Lace Craze

For Monsoon Knitting I wanted to try something I hadn’t tried before and so I tried LACE!!  Didn’t think that I would ever say that I absolutely loved lace knitting!!

I didn’t have any lace yarn with me but decided to make do make do with a couple of skeins of Koigu because the blues of the KPPPM were perfect monsoon colors and with lace knitting gauge does not really count, right?  

So, I cast on for the Swallowtail Shawl and I loved every minute of knitting it, “nupps” and all.  The shawl did not turn out too big but that’s ok cause it’s small enough to fit into my purse and perfect to wrap around chilly shoulders at the movies or at a restaurant.

Beginnings

Beginnings

Blocking

Blocking

Finito!

Finito!

Unfortunately, the furniture is sporting my Swallowtail because I was too lazy to dig out the tripod.  

Sunkist Koigu

Sunkist Koigu

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Eleee-fant

I wanted to show Kirtana her first real elephant this summer, but it seems like there were none to be seen anywhere on our travels – we weren’t looking hard enough, possibly.  So, when you can’t ride a real elephant, you just make do…

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Travel Tales

We did lots of travelling around South India this summer and one of the places we hit was Coorg.  This mini vacation was amazing because this was meant to be a break to just unwind and do nothing but chill.  It was just that – absolutely relaxing!!

The Orange County Resort where we stayed was the best, I would highly recommend it. Freshly brewed coffee from coffee beans grown on the resort’s plantations, yummm!

While travelling along the coast, we made an impromptu stop at the beach.  It was Kirtana’s first time in the salty water and while she was excited to play in the sand and watch everyone sloshing about in the waves, she was not too thrilled about getting her feet wet. But we dunked her in anyway.

Notice those four tiny “toofs”:)  These munchkins are growing up so fast!

Prithvi and Kirtana - Summer '08

Prithvi and Kirtana - Summer

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I’m baaaaaaack!!!

OMG!!!! Seems like I fell off the face of the earth along with my limbs being severed and my sight temporarily lost!!!!  I was all set to blog this summer about our adventures while in India and also about ze kneeeeting!!!  Little did I know that I would be camera-cable-less and that my laptop would crash.

I’ve missed everyone and everything and it seems like so much has been happening in the blogosphere!!!

Lots of catching up to do…Ravelry has oodles of new patterns, my Bloglines queue is a mile long, and my blog has suffered serious neglect.  I’ve received so many emails from all you lovely crafters.  Thank you:)  I will write back to everyone once we’ve settled in and unpacked.

I can’t believe missed out on the Bangalore knitters meet-up, aarrrggghhhh!!!
Rima was in Bangalore while I was there, I’m still kicking myself for not seeing her messages telling me about her travel plans.
I was all set to hook up with Anjali for a knitters meet up and I couldn’t manage that.

Boo Hoo, boo hoo and waaa waaa waaa!!!  This could have been such an awesome summer with so much added knitting fun.  Oh well, life gets in the way – in a big way sometimes and I missed out on so much.

Still, I had a fabulous summer vacation and although I was sad to see it end, I’m glad to be back home!!!  Seems like we’ve been away for ages and that we travelled so much while we were away that I need another vacation from this last one!!

Knitting…. I did lace knitting this summer and I have to say, I never thought that I would LOVE it so much!!!  More on that next time.

But first, here are some India-bits that I can never forget!!

Technology meets flower power

Swapping stories

Swapping stories

Bliss

Bliss

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The List

It’s the night before our summer vacation to visit family and friends in India and I’m still not done packing!!!! Before it used to be so easy to just dump stuff into suitcases and hop on the plane. Of course, we would get to wherever and discover that we didn’t have matching socks, or that I forgot to pack my cell phone charger or wall-plug-socket-converter-thingy! I knew it would be different this time and would require some serious planning and juggling stuff around in suitcases because we’re going to be away from home with the kids for over two months and one of these kids is less than a year old!

T-W-O whole months, what were we thinking when we planned this trip!!!!

I decided to get smart a few days ago and make a list and stick with it this time so that I don’t forget anything. Guess what, I’ve gone and lost that list!!

All I can see in every suitcase is that there’s stuff lots of which we probably won’t need but you never know when you might need that roll of masking tape or maybe that pair of scissors that cuts perfect. I’m sure that I’m going to find a perfectly good pair of scissors at my Mom’s house, I think, I hope. Oh well, maybe I won’t pack the scissors.

However, I didn’t forget to pack knitting. Of course, I don’t need a list to remind me about knitting. Which reminds me, it would help if I took along a copy of the pattern for my Printed Silk Cardigan. See, I need that list!

Next stop, Bangalore!

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Blah

It seems like I’m in somewhat of a blogging rut.

I’ve begun a post several times recently only to read what I’ve written and it all seemed like blah-blah-blah.  Blogging avoidance ensued.  Here I am now hemming and hawing because I still have only blah and more blah, but…

Summer fun…in about two weeks we leave for India for some holidaying – weeee!!!  It’s going to be fun to hang out with the fam and not do anything much other than, well, hang out!

Knitting fun…still working on my Printed Silk Cardigan and still loving it:) I’m done with the back and working one of the sleeves.  The sleeves are done in 1×1 rib and let me tell you I’m not a big fan of knitting ribbing in any permutation because of all the flipping of the yarn back and forth. 

This is the thing, I can usually multi-task on the knit stitch.  Not any mammoth multi-tasking like um…knitting, preparing dinner and juggling at the same time, but the plain old TV-read-knit kind.  You know everyone does that right?  But those purls, now, I gotta look at my knitting to purl.  So, you see how ribbing is not my thing? 

Ribbing sure makes the fabric look lovely though and I have to admit that I knit Audrey a couple years ago and come to think of it, that baby is completely ribbed! But then again, the yarn was Rowan Calmer which is so gorgeous.  Here’s the beginning of the ribbed sleeve with the finished back (sorry ’bout the blurry pic)

Off to plod along on my ribbed sleeve.

See, I told you all I had was blah! 

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Cardigan in the making

With the hubster away for a week “Down Under”, I’ve been left to brave the homefront with kidlets in tow.  Knitting has kept the “lonelies” at bay though (I wonder what I would have done if I didn’t knit!!)
In my last post I had mentioned that I joined a KAL on Ravelry for the Printed Silk Cardigan.  I fell in love with this pattern ever since I saw it in the Spring 2008 Interweave. Also, the gallery on Knitting Daily showcasing this garment on different body types had me convinced this would be a great project to work on.  I had the yarn, needles and pattern but zero motivation to cast on for a cardigan in this dreadful heat.  A knitalong was a nudge in the right direction to get this baby started and here’s how far I’ve gotten…
The designer, the lovely Connie of physicsknits fame, has jumped in to offer advice on the group.  I love it when a designer offers help and is flexible with things that might work better for the knitter.  I had a bit of a grrr moment with the left twists being too tight, but got that sorted out and I’m enjoying every bit of the twisted stitch pattern. 
Look, Purrrdy Diamonds!!
  

 

 

 

 

 

The thing that I’ve learned over the past couple months about my knitting is that I’ve become more of a monogamous knitter, preferring to work on a single project towards completion.  This, in my books, is a great achievement for me due to my previously never-ending-WIP tendencies! It’s always great to work on something, get it done, see if it fits and if it does, declare it to be a winner!  On the other hand, if it turns out to be part of the loser pile, I can hide it at the back of my closet or recycle the yarn for another project, right?  Knitting is just so versatile like that.

 

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Knits that fit

Our little Baby turned 6 months last week and seems to be growing and blossoming each day with some new trick up her sleeve.  I can’t believe that this squishy-mushy newborn has become a squealing, squirming, smiling kidlet and continues to keep us joyful with her baby-ness.

So, onto the knitting…

Remember this vest I knit when I was still sporting a bump and before sleepless nights entered my world (Oh, the joys and trials of motherhood)  Look who’s wearing it…

 

She seems to look happy wearing it and maybe she won’t outgrow it in a week like she does with most of her clothes!! 

I promise that I will stop it with the pink overload with all my knits on this blog already!!! 

Last post I said that Sizzle was my wanna-cast-on-now project and cast on I did.  Sadly, no pictures or update on that right now (it’s lying rejected in my knitting bag) because I’ve joined a KAL on Ravelry.  Knitalongs are always fun:) 

But, more on that next time.

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Il est fini

My Isabella inspired Candy Floss Tank is done and got worn this weekend.  I loved knitting with the cotton yarn and even though the back took forever, the front worked up pretty quick, thanks to the neckline which kept my interest peaked!

Here are the deets…

The pattern was heavily inspired by Isabella from knitty.com, knit with Phildar Licorne cotton yarn and 3.5 mm needles. 

Other details: Picot hem, waist shaping, short row shoulder shaping and single crochet edging around the armhole to stop the fabric from curling.

Things I would do different: Omit the striping of the colors and the widest part of my anatomy, aka, my hips (but hey I was trying to stash-bust and keep the colors in the pink family), make the waist a little longer before begining the increases, NOT block the daylights out of it because cotton yarn BLOOMS!  But the yarn has retained it’s shine and is so cool against the skin.  I can take any summer heat wave with this baby!

Next on my queue, Sizzle!!  Bring it on, Dubai Summer!!

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KnitPicks Loot and my DUH moment

Lookit!!!!  Yarn from KnitPicks to add my ever growing stash!!  Seriously, I’ve run out of space in my yarn closet, aka, two huge IKEA bins.  But I just had to have some more yarny goodness and so this was a treat from le monsieur hubster for Mother’s Day (in advance) 🙂

All this click, click, click online combined with yarny happiness can cloud the brain, because here’s what I did

DUH moment!!!

Knitters Almanac from KnitPicks – check, Knitters Almanac from Amazon – check

See what I mean by my total DUH moment!!!!  Oh well, I have someone in mind that I would like to gift my extra copy to and I hope that she will like it (Elizabeth Zimmerman, what’s not to like!!!)

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