Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Life is back to a routine. I managed to do my regular biking route of shopping to the neighbouring village. Bigger than mine, so a lot more interesting things to spend my husbands hard earned money on.

I look at it from a different standpoint. This way I get to move out and about which I wouldn't normally do. Am at the moment glued to the computer quite a lot. Trying to catch with the posts of the CAL-yahoo group I belong to. Or sitting on the couch watching all the crime soaps and cooking shows (Tim Maelzer and "The Perfect Dinner"). Hard disk on our satellite receiver is almost full, goed I have so many crochet projects lined up, it's a good combo.

Past weekend was in a sign of USA. First had to take my son to the American Consulate in Amsterdam. If I got to use the public transportation from our village it would take me min 3,5 hours to get there. Knowing they are open only mornings till 11:30 resulted in realization of having to start that day quite early. Now, waking up a 4,5 yo at 6 in the morning would have proven quite a challenge. My husband had a better solution. We slept the night before at my in-laws, in Utrecht, and it was just a measly hour that took us to get to the consulate.

And boy, it is nice to be on your own soil for a bit again. The treatment was great, got to use separate booth set up just for US citizens. Glad I was able to skip that crowded waiting room of the Dutch nationals.

But, there is a but to this day. It was raining so hard, didn't have the heart to drag my son into sightseeing of this beatiful city. I made a mental note of coming soon again. Alone or with a friend but as soon as the weather allows it.

Next day we managed to walk through center of Utrecht. Now, I don't know the countless number of times we did that, but this time I noticed a store with Cheerios in the store front. Had to get closer and realized the store is choke full with american products. Even though I couldn't locate any prices I couldn't resist and buy myself Oreo cookies. Don't think I'll do that soon again it ended up being 8 euros. And it is just a normal size package 1lb1oz (482g). So at the moment I'm wondering which measuring system was used as reference since neithe of these is a round number.

And to top that day, in the local establishment of the national chain of the 2nd hand bookstores I found "The Weekend Crafter - Knitting" (unused) by Catherine Ham for 6eu and "All Stitched Up" by Jane Crowfoot for 5eu. I'm sure the 2nd one will be useful for both knitting and crochet. And the first one I bought since I'm planning to learn how to knit. Best recommendation was the fact that I already own the same in the crochet version.

I'm at the moment looking for yarn for a men's shawl from the Weekend Crafter. Seems like a nice and easy pattern to learn a new craft. Am a bit nervous about this decision. My aunt tried to teach me how to kint when I was a teenager. It was a complete disaster, it was so tight that I couldn't get a needle through the project any more. But I'm consoling myself if I could master crochet (which sometimes gets to be a bit tight as well) I should be able to control myself with needles as well.

The school has started on Monday, so it is back to the old routine. I should be able to catch up with my e-mails (I hope) by the end of next week, and then the projects should be just flying of my hooks and needels!

Entry for August 10, 2006

Managed to work on Gerbera Doily last night. That was a relief, finally back in the grove. I'am not allowing myself to start on any new project until I finish at least this doily and the Floral Filet. On the second I just have to weave in a few more ends and wash and form. Maybe I could then also finish the giraffe which I started before departure for vacation...
And I took care of my house plants today. They have been neglected these two months while I was gone. None of them perished, my husband followed my (simple!) instructions of watering plan those few days he was around and the results are obvious. Should I crochet something for him even though it has been forbidden?!

Entry for August 9, 2006

Not yet a week since my son and myself returned from our holiday to my home-country, Hrvatska (Croatia). We are still very tanned which is starting to look rediculous as the clouds are threatening to stay around for quite a few more days.
Garden was terrible, have weeded a lot in the last few days, but had to stop once I filled our green waste bin. Ridicoulos system in our village, it gets picked up every two weeks, alternating with regular wast pick-up.
Still haven't done any crocheting. Was not able to do much in Hrvatska either. Beginning of June was still cold and rainy but since I spent it in my home city, it was fine. As it turned better we moved to our vacation house on Adriatic and stayed there till the end of July. The only drawback of nice weather was the fact that my crochet time was reduced to nil. But, what a nice vacation it was. Even my husband enjoyed it and managed to keep his hair dry for three weeks. Real dutch men don't get their hair wet in salty water, says he. I'm working on my son to dispute this fact.
Oh, yes, I also managed to buy some fabulous yarn in Hrvatska. There is a local factory, Unitas and of course I got supplies for the next few months. Got wonderful yarn for Garn Studio Drop Design 60-14 and tablecloth named Salt air by DMC. Pattern for the free project is free to be downloaded, for the second I have purchased a flyer in one small YS in Belgium, just over the border. That was a nice excursion.