Wow!

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!

Road trip? I think not!

Or at least I will not be taking a Road Trip here in Europe...the US is a totally different story. I just might be able to afford that one!

I am sure all of you who are in the US must be thinking I am nuts right now. Right? I am sure that you are sitting there thinking "Gas is around $4 a gallon.....no way!"

But, the sad thing is, that is cheap. Honestly.

I filled my tank up last night. And spent 1.41€.....for a liter. That is 5.34 Euros a gallon....want to know what that is in US dollars? It costs me $8.41 USD for each gallon of diesel I put in my car.....and in Europe, diesel is the cheapest option! Unleaded would cost over $9 a gallon!

So, I'll continue to avoid any long trips by car here in Europe, and be doing a happy dance when I go to the US this summer and fill my tank up for half the cost for me =)

The Weaved Hotpad

Weaved Hotpad
Designed by Kimberly A Langlois
Copyright © 2008 Kimberly Langlois All rights reserved.

This pattern can be found as a PDF download on Ravelry, at the following link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/weaved-hotpad

Or you may email me at: kaml19 @ yahoo . com Please include in the subject line "Weaved Hotpad Request"



Requirements:
2 colors of worsted weight cotton
H hook

Legal jargon:

Copyright © 2008 Kimberly Langlois All rights reserved.

Reproducing or transmitting this pattern by any means for any purpose other than for personal use constitutes a violation of copyright law.

This dishcloth may be made for personal use only. Should you wish to make the finished dishcloths for sale, please contact for permission. Should you wish to use this pattern for a class or event, please contact for permission.

Coming Soon to a blog near you.....

After an extremely long procrastination period, the pattern is in final testing stages, and once done, it will be released for public use!

Stay tuned for updates.......

A gift that keeps giving.....

Do you remember when my Grandmother passed away and I said that I was given her needles and needle holder by my Grandfather? Well, I have finally had a chance to use her needles and this was the first thing off of them.....

The details......

Pattern: The Be My Dishcloth by Kristen Patay from Kris Knits

Yarn: 1 skein of Coats Lyric 8/8

Needles: Grandma's Susan Bates Size 3

Time: Several days on and off

Final Opinion: I really like both the pattern and the final result!

Getting crafty in the evening hours...

Last night I sat down and decided that enough was enough and that I was going to finish up some outstanding WIPs and make some progress on others.
Well, here are the results......

First up is the snowman I've been making for my nephew. The pattern comes from Jean Greenhowe's Christmas Special booklet and was made using acrylic and 3.0 mm needles.

Next up is two more fan bookmarks - the third one is almost completed. I've gotten the pattern down now so they fly off the hook it seems like!

The next two projects I finished over the past week or so, but here they are....first is all of my snowflakes all blocked and dried....

Then, the last finished project to show off is my little German crocheted bag - I love how it turned out with the Anchor magicline yarn - such great fun with the self striping yarn......
I made progress on the Grannies Blanket from the Spring edition of Crochet Today! as well as a dishcloth and a Log cabin Baby blanket.

I've decided on the round ripple afghan to frog it back to the green and do the last rounds with green instead of pink to make it more boyish looking for my friend Laura's little boy. I ran into her husband this weekend and mentioned that the blanket was too girly and he said to bring it anyway, but I really want to make it more boy orientated.

I think that is about it for today! Enjoy the rest of the week!

Not a double X but.....

I was double tagged!

Both Candy and Amanda tagged me.......so here goes......

Here are the rules:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So, here ya go!

Seven random and / or wierd things about me:

1. I ate a Taco Salad for breakfast and Pancakes sound good for dinner tonight
2. I love to read a good romance novel
3. I fear that I am forgetting how to speak proper english after 5 years in a non-native english speaking country
4. I knit continental style
5. I'm a restless sleeper and constantly toss, turn, talk, mumble (or so I've been told)
6. I live next to a church yet I've never gone there for Mass in the 5 years I've been here
7. I am currently planning two trips - one to Egypt and one to Argentina

Next victims errr taggees....

I'm going to be nice and not assign this one to anyone....if you've not played recently or have never played, consider yourself tagged!

Where are all the X's??

Double X chromosomes that is!

For some odd reason after a year of ALL of my friends having girls, the trend has changed and so far 3 boys have been born with 3 more on the way!

And in the meantime, I have this gorgeous blanket sitting here almost done but for the last round as I see no point in finishing a girly blanket when everyone is having boys!



*sigh*

My 4 day weekend is half over, and so far its been filled with TONS of sunshine and 75° weather.....abosolutely GORGEOUS for Belgium, especially at this time of the year...lets hope it continues another 3 months like this!

Was sitting on a park bench in the sun with the boyfriend working on a fan bookmark and the older lady next to me kept staring at me. Meti saw her looking and made a comment to the effect that one does not see much crocheting / knitting being done there days and we had a little conversation in French which ended with Meti telling her that perhaps we would see her again someday and I would have a finished bookmark to give her....I'm glad that he is proud of my "work" as her calls it, but there is no need to start giving it away! *grin¨*

My Haekelbeutel bag is all sewed up and I am working on the handles....or at least I will be by the time someone reads this post since that is what I am going to do as soon as I finish this post.

I started a dishcloth and a knit baby blanket (in boy colors I must say) and should hopefully have some pictures soon.

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Cheerio!!!

What do you do while on a plane ? I often read or crochet or watch the movies. This morning on my way to the UK I spent time looking out the window. We flew up and over the North Sea, so I saw the coast, and then tons of barges and cargo vessels from way up in the air. After touring the freighter port in Hamburg last week I know how big those cargo vessels are, so to see them looking like little matchbox cars was kinda cool. I also got to see a field of windmills in the water – very cool from up above to see them all standing there in the rows (I wish I had had a camera to take pictures of them!).

Even though I lived in Ireland and dealt with the driving on the other side of the car, it always takes me a little bit to get used to the feeling when I visit of sitting on the left side and not having a steering wheel / brake peddles in front of me…..my foot makes that slamming gesture several times the first few minutes.

Interesting in that today my driver believes that he should be a Formula One / Nascar driver. He was whipping in and out of traffic, speeding up to block others trying to pass (even though we were already going about 85 mph). Even still it's a nice change to be driven around…..I have time to look out the windows and enjoy the scenery, horses, fields, waterways and even the cars and trucks that we whizzed by. The office is located about 1.5 hours outside of London…. near Newbury straight out the M4 from Heathrow around junction 13 or so.

Luckily I am only here for the day in the UK as next week I am 3 days in Zurich. But in between is a nice 4-day weekend! I am taking Friday off as a make-up day for having to work the public holiday on May 1st and then on Monday is another public holiday so it will be a nice relaxing weekend for me.

I do believe that is all for now. I am still working on the Anchor Magicline bag, and I am also working on a few other small projects. Perhaps on my 4 day weekend I will find some time to finish some more projects!

Ta-ta cheerio!!

The end of another weekend.....

and lets just start off by saying that it was GORGEOUS weather here in Belgium for a change - yippee!! It was in the mid 60's to low 70's, with TONS of sunshine. We went for walks both days which was really nice as I was not having to huddle up next to Meti for warmth every time we stopped at a red lighted cross walk.

I know I have a lot of yarn floating around the house so I decided to do some organizing of my tubs with hopes of getting everything lying around the house into one of the tubs. I decided once again to sort it by fiber type as I believe that will make it easier to find.

It is almost finished now with some last little bits of re-arranging to do along with determining what exactly to do with all of the hooks, needles, accessories and other miscellaneous crafting goodness floating around the house.

I was talking to my mother while working on the last of shoving errr gently placing yarn into the last of the tubs. I explained what I was doing and then gave examples...

"So I have one large wool tub and one small wool tub, two tubs of small size ten thread, and one of size 5 thread. One large tub of kitchen and miscellaneous cotton, two small tubs of acrylic baby yarn, two large tubs of acrylic worsted weight, one tub of miscellaneous acrylic boucles and mixes, one tubs of fun fur and other novelty yarns and one tub of miscellaneous yarn......then I have a few containers of needles and hooks and...."

"Wait a minute......you have 14 tubs of yarn in your living room????"

"Errr....is it really 14?"

"Yes, I was counting."

"Crap"

When in the world will I find time to use all of this yarn??? I really need to start de-stashing, but how can I give any of it away? It is all so precious to me and I am sure that THE perfect project is just around the corner for it.

Finished projects are coming though, have no fears. I'm going to London on Tuesday for a meeting, so hopefully something will be done by Wednesday!

Stay tuned!!!

Fried eggs, fried eggs....

I was feeling hungry this morning so I decided to whip up a egg....

A quick and easy pattern written in Japanese with symbol charts, so it required reading the chart which I rarely like to do.

Pattern found here: Sunny side up tawashi Pattern can be found by clicking on the Japanese Characters directly under the picture: 目玉焼きタワシ

Was made with Red Heart Super Saver & an E hook

Back from the home of the Hamburger

No, I'm not talking about McDondals or BK. I spent the past 3 days at a meeting in Hamburg Germany. Lots of talking, lots of food, lots of fun. A good time all around aside from the icky hotel bed which several liked and some hated - not a spring bed but a dense foam which was eeww ick for me.....both days I was waiting for the alarm to go off each morning which is TOTALLY not like me at all.

Of course to go with the hamburger I figured I would need some French Fries....


And lets not forget tea.....


I have been working on a doily, only to find out that I had miscounted at the beginning and had to frog the thing back to the 2nd round.....here was the process I had made at the point I had to frog: