Crochetkari

Thursday 29 January 2015

A New Year and a New Home

Namaste friends. Wishing you a very
~*~ HAPPY NEW YEAR ~*~

 A Big Thank You to my regular readers for not giving up on me and coming to visit me again in spite of my prolonged absence. A warm welcome if you are visiting my blog for the very first time. 

As you can guess from the title we have moved to a new home. No, not back to Mumbai which is the logical guess with me constantly harping on the virtues of life in Mumbai. We have moved from one part of Ahmedabad city to another part which could be considered as the old city. While this move has been mainly to help my hubby cut down on his commuting time it has taken me away from the few friends I had made near our old home. Pity!

But our new home is in a large housing complex consisting of fifteen 12 storied buildings with well maintained premises, a kids play area, a gym and a swimming pool so it is not such a bad deal after all. Of course I am yet to enjoy any of these facilities as moving and settling in is taking much longer than anticipated. Also with hubby away at work, doing everything on my own has been back breaking and boring too. I will share photos of my new home soon.

During this move I realised that over a period of time I have accumulated a ridiculous (shameful) amount of yarn. I think this condition is known as SABLE - Stash Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy which in this case just might be true. Add to this the fact that we have moved from a huge house to a much smaller one....making it impossible to hide my yarn inventory....haha. I am having a really tough time. My husband keeps looking at the cartons of yarn and my 1000 odd books overflowing all over the place and just keeps shaking his head. But of course he cannot actually voice his displeasure...LOL. I guess I will just have to crochet more and faster too.

But this post is not about crochet. In fact I was supposed to write this just after Diwali but an unexpected trip to Mumbai really upset my blogging plans. Last year Diwali was a very quiet affair for us as it was only the two of us with sonny boy now settled in Mumbai. So instead of doing the usual  splurging and gorging on sweetmeats, I decided to something different. Something that I wanted to do ever since we moved to Ahmedabad. And that was to visit the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram.

Gandhi Ashram at Sabarmati

The visit to the Gandhi Ashram was  wonderful, almost like stepping back in time. You feel a sense of peace and tranquility as soon as you enter the gates, which is amazing as the Ashram is within the city. As you move around the pictures and artifacts you are transported to another era. 

Here are a few pics from our visit:

Sabarmati ashram crochetkari

gandhi ashram crochetkari

Mahatma Gandhi

 The Ashram looks so calm and that is exactly the feeling that envelopes you once you enter inside.

M K Gandhi and Kasturba

Gandhiji and his wife Kasturba in 1918.

Gandhiji handwriting

Gandhiji's handwriting in various Indian languages.

Mahatma Gandhi room

Gandhiji's room in the ashram. A peek into this room makes you realise that to do great things you do not need the great trappings of modern life or huge offices or fancy stationery. A really humbling thought.
 
Mahatma Gandhi ashram Sabarmati

Mahatma Gandhi and Charkha

Gandhiji with his Charkha or Spinning Wheel which became a symbol of revolution and ultimately gave birth to Khadi. Khadi is hand spun and hand woven cloth mostly made of cotton. Sometimes silk or wool may be added to khadi. Khadi was promoted as a movement to make Indians self reliant  on cotton and not depend on high priced foreign goods.

Mahatma Gandhi Spinning Wheel


 This gentleman would show visitors how the charkha works.

Dandi Salt march satyagrah

A multi dimensional representation of the Dandi March also known as the Salt March or Salt Satyagraha. Gandhiji undertook a 24 day march from Sabarmati to Dandi as a non-violent protest against the British salt monopoly in colonial India.
Dandi Salt march satyagrah

Gandhiji picking up salt at Dandi. (So lifelike)

Mahatma Gandhi and Kasturba

Gandhiji quote on Kasturba

Sabarmati River

A view of the Sabarmati River from the Ashram.

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi - The Father of our Nation.

I hoped you enjoyed these photos. I will be back soon with a crochet post.

My resolution for 2015 is to Beat Procrastination (which I think will solve all other problems). What is your resolution for this year?

On my telly: Monk and Downton Abbey.

Ciao,


Wednesday 24 December 2014

*Happy Holidays*

Happy Holidays to all my lovely readers, 
Facebook Fans and Twitter followers!

Happy Holidays Crochetkari

Tuesday 14 October 2014

Monet Garden shawl

Hello gorgeous gals! How are you today? So glad you joined me here. I cannot thank you lovely ladies enough for your sweet comments about my interview. You, my friends, really keep me going. 

Some time back I shared my corner to corner blanket with you along with the video tutorial by one of my crochet gurus, Mikey from The Crochet Crowd. Today I have a beautiful shawl to show you. The pattern is by another favourite crochet teacher I follow, Clare of Bobwilson123. Clare has tons of wonderful crochet videos and psst...let me share a secret...I love her accent.

This pattern is the I Love Rainbows Shawl and is a beautiful granny shawl. It also has a delicate border. You can get the video here and the written pattern here.

crochet granny triangle shawl

It is a lovely pattern and the video is very good too. I think the shawl has just turned out gorgeous, what do you say? The original shawl has been made in lovely rainbow colours but I used a variegated yarn I had in my stash. 

The yarn is acrylic but has a lovely mohair-like fuzzy feel to it. My shawl is a bit bigger than the pattern and while the granny design can be a bit monotonous, what kept me going was the delicate, beautiful border. I wanted to start working on the border so I speed-crocheted through the shawl.

i love rainbows crochet granny shawl

For some visual interest I used a peach variegated yarn for the border and the panel in the center. I have not blocked the shawl yet, therefore the edges are curly.

The shawl is quite sumptuous and cozy.
crochet rainbow triangle shawl

The shawl reminds me of a Monet garden painting. You know, you see little flecks of yellow, a dab of lavender and dashes of various shades of green. Then you stand back , and lo and behold, it is a gorgeous garden with a water body and hanging foliage, vivid flowers, and the more you stare at it the more elements you discover in the garden. I was not very impressed with this yarn but upon completion the shawl looked so pretty and delicate, just like a Monet garden! 

crochet variegated yarn triangle shawl

The shawl measures 68" by 34" and weighs about 375 grams. I used a 4.50 mm crochet hook.

You can get this shawl in my Etsy shop.

crochet triangle granny shawl

Of course the "official" photo on the swing where all WIPs are christened as Finished is a must...LOL!!  :D

Hope to see you soon. Do let me know if you have started making your handmade gifts yet. I am looking forward to Diwali but only because hubby will be getting a few days leave. But not enough to visit Mumbai...sadly, and Diwali is no fun when you are so far away from family and friends!!  :(


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