Welcome to Knotty Bicsie!: January 2010

Meet Funky Knitter - Irene

"Thank you Betsy for making my knitting journey possible and I enjoyed every lesson at your studio. Your precise teachings and constant guidance which marks a difference from many other learning places had given me a good foundation of understanding the basics till the final completion of my bag. This drives my motivation in knitting up other projects :-) I will be looking forward to my next project taught by you again. Cheers!" - Irene Chong, 28th Jan 2010

Friends...

People come & go throughout our lives. I've heard many say that most friends are "periodic", as in primary school friends who are our childhood playmates, secondary school friends whom we go through our most rebellious adolescence days with, JC friends for 2 brisk years, university friends whom we grow quite close to, then our colleagues at work, etc... All of whom we share memorable times with... Some of us, however, are lucky enough to be blessed with many of such life-long friends. This blog entry is for all my wonderful & precious friends...

My Primary School Friends. Had a small X'mas gathering @my place. It was rather last minute, so many couldn't make it :P Planning to have another one this CNY. I'm sure it'll be a much larger crowd! ;) Well, I can't believe it myself, most of us have been friends since we were in Primary 1! Haha... We are all now in different walks of life, yet we still enjoy remembering our good old kiddy days & sharing our new adventures with one another. We agree that we have our primary school (Red Swastika Primary School) system then to thank for our long-lasting friendship, since we were in the same class all the way from P2 till P6. :)

My Secondary School Friends. This is a rather special group. We almost did not contact one another for almost 2 years throughout our JC days. Then the magic all rekindle when we went to University. At one time we were meeting as regularly as once a month! Now that we are all busy with work & family, we try to meet up at least during festive seasons & one another's Birthdays. So ya, still at least 8 times per year ba?? :P although some of us meet up more regularly than others, especially sine one of us have migrated to Australia, & another one to US. We just had a gathering 1week+ ago to celebrate my birthday, & we are meeting again over CNY period :)

My University Friends. There are more to this group actually. Just that our group is so HUGE, it's almost impossible to get EVERYONE to our gatherings :P So we tend to meet up in small groups :) This is one of the most fun groups of friends, I must say. We did many crazy things during our Uni days, & we sometimes still do whacky stuff together till now! :P Memories of our "Overall Day", "Winnie the Pooh Day", "Coffee-Club Club", "Roller Blading Craze Phase", "Ghost Walks", "Bridge Club", "Boggle Club", "Supper Car Rides", etc... never fails to put a smile on my face till today :)

My MAAD Friends. These beautifully creative friends came into my life when I quit my MOE & started Knotty Bicsie. They're always my source of motivation & inspiration in many ways, when things get tough running a 1-man-show with Knotty Bicsie. Even though all our individual indie labels have grown & developed very differently, we still enjoy one another's company very much. This picture was taken on 10th Jan 2010, when we had a Korean feast to celebrate my birthday :)

My KBCC Friends. we meet up on the last Saturday of every month to make handicrafts & makan :) Besides this, we will also always support each other in our various new ventures & activities. So I must say I meet up with this group of crafting friends A LOT :)

My Motherhood Friends. Another special group of friends. Got to know Jullie through crochet & crafting. Then Jullie's friends, Dewi & Christie, came to learn crochet & knitting from me. The rest is history :P Now that we are all mothers & mothers-to-be, it just gives us more reasons to meet up! :D Yes yes yes, in case u still haven't known, I'm gonna be a MUM soon! :)))

My BEST Friends - Edward & my parents. Always so unconditionally supportive & loving. The people I hang out the MOST with :) & my sis, helping to look after my parents when I'm not around :) & my sis-in-law, who is always so helpful :)

Dear Friends, Thank u so much for being such beautiful people in my life. & thank u all for your generous contribution to the "Betsy's 1st Sewing Machine Fund" in celebration of my birthday this year! Here's a picture of my new toy, fully sponsored by my lovely friends... :)))

Hand-Stitched Journal Workshop @Civil Service College

I had a fun time with 5 lovely ladies @Civil Service College yesterday morning. They are put in-charged of coaching their colleagues in making something using primarily recycled materials. So my job there was to teach them how to conduct this workshop to all their 50-60 other colleagues :) They were all very sporting & fun-loving. We all had an enjoyable morning...

The very talented Sueann even whipped up a poem especially for me within minutes!

"Betsy's very nice

She taught me a new vice

Measuring, cutting,

Threading, wearing,

With a smile on a face

And a patient grace.

Thanks again, Betsy,

from Knotty Bicsie!"

- Sueann, 21st Jan 2010.

"It's been a fun & interesting session... learning how to put together things we tend to just throw! TQ, Betsy..." - Lynette, 21st Jan 2010.

"Dear Betsy, this is a day I travel back in time some years back to my Home Econs Class. The session has been fun!" - Pauline Ma, 21st Jan 2010.

"Betsy, thank you for the interesting handicraft session. It's fun to make and easy to do." - Pauline Teo, 21st Jan 2010.

"Dear Betsy, thanks for the fun & enriching session. I really enjoyed it!" - Ellen, 21st Jan 2010.

Special thanks to Ellen, who's patiently made all the necessary arrangement, for this fruitful workshop!

Ladies, here's wishing u a successful IPAM day on 19th Feb! All the best! :)

Meet Funky Knitter - Lay Peng

"Betsy is patient & the instructions are precise. Enjoy the learning process." - Lay Peng, 17th Jan 2010

Leisurely Working on Some Orders

January always marks the start of a new year & new adventure. Well, while I'm still adjusting to my new schedule for this year (new time-table at Singapore Chinese Girls' School, where I'm teaching their 'O' Level Class & also conducting workshops for their Art Club; plus some other corporate classes throughout the year; on top of my usual private classes), I'm also leisurely working on some orders & online purchases.

Some of u might have noticed that I've been "M.I.A." for awhile at bazaars :P been busy with workshops & classes actually. To those lovely Knotty Fans who came by our home-studio to do your shopping, thank you so much! :)

This pretty beanie is for Princess Rainie. I modified the beanie from a pattern from 1 of my favourite baby pattern book - Organic Cotton Baby Wear by Ondori (background picture). Besides beanie, the book also has patterns on baby booties, amigurumi, baby capes, baby rompers, etc. It has patterns on knitting, crochet & also some which incorporate both knitting/crochet with sewing. Very kawaii & lovely book to browse through, even if u don't make them :P

Price: S$25.00

Free Shipment from now till end of February.

Email bicsie@gmail to place an order now!

KBCC #20 - X'mas Gathering

I know, I know... I've been very lazy & haven't been blogging since X'mas :P This one is on KBCC X'mas Gathering on Boxing Day...

We had a fun-filled X'mas gathering on Boxing Day. We even had 3 special guests - EeWei & Darcy, all the way from Edmonton; plus Mummy Jullie & Baby Joel! ;)

Since our gathering was on Boxing Day, a number of our "regulars" were not able to join us coz of family parties. Nevertheless, we still had a nice cosy potluck. :) We had our X'mas feast over a video conference with our crafting friend, EeWei, who is all the way in Edmonton, enjoying her white X'mas. EeWei was having super while we were having our early dinner. It really felt like we were feasting at the same table! Magic of technology... :)

After dinner, we had a movie screening of my favourite Animation - Up. Everyone totally enjoyed the show too :) Then we had a little game of Bingo & here are the 4 lucky winners...