The 4 Cs....What's Common: Composing .. Crochet..Computers..

Hello dear reader,
I was busy designing and pattern writing, and in the process I was using the words "treble" "repeat" and so on ..In the portals of these words I could pick  so many similar threads running  between  music, computer programming and crocheting.
As a music teacher, who graduated from Trinity College of Music London I enjoy   music notation and the associated joy of appreciation, writing and composing using music, using music  notation. Just the word Treble rings a melody in my ears  in both crochet and pianoforte music....the treble clef signifies the key signature for those notes that lie on the treble, whilst it is also a much used name of a crochet stitch.   The UK treble crochet notation is the same as US double crochet notation. Within the comfort of these words in bliss I rest!!
Presenting to you,  two of my handmade creations..the treble and the  keyboard ornament. They are both very  meaningful to me.
Knowing both UK and US terms is  helpful to  relate with every reader who may follow one of these notations. Music notation  is written in the Carnatic and the Western Notes. Although I do not have a formal degree in Carnatic music, I find parallels there too. It is all so amazing to me.
What I call as notations is  referred to as terminologies.
The inspiration stage, design and production stage are almost similar to music composition and computer programming, both of which I am experienced to different levels.   Hope you enjoy my piano keyboard pictures, and my ornaments too. As within a composing framework I have to compute the value of notes within each bar, so also do I compute the number of stitches and the orchestration of the texture and meaning of each thread in synchronization with the theme.

This is a page from my music book that I had as a 12 year old. Forms the perfect background for my ornaments in treble.

As an end note I am enjoying new designs patterning and testing, akin to composing new music and writing new computer applications. 

Bye now until we meet again

Lots of love

Shanti

About Gold thread and acrylic yarn

Caron Simply Soft is aptly named, and is really soft to my liking. The one here is autumn red and is 100% acrylic, machine washable and dryable. Ideal hook size that can be used is size 5 mm H-8 US. This is made in USA with imported fibers.
The Red Heart Fashion Crochet thread is 93% mercerized cotton and 7% metallic.
The ideal size hook to be used is 3.25mm and size D-3 US.
Can be machine washed with a gentle cycle with warm water with no bleach and to be rinsed well and rolled in towel and blocked. The thread is Gold and is made in India.
The best cotton in my experience are those manufactured in India.
Hope you enjoyed this little know how on yarn...
Lots of love
Shanti

Yarn table organizer...

Have you ever wondered what to do with your yarn labels? I do keep some of them to remember the details of the yarn.. Here is an empty oats carton that I converted to a label organizer and pattern holder. Simply used mod podge and some gloss and there it is..to hold miscellaneous things for your creative desk.
Until next time
Lots of love
Shanti

Wearable Rose Art

I love roses. Handmaking roses  into wearable art  fills me with  such joy, particularly as each petal unfolds in my hands. 

 

I can almost sense their fragrance when I process and handmake these roses and my heart overflows with praise. Over the years I have experienced different colors and types of roses and some of which has been captured into my creations here.

 

No two pieces are the same. There are no paints or molds used in my creations.

 

Each petal is processed and shaped individually, that lends itself to natural formations.

I love the silver and gold and pearl embelishments and which bring a variance to the pieces.

They are aboslutely fight and easy on the ear and neck too.

Wearing roses on the ears, neck and wrists is akin taking the rose garden and its awesome freshness and fragnance around. The romance of a rose never fades. Pink roses remind me of weddings in South India where a rose garland is an important part of the wedding attire, for the bride and groom and the aroma of roses remind one and all of weddings and the associated cheer!!

 

Roses are red is a phrase we hear often but so far I have made roses in shades of white, pink, yellow, lavemder and even in green. Each is pretty in its own way.

more roses...

 

roses for the wrist...a bracelet I made with my handmade roses with a few pearls and rough cut jade added.

These bracelets are from the bridal collection that I designed and made.

 

 



Hope you enjoyed touring this little rose garden !!

Until next time as usual..leaving you with lots of love
Shanti

Yo yo doily

Here's a doily I made from scraps of new fabric left overs of my quilting work.

 

It is a quick and easy project, and the materials needed are here in this picture...

 

The clover yo yo maker is a very helpful tool. These are the colorful fabrics I used.

The yo yo in progress...

The template enables cutting to size and hemming made comfortable. I normally make my own templates, and this is reuabale and handy to carry too.

 

I love these little puffy fabrics ..each rectangle when gathered together and puffed looks so cute and inside that little puff there is a story that it brings. The tissue brown fabric yo yo for instance is from an oriental and eastern fabric, after sewing a choli for a saree. You can look up google to learn more about a saree. 

Made a centrepiece with a magic circle and 3 chains to count as one dc and 15 dcs worked into the circle and joined with a slip stitch to make a circular disc. I joined the petal puffs to the centre piece and the edge of the petals were joined using 20 chains, and two rows of DCs worked all around.

 

This is a great stash buster and can be a great memory board piece that can hold yo yos from all memorable children's clothing as well. My grandmother's needlework basket used to be full of these and I was really awed by these little puffy yoyos when I was a child, and so I do treasure this piece!! 

Hope you liked this and until next time

lots of love

Shanti.

Pet Pal figurines

We all love pets, and they become part of our family.
I hold cherished memories over the years with so many of my pet pals. ....Nancy the German Shepherd, who was sooooo protective over me that she would pounce on anyone who would talk gesturing a little too much!! Doma the tibetian Llasa abso.. the black furry cute one whom we bought on the slopes of the Darjeeling, and who was such a darling. She missed mom mom so much during a brief time when she had gone on a visit out of town, and Doma refused to eat and she died.
Jolly the pomerarian who was forever jolly, Max the chocolate brown dashund who was so cute and has such short legs that he looked as if he was crawling around,  Dicky the country one who guarded the house so well. I can go on and on...about the bassset hound breed the labs called Ebony and Ivory..a black and an ivory coloures one named after the Beatles song Ebony and Ivory.

Sharing this one I made for my friend from a picture of her pal, Daisy, who had spent many many years with them. Pet pals can be made from pictures of the pal.

Until we meet again

Lots of Love

Shanti

A full view and pattern for the broomstick lace scarf

Hello friends.. Here you see the scarf I designed and created. You can try the same by following this process.
Materials:
You will need a ball of simply soft yarn that has a sheen or any other .. Yarn with rough texture is a little difficult though it can be worked with a little bit of tugging.

Start with a chain in multiples of 5 plus 3 chain for the turning DC. DC into all chains.
do not turn work.
and using a large knitting needle cast on the needle by pulling a loop through each chain left to right.
Continue rows till you reach your desired length. Youtube has lots of tutorials on broomstick crochet.
Edge with scallop shells or tassels of any kind.
Bye now and till we meet again...
Lots of love
Shanti

Rose pendant and ear drops

Just made this ear drops and rose focal pendant .. Fully handmade with no paints or molds used.
Lots of love until next time.
Shanti

Broomstick lace baby set

This is a gift set I made for a baby shower, and handmade the buttons as well. The recipient simply loved it a lot.
Wanted to share that with you as well.
I used Bernat baby coordinates, in baby pink. I worked in continuous rounds of broomstick lace. Another post here has my explanation and method .. Search for broomstick and you will get it.
Hope you enjoy this one. Your responses and comments will help me determine which of my creations I have to write the pattern for... And so please do comment!!
Until we meet again.. Lots of love as always
Shanti

 

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Circular baby blanket

Just completed and the first of its kind where I combined hairpin lace broomstick lace in circular weave and love knots.
The yarn is Bernat baby coordinates lime green. Here are the pictures and until we meet again lots of love.
Shanti

For a easy to understand hairpin lace shawl tutorial and pattern click here 

My biggest and smallest

Here are my largest and smallest hooks.
Crochet hooks are made in bone, wood, and plastic and metal. Some are crafted with hooks on either side just as a pencil that I had as a child that had red on one end and blue on the other!!
Some are made now with batteries that light up the tip that enable us to weave when it is dark and or throw more light ..
My hooks are very simple. They are metal and some are plastic. I have handcrafted and embellished some with my own handles that are my own signature designs. The smallest I own is a 1.65 mm and the largest is a 19mm. Both of them are Boye brand of hooks. The 1.65 mm is metal while the 19 mm is plastic and made in India. I have a special place for my hooks in my heart.
I love my hooks!!!!
Hope you are enjoying your week. Stay blessed and until next time
Lots of love to you.
Shanti

A circular baby blanket

This is my work in process. Still have many more rows to go. This is a design again that I created, and is a first. I have used hairpin weaving technique at the center followed by circular broomstick with an intermediary row of sc and DC. The most pretty part is the frilly lace love knots. Row after row the Solomon or the love knots form such a delicate blanket.
Hope to finish this soon.
Lots of love to you in the meantime.
Many blessings
Shanti

What a simple hairpin can do!!

Have always been in awe of what simple things can create with the fingers wrapped around it.
Here is my hairpin that I used for my hair, that I pulled apart just enough to give me the breadth of the hairpin lace bookmark that I had designed to make.
Any hairpin loom or prong would be too large for me for making a bookmark, and this was my own self made loom so very tiny.
Then I started working gimps the length desired, with a pretty cotton thread. The colors were so vibrant. I used size 1.65 mm hook for gathering the loops to create these bookmarks.
They are so wafer thin and yet look so full and layered and with a 3 d effect creating an illusion of depth.
 Enjoy the instructions in pictures. Leave a comment for me ..I love to hear from all my visitors and friends.
Did you know that my name "Shanti" means "Peace" just as in "Shalom"?
So until next time,
Lots of love
Shanti

The ball of fine cotton thread..and my hairpin. Wrapping the thread around..

Building up more length for the bookmark..

The gimp has been removed from the hairpin after the required length has been reached.

Gathering the loops and making the bookmark...the completed bookmark is below.

Click on any YouTube to understand working a hairpin lace strip. Gather four loops on either side with four sc all around then add tassel. Use thin thread.