Squared Away

Hi Girls, How are you? Waiting for the week to end.... yeah I know.

The company that DH works for has a six day week so we really look forward to Sundays as that is the only day he can relax...poor thing.

A warm hug to Kara from Petals to Picots. Kara has a wonderful site with lot of crochet info, resources, patterns and tutorials. A must visit site for any crochet addict.

During my coaster mania I showed you these Square coasters. I made these coasters using Bliss Knitting Cotton. As I really like this pattern I decided to make it once again using Laura knitting cotton this time. Laura is thicker than Bliss so I got a thicker and slightly larger coaster/doily.

This is as per the original pattern. It has four picots in the center of each petal. I thought the design might look better without the picots, so here is the second one I made.

 

Personally I like the second one better as I like picots only on the outer edge. When used within the design I feel picots look crowded.

So here are both the doilies.

And here they are "on duty".

In this next pic you can see the difference between Bliss knitting cotton and Laura knitting cotton.

Now for a not so pretty picture. I did mention that the reaction to the antibiotics caused my hands to swell with redness and irritation. The swelling and redness has gone away but as is always the case the skin now starts peeling away and this is what my palms look like.

 

Not a pleasant sight I know, and sorry about that. But this time I got away lightly with only the finger tips. This also means no contact with detergents, chillies, spices and any abrasive stuff for a few days. 

As this has happened in the past, DH has hired somebody to help with the cooking for a few weeks. Isn't that absolutely sweet of him?!!

I have yet to dig out all the bag handles from my stash so maybe tomorrow I will put up pictures of the handles.

PS: Is anybody watching/has watched the tele serial "Make It or Break It" a story about elite gymnasts preparing for the Olympics? I just love/adore Payson Keeler. Who is your favourite character?

So ciao until next time. Happy hooking. Take care.
Love xxx

Kitchen Kompanion

Hi friends, How are you? I hope all of you are in the pink of health. The last few weeks really proved to me that Health is indeed Wealth.

A warm welcome to Mor Lotte at Familien Geleff Fonnesbech  and Rita Ataide (Rita, if you have a blog please let me have a link to it).

Now that I am up and about, I am happy to be back in my kitchen. Takeaway dinners are fun only when it is not compulsory, isn't it? So to celebrate I made one more potholder to  brighten my kitchen.

I really liked the centre of this potholder. What starts out as DC shells ends up as small circles which then form petals of a bigger flower.

This pattern is once again from Best free crochet. I am sorry I don't have a link to the pattern directly. It is a vast site with hundreds of patterns but not user friendly and finding your favourite pattern sometimes takes ages. But all the patterns are really cute and lovely.

Here are the potholders I made so far.

So, how do you like my kute kitchen kompanions?

Right now I am working on this Golden Evening Purse but I am not sure about the kind of handles I can add to it. Next time I will upload pictures of the handles I have and maybe you can give me your suggestions.

So cheerio until the next time. Happy hooking and hope you have a lovely week.

Love xxx

Anybody but myself

Hello there, my lovely friends. I am back after another forced hiatus, this time due to an adverse reaction to antibiotics. Inspite of informing my doctor that antibiotics don't suit me, he insisted on giving me amoxycillin and as the evening progressed my face and hands were swollen and my legs were covered with an angry red rash. Next morning he saw my condition, injected me with an antihistamine and told me to stop taking the antibiotics, well things were closed from his end. And now I have to bear this itchiness and peeling skin for the next 7-8 days. Can't beat what is destined, I suppose!

This reminds me of the quotation "Man proposes, God disposes", well Woman in this case. Would you believe it, I had decided to try and write one post a day in the month of August, just to see if I could actually manage 31 posts in a month. I think competition starts with yourself, trying to better your own record, whether it is finishing a report in the shortest time possible, cooking for the largest dinner party you have ever hosted, crocheting a tablemat in 6 days or even writing 31 posts in a month. In short I don't have to compete with anybody but myself.

Crochet was out of question for the last few days due to red, irritated palms, so I will let you in on the details of a mini competition I had some time back, with myself of course.

Last year we went to Mumbai on a short 6 day trip. As usual my hook and yarns accompanied me. I had chosen two colors, a cream and a coral colored yarn. I had these yarns in my stash since the past 16 years!! The three items I had made with these yarns had already been grabbed by my friends, so I decided to use the remainder yarn to make a shawl for myself or atleast a scarf. I had found a lovely motif pattern and I decided to make two color motifs and join them even though I hate weaving in ends. 

I managed to make about 5 or 6 motifs on the way to Mumbai. Upon reaching Mumbai, my brother had one look at the WIP and said that since the colors match his curtains he wants it for his centre table and that I should cut short any ideas of shawls or scarfs and make it into a table mat. The colors did match his curtains perfectly so I agreed with him. But I had only 4 days left and sending it to him by courier from Ahmedabad would have cost more than the mat. So there was nothing left to do but start working at top speed, which meant crocheting in every spare moment I could get.

Well, I did manage to complete it, weaving in the last few ends exactly two minutes before we were due to start on our return journey!! As there was no time for "posed" photos, be prepared for some shabby photos taken with my mobile phone camera.

 

A close up of the motifs. My brother and my sister-in-law both are pleased with it, so I can safely say Mission accomplished :)

Now on to the next competition. As soon as the soreness of my my palms is gone I am going to try to make another Granny mandala in one day as the last one took me two days. Isn't that going to be fun?! I just can't wait!

That is all for today. I am still hoping to get the maximum number of posts up for the month of August, or whatever is left of it.

Till then take care, happy hooking and lots of smiling.

Lovexxx