I'm back!!!!!!!!

I am back from Shanghai and China. All in all a VERY interesting trip including a lovely bout of food poisioning which I am STILL not over fully.

Work is keeping my hopping, so hopefully I'll get some time to fill you all in on my trip, but in the mean time, here are a few pictures:

Myself and my friend Zori at the Gardens in Su Zhou

Visiting the Great Wall (not the best - the food poisioning was in full swing)

At Yu Gardens - TeaHouse behind me.

YARN!!!! A shop in Beijing - I did not buy any as I had already hit my maximum for luggage capacity, but a really nice selection!

Strange taste anyone? I was constantly looking for Chinglish

Hello from Shanghai!!!!!!!!!

Hi! China is wonderful! I am having so much fun here!

We found two places today to buy wool - only bought 2 balls of sock wool, but I did buy a set of sock needles, a few hooks and a few circular needles for a few dollars - very happy!

We spent the past 2 days in Sanya - a resort beach town on a Southern Island - it was gorgeous! I can not wait to get home and get my pictures downloaded! I'll try to snap some with my mobile phone so perhaps I can show before I get back to Belgium!

Sight-seeing more in SHanghai tomorrow and then on the weekend off to Beijing.

Talk to you soon!

All packed and ready to go!

My bags are packed and I'm heading out the door!

But before I go, here is my most recent project....at this stage it was 1 row from being finished, it is now finished but no time to take a picture:

I'm bringing my camera, so be ready for lots of pictures when I get back!!!!!

*hugs*

Two days and counting!!!

I can not wait!

My trip to China commences in 2 days! Woo hoo!

I am soooooo looking forward to it, although my company is not since I am refusing to take my PC with me!

Heres what I heard on the phone today......"What??? You're going on vacation? You'll be checking e-mails right? What?????? You're not taking your PC????? But what if I need something?" Argh! Its technically only 5 working business days that I am gone.....can they not survive without me? There are 40,000+ other employees....one of them HAS to be able to help!

My thanks again to Deneen for her help in trying to track down yarn source! Thanks!!!!!!!

I will wait and pack on Thursday - I figure if its critical I'll remember to pack it, if not I can always buy it there. As long as I take my camera, contact case, glasses & pills I'll be just fine and dandy. I do this every time I go on vacation and so far I've never forgotten anything major!

Okay, I am off for home and hopefully will finish the baby afghan I started this weekend - its not that big but its turning out really cute! It is for a CAL that I am doing on using multiple stands of yarn....kinda like the painted doilies concept but only using 2 strands and using worster weight and a large hook.

Will write again before I go!

My future job.....

Ever want to drive a really nice car around?

Go to Munich Germany and apply to be an Airport Taxi Cab driver. They drive nicer cars than me!

I drive an Audi A4 which in itself is already a really nice car (thankfully its a company car and I did not have to buy it myself).....the taxis I saw yesterday during my business trip to Munich were Audi A6s, Mercedes, BMW 500 series.....

I want to be a Taxi Cab driver in Munich......it must pay really well!

Happy Mamas Day!

To all of the Mothers out there, I wish you all a Happy Mothers Day!

And to my own wonderful mother.....


I thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything that you have done for me over the past 28+ years. The wisdom and knowledge you have shared. The love that you have showered on me is returned ten fold.

Thank you Mama!

Keep on hooking!

When I opened my mail yesterday, I saw these in my box:



What can they be you ask?

Why only MY brand-spankin new Egg-handled one of a kind Jimbo hook, and the Travelling Hook from DoD!



I started in on my DoD hook project last night - ooh boy does that hook work nicely! I can not wait to see how my Egg Hook works for me....but I told myself "no-no" to touching it until I have the DoD project done and the hook on its way to Stacey who has been waiting just as (im)patiently as I have been!

No worries Stacey - it will be on its way this weekend!

Choo Choo.....All Aboard!

Here it is....the completion of my oldest outstanding WIP (even older than Chloe!)


"Hee hee hee....they let me drive" Pooh exclaims



"Chugga chugga Pooh....where are we g-g-go-ing?" asks Piglet



Oh boy, oh boy oh boy! Ooh Ooh Oooohhh! Tiggers LOVE Choo Choo trains!



Oh bother, they put me in backwards. Thats okay, its only me, Eeyore.



This will be going to my littlest niece for her birthday in July.

WIP Wednesday.....I've got Fo's!

To update my extremely long WIP list:

Daisy Square * Finished
Triangle Potholder * Finished
Kitty Purse * Finished
Crazy Stitch Potholder ** Finished
Cross Stitch Wall Hanging ** Finished

Peach Doily ** 17 of 26 Rounds
Monkey (1 of 2) ** Only the legs and tail to go
Dragons (1 of 4) ** head & body done
^Dishcloth * 1/4th completed
^CPK Outfit ** Shoes & Pants done

Hat *** No updates
Baby Slippers * No updates
Doll Sweater *** No updates

* = small time required ** = moderate time required *** = large time required ^ = New project

Yeah, I started 2 new projects.....but I finished FIVE, count them - FIVE!! Of my WIPs. I am so excited to actually see some things getting finished!

Okay, okay, here come the pictures and details:

First up, my Charity Daisy Square:

Next, the Dishcloth with 26 ends to weave....the missing round would have made this into a square instead of having the zig-zag edging which I think is kinda cool. I am thinking on this pattern that there HAS to be a way to do this in a square (6 ends to weave) instead of triangular wedges (24-26 ends).....next up is to figure out how! The pattern was in a book I have...I'll try to post the book later.


Based on her input, a Kitty purse for my niece who insisted that it have a pink bow and a red handle.


My most recent Crazy Cloth Dishcloths, and where I have them hanging in my kitchen...now added to the hooks are the ones that I received from Mimi as well!


Thats it for the pictures for right now....I still need to get the pics of the Cross Stitch sampler (which still needs to be washed and framed, but that will happen in July when I'm in the US) which I'll try to post later today or tomorrow as well as pictures of what was in my mailbox today!

Where did the weekend go?

Here it is Sunday night.....errr Monday morning...and I swear I missed both Sat and the whole day on Sunday. It is crazy how fast they seem to fly by.

Purse update: It is still there in the shop...its been moved out of the window, but no one has bought it yet....I'll keep checking back and once I see its gone (perhaps I should say IF I see it gone) I will let you know.

I have been working on the crafty front. I finished a dishcloth, well almost. The pattern included a border that I did not like so I kept it off.....plus since I had already weaved in 26 ends, I could stand the thought of weaving in another 2.

I really think that weaving in the ends is one reason why it takes me so long to finish all of my WIPs.....I'd just as soon leave a project 90% done just so I don't have to tie in the ends when I am finished.

The weekend has seen significant progress on a long outstanding WIP of mine...I think that I've been working on it for at least 3 years, and no, its not crocheted or knitted since I've only been doing those for 2 and 1 years respectively. I should finish it up in the next few days so pictures will be coming soon!

I've also finished my Daisy Charity square to send to Krystal. Take a look at her blog for the pattern details. She will gladly send you a copy of the pattern, the only stipulation is that you send her one finished square in return.

Have a great week everyone....pictures will be coming soon!

And the price is.........

The USD cost of that....ummm...lovely purse is: $439

Which means our winner is Ikkinlala with a bid of $450.....nope, this is not the Price is Right, so even an overbid counts as it was the closest. The Euro cost is €323 which my BF choked on when I told him the cost. I still can not believe the cost - the materials are cheap, the look is tacky / gaudy, the handles are rosey pink leather (which do not come close to matching anything else on the purse) and the inside is a cheap cotton. I guess they took into consideration the amount of time needed to tie on all of those thingies.

Ikkinlala - I've sent you an e-mail asking for your information!

Thank you to everyone that played! I'll have to keep an eye out for some crochet items here in Belgium and do this again - it was fun to see everyones "bids"