NEEDLECRAFT

HOW TO DOWNLOAD BOOKS FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG

2009-11-07T21:35:00.000-08:00

STEP 1: OPEN THE PROJECT GUTENBERG CALALOGUE PAGE

STEP 2: IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR BOOK BY A PARTICULAR AUTHOR, FILL IN THE BOX UNDER AUTHOR ON THE TOP LEFT OF THE PAGE AND CLICK GO.
TRY OUT ALL THE OPTIONS - ONLY LAST NAME, BOTH FIRST NAME AND LAST NAME, LAST NAME FOLLOWED BY INITIALS ETC. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE SPELLING RIGHT.

ALTERNATELY, YOU CAN FILL IN THE NAME OF THE BOOK YOU ARE LOOKING FOR.
IF THE LIBRARY HAS BOOKS BY THAT PARTICULAR AUTHOR,YOU WILL GET THE LIST OF BOOKS

STEP 3: CLICK ON THE TITLE OF THE BOOK YOU WANT TO DOWNLOAD. THIS WILL TAKE YOU TO THE NEXT PAGE.

IF YOU HAVE ENTERED THE TITLE OF THE BOOK YOU CAN SKIP THIS STEP.

STEP 4: NOW, UNDER DOWNLOAD THIS EBOOK FOR FREE, LOOK UNDER THE COLUMN TITLED COMPRESSING.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR ZIP. RIGHT-CLICK ON MAIN SITE IN THE ROW THAT CONTAINS ZIP.

STEP 5: SELECT THE OPTION SAVE TARGET AS FROM THE DROP DOWN MENU AND YOU ARE READY TO DOWNLOAD AND SAVE THE FILE.

NOTE: YOU NEED THE SOFTWARE WINRAR TO OPEN AND VIEW THE DOWNLOADED FILE. YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT FROM HERE.

YOU ARE NOW ALL SET FOR READING YOUR DOWLOADED BOOKS.

WHY IS DOWNLOADING ZIP FILES BETTER?

-FOR ONE THING THE FILES ARE SMALLER HENCE THE DOWNLOAD FASTER.
- SECOND, I HAVE FOUND THAT IF THE BOOK CONTAINS PITURES, THEY ARE RETAINED ONLY IN ZIP FILES

RIGHT HO JEEVES- P.G. WODEHOUSE

2009-11-05T20:55:00.000-08:00

Quaint phrases and words I have never before come across marked my introduction to P.G. Wodehouse.

In an asolute contrast to modern writing style, almost every sentence is amusingly round about.

Reading those days was obviously a pleasure enjoyed by ladies and gentlemen of leisure.
Here's the link to the book RIGHT HO JEEVES

WARNING: Make sure you have a dictionary on hand - and one other thing, make sure you are alone - you don't want startled glances shot your way when you suddenly burst out laughing.

EMBROIDERY BOOKS

2009-11-04T18:29:00.000-08:00

Back again after a long break. Have signed up for oil painting classes. so I haven't had time for needlework. I am now halfway through the course and hoping to find some time here and there for needle and thread.

Speaking of needle and thread, here is a lovely book I've unearthed while digging through the archives of Project gutenberg - Embroidery and tapestry weaving by Grace christie -this book is simply crying out to be shared.

I simply loved the interesting uses the buttonhole stitch has been put to.

I haven't read the book as yet - just browsing through and took me a while to realise that the design above is composed of the buttonhole stitch.

The pictures below are the closed herring bone stitch and some of its applications

When I see such lovely, painstakingly laborious work, I sometimes wonder if, in this quick fix world, we have forgotton that there is joy and immense satifaction in painstaking work.

WOVEN PICOT FLOWER

2009-09-10T03:41:00.000-07:00

I learnt to work this stitch from sharon's blog, you will find the instructions in her new blog - Pin Tangle

Click on pictures to enlarge.As you can see, I have worked the flowers in woven picot stitch. I tried to work buds in plain woven stitch, but it did not have a rounded tip. So, I worked a lazy daisy stitch and wove through the legs of the chain - you can see the finish in the picture below.

The petals of the flowers could have been spaced more evenly.

I realise in hindsight that I should have spaced out the petals before I started working. The sketch below will not win any awards for neatness, but, I am sure you get the idea.
I worked the five short lines first and then the longer ones in between.

YAM FINGERS

2009-09-05T23:01:00.000-07:00

Ocassionally I stumble upon some truly wonderful recipes while trying to use left over masalas from some other recipe. Sometimes it is because I can never stick to recipes. I soon forget all about it because I never bother to note it down.

I now try to note down the recipes immediately after I cook the dish.

Yam fingers is one such recipe.

Try it out and enjoy.

INGREDIENTS:

yam 1/2 kg

cornflour - 3 tbsp

salt to taste

For grinding:

urad dal - 3 tbsps

red chilles - 6

tamarind - size of 1/4 lemon wedge

chopped corriander leaves - 3 cups

METHOD:

1. Remove skin from yam and cut into desired size - here I have cut them into bit sized fingers.

CAUTION: AS FAR AS POSSIBLE TRY NOT TO HANDLE THE YAM WTH YOUR BARE FINGERS - BECAUSE YOUR FINGERS MAY START ITCHING. WASHING YOUR HANDS WITH SUGAR GRANULES SOMETIMES HELPS REDUCE THE ITCHING.

2. Steam the yam in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle - Or steam it any other way you want. Just make sure that the yam does not become soft.

3. Roast the urad dal, tamarind and red chillies in a dry kadai and powder it.

4. Now add the corriander leaves and 3tbsp of water and make a fine paste.

5. In a shallow vessel, add the cornflour, the ground paste and salt to taste and mix well.

6. To this mixture add the yam fingers mix so that all the yam is coated with the masala.

7. Marinate for about 15 minutes.

8. Deep fry in hot oil.

These yummy yam fingers can either be served hot with hot beverages especially good on a rainy day - or as a side dish with a meal.

MARINATE - MEANS TO SOAK IN

TATTERED HIBISCUS

2009-07-14T19:17:00.000-07:00

I have always been facinated by this species of hibiscus. The buds and the flowers hang down from the branches. The flower, as you can see from the picture below is deeply serated.

The plant as such looks shabby and is not suitable for grouping. It looks best isolated especially on lawns etc.

POSTING OTHER PEOPLE'S CONTENT

2009-07-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

I had a nasty shock today while browsing the web. I found some of the contents from my Kasuti tutorial copied and posted word for word in another blog and the author was passing it off as her own. There is no possibility of her having copied the contents from the same book I have copied it from as my husband first reasoned - because Whatever I have posted is from my personal notes taken over 15 years of teaching embroidery.

My husband and sons had smug smiles on their faces and if any one of them had said, "I told you so." I would have smacked them. Their constant nagging about other people copying content was one of the reasons why I did not continue the tutorial. Their main concern was the amount of time and effort I was putting into it.

I never worried about copyrights before because thus far I've always found people stumbling on interesting blogs referring readers or directing them to the said blog.
Simply speaking, I never felt the need.

Now it looks like I have to water mark my tutorials and look into copy rights.

LANTANA

2009-07-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

Lantana depressa

This is the species with yellow flowers. This semi-trailing plant is sometimes used in bonsai. It is a hardy plant that withstands any amount of pruning. The flowers as you can see are borne in attractive clusters - probably due to the shape of their leaves, they look like clusters of roses from afar.

I don't know the species name for this lantana. But of the 5 species of lantana in my garden, I love this best. It is truly intriguing - the colours & hues you see during the various stages of blooming.

MOTIFS FOR KUTCHWORK/SINDI EMBROIDERY SERIES I

2009-07-01T22:39:00.001-07:00

Here are some very basic motifs for Sindi embroidey/Kutchwork

CROCHET PURSE

2009-07-01T19:25:00.000-07:00

When I started this project, it was supposed to be a drawstring purse for my aunt.

When my little niece saw it, she asked, "Are you making this coin bag for me? "

so I made a front flap and my mom attached a macreme handle and it became her coin bag.

The scans are not so good and I can't make fresh scans as I don't have the bag.

GROWING YOUR OWN BANANA TREE IN YOUR HOME GARDEN

2009-06-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

The bunch seems to be diminutive and the fruit shriveled – reason I forgot to cut the flower as and when my mother told me to.

Growing a good yielding banana tree is very easy if you know how to go about it…
Here are some tips from my farmer uncles.

1. Dig a pit 1 ½ to 2 feet deep – the pit has to be really deep - otherwise the tree is not sufficiently anchored to bear the weight of the heavy fruit.
2. Leave the pit open for a couple of days. Let it have a good sun bath.
3. Select a healthy sucker – one that has a well developed rhizome.
4. Plant the sucker. Half fill the pit with well rotted manure (FYM – Farm Yard Manure or cow dung), leaf manure or wood ash. Fill the other half with the soil you dug out of the pit. Any soil left is banked around the tree.
5. A ridge is dug around about 2 feet away from the tree and the soil thus removed can be kept on the side of the ridge away from the tree – to be used for further banking the tree when it bears fruit.
6. The plant has to be watered on alternate days.
7. You can apply more Farm Yard Manure after 6 months and again after 8 months.
8. Bank the tree some more after each application of manure.
9. Now your tree should yield fruit in about 10 months.
10. Once the bunch has formed and the flowers start falling without more bananas forming, the flower has to be removed – this ensures bigger fruit and fuller bunches.
11. You get only one harvest from each banana plant. After the bunch is harvested , cut down the tree leaving a stump about 1 feet from the ground.
12. The tender stem in the middle layer of the trunk is used in cooking.

Note:
1. Frequently harvesting leaves from the tree means poor flowering and fruit setting.
2. If you must harvest leaves, then do it from only one of the daughter plants that shoot up around the mother plant letting the others grow unhampered.
3. Don’t let more than 3 daughter plants (tillers) – the growth of the main plant will be quicker and healthier. One of these can be the new mother plant after the mother plant is harvested.
4. The tree might start leaning to one side with the weight of the fruit. Bank the base of the tree with some more soil and support the fruit with a sturdy stick.

This particular tree took about 20 months to bear fruit. This is my first banana tree. I am hoping to do better next time.

BANANA TREE UPDATE

2009-06-28T18:18:00.000-07:00

Here's the update on my banana tree.

I had to support the tree with a stochy stick - else with the bananas growing in size and number the tree would have fallen down. The monsoon rains wash away the soil bund at the base.

The bananas have started showing. A few more weeks and they'll be reripen enough to eat.

CROCHET SWEATER IN AFGHAN STITCH

2009-06-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

My brother and his family are down here from Seattle. My sister-in -law got me some wool in soft pastels and pink. I decided to use the pink to make a sweater for their daughter.

Here's back side of the sweater. I put the fastening at the back.

The sweater begins at the front yoke. I worked the yoke in afghan stitch.

- for the body I worked 1 dc and 1 tr into each stitch skipping every 3rd stitch in the 1st round. 1 dc, 1 tr into each sc in the subsequent rounds.

You'll notice a differnce in pattern here and there - I just forgot to turn work and work in the opposite direction.

It was interesting the difference that made!

And finally for some embellishment - in brazillian style embroidery.

MOTIF # 16 - ANOTHER BEADED BOOKMARK

2009-06-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

Here is another beaded bookmark. My foray into tatting with beads is inspired by
Teri. Her work as you can see is awe inspiring.

I've always wondered how to get beads into rings - we usually see beads in picots.

I tried and the result is what you see here.

I got a few beads into the ring. I realised after sliding the beads from the ring thread close to the ds that a length of shuttle thread was bare. So I slid in the same number of beads from the shuttle thread before making the next ds.

Looking at the bookmark now, I wonder if maybe I should have used 1 bead less for the inner ring formed by the shuttle thread.

The pattern itself is very simple - just the basic rings and chains.

I have written down the instructions for working the basic ring and chain with beads - the rest, I am yet to write down.

Ring: 12 beads in ring thread and 12 beads in the shuttle thread.
[1ds, slide 3 beads from the ring thread and 3 beads from the shuttle thread close to the ds, 1ds, p] 3 times, 1 ds. slide 3 beads each from the ring and the shuttle threads close to the ds, p 1ds, close ring, rw - the extra p at the end is to join the chain to the base of the ring when working chains on the other side of the rings.

Chain: 8 beads each in ball and shuttle threads. * 1 ds slide 4 beads each from ball and shuttle threads close to the ds, 1 ds, * p, rep from * to * rw.

BEAD COUNT:
- for 1 ring - 24 beads - 12 in the ring thread and 12 in the shuttle thread.
- for 1 chain - 16 beads - 8 in the ball thread and 8 in the shuttle thread.

Criical comments on this pattern, and any pointing out of mistakes will be appreciated.

MOODY BLUES

2009-06-04T18:47:00.000-07:00

A couple of years of blogging, a few posts some good and some not so good - where am I today? Still trying to find out WHO, WHAT AND WHERE I am.

I am, wife, mom, an avid(addicted?) reader, an enthusiastic gardener, a moody cook and homemaker, a sporodic needlewoman, an even more sporodic seamtress, a good friend, a dedicated teacher I was even a good content writer - My loved ones delight in telling people that I am "A JACK OF ALL TRADES AND MASTER OF NONE" - I drive my own car, fix my own lightblubs, cement, varnish, solder, wind the fuse wire and know my way around the hammer, spanners and screwdrivers. So why the sudden blues?

While I loved teaching in a school, I did not like the rest of the baggage that comes with working in an institution - the internal politics. I loved writing but I did not like working for someone who did not know anything about the topics I was writing about and could not appreciate the amount of time and effort that went into it - so here I am exactly where I started - Jack of all trades master of none - and I am fed up of well-meaning people telling me I am wasting my talents.

Looks like I am in desperate need of mental spring-cleaning...

MOTIF 15

2009-06-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

Motif 15 was supposed to be a earring. Somewhere along the line it evolved into a flower and finally a book mark.

I made it a point this time to write down instructions as I went along.

I worked this motif with 2 shuttles using CTM.

50 beads (36 for the pattern + how many ever for the tail) in SHUTTLE 1.
36 beads (22 for the pattern + how many ever for the tail) in SHUTTLE 2.

RING 1: With SHUTTLE 1 form a ring sliding 3 beads in the ring thread (5ds, slide in a bead and make a picot) 3 times, 5ds close ring. Slide a bead close to the base of the ring just formed.

RING 2: With SHUTTLE 1 form a ring sliding 2 beads in the ring thread 5ds, join to the 3rd picot of the prev. ring, (5ds, 1 picot with a bead in it) 2 times, 5ds close ring. Slide a bead close to the base of the ring just formed.

RINGS 3-5: SAME AS RING 2

RING 6: is a split ring and also the 1st split ring in this design.

SR1 - With SHUTTLE 1, 5ds join to the 3rd picot of Ring 5. 5ds/ SHUTTLE 2 - slide 1 bead close to the base of Ring 1, 5ds, join to the 1st picot of Ring 1, 5ds, close ring.

SR2: With SHUTTLE 1, Slide 6 beads close to the base of SR1. Form a ring sliding 1 bead in the ring thread, 5ds, picot with a bead in it, 5ds / With SHUTTLE 2 Slide 6 beads close to the base of SR1, 5ds picot with a bead in it 5ds, close ring.

SR 3-9: Same as SR2 - slide just 1 bead close to the base of the prev SR instead of 6.

Slide all the remaining beads close to the last SR cut and tie.

NOTE: For each extra SR with beads you need 2 extra beads on each Shuttle. While you should have a bead in the ring thread for the first half of the SR, the bead remains in the shuttle thread itsel for the second half.

MY BANANA TREE

2009-06-02T01:50:00.001-07:00

MY banana tree has finally decided to reward me for my efforts. After 1 year and 8 months of work and patience or should I say gestation, the tree is finally bearing fruit - literally.

2009-06-01T00:44:00.000-07:00

I am battling not just against bad soil but also against pests and bandicoots that take pleasure in eating up all my leaves and uprooting my plants. So here's some of what is left of all that destruction - My Hibiscus collection.

FROM BARREN TO FERTILE

2009-02-09T22:52:00.000-08:00

My gardening efforts are finally bearing fruit. My first hurdle was to improve the soil texture and quality. That took me almost a year and a half. Unfortunately, due to the basically bad soil, improving soil quality is going to be a continuous and time consuming process.

I don't know what this flowering plant is called. But it flowers profusely.

Balsam Double

Coleus

Hibiscus- lovely tiny pinkish red flowers.

MOTIF #14

2008-12-09T04:58:00.001-08:00

This motif is from the book "Forty Original Designs in Tatting By Nelli Hall Youngbery" downloaded from the Antique pattern library. This is pattern no:26 in the book.

It is obvious that I have to work on joining the various chains neatly to the base of the ring.

The chains in my motif look pretty twisted. Now that I have figured out the instructions, I'll try working the same pattern in a single colour.

MOTIF #13

2008-11-16T21:13:00.001-08:00

Here is motif 13. This mat looked plain. So I have embellished it with a feather stitch border and beads. The motif is from a needlework magazine "Needle And Thread" published by Coats India. This is the only Needlework magazine in India.

MOTIF # 12

2008-10-06T00:16:00.000-07:00

Click on picture to enlarge.

Here is a bookmark I designed. Most of my projects start out as one thing and end up as something else. I started this as a heart in Teri Dusenbury's book Tatting Hearts. I made a mistake and thought I could convert it into an edging. It finally became a bookmark with split rings and beads.

The beading has not turned out as well as I would have liked. I should have added fewer beads for the diamonds and a few more for the hearts. I do hope the hearts look like hearts. The picots to which the beads are attached should have been smaller.

BTW, Teri Dusenbury had a blog Lover's knots
with some wonderfull beaded tatting. Does anybody know whether she has moved it or totally removed it from the web?

MOTIF #11

2008-08-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to make a corner for the edging in Motif 7. I have come up with 2 possibilities.

Here is the first-

And here is the second.

I like the second one. I would like some input on this.

MOTIF # 12 in progress

2008-03-04T04:31:00.000-08:00

I started this pattern about 6 months ago. I don't remember from where I took it. Probablyt from one of the antique tatting patterns on Public Domain. I have modifies it slightly. But as usually it is not what I wanted. The pattern sems to have ruffled. So I have to redo it.

Wind yarn in two shuttles using CTM.

The Central Ring
SR 1: 5-5-5-5-5/-5 (I think it will look better if I change the 5 to 7)

The next rnd:

{SR 2: 5-5-5/5 r.w.
Chain: 5-5 r.w.
*R1:5+5(join to the first picot of SR2)
Ch: 5-5
R1:5+5(join to the next picot of SR2)
ch:5-7 (using the core thread, lock join to the next picot pof SR2)r.w
Ch of 5 ds. r.w} 1st cluster.
R: 5 + (join to the next p of the 2nd p of the central ring) 5 - 5 -5.
Ch:7+5
Chain of 5ds, join to the free picot of the last chain in the prev cluster. Rep from *

RIC-RAC OWL

2008-02-23T19:08:00.000-08:00

Another long break and a lot has happened since my last post.

I applied for a teaching job (preferring to fill up leave vacancies only) and got it.
I am now teaching KG kids. There are 29 kids under my care. Working hours 8 a.m. to 3 a.m.
I applied for a job as a content writer and got that as well. I am writing on crochet related topics.

The pay for both the jobs suck. But it beats sulking and moping around the house after my elder son left for college. Fact is, while I love teaching and writing, I am not technically trained to do either. These past five months I have proved that I have a flair for both and I can do a better job than those qualified to do them. So, I am now in a better position to negotiate. I have taken some positive steps and am waiting to see what happens.

I came across this cute rick-rac owl in the CQ online mag. This clever, yet simple design will look real cute on a kid's dress or on pockets. The next time I go shopping for supplies, I will buy some rick-rack - I am itching to try it out. Maybe I can try it out with silk ribbons... No. I don't think so... Silk ribbon is not as flexible as rick-rack. So rick rack it is.