Knitting

Those were the days when my mind was working overtime and I had to cheat my mind to concentrate on something. I tried sewing, embroidery, quilting, reading etc... nothing could keep my mind off my unwanted thoughts. I needed something that I liked to do and it had to be completely new that it needed my 100% concentration. What better thing than knitting! I had always wanted to learn to knit; I did not know how to knit and it would need my full concentration to master the technique.

I looked up my handicrafts books and hobby books at home... then tried a couple of youtube videos. I could not learn much. In fact V watched those videos and taught me how to cast on stitches onto the needle. But we hit a blank wall when we wanted to do knit and purl stitches. A quick trip to the library... and lo! I found the perfect CD that had the basic tutorial for knitting and it had a beginner's project as well: dishcloth. I do not remember the exact name of CD and name of the instructor. But she is the best! If I could learn then anyone can!

I made a dishcloth starting with 5 stitches cast onto the needles and kept increasing one stitch a row till I reached 50 and then decreased it back to 5 stitches one stitch per row. It was continuous knit or garter stitch as it is called in Knitting lingo (I think). Initially it took me a whole afternoon to do a dish cloth or may be longer.

I added a yoyo flower and embroidered a stem and leaves. Now I use this as a mug rug! :)

I love the way it turned out. I made another one for V. :)

Knotty Tidbits: 14

Title: Half Moon Bay

Sound of waves at a distance...

Warm sand under the bare feet...

Sun saving us from the chilly winds...

With a favorite novel in hand and my beloved by my side...

What more could I ask for? :)

It was a hazy and windy day at the beach. 

Was I able to play in the water at the beach? No. 

But did I miss it? Not at all! :)

Paseo Padre & yellow flowers

I love the drive to office via Paseo Padre... Until a couple of weeks back, the landscape was full of bright yellow flowers.... spread as far as the eye can see... How I wished to walk by them!

One fine day we did walk by them... Little desires in life... and how happy the soul feels when they get fulfilled... the heart jumps with joy and lives in the state of ecstasy!

Those three houses reminded me of us, three sisters! Strange how our mind finds connections! This below picture is from the Patterson Ranch road.

I love those yellow flowers... May be they are mustard flowers. I am not sure though!

But within weeks the whole farmland was ploughed and they were gone! But I will wait for this time next year to enjoy them again! :-)

Knotty Tidbits: 13

Title: Subaru Outback

Since childhood our family traveled in Jeeps (cars that are designed for use on rough terrain). The first time I had to travel in a car like Maruti or Ambassador, I bumped my head onto the roof of the car. I hate getting into such cars. They seem so tiny and with their doors, I found them very suffocating. When I think of owning a car, I always imagine myself climb up into the car rather than creep down into a car.

Whenever we go out on long drives, Vikram seems to count the number of Subaru Outback vehicles along the way. The purpose of this is to emphasize how many people who love nature or travel use this vehicle. Needless to say, he loves the model and dreams of buying it as our second car. I always use to say "No way!", just for the heck of it! :-)

When I was in the east coast away from V, one day I realized that I was looking out for Subaru Outbacks. It became kind of a habit. Oh God! How much I missed him! I am happy that those days are over! :-)

Daisies - Wall Hanging

Finally completed this wall hanging... This one had been hanging in my closet, half-finished for almost a year... As they say: "Every dog has its day", today's the day of this quilt! :-)

I appliquéd some daisies to squares of green fabric and assembled them together to form this colourful quilt.

I added some leaves as well...

        

The petals of some of the flowers are missing.. 

as though they have been eaten by caterpillar or bugs.. :-)

I love the way it has turned out.

Medical thrillers

I have never been able to read any thrillers related to medicine or with the killers inflicted pain on victims. When I read, I imagine and can even feel the pain when I read of physical torture. I cannot even bear to listen to someone explain medical ailments or accidents. This is one of the reasons why I cannot read Robin Cook novels. But I am surprised that I can read Patricia Cornwell novels. Why so? Even in her books, there is a lot of scenes where medical examiner performs postmortems. But I love reading her novels. I can read them back to back. May be because I like the character of Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Just finished reading her "All that remains" and now planning to read "Hornet's nest" 

Big thanks to my parents who encouraged me to read and I am very happy to enjoy reading. Keeps my mind off daily stress and uncertainties :) 

Woman's Power

This is the title of the novel that I read yesterday. It was written by Louisa May Alcott, one of my favorite writers. Why? Because her "Little Women" is my favorite. I read that novel during my childhood days. Probably it reminded me of us sisters. Anyway, so I read "Woman's Power". It is a story about a governess called "Jean Muir". It was an engrossing story but in the end the villain wins! Except for the ending I loved the story. But I hate bad endings and I cannot appreciate the journey of reading the novel if it has a wrong end!

:(

Art Ilaka

It's a place for people who like to express themselves through art. Ilaka means "place"

I love their ideas like the Ande Ka Fanda...

An illustration with message on an egg (wooden egg)...

Notebooks with colorful covers...

Lots of works of art including one in support of the "One Billion Rising" Campaign

You can view more in their facebook page.

Just this week, an article about Art Ilaka got published in Hans India. Check it out here.

I am so proud of them! Congratulations and wish many more accolades keep coming your way! :)