A simple bread cloth

I was out of town on a trip for last one week and now I am back and free. So I thought a small quick project would help me unwind. Well, I had made a bread cloth about two years back in filet crochet with a shell trim. The Filet pattern was from some free online site though I do not remember the name. I trimmed it with a shell egding. All worked in size 8 crochet. It was quite a handy piece of crochet and was used extensively with the result that it has discolored into this:

I was thinking of replacing it for some time. I had one ball of 4-ply cotton (received in the RAOK), but as I have never used crocheted dishcloths, I thought it would make a nice replacement. so, a quick granny square later, here is the result.

I know, I know, it's too simple and bland, but I am just warming up after a few weeks of no knitting and crochet. Hopefully, I will be making some more interesting pieces in the near future. But for now, simple functionality is my theme.

Ravelry's RAK (Random acts of kindness) group

The RAK group at Ravelry is so great. As with RAKs, everyone posts their wishlists and then tries to fulfill others' those wishes that they can. So you send out stuff randomly and receive things randomly as well.

Things I have received: Over the past two months, I have received many things that I had wished for. First, Serife from UK sent me this lovely skein.

Then I got this yarn winder, some babysoft yarn and great tasting chocolate from zinzia from Belgium.

Then I had some great sock yarn sent by fey from USA.

Then came such a great collection of circular needles and some lovely fancy yarn oddballs from fubsy, UK.

Then only yesterday, I received these lovely beads and buttons from Bloreknitter, India.

Things I have sent:As I have been quite busy these few months, I could not send out as many gifts as I wished. However I did manage a few. Mostly I sent handmade items and postcards. I just sent out a pair of fingerless gloves today. I plan to do a few more RAKs by the end of this month, inshallah.

My new project bag

I sewed myself a bag today. My knitting and crochet WIPs needed it badly. As my little toddler grows, she can reach almost every nook and corner and it is no longer safe, for her as well as my projects to be out in the open. Also these WIPs added to the clutter in our living room and it was difficult to store them away. So inspired by the so called "sock bags" that I have seen and read about around the web, I made myself one. It is large enough for any project that I might be doing at the moment.

The Snowwoman cross-stitch at the front pocket was done by my penpal, Ulla from Sweden. I added some fabric and ribbons and made it into a pocket. The inside has a pocket with snap closure, for the ball of yarn. There are also two long narrow pockets for straight needles, one shorter narrow pocket for DPNs or crochet hook and another wider pocket for other necessary paraphernalia. I am very pleased with the way it has turned out.

Needless to say, it is already occupied and I may just have to make a few more to accomodate my ever-increasing number of projects.

Crocheted moccasin

I just did these over the past three days. These turned out great.I used two strands of DK acrylic yarn. It is a local Pakistani yarn, looks nice and sturdy. However as someone mentioned at crochetville, this pattern would look still better in suede. It is done entirely in sc with some sl st at the finish. I had to redo the first foot to get the fit exactly right but still I finished it in two evenings. That may also be due to the fact that I had been starving myself off knitting and crochet for the past few weeks.

This is a very easy and quick pattern in which the length of the slipper is personalized and adjusted according to your required size. So it works well for all adult sizes.

Get the pdf of pattern here.

While I was away...

I did not have time to do as much knitting and crochet as I would have liked over the past two months, however I did manage two FO's. The first one was a pair of fingerless gloves which turned out just ok but the yarn was some left over scrap and not so soft to touch. The pattern is a heavily modified version of some DROPS wrist warmers.
The second, I will mention in another post as I am still working on the pattern.

I'm back

I'm back after a break of about two months. I was not completely of the scene as I quite regulary visited ravelry and other sites but did not take on any major projects ( a child's sweater does not count as major, right) and concetrated on my household and studies. Now I have a small respite of few days, then I may have to study a little more, but I am going to catch up on things right now. Thank you to my readers who have hung around (I wonder how many of you are out there!!).

My comeback coincides with the arrival of spring so here I present to you a few colors and flowers of spring from our terrace.

This first one to blossom is jasmine which flowered in february when the days were still a bit cold.

I don't the names of these but do love the colors.

And the latest arrival was this pink rose which flowered just today on our littlest rosebush.

Taking some time off

As I probably mentioned in some previous post, I have some important affairs to attend to here at home which require my complete and undivided attention. So to keep my priorities straight, I have decided to throw in my hat, that is, lock up my yarn cupboard and keep off from any projects for the time being. So, though I might keep on visiting the net for a breather or two, You won't see any action from me on the craft front for the next THREE MONTHS. Hope you all are still here when I come back, inshallah (means, God willing). Best wishes for all!