I Guess I Have a FEW FOs...

Tis finally summer in Seattle. Summer here, for those of you who don't know, is a 4-6 week period beginning the second week of July. And I'm telling you, we are weenies!

As my mother likes to say, we don't tan, we mildew. When it gets to be in the upper 70s (or 80s!), we complain and flock to the nearest beach/movie theater/mall for the chance to cool down in air conditioned bliss.

I must admit that I, too, have succumbed to the Weather Weenie phenomenon. I'm not proud.

I can remember moving here from South Dakota and laughing heartily when the Seattle Police Department held a news conference because the weather forecast suggested it could get to (gasp) NINETY degrees and therefore Seattle residents should remain indoors, stay hydrated and check on their elderly neighbors.

Like I said, weenies!

Anyway, I digress. My point is it's hot. Not Phoenix hot, or Chicago hot, but Seattle hot. Not crocheting weather, really, which is why you haven't seen a lot of FOs (finished objects) lately.

I have done a few things, though, so I guess I'll share:

These are the bookmarks I sent in to the Crochetville Bookmark Swap. I should be receiving 5 in return very soon. I can't wait to see what I get!

Speaking of bookmarks, I made a few Gryffindoor scarf bookmarks prior to the release of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" using embroidery floss. Here's one of them.

Also, I made a pair of furry flip flops for little Haley. Jessica, if you're reading this, avert your eyes!

It's a Different Country, Eh? (Part II)

(Mostly crochet content!)

While roaming the halls at Yaohan Centre in Richmond, B.C. I was delighted to find (gasp) a CRAFT STORE!

Look what was in the window! JOY!


Of course, THIS was there, too...


To my dismay, the shop was closed; however, by the time we came out of the shop across the hall, the store had opened. With 40% off yarn racks in front, no less! The shopkeeper was less than thrilled with the idea of picture-taking, but I convinced her to let me take a few. These yarns are almost all Japanese and Italian. Most I'd never seen before. Most were over $12/Cdn a skein! I apologize for the blurries:


Of course I was already on cloud nine, but LOOK what I found, Amigurumi sisters!

This, of course, I purchased, and there were several more books there, which the shop keeper strictly forbade me from photographing. Each were $25 - 40 Cdn, and I definitely recognized at least two of them. I haven't made anything from them yet, but I can't wait!

Of course I couldn't leave without buying SOME yarn:


And, I found this neat little paper Hello Kitty kit for Rebecca's birthday:


While on the subject of Amigurumi, check out these cool Pooh characters I found at a neighboring store:


Oh - I almost forgot! I found some more of my own Engrish.

"This is milky and crispy biscuit with delicious strawberry milk cream..."

It's a Different Country, Eh? (Part I)

(Note: no crochet content, but there's lots of photos!)

Ever get that "I need to get the hell out of Dodge" feeling? How about out of the country?

Well, since I live in Seattle, out of the country is achievable for me.

The kids and I packed up and headed to Vancouver, B.C. last weekend to explore the city and have some "let the maid make the beds" fun.

We were bummed to wake up to cold, cloudy, rainy weather, but by the time we got to the border the sky had cleared quite nicely. We made it through the border with a 40 minute wait (not bad for a Saturday morning) and made it to our hotel in the early afternoon.

We spent the day walking around downtown and then headed to the Richmond Night Market, where we saw all of the "junks" as my friend Fenny calls them (correctly, I might add). We also had some fantabulous food along the way, stopping for a bite here and a nibble there and of course bubble tea aplenty!

We were also delighted to hear, and eventually see, a group of Korean drummers, who we followed to a stage only to discover ourselves in the middle of the Korean Heritage Festival! We were really excited until the MC (about 17 by the looks of it) came out spewing hip hop (boyyeee) and then was joined by more of the "Korean heritage" people lip-synching to rap and flashing underwear at us. Who knew 50 Cent was such a predominant influcence on the Korean way of life?

Once we were fed, junked and heritaged out, we headed back to our hotel so I could crack open my new copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince whilst letting the children gorge themselves on Cartoon Network (Mom, can we PLEASE get cable?). A little after 11:00p.m. I was startled to hear a knock on our door. I mean we were in another country for goodness sakes!

I peeped out the door to discover our good friends Fenny and Wei, who were in town for the day and stopped to say goodbye before heading back to Washington state. It was so nice to see them!

Sunday was filled with shopping and play. It was a gorgeous day and after breafast we headed to Yaohan Centre for some shopping and then to Stanley Park, which is one of my all-time faves. Parking was precarious, but after a couple of loops we found a place to leave the van so we could explore. We found a really fun water park and the kids had a blast running through the various water features while I was, of course, reading HP (natch!).

After the park, we headed to a very late lunch (early dinner?) and then left Canada. I let them out at the border to run through the fields and take pictures of each other while I waited in line. Adler was loving the fact that he was in another country all by himself (LOL). The kids were very bummed to be leaving and I agreed. We heart Vancouver!

Following are a group of thumbnails from our trip. Click any for a larger picture (all have comments).

I am a highly amusing, talented designer!

Who knew?

As I was catching up on my blog reading (blogstalking, as Lady Linoleum calls it), I was shocked to find ME the beneficiary of a shout out from Miss Kimberly. Thank you, Kimberly! You are so kind!

Here's one right back at ya! AND, it turns out, flattery DOES get you everywhere. Guess what I'm doing with my KnitWhits kit? Hint: it yearns to live in the land of Clinique. Oh, yeah, and Chimay.

Thank you for making my day, Kimberly! xoxo

(P.S. I noticed that Seattle is on your cities to visit before you die - if you make it here you can stay with me!)

Ok, who knits?

Congratulations, Celeste - you've won 3rd prize in a crochet flower contest. Your prize is...

a knitting kit?

Now, I'm not dissing my fabulous prize or anything it's just that, well, I don't knit.

Isn't this little flower cute? It's the May Rose kit from KnitWhits.

What should I do with it?

Now, as many of my fellow villagers can (and likely will) attest, many people both knit and crochet. Fantastic for them!

I do not.

It's not like I have something against knitting, I don't. In fact, there are way more super cool knitting patterns than crochet patterns. There are also way more knitters than crocheters.

I tried to be a knitter, I did. In 2004, I made it my new year's resolution. I got a set of needles and a skein of yarn and set down to work. I mastered casting on quite quickly and it just went downhill from there. My stitches were uneven, I couldn't get a groove going and it really wasn't very fun.

I didn't want to be a quitter, so I decided to enlist the help of my friend, Lisa, who took my skein and my needles and whipped up a starting swatch. As I watched her, I noticed that knitting just didn't seem as fluid as crocheting. It seems like there are a lot of stops and starts. I always had it in my head that knitting was just moving the two needles back and forth and the fabric just flowed out. Isn't that how it always is in cartoons?

Not so, apparently! There's a lot of back and forth and messing with the yarn and the tension and - OY! I just couldn't get the hang of it. I turned Lisa's nice, even swatch into this nasty fiber creation. It wasn't fun. It wasn't pretty. It definitely didn't meet my BIG, FAST NOW! criteria of crafting.

I quit knitting.

So, short story long - I have this knitting kit. What to do? What to do?

A contest? Hmm...I can't think of a good contest.

A gift? Well, I can think of a lot of kind and lovely people who would like this - how to choose?

A RAOK? Yeah, maybe a RAOK - but can you RAOK someone at CROCHETville a knitting kit? Hmm...

Suggestions?

I was pretty sure I couldn't beat that dog...

The results are in - I won THIRD PLACE in the Stitch Diva Flower Competition! Yeah! See all the winners here.

Thank you all so much for your support of my "preppy flower". I appreciate it very much.

Guess what my prize is? I get to pick any Stitch Diva pattern. Which one should I get? Check them out here and let me know. Also, there are new patterns coming out that I may hold out for. What to do? What to do?

Oh, I almost forgot - I also won a KnitWhits knitted flower kit. A knitting kit for a crochet flower competition? Who knew?

Thanks again for your support!

Biting fingernails...

Well, voting has ended for the Stitch Diva Flower Competition. The winners were to be announced July 9; however, I noticed on the website it now says "Monday, July 9" (huh?).

Looks like I'll have to wait a couple of days to find out how the preppy flower did!

Um, hello? Isn't this supposed to be a CROCHET blog?

Ok, ok, I haven't crocheted at all this week (busy!) but I did manage to squeeze in a few projects over the holiday weekend that I haven't shown you yet.

First is a Ribbon Hat for my friend Paula. This one is done in Cascade Alma with a Patons Divine band. It came out smaller than Kelly's, but still fits.

Next is an I-Pod pocket for my friend Linda. This is done in Cascade Prisma. I didn't really have any buttons (note to self: buy buttons!), but found a wood button rejected from a pillow I made. I then made a button for the loop on the back.

Finally, I made a halter for Sophie. I had been thinking about making one and had seen a bunch at Crochetville but did not have a pattern so I made one up. It's a combination of a bikini I made for Julie Ann and the bra top from Interweave Knits that I made for Danica. This one is made with Lion Brand Cotton Ease and worked up very quickly. It ties around the neck and has 4 pearl buttons in the back which you will not see because I couldn't get my model to work properly. She's fired now, btw.

There - do I get to keep my "Crochet Blogs" membership now?