Crocheted sea growing...

I've been working and working on it and it had grow a lot... I'm happy with it. I won't be able to show it to you today, because I left it at the shop and I don't have a photo of it.
It's starting to be too big for me to carry back and forth from home to the shop and viceversa... and it's not that it is THAT big, but that I'm using several balls of yarns of all sizes and textures and that takes up a lot of space, and it's more difficult to carry.

Today I'll go out to measure it to the tree, and then I'll be ready to move into the beach and sunset... I imagine something like this... (Don't mind my little sketch please.... I made it in 5 minutes in paint... and I don't have a very good mouse or any painting skills or tools)

All of it is free form as I showed you the other day... and it's all formed out of different yarns in sea-like colors (blues-greens and ocasional purple and so) in lots of different textures and stitches.

I'm not sure how the beach will be, still thinking in that... but the sunset I think it'll be all horizontal lines, to give it a different look from the crazy sea...

Once I have the base, I'll add the fun details on top!
I'll show you later!!


Oh!! I'm super super happy, excited!!!!!!!!! I found out yesterday that I'm having visits tomorrow!!!! My dearest uncle and friends are coming for a week!!!!
I might not post a lot!

See you soon!
S.

New Project.... Freeform crochet sea

I don't know if I've talk about this before, but there is an ongoing project in my town to raise money for the Middle Way House...
Since our last yarnbombing infront of the shop, there was a great response from the people and Middle Way House came up with this idea and asked Yarns Unlimited to partnered with them to lead  the project of yarnbomb all the trees in the downtown square.
The idea is to get businesses to sponsor a tree, and volunteer knitters and crocheters that would make sweaters for the trees.
The theme is free and each volunteer is welcome to do as many squares as they can, in any stitch, technique, yarn and color as they want. Then, they'll be all put together in bigger pieces for easy assambling on the trees. The sponsors will have their name in the tree.
We are thinking about puting them up on the Gallery Walk on October. Gallery Walk is a Friday night in which the galleries stayed open later and offer specials and snacks for people to visit and enjoy the exhibits. The Knitting to Heal project, will be like a life performance during that day when we'll be dressing up the trees. I think the sweaters will be up until March or April 2013.

I loved being part of the last yarnbombing and see my stitches in a tree for a while... But this time I thought I would do somehitng bigger, so I'm attempting to do the sweater for a whole tree by myself.
My tree will be sponsored by the yarn shop, and I decided to go with a maritime, sea, organic, life project theme...
Here's what I had after the first day:::

And after:::

I'm loving the greatness of freeform crochet... it's really fun and the freedom of doing whatever is great! although some time you have to think about what the next step will be.

I'll keep you posted with the progress...

See you soon!
S.

More wire jewelry...

I looove this earring so much that I had to keep them for myself... I made all the curly-cues with my pliers in sterling silver wire and got the bead a long while ago in a little bead shop. They are hand blown beads in blue and green with a thin black line... they remind me of peacocks::

This are little studs tha lie flat on the earlobe...

I like to do simple lines in wire... I love how they can look intrincate and playful or elegant.

This are some of my favorite earrings... so simple, but I like a lot how they look. The beads are resin and I bought them several years ago in Barcelona...

Kind of corkscrew earrings... look great when you are wearing them and I love it when some times people just stare at them trying to figure out how to wear them and put them in and out.

Simple lines...

And more resin beads...

See you soon!
S.

A sad pie... Strawberry pie....

Aren't those strawberries gorgeous??? We got a huge box, I think it is 4 lbs of strawberries...

So I decided to make a pie... last week, when MG was out, I had more food that what I needed and I a lot of fruit that would have gone bad if I didn't do something (I think that's totally bad written, but I couldn't think in another way to say it). Any way, last week, I made a strawberry pie and took it to the yarn shop. And It was Awesome!!!!
Delicious, sweet, pretty... total strawberry explotion! I took this picture before we finished it... everyone at the shop loved it...

So this week, I thought about doing a strawbery pie for the kids in the lab (not really kids, they are college students, but they happily eat all my baking adventures).

It came out nice and good looking, as last time.

So MG and I tried it before he took it to the lab, and it was AWFUL!!!!!!
Last night, before I made the pie, I had been preparing dinner and part of it included onion and mushrooms.
I washed the cutting board and knife and I made sure to scrub it really good so I could cut the strawberries....
Well, I don't know why but the pie was totally onion-y and horrible...
We agreed that it wasn't good or nice to take it to the lab like that. So we had to get rid of it. It was super sad!!! So no strawberry pie for now...

Here's the recipe I used... I totally recomend it!

See you soon!
S.

MG's present...

Remember that MG brought me a little present from his trip??
Well, here I have a couple of photos for you...

Isn't that a very preatty butterfly?? I love butterflies...
So this has links on the side, that unroll and open and it becomes a purse holder... you know? one of those things that you put on the table and then hang your purse/bag in the hook. It suports with it's own weight and gets your purse close to you, and not in the floor. Ideal for restaurants!!

I couln't take a picture of it in a table, because somehow all the tables in our house are wider and it doesn't fit.

That's all for today... I need to focus and start packing!! we are moving to the other side of town in 2 weeks and we haven't started with the packing... I'm thinking yarns are going into a box today!

See you soon!
S.

My love is back!!

yep!... the week passed by and my dear and loved MG is back home with me... I'm enjoying him tons... hear him talk and laugh is a bliss.
I made a special dinner to welcome him home:: pasta with shrimp in a creamy-cheesy-chipotle sauce, ceasar salad, fresh bread... yum, yum!
He brought me a lovely present that tells me that he was thinking about me there... sweet.
I'll take a picture later to show you...

For now, I'm going to the shop today, I have a class to teach in a while and probably leave early to spend the afternoon with MG.

I was out Thursday and Friday... I went to my friends house for a SleepOver!! it was super fun!!
They are a mom and 2 girls (teenagers). I was teaching the girls spanish during the spring semester...
I love them all, they are great and fun and I always have an amazing time with them. They truly make me feel part of the family so I always say that they are my family here, away from home...

Until next time...
See you soon!
S.

Wrapped in wire... earrings!

It has been a while since I made this... but here are they, I love having pictures of them because I can go back and love them and be happy that my hands can create something pretty.
All the wire is Sterling Silver hand-bended by my with pliers.
...with swarovsky crystals...

 ... with czech crystal...

 ... with handblown glass (bought, not by me), and swarovsky crystals

 ... with some kind of gemstone I got on sale, didn't have a sign and I haven't figured what is it...

 ... with swarovsky drops...

 ... with agate, and silver beads...

See you soon!
S.

My first Eva's Shawl...

I've seen this shawl around in Ravelry and blogs and different places and it was finally time to make it. I had a tonal blues skein of Malabrigo sock yarn that looked perfect for it.

And it was...

It's the perfect size for a shawlette that covers just your shoulders and you can use a pin to close it in the front, but it's ok open too. And you can also wear it as a scarf.

I love how it looks and how it turned out and every day I like it better, but honestly I was hoping it would be longer. And to make a lacy, eye catching border... but I ran out of yarn.
I had bought the yarn for something else and the shop was out of that color way, so I had to left it at that lenght and made just a subtle picot edge.

I'm very happy because we put it on display at the shop, next to my colored coat and my trees.

A lot of people had liked it and this past week 5 ladies decided to start one. :o)

I LOVE crochet!!

See you soon!
S.

A guided Journal...

Last week I was surfing the web in one of those days that you jump from webpage to webpage and you end up finding wonderful things in the way.
One of those findings was a website called Grace is Overrated... Christie has a shop on etsy where she sells little books of guided journals. Which some times I feel is just what I need to write about things that I would normally wouldn't think about writting but are things that right now are part of my every day life and maybe in 5 years won't be any more and there will be no record of it.

On the right side panel of the blog, she has links to different things and one of them says Journal Pages. And I went there and saved them all, one by one, in my computer and today I printed them.
I think is totally worth to pay a visit to her... go to her blog and see the fun things she has there. Also I love the white, crisp look of her page splashed with nice touches of color.

Then I went out to Target and got a very nice package of 50 crayola washable markers in pretty, bright colors...

And then I put color in the first page of my journal...

My plan right now is to fill a page a week... that will give me almost a year.
I'll share with you as I progress...

See you soon!

Thank you!!!

I was playing around with the new settings of Blogger and I ended up studing the stats of the blog.

Here's what I found among other things...

Pageviews all time history   80,393

WOW!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! 

My blog has been alive for a little bit more than 2 years and it's amazing that eighty thousand people around the world (probably a lot less but some of you several times) have seen my blog.

Thank you!!

You made my day!

See you soon!

S. 

More crochet for the little ones...

Another crocheted piece I just finished last Saturday.
It is a little dress that I've wanted to make for a really long time. I think I was holding back because I don't havea girl to make it for... but in this urge of something small and fast, I had to give in and finally make it... and I'm so glad I did.
Also, while being at the yarn shop, I have a lot of time to look at the yarns and dive in the softness and lucious colors... and there was this lovely soft yellow sock yarn. A Heritage by Cascade skein that I knew it would be perfect for the dress.

The pattern is called Coco's Bubble Dress and it's a free pattern at The Purl Bee.
It's a one size only, being a dress for a 2 year old and a tunic for a 4 year old.
Part of what had stoped me of making it was the thin yarn, sock yarn still looks and feels too thin for my like... but oh, well!!! it made a gorgeous dress and I'm really happy I made it.

I love, love the bubbles, the texture it makes... I can't wait to see a little girl wearing it!

See you soon!
S.

A happy moment...

Lately, a very happy moment of my day is when I get to bed or when I just wake up in the morning...
I feel so so blessed for having a bed. A nice, soft, comfortable and warm bed.
And that minute when I awake and I can feel the covers around my body, warming me up and keeping me in a little nest of love... makes me really really happy.
It's the perfect feeling of love and protection and I love it.

See you soon!
S.

Little crochet... or crochet for the little ones.

Every once in a while my crocheting and knitting gets to a point where I need something little and fast!! a quick project that will give me more instant gratification than a project that looks like it's not growing at all. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.

So last week I got to one of those points... and decided to make something little, cute and fast::: baby things!!

The first one was the Milky Baby Vest by Mon Petit Violon

I bought the pattern a while ago in one of her sales for a bundle with other patterns. I love her patterns, she has patterns for very cute baby things and all the patterns I have from her are really well written and explained and usually have several explanatory photos.
That photo is very close to the color of the yarn, which is a Coton Glacé by Rowan.
I then added a little trim at the neck and armwholes in a light minty green.

It's a cute vest for a 12-18 months old girl. I love how it came out.
I don't have anyone in mind for it right now...

See you soon!
S.

 PS... It's RAINIIIIIIING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's raining!!! I think we haven't had rain in around 2 months... everything here in the middle east is so sooooooo dry! the grass is the color of the sand and the heat is just overwhelming and dry... very dry and hot.

And it's raining!!! thank God!!! even if it comes with thunders! (I hate thunders)

-------------------
UUPPPPSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!! I totally made a mistake!!! I was thinking another thing and my fingers did a horrible typing!!
I'm not in the middle east!! I meant mid west!!! Toooootally different! LOL!

A week to fill....

I just posted about our 4th of July...  but it didn't seem the same theme to include this in that post...

My dear hubby flew today to the east coast to attend a conference and will be there for a week...
I have a week to fill without him... specially at nights.
I sure miss him.

I spent the day at the yarn shop and was great! Lots of friends and good talk.

A couple of episodes on digital scrapbooking podcast, and photo organization...

A quiche lorraine in the oven...

I'll probably watch Grey's Anatomy for a while and then to bed...

I have a yarn day tomorrow too!

I'm so blessed to have that place!

I miss you Honey!!
S.

4th of July...

As Thanksgiving, this is one of the american holidays that MG awaits for all year... he loves the multiple things that you can do on that day and he actually waits for it to come so he can skip work for the day, something I love!!!
This year we went to the town parade...

We didn't have time to have breakfast before going out of the house, so my sweet MG went to buy something to eat and I snapped this photo of him when he came back where I saving our places.
The weather was incredible hot, so we had hats and caps...

I had a light dress on but anyway I had to pull it up my legs to be cooler.
One thing I love about 4th of July is that everyone dresses in blue, red and white... I love the uniformness of it and just the look of those colors everywhere.

The parade was fun and lasted more than an hour, but we found it wasn't as fun as last year... I don't know if it was the excesive heat or that most of the people where we were seated decided to stand in the middle of the street and block all our view...

One fun thing about a small town parade is that every organization and group has a representation in it...

And of course... my knitting was with me most of the time!!

Over all we had a great time!

 

 

 

See you soon with more of the same day!!
S.

A day in the lake...

Hello!
We've had several activities later... which I'm grateful for and I really enjoy.

Last week we had an outing in the middle of the week with MG's coworkers and boss.

We went to the lake for the day and rented a boat and went out and about, enjoyed the wind while the boat was running and lots of swimming when we decided to stop and throw the anchor.

It was a 2 level boat with a little ladder to take you up and a slide to the water. And we had a tube too... that MG and I enjoyed a lot!

I spent a little too much time upstairs and my back and thights are still suffering the effects of a (pretty bad) sunburn. MG has taken great care of me applying generous quantities of Aloe and lotion. I spent a couple of rough nights because the sting and pain would awake me every time I moved... So I'm never understimating the need for sunblock again... (I did have put some earlier, everywhere else but in my back and thights... oh well)

They even brought a griller and we had a totally delicious meat, sausages and corn...

Everything was cooked perfectly and had been marinated since the night before, so it was tender and juicy and just heavenly!!

As soon as it came out of the griller, it was passed to MG who would chop it for everyone else to enjoy...

it was amazing... and it was one of the hottest days so far, and we were around 104F that day! So I drank tons of water and gatorade, and more swiming was in order...

So here's a very happy couple whishing you all a very happy 4th of July!!!

See you soon!
S.