Hellllloooooooo! =)

I'm back. I think.

That cold kicked my butt - almost a full month sick, 2 weeks super bad, 1 week where everyone told me I should go back home and one week still coughing a little bit and sinuses still draining a little bit. What a nasty bug this one was!

I've not touched my hooks and needles since being back at all really. Not sure why, just no ambition to do so. A little bit depressed and sad and of course the normal over-worked and underpaid at the job.

I have had some pattern acquisitions thanks to a co-worker who brought me back some wonderful pattern books from a fair she went to in Paris. There is on Amigurumi book....in Japanese and one Dou-Dous book which is French for children's toys and of course that on is in French! What great fun I'll have!

Here are some pics:






Cute no?

I promise to get myself back to my normal crafting self some time soon.......thanks for bearing with me! I do have a bunch of projects in various stages and some just waiting to be sewn up, so perhaps I'll have some finished items and pattern reviews coming soon......and of course there will be the fun of my learning to do Japanese patterns!

Ah crud!

Ah crud...literally. I got that crappy icky nasty cold / virus that is going around and I've been laid up in bed pretty much all week, working from home via my laptop whenever I could find the energy.

I am starting to get better, just in time for the weekend and for my friend Zori to come visit - yay!

A few things for show and tell today.

First up, my new Knitting Needle holder, which is probably older than me! This lovely holder came to me from my Grandma. She had given me her yarn stash about a year ago, but had held on to her needles. My Grandfather gave me the holder and her needles after the funeral. Now, every time I go to get a new needle, I will think of Grandma.



Next up is the hat I made for Meti while back in the US. This hat provided some well needed laughter and relief at times when I would pull it out and stick it on my Dad's head for sizing....we laughed because the hole in the top of the hat where the needles were would showcase ever so wonderfully that little patch of "clear hair" that my Dad has on the top of his head!



And last up today is a wonderful surprise that was waiting for me here in Belgium when I arrived back. It was hand delivered while I was in the US by my friend Zori, all the way from Argentina. Thank you Vik! It was so bright and cheery - I smiled when I opened it up!



I am off to eat some more Chicken Noodle soup! Have a great day everyone!

Thank yous

I just wanted to send out large THANK YOUs to all of you who have left comments, kept me and my family in your thoughts and prayers, sent e-mails etc the past 2 weeks.

It has meant a lot to me and has kept me going to knows that I have such wonderful on-line friends.

I am back in Belgium now and I promise that some regular knitting and crocheting news is on its way!

Stay tuned!

Farewell Grandmere

My wonderful and beautiful Grandmother passed on yesterday, February 21st during the wee hours of the morning. I spent her last day next to her bed holding her hand and telling her how much I loved her after I flew in late on Tuesday. I am so glad that I was able to fly over and be here with my family as being in Belgium would have torn me in two.

She fought long and hard her whole life, even up to the end she fought hard to stay and amazed Doctors by lasting 2 days more than they thought she could.

We have tons of good memories left of Grandma which will help us in the days, weeks, moths and years to come. I like to think that my Crafting abilities came from Grandma as she was always knitting or making things out of beads.

God Bless to Grandma, we love you!

Grandma.....

Hi

Its been a rough past few days for me so I've not been doing much.

My Grandmother has been in and out of the nursing home into the hospital. They sent her from the hospital back to the nursing home on Friday night for the last time as there is nothing else that they can do for her as her internal organs are all shutting down and they give her only a few more days. It is the hardest thing to be so far from home and being able to be with my Mom and Grandfather. They are both hanging in there though and spending as much time as possible at the home with my Grandma.

I called earlier and was able to kinda talk to her since she is drifting in and out of consciousness. I sent her my love and my Mom says that she was trying to talk and working her throat but was not able to vocalize, but she understood that it was me and nodded when my Mom asked her if she wanted to tell me "hello and I love you"

Please send some thoughts and prayers her way as she faces these last days.

Cookies......

Yum!! =) More playfood has been created....along with some real food this time!

Is it really over?

The weekend that is. Here it is Sunday night and the only thing that I accomplished all weekend was about 15 loads of laundry. Which I guess was productive, but I did nothing else that I had grand plans to do.

Well, okay, thats a lie. I did attempt to do some stash busting and make a scarf up with some yarn a co-worker gave me. Here is the ummm result:



I was making this pattern: The Last Hurrah Scarf and did something wrong on the first stitch of each row. After about 12 rows I pulled on the scarf to block it out and see how it was looking, and what you see in the pictures is the result!

I'll try it again probably since I really like the chunky scarf and the look of it, but not today. Way too depressing!

I hope that everyone had a good weekend and I wish everyone a wonderful week.

You make my day.....

Its going to be one of those years. February is starting off worse than January - I worked until 12:30 last night and 10:30 tonight, but I was instantly revved up when I saw that the wonderful, kind, open-hearted, extremely talented Kathy sent a "You Make My Day" award......Kathy - you truely just made my day extra special!

So now to continue on the warm fuzzies....while I wish that I could choose all of the wonderful people who read & comment on my blog, I can not, so I will choose a few of you who help make my day when I read your comments......

First up goes to a wonderful fellow crocheter who makes the cutest little animals up for the children that she hopes will be coming her way one day soon. Anita, you have helped make the last few months a little bit brighter with your cheery creatures and your oh so cute stories to go along with them.

Next up is one of the most kind hearted people that I have ever met! This wonderful lady is a bright sunshine in the lives of all that she meets. I can say that I have had the wonderful pleasure of meeting her in person and going yarn shopping and out dancing together. She has now become a really good friend of my best friend as well. I am talking about none other than the lovely Vik

And a joint "You make my day" goes to Cordelia and Swapna who are two wonderful women that i have enjoyed getting to know over the past few years.

My thanks again go out to Kathy - you are wonderful!

Not going to make it....

Here it is 2:15 in the morning and half time of the Super Bowl is almost over, but I just can not stay awake any longer.

*sigh*

At least I can say that I saw some of the game this year.....and in English!! Last year it was in Italian, but the BBC is showing it in English so I can understand the commentary.

Have a good night!

Bad weather? Hit it all

Well, my trip home from Zürich was a rather exciting drive. I ended up getting home at 12:30, 2 hours later than planned.

Reasons for the delay?

Well, first of all, you name some bad weather and I hit it all!

Rain - check
High Winds - check
Ice - check
Hail - check
Freezing Rain - check
Sleet - check
Light snow - check
Snow so hard you could not see very far in front of you - check

A second reason is that my GPS system sent me the wrong way not once but twice. Not sure what she was thinking.

And the last main reason, my low oil light came on causing an emergency pit stop to buy a jug to pour into the car.

I had to use the restroom during the pit stop but the gas station did not have one (huh?) and unlike the guys I saw going ,next to their cars I did not think that was an option for me so I was doing a little dance in my car the last 15 minutes of the drive. If I had hit any more slow downs it would have been a very bad thing.

I literally ran into the apartment. Used the restroom, took my contacts out and passed out on the bed. I think that the boy friend was a little bit upset that I did not even take the time to say "hello how was your week" before I was out cold. I vaguely remember grunting err murmuring a hello but that was all that I managed before succumbing to sleep.

So now here it is Sunday evening and I must say that I have not had time to do any crafting at all this weekend. Saturday was spent shopping, and then cleaning and cooking for a dinner party for some friends who live in the building. I just did some Mexican food up but it was well appreciated. The comments were "ooohhh I've eaten too much...well maybe just a little bit more." "I can not move" "Please tell me there is no desert"

Crafting updates will be coming soon.....

Remember when....

I said that this year was turning bad? Here is it the end of Janaury and I am back in Zurich for the whole week. I drove down yesterday and will be here until Friday. Oh joy of joys =) I brought some crochet and knitting with me, but odds are not high that I will have time to get anything done - I am going to be swamped I fear!

I have a ton of photos to share, but unfortunately no time to download right now. I did finish my Booga Bag finally....Well the bag is finished. I still need to do the handles. I am not so happy with the bag - it really curls badly. I can hope that felting will solve that problem; but for some reason I think it will make it worse and just felt the curl in on itself =(

I also finished some other small little projects and made some decent headway on others. I am liking this little bit at a time approach although I do keep starting new projects all the time and not finishing very much. Stash busting is coming along though. I am working on a baby hat for a friend with some stash yarn.

Okay, work is calling. Will update everyone soon with pictures and more.

Crafting progresses and the first FOs for 2008

Its Sunday and my liver has declared war on me for subjecting it to 2 days of going out for dinner and drinks with friends. We had the most fun time, and even the bf had a fun time with a bunch of "English speakers".

I have found some crafting time in all of this, and would like to show you the recent status of the Booga Bag:



It is really coming along nicely! I love the colors together and can not wait to finish it and get it felted. I am making the stripes smaller as I go up so we will see how that one turns out. Only 18 more rounds to go and then the handle!

AS for the mystery project, it has shaped up nicely from a bunch of strips of garter stitch into these:



Play Yarn Food...of Yarn Play Food as my niece refers to them. I had the Jiffy Knits books home with me in December and she looked through it and in all seriousness said to me "Aunt Kim, maybe one day you'll be good enough to make me play yarn food." Little did she know that she was getting cupcakes from me for Christmas, but now she will have a bigger desert selection and of course a Strawberry Jelly Sandwich! =)

For those not able to find the book, Jean Greenhowe does have some free patterns available for play food found HERE

Do I count these as one finished project or as 4 since they are all different patterns? Hmmmm.....

I hope that everyone has had a great weekend and I will leave you with a picture of a little flower pin a wonderful friend sent me from Argentina. I had e-mailed a blog thank you post but it appears to have gotten lost when I look back, so here is another thank you to the wonderfully kind and generous Vik!

A quick teaser....

HI everyone!

2008 looks to be even busier for me than 2007 and I'm not sure how this has happened!

I have to run out to go to work and if today is ANYTHING like yesterday, I'll not be getting home until after 10 again tonight.

Here is a little bit of what I've been working on.....


A mystery set of projects done in Garter-Strips for my neice. A Rainbow blanket for a co-worker. A mini-snowman for my nephew. And a doily.

There are about 10 other projects I am also working on.....nothing is getting finished (none of those above are done) but a large number are getting close and then I'll be on my way for 2008 with a nice start on my resolutions!

When I was about 7 or 8 I reiceved a Swiss Army knife. I thought I was THE coolest girl in town. All the little gadgets and gizmos I could use while out exploring and adventuring with the boys. While in Switzerland I saw the newest version of the Swiss Army knife and had to laugh at what technology has done to society....

...the First Post of 2008!

A little bit late, but none the less here it is! The first of the 2008 posts!

I am in Zurich again this week – a nice start to the New Year…hopefully this will not be the trend for the year!

To start with, some numbers.....

1 Cascade 220 Wool 6492
2 Patons Classic Wool Merino 5456
3 Noro Kureyon 4552
4 Caron Simply Soft 4147
5 Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride... 3618
6 Malabrigo Yarn Merino Wo... 3615
7 Lily Sugar'n Cream Solid 3536
8 Koigu Painter's Palette ... 3259
9 Lion Brand Wool-Ease Solid 3033
10 Noro Silk Garden 2974

Ever realize that you have missed something somewhere? I look at the top 10 yarns (based on # of projects listed beside each yarn) and I realize that I have only ever used 3 of the 10 (#3, #4 & #7)….that would be considered failing back in school. Of the 7 that I have not used, I currently have 3 of them in my stash (#2, #9 and #10) So I can at least get up to 60% which would be a D-. The remaining four all need to be on-line ordered, so it might take some doing to get them into my little hands, perhaps an order for my trip home during the summer?

So resolution #1……to make a project with all 10 of the 2007 year end top Yarns based on Projects.

Resolution #2…..to finish 52 projects….one for every week…..I know better than to say I will finish 1 project each week =)

Resolution #3…..to use for at least 26 of the projects in #2 yarn that already exists in my stash…should be an easy enough feat considering the size of my stash

Resolution #4….to not buy any more yarn patterns unless the pattern is to be used as part of a stash buster

Resolution #5…….to make at least 2 projects from both the 2008 Knitting Pattern a Day calendar and the 2008 Crochet Pattern a Day calendar

Resolution #6…..to finish all of my currently existing WIPs
Now on to the non-yarn related Resolutions…..

Resolution #7….to lose at least an additional 15 pounds from my current weight

Resoltution #8….to travel to at least 2 of the places on my list of Places to See Before I Die list; http://landofkimberly.blogspot.com/2005/04/places-to-visit-before-i-die.html

Resolution #9…to travel at least once a month for something non-work related (even if its just a day trip to another city in Belgium)

Resolution #10….to make a decision one way or the other on moving back to the US

Well, I have a lot to do here in Zurich the next few days so I had best get busy!

I hope that all is well with everyone!

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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!