L'atelier d'Arin

2010-07-11T20:33:00.000-07:00

FLUFFY CROSS STITCHED MOUSE

Just open the CrossStitcher magazine, I found "fluffly mouse" pattern, made by Madeira Lana thread. Wow, another kind of embroidery thread?? It must be expensive! (not only expensive, it is very rare in Jakarta...)

Suddenly I remember that I still had 'felted yarn' (actually it's not felting yarn, but a fluffy kind of acrylic yarn). After some experiment, finally I made the fluffy mouse with PDK yarn from Tobucil. But I have to modify the pattern, because I only have dark brown felted yarn, so my mouse, who should be a cute pink mouse, suddenly become big brown mouse...

After finishing the felted part, I just look at it and think, why it's not so fluffy? After I read the instruction, the thread should be made fluffy with help of velcro! Oh, I see... after I put the velcro several times, the yarn become more fluffy, but not so fluffy at all.
(unfortunately, in the photo we cannot see the fluffy effect very well...)

Tips : if you need to 'fluff' the embroidered thread/yarn with velcro, better to finish the fluffy part first, then before continuing to the other part, make it fluffy with velcro. This is to avoid the other embroidery part using normal cotton thread become deteriorate.

2010-07-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

(BIG) WATER BOTTLE HOLDER

Another project for water bottle holder! The idea came from free pattern of groovy crochet but I can't find the original one. :(

Long time ago I made similar pattern for 600 mL and 300 mL mineral water bottle using nylon and it was success, eventhough I had to "spend" some "extra power" to crochet the nylon yarn. Right now I'm using 1000 mL water bottle, and it was difficult to carry the big size bottle, so I made another mineral water bottle holder using variegated nylon. And another success story, since I already try to hang the bottle (in full volume), and it was strong enough! Yippeee!!!

Btw, there are so many free pattern with keywords "water bottle holder" on the internet, and one of the closest pattern to my pattern can be found here :
http://www.kodymayknits.com/2008/06/serious-water-bottle-holder-here-in.html

2010-06-18T16:58:00.000-07:00

READER's LETTER

Couples of month ago I sent a reader's letter to The World of Cross Stitching magazine, telling them about creation I made from one of their pattern (was posted here). About a month after I sent my e-mail and the photo, the editor replied my letter ask for my home address. So, they planned to publish my letter on June edition, and if it was published, they will send some souvenir to my home.

Beginning of June, before I had time to go to bookstore to buy the magazine, the souvenir has arrived! Hurray, my e-mail was published! The souvenir were "just" green Aida (it's a rare thing here...), 1 skein of DMC floss (but it's a special edition for Europe Union, different label with one sold here), and 1 pattern leaflet, it was very nice...

At the end of the same week, I had time to Kinokuniya to buy the magazine, and after I read my letter, I just realized that my letter were long... :), and the editor has give comment to my letter. I don't know if it was coincident or not, they published my letter on the edition with Eeyore pattern bonus! Whhaaa.... very nice!

2010-05-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

MY FIRST CELLPHONE ACCESSORIES

Finally, I made my first crocheted cellphone accessories! This idea actually came from my friend, who produced cellphone accessories from flanel. Since I want to make it from a different kind of material, I started to look for a small but simple crochet pattern (usually we can use pattern for fridgie or keychain). And... voila, here is the cute (hanging) giraffe!

If you like to crochet this cute giraffe, you can find the pattern here :
http://huffcreations2.blogspot.com/2006/08/giraffe-fridgie.html

And if you like to see this cute giraffe "playing" with his (almost) one million friend, do not hesitate to click here.

PS. In fact, it doesn't mean I didn't like flanel, but I already had 'bad experience', everytime I made cute things from flanel, it will end up becoming furry things.

2010-04-09T05:21:00.000-07:00

CROCHET HYBRID

This project was a result of "to spend left-over local acrylic yarn" program. The crocheted flower was made with left-over acrylic yarns, and it has been untouched for months because I didn't know what should I used the flower for (it couldn't be a brooch or corsage, too flat and too big). But after I cleaned up my trunk, I found a denim-like curtain material and a zipper with suitable length. Then suddenly there came and idea : I would put the crocheted flower to a zipped-purse, and you can see the result in the photograph above. I sew the purse by myself, and I put the crocheted flower by hand-sewing.

2010-04-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

ONE MILLION GIRAFFES

We had a new trend at home : GIRAFFE. It began with the arrival of a little stuffed animal named Giraffe. He's cute, standing like a real giraffe, but in cartoonic version. He made us doing a deeper research for giraffes.

Giraffes had attracted us for a long time, because of their unique "features". Giraffe is the tallest land animal. Once when admiral Zheng He returned from his voyage to Africa, he brought a giraffe as a gift to the Chinese Emperor. Since the giraffe couldn't pass the front gate, the Chinese Emperor had to raised from his throne and walked to the front gate just to see the giraffe. Giraffe also has big curiousity, I watched some giraffes in the zoo, they like to crane their neck to get closer look, especially in zoo attendants. :D

When I searched some information about giraffe, I found this website : One Million Giraffe. The owner of the website (Ola) has a bet with his friend that by January 1st 2011 he can collect 1 million giraffes through the internet. Wow, what a creative project! And I'd like to donate some giraffes for her. :)

This is my 1st "donation" for Ola, and I still want to donate some giraffes. Go on Ola!

2010-03-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

COLORFULL KOREAN ZIPPER PURSE

(once again) Inspired by a Korean souvenir, I made a colorfull crocheted zipper purse. The basic principle is very simple : 2 rows of dc for each color (this sample was made by cotton yarn), then the upper side (zipper side) was crocheted in contrast color, sew the zipper, sew the purse's side, and voila! The purse can be utilized immediately! To make it more cute, we attached crocheted flower on zipper's pull.

Picture of inspiration source

Picture of finished purse

2009-11-29T03:27:00.000-08:00

MY FIRST TEAR-BEAR CARD

First time I found "Tear-bear" technique was when I search about Hanji, papercraft from Korea. Hanji paper is paper made from paper mulberry bark (latin name Broussonetia papyrifera), and it can be made for many handicraft, include boxes, lamp cap, and even fashion.

"Tear-bear" is a technique to make 2-dimensional bear (or any other objects) by tearing the paper, which can make 'fluffy' effect to the objects. Originally, the suitable paper for the technique is mulberry paper. But in Indonesia, it's difficult to find mulberry paper, even in the handicraft store. So I try to find replacement for the mulberry paper, by using craft paper/recycle paper with similar texture with mulberry paper. I found 'kertas bumi' at Crayon Craft Store Bandung, and the result is not bad. I want to try the technique with real mulberry paper, so I can find out how 'fluffy' it should be.

In Indonesia, actually mulberry paper (or paper made from plants belong to the same family of paper mulberry tree) has been produced years ago. For example is dalu ang paper at West Java.

This is how we made "Tear-Bear" :

1. Trace the pattern at the back of paper (you can find the sample of pattern here)

2. Wet the trace outline using water and paintbrush

3. Tear along the traceline. Be carefull when tearing the paper, don't cut beyond the traceline. If it's hard to tear, wet the traceline again. (note: for thick mulberry paper, sometimes you don't have to wet all the traceline because it's easy to tear it neatly)

4. Place the bear parts according to pattern (or as you wish), glue with PVC glue.

5. Add some embelishment (eyes, nose, ribbon, etc)

Isn't it cute?

2009-09-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

MODIFIED GREETING CARD

Nowaday, we usually send our greetings for holiday through text messages, e-mails or e-cards. But greeting cards are still exist, because of its personal touch. Especially in holiday season, we still receive greeting cards, and sometimes because of its cute and unique appearance, we keep them instead of throw it away.

These "used" greeting cards can be utilized for cross stitch mount . For example, we can use blank space on this butterfly card as mount for cross stitched balloon.

By "recycling" the cards, we can present a unique gift, and also help reducing paper waste.

2009-07-29T15:44:00.000-07:00

EARWARMER

A little strange fact about my earwarmer project : Indonesia is a tropical country, do we need the earwarmer? But, since most of the Jakarta's office temperature is colder than Lembang, then the earwarmer become one of most important things to keep our body warm (after handwarmer, of course!).

This earwarmer is made like a hairband, just a little longer to make sure the ears are covered. The (not so bulky) yarn is not too thick, but thick enough to warm the ear. Anyway, Jakarta is not a south pole, we don't need too bulky earwarmer!

Since the owner of earwarmer is a little shy to put her picture in this blog, then baby eeyore is volunteered to become the model of the earwarmer.

2009-07-11T18:44:00.001-07:00

TUMBLER OH TUMBLER

I got this tumbler from my office outbound activity at the beginning of 2009. Since it was only "decorated" with our outbound's theme printed on paper, and I was looking for tumbler with Eeyore's theme :-), so I made the tumbler cover with vinyl-weave and cross-stitched it with Eeyore's picture. After I made the cover with cross-stitched Eeyore, I still had so many vinyl-weave, so I made another cover with horse picture. And here's the picture of the tumbler's covers (I only have 1 tumbler, so I have to take picture of it one by one!).

2009-05-26T05:33:00.000-07:00

FINGER CROCHET

Most people maybe more familiar with "finger knitting". Yes, it's knitting yarn with our fingers! But actually not only knitting, we also can do crochet with our fingers. Just pretend our index finger is a crochet hook, we can do crochet technique to make cute stuff!

I just bought book titled "Playing with Avril's Yarn No. 1" (English version), this book is full with finger knitting and finger crochet projects. Since I am more keen in doing crochet technique (compare to knitting!), I choose finger crocheted bag as my 1st project. And here's the result : a cute blue finger crocheted bag.

2009-03-11T20:49:00.000-07:00

CURLY & CUDDLY BLUE SCARF

This is the result of my experiment using curly yarn I bought from tobucil online. Since the curly yarn is very thin, I doubled it using local yarn, and it became thick enough to warm your neck, but still soft enough to wear.

2009-01-27T10:18:00.000-08:00

E-BOOKLET : ASESORIS DARI RAJUT KAIT

Just finished my first e-booklet about crochet, it will be published thought Multiply. There are 5 crochet accessories projects, written in Bahasa Indonesia. To find out more about that, please visit Rhien's Workshop.

2009-01-19T22:34:00.000-08:00

CARD FROM CROCHET THINGS

Just find new interest : crocheted card! Will try to make another one...

2008-12-23T06:35:00.001-08:00

CORSAGE, CORSAGE!!!

These corsage are made with American style (narrative) pattern.

And this corsage is made with Japanese style (graphic) pattern.

2008-02-27T08:02:00.000-08:00

Business Card Holder

I got a "little problem" everytime I was invited to a meeting in my office, since I couldn't bring my business card neatly (too many things to bring! E.g. the organizer which has transparent cover, the cellphone, and pencil case... imagine if I had to bring the hard business card case!). So I created business card holder which can be attached to my organizer. Have a look!

2008-02-21T01:50:00.001-08:00

KREASI KRISTIK UNTUK PEMULA

Penulis: Arini Tathagati
ISBN: 978 979 1477 01 7
Penerbit: PT Puspa Swara. Jl. Mekarsari Raya Mo 15. Cimanggis-Depok
021- 8729060. Fax: 021-8712219
Alamat Pemesanan: Jl. Gunung Sahari III/7. Tel: 021-4204402. fax: 021-4214821
Harga: Rp 35.000,-

Kristik atau tusuk silang sebenarnya tidak asing lagi di telinga kita. Masih ingatkah ketika nenek atau ibu kita mengisi waktu luangnya dengan membuat kristik? Selain mengasyikkan, berkreasi dengan kristik juga bisa mendatangkan penghasilan dan kepuasan hati. Mau mencoba?
Buku ini menjadi sumber inspirasi Anda berkreasi dengan kristik. Lengkap memandu, mulai dari pengenalan alat dan bahan, teknik dasar, sampai ragam kreasi kristik. Anda tidak hanya bisa membuat aplikasi kristik pada hiasan dinding. Lebih dari itu, produk seperti tas, kantong HP, kartu ucapan dan alas piring pun bisa diperindah dengan kristik. Untuk meminimalisasi kegagalan, disertakan ‘bonus’ tip dan trik antigagal.
Jadi, sungguh tepat jika buku ini menjadi teman Anda untuk mulai berkreasi.

2008-02-04T00:40:00.002-08:00

Handwarmer

Sarung tangan tanpa jari ini dibuat karena AC di kantorku dingiiiiin sekali. Dibuat tanpa jari, supaya tidak ada masalah kalau dipakai mengetik di depan komputer. Ide dasarnya diambil dari pola wrist warmer dari Carol McKay, tapi sebelumnya bagian pergelangan tangan dibuat menggunakan sc yang dirajut di back-loop only agar rajutan menjadi elastis. Polanya sebagai berikut (semua menggunakan istilah Amerika) :

Benang : wool lokal 4 helai (8-ply yarn)
Jarum : Clover 7/0 dan 8/0

Bagian pergelangan tangan (menggunakan jarum 7/0) :
Dasar : 8 ch
Baris 1 : sc pada ch ke-2 dari jarum dan sepanjang ch (7 sc), 1 ch, balik
Baris 2 : sc pada back-loop setiap sc, 1 ch, balik (7 sc)
Baris 3-25 : ulangi pola baris 2. Pada akhir baris ke-25, satukan baris 25 dengan baris pertama menggunakan slip stitch, ganti jarum dengan 8/0, benang jangan dimatikan.

Bagian telapak tangan :
Baris 1 : ch 1, 25 sc di sepanjang sisi pergelangan tangan (kurang lebih 1 sc di setiap sisi baris di pergelangan tangan), satukan dengan sc pertama menggunakan ss (25 sc).
Baris 2 : 2 ch (setara dengan hdc), hdc pada setiap st berikutnya, satukan dengan 2-ch pertama menggunakan ss (25 hdc)
Baris 3-9 : ulangi pola baris 2
Baris 10 : 2 ch (setara dengan hdc), hdc pada 21 st berikutnya, 3 ch, satukan dengan 2-ch pertama menggunakan ss (22 hdc dan 3 ch)
Baris 11-13 : ulangi pola baris 2. Matikan benang, rapikan ujung-ujungnya.

NB.
This blog is originally written in Bahasa Indonesia, formerly published on http://rhien-crochet.blogspot.com. This website has been disabled. If you want to have the warmer's pattern in English, please contact me at arini_che@yahoo.com.

2008-02-04T00:21:00.000-08:00

Toe Sock for Ballerina

"Kaos kaki jempol" ini berfungsi untuk melindungi jempol agar tidak lecet saat seorang ballerina memakai pointe shoes. Di Indonesia, yang jual "kaos kaki jempol" yang sudah jadi kaya'nya belum ada (k'lo pun ada, jarang banget dan harganya biasanya muahal). Jadi pada waktu seseorang memberiku oleh-oleh "kaos kaki jempol", aku mencoba mengira-ngira pola-nya, membuat sepasang, mencobanya sendiri, dan sukses! (btw, aku bisa bilang sukses, karena aku membuktikannya sendiri...)

Berikut adalah pola "kaos kaki jempol" (semua istilah menggunakan istilah Amerika) :
Bahan : benang kinlon Sakura
Jarum kait : Clover 3/0

Dasar : 7 ch
Baris 1 : 2 ch (setara dengan hdc), hdc pada ch ke-3 dari jarum, hdc pada 5 ch berikutnya, 3 hdc pada ch terakhir, hdc pada 5 ch berikutnya (di sisi ch sebaliknya), hdc pada ch pertama (3 hdc dalam 1 ch), sl st pada 2-ch awal (total 16 hdc)
Baris 2 : 2 ch (setara dengan hdc), hdc pada tempat yang sama, hdc pada 7 hdc berikutnya, 3 hdc pada hdc berikutnya, hdc pada 7 hdc berikutnya, hdc pada hdc pertama (3 hdc dalam 1 st), sl st pada 2-ch awal (total 20 hdc)
Baris 3 : 2 ch (setara dengan hdc), hdc pada 19 st berikutnya, sl st pada 2-ch awal (total 20 hdc)
Baris 4-9 : ulangi pola baris 3
Matikan benang, rapikan ujung-ujungnya.

NB.
This article is originally written in Bahasa Indonesia, formerly posted on http://rhien-crochet.blogspot.com. This website has already been disabled. If you like to have the toe sock crochet pattern in English, just contact me at arini_che@yahoo.com

2008-02-03T18:03:00.000-08:00

Eeyore Tissue Cover

My crochet masterpiece : Eeyore toilet tissue case. I love Eeyore, and I love crochet, and here is my crocheted version of Eeyore, carrying tissue inside his body!

2007-07-02T02:06:00.000-07:00

Pin-Cushion

My experiment on pin-cushion. Not so perfect (the cross-stitched flower is too small for the big pin-cushion!), but cute enough.

2007-07-02T02:02:00.000-07:00

Chinese New Year's Red Envelope
This is red envelope for chinese-new-year gift, or mostly known as "angpau". You may see the "models" on the background!

2007-07-02T02:01:00.001-07:00

Cosmetics Purse

Small cosmetics purse with zipper.... nice purse, nice couple of cows....

2007-07-02T00:59:00.000-07:00

Pearls and Beads Necklace

Another experiment on necklace with nail and jump-ring...

2006-09-22T23:42:00.000-07:00

Crocheted Star Trek pin

I've found a blog posting the startrek pin crochet pattern (she made it for her son), but unfortunately she put the picture upside down! I tried to crochet the pattern (using 'fresh' yarn color), and this is how it looks like.

2006-09-02T19:01:00.000-07:00

Denim Cellular Pocket

This is my first attempt with denim thread. Once try, I desperately fall in love with it!

2006-05-28T18:26:00.000-07:00

My "Cattle" Shawl

Mooooo..... This is a crocheted shawl, made of acrylic wool. The pattern should be for knitting shawl, but 'coz I'm not handy in knitting, I crocheted it.

P.S. The 'background' chair is an old working chair, belong to my (belated) grand-father. It's much much older than me!

2006-05-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

Glass Beads Bracelet Just an experiment result of a "new" craft for me. In another "experiment", I'll try to make a brighter one. :)

2006-05-21T01:37:00.000-07:00

Small Coin Purse

Size : 5 cm x 5 cm (approximate)
Material : cotton thread

2006-04-24T20:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Card

Size : 15 cm x 10 cm
Material : linen cartoon, 14-count Aida, DMC cotton thread

Skating Hedgehog Card

Size : 10 cm x 15 cm

Material : concorde cartoon, 14-count Aida, DMC cotton thread

2006-04-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

Allo! This will be my "workshop" blog, dedicated to small, cute and funky products of crochet and cross stitch. If you like to have it, just drop me a message on arini_che@yahoo.com, we'll discuss about it.