A Tale of Two (Eggcentri)Cities

Hi friends. Oh! don't be confused with the title. It is just a egg centric tale. Or rather, a story centered around the two pigeon eggs in my balcony...hehe.

You already know the story that a pigeon had laid two eggs in my potted plant and much against my husband's wishes I decided to let them be. This gave me the chance to do a little "Avian Planet" photo shoot of my own.

So here goes. Feel free to give me your comments about my (attempted) photo documentary.

Look Ma, ....no downy fuzz...

Hmmm... so this is the Big Bad World

Should we venture out?

Maybe not just yet...a few practice flights inside the balcony.

Yay! we are ready to take the plunge today, under the watchful eyes of Mama and Pops.

The brown plank you see on the top left is the famous swing where all crochet projects are finally declared as "Completed"...lol. The two white dots you can see on Mom and Pops' beaks are not yet white but still grey on the twins. That is how I could tell them apart.

On Saturday, after being fully convinced that they can now fly, I finally shooed them away as the mess and stink was getting too much for me. This story spans around 45 days!

Also, can you see the green mat like curtain in the top right corner. It is made of out bamboo and you can see it in most houses in Ahmedabad. It keeps the harsh sunlight away, thus reducing the temperature in the house by atleast 4 - 5 degrees Celsius, I think. But the main reason we installed them last week is that construction activity has started in full swing on the vacant plot right next to our building. Which means tons of dust is now going to blow into the house through all nooks and crannies, so a small attempt to keep the dust away.

Till the pigeons were there I could not close it completely. But now finally I can close it and heave a sigh of relief. That's it, no more wildlife preservation attempts from me in the future. I think I have done my good deed....for now.

Hope you enjoyed my pigeon story. Write to me, make my day.

Question: How many of you have pets at home?

I love dogs, but I am not sure I can actually look after one. Maybe one day when my "little bird" has flown the nest. :)

Temptation, Thy name is.....

Stylecraft!!!
Yup! Finally succumbed to the lure of this yarn.

Hello friends, busy enjoying the weekend?

Another Stash Saturday and I am going to show you the Stylecraft Special DK yarn which has just arrived. (Oh..the joys of online shopping!!!).

Well, with everybody in Crochetland going gaga and then some more ga, how long could I resist. So I went ahead and ordered some for myself from Deramores. I have to thank Rajeswari for actually working out the cost vis-a-vis Indian yarns and encouraging me to go ahead. Also there was a 15% discount in that particular week.....and I took that as a positive sign from above!!

Here is my gorgeous collection;

After the yarn arrived it did look like a bit too much. But that is NOT my fault!!.....(my most favourite line when Anything happens).  :) It is their fault. Who are they? Stylecraft of course.

Not only do they have the most gorgeous colours, they have to name their colours instead of numbering them. How can you resist Saffron, Pomegranate, Apricot, Candyfloss, Sunshine and... Lipstick. The names were driving me crazy.

Want a closer look, I know you do :) I have clicked the pics with the names showing so that you can see which is which.

That's Jaffa, Matador, Apricot, Shrimp and Lipstick

Bright Pink, Candyfloss, Claret, Pomegranate, Raspberry

Saffron, Meadow, Camel, Sunshine, Citron

Sherbet, Royal, Cloud Blue, Aspen, Turquoise and of course White.

Aren't they just darling!!

The yarn is very soft and the colours are of course just gorgeous. I will do more oohs and aahs when I actually start working with the yarn. Right now it is safe in my secret hiding place (the pleasures of having a room to myself for my crafting!). 

I have not yet decided on a project for the yarn but most probably it is going to be an afghan/blanket. Right now I am very busy......doing what?!! Well, thinking of the "right" answer to explain the entry in the credit card statement to my dear hubby.......hehe.  ;)

Also succumbed to the lure of a lovely scarf pattern on a Portuguese? site. Will be sharing it with you soon.

[Note: A warm welcome to all new friends who have joined me. I am sorry that I have not been able to join your blogs even though I have visited all of you and signed up by email wherever possible. Inspite of trying a lot of tricks, still having trouble with left click. Not sure whether problem is with Blogger, Firefox or just my PC. So, please bear with me. This same problem is also not letting me make any changes to my blog layout...very frustrating. But I am still in the process of research and trying something new everyday, so hopefully soon........ ]

Nobody has guessed my holiday destination. So, here are some more clues:

The place is a desert, in India. I have to take a flight from Delhi to reach it and the landscape is beautiful. Come on girls, rack your brains.  :)

Do write to me, your comments add joy to my day. Hope you are having a fun weekend.

Rippling Success

Hello there, Glad you joined me today.

I have a lovely finished project to share today. Something that I have been working on for a couple of weeks. Actually that is too quick for me, but the reason this project reached completion is because it was an Afghan challenge at The Crochet Crowd.

So, here goes my latest Ta-Dah......

Ocean Waves Throw

This is my very first attempt at a ripple pattern and I am quite happy with the result. This is also my first large, mammoth project after my Aqua and White granny square baby Blanket. 


The ripple consists of two rows. The first row is worked in the back loops only. This gave a 3D effect of waves rippling and lapping against the shore.

Maybe that is the reason it is named the Ocean Waves Throw. The pattern is free on Red Heart.com. The CAL is open till 17th May 2013 in case any one wants to join in.

The blanket is approximately 36" by 60".
The yarns are from this stash. 
It used up around 625 grams of yarn and has a total of 80 rows.
It took me about 15 days to complete, which is something new for a procrastinator like me! Most projects get started and then they languish in the WIPs basket till I "feel the love" for them again.  LOL!

I think Rajeswari's idea of adding a border and lining the blankets is a good one and I may try it later. Right now I just want to relax and admire my handiwork.

And of course all completed projects have to be clicked in my favourite spot - the swing. Only then can it be called an FO.

Now off I go to visit my favourite blogs and see what you all have been up to. I have found two lovely scarf patterns that I am dying to try but my WIPs basket is beckoning me  :(

I will be going on vacation in the month of May. Where?... can you guess if I give you a clue? Okay... it is the only place where you can get frostbite and sunburn at the same time!!! Let me have your guesses....hehe. Yeah I know...I am so wicked!

By the way, I am having some problem with Google Friend Connect and am unable to follow other blogs even if I click the "Join this site" button. Is this problem related to the discontinuation of Google Reader...any ideas? Would love to have any suggestions on this matter.  :)

Looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great week. Make time for craft everyday.

WIP reaches completion

Hello friends!

Yes, a WIP has achieved completion. But sadly it is not one of my WIPs.....hehe.
Remember I showed you this......

Well, now it has become this......

This pic was taken in the first week of April. The two squabs (that is what a young pigeon is called) have now grown quite big but the surrounding area has now become too dirty to click photos   :(

I got a lot of "I told you so" glances from hubby as I had insisted on letting the pigeons lay their eggs in my potted plant. Not only has the pot become extremely dirty but watering my plant has also become difficult as I am afraid I will drown the poor things. I am hoping they will learn to fly soon before my plant totally dries up and dies!!

Also as Aishwarya rightly pointed out they are a health hazard, my balcony is now kept permanently closed. Thankfully the squabs are not noisy and that is a relief.

See you soon, hopefully with one of my WIPs reaching completion.  :)

Crochet Mandala - Vibrant

Hello friends, I hope you are enjoying the weekend.

In my last post I mentioned how I enjoy putting up my projects on Facebook. Well, I was not always a fan of Facebook. In fact I found the whole thing a bit weird and I had joined only because it was the "done" thing. I would log in occasionally and just see what my friends and relatives were up to, enjoy some good quotes and photos which were shared and log out. The idea of sharing my personal pics or writing a comment which could be seen by the whole world was just not appealing.

And THEN, I discovered  "Groups" and "Pages" related to Crochet!!! Now that was fun, joining like minded people, sharing your projects, sharing patterns, discovering new blogs, getting instant reactions to your projects. Yes, I was really enjoying this Facebook thing now.

I am now a member of many crochet groups and have "liked" many crochet pages. Recently I did something else for the very first time. I joined a CAL. Now a CAL is something very common in Blogland and even Ravelry, but I have never joined one for various reasons. Lack of yarn, project too big or uninteresting or being tied up in my own projects.

The CAL I joined was at Mandy's Craft Tales for a Crochet Mandala. The pattern Mandy chose is THIS one by the lovely Petra. In case you would like to join in the last date is 12th April which I think is ample time.

Here is my completed mandala......TaDah

Do you like it? I used Laura Knitting cotton from  THIS stash and a 3.50 mm crochet hook. The mandala turned out 12 inces in diameter. I did this in one night!!

My favourite part is this row which has stitches in two colours on the same row. Something I tried for the first time, quite simple actually.

I really liked this mandala and its Vibrant colour scheme. I plan to make a few more when I am in-between projects. Only not happy with the last scallop row. The stitch count seems to be a bit off. Will have to work it out the next time.

Mandy has made this beautiful collage of all the mandala submissions:

Mandala collage from Mandy's Craft Tales

Isn't it just super?!! (Can you find my mandala?) 

I thoroughly enjoyed the CAL concept. So guess what I did.....jumped right into another one. This one is by The Crochet Crowd and it is for this lovely Ocean Waves Afghan. Click the link for all the details, the last date is 15th May 2013. 

Here are my colour choices:

Will keep you posted about the afghan as I proceed. Anybody want to join me?

Enjoy your weekend and make time for craft. Looking forward to hearing from you.

WIPs Wednesday

Waves Ripple Afghan

Basket weave

 

Shells n Diamonds

Lucy inspired flowers

Newly laid pigeon eggs