Homeward bound......I wish I was..

Hello friends,


Hope you are all well? I wanted to share my  excitement with all you lovely people..I am going home,to India after such a long time...two years!! The excitement is palpable. I don't have family here, so its always a major thing when I go home, kids in tow!! I have to say,the internet is such a boon, I can chat with my folks ,see them....its probably the next  best thing! i always feel I miss out on so many events back home.


Luckily this time, I will actually be there when my cousin sis( who is very close to me) will be having her first baby!! I cant believe my baby sis has grown so much!! As the only crocheter in the  family , I have to make the baby something ...a cardi, itty bitty booties? a cap? Mmmm,the mind boggles at the possibilities especially because my massive stash already has suitable yarn!


I think i might make my mum a bag,the beginnings of which have been in my WIP box for a while...I actually made these squares a  while ago and forgot about them as I chased other projects with my new found crochet skills! Here are the squares, I think I might christen it The petal square!! I am sure there are many other square patterns out there which might look similar but to me its one of my first attempts at crochet and very special.
 I will  do a tutorial and post it tomorrow.


  I have two younger sisters... should I do them scarves or maybe dinky party type bags?  Glasses cases for my dad? The possiblities are endless...I would love to hear your suggestions. 

I quite like the colour combination as it feels really summery and cheerful, can only do bright colours somehow! It isnt a perfect square,  I am hoping blocking will help?  My mum will love it anyway with all its imperfections, I am sure... it goes with the territory of being a mum,doesnt it?


Anyway, I will love you and leave you now  , daily chores beckon!! Will be back with my tutorial tomorrow!!


Ciao.


Hugs,
Ramya

Sunshine, sunshine, where art thou?

MILE A MINUTE? AFGHAN

Hello Friends,

 

Hope all is well with  you and yours? 

 I have  been meaning to post for a bit now but just been doing this and that trying to compose something nice for my blog....but it was only today that it struck me that that this blog of mine is meant to be a mirror of my soul and what is dearest to me which means there will be great days with wonderful things and the not so sunny days too just like with other things in life. All I need to do is honestly put my feelings down as they are on that day and know that there are kindred souls who can relate to those emotions and offer kindly words to spur a friend on!! 

So here goes --a random post about things done and meant to be done. first an update on my lil squares blanket which is coming along well thanks to my lovely friend Vanessa who is so generous and helpful. Hope you are feeling better,V!! 

 I found that too much counting bogs me down, so I have decided to keep at it and look at all the other bloggy friends and their finished projects for inspiration. I do however have a little notebook where I have jotted down  all the combinations required . My son who is a math whiz scores off the combis I have finished with a tally mark ...this is very helpful to me!! I always prefer to leave  the math to souls better able to deal with it than me!!

When I first started to learn how to crochet, some of the ladies at my LYS were working on a Mile-a minute afghan.  At first I was captivated by the name ...doing a mile of crochet a minute..wow! that afghan would be done in no time!!  Hence I embarked upon one hoping to use up a very sedate grey yarn (which I thought was duck egg blue and very  "in" last year),  the only problem being I had bought four 100 gm balls of that grey intending to knit a gilet for myself!!! As I found it too dull for  a garment, I decided to use it for the m a minute throw. I bought some peach-ish coloured yarn to go with it and started.  

As many of you would already know, the M a Minute concept requires you to make several strips using the pattern and then joining them together to make an afghan. Well, needless to say,I started with the  great gusto of a beginner and finished 3 strips, pics  which are on this post, then stopped as I felt the result was not great to  look at and doubtful  about the colour combination as well!I am doing this post in the hope that some of you out there will motivate me or guide me as to whether it is worth finishing or " frogging"!! 

Back to the title of this post,wheres all the sunshine gone? Grey is a lovely colour,dont get me wrong.....but not  soooo much of it please , in Spring!!  Here is hoping  the sun decides to shine wherever we are, it really makes such a difference to moods and life in general ,doesnt it?  

Wonder why I never appreciated it when I was living in India?  Strange, isn't it and food for thought.....

Will sign off and hope to see some suggestions from all you friendly souls out there!! I could do a tute if anyone is interested!!

Ciao,

Ramya

Hello Kitty StrappyGranny Boutique bag!!

Hello all!!


How is it where you are? Its grey here  but never mind, I have discovered the perfect antidote...colourful crochet!! 


My lil girl has been asking for a Hello Kitty bag for a  long, long time. I had got a knitting kit a while ago for this purpose but just didnt like the design and the kit  languished in a corner until I saw the lovely strappy Granny boutique bag made by Sara of tangledhappy.blogspot.com fame and decided that this was the pattern I wanted to do for my lil princess.


I just followed the pattern ,though the yarn wasn't chunky, then sewed on the HK patch and voila, lotsa smiles and happiness all around!! Very satisfying indeed!  Thank you Sara!!

Here are the pics..

I am off to pore over my new Felt friends book now,while the squares look at me beseechingly to finish them......


Ciao for now,
Hugs,
Ramya


Below is the link to tangled happy for the pattern for the lovely bag.


tangledhappy.blogspot.com

Stop a while and smell the roses........................

Hello all,


I know it has been a very short while since I started blogging but it is already becoming a big part of my life......just being able to jot down thoughts of the crafty variety and otherwise is very calming.


As I was sitting and enjoying my cuppa, I thought about how we get so caught up in the humdrum routines of life that we let so much beauty slip through our fingers and fail to savour all that life has to offer. This might be because we stop listening to the child within us....which might be begging us to stop and take a breath and just be ourselves...............


It is definitely alright to act silly, laugh  out aloud, hum a snatch of a song long forgotten....just because...


Sometimes just watching our children play and laugh with abandon is just the key to  total unadulterated happiness, don't you think?


The gist of my post today is that we should enjoy whatever we have and to the full...smile a lot.....and stop to smell the roses!!


I leave you with these lovely pictures of my cubs who need only some jumping on a trampette to make their faces light up- how I wish I was a child again.....

 

My first tutorial...Chakra Scarf!!

The Chakra Scarf tutorial

Hello friends!!

Hope alls well in your lil corner on the globe!! As I mentioned in my last post, I am soldiering on with my little square throw but have succumbed to temptation in the form of scarves and lil bags.....sound familiar?

In this post, I am about to do my very first tutorial!! It is a pattern for a scarf ,called the Chakra scarf as the centre is like a wheel -called Chakra in Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language as many of you would know! Being a Reiki student ,Chakras are important to me in that sense. So here goes.  Please forgive my mistakes ,I will strive to improve!!

Chakra scarf

Yarn:    I have used Rowan Tapestry which is a DK yarn

Hook:   4 mm

Start with a magic ring, reading so many Japanese  books has convinced me that this is the best way to start if you dont wnat the centre of your project too "holey"!!! I hope the picture shows clearly how to make the magic ring...

wrap the yarn clockwise around  left  forefinger to form a ring.

Holding yarn tail between Right thumb and middle finger, insert hook into ring, grab the working end of the yarn and pull through.

Start with magic ring,then chain 5 stitches.Make a treble (Double crochet US terms).  Then chain 2 and make another treble, continuing in this way making alternate chain 1 and chain 2 spaces between the  trebles. Finish with a slip stitch into chain 5.

Chain 5 and make a treble. continue making the chakra  thus--chain 2, make a treble. Then chain 1 make another treble. Do this till there are 8 trebles in total alternating chain2 and chain 1 spaces between the trebles. Finish the chakra by slip stitching to chain5. The first Chakra chain 3 ,make two trebles in the same space.     Continue by making 3 trebles in each space Finally slip stitch into the chain 3

Chain3, make a treble(double crochet in US terms) in the same space.  Next  chain 5 and make a picot as shown in the next picture.

Chain 5 and slip stitch into first stitch to make a 5 stitch picot.

Make two more trebles after the picot. Chain2 ,  then make a double crochet(single crochet US terms) in the next space. Then chain3 and slip stitch into first chain to make a chain 3 picot. Chain2.

 Continue in this manner alternating  2  trebles-chain 5 picot-2 trebles with double crochet -chain3 picot-double crochet and a chain 2 in between these.

Attaching the two motifs by joining on the go using the picots as joining points. Chain 3.

Make a treble and then a chain 5 picot in the corner by  first chaining 3 and then looping through the corner and chaining two to complete the picot. The two corners are now joined.

Chain 2 ,double crochet in next space with a 3 chain picot looping through adjoining 3 chain picot of finished square. make another double crochet. Chain 2.

Continue in this manner with a chain 2 in between the spaces.

One side finished! Continue as for the first square motif finishing off the other sides as before.

Two squares attached at the picots!! This scarf could potentially  be made in a thicker yarn with appropriate hook. It is definitely easier making the chakras first and then joining them up as you go.

I am quite excited about my first ever tutorial and I hope it will be of use to fellow crocheters.Blogging is fantastic as a medium to express myself and to reach out to people on the web. I thought the internet had helped to shrink the world and figuratively  bring people closer. It is quite amazing to me still how people in opposite corners of the world can communicate so beautifully using the universal language of the web and feel  a bond instantly !!

Heres hoping my blogging efforts will find me many kindred souls to bond with!!

Au Revoir



PS:   I have finally managed to post this,yippee!!  I wanted to add a diagram of the pattern as some  might find the tutorial too wordy. but do not  want to take chances with Blogger!! I will put up the diagram as soon as possible!!

Hook, line "n" sinker!!!

Hello all,
Hope the sun is shining wherever you are, literally and figuratively!! Today I am doing a post on a "consuming passion" ......crochet!! I started out as a knitter several years ago and thought that crochet was a totally unattainable talent......until about a year  ago when I serendipitously found out that  my local LYS actually had a crochet 'n' natter going on!! I had previously purchased several books on crochet and tried to understand the language of the "hook"......but failed miserably ....until i popped down to the c and n and actually saw a demonstration!! It all suddenly fell into place and I was "totally hooked". A whole new world of possibilities opened  up. I could actually make circles and 3d objects with just a hook and some yarn

I have made quite a few projects----shrugs, cardigans , amigurumi on special demand by my cubs, and of course some bags.....but always wary of starting a throw or afghan call it what you like.... Maybe because of the time commitment or fear of ennui with a single project...but
then it happened like a thunderbolt, when I saw this lovely throw ,I just had to make it! I saw this beauty in the latest book by Nicki Trench----Cute and Easy crochet. I know, it's a
big project for a beginner....but then I will never know my capability unless I push my
limits! Hang on though, this project needs 432 squares, basically two rounds of a potential
granny....seven colours ....yummy crochet goodness!!

The best thing for a blog newbie is to find a kindred soul doing the same project.....and I got so lucky when I found that Vanessa of the well known blog " Coco Rose textiles" is doing the same throw! I was over the moon when Vanessa agreed to let me link to her blog as well.....thank you so much, Vanessa!!cocorosetextiles.blogspot.com

Well I went to my local lys and got all the yarn or at least half of what's required, albeit not in the one specified in the book , if I used the yarn specified , I would never heave the heart to use it, I'm afraid!!went for good ole style craft special dk..... No complaints whatsoever about the range or combinations.....I have made 103 lil beauties!!

The squares sit on my table and continue to inspire me...will keep you posted on my progress!!

Meanwhile I continue to do smaller projects like scarves and lil bags for my princess, amis for my lil boy...god why do I get tempted so easily by new colourful projects? At anytime I have more than 3-4 wips , I hope I am not the only one?