Glorious Glimpses of Ganesha

Hello friends! Earlier in September I visited my hometown Mumbai to celebrate the Ganesha festival or Ganeshotsav (utsav means festival). So here are some wonderful photos of the idols we visited. I clicked the snaps with my latest toy the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 - a birthday gift from hubby :)

 

This first pic is from the Flower market at Matunga. As you can see all the decorations have been made with flowers.

A few more photos of idols in and around Matunga;

 The last one was bathed in coloured lights and the idol seemed to change its colour every time the lights changed. 

Sometimes the decor can overwhelm the idol!  :)

And now saving the best for last. My most favourite idol;

All the ornaments you see on the idol are offerings from devotees. And they are all real gold or silver. Sometimes they also have real gems and pearls etc. These offerings are pledged to the Lord for favours/boons such as success in business, admission to a coveted university, getting married, getting a child/ male child, surviving a major illness and I am sure many more things. The offering can actually be as small as a coconut or as massive as the actual crown, all depending on what the devotee can afford. The floral decorations and the clothes are changed everyday during the ten days of the festival. A glimpse of this beautiful vista of Lord Ganesha is calming and uplifting at the same time. The eyes seem to be watching you wherever you go. And suddenly you feel there is hope for the world yet. Another reason we come here every year could be the delicious fried goodies served at the stalls in the compound. Mmmmm..... batata wada, dal wada, cutlets, samosas, patoli, bhajiyas.........mouthwatering!!!!

I hope you enjoyed the photos. I think I have a few more pics in my camera....maybe some other time.

{This post contains affiliate links}

Halloween Decor with Craftsy

Jillibean Soup Halloween Kit

(sponsored post)

Halloween is just around the corner. Get ready for spooky fun with one of Craftsy’s NEW paper crafting kits!

Work with your frightfully fun kit and learn how to create stylish Halloween decor projects with exclusive video lessons. Paper crafts expert Ronda Palazzari will show you how to use Jillibean Soup's paper pads, black glitter beanboard alphas and festive embellishments to create a witch’s hat, pumpkin centerpieces and even a spooky banner!

Create seasonal decor with curated items from Jillibean Soup's Halloween Collection. Available for a limited time, this kit includes mini paper pads, die cuts, beanboard alphas, enamel stars and more. Mix and match with your stash for affordable decor that’s uniquely you. 

Disclaimer: All links in this post are affiliate links.  Thank you very much for supporting my blog by shopping at Craftsy through my affiliate links. Happy Crafting.

Waffle stitch cowl pattern

Hello, gorgeous people! I am so glad you have joined me today. Hope the week has started well for you. Thank you for your super duper comments on my last post, you made my day.

The pattern for my waffle stitch cowl is finally ready. Here is look at the cowl once again.

I think it looks ravishing in red. Definitely is a unisex pattern, what do you say?

The pattern includes instructions to change the width and the length of the cowl which means you can customize it and make a one of a kind cowl.

I love the waffle texture. This cowl would look simply scrumptious in brown, beige, coffee or even cream!  :) And the pattern is worked in the round which means no seaming...YAY!!

You can get the pattern on ETSY as well as CRAFTSY.

Get a head start on your Christmas gifting and have it ready in time for your favorite person.  :)

I am already working on my next pattern. Want a peek?

See you soon.

A small note: If you have any questions about patterns, hooks, yarns or anything else, please write to me only at crochetkari@gmail.com. This will help me to reply to you specifically and you will get faster replies.

Corner to Corner Blanket Edging

Happy Navaratri to all my dear readers.  

Navaratri is a Hindu festival celebrated for nine nights (nava means nine and ratri means night), dedicated to the nine forms of Shakti the Mother Goddess. As with all other festivals in India, this festival too is celebrated in different ways in different parts of India, but always with great pomp and splendor involving a lot of color, lighting, music and dance. The tenth day is known as Vijayadashami or Dussehra which marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura as well the victory of Lord Ram over the Demon king Ravana.
Click the links in the above passage to know more about the festivals and the deities.

Some time back I showed you the corner to corner blanket I had made. It looked quite good as it was...without a border, but when I came across a pretty neat border pattern I had to add it to my blanket.

Isn't that spiffy! I love the knit-like effect of the stitch. My lovely friend Susan at Felted Button has a PDF pattern for the the blanket as well as the edging and its FREE!!

Here's a closer look:

Teddy dear wants to sleep on the blankie  :)

The pattern by Susan is called Spring into Summer has detailed pics for the blanket as well as the edging.

I think the stitch is called crochet stockinette stitch (correct me if I am wrong). Mikey at Crochet crowd calls it the Camel stitch and he has a video which shows how to do the stitch.

So, how do you like my blanket? I think it is super cute. And so does BowWow!  :)

Did you like the edging? If you use this stitch in your project please do share your pics/blog post.

You can see this blanket in my Etsy Shop.

See you soon, Happy Crafting.

A small note: If you have any questions about patterns, hooks, yarns or anything else, please write to me only at crochetkari@gmail.com. This will help me to reply to you specifically and you will get faster replies. 

Crochet flower pen drive cozy

Hello, lovely ladies! Thank you for joining me here. I am glad so many of you visited and liked my last post about the crochet peacock feather pen drive cozy. Thank you for your sweet comments, they really motivate me.

Here is the second pen drive cozy that I made. I had some flowers and leaves that I had made earlier from a pattern by Lucy at Attic24. They were supposed to be used as decoration for a bag. But the bag never saw the light of day!! So I joined them together to make this....

While my second pen drive does have a cover I made the cozy just for fun.

The leaves and fruits (tiny balls) prevent the pen drive from popping out and are also used for pulling it in.

Do you like it? Here is a look at the other side.

Once again, here is the pattern link for the flower, and leaves and the little balls.

What crafty adventure have embarked upon...do let me know.
How many of you have already started making gifts for Christmas?
I am working on a cowl which is very pretty but involves a lot of color changing and weaving in of ends....grrrrr.....I hate weaving in ends(sigh)!!!!!

Hope you have a fantastic week ahead. Make time for craft everyday...it is the only stress buster you will ever need. See you soon.
Ciao  :)  :)  :)

A small note: If you have any questions about patterns, hooks, yarns or anything else, please write to me only at crochetkari@gmail.com. This will help me to reply to you specifically and you will get faster replies.

{This post contains affiliate links.}

The secret inside the feather

Hello friends, so glad to see you here. I am back after two short trips to Mumbai, which is the reason I could not blog frequently. So, thank you for visiting me in spite of my long absence. I hope I was missed. A warm welcome to new friends who have joined me via Blogger, Bloglovin, Networked Blogs and Facebook.

My latest trip to Mumbai was our annual visit for the Ganesha festival (Ganeshotsav). I love being in Mumbai during this festival as the whole city is vibrant, colourful, fragrant with flowers, noisy with music blaring out from loudspeakers, with huge crowds everywhere as everyone wants to catch a glimpse (darshan) of their favourite deity. And the Ganesha idols (!) in all possible  sizes, heavily decorated with flowers, themed decorations and sometimes even real gold and silver!! Yes, that's right gold and silver. I have lots of photos and I will show them as soon as I am done processing them. You might enjoy this post I wrote long ago regarding the Ganesha festival.

Now on to our favourite topic...crochet! Recently I came across a pattern for a lovely peacock feather and decided to give it a try.

Isn't that pretty!! Since my first attempt was fiddly I decided to make one more. Now I had two feathers and I thought they were too pretty to let them languish in my workbasket. So I was looking for a way to use them. While they would make beautiful appliques, I wanted to do something unique with them.

Now, before I continue I must digress and tell you a small story. I love carrying pen drives with me, in my bag, as they are small, handy and a good way to carry my photos and patterns and even ebooks with me.  Over the years I have "lost" quite a few of these as my son keeps "borrowing" them. Somehow the borrowed pen drives never came back to me. Once I even tried attaching a jingly jangly charm with lots of shells and bells to make it look girly enough to prevent the said "borrowing", but no use as he just removed the charm and made off with the pen drive!!! Ufff...these kids, always one step ahead of you.

The two peacock feathers gave me an idea...that I could make a pen drive cozy by joining the two of them. So first I checked whether they will enclose my pen drive properly.

Yay...it was a perfect fit. Another reason I wanted a pen drive cozy is that I had a San Disk pen drive which comes without a cover and are non retractable, and throwing them in my purse made them scratched and dirty. So... two birds with one stone it was! :-)

So I joined the two feathers together leaving an opening just wide enough, then inserted the pen drive attached to a thread. I used a ring from an old keychain. This ring prevents the pen drive from popping out of the cozy and was also handy for pulling it back into the cozy.

So what do you think? Do you like my crochet peacock pen drive cozy? Do let me know.

Yes, yes, I know the question you are dying to ask... the pattern for the feather. So, my dears, here is the LINK at Living the Craft Life. I think these feathers would be perfect as appliques, jewellery, key chains, purse charms, baggage tags and more.

I also loved the article she wrote about the birth of a crochet pattern... do read it. 

I don't know whether this cozy will prevent further "borrowing" of my pen drive but I enjoyed making it and that is all that matters!!  :) After all any excuse to crochet is a good excuse...isn't it?!

Hope to be back soon with some beautiful photos of Lord Ganesh and my next project which again happens to be a pen drive cozy. Yes, I can be crazy sometimes..hehe. Can you hear hubby in the background yelling 'What do you mean sometimes?'......LOL

Until then. Happy Crafting. And do write to me gorgeous ladies, I am really missing you.

If you sent me any questions by email and I have not replied, please send me a reminder. I am having some trouble commenting on other blogs, my comments are just not appearing, so while I have been visiting all my favourite blogs, I am sorry I could not leave a comment. Please bear with me. Maybe there is some error from my side. 

Roses are Red, Waffles are Blue...

Sugar is sweet, my love
But not, As sweet as you.....

A beautiful song by Jim Reeves that brings back lovely childhood memories of lazy Sunday mornings. Especially memories of my wonderful Dad bringing out his Grundig tape player and his huge collection of tapes. I think it was his great love for music that taught my brother and me  to appreciate and love music of all kinds, right from Bhimsen Joshi to Michael Jackson. Last month (July) saw his fourth death anniversary and not a day goes by without me remembering my Dad, his zest for life, his belief in the "goodness" of people, and the fact that he was great at maintaining friendships (without Facebook!)....he was still in touch with his kindergarten friends even in his seventies. 

In case you are interested here is a wonderful link I found, to the song mentioned above.

Okay, okay, I know that you are dying to point out the typo in the title. But don't fret as it IS my Waffles that are blue. And if it is me, then the waffles have to be crocheted right?!!

I fell in love with this stitch as it is so true to its name. Also because it produces a lovely thick textured fabric. This scarf was the first item I tried using the crochet waffle stitch. The waffle stitch is excellent for scarves, bags and baby blankets or even afghans. 

As I am a big fan of matching sets I decided to make a matching waffle hat. But while the scarf is worked in rows ie: to and fro, turning the work when you reach the end of the row, a hat has to be worked in the round to ensure a seamless construction. Also as I hate seaming I decided to have a go at modifying the pattern to work in the round.

I am very pleased with the result. What do you think?

The waffle stitch scarf above was sold before I could blog about it, so I decided to have a go at the waffle stitch again. This time I decided to make a cowl as I had already succeeded at modifying the pattern to work in the round.

So here is my very own crochet waffle stitch cowl:

The waffle stitch seems ideal for unisex items. No shells, pineapples or fans...the perfect stitch for men's items!

I am working on the written pattern so watch this space as I will be calling for testers.

The blue waffle cowl and hat are available for purchase in my SHOP. And the pattern will also be available soon.

And, just for nostalgia, here is a picture I found,of a player that very closely resembles the one my Dad had;

Pic source: audiovisualmuseum.blogspot.in

See you soon. Do let me know what crafty adventures you are up to!

A small note: If you have any questions about patterns, hooks, yarns or anything else, please write to me only at crochetkari@gmail.com. This will help me to reply to you specifically and you will get faster replies.

Pattern Giveaway Winners

Hi Girls, a quick post just to announce the winners of the pattern giveaway I announced a few weeks back. I know I am late, very late, but things have been a little topsy-turvy on the health front with very little that I could do about it. I am sure you don't want any of the boring details so on to the announcement.

And the winners are.......TaDa...drum roll please......,

Anna from Annasimplecrochet

And

Ruth from Rose Hill Collections

So, lucky girls, please write to me at crochetkari@gmail.com so that I know which email id you want me to send the pattern PDF.

Both the lovely girls above have pretty blogs and they show off some really wonderful crochet creations, so do visit them.

For all my other beautiful friends out there, if you did not win this time do not despair, I have a few more patterns lined up and I will be showing them off soon... health permitting!!!  :(

A small note: If you have any questions about patterns, hooks, yarns or anything else, please write to me only at crochetkari@gmail.com. This will help me to reply to you specifically and you will get faster replies. 

Well, I hate posts that have no pics so here is one just for you;

I found this on Facebook, if you are aware of the source please let me know.

This is my surefire way to solve all problems in my life especially health issues as crochet works like meditation for me. Hehe... it also works as an excuse to avoid any other form of exercise...LOL. Now you can't crochet on the treadmill...can you?!

Until my next post, which might be a while, as I am off to Mumbai for a short trip....see ya. Make time for craft everyday.

1000 Facebook Likes!

Woo hoo!! I have some wonderful news to share. Yes, that's right my Crochetkari Facebook page has crossed the 1k mark. I now have 1000+ fans...Yay!!!

I am absolutely thrilled about it. I know that there are pages out there with fans in 5-figures and 6-figures. But I am pretty pleased with what I have achieved.

While Facebook can be a time sucker, I think it also depends on how you use it. As far as my page is concerned, I find it is a fast and efficient way to announce the latest happenings on my blog, or share my newest project and also free patterns from other sites. And I use my personal Facebook account to join crochet related groups, pages belonging to craft suppliers like Pony and Deramores and also to keep myself updated about the latest news in the craft world. 

And while on the topic of social media, you can also follow me on:

Twitter

Pinterest   

Ravelry

By the way, do you like the poster above? I made it and the one below (to announce 800 fans) using PicMonkey, which is a site where you can edit your photos, make collages and create posters like these ... for FREE! 

It is easy and fun and the results are amazing. So go ahead and try it.  :)

I am working on the edging for the corner to corner blanket. What crafty adventure are you up to? Do share.

See you soon.

Crochet Corner to Corner Blanket

Hello friends, Hope the week has started well for you.

First, I have a question for you. Do you have any favorite crochet teacher whom you follow on the internet?

Actually I follow a lot of crochet "gurus". I am a self taught crocheter and for many years i.e. until I discovered the joys of internet, books were my teachers. But now with the internet, there is an explosion of information on any topic under the sun, including Crochet. So while there are tons of free patterns available, there are also crochet videos galore, to learn any crochet technique  you want to - Entrelac, Tunisian, bobble stitch, crocodile stitch, ripples, or even crochet bags, blankets, hats, scarves and what have you!

One of my favorite crochet gurus is Mikey of The Crochet Crowd. Last year I made my very first Ripple Blanket (also my very first large project!) by participating in an Afghan challenge. According to Mikey the corner to corner crochet technique was "hot trending", so I decided to give it a try.

What do you think? Isn't it lovely?!! What is unique about this technique is that it starts out as a triangle and then you can modify the size as you crochet along. Which means you can make it a square or rectangle and even decide the size after you have started crocheting it.

Here is a link to Mikey's video for the corner to corner technique where he explains it in great detail.

I had not decided on a size for the blanket as I was hoping to get the two opposite corners to match each other. So two corners have the variegated yarn...

And since I had started with a blue triangle I was praying that I should be able to get blue again in the last corner.

I am sure that there must be a way to calculate and get precisely matching corners, but for now I am very happy with the results.

The yarn I used was "Fine" or yarn weight 2 and with a 3.5 mm hook, I was afraid that it will take me ages to complete the blanket. But this pattern is so simple and easy that once you get the hang of it you can do it while chatting with friends, watching TV, or even when waiting at the doctor's or the bus stop. Yes...it is that easy! Believe me you don't even have to look down at it.

So if you have never tried this technique, give it a go with this free pattern from Redheart.com. Redheart also has tons of other free patterns for any crochet item imaginable, so browse around while you are there.

If you don't have time to try an whole afghan, no problem, try your hand at the crochet corner to corner technique with this video for a C to C scarf. You will be amazed that such an easy technique can produce such beautiful results.

I have to weave in the ends!!  :(

Do you think it needs an edging? Maybe you could suggest an edging pattern.

And before I sign off, a reminder about the pattern giveaway on my blog which is open till Saturday 28th June.

On my telly: Homeland. What about you?