A Long Spell

Hello there, beautiful people. Remember me? Are you still with me or have you moved on to a more crafty, witty and regular blog? I wouldn't be surprised if you have. But I am hoping against hope that you are out there and that you have been checking my blog once in awhile. 

I know there has been a long spell of silence from my side. There is no particular reason for that. And thankfully, no "sick" stories this time, God knows I had quite a few of those in the past couple of months. Actually I was just a little bit distracted. I also think I had Blogger's block. (Is there such a thing?)  I did have a lot of things/stories to share but just could not sit down and put them in words! 

Another reason being that my dear mother-in-law accompanied us on the trip back from Mumbai and most afternoons are spent chatting with her. Or rather she reminiscing about the good old days and me making the right noises at the right time. No, I am not being rude. I do agree with her that the good old days were really good and uncomplicated and happy and of course so much cheaper. Not much I can add to that conversation! Also it seemed impolite to go clackity-clack at the keyboard while she was  so eagerly taking me on a "Golden Days" journey.

Okay, okay I know excuses, excuses! Maybe I should just admit that I was lazy. But of course I was very much online and in these past few days I visited most of you out there and even gave my "valuable" comments on some of your posts.

In the meantime, a lot of new friends have joined us, so let me begin by welcoming them;
           Onilda e Maria Isabel at Cantinho do artesanto Nina e Bel
           Cat at Through the Eyes of a Domestic Goddess
           Bobi Jensen at Western Warmth
           Maven at Fiber P*rn
and    Mitzi Christian

Now for the real McCoy, the pansy doily was not working out as I would have liked so I frogged it. Now I am searching for another Pansy doily pattern. To cover up my disappointment I made a lovely yellow/mustard doily. Only two more rounds to go so I shall be sharing that with you soon.

Since last week, I have a young girl coming to learn crochet in the afternoons. At age 25 she is an associate professor at CEPT Ahmedabad..... Wow!! She teaches History of Architecture and comes over to my place in the afternoons during her lunch break.  She is not regular but I like her dedication. I love teaching crochet and I am hoping that more and more women in India will take it up as a hobby and also as a stress buster. 

And now for the news that I am dying to share. On Sunday the 28th, I shall be meeting one of my blogger friends, for the very first time. Isn't that just super!! After commenting on each others blogs for a few weeks we realised that we stay in the same state. We kept planning to meet each other some day and now after months of waiting I finally get to meet her on Sunday as we will be in her city to visit my aunt. I am sure that bloggers do this all the time. But this is a first for me, and I am soooo excited. I hope the meeting goes off better than expected and we have lots of stories to share. I will certainly tell you about our get together, wish me luck.

A picture-less post. Nah...that would be boring. So I am going to share this doily I made a long time ago. I am sorry I do not have the link to the pattern.  :(

I love the way the petals overlap each other.

My MIL says it is too pretty to be used as a hot pad.

So, finally THE SPELL has been broken. ;) Maybe for a change I should try a Wordless post. Hmmm..... a post without my jabber jabber. Very difficult but I will try it someday in the future.... distant future you see.

But until then, I will be back with some more exciting news, a "First" of another kind, soon.
So take care, happy hooking or knitting or scrap booking or cooking or whatever makes you tick. Enjoy life, you only live once and Thank you for visiting me.

Love xxx

Sand or Tan?

Hi Girls! I hope the week has been treating you well so far.

Lets begin by welcoming our new friends:
          Weaver Birdie at I Love Handmade!
          Susan Carlson at Felted Button
          Archana at Things I do ... in my World
          Maree at Mareelovescolour

Okay now tell me, did you read the title and think this post was about a weekend at the beach. Sadly there is no beach in Ahmedabad. Well, it is so true that you realise the value of something only after you have lost it. My parents' home was just two minutes away, yes that's right only two minutes away from the beach. As kids my brother and I spent most evenings walking to the beach with Mom and making sand castles, filling our pails at the water's edge and eating roasted peanuts. After marriage I moved to an area that was kilometers away from the nearest beach. And now Ahmedabad! But not to worry, as recently, the banks of the Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad have been endowed with the Sabarmati Riverfront - a unique project that will handle water management while creating a public promenade, that has soon become a tourist attraction. Definitely on my must see list.

So, what's with the beachy title? Well, the title refers to my latest project which is this square doily.

Upon completing the doily I was stuck for words when it came to describing the colour of the doily. I mean, gone were the innocent school days when colours were red, blue, green and yellow. And any variations were just light blue and dark blue, light green and dark green and so on. 

But today these definitions are not enough. No siree! Today we have True blue, Baby blue, Bahama blue and Avocado, Pistachio, Celery and Cornsilk, Goldenrod, Tangerine and what not. So what the heck do I call my doily. Sand? Tan? Beige?  After some Google research I chanced upon "Fawn" and felt that, that is the right word to describe the colour.

So here are my Fawn coloured square doilies. I had enough Bliss knitting cotton to make a set of three with a 2.00 mm crochet hook.

Now if you have been wondering why my projects are always photographed on this two colour background, here is the secret. Well, no big secret actually but just the swing in my balcony. You would think that with this unbearable heat and scorching sunlight, I would get good pictures indoors. But no, the swing is the only place where I get good photos. Or maybe that speaks a lot for my "skills" as a photographer! Anyway here is my multipurpose swing adorned with a few of my projects.

What prompted me to reveal this today is the question "Where is your favourite place to take pictures?" by Susan at Felted Button. Do tell me your answer.

Now here is the real secret. The swing is a part of the furniture we got along with the house we have rented. I don't use the swing as a swing as I am sure my "delicate" frame will crack the poor thing! Ha ha. 

My next project is a beautiful thread doily with pansies. Hope I can share it with you soon (as I have still not bothered to get new glasses!).

Thanks for visiting me. Take care and happy hooking.

(A small note to all my fellow bloggers and followers: Please write a small comment when you join my blog and also don't forget to state the name of your blog, so that I can follow you too. Thank you.)

PS: If you are a die hard Sridevi fan like me, you must watch "English Vinglish". Great movie, fantastic performance and superb direction.

Love xxx