Days that is! I leave Friday morning for my 2.5 week voyage. I am flying first to New York and then on to Argentina. I will spend a week there and then fly to McAllen Texas to visit my Grandfather for 3 days, and i will then fly up on the 23rd to Chicago and drive around to Michigan for a week with my parents and all my nieces and nephew! A VERY busy time, but all will be well worth the time spent on airplanes and waiting in airports. And did I mention that I am in Zürich tomorrow? Ick! But I am going for a good reason so that makes it worth the additional airplane time this year. I am busy working on a few last minute Christmas presents - hopefully my time on planes and airports will be well spent! I hope that everyone has a great few weeks and will talk to you all soon!! |
Anyone have a days time on their hand to knit up a charted dishcloth? I have the dishcloth both charted and written out so anyone comfortable with either method would be able to knit my newest design. If anyone is interested, please contact me either on Ravelry (user name: Kimberly) or via e-mail at KAML19 at YAHOO dot COM As the cloth is intended for New Years, it would need to be knit rather quickly. Cheers! |
Everything melted that we got yesterday but its finally started back up again. Nice big fat snowflakes are drifting past my window here at work. Really pretty if you overlook the view of the wet train yard. It will not stick though since it's too warm out still. =( Being in the Christmas mood I cast on yesterday for a Santa face dishcloth in bright Christmas red. The pattern is really cute and can be found here on Ravelry: and here on the web: This should be a fairly quick knit for me, but since I am working on 10 other things at the same time, who knows! I'm planning a big thanksgiving dinner on Thursday with my fellow Americans here in Brussels. My friend Te-Keisha has her mom coming in to visit this week and she's volunteered to make the Turkey which will help since we all have to work so dinner will be around 7 at night I think. I'm bringing salad and desert.....still trying to decide what desert to make - perhaps apple pie, but I'll have to think about it.....if I had know I would have picked up premade crust and pumpkin at the Commissary last time I was there and made Pumpkin Pie! Okay, I must finish up a few things and then I am heading home! Have a great week everyone! |
Otherwise the knit skirt I made for my niece's Cabbage Patch Kid would fit mine perfectly right???? I finished the skirt last night, grabbed my CPK doll to check the sizing out, and its seriously falling off her! My doll is fairly old...about 25 years old, so I am going to live in hope that my doll has just merely lost her figure over time and slimmed down a little bit.....okay, a whole lot of bits! I'll take the skirt to the US with me and see if it will fit, otherwise I'll tear out the decrease rounds and do them over on smaller needles with a tighter gauge in hopes of modifying it to fit. The bright side is that I don't need to sew anything then this week - yay!!! =) Having this come out so huge has put questions into my mind on the sweater.....I don't want to spend the time on that and then have it be way too big as well....I'll need to think about this one a little bit! Oh well, I'll work some on my hat then and get some progress / pics of that going. Have a great weekend!! |
I spent some time during my lunch to update my Ravelry projects with the few items I snapped pictures of last night - A Purple Cabbage Patch Kid skirt and an Off-white Cabled CPK Cardigan for my niece for Christmas are on the needles - going rather slow, but progress is being made! I bought a pattern book off of E-bay for these designs and when I received it I realized that several of the patterns were for sweaters that a neighbor made for my Cabbage Patch kid when I was little! I'm working on a dinosaur from a Jean Greenhowe pattern. I was to the assembly stage when I realized that the head just did not look right.....I misread the instructions and made it too small - that will need to be frogged and redone. I'm also trying to figure out what to make with a few "one-skeins" that I have lying around the house include a skein of Malabrigo and some of the individual skeins I bought in Argentina a few years ago. Speaking of, I leave for Argentina in 3 weeks from tomorrow - yay! I was told today that several of my friends there are taking the week off of work while I am in town! Yippeee! I get in on Saturday and we are going to Celebrate Vik's birthday that night, and then on Mon-Wed I will be at the beach. I'm back in BsAs then until I leave on Saturday. I need to work on the Thursday though as my boss is new and we have our monthly conference call with the US that I usually lead so I'll have to call in for that one for an hour or so. Okay, speaking of the monthly call, November's is today so I had best finish preparing myself for that one! |
Goodness yet another year flying by with only 35 days until Christmas.....And I have yet to start the majority of my originally intended holiday knitting or crocheting - oops!! I seem to do the same thing every year and wait and wait and wait and then Wham! Not enough time to get anything done.....a plot you ask to get out of spending time and energy into crafting something big......you got that right! I did start a hat recently with some of the yarn I bought the last time I was in Argentina - it is turning out pretty so far! Will see if I can actually finish it this year! I also have a few other small projects on the hooks and needles which are close to being done and could become Christmas gifts if needed. A few dishcloths and potholders should be put together along with perhaps some coffee cup sleeves or mug warmers! Quick and easy is what I need this year, and a scarf is never quick or easy for me regardless of what others say - I have trouble staying focused on one project I think so multiple seem to be the way to go as long as they are small and fairly simple! What are you planing for your holiday crafting? |
You oughta know whatcha gonna get in me!
What's new Buenos Aires?
I'm new, I wanna say I'm just a little stuck on you
You'll be on me too
Hello, Buenos Aires
Get this, just look at me dressed up, somewhere to go
We'll put on a show
Stand back, Buenos Aires
Because you oughta know whatcha gonna get in me
Just a little touch of
Just a little touch of
Just a little touch of star quality
Mu blogging that is! I am ashamed that I have not been blogging that much. Time just does not seem to materialize to where I can grab a few minutes. Plus a major case of sleep deprivation leading to a mind that is numb and barely functioning does not exactly result in a stimulating blog post! I've started another round of traveling. I am in Zürich for 3 days this week, in Dublin for the weekend, back to Zürich for 3 days next week and then potentially off to Oktoberfest two weekends in a row depending on travel schedules of some friends. Plus I want to take a trip to Versailles and Mont Saint Michel in France, perhaps visiting the Beaches of Normandy and the town Alecon where my family came from. My return to the US is still not known. It will be sometime this fall, but so far I have not found a job back in Chicago with my company.....anyone know of a company wanting to hire a finance manager with a lot of International experience? =) Crafting is at an all time low, just not the time as my work days have been 11+ hour days once again. As I keep saying, I'll be back to normal craftiness one of these days! One of the best parts about moving back to the US would be a return to more normal working hours, which should hopefully allow me more time for knitting and crocheting and other fun assorted projects. Also better access to yarn, so when I have the urge to make something I'll have fast access if it does not exist in my stash. I had best get back to inputting my budget - I hope that everyone is doing well and will be in touch soon!! |
A quick snap shot of my and the kiddies…Andrew was mad because we had to take more pictures, and Abby just want to get to the Piano to plink plunk away on it. So did I if I tell the truth! I miss not playing the piano and wish I had rented one over here…heck, I could have bought one and had it paid off in the 5 years I’ve been here! Will get back into it when I move to the US…..might actually decide to take lessons….nah, 30 years of self teaching has worked fine so far! I’m happy just to fiddle around with it.
Another Gorgeous Lake Michigan sunset. Saw this one with my big sis Becky.
Here are the kids in front of the Mackinaw Ice Cutter at the Coast Guard Festival in Grand Haven.
I think we have a new job career in mind…..she looked a natural sitting up there steering the Canadian Coast Guard boat we toured. Actually she is determined at this point in her life that she is going to be a chef when she grows up! 
My Mom, my sisters and me.
Some pictures of the weekend and the most recent crafting come up! Stay tuned!
Hi everyone. I am indeed back from vacation now. Just in a funk and not able to get back into the swing of things. Jet lag seems to be really hitting me hard this year....I think I can blame it on the fact that I turned another year older while away....the whole jump into a new decade must have worn me right out! =) Vacation was great. I spent 2 great weeks in Michigan with the family. Spent a lot of time at the beach with the nieces and nephew - even managed to get my youngest niece to be unafraid of the water......took about 45 minutes of coaxing and holding her on my lap and slowly getting her in before she suddenly snapped and went off a trucking into the water! we would look at her and her teeth would be chattering from the water and we would ask her if she was col and she would asy "Yes...coooold" so we would take her out and dry her off and set her in the sun. Yet, within a minute she would be off and heading back towards the water - she really loved it! She got over her sand phobia also and was bellied out in the sand pulling it towards her. Too cute! Did get the Cool Aunt award for my car this vacation! I rented a convertible and the kids loved it. Called it the Red Rocket and said it was the best car. I took the kids and my mom into Grand Haven to see the Coast Guard Ice Cutters and on the way back to the mall for lunch I looked in my rear mirror while going down the highway and saw 4 little hands sticking up. I glanced behind me and the 2 kids have their hands up in the air while giong down the highway and were saying "Whhheeeeeeee!!!" and giggling like crazy! I did buy a new camera while home - mine had finally kicked the bucket so as a happy birthday present to me gift, I went out and bought a new one. I really like it as it is smaller than my old one. Still need to get the software installed on my PC so that I can download the pictures, perhaps I'll do that this weekend! I joined the Mystery Stole 4....will see if I can actually not only start the project this year, but actually finish this one as well! Joined up for the Ravelry Olympics, but I am behind and have not started my project yet....I'm considering myself one of the last events of the games =) Okay, I really must run and get back to work. Will start to write more and will show you what I have been working on. I did finish a few small projects while home (play yarn food - sausage and bacon) but of course forgot to take the pictures. Ciao! |
Project details:
Pattern: Lantern Potholder by American Thread Company
Thread: Coats Manila Bay Cannon Cotton Thread bought from Mimi
Hook: Size 1.5 Inox
Time: Several months due to SEVERE procrastination
Final Opinion: Love it!
Now on to the next WIP or two!
Cute eh? I love how it turned out - the Katia Cotton Club was so soft and silky to work with. I see more dishcloths in my future....I am glad that I have other Katia cotton-club skeins in my stash which I can still use since this yarn has been discontinued.
I have been working today on the lantern.....I could easily still finish it tonight, but my fingers are sore from weaving in the thread ends! I crochet with thread really tightly, so its difficult sometimes to weave in the ends, and there have been a lot of ends to weave let me tell you! I have 6 of the sections finished, two more to go, and then the final assembly. In order to cut out the number of ends that I have to weave I am attaching the sections together as I go, which will eliminate 12 ends to weave.....which left me with 52 ends that I had to weave.....not that I am counting or anything =)
I hope that everyone had a great weekend!!!
Week of WIP updates coming soon to a blog near you!
I have picked back up the hook again to work on my Lantern Potholder. Since the picture was taken I've weaved in all of the ends (they are hidden underneath all of the sections) and finished another white section. 3 more white sections to go, the final outlining in yellows and then the assembly and I'll e done....its taken me almost 8 months to get this far....I should be done at this rate by Christmas! =) Nah, I've just not really worked on this project - had others that I wanted to get done, but this one has moved up in priority so hopefully before I leave for summer holidays in 2 weeks.
That is about it for now. I have an urge to create some stitch markers so those will be showing up on my blog soon I am sure! Although I really don't need any more stitch markers so I have no idea what I will do with them, but I'll think of something I am sure!
Or they can be used as goggles....
Megan called the beads on top "jewel sprinkles" and is totally in love with them my Mom says!
Look! We're in Austria!!
A side trip to Brugges Belgium during the week that my Mom was here:
Our stop in Lucerne Switzerland - the Lion of Lucerne monument which is for 700+ Swiss Guard soldiers who died while protecting Louis & Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution - very moving carving!
Some Alpine Horn players in Lucerne - very pretty music!
Meti & my Mom in the Grand Place
Is it me, or does Meti look a little bit like Bono when he wears my sun glasses?
Me & My Mom while in Belgium waiting for the Canal Boat tour.....
That is it for now!
You will have to wait for the pictures, but I can tell you that me and my Mom had an excellent time together!!
We took a trip to Brugges one day on the train. Which was fun - no driving, got to work on some knitting. And spent a lovely afternoon wandering around Brugges with my Mom.
We then decided that we needed to take a full fledged road trip. So we left on Thursday mid-morning. Drove out of Belgium, into Luxembourg....kept on going into France and right on out into Switzerland. Did actually stop at a rest stop where I introduced my Mom to Carmel Magnum Ice Cream bars - oh yummy!
Ended up that evening in Zürich where we wandered around and had a great dinner.....I had cheese fondue (of course) and my Mom had a yummy stuffed chicken breast. We ended the night by going and watching a Euro Cup soccer match - Spain versus Russia I think it was - at the Fan Zone in Zürich - tons of people and a HUGE movie theater size screen to watch it on - what fun!
The next day we headed on the train down to Lucerne. Decided to take the train for convenience and we needed to head back toward Zürich anyways for our next destination. Had fun walking around Lucerne - a very pretty little city. Only disappointment was the low cloud cover in the mountains - really hazy and not easy to see even though the sun was out!
Hopped the train back to Zürich and off we went.....towards Germany. Although we detoured through Austria to get there which was unexpected, but that was the way Lucy my GPS lady told me to go! Ended up in Füssen Germany after traveling behind an insane semi-truck driver from the Netherlands! Curvy mountain 1x1 roads, and the Semi-truck was just a truckin along at 100km an hour. A few times he had close calls with other trucks / cars / curves. He took off and passed a car once and me and my Mom looked at each other and went "Waoh!"
And then we were on the first of our autobahn experiences, but we were too busy looking at the Alps to really go fast.....no worries, that came later! =)
Füssen where we ended up the night is the closest large village to the Sleeping Beauty Castle right at the foot of the Bavarian Alsp...talk about gorgeous!!! The next day we walked up to the older castle before walking up the mountain to the Sleeping Beauty Castle - both were gorgeous with magnificent views. Of course we had not had enough walking so we decided to walk back up to the first castle to go to the gift shop there where we had seen a really gorgeous bowl for a wedding gift that my Mom bought.
After all that walking we decided to head back toward Belgium..Home Lucy! Of course Lucy tells us we will be back at 12:40 in the morning....okay, not so bad. autobahn here we come. Oh yea - vroom vroom vroom. I got on the autobahn and let my little Audi wagon go......hit 200 during a windy stretch which was not so nice - just wanted my Mom to say she had went 200km on the Autobahn (about 125mph). Backed down to my cruising speed of around 170km (105mph) where we toodled along until I got really mad at a car which kept cutting me off and then slowing down, speeding up to pass me then slowing down again. So I told my Mom that I was going to get away from him.....so vroom on the gas peddle.....next thing we know I am cruising along at 210km (130mph) and we look at each other and neither of us felt that we were going that fast! Once away from the car though I backed down to my cruising speed. We hit a Burger King for dinner at a rest stop...SLOW!!! There added 45 mins to our stop - argh! then of course we get going again and some genius in highway maintenance decided to take the 3 lanes down to 1 lane right where there is a major junction.....there added about 30 mins. So we ended up getting home at about 2am. Safe and sound though and glad to sleep in my own bed.
Took Mom to the train yesterday morning and was sad to see her leave - had a great time and both me and Meti enjoyed having her stay with us. Wish she could have stayed longer!
Thanks Mom for coming over and for a going on the road trip with me - lots of fun - wish we could do it again....Want to come back and go with me through Normandy? =) |
That is all I can say!
Thank you to everyone for all of your comments on my Weaved Hotpad. I really enjoy the pattern and can only wish that I had posted it sooner!
Now that this one is off the hooks and onto the paper so to speak I need to start thinking about the next pattern. No idea what it will be.
I have been making a lot of "Play Yarn Food" so perhaps I will have to think of some items along those lines. Although I keep having visions of doll size clothing in my head, so^perhaps I'll finally get around to making some Cabbage Patch clothes up.
We shall see!
Off the design front, I've started a few more projects the past fews days. A few Play Yarn Food patterns for my niece, along with another DouDou (little doll in French) and some more odds and ends.
One of these days I'll finish what I have already started.....just not today! |
