There goes ...such a bummer! The photos won't upload!!!!!! How much can I take??? Well I'll be trying again again!! Photobucket is not cooperating at all...well, atleast I have another album. Here is the link..

Crochet Olympic pictures

These are the pictures of my crochet Olympic project. Did I say I had hurdles earlier? Well it seems the hurdles story continues! So what do you think?

Pictures of Crochet Olympics Sweater set
Yay ! Finally , I got my digital camera all set and back. So here are the pictures. I should have posted them earlier....but then I just got the camera repaired and back this afternoon.
Yes, I'm still working on the centre piece. I had some problem with the pattern for the border, so I decided to do it in my way. If I can finish it by tonight and block it too, then I'll be showing off the pictures soon.
I'm not breaking my New Year's resolution , just a little bending ,thats all. My son asked me to crochet something for his teacher....actually he wanted to give the Crochet Olympic hat to his teacher!!!!! Well, finally , I manged to get him settled on a bookmark. He chose the bookmark, too. It's a pretty one. I'm on the third motif now.

I'm sticking to it. I'm still working on the centre piece. I had not counted right ...there were not two but four motifs to go. But then , I finished all of the four motifs by last night while watching Filmfare Awards. Did I ever say that I love to crochet while watching T.V ?
This evening, I'll be working on the edging.Lets hope it gets over soon.
The service centre hates me. They havent yet fixed the camera. I have to wait to get it. Not fair!!!
Once I finish this WIP, I'm going to start on my contest entry. I'm still open to suggestions and ideas.

There seems to be no luck with the digital camera so far ...they havent gotten around to checking it yet!!! I'll just have to find some other means of getting the pictures here.
I've taken up a long, long put away WIP. It's pineapple centre peice with a whole load of motifs. I have just two more motifs tro go and the border as well. It's a pretty enough pattern but such big projects are not my cup of tea.
Actually , it started quite innocently. There was this pretty motif that my sister in law had done during her visit from India. She wanted to make a centre peice for her MIL. And she had misplaced it and could not find it before she left.
I found it a couple of months later in my sons toys( he was just 8 months then)!!! He must've decided to keep it for himself. It looked so pretty ...I thought I might as well complete the rest of the doily and give to SIL dearest. Thre was no picture ...just the pattern printed out . I remembered her telling me it was a very beautiful doily ( a bit big.......but I had no idea how big!!!).
So there after taking it up and putting it away time and time again ..I've finally decided to finish it off. Lets say ..the determination from the Crochet Olympics is still lingering....

Yipeeeee! My Project is completed!
Yes, I have my baby sweater set completed for the Crochet Olympics. All of it - the sweater, booties and the hat. It's turned out pretty cute too.
I hope I can get my digital camera back from the service centre ( I gave it yesterday and today being friday ...it's closed- weekends out here are thursday and friday). Hopefully I'll get it back by tomorrow evening. The first thing I'll do is upload the pictures.

And every accomplishment has to be celebrated!!! I'm going to treat myself.....I am going to buy that yummy looking feathery yarn I've been ogling at for days now. I know I was not going to bauy any more yarn or threads but this is an exception. If I dont get a treat ...next time I wont be as motivated, right?

Reminds me of another thing - my new years resolution. For every project I complete , I have to tackle a WIP waiting to be completed. So I'll have to do that. And then I can start working on my contest project ...this will give me time to make up my mind about what I should make.

Crochet Olympics -Day 13:
Its looking good! I have my kid feeling better. And both the booties are done too. Now I have to start working on the matching hat this evening. And then ....I'll be announcing that I've finished. Hopefully!
My digital camera is giving me the attitude once more.....I have to take it to the showroom again..hopefully tomorrow. Then I'll post the pictures for everyone to see.

Crochet Olympics Day 12
No progress from yesterday. Yet have to finish the edging for the cuff of the first bootie. Then I'll have to try to suqueeze in time for the next bootie.
Its not easy dealing with a child who is sick.It's been four rough days for him ...he's bored stiff too and is begging to take him to pre-school. So I had to spend all the time and energy in keeping him entertained.

Crochet Olympics Day 11- I have manged to design the booties finally after frogging three times initially and twice at the cuff part. Now, I just have to make the other bootie as well ....I hope I can remember the pattern that I used on the previous bootie. I should've written down the pattern as I was making it ...I did but after scratching out the pattern twice I just gave up.Writing patterns is not my cup of tea......crocheting is more like it! I can always look at the first bootie and hope to duplicate it exactly.
All major events have major blocks. Now my son has not been feeling well for the past couple of days, so things are going slower than usual. And I'm back to feeling dizzy again.I guess it's the lack of sleep. But crochet I will. I'll finish the other bootie,hopefully by tonight or latest by tomorrow afternoon. Hope to post the pictures then.
I've been checking out the others progress as well...and it's encouraging to see that everyone is going on so well.

These are the pictures of the little bits before assembling them together. I've added further more to the bottom of the sweater and to the sleeves as well ( well, thats not from the original ). I think it looks prettier with the additions.Since I cannot show the whole sweater just yet ...this is all I can.
Yes , I have finished the sweater ( completely) ,now I'm on to designing the booties. I've frogged out three times already but I hope this time it turns out okay.Will post the pictures of the progress.

Crochet Olympics Day 9 . I still have serious doubts about my thinking abilities... I still wonder what I was thinking when I signed up up for the Crochet Oympic and a crochet contest at another crochet group.These are probably the busiest two weeks I've had ....and I had to plunge in! But then maybe , I just wasn't thinking !!!!!!

Crochet Olympics Day 9: I have my little baby sweater assembled. Looks pretty cute ...not exactly like the picture I had in my mind but still pretty cute. Just need to do the cuff edgings. Didnt get much time last night after the outing.
I cannot figure out how to go about making a cap with this pattern stitch. It seems tricky....so I'm going to work on the booties first , think! I have no idea how I'll have it all done and ready by the closing day!I cannot show the picture of my project just yet ....but I'll show the bits and peices.
Hopefully , I'll start working at the booties tonight when we gat back from shopping. Will an hour be enough to get anything done ...I wonder? After all, I have to think of a pattern too that will accomodate the pattern stitch I've used for the sweater. But then You never know, ....sometimes ideas strike like a lightening ......I hope .
I still cannot make up my mind about hat I want to make for the contest. I'm open to ideas and suggestions.

Its many days into the Crochet Olympics..its the 8th day to be precise. I've been deligently working to make my project . So far I vae the all the parts ( the front, back, and both sleeves) done .I have to assemble them. I've chosen a simple pattern stitch. I hope to finish off the assembling by tonight. I have no idea how I'm going to make booties or hat to match the sweater but I'll have to figure it out ,wont I? Maybe tomorrow I'll start thinking on that one.
It'll be difficult to find time to do anymore as we'll be at a garden party all evening. The weather is just so beautiful right now. Yesterday we had been the the Global Village in Dubai. There is a replica of the TAJ MAHAL newly made. It's 75% in size of the original Taj Mahal in Agra , India. Its been focussed with flood lights and looks really exquisite. It glows....such beauty. Even the gardens and fountains are done so beautifully.And to add to the magic there is soft music and ghazals playing in the back ground.
It's like magic....until you go inside it. Then it hits you right in the face ....the reality ! Its made of wood and the carving is all just painting! After seeing the real Taj Mahal ...this is a big disappointment ( only when when you see it from so close).
The original is made of real white pearly marble. And its purely magic...it has a great sense of peace about it. A true thing of beauty. It's an experience to cherish.

What do Crochet Maniacs do? Any excuse to crochet! So there , finally , after trying hard to resist for so many days I joined the Crochet Olympics! That too , three days after the event started.
The rule is you have to pick up a project that is challenging for you and to be completed in 16 days time ( Feb 10th - Feb 26th).
The project I am working on is a Baby Set ( Sweater, Booties and cap ). The challenges for me are :
1). Its week full of guests, dinners , outings and shopping. Even I dont know when I'll be crocheting!!!
2). It's going to be my own pattern , well not totally but inspired by a baby sweater I had seen sometime back and fell in love with. I do not know who the designer is or which book its from . I just remember the picture very clearly.It had a rose bud border and then some lacy kind of pattern for the rest of it. I'm going to recreate that sweater, I hope.And then ofcourse I have the task of designing the cap and booties to go with the pattern.
3). I'm not going to buy any new materials for this .( I hate myself for this !) I'm going to just use whatever I have and improvise it and blend the yarns together. Its going to be a statsh buster for me. None of the fancy yarns ...just some locally available ones waiting for years to be crocheted.
Well, it has to be a challenge right ? I've been putting it off for so long now.This is the perfect opportunity to plunge in and create....or should I say recreate?

Well, the good news is here...My son bagged the First Place at the Fancy Dress Competition. I just got a call from his teacher. They'll be having an awarding function and prizes will be distributed then. I'm so thrilled! But Jibb's ( my honeybee) doesnt yet understand the concept of coming first ...he was happy about the 'everybody clapped for me ' part. Thats kids and thats why they are so adorable.
It's not the winning that's important...I guess thats an important lesson in there.

Not much news on the crochet front.These are some yarn and thread I got last week. The threads or lets say twine....they are actually nylon twine , I got for making purses. I got two skeins ofr a friend and other two for my self. Has anybody seen these before? I'd love to know what else can these be used for. I've made a purse with this before and it turned out pretty nice. But I'd like to try different things too.
I got these yarn skeins too. They are called Halcyon and are 100% acrylic. Has anybody seen these anywhere before? Its one of the better yarns we get out here ...probably the best and in good colours too, usually pastel. Its got little sparkly stuff in it. I find it a little irritating to my skin but then it could be because I've got very sensitive skin . It's always natural fibres for me.
The yarn is for making a scarf for my cousin. I'm working on my own pattern for this one. She wanys a scarf witha hat attached to it ...not a hooded scarf .Since I cannot find any pattern for this I've decided to design it myself. Hope it goes well.....for her sake! I'm working on a simple cluster design pattern and its turning out really soft and lush. I'll post pictures as soon as I am done.
Monday , being the snowflake day, I got mine done but havent blocked it out yet. Will do so, soon, I hope.

More Pictures...

Its been a while .....A busy week .My son had his fancy dress at pre-school yesterday.So last week was devoted to his costume preparation. It was a tough task to persuade him to dress as anything other than Woody or Buzz Lightyear from the movie Toy Story. They are his all time favourite characters ( besides all the lion King characters and Simba being the Supreme Idol) .
Finally, he agreed to be a Honey-bee. It was his first time on stage and I was so surprised to see that he was absolutely comfortable to be there. He greeted everyone and introduced himself. And spoke about being a honeybee and buzzed for the cheering audience. He even said 'Thank-you' before leaving!!!! Oh ! That was such a priceless moment!!! Well, I guess watching all those TV shows proved useful after all!
There are some pictures of my honey bee. It was fun making the costume and I had to run around so much to get the materials for it. This place needs to sseriously update its craft supplies!! But it was so tatally worth it.

These are the picture of my contest entry. It's a simple doily with a lot of different colours. I had great fun with this one but the beading was tough since I had the colours in a colour sequence ,all green for pineapple, and peach, pink and lavender for the border. I used crochet cotton thread size maybe 20 or 30 ( does not have a label) nameless thread available in good variety of colours.Good for doilies but kind of soft feel.
You can't really see the details all that well in the picture. This time I want to do something better than this one. Or atleast I hope so!

I've signed up for a spring contest at The Crocheters Treasure Box. The last time we had such at contest it was so much fun. I'm really looking forward to this one too. There are two categories:
1) Thread Spring theme
2) Yarn Spring theme
Now. I have to satrt thinking what catergory I'm going to be doing. And what I 'm going to make. I'm already searching through. I can do with ideas from you too, infact I'd love to hear what you think you'll like to see at a crochet contest. Please share your thoughts. I'm looking for ideas to make small projects....nothing that takes too long to make . There will be a vote to choose the winner. Isnt that cool?
Last time I had entered a beaded doily. It was a pineapple and roses doily pattern from freepatterns.com. The original pattern had no beads and was in Christmas theme. I had given a chane to the colours to give a spring look and added on colourful beads. I did not win any prize as the winning entry was too good...just breathtakingly beautiful. It was a 3 dimentional basket with a bouquet of flowers ( different types) all done in crochet.It was a true work of art. It was done by Marie. A very special and talented lady.

Yay ! I have two buttons for my blog now. Thank you Pearlin for these lovely buttons.Its very sweet of you to make these buttons for me. I'm so excited about these. I've got them on the side bar. I'm still learning the ways of blogging ...long way to go , I guess!!
Well, on the crochet front, I'm working on a scarf , my own pattern, for a dear friend. I've just begun.....When I'm done and the pattern successful ( hopefully!) I'll post the pictures.