New Ventures

It has been more than a month since I updated the blog. It has been tiresomely hectic. In addition to the mundane affairs of domestic life, the summer has arrived with quite a literal bang. We are having a few problems. These problems are not unfamiliar to my compatriots, and the old readers of this blog must also be familiar with electricity load shedding . It has been the norm for the last many years and worsens during the hot weather. The new twist to this old demon, this year, has been power surges or sudden fluctuations in voltage, which have fried a number of electric appliances at our home, over the last week. Our computer and modem have had to be fixed twice in this time period, and a fan and couple of lights have required replacements. In addition to this bewildering state of affairs, is a long-going water crisis. Islamabad has been in the grips of this poorly-managed water shortage for a couple of years now. This too, has worsened with the rising temperature.

All these day-to-day stresses tend to cloud one's creativity, as one figures out a triage of washing, cleaning, cooking and laundry with the limited water, and keeps an eye out for any unusual electrical activity. Alhamdolillah ala kulli haal.

Needless to say, it is still too hot for knitting my cardigan and I find myself little inclined to start some lighter fibre project. Instead, I have been exploring some new ventures.

I have been trying my hand at handlettering. I have wanted to do this  (as well as some water color practice) for a long time and finally started last month. I have been posting some of it on my instagram.

The other thing I really went into, was jewelry-making. It has been so much fun and I made so many earrings and bracelets. Even my kids joined in the circus hobby.  I have bought some new supplies and still have many ideas to try. I will probably get a few Eid gifts out of these.

And as if beads and wire were not enough, I tried some resin craft as well. And made a load of fridge magnets. This too is very addictive and I am afraid our fridge is going to run out of display space soon. I am thinking of doing a couple with buttons, as well.

Then, it is the time of the year when I sew Eid dresses for my girls. I have started on them and hope to get a major portion done before Ramadan, inshaAllah

So you can see how our summer problems have had an adverse ( or is it perverse ? ) effect on me and spurred me onto newer crafts. 

Eid Dresses

Here is the promised post about the Eid dresses I made for the girls. It took a few days to get cool and dry enough weather to get a photo shoot. The fabric for all three dresses was the same, though I used only two color schemes. (Could not find a nice enough color for the youngest, so used the same color scheme for her as the oldest). Fabrics are diamante chiffon for the tops and dupattas and jamavar for the bottoms. And gota trim on the shirts (kameez).

For the younger two, I sewed Kameez with shalwar/straight pants.

Now for the interesting part, and the star of my sewing _ the gharara. My nine year-old has recently developed in traditional flouncy pieces, so I offered to sew her a gharara. Gharara is a traditional dress of the Muslim women of the indian subcontinent. Although no longer part of our day-to-day wear, it is one of the staples at weddings and makes a fashion come-back every now and then, with a modern twist. This year happens to be one of those years.

It is essentially a pair of extremely flared pants, the lower part of which is cut on bias and gathered at the knees. The seam at the knee is adroned with some trim or embellishment. It is worn with a short (and sometimes long shirt and a dupatta/stole). Its construction is quite complex and tricky. At least it was for me, as it was my debut attempt. The slippery fabric made it all the more challenging. And I had no idea how much yardage I would need. All things considering, it turned out quite satisfactory. 

My daughter had a great time wearing it, so it was all worth it. She still wants a ready-to-wear lehnga (traditional flared maxi skirt) for the next Eid. (Losing interest in your mom's handmade stuff has to be the first sign of growing up, I had to bribe her with a matching hand-sewn clutch).

In knitting news, I am just starting on the sleeves of the July sweater and hope to get it finished soon.

Eid Sewing

 

 The only sewing project I did this Eid was a dress for my eldest daughter. She wanted something fancy, with glitters, sheer material and whatnot.

  She chose the style herself while I got to pick the materials. The sewing itself was pretty straight forward. A simple bodice out of sequined fabric and a full skirt made of tulle panels with a lining. The bodice is lined too. The brown ribbon at the waist brought everything together.

 

 Needless to say, she loves wearing it.  And I love that twirl.

Eid Mubarak

Wishing you all a happy, peaceful and all-around wonderful Eid!

Life After Eid

Ramadan passed too quickly and we deeply miss all its wonderful routines and busyness. Eid is over too, and life is slowly returning to its mundane routine. It is hard not to experience a dip in our energy and mood, as the holiday comes to an end. However, life suddenly seems a lot less hectic. That is good news, as I can now make time for some back-to-school preparations. (Schools open here in second week of August.)
  On the knitting front, I did finish the linen st top and will blog about it in the next post. A couple of smaller craft projects are also coming up, soon.

Red Hat and Eid Mubarak

Here is a hat to go with the red coat I recently completed for my daughter. It was a breeze to knit though I procrastinated with the photo shoot. The design is my own quick version of a beret with an two-buttoned overlapping band to match the coat.
   We have Eid al-Adha today. It will start with Eid prayers, folliwed by sacrifice and distribution of meat and three days of celebration. Eid Mubarak!

Eid Mubarak

We celebrated Eid on Monday after a 30-day Ramadan. This year's Eid was very peaceful and relaxed, the weather being too humid to do much except lounge under the fan and eat and chat.
The kids did a bit of craft for Eid.

Then there was the customary mehndi (henna)....

...and bangles...

...and lots of simple fun.

Today is the third day of Eid and we had some rain and the weather has turned quite pleasant. We are making up the most of last day of the Eid holidays.

Eid Mubarak

We had Eid yesterday. I have a mild respiratory infection these days so we turned in early on chaand raat (eve of Eid).However kids got to have their mehndi (henna tattoos).The automobile theme went strong for the second year in a row.

Eid day started early. It was a hot day (or maybe it was my febrile state).

After Eid prayers, we went visiting family and then had visitors in the evening. The festivities lasting late into the night. Kids had a good time playing and getting gifts and eidee (cash gifts).
I got my turn with henna last night.

We are taking it easy, resting off fatigue. And we are having some rain too, which cools off the temperature!
Hope everyone had a nice Eid!

Eid and More

For me relaxation comes in the form of knitting and I worked some on my new cast-ons. The first one is a wimple/smoke ring I am knitting for myself. It is a nice, easy lace pattern

without being too lacy. So I am hoping it will serve as a good inhouse headcovering.

The second one is going to be a glitzy pullover for my daughter. My own design of course. I have had some Moda Dea Tutu in my stash. It is shiny and it is pink, so what better use for it than a little girl's sweater.

Eid Mubarak

Eid as always started with chand raat (the eve of Eid). Moon was sighted early in the evening so we could get busy with our henna and bangles.

For once the kids were excited about their bedtime as it mean time for henna, LOL. As you can see, car was a popular theme with them.

My henna design flopped this year as I was unoriginal and tried to copy a pattern out of our living room rug onto my hand.

The Eid day started bright and early with the father-son duo going for Eid prayers.

And after that we were ready to receive and visit family and friends.

The kids had a happy and fun-filled Eid, going to bed exhausted around midnight. And we still have two more days of the same! Hope everyone had a wonderful time!

Baby Pants

Here is the pair of baby pant to go with the BSJ I knit earlier. Though a very simple pattern to knit, I managed to fumble up the directions and had to frog almost half of it.

With this, my Eid knitting for this year comes to an end. Now on to Eid cooking and cleaning.

Baby Surprise Jacket II : Pastels

Eid is just round the corner and I decided to knit some baby stuff as an Eid gift for BIL's baby boy. Baby Surprise Jacket (ravelry link) seemed to be the most ideal choice. I had knit one last year so it went faster and smoother this time. I decided to use all subdued tones. I used DK baby soft Bambino (a local acrylic brand) leftovers and 4mm needles.

The modifications I did were to turn the jacket inside out, so that instead of distinct stripes , I got blended colors. Secondly, I added a I-cord edging ( I just love the I-cord edging) to the jacket. All in all it turned out really well and it is better sized than my first BSJ.
I am a little rushed for time here, but if possible, I will try to knit white trousers to go with it, inshaAllah!

Afghan Squares Bag

I had made a couple of afghan squares last year with no particular project in mind. I might have considered an afghan but did not have enough yarn or commitment. These were just lying there in my knitting closet until I started thinking of gift ideas for Eid. That is when I thought of making them into a bag. I crocheted in round to make one-piece bottom, gussets and handle. Also added a button closure and lining.

I gave it to my 11-year old niece yesterday and she was very happy with it. This encourages me to work on my other ongoing gift project... yes for cousins' baby. I have finished the jumpsuit and started the hat. I will post them together when the hat is done.

Eid Mubarak!

Here in Pakistan, we celebrated Eid yesterday. Eid came upon us in a sudden, dramatic manner when Pakistan's moon-sighting authority announced the sighting of Eid moon at around 10:45 pm, after intial reports to the contrary. So, we who were mentally prepared for a 30-day Ramadan, were suddenly thurst into Chand Raat (night of the moon). We were up till 2 am with the Eid preparations. I put some henna design on my hand.

Eid was/is great fun. After the Eid prayer, morning was spent doing the Eid cooking etc,while the rest of the day was spent in visiting relatives and wishing friends and family a happy Eid. Kids had a wonderful time. They got a lot of toys and eidee (money) and spent the day playing and having fun. They got two additional sets of Eid clothes from their grandmas, (so my daughter got to wore these, she will wear the ones I made for her today,inshaAllah).

Eid Clothes-- Done

The Eid clothes that I had been sewing for my kids are all done. I made two outfits for my daughter and one for my son.

My son's Shalwar Kameez is relatively simple. I did a bit of fabric painting around the neckline as I was short of time for any embroidery. The flower pattern is of my son's choice, as is the little chick button :)

I already posted the first outfit for dd. I made a little dupatta(stole) to go with it.

The second outfit is a ghagra (skirt) with a small shirt. This is also done in bright, festive fabric used for weddings and such. The embelishment is very traditional gotta work. I made a little dupatta to go with this as well.

Eid Preparations

I am so busy and so tired these days. It is not because of the fasting but rather due to an excessive load of self-imposed chores. All these preparations for the Eid and the wedding later on, is wearing me down.
Next year, no handmade gift items unless those are done before Ramadan, inshaAllah. I have to do a few craft gift projects for my in-laws. Plus, seeing the baby surprise jacket lying around, I decided to make a jumpsuit as well and gift both to the newborn baby after all. (I may have to knit a cap as well, to round off the gift). Also, I decided to sew traditional Eid clothes for my kids. All this on top of the routine household jobs. Usually I enjoy all these activities, but for some reason my stamina is not up to the mark this year.
With all this, my February sweater is progressing at a very slow rate. I did finish my daughter's Eid dress today:

It is the tradtional Kameez(shirt) and Shalwar (pants). The embellishment on the shirt is taken from one of my wedding clothes and sewn onto the fabric in applique-fashion. I might make a small dupatta (stole) for my 2-year-old to acccompany this. With this will be matching bangles and mehndi (henna) for my little princess:), inshaAllah!
Next on my sewing table is a Kameez Shalwar for my son and then an outfit for my daughter for the upcoming wedding.

For My Mom

Although I have been quite late in jumping on the bandwagon, I did at last cast on for the February Lady Sweater. I am knitting this for my mom. The yarn is Lion Brand Wool-Ease. So far, I have done the yoke and am just starting the lace portion. My modifications so far have been knitting the yoke in st st rather than garter, after the intial garter st border. Also I knit the eyelet row and the 2 adjacent rows in garter. I decided on st st because I was worried about the yardage (I have five balls at 180m/ball).

I have decided to go slow this time, because there is so much work for me right now. I have a lot of Eid preparations as well. Next year, I will try to do all these chores before the start of Ramadan, InshAllah, so I can concentrate on the fasts and their Ibada aspect. As it is, the material jobs take so much time and energy, there is very little left for the spiritual part.