Bag it! - 2
Is it just me are all women bag crazy? It's been a bag crazy time for me....either buying one or making one! My son call it 'the bag fever'. Seriously, I wonder if there is such a thing.
Sometime back , in one of the crochet groups we had a little 'fun' contest. We were given a free online square pattern and asked to design something, anything but we had to use this square pattern in our design. This is what I came up with. I call it the Inspiration bag.




This is one my own designs and this bag has given me a lot of inspiration to design various bags - hence the name. I'm still working on most of them. More big and small bags in the works:)

My first ever 'KNIT' baby sweater- An advenure !
I've been dreaming about this for long enough and so finally decided to take the plunge. Since natural fibres are not available out here I went ahead with the acrylic yarn that I had in my stash.
Did I tell you that I'm fairly new to knitting? I picked up a simple beginner pattern from my current 'mentor' book. It's called vogue knitting beginner basic. Great book and this is my fourth project from this book.I've tackled two hats and a pair of booties so far from this book.
Okay, so I'm in the learner stage and learning a lot. Some of it I love and some I totally hate. I loved the new techniques, the different textures in knitting and that so far I've noted that knitting takes up lesser yarn than crochet- ( is this true???) What I hate is my lastest lesson: when you work stockinette stitch in acrylic you are stuck big time with a rolling mess!!!
I have knitted the back , the left frpont, right front and the sleeves and I have ended up with five peices that are all rolling in!!! I'm trying to figure out how to block it. I pinned it and sprayed it liberally with water until it is almost drenched. Lets hope it is blocked when it dries up ...or else ....I'm thinking I'm going to kill it!! I'm lost .
I was reading up on blocking and everywhere it says acrylic doesn't block. If it doesn't block how will I stitch the peices together? Any suggestions??Please? I try and post pictures of my effort :( .

And...........More Doilies!

This is a doily that I first saw at Swapnae's blog and quite liked the shape of it. It's a charted pattern and quite easy too unless like me you lose track while listening to music and talking/ playing with the kiddo during a long drive and skip a couple of rows and then realise the mistake at the second last round! Yes I had to frog out 8 rounds !!! And anyone who knows me knows that I hate to frog out my work. I try in any way to work around my errors...laziness? , I suppose! This doily is done in a nameless silk/ rayon blend thread that I got from Bangalore last year. The thread is very slippery to work with but the end result is so worth all the struggle with thread. The finished peice has a very polished and classy look to it. The pictures don't show but it looks very classy in person.



This is also a charted doily I saw in a Chinese pattern book. There is no name for it , just a chart given with the doily number.So I decided to call it Peach star Chinese Doily.This was a surprisingly fast to make doily. It took about a day of working on and off. It's done in size 10 omega crochet cotton thread. My favorite part of the doily is the outer portion which forms the peaks. I like that mesh like look of it.I had toyed with the idea of adding beads to get away with the picots business but decided against it as I felt it would draw attention from the pattern stitches as beads invariably do.Don't you think?

Another tissue box cover



Okay , I know I tend to get obsessed with making stuff of the same kind sometimes. First it was doilies, baby stuff , bags , coasters and now it is tissue box covers! I hope this is the last one for now. This is also my own design based on a stitch pattern that looks like a mesh. I loved the stitch pattern and the look of it and had to apply it in something! So there you go - the cover had a solid dc base cover and this is just decorative over cover. I liked making this and have to hold myself back from making more. I'm also planning on using the spider web design on something ...can't decide yet !
It's been long since I have made doilies. I got one done yesterday. And now planning to start another one this evening. Hopefully, I'll post the pictures on Saturday.
I've been trying different knitting techniques too. Last night I learn't to make the i-cord on circular needles. It was easy and I loved making it.Then I tried working further on circular needles to make a basic cap and messed it up totally! I guess I need to check out more sources and get some help for this.

Floral Buttoned Pillow



As promised more pictures for you. This is, again ,my own pattern and I guess I'm pleased with the way it's turned out. As you might have already guessed by now that I've not written down a pattern yet! But then any crocheter with a little bit of crocheting experience ca whip up this little unoriginal pattern..lol! I'm working on a matching afghan too. Ofcourse, I'll be posting the pictures real soon as it is almost done. It feels so good to have projects rolling by ....ahh! the feel of having FOs to show.
This time around I've got to use some really pretty yarn. Its called MAGNUM CHUNKY - King Cole.When I saw it first I must admit I thought it looked a bit rough and brushy . But once I began working with it all doubts dispersed. I enjoyed working with this yarn. How do you like it?