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:

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

Gandhiji and his wife Kasturba in 1918.

Gandhiji's handwriting in various Indian languages.

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.
 

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.

 This gentleman would show visitors how the charkha works.

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.

Gandhiji picking up salt at Dandi. (So lifelike)

A view of the Sabarmati River from the Ashram.

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,

*Happy Holidays*

Happy Holidays to all my lovely readers, 

Facebook Fans and Twitter followers!

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.

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.

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.

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! 

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.

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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Smart Indian Women

Hello friends, You will never guess what happened. I was interviewed for the very first time, for Smart Indian Women.com. I am so tickled pink!!!  :-)

So there I am occupying my small little space under the blogosphere sun, when I get a message whether I would be interested in doing an interview. It took me minutes to say yes and then daysss to fill the interview form! Never realised talking about myself could be so difficult.

If you are interested in reading my interview...and I hope you are...(blush, blush) here is the LINK

I discovered a whole new world of Indian women bloggers and entrepreneurs out there. So I urge you, especially my Indian blogger friends, to visit the site without fail. While most Indian women are blogging about food and recipes there are a few who have gone off the beaten path to write about fashion, jewellery, make up, parenting and even theatre.

While I was always sure about the "Indian woman" title now I can safely say that I am a "Smart Indian Woman" ....hehehe!!!  ;)

On the crafty front this is what I have up to:

More about it in my next post. 

See you soon. Happy crafting.

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.

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Halloween Decor with Craftsy

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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.