Hello from Michigan!

Vacation is going great so far! Made it home to my parents without any missed flights, lost luggages or any other assorted traveling problems. My niece and nephew surprised me at my parents house when I arrived so I took them out for dinner in my cooooooool car. Its much cooooooooler than Grandpa's I was told =) I rented a convertable, so they were excited about that.

Went to a friend's wedding on Saturday, my littlest neice's birthday party on Sunday and today it is off to the beach! Burnt skin here I come! It will not matter how much lotion I put on, how often I put it on, what strength it is, with my lily white skin it is guarenteed I'll come home lobster red. *sigh* I wish I was like my sisters and Mom who only have to look at the sun to turn tan. Me, I look at the sun and fry.

I will not be posting much the next 3 weeks, so I hope that everyone is having a great summer and will talk to you all when I am back in Belgium!

The week of WIPs continues....Try 2

Okay, the first message sent on its own for some reason so lets try this one again....

The week is moving along great so far. No new projects started - a record I think! *grin*

I have finished the centers of the Baby Blankey Grannies I am working on. The centers are all pink and the outer section will be in green. The pattern comes from Crochet today!'s March/April 2008 publication. Very cute!

I'm working on my WIP at work a little bit - I have a Crazy Cloth in one of my desk drawers and I'll pull it out a little bit after lunch for 5 minutes to work on it. This one is being done in a variegated Anchor Magicline. Love the colors.

A HUGE thank you goes out to Vik who helped me with the Knit in Stitch below concept...it was a duh moment. It helped too that I put an extra stitch out of the pattern on each end so its not looking funky any longer and has a cleaner border...now lets hope that I have enough yarn! It calls for 120yds and I have 147yds but I think that will make the scarf too short.....it remains to be seen though! Loving the look of it though...I might need to make more!

I think that is it for now. I leave in a week tomorrow for 3 weeks - 2 weeks in the US with my family and 1 week in Chicago looking for a new job. That is right. I am moving back to Chicago. We are thinking that I will leave in Oct / Nov but it depends on the job I find.

Talk to you all soon!

Happy Birthday Ismet!

Just a big happy birthday to my boyfriend Meti.

Ps to Meti - Te dua pak *grin* err shum

Sunburst Lantern

Here is the first finished WIP for my Week of WIPs:

Project details:

Pattern: Lantern Potholder by American Thread Company

Thread: Coats Manila Bay Cannon Cotton Thread bought from Mimi

Hook: Size 1.5 Inox

Time: Several months due to SEVERE procrastination

Final Opinion: Love it!

Now on to the next WIP or two!

Knit one below? Huh?

Does someone, anyone have any experience with "Knit into the stitch below the one on the needle"?

While not really a WIP since I frogged it to start back over (semantics), I have been trying to make the Last Hurrah Scarf also found on Ravelry here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/last-hurrah-scarf

My issue is that I can not grasp the knit below concept...you want me to do what? When I thought I had it my whole project fell apart....rather amusing looking back but at the time I was not so happy!

The advice on Ravelry is "Also called a double stitch: insert your right needle knitwise into the center of the stitch below the stitch on the needle and knit, catching both stitches"

Huh? So I put it into the center of the stitch below, but how do I manage to catch both stitches?

I am sure this is something VERY simple but my simple little mind can not grasp it!

Week of WIPS

Once again I feel like I am overrun with WIPs and some UFOs that just won't make up their minds if they are going to be frogged or finished.

So, due to this horrible habit I have of working on umpteen things at one time, I am declaring this upcoming week my WIP week. No new projects started, just working on those on my hooks and needles.

I got an early start with WIP week and worked on this today:

Cute eh? I love how it turned out - the Katia Cotton Club was so soft and silky to work with. I see more dishcloths in my future....I am glad that I have other Katia cotton-club skeins in my stash which I can still use since this yarn has been discontinued.

I have been working today on the lantern.....I could easily still finish it tonight, but my fingers are sore from weaving in the thread ends! I crochet with thread really tightly, so its difficult sometimes to weave in the ends, and there have been a lot of ends to weave let me tell you! I have 6 of the sections finished, two more to go, and then the final assembly. In order to cut out the number of ends that I have to weave I am attaching the sections together as I go, which will eliminate 12 ends to weave.....which left me with 52 ends that I had to weave.....not that I am counting or anything =)

I hope that everyone had a great weekend!!!

Week of WIP updates coming soon to a blog near you!

Back to our normally scheduled programming

It has been just a few days since I talked about crafting so I figure that it is about time...that is what this blog is about after all!

First of all, thank you to all of you who have commented and talked to me about my Weaved Hotpad. I've met a lot of new people thanks to this pattern and received a lot of nice compliments which mean a lot to me. I hope that everyone enjoys the pattern!

Yes, I been knitting and crocheting....and its not Play Yarn Food! Amazing eh?

I tried to start the Seafoam Vest from Interweave Crochet's Spring 2007 editin...yes, I tried a wearable. Follow the directions for my bust size.....realized after 2 rows that there was no way unless I became anorexic would the thing ever (and I do mean ever) fit around my waist. I would not consider myself fat, I know I have a few extra pounds (don't we all?) which need to be shed, but I'm healthy and happy so no crash course dieting for me coming up. So that one was frogged and the magazine hidden away to not taunt me.

Speaking of my Weaved Hotpad, I have finished the fourth version of it, this one using two different variegated colors for the ovals and a solid square.


On the needles, I've started another dishcloth. This one using Katia Cotton Club (I think that it has been discontinued) in a pretty green on my Grandma's size 3 needles. The pattern is Spring Up Flowers found on Ravelry here with the pattern on Kristen's blog here

I have picked back up the hook again to work on my Lantern Potholder. Since the picture was taken I've weaved in all of the ends (they are hidden underneath all of the sections) and finished another white section. 3 more white sections to go, the final outlining in yellows and then the assembly and I'll e done....its taken me almost 8 months to get this far....I should be done at this rate by Christmas! =) Nah, I've just not really worked on this project - had others that I wanted to get done, but this one has moved up in priority so hopefully before I leave for summer holidays in 2 weeks.

That is about it for now. I have an urge to create some stitch markers so those will be showing up on my blog soon I am sure! Although I really don't need any more stitch markers so I have no idea what I will do with them, but I'll think of something I am sure!

Thank yous from Megan

My niece Megan owes a big thank you to Anita. Recently I was picked as a winner on Anita's blogversary contest, and she sent me a little gift. My niece opened it up and was squealing with glee at what was inside!

Oh boy! Look what is in here...

They are donuts!!
Or they can be used as goggles....
Megan called the beads on top "jewel sprinkles" and is totally in love with them my Mom says!

Thanks again Anita - she loves them and sends big Thank You's to her Aunt Kim's friend!
_________________________________

She also got that day all of the food I had been making her (my Mom took it back with her).....I think she has enough finally! =)

Sleeping Beauty.....

Here are some of the pictures from our trip.

Sleeping Beauty Castle in Germany.....


Look! We're in Austria!!
A side trip to Brugges Belgium during the week that my Mom was here:
Our stop in Lucerne Switzerland - the Lion of Lucerne monument which is for 700+ Swiss Guard soldiers who died while protecting Louis & Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution - very moving carving!

Some Alpine Horn players in Lucerne - very pretty music!
Meti & my Mom in the Grand Place
Is it me, or does Meti look a little bit like Bono when he wears my sun glasses?
Me & My Mom while in Belgium waiting for the Canal Boat tour.....
That is it for now!

Pictures are coming....

You will have to wait for the pictures, but I can tell you that me and my Mom had an excellent time together!!   We took a trip to Brugges one day on the train.  Which was fun - no driving, got to work on some knitting.  And spent a lovely afternoon wandering around Brugges with my Mom.   We then decided that we needed to take a full fledged road trip.  So we left on Thursday mid-morning.   Drove out of Belgium, into Luxembourg....kept on going into France and right on out into Switzerland.  Did actually stop at a rest stop where I introduced my Mom to Carmel Magnum Ice Cream bars - oh yummy!   Ended up that evening in Zürich where we wandered around and had a great dinner.....I had cheese fondue (of course) and my Mom had a yummy stuffed chicken breast.  We ended the night by going and watching a Euro Cup soccer match - Spain versus Russia I think it was - at the Fan Zone in Zürich - tons of people and a HUGE movie theater size screen to watch it on - what fun!   The next day we headed on the train down to Lucerne.  Decided to take the train for convenience and we needed to head back toward Zürich anyways for our next destination.  Had fun walking around Lucerne - a very pretty little city.  Only disappointment was the low cloud cover in the mountains - really hazy and not easy to see even though the sun was out!   Hopped the train back to Zürich and off we went.....towards Germany.  Although we detoured through Austria to get there which was unexpected, but that was the way Lucy my GPS lady told me to go!  Ended up in Füssen Germany after traveling behind an insane semi-truck driver from the Netherlands!  Curvy mountain 1x1 roads, and the Semi-truck was just a truckin along at 100km an hour.  A few times he had close calls with other trucks / cars / curves.  He took off and passed a car once and me and my Mom looked at each other and went "Waoh!"   And then we were on the first of our autobahn experiences, but we were too busy looking at the Alps to really go fast.....no worries, that came later!  =)   Füssen where we ended up the night is the closest large village to the Sleeping Beauty Castle right at the foot of the Bavarian Alsp...talk about gorgeous!!!  The next day we walked up to the older castle before walking up the mountain to the Sleeping Beauty Castle - both were gorgeous with magnificent views.  Of course we had not had enough walking so we decided to walk back up to the first castle to go to the gift shop there where we had seen a really gorgeous bowl for a wedding gift that my Mom bought.    After all that walking we decided to head back toward Belgium..Home Lucy!  Of course Lucy tells us we will be back at 12:40 in the morning....okay, not so bad.  autobahn here we come.  Oh yea - vroom vroom vroom.  I got on the autobahn and let my little Audi wagon go......hit 200 during a windy stretch which was not so nice - just wanted my Mom to say she had went 200km on the Autobahn (about 125mph).  Backed down to my cruising speed of around 170km (105mph) where we toodled along until I got really mad at a car which kept cutting me off and then slowing down, speeding up to pass me then slowing down again.  So I told my Mom that I was going to get away from him.....so vroom on the gas peddle.....next thing we know I am cruising along at 210km (130mph) and we look at each other and neither of us felt that we were going that fast!  Once away from the car though I backed down to my cruising speed.  We hit a Burger King for dinner at a rest stop...SLOW!!!  There added 45 mins to our stop - argh!  then of course we get going again and some genius in highway maintenance decided to take the 3 lanes down to 1 lane right where there is a major junction.....there added about 30 mins.  So we ended up getting home at about 2am.  Safe and sound though and glad to sleep in my own bed.   Took Mom to the train yesterday morning and was sad to see her leave - had a great time and both me and Meti enjoyed having her stay with us.  Wish she could have stayed longer!   Thanks Mom for coming over and for a going on the road trip with me - lots of fun - wish we could do it again....Want to come back and go with me through Normandy? =)

Momma is coming tomorrow!

My Mom will be here tomorrow - I am so excited!!!!!

She said that she is bringing her knitting...we shall see if she really does.....if not, I have more than enough yarn and needles to help her start a new project.....perhaps not slippers this time!

I will drive up to Amsterdam in the morning, about a 2 hour drive or so to pick her up at Schipol Airport. I've never driven there before, so it will be interesting...lets hope that the GPS knows where she is going!

Okay, time to finish cleaning and watching the last of the Croatia-Turkey Euro Cup match!

5 more days....

I am sitting here looking around my apartment...every chair, radiator, door handle etc is covered with laundry. Plus an ironing board sitting piled high with clothes.

Have I mentioned lately just how much I despise ironing? Some of the pile is probably 2 years old in waiting to be ironed. I had all of the shirts hanging behind my bedroom door on hooks. Since the door is never closed, out of sight, out of mind came into role big time! I have since moved the pile onto the ironing board in the middle of the kitchen.

Do you think that helped any?

Nope, I now either walk around the board or simply more it clothes and all out of my way. I fear that my Mom will arrive and the darn thing will still be sitting there, shirts and all!

I suppose I could just be lazy......gather all the shirts up and take them to the cleaners.....sound like a plan? =)

I need to get busy crafting. My colleague who had the baby is bringing him in on Thursday...I know that I will not have the blanket done but perhaps I can make something else up really quick.....now to decide what exactly.

Okay, I am off to walk around that ironing board some more and get the dinner dishes done......Dishes are a close second behind ironing in things that I really do not like to do!

And the monster makes 3

3 posts that is for today!

Yet another finished project that I do believe I have forgotten to show.

So I will take the time to introduce my very own....Swamp Thing!!

The details:

Pattern: Swamp Thing by Jean Greenhouse in Jiffy Knits
Yarn: Saskia Acrylic bought at Wibra
Needle: Size 3
Eyes: 2 Goggle Wiggly Eyes
Time: Fast to knit....I took forever to assemble it

I really enjoyed the pattern - simple Garter Stitch. The putting together was a fit fiddly with having to separate all of the hair strands. But he turned out cute and is sure to bring a huge smile to my nephew's face!

Happy Daddy's Day!!

Happy Father's Day Dad I love you VERY VERY much!



Thank you for all of the support and love and advice and wisdom you have given me over the years. I greatly treasure each and every moment that we have spent together and cherish all of the memories we have made....even the "Bear Hunt" in the middle of 90°+ weather....humidity.....and a 5 mile trek...just to read a sign that said "Lincoln Slept Here" in the midst of a bunch of weeds.

Happy Father's Dad to the Best Dad a girl could ever have!

Shut the door!!!!!

"Why does it always rain on me?

Was it because I lied when I was 17? Even when the sun is shining I can't avoid the lightening." (A song by a band called Travis)

How is everyone doing? I spent another day in Zurich on Wed and then in Munich on Thursday for a meeting . It feels lately like I am spending all of my time on planes and in airports waiting for those planes.

Did I mention that while on the train back from Neuchetal to Zurich last week I saw a lady crocheting? And the previous week I saw a lady cable knitting a sweater? Yarn work seems to be popular in Switzerland, yet I have only even found one yarn shop. I need to investigate some more I think!

I had my projects with me of course. Here is what I managed to complete on the first trip to Zurich:



This past trip I have been working on a baby blanket for a friend here in Belgium. I am doing the Moderne Log Cabin Baby Blanket from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book.

I am staying in Belgium this week and in 6 days my Mom will be here!! I am so excited that she is coming over to visit me and to meet my boyfriend for the first time! I need to drive up to Amsterdam to pick her up - its about a 2 hour drive or so to the airport there. Thankfully her flight gets in around 11, so I do not need to get up too early on Saturday morning to go pick her up.

Have a great week!

Off again!

That's right, I am heading to Zurich for the rest of this week - I just can not stay in Belgium matemy it seems! It should be a good 3 days there though, including a meeting with the CFO o the company. A little bit nervous about my presentation I have to give, but it should be a good meeting.

On the crafting front since that is why all of you are reading my blog.

First up is from Fruits and veggies as requested by my neice Megan:


Lemon Merangue Pie anyone?



Some more finished food items are coming up, as well as a knitted version of a crochet pattern I saw (my hands were too tired from crocheting to do any more) as well as some non-food and non-dishcloth items *gasp* yes it is possible!

Have a great rest of the week and we will talk to you all during the weekend!

Wow!

That is all I can say!   Thank you to everyone for all of your comments on my Weaved Hotpad.  I really enjoy the pattern and can only wish that I had posted it sooner!   Now that this one is off the hooks and onto the paper so to speak I need to start thinking about the next pattern.  No idea what it will be.    I have been making a lot of "Play Yarn Food" so perhaps I will have to think of some items along those lines.  Although I keep having visions of doll size clothing in my head, so^perhaps I'll finally get around to making some Cabbage Patch clothes up.   We shall see!   Off the design front, I've started a few more projects the past fews days.  A few Play Yarn Food patterns for my niece, along with another DouDou (little doll in French) and some more odds and ends.    One of these days I'll finish what I have already started.....just not today!

Road trip? I think not!

Or at least I will not be taking a Road Trip here in Europe...the US is a totally different story. I just might be able to afford that one!

I am sure all of you who are in the US must be thinking I am nuts right now. Right? I am sure that you are sitting there thinking "Gas is around $4 a gallon.....no way!"

But, the sad thing is, that is cheap. Honestly.

I filled my tank up last night. And spent 1.41€.....for a liter. That is 5.34 Euros a gallon....want to know what that is in US dollars? It costs me $8.41 USD for each gallon of diesel I put in my car.....and in Europe, diesel is the cheapest option! Unleaded would cost over $9 a gallon!

So, I'll continue to avoid any long trips by car here in Europe, and be doing a happy dance when I go to the US this summer and fill my tank up for half the cost for me =)

The Weaved Hotpad

Weaved Hotpad
Designed by Kimberly A Langlois
Copyright © 2008 Kimberly Langlois All rights reserved.

This pattern can be found as a PDF download on Ravelry, at the following link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/weaved-hotpad

Or you may email me at: kaml19 @ yahoo . com Please include in the subject line "Weaved Hotpad Request"



Requirements:
2 colors of worsted weight cotton
H hook

Legal jargon:

Copyright © 2008 Kimberly Langlois All rights reserved.

Reproducing or transmitting this pattern by any means for any purpose other than for personal use constitutes a violation of copyright law.

This dishcloth may be made for personal use only. Should you wish to make the finished dishcloths for sale, please contact for permission. Should you wish to use this pattern for a class or event, please contact for permission.

Coming Soon to a blog near you.....

After an extremely long procrastination period, the pattern is in final testing stages, and once done, it will be released for public use!

Stay tuned for updates.......

A gift that keeps giving.....

Do you remember when my Grandmother passed away and I said that I was given her needles and needle holder by my Grandfather? Well, I have finally had a chance to use her needles and this was the first thing off of them.....

The details......

Pattern: The Be My Dishcloth by Kristen Patay from Kris Knits

Yarn: 1 skein of Coats Lyric 8/8

Needles: Grandma's Susan Bates Size 3

Time: Several days on and off

Final Opinion: I really like both the pattern and the final result!

Getting crafty in the evening hours...

Last night I sat down and decided that enough was enough and that I was going to finish up some outstanding WIPs and make some progress on others.
Well, here are the results......

First up is the snowman I've been making for my nephew. The pattern comes from Jean Greenhowe's Christmas Special booklet and was made using acrylic and 3.0 mm needles.

Next up is two more fan bookmarks - the third one is almost completed. I've gotten the pattern down now so they fly off the hook it seems like!

The next two projects I finished over the past week or so, but here they are....first is all of my snowflakes all blocked and dried....

Then, the last finished project to show off is my little German crocheted bag - I love how it turned out with the Anchor magicline yarn - such great fun with the self striping yarn......
I made progress on the Grannies Blanket from the Spring edition of Crochet Today! as well as a dishcloth and a Log cabin Baby blanket.

I've decided on the round ripple afghan to frog it back to the green and do the last rounds with green instead of pink to make it more boyish looking for my friend Laura's little boy. I ran into her husband this weekend and mentioned that the blanket was too girly and he said to bring it anyway, but I really want to make it more boy orientated.

I think that is about it for today! Enjoy the rest of the week!