Crafts, leisure and happiness

This morning's conversation with the lil dude. He turns two next month. Lil Dude: Sounds yike a choo choo (when he "heard" the light rail hooting in the distance. He could not see it) Me: Where is the choo choo? Lil Dude: It's eside a tunna (It's inside a tunnel) Me: Oh. Where is the tunnel? Lil Dude: It's behine a tee (It's behind a tree) Me: Where is the tree then? Lil Dude: Okay It's that time of the week again and I finally have something new to show. I've started the "Choo choo tain (train) sweater" that I've been wanting to make for him. Here's how far I've gotten. The second picture is of the motif and the different colors that will be going into this sweater. Most of the colors are for the train. I hadn't realized how slow color knitting can be, especially when you haven't practiced enough. But it is fun all the same. I also managed to finish the bolero last week. And I'm glad to say the rec

Here is a link to the host of the Work In Progress Wednesday Meme . And here's this wednesday's WIP. I know I've been posting the same bolero and scarf, but I AM a slow knitter. I do have two other swatches on needles, one for Bubba's (DS) sweater and one for a KAL I'm on. But each of them just has a couple of rows on them so a picture will hardly show anything. So I'm saving those for next week. Here's the bolero. My excuses for the slowness - This is the first time I'm doing short rows, so I had to look at multiple videos online to learn it. It's such a cool technique. I had to use it for the high neck of the bolero.  I misinterpreted the pattern at one place and a fellow raveller had to come to the rescue.  My family thinks knitting is my hobby and should be done only in my free time! And they think doing the dishes, vacuuming and other such odd household chores and spending time with the hubby and kid etc should take a higher priority.  In

The last couple of mornings have been gray mornings. I don't like to call them gloomy because I actually like gray days. Maybe it's a Bangalore thing, most Bangaloreans I know love the rain and rainy days or maybe I'm just nostalgic and missing home. It might be because of the fresh smell that the rain brings or the cleaner green leaves on the trees or the fact that it gets a little quieter in the neighbourhood during the rain. Or maybe it's the sound of the rain. I would stand on the balcony (picture taken on one such day) in my house with a cup of freshly brewed ginger tea and just stare into the distance and listen to the pitter patter and the many different sounds it brings with it. The sound of the rain falling on the railings, the sound of the water flowing out of the water spouts. Even the sound of the vegetable seller calling out in the distance is different when it rains. Or I'd sit on the bed by the window with my feet tucked under me, reading a book wh

It's WIPW 6  but it's only Wednesday 2 for me. I missed last week's WIPW because I had to stop knitting and typing the last few days to give my hands a little rest. Nothing serious just repetitive stress. So here is my work in progress this week. This is a long overdue bolero for my friend's daughter, it's the "Little Flirt" by Sublime. It's a really quick knit for quick knitters. But a slow knitter that I am, and the 10 day break that I took, I've only come so far since I cast on 2 weeks ago. That's the back and the left front done and the right front is on the needle. The edges are rolled up so the shaping for the sleeves and neck are not visible. Still have a border to add all around, then done. Hoping to finish tonight if DH and DS are kept busy. My scarf is coming along fine too. I took some not so great pictures of it again and decided not to upload them. I will upload pictures of the final blocked version. In any case it's just lo

Ok, this is my first Work-in-progress Wednesday (WIPW) a meme started by Tami , check out her blog for others' WIPs. I think it's a wonderful idea! So here's my current WIP. It's a lace scarf, my first lace project, my first scarf and my first lace scarf! I ripped the first few rows a couple of times before I got it right. So I've started taking all the necessary precautions - using lifelines (the green threads in the picture), stitch markers, a row counter, I count stitches after every row etc. It's very gratifying to see the travelling fern grow. I wonder if I'm knitting too tight, the cast on edge is curled up a little. I'm hoping blocking will fix that. It's interesting how the pics have turned out. I usually take pictures in natural light (the purpler one) and the picture is not true to the color at all, but the pattern is more visible here. The one taken with the automatic flash (the maroon-er one) is a truer image but still not quite there