Pink and Purple and some Grey too

Firstly me lovely people, thank you so so so much for such kind words for me and my little man! He surely is feeling in the pink of health and i hope it remains so :)

My little princess is turning 4 next month. I had hooked a blanket for her when she was an infant and it lasted her this long. But now, its really short and she has been asking me for a new one. She is a BIG girl now and wanted only in pink and purple. How can I refuse her colors? Least she may not end up using it!!

 

You can find the pattern for the squares , the source that is in one of my previous posts HERE .

 Each block measures approx 6". Hoping it would be a 60 x 72 " blanket for her. I am sure it will not get done by Sept. But maybe by this winter for sure :)

On a more experimental note, have always wanted to try Tapestry Crochet. It looks so wonderfully mysterious to me...am trying this wonderful pattern from Crochet Today. Link HERE for the free PDF pattern..

In ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥!!!

What are you guys crafting??

Love,
xxx

Finally I am here & a Nana Square Cushion

My dear people!

How i have missed this blogging world!! I have been gone away a long time...a bit too long a time. Hope it is not a reason for all you lovely people to forget me. I have hardly had the time to do anything these past few weeks...

If you want to know what kept me and my hook and my blogging separate, read on...Else skip to just read my last hooky adventure!

All was going fine, until disaster struck in the form of an angry young man - my little man - my son! He slammed a heavy door on his hand and there was a deep cut, along with a mad dash to the hospital. The doctor put on 5 teeny tiny stitches and told me again and again that everything will be back to normal. They had to remove his nail but he said that the root is intact and it would all seem the same in 2-3 months time.. But i was scared, the most i have ever been, and fell ill with a viral fever.

Till the stitches were removed, i used to baby sit him like he was a month old infant! In between this, we had lots of traveling to do, visiting my mother-in-laws place. On a more tragic note, she lost her mother to a paralytic attack and had to travel to her home town for the last rites. I was at my sister-in-laws place and then again we moved to my MIL's place... So in short, it has been a hectic, worrisome, tiring month for me!

But now, my son is fine, his nail is actually growing. The scar of the stitches is long gone and he is back to his naughty days.. In-fact he was back on the day his stitches were put too!! Also i am back in Hong Kong now.. Back to my sweet small home, and more importantly kids are back with their daddy dear and i am back with my helper! So all is well now :)

Ufff.....sorry for the long explanation.. Before all this happened, i had completed a cushion for my mom's house and had even clicked the snaps. But am posting it now, after more than 1 month..

A few details :

Yarn used : Stylecraft Special DK
Pattern : Nana square from The Royal Sisters HERE.
No of squares : 7 x 7 = 49
Joined using SCs holding RS together.

I joined the squares together and then when it was a 7 x 7 blanket i sewed it on to an existing cushion cover! Clever na, in that way i did not have to hook the back, the zipper on the existing cover provided a closure method and i also re-used an old item :)

Gosh, i missed blogging and more than that i missed visiting other blogs and reading about your crafty adventures :) I promise to cover my back log and set off on a blogger-land spree!! Do write in always and all ways, i love hearing from my lovely friends...

Love,
xxx

Sweet Flower Collar

Hello my lovely dear friends!

Monday morning and already into the 2nd week of July ... Oh where oh where is the time flying i am wondering...I am in my city, My Bangalore. But i do not recognize it at all.. India is fast developing nation and the billions that live here are welcoming the new trends and life style changes a bit too readily! It has been over a year since i came to my city and all seemed to have changed. Especially the prices. With living costs spiraling exponentially, i am left wondering as to what is the real value of happiness these days?

Anyways, this space is not about price rise right, so let me show you something new i did over the last few days...Sorry for the crumpled look as the top was well worn before this photo shoot and i did not find the iron :(

A closer look at the collar.
I used a 2.0mm hook and mondial cotton thread for making the collar. The pattern is my own tho i drew inspiration from HERE. I changed the flower pattern and did a 2 color effect for it.

 Collar all around and not just at the front...

 My pretty model, who loved the outfit as it is in her favourite colors - PINK n PURPLE :)

 

A more serious expression before she hopped skipped and jumped away to have fun!

I am not having much time for crafting these days.. What with going shopping, visiting relatives, catching up with friends and eating at my favourite hang-outs.. all managing with 2 small ones in tow.. not an easy task i must tell you..The little man is not playing still in the parks here, a bit of mud and he comes running ..Mamma...che che...ha ha

The lady is having a swinging time tho :)

He finally consents to play a little bit of his slide.. But can you spot the sorry expression? he he

A few clicks from my next project, i am having lots of fun making these Nana squares. Hopefully i ll show it to you guys in a couple of days! 

Till then, have fun..
Keep crafting, keep smiling and do read the below LINK. It has some crochet rules and i agree with all of them TOTALLY!!

Do write in and let me know whats going on in your sunny space :)

Love,
xxx...

Crochet Rainbow Clip Organizer

Can a girl have enough clips?

Can she...no never...Being in one of the fashion capitals i feel there is just too much accessories in HK, heck people even accessorize their accessories here!! Do you know what i mean? Like they buy a smart phone case. And then they decorate it with bling, then they add more cartoons and such stuff to the case. Add some sparkles. They they put the mobile in a pouch, then they add some stuff to the pouch..and then the pouch goes into a LV/Prada/Gucci/Coach bag..!!

But having girls as your kids is so much fun, there is a street in HK known as Fa Yuen Street where you have more than 100 shops just selling clips and hair bands and what nots for girls.. I scumb to temptation and go there once in 2 months ...cos i know i ll just go crazy there and buy too many things..This weekend i had been there and ended up with dozens of hair bands and even more clips..All of them by the end of the day were lying scattered all through the house and my daughter even managed to put allll the clips on her head once!!

I decided to CLEAN and get organized and that's when it struck me! Why does she throw all her clips? She is a girl, she needs to see the entire store before she picks an item :) So i thought, why not make a clip organizer for her clips?

Wanna see it...

Rainbow clip organizer.. Ta-daaah!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me tell you girls...I had so so so much FUN doing this..

It is pretty easy..will let you know how to whip up one in a few hours!!
Get your hook and make your girl this organizer. She will love it :)

My girl says, "Mamma, this is for my clips?"
I say, "Yes, sweety!".
She says, "Wow, its so beautiful, now i can select my clips on my own!"

Ha ha ha..Hurray for small independence :)

My accessories for decorating this piece of joy..

Want to know how to make it??


Yarn :: Rico Creative Design in rainbow shades and cream. But you can use any cotton yarn. I feel cotton is better as it is a decor item.
Hook size :: Matching to your yarn, gauge is really not important here, its more of a fun thing right?
Lots of buttons and beads and cute animals
Some ribbons/ Ric-racs
Sewing needle and thread.

Warning :: A bit of simple sewing is needed. Just to attach the ribbons to make the racks for pinning the clips.

How to make this color blast clip case:

1. Start with a simple chain of 48 stitches. You can do any other width to suit your needs.
2. SC in second chain from hook and SC throughout.
3. Turn, chain 2. SC in next chain and throughout.
4. Repeat step 3 till the piece measures about 1.5 inches.
5. Turn, chain 4. TRC (triple crochet) in the next stitch and through out.
6. Turn, chain 2 and SC throughout.
7. Repeat step 6 till piece measures 1.5 inches.
8. Repeat step 5 again.

Continue this till you get to the length you desire. Its all very simple and flexible. Treat this as a guidline and do your own fun thing basically. I used a row of TRC's in between to loop my ric-racs. Can you see it below? This way, i stitch the ends of the ric racs or ribbons if you wish and i get a row of band to clip the clips! Hope i am talking sense..Else let the picture guide you guys :)

I even made to pockets and added them for storing rubber bands.
Clipped on my clips at the end..Cheeky mommy - thats me for sure!

Hooked bands of SC's and added a button hole on the last row.
Stitched some buttons on and used a hanger to hang it all up!!

Decorate it as you please.
Use other color combinations and stitches, maybe granny squares too..So many options..Sigh!!

On another totally unrelated front, the summer holidays are here and i am SO HAPPY to be going to India!!! Yahoooooooooo... India calling!!

No more cooking...

No more getting up in the mornings..

No more attending to what is missing in the house...

No more wifey duties...

No more running to school to drop/pick up

More of eating my mom's yummy food..

More of sleeping late and just playing with kids..

More of friends and family...

More of shopping..

I am travelling to Bangalore tomorrow and i am yet to start packing... Let alone the cleaning i need to do...So i better rush!

Stay creative, stay happy, feed your family!

Have a great weekend...

Love,
xxx.

No one can hook just one...

..No i really mean it.

Do you guys have this world famous book? 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton? If you do, then you know where i am coming from.. You simply CANNOT ,for the love of dear god ,settle down on a single square!!

Here is my list of hooking fun from this book :

Oooppssss!! Not this one.. This is the Sunburst Granny from Priscilla's crochet with a great photo tutorial HERE. This is one of my all time favorite and i had to include it!!

This one below in purple shades and the one below it in plain single color..

 #113 Wisteria

#137 Criss Cross

 #16 Waterlily

#81 Sunshine and Showers

African Flower - Another personal favourite from dear Barbara of Made in K-town. Find the great pattern HERE.

#117 Granny in the middle

 

Now my hands were itching to make a blanket again... The temptation is too great. I have to have a big project going on else i feel restless and the small projects do satisfy my creative urge but i spend hordes of time browsing and then even more time regretting that i browsed so much instead of hooking/crafting!! After many trials and errors i decided i am going to do a sampler blanket. But not an ordinary total sampler blanket. Because i need to have order even in chaos!!!

I need a plan..

I need to know how each square will look..

I need to lay them down and test the combinations..

I need to know which block looks good next to which and in which shade..

I was limited in colors and this is for my princess and she wants it only in PINK N PURPLE!! 

I do not want patterns which are too complex and which need a reading after every round and a counting after every few stitches..

I concluded that i am a crocheter from diagrams and NOT FROM WRITTEN PATTERNS!!

I threw out the idea of a hexagon blanket in muted shades with spots of red, blue, green amidst the greys and browns n tans...

I finally decided on a gingham kind of sampler with 1 row of purple blocks and 1 row of pink blocks, alternating the dark pattern blocks with simpler mostly single shaded blocks..

The pattern squares are below:

The simple , mostly single shaded squares are below...

The pinks are on order from the store..and i am eagerly waiting for my mail!!

These are my favourite blocks for a sampler afghan.. There are n number of pretty blocks out there, but i did not want very holey or lacy ones..at the same time not too solid ones..

I have modified each pattern in the book so that my block measures 5" instead of the 6" in the book.. Again a silly quirk of mine in which i feel a 6" block looks too big for the blanket and i wanted only a max of 5 " block..

How is your crafty space? Do write in as i love reading from you guys :)

PS: Love all of you for such sweet words on my Puff Flower Bag.

♥

♥

Thanks Kara from Petals to Picots for the feature too..You can see it HERE .

Love,
xxx

Puff Flower Crochet Bag

Sometimes there gets an idea into the crafty head...

It stays there, getting bigger and bigger...

Until you HAVE to have a go at it..

The idea challenges you, daunts you, teases you and commands you...

You have to drop everything, pick up your hook and yarn scraps...

Hook away at it :)

Browsing thru Pinterest i found THIS and had to try it out..I saw this bag and i had to have a go..I combined the flowers from this bag with this gem of idea from Pierrot Yarns HERE.

The puff flowers are from Mollie Makes can be found HERE.

Altered it to suit my needs a bit..
So you can see, a real lot of mix and match to come up with something i really wanted :)

Stitched it all up to form a small blanket... Don't you think this would have looked cute as a little doll's blanket?

Lined it before making it all come together..

Added a bit of crochet lace to increase the girlie, handmade feel a bit..

And here is my proud, little, cute, handy, girlie, vintage-y, unique bag...

Ta-daaah!!!

Normally when i go out for small errands, pick up my girl from her school, or take the little man out to park in my apartment the only things i carry are my wallet, my house keys and my phone. These cannot all go into my jeans pocket, plus it is tooo hot here to wear jeans now!

So you can see, these things fit cozily into my new bag.

You guys want to have a look at my phone cover? He he he... Love the Russian dolls, aren't they too cute:)

A magnetic button for added cohesive-ness..

My (un)willing model.. She wanted to play with her brother's engineering kit.

 That's it she said and off she ran..

My heart sings tra-la-la-la-la...
When ever i look at my bag!!

Hope you are having a fab weekend and do write in as i love reading your sweet words :)

Love...

xxx