Yesterday we went to see a play in Berkeley, The Rickshawgirl. I know the writer Mitali Perkins as her parents are also Bengali speaking and our friends. I was very proud to see what a wonderful story Mitali has written about a girl and her family in Bangladesh, the rickshaw puller's family. There are many things in this story, but a most importantly, a message of hope.
The play was superb too and Sonali Bhattacharya's live song with the live music gave it a different dimension.
Mitali Perkins, the author will be present to sign the book next Sunday.
There are many organizations perhaps that are supporting women's endeavor to be self supporting, especially in underdeveloped nations. Two of them I really like.
KIVA foundation where you can loan money to a needy person . See how it works.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
Bead Peep Blog Hop 2016
What fun I had in this Beed Peep blog hop!
On this lovely Sunday morning, today ( May 8) I opened my package one more time that my partner Andrea Glick sent me. There were lots of lovely things, but for today I am choosing the lovely hand made lamp work focal ( by Marcia Seever of Shazazz Glass) to work with.
Andrea sent me lots of these lovely things. Sorry this picture did not do much justice. I'll show later the pieces I chose for today's project. In Andrea's stack there were some cool Greek beads and lovely pink swarovski, rose quartz and czech glass rondelles that I plan to attack soon another quiet morning.
This was a great opportunity to ask myself what I love most in making jewelry. And I found that in terms of colors, I like them all. I have no particular color that I absolutely hate. It depends on the shade sometimes. For that reason I love to work with Polymer clay where I mix different colors and experiment. I am just beginning to understand the importance of negative space regarding colors and design.
I work with wire a lot and wish I had more time to play with that technique.
I also work in the area of wire knitting and that comes easy for me. I integrate gemstones, crystals, precious metals or not-so-precious all to experiment.
Some times I like just good old stringing and today I am in the mood for that. Nothing complicated just let the lamp bead say what it wants to...
Handmade Lamp Bead
and I chose the the hemalite, (not hematite) string of beads. To accent, I added red and white accent tube beads from her stash. Here is a necklace that I came up.
I think I am going to keep it for me. It will go lovely with many things I wear. I could not resist showing off the sterling silver clasp she sent. I am not sure if Andrea made it herself. It is just darling. Thank you Andrea. So I put it at the side. The necklace is 24 inches in length. I could just slip it over my head and not bother opening the clasp. It is just for show!
Andrea sent me some nice pink swarovski and jet black beads from Greece but for today I chose these.
This is what I sent to Andrea:
Please check the other wonderful participants of this blog hop and see what they made.
Here is the list of the other participants:
It was fun for me taking part in it. Thank you Linda Anderson for hosting it.
I went back to wire weaving again. It is so addictive. This is my new passion now. I go back and forth with making wire knit jewelry, then polymer clay and there is wire weaving, always wire weaving.
The month of January kept me warm with this wonderful knitting pattern that I got from Ravelry. It was a FREE pattern. Meghan Jones was very generous to post this pattern free and give me all the help I needed via Face Book messages. You will find this pattern in that link.
I had a resolution this year that each month I'd learn something new. Indeed I did.
I had no idea what wt. means in knitting- it means wrap and turn. It is also called SHORT ROW. If you don't know what I am talking about , just type wt in knitting and go to Youtube. There are several generous knitters who would walk you through.
And why would I do that wt thing? This pattern showed me why. In the beginning it was difficult for me to understand the pattern since I had never done any thing like this. Kitchener stitch was also a new thing for me. But once I grabbed the idea the knitting went fast.
I had to knit a sweater for my dear Zoe for her birthday and each year she expects something hand knitted from me. One year I just sent her toys...she told me "But where is the hand knit sweater you make every birthday for me?" That was so sweet. The love I put in each stitch touched the six year old recipient. What can a knitter ask for more?
To get a hold of the pattern first I tried it on her little sister as it is only a size 2 . Meghan made it clear for several sizes in this pattern, so when I did the size 8 I had already had some experience.
I made the buttons too to personalize them. I am indebted to Ginger from The Blue Bottle Tree who has a wonderful blog on everything you want to know about Polymer Clay. She walked me through creating the buttons and gave me enough courage telling which brand of clay to use that will withstand several washing machine agitations. But I recommend that these cardigans be better hand washed.
I used Knitpicks Chroma Worsted Yarn for these pieces. The smaller one is in Lupine and the bigger one in Carnival. I am happy with the yarns though sometimes the weave of the yarn is too thick at one place and not as uniform. But I think that gives an organic feel to it as long as you are aware of the fact while knitting.
Two sweaters in a month is pretty good speed I'd say.
Thank you for coming to visit my blog. I'd love to hear your comments.
Today I understood the Kitchener stitch. It is a way to join two knitted pieces, also known as grafting. Why is it important - because it will be smooth with no bulk. It is a neat thing that good knitters do to give their work a professional touch.
It was mostly used in joining the toes of a sock but now it is equally coveted in sweaters, cardigan or other knitted garments.
I had a pattern that is almost finished except this Kitchener stitch part and I was really struggling to understand it for the last three days.
It is supposed to be a gift. I have rigid deadline.
And...finally I did it.
For that I am grateful to many knitters who have graciously shared their knowledge and expertise in the Youtube. One that helped me:
In this second one I understood the rhythm better.
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I understood it more clearly as she showed the process with a better rhythm. Pick up the front stitch as if to knit, let go off the stitch, but not the thread, immediately go to the next stitch of the same needle as to purl. This the part I was messing up and this video helped me sort it out.
Where did the name come from I wondered. Strangely, folk lore goes that an English guy who was a Field Marshall General around World War I, also served in India from 1902- 1909 for recruiting soldires to go fight for the WWI showed the English and American knitters how to graft the socks' end so that the bulge would not hurt the toes. The soldiers' toes I believe. Lots of socks were knitted for the soldiers I assume. This is how the name of this military guy came in to our knitting world.
Any way I am happy to show that my two knitted piece are now grafted with Kitchener stich in such a way that no one will know where the grafting was made. See the first picture with contrasting purple yarn is where I showed the grafting
And here is my second one where I hide it by using the same color yarn
Now I am ready to finish the sweater for my darling little one.
Friday, January 1, 2016
2016 and the Pantone Color Trend
Happy New Year
A new year rolled in and in a blink of eye 2015 passed away.
Today is a day to make resolution. Yet why this farce ? Do I really keep them? Still I like to pause and think what I want to do this year.
I was looking into the Color Trend of 2016. Here is Pantone 2016
It embraces the concept of serenity. Calm down, slow down - is the motto
It highlights duality- think about unisex designs- that is appropriate for both men and women
It takes us to think about charity, about giving more for the wellness of others.
With these thoughts I go back to my bead boxes to see what I can make.
Here Earrings Everydayinvites us to be part of a blogroll where we can take part in the journey in making earrings.
I wonder what are your resolutions for this year. What are you looking forward to making or changing ?
