Yarn Stash and a Crochet WIP!

Hi there ! How are you all doing ?

Finally , my yarn starvation period ended last week :) I just wanted to share my latest stash which I received through mail order from Pradhan stores . These are Anchor knitting cotton . I got 2-4 balls of each of these colours .  I am eager to make lot of things with these lovely colours .

 

 

These are thick silky threads of a local brand . Luckily their colours are fast. Earlier , I had purchased similar kind of local threads and to my disappointment all the colours came out after the test wash .

 

WIP : I have made these crochet spheres for one of my projects . I have made five of them . I am anxious to complete this project and share with you all but I just hop around all my projects! Or maybe the projects hop around me to get their attention – Will it be my show on the post today? Me! Me ! Me first!! They all follow me crazily :)

The tutorial for these perfect spheres is available here .

 

 

 

 

 

This Mercat is just crazy about these balls !!

 

I will be away for next week to visit my mother :)  I hope I will be able to post one more part of WIP before Saturday this week .

 

Happy blogging !!

 

Preeti :)

 

 

 

Crochet hair scrunchie

Hello my dear friends !! Hope you all had a nice weekend! :)

First , let me welcome my new blogger friends . They all have lovely blogs and lot of things to learn from . Do visit them :)

Indianka from http://hindustanka.blogspot.in/
Shikha  from http://weaverbirdie.blogspot.in/
Ina from http://letslearnembroidery.blogspot.in/
Tea at weasels from http://teaatweasels.blogspot.in/
Sofia from http://e-velona.blogspot.in/
Katie B from http://mysecretcrochetblog.blogspot.in/
Nata from http://natasnest.blogspot.in/
Pearlin  from  http://knottyville.blogspot.in
Archana from http://thingsidoinmyworld.blogspot.in/
Tania  at http://littlethingsblogged.blogspot.in/
Megha from Kala Veethika
Haseena and  Nancy - they are new bloggers. Welcome to blogosphere :) But I am not able to connect to  your blogs through Google connect. Let me know your blog addresses.

There are many unfinished projects right now and when at one point of time I want to complete all , the other , I don't want to do any of those :) I decided to do some instant project on this weekend which will give me a joy of not-losing-a-day-without-needles ;) So I made this hair scrunchie . I found the tutorial  for this at Lovestitch .Thank you for sharing the pattern ! :)

I did a bit more SCs in first round therefore it have become a little fluffier . It is an easy tutorial to try out but it eats lot of thread :)

My daughter was sleeping while I took these pictures. So had to put on some cute objects to compensate and to give a front view of it :)

These cuties are camera shy ! :)) Aren’t they cute ?

I am working on few more projects but whenever I see those eye-candies on link parties and various blogs , I instantly feel like starting a new one ! It’s motivating, but the time just flies !!

How much time do you spend daily on blogging ? How I wish I had some extra hours to complete my tasks at home ;)

Happy week ahead !

Preeti :)




 

Blog Award & My earlier crafty indulgences - part 1

I am happy to share with you all that this week I received a Liebster award from Weaver birdie :)Thank you so much for the award ! She does lovely amigurumi . Do visit her blog .
I have tried my best to fulfil the blog rules at the end of this post  :)

I would like to post about my crafty indulgences few years back which were occasional and I kept a flickering hope to revive those once I leave my job . I used to work as an IT manager of a large team size of ninety in Hyderabad and worked almost 11 hrs per day from 9 to 8 in office and back again 2 hrs. of left over office work at home .  Add to these , cooking and other unavoidable household tasks at home . I grabbed whatever time I got on weekends and warmed up my eyes with needlework books and few kits :)

These are two Anchor quick stitch needlework kits that I completed while being in job .  Each took 3 months to complete . Yet to be framed , these will get more straightened at that time. Other craft indulgences in next post :)

 

 

Coming back to blog award, these are certain rules to follow when you get this award.

* Explain 11 things about you
* Answer the 11 questions about yourself
* Choose 11 blogs and name in the post
* Follow the blog of the person which awarded you
* Visit at least three blogs awarded by this blog

 

 

11 things about me:
*Being a needlework crazy, my cutlery in kitchen often clash with my needles to get my attention!
*My role says that I am supposed to cook and I was a good cook sometime back!
*Hate procrastination!
*Love spicy and junk food:)
*Work late at night but have to wake up at 5 am for my morning walk!!
*I have an Achilles foot:(
*My long term wish is to give something back to society. I do in bits but that's just donating funds.
*I spend my money more on crafts than on clothes!!
*Hardcore workaholic!
*Have a creative and wandering mind, cannot stick to one thing at a time.
*Yellow is my favourite colour and that dominates in my blog too:)

I hope you have not closed your window yet :)

Now, answers to the 11 questions:

* How do you define yourself? Disciplined
* What is your favourite dish? Aloo (potatoes) cooked by my Mom
* Would you rather cook or you cook? I cook excuses to cook full meals.
* What is your favourite dessert? Ice-cream
* If you had to stay with an ingredient, what would it be? Salt
* What is the best trip I've done?   A 15-day long trip to Shimla and other parts of Himachal Pradesh. My daughter was 2 years old at that time. The best stay was at the Maharani suite in Chail palace hotel.
* What is the best restaurant you've eaten in? So far, Sahib Sind Sultan in Hyderabad, don't remember any other. I have tried all the 5 or 7 star hotels in Hyderabad, but I would say food in such luxury hotels doesn't satiate my taste buds :)
* Do you prefer meat or fish? I am a veggie
* What is your favourite cheese? All types, no specific choice.
* Black or milk chocolate? Milk chocolate.
* What is the worst dish you've tried? Sprouts.

I am already following weaver birdie and at least three of those in the list. I pass on this award to all my blog readers :) I always love to link all of them irrespective of blog awards especially the new friends either fortnightly or monthly :)

Do write in . I love to read your nice words ! :)

Best wishes to all and good luck to all new bloggers (including me ;)) with their blogging adventures! :)

Enjoy!

Preeti :)

 

Crochet bag !

Hope you all had a nice weekend !

Here comes the crochet cross-over bag for my daughter !:) I had started crocheting this last week .

The bag and belt is done with Anchor knitting cotton and the edging with Anchor mercer cotton size 20 . Its my own design with various plug-ins :) I crocheted four basic squares with flowers . One of these is rose flower which I generally make as a free hand crochet . Patterns for rose flower are available on many sites . The other one , I copied from an already existing old crochet doily at home .  I found a similar one at Allicrafts while surfing. Sorry , I did not note down the link and I tried searching for the same pattern but could not find again :( But still there are lot of nice patterns at this site .

The edging is from vintage crochet and is a variant of the edging mentioned in the book 150 favourite crochet designs by Dover needlework publication .

I made a basic granny square behind these flowers . After joining all four squares , I just crocheted double-crochet lines on left and bottom . I attached an edging at the bottom , some beads to decorate , a simple belt of three double-crochet stripes and Ta- Dah , the bag is done !!

 

 

Pattern(in U.S. terminology) for edging :

 

Beginning at the first flower petal with yellow thread :

(*) ch 5 ;  holding the last loop of each treble , work 3 trebles in 5th chain from the hook , YO draw through all loops . This is the beginning cluster .

Repeat from (*) and create even number of clusters as per your desired length for edging . Do not finish off .

 

ch7, make a 4-tr cluster at the base of previous cluster .

(+)ch7 , sc at the base of next cluster , Ch7 , 4-tr cluster at the base of next cluster .
Repeat from (+) with sc in the last cluster .
Work similar way in the opposite side . Fasten off .

 

Start with White thread, crochet lengthwise to join the edging : Ch 7 , treble in 2 spaces (on either side of petal) , ch7 , treble in next 2 spaces....repeat till the end of edging with ch7 .

 

The edging is completed and can be attached to your piece with slip stitch or single-crochet or double-crochet . I have attached my edging with single-crochets of size 20 thread .

 

I know , I have written the pattern a bit haphazardly but hope it is understandable ! :) let me know if you have any difficulty while using the pattern .

Important !
Always make use of ring markers while attaching edging at the right stitches , especially , if the edging is of different thread size . In this case , the no. of stitches cannot be attached one-to-one.

 

Hope you liked the bag . Love to hear your feedback!

 

Happy week ahead!

 

Preeti :)

 

 

 

 



 

Best out of waste !!

Hi !!!

Hope all of you are enjoying your weekend ! I did not do anything special ! Just visited my new apartment under construction after a long time ! I am looking forward to it and eagerly waiting to create a craft corner for me once it is ready :)

I do not have any separate place for my craft work in my existing apartment. We bought it around 9 years back thinking we would not stay here for long . But , we fell in love with this historic city of Hyderabad and now planning to shift to a bigger flat . I still do not have a separate room for craft in the new house too, but I will turn a part of guest room into craft corner :)

I am done with my crochet bag , but just need some more finishing touches . Meanwhile I would like to share one of my 'Best out of Waste' items that I had done around 3 years back . These are my late mother-in-law's aluminium boxes , may be 70-80 years old which were not in a condition to use . We were about to put that with other scrap items , but then I decided to redecorate and use those for keeping some of my craft items .

It was a set of five boxes , no idea where the fifth box is . I had some baby pink oil paint with which I painted the box both inside and out . I then painted some random flowers with left over acrylic paints and my daughter glued the sequins. I hope you will like those !

 

TIP# If you are planning to do this and using oil paint for the base , better not to use for edges of  boxes and lids . Use acrylic paint there as oil paint will peel off after frequent use .

WIP: Cross stitch

one of my friend did her cross stitch piece and shared the pattern with me . It is a set of teacups stacked over . I converted the DMC floss into corrsponding Anchor ones and trying to do that !

 

 

It was a lucky day for the soft toys at home! My daughter has gathered them all and enjoying her weekend ! :)) They are going to watch all the movies and TV shows with us and will head back to their places only by Monday morning !:)

 

 

Happy Weekend to all of you !! :)

 

Warm regards ,

Preeti :)

 

 

 

 

Yay! My blog is 1 month!! :)

Hello dear friends,

My infant blog is now 1 month old!! :)

I am glad and happy to link all my 26 blog friends on this post . I would like to thank all of you for your nice and generous comments. Your words always encourage me to work better . I know, it takes lot of patience and time to read through and comment on the posts . I am thankful to you for giving this share of your time to me :)

When I first joined the blogosphere 1 month back, I was a confused child . You artistic people were so fast in posting amazing things regularly . It was intimidating at first , not sure , whether I will be able to glide through this ! But the experienced bloggers were sweet enough to let me feel safe and hop happily with their support and kind words .  Now , I am completely enjoying my blog-trotting !! There are lot of inspirational things in blogs, more than sufficient to learn, for all my entire life!:)

My blogger friends :

Rajeswari (Diaper Mum) - this mom in her world of little people is very creative and sweet,  always ready to help!
Vikki(By Hooks 4u) - she is a crochet wizard! She has lots n lots of doilies:) and is very helpful and kind!
Debi(Dly's Hooks and Yarns )- this granny is super-cool and fast. By the time I plan something to make, she is already done with hers and posted too:) I met many blogger friends at her place :)))
Dinah(Dinah's crochet stuff) - she creates lots of nice crochet items and is very humble!
Raji Saj(Thread with me!) - a charming blogger friend, she is also from IT background and now enjoys her embroidered world!
Beck(Beck to vintage) - she has a job and does lot of crochet both at the same time. I still remember her daughter's smiling photo with the cake she posted on her birthday! Beck, if you are reading this, tell your daughter, she has one more admirer for her lovely smile:)
M J Joachim(Lots of crochet stitches by M J Joachim) - her's is the place where you can learn lots of crochet stitches. A treasure for all to learn stitches!
Linda (Linda Crochets)- Linda creates beautiful doilies. Her vintage pieces are a masterpiece!
Amanda(Crafty in the Med) - she loves to tell about different things and her write-ups are nice to read. She is very generous in commenting as well as humble in replying too :)
Kathleen(Yesteryear Embroideries) - she does not show up  on my followers list, but has been a frequent visiting friend and always kind to appreciate my work! Her embroideries are beautiful:)
Rita(Gramma Rita's crochet etc. ) - she is an amazing and lovely grandma:) She has crocheted wonderful things in her blog. She generously appreciates the art work!
Love stitch(Stitch of Love) - like me, she is into all kinds of needlework, but she is far ahead of me and creates lot of amazing things! :)You can get lot of inspirations from her blog.
Aiza(kaitbenangkait) - she is simple and sweet person and creates beautiful things!
Sonia(Toca do tricot e crochet) - she has crocheted lovely items and there are lots of things to see in her blog!
Shami(My craft works) - she does lovely embroidery. I especially like her chikankari work!
Sangeetha(Crochetkari) - she has lot of colourful crochet items in her blog and her blog write-ups are fun to read !
Jee Q(Learning to write) - she creates very cute crochet. Her crochet booties are  yummy !
Mousumi(Love for Krafts) - she is a humble mother and enjoys crocheting and art and craft. She is very good at Lamasa work!
Ranjana(Ranjana's craft blog) - she loves doing all kinds of needlework and crafts. Her blog is a treasure full of Indian art!:)
Charlotte(Charlotte's web) - she does lot of crochet and is one of the experienced blogger!!
Ali(Hooked!! A Crochet Addict's blog) - there are lots of crochet granny squares to watch at Ali's place!!
Vai Gopalakrishnan(Vai Gopalakrishnan) - he blogs in regional indian language on various subjects. I do not understand that language but seems he is very popular blogger!
Mitu(Art and Craft Work) - she crochets nice baby sweaters!

Blogger-Aliens:)
Anshu Moghe - my childhood friend, she has recently shifted to Hyderabad!
Sukanya - my lovely teenage neighbour, she is like an elder sister to my daughter!
Anshita - my dear daughter, she wanted to become the first follower of blog :)

Thank you again, keep in touch and Happy blogging!

Preeti:)




 

Crochet iPad Cover!

Hi!!!   I am back again to blogs and posts  after procrastinating for 4 days :)  The reasons are endless  - I was done crocheting my iPad cover on Saturday morning; but decided  to upload once the weaving-in was done;  what? You can do that in 30 min.? I was not bad either! I was done with weaving-in after watching 2 back-to-back movies – (shhh, I declare tool-down strike in kitchen every weekend! :))

Sunday morning blues - I got up late at 8 (I call it late since I get up at 5 daily)! Sun, the light-boss had already swept out my balcony off his shining rays and was then happily glowing in my neighbour’s balcony!  Doesn’t matter, I will see that fussy Sun later tomorrow and nothing can stop me from posting, after all I can take pictures in my room. Boom! There was a power cut-off as soon as I set the stage for Arte de Preeti in a corner of my bed :)

Once the power was restored after 2 hrs, I was forced to watch a movie; well, forced by myself! ; I took some pics after 4 hrs and yuck they were so bad :(  I was feeling sleepy by night – let me do that first thing tomorrow morning! I assured myself.

It turned out to be the 27th thing on Monday instead of 1st! I randomly took pictures. Arghhhhh ! the count of snaps were 47!; took me another 30 min to shortlist :( Finally, I was ready with 8 images and then searched for words; only thing that came up to my  mind was - "Hi friends, finally I am done with my iPad cover."

Is that the only thing I want to say? Nope, something more, but what? I am sure, those who read all the above and this paragraph too, might be thinking –“hey, one line could have been very good!!! :) It actually could have saved us from reading all this junk!! ; ))”

So, finally, let us see the pictures of my iPad cover and one snap of my WIP- a small crochet cross-over bag for my daughter!

 

 



 

I have made it with Anchor knitting cotton. The pattern is a simple ripple-stitch/wavy-chevrons   in front and stripes on the back. The daisy flower pattern was taken from the book – 50 fabulous crochet thread motifs by leisure art.





 

WIP-  Cross-over bag

 

Do send me your feedback. Next time, I will post soon. I promise you and more importantly to myself :)

 

Happy Week Ahead!

 

Preeti :)