Monday, December 31, 2007

The last post of 2007....

This is it....the last post of 2007 for me. It is 7:30 am in Belgium and jet lag is doing some really weird things to me.....oddly enough I fell asleep last night about 9 o'clock, after waking up around 4:30.....I made the really big mistake of deciding to take a little "nap" when I got back to Belgium yesterday morning. But it seems to be working okay as I was able to get a fairly good amount of sleep last night, and still be a little bit tired right now. I could probably go back to sleep for another few hours but that is just too much sleep for me!

I've been thinking a lot about New Years resolutions, and many of them are familiar ones from years past....Eat healthier, loose weight, travel more for personal pleasure etc etc etc. Then there is the yarn related resolutions....not buying too much yarn, finishing more projects etc etc etc. We will report back on what ends up in the final list sometime in early 2008.

The past year has been full of many new and old things. I have made some wonderful new friends both on-line and in real life. Have visited a new continent (Asia via my trip to China). Hit the 1 year mark with a boyfriend which looks like it is going great towards the 2 year mark in 2008. Continued my craftiness with knitting and crocheting projects galore. Traveled back to Michigan a grand total of 3 times this year to see the kiddies. Spent time with all 5 of my Grandparents over Christmas (4 natural grandparents and one step-grandma....rather amazing to have all 4 (5) alive at my age.....especially when I am the 2nd youngest grandchild of 7 on one side, and the 4th youngest of 9 on the other side, so it can not be explained by saying "I am the oldest grandchild so its to be expected.")

Will see you all in 2008!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Season Greetings!

From my house to yours this holiday season, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

I not only crochet and knit, I can bake and decorate my cake.......

From left to right -> myself, my niece Abby, my sister Denise, my sister Becky and my Momma:


From the languages in my house to yours....
English: Merry Christmas
French: Joyeux Noel
Spanish: Feliz Navidad
Albanian: Gëzuar Krishlindjet
Swedish: God Jul
Gaelic: Nollaig
Italian: Buon Natale

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Hello from Chicago!

I am sitting in the Chicago O'Hare airport waiting for the final flight of my journey home for the holidays. I'll be visiting with the family for the next 2 weeks and then back to Belgium for New Years.

The flight here was uneventful - I read a book, watched Hairspray and worked a little bit on some crocheted Christmas projects.....I might finish in time for the holidays!

I hope that everyone is having a great weekend!

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Latest Obsessions.....

I have several. I know, I said one the other day, but they have multiplied.

The first are these oh so cute little guys.....I found them hiding out in my Christmas Cookies tonight.

Next up is my latest knitting obsession, Jean Greenhowe. I LOVE her designs. So cute - take a look at her site and the patterns available: http://jeangreenhowe.com/index.html

I recently bought the following on-line and had shipped to me in Belgium. I am working on my first project from the booklets currently:



Jean does have a few free patterns listed on her site, including her Rainbow Babies pattern which is the first pattern of hers that I made:


I do believe that about covers it for tonight. I need to get some sleep as I have all day meetings tomorrow and then a late night as we are having a combination Year End Dinner / Farewell Dinner with the entire team.

I hope that everyone had a great weekend and I wish you all a wonderful week!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

He likes it!!!!!!!

Its finished. Its not one of those takes forever cursed sweater projects, but a simple little hat. BUT....He likes it! Yay!





Pattern: Brother-in-law Basket-weave Hat
Time: 1 day spread out over a week
Very easy
Yarn: Airmix Gedefria

Monday, December 03, 2007

Crafting for homeless.....

A while back a wonderful woman in Argentina had an idea after giving away some scarves to a few random street inhabitants about making a movement to anonymously give away hats, scarves etc to the homeless populations on our streets.

A group of wonderful women in Hawaii read about Vik's project and wanted to conrtibute....but giving away scarves in Hawaii??? Not really needed. So they asked Vik about being able to donate to another region.

THIS is the result!

What can you do for the homeless this Holiday season? Join us in Knitting for the Homeless and help make someone's Holiday season a little bit brighter!
Ihad a great time in Zurich (aside from the whole work aspect which was tiring with tons of meetings with all of my new colleagues) and had a blast spending time with Zori and two other friends - Suzy & Leen. Here is a picture of me and Zori:

I find it funny that when I open the fridge in the office in Zurich, that this is hat I see:

Of course we found time to visit a yarn shop in the Old City of Zurich called Hand Knit......yes, I broke my yarn diet and bought some new yarn; *sigh* let the diet start again.


In honor of our love of yarn and wool and all things sheepie, we bought each other hand made Sheepies from a cute little Doll & Animal shop next to the Yarn Shop. Here are our guys right before I left to come back to Belgium:


And finally, here is the results of the week.....one snowflake and 2 more coasters:


I have some new patterns to show off along with what I am currently working on, but that will wait until I am more awake (its almost midnight).

Have a wonderful week everyone!