Crafts, leisure and happiness

I've been living in the USA for a while now and like most NRIs I miss Namma Bengaluru a lot. Notice I did not say "home". I don't do that anymore. For now USA is my home where I have my space, my life and I feel most at-home at my home here. But there is that eternal longing to return. There's also that nostalgia when I hear a particular song or eat a particular food but those are just momentary and they pass. I'm pretty sure though, that if I move and make my home in Bengaluru, I will feel most at-home there. I do make it a point to visit Bengaluru often and after the initial couple of days of just-returned-from-the-states attitude (which I'm pretty sure annoys my sister), I begin to notice how things ARE getting better there. The roads are not as clogged, the people are driving better, there is just a little bit more greenery than the previous visit and the roads are cleaner. I saw more sensitivity among people driving. The "Me first" attitud...

A new giveaway on the Amber Threads blog . I'm giving away a coupon for a discount of 15% on your entire purchase from my store. Plus free shipping this entire month. So hurry and check out how to enter  here !

I'm hosting a giveaway on my Amber Threads blog. I'm giving away two gorgeous skeins of Duke Silk Yarn. Here are the details. And here's a pic of the yarn I'm giving away. 10 days to go!

I'm really excited to share that my online yarn store is now open! Check out http://amberthreads.etsy.com ! Also check out my other blog http://blog.amberthreads.com for generous giveaways every month and lots of yarny info. Here are pictures of some of the yarn I have in my store!

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...

The Maker Faire (for those who don't know) is exactly that. A fair where "Makers" showcase their work. There were makers of all kinds, crafters, artists, engineers, inventors. My favorite "Maked things" (as my son would probably have said) were the  amazing mechanical contraptions which seemed to have jumped out of movies. Unfortunately I could not capture them on my camera for one reason or another. Over all the Maker Faire was very overwhelming. I think it's a great way to get Makers together but the way the stalls were organized or the place or the crowd was just too overwhelming.  My other favorite was this Lego city, an entire city made of Lego blocks! I could have spent days just looking at all the details, I can't imagine how long it must've taken to build it.