Crafts, leisure and happiness

I went to the local craft supplies shop and was casually browsing the bead aisles. Well, I always wanted to take up beading as another hobby (in addition to spinning, dyeing and weaving), but I'm not a big jewelry wearer. So it was easy for me not to indulge. But I always browsed the beading aisles out of curiosity and the last time I saw these things called toggle clasps. And it occurred to me that these would make great snag free stitch markers. And that's when I caved in, and bought all the tools needed. Different kinds of pliers, head pins, wires, beads and toggle clasps. And here's the outcome. And while I was looking online for tips on using the various tools I came across  this tutorial  on making stitch markers. It's a nice step by step tutorial with great pictures. What d'ya know, my idea was not so original after all. Well the square stitch markers probably are. The stitch markers are lightweight and snag free. The square ones can fit up to US size 11 ne...

I know I haven't blogged in a long while, that's because I've been busy. Busy setting up my online store - shh.. (how is shh spelt, did you know there is no such word in the dictionary, hmm.. (now this word is in the dictionary)). About the store, well it's real fun setting it up all by myself putting many open source softwares together. I hope I enjoy running the store as much as I like setting it up. Maybe I should just make a business of setting up online stores. Apart from the store, I've been busy knitting. Here's what I've created in the last few months. And look to this right side panel -> for my current works in progress. A hat for the lil dude A market bag , I love this bag. It was fun to crochet it and I love how it's assembled. It's HUGE and very useful. This cardi . Not such a good picture, but a great cardi. The color is more beautiful than it appears here. This tank for my neighbor's lil girl. I made a total of...

I almost did not realize today was a Wednesday. I thought today was a Tuesday for some reason. Where did my Tuesday go or was it Monday that I missed? Hmm, anyway. Here are my WIPs for this week. I'm hoping to be done with the  Kaftan  tomorrow, sleeves to be added. I'm sort of getting bored of knitting kid stuff now. Or it might be because I'm knitting this Kaftan  with acrylic yarn. Nooooo I'm turning into a yarn snob! I thought that day will never come. I have this tweedy yarn from Tahki and decided to make a scarf out of it. I picked the Daisy Stitch from this book. This picture is just of a swatch. I'm still trying out different spacings between the daisies. Here's the picture of the Long Jacket . Not much progress as you can see. I'm not liking this acrylic yarn that my mom had bought for me a long time ago. I have so much of it, I HAVE to make something large.  And yeah finally the promised modeled scarf. Pretty right? Yeah the scarf too! I f...

Before I began to love knitting I was one of those people who at anytime had at least one book and more often than not around 3-4 books that they were currently reading. That's why my DH bought me a Kindle. And surprisingly ever since I've had the kindle (8 months now) I've bought and read only around 3-4 books and that's it. That's owing to a lot of reasons. 1. I quit my job around the same time I got my Kindle and I swear that has nothing to do with it, so I spent a lot of time at the library and most books I wanted, I borrowed from the library. 2. I quit my job around the same time I got my Kindle so I had a lot of time on my hands to knit. And I swear knitting also does not have anything to do with my quitting my job. So I knit a lot. 3. And since I spent a lot of time at the library and I love books and I love knitting, I looked for the knitting books section and needless to say I spent most of my time there. 4. Now since I'm in the habit of not BUYing boo...

I can't believe I stayed away from my blog for so long! Well here I am, back in the new year. With a published article  on Yahoo Associated Content to my name (waving and bowing to applause),  lots of FOs (Finished Objects you pervert) and refreshed after a nice time with family, especially with my little one. His day care was closed for around 10 days and I had the best time with him. I'm proud to say he was a golden boy in terms of his behavior and we had a rollicking time together. We did many little and big things together but that's a whole other post. Here are some of the FOs, I don't have pictures of all of them. A vest for a newborn on the way. It's " Pebble " on Ravelry. Sweaters for Bubba. The one below is a test knit. Will give more details once the designer publishes the pattern. Here's a really bad picture of the finished scarf being blocked. Will upload some pictures of the scarf being modeled. Remember  Tamy's WI...

Not that I was out of town or anything. I was just away from my blog for quite some time now - 3 weeks since my last post. I did have a few things to blog about but let's just say I did not feel like it. What did I do then? I organized a birthday party for my DS he turned two recently. Here's the cake I'd ordered. Isn't it beautiful. I was heart broken cutting it. I'm almost done with the choo choo sweater. Just have to seam and weave in the millions of ends. That's been the case for the whole of last week. I finally started on finishing it today. Lazy lazy. Well not really. The last couple of days were spent on this really nice book that Tami suggested - The Hunger Games . Tami, I love it! I finished it in 2 days. I meant to buy it but then I found it at the local library so I grabbed it. I might have to buy the second book in the series - Catching Fire because I'm in a long line to borrow it at the library and I can't wait. I hope it's as good...

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...

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...

Here are pictures of some more of my finished objects. The other offset wraplan I was making is finally done. It's the 3-6 month size, and with fewer buttons, better ribbing, better button / hole plackets, a better finish and definitely better yarn than the acrylic one that I used for the first wraplan (Stripy) . A dishcloth with a lace pattern made using lion brand cotton ease (worsted weight cotton). This is the Travelling Vines Dishcloth. Not sure I can use it as a dishcloth, maybe a pot holder or something. I had a hard time with this seemingly simple pattern. I must've ripped the first few pattern rows at least 3 times before I got it right. The pattern is beautiful for a scarf or shawl don't you think?

Made this little hat for my little one who loved it the first day. He wore it and wanted to check himself out in the mirror a million times. I was so elated then because he usually hates hats, but now that I think about it I realize it was all part of his usual bed time dawdling. He refuses to wear it now. In any case it was a fun and an especially quick knit. Come fall and winter, I hope to get the dude to wear it. Pattern details: Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver Solids colors Buff and Cafe. Needles: US 8, 16"circular, and set of 5 DPNs Pattern: Measured the little dude's head circumference with some difficulty and cast on based on that. For my gauge it came to 70 sts, and came up with the fair isle pattern as I went. It is a repetition of 7 stitches. Worked even for around 4.5 inches. Placed markers every 10 stitches and decreased a stitch before the marker every row and then bound off and added a pom pom. Notes: Since I was knitting in the round, there was a jog at the join/sea...

Here are pictures of my recently finished raglan sweater. I love the pattern . It's very easy and goes really fast and I started this on my trip to India with yarn from India. I think the number of buttons on this makes it look cute. But from my experience I realize now that the fewer the buttons on baby clothes the easier it is to dress them. I made it for my friend's little one. I hope he's not as wriggly as my son used to be when putting on his clothes. Ok pattern notes Yarn : Acrylic yarn from one of those little yarn stores off of Commercial St, Bangalore Needles : Size 4 circular, dpns for sleeves, straight needles for the button plackets. Size made: 3-6 months Difficulty: easy Modifications from original pattern: Changed the ribbing, button and button hole plackets to k1, p1 because with the black yarn the original pattern did not look good. I picked up the exact number of stitches the pattern called for, for the plackets and that ended up causing a small ruffle ...

I had earlier believed scrapbooks are made out of scrap - old, usually discarded fragments of waste in the house - ribbons, buttons, old calendars, posters, etc. In fact I'm sure that must be the origin of the term scrapbook. But have you seen the "scrap" available in craft stores. Whew! Anyhoo, I've decided that I'll have a scrapbook ready by the time my lil one turns one - I have barely 2 months to go.   I technically started the project a long long time ago in a world far far away when I still hadn't had my lil one. I bought a 12X12 scrapbooking album, and lots of supplies from wal-mart and michaels . Read up tonnes of resources on the internet and funnily after he was born I hardly had anytime for it. Now the lil fella is off at the day care (the poor thing) and I have a couple of days before I return to work, so all the supplies that were gathering dust in a dark corner of the store room are finally out and I'm beginning the first page of my scrapboo...

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney My review rating: 5 of 5 stars Un-put-down-able! This is the first comic novel that I have read and I have to say this is one helluva debut by Jeff Kinney. It is all about an average boy-next-door type of kid Greg and his average life in his average school and with his average family told in an uproarious way with cartoons. I was laughing out aloud through the entire book. It's hard to say what part I liked most. The Zoo-Wee-Mama cartoon strip was priceless. And I especially liked the whole winter play incident, Greg decides to become a tree in the play so he can throw apples at a girl from his class that he wants to get back at, Toto the dog brings his comic books to read on stage, the shrub plays video games despite his costume, and the expressions on the faces of his family after the ruined play. OK, too many spoilers. In all, an outrageously hilarious book. I want more! View all my reviews.

Cool huh? Took me forever to finish it though. Men's sweaters can be quite monotonous to knit. The sweater I knitted Originally uploaded by vin E Yarn: Paton's Merino Wool Pattern: Inspired (made quite a few modifications) by the pattern on the Berroco patterns site. Here's the link. Doesn't look quite so much like the one on the Berroco site. The sleeves of my sweater are shorter and the whole sweater should have had a closer fit. Nevertheless doesn't look too bad on the whole.

Kimono sweater Originally uploaded by vin E This little sweater was inspired by a pattern I found on the berroco site. Here's the pattern. Made a few modifications to fit Bubba, looks like its going to be too big for him right now. He seems to like it though. When I tried it on him, the first thing he did was spit up on it.

Babette blanket made by Mom Originally uploaded by vin E Babette blanket made by Mom. She made it for my soon to arrive baby. I'm inspired to make one too now. This one is made from yarn bought in Bangalore, India. Looks like some mix of cotton and wool, not sure though. Turned out really soft and warm and huge - 42" X 40" !! Will last my baby a long time! Henceforth this blanket shall be called - "The Ajji Blanket". Click on the pic for more photos on my flickr page.

To all you Harry Potter fans. Tales of Beedle the Bard is now available for pre-order on Amazon. Has two versions - Standard Hard Cover that costs just $7.59 and a Collector's edition that looks beautiful and costs $100.00! The book is scheduled to release on December 4, 2008. Another long wait!

Yellow pepper beanie finished Originally uploaded by vin E I picked this pattern from knitchicks . I went to Michael's looking for an appropriate red yarn for this. Could not find one that I liked. So here's a Yellow Pepper beanie instead of a strawberry or tomato beanie. I hope it fits my soon to arrive little one. Here's what I used Needles : US size 6 DPNs all the way. Yarn : Swish DK from knitpicks , colors Pale Lemon and Asparagus. Used half of the Pale Lemon 50 gms ball and maybe a quarter of the Asparagus 50 gms ball. Finished size: The circumference is 14".

Saw this cool pattern on www.knitty.com . Actually I think I liked the picture more than anything and this flickr page full of Sheldons and decided I MUST make one. And so went and bought all the needles I needed to and used some yarn that I had with me. So far this is how he looks. Will keep updating this post Pieces of Sheldon's shell. To be put together Originally uploaded by vin E Sheldon's attachment piece close up Originally uploaded by vin E Sheldon's shell Originally uploaded by vin E Here's how far he's come along - Shell all done. Body left. Shell all done Originally uploaded by vin E Sheldon's shell upside down. Originally uploaded by vin E Sheldon's body - blind and limbless!! Sheldon's body Originally uploaded by vin E Blind Limbless Sheldon Originally uploaded by vin E Sheldon All DONE!!! Check out my flickr page for Sheldon modeling some more. Shell-less Sheldon Originally uploaded by vin E Sheldon modelling Originally uploaded by...