The past month

Has been pretty prolific for me..I completed a few UFO’s, started and completed quite a number of new projects,  got a pile of crochet washed and blocked, started working on an abandoned cross-stitch project, went on a two week trip to Delhi.

And how can I forget the hours of cleaning and dusting and washing that I did when my drowsing conscience decided to wake up and see the mess the house was in!

I even did some serious reading, picked up Freakonomics by Steven D levitt and Stephen J Debner, a nice read but I was not “dazzled” as promised on the back cover

Not bad at all..the only department where I have been less than sincere has been in updating my blog!

I have all the usual excuses, I need to get pictures of my projects to showoff my FO’s,  I need to take pictures of my new stash to ensure I make a few friends envious..I have to wash and block the new doilies I have completed on my trip to Delhi.

But now the urge to share what I have completed, started or acquired is getting quite acute…I might surprise myself and get all the pictures clicked and posted in a couple of days.

testing

still figuring out how to add photos

I have finally found a way to work around the problem..though I am sure there is an easier way of doing this!

Whirlaway

I finally completed the doily I was testing for Kathy….just loved the way this turned out. It turned out to be 20″ using a 1.75 mm Pony hook and a metallic silk/rayon thread.

This yellow looks so good ..I really regret not buying more of it

I hope I get a chance to test more of her designs…though the sc’s were painful to do ..just love the effect of the pinwheels with the ‘bobbles’..very interesting texture

crochet classes on the tennis club lawns!

I started taking my son for tennis coaching some time in mid January…..and I was thrilled to have the chance of some guilt free crochet time thrice a week. I used to carry my crochet with me every day..and sit in a corner of the lawn and happily work on my crochet. Over a period of time I observed that there were a lot of “mommas” waiting for their children to finish their 90 mins of coaching. After a few days of hesitating I joined the group of regulars.

After the initial “how nice you ensure that you are not wasting any time”….they started getting more interested in what I was doing..asking to see the finished item and exclaiming over it.
I have been answering questions like “how long does it take you to…..?” and ” who taught you?”…with the odd “is it very difficult to learn?” over the previous weeks.

Last week one of the ladies said she could not resist the temptation and wanted to learn to crochet so that she could make beautiful stuff of herself and her family …and so we started the crochet classes on the tennis club lawns.

Girija (the lady who has started learning) told me that she knew how to hold a hook and make chains and had some yarn and hook with her.

We started the classes yesterday and she brought over a bag full of partially used balls of the regular acrylic…and a steel hook….I had carried my entire stock of Pony yarn hooks as I had no clue what material she would be bringing and I had no faith that the hooks would be suitable for the yarn she would be bringing.

Unfortunately the yarn she had with her was really really thin…and the smallest hook I had was a 4.00 mm Pony …so very reluctantly I have lent her my treasured (and one and only) 3.5mm Boye hook.

I decided it would be easiest to start with a cell phone holder to teach her the basic stitches …she has learnt to sc and turn neatly..and has promised to work up to the height of the phone over the night….

Two more ladies are now wanting to join in the classes……

The most difficult part is directing them to shops for supplies…..It is really unfortunate that Trivandrum has no supplies of thread or yarn or hook……and shopping online for supplies is not an option for most of us….

Other that opening a craft store (which is not at all feasible) I hope I can think of some way of ensuring they get supplies

my UFO listing

There has to be a cure for this, I knew I had a bad case of UFOitis..just did not know how bad the infection was. I am sure there are a few more lurking in corners. And the sad part is that I have not even attempted to find or list the non-crochet UFO’s.

1 luxurious swirl - table topper

2 reduction tote bag

3 yellow filet -centrepiece

4 tv cover

5 butterflies doily

6 pineapple song - PK doily

7 cluster stitch doily

8 pine patch - PK doily

9 Between meal centerpiece completed

10 vintage reproduction doily

11 Fan tail -EH doily

12 Connemara doily

13 Royal Diamond Centrepiece

14 november surprise -small doily

15 Thanksgiving leaves doily

16 doily copied from a doily

17 Invitation doily

18 small doily

19 PK doily

20 Doily Drama

21 Autum -charted doily

22 Autum -charted doily

23 Doily # 1 -centrepiece

24 Romantic hearts doily

25 Oval tablecloth scrapped..decided I was never going to complete this one and the thread could be used 

26 star in a snowflake doily

27 Blushing doily

28 February surprise doily

29 lovely -PK doily

30 KSP #2- Doily #6

31 Ruby’s pineapple medley doily

32 doves in flight -large doily

33 vintage dishcloth

34 whirlaway doily

35 Fendi bag knockoff

I will keep coming back to this list and crossing off the ones that get completed, hopefully at some point during this year I will be free of the curse of UFOs

Will I get rid of the curse of the UFO’s?..

what i crocheted today

crocheted 7 rounds ( round 33-39) of the doily I am testing for Katchkan. I should have finished this doily atleast 10 days ago, but my ADD ensured that I started atleast 10 new projects since beginning this doily.

Finally a day where I did not start working on yet another doily or bag after getting dazzled and tempted by yet another pattern.

I will record my crochet output everyday and see if I can stay more focussed. My goal is to bring my WIP’s and UFO’s down to two items.

Blue ripple bag

I completed the ripple bag last night; here it is in all it’s tiny glory

I used a partial ball of unbranded yarn on the hank and a Boye H hook. I added a few more rounds to the specified 19. Did not count, but probably did around 25.

Felt good to start and finish something on the same day.

On the feel good note of completing a project before it turned into a dust-catcher aka UFO, I started a hook holder for a friend. Got the pattern online, but did not remember to save the url.

If all goes well should have another FO, by night.

Still can’t figure out how to add images to my post..ah well I guess it takes longer for an old dog to learn new tricks

Hello world!

I have finally gathered my courage to make a second attempt at maintaining a regular online journal of my trials and triumphs with thread and yarn..mostly thread. I do have a lot of embroidery and cross-stitch projects languishing.

Hopefully one of these days I’ll get them done.

Currently on my hook..is the ripple bag found here. The culprit behind inspiration for starting this bag is Swapna.

Guess i should get it done by night, if I don’t get distracted and start working on some other project.

My crochet

I have been crocheting a lot these days, but as usual I am too lazy to take pics and even lazier when it comes to uploading them. This is the first of the many that I have completed in July and August. I hope I can be more regular in sharing my crochet..isn’t that why I started this?!..I know the “Brag” factor plays a very big role in this! These are the doilies I have made as DAL’s (doily-alongs) with the ladies on Gathering Threads

This was the first DAL, mine is pretty unimaginative, I loved the way Brenda used colour, to make this a stunning doily.
I gave mine away to one of my colleagues as a gift.Brenda has inspired me to make this one again, I just might get bold enough to experiment with colour changes.

I made DAL II in a slightly thicker thread, I have a few balls in this thread in different colours. The thread is slightly thicker than #10 and I have always put off using this thinking that the doilies will not pretty.

I quite like the look of this one despite the thicker thread. I am now planning on using this as an appliqué on cushion covers. I hope to eventually make a set of 5 cushion covers using similar sized doilies for appliqués.

AAAAAAAARGHHHHH!
This had to happen!..I finally get around to updating my blog. ….spend time uploading photos…and then a power outage….makes me lose every thing!
So I am going to try posting in smaller segments..hopefully the connection will not die on me again