Garden Update

The two LOADED apple trees in my garden are unfortunately diseased. Am working on a solution to save them.

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Pattern Info - Jaali Knitted Shawl Variations

'Jaali' is Hindi for 'mesh'. The word has various applications including architecture, textiles, utensils etc. The knitted version of Jaali was my first shawl design ever. At the time I had just started taking online classes. I decided to take these since I was not able to travel as much as I wanted for my crafty endeavours. Some famous designers had started giving online classes through their Ning networks and so it was the perfect opportunity for folks like me.

So at this time I had joined Design Your Own Shawl Class by Stefanie Japel. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and as a result, Jaali was born. From the get go, I wanted to give the knitter a choice of the shape of shawl they wanted to knit. As a result, the final pattern has details on how to knit the triangle, trapezoid and full-square versions. There is also a choice of the size of the shawl. One can knit the shawlette or full size. I ended up knitting both these versions for samples.

For more details on this pattern see below.

This is the full version of the shawl knit using Madelinetosh Tosh DK on fawn. This is such a great yarn to work with. The shawl was made as a wedding gift for my former director at my full-time job. She loved it a lot and even sent me pictures of her modelling it. I was so happy.

The second version I knit was a triangle shawlette using fingering weight yarn from Artist's Pallette yarns - Damsel Plus in DP1014 colorway. I completely fell in love with this yarn.

I was just getting started publishing my designs online when this one happened and so I had it tested. And lo and behold I was so awed by the projects from everyone that I wanted to show everything to the world. So here are some of my tester's projects. 

Shawlette version by ramblingroses (ravelry). Don't you just love the photography on these?

Triangle full shawls:

By Rufarocrafty (Ravelry)

By Jaishree (Ravelry)

By Axta (Ravelry)

Trapezoidal full shawl:

By MerryAmethyst (Ravelry)

Beaded Triangle full shawl:

By Cmuralidhara (Ravelry) - who is also the tech - editor for this pattern.

Pattern Details

Standard American Terms Used

Pattern has been tested and tech-edited

 

Published: April 2011

Suggested Yarns: The pattern can be used for any size yarn starting from fingering up to worsted. The size of the finished shawl/ shawlette will depend on no. of repeats made and size of yarn used

Needles: Use needles that give you desired drape and fabric

Gauge: Irrelevant

Styles Available: Shawlette(Triangle), Shawl(Triangle, Trapezoid, Full Square)

Pattern PDF: The pattern pdf has 6 pages including instructions, chart and schematics. It also contains pictures of each shawl shape worked in various yarn and needle sizes. For more information or questions please send me a message on ravelry or an email (given in pattern pdf).

Cost: $ 7.00 US

Pattern Availability:

Click on links below to visit the relevant store for purchase

DesiLoop | Craftsy | Ravelry | Patternfish | Etsy | NimbleStix

Pattern Info Snapshot 

 

Garden Update

The rescued money plant that almost died again. It's thriving now.

Dyeing Update

This is my third batch of dyeing yarn. I love them both.

 Yarn is prepped for dyeing

New colorway I am working on

 Sindoor (vermillion in Hindi) colorway

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Garden Update

Ginseng Bonsai from Ikea completely shed when I bought it home last year. I feared it had died, since there were no leaves for over 6 months. I guess patience pays. Now it lives near the kitchen window.

How to Sew a Quilted Ironing Board Cover

There comes a time in the life of an ironing board when it needs a new cover. For our board, the time came long back but I had been shying away from making a new one. However, since our clothes were getting the metal grid marks when pressing, I finally decided to give it a go. I tried searching for a simple way of doing it and found a lot of tutorials that used the older cover and simply made a new cloth cover. However, that wouldn't do it for us. For the frequency at which we have to iron our clothes, our board needed a lot of padding. Then I came across a quilted piecing tutorial which gave me an idea… why not make a quilted cover for my board. And so it began…

I used a vintage sheet, some cotton batting and some high loft batting to get some extra padding for my cover.
Step 1: I measured the ironing board at the longest and widest point, added about (2 to 4 inches to both measurements to make the final cover more roomy. My original one kept slipping off the board.)
With these measurements, I roughly cut rectangles from my fabric and both battings. Made a sandwich with the fabric on top, followed by cotton batting, followed by the high loft batting.

Step 2: Then I went ahead and quilted this sandwich with straight lines across top to bottom and left to write. Where I didn't have enough fabric to cover the batting, I added a patch (You will see it at the narrowest edge of the picture below.

Step 3: Then I put the original cover over this sandwich to check the size.

Checked it on the board skeleton to see if the cover will fit fine all around.

The quilting shifted the sandwich layers a bit so I went ahead and re cut the edges to have roughly 1.5 to 2 inches around.

Step 4: Next I needed a  casing for the elastic/ tie that would make the cover fit snugly. I didn't want to use the nicer fabrics I have in stash cause I already have a plan for them. So I decided to use as much of the original cover as I could. Luckily for me, the original cover's pattern had solid lines going on, so I cut strips using those.

Step 5: Then I joined these strips in the same way as joining strips for bias binding… place two strips right sides together, perpendicular to each other, and then sew a diagonal from the left top edge of the crossover, to the right bottom. Opened the strip to check the straight line and then trimmed the excess off. I joined three long strips and had just enough to go all around the cover sandwich.

Step 6: Attached the casing by folding over at the edges, sewed all around. Then folded the raw edges under the cover and used a zig zag stitch to attach it all around.

 Step 7: Measured elastic at the centre length of the ironing board, 3 inches short each side. Then put it through the casing with edges held together with safety pin temporarily. Put the cover on the board and then pulled the elastic taut. Knotted the ends. (This was me planning for a future where I would need to change the elastic. And voila… I had my new ironing board cover with extra padding!!!

Onto the next project then...

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Some recycling and Tasty endeavors

Off late, I have been trying to start recycling fabric from old clothing and linens, that I have been gathering from family and friends over time, to make some useful items. One of my first trial was trying to transform my dear friend's infant daughter's dress into a ruffled tote. I did not want to loose all the great features that the dress already had and at the same time, get a good shape for a tote. I think I did succeed in making something quite useful. In the process I also learnt quite a few things that I would like to do in a similar future project. Unfortunately, no pictures were taken during the process of transformation but I will be sure to take some during the next one. Here is the final outcome…

I think this turned out quite a cutie, but then again, I might be a bit biased ;) Nevertheless, this is going to be a present for my niece since it was her dress I used in the first place, and also, since this was one of my first project for recycling old clothing. I used a vintage sheet for the lining in this one and the shoulder straps from the original dress as cute little handles. More to come on similar projects.

While all the creative juices were flowing on the crafty side, I was craving for some Chipotle burrito/ bowls. This was one of the first places we ate in when we moved to US back in the day and since then, it has remained one of our favorites. However, we do not have a Chipotle nearby, now that we have moved. So I decided to take a stab at making my own version of the bowl/ burrito. It turned out awesome, so much so that, I ended up eating it two days in a row. Even my husband loved it.

The bowl was more of assembling the flavors together rather than involving a whole lot of cooking. Here is what I did:

• Boiled 1 cup rice and black beans each
• Cut a small tomato, onion, two avocados (we love 'em), coriander leaves/ cilantro, small to medium capsicum/ bell pepper
• Put everything together in a serving bowl, seasoned with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and cajun salt. Added some lime juice and a dollop of sour cream (optional)
• Mixed up everything to even out the seasoning and dived right in :)

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Shop Update and New Venture!

I have been busy all over lately so there have been no updates here, however, that doesn't mean I did not create anything all this while.

Here is my latest venture!

INTRODUCING DESILOOP HAND DYED YARNS
Yes, that is right. I already did some fabric dyeing back in India and thought, since I love knitting and crochet so much, why not try my hand at dyeing yarn. There will be a separate post on my initial experiments with food color in some weeks, but for now, I can't wait to show you my latest shop updates using professional grade acid dyes…
All of these yarns are now available to purchase through my etsy shop.

Here is some eye candy!

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Even More Tools

Kollage has moved their square needle manufacturing to USA. I love their new pointier tips. And when I saw they have collaborated on stitch red with Jimmy Beans Wool, I got DPNs in all available sizes.

More tools

I am loving my new Hamanaka double sided crochet hooks. They have great ergonomic triangular handles and fantastic pointy tips.

I got these from Stitch Diva studios in California, USA.