Hooks? Check! Needles? Check! Yarn? Check!

I am set and ready to go to London! I am heading over for the weekend to visit with my Australian friend Russ and my old boss Ian.

Of course shopping will be in the mix, along with going to see The Producers and a really nice dinner!

I'll be taking the Eurostar train from Brussels and going through the Chunnel underneath the English Channel. It takes 2 hours and 30 minutes, which translates into a nice knitting and crochet session since I have packed the hooks and needles!

Talk to you on Monday!

Christmas shopping from a 6 year old

I talked to my mom this morning while I was at the airport and she told my the funniest story about my nephew.

On his way home yesterday while riding in the car, he goes "Mom, we need to buy Aunt Kim a Christmas present." My sister agrees with him and he continues "We should buy her some yarn Mom since that is what she really likes" Another agreement came from my sister. Then in all seriousness he goes "Mom, we need to also buy her an adult movie" lol

Guess I am getting "Debbie Does Dallas" for Christmas from my 6 year old nephew! Of course in his mind he meant a non cartoon movie, but the wording that he used is too funny!

Back to Zurich!

Its been a while, but I am heading off to Zurich tomorrow for the next 4 days, back on Saturday for a TON of all day meetings.....including dinner meetings - ugh.

I will try to get some crafting done - but there really is not a lot of hope for that to happen with the listed schedule of meetings.

Will catch up with everyone on my return!

Wrist warmers? Check!

This has been the fastest knit project that I have ever done! Total time was less than 2 days, and the second one took about 3 hours as I have trouble focusing...pick up needles, knit a few rows, surf the web, knit a few more rows, go get my laundry.....

I completed the Irish Hiking Wrist Warmers I am still debating keeping them for myself or putting them in the gifts to take back to the US for Christmas pile.....really tempting to keep them....





I really want to get started on the Irish Hiking Scarf now.....but I still have a few other projects that need to be done first, including the scarves for the kidlets for the holidays!

Frog frog frog *grin*

I have been working on the Brea Bag. And I've now had to frog it twice. The first time I was not paying attention, made one error that I decided to leave, and then while not paying attention, dropped several stitches and made a mess of things so I had to frog it.

This time I'm working away, get to the end of a row and have an extra stitch, huh? Re-count my row, everything is there that was supposed to be there, start swearing. And I frog the whole thing again. I was too disgusted to restart it last night, perhaps tonight. It worked up really quickly for me for what I had done so I don't mind restarting it, I'm just peeved that I managed to now fudge it up twice!

On other issues, I've decided to submit my broomstick patterns to the CPAD for 2008. Will see what happens!

Next on my list of hopefully quick gratification projects is the Irish Hiking Wrist Warmers. Eventually I'll make the scarf as well, but for now the wrist warmers will do!

Work has been frightfully busy again - I thought it was supposed to let up a little but so far it has continued to rain down on me! Argh! One of these days I'll have some free time and not be stressed from work. The most latest is that by the end of the day my contacts have developed a smear on them that causes everything to be foggy - no idea where the smear is coming from but it makes my reading of the computer screen a pain in the arse so I've been limiting computer time to the bare minimums!

Broomstick Mania continues

I am continuing my journey of discovery in Broomstick Lace crocheting.

I love the variations and differences that changing the lace needle size can bring....finally my straight knitting needles are seeing some light! *grin*

I worked up two patterns over the past few days while sitting around the apartment "working" on Christmas presents.....I get sidetracked easily, although one of my creations will be a present to one of my family members (not saying who as there is a slim possiblility that they will read my blog....not likely, but one never knows, so nope, its not for you Mom!)

Here is a close up of the stitches and final view of my newest dishcloth, yet to be named (any suggestions?) Light as Air Broomstick Cloth (Thanks Vik). It was done with lion brand cotton, a H hook and a 15mm hook (US size 19????)


And the pictures of my newest Broomstick Scarf, which I have named Sideways Lace Scarf, including a close up of the design. This was also done with the H hook and 15mm needle and a Wool / Cotton / Polyamide blend.


Patterns are in the process of being written up and error proofed!

Fall Friday

Well, its official in Belgium. Fall is here! While it is sunny today, it is colder than cold - I could see my breathe this morning as I walked to the Police Station to sort out my residency. Belgium Bureaucracy is beyond belief - I've been working on getting this sorted since MARCH!! Talk about delays! Even today after meeting with the Police they said I would here from the Commune in 2-3 weeks...At this rate I'll be gone for Christmas and 2007 will be here before I get my new residence permit!

I've been busy working on a few new patterns using the Broomstick Lace technique. I've finished another Scarf pattern that I am calling "Sideways Lace Scarf" and I am almost finished with a yet to be named Dishcloth pattern. I am going to post the patterns as well as submit them for publishing.....should something come of the publishing I can always take the patterns down, but until then I want to share them! =)

No plans for the weekend - I hope to get a few Christmas presents done so I can mail them back to the US - I am going to try to mail some lighter items to my parents to avoid issues with the weight of my luggage after all of the shopping I am sure to do in New York and Argentina! =) I'll have to get it mailed though in the next 2 weeks to be sure it is there by Christmas, so I have a lot to do quickly!

Has everyone started their holiday crafting? I am trying! I did finish a bunch of stitch markers / earrings and have a few snowflakes done. Hopefully I'll get a few scarves churned out this weekend.

I am doing two CAL / KALs currently - A Handy KAL for hand related items and a Hat / Scarves / Mittens / Warm Items CAL. Perfect for my holiday gift giving plans!

My Bags from the October Bag KAL that I took part in are not even close to being done. I think that they will go into the bins and be pulled out in December!

Ta ta for now!