Scarfed for life

Hello friends.

Thanks for popping in. I know I am not blogging consistently but I have been crocheting like it is going out of fashion. Now that my hook has become hot let me keep it down and pick up my camera.

But first I want to thank everybody for their good wishes on our Independence Day and also for your lovely comments about my crocheted hearts. And a warm welcome to all new friends who have joined us.

You may have read one of my previous post about our trip to Ladakh. Before this trip, I used to think that scarfs are fashion accessories and I always wondered how a thin strip of fabric could protect you from the cold. Well, that trip put all my doubts to rest as I wore my scarf 24/7.

Once home I decided to make a few more, now that I had realised  that they were useful and handy and definitely helped to keep you warm. 

I decided to use a pattern I had already used here but with a twist. This time I decided to use two colours. 

Soooo...... tad dah.....

And this is my first scarf

The two colours make it look like a whole new pattern, doesn't it? But I love both of them.

When my scarf was done, I thought it looked like fragrant "parijat" flowers strewn down a pathway. A sight that greeted us every morning when we would go to our native place, Mangalore during school vacations.

Pic source axsoris.com

Don't you think so?

Do you think it needs a fringe?

Well, scarf done, now what?  I am going to make a matching hat. 

But before that, let me tell you something funny. Since Ladakh is an extremely cold place I was happy that for the first time I could actually take all my hand crocheted goodies along with me and of course flaunt them. But after reaching Ladakh.....flaunt was the last thing I wanted to do. WHY?... Because I had my ivory colored scarf (shown above), my canary yellow fingerless gloves and a deep blue beanie (this pattern) I had made.

Now you can well imagine what a sight that must have been - blue beanie, cream scarf, yellow mitts coupled with my outfits in various colours. A real clownish ensemble!!!  :)

Well, at that time I was more worried about keeping myself warm rather than being fashionable...!!!

So that is how I was struck with the idea of making matching sets. [Confession - I am a big fan of matching sets]. I will be back soon with my matching hat.

Till then, happy crafting and have a great week ahead.

Crochet Pineapple Neck warmer

Hello gorgeous people, how are you today? I hope the month of May has begun well for you. For me, this is a special month as today I complete 365 days of having a blog. Yes, my blog is one year old and Today is my Blog Anniversary!!

Seems like it was just yesterday that I gathered all my courage and decided to put my thoughts onto the blogosphere and share my crochet handiwork with the whole wide world. Of course there was a lot of apprehension and also doubts whether I would be able to keep it going. But now at the end of one year it all seems so easy and certainly lot of fun. Here is a link to my very first blog post, just for nostalgia. Sometimes when I go back and read some of my old posts I do laugh out aloud at some of the things I have written. But, you my friends have made it all worthwhile. What is a blog without its readers. So today I want to thank all my readers, followers, Facebook fans for your encouragement, comments and love. 

The best part about this one year of blogging has been the countless friends I made along the way, all over the globe, across continents, across language and age barriers. Bloggers are so generous, loving and warm hearted, inviting you right inside their homes, sharing their life, their lovely pics, their wonderful recipes and of course their gorgeous patterns.

Yes, a blog anniversary is definitely a milestone. But as we are busy planning and packing for our big vacation which was due for a long long time, all celebrations will have to be put on hold until the month end or maybe even the first week of June. Of course a giveaway is in order, and I hope to gather something lovely on my travels.

Even though we have been looking forward to this vacation for a long time, I am a bit apprehensive about how we will adjust to this place. You see, the present temperature in Ahmedabad is 43 deg C and this place has daytime temperatures in the range of zero to minus 4. Also as it is high up in the mountains (almost near the Himalayas) the air is thin and has low levels of atmospheric oxygen, so fingers crossed that everything goes well and we come back only with pleasant memories!! (Hehe....... yes I am still being mean, and not divulging the name of my holiday destination.)

What I am going to share, is this lovely pineapple scarf I made from a Portuguese crochet site. It is actually a scarflette or neck warmer. 

So, Ta-dah.....

Crochet Pineapple Scarf

I call it the Handsfree neck warmer because of its keyhole feature. 

Just insert one of the pineapples into the keyhole and your hands are free, to  ride your bike, hang on to your kids, hold your shopping bags, whatever....

This is not a new concept but I just loved this pattern. It is so feminine and delicate. The scarf pattern comes with a flower to hide the crossover, which I feel makes it look really elegant.

I used a regular safety pin at the back of the flower so that it could also be used as a brooch without the scarf. Next time I will hunt for one of those brooch pins which are actually used.

I love the shimmery cream rose. Looks cute...no?

The stitches between the shells are worked as Fpdc forming these two lovely 3D ridges.

My trusty Tupperware bowl has agreed to model the scarf for me, so drumroll.......

Hehe.... looks so funny....no?

That is all for now. I cannot really predict when my next post will follow as we will be leaving soon and I may not have access to internet. So until then buh-bye. I hope to have lots of lovely photos to share with you.

Take care and keep crafting.

WIPs Wednesday

Waves Ripple Afghan

Basket weave

 

Shells n Diamonds

Lucy inspired flowers

Newly laid pigeon eggs

Crochet Textured Scarf

Hi friends! I hope the week has begun wonderfully for you. We are enjoying a deliciously cold winter in Ahmedabad. I know that my friends who are actually experiencing snow and minus degrees may laugh at my idea of a "cold" winter as the temperatures here are in the range of 10 to 15 degrees Celsius. But for a Mumbai gal like me this is definitely cold. 

And I for one, am thrilled because it has given me a chance to crochet and, also knit, winter items. I just finished crocheting a lovely textured scarf in a gorgeous ivory yarn. Can you imagine I had this yarn in my stash for the past seven years!! I refused to touch the yarn till I found the right pattern. Well, I did find the Right pattern. This scarf is designed by the wonderful Kara of Petals to Picots. I think Kara as well as her Petals to Picots site need no introduction. I consider her site a treasure house of crochet with lots of patterns, tutorials and loads of related information. I especially love her Monday 'Pin'spirations and Friday Link Parties. 

Here is my Ivory Textured Scarf:

Isn't it looking lovely? I am sure you want to see the texture up close.

The pattern actually has a "keyhole" feature and a fringe. But as I was not sure I could manage hanging scarf tails I made a slight modification and added two pearl buttons. So now I can wear my scarf long or button it up and wrap it around twice to form a cowl. 

 Luckily I had these buttons in my stash. Do you think they match the scarf?



Here is my scarf cowl

The pattern also includes a nice spiral flower which I plan to make in metallic thread and use as a brooch. You can find the pattern for this wonderful scarf and many other beautiful items designed by Kara HERE.

When I popped in at Kara's to tell her that I finished making the scarf, imagine my delight to see that my Mustard doily has been featured in her "I ♥ Fridays Link Party".

Isn't that peachy? This is the second time I am being featured, the first time around it was my Rainbow mandala. 

A big thanks to all of you for your best wishes in my last post. A very warm welcome to all my new followers. 

That is all for today. Off I go to tackle my next project. :-) What are you going to make this week?

Take care 

 

Knitty gritty

Hi friends, How are you? Once again,I am posting after a long break. Feeling a bit under the weather, listless and also a little uneasy. But that did not stop me from visiting all of you.....even if sometimes I did not leave any comments.

Finally decided to go for a check up. The diagnosis is a complex cyst on my left ovary. Surgery is the only option and I may be getting admitted to hospital next week. This is not the first surgery I am having but that does not stop me from being a little scared. So wish me luck.

On the crafty side I did actually manage to finish the knitted  scarf for my husband. 

I added a fringe just for fun. You can see the different colors in the yarn, in the fringe.

I really like the texture produced by the pattern.

Now that my knitted project is complete I am thinking maybe I should knit a little more. But I am slow knitter and that is not very encouraging.

The best part about this project is that my son and my hubby are now debating about who actually "deserves" this scarf and I am glad that both of them have liked it.

My head is buzzing with lot of new project ideas. But I think they will have to wait till I am back home from the hospital.

I had planned to make different rangolis to share with you. But I finally ended up making only one! The rest of the time I was busy with eating out and watching newly released movies.   :)

So anyway here is the only rangoli I made this Diwali.

This is a very small rangoli I made on the first day hoping to make a bigger one later. But of course that did not happen!

Here is my rangoli at night with the earthen lamps I showed you in my last post.

Isn't that a pretty sight!

Rangoli powder in lovely colours.

Well, that is all for now. Next time I will show you the small item I crocheted for my MIL before she left for Mumbai.

Take care,

Love xxx

Two Timing

Hello dear friends, How are you? Are you looking forward to this weekend? We are eagerly awaiting the weekend as Sunday will set off the celebrations for Diwali - the festivals of lights. Not being a great fan of noisy firecrackers, I look forward to doing some beautiful rangoli. And of course gorging on some lovely sweet and savoury goodies which are made specially during Diwali.

I am posting after a long gap. Blogging did seem to drop off the radar for a couple of reasons.

A) I was busy with the Diwali house cleaning, which is an intense spring cleaning of the whole house. A lot of cleaning, scrubbing, polishing and of course de-cluttering. The purpose of this marathon session is to welcome the Goddess of Wealth, Laxmi, who is said to visit houses which are sparkling clean. (I have a hunch, this tale was invented to ensure that houses get a thorough cleaning atleast once a year...  wink, wink) And who does not want the blessings of the Goddess of Prosperity!

B) After giving it a lot of thought and debating over it, with a heavy heart, I made up my mind to go ahead and cheat on my Love. Yes, I am now a two-timing b****......

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ahem... I am talking about my love for crochet. I hope you were not thinking something else, silly.

Ha ha, the reason for all this cheating is this ball of gorgeous yarn I found in my stash. It is a beautiful variegated yarn with shades like the sky just before sunset. Here, have a look:

 

 

Seeing the lovely colors in the yarn, I now realised why spinners go ga-ga over their yarns in their blogs and put up umpteen photos of the yarn from all different angles possible.  With the colors changing every second with every stitch, I was falling in love with the yarn.

And now, the reason I cheated is that I had only one ball of 150 gms of the yarn. Compared to knitting, crochet IS a bit of a yarn eater. So to get the maximum out of the yarn I decided to knit rather than crochet with it.

Winter is slowly and steadily creeping in on us. I decided to make a scarf for hubby. Then followed a lot of pattern searching on the internet. After getting inspired by a lot of patterns, I finally decided to "design" my own pattern.

The yarn is self striping. Tell me, does it not remind you of a twilight sky,

 I wonder if a plain stockinette stitch would have been better. But I wanted a textured fabric so I decided to go ahead and proceed with my pattern.

 

The best part about the pattern is that the fabric does not curl at the edges (which means no blocking... yay!). This pattern is very simple and would also look good with a solid colored yarn.

This is the pattern in case you are interested  :)

Using 3.25mm knitting needles, Cast on 34 stitches.

Then knit all stitches for 3 rows.

Pattern:

Row 1:  K3, *K2, P2 * till last 3 stitches, K3

Row 2:  K3, *K2, P2 * till last 3 stitches, K3

Row 3:  K3, *P2, K2 * till last 3 stitches, K3

Row 4:  K3, *P2, K2 * till last 3 stitches, K3

Repeat these 4 rows for the desired length and then knit all stitches for 3 rows again. Cast off.

If you try the pattern, do let me know if there is a mistake. I can't wait to finish the scarf as the mere thought of so many "live" stitches and handling two needles is a bit daunting.

And while on the topic of Diwali, let me show you the beautiful oil lamps, called deeyas, I bought.

Lovely...no? BTW, Rangoli is an art form of making decorative designs outside the main door of your home, using colored powders, flowers, chalk or even rice flour paste. The designs are an auspicious and  welcoming gesture for the Hindu gods. I hope I can turn out some beautiful designs this year so that I can share them with you. (Just google Rangoli and enjoy the fantastic pictures.)

Before I sign off, a warm welcome to Irina from Handmade. 

A very Happy Diwali to all of you. Take care and have lots of fun.

Love xxx