Tatting..with.....

WOOL!

I'd been wanting to do this for so long.....

Just about 2 day's back

I gave it a try with my crochet hook,

could only make rings...

Googled 'tatting with wool'

and found

this by Iris neibach,

Dreams of lace

and

this by Totusmel

Totusmel gives a pattern for a scarf done with

what else,

YARN!

I never thought it could be done!

Not with the SHUTTLE of course,

but with

THE NEEDLE!

Everytime I thought about needle tatting I'd almost

rubbished it off

I could do anything with the shuttle!

HOW WRONG I WAS!

(I'm sorry if I hurt anybody's sentiments.)

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Now,

the needle is my new best friend!

and I can't get enough of it.

Been to Georgia Seitz's site

Hh tatting,

read the needle tatters forum on In-Tatters

Joined Needle tatters

and still can't get enough......

Here's to show off what I'm doing with the needle....

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1st attempt flower.....

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Simple bracelet

With the Josephine chain and split-rings!

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The lock of the bracelet

Ring through ring....

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Another bracelet...

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Bracelet with a pendant

with my pretty pretty rose buttons....

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Brooch on my coat laple with the needle through...

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Starting off an edging....

The pattern asked for 10 ds in the clover

can't handle that big a ring with wool,

it gets better with a smaller size and another try....

See the small pink one done in size 20 thread....

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OOOOH!!!

Am I enjoying myself.....

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Getting the needles was tough and I did have to

innovate for that too,

There were no needle tatting instruments in the local store I get my stuff from

(he'd never heard of anything like needle tatting before!)

And because I've never ordered anything from the web,

And also because I could't wait to get going ,

I had to get down to business urgently!

Well,

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I took a Regular thick long needle with a sharp end and

filed the sharp end off to make it blunt!

The thinner needle used for the 20 thread

is a flowering needle used to make garlands!

It was almost a foot long,

I've cut off the sharp end and

filed it up too!

They are both working well.

Let's see how far am I going to go with this.......

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The amazing tale of .....The Seamless Raglan Pullover

At last I finished Vaasu's pullover!

I hate making pullovers, sweaters, cardigans.....

and more of those

REGULAR stuff

you expect knitters to be knitting!

But everytime I'd make something my mom would go....

'Why don't you make something for your baby,

You keep wasting your time

 in making all that nobody is ever going to wear!'

WELL,

That's how I actually got this started.

BUT THEN,

It had to be something I'd not tried before.....

and interesting enough to hold my

wandering mind on one big project for long.

So went hunting.....

and got to know about seamless pullovers.

"That's it!"

My mind called,

And I was sailing on uncharted oceans......

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It's a top down knit starting from the neck,

I couldn't make out how much to cast on!

Then as a lightning flash,

I knew that anything that crossed the test of slipping over

 the head of my big headed boy would do!

And any flawed numbers would hide in the ribbing!!!

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To add an element of that

SPECIAL

personal touch

I put that ever so simple CABLE in the center...

And Then....

went round and round

Till I was going nuts!!!

I excitedly called my mom and told her

That your daughter has at last done the 'right thing'

But

when she saw it

her jaw literally dropped...

She could hardly make head or tail out of it!

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That is what gave me a new energy

 and the enlightenment

that I was indeed on the right tract.

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Then came the bodice.....

So large,

 it could hide almost every secret Vaasu could want to hide!

Followed by the sleeves....

He could be wearing this thing well past his childhood!

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Then,

One fine day,

I ultimately cast off the stitches of this

Herculean task,

And put the little boy inside.....

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I was overjoyed to hear my boy say..

"Mummy, I want to wear it to school

and  tell my teacher that you made it for me."

Still sceptical,

I asked him again.....

"Do you like it ,son?"

And he answered

"Yes, this is good."

Oh, can you ever imagine the immense sense of

joy and fullfillment I had!

STILL

but one litmus test remained.....

Would my mother approve of it?

When she saw it...

Her jaw dropped again...

And when I told her that it was

absolutely seamless,

with no stitching to mar the beauty of the pullover,

She pulled me and Vaasu up to her bosom and hugged us...

whispering in my ear...

"I knew it...

You could do it,

You just had to believe in your inner strength

and ability...

THIS IS A MASTERPIECE!"

 Hope you enjoyed my story!

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In the end,

I would like to extend a warm and sincere acknowledgement to  my

CIRCULAR NEEDLES

without the selfless help of which,

neither would the pullover,nor the tale be possible.

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Pinks.....knitting

I've been knitting.......

Yeah!

Knitting!

My current full time obsession!

Am enjoying every moment of it though.......

Got some pink yarn and wanted to do some scarf and mitten stuff.

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Started off with the scarf...

Simple pattern...

Wanted to do something on the lines of  'FISHNET'

Good practice for 'decreases' too.

The centred double decrease, the k2tog and the ssk types.

The result is a large arrowhead kind of pattern.

As I'm LEFT HANDED,

All the decreases come out opposite of the slant they are ment to produce!

I had to substitute the k2tog with the ssk and vice versa!

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Got down to make matching mittens with the same pattern.

Though it was easy to do the left hand one with thek2tog decs,

The right on was spiralling out of control!

With some tweeking got the final mittens...

Not perfect at all

but

lovely!

I put on gold rose buttons I have had for sometime on the cuff

which do make them look pretty.
They were cut off a cardigan my mom was about to throw off!

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The scarf's got a curve along it's spine which is quite distinct

and makes it wearable in several ways...
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opened up or doubled up....
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That's me wearing the set .

The scarf is doubled up.

See the side seam of the mitten showing?

I guess the pattern needs some modifications to prevent that!

Also,

in the picture is the black rose beaded brooch

I tatted that I wear on my coat!

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Still more on knitting to come......

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Hi,

Long Time no see!

Today is my BLOG Annivesary

As well as

Our WEDDING Anniversary!

Last Year I'd posted my 1st blog post from the phone

Vicky got me as a gift on our anniv.

This time we went to Mata Vaishno Devi.

Left on 3rd night and got back today morning

It's a 12.5Km trip up the mountain,

which we went on foot,

to the Darbar, had darshan,

rested for the night,

to Bhairon Baba on pony,

then downhill in the helicopter!

Amazing visit.

Enjoyed every moment.

We were six people,

Me,Vikas(vicky, my hubby),

Didi(Monisha,my sis)

Nitin(Vicky's friend)

Rajiv(vicky's friend)

Ravinder Negi(The Army Man).

Here's a slideshow of some of the photos

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I've not posted for a long time

And I've been knitting up some things that I'm dying to post here...

Coming soon...

Love You all,

See Ya...

Some things old & some things new......

First the new.....

Remember the Filet crochet sampler

 I was doing long time back?

I had posted a little peek into it in this post....

I had it finished some time back,

it had been lying in my almirah for some time now.....

At last,

It is now part of a beautiful curtain

which I've put up on the window of my room.

Here is what it looks like....

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Here's a close up of the lace edge...

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And with the insertion....

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Now for the old....

oh, what nostalgia!

We've been cleaning up Mom's place

And look what I found....

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Small blanket done in crochet...

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With a set of sweater, booties and mittens

I made even before Vaasu was born.

(the heart motif was my own pattern

and so was that done on the blanket.)

He could wear these till he was 1.

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Another set also made for Vaasu

 when he was one...

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This is "TRELLIS" pattern

from Knitty .com

This was a pretty difficult pattern to do,

and it took me a fairly long time to make.....

Vaasu almost grew out of it before it was complete!

He wore it only a couple of times I guess!

But ,I love it so... much.

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It's so nice to find such pretty pretty little things

tucked away in a corner somewhere;

and remember how you made them.....

It wasn't so long ago, yes,

but I was teary eyed all the same......

Butterflies in flight....

I'm so in love with these blue beads......

Saw Teri's bookmark with butterflies

and that's where the inspiration came from.

She uses split rings to make the butterflies,

but

this bracelet I've made

using four shuttles

With two centre shuttles for the core of the butterflies

Didn't want a border on them,

so as to give an appearance of free wings,

as if in flight..

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That's what it looks like as a bracelet!

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The lock of the bracelet made with

seperate strands of thread

in square knots...

to give a sliding lock......

with beaded danglers.....

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so that it can be worn as a bracelet.....

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or

an anklet!

Luv.

First magic loop socks

Now that I've learnt the Magic loop method ,

naturally I wanted to knit up some socks.

Here's my first one.

The pattern is from

KNIT PICKS.

Custom fit toe up socks.

The pattern notes are for two socks at once,

but I knit them one at a time.

Also, the cast on is done with a turkish cast on instead of what described in the pattern.

Cause I'm getting a little crazy over knit lace patterns,

I've tried putting in one in the centre of the sock,

Nothing very great though!

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These are the two finished socks up my feet..

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Showing off the heels.

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My Hubby's Grandmom and Grandpa are visiting us

 and I gifted Biji these socks.

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Up her feet.

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And thats a Happy Biji!