Crochet Princess

We had bought a load of yarn online from Jo Ann some time back. When we received the package, I was a tad disappointed because the type of yarn was not necessarily for babies. But then again, I had intended the yarn to be used by the kids to make tiny creations for their soft toys and dolls.

Back in 2005, I had made for both S and N ragdolls, as a consolation for not getting two china porcelain dolls that were offered to them by some Malaysian brothers who had bought them by mistake. We told the girls that those dolls looked too alive, and as a consolation, I told them I would make them a doll each.

Happy with the alternative, they acquisced, and I set to work making these two rag dolls after looking on the internet for ideas and basic instructions.



The dolls were really customized, as I had asked them how tall they wanted their dolls, what color hair they wanted, what face shape they wanted, and what kind of smiles they preferred on their dolls.

S's Anisah, wearing the newly crocheted dress S made.

After the dolls were done, they named them, S's Anisah, and N's Farashah. I didn't make clothes for the dolls except for one or two. I have trouble finding enough time to make dresses and abaya for the girls, I wasn't about to spend time I don't have making clothes for their dolls. Finding decent clothes that are not belly button friendly is pretty frustrating in this country.

The girls had lamented over the lack of clothes their dolls are faced with, so I told them to try and make them themselves, since both girls had taken free sewing classes at our recreation center.

N's Farashah (she had chosen that to be the hair color)

I permitted them the use of my threads and needles. It was not without problems though, as I had found pins on the carpet more than a few times, but I hope those were 'learning from mistakes' moments they would heed.
I started to introduce to them the art of crocheting back in 2006. I had crocheted when I was about S's age, because my stepmother was into it and so did everybody else in our neighborhood, but I didn't really remember how to crochet, so as is usually the case, we checked out crochet books from the library!

I hate reading crochet recipes/instructions with all the short forms. I practically forced myself to go through them until we could do a very simple stitch. The first time I taught them to crochet, they couldn't really do it, especially N and H. S managed to crochet a pretty decent chain, but she was still relatively struggling, to the point of not even wanting to do it. So we dropped it, that is until, I stumbled across Mahar Dry Goods. That started the crochet craze.

However, that activity soon dwindled for a bit, and picked up again when we joined the Sew Giving Blanket Drive. And while I'm still struggling trying to make blankets, S is exploring on her own, reading the crochet recipes on her own, and coming up the cutest expanding wardrobe for the dolls and their soft toys. To my pleasant surprise, one after another, she crocheted a vest, a shorts, a dress, and a tutu in progress. Mashaallah! (I guess this is probably another result of applying the unschooling concept, of course without me realizing it)

I was trying to make sense of a crochet short form one time, and in frustration, I called S.

"S, what does this mean?" I asked her.

She actually explained to me what it meant, much to my surprise, and like a good student, I followed her instructions and had my 'ohh' and 'aha!' moments.


So here you go S, this post is dedicated to our Crochet Princess: S. May Allah bless you with skills that are blessed by Him. Ameen.

Library Cards...Finally!

Ever since they were very young, we've had a 'library bag'. Our first ever 'library bag' was this flimsy cloth black and white striped bag into which I stuffed library books upon library books. Every Friday, the bookmobile would come to our neighborhood and park itself right by the laundromat and playground, and we would pay it a visit with our empty 'library bag'. More often than not, our 'library bag' would be filled to the point of looking horrendously like a glutton's stomach.

Over the years, our library bags have evolved, and now we have one that can be wheeled. Nevertheless, our reading appetite has outgrown the size of our 'library bag', and we have had to utilize the plastic bags the library provides.

We have had only one library card all this time, and I finally decided that each kid should have his/her own card. That would mean a long line at the check out desk, and maybe more headache for me, but it would also mean another opportunity for responsibility for them; a learning experience.

So last weekn, we finally applied library cards for each of them. With our usual stacks of books, we crowded the check out desks, and the librarian handed us three forms to fill. Baby Z was on the verge of screaming for my milk, so hubby took him outside, leaving me to manage three kids, three forms, an unpaid fine, and stacks of books to place in our 'library bag'.

As I moved back and forth between each child as they filled in their own forms, it occurred to me that it felt very much like a sliver of homeschooling moment at home.

"Ummi, what do I put here?"

"Ummi, what's our address?"

"Ummi, is our zipcode ____?"

"Ummi, what's your name?"

"Ummi, work phone?" to which I replied,

"Oh, do you go to work?" and to which the questioner, H, grinned.

Of course they know what my name is, and some of them (thank Allah!) at least know our address! I could have just filled out the forms for them, but again, it's a learning moment, and even though the librarian must have had to exercise patience in waiting for all of them to finish filling up th forms, I tried to make it as enjoyable an experience for the kids.

S was done with hers, handed in her form, received her brand new library card, and checked out her books herself. Next was H, and last but not least was N.

By the time we were done, hubby and Baby Z were in the van, waiting for us in front of the library, with Baby Z screaming in hunger.

"Ok, make sure you have somewhere to put your library card in so you won't lose it," I said.

S had her pink and purple crocheted purse she had made herself. H had his Jidda's wallet, in which he also kept his family members' photos. And N had nothing. So I crocheted a blue purse for her, which turned out to take quite a chunk of my weekend time. Alhamdulillah though, S sewed on the buttons for both her and N's purses. And as for me, I don't have to worry anymore about them losing their cards, and that business is settled, alhamdulillah.


Now, I just have to worry about the increasing number of books that will grace our house as the total limit per household is now 400 items.

Sew Giving Blanket Drive

A week. We had about a week to crochet ourselves to two baby blankets for the Sew Giving Blanket Drive. This is my first. This is also S's first. Alhamdulillah, we did finish our baby blankets yesterday, on the deadline.

Ahh...how we both crocheted and crocheted the past week. Seeing our blankets making progress bit by bit was really something. S had started making hers first, and I had told her that hers was not long enough, and I made mine longer, but mine proved to be a little bit too long. Hers is actually the perfect size. There were glaring holes in hers, and the sides were somewhat skewed, but overall, S's blanket seems to be more comfy, as the stitches were pretty loose. My stitches were close together and it made the blanket pretty rigid. I also love S's color combo better.

Since this is my first, I also failed to read the instructions on the label of the yarn, and it turned out that we had bought not enough yarn, hence the crazy color combo on mine. I started crocheting the green and yellow into my colorful yarn combo because I was afraid there wouldn't be enough of the colorful yarn to finish a blanket. S ran out of the blue, so she made the striped pattern be the middle pattern. It was all 'winging it'. Alhamdulillah they turned out pretty good for first timers!



Today, hubby is mailing them to California. In our haste, and due to some unexpected visitors last night, we didn't have enough time to make cards or notes to accompany the blankets. So this morning, S and I made them, even though hubby has already brought the packed blankets with him to his office. While choosing the patterned card stock, we pleasantly came up with matching colors for the blankets; mine purple with all the other colors, and S's blue and yellowish. Sweet!









Hubby dropped by to pick up our cards before heading to the Post Office. Alhamdulillah...I hope they reach the sister in time and in good condition. Ameen.
Now on to our next project: the Muslimah Doll Project!

The Sadaqah Jar & Worthwhile Projects

Recipe for Financial Success: Save, Sadaqah and Spend.

The Triple S

1. Divide it in half
2. Dump one half of it into the Savings Jar
3. Divide the other one half into thirds
4. Place one third in the SpendingJar/Wallet/Purse
5. Place the remaining two thirds in the Sadaqah Jar.
6. Update ledger

A friend expressed utter surprise when I told her that the kids do have money saved up. It's a cultural and generational difference, I suppose, because where she grew up, the only money she ever saved were those for buying special treats at the store. When I was growing up, I did have some money saved up for emergencies (If my father were suddenly struck with utter poverty, I could come to the rescue and save the family with my savings of 50 Malaysian Ringgit). My husband was also a saver, a very frugal saver at that, as is apparent now.

I have long thought of training the kids to wisely handle their finances. Seeing how hubby is the economics guy, I asked him to handle the matter. Unfortunately, he said that it all comes to him by instinct, and that he doesn't know how to 'teach' it to the kids. In other words, he has no organization whatsoever in his method of saving money.

So it was up to me to yet again do some reading and searching and researching as to a doable method of training your children to manage their finances. K and Rq had mentioned what Muhammad Alshareef taught in Rizq Management about not putting all your eggs in one basket. I had heard about that before, and one day I came across the 3 'basket' method (at least that's what I call it).

So I adapted it for the kids, and assigned each of them three jars. We had some glass spaghetti sauce jars that I had decorated, and in which they had lept their money before. So it wasn't that hard to do what I planned for them to do. Basically, each of them will have:

1. Savings Jar
2. Sadaqah Jar
3. Spending Jar

Each time they are to receive money and make a deposit, they are to follow the Triple S recipe. After a while, dividing up 1 dollar bills into halves and thirds just got tiresome, and we agreed that for small amounts of money, they can divide it as they wish and allocate it as they wish, but that for amounts of $10 or more, they would have to follow the Triple S recipe.

So, for a while, we have had the Sadaqah Jar, which has increasingly been getting full, tabarakallah. Other than donating the money at Jumuah prayer, we thought of sponsoring an orphan as a family, having the kids contribute their Sadaqah money to it. Though we had filled out the forms, it hasn't really taken off yet.

And one day, out of the blue, while I was bloghopping, I stumbled upon the most amazing blog owned by sister Farhana, called Sketched Soul. I have always wanted to do projects like these with the kids, but in light of my full plate, I never got to even hashing out the idea. Alhamdulillah for like-minded sisters that actually takes the time to hash out these ideas and make them a realistic occurence, Allahu Akbar!

All the projects are mashaallah, really great ideas, but two caught my fancy; The Muslimah Doll Project, and the Sew Giving Blanket Drive. More so because these are projects I can directly involve the kids in. Bubbling over with enthusiasm, to which the kids are now very much accustomed to whenever I am struck with an idea for homeschooling, baking, gifts, or arts and crafts projects, I told them of my find. Responding with the same amount of enthusiasm, they eagerly nodded their way to agreeing in contributing in the projects. The only damper is, H is pretty much left out, as he doesn't know how to crochet, and even though he wanted to make the doll in the beginning, he later opted out.

As of now, we have yet to pay a visit to Jo Ann to buy yarn and muslin for the doll's body, and Farhana had said that that project is put on hold for now, but that we can still make the dolls and it will be used for another project inshallah.

S had already started her baby blanket, but we're running out of yarn, so maybe after this weekend, we can make that trip to Jo Ann, inshaallah.

The Crochet Craze!

"Girls! Look at this!" I squealed, and they came running down the stairs.

"Look, look, see! So cute!!" I exclaimed.

I had squealed in uncontained delight at the sight of these the night before, while hubby ignored me.

"Ooh! the girls would love this!" I said out loud, and I resolved to let the kids see it the next day.

That was the catalyst to our crochet craze, in which I made two kufis, one for hubby and one for H, and a hairband for S and N.

S made purses for her, N and H, to place their recreation center ID cards in.

Right now, S is making a rug (we'll see how that will turn out to be), while I am supposed to make a winter hat for hubby, complete with earflaps.

I am in awe of N's persistance in crocheting, because it was not that easy for her, but she kept at it despite skipping some stitches thus making her growing piece somewhat deformed. She'll inshaallah gain the full mastery in a few years or soon if she keeps at it at this rate!



S has successfully mastered the art of crocheting, at least for her age, and I must say she does it quite beautifully mashaallah!


And now...we are due for another trip to Jo Ann for more balls of yarn.

...

"Are you grateful you have a cute baby brother like Baby Z?"

"Yeah!"

"And we're grateful that we have a smart mother who can crochet!" exclaimed N.

I stood there open-mouthed, speechless. Baby Z had nothing to do with crocheting!

"She always says things that make me speechless," I finally said.

"Well, that's going on my blog," I continued.

"Ummi, I think my new hobby is crocheting," N confided.

We had recently taken up crocheting after ooh and aah-ing at this.

I had tried to teach them crochet couple of years back, and while hubby played soccer with the other Malaysians, we sat in the shade and crocheted, or tried to at least, with library books propped open on the picnic mat we had laid out on the ground.

They gave up after a few tries, complaining that it was too hard.

This time, S really managed to master it, and whipped up a purse for herself, one for N and one for the little boy named H. I made a kufi for hubby and H. We were in crochet land for a while. Let me just say that the trip to Jo Ann to buy the yarn was the loudest shopping experience I ever had with the three kids. They were all too excited to buy more than one ball of yarn. I limited it to two balls of yarn each after quieting them down.