Feather and Fan for a little princess.

We welcomed another bundle of joy this year in October, a niece.

Welcome to our world Avni!  We are a very loving, fun, fun loving and a little crazy bunch.  Suffice to say you are guaranteed an interesting life with an extended family like this one.  Wishing you health, happiness, love and dance!

This blanket has a slightly similar look as the one in my previous post, but this is knit and that was crochet.  A simple "Feather and Fan" pattern made a very beautiful baby blanket.  This has been in the works since the start of summer this year, tried a couple other patterns, frogged a million times till I fell in the rhythm of this pattern.



Blocked and ready for a photo shoot.






Evening sun brought out the color nicely.




The back looks neat too.  Reversible!



All set to go to Avni :)

 Update on 2/09/2014
Got this picture in the email :)

 

Welcome baby S

 

Pattern: Baby Boy Ripple Blanket from www.redheart.com

 

Sent this off to Bengaluru last month with a good friend who was visiting.  It is for my newest nephew, son of cousin D.

Down memory lane as I worked this blanket.  I must've been 5 or 6 years old.  We lived in a small house in Shimoga.  It is a bit of a blur now, but seemed like a lot was happening in Chickmagalur, my maternal grand mother's place.  One of my aunts/chikkamma (mother's younger sister) was expecting a baby.  Our grandfather passed away and 8 or 9 days later chikkamma gave birth to a baby boy, my cousin D.  Many years ago on this day, Sept 8th!  After the first three months (ಬಾಣಂತನ) at grandma's house , chikkamma came to Shimoga with the baby and I remember how thrilled we were when we learnt that he was to stay with us.  He was with us till he was 6-7 yrs old.  He became the fifth child of the house, even to this day our parents are "Shimoga Amma and Appaji" to not only him, but his little sister who came along a few years later.  It is like all six children ended up with two sets of parents!  How wonderful when families expand like that.  I had no sibling rivalry with my two older sisters and an older brother, but D more than made up for it :)
 

With a large extended family on both parent's side, Chikkamma was one of the very few working woman we saw growing up.  She was a role model to all of us sisters and cousins.  The old adage, “If you want something done, give it to the busiest person you know" always reminds me of her.  Organizing house work to suit her work schedule, she always managed to get everything done and how!  As soon as she returned from work,  she would pick up the broom to spruce up the house and then get to cooking, all with the same energy and still had the enthusiasm to entertain guests, which by the way, was all the time.  There was always someone or some family visiting her place or staying in the house with some work or the other in the big city Bengaluru.

Chikkamma had a way of complimenting that boosted a little girl's self esteem like none other.  Just the way she looked at you made you feel like you were the best thing the ever existed on this earth, such genuine affection.  All memories of special occasions include all of us sisters wearing sarees from her collection.  We have learnt a great deal from her, big things, little things, many things . . . how to wear a saree, the many uses of safety pins, great books to read, latest fashion etc. Timely advise has almost always come from her and chikkappaji in many of life's important decisions.

 

Chikkamma and Chikkappaji would visit us almost every weekend from Bengaluru. I remember vividly the feeling of anticipation as we heard the 6:00 AM train siren and eagerly waited for the sound of auto rickshaw stopping in front of the house.  Those happy moments are unforgettable: Amma making plans for what to cook, all of us relishing the food together, sharing household chores, going shopping with chikkamma and of course playing with the baby.  That baby now has a baby, who I think resembles D a lot.  I infer that from a few less-than-a-minute long videos and some pictures that I have seen over the course of last few months. I cannot wait to meet baby S and someday tell him stories about his father.  But for now, this blanket will have to do.  Welcome to our world Siddartha.  As it turns out, he is visiting Shimoga today and Amma and Appaji are getting to see their newest grandchild.

 

Sept 20th 2013 update!  D sent this picture.  It made for one super happy ಅತ್ತೆ (aunt) :)

 

 

 

 

jOLige, aka Farmer's Market Bag

 

For those of you that speak Kannada, you know what I mean by jOLige (ಜೋಳಿಗೆ)!  This was made a back in 2011 for M.  So glad to see that it is still heavily used.  It expands well to fit everything she throws in there, be it for a sleepover at a friend's house or a shopping trip.  The cotton yarn makes for a sturdy bag that shrinks back to its original size when it comes out of the dryer.  This easy pattern was available from the knitomatic website.  I crocheted another one of these last fall for a niece who loved it when she saw this picture.

 

 

 

Vail Mountain Wrap

This is from Naturally Caron Spa.  It is a unique pattern worked somewhat like the circular bicycle spikes and it mysteriously ends up being a square.  You join the squares as you go, so no joining remaining to do after the squares are done!  It was a little bit of a teaser to the brain initially but once the first square was figured out, it was enjoyable.  The yarn is so soft it was a pleasure to work with.  The wrap drapes well.

I made this for me last year!  A good dose of self love :)

A side story to share.  The girls were practicing for one of the group dances last year, and I would bring this in my hobby bag during their practice sessions.  I was making the center white circles at that time and a little girl, a sibling of one of S's friends was fascinated by them.  I gave a couple of them for her to play with which kept her entertained for the entire duration of the practice session.  I also stuck it to a couple of hair pins which made for an instant gift of hair pin accessories.  She loved it and it looked oh so adorable!

My Quilting Teacher

That would be my daughter M!  She attended an after-school sewing and quilting club in middle school, in 6th grade.  These are some of her works from that experience.  I was a proud mama when I had received an email from her teacher complimenting her abilities and wanting to know more about what other projects she might have worked on in the past and wondering where she gets the knack and interest from, whether she has already attended some classes etc.  I guess all those 'raw materials' around the house have a way of infusing interest in the young minds and easy access to things for practice certainly helps.  And then there is my mom to thank for the genes.

I find M's work neat and precise.  One summer, few years ago, the two of us worked on a quilted comforter together.  Will post that picture in another post, because there are more stories to be told along with that :)  No short cuts allowed while working with her.  Perfectionist of sorts.    She has a flair with these things and often I turn to her to fix mistakes in my knitting projects as well.

 

 

White Shawl

This is the same pattern that I mentioned in a prior post. Like I said there, I wanted to make one in white and I did, this time for Amma (my mother).

Appaji (my father) always wore 'kachche panche' (Dhoti) and 'jubba', in pure white cotton or off white silk.  These days, he wears only the other version, lungi.  Growing up we have watched and helped Amma in her routine of washing, rinsing in 'neeli', (Robin liquid blue), and drying his clothes in the sun and getting them ironed making sure he had clean, crisp and pure white clothes always ready.  I was imagining the two of them together, Appaji in his pristine white attire along with Amma draped in this shawl next to him!  I wish I acted on this thought and got a picture of them like that when I visited them recently.  They don't get out much these days and neither are the winters long or cold where they live, so this might just lay neatly folded in the Godrej bureau in their room.  But I wanted to bring this to her nevertheless.  To me, like my younger daughter says, it is like keeping a piece of me with my mother.

I am grateful that I was able to spend a couple of weeks with my parents, at their pace.  Despite the stream of frequent phone calls, I look forward to these visits once every 1.5 to 2 years.