It feels so good to appreciated. A nice warm and fuzzy feeling. I have very special blog friends and I'd love to be able to honour each one of them. Hence I put off posting about the blog awards for so long.

This first blog award was given by Vik . Thank you, I'm so touched. I known you to be one of the sweetest gals with a really generous and warm nature. You inspire me to keep trying my hand at knitting without giving up. You rock , girl!


Thank you so much

Since I have forward this award to my choice of deserving bloggers, I would like to present these to Mimi, VJR , Kimberly, Nima and Cindy.

This next award is from Mimi. One of the very talented and really sweet person. Thank you , Mimi,I've known you as one of the most helpful and kind online friend. Don't even get me started on you immense talent in crochet and your beautiful designs. I hope and pray that you always keep up the good work.


And I'd like to pass this award to Pearlin, Vik, Preeti, Shweta and Ulla

And finally,this award from my very new friend VJR. Thank you so much , I really appreciate it. VJr is so talented , her doilies are so intricate and beautiful that it is amazing that she only began crocheting recently. Truly talented and has a keen eye for beauty. I love your work and you make me want to go back to doing more doilies.


And I'd like to pass this award to Charmaine, Ummeyusuf, Lulu , Swapnae,Stacey ,
and Deneen

ETA : Sorry about the wrong picture earlier. I'm having internet problems and couldn't correct it earlier.

Small projects
Lately I'm crocheting more and more stuff to gift to friends. And funny part is they ask for it. Makes me wonder whether people out here have finally begun to appreciate crochet. I only hope this little interest to own crocheted stuff results in the interest to actually learn to crochet. It's a rare treat to find any crocheters or knitters out here.
My next finished project is a set of beaded coasters for a friend. I call these bead edged blush coasters. It's a simple design with a flower centre. It just a pattern I made up - I used Omega crochet thread in size 10. Easy and quick to make. I enjoyed it. Hope my friend likes it too.


This is a little dress corner bookmark. I fell in love with it when I saw it on one of the blogs- for the life of me I cannot remember which on. If any of you know please feel free to let me know. I saw it and just had to make one for myself. There was no pattern given but none was needed. The idea in itself is so cute. I can just imagine making many more of these- especially as fridgies.


The same story goes for this coin purse/ pouch. I'm using it carry my jewelery when I travel. I've a nylon yarn I got from Bangalore during my last trip to India. I was told this yarn is used for making bags. I think it would make very pretty and sturdy bags. I have remember to bring more of this in my next trip. But the yarn is a bit heavy- so maybe it's best to make a clutch or a small bag out of it.

Oval Pineapple garden doily

Another FO and a project off my list. This doily was done as a CAL at one of my crochet groups. It was nice to work it with so many other friends. This pattern is from decorative crochet magazine. So here it is in stages. I wanted to blog about it as I was working on it but uploading the pictures was difficult for a few days in between. So here are some of the pictures now.
This is the first few rounds:


After many more rounds....


And finally ....






It's done in Aunt Lydia's crochet cotton thread , size 10 in ecru. It measures 30"x18" and now I realize that I do not have a single table at home to display this beauty. the tables are either too big or small and square. I was hoping to use it for my dresser but the cannot due to the size. I guess, this doily , like many others will end up being a gift to my friends or family.
This pattern was simple enough to work but I kept getting it wrong in certain rows ( actually , in two specific rows) - not because there was any error in the pattern but only because I wasn't paying enough attention.Maybe because I have too many projects on the go at time. So I learnt my lesson ? Well, I hope so!
Many more FOs almost done . Will post them asap since photo bucket is being friendly today.

So many things
have been happening around me ..with me ...but all good so I'm a happy camper! Had a little break and a mini vacation. Well, it was not much of a break as I spent most of the 3 days shopping around , trips to the tailor etc. But it fun .And I got to spend sometime with my little niece. Already 5 months old! Time sure flies.....and babies grow so fast. My little fella is already 6 years old and I haven't even gotten over the labour trauma yet!!!
They are so right about Dubai being a shopper's paradise. It's like you can find stuff to cater to all kinds of tastes, be it clothes, jewelery or food. It's so exciting to see the variety! It makes me wonder why this doesn't apply to craft shops and yarn stores. There is not a single yarn store out here- merely a measly small corner of yarn with a pitiful variety. Anyways, that is something I never tire of complaining about.
So for the crocheting news, I have been at it as usual. Most of them are small projects. I love making these and are really quite easy to carry around during all the long drives to and from Dubai. Knitting ,is on a break right now. Let's say at resting stage.Here the list of things I'm working on:

1. A lacy scarf
2. beaded coasters ( done)
3. pillow cover
4. Oval Pineapple doily CAL ( done and being blocked)
5. My monthly WIP doily
6. Special project ( can't disclose yet)- but this is along one!
7. Baby sandals for my little niece.
8. Sleeves edging for SIL
9. Baby afghan for gift ( just started this evening)
OMG ! This list looks scary to me and intend to finish off these by the end of the month. Okay, it's more like I 'hope' to. I still can't make myself to stick project at a time. I truly admire people who can.

Winter blooms Pillow


My latest design and project. I have to cross this one out from the list. YAY !!! Nice to do that.
Anyways, I loved working this pillow cover and not just because the design is pretty but because the yarn is so gorgeous! Amazingly pretty and soft yarn.It is Schachenmayr nomotta Micro big shine. Wow! love this yarn! The pity is that there was so little of it that I had to make loads of changes to my pattern so that I did not run out of yarn as I know that there is no way possible to get my hands on this yarn anywhere out here.
I made this for a friend who had got the yarn from her trip to Australia. She requested me to make a cushion cover for her. Lets hope she likes it.

It's not about food!
We had a dinner party at my place last thursday. It was a one day notice and I went almost crazy getting stuff done. We had Beetroot Raita, Russian salad, Ceasers chicken salad, Sewian (vermacelli ) biryani, fried Quail, Bhagare baigan ( egg plant ) , Khumb Akbari ( Mushrooms) and masala papads. And for desert - Ras malai and Trifle. Needless to say It was a long weekend!
This is the Beetroot raita. I just loved the colour! And this makes a good dip too. The kid had it just for the colour.

I loved the way this looked. You know - the colour looked just too good to eat and it tasted nice too. Now photographing food is a complicated business. Safe to say that everything looked just delicious but the pictures tell it differently so those other pictures are canned.
Anyhoo, we also had a last minute cancellation and three people couldn't make it. I was not too upset - lazy 'ol me was happy to have enough leftover for the next day which meant that I could get some much needed rest and peace! Hey, I was being positive, not lazy !!
This weekend I went to the Magrudy's Book shop in Dubai Festival City. Nice place and a good collection of books. Even the reading area was very cozy. I was pleasantly surprised to see a craft section there. They had quite a nice collection of crafts books too - although a very few crochet books. There was some nice yarn and thread too different types ( mostly sirdar and UK yarns), really pretty but not much of a colour range - even finding such types of yarn available out here is such a treat. Even if it is just eye candy! I found the prices way too high- all the yarn and the books too. But it is worth visiting.