A shell headband with cotton thread

This headband was made for a friend. I promised to make one for her a long time ago! :) Although it's quite easy and simple, I took much time to think of the way it looks like and choose the appropriate colors as well. Many projects are waiting for me, so I sometimes nearly forgot! This time I try to keep my promise and here it is.

The second bolero

This bolero looks so easy to crochet, so I decided to make one. But when starting to go into the work, I realized that it's not so simple as I thought. Although it just needs the basic stitches to complete, I easily got confused the stitches on putting them in order to create the patterns, and in a few times I had to remove the confused stitches to start again. Anyway, I did finish it and got some experiences, which are very helpful to my crocheting.

Crochet for sharing

I have found that crochet is also a happiness, when you not only crochet for yourself, but for the others around you. I have just finished a hat and gave it for my close colleague as a giveaway. She loves it so much and it's so happy to me when seeing her face with my hat on her head! That's a great feeling!

The hat:

And here is a scarf I have just had it given to another colleague in Germany. She will receive it on Monday, hope she likes it. It's a seed stitch scarf I have learned from Teresa.

My first perfect bag

I am very pleased with this bag, although it took too long for me to finish. With front post and back post stitches, the bag looks so secured, thick but still be soft and the mix-color is so cool!

With the lining inside when opened:

Crochet yarn and thread

Which do you prefer, yarn or thread?
Crochet is quite popular in my country. You will easily find your yarn or thread, but the variation of them, however, is not much. Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate, so we usually do not use the thick and fuzzy yarn for crocheting as temperate zone. Especially in Ho Chi Minh city, where I am living, the hot climate is mainly, so thread is preferred. I really love many different kinds of yarn and thread in the other countries showed on internet, but it's so hard to find in Vietnam.

My cotton thread collection:

And the tough thread usually used for making bags:

I also use some kinds of cotton yarn for sweaters, scarfs and hats...

Beyond the Squares - My favorite crochet book

Placed an order on Amazon.com, I waited about two weeks (for international shipping) to get "Beyond the Squares Crochet Motifs". It's not only worth my waiting, but it really meets my favorite also. With a great cover, covered with pictures of gorgeous motifs in attractive colors, Beyond the Squares is a good pennyworth.

You can find many useful things in the book, from a simple explanation of how to work the "sliding loop" for starting without a chain ring to the principle of flatness for circles. Hundreds of patterns with clearly instructions, including joining motifs, how to keep your circles from being either ruffle or cupped, tips for beginners... It also talks about making circles, triangles, squares and unusual shapes in a very cool way.

I especially love the explanation of how is crochet, it's simple just:

1. Put your hook somewhere.
2. Wrap the yarn over your hook.
3. Pull the hook through something.

Interesting? And here are some images of the lovely book:

My crochet are improving

Compare this doily to my first one, could you see how improving am I? :)

With a vase when the Lunar New Year was coming up

The bolero made during the Tet holidays

Chart for this popular bolero:

The ball responded to Teresa's instruction:

A nice heart square:

My first teacher in crochet

In a random Google search for crochet, I occasionally found The Art of Crochet - Teresa. I am really impressed with her work, although threre are thousands of websites, blogs and videos about crochet on internet. Her instructions and videos are so great that you just need to follow her channels to become a good crocheter! I did not know anything about crochet before, even how to distinguish knitting from crocheting! Thanks to Teresa, who dedicated most of the time, mind and money for teaching crochet to everyone around the world for free, I now can be well-done with plenty of crochet techniques and can make anything I like!

You should not miss her YouTube channel for hundreds of best tutorial videos to improve your crochet rapidly if you are a beginner like me. But if you are crochet expert, you also can get a lot of new and useful things for your skill here; and even if you are non-crocheter, you will have chance to admire her talent!

With my heart full of appreciation, I would like to say thank you Teresa a thousand times. I would never reached crochet so fast without your help. You are my great teacher, who are very kind and giving. I am so lucky, and never so more for the love of crochet you have given to me.

My first crocheted stuff

Here are some stuff at my beginning days, I just keep a few of them, some were given-away and thrown-away! They look not beautiful, but I always keep them for my memory.

The first hat:

The first pouches:

Cell phone cases:

A gray cap for my Mom:

And here, my terrible first doily:

Begining days of crochet

I came to crochet by chance a few months ago, after seeing some crocheted shirts at a shop. They are so cool but quite expensive, so I wish I could make one for my own, and I decided to learn to crochet. Starting by going to market and buy a hook, some skeins of yarn, with my first basic crochet book, I am really into crochet. This is really myself-teaching because nobody around me knows how to crochet.