Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Taking a Break

Hello!

I just wanted to pop in quickly to let you all know that I will be taking a little break from blogging and being online for a week.  Everything is ok, I have just been feeling a bit overwhelmed trying to get all my ducks in a row after being away for so long, and I thought now would be a great time to take a little bit of a summer vacation at home to unwind and relax.  I need to do a big overhaul of all my projects and get them into order, finish up a few things, as well as start planning future projects that need to be done for deadlines.  I think with sorting through all that, I wouldn't be a very good blogger, so it's best I take a break!  I will be back in a weeks time hopefully well rested, refreshed and ready to go.  Until then, have a fabulous time everyone and make sure to enjoy some of your summer as well!!

Much Love, xx

Friday, July 22, 2011

Tropical Heat Wave

Hello!!

Wow, it is H.O.T. out there today!!  I sat outside for about 10 minutes and got a bit of a burn already, and I don't burn easily.  Now I am making some homemade iced tea to enjoy while sitting in the shade.  I think it's beautiful out, as long as your don't stay in the sun for too long.  I was going to work on a pair of wool socks, but I don't think so anymore.  Those will be reserved for indoor knitting.  How are you all doing in this heat?  What do you choose to work on?  Do you ever feel too hot to knit? 

I'm finding that the jet lag is really getting me today, that and a lack of coffee, but I'm sure the heat doesn't help either.  This all adds up to me not wanting to do much of anything, which is not good since I have a big pile of projects that need to be worked on.  I've begun to make a plan on how to work my way through it, so hopefully I will have some FO pictures to share sometime soon.  In the meantime, please enjoy the lovely photo above of a pair of cotton blend socks I knit while away, and have a wonderful day!!

Much Love, xx

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Home Sweet Home

Hello!!

We are home!  Sorry I haven't written until now, but we have been trying to get adjusted to being back home again and get caught up on everything, like laundry and cleaning.  Today I'm baking some bread since we ran out while I was gone.  It's so nice to be home, but the time change is taking a bit of adjustment.  I want to go to bed in the middle of the afternoon and I keep waking up in the middle of the night! lol  I'm sure after about a week I should be right back on schedule. 

I've been trying to keep up with my Tour de Fleece goal of knitting or crocheting at some point each day now that I'm back.  Today I am working on the Granny Stripes Blanket.  It's coming along really nice and I find that its the perfect thing right now since it's super relaxing and uncomplicated.  How are your Tour de Fleece plans going?? 

Well, this is a short post, but I need to get the bread into the oven, so I hope you all have a lovely day!!

Much Love, xx

Sunday, July 17, 2011

What I Did Today

This is what comes from spending the day by myself in a hotel room - Imagine in Colour.

Much love, xx

Friday, July 15, 2011

Iceland Bound

Hello!!

Just a quick update, we are now in Iceland for four days. We will be heading home after that and the blogging should resume as normal, but in the meantime, I apologize for how sporadic it has been over the course of this trip. I wanted to blog every detail and neat find I found but I either didnt have the time or the energy to do it. Things have been go, go, go lately and the blog had to take the back seat. Also not being able to post pictures has put a damp on my blogging, but I will share them when I get back home.

Anyways, I just wanted to pop in to say hello and let you all know what's up. I miss you all dearly, and am excited for when I can get back to the normal routine. However, at the moment I am very much enjoying my trip! I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to see all these countries. I'm hoping to find some Icelandic wool tomorrow!! I trust you are all having a lovely summer holiday as well, and I wish you lots of days full of sunshine and fun!!

Much love, xx

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Weekend Notes from Norway

Hello!!

Just wanted to let you all know I added some pictures of my finished shawlette as well as me wearing it at the North Cape to the album. The picture is a bit dorky, but I was bracing myself against the freezing cold wind and I was only staying still for one shot, so that's what I got.

On another note, I dont think I mentioned before that I am taking part in the Tour de Fleece. I joined in with the Itty Bitty Group since they are such a wonderful and fun group of women! Even though I will be on this vacation for most if it, I still wanted to be a part of this. My goal for myself is to knit or crochet each day, whether it be for hours while on the bus or just for a few minutes before going to bed at night. Also, the goal is to be flexible and not for it to be a strict one. So far I have been doing pretty well. There have been maybe three days that I didn't do anything, but every other day I have worked on something at some point. Today I knit one sock using some Dale of Norway Lerke that I purchased from the upstairs of a grocery store when we had some extra time due to our bus breaking down. It's a lovely sea foam green colour. I'm making them a little shorter than my usual socks since the yarn is a wool/cotton dk. I think they will make some very nice summer socks. We have another long drive ahead tomorrow so maybe I will get the other one done then.

We are staying in Mosjoen, Norway tonight and head to Trondheim tomorrow. Its been a long day on the bus today so I think I will be heading to bed now. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Much Love, xx

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

KAL Shawlette Edge Pattern

Hello!

I'm finally back with the edge pattern for the shawlette! I'm sorry for the delay, we didn't have Internet access for a few days, but now that we are heading back southwards, we should have it at each hotel....at least I hope so. We are now in Alta, Norway and it is such a beautiful country! We have been seeing lots of fjords and mountains, which are my favourite!! I'm so excited to see more of this country.

I did (almost) finish my shawlette in time to wear at the North Cape last night! I say almost because I ran out of yarn when doing the edge. I was too lazy to take it out to where I could make it work, so I just left it half finished and wore it as it was. I'm very happy with how it turned out and it was just the thing I needed to keep my neck warm in the cold, midnight wind up there. Mom took a few pictures that I will hopefully add to the same photobucket album as before, either tonight or tomorrow. I also whipped up a crochet hat last evening because the weather ended up being a lot colder than I was expecting and I wanted to protect my ears. Plus, I was too cheep to buy one from the souvinere shop! Ok, enough rambling, here is the pattern.

KAL Shawlette Edge Pattern

Crochet hook: K (6.5 mm)

Abbreviations:
Ch - chain
Sc - single crochet
Skp - skip
St(s) - stitch(es)
Dc - double crochet

After binding off, leave the last loop on you needle. Transfer it to your crochet hook and turn the work so you will be crocheting through the stitches you just bound off.

Row 1: ch 1, sc in next 2 sts, *ch 5, sk 1, 3 sc* repeat to last 3 sts; ch 5, sk 1, 2sc. (since I was working on this while on the bus, I didnt have the ability to figure out how to make my amount of stitches to match this pattern as planned, I think I was off a stitch somewhere, but I just fudged it to make it work by skipping an extra stitch and it worked out fine, so if you have this problem too, you can do that as well until I can figure it out).

Row 2: ch 1, sc 1, *(4 dc, ch 2, 4 dc) in ch-5 space, sc in central sc of 3 sc*, repeat till last sc, sc in last stitch.

Bind off and weave in ends.

I hope this makes sense! I can't wait to see all of your shawlettes!!

Much Love, xx

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Picture Album

Hello!!

Just a quick post to see if this works for you. For some reason I cannot get the photos from my iPad to upload on here, so instead, I have added them to a photobucket album and here is the link

I will keep adding to this album for now until I figure out how to post the pictures here. I will be back soon with another post, in the meantime, check out the pictures :)

Much Love, xx