Grannies!

I have a boring set of yarns with me... Don't know how to make them look interesting.

Started with some grannies.

Let's see how they turn out!

Granny Square Edges - Tip

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

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

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!

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.

While I was away for a month...

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

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.

Busy...

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 :-)

More stuff!

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...

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! :-)

Hooky Weekend

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?

A treat to self!

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.