The BIG 5

Valentin Resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico

French restaurant - inside the resort

Playa del Carmen

A day of scuba diving in Xel-Ha

A birthday gift I'll never forget

Furoshiki ideas

A few months ago, I posted an article here on this blog, about Furoshiki.

The Japanese people wrap their gifts and do their grocery shopping using Furoshiki wraps. It reduces the waste (less plastic and paper litter) and is totally Eco-friendly.
Just using your imagination and creativeness,you can wrap everything; from books, chocolate boxes, baskets, bottles... to bags, pirex, pans and glassware. Look at the video below and see how this lady is

taking Furoshiki to another level.

Indian Queue

I added another project to the queue... and it's called Indian Queue!!

Fio Sublime
Agulhas 6,0

Montar 32 pontos nas agulhas

1a. carreira : 1m,* laç, 2m, 2pjm, 2m* terminar a carreira com 2pjm,3m.
2a. carreira e todas as pares : tricô
3a. carreira : 3m, 2pjm, 2m, laç, *2m, 2pjm, 2m, laç* terminar a carreira com laç, 1m.

Fazer essas 3 carreiras até o tamanho desejado.
Rematar e blocar ( ou passar a ferro)

watching Buddy grow

a vintage flair

Inspired by this video. Added a nice finishing touch to the garment.

Buddy's graduation

Buddy graduated yesterday 08-06-11. He passed with straight A's and he got a certificate and couple of nice treats.

miss Tracy (in a nice cuddling...)

Cobweb of faith

Generically speaking I feel drained and overwhelmed by the work involved in having a puppy. Buddy is a very focused and he tries to please but at same time he is a handful and he needs a lot of attention. Way much more than I had anticipated.
I never thought having a puppy would be so consuming and my house looks like a hurricane hit it. Toys are all over the place and if there is one thing I can’t train him to do is to pick up them. (can I?).
I am exhausted and there hasn’t been too much time left for my knitting although I managed to finish off the cardigan. The cropped cardigan is a bought pattern and it is pretty simple but as I always believe starting any knitting project involves a great deal of faith. Faith in the designer who created the piece did the right calculations and adjustments. Faith in her directions and that she ultimately tried the piece on and the piece fits like a glove. It is when the cobweb of stitches start to take shape and everything starts to make sense.
The cropped cardigan needed some adjustments and thank God I had the presence of mind to try it on as I knitted and make the due adjustments along the way. I knew it needed some tuck in the waist line. I decreased only 12 stitches and boy… what a difference that made.
I think it came out pretty good and I would knit another one in a different color and yarn weight.
I used two techniques on this project:
The tubular cast off- bodice
The stretch cast off - sleeves(Fantastic^.^)

Freebies

I have a thing for digital scrapbook. I am addicted to scrapbook as much as I am addicted to knitting.
Today I was surfing the net and I bumped into this site Jinjerup and they have all sort of freebies and the nicest thing about it I don't have to sign up to download them... I hardly could believe in it. I haven't downloaded anything but apparently they just ask to read and agree to their terms of use and Voilá! Free freebies for everyone!
There you can find super cute freebies: from cute scrapbook paper to boxes templates for candy or trickets, just amazing what people can come up with! They sell on Etsy.
Happy scrapbooking!

Smithsonian

Cropped cardigan is in the works

I've divided for the body and I'll start the ribbing bottom decreasing stitches on both side to shape a little bit the waist.
The technique for bidding off is the tubular bind-off throughout the neckline and bodice.
Happy knitting and enjoy the weekend!
technique for tubular bind-off:

Washington-DC

Outer Banks

Wilmington-NC
Nags Head-NC



Ocracoke Island-NC


Hotel View
USS North Carolina Battleship
Cape Hatteras Park-NC

The newest addition to our household: Buddy.

We came back from our trip to the Outer banks and DC. Buddy came with us and he behaved like a real trooper. He traveled quietly in his crate. We made a few rest stops along the way for food, water and potty time and he was well behaved and didn’t seem to be annoyed . Buddy is only 3-month old, very well behaved and he is doing a great job in terms of potting outside, fetching, walking on the leash and sleeping in the crate.

I have to give credit to my sister-in-law, Joyce. She put so much effort training Buddy. He was the only puppy left (out of the 4 puppies litter). We live 11 hours away from her and we had to plan this trip around our and her schedule. In the end everything worked out pretty good! She did a wonderful job training him which helped us to make our experience with him less stressful and much more fun.
Still he wants our full attention but he is a clever and a focused puppy. I can tell he learns fast and he can be easily conditioned with stimulus and response (Pavlov is a good friend)!
There are a lot of other issues I have to address right way but nibbling is the one that I want to correct immediately. He is teething but nibbling is also a sign he wants to dominate me and this huummm… ain’t gonna happen Buddy !!
Tomorrow I’ll post some pics from our trip.

vacation

In my opinion, traveling is the chance given to us to record our best and memorable moments.
It is our deserving hours of freedom of not having deadlines to meet, appointments to keep, phone and e-mails to answer. A moment we entitle ourselves to not worry, to not rush, to not hurry.
These are the times where we can lie back and enjoy the breeze, the sun, the chirping of the birds and the soothing noise of the moving water in the ocean.
These are the moments we plan with anticipation and excitement. The days of vacation and… Mmmmm…summer. These are the times we can stitch little pieces of happiness, a quilt of remembrances. These are the loving and relaxing days of leisure sewn together one by one in the rare moments of our existence.

Julia Petit

I believe that God has given us natural talents, gifts we are born with. This is the case of a makeup artist named Julia Petit whose extraordinary ability with hands is undeniable.
I learned about her through Ana Paula from Salinha do Croche.
Here you can check Julia out in a makeup tutorial inspired by Lady Gaga's campaign for Mac. Julia not only can do make up but she also has an ability to choose right shades that turn out to their full potential in a photo.
Caetano Veloso once said and he was right: "People were born to shine."

Cropped cardigan

I just started a cardigan before going on vacation so I have a project to take with me on my trip to the Outer Banks.
I bought this pattern and it is a design by Amy O’Neill. It is a basic top down raglan and I am using the M1 increase on the purl side but it is not coming out with that nice lifted look, it is sort of …Hmmmmm… holey… Let’s see! I always take out my mistakes when the project is not going the way is supposed to. My problem I can’t visualize right in the beginning whether I like it or not.
Most of the time, I have to go way far back to fix it but I think it’s worth it.
Overall, I am not on a spiritual quest for perfection but when it comes down to the cosmetic of the piece, I am left with no choice but to unravel and start off fresh.
Talking about vacation, the final leg of our trip is DC where we are going to meet with my sister-in-law and get the newest addition to the family: Buddy. He is a 2- month-old cockapoo and I can’t wait to bring him home.
I really debated about adopting a puppy but now I can hardly wait and I am counting the days. He is going to bring a lot of fun to our lives.

Happy knitting!

Berroco- Spring/Summer sweaters

1-Lippitt,2-Ria, 3-Chloe,4-Stella,5-Poitou,6-Lauren
Happy Knitting!

purses

pictures here

Snake in the willow tree

When my neighbor, Julie, saw this scarf, in the very beginning of the knitting process, she immediately commented it looked like a weeping willow tree changing its colors in the fall. I had to agree and since the pattern is curvy, resembling a snake, I pictured the snake and willow together and I came up with snake in the willow. It seems weird, I have never heard of snakes climbing trees but it translates the idea fairly.
Talking a little bit about the yarn, I liked knitting with the swiss-mohair BUT… It’s not as soft as I thought would be. Surprisingly a little bit on the scratchy side when I wrapped around my neck. I would never tell while knitting with it. It feels so soft on the touch.
To finish his post I have to drop a final note on the last segment of the scarf:
When you get halfway point on the row, turn the work (like on the other segments) working in ribbing stitch until the end.
SSK and work until the short row, do another SSK, turn the work and keep decreasing until you have only 3 stitches on the needle. Cast off.
Happy knitting!
more kureopatora scarves: Sharing the moment, Feather and Fan, Curly Whirlies,Fresh Isle Fibers,Amimono

Love me, love me not