My crochet sweater for a new born baby and its demo

Ever since I have crocheted my baby shoes, I haven't crocheted any baby projects. So I took the courage, I should say, to understand its basics as it was really challenging for me to understand the methods. 

I was always obsessed in crocheting dresses, but the first question or a kind of fear is how to understand its requirements like its mesuarements, design, arm hole making, neck line making and what not. So I felt like I would have to invest time for it.

I referred various tutorials, patterns from Pinterest, blogs etc, whatever I could get under the sun to understand, wrote my own notes in my own way for better understanding. I then thought I should try something small rather than jump into a big dress making project. So came out with new born baby sweater idea.

Though I thought I will make it in parts rather than doing a single video, I was a bit tensed too as what if I may go wrong in helping others understand it better. But to my dismay, the outcome was too good than I expected. So all credit goes to God and my subscribers who have supported me so far.

The finished project looks like this.

Hahaha, the doll is so fuuny, isn't it?? Thanks to my little darling that she did all these. When asked, she replied that babies are supposed to be dirty that they can be take for bath always. But thanks to her that she proudly lent her doll for the video purpose.

If you would like to see those tutorials, here are its links below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irTjR27Gjto - part 1 - Making yoke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_chBMqQJsc&t=1s - part 2 - arm home and body

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkxPcSPLutE&t=733s - part 3 - making sleeves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV8pENp3mLs&t=36s - part 4 - making borders, cuffs and neckline border

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28k-FFy1XVc&t=78s - part 5 - crocheting button band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mWOE9skFJA&t=1s - my sweater demo

I hope these tutorials have been useful to you all. Please watch and comment on how you feel and I can improve my work on dresses. See you in my next blog.

Why I was away for a while?

Hello friends, I just want to let you know why I was away for a while. All happened unexpectedly that I had to do a Montessori course and a job was offered in a school to work as a Hindi adult. It was completely new to me and I had to understand its functioning. 

Since Montessori syllabus requires materials, I had to prepare materials in Hindi for primary as well as Elementary environments. I needed more time to get accustomed to the new routine, material preparation, understanding children and their approach towards Hindi as for most of them Hindi was like a foreign language.

However I enjoyed my days of new role given to me and every day was a happening day for me. The school was like a home away from home for me. I had to sacrifice my sleep and other interests for a while to get accustomed to it, however i have tried to do justice in all possible ways.

But life took a turn and things happened unexpectedly that I had to quit to my job and am at home. Thanks to Corona that the times I have missed being with family, I am spending it now. I am also back to my crochet work and other interests too. I am trying to post my Youtube videos, blogging, crocheting for videos as well as for myself, continued my singing practice, gardening etc.

Yeah, gardening has also taken its place in the mean time wherein I was able to grow some tomatoes, capsicums, green chillies, coriander leaves, bitter gourd and micro greens. Now its like that my entire day is jam packed and children and hubby also with me to be taken care of. I kind of enjoy this, at the same time I feel burdened also (to be honest).

My crochet Double Layer Flower

Hello viewers,

I am back after a long gap. It took some time for me to get back to my blog due to some personal reasons. However, I hope to continue to blog whenever I get time. It actually relaxes me as I do my tutorials and crocheting. 

So today, I am here to bring my double layer crocheted flower. Yes, I have been working on it for some time and I have got lots of inspiration from the net too. Hence I thought I would make a video in my language too and help them understand. 

I shall also try to upload a pdf file once it is ready as I haven't documented it.  But you can view it in my Youtube channel here - https://youtu.be/zILbiRABx1U .

I also request you to subscribe to my Youtube channel and thereby supporting me. Thanks in advance. 

See you soon in my next blog, until then its BYE from YARNOMENTS. Stay blessed and happy crocheting. 

Back after a while and updates

So friends, you all would be wondering where I had vanished all of a sudden. Here I have appeared again. Also with some updates. 

After my post about the crochet shrug, I was fully involved in the second Guinness project of making shawls. The target was to make shawls which would measure 5kms, but finally it measured 14.1kms. Isnt that a big achievement. It was made under the banner MICQ, where we rocked again. It was again a charity project and all the shawls were donated to the needy people. I have made a video on that in my youtube channel. The link is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crtFM3AkZsM . Though that was for a good cause, something terrible happened to me. Any guesses?? I almost broke my hand after that hard crocheting work. Though the stitch was simple V stitch and a minimum of 5 shawls were to be made, I made 7 shawls, each of it with dimension 7"*80", I crocheted it very fast so that I could hand it over to my husband as he was travelling at that time immediately. Little did i knew that I should have put that much effort continously crocheting which would harm my wrists. It was out of the passion and excitement that I sat for hours and finished it. Later, I couldn't even move my hand or the fingers. Oh no!! what had happened?? My husband too was out of station and kids with me, I had to take care of them, cook food, clean house, school pickup and drop, all household chores etc. I didnt know what has happened all of a sudden. And this was first time happening to me ever since I started crocheting. I was in panic and started crying, praying it should alleviate. I even rushed to the hospital, but the doctor said to wait for one more week. I felt ridiculous (may be out of my pain). I reached home and thought to call up my mom. She said it might be the muscle pull due to over strain and asked me to apply murivenna, an ayurvedic oil used for muscle pulls or minor sprains in the body. Luckily I had it with me. I applied it almost the whole day for 3-4 days as told by my mom and you know what??? It did the magic. THANKS TO MY MOM FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART. My hands were getting back to its normalcy. Also, my right middle finger which was sprained or so some two years ago (which I had almost forgotten as I very carefully neglected it) while I was keading chapathi dough, that too got cured. Also my neck and shoulders and eyes were also affected badly due to this strain. So as a whole, my body needed some treatment, exercises and top of it was rest. So I decided to put away my crochet for a while becuase I was sure if I see it, it will tempt me to pick up and crochet. 

But meanwhile, I ordered some yarns too and bought some locally too so that I could stock them which got exhausted in the shawl project. In pipeline were lapghan projects for charity purpose. So needed some for that. 

When my husband returned to UK, kids mentioned this incident, thanks to them which made him bit furious, also for having hidden this from him. I expected his response and the same he told me that I should put a full stop to crochet. We had a good argument and fight over it. I was crossed at the kids too. But I didnt give up. I promised him that I will take care of my health too, but wouldn't stop crocheting and no more talk in this regard. 

Later, when our fight turned into sweet life, he blasted a bomb that we have to relocate to India. Oh no, again another reason for doing a quick crochet stuff regarding the lapghan project. Also packing the house!!! It was really a nuclear bomb that he had exploded on my head. In between , he was travelling too. Oh my goodness!!! My head was spinning. I then started slowly doing my lapghan project (I think I have mentioned it in one of my posts, if I am correct. Whatever, here it is again.) and then finished it off. I donated it to my neighbour who is a nurse in the hospital. So it would be of great help to those who are in need of it there especially in winters.

Another crochet project popped up which was again a Guinness work - crocheting sculptures. This event would be in December 2017. The theme is Go Green, but I am tied up for now, so haven't decided of it. 

And then, it was time for me to concentrate on packing, discarding, recycling etc. It took almost a couple of months because I didn't want to rush at the last moment. I was almost away from all social networking sites because there were priority things for me especially school admission hunting for my kids. My husband was not sure if he would be posted in Chennai or Bangalore. So I had to cover almost both places, prepare my older one for his entrance exams which was absolutely new for him. He didn't have any idea of that. Luckily my husband had bought some texts for helping him prepare for the exams. Meanwhile we had asked our relatives to find some proper locations of the houses / flats in and around the schools which we preferred. We had to pack accordingly some for the cargo to be sent, some to be carried along with us as check in and cabin luggages. The hardest part of all these is to bid farewell to the teachers and friends in the school. 

Now that the admission processes are over in India for the kids, we are travelling to India. Miss badly the UK, Great Britain. It was a wonderful time spent in UK. Miss lovely friends and culture and taking away home some beutiful memories now all in photos and social networking sites. 

I hope to be regular once I am settled in India with my crochet life. Lets see what India has for me from crochet perspective. I think my first and foremost to-do thongs are already committed crochet tasks which will help me think about more what to do next. Anyways, that is it for now from me. It has been considerably a long post, but would engage you for a while. See you soon, until then its bye from Kala. Happy life and happy crocheting.

Crochet shrug

Hello there. After a short while, today  I am really excited to share about  my crochet shrug I finally done with. Shrug, if it is a straight forward stitch is quite easy to make. Straight forward, by the term, I mean is just following a stitch pattern and not a motif based. I don't know if there is such a term, however, for easy reference or understanding, I use it here. Motif based, according to me takes some time to finish off, though we get the hang of it, the weaving part or joining part consumes my time. I am not sure of others, its my take here. 

So, this shrug is for a friend of mine in London. I have intimated her about this and asked her if she can model it. She just giggled, maybe shy (I am not forcing her, if she willingly sends some snaps for my blog, then I shall post it). I had seen her a couple of years ago and had talked to her over phone since then. So I have her image in my mind and based on that I crocheted this shrug. Fingers crossed, this will fit her. 

If you want to read about this story of shrug - there is nothing much behind it (heheheh). Its because this was in my mind to try ever since I made my first crochet top for one of my friends. This shrug was an idea to wear it for the spring. Its a lovely yellow colour. 

Its an acrylic yarn that I bought from hobbycraft. Though it mentioned DK acrylic yarn and a hook size 4.5mm, I felt it to be too thin, like a fingering yarn or so. However, I used the hook size 4.5mm itself. Although in my mind it was for shrug, I didn't want to take a chance of jumping directly into any pattern and start making it. I studied a lot to understand how to make a shrug, different tutorials I researched on how it was made. Oh my, I did study about shrug making. The stitch is a simple V stitch. I designed my own pattern altering the regular V stitch pattern to fit to my pattern. I also learnt that there are more types of V patterns. I then marked to understand it for later. But for the time, I designed my pwn simple V stitch pattern. And you know what. My efforts didn't go waste. My first attempt to a shrug was so beautiful. (Guess what, I am marked to make a tutorial too with this pattern.). I later then added my favourite scalloped edging pattern to this that added to its beauty. 

Shrug Back 

Shrug Front 

Isn't this shrug beautiful? What do you say??  You might be thinking - does this shrug took such a long time for me to finish?? Then you got me wrong there. It didnt. However, I am a person who would like to keep my hands busy on multiple things at a time (I do record what I am doing - otherwise will forget, I admit). Why I attempt multiple things is that I get bored sticking to same thing for a long time or for a stipulated time. Watching the same colour for some time tires me. So to overcome it, I switch to multiple projects. 

Having said that, I have attempted few more projects in parallel like silk thread jewellery, loom knitting etc. So in short, what I come to say is, I have some more to BLOG. Yay... Also I haven't forgotten about the covers for tins that I promised for my kids. As a part of it, I have collected tins / cans  of various sizes, cleaned and dried it so that once I have crocheted covers for it, kids can use it to store their stationery items - sketch pens, pencils, scissors etc in separate tins - sort of organised. My little one s trying to copy what she sees in her brother's class. Also she is a lady of organizing things around at home that her brothers lay around. So if I crochet for those tins,she can tidy it up appropriately. 

Please tune to my blog, there are more coming in, but I am sad that I don't see any responses. Come on and send your thoughts too as I love to hear from you about your views and thoughts. I know there are people who like reading my blog. I am also the same. Whenever I get time, I too browse for other blogs to get inspired. If any of my readers do blog, please do link your blog here, so that I can visit your page. By the way, I am not just a lover of crochet. I love gardening too. I like to have my own kitchen garden. Back in my hometown, I have my own organic mango tree in my house which I had planted some 15 yrs ago. Its now bearing very tasty yummy mangoes. The mango tree is called Vellayani maavu in malayalam. So for those who love to see its picture, here I am sharing.

Vellayani Maavu (Mango tree)

I am a great lover of this variety of mango. Its tastes so divine. There had been a time in my childhood days, when my father used to buy a big basket of ripe and unripe mangoes for Rs.200 and just 2 or 3 mangoes for Rs.200. Also there had been times when he came empty handed not to afford buying it. So I swore that if I get a chance to eat any vellayani mango, I will plant it in my home so that at least my kids can enjoy it when it grows bigger because mango trees take years to bear fruits. i was so sure by that time I would have been married and moved out of the place. I took great care in bringing it up along with  my father. We haven't used any chemicals or fertilizers, just organic waste from the kitchen and water. My father is no more, but he also gets a chance to taste it when we perform his annual rites. Now my mom, brother and his family takes care of it. Ohhh, I miss it very much whenever he sends the photos of the mangoes and teases me saying that he had two of them for food or his kids took some pieces of it while running around etc. I am waiting for my chance to have it, also my kids too. Shall post more pics of it when I get it. 

Oh oh, its been a long post today, started from crocheting and ended up in mangoes. But I believe, it hasn't been boring to you. Its Kala now signing off until my next post. Happy crocheting and stay blessed.

100+ subscribers for Yarnoments youtube channel !!!

Yes, you read it right. Yarnoments youtube channel has 100+ subscribers and 700+ views. 

Thanking God and everyone at this moment. It is not that easy in this competitive world to score such a good subscription that too in two months of time. However I believe, where there is a will there is a way. Hard work and determination can lead u to anywhere. 
If you have not visited yet, please follow the link to my youtube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ_CClHWWfXPtX_vVLpAaxw

Please subscribe, share, like and post healthy comments as this means a lot to me.

About my channel

Yarnoments youtube channel is a Malayalam (South Indian, Kerala state) , English language channel. The intention behind starting this channel is to educate those people who have an interest towards crafts,  who find it difficult to follow the English crochet instructions.  I accidentally fell into the world of crochet. Do you know that i was repeating the words in my mind after my weekend shopping from a supermarket all the way back home, because I didn't want to forget that word. As in my introduction to this blogger, I wanted to do something I was passionate about and this crochet was a kick start to  kill my boredom as a home maker. I started learning crochet by myself watching various videos. It was really hard time then for me as a beginner who had absolutely no idea what crochet is all about. I used to write down the terms, about crochet hooks, yarns, crochet stitches' names...... a looonnng note on all related to crochet. 

I am now confident to read patterns (not diagrams though) or attempt to create my own designs, but I still love to consider myself as a beginner /intermediate. I think I will be happy in that level because, crochet is an ocean with innumerable ripples (stitch types, crochet types and patterns). So to call me as an expert would take long time. 

Having said these, when I searched for a crochet channel in Malayalam language, I should say I couldn't find any. That was seriously disturbing for me because Kerala is such a land where arts and crafts are appreciated and embraced warmly. So I thought I should contribute something to my land. Also, I am sure, it would be helpful to aspiring people who loves to explore new arts. Its a small contribution from my side. My passion to teach someone is bloomed too by opening my channel. Moreover, this blogging, crocheting and preparing videos for channel all has set a schedule to my life as a homemaker. I plan my days accordingly setting time and goals for myself and rewarding myself with its outcomes. I have a sense of self satisfaction in achieving something from crochet. I am so happy, at the same time I am reminding myself to be more responsible towards my work too. 

Now, I am a busy homemaker  - as a mom, as a wife, as a blogger, as a tutor, and as a CROCHETER. I love to explore more about crochet. I don't know if I will stop with crochet, but I am sure i am not going to stop my crochet. It has become a part of me. 

See you soon in another post. Until then, its bye from Kala. Have a nice weekend.

Hridayakamalam kolam patterned crochet summer top

I wanted to design my own pattern for my little one which was in mind for quite a long time and I succeeded in that. So this post is all about the dress I dared to attempt.

 

As such this dress doesn't follow anyone else's pattern. Just its an attempt to copy my mom's one of the kolam designs she draws in the pooja room. If I am correct, the kolam design is called hridayakamalam. I love that design and tried to replicate that. It is drawn connecting dots. I am not used to that one, so can't explain fully. 

 

To start with the project, I got a new set of Laura knitting cotton yarn from India (cotton is my favourite fibre), so wanted to do something on it of my own. I felt it would be good to make a summery dress as cotton suits well in the summer season. First I thought of making it for myself , but felt if the  yarn collection is not sufficient for me then it will be an utter waste of time and yarn. So decided to make one for my daughter. 

 

I designed in a paper the model I wanted to crochet for my little one. I noted down the  required measurements of my gal. I am not a professional, so in this case I may have committed mistakes , but I am not aware of it where it has happened. I made one motif in that kolam design and decided how many motifs to go across and down to get the full structure of the dress. I made required number of motifs for that dress and used join as you go (JAYGO) technique to connect each motifs as I created. However, in crochet, I used slip stitches for that dots.

  

I made 12 big motifs as the main and 6 small motifs (which I reduced the rounds) to fill in the holes formed by the big motifs after joining them together. I used a 6mm hook, had only chains and slip stitches.it is in the form of front and back panels.

 

The final outcome is as in the picture. I felt in love with my work. and when my little one was wearing it, it gave proper shape too as I desired. One mistake I think I made, that very obvious to me after she wore this was it was tight when she wore on top of a full sleeves. since summer doesn't calls for full sleeves, it is not a problem. So I had to remove it and asked her to wear this on top of a sleeveless camisole type, but she wanted to wear it like this. I didn't want to spoil the mood as I was keen to take a couple of good pictures, and luckily she posed very well too. May be I had listened to her wearing it like this, she was happy to pose, I don't know, but I got what I wanted from her. Thankful to her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My gal is tall and skinny, so this dress fell off from her shoulders. So I made a long chain and used it as a bow which interconnected the front and back panels. So I can use it or not depending upon the comfort of the dress. I liked that idea and to my surprise, it worked out well too. I didn't add any extra touch to the dress as it was so pretty on its own. Generally, I love dresses having a layer of small border along the neck line and hem line or at the arm line, but I just left at the motif end design itself.

 

However, I realized one thing. Handmade stuff is really a tough job to do, let it be any art, anything, it  is absolutely hard. For me, like this type of crocheting or knitting a dress using motifs or plain type, I think is not an easy stuff , I should say, or may be I lack expertise in the dress designing, I feel so, I am not sure. but, for me, it was difficult. Still, it has given me the urge to explore new patterns and try out new varieties in it. I have planned to start with something easy stuffs and then jump to complicated ones. I gained confidence in this area too, at least for self purpose I can try in the beginning.

 

Hope you liked this post. As always, suggestions are welcome. See you in the next post, until then its bye from Kala. Happy crocheting and have a lovely week ahead.

An update

Hello everyone. Belated Pongal (Tamil New Year) wishes. This year start has given me some wonderful opportunities in crochet and I was and still getting busy with that. I see that my blog has also received its visit close to 2000 which obviously does matters to me. It reminds me to keep myself motivated to do more posts on the blog and reach you people to the maximum. Also this shows your support towards me. Please accept my sincere apologies for not blogging or keeping you updated or posted for a while as I visited here a bit late.

 

I have been occupied by so many aspects of crochet - minor and major events, some were personal and some were charity related. It took some time to organise everything, settle down and then keep it functional. For certain reasons I am not disclosing everything here unless I get full authority to disclose it. Apart from that, if you are asking of my personal front, I attempted to crochet a baby bolero set, two work in progress projects - a shrug and a blouse (my own design) etc. Have some more ideas in mind, but I don't want to mess up with everything now, so just jotted down in  my diary so that I don't forget about it on the go.

 

It might take some more time for me to get back to the blog world. Please bear my absence for a while.  Once everything falls in its place, I am planning to do a separate post on it. So until then its bye from Kala. Happy crocheting.

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017 and a youtube channel from Yarnoments

Hello there everyone... Wishing everyone a very  happy, safe, prosperous and healthy new year 2017. May GOD bless you with his choicest blessings to everyone. Hope everyone had a wonderful Xmas and new year celebration.

Just been away from the blog world for a while. Got too busy with family during the vacation, however enjoyed it. Also there is a good news that I was working for having a youtube channel, creating tutorial videos in crochet. Its in my mother tongue Malayalam as well as English. Thought if there is anyone who wants to learn crochet, this might be of little help.

Now back to normal routine..

See you soon in the blog posts. Its bye from Kala.

Crocheted snowflake earrings

There is much happening outside as Xmas arrives. Lots of hustle bustle in the shops, on the road, in the school too and everywhere. For me, if its to say, its like a busy family since last few weeks. A very busy husband with his office work, some travelling too, now hard working just before the Xmas shutdown. So needless to say, all the household responsibilities on my shoulder. Sometimes I enjoy it, sometimes it takes my breathe away, managing three little ones in this very cold weather, waking them up in the morning when they are cuddling inside the warm duvet(feel so sorry for them, but no way until holidays), up and down to/from school, cooking, feeding (ahhh, the most difficult task, I should say for me, don't know about others), doing dishes, teaching them and finally putting them to bed. All happens monotonously. Sometimes feel like watching a black & white  art film. All the same. But in spite of all these, if something comes to my rescue is the crochet. I feel relaxed as I see my yarns n hooks.Oh there, did I forget to mention, I have joined a teaching course too. So its a big rush. I wonder sometimes what would I have been if I hadn't found myself out to crochet.

 

A small amount of time dedicated to my yarn and hook gives me that unexplainable pleasure, as if all my pains disappear and I get a very good night sleep, which ultimately as everyone desires. This week my post is about the snowflakes earrings I managed to make in between my rush. I couldn't think of a pattern of my own. So I borrowed Lucy's pattern. That was so well explained as always she does.

 

I wanted to make snowflake ornaments for our Xmas tree, as kids love to hang this and that. But then I felt how it would be if its a jewellery. So thought to make an earring out of the pattern. Since the thread was so thin, I chose 1mm hook. The thread being so fiddly to handle, it took sometime to finish off with the second round and then proceed to third round. However, it came out well. I also added tassel as I love danglers much and finally finished off with the findings. Excuse me for the poor lighting as it was taken on a rainy day with  maximum day light available. After I finished it, I gave a light press to the earrings as it was curly at the points and the tassels too. And finally an earring was born  that day. Its really so pretty that I would love to wear it. Its so light that we don't feel that we have wore an earring. Only if the tassels tickle on your neck, may be you feel it.

 

How are things at your end? Hope you all will have a lovely weekend and good Xmas shopping. Its time for me to have a good cup of coffee. So see you soon in my next post. Byeeeee... Happy weekend and happy crocheting.

White bud crocheted prayer shawl

Christmas is round the corner and so is the mood to crochet new stuff - maybe its hanging ornaments, bunting, coasters, placemats and what not, isn't it? This time I wanted to try something new that I haven't dared to do so - its a prayer shawl. For that I had to do a study, what does that literally mean.

 

 thought it is a shawl that the ladies drape over their shoulders when they go to church for attending mass. But I wasn't so sure of that as I had just watched in films. But I learnt that its for various purposes - keeping one in prayers, praying for recovery from illnesses etc. But this for me, I crocheted keeping in mind my first reason.

 

I crocheted it using 100% cotton yarn and a hook size of 6mm. I think even if it was 6.5mm, it would be easy to use. It consumed one full ball of white yarn and few yards from the second ball for tassels. I didn't follow any pattern as such. It flashed in my mind as my work progressed, tried it out and trust me, it was easy to crochet this. Just chainless single crochet, chains and some picots to form the bud shape. Once you get the hang of it, it is easy to continue and you want it to get finished off to see how it looks like. Finally a round of single crochet to give a defined look. Its 40" * 30"(along drape side) * 14" (from the middle to the tip of the shawl). I could do it in a week with couple of hours each day. Showcasing a couple of its photos.

 

 

 

Maybe this is one of those projects which I have wanted to finish off in time. I liked the way it hangs from the chair. It was so cozy to wear it around the shoulder. Hope you liked it. Love to hear from you. Until then its Kala signing off. Have a lovely week ahead and happy crocheting.

Marine themed granny square cushion cover

Hello there everyone. Today is a post about a granny square cushion cover. It took about six months time to post this, apologies for that. Though I had finished off earlier, the fact is I almost had forgotten about this. I completed this project when I was about to travel to India in the last summer vacation. It was almost a rush and I couldn't find time to post it at that time. But glad that I had drafted this project as well as few other projects in my blogger dashboard, so that came to my rescue. I can pull out one by one to post about it. So now it is time for describing about my marine themed granny square cushion cover :-).

 

When I was thinking of what theme could be applied for the second cushion cover (earlier one was a multi coloured one), I was in a dilemma. The pattern of course was to use granny square, but the choice of colours put me to trouble. Then I remembered that my brother's favourite colour is blue. So why not add a touch of blue to its maximum. And to second my thought, I saw an ad in between watching a movie. It showed some island and touches of blue and aqua here and there. Something in my mind sparked immediately to use patches of blues on one side and other side with a different appearance.

 

Yes, that's it. Having finalised on the colours and patterns, I started digging out all the blue coloured yarns that I had in my hand. Being it a granny pattern, I was sure it will not affect me watching the movie either. So crocheting a marine themed granny square cushion cover began to evolve.  

 

For the patches of blue, I didn't design much. Just kept in mind that dark and light blues should alternate or overlap to produce sort of good gradient effect. I started crocheting the squares and followed the JAYGO (join as you go) method to connect each squares, which is absolutely a good time saver, and sometimes I weave in my ends in this process. I hardly remember spending time weaving ends. So this pattern was for one side.  

 

The other side also followed granny square pattern with only two blue colours, but it is a diagonal granny square pattern. I learnt a new pattern in that way and you know what, this diagonal pattern took considerably less time. I could crochet it easily, maybe I got the hang of it and it went on flowing easily, just changing the sides. It was really fun crocheting this pattern. See how the pattern grows from the centre to the corners. I have marked this pattern for making a cushion cover for myself anyway. I think we can add two more colours, in total having four to give much more effect. I don't know. Need to try.

This time I didn't use any single crochet stitches for the border and then any FLO or BLO or whip stitch techniques to join the cushion covers. I just used JAYGO technique here. So again a time saver here that the three sides were joined as I crocheted along each side. Only the top was left open to insert or remove the cushion. I added buttons again for this cover, some blacks and blues to match with the colours. And finally, a cushion cover had evolved. I really liked how it turned out at the end. It was really awesome.

 

With two cushions (Granny square cushion cover -1, the post here) side by side, my sofa was looking great. Hubby and kids loved it. My big boy commented if I am planning to turn everything in our home to have a crochet touch. Yeah, he is right to an extent. I would love to do so if time permits, I said.

 

So that's all for this time dearies. I hope you enjoy reading my posts and would like this too. See you in the next one, until then its bye from Kala. Have a lovely weekend. And if there are any crocheters or would love to learn crochet, HAPPY CROCHETING. 

Spiral earrings

This week in  my blog is about the spiral pattern. I wanted to learn this somewhere last year, but it went delayed and in course of time, forgot about that. Last week, when my boy M was describing something about a lego creation he made, he mentioned something about spiral steps or ladder he wanted to build in it. At that time, I thought I too had wanted to learn something similar in crochet and recalled it was this spiral pattern. I felt I should have noted this somewhere in my jotter, but hadn’t.

 

I took some time to understand this pattern. The pattern is straight forward, but handling the yarns were bit difficult for me. But you know what, if you can place the yarns on either side unwinding a long working yarn, to an extent this difficulty can be solved.

 

So now that I have learnt this pattern, it prompted me to make earrings and within no time, I had my own set of earrings. It turned out to be so crisp and cute earrings. I liked it very much. But sad that I am not able to wear it outside as it is so cold, icy, rainy and sometimes snowy that I have to get tucked in the jerkin. But I didn't give up. I wear it at home (hahaha).

 

My ladybird liked the earrings, and she wanted to wear it. I will make it for her when she grows up. Wait my dear, until then.

 

Hope you liked this small creation. See you in another post, until then its bye from Kala.

Happy First Birthday Yarnoments and Give away!!!

Yes... Its one year since I launched my Yarnoments. I feel so happy for this moment. Of course, without God's grace and support from my dear and near, I won't be able to reach this far, that is for sure. Ohhh, getting emotional here...... Also, I see that day by day , visits to my blog is also increasing which motivates me to explore more and more about crochet.

I organised a give away to celebrate this. Decided to choose three lucky winners from my WhatsApp group. Kids were also so enthusiastic as me. Luckily they were having vacation, so I got some more time to continue with the finishing touches for the give away. Also, this is my first experience too. I wasn't so sure of how to do this. But in the end, everything went well. I asked my kids to pickup three winners from the lot of names. My ladybird wasn't sure what to do. She was picking up name after name (hahahahaha)  and then putting back all the papers in the bowl. Continued this for a couple of times. I then asked my older one to show what to do and tiny tots followed him.

Don't you want to know what was the give away??? I crocheted three purses for the winners made out of bulky yarn. Added a flower applique too. My friends liked the idea and the gifts. I am so happy to read it too.

 

I was planning to upload this post a couple of weeks ago, but my ladybird fell ill and as she was recovering, she developed ear ache as the aftermath of her illness. Then the school reopened and I was held up with my routine tasks as well. I almost lost the track. Excuse me for that, (I am sure my readers would do that, thank you so much). However, I didn't sit idle these days. Tried to snatch some time in between the schedule to learn new a couple of new things about crocheting a curtain, a new stitch, made couple of earrings, worked out on cushion cover (continuing that, these are the pending ones that I had to give it to my brother) etc. Shall soon post about it.

 

See you soon in my next post, until Kala signing off for the day.

Self gifted crochet travel case

Doesn't that title seem to be weird?? But I don't. Because, this is an unexpected, unplanned gift that I presented to myself on my birthday two days back.

 

Two weeks ago when my kids went out with their dad for weekend shopping to buy groceries, they bought a cute cylindrical case of sweets. They were so happy that their dad bought it for them as both of us don't show much interest in buying sweets. We don't like their little teeth get harmed. But once in a while we do buy them some. When they came back home and showed it to me, though I was crossed at first, I was also happy to see their joy they put on their faces and joined them in their happiness.

 

I then asked them what they were going to do with the case. Each came up with their own ideas, Boy M said he will make a rocket out of it, Little V said he will make submarine, (wowwww, that's an awesome thought for his age, I felt. But he said he would definitely ask for his big brother's help. That is anyway expected, hahahahaha). My ladybird obviously had no choice other than copying her brothers. so she said she will make both of them. Permitted.

 

Later, I saw in their playroom the sweet case lying on the floor ignored. I asked them if they are not making any of their ideas to which they paid least attention. I then confirmed if they are not using it, then I might want to. Little V asked me what was my idea. I came up with my thought of using the case to put my crochet essentials while travelling. Kids liked my idea and immediately gave it to me for my purpose. Aaahhh, kids are so generous, aren't they????

 



I took some time to crochet a case cover wherein I can put my essential crochet accessories while travelling or waiting to pickup my kids until they finish off their school club sessions. To add details, I crocheted a multi layered two toned flower also. I crocheted a lid cover too and stuck it to the case lid. My cute crochet case cover is ready to use. You know how handy it is when you put it in your handbag or the crochet bag itself. You just need to take that case alone where you can find your crochet hook(s), tiny pair of scissors, tape, stitch marker, a couple of buttons, or beads etc. Thanks to my kids and hubby that they bought this. I have been looking for such a handy case while travelling when I don't need to take my entire box or just scatter it in my bag.

 

What a lovely gift I got !!! You know something. You can use it as kids' pencil case, or put agarbathis in the pooja room, or use it as a corner designer in your living room or hall with a couple of artificial flowers in it,  makeup brushes (kit).Options are endless. Tell me what would you like to use it as. Love to hear from you. Until then, bye from Kala.

Crochet cover for an almost to recycle travel clock

Coming up with a sudden thought, attempting it and the outcome becoming too awesome accompanied by much appreciation makes one person so happy that words become too short to express it. Wondering why I am saying this?? Yes, because it was me who came across the same situation yesterday when I showed my family this cute little crocheted cover for a travel clock which was somewhere lying in the house unused for past three years. See, how a plain travel clock is transformed ..... isn't it adorable ????

The situation arose when I very badly needed a wall clock for our bedroom upstairs in the new house in Leeds. Every time while shopping, I forget to buy one. So in order to avoid that, I amended it in the shopping list too, but unfortunately, I fail to take that list with me and as usual, I don't buy any clock. I then felt like buying a clock is not destined.
 

 

Yesterday morning, I decided I should at least do a temporary fix to this. Guess what??? Yeah, this little travel clock came to my rescue. I thought of replacing the wall clock in kitchen with a travel clock which has been unused for past three years, see the left side picture (almost at the verge of recycling in Glasgow, thinking it won't work). I had bought it from 99p in London which I had always visited in the beginning. Suddenly, an idea flashed in my mind, why not I crochet a cover for it. I didn't wait much longer. Grabbed some random colours of yarn and hook and started crocheting it. My sweetie pie also was feeling sleepy (good opportunity, hahahaha). She cuddled down by my side and I started concentrating on my work.   

 

I didn't have any clear idea of what to do. I started with the foundation chain and did single crochet stitches. All it happened in a jiffy that I was so surprised, hey what's going on ??? So I said to myself- no hurry, please slow down. Some instinct in me was saying to look into the work closely. It was turning out to be a bracelet type or bangle. No, that is not what I want, how did it happen? Then I realised, I forgot to make corners.

 

How can a square travel clock have no sides??? That's ridiculous. I unravelled the stitches, added an extra sc in the every corner in the foundation chain, counting exact stitches. When I finished my second row, it was taking the shape of a rigid square. I continued with it, alternating colours until it met its desired measurement. Then I felt why not I cover the area at the back just above the buttons and the battery cover.

 

 

Yes, that sounded good. So I worked on it too and it turned out to be a good sturdy cover. Of course, the sc itself gives a tight stitch pattern. I used a hook size lesser too for the back cover. So it was obviously tight enough for the cover. The picture on the left side shows the back side.

It was a bit difficult for me to crochet back panel, fiddling with the yarns maybe. However, interesting too. I couldn't wait to finish off the cover to see how it would look in that tiny timepiece.

I feel it should get a more definition, too reddish, isn't it??? But that's ok, it kind of blend with other colours. I am so happy with the unexpected outcome.


 

I just wanted to place it in the corner shelf, but it was too small to see the dial from a long distance. So I had to hang it. And eventually it turned to be a cute little hanging too. I threaded the same colour yarns in a big eyed pony needle, found out the centre leaving required stitches along the sides on the top, leaving desired length to hang, knotted on the top AND..... made a hanging item out of it.  

 

Ohhhh, I really loved it. How an unused item is transformed into a cute, adorable wall hanging within no time. Indeed an upcycling, isn't it??? This is how it sits on the wall of corner shelf in the kitchen. And the advantage is that it doesn't take much space. I can grab things from or place things on the shelf easily. Earlier it was really difficult and no space with a round wall clock. (And that too had a crocheted cover around it. I shall show it along with my two others later). But now, it isn't. Aweee, how elegant it is!!! You also should give a try. I have one more of the same travel clock, don't know where I have put it away. But I am now sure that I will make one more cover for that too once I find it. Again, a reason to crochet. May be will add more details to it.

I couldn't wait for showing it to everyone. In the evening, when the little men returned home, I showed them my new creation. They were taken aback seeing that. Maybe this was its destiny. My sweetie pie took it in her little hands holding it like a precious gem. She might have understood the value of it, and the effort her mum has put to make a cover. My hubby was amazed to see this cute little thing hanging in the corner shelf. (Ssssshhhh, I don't know if he is expecting similar things from me, wink). I know this isn't any new invention. Several others are there who come up with brilliant ideas, but for me what I do is boundless.

 

Do you want to know some more ideas on this. I came across of using it as a wall hanging, kids room décor (wall hanging in their room), study table piece, window sill piece, as a gift to your friend on moving to a new house, a birthday gift to kids, if you are travelling in scooter, you can stick it in the handle bar too (a wild thought, you don't have to divert your attention to see the watch in your hand though. sounds funny isn't it, but worth a try though). Wowww, amazing ideas, aren't they?? What do you think ?

 

Please leave your suggestions in the comment box below. See you in the next blog, until then its bye from Kala.

Crocheted multi-coloured butterfly keychain

Hi there lovelies, good to see you all after a long time. Settling down in Leeds took considerably more time than I expected.

 

Getting admission in school was the main overhead, but luckily, though I have to walk almost two hours a day, (yeah, pick up and drop is my responsibility), kids got admission in a good school. Other problem I faced was the intermittent access to internet. There was some problem with underground wiring which the BT person very lately detected. So it caused some delay in my addressing to the blogland.

 

You know what, after moving to Leeds, I felt like time is too short for me to do anything. I couldn't spend much time with my crochet work. I feel so guilty for that.  Is it because of the new place or kids are becoming bigger and they have new demands everyday, I had to meet it or I get tired walking up and down two hours a day, there are a couple of small steeps, so pushing the pram with little girl is tedious for me.  I don't know. Maybe it will be resolved in course of time, I feel.

However, I managed to help myself with learning a couple of new stitches and designing couple of dresses. I am so happy that even though I could spare very little time with crochet, I was able to do something which had given me confidence in designing dresses, identify mistakes, provide room for improving my skills etc.

Now coming back to the routine, today's post is about a multi-coloured butterfly keychain.

 

I liked this very much in this variegated colours. so apt for a butterfly to be. Its some time back I had made this which I misplaced somewhere at home. While shifting the house, I happened to see my old creations. I relived those moments when I was struggling to learn basic stitches and make some crochet cuties....

 

And guess what, I came across a bag which I first learned to make from youtube. It was half way done as I ran out of the yarn and suspended the work until I bought a new one. But eventually, I forgot about that. Now that is in my to-do list. I shall post on it sooner. I have a draft of posts which I have to and I don't forget about it. May I request you all to share your comments about my creations. I love to hear from you. Also please share your creations too. Love to see yours. So until then, its Kala saying bye, have a great week ahead.

DIY - Necklace/jewellery display stand

Good morning everyone. Today's post is different from usual crochet stuff. Its about my necklace / jewellery display stand which I made for my first exhibition happened in the summer in my kids' school. I have promised to post about this, but I was away on vacation and I couldn't do so then.

This is the display stand that I made. It showcased very well my jewelleries in the exhibition. I can't claim this as my own idea as I got influenced by a couple of youtube videos, but I made few variations to that as I didn't have much of the essentials in hand then. But I can assure that this will add charm to your own dressing up table or for the exhibition purposes.

I am sharing my idea here, if in case it is useful for you. Please don't be afraid seeing the lengthy post. Its a step by step procedure that I have explained here. You can make it in a single evening time.

Essentials:

Card board of dimensions 10"*7".

White paper

Pencil / pen, eraser

Ruler

Colour paper / gift wrap cover of dimensions 11"* 8"

Glue

Punching machine (single punch or double punch)

Thick thread / yarn

Scissors

Method:

1. In the white paper, draw a U neck shape as below or any shape you prefer. This is my U neck shape.

2. Cut it along the drawing so that you get the shape of the U neck. Place it on the cardboard and trace it in the card board.

3. Cut the cardboard according to the design.

4. Place the colour paper / gift wrap paper on the top of the cardboard neck to check for the proper fit.

5. Using glue, stick the paper on the cardboard and trim of excess paper.

6. Its time to mark holes using pen / pencil. So using ruler, measure the width of left side of the U neck. Now make 4 or 5 holes according to the width in the left side. I made 4 holes.

7. Now using the punching machine make holes to the left side of the U neck on the top of the holes you drew using pencil.

8. Repeat the same process (6 &7) for the right side. You will get your U neck as in the picture below.

9. This is the neck shape I have obtained so far. Yours will be different if you have designed a different one., but overall process will be the same if you have followed these instructions.

10. Now its time to thread or yarn through the holes.  For that , fold the neck by placing right side on top of left or vice versa in such a way that the holes overlap on top of the other, so that you see a single hole. If there is a minor difference between the distances of the holes you made, you can ignore it.

11. Pull in and out the yarn alternatively through the holes. I pulled out the yarn from the inside of the first hole of U neck to outside, pulled in through the second hole to the inside alternating until I reach the last hole. So you will get the thread/yarn seen outside as in the picture below.

12.In the inside of the neck, tie a knot so secure it as in the following picture.

13. Ta-daaaahhhh !!! Your necklace / jewellery display stand is ready to use. This is the front view.

You can showcase your jewellery on the stand in your dressing table or any where.

Tips:

1. You can draw it in the cardboard itself, if you want to. In that way, you can save time.

2. Make sure that the holes are placed in correct spacing on either side of the neck.

3. You can cover the neck shape in two different colours - one at the front and one at the back for a variety look (see my step by step pictures) or use the same colour on both sides, its up to your wish.

4. The advantage of this is that you can either stack it or unfold it, make it flat and place it in your suitcase as you place your notebooks one top the other.

5. To add more chic look, you can cover the top and bottom of the neck, but in that case you wont be able to stack or unfold it.

I hope you enjoyed reading my post. If you ever make one, please post your picture. I would love to see it. Please leave your comments as always. Until then, its bye from Kala.

Note: I am relocating to Leeds, so please expect a delay in my posts for next couple of weeks.

Floral earrings

It was so grey and rainy yesterday. I sat down on my sofa after the household chores wondering what can be done. I started learning something new in crochet, but continuous working on it bored me. Seeing the same colour for some time had almost put me to sleep. The climate was also favourable. No no no... I don't want to sleep. Then I thought of making something easy, but diverting. So earrings came to my rescue. I made two pairs of earrings on a single go which was unintentional, but it was so addictive.

 

This was the first one I made out of yellow crochet cotton thread and 1.75mm hook. I didn't have much idea that I foresaw to make. It happened so. I loved the colour combo - yellow and pink. Oh I really loved the outcome. I didn't need to iron it as it was stiff by itself. I just needed to try it on. The rhinestones as well as the pink beads go well with each other.

 

I didn't follow any pattern for these two, so I can claim its my version, but net provides more options. However, the second one I made was a dangling floral earrings which again is my pattern, but to add beads and hook together which I was so unsure of, I had to seek help from the net. Adding pink bead to it was my boy M suggestion. Sometimes I seek his help for colour combos.

The difficult part in this was to crochet around the beads. If you had gone through my blog, you would have noticed, I hadn't done much with beads. Though I very much love to work with beads and find out new ways to add it in my work, I am afraid of using it when my baby S is around. She is so cheeky nowadays, so I didn't want to take any risk. Everything else can wait, no hurry... 

 

At the end of the day, I was so satisfied and happy that I learnt something new and made some earrings too. I had bought some t-shirts for this summer, so making these would complement it.

These are so simple and easy earrings, any one learning crochet can try this.

 

What do you think about these?? Aren't they cute??? Leave your comments, I would love to hear from you. Until next post, bye from Kala. Have a wonderful week ahead.

This time its striped jar jacket !!!

Hello everyone. How are all doing? Today's post is about crocheted striped jar jacket. Its a simple one. Most of my posts are beginners / advanced beginners / intermediate pattern related as I love to keep everything simple, easy and legible. Everyday I learn crochet as its so vast.

So coming back to the post, this jar jacket pattern has only dcs (double crochet stitches) with alternating light shades. As usual with jar bottom extending upwards, it forms a sturdy cover.

This is another view of the bottle.

Once I was done with this cover, I sensed some emptiness in the jar cover, a plain design. I wanted to add something to it. I was thinking.. thinking.. thinking... I then remembered, I had learnt some time before a leaf pattern from Sheruknitting. I wanted to try that on this jar jacket. Anyways, I had made up mind that this will be used as flower vase for home, so leaf would be apt for this. Also being it in light shades, green colour would suit best too.

So I didn't wait much longer. Took up my hook and started crocheting a sprig which would fit the bottle circumference. Once I had done with that what would you think that I would have done to the leaves??? Cant hear ??? A little bit louder.... What??? Stitched it ??? Thanks for the answers. But I wasn't, honestly, that happy to sit and stitch dearies, because I knew it would be time consuming.

 

So stuck the sprig using hot glue, (felt a bit lazy here...).. The sprig was stretchy. So I stretched it to get the exact shape of the leaf.

Again here, I didn't block as leaves wont be so straight. Also I had another thought too. Since I am going to use it as flower vase, I added few assorted buttons which I had in hand, in a circle here and there. I wasn't choosy for the buttons, randomly I selected few colours and fixed it.

And you know what.. It turned out to be much more a lovely jar that I would have crocheted ever.

But later I realised, I was so haste in that. Had I chosen buttons of same colour, then my buttony flowers would have been so beautiful, hadn't it be?? Still no worries. It is my own version.

 

However, isn't that lovely to see the jar??? What do you say?? I couldn't then wait longer to see how the flowers will sit in it. So that day evening I bought a bouquet and placed it in the jar. And my happiness knew no bounds. I felt much proud too. Something had I done which adds beauty to the house. A kala (in Indian language, kala means art) from Kala, huh???

In the evening, when my kids returned from the school and hubby back from office, I asked them how it fits in the hall. They were so happy too and appreciated me (raising collar)....


Now when I remove it to dust the place and be a little late to place it back, I feel that the shelf calls me, beckoning the jar, asking me to put it back... hahahaha.... My illusion?????

Oh, by the way, I had crocheted a flower vase mat for this jar. That will be another post. Now it is already too lengthy. Hope you will enjoy reading it. Until the next post, its Kala signing off..... Bye and please do keep in touch.

Happy crocheting...