My biggest doily ever :))))

YAY  !! Today I am going to share my biggest doily ever : )  It is a vintage pattern called ‘Between-meal-centerpiece ’ . Seasoned crocheters and doily lovers do know about this doily .

I have made it with Anchor knitting cotton and hook size 2 .75 mm .  It measures 46 inches in diameter . It was difficult to block this big piece . My humble hubby tried to help me out but stretched the border picots wrongly so please ignore those dangling picots  : )
I couldn’t resist taking many pictures ; in return , I will cut down on my words .
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I can use my doily in various ways . Let’s see………...

 

On the Sofa

Color combo that I used

 On the carpet

On the sofa again

On the bed

Few close - ups .......................

On the floor

 

Both are images on the floor with and without flash. I am not sure in which shot the colors are looking better.

On the dining table

My dining table is very old, so I have taken pictures on my daily printed tablecloth.

Image taken against sunlight...........that's why dark

 On sofa again, with doily on one side .

The dining table we have is 7ft x 4 ft and this doily fits properly . But in new house we plan to buy a smaller table . I may then have to use the doily on sofa . Which way does it look good on sofa , center or one side ?

The pattern for this is free and available here . There are some corrections to it but I have not consolidated those properly to write here . If anyone wants to attempt it , let me know , I will share those corrections .

Hope you liked my work and these colors make you smile . Waiting eagerly to hear from you  : )

Have a nice day !
Preeti : )

Shopping from Joann and my gardening attempts :)

I turned a little bit yarn rich last week when Raj got some stuff from Joann's store in San Jose : ) Although , all the colors I saw on the website were not in stock yet he tried to bring whatever he felt might be okayed by me . Anyways , any crafty stuff makes me happy !!

Here is my stockpile.......

Lily Sugar n Cream yarn.

Patons Bamboo silk and Deborah Norville yarn

Starbella and Redheart  ribbon yarns

 

14-count cross stitch colored aida

  

'Everything Mary' purse frame with holes and kiss locks, buttons and invisible zipper

  

ribbons

  

14 count plastic canvas and flannel fabric swatch

  

iron-on sticker and sew boutique labels

  

plain and printed felt sheets

I have also started potting plants in my balcony . Flowering plants and few herbs . I got the seeds and the relevant organic fertilizers etc. required for germination from an online Indian store . I was happy with the results because the seeds sprouted within a week :) so far going great . This is not a flowering season in India but I hope the plants will survive until winters starting from October .

They are Dahlia, Zinnia, Carnation, Coleus, Curry leaves, Chili, Coriander and Tulasi (a holy herb plant in India)
Newly sown are fennel seeds , ajwain (not sure in English)

The one in the front (curry leaves) was a small plant from neighbourhood . Others are all grown from the seeds .

These ones are Dahlia . I guess there is a lot of crowding . As an inexperienced gardener , I emptied the entire packet of more than 25 seeds into the pot thinking only few will germinate :)

I keep them moving around in balcony as per the sunlight . I have sown only few types of plant seeds , saving others from my experiments and will use in right season . I plan to buy a few more from nursery .

Last week I took Anshita to gaming zone where we played air hockey and bowling and then some video games . Now everything is banned until next vacation .

The weather cooled down further couple of days back at 26/22 Celsius and I switched off the fan too at night :) Ironically, I am now waiting for the sun to let my plants grow.

Have a happy Sunday!
Preeti
 

Crochet leaf pattern !

Hello ! Hope you are having a crafty time . Thanks for your comments on my last post . I was a bit busy so could not reply to your comments but tried my best to answer the ones with queries . Next time , I will try to be prompt in communication .

I have added some veins to the leaf motifs I shared last week . I had earlier made a similar shape for the flame of Diwali lamp and made some leaves too. Recently , on internet , I saw images of crochet leaves with veins and improvised my pattern . I have written it in the end of post after my blabbering is done : ) First , some updated pictures.......

Anshita’s summer vacation is over and her school reopened from this Thursday . So we all are disciplined back to routine : ) Weather here has cooled down for past two weeks after boiling summers . Temperatures are consistently in the range of 34 (max) to 22(min) Celsius . It is raining heavily these days .  No more ACs needed and no more sky rocketing electricity bills . That means I can divert those expenses towards yarns ; )

I have also started a bit of gardening in my small balcony . Will share few images in next post .
So everything here is happy except for some unruly activities done by hubby and kid which drives me crazy but there is no solution to it . I make rules and they enjoy breaking it !! : )
Let’s see the pattern and how I did in my test to write it ……

Use your own gauge , threads , yarns , hooks , needles , scissors and watch your own TV ; )

All the instructions are in US terminology

Part 1.

Start with a base color for leaf :
Ch10
Use only one loop of chain, for the following steps.
2 SC in second chain from the hook.
HDC in next stitch.
2 DC in next stitch.
T R in next 3 stitch.
2 DC in next stitch.
HDC in next stitch.
SC in next stitch. (half side done)
SC in the corresponding stitch on the other side of chain (use remaining loops of the CH10 chain)
HDC in next stitch.
2 DC in next stitch.
T R in next 3 stitch.
2 DC in next stitch.
HDC in next stitch.
SC in next stitch.
Join to 1st SC with slip stitch.
Fasten off.


Part 2.

There will be 3 SCs once you complete the part one which will be the top end of the leaf.
Join border color with SC in the middle SC of these 3 SCs.
SC in each stitch across and in the beginning stitch too.
Join with slip stitch to the first SC.
Fasten off leaving a long tail for the veins.


Part 3.

Embroider veins as shown in the images using the yarn left in Part 2 after fastening. I have used stem stitch for the middle vein and straight stitch for the tiny branches. For better effects, use embroidery floss.

Weave-in the threads and use them as appliques etc.

Hope you like it and I have passed my test . Errors can be identified and categorized as 'Typo' ; )
If you feel you may add/remove some stitches here and there to adjust but I am sure you may get good results with this pattern and will be perfect after blocking . If you have any tips , please mention in comments so that others will also know .

If you create anything using this pattern, please do link back to this post .

Happy Weekend !!
Preeti : )

 

A little bit of crochet......

Dear all,
Hope you all are doing fine . Thanks for your wishes , I am doing fine as well .  I don’t have any finished piece to show even today but I am determined to write a post . Also , I want to avoid showing up again on ‘Just Wednesday’ post only ;)

I want to keep my WIPs secret but that is taking unimaginably long duration to complete . Today, I will share some of the motifs made for embellishing my WIPs . They aren’t blocked and some (ok , many ;)) threads are left un-weaved-in on purpose .
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Raj is in San Francisco for this week .  He promised that he will not get me anything from there and vowed that he will never step into craft shops . But , I am sure he will do for the fear of seeing a ‘NoEntry’ board back home :) just kidding :)  Last time when he got lots of things from 'Hobbycraft' store in London, he got many which were available in India. So this time he will strictly comply with the list.  He is in Redwood City and will be visiting a family friend in San Jose . If anyone is aware about good craft shops in these two places , let me know . I will try to google as well .

These are few items I crocheted ...

Nosegay square : free pattern here

 Square ‘Sailing along’ from the book ’50 fabulous crochet squares’ Leisure arts publications.

Star Overlay square : free pattern here

 Crocheted on my own after seeing a pattern on etsy store

 



Free pattern from Ravelry here....this square has got a big name, find it out for yourself :)

Actually, mine turned out to be a trapezium which I would have corrected easily but I wanted that shape only to be used as a pocket :)

Flower :  Motif #10 from ‘Beyond the square crochet motifs’ by Edie Eckman

Butterfly : free pattern here

 

 Some more tiny flowers and leaves. The tinier ones are 1 cm and crocheted with size 20 thread

 

Some more timepass crochet

 

All these motifs go into these boxes I bought few months back . My bed is always cluttered during the day with my projects . I keep all my projects in separate zip folders and have bought so many of these. Lets have a sneak peek inside this folder......one of my WIPs......... :)))

 

Does it look gorgeous ? I have not used any flash , the yarn type is shiny and silky

Some more stash that arrived today.......actually, I ran out of orange knitting cotton .......don't know how come I received these many ;) he....he....

Thanks for seeing !! Please do write in , it makes me happy even if my itty bitty motifs are not big projects .

Any guesses for that 'sneak peek' project ?

Have a nice day !!
Preeti :)