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Author Archives: Bessie V

African Flower Square Baby Blanket

14 Thursday Apr 2016

Posted by Bessie V in Crochet

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

African Flower Square, Crochet African Flower, Crochet African Flower Pattern, Crochet Baby Blankets, Flat Braid Joining

 

African flower Square baby blanket 3

I have just completed an African Flower Square Baby Blanket.

Right now I’m thrilled to bits at having completed something that I felt would not see the light of day. With a pattern that comprises of identical squares, I always get bored after a couple of squares. But this time, I did NOT want to give in. I was determined to see it through. And now its DONE!

Its also the first time I’m doing a joining method. For this blanket I used a Flat Braid Joining technique. And the border just comprises of 3 rows of chain links.

I LOVE IT! What do you think?

African Flower Square Baby Blanket 2
African Flower Square Baby Blanket 4
African Flower Square baby Blanket

 

New Blooms

10 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by Bessie V in Life In Kuwait, Nature

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Adenium, Gardenias, Jade Plant

20160410_124804

Spring has come and gone and summer is definitely out in full force! By 8:30 a.m, its already scorching hot.

I have a little garden in my office – potted plants; and today, I came to work and saw my gardenia have its first bloom of the year! I am so happy just watching it :). Showing it off to whoever comes near my window.

Got 3 more buds to flower on this little one.

20160410_124028

Gardenia

My Jade plant is also in its flowering stage and I should be seeing them bloom later this week or the next! Its 7 yrs old and this is the second year its flowering. I have a total of 3 of these clusters now.

20160410_124604-1

Jade Plant

The last flowering plant I have is the Adenium (Desert Rose), and that is still in its infancy. A slow growing one. Might take years to see it bloom! But just to give you an idea of what the flowers would look like, this is it :

20160410_123956

Adenium (the ones in the pots close to the window)

dina

If it ever blooms, this is how it would look.

But I’m content with what I have now! Be blessed and flourish, my little lovelies!

 

 

 

Skewing Granny Squares

08 Friday Apr 2016

Posted by Bessie V in Crochet Tips n Tricks

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Skewing Granny Squares

Here’s a tip I came across in my Ravelry group for those who have a problem with their crochet blocks going askew.

http://www.edieeckman.com/2015/08/13/skewing-grannies/

If you see the blocks of my Moogly CAL Afghan, especially the first, second and fourth squares, they don’t look like proper squares. The worst was the 2nd block of the CAL series :

20160128_070656-1

Block 2 : 3D Flower Granny Square (Attempt # 1)

20160209_142710-1

Block 2 : 3D Flower Granny Square (Attempt # 2)

Now when I look at both together, the second attempt looks even worse than the first.

I had been contemplating on making it again and so, decided to try out the tip in the link and see if it worked.

It didn’t for this block, unfortunately.

I think that is because my block isn’t a traditional granny square as per the instructions given in that link.

So I made some judgment calls and did other changes to my corners. If one round had “2sc-ch2-2sc”, the next round had 3 sc in the corners. I alternated this method for all the stripes round that is seen in my Attempt # 3 and also in the rounds thereafter.

Et voila !

20160408_130531-1

Block 2 : 3D Flower Granny Square    (Attempt # 3) 

TONS better, isn’t it?? I shall now replace the old picture with this new one for my Block 2  in the Ravelry group.

I am SO, SO pleased now!

But I shall still try out the method in the link whenever my project calls for a traditional granny pattern.

 

 

 

 

Block 7 – Moogly CAL 2016

03 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by Bessie V in Crochet

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Berry Stitch, CAL, Crochet Along, Cross Stitch, Felicity Square, Moogly CAL 2016

I love, love, love Block 7 of Moogly CAL 2016.

Such an interesting and fun square. And I learned 2 new stitches with this – The Berry stitch and the Cross Stitch.

Pattern is called Felicity Square by Carolyn Christmas at Pink Mambo.

Here’s mine –

20160403_062517-1

The Berry stitch is the one in Pink in the middle and the black around the edges. Hmm.. coincidence, because I’ve got a pinkberry and a blackberry row now 🙂

The Cross stitch is the White around the edges, below the black berry row.

I think its the prettiest one among the lot, so far.

I still haven’t checked out an alternate square. Didn’t get time because I am working on a baby blankie project that I will put up in another few days. I’m so proud of that one too and can’t wait to share what I’ve made 🙂

 

Block 6 – Moogly CAL 2016

27 Sunday Mar 2016

Posted by Bessie V in Crochet

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

CAL, Crochet Along, Moogly CAL 2016, Penelope's Skipping Stones

Block 6 of the Moogly CAL 2016 was a piece of cake. Finished it in an hour at the most!

Pattern is called Penelope’s Skipping Stones by Celia Lane at Simply Collectible Crochet.

And here it is with my color scheme –

20160327_090737-1[1]

I haven’t started working on an alternate one. Have to check out my Crochet Squares Board on Pinterest to see what catches my fancy. That block should be ready around the time the next Moogly Block debuts.

Happy Easter everyone!

 

Color Combinations

24 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by Bessie V in Crochet Tips n Tricks

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Color Combinations

I’m lousy with color combinations. My 11 yr old knows her colors better than me and every time she makes something with different colors, they always seem to complement each other. I have never seen her fretting over them. Maybe it isn’t very hard; but every time I try out something, I will always have a million doubts about the colors chosen and I am inclined to ask at least half a dozen people and some more, their opinions. And I still wouldn’t feel completely confident.

Here’s a website I came across that features a color combination sheet (if any of you face the same trouble I have) :

http://brightside.me/article/the-ultimate-color-combinations-cheat-sheet-92405/

The below graphics are taken from the site and they also have a description of these combinations. I shall refer to this from now on.

Color Combos 1Color Combos 2

 

Combinations of individual colors :

  • White: combines with everything, especially blue, red and black.
  • Beige: combines with blue, brown, emerald, black, red, white.
  • Gray: combines with fuchsia, red, violet, pink, blue.
  • Pink: combines with brown, white, mint green, olive, gray, turquoise, light blue.
  • Fuchsia (dark pink): combines with gray, yellow-brown, lime, mint green, brown.
  • Red: combines with yellow, white, green, blue, black.
  • Tomato-red: combines with cyan, mint green, sand, creamy-white, gray.
  • Cherry-red: combines with azure, gray, light-orange, sandy, pale-yellow, beige.
  • Raspberry-red: combines with white, black, damask rose.
  • Brown: combines with bright-cyan, cream, pink, fawn, green, beige.
  • Light-brown: combines with pale-yellow, cream-white, blue, green, purple, red.
  • Dark-brown: combines with lime-yellow, cyan, mint green, purple-pink, lime.
  • Reddish-brown: combines with pink, dark-brown, blue, green, purple.
  • Orange: combines with cyan, blue, lilac, violet, white, black.
  • Light-orange: combines with gray, brown, olive.
  • Dark-orange: combines with pale-yellow, olive, brown, cherry.
  • Yellow: combines with blue, lilac, light-cyan, violet, gray, black.
  • Lemon-yellow: combines with cherry-red, brown, blue, gray.
  • Pale-yellow: combines with fuchsia, gray, brown, shades of red, yellowish brown, blue, purple.
  • Golden yellow: combines with gray, brown, azure, red, black.
  • Olive: combines with orange, light-brown, brown.
  • Green: combines with golden-brown, orange, salad green, yellow, brown, gray, cream, black, creamy-white.
  • Salad green: combines with brown, yellowish-brown, fawn, gray, dark-blue, red, gray.
  • Turquoise: combines with fuchsia, cherry-red, yellow, brown, cream, dark-violet.
  • Electric colors: combines with golden-yellow, brown, light brown, gray, or silver.
  • Cyan: combines with red, gray, brown, orange, pink, white, yellow.
  • Dark-blue: combines with light-lilac, cyan, yellowish-green, brown, gray, pale-yellow, orange, green, red, white.
  • Lilac: combines with orange, pink, dark-violet, olive, gray, yellow, white.
  • Dark-violet: combines with golden-brown, pale-yellow, gray, turquoise, mint green, light-orange.
  • Black is a universal color — it looks elegant in any combination, especially with orange, pink, salad green, white, red, mauve, or yellow.

 

 

Block 5 – Moogly CAL 2016

11 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by Bessie V in Crochet

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

CAL, Crochet Along, Crochet Tristan Square, Moogly CAL 2016, Persephone's Garden at Night, Tristan Square

I’m done with my Block 5 of Moogly CAL 2016.

It was quite a trying little block. I must have done Round 9 of the pattern at least a dozen times before I had the good sense to check out the Tips n Tricks section of the group on Ravelry to find out exactly what I was doing wrong. And then got it right.

The block is Persephone’s Garden At Night by Rhondda Mol.

Here’s my block :

20160309_144045

 

The next square I included for my afghan is the Tristan Square (shares the same name as my 2 yr old). This square is a part of the Lovestruck Collection by Polly Plum – a group of 12 afghan blocks. I first thought the pair for this square would be named Isolde. But its not. Tristan’s pair is Yvaine. The colors that Polly used to make these 2 are absolutely dreamy!

Here’s the Tristan Square with my color scheme :

20160311_164911-1

I’m so pleased with it.

But my 11 yr old isn’t. No surprises there, eh?

 

 

Happy Women’s Day

08 Tuesday Mar 2016

Posted by Bessie V in Celebrations

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

International Women's Day

Happy Women's Day 2

 

HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY!

Summer Splendor Doily

04 Friday Mar 2016

Posted by Bessie V in Crochet

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Summer Splendor Doily, YarnArt Tulip

I had a couple of doilies lined up to make after the Mantilla Doily project.

Last week, while rummaging through my stash of yarn, I came across a set of 6 thread yarns that I had forgotten all about. The better half got it for me on one of his trips to Turkey at the time I had first started crocheting. I didn’t really know what sort of yarns were out there and what to get. So he got what he saw and this was one. Its the Tulip range by YarnArt. Color is Cream/Ivory shade – Number 402 in their list.

I decided to try it out for my next doily project – The Summer Splendor Doily.

And I’m in love with this thread!

20160304_180857

I think its quite the versatile yarn. Has a very satiny texture and shine to it and just slips and flows.

The best part is, the yarn makes every round of the project stay the way it should. Sort of like it blocks itself. Here is my completed doily and doesn’t it look like its blocked? Maybe not perfectly, but it still looks a damn sight better than my Mantilla Doily. I’ve used up one whole ball of this yarn with a very small amount left over and a 3.25 mm hook for this project.

20160304_174351

20160304_174919-1

 

I LOVE IT! Got 5 more balls left and need to check out other things to make.

Block 5 of Moogly CAL was out already yesterday; so gotta get started on that. And I’ve found another square pattern to include in this CAL blanket that’s named the same as my 2 year old 😀 How cool is that!

Will share them with you once I’ve made them.

I did a check to see if there were any squares named the same as my 11 yr old, but, couldn’t find any. I’ll keep lookin’..

 

Happy Leap Day!

29 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by Bessie V in Celebrations

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Happy Leap Day, Leap Day 2016, Leap Year 2016

Happy Leap Day to All!

This special day does need to be celebrated. So here’s to all you amazing people –

Champagne Glass Toast 1

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