I've been RAOK'ed!

First of all, its officially the weekend for me...are y'all jealous?? Tomorrow is Belgium's National Day so my company gave us the two days off! My goal is to do as little as possible (excluding crocheting of course) with a minimum amount of effort! I do need to run some errands on Friday, but hopefully I can get them done in the morning and have all afternoon to sit in the sun...always assuming its going to be sunny! :)

As I hinted at in my post this morning, I had a surprise waiting for me at work today! A wonderful fairy godmother from Crochetville sent me my very first RAOK! Being very sneaky to put my US address as the return address, I have narrowed the sender down to someone living in the great state of Texas - my most humble and sincere thank yous go out to you! You have brightened up my day! The tea was very good - I've never had that kind before! The gum was great!! The Apple Bubble gum was a big hit with me (all of it is at work - the package in the picture is just the outside! :) The coaster is lovely - fits perfectly under my mug! And the square is gorgeous - thank you!!

Blogging Personality Test......

The saga of the Blogging Personality test……my introduction to the BPT began when I read about it on Sara’s blog who had gotten it from Kari’s. Put a note in my mental to-do list and carried on with my day. I then read it on Ro’s blog and then on Misfits blog (and they both got it off of the Kari-Sara link). And that my friends is when I deduced that Professor Plum had killed Mister Boddy in the Library with the candle..err…umm…wrong game – heres my answer to my BPT:

Your Blogging Type is Pensive and Philosophical

You blog like no one else is reading... You tend to use your blog to explore ideas - often in long winded prose. Easy going and flexible, you tend to befriend other bloggers easily. But if they disagree with once too much, you'll pull them from your blogroll!

What's Your Blogging Personality?

Do you agree? I’m not so sure on all of it – some yes – i.e. the long-windedness and the befriending…but pulling from my blogroll for disagreeing with me?? The City of Crochet is a democratic society and not a dictatorship! No one ever goes missing in the night, unexplained accidents happening, no planning of terrorist style attacks on vegetables (it wasn’t me…but the question is still out there…who tried to do the veggies in??) So please, feel free to disagree with little old moi!

Psst - I got something in the mail today at work....will post about it when I get home tonight and can take a picture...it was totally unexpected....this person deserves some huge hugs...as a hint, the postmark was from Texas but the return address was from....me?!?!? I can not hug myself....but be assured that mental hugs are going out to this person...whomever she may be! :)

My famous afghan

I can not remember if I already posted about this, and I am way to tired to go back and re-read my old posts...yup, I'm being lazy!

But, imagine my surprise and shock when I was surfing through iVillage the other day and came across this post: http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-ppcrochtknit&msg=3126.1 Yup, thats my afghan that they are referring to - http://cityofcrochet.blogspot.com/2005/05/my-star-afghanit-is-finished.html

I was extremely surprised and a little bit tickled pink to think that others have found their way to my blog and enjoyed the afghan!

I scratch my head and wonder what I did with all of my time a year ago before I started crocheting! Now its spent crocheting, blogging, checking out Crochetville, blog-stalking others, RAOKs, Swaps, yarn shopping, searching for patterns...and so forth!

I know that I am much happier now, so that is what counts! A year ago I was probably snowed under at work, working 12+ hour days, pulling my hair out, dealing with a new boss that did not have a password for a single system and expected me to do it all, taking on additional tasks knowing that I could not keep up and would eventually fall flat on my face (managed to catch myself while falling and crawl throught the budget season), and generally having a miserable life! Life is better now - even with crappy work and idiotic morons to work with, I have my yarn and hooks, and a bunch of new friends on the web. Life is looking better and better every day!

*hugs* to everyone!

Weekend Crocheting Show & Tell

Well, another weekend has passed and while I did not get as much done as I had envisioned, I was able to put a good dent into my WIPs and UFOs as well as a few new projects...I know, I know - enough with the new projects I have more than enough to do on my plate as it is, but I just can not help myself!

First: Dishcloth UFOs - I managed to finish both of them, and while the star is a bit wavy, I still like the final look of both! Have not decided yet if I am going to keep them for myself or send away as a possible RAOK....to be determined!



Second: Here are the first three squares that I have finished. I really do not like the one on the top right, so I am only send that one if I can not finish a replacement in time!



Third: I worked up Dot's Ditty Bag - it worked quickly and easily! I added a few rows of half-double stitches for variation - hard to tell though. I would suggest to make the handle a few stitches longer - although I think my crocheting too tightly is the main issue - the handle barely fits over my wrist but since I am sending it to a 7 year old, it is all good! My secret pal has a few girls...I might work up 3 more this week to send in my package to her!



Others: I worked on several items but no pictures - Started the head for the Princess Frog - I like how its working up but the French is a bit confusing at times! I worked a little bit on my Grandmother's doily...I might finish it up before Christmas at the rate I am going! I also worked some more on the scarf for my niece (same one who is getting the bag) and finished a few more rows - almost done with it!

I think that is all for now..See - I do on occasion crochet! Well, the scarf was knitting but its still working with my beloved yarn! :) My stash has gone down just a smidgen but that is a good thing...making room for new!

July Tea Update

As I mentioned yesterday, I purchased a wonderful Chinese tea set. It came with 6 cups, 3 spoons, a pot and a bamboo tray - here are the pictures of the set:




I also made an interesting purchase on Friday night (Friday night shopping in Leuven was done with free beer samples...my kind of shopping!) of a Pineapple & Rooibos tea blend from Twinings Tea based in London. I was very hesitant to try it, but decided what the heck and purchase a box of it. It was not as sweet as you would expect and yet still had a very pinappley (is that a word??) taste! I would be willing to share some (not all of it though!!) if anyone is interested!

What does my birthday mean????

While doing my daily reading of blogs, I read on Cordelia's blog another blog quiz, this one about birthdays. I had to try it out, so away I went and here is what is said about little ole moi's birthdate:

Your Birthdate: July 25

Your birth on the 25th day of the month (7 energy) modifies your life path by giving you some special interest in technical, scientific, or other complex and often hard to understand subjects. You may become something of a perfectionist and a stickler for details. Your thinking is logical and intuitive, rational and responsible. Your feelings may run deep, but you are not very likely to let them show. This birthday makes you a more private person, more introspective and perhaps more inflexible. In friendships you are very cautious and reserved. You are probably inventive, and given to unique approaches and solutions.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

To analyze the above:

--- Special interest in technical, scientific, or other complex and often hard to understand subjects. Okay, I am an accountant with a computer science background working on data retrieval and analysis from the various computer systems in the company...I think that this qualifies for this one.

--- Perfectionist and a stickler for details. Yup, read above.

--- Thinking is logical and intuitive, rational and responsible. Not sure about the rational part (I do tend to be irrational at times...but usually for a good reason) otherwise, yup thats me again

--- Feelings may run deep, but not likely to show. Depends on who its with - I am extremely open with my feelings - especially with family and friends....only time that this is true, is in regards to relationships I've been in....one specific individual comes to mind - not even sure if he knows now how much I care for him.

--- A private person, more introspective and perhaps more inflexible. Nope, my life is an open book in almost every aspect. I can be very inflexible if I feel that I am right...but show me or explain why I'm not and I am more than willing to consider bending

--- In friendships you are very cautious and reserved. Almost - I tend to make lots of friends and acquantances very easily and often. I do not make true deep friendships easily or lightly, but once I do, its for the long haul come good or bad.

--- Inventive, and given to unique approaches and solutions. Another yuppers - I love using my computer background and knowledge at work to get the data that I need....if I think about it long enough I can usually find the key to persuade the computers to cough up the data that I need!

Willy Wonka - Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

A continuation of the last post, but deserving of its own post, so here it is....

And the highlight of my weekend so far.....I got to see Willy Wonka!!

Okay, its actually Charlie and the Chocolate Factory but that's just semantics! I have been in love with the first version for years! The Oompa Loompa songs (What do you get when you guzzle down sweets? Eating as much as an elephant eats. What are you at getting terribly fat? What do you think will come of that? ....I don't like the look of that. Oompa Loompa Doo ba dee do, if you are wise you'll listen to me. You will live in happiness to, like the Oompa Loompa Doo bah dee do......Doo bah dee DO!) remain my favorites in the first version, a bit of a let down in the second version - the singing was hard to understand and lost the simplistic messages of the first version.

They changed the movie a bit in the new version, and from what I have heard, they stayed closer to the book in this one. I've not read the book (or at least don't remember reading it) so I can not exactly say. They did go into how Wonka met the Oompa Loompas and a few flash backs to his childhood and what caused him to become the eccentric candy & chocolate maker that he is. Mister Depp did a fair rendition of Willy Wonka - not a crazy/bizarre kinda kooky as Mister Wilder did, but more of a disturbed genius struggling with past issues.

End decision...I enjoyed the movie very much, but the first still holds the top spot in my heart! Have you seen the movie yet? What is you opinion? Vote in my two polls on the side bar!!

3 down, a whole lot more to do!

Well the weekend has been fun so far! Thursday night my friends Laura and Gil dropped off their cat Mils to spend a two week 'vacation' with me! I am excited to have some company in my apartment - even if I thought that Mils was going to jump off the balcony of my third floor (fourth floor in America - the ground floor is considered 0 here).

Friday during lunch I went into the center and bought almost all of the thread needed to make the Frog Princess - I still need to find the yellow for the crown - they did not have it at the store so I am not sure what I will do (they can not order it in for me) There are a couple of other shops in that same chain around the city - I will start stalking all of them until I find the yellow - what is a Princess without her crown?????

Friday night I went out to Leuven to stay at a friends house with another co-workers - the three of us stayed up talking and crafting away...All on my projects! My friend Zori went to work on my fun fur scarf that I am knitting for my niece - I realized that I've been holding the yarn in the wrong hand as I knit.....oops! That's what happens when I teach myself - now the fun of trying to learn the correct way! My other friend Leen finished up a twelve inch square for my Grandma's afghan (she had started it at the last craft night at my place) and then snaffled one of my Sugar n'Cream cotton balls and made herself a dishcloth - my supply keeps dwindling away of the S'n C :(

Saturday was shopping - picked up the cutest Chinese tea set! It is a Green Tea teapot with the little cups on a bamboo tray - its adorable in cream with green leaves and red dragonflies! I went with Zori to the Yarn shop by my house and managed to leave without making a single purchase! I decided Friday night that I was not going to purchase any more yarn until I had used up some of what I currently own! All four of my tubs are full now and I have still more yarn that I am working on as WIPs that do not fit into the tubs!

And to the title reference, I have completed three of the squares for the square swap over at Crochetville! I only have 32 more to go - yippee!! Pictures will be coming soon!

Blogger Shout Outs

Since finding my way to Crochetville and the wonderful Blogs, I've met so many talented and wonderful individuals! They make me laugh, cry, cringe, go Eeeewww and cheer each and every one of them on!

While I have links to many of them floating around my page, I would like to introduce you to a few of my favorites - take the time to go and check out their blogs - it is well worth the time and effort! In random order (I would never want to play favorites - every blog is special and unique!!)

- Misfit's Blog A talented Crocheter from India - check out her gorgeous sunset pictures! And don't forget to vote in her current pole!!

- Heather's Blog Yet another talented crocheter...this one from the exotic locale of Iowa (Which will be added to my places to visit list!! lol) Rants and raves and general takes on life....all this from a lady who has a pony named Peter Dragon! :)

- Celeste's Blog Highly amusing, a talented designer (she won 3rd place in the Stitch Diva Contest for Flowers) and even shares her Engrish sightings!

- Cordelia's Blog In her words - Daily ramblings of living, loving, crafting, critters, and of course rants! Gotta love those rants! And check out her animals - oh so cute!

- Sara's Blog A wonderful talented person who has started the Hooked Project

- Debs Blog Another beginner crocheter who has a wonderful sense of humor!

- Ro's Blog A super talented crocheter who has a heart of gold as she helps out others via her site Project Sherwood Take some time to read, sit back, crochet a hat or blankie and help out a wonderful cause via One Small Thing

- Regina's Blog An extremely gifted crocheter who has a wild and wonderful sense of humor! Take the time to find out about her Vegetable Liberation Army. Best of all - her favorite SoM song is the Goat Herder Song!! "High on a hill was a lonely goatherd Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo"

Just a sampling of my daily reads - for more wonderful bloggers - Check out the Blog list on the bottom right and the Rolling Blog Buttons!

(Can you tell that I was so excited about my Package from Jessica last night that I had not time to get any Crocheting done?? Don't forget to check out her blog too!! I am looking forward to reading it in the future!)

A HUGE MERCI BEAUCOUP!!!!!!

I just have to say a huge thank you to my awesome and wonderful Secret Pal from the Summer Secret Pal at Crochetville! During the whole time she has been super wonderful - sending notes, postcards, e-mails and e-cards, several wonderful mailings and now to top it off - her "piece de resistence"!

As I was leaving work (after posting about the Thank Yous in an earlier post today....must have know that I was going to have to send one out tonight) I walked past the receptionist who said "Your Package is Here" huh? I did not bother checking my voicemails on my phone this afternoon (avoiding having more work thrown at me) so I missed her message about needing to pick up a package! Well I am sooooo glad that she caught me - I could not wait to get home and open up the box! I even thought about opening it up on the tram ride home, but I resisted temptation and had a HUGE surprise when I got home and opened the box!

Inside my reveal package / early birthday gift were these wonderful items:




My lovely Secret Pal sent me a box full of goodies! She sent me a wonderful Poncho made with silk in black and white which I LOVE!! She also sent me some Bernat Frenzy, Caron Jewel Box (can not wait to make a scarf with this) and Cream Luster Sheen. A bunch of pattern sheets (perfect! I did not have any of them!!), some letter "K" stickie notes, a family photo album (perfect for my purse!!) A stash of American chocolate & gum (the crunch bar did not last long after the picture was taken), A cro-hook and a size H afghan hook, a daisy flower patch, instructions for thread birdhouse pins, some DMC flower thread (love the colors) and some Eternal Silk threads (ooohhh so soft!!) an easy Kintting magazine (perfect as I am still in the learning phase!!) and last, but not least, a cute birthday card with butterflys and a postcard from Columbus Ohio!!

Thanks you Secret Pal! You are the bestest! I am sure that everyone is dying to know who such an awesome and wonderful Pal is (I had not a clue by the way, and to think I even signed up for your CAL - were you laughing at that one?) To answer the burning question that everyone else is wondering, the best summer secret pal EVER is none other than Jessica aka kusine! Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart - this has meant the world to me!

Ps - I'm wearing my poncho aright now - I really love it!!!!

Question on Thank yous....

This has been buring a hole in the back of my head for a few months now. Cordelia over at CraftyCritter made a mention on her blog today about folks saying Thank You. I am not sure about this, but I thought that most of us were raised to say Please and Thank You....or at least I know that I was (although I will admit that I needed to be prodded now and then by every parents common phrase "What do you say?" until it stuck in my head).

One of my favorite things about sending someone something - be it a R.A.O.K. (Random Act of Kindness), Swap, Exchange, Christmas in July gift or even a Just Because I Wanted to gift - is to read / hear the comments when it is received...Especially the RAOK gifts - I love to know that I brightened up someones day....knowing that will usually brighten my day up also! Warm fuzzies and all that jazz!

I have had a Love/Hate relationship with the Postal System ever since I worked for them in College. (Warning - I can go Postal at any time......) They seem to take great pleasure in tormenting me by losing, misplacing, misdeliverying and disfiguring the packages and letters that I mail (Is it because I turned down that postman Eric for a date???)! I usually live in torment during the mailing process that the package is not going to arrive! And this includes the delivery companies as well! DHL was the last great culprit...I am still hoping that it turns up one of these days.....it has my name and address on it afterall!

Often we know due to the wonders of Delivery Confirmation when a package arrives, but for the little things we don't know....is it acceptable after a period of time to give them a nudge and ask them if they have received anything???? Whats your opinion????

Enough said......

Brussels has a love affair with their pets - they are allowed everywhere! I've even seen one lady in a restaurant place her dog on the seat next to her and order a meal for it! With a large number of dogs in a city along with rude and inconsiderate owners, there tends to be a lot of miniature "road apples" everywhere you walk! Thankfully I learned well during my summers working on Mackinac Island to avoid suspicious looking piles on the sidewalk and streets! I just have to share this funny doggie sign with you that I found (and then bought) during my trip to the Hardware store on Saturday (I bought the items I need to create a little something for Regina's VLA over at MonsterCrochet)

Les Doudous....

I hope that everyone had a good weekend. Luckily it was sunny Sat and Sunday so there was no need to sleep with my water collection tool on my bed! I realized last night that my UFOs have gotten out of control! I have multiple WIPs and UFOs taking over my apartment....it looks like WW3 occurred in my living/dining room!!

I finished two WIP dishcloths (could be considered UFOs since I started them before leaving on vacation and did not touch them for a month) and organized my yarn stash some last night. I am not liking the crates for my thread and cotton - everything just gets thrown into a bin and forgotten - not good! I will be working on finishing at least half of my current projects and not starting another until I see some progress.

I bought two of the cutest crochet books this weekend.....in french!! I am going to be very brave and try my hand at crocheting in french - they are the most darling patterns for childrens doudous. Doudous????? The only translation from french to English is that it is a french slang for a childs security toy. Here are the books and will be my first projects from them:
(All are clickable for a larger view!!)




Almost everything is done in Size 5 DMC Petra thread with some of the smaller details being done in Size 20 (i.e. the Flowers on Mrs. Bear's jacket). I am really excited about these creations - not sure when I will be able to start them as I need to find all of the correct colors of Petra thread - I have some, but not enough colors already in my stash. I wish that this was sold in the US as it is a really nice thread - the colors are wonderful and it works up really nicely!

Introducing the first Animal Inhabitant....Target!

The City of Crochet is proud to introduce to its friends and fellow citizens the first animal inhabitant......Target the Chipmunk!



Please notice the magical blue ever so high tech water collection receptacle behind Target on the bed! Now, I am sure that you are thinking "Why in the world would she name her Chipmunk Target!" Well my friends, the answer is simple - I did not have any fiber-fill or synthetic stuffing material on hand, so I made do with what I had sitting next to me and stuffed the little sucker with an ever so handy Target bag! Now that certainly qualifies for the "Reuse, Reduce, Recycle" challenge! :-) I've left his bottom off so I can stuff him properly at a later point in time!

I think that the apartment folks are avoiding me this morning....must have known after the rains that I would be calling back! As they oh so conveniently enough do not have an answering machine, I sent them an ever so nice e-mail...honest...I was nice!!! I did mention that I preferred not to sleep with my garbage can and that I was highly unpleased to find a wet bed when I got home last night! Slight understatement, but honey catches bees better than vinegar!

Target Details:
Pattern: Sally V George's Pocket Animals & Forest Friends
Yarn: Worsted Weight - Gold, Brown and Black
Stuffing Material: 1 Target Bag from the US
Name Origins: Derive from the stuffing
Height: Abt 3.5 inches
DOB: 07 July 2005 @ 11:52pm

Drip...drip...drip

So I mentioned when I got back from the US that there was a leak in my bedroom ceiling and that I had called maintenance. Well maintenance decided that it was not that big of a deal and that that since it was over a rug I could put a basket under it to catch the drips. Okay, I'll play ball for now and not throw my toys out of the crib.

So its been raining all day today. Well, I got home from work tonight, and the leak has extended across the ceiling - ain't no way that I can catch all of those drips! And to even make things worse there is now a drip over my bed!! There is no way to move my bed to another spot since my room is small and there are drips going all the way across the ceiling. There is only one spot dripping on the darn bed, so I guess it will be me and the garbage can sleeping in my bed tonight! I have such exciting bed partners!

So tomorrow will be another call to the landlords with just a little bit of screaming and yelling happening.....I was willing to deal with the drips, but I will not tolerate drips on my bed! Either fix them or find me a new apartment!

Another day of pain....

The hatred in this world often overwhelms me. I can only shake my head in disbelief everytime I open up the news. The bombings....kidnappings....murders.... all done in the name of Religion.....what GOD wants their followers to kill others? I did a report in high school on Terrorism and one quote sticks out in my mind (kinda para-phrasing as its been several years) "The greatest common threat in the world today is neither the H-Bomb nor the Atomic Weapons.....it is mans eternal desire to be free." As long as people feel they are oppressed they will strike out at those who they feel are causing their oppression in a plea for attention and relief, but little do they realize that often the reason they are being oppressed is because of actions exactly like the one they are taking! Why can't we all just get along and play nicely?

Just my take and ramblings on events today - my thoughts and prayers go out to those injured for a quick recovery and also to the family and friends of those injured and killed.

Secret Pal and more....

My wonderful secret pal has surprised me again (I still do not know who she is...she is being very sneaky!!) I received my mail that was being held for me while I was gone and had a nice little surprise from her. Here is what she sent to me to brighten up this rainy dreary day:



She sent a wonderful craft booklet that has a pattern for a really cute tank top (I mentioned to her once that I would like to make a wearable, possibly a tank top - I think that I already have the yarn I want to use picked out from my stash) a post card from South Dakota and 3 different teas - can not wait to try all of them to see which I like best!! Thank you so very much! You are wonderful! My Secret Pal also let it be known that she is sending out her reveal package this week, so, depending on the time of mailing to Belgium, I should be receiving it in the next 2 weeks or so - can not wait to find out who you are! You've been absolutely great and have put huge smiles on my face!

As I mentioned, I did a little bit of shopping while I was home in the States. Here are some of the goodies that I picked up:


In order: 1) Garden of Afghans, Cool Crochet, Knitting Without Tears and Cozy Crochet 2)Casserole Carriers, Painted Doilies and Hooked on Fish 3) Beautiful Blossum Afghand and Hug-A-Bugs

As Wednesdays is WIP day, here is my latest attempt at crocheting:

What is it you ask? Once completed it should be a chipmunk....but we will have to wait and see how it goes! It is working up fairly quickly and easily so far and will be my first item completed for the Amigurumi-Along that I am particpating in!

Computer Fun

Almost forgot to mention why I did not post anything yesterday after returning. I got back into Brussels at 10:30ish (plane was 2 hours delayed) and dropped my suitcases off at home, and then headed to the office after calling maintenance about the leak in the ceiling in the middle of the bedroom (luckily over the rug and not the bed!).

So, I stuck my laptop into its docking station (a little thingie that turns my laptop into a desktop) turned it on and went to lunch. Came back and it was turned off! I tried as hard as I could to get it to turn back on - taking out the battery, plugging it directly into the power cable and no dice. Called the Tech help desk to book an error log (darn rules) and then headed down to the tech team only to find that they were all out of the office! Crap-o-la! Left a message on their machine and then went home to sleep some, unpack some, read a book and go back to sleep. This morning Arnuad the Tech Guy comes (after driving 45 minutes into this office from another one so he could help me out), exchanges my hard drive with the one from his laptop so I could get some work done (ain't he sweet) and took away my laptop (minus the harddrive) to do his magic. Three hours later he is back with my laptop where he changes back the hard drive and I am back in Blogger and Crochetville work action!

Woo hoo! Seems I somehow managed to fry part of the mother board or something along those lines.....I'm a programmer, not a technician...yup, you read right, along with the dubious honor of being a glorified bean counter, I also show my geekism by having a computer science minor thrown in. Can't tell it from my blog site though can you? Never fear - I am working on a new blog layout - just ran into some issues making the layout do what I want it to do!

The Streets of the City of Crochet.....

On the streets of the City of Crochet:

On WIP Road there are a few new temporary residents that have taken up squatting rights – including the next fur scarf for my second niece – I was working on it while home and even had her “help” me on a few rows so she can say that she helped! Bekky is 7, and I even gave her some cotton yarn and a hook and showed her the basics of working on a dishcloth before I left – she seemed to really want to learn how, so we will see how it goes since I am back in Belgium and she is in the US!

CAL Avenue has seen three new residents arrive this week. The Cathedral Window has moved in, although the colors have not been determined yet. The Snowflakes in July has also taken up residency for the week of July 25th. And the last new resident on CAL Avenue is the Amigurumi-Along Stuffed Animals for those who are like I was and went Ami-what?!?! Existing resident 63 Squares has seen a temporary delay in construction and has been contemplating a move to UFO Lane.

The Apartments on Finished Objects Boulevard filled up during my holidays, although some residents have decided to leave the City of Crochet and move on to new homes in other blogs! Several apartments were temporarily inhabited by Dishcloths (forgot to take pictures), which left via parcels for some Christmas in July participants (I am not participating in this years CiJ except as an Elf). I also put together a quick doll afghan for my niece to use – she had been using the arm cushions from my mom’s good couch! Picture to come in the next few days – I left it with my mom to weave the ends in (I really hate weaving in ends!!).

A large increase has been seen in the number of residents of Stash Street. While on holidays I picked up a large amount of new yarn, of which 75% was left in the US with my other belongings that are in storage…I went a little bit overboard! I also received when I got back to Brussels a wonderful box of yarn from Heather to work on the Pocket Friends! I traded some Lang Opal thread and some red thread with lurex in it for some "boring worsted weight yarn" (or at least that was Heather's opinion on it - I think that it is perfect and wonderful since it is impossible to buy it here (or at least I've not been able to find it - can find the Sport Weight but at $3 for 50 grams it would get to be a little bit expensive) Oh! I heard a rumour that Lurex is made in Belgium….I might have to check this one out as it would probably be cheaper for me to purchase it here than to keep buying it from US suppliers…will keep everyone updated on this one as I find out more!

No more radio........

What a welcome back to work! My company just announced new internet policies...these include no steaming of internet radio. Okay, I really do not mind living in Europe, but one thing that I seriously miss is listening to American radio. I like to listen to a really eclectic mix – my personal CDs range from Edith Pilaf to Eminem and Mozart to Toby Keith – in all it’s a weird collection. For the most part, I can listen here to all of the popular music via the Belgian Radio stations and MTV. The one type of music that I can not listen to is Country! There is one random station here that will occasionally play the older country from the 60s and 70s, but that is not what I am looking for usually. I turned to the internet and internet streaming of various country stations and channels….now what am I supposed to listen to??? Theres also been rumours of them turning off external internet access, severely limiting and monitoring the sites we are allowed to go to, limiting certain sites during main working hours (i.e. it would be impossible to check your home e-mail between 9 and 5!) Argh! Only my company!

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

It has been a hectic and busy past two weeks, and I am still on the go! The trips to Dublin and London went well, but I did not get back to Brussels until 10:30 on the Friday night and then left at 7:30 on Saturday morning to fly to Chicago and then drive the 4 hours to Michigan! Long and tiring but I managed to arrive safely! I have had a great time here - camping with my nephew, going back to Chicago for my award ceremony, shopping at Walmart, JoAnns, Hobby Lobby and Michaels, going with some friends canoeing and camping over the weekend - a great time in all so far and I have one week to go!

The nicest thing about travelling is the time on the planes to crochet! I used some of the Sugar'n Cream that my Secret Pal sent to me to make up these dish cloths:

I have also been trying to be more free in my crocheting.....to those ends, I randomly started crocheting and ended up with half a mermaid, half an alien and several bookmarks!



I also received an excellent swap package from the Sea of Yarn swap at Crochetville from Stacey:


I've been busy while in the US putting together a few little packages to mail out to participants in the Christmas in July list at Crochetville - I brought back some Belgian chocolates to include with the packages - hopefully they don't melt too badly in the post!

More once I return to Belgium on Monday!

thumP....thUMP...THUMP...owwww

thumP....thUMP...THUMP...owwww That, my dear friends, was the lovely sound of my head making contact with my desk. I just got off the phone with one of my team mates. I am now flying to Dublin (yes, again) on Wednesday night for an 8am meeting on Thursday which will go until I have to leave for the airport to catch my flight to London Heathrow (yes, again) to stay overnight to attend my Friday 9 am meeting in Compton in the lovely countryside near Newbury. I will arrive back to Brussels friday night at 8pm where I will rush home to throw everything possible into my suitcase (heaven forbid I should pack ahead of time) to catch a flight the next morning to go to the US.....I just love last minute - "one thing before you go on vacation" meetings....ARGH!!!!!

So anyways, hows your life? LOL

I've been getting these urges to create something *gasp* free form! What it will be I don't know...I am an accountant after all....and....well....we are notoriously as exciting as watching paint dry! I am not supposed to be free thinking....I am not supposed to have urges to create something...I am supposed to be anal and follow directions exactly as written, to never color out of the lines, to obey every law and be the model citizen.......screw that! I've been getting great inspiration from fellow crocheters Regina (aka Lady Linoleum), Celeste, Ro and countless others! So be on the lookout....I'm starting project "I am NOT your Normal Accountant" tonight! Oh god...what to do....the pressure....wheres my slide ruler, abacus and pocket protector when I need them???????

Weekend Crochet Update

On a scary note - I was leaving the bar last night with my really good friend Tommy, when this guy came up and started messing with Tommy. I got in his face and told him to get away and leave us alone (in French) he bumped up against Tommy again and then walked away.....with Tommy's Cell phone! Tommy went chasing after him but was not able to catch him....bad as it may be, I can only be thankful that he did not catch him - I heard on the radio today that someone else was chasing a pickpocket, and the kid pulled a knife and tried to stab the guy who was chasing him!

Okay, on the crochet front, I realize that I've not shown anything that I've been doing lately! So to rectify that one, I am having a Saturday check in. Although I've been busy and going non-stop the past two weeks, I have fit in some crochet time! Places of crocheting have included most forms of transportation, standing in line at the post office and standing at the airport waiting for a friends plane.

My first finished scarf:
5 bookmarks for the Bookmark Swap:

I have almost finished frogging one of my sweaters that had gotten an unfixable hole (or at least I decided that I could not fix it and that the sweater should be frogged and re-created into something new). I've gotten two nice skiens and one ball out of it so far, with part of the back and one sleeve left to frog and wind.


The Yarn Addicts Unite web ring continues to grow. I've found a good number of new sites to read....check some of them out by clicking on the forward and back links under the button on the right. Everyone has been showing their stash, and I promise to get a good picture of mine to flash - its grown considerably since the last picture!

WIPs - I am still working on my shawl - I think that I am about half way there as I want to make it a little bit longer than the pattern calls for. I started the May Doily of the Month over again - I think that I did something wrong with the first one, so I decided to try it again with the proper thread and see if it turns out better. I am doing it in the blue variegated, perhaps a present for my Grandmother.

Secret Pals - I sent out a package to my secret pal - can not wait to see what she thinks of it! I enlisted the help of a friend to send it for me....I'm sneaky! I received a nice package from my SP yesterday - she is being really sweet! Included was a post card from South Dakota, Juicy Fruit gum, vanilla lotion, a cute flower soap, two pattern sheets, a super soft crocheted cloth and the book - Book Lust. All are in the picture but the lotion (I left that at work to use there) and some of the gum - could not wait to start chewing! :-)



I mailed out a RAOK package today and also some yarn to Heather who is being awesome and sending some yarn to do the cute pocket animals.

That about wraps it up! Hope that everyone is having a great weekend!!

Great time away!

I had a wonderful time away this weekend going back to Ireland and visiting my pen pal Adele (we've been writing for almost 15 years to each other now - started back in 9th grade via Air Mail letters and now via e-mails and visits). Flew into Dublin where I managed to do some shopping and buy some yarn (were you really expecting me not to find a yarn shop???) and a top or tow, visited one of my favorite pubs from when I lived in Dublin (two of my other favorites are no more - one is now a posh restaurant and the other has been bought by another person and changed into a different type of bar...just not right in my mind, but who am I to say anything!) The barman still remembers me - how could he not remember the cute American who sat in his bar almost every Sunday afternoon for almost a year???

Then I took the train up to Dungannon in the North, visited with Adeles family, went out to Cookstown for the night (ended up wandering around for 2 hours from 2-4 in the morning looking for a taxi - a memorable experience).

Saturday we went shopping up in Belfast and stayed for dinner and some drinks out in a local bar which was packed! I got drafted to Arm Wrestle a groom-to-be who was out on his stag night (bachelor party) I won - woo hoo - go American!! (probably should not say that I only won because his friends were tickling him - but a wins a win in any book right??)

Here are two pictures:




Have a great week!

Still no sign of my package....

Here is the most recent detail from DHL:

Tracking history
Date and Time Status Location
5/17/2005 9:20 pm Departing origin. Lake Forest, IL
6:22 pm Picked Up by DHL. Shipper's Door

Thats it....no idea where it went after it left the DHL site in Lake Forest! It was supposed to go to the DHL hub in Ohio and then be mailed to the office here in Belgium, but it appears lost!

I am not sure of everything that is in the mailing, but what I do know is in there are my two spools of lurex - one crystal clear and the other black shimmer, two patterns that I ordered from Annie's Attic - Simple dollies to Crochet and Hooked on Fish, a card from my parents, the Complete Guide to Thread Crochet and 3 additional booklets from Auntie Annies (the 13 Animals and Blanket book was in that group I think)! What a package to lose! I very rarely get mail through that PO Box, and the one time that I am really looking forward to my mailing, it gets lost! What are the odds I ask!

*Sigh* I guess I should leave early tonight and do some sympathy yarn shopping on my way home....sounds like a plan! I've not been very focused at work lately - kinda in a funk as I seem to have lost my motivation and drive - I was asking someone about how long it would take to run a pretty big report and analysis and they said normally 2 weeks but in Kimberly time about a week...little do they know that current Kimberly time would probably take about 3 weeks!!

Update: I stopped on the way home as expected! My stash has now increased with the addition of 4 more balls of fun fur (why do I keep buying this stuff??), 4 balls of windowpane yarn (I think thats what its called) 2 balls of blue and white variegated cotton, 2 balls of turquoise and white variegated thread and 2 balls of bright cherry red Lang Opal! Its 100% official - I'm addicted to yarn!

Yarn ads on a Yarnaholics Unanonymous LOL

The yarn stash gods are smiling and laughing down at the poor little souls who are trying to decrease their stash! I find it highly ironic that on the Yarnaholics Unanonymous web ring the Google ads that have appeared are for YARN!!! I do believe that defeats the purpose of their site teeheehee - here is the Yarn gods commentary:

"What?!?! They want to decrease their stash!!!! No way!! They must be stopped or we are out of a job! Hey Al - don't you bowl on Thursdays with the Internet Ad God Bob?"

"Sure do Dave!"

"Give him a call Al and see if he can set it up so their Google ads are for Yarn sites! Ha ha ha ha ha"

"Brilliant Dave! There they are, thinking that they can sign up for support to kick their wonderful yarn habit, and Wham! Right there before their eyes are lovely... wonderful... brilliant ads to buy more yarn! I'll go give Bob a call right now."

*evil laughter as he dials the phone*

"Hey Bob its Al from Thursday night bowling....yeah, all is going well...no, its not about bowling I have a work related issue that you can help me with.....well, these puny mortals are trying to kick their yarn habits which means I will be out of a job and not able to buy any more rounds of beer after the games on thursdays....yeah, we can not let that one happen! Do you think you can fix their google ads on the sign up pages to be ads for yarn? .....You can? ....Wonderful! I'll be sure to send your wife some on that awesome lang opal-color yarn for Christmas as a thank you......don't worry - first and last beer rounds next week are on me! See you Thursday Bob"

Weekend Adventures

Well, I am back from my weekend in Germany! It was a long drive, filled with super fast speeds and long boring traffic jams. I managed to get out of the house on time, find my way out of the city and onto the expressway without getting lost....yay! 650 kilometers, 1 gasoline stop and 2 traffic jams later I arrived in Hamburg! I managed to find Anna, and off we went, with me of course getting lost and having to turn around! Found the hotel and made it to the yarn shop...Can we all say OMG!! It was a wonderful place - they had both pre-packaged yarns and then yarn that was on cones in individual strands - pick the colors and types that you wanted and they would spin them together on a cone for you! I had them make me a size 10 thread in pretty red with red lurex combined into it! Its nice and sparkly (yes, I really like the sparkly type yarns recently). I then found a premixed blue that had 6 strands in it - again it has a sparkle to it.

We explored around, ate at a french restaurant (the guy seemed a bit put out that I wanted to speak french...sorry, I don't speak German - its a french restaurant - I should be able to speak french and I did!) I managed to take a short nap that evening before we went out on the museum night - saw several museums. On Sunday we woke up, ate breakfast, walked around the harbor area and then I toodled back to Brussels - getting stuck in 2 traffic jams - one of which we just sat and sat on the Autobahn - I of course put on the parking brake, grabbed the fun fur scarf I am knitting and finished several rows while sitting there!! I'm bad, I know it!

All in all, a tiring but fun weekend! Back to work now though....lets hope I don't fall asleep at the computer today!

Yarn Addicts Unite!

Last night right before going to bed, I decided to surf around Crochetville and see what was going on. One post I read.... Yarnaholics Unanonymous WHAT!!!!! A webring dedicated to reducing your stash on a permanet basis?!?!?! An occasional Stashbusters is a good idea, but this??? So I posted my two cents and off I go to bed.

This morning I woke up a little bit early (at 7 - eek) due to an overpowering smell of curry from the next apaartment that was wafting into my bedroom.....curry smells good at 7 PM but not 7 AM!!! So I decided to get up, log onto the computer and do some more surfing at Crochetville - can you tell that this is a favorite pastime? I went back to the YU site and low and behold Melissa (http://catscradlecreations.blogspot.com/) had created a cool button - Okay, we got a button, but what can we do with it??? I got it!! Our own Web Ring to fight the bad behavior being shown in the first ring...reduce your stash...bah!!!

So I introduce to you, the Yarn Addicts Unite web ring!

All of you yarn lovers, hoarders and stashers should come join us!!

I'm a legal alien!!

After severe worries and headaches over the thought of re-newing my Residency card here in Belgium (it was 2 months expired) I went the morning to the Commune with my paperwork ready for the guy to yell and scream at me and tell me that I am "stoopid, stoopid, stoopid" and that because I failed to renew it in time that the nice young policemen behind me would escort me to the airport and on the first plane back to America!

Well, with my knees knocking I walk up to the first window "Guichet 19 - Non E.U. Citizens" - no line - perfect! I'm an American, so thats non-E.U......wrong! The window with the long queue is for E.U. Citizens and Americans......okay, I change lines and start waiting...pull out my scarf & start working on that...wait ..... wait .......wait ..... finally! 45 minutes later its my turn! "Bonjour" 'Bonjour Madam - votre papiers s'il vous plait' "Voila" 'Ahh, American - hello! here to renew your card?' "Non - S'il vous plait Monsieu - en français - j'apprend français et j'ai preferé parle en français si possible!" Which of course caused him to laugh, tell everyone else that the american wanted him to speak french and not english which caused them to laugh and come look from their side of the glass at me - I felt like a zoo animal!!

So he then gets busy with his computer and then he goes "ohhhh" calls over anther guy and they start at the screen for a few minutes - they talk rapidly - guy #1 leaves, comes back with my file. They flip through it, read several pages, talk to each other. They call over a 3rd guy and talk some more, re-read my file. Meanwhile I am standing there thinking "oh god, I'm being deported - I know it - what will I ever tell my family and future children/husband about why I left Belgium????" They were talking in Flemish which I know only 4 words and kept mentioning my company.

Finally after 10 minutes of them talking, looking at the computer and my file, the guy looks up says "D'accord - Sept Euro cinquant s'il vous plait" With a hand not too steady I dig into my purse for the change - waiting for him to say "just kidding" I hand it over, he stamps my ID card, and says "Au revoir" Wait a minute...thats it? No big long lecture about not waiting for the ID card to expire? Woooo hoooo!!! I'm a legal alien!! :-) I of course rubbed it in to the co-workers who were in the same situation as me, but were yelled at, denied renewal and sent to the foreign office!

Ps - Secret Pal I am having fun with the new stash additions - working on the bookmarks for the bookmark exchange with the thread from Jackie, still trying to decide what to make with the cotton that you sent.....hmmm.....too many projects to pick from!

This and that....

It is WIP Wednesday so here is the brief update: The fun-fur scarf is moving right along - finished 10 more rows today on the bus and while waiting at work for a friend to finish. Finished another bookmark. Finished the first skein of yarn on my shawl and started a second skein. Started the next 63 Squares square. Viola - thats it!

I have gone overboard with swaps this summer. I have signed up for the Summer Secret Pals (current on-going) the Bookmark swap (starts June 1st) and the Yarn Swap! I am glad that I am going back to the US in the end of June...will be cheaper to send all of the packages out! I've sent out a few RAOK (random acts of kindness) mailings from Europe, and the price has not been that bad actually. It is not cheap, but it is not causing me to eat only rice for the next month.

I am heading off to Germany this weekend to go yarn shopping and museum exploring in Hamburg Germany with another lady from Crochetville, Anna. It should be great fun, and also fun to meet another crocheter who is as addicted as I am! My trip should lead for some exciting tales when I get back! I am having a dinner party (Tex-Mex) at my place on Friday night, and the nSaturday I must be up and driving by 5am!!!! Should be interesting if I can A) Make it up in time B) Not get lost while driving there and C) Manage not to stall the car too many times as it will be a manual and not an automatic....eek!!

Ta ta for now - its 1:30 in the morning - a perfect time to head for bed!
Bon Soir!!

Sunday ramblings....

It was a fairly nice day in Belgium today, so I went toodling around the country side for a few hours with my friend Zori. We stopped at Waterloo and climbed the hill to the Lion monument, and then we went down to Namur where we saw the most gorgeous church - my camera batteries died but hopefully Zori got some good pictures that I can use! I worked on one of my scarves in the car - progress is going good - I think that I am about 1/2 way done on it (have not decided how long to make them yet)

Last night I went and saw Mamma Mia again with several friends - had a great time aside from the drunk ladies behind us who thought that they could sing and that they knew all of the words.....not even close! Zori said that she at first thought that it was me singing, but when she listened, she realized that even I don't sing that bad (plus I know almost all of the words by heart!)

As said in the last post, here are the pics of the stash increase:


Not shown in the thread from Jackie is an additional 2 units of the middle color.

The Spanish yarn was all decently priced except for the thread - for some reason purchasing thread in Europe for embroidery, cross stitch and even the crochet threads are all really expensive. I thought to buy a skein of Ecru size 10, but they wanted 9€ for a normal size skein!! And the DMC crocheting floss was 1.50€ per unit! Close up pictures of the spanish yarn is available here: http://photobucket.com/albums/y109/kaml2000/Misc/

Heather - working with thread is not as scary as it seems! I would really suggest trying it - start out with a simple doily pattern or a bookmark pattern that is faily easy - you will fall in love with thread before you know it! I just started in the past month myself with thread! I know a lot of ladies from C'ville are trying thread out for the first time to do the bookmark swap!

Show and Tell time!

Today is show and tell day! After not posting anything Crochet related in a week, I have a good amount to share!

First, to show what I sent my mum for mothers day – I sent her the cutest flower arrangement of star gazer lilies, carnations, roses and other assorted flowers in a hummingbird tea pot and a blue flower bookmark that I made – my first attempt at a bookmark:

Projects – I have been a busy little beaver while I was in Valencia this past week both shopping and crocheting!

First up is my Simple Doily from the Doily of The Month group at Yahoo. I did not like how it turned out - the blocking is all off - I think in part because of the size 5 yarn I used and how tight I crochet - I will try re-blocking it again to see if I can get the shape to show the details better.

Second is my Lang Opal-Color Shawl that I am making! The yarn is working up really nicely – if you have the opportunity to purchase some I highly recommend it!

Third is the first of several scarves that I am making up for Christmas presents. I am not saying who they are going to go to, but hopefully they will be tickled pink to receive them! The first one I am doing in Schachenmayr nomotta Brazilia Color fur – it is a funky combo of blue, pink, lime green and bright orange!

Stash – there have been two recent additions to my yarn stash. Although I did not have a chance to find a proper yarn shop in Valencia, I was able to find the yarn section at El Cortes Inglese – a big department store where I think that I went a little bit over board, although I walked out of the store spending 50 euros for everything! The second addition I received it the thread that I ordered from Jackie at Crochetville – the colors are great, and she was even sweet to include a metal thread hook – bonus yay!

I will see about posting pictures of the yarn addition tomorrow - although tech it is tomorrow since its 3 in the morning here, but I am way to tired to keep going! Night night!

Yay! I received a plastic triangle!

Okay, its a big thing for me to have received the plastic triangle! (I think it might be glass, but plastic makes more of a statement :-) ) My company annually gives out Finance Leadership Awards to various positions in finance. I was selected this year to be awarded with an award for my work as a senior financial analyst in Europe for all of my hard work and dedication over the past year. It was a very trying and difficult year for us last year due to restructuring and reorganizing the department, and I took on additional roles on an already full schedule!

Before I came to Europe, 2 people worked full time during the budget season on the code by code budget for 2 of the businesses within my company. Last year I did the cbc for 3 businesses, plus my responsibilities for my role as an analyst for two of the businesses! I often thought that I would lose it and go crazy, and I seriously considered leaving Europe and the company at various times throughout the budget. But since I would be the last person to be called a quitter, I persevered, completed everything on time, and now for all of my hard work and dedication to the job, I have been nominated and approved to receive a financial leadership award! I will go to the US in June to receive the award and attend a banquet honoring all of the winners of this award for the year!

The upside is that I will be able to go yarn shopping in the US...YAY!!!! Although I lived in Chicago for 2 years, that was in my pre-crocheting days, so I will have the fun of seeing what stores and yarn types are available there! Any advice on where to go would be wonderful!

Okay, I need to go get some work done today as I fly back to Brussels tomorrow! Have a great day!

Best part about being delayed 5 hours??

Todays trip was straight out of a comedy! Anything that could go wrong went wrong in my voyage to Valencia! Best part was that I was able to knit and crochet some on the planes, and made some serious progress on the scarf that I am knitting for my neice (my first attempt at knitting - its going so-so) and made headway into the shawl that I am making with the Lang Opal Color that I bought - it is turning out very pretty so far - it seems to just shimmer! I am off for meetings and more today - have a great week!!

Destination.....Valencia Spain!

Before I forget, I will probably be MIA the next week or so as I am going to Valencia Spain Monday thru Friday for work! It should be a nice trip, even though it will be filled with meetings! I'll try to connect from the hotel once or twice but who knows if that will work! Upside is that I'll be able to bring some crochet projects with me to work on, and since I am not spending as much time on the internet, I should be able to make some real progress! Yay!

My adsl line is not working right now at home - I was waiting to pay my bill with my Belgium paycheck instead of my US paycheck and I think hat I waited a bit too long as they shut the adsl line off - oops! I paid the same day that I received my paycheck, but 2 days later I still have not had the line re-connected, which they swore that they would do asap! I just love fighting with the phone company in french - makes my life exciting!

Package from my Secret Pal!

Oh yay! I received today a package from my Secret Pal from Crochetville! She is wonderful!! She sent to me 3 Sugar'n Cream cotton yarns in some great colors (I love them!!), a Sugar'n Cream project booklet with some great project ideas, the cutest little sparkley duck key chain, and a purple nail file with daisy flowers on it! She also included a nice little note in package! I was so very excited to receive the package - Chas (he sits next to me) was laughing and shaking his head at how excited I was to receive some yarn! He just does not understand!



Many thanks to my SP for this wonderfl package - you have brightened up my day enormously - what a great way to start the weekend! THANK YOU!!!!!

63 Squares Progress!

I have finally started in on my 63 Squares Afghan - after only having the book for over a month!! I will be putting together a Photo Album of my progess, and updating it with the new Squares as I finish them! As I am sure that you do not want to keep reading a blog that says "I completed another square.....I completed another square" I will update the high points of the work, and just include a link on the side bar to the current progress!

My secret pal from Crochetville sent me a cute card from the Lion Brand yarn site that is done in the american gothic style with lions for the farmers and crochet hook for the pitchfork - VERY cute!! She also mentioned to keep an eye out for a small package - yay! Thanks SP - you are awesome!

A lazy weekend!

Groceries, shoes, laundry, Ikea, yarn store, hardware store.....the list of zhat I had planned to do this weekend goes on and on.....it is now Sundaym and aside from 2 loads of laundry (6 more to go) I have accomplished absolutely nothing! Lord that feels good to say - LOL

Did do a bit of work on the doily while on the tram, and I hope to get some more work in today. I joined the Doily of the Month Yahoo group, which has 2 doilies to do each month - a general doily and then a Members choice - have started on the general doily which ironically enough is a pattern I had printed out a few weeks ago! I am doing it in Rose Pink Petra thread (by DMC) which is bigger than needed, but I loved the color, and since I crochet tightly anyway, hopefully it will not be too bad!

I met a group of lads over on a football (soccer) tour from the UK and hung out with them this weekend - it was a hoot and a half - the English blokes are completely mad! I did get an invitation to go visit them in Bristol.....hmmm - perhaps :-) One of the lads was really nice, Nick, if not a little bit shy though! Me with a shy guy.....poor thing would never get to talk with me around!! lol

Okay, I had best tidy up the apartment a bit.....or I can go Crochet first and then do something cleaning.....sounds like a plan!! Ciao, chow, chao!

My Star Afghan.....It is Finished!!!!!!

The last square has been crocheted, the last end has been sewn in! I finally was able to complete my Star Afghan after 4 months of frustration, frogging, pleading, swearing and head banging! I thought at times that I would never complete the Afghan - that it was destined to be a UFO for the rest of its days! As with every other project that I attempt, sheer willpower and perseverance pulled me through again....my stubborn french-canadian side coming through!

To see the various pictures of the stages that I remembered to photograph & more pictures of the completed afghan, go to my Photobucket account: Star Afghan Pictures

Here is a picture of the final output:



The pattern is from Herrschners Blue-Ribbon Afghan Book - & is the pattern, Blue Star (It is actually featured on the cover) I switched to a trio of three colors - Cream, Lt. Sage and Country Rose.

Yay! It is May First!!

To begin, Happy May Day! Its also Happy First Day of Summer Secret Pals at Crochetville! I recieved a nice e-mail from my secret pal, along with a really cute e-Card with a Hula Girl on it - very cute! This is really going to be a lot of fun! I was out yesterday and picked up one or two things to send to the person I was assigned to be a Secret Pal to...this really is confusing! How do I keep the two seperate? :-) C'est la vie - you are all smart and will figure out who I am referring to!

I also picked up a few items that I remembered seeing on the RAOK lists, and will send those out as well this week - just need to find some time to make it to the Post Office!

Okay, back to the afghan!