Earth day

 Today on April 22 is Earth day, and for so many people, that means looking at the way we treat our world. Earth day is the day to celebrate our environment, assess the progress we’ve made towards protecting it and review our long term plans to preserve it for future generations.

If you want to do something good for the environment you recycle, you reduce your waste consumption…..make something using waste. Make something useful, decorative using waste materials.

As a social worker, I’m proud of the progress MSS (our NGO) made to reduce our environment footprint.

All the members used to make things out of waste material.

I made this wrath on earth day in year  

and this one on an another earth day

मैंने इसे कैसे बनाया:

कुछ दिन पहले हमारे सामने के पार्क में घास की कटाई हुई थी. और वह सूखने के बाद ढेरों की संख्या में इधर-उधर बिखरी पड़ी थी. एक दिन सुबह पार्क के ट्रैक पर सैर करते वक्त मेरी नजर सुखी घास के ढेर पर अटक गई और मैंने इसका कुछ उपयोग करने की सोची और में जितनी एक बार में उठा सकती थी उठाई और घर ले आई कुछ 4-5 दिन बाद शाम को सामने के बरामदे में बैठ मैंने अपनी मम्मी की सहायता से घास का घेरा बनाया. इसके लिए मैंने फिर से बची-खुची बेकार चीजों का इस्तेमाल किया. प्रेशर कुकर की गैस्कैट पर  पानी की बेकार प्लास्टिक की ट्यूब लपेट कर उस पर घास लगाना शुरू किया और उसे गेहूँ की बोरी  उधेड़  प्राप्त की गई रस्सी लपेटी इस प्रकार घास का एक गोल चक्कर बनाया और उस पर सजावट की इसे बनाने का पूरा तरीका   मैंने  अगली पोस्ट में विस्तार से पोस्ट किया. 

xoxo

old fashioned clothslines

 

Old-fashioned clotheslines often run from one side of the yard to the other -- they're an iconic feature of every house here.

 

These days racks laden with clothes for drying can be seen in the yard here.

What a transformation!

xoxo

a tale of my wooden needles, crochet bag complete

 

Hand carved wood Knitting needles  

Size yet to be explored

I made my handyman to make me a pair of big and fat knitting needles. Yes wood is warm, smooth and soft and won’t drain heat from the fingers the way aluminum and plastic needles do.

This time I asked him to make needles after making my racks..he made racks out of wooden strips left from the logs during making door frames. He used to make use of leftover strips by making wooden frames for shoes, books, kitchen and toys for children.

 

When I asked him to use his expertise for making knitting needles for me …he promised to make me whenever he got the soft wood for them.

And as soon as he got the wooden strips of soft wood he made me a pair… He made  my big knitting needles from wooden strip, First he sawed the strip in half. It's made from a soft wood so it was easy to shape. A very big pencil sharpener would have been handy but with an army jack knife he roughly shaped the end of the needle. Then with amplifying paper he sanded it. Finally he smoothed it off by hand with fine sand paper.  These needles are a fraction of the cost of the bought ones and just as good.

 my love for wood

For me as haryanvi. …where I used to see my grandpa bringing long fat roots of babul for making our doi and jherani ( for making click HERE) during preparing land for kharif crop. rohida for making chakki , khejari for fuel wood……. Its but natural that I was Wishing for wooden knitting needles is but natural.




Wooden needles made from soft wood.



Furthermore, wood is our greatest renewable natural resource. It is environmentally friendly; it’s recyclable, biodegradable and durable; when it is no longer needed it can be returned to the earth.

How I feel about these needles

The smooth and lustrous surface of my wood needles allows my stitches to move freely for hours of comfortable knitting. Made from soft wood in waves of sand color, the sharp, gradually tapered points slip easily into stitches so even complicated cables and K3togethers are easy to maneuver. The soft wood warms quickly in my hands, and the burnished surface provides just the right amount of grip to manage slippery yarns. The grooves in each needle help keep the stitches from slipping off the needle while they are being held either in front or in back of my  work. Pair  of these two  provides an ideal size for any project.

My beautiful round bottomed crochet bag is complete now I will write down the pattern in later posts and very soon ! 

 

I made the lining with sheer white net fabric

 

the opening is through a beautiful string with the metal beads at each end.



my d-in-law modeling for the purse/bag I will made on for her with red yarn. Red is her fav colour.
XOXO

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Early morning sun

The early morning sun surprises our eyes and embraces us warmly. Big Brother and Little Sister  sit peacefully side by side in the living room reading newspapers and I find myself singing out mantras of sun in loud:

This is a most powerful Sun or Surya Mantra. This mantra is dedicated to the Sun or Surya; the only living God we see; without whom we cannot exist for a single moment.I used to chant this mantra 108 times at sunrise every morning after having a bath. It seems This Mantra removes all negative and malefic auras and energies me from my surroundings and ushers in the positive and powerful rays of the Sun Rays come to us through papri tree in front of our house. . This ensures that all my innermost desires get fulfilled . A new radiance comes into my being with the daily practice of this Surya Mantra. Also I offer a jug-full of water to the SUN

I took this photo from my front yard in the morning last week

"It's all right." Although these mantras are the words of Vedas but it seems the words appear from nowhere and are meant only for me. I notice that I am singing my own mantra. At least twice a day I sing affectionately for the sun - but never for myself. Why would I? But then, why would I not?
Big Brother and Little sister take enormous pleasure in a humming mama. For that brief moment, all is right.

I have craved a simple moment of pure happiness like this for weeks and weeks now. Maybe the temporary blindness, caused by the overwhelming power of the sun, made me let go of my uneased mind. And engaged me to literally listen to my intuition's voice.

xoxo