mazhalai's world

#528 Knitting updates

2012-11-18T20:20:00.001-06:00

Thank you Sini for reminding me to post knitting updates, it really has been a while.

First up, I participated in a community project for dear knitting friend D. I contributed 2 strips to this love filled blanket.

Made multicolored dinosaur mittens for N. Rav link here

and fabulous socks for me! Rav link here

Also crocheted beaded earrings and a necklace,

and welcomed fall with appropriately themed mittens!

Made a cute pink scarf for Gavi

and an earring holder for M's birthday.

There were also endless baby blankets, hats and bibs.

Last but not least, scarves for the Austin Scarf Project.

#527 Neyan 3.25 year summary

2012-11-11T09:06:00.000-06:00

This quarter, N had fun wearing cute kurtas, here's #1

and here's the one he wore for Onam

He attended his first baseball game at Round Rock Express

and even met the mascot Spike.

At T's work's health fair he had fun playing basketball, enjoyed a train ride

and got a train tattoo painted on his arm.

He fed duckies at the park

and moved up to the next class.

He is now learning to write alphabets, (though 26 alphabets can get boring towards the end)

and numbers too.

He rode toy Scoop at the mall

and a real backhoe at the Round Rock Touch a Truck event.

He had fun with Mathew and Audri too :) (This pic courtesy Deanna)

He attended the kids workshop at Home Depot and made a turkey napkin holder.

Here is his quarterly pic wearing a handknit (see him grow here),

and him singing Twinkle Twinkle traffic light and itsy bitsy spider.

#526 Fall and Halloween

2012-11-03T14:58:00.000-05:00

Fall is here and unlike last year, it is much cooler. To celebrate, this month we made paper pumpkins

We had fun picking a pumpkin from the local patch with Audri, Matthew and Deanna

N helped in cleaning out the pumpkin

and draw a scary face, which was promptly carved. However, humid weather got the better of this jack-o-lantern before Halloween.

N had fun with fall themed art

and me had fun making these milk can ghosts. Thank you to friends who saved up milk cans for me!! Instructions to make these here.

Last but not least, predictably N was Thomas the Tank engine for Halloween. He had fun at school and also got oodles of candy from Ts work.

At time of publication, someone has stolen our replacement pumpkins. All 3 of them :( Thank goodness the knitted one was indoors.

#525 Home updates

2012-10-20T13:42:00.000-05:00

It has been a while since I posted projects around home.

We made these super easy bookshelves for Ns room. Instructions from here.

Kept N occupied with art projects (inspired by this pin)

and proudly displayed them in the orange guest room.

Almost a year back, we got these lawn chairs from the free section on Craigslist. This month T finally sanded them down and finished them with varnish, and I sewed the canvas. They are meant to be outdoors, but for now, we are enjoying them inside :)

#524 Day Out With Thomas

2012-10-07T22:06:00.000-05:00

Like most little boys, N is a huge Thomas fan, and so we could not pass up the opportunity to meet Thomas!

We first met Sir Topham Hat. N was a wary of him!

and checked out rocks on a real train track

N's highlight of the day - meeting Thomas!!

He played with tracks,

Before we got on the ride

Here's the ticket collector

Needless to say, he enjoyed the ride!

Afterwards, he enjoyed a bouncy castle and mini golf.

#523 What's growing- August/September edition

2012-09-16T22:07:00.000-05:00

We harvested overripe bitter gourd

and a bunch of carrots.

The surprise waiting, at the end of summer, was this teeny watermelon

Here it is cut open.

N enjoyed most of it.

Fragrant roses continue to make an appearance.

As the spring/summer growing season slows down, we plan to experiment in fall/winter vegetables. Keep looking for updates.

#522 Happy 3rd birthday Neyan

2012-08-14T22:17:00.000-05:00

For his 3rd birthday, N wanted an umizoomi party, however, not many people have heard of umizoomi other than Nick Jr patrons. So we just picked green and blue decorations to represent umizoomi characters - Bot and Geo. (He did ask why Milli in pink wasn’t represented)

We ordered a plain cake with strawberry filling and placed hard to come by umizoomi figurines on it.

N enjoyed the cake

after we stole a little limelight from him :)

Here he is excited about Bot on the cake.

He loved posing with T

and here's another with the 3 of us.

All photo credits Raja T.

#521 Neyan 3 year summary

2012-08-12T17:15:00.000-05:00

This quarter started with N making me the most fab mother's day card. (OK to be fair teachers helped him a lot :) )

That weekend we visited C & A in Dallas and also visited Fort Worth, where we took an hour long mini train ride. Here is N with the engine of the train.

He enjoyed lazy summer activities like hanging out in the teeny backyard pool

and cupcakes on tennis nites.

He shared opinions about birthday party food,

and enjoyed cake too

He sat still enough for Raja to take this FABULOUS pic in his fav T-shirt.

Started a new class

and also got a big boy "cars" backpack

Here's how we kept him occupied on long car rides - wooden shapes puzzles.

Here he is 3 years old.

See him grow here. Here he is measuring himself. ~ 3'2''

Lastly, a video of him counting his train & cars

#520 Lake trip

2012-07-30T19:15:00.000-05:00

Following our annual summer tradition of visiting a beach (now modified to any water body), we, along with 4 other families rented a lake house on Lake Buchanan last weekend.

We arrived Friday evening and walked (due to the drought it was quite a walk) to the sandy banks. N was excited to collect shells.

and we witnessed a lovely sunset

Early Sat morning, before breakfast, we headed to the water before temps got too hot. Here is the morning calm

N had fun playing in the sand.

I managed to knit exactly one row of new socks.

Later that evening, we witnessed yet another peaceful sunset.

Sun morning, Madhu and me took a nice long morning walk. It was so beautiful to see the sun rise from behind the clouds. But this is my fav pic of Madhu enjoying a quiet moment.

Before we headed home, we took a boat ride. N was delighted to be in a life jacket.

and also got to steer the boat with T's help.

#519 What's growing - July edition

2012-07-16T19:35:00.000-05:00

We finally harvested tomatoes, chilies and more beans,

Also yummy peaches

Teeny eggplants finally made an appearance

and were promptly deep fried and devoured within the hour!

Fragrant roses are still giving us pleasure.

Curry leaf plants which I got all the way from Aunty in MD are growing well.

Canna flowers are in bloom

and we are awaiting "the hottest pepper in the world" to ripen.

We had this teeny watermelon, it did not survive the first bout of temps in the 100s. :( N was particularly disappointed.

#518 Knitting updates

2012-07-14T19:37:00.000-05:00

After months of hibernating, I finally lined and finished my African flower crochet spring bag. (Though this is a pic of the unlined bag).

I had fun making a blue kitty for a friend,

and a rosette pillow for the grellow room. Rav link.

Made some stash enhancements with Madelinetosh yarns after visit to the Madtosh store in Fort Worth TX. We visited C, and she had gotten me some Lopi yarn for me all the way from Iceland!!!

Made 3 more scarves for the Austin Scarf Project.

Made a fun race track for N to play with,

Here's a closeup. I have the pattern loosely written on Ravelry.

Made quite a few gifts:

S's bday gift, a swirly girly shrug/poncho

Baby N's gift a knitted ball.

S's pink pony

Tried my hand at ombre dyeing, (Notes here: Rav link. Need Rav account to view)

And made a simple cowl. Rav link.

All easy mindless knitting projects. :)

#517 Neyan 2.75 years summary

2012-05-12T09:26:00.000-05:00

Last quarter, I got N some beads and he had fun with them (not so fun for us actually - try stepping on one!)

He enjoyed finding rocks in the yard

and carnival rides.

He had fun at birthday parties with balloon animals too.

We went to Sweet berry farms to pick strawberries

and he loved the goats we saw there.

We visited the latest shining new park Play for All Abilities Park which has an awesome covered sand pit

and also visited tennis courts at the Old Settlers Park

He enjoyed driving a school bus at the grocery store

and of course his absolute fav thing in the world: candy

Here he is: 3 months away from being 3. See him grow here

See him singing lakdi ki kathi.

#516 Handyed paint bursh cowl

2012-05-03T22:12:00.000-05:00

Last fall on the yarn crawl I fell in love with a cowl at Hill Country Weavers. I couldn't stop fondling the cowl they had on a mannequin and I also couldn't afford the kit at 99$. Instead I gathered some un-dyed silk and merino.

Which after a couple months and McCormick food coloring and Wilton icing colors, I came up with this.

Which were promptly wound up

to cast on for the cowl.

The silk did not hold the color as much as the wool, but nevertheless its so soft and has me wishing for cooler weather.

Mandatory photo with N :)

#515 Knitting updates

2012-04-29T10:05:00.000-05:00

These last few months I made the following:
Octopuses

Outfits for siblings

Scarves for the Austin Scarf Project

A shawl for a friend's wedding gift.

A marigold pillow for the guest room

& more baby stuff

#514 What's growing

2012-04-26T21:04:00.000-05:00

We finally got sprinklers in our yard. This is when they dug up the back yard. We also put in 5 trees. 2 of which can be seen in this one.

Our garden is recovering from last year's severe drought and we started early this year with the veggies:
Here is a baby Serrano pepper

and tomatoes (of which we have 3 varieties)

We enjoyed harvests of strawberry (which mainly N devoured)

and green beans which went into a pulao.

and are looking forward to eggplants

We added an assortment of flowers too.

Special mention to my honorary partner in crime who loves getting wet more than anything :)

#513 TX Wildflowers 2012

2012-04-04T20:20:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we followed the Texan tradition of taking photos with the bluebonnets.
See 2010 photos here.

#512 Austin Kite Festival

2012-03-07T21:20:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, we visited the Zilker Park Kite Festival, which is the oldest kite festival in the country. In anticipation of crowds, the organizers had arranged for school buses to ride from off-site parking. It was N's first ride in a school bus and he enjoyed every second of it.

As we entered the park, we were welcomed with kites of all sizes and shapes.

There were yummy treats too. We tried yummy hibiscus mint & coconut frozen pops from mom and pops

Of course Hey Cupcake! was there too. Notice icing on jacket!

We enjoying lazing around watching kites with downtown Austin in the background.

Soon, it was time head home. Here is N enjoying his stroller ride.

#511 LBD

2012-02-19T15:19:00.001-06:00

Ever had an impulsive feeling when you see a knitted object and you absolutely have to cast on? That's how I felt when I first saw this LBD pattern in the Knitter's magazine. I cast on for it during the yarn crawl and ended up with a Moebius strip! Starting over went much better.

I had to size it down for my and so some math was involved. I love the cables and bobbles turned out. Just enough texture for the dress.

It took me forever to finish the sleeves and neck, since I hate picking up stitches. But the designer was kind enough to send me some tips on rav for that. (YAY for rav!)

All in all I LOVE it. I wish we have more colder days so I can wear it.

Rav details here.

#510 Happy Valentines day

2012-02-13T20:45:00.000-06:00

Inspired by pinterest, made super-lollipops Valentines for Ns class.

Following with using paint chips to decorate our mantel, made paint chip hearts,

and valentines for the birds :) idea from here.

Here are the flowers T got me :)

and here's N with his valentines!

#509 Austin Children's Museum

2012-02-12T19:18:00.000-06:00

This weekend we visited the Austin Children's Museum. Here are highlights of our visit. First we visited the ball rolling place where the N got hands on experience on controlling how golf balls roll.

This one shows how they rolled in a spiral

Then N got to play with fake dirt and earth movers.

and sorted shapes

He tried to match patterns of a butterfly

and had fun pouring lentils.

The had a lovely kid sized kitchen with fake food and even a tiny sink.

N kept running about to catch a glimpse of the train!

His eyes lit up when he saw legos in the construction zone.

He tried out the musical pipes

and a life size kaleidoscope.

As a souvenir we got him stacking robots. He was so tired from the visit that he fell asleep even before we made it out of the parking garage.

My fav was art they made with bottle caps to decorate windows:

#508 Neyan 2.5 years summary

2012-02-11T18:00:00.000-06:00

This quarter N pretended his rocker is a boat by turning it upside down.

Sat at the kids table for Thanksgiving.

and had a lot of fun with Tilly who we watched over Thanksgiving break.

He helped us decorate and un-decorate the Christmas tree.

and enjoyed licking icing and sprinkles on cupcakes.

He had fun opening presents and loved the trains he got for Christmas

He enjoyed a carousel ride in the mall

and the mini cooper on display there!

He decorated our coffee table with stickers

and walked around in Styrofoam shoes

Here he is 2.5 years old in his fav Thomas train T-shirt.

and already 1/2 Ts height! See him grow here

PS He has been talking plenty and in sentences!

#507 Rosebud felt bowl

2012-02-09T21:59:00.000-06:00

I saw this felt bowl first on pinterest and then found it on uncommon goods. Thought $75 was way too high a price for something that I could make. So started this adventure. I started with a basic hexagon with instructions from here. I kept increasing each section of the hexagon, keeping other stitches on a spare needle and ended up with something like this

After a couple of cycles in the washer and then in the dryer, I ended up with a felted piece like this.

I overlapped slightly ends of alternate sections using a safety pin to hold it together to form the inner rosette and then repeated the same with the remaining sections for the outer rosette.

I sewed the sections using leftover yarn and for the outer rosette, sewed French knots using a contrasting color.

Here it is. Perfect for keys, jewelery or tiny plants. Plan to make more in other colors.

#506 Weekend Warrior Project - Week 3 - painting 1

2012-02-06T15:22:00.000-06:00

This weeks project is a 2 person 2 week project. First I let N go wild on a small canvas with various shades of blue

This is what he finished with.

I later traced out some birds and painted silhouettes of birds.

This painting represents our family in Nagercoil, and is based on an idea from of course pinterest.

Other paintings to follow.

#505 Knitting updates

2012-02-04T15:23:00.000-06:00

I ended 2011 with a pair of slippers for me and since N liked walking around in them made him a pair too.

Made a bunch of pebble vests for babies (including 2 which I frogged cos it was in pure wool and would've felted in the wash!) These are the ones that dint get frogged.

I made my first cowl using yarn acquired during the 2011 yarn crawl.

This year I plan to make at least one scarf a month for the Austin Scarf project. Also ended making a pair of mittens and scarves for the Special Olympics Texas.

#504 Weekend Warrior Project - Week 2 - Growth Chart

2012-01-28T19:00:00.000-06:00

We already had a growth chart for N, but its max is only 5 feet. Since we fully expect him to grow taller, and also wanted to have something that was not easily destroyed, we decided to make a him a growth chart based on this pin.

You will need: 6-8' of wood (width can depend on you), measuring tape, sander, marker, stain or sealant and nails.

First T helped me sand down the edges of the 8' piece of plywood we had lying around from another (ahem incomplete) project. Hope to tackle that one weekend a time. We especially sanded down sharp edges.

next I used a tape and marker to draw tick marks and used number decals. If you don't have decals you can write/draw the numbers too. I used mod-podge on the decals to ensure N can't scratch them out.

I wanted to keep the color of the wood and hence chose a clear satin finish polyurethane.

Hang it up with a couple of screws (see old growth chart next to it). I do wish I had larger decals for the numbers.

and its ready for use. Here is N ~3 feet tall!