The Knitting Adventure

Knitting. The new old thing that I have started doing again. Being a knitting novice, I embarked myself to knit something completely on my own. With the basic knit and purl stitches, I tried to do something for my mobile phone and it ended up something like this. Too snug.. But well.. not bad either.

So here goes my first post on this age old craft that I learnt almost 3 years back in Denver. My instructors were the wonderful duo Ms. Heather and Ms. Janie. This is my dedication to my gurus. My present guru that clarifies the endless doubts jumping in my head is the guru of all things known to man today. The one your using to read this article. :) Love it..

the NUT

Well.. Some history is needed to get to the end of the NUT. So here goes a short story of the journey of the NUT.. Hero.. Heroine whatever is your choice..

The parents of the NUT started their journey from the fields of a farm in Kanchipuram district to the plates of people in the 'singara' city of Chennai patnam. Before it reached the plates in its different avatars, the shells of the parent nuts had to be broken, of which some were discarded. These discarded parent nuts along with the other shells stayed in their state for a long time before the gardening bug bit the lady of the house. So she decided to put all of them along with a weee too little mud for 'composting'. Not to blame her.. She was in dearth of good mother earth.. Pity her.. But well.. the nuts decided otherwise.

And Booom!!! The rains came and all the nuts had a graaaaand party..

So what happens when the nuts go partying??? Of course they dont remain nuts.. They come out as shooooots.. And surely the lady doesnt remember when they all sprung out of their hybernation.. All she knows is that all of a sudden a bucket of sand became green and all her neighbours were green that she was growing nuts.. And they all spoke of her "She must be nuts!!!" while she kept telling them that she did nothing and it was all the work of the nuts. When all this was happening, she dutifully watered them on the days the rain gods didnt bother and they were one too many these days.

In return the nuts, now from shoots to plants didnt stop from waving greenly at her whenever she stopped by and smiled at them. But they did wonder what was she so gleee about?? Then, from plants came beautiful yellow flowers which made her even more happy. Now that the flowers have come, the lady set thinking.. So maybe the next generation of nuts too might just come anytime.. This set her on an enquiry mission of how long do nuts take to transfer rights from one generation to another. The answer surprised her.. Three months!!! Just 90 days!!! After some rough calculation, she concluded on the approximate time when she could check for the new generation nuts. With every passing day, the level of eagerness kept rising. But she kept telling herself that maybe, maybe there may not be any at all.. Why did she think so??? Oh! She had no reason, thats how her mind worked.
So on THE day, she set about pulling her dear plants from their resting place. Oww! They didnt seem to bother at all. They just came by so smoothly one after the other without any trouble. And they were all CLLLEEAN. Except ONE ---> THE ONE And there comes the entry of the THE NUT and the end.

It is said that every life that comes into existence in this world is a hero in itself. I truly need no better proof than the one I got from this single NUT. The way it has come into existence beyond all odds. I am sure there is no better way of taking the lesson on survival and the fighting spirit.
Another lesson I have to take from some place else is the art of composting the organic waste generated at home. High time I did. Otherwise, I guess the gardening bug will remain.. well.. as a bug..

Living or Dead!!!

Every morning, my unofficial garden (the vacant land adjacent to my house) filled with its varied living creatures invites me to the dawn of a new day. I have been living in this house for almost a year now and the plants (includes the sacred neem, the flowering weeds, the non-flowering ones, the lone bittergourd creeper and the native greens aka. Keerai) close to my compound wall will want to occupy the little space of the verandah too.. Well.. I have been allowing them at times and putting them back in their place at other times. With the recent intermitten rains they have grown so tall that it completely seals the outside view, including the garbage dumped by my neighbours, which has been to my advantage. So I let them be..Hmm.. The selfish human race..

These growing weeds have been attracting many beautiful butterflies, the wierd beetles and moths, tiny birds and  insects of varied hues and colours which I have not seen in my lifetime. Since I am no zoologist, I have no clue about these creatures which are to be introduced. I am intrigued by them and so I would like to share it with the rest of the world.

The first one is the 'leaves on fours'. With its specific features of a face with a sharp mouth and body (disguised like a dry leaf) and its four legs, I am sure it deserves to be part of the animal planet and not the insect world. But, well, in the animal planet, size does matter..:)

The second one is the 'Hanging Toothpick'. Any unsuspecting living thing would pass by this guy thinking it to be a bunch of sticks, just that a thinking living thing should suspect that a bunch of sticks do not hang from below the leaf nor does it devour the leaf too!! The title aptly describes this creature which, in all its presence looks completely dead but eats on fresh rainwashed leaves.

A humble dedication to the creator (for the believers) and to the theory of evolution (for the non-believers). For those of you who are questioning as to where I belong, I am still in search of an answer. Another answer which I am in search of is the real names of these queer creatures. I think all of us will find answering the second query easier than the first..

Should I.. or Should I not...?

Well.. That heading is precisely what has been going on in my head for a long time.. Back in September 2008 I had thought that I will be a regular in the blogging space.. And it turned out to be the exact opposite.. what with coming back to India and starting to work and manage home and all that.. Okay.. Thats the shortest reasoning that could be given to the longest.. (errr.. not so sure..) break.

Now that I want to be back.. I am posting one of my old pencil drawing done in the year 2006.. Just so that I can encourage myself to do more of the same in future also..

Before I embark on new creations, I will post whatever I have done so far in the crafts segment in the days to come..