Things to Love

Hello my dear friends! I have read your blogs recently and found out that I am not alone in my tiredness and constant want to simply do nothing for a while. I don't really address it to being lazy, and not that there is any health issue as such (touch wood), but rather a mental exhaustion, probably it is the end of year which is usually more hectic. I officially declare that I need a break with change in my surroundings.
Getting in the mood for Christmas and New year in India is a little difficult due to the +25 outside, no snow, no major city decorations. The affect of all the sad recent news leaves me guilty of thinking about happy holidays and all when so many suffer and cannot even dream of sleeping in cozy beds...
However my holiday spirit prevails indoors, a quiet one. I have put up a tree together with little A last weekend, he enjoyed, oh so much, bringing me those little ornaments and is so excited about the lights! I am so glad that we were able to ignite that holiday cheer in him. His school also installed a tall Christmas tree in the lobby and decorated beautifully the premises.
My crochet mood in its turn has been rather high. I confessed to my D that I was bitten by a "crochet bug", he understood what I meant. Whenever I am crocheting in front of him, he then asks me : "Why do you make such a serious (= concentrated?) face ?" :P

The first thing to show is an up-cycled purse. Everything is hand stitched. The handle is crocheted with a t-shirt yarn.

It closes with a help of two buttons and loops made of crocheted cotton threads. (Thank you Preeti for the buttons!:))

I was in need of a new cap for little A he can wear daily on the way to school. My A looks adorable in it! I cannot find the pattern I used for this cap (not in my Pinterest), but it's a basic cap pattern, and semi-circles attached for bear ears effect :)

I have been keeping in my mind that I need to make another, a more beautiful and better fitting sweater for A. So I found this really simple and easy to make Toddler Striped Sweater. As usual it asked for yarn weight I don't have, so I started crocheting with two strands of sport weight yarn, hoping it would help but needed to buy two more colors. Last weekend me and D went to our (note, OUR) favourite yarn market, expecting to buy two skeins and go. When I saw the yarn stalls after a long time .. I got dizzy! The first thing my eyes fell on were various, multicolored skeins of a BULKY weight yarn!!! I have been searching such among Indian brands but never found in the Internet ...and here they are, waiting for me. LOL. D could not help but say ok, buy it if you need... Think if you really need it... I said I needed it very much and can now work so many projects!:)))

 Here is a sweater cum jacket in progress. I want to finish it as soon as possible so Little A has opportunity to wear it THIS winter (not the next one :~)). I plan to make it a little longer like a cardi. The yarn is acrylic, very soft and not prickly at all, works up very smoothly, no knots, and color is just great for this type of garment.

AND... I got this one , a sock weight yarn to try! It seems to be very good too. Overall I was really impressed by the range of yarn  Indian manufacturers offer now. There were many  other ones which I would like to try to work with, but maybe next time.

So that's all for now friends. Wishing you a happy week whenever you are! Happy coming up holidays!

Color on Tuesday - Blanket and Nail Art

Tomorrow, when I am supposed to do blanket progress update post, never comes, hence let's grab today and live today. As you all well know, I have been crocheting a big blanket for the past few months, and I haven't finished it yet, lol. To disappoint you - no Ta-dah news today, but  a glimpse (or two or three) of the  process. 

One achievement I can be certainly proud of is that I have started joining the blocks! You can see a pile of them, which makes already 3 rows of 8 blocks in each (total 24 blocks). However they have been attached only length wise, width wise will come afterwards, when I have all 8 rows together. I had a chance to experience how much warm the blanket is, as part of it was lying on my laps while I joined the other blocks. Believe me, it IS warm, just like real wool, and also soft. 

I like the view from this angle, the repetition of the pattern in different colors, the way the blocks' edges are attached kind of makes me happy :) Probably it is madness, or excitement, or I simply love the colors of this yarn.

Imagining this blanket spread on the bed, and making our room bright at once! My husband likes it too, already. Lately he asked why didn't I do yarn shopping for so long, it somehow worried him (hehe). Last weekend I bought 4 colors which didn't seem suffice to finish the blanket purely for the purpose of removing all the worries from his head. I am relieved now, my D too I bet.

For those who might be interested I am using slip stitch joining method for blocks, and very happy with how it turned out - it is a neat and strong join I believe. You can notice the crimson line of stitches between yellow and lilac. 

Next  is just an abandoned hobby of mine - nail art. I am in a long nails phase now, and I have some pretty nail polishes which make up a great duet (though it is not that you cannot do nail art when having short nails of course). Some doodling with nail polish few days ago - nothing special, but made me immensely proud of my nails look. I used dotting technique tool - a ball pen, for making of the design. 

I became a little lazy with taking of the photos of our weekends and so, but we have an interesting event coming up this week - an International Coffee Festival! So apparently, I will be there for... a cup of the brew of Gods. Otherwise, the yearly Hindu festival hustle is more than a month away, so I am enjoying the cooling off of the weather, and quiet days, and of course getting ready for Autumn and Halloween.

Have a blissful day and be safe wherever you are!

From Small to Big - Crochet

Greetings of the day, dear friends! The Grow Your Blog party left me with some great reads and new readers! I"m glad  you stayed here :) 

The sunny weekend was enjoyable, as our friends came for dinner, and we had nice food and good chats. Now to business, here is a Tunisian crochet stripe turned into a wall decor with embroidered flowers. This type of hanging wall decor was inspired by Indian crafts, and I had such project in mind for over six months till I realized it. I had a little trouble as the stripe was actually curling up because of the tight crocheting. Hopefully I can improve this further. 

Now - something related to Russian culture. When I just started crocheting, the first "order" I got was from my D, when he asked me to make a Soviet cartoon character Cheburashka. I didn't fulfill this wish until I learned how to make toys (amigurumi). I felt a little guilty about my procrastination, so the Cheburashka's face jumped from the crochet hook at once few days ago (did it sound scary?:). Other parts are coming up soon too. By the way, those Pony split ring markers worked very well for marking the stitches, so this purchase wasn't waste.

Sunday can be called a "Yarnday" for me, as this is when I do... yarn shopping, yea! With valuable help of my husband (as he always deals with the shopkeepers), I purchased these 6 colors for my ambitious (hehe) blanket project. I'm slowly trying to move from small to big forms as you see :). This yarn is of the Indian brand Vardhman and called Brilon. I'm glad it had at least this marking on it.

That's all so far.  Will be back with some more crochet and perhaps, a pattern for Cheburashka. 

                    Have a nice day and take care!                                                 

Indian Winter and Snug Things

My questioning mood has passed by, I can't think too much about things I don't understand.May be it's not required. So I'm just trying to dive into my sunny winter days again...with many pictures this time! 

Indian winter reminds me my native country's warm autumn... Cloudy sky, some trees' leaves gained the autumn colors . The tree in front of our house changes its attire according to the season, unlike other, green all year long.

We had another homely weekend. Indian cardamon tea and some tasty crackers are the best to keep warm in a cold house.

My husband got these socks cum shoes from his mum and can't spend his evenings without them now. Our heater is "on" too; we like the kind of light it gives.

Of course, Indian winter can't be spent without light and fragrances. Mmm, lemon grass!

The tree was established on Sunday. I'm planning to get some lights for it as well.  I bought that small Santa from my university's shop in Moscow, there are more of them at my parents' place. Now I have a piece of memories on my New Year tree..

And Ta-dah! The ripple baby blanket is ready. It took me quite a while to weave the ends. Baby boy was born on the 10th of December, so now we need to think of the option of delivering the blanket to his parents as they live in another city :) I know it needs to be altered and may be steam ironed.

More... some new yarn from the Indian brand Vardhman. Pretty colors, smooth thread, and I have a project in my mind to use it for. 

These were some moments of the past weekend. I'm grateful being able to have peaceful and snug time with my D. 

Have a great cozy day!