing, I got a shirt that I like, and just based the size there. The finished top has a 18inches in length, and 22-23inches in width of each 1 panel only.
I started this like January 5, then I got it done January 21. Anyway, I’ve been wanting to share it but no one is just interested to indulge in getting me an OOTD pose. I mean with Odette and the looming COVID cases surge, who cares about OOTD.
Anyway, I cannot wait so I just have to do with whatever I can.
foodpanda delivery
I honestly prefer the weight, texture and “bagsak” of knitted wearables compared to crochet. But crochet is just really much easier to maneuver. But, then yeah, life, like knitting, is not easy to maneuver.
Before pandemic, Cebu Crochet Group had a once-a-month group session. So if you’re interested to join once it is super safe, just search and join Cebu Crochet Group facebook group.
So we have not done any group sessions since lockdown started in 2020 so having to host a crochet workshop last Cebu Design Week was exciting. Of course, there were feeling of reservations but it was exciting to be seeing crocheters again.
But of all the interesting things happening in Cebu Design Week, I thought that there would be no or very few participants in our crochet session (It was actually a crochet “workshop,’ but we thought of just calling it as “session” to make it just free flowing, less intimidating.). But surprisingly, there were more than enough participants that we could handle.
Photo from Sarah Palmares
Bigger surprise was that we had a very young crowd. Looking at the young faces, I thought that this would be a breeze; they’d get bored easily, and would drop out fast. But damn, they’re up for the challenge; the “old goats” had a hard time keeping up.
They were amazing. It was hard to end it, but it started to get dark and we just had call it quits, and packed up. Ow, I wished we had more time.
Here are my few photos because it got busy.
This is Gia(sp?), my ka-session. She knows the basic of crochet, and she also paints. So I told her that I look forward to her art gallery in the future.
More photos from Sarah Palmares, Judith Saturos, Aubrey Uy:
Thank you again to those who join us, and to CDW for giving us the venue. =)
Unknowingly, Cebu Crochet Group have been joining Cebu Design Week for years. In 2018, we did a crochet installation at the DOST compound across Cross Roads, Banilad (story here >>.); I guess that was the first CDW. In the following year, together with a few friends, we joined the Maker’s Market they organized. Then pandemic happened in 2020.
This year, with pandemic and all, it was a surprise for Cebu Crochet Group to receive an invitation for a yarnbomb installation for Cebu Design Week 2021. When we got it, I honestly was not up for it as it was around during / just after the surge of COVID cases in Cebu around late July-early September; it hit a few of my immediate family so I was kinda mentally/emotionally exhausted at that time. But Sarah and others were up for it.
And, I’m glad that the friends made it happen. It’s like one for the books to have done it during pandemic.
I first thought that having each of us to work on our own, because of pandemic, would be a challenge, because yarnbombing is best enjoyed when done in group. But then I realized that generally crocheters are introvert, we function best when we’re alone in our own world with just our hook and yarn.
So honestly, it was probably the fastest installation we had done so far. Though, stitching the doilies together alone by my self got a bit lonely but I just got to work faster to get over it the soonest. =)
Here are some photos from the installation day. This was the very first time we see each other since pandemic happened.
Photos by I and mostly from Sarah Palmares.
I think there are 20-30 crocheters who contributed to the Cebu Design Week 2021 installation.
Once I received them, I tried using it the soonest. So here’s a video of my reaction and impressions of the new 5-ply Monaco Mercerized cotton thread.
Here’s a quick summary of the main differences basing on my first use of it:
The very obvious difference is its thickness.
The yardage or length of the 5-ply Monaco mercerized thread is only 105 meters, while the #8 is 175meters but I guess that they have the same weight in grams. Depending on your project, you might use less or more balls compared to what you are used to the #8.
The recommended hook sizes. Based on my own preference, the smallest hook size I will use for the 5-ply is 3mm. With my current doily project, I’m using the 3.25mm hook size. I think I can go up to 4.5mm with the 5-ply Monaco Mercerized cotton thread depending on how loose I want a project to be.
The 5-ply is softer than the #8 Monaco mercerized cotton thread, which can be a plus or not. It’s good because it can be more suitable for wearables especially for babies. But if you wanted it to use for doilies or other accessories which require a stiffer yarn to enhance its form, the 5-ply may be too soft for it but there’s always stiffener products.
L-R: 5ply, 4-ply undyed monaco cotton, #8
L-R: 5ply, 4-ply undyed monaco cotton, #8
In conclusion, I love that Monaco releases a new yarn product line. I hope they will add more though I’ll be fine without new yarn products because savings. =) I hope they put out a bigger ball of it because
I have this Tulip Sucre Bead Crochet Hook set for awhile. I bought it when I had the “lace crochet” phase, when I wanted to crochet using threads. But it’s really meant for crochet pieces that have bead works.
