Having attended Peranakan beading class in preparation for “Little Nonya”, it somewhat stimulated my interest in needlework. I wouldn’t say it was a pastime left in the cold, because frankly, I never started. So in my attempt to compensate my lack of talent in holding needles and putting them through fabric (so that I won’t look too clumsy in the drama), I picked up a cross-stitch which I left aside uncompleted 9 months ago, and spent 2-3 hours every night practising my stitches. It’s different from beading of course, but at least I make peace with the needle.

Lo and behold! I’m now addicted to not just cross-stitching, but also crochet and patchwork. Some time back, I put up a post featuring my first attempt at crochet, I was so displeased with it, I decided to pull the knots out and start from scratch. I want to make sure I get my stitches neat and nice. This is the most boring part, because you don’t see anything materialise other than rows and rows of stitches, but I guess the quality of stitching is important to me, especially since I am learning from scratch. Without good basics, I probably won’t go very far with the crochet projects.

As with picking up any new skill, we got to learn to crawl before we can run.

So I began with single crochet + turning chain, which will give you a flat rectangular piece like the one below. Depending on the number of chains, the size of the piece will differ.

Now at least this looks decent.

I had to pull out the piece five or six times because upon closer inspection, the knots were not uniformed. Sometimes the needle had caught stray fibres, or went into wrong spaces without my realisation, so it wasn’t a nice flat consistent piece.

My mother has passed my single crochet.

Next, I’d be learning half double crochet and double crochet.