Yarn Obsession

What to do when your manuscript is stuck somewhere and you're just too uninspired to start another one? Well, you can always crochet and make beautiful things. ;)

I started learning this craft when I was only 9. Back then, in my kampung we only had electricity supply from 7pm to 7am. So, in the afternoon, there's not much to do. No TV to watch, no video games to play and off course there was no smartphones. What the aunties in my neighbourhood would do then, they'd have lepak sessions or mesyuarat tingkap from 2-6pm almost everyday. My mom and I would join them sometimes. 

There was a time when some of them started bringing their crochet yarn and needle and made table runners, baby hats, baby socks and the most famous one was chair backs. It is so nostalgic now when I visit friends' houses and see chair backs in their living room. The popular design back then (even now, I think) was bunga nenas and spider pattern. 

After seeing the aunties making pretty pieces of chair backs, I asked my mom to buy me crochet yarn and needle. One of the aunties taught me to do 'tali air' that's the most basic crochet. She asked me to do 1000 'tali air'. So I did and made a thousand more until I was so expert I could do it my eyes closed. 

Once I've mastered that, I asked my mom to buy me more yarn. I started to pester my late grandma to teach me more. So, I went for a sleep over at her place and she taught me a few more basic crochet stitches. 

After that I started coming up with my own crochet pattern. Back then it was not easy to buy the pattern book. Some of the aunties had photocopies from their friends or families. The first thing I made was supposed to be a dark blue chair back. When I was half way done, one of my brothers told me that it looked like 'alas kaki'. Yeah, brothers are zalim like that. So, I un-crochet everything and started something else from scratch. I don't quite remember what I made after that but it was a very small piece and I used it as a radio cover. 

When I was 11, the sundry shop in my kampung sold a few new colours of crochet yarn. I was attracted to the striking green one and told my mum to buy a few of them. That was when I designed a water bottle sleeve and brought it to school. Off course I received mixed reviews from friends and teachers (not much different from writing books, eh?) The bottle sleeve lasted until I finished primary 6. When I went to STF, I had no idea what happened to that it. 

So, during CNY holidays this year, out of the blue, I took out my old crochet needle and yarn from my sewing basket and started a project. It was a telekung bag. I never knew I needed a telekung bag. I only go to the mosque a few times a year. But I just thought of having one would be nice. Once it was done, I put in a pair of my telekung and I liked what I saw. The telekung could 'breathe' too as the crochet bag had many lubang-lubang. 

After the telekung bag, I went to Daiso to see what kind of yarns are available and I fell in love with a few colours. So, I bought a few (6 balls of colourful yarns, to be exact) and started another telekung bag, followed by a few bottle sleeves. 

This seems to be an on-going project as I'm getting orders from friends and families who love crochet  bags/sleeves/table runners/chairbacks as well. 

OKlah kan? If my book project got shelved, I can always crochet. Hehe.

And the best part was when one of my gym friends told me, "ingatkan awak ni tahu melompat je. Ada soft side juga rupanya, ya?"

Have a nice day, peeps! Muah! Muah!