A new Project, an Award, and more

Hello World, you look wonderful today! :)

Today I've got several things to share with you, so let's just start right away with a new project:

 

This is the start of a new blanket, it will be another double-ended crochet (or "Crochenit") blanket, like the "Magic Blanket" I've made last year. I started the blanket last week-end with some left-over yarn in my stash, and so far I've made about 30cm. I'll tell you more about the how's and why's in another post when I've made some more progress.

When I went through my stash last week-end, I was also delighted to find a bunch of motifs for the Beyond the Square Challenge, that I had made before I went on vacation - and I had totally forgot about them. Now I just have to weave in the ends and block the motifs, so I can publish them here on my blog. While I was gone, a few girls have joined our Challenge and added their motifs to the Gallery, so I've also updated the Challenge News today to welcome the new members to our little party.

In the News Update, I've also mentioned Kara's Granny Month over at Petals to Picots, and I thought I'd recommend her idea here as well, because it might be interesting to all of you who love Granny Squares (and who of us doesn't? *gg*)

Finally, I'd like to thank the lovely ladies who gave me the "One Lovely Blog"-Award recently: Thank you Craftgirl78, Debi Y., TACIStudio, Ali and Ruby/Moley Makes - I really appreciate this honor!

Now 7 facts about me. Okay, this is easy this time, I'll just sum up a few things about our vacation:

In the past few weeks I've...

• rooted for the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park, MI (but still don't get the rules of Baseball)
• got soaking wet in the mists of the Niagara Falls, Canada (even my camera stopped working for a while - the shock!!!)
• got a bad bad sunburn at Venice Beach, CA (our own fault: we've forgot the sun-lotion at the hotel)
• had a mexican Dinner in Tijuana, Mexico (another thing accomplished on my life's to-do-list)
• played Poker at the El Dorado in Reno, NV (and the hotel was the best and cheapest during our road-trip. Weird.)
• walked over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA (taking lots of pictures, it took us about an hour)
• held a Tarantula in a Tattoo Parlor in Royal Oak, MI (while John got his "D" for Detroit on his arm)

Last but not least, I'd like to pass this award on to

• Barbina (Little things made with love)
• Kara (Petals to Picots) and
• Ana BC (Lanas & Hilos)

Even if you don't play along in the award-games: I love visiting your blogs, just wanted to let you know... :)

Thanks for stopping by in k-town today,
have a lovely week-end everybody!


 

Sunshine Awards

What a great week! Germany has won their first two matches in the European Soccer Championships (which means I may not wash my brandnew fanshirt again until our guys have won the title *gg*), and I've received the Sunshine Award to brighten up this rainy week! Obviously this award comes in two different shapes, and I love both of them!

On Tuesday, Barbina from Little things made with love has passed her award on to me. Danke Barbina - Du weißt, dass ich ein großer Fan von Deinem Blog bin! :)

I've also received this Sunshine Award from homeschooljewelrymom at Stitches, Scraps and Sparkles in the Sun, from Helen (Sweet Seahorse) at 26 Minutes Past, and from Olga (Soleil) at There where is Soleil...

Thank you so much ladies, those awards have really brightened up my week! And Congratulation again on winning this award yourself!

And now the rules of this award:

1. Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you. (Done)
2. Answer the 10 questions on your favorite things.
3. Nominate 10 blogs to receive the Sunshine Award and let them know they've been nominated.

Here are the 10 questions (hey, this is so much easier than conjuring up interesting facts about oneself out of thin air!)

1. Favorite Animal: my cat Mucki was an awesome little bitch beast. I miss her.

2. Favorite Number: I don't really have a special number, but when it comes to Poker, 9/10 of spades is my lucky starting hand in Texas Hold'em

3. Favorite Non-Alcoholic Drink: Wait, there was this great slogan I've pinned on Pinterest recently: "Given enough Diet Coke I could rule the world!" So true! :)

4. Facebook or Twitter? I'm on facebook, but you could call it a love-hate relationship

5. My Passion: I think my passion is passion per se. When I'm interested in something, I'm investing 100% of my heart and time (with fluctuations though). To name a few: Crochet, Poker, Football (no.1 right now), Music, Dancing and many more!

6. Getting or Giving: Depends on who's giving or who's receiving. I think generally the best gifts (getting or giving) are those without special reasons.

7. Favorite Pattern: changes all the time. Right now I'm a little bit bored of the traditional granny square, but at the end of my life I'll probably say "hey girls, wasn't that the best pattern ever?" :)

8. Favorite Day of the Week: Saturday. Especially when all the work is done the day before.

9. Favorite Flower: "The Rose" from Bette Midler :) I'm not so much the flower type (and hope you don't hate me for this confession)

10. Favorite Country: I think Germany is a great place to live and work (health system, social benefits, holidays, pensions etc.), but I lost my heart to an American and his home :)

Now the hard part again, passing this award on to 10 other blogs. Many of my favorite blogs have already been nominated, but on the other hand my ever-growing blogroll is so long, that it was still a tough job to select 10 outstanding blogs - here we go, I pass The Sunshine Award on to:

According to Matt

Crochetime

Dly's Crafts and Stuff

about crochet

Happy in Red

My Crochet, Mis Tejidos

plus3 crochet

Priscillas

Sols(tr)ikke

Underground Crafter

I don't know, if you all participate in award games, but I just want to thank all of you for writing those amazing blogs!

And off to bother you know... :)

Have a great and sunny week-end everybody!

PS: If you're missing the monthly theme-party, please check out my earlier post from this morning, or head over to my new party-blog The Crochet Boulevard right away! (Wow, that's the first time I've written two posts on one day...)

Spring Bunnies and another Award

Happy Easter everyone!

Have a look at those spring bunnies - aren't they just tooooo cute?? It's almost a year since I've downloaded the free PDF pattern for those little fellas on craftzine, and I had almost forgotten about it. Recently I've seen them again on Annaboo's house, and I promised myself to make them before Easter. Phew, just in time, I'd say... :) I've already mentioned before, that I like to call those little creatures enemy-gurumis instead of amigurumis, because it's really a torture for my fingers (and my brain) to make them. But now and then I just can't resist, especially when they're as cute as those bunnies!

If you've also got some Easter or Spring Crochet to share, please stop by my link-party, it's still open for another week, and you can already vote for the next topic in my right side bar!

Now to something different: Ladylike from Crochetapy has passed the "Liebster Blog" award on to me!

Thank you Ladylike, and Congratulations on winning this award! And dear readers, please hop over to her beautiful blog, you won't regret it!

Now I have to tell you five random facts about me. This part is always quite difficult, because I'm really not that interesting. Let's see...

1. On Thursday I was high on elation because I've finally found my lucky charm again: a $1 Chip from a Poker Club in Daytona Beach, that I had been missing for over a year! I found it lying next to the copier at work - I have no idea how it got there!

2. It wasn't planned that way, but I actually wore a crochet dress at my friend's wedding (bought, not handmade *gg*)

3. John and I are not married (yet?)

4. By the way: I've always dreamed of a wild, trashy wedding in Vegas... who knows? ;)

5. Most sundays we go out for lunch, and I always order a Schnitzel baked with cheese, french fries and a side dish of savoy cabbage. And no, this combination is not a german standard :)

And now I'd like to pass this award on to five other blogs. "Liebster Blog" is german and means "Favorite Blog", so I've really tried to pick my alltime favorite blogs, even if they've received this award before or don't take part in this award game at all. So here are my five favorite blogs (in alphabetical order):

Annaboo's House

Attic24

Dly's Hooks and Yarns

Elisabeth Andree

Le Monde de Sucrette

Thank you ladies for the inspiration,

it's always a pleasure to visit your beautiful blogs!

Thanks for your visit in k-town today,

enjoy the rest of your Easter week-end! :)

Some Kindle Covers, a new Poll and more...

Finally I'm back with some new crochet that has nothing to do with the Beyond the Square Challenge :)

I think I've already mentioned that I gave myself an e-book-reader for Christmas - it's the Amazon Kindle, and I really love it! Of course I wanted to make a sexy "dress" for the reader, but I wasn't happy with the first try, so meanwhile I've got three different dresses for my Kindle:

Let's start with the first one I've made:

 

 

I've already made this around Christmas and - I hate it :) I think it looks like a stupid washcloth and I don't like the closure. That's why I had this thing lying around for the past weeks, and I wasn't in the mood to finish it. Finally I've weaved in the ends this week and attached the button. I still don't like it much better, but I'm happy that I'm done with it. After all, the colors ain't too bad (I wanted to make it "girlie-style"), and I kinda like the pattern (it's a simple sc, ch1-pattern, with the sc's worked into the ch1-space of the previous round).

As soon as this one was finished, I was eager to make a better one, and in fact I liked the next one so much, that I even made a third one (same style) the next day:

I've used the star stitch for both of them - a pretty stitch pattern that I've found some time ago, lurking in the back of my mind, waiting to be used.

I've made the off-white cover first and sewed on one of my Bavarian Popcorn Flowers that I had still left from my flower-making-mania last summer. On the close-up you can also see the structure of the star-stitch pattern, isn't it just pretty?

One thing I knew for sure: I didn't want to make any kind of closure this time. My sister-in-law (who also got a Kindle for Christmas) didn't like the closure of my first try either, and she suggested to make a cover similar to those "mobile socks", without closure.

 Of course it would be possible to work with some color changes for the cover, but I personally like it best, if the cover is plain colored with a little embellishment. So I used dark brown for the next try, weaved in some threads of off-white yarn, made a little bow and attached a cute button:

I still have to show the two new covers to my sister-in-law, to see if she likes them. Maybe I'll try a few more, with different colors and embellishments, maybe another style for the opening. Any suggestions from your side?

Now to something completely different: it's time to start a new poll for our next theme-party (Friday, March 9th)! The "animals" topic is not on the list anymore (didn't get any votes the last time), but I've added two new topics for you to vote: "Stripes" (easy: any blankets, cushions, scarves, etc. with colorful or/and structured stripes, I'm also thinking of all those lovely ripple blankets out there), and "Covered": a topic that was on the list before and will get another chance now: pillows, jars, vases and more with crochet covers, and of course covers for mobiles, i-pods and other technical stuff. Please let me know if you've got any ideas for new topics! By the way: the Valentine's Party is still on! :)

Last but not least, I'd like say a big THANK YOU to

Heather from The Good Life

and 

Cynthia and Carol from TwoLuLa

for giving me another Versatile Blogger Award. Please check out their awesome blogs! I've already written about this award in a previous post last week and passed it on to some other blogs, so please understand if I skip this part this time :)

I think that's it for today - have a fabulous week-end everyone! :)

An Award and a Party Invitation

Wow, I've received another award! Debi (Dly's Hooks and Yarn), Barbina (Little things made with love) and Susan (SusanD1408 Crochet Addict) have given me the Versatile Blogger Award! Thank you girls, it's so nice to know that you were thinking of me when you've passed on your awards - AND of course: Congratulations to Debi, Barbina and Susan for winning this award, all of you have truely deserved it!

Now I have to tell you seven random facts about me:

1) I've cried my eyes out when I had to give my first car away, and I've still got its license plates at home :)

2) I've made my fork lift driver's license about six years ago - it turned out that I was a terrible driver, so I wasn't allowed to drive. Recently I've started practicing again (had only one minor accident so far *gg*) and I'm really motivated to make it this time.

3) Some year's ago, I've learned from the doctor that I've got a deformed kneecap - but it hasn't bothered me ever since.

4) I first set foot in a plane at the age of 25: It was a week-end-trip to London with one of my girlfriends and we had a great time. I'd still like to visit London again one day, it's a fabulous city.

5) I'm only 32, but I've got the feeling that I'm already too old for all this technical stuff: I'm almost scared of what they call "smartphones" because I don't know what all this "app"-talk is all about.

6) My original hair color is dark blonde, and for the past few years I've been having lighter blonde highlights. When I was younger I frequently changed the color of my hair: I think I've tried every shade of blonde, brown and red.

7) Years ago, I even dyed my hair blue one time, when my favorite soccer team (the TSV 1860 München, the team colors are white and blue) won against the FC Bayern München ("our" biggest enemy). The victory was a sensation back then, and I think we (the underdogs) have never won ever since ;)

The next step is to pass this award on to 15 other blogs. Damn, that's a tough one. I'm reading so many blogs (although - shame on me - I'm often too lazy to write a comment), and I've seen lots of my favorite blogs on other bloggers' award lists. So I've tried to pick 15 blogs that haven't already received this award recently:

Annaboo's House

Apple Blossom Dreams

Crocheting Doc

Grateful 4 Crochet

Happy in Red

Kreatives aus dem Drosselgarten

La ventana azul

Lanas & Hilos

Linda's Craftycorner

Little Orphan Skein

My Crochet, Mis Tejidos 

My Experiments with Needle n Thread

not your average crochet

Tales From Trish

Whiskers & Wool

Dear girls :), if you'd like to accept this award please take it to your blog and pass it on - if you're not collecting awards, just understand it as a compliment on your work! :)

Finally, let's see if I've obeyed all the rules:

1. Add the award to your blog. (Check)
2. Thank the blogger(s) who gave it to you. (Check)
3. Mention 7 random things about yourself. (Check)
4. List the rules. (Check)
5. Award to 15 bloggers. (Check)
6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog. (off to do that now)

Wait: before I leave you for today, let me remind you of our next theme-party. On Friday it's time to celebrate again - it looks damn good for the Valentine's Day topic, so you better check your archives for some crocheted hearts or other Valentine related stuff :) (or: if you're not in the mood for a Valentine's party, vote for another topic and tell all your friends to vote as well *gg*)

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon :)

The Versatile Blogger Award

Oooooooh, I'm really excited today, because Debi from Dly's Hooks And Yarns has passed the Versatile Blogger Award on to me!

I really feel honored, because I always enjoy visiting Debi's blog and I admire her as a crocheter, blogger and person likewise. Thank you Debi and Congratulations again on winning this award!

And now the obligatory little facts about me:

(1) Now and then I wished I had a dog - I'd like to have a Golden Retriever and I'd call him "Snickers"

(2) Sometimes John calls me "Funny Face" but he won't tell me why

(3) As a teenager, I was madly in love with MacGyver... ;)

(4) I'm one of those people who always read the last pages of a book long before the end

(5) Some years ago, I was able to recognize every ABBA-song in less than a second (and spent hours practizing it)

(6) I don't like people who look down on others, because they regard themselves as superior

(7) I hate this "Women and Shoes"-cliché, and especially novels, movies or tv-series that overdo it (needless to say: "Sex and the City" has always been my arch enemy) :)

And now I have the wonderful duty to pass this award on to some of my favorite blogs - it's always a pleasure to read about their crochet (and other) adventures and look at their lovely pictures. Thank you for entertaining us! Here we go, I'd like to give the Versatile Blogger Award to

elisabeth andrée

Live.Laugh.Love.Create. 

Rainbow Bunting

Crocheting the Day Away

Would you like Yarn with that?

Why didn't anyone tell me?

and

little things made with love

Dear girls :), if you'd like to accept this award please take it to your blog and pass it on - if you're not collecting awards, just understand it as a compliment on your work! :)

A wonderful surprise

Good morning!

Can you believe this? Debi from Crochet, Crafts & Gardening has given me this Award:

Thank you so much, Debi! I’m really proud and happy that my little blog (still in its baby shoes) has won an award! Maybe this is a good occasion to say thanks to all those visitors from all over the world who stop by my blog. Most of them don’t leave a comment, but that’s okay – just come back if you’ve enjoyed this site. But of course any nice comment makes my day :)

I wasn’t sure what to do now with this award but Debi kindly helped me. First of all I have to tell you a few things about me, so here we go:

1. With all the crochet and hanging around in Blogland, I’ve recently neglected another creative baby of mine: I’m writing a novel, the working title is „Saintsville“, and it’s all about love, choices and challenges, poker and lots of good music :)

2. Talking about music: I love Country Music, and mainly the classics like Johnny Cash, Bill Monroe, Elvis Presley and Gram Parsons

3. Talking about Country Music: It’s always been a big dream of mine to visit Nashville – and last year this dream came true! It was awesome!

4. Talking about awesome: “Lord of the Ring” is awesome! I’ve seen the movies more than twenty times at the cinema and every year, usually around Christmas, my girlfriends and me arrange the long “Lord of the Rings Day” and watch the three films in extended versions

5. Talking about “Lord of the Rings”: Although I love the movies, the book bores me to death. My favorite book is “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams – in this case, the movie bores me to death

6. Talking about bored: I’m bored at work. I’ve made my diploma in Psychology but it’s hard to find a job in this field in Germany, so I’m working in a warehouse and this is not very challenging for the brain

7. Talking about my job: It was probably destiny to work there, because that’s where I met John eight years ago. He was – and still is – my boss (but only at work :))

And now I have to (and of course want to) pass this award on to some of my favorite blogs. Maybe some of the girls don’t take part in this game, but nevertheless I want to recommend their blogs here:

1. Rachel from CleverCheshireCats. Always a great source of inspiration – I'll tell you more about that in another post

2. Margaret from Resurrection Fern. I can never stop looking at the wonderful pictures of her amazing work

3. Lucy from Attic24. I think we’ve all been to a visit in Lucy’s wonderful attic, haven’t we?

4. Ljiljana from Colorful Senses. Her blog is like the name: colorful. Damn, I love this covered chair!

5. Elisabeth from Elisabeth Andrée. Just beautiful.

6. Alexandra from Lola Nova. Wonderful pictures and great tutorials, I only wish I could sew!

7. Marion from Marions bunte Handarbeitswelt. My favorite German blog about crochet, I adore every single piece of her work!

I think this is it, now I’ll let the girls know that here’s something for them to pick up. If I’ve forgotten to do anything else please let me know!

Thanks for stopping by, I'll be back soon!

Barbara