CRAFTY DAYS

Granny Square Edges - Tip

2012-02-16T11:42:00.003+05:30

The biggest challenge when making Granny squares are that they often do not turn out to be the perfect squares with the crisp edges. This creates difficulty when trying to join two squares together.

So some tips -

When making a Granny Square:

1. Choose the correct size hook for the yarn you choose.

2. Hold the loose end of the yarn with even tension throughout the process. If you keep varying the tension, the size of the stitches also vary, which creates uneven squares.

3. When using more than one type of (or colour) yarn to make a square, make sure that the yarns are of the same ply and thickness. Else, the square can become uneven.

When joining Granny Squares, if the edges of are curved up like this, it is difficult to get the stitches correctly.

Here is one tip. Hold the squares to be joined together. Insert a smooth thin rod through the holes in the edge and hold it taut till you get a neat corner on the square. I used my crochet hook itself to hold the stitches up.

Now you can see that perfect bend at the corner as well as identify the stitches easily.

Happy joining :-)

Mini Green Blanket

2012-02-13T11:31:00.003+05:30

I finally finished working on the mini green blanket. I am extremely thrilled with how it turned out. I had very few threads to weave in and the granny squares turned out perfectly this time. They are the best grannies I have made till date. Joining together the squares were also a lot fun. I would pick up the granny squares, huddle in front of the television and start joining. This is fun as it doesn't require much attention and you get the feeling that you are almost nearing the end of your project.

The mini green blanket was a quick project as most of the grannies were already ready when I started on the project recently.

As I mentioned earlier, I went on for a the usual edging - simple double crochets. I made three rounds of the edges (the pic shows only 2) and didn't take the final pics though.

Well, let's see the final mini green blanket!

Update - Mini blanket

2012-02-06T09:51:00.002+05:30

I have been crocheting all through the weekend and completed the rest of the granny squares, joined the squares (I love this part a lot), and even started on the edging part. Within a day or two, hopefully, I will be able to show you the finished mini green blanket.

Edging was a difficult part to decide on. I wanted to try something really new, which I hadn't tried till now. But later on stuck with the conventional edging that I do owing to the blanket colours being not too flashy or vibrant. I just look forward to lay my hands on the blanket and finish it off. I still have a few threads to weave in.

During this projects I learnt a few techniques which makes blocking granny squares not that necessary and reducing the time you spent on weaving in the loose ends. I plan to write up a post on the techniques soon. So wait a bit.

See you all soon with my finished mini blanket.

All those piled up squares!

2012-01-30T14:43:00.005+05:30

I had a pretty long weekend - 4 days! Thursday was a holiday owing to the Republic Day. Friday I called in a sick leave and then the weekend. Out of the four days, we were out only on the Thursday and was pretty drained out after coming back. So we stayed indoors for the rest three days. And I was able to actually progress a lot on my crochet project. Initially I decided on working on the Big Pink Blanket, but found it rather too montonous owing to it not being too colourful. So I just digged out my incomplete crochet projects and came across these.

These are some granny squares I had worked on few months back intending to make a mini blanket. And then I ran out of yarn and had stopped it. Now that my stock was kind of refilled, I took it out and started weaving in the threads.

Then I laid them out on the floor trying patterns.

And finally made up my mind on this simple pattern.

Later I picked up each block and started joining them.

Now its is almost half way done. I still have to crochet a few more granny squares, weave in the threads, join them together, decide on an edging pattern and finally edge it off! Phew... seems like a lot of work.

And if at all you are wondering where you have seen that color combination before, it is here.

Something Floral

2012-01-10T15:22:00.005+05:30

Ever since I started browsing through the creative blogs online, I have been fascinated by the pin cushions. I love the creativity and amount of detail people put into it. I started realizing the need of a pin cushion when I started blocking out my crochet stuff. Then finally when I started stitching, I found it very difficult to proceed without one. And that is how my first ever pin cushion was created.

Remember these flowers?

These are from my flower hanging project. After the project, two of these flowers were left over. And like the other flowers for the project I had stuffed it up with cotton and had the puffy look.

And then it occurred to me - why not use it as a pin cushion. And from that moment onwards, it is full of pins :-)

What I love the most of this crochet pin cushion is that how much ever pin pricks it makes, it doesn't leave any marks on it. The cloth pin cushions get a worn out look after using it for some time.

An Update

2011-11-28T12:30:00.001+05:30

Just an update on what I have been working on all the long. Yes, you guessed it right - the Big Pink Blanket. It is almost half way through now. I desperately want to complete it this December. I am not posting any pics now. Saving it for the final 'Ta-daaah' moment.

While I was away for a month...

2011-10-27T11:47:00.002+05:30

Whoa! It's real long since I blogged anything here. But I have been doing things all along. I didn't click any pics and kept postponing it. That is the sole reason why I have not been blogging anything till now. Even now I haven't clicked any pics. Thought I'll just update you guys on what all I have done till now.

I made a big crochet granny square. The colours are maroon and green. It looks like an accessory for Christmas. Well, I made it atleast a month back and it now is in place for where it was created - on my fridge. I'll click a pic and post it soooooon!

Next were my experiments with my lovely sewing machine. So pathetic of me that I have not clicked a pic of my sewing machine yet. Anyways, the first few days I used it to learn and refresh my sewing lessons. Straight lines, curves, zig zags, and on it went for a few days. Then I sewed up a hand clutch. Yes, I did it! Though not a perfect one, I just loved it.

Then I sewed and sewed and tried to learn stitching necks for dresses. It took me a while to learn it. And once I learnt it, I jumped on to a kurta project, for me. I cut an old big dupatta and within a few hours, my first kurta was ready :-) It is not fit to be worn out because it is a bit crumply at places owing to the nature of the cloth material. But yes, I am wearing it at home :-)

Later I had the courage to create a kurta from a lovely FabIndia cotton dupatta I had for some time now. It did not take me long to finish it and the end result was really pretty. And I wore it out as well. Few said it was nice, though nobody knew I had stitched it ;-) I was thrilled with the result.

After the success of the FabIndia dupatta-kurta, I have now another on In Progress. It is a lovely orange shaded fabric. Only the neck needs to be completed and a little bit of shaping up. Then the kurta will be done!

On the crochet space, I did have some green, yellow, and off-white yarn left from this project. I started making granny squares out of it to make a small throw for the winter coming up. But I am out of yarn now. So I have gone back to my old Big Pink Blanket again. I completed 3 more rows of shell stitched on it yesterday. It is almost over 2 years since I started on the project. I don't know how many more months or years I'll take to finish it. Being a long item, it is a bit difficult to sit on the chair and sew. Let's see how it goes.

Again Grannies

2011-09-05T23:31:00.003+05:30

I had completed one more crochet project some time back. It is a crocheted table spread. In our house we have a small table in the living room. It is wooden. I always wanted to have a table spread on it. And now I have created one.

The color is a bit different in the photos but still nice.

I love the stitches at the edges and the sides of the spread.

Decorative Flower Hanging

2011-09-01T21:52:00.011+05:30

It is a long time since I updated anything on my craft progress. Today I am sharing a crochet project I completed some time back (almost two months back). I was too lazy to upload the pictures.

Well, the project is a decorative flower hanging. This has been going on in my mind since a long time. Remember the flowers I was making some time back? Okay, when the number of flowers grew, I thought of using those for this project.

The project started with making the required number of flowers.

Then I sewed the edges together of two flowers with plastic twine leaving a little opening.

Stuffed in a little bit of cotton to give it dimensions.

Then sewed the remaining of the edges.

Then using June's icord tutorial, I created icords to join the flowers. Well, I must say that I loved the icord tutorial and its use. I found this tutorial right in time when I was thinking of ways to connect the flowers. The icord is sturdy, can be made as thick as you want, and holds the flowers in place without letting it twist and turn all the time. Go and check out her neat video of the tutorial.

After the icords were made, I joined the flowers and finally the flower hanging was completed.

The flowers, because of the weight, are not in the actual shape now. But still the colours are pretty. The best part is that it is hung right above our bed and I enjoy watching the colours every time I lie down.

To the end of the hanging I attached a small bell also. Simply. Me and hubby, there is not a day, when we are not ringing this bell. It is simply nice. :-)

Hope you enjoyed the project. I know that the pictures are not that great. But again, I AM LAZY :-)

Let me go and finish my biscuits.

Something New!

2011-08-26T09:59:00.006+05:30

Well, I am too excited and eager to share this with you - I have a new Singer Sewing Machine now. Yay! It is white with 10 stitches, zig-zag, and many other accessories as well. I have been waiting to own a sewing machine since years. I always wanted to buy one but the last moment I'll cancel the plan. My mom has a Janome 24 stitch zig-zag machine. I used to try my luck at that. And the urge to buy one for myself here in Bangalore intensified every day. And finally last week, we bought one.

I have kept it on a small table in my bedroom. I haven't taken any pics of it yet :-) I started getting acquainted with this sweet heart by sewing small hair scrunchies and bands. The results are pretty nice. I have even altered a few dresses as well. The altered which I love the most is a top I made from my brother's shirt :-) Now I have a lot of ideas running in my head. My crochet hooks and stuff are badly being avoided after the white lady has come in. But I guess I need to concentrate more on sewing now because I am really bad at it. Nowadays I keep practicing and practicing. But space is an issue now. We do have a spare room. But I don't prefer to go and sit there and stitch all alone. I am still thinking on how to create a small and interesting sewing corner. Suggestions are welcome :-) I have been browsing the web also. I am seeing some really beautiful ideas as well. Well, will keep you posted.

Another Flower project

2011-06-20T09:36:00.011+05:30

I completed another floral crochet project over the weekend. But haven't clicked any pictures yet. Remember the flowers I were making few weeks back? Finally those have now got a shape and place for itself.

The completed item is kept in our bedroom. I made use of the icord tutorial by PlanetJune for this project. Will write more about the how I loved the icord when I finally show the pictures here. I have added an accessory to it and now I just love it. I am planning to turn the flowers from my flower scarf also into something similar.

Hopefully I will take the pictures today and post it tomorrow.

Framing

2011-06-14T12:28:00.003+05:30

This is the first time I attempted a framing project. Almost all walls in the house we stay at are empty. We haven't hung up anything or put any pictures. All are dull yellow painted walls. So we decided to print out some pictures of ours and hang them up. So the prints were ready. Now the question was how to frame and put them up on the wall. Putting the frames on the wall meant drilling, nails, hammering, chipping paint, and such stuff. So we came up with this DIY idea - to make frames out of used cardboard boxes.

I pulled out the boxes we used while shifting, started the measuring and cutting. Meanwhile hubby bought the papers for the framing. It took me around 5 days (only my spare time in the evenings) to measure, cut, stick, and let dry those 11 pictures. Sunday evening, we spread out the pictures on the floor and tried the layout. After few crazy layouts, we decided on the final design. And by late in the evening, the photos were finally up on the wall! Phew! That was a lot of work.

Now time for some photos... Kindly excuse the poor quality of the photos. I couldn't wait until enough light was there to take the pictures. Was way too excited.

That's how the wall looks now.

See how pretty my butterfly mobile looks.

I loved the texture of this brown paper.

Only when you look from so close do you realize that these are simple cardboard cut-outs.

Things I learnt from this project:

One needs lot of patience to complete such a project.

Always attempt this craft only in a spare room; never in your living room or bedroom. It leaves behind a lot of mess, which you wouldn't be interested in cleaning up ;-)

Your hands will be all guey and sticky.

You need some ones help to arrange and stick up everything on the wall in straight line without putting any marks on the wall.

Altogether I loved and enjoyed this project a lot.

Busy...

2011-06-09T09:27:00.003+05:30

I have been busy crafting and crocheting over the past few weeks. But I still have no end results to post here yet.

I have been trying to progress earnestly on my Big Pink Blanket. It was actually progressing well when I ran out of the pink yarn. So had to keep it aside till I went and bought new yarn.

In the meantime, I started with a small project - crocheted table cloth for our small centre table in the living room. As usual, I am creating Granny Squares for this as it the easiest and quickest type to complete a project soon. I am progressing on this project.

Apart from these, I have another new project. Something of the kind I have never done before. We had printed out some of our photographs and want to put them up on the walls. We didn't want to go with the store made photoframes. Instead, wanted to add a personal touch to it. So hubby has bought me the required materials and even given suggestions as well. I am also reusing some of the stuff available at home for the purpose. I am making photoframes for the photographs now. It is a bit of a tedious job actually - measuring, cutting, pasting, pressing, allowing to dry, and afterall the bits and pieces of mess on the floor. But it is really INTERESTING. So far, I have completed to frames.

Hopefully within few days I will be able to post a picture with the wall full of our photos here :-)

Notice board

2011-05-21T13:21:00.007+05:30

I always wanted to create a small notice board for self. I often write down tasks for my day, reminders, list of things to buy, and even the menu for the day.
For a long time I kept writing down the tasks on post-its and kept pasting and kept pasting it on the walls and cupboards. Last week, I finally made a small board for myself.

I used a cardboard piece, covered it with a silver sheet. Then I hung it on the wall.

Now I can write on the sheet using a marker and wipe it off using a cotton cloth or tissue. And stick post-its on it as well.

I have kept the markers and pens in a glass just below the board.

I used this to hang the board. Cute right? :-)

Making a customized board for self is very easy and consumes less than half an hour. You can add your personal touch to it by covering the board with gift wrapper, fabric, or even newspaper.

New Tote

2011-05-15T23:15:00.007+05:30

I finally completed something which was on my list for a very looooong while. I had started this project way back in July last year. I had blogged about it here. It is a tote and was almost done, but not complete until two days back.

For the body of the tote I used thick maroon yarn. I did the modified shell stitch (as in my Big Pink Blanket). This stitch gives the bag a chunky look.

For the mouth of the tote, I used thin black yarn and single crochet stitches to make it firm and strong.

For the handle of the tote, I used it from an old handbag and did spaced single crochet stitches way around the belt.

I took the tote out with me over the weekend and am extremely pleased with the result. I may add a zipper or button to the tote mouth some time later.

Bits and Pieces Project

2011-05-05T09:24:00.003+05:30

After clearing off all those bits and pieces of papers and twines from my butterfly mobile project, I have come back to my very own Crochet. This time I have started on something with all the left over yarn I have from the previous projects. I was way too confused what to make out of these small balls of yarn. They would not be enough to complete a project. So I thought and thought and thought and finally it dawned on me.

Yes, I have been crocheting flowers. Remember my flower project? That was made into a small neck scarf.

So now what do I plan to make of these? I am still thinking. I have a couple of small ideas. Let me see what works out. Meantime, if you have any ideas, let me know :-)

Butterflies all around

2011-04-29T15:00:00.003+05:30

I have been away for a long while from Blogland. I was a bit busy (my usual excuse!). I had my family visiting, travelling down to Kerala, and some very tiring days. Finally I am back on track now. Meanwhile, in the few moments I could make fruitful, I made some things.

A butterfly mobile had been on mind since years. But I never actually made one until two weeks back. Take a look at it.

It may not be a very beautiful work of art, I agree. But I am very pleased with my effort. I used all scrap and coloured packaging papers I could find and made it. The effort to cut out each butterfly with the details was painful, but fruitful in the end :-) Then I wished, if I had a cricut cutter.

It didn't take me very long to finish this mobile. It was pretty quick and easy, apart from the cutting part :-D

Now it is hung up right in our living room and is beautiful when it turns and twists around!

Rippling Away

2011-04-01T00:03:00.008+05:30

My first attempt at a ripple project.

Does it look nice?

Its a baby wrap or shawl.

I loved the way it turned out.

Chose the colours and started on it right away.

I am really thrilled by the end result. Now, I have to weave in the loose yarn at the ends.

More stuff!

2011-02-22T10:10:00.012+05:30

Want to see what I have been upto all these days?

Well, lets start :-)

A set of two coasters for coffee time. Bright yellow varigated yarn.

Again another set of four coasters. Tea-time coasters! Love the thickness and sturdiness of the yarn.

Now how do you like this one. It is a complete coffee time coaster and placemat set. Love the colour.

A long, white, lovely scarf.

And there is one more type of item I did. Three crochet head bands.

Long time...

2011-01-21T22:11:00.004+05:30

It's been a long while since I have been here. Well, I was around here only, but had not transferred the pics and kept postponing it till today. And am here today finally.

I completed a small granny square blanket. It is a small baby wrap. I fell in love with the colours and started making this small blanket.

Moving on to my plants, I have some lovelies coming up and lots of colours around.

Happy Weekend to all of you! :-)

Christmas Crafting

2010-12-25T18:37:00.010+05:30

This year I had my first Christmas tree of my life and I am way too excited about it. :-)

Hubby was too good enough to buy me a small Christmas tree and a star. He hung the star in the front of the house. I was entrusted with decorating the tree. One day one, I tied some red satin ribbons onto it.

Next I made some pom-poms and hung it all around.

Then I cut out a small star and hung it.

Then wound some decorative gift paper (cut out in a string) around the tree.

Laid some small gift at the base of the tree.

And my tree was ready. All set for Christmas. :-)

Hooky Weekend

2010-12-12T23:12:00.004+05:30

This weekend seemed pretty short and not that a great one. Reason - Hubby was working on Saturday also. So Saturday was a lazy day for me. But I was able to start up on a little bit of crochet again. Want to see what I have been doing?

I am planning to make a small square blanket or wrap out of these blue and white granny squares. I have been successful enough in making 9 granny squares through yesterday and today. It was really wonderful to have begun hooking again. But I have lost that speed I had. Now I am taking longer to hook up those grannies. Hopefully I will gain momentum over the coming days.

Excuse me for these grainy pics. I was too lazy to take out the camera and take the photos of my work. So just took it on my cellphone camera.

And, this is how my evenings look. Lovely right?

Colourful

2010-10-26T23:15:00.008+05:30

It has been a long while since I really did anything crafty, and hence no updates here. So what is it that I am going to post here. Nothing, but some small colourful things in my everyday life. The lovely evenings...
My tomato plant bearing its fruits...
Flowers...

A friend I found among the pots....

But she was already dead. I loved her deep purple wings and yellow head. I have her on my shelf though the boys have asked me to throw her away. I could not bring my mind to throwing her away. Lovely things, however small, add lot of colours to our lives.

Abandoned

2010-08-11T12:52:00.008+05:30

If you remember, in this post, I mentioned about planting french marigold seeds, shallots, and more. This was my first try at gardening. I was extremely delighted when they sprouted and pushed open the green lovely, tiny leaves. I used to spend a lot of time admiring their beauty. My efforts did show results. My tomatoes bore fruits, shallots sprouted out into longs tender leaves and the marigolds opened in full bloom. Perfect!

See the tomatoes first.

I was thrilled when I saw this tiniest bud on the plant one early morning. I could hardly contain myself. Started clicking!

I kept checking every now and then as the buds grew.

Then one day I noticed that the bud sepals were separating and I could see yellow from beneath.

The flower started to take shape.

And it was in full bloom. LOVELY!

Not long after that, the lovely flowers crumpled up and tiny green tomatoes began to appear everywhere.

They grew.

And grew bit more than this.

Oh! I totally forgot about my marigolds.

They had buds all over.

Slowly the bright golden or orange lovelies bloomed.

A particularly beautiful lady looked like this.

They were all cheerful and happy. I was super happy.

But then something happened. We shifted our house.

And as I mentioned here, we are now staying at hubby's cousin's place. So do you think I took along my lovely plants? NO. I was forced to leave them back there :-( My heart broke. I was too much obsessed with my plants. I really don't know if they are still alive. The new tenants would have somehow got rid of them. But, deep in my heart, I hope very badly that they are still alive and are being taken care of.

Literally Nothing

2010-07-29T15:26:00.002+05:30

Yes, I am literally working on none of the crochet works now. Wondering why? Because we are shifting again :-( It is tedious. Everyday I stuff up things into small boxes and bags, keep adding items to list and keep crossing them out. We are shifting from the current house on Saturday. So there is just a day left and lot of things left to do. So I have no time for anything interesting than packing up.

Yesterday I took a small cardboard box and stuffed up all my crochet yarn, unfinished projects, and everything into it. Waiting eagerly to get settled at the new house and start all over again. I even dream of having a craft room for self :-) In the current house though we had a spare room, I never got the time to set up one. Let's see if I ll be successful at the new house.

So you may not see any of my crafty posts until I get settled and get time to take photographs. I really don't like any of the crafty posts without photos in it. But I ll definitely try to keep you posted if I am able to do something.

Non-crafty Weekend

2010-07-20T16:07:00.002+05:30

Usually weekends are when I have lots of time to crochet. But last weekend was a rather different one for me. I must say that I didn't even lay my hands on the crochet hooks over the two days. The reason - we had family visiting. And it was REAL FUN!!! We all enjoyed to the core. Hubby's cousins and uncle visited us. The week was full of hanging outs, shopping, cooking, eating, exploring new cuisines and restaurants, all cuddling up on the beds and chatting till very late into the midnights and dozing off sometime in between. The week definitely left us all exhausted for a working Monday but the happiness was unexplainable. Now we are all back to our normal lives.

And I have started with my crochet again.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! :-)

More hooky stuff

2010-07-15T18:17:00.006+05:30

I have not been posting since a while. But I was definitely not away from my hooky business. Just take a look at what I have been doing this while.

Well, you must have seen this yarn, in this post. Then I really had no idea what to make out of it. So any idea what this is?

Another scarf! May be I am getting obsessed with scarves. The reason, these are easy to make, fast, and with each one you can try out a new pattern. So, as making scarves are so addictive, I made another one also.

This time with two colours. The pattern was really quick and easy. See them together once again.

Then I hooked up something really quick and useful. These two coasters.

We are just two in the house. And so one for each of us :-) And I have started with something new! If it turns out successful, I'll let you know what it is ;-)

This is taking most of my time now. I have used the same stitch as in the blue scarf and the Big Pink Blanket.

So see you all later.

Squares and Rounds

2010-07-08T18:05:00.005+05:30

Last weekend, I made a round crochet coaster and a mini table runner. Both were made from some left over yarn and just to do something pretty quick. This is how my small dining table looks now.
I made these 4 small granny squares, joined them, gave an edging, and it was ready.

It took me very less time; may be half an hour. So you see, it was pretty quick.

Now, this one was supposed to be the first of a set of coasters I intended to make.

Now it is for my small glass bottle holding my money plant.

Basic Crochet - Chains

2010-07-07T10:46:00.003+05:30

There are many veteran 'crocheters' out there in the blogland who provide easy and quickly graspable demos on how to crochet. I am also planning to list out on my blog on how to do the basics of crochet, what I know. This is just to help anybody out there trying to start with crochet and also for me to refer at times. Will you believe if I said that I forgot how to crochet a granny square? Yes, I actually did. Last week, I had to give it a few tries until I got it right. That is when this idea of jotting down the basics struck.

So today we see how to do the basic chain stitches.

Step1: Make a slip knot and slide your hook in.

If you are not sure of how to make a slip knot, see the steps here.

Slip knots are used not only in crochet, but also in knitting and in our daily lives for tying up things as well. Learn it :-)

Step2: Yarn over the hook, and pull it through the loop.

You get the first chain.

Step3: Keep repeating step 2 until you reach the required number of chains.

There, you have a lot of chains to build your crochet on.

Happy Hooking! :-)

Something lovely again!

2010-06-28T18:20:00.005+05:30

I worked up something over the weekend. And I'm almost totally in love with it.

Remember this combination? I had used it to make my cellphone pouch and key chain flower here.

Still wondering what it is? It's a lovely scarf!

I pestered hubby until he agreed to 'model' for the shoot ;-) You see, it's really nice when you have somebody to come in front of the camera when you hate the job!

I love the texture, stretchiness, and colours of the scarf. I have actually been fondling it ever since it's done. This is perhaps my one project which turned out exactly as I wanted it. I love the stitches and it's look again and again and AGAIN!!!

Happy Things

2010-06-25T19:44:00.006+05:30

Things making me really realllly happy today:

This teeny-tiny bud on my french marigold. Eager to see it open up!

Seeing sprouts from the carrot tops I put in water.

Loving green tender leaves and shoots finding its way through the soil out into the open.

This pretty thing resting on my tomato leaves early in the morning.

A treat to self!

2010-06-16T17:35:00.009+05:30

Guess what I treated myself to today - lots of free time alone in the comfort zone of my home.

I did a couple of this and that. Roaming in the house here and there. Strictly no tv and browsing - this distracts me and eats up my whole time. A bit of leftover work. And finally enjoyining the rest of the evening. Did it all mean the same? Yeah, I actually was completely relaxed and enjoying the day in bits and pieces. Lunch with hubby. Coffee and some hooking up alone. Oh, loved the sunshine too.

Its been a couple of days since the sun actually shone in this part of Bangalore. It used to be wet and dull all the day. I really hate going to office on those days. I love being at home when the weather is cold and gloomy. But can't help it. My laundered clothes stink and may need one more round of washing :-( And my plants craved for some sunlight.

Hmm... Finally the sun shone today - in all its glory. Actually while walking to office I hoped the sun to hide behind the clouds for some time. But yay, I loved it.

See...

My green lovelies loved the warmth and light.

I loved this small patch on the opposite wall...

... and the small cloudy designs.

Love the light falling on these leaves and trees.

Through the camera lens I spotted this pink and off-white balcony grill and think that its really cool.

And from where I sit now, it looks like this.

Love this view as well.

So I am treating myself to a cup of cold coffee in my fav mug, doing some more rounds of my Big Granny Square, and loving my new yarn balls.

Something Lovely

2010-06-16T10:42:00.005+05:30

Its been a lil quiet over here at my blogland recently. But my projects didn't take the back seat. I have been busy crocheting and crafting all the last few days. Our system has some issues and I really regret it now. I don't like working on laptops much and so you didn't see me here for the past few days.

Well, I have a couple of projects on-going now. Hubby did keep on saying not to do so many projects and scatter them around. But I was like, I need different projects to keep me entertained. Now even I feel I must have not started few of them now. Let me tell you what all I am doing right now.

: Big Pink Blanket

: The Big Granny Square

: Ripple project

: Blue crochet scarf

: A stitch kit project

For a beginner like me, too many projects keep distracting me. Hope to complete all these soon. Now though I see lovely projects on the blogs, I am scared to start any. Let's see how all goes.

We had a lovely weekend. The weather was especially lovely. Saturday, till noon, the house was bustling with the sounds from the television, system, rattles from the kitchen, and the little birdies outside. By noon everything was silent. It began drizzling and became a bit cold. We had lunch, spread out the beds on floor of the living room, and slept cozily till a lil late in the evening. Then everything was again a hurry - quick baths, getting ready and all set for a small outing together. We didn't decide where to go. But I had decided that I wanted to enjoy some ice cream in the mild cold weather outside. And I did that. We drove to the Commercial Street with apprehensions of not getting the parking slot as it was a Sunday. But to our surprise, there were many slots empty. The reasons - football and the rains! Yay, I now love the football and the rains.

As we walked through the streets it started drizzling again and got dark. Slowly the lights turned on and the streets looked lovely with all the colourful displays. We did a couple of itty-bitty purchases. And I bought something really lovely! Wanna see it?

Yes, I bought some lovely yarn again. I was too tempted when I passed by the shop.

And now these are mine.

I have not bought the mixed shades yarn before. I fell in love with the colours instantly and had to buy some of those.

Not yet decided what to do with these lovelies!

After the purchase, we reached back in time for the Argentina match. Hubby is a big fan and I don't even gaze at the television when the sports channel is on. See my boring tastes ;-)

Sunday was a too lazy day. Dinner was at a friend's place. So I had all the reasons to be lazy and adjust on whatever was easy to cook for lunch. And we had breakfast from outside. I must say I was super lazy ;-)

ps: I have already rolled out the yarns and kept them into neat balls in my blue bucket. So c u all for now.

Granny love

2010-06-10T18:04:00.005+05:30

I have been making this big Granny Square over the last weekend.

I started it on an instant whim and when I added colours, I loved it.

Just love how it grew.

Loving it from every angle.

But unfortunately, I ran out of thread :-(

Rains and Ripples

2010-06-04T15:02:00.006+05:30

I was away from my crafty world for a few days. I had been to my native to attend a family function. Spend 3 days with my in-laws and 3 hours with my parents. You see the difference! This is how it is after marriage :-) But I enjoy my time being with them as well. My mom-in-law is a good cook. So now you know what I do when I am there ;-)

I did carry my crochet pending projects along when I went. But I must tell you that I didn't time even to take it out of my bag. So I took a break from crochet! And are you wondering what I did there? Nothing but enjoy the rains!!!

[Edited to add: Hubby took this pic and I loved it. With his permission I posted it here. But forgot to mention it dear!!!]

Now that I have reached back, I have started with something new - A Ripple. Its been raining heavily in Bangalore over the past few days and I find that rippling is the best way to enjoy the rains! More about the project later.

All about being Happy!

2010-05-25T22:19:00.004+05:30

Yes, I am very happy at the moment. I have the best people in the world around me.

Love these sprouts and greens.

Adoring the beauty of this beauty.

Finding extreme happiness in watering these lovelies.

Being able to crochet something nice.

So are you happy?

New Obsession!!!

2010-05-21T11:17:00.006+05:30

Last weekend when we went shopping, I found this.

When I picked it up, my hubby was like, "What is it for? Your yarns??" I nodded positively.

Hubby: You just bought a big one. So why this now?

Then I started wondering whether I am getting obsessed with these. Somehow, I was able to overcome those thoughts and put it in our shopping cart.

Doesn't it look cute? It holds all my small supplies for a smaller project well.

Unlike the blue bucket, this is very much smaller. See it is just the size of my palm and fingers together.

Like you, even I am thinking why I bought a blue again. There were other colours as well. But I instantly picked this one. May I am shifting from pink to blue ;-) I am currently making a small hand clutch and this blue basket is really good to hold the small project - yarn ball, crochet purse, scissors, needle and thread, thimble, and the lining fabric.

I am very delighted on this purchase!

A Lovely Evening

2010-05-18T23:10:00.001+05:30

A lovely evening to me is when I reach a little early from work and find that none is at home. Parents decide to go out shopping, hubby is at office, and Mittu decides to be extremely obedient. So what do I do next?

Go out and watch the skies for sometime.

Then I decide that I must do some crochet in the evening light. I really haven't done that before. I have always been crocheting indoors and actually gave it a try.

I used my BPB for the purpose.

Doesn't the colours and the stitches look lovely.

I am loving the texture of the yarn against my skin.

And I brought in my new friend, the blue bucket to help me. See how nicely it holds my yarn balls while the BPB rests on my lap.

What else do I require to make my evening lovelier?

A cup of coffee in my favourite coffee mug!

Lovely!!!

Repurposing - Pair of gloves from old T-shirt

2010-05-18T13:26:00.011+05:30

I have been thinking from a long time to buy a pair of gloves. Reason is that I drive my two wheeler to office and it is too hot in the mornings. I have started getting tans on my fingers. Though I am not a too fair person, it is easy to make out the tan now. Funny part is that I wear a jacket and so only the fingers look too dark. Earlier I did make an attempt at crocheting a pair of gloves. I worked on my own pattern and it did turn out fine. But the unfortunate part was that it got worn out too soon due to holding the brakes, accelerating, and more rough use. So for my use, cloth gloves was the best I understood. And luckily I got this idea - make use of the long sleeves of my t-shirt. I chose one of the t-shirts which I loved due to its stretchy comfortable fabric.

It was quite and easy project. Don't believe me? Let's see how to do it.

1. Pull out an old t-shirt.

2. Trace your palm outline onto the innerside of the sleeve.

3. Cut the sleeves in the required length and along the outline.

4. Now sew along the outline with inside out. I handstitched it and used blanket stitch for the edges and backstitch for the firm hold of the fabric together.

5. Now turn the glove out correctly and try it on. If you find that the wrist portion is loose fitting, you can sew a small elastic strip or create a button hole and sew a button on it. I used a press-button as that was what I had handy and was easy to finish off the project.

If you want you can embellish it with flowers, fancy buttons, ribbons, and laces. I left mine plain.

We have to do a lot of sunny business together now.

Blue with holes

2010-05-09T18:46:00.006+05:30

I recently bought a small bucket for my yarn projects storage and quick access. I wouldn't call it a bucket. It has a lot of holes in it. Wanna see it?

It was on an instant whim that I bought it. Not one, but two :-) It is good to hold my WIP stuff as I work on it, the yarn balls, scissors, and is easy to take it around. There are no handles to hold and lift it but the holes serve the process. I simply put in my fingers through any of it and take it around.

I really love this blue thing when I work on my BPB bcos the size of the blanket is increasing day by day and I can roll and keep it safe in this bucket. How nice! Earlier I had to fold it and cram it into the basket. See how well it rests here.

Braiding!

2010-05-05T21:16:00.005+05:30

No I am not saying about braiding my hair. I rarely do it after my last haircut. What I am speaking about is something completely new to me. Last day I tried making the braided bread from Dana's blog. This was my first try at bread making and it turned out well. But I did a mistake of not keeping the dough to rise for enough time.

I was too eager to bake it and see the result. Had I waited an hour more, the bread would have been softer. Something what I enjoyed to the core was the braiding part. It is addictive to me and I wanted to keep doing it for some more time. But ran out of dough.

I didn't even wait for it to cool down. Started munching on it right away. I have a slightly burnt tongue now ;-) I will definitely make this again and give it lots of time to rise.

Thanks Dana!

Inspiration

2010-05-04T15:36:00.003+05:30

Hello everyone!

The first thing I do after switching on my PC is to check a list of blogs I love. I must say that the first in the list is Lucy's Attic24. Though she is not posting from the last few days, I am eagerly waiting for that blast of colours and sweet post on the way. There are a lot of blogs out there which I love, most of which are listed on my sidebar. I am not acquainted with any of these crafty people. I would really love to. But I seldom find enough time to contact them as I keep admiring those pics and colours on these blogs. My very recent addiction is to Disney's Ruffles and Stuff. Don't you find her and her works lovely?

And for what I have been doing:

Another row of the Big Pink Blanket
Started crocheting a small handclutch
Pestering my husband to buy me more yarn
Transfering my sprouty goodnesses to individual recycled pots

Good day all!

Blanket Progress

2010-04-28T20:45:00.007+05:30

I don't remember when I actually started working on the blanket. What as a shawl is now becoming a blanket. So this means that lot of time and yarn more than what was actually expected should go in. Just take a look at the growth of this blanket.

It can now be spread on a double cot bed. Please ignore my messy bed. Shall I call it my craft station rather than describing it as messy? ;-)

I have used four different shades of pink yarn now. The stitch used is a modified version of Shell stitch. In the same stitch space, I stitched three trebles, then two chains and again three trebles. This will give a pointed appearance instead of the rounded top.

I love seeing this BPB and what I love the most is snuggling against it.

So I am off to start with the next row of baby pink.

Hope you all enjoy your evening!

Storing and Sorting - Anagrams!

2010-04-27T20:04:00.012+05:30

I don't have a lot of crafty items. But I do have some yarn, needles, threads, scissors, fabric, and such stuff. Storing these is quite very difficult for me as I don't have a proper storage place. I have been admiring a lot of storage products at various online stores. Most of these were out of my budget and I was thinking of making one by self. I had bought the fabric as well and taken the measurements to make a hanging storage. But luckily, I must say, my friend gifted me with a multi trayed storage stand. Yippeee... I was actually jumping with joy when I saw that my crafty goodies were fitting nicely into the trays and looked organized for the first time EVER! And more to the happiness, she had also given me a small basket which can hold my essential craft items when I being a bit crafty. Want to see it?

Take a look at the inside also.

I am not very happy about the fabric in the basket. I do have thoughts of changing it. But I am letting it remain for some time. I love the small flowers on the fabric. It is real cute.

You think that I have only those much of yarn? No, I have a little more. But all are messy and tangled up. I am currently into this job of untying the knots and making them into lovely yarn balls. And my dad was kind enough to help me in the process.

A small update on my Mittu. It was cloudy today and Mittu was sitting at his regular spot enjoying the breeze and the view. That's when I reach home and start trying to irritate him. I start with taking a few of his pics. He does stay still for one or two.

And then when he gets irritated what does he do?

I am quite happy that I am doing a little bit of crocheting regularly nowadays. Currently I am doing one row each of my Big Pink Blanket (BPB).

Hooking and Watering!

2010-04-21T15:47:00.008+05:30

Hello there! Hope you are doing great :-)

Guess what I was doing all this while! Nothing! :-) Well, my mom and dad has come along with us and I must say that I am a lot relaxed now. Our pet parrot, Mittu, also is along, which makes me spend most of the time irritating him ;-)

Last two days, I have been doing a little bit of hooky business. Wondering what it is?

Another Cellphone Pouch. Wondering whether I am obsessed with pouches? No, I am not but my old pouch has become so worn out that I desperately need a new one. And if you are wondering why the same colour as the old one, I don't know. I just dug out this yarn ball from the whole stock of yarns :-)

There is another thing that makes my heart skippy today. I had planted some seeds and they have started sprouting. Wow! My first serious gardening experience I must say. I know its a shame but still I admit that I am very new to it.

This is my shallot sprouting. I really love the tender stem like sprouts. Every time I see them, I feel like plucking it off and enjoy holding them in my hands. I am terribly resisting that devilish temptation though.

Now this is my French marigolds sprouting. Don't they look cute?

Hope you all have a lovely day! :-)

Busy Bee!

2010-03-30T16:17:00.010+05:30

I was a busy bee over the last weekend. I actually completed some projects over the last two days. Like to see them?

Does it ring any bells? If you remember, in one of my earlier posts, I mentioned about making a small itty bitty purse for myself. Well, here it is.

I have put in a small pouch to hold my cellphone. And in the main space I can stuff in some money, my cards, hairbands, clips, my lipbalm, and a small notepad. I actually took out all these things in my purse last Sunday when we went out. I felt sooo happy!

If you noticed, I have used two types of closures for this purse. One is a snap button and another one is a button and crochet fastener. I didn't intend to do it that way initially. But when I did it, I feel it looks great. Or am I being too obsessed with my creation? ;-)

Well, the button closes perfectly and doesn't let any of my cards or money slip out. The button and fastener keeps my cellphone in place and is easy to take out the phone quickly. You see, CONVENIENCE.

The button is from a jacket of mine. I just loved it when I put the button against the yarn. The flower embellishment took me just five minutes to make. And I really love it when the fastener is left open. It looks like the leaf of the flower. Don't believe? Scroll up and see again.

Let's move on!

Remember this fabric? Yes, I wanted to do a chair makeover with it. Our chairs looked like this or rather the seat cover was this.

Pretty huh? It was indeed but always looked dusty :-( So I have transformed it like this now.

Seems good? One more pic because I am totally in love with the makeover.

I really enjoyed this makeover. One time consuming part about this makeover was the sewing. Actually I don't have a gunstaple. So I had to sew in all sides of the fabric to the existing cover. Luckily my Mom's old thimble helped me a lot in the process. I have changed the table cloth also to the matching fabric and put on a transparent plastic table coat.

There is one more thing I want to show you. My new kitchen window curtain!

I loved the fabric the moment I saw it. When touched, it felt even better. It is kind of see-through fabric. So it does let the light into my kitchen but still blocks of the direct rays falling on to the fridge.

It took me just an hour or so to make it. And yes, I hand stitched it. I was so happy with the result that I made one more for the entrance to the kitchen. Unfortunately I didn't photograph it. The second curtain is a bit more bigger. Measures something around 85" x 38".

Did you notice the money plants on either sides of the window? These have been with me from the past two years. The small one had stopped growing. But now its showing signs of greens again :-) My brother asked me to throw it away when we were shifting. But I was so attached to these small lovelies. Now they are along with me here also :-)

Planning what to do next over this weekend. Happy weekend all! :-)

Etsy Me!

2010-03-30T16:03:00.004+05:30

Finally I have also started thinking of Etsy seriously. I had created my shop a long while ago but was really scared to be in there among all those wonderful crafters and creators. But now I feel, I must also start putting up things there. Not because I have become like the pros but because I wish to be one like them.

When you make things for Etsy or atleast intend to show it to people for sale, you try to make it perfect. So let me also try my luck out there. You can visit my etsy shop here. Currently I have two crochet patterns in there. I would like to add a few more, but as you guys know I need to learn a lot more on taking pics of the finished items.

So let me improvise on it for the time being! :-)

Sewing & Crocheting

2010-03-15T18:32:00.014+05:30

I know, I have not been posting anything recently. That is just because I am not doing anything seriously for some time now :-) But as I mentioned in my previous post, I do have some WIP projects. And may be more than what I listed there. So you wanna know what all I have been doing?

Well, now I intend to tell you what each of these cluttered things or rather projects are. Hope I am not boring you!

This pile of yarn was presented to me by someone :-) I have already used up more than half of what I got. So its really less number of bundles in this picture. Guessing who gifted me this? None other than my husband :-) And you know what, he gave me these on the day of our marriage, after I reached his home. I was feeling all jitters and nervous being in the company of all unknown people and at a new place. Thats when he took me to our room and showed me a draw full of lovely, colourful yarn. I was so thrilled and happy! :-) That's my yarn story.

Now want to know what I used most of this yarn for? Well, its for this.

In my previous post, I did mention about a chair makeover. It is rather a stool makeover. I didn't take a picture of the stool but can tell you that it is in a pretty bad state. It is a sleek stool, an adorable red one. But recently the seat cover was spoiled. So I am working on this crocheted cover for this little stool.

See this now!

We went shopping last week and I bought this fabric. Wondering for what? Well, when we shifted to the new place we bought a small dining set. But the seat cover of the chairs get dusty soon as the fabric is sort of felt type. So I am planning to upholster our seats with covers of this fabric.

What I want to show you next is this.

Bought this fabric also from Commercial Street. I intend to make a curtain for my kitchen window out of this. The fridge is just by the window and the morning sunlight falls directly onto it. This fabric is extremely soft and light. This will cut off the direct rays yet allow lots of light in the kitchen.

Next is a project which I started working on before my marriage. But somehow did not find enough time to complete it and it got postponed.

It is a purse. I don't like carrying my bag around everytime I go out but still need important things like my cellphone, money, and Identity cards. So I thought that a small purse is a good idea. For this I am using the yarn leftover from my bag project. Does it seem very monotonous with that single color? Well, I intend to embellish it with something. Let me see what I can come up with.

And now stars!

This is another old project on hold. I want to make may be a table cloth or stole out of this. But keeping it aside for the time being.

And the last one is a stitching project.

It is a stitch cloth with a design of the Caspian Sea on it. I have to follow the colours and outlines as in the stitch kit and complete it. Wanna see a closer view of the stitches? Here it is!

Hope you all enjoyed my showcasing! :-)

WIP Projects!

2010-03-02T14:49:00.005+05:30

On some days, like a kid I wish so badly that there was a holiday so I don't have to go to office. I just want to stay at home and sit and do some crafty little things, all alone. I know it sounds pretty wierd, but yes it is like that. Its really wonderful when you are all alone at home and have lots of time to do something you love. For me it is crafting. And since I have moved into our new home, I have a lot of things to do.

A quick update on what all crafty WIP projects I have:

A crochet purse
Chair makeover
Some coasters for our small dining table
And a stitch kit with a Caspian Bay design

I intend to do all these everyday but unfortunately do not find enough time after my day's work. But I will surely keep you posted on how I progress with all these projects.

Tired fingers!!!

2010-02-17T16:24:00.005+05:30

My fingers have been idle for a while. Know the reason? I have got married and was away from my normal life for a month. Now I am back to normal with a new person with me. I am glad that he does encourage me when I crochet or throw bits of cloth and wool here and there while being crafty. I am thankful for being given such a wonderful partner.

Coming back to my crafty world, I have lots of ideas and projects to be done for our new place of stay. I have actually started with a small project but unfortunately don't have the pictures. But here I share with you the biggest project (incomplete) till date.

I intended making a shawl for my mom. Like most women even she loves pink and I bought many skeins of this pink shiny wool.

I employed my fingers to work fast and give perfect stitches to keep my mom cozy during the winter. Only after crocheting a few rows did I realize that the length is very much more than that required for a shawl. But I was reluctant to undo the stitches. I kept doing on and on. And finally I made up my mind that this will become a comforter or bedspread for us. So I am still working at it. And as you see from the pictures the stitches are close. Similar to shell stitches with a triangled look, it is fluffy and heavy. Sometimes I wrap it and enjoy the warmth and delight of being in it. I am looking forward to completing it and spreading it out on our lovely bed!

Quick n Easy!!!

2009-12-04T08:33:00.007+05:30

I made something quick and super easy. Wondering what it is? It's a mobile pouch again! Guess I am getting addicted to these cellphone pouches.

So if you want to know a bit more about this pouch - it is my own pattern, done in maroon and black with a great looking button, and felting inside. Now take a look at it.

I know its looking red in the photo, but in fact its maroon :-) My camera plays tricks at times ;-) It is rectangular in shape. I first made both the rectangles for the front and back. There are 14 treble (double crochet) stitches in a row each. Now see the side view.

You see that black side work? It is a row of trebles only. For the corners, I skipped two chains to get that bending effect. And I didn't do this row directly onto the rectangle. Instead I made the row first and sewed it into the sides of both the rectangles. This seemed a better idea than crocheting it into the rectangle. If I did so, the black thread would be seen irregularly spaced on the rectangles. Now time for the inside.. yey!

I couldn't get a better picture of it. But hope you can see the felting inside. This pouch was meant for a good rectangular phone and the felting was done so that the phone is well protected. I sewed the corners and edges of the felt from inside, so that it doesn't come off when the phone is pulled outside. So it remains inside intact in shape!

And the closer is a single strand of chain stitches. I sewed it onto the inside of the back rectangle and the felting was put over that so that the knots are not visible. See it.

And the button - its one from a favourite denim shirt of mine. I pulled out the collar button as I don't use it anymore. This button could not be sewn in. It has that pressed back. I just pushed it in through the trebles and stitched the two trebles closely together so that the button doesn't come off. The stitches are done beneath the button. Completely invisible ;-)

Take a look at it once more!

I just loved it. Was turning it over and over again with sheer delight. It was a pretty quick and easy project as I already mentioned. I only spent some time in finding a button for it. And I was finding it hard to resist the urge to put in a black satin ribbon through it. But I had to avoid it as it is a mens pouch. I couldn't make it girly :-( So does it seem manly? I guess a bit. And I am mentioning it once again - its maroon, not red :-)

Crafty-Crochety People

2009-11-25T13:39:00.006+05:30

There are a couple of people whose blogs I visit almost daily to view those lovely crochet and craft posts. I may not read everything but love gazing at those wonderful pics and adore the magic human fingers, a needle, and a string of yarn can do together.

Well, see to believe what I am talking about.

At Attic24, Lucy does a wonderful and colourful work every day. Her blog and pics were what actually inspired me to get back to my crochet hooks. Her Granny Squares, Ripples, and circles are simply adorable. Check out her blog for a colourful journey.

Sarah is another colourful and neat crocheter. I love her creativity, colours, and superb neat stitches. Take a look at her Flickr photo album. The wool eater blanket, stars, and Hawaiian flowers are what I love the most.

The next creative person in the line is futuregirl (Alice). Her blog is my latest find and I am loving browsing through the posts. See this wonderful flower purse and Starling handbag. Wondering when I will become super speedy like Alice :-)

Rae does really good stuff with sewing right from buttercup bags to tops for all and even does crocheting.

Well, I adore these wonderful ladies and their creativity. I am indeed happy if this post has inspired someone. :-)

Blue!

2009-11-19T16:52:00.007+05:30

Last time when I had been to the Commercial Street to buy yarn, I saw a greenish blue coloured yard. It was a bit shiny and was looking pretty. I somehow had this urge to buy it all of a sudden though I was not sure what to make out of it. I brought it home and kept it rolled up.

A light blue shiny yarn also was bought in accompaniment with it.

Few days back I thougth of using it to make something. But kept on wondering what to make. Finally I decided; a new mobile pouch. My old one was worn out and had become dirty. So I started. I was not pretty sure how it would turn out. And I followed the same old pattern. Didn't try any new designs. And here it is.

Look how adorable it is with these yarn rolls. Scrumptious! ;-)

I particularly loved the light blue border on the flap. But it gets dirtied soon owing to the daily use and rough handling. And the button is something I am excited about. At the spur of a thought I got this idea. Can you make out what is it that I am speaking about after seeing this pic?

Well, this button was a plain lilac coloured one. I didn't have any good ones for this pouch and the plain one was looking really bad on it. So I got this idea. I wrapped it in an embroidery thread which seems to match the yarn. And if you observed the centre portion, it is light blue embroidery thread. Doesn't it seem nice to you? I am obsessed with this lovely pouch of mine now. Kindly excuse me for this very blurred image.

And I didn't give the yarn rest right after this project. I used the combination for something more. See this.

A lovely flower. The light blue is at the back. I wanted to show a back view of the flower, but don't dare to. It has become a bit dirty in the rains. :-( Now you must be wondering why I took it out in the rain. It is because the whole flower looks something like this.

Yes, it is attached to a key chain. It is for my new two-wheeler's keys. :-)

Now have a look at this pretty lot.

More Grannies!

2009-10-21T15:37:00.008+05:30

Granny Squares have actually become a sort of addiction to me. Whenever I pick up a fresh yarn and try to think something creative, the Granny pops up. And most often I give in to the Granny ideas. My recent crochet project is a table cover for a rectangular coffee table at my home in Kerala. My mom was planning to buy a table cover for it when I thought why not put in some effort with my hands and the needle.

Like always, I kept on thinking for days for a pattern. I found many on the web. Some were really interesting ones. But finally Grannies won the competition. Next was the colour part. We went shopping one day and both my mom and myself, we chose two colours for this table cover. As soon as we reached back, I was immersed in the process of rolling the skeins and keeping them arranged. It was a tedious process! And finally I made the first Granny for the project. You wanna see it? Here it is.

I was really thrilled when I made this first square. I kept on doing the same thing day and night. As soon as I reach home, I start my hooky business with the red and black yarns. The first three rounds were what excited me the most. I loved the red and black alternating rounds. I longed to make flowers out of it but resisted the temptation as I had to complete this. And I was a bit tensed too. Because this was my first BIG project. The squares piled up over some period of time.

When I made 44 of these Granny Squares, I started joining them together. You know something... I was sitting and crocheting in the car during our travel down to Kerala. It was raining and was cool inside. The pattering sound of the rain drops on the metal and glass was awesome while crocheting. Except for the occassional humps and steep curves, crocheting while traveling was really a pleasure filled one. And by the time I reached, I had joined the most of them.

When the whole thing was joined and blocked out, it looked like this.

If you have noticed, I did some edging as well to it.

I did one more round of the black edging and ran out of thread :-( I ll post the completed image when I buy more thread and finish it off finally to adorn the table.

Inspired

2009-08-01T12:47:00.008+05:30

I was inspired by one of the Itty-Bitty bag crafts on Burdastyle. I don't have the url to the exact post now.

Out of that inspiration, I created an Itty Bitty bag for myself. Want to see it? Here it is.

I made it out of my brother's old denim. He was generous enough to give it to me for my experiment. I followed the instructions and made some customizations as well. Bought a zipper and attached it to the purse. I don't have a sewing machine. My mom has an electronic 24 stitch one from Janome though. But I didn't have it then in Bangalore. So had to hand stitch the whole creation. At places hand stitching was a bit difficult as the denim material had folds and was hard for the needle to go in.

You see the flower in the centre? Does it seem pretty to you? It was my first fabric flower. I made it out of an old garment which I no longer use. More apt would be that I made the decision right then that I won't use it anymore for the sake of making that pretty debutant flower!

The centre portion is made out of the denim itself.

I took around the whole of an evening to make it. I got stuck at places while adding the lining. Had to redo the stitches. And morover, sewing is something what I like but am not good at it. So it took me a lot of time also.

Now this bag rests in my cupboard and holds my itty bitty things ;-)

Block It!

2009-07-31T12:03:00.016+05:30

Hi All... :)

Most of you would be familiar with the art of blocking your granny squares. Well, I came to know about it very recently. Initially I was a bit sceptical about the success of the process. But I can tell you, it was indeed worth the try.

Would you like to see my attempt at blocking my Granny Square? Well, here it is...

I had some leftover yarn which I couldn't use for a whole new project. I was wondering what to do with it when I thought of a mix and match sort of cloth piece for the kitchen and I started with it.

I won't call it a Granny Square, but probably a Granny Rectangle :-D Seeing those curled up edges I felt sad. Finally what I had read about Blocking dawned upon me. I thought of giving it a try. I used a big cardboard, a big piece of thick cloth, board pins, tepid water, and a sprayer from the kitchen.

After 8 - 10 hours, it looked like this:

Not the complete intended effect, but a big difference right? I was pretty pleased with the curls disappearing. And I happily carried on with my project. Added more left over colours to it.

And more to it....

And finally, it looks like this now!

I received a suggestion from a few - it should have been more colourful!

Next time... sure :-)

Pink Love!

2009-07-21T15:01:00.005+05:30

I am an ardent admirer of 'pink'. Though I don't intentionally pick up pink coloured things, I love the color a lot. The crochet flowers I made have more of pink in it for the reason that I loved that yarn so much. Unlike seen in the picture, it is shiny and a smooth textured. I had bought without knowing what to make of it.

My current project - a shawl for my mom, also is a lovely shade of pink. Don't have the In Progress snaps right now :-(

Thought I did share my first crochet project with you today. See this.

Don't know what to use it for. I know it is not that perfect either. But still I love it a lot and each time I see it, the more inspired I am to get onto my hooky business.

Craft Stylishly

2009-07-03T13:33:00.005+05:30

Have you people come across the website CraftStylish? I know most of you would have. But if you still haven't, browse through from here. There are different categories like crochet, sewing, paper craft, jewellery making, and the like. The members on the site are increasing each day. And I also became a CraftStylish member recently. And my first post is there today :-) Read it - How to Crochet a Cellphone Pouch.

I might keep posting if I do something creative :-)

By the way, I have started joining my crochet flowers.

Happy Crocheting!

Red and Greenish Brown!

2009-07-02T16:00:00.001+05:30

Does the title sound like a good colour combination to you? Well it doesn't sound nice to me either. But I have done a project with that combination because it looked good together :-)

Looks good, rt? Well, for the love of it, I made one more. I know it looks prettier! I was confused what to make out of the two pieces. Still kept on making the second one the same size as the first. And then, I thought of doing this:

And finally it became this pretty cross bag or satchel, as you wish to call it.

The thing I liked particularly about this bag is the shell edging I gave. Somehow I am so delighted to see my crochet bag hanging like this :-)

Till Date

2009-07-01T16:05:00.002+05:30

I have done a few projects till date. Thought I'll show those to you today.

This is my new mobile pouch. I love that mix of blue and dark pink. I had to use the light pink one in contrast to the dark ones as I ran out of blue. But I guess it looks nice. Don't you feel so? :-) And that golden button. It is actually one from an old dress of mine. It had come off and was waiting in my craft box from a long time.
This is a table cloth sort of thing. I have used Granny Square pattern for this and gave an edging. This is the unfinished version. I have added a few more rounds to it. And now it is on our old Griller making it a bit more beautiful.

And this is the latest thing I am working on. I started it as I wanted to make a crochet flower from so long. And once I made one, I couldn't stop. It becomes superfast. You can see the progress. Now actually I am confused what to make of it - a neck scarf, room decorator, or a dress embellishment. Pour in your suggestions as well :-)

A New Start

2009-06-30T10:45:00.001+05:30

From the past few weeks I have been engaging myself in itty bitty crafty things. When a few of them turned out well, I got excited and carried out a few more. Crochet, paper crafts, sewing, and a bit of all interesting things I come across. And finally thought of this blog. Actually my creative inspirations are mainly from Lucy's blog, Craft Stylish, and Burdastyle.

This is my new set of yarn I bought from Surya Collections, Commercial Street. I love those red, pink, brown, blue, and all. I am planning to work with that red for a new project. Will keep you posted :-)