Old year project and new years resolution project #1

Hello Dear Readers,

What really keeps me from posting when I want to is poor lighting, which means I can't take photos of the things I want to share. It's usually dark when I get home, so if I don't take a picture on the weekend, it's too late. Fortunately I went in to work a little later today so I was able to take some snaps this morning.

This is the first project finished for my new years resolution to work my way through Last Minute Knitted Gifts, the Baby Hat.  I'm pleased with the way the cotton looks, and how it matches the original in the photo.  I'm trying hard to follow instructions, not an easy task for me but that's why it's a new years resolution.

I'm currently working on the light and airy scarf, it's beautiful in some blue mohair given to me by Icy when she left the knitting group.

I also snapped some photos with the self timer this morning of my Chickadee sweater that I've been working on off and on since Sept.  I finished before Christmas, but didn't get around to photos. Not sure how happy I am with it, it fits really nicely, but the colorwork seems to put people in mind of bad Christmas sweaters....though the birdies are really sweet.

  I also love the vintage buttons that I picked up at Prick Your Finger in Bethnel Green.  I cycled over there this weekend, 10 miles, along the river, through the city and out to the East side. It's so wonderful to be able to cycle anywhere, and have such views.  I went by  Big Ben, saw the London Eye, and went past St. Pauls, The Gherkin, and all the skylines.  Also went by the Tower bridge accidentally, but hey, getting lost is all part of the fun.

Still, it's been a fun knit, and nice to have a new sweater.  There is also a woman's sweater pattern in the Last Minute Gifts book which I will attempt to do with the white camel I got from my friend Lucy when she was in China.

The Christmas Gift that Kept on Giving......me a headache

Hello Dear Readers,

Here I am in sunny warm Cyprus!  I had intended this to be a blog intensive trip, full of photos of the fun stuff Chris and I were doing this time since he promised that we wouldn't do chores or see lots of relatives.  Well, he partially kept his promise in that I spent almost the first full week in bed (starting on Christmas Day) with a nasty, knock down cold courtesy of Chris.  According to his family, the cause of my cold was the change in weather in Cyprus, as it had just turned "cold" (14 C/ 60 F) when we got there. I pointed out that it was actually warmer than in England, which then changed the story to, "the drastic change in temperatures is what caused my illness."  I pointed out that Chris had the same bad cold a week before, but that didn't seem to make any difference, and people mused that traveling such a long distance in an airplane the day before probably also contributed to the cold.  So either it was the fact that it was cold in Cyprus, or much warmer than the UK, or traveling great distances, but not living with a sneezey coughing Chris that caused my illness.  Only by wrapping up warm and sweating it out could I recover, oh, or I could take antibiotics.  Sigh.  I think it was more tiring trying to explain basic biology principles than actually being sick.  I'm still stuffy and coughing, and seem to have pulled a small muscle in my chest with all the hacking, but I'm trying to cram in a few fun things now that I am vertical before we fly out tomorrow!

Before I got too ill, we were able to visit our friends Stavros and Margarita who have two little boys.  I love to make things for them, last year I did the sock monkeys and this year it was a dragon and a lamb.  For some reason Andreas was afraid of the lamb at first, but he took to it eventually with his usual good humour.  Somehow he seems to have skipped the terrible twos.  Here is his baby brother with the dragon I made him, lots of good sticky out parts for him to put in his mouth, which is exactly what I intended, along with some safety eyes that he can really get his teeth into.

Christmas day was a very quiet affair, as only myself, Chris, his mother and aunt and uncle were home (and I was in bed the whole day), but being Greek Orthodox Christmas isn't really celebrated, it's New Years (at midnight) that St. Basil comes and delivers gifts to children.  Chris's cousin and her boyfriend were here for New Years, and somehow we got into a discussion about traditional clothes.  Chris's aunt happened to have an old dance costume of one of her girls, which I immediatly put on and paraded about hte house in.  It's very comfortable I have to say, on a par with what I wore when I worked in Colonial Williamsburg.

 Further proof that I was born in the wrong era, I think, I make these outfits look so good!

New Years day we had the traditional lunch at his Aunt's house.  His sister's family was two ill to drive the 1.5 hours to come see us, so it was just the 7 of us.

L to R is Chris, his mother Nikki, Aunt Anna, Uncle Stephanos, Cousin Valando and her boyfriend Dolis.  I've been able to make good use of my Greek lessons this trip, though the fast paced, slang Cypriot dialect still gets the best of me most times.   Fortunately I've been able to use the time I wasn't comatose to finish up a sweater order that I got before I left. 

Yesterday we drove to the Capitol to see Chris's sister and her family.  His mother spent the whole day before cooking and buying food because she seems to think that the largest and capitol city in the island is a desert, devoid of food and, apparently, quality eggs.  It was a bit of a bust though as Odie is deep in his terrible twos stage, every item in the house is his, and you can't touch it or you get a whack with a plastic wrench.  When given a book as a gift from his great Aunt, he proceeded to tear the whole thing apart while his father watched and sighed "Oh dear, tsk tsk." Hmmm, someone really needed a nap, or perhaps everyone.  Not really endearing him to me yet, but I remember my brother was a little brat as a kid, so I'm hoping in 10-15 years he'll be fine.......

Today is our last full day, and it's sunny and warm.  I'm finishing up a job application (it's a never ending process in these austere times) and Chris is doing his annual servicing of his cousin's computer.  Afterwards we'll take a stroll on the new path by the sea and pick up a few groceries that we can't find in the UK.  Tomorrow it's back home to England, and snug in my own bed again!  I hope that Patrick has fufilled his promise to repaint the kitchen, we'll see....

Hope all my dear readers had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  I think I've slept enough this week to last me through the rest of my contract at the Museum, and feel refreshed and ready to tackle the new years resolutions I've made.

Cheers.

Christmas Party Rockin' in the Museum Tonight!

Hello Dear Readers,

I meant to get this post to you on Sunday, but after recovering from my party week (Grandma would be so proud) and working Sunday morning, I was so exhausted!  I even went to bed at 8 last night instead of going to yoga, and I hate missing yoga.

Anyway, the NHM Life Sciences Christmas Party was, by all accounts, a rip roaring success.  Not to brag, but phrases like "Best party of the past 25 years" were thrown about, and it's certainly been a topic of conversation over the past week or so.  Perhaps I've missed my calling as an event planner, but then, it's never too late is it?

Here are a few photos of the night, which was themed "All that glitters......"

 This is me (on the right, recognize the dress?) and the girl who has been working with me for the past two months, Katie.  We are sparkle queens!  I had body glitter on, but this photo shows that clearly, I didn't put on enough.

One of the complaints I heard from last year which I tried to address this time was the lack of enough and good quality food, so this year we had tons!  Of course people complained when we ran out of alcohol, but honestly, I think we would have drank it all no matter how much we got..... You can see we were really cutting it up on the dance floor.

 Here is most of the Botany Gang. L to R are Caroline, Katie, Chris, Olivia, Sam, Jacek, James, Aurelie and Jacquie.  Most of them also helped with the setup-food prep, which was fantastic.

Jacek (who won best costume for guys) is emulating Lady Gaga's mirrorball dress that she wore at Glastonbury last year.  He can really pull it off, he reminded me of Luke Ward's famous shiny dress for the Ghetto Superstar number in the marching band talent show.....

We had so many people thanking us and saying what  a great party it was, it was so worth all the hard work we put into it, and I met a lot of people at the museum I wouldn't have had a chance to otherwise, so I'm very pleased.

In other news, I finished my Chickadee sweater, but I'm afraid that was not a success.  Phrases like, "frumpy old lady sweater" have been thrown around.  I'll have to take a photo so you can judge for yourselves.  That will probably be in Cyprus, the light will be better, and I'll have more time!

House Christmas dinner tomorrow night, Chris's cousin Christiana is coming tonight and we'll do Tofurky tomorrow (I found it at Whole Foods!).  Then, flying to Cyprus on Saturday at the butt-crack of dawn... I hate these Easy Jet flights......


Merry Christmas!

Heather

P.S. Incidentally, this is my 100th post!  Go me!

Christmas Week to the Max

Hello Dear Readers,

For the first time in what seems like a while I had no work this weekend!  I had a nice lie-in on Saturday, and did a bit of knitting on Chickadee (working on the boarder) and some other crafty things.

I inherited some old bleached sweaters from a previous roommate, and cut up the back into a new hat I sewed for my beautiful roommate Monica, who is modeling it splendidly to the left.  She moved from Australia earlier this year, so I'm helping augment her wardrobe for winter, what a great opportunity for experimentation!

Saturday evening I went to the birthday party of a friend from Kew, and managed to sleep in till 11 on Sunday.  More crafting, knitting and watching the new Jane Eyre again (mmmmm, Michael Fassbender as Mr. Rochester...), then I went to a party at my friend Jacquie's, and today I had another party knitting hats for the cancer patients at my mother's work.   Tomorrow is my Tuesday Stitch'n'Bitch Christmas party and Secret Santa, Wednesday is my work holiday party which I am helping to organize, Thursday is dinner with my foreign friends at work (or the "League of Nations") and Friday is dinner with my team from work!!!!!

I've scheduled a massage on Saturday, I'm going to need it before I teach knitting again on Sunday!

I've been thinking a bit about New Years resolutions, I always like to set goals to try new things for the new year, not so much like, lose 10 pounds or anything like that, but just to shake up my routine.  In the past I've taken up veganism, started to learn Greek, started a compost bin etc.

This year my thoughts are:

1. Cheat less on my veganism......though that's tough in Cyprus!

2. I got the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts from my friend Jennifer.  In the style of Julie and Julia I would like to work my way through the book this year.  I would like to try to knit everything from it, I figure if I knit the gift, the recipient will come!  I'm also going to try to knit only from yarn I have in my stash for the most part, though I would like to do a sweater for Chris and I think I will have to buy yarn for that.

3. I resolve to either mend/sew/darn, or throw out (well, into the fabric pile) any clothes/socks/underwear with holes/tears in them and start the new year with a respectable wardrobe.  This one is a bit hard for me, but so far it motivated me to stitch up a hole in my Care Bear undies, darn my first hand-knit socks that I LOVE and sew down some frays on a shirt Pat scored for free from work.....I'm trying, really.

4. Take more time to relax in the year, and travel around England (especially with Chris)!  More massages, perhaps a trip to take the waters at Bath...... we'll see, Chris has applied for a job at British Airways, who know where this year could take me!

Hope everyone is enjoying the Holiday Season and finding time to be with friends and family they don't ordinarily get to spend time with.  I know I'm going to enjoy my holiday week to the max, it's such a privilege to be invited to and involved wiht so many parties, I truly feel appreciated.

Busy Bee

Hello Dear Readers,


Late post this week, I was pretty busy over the weekend working both days at the Sewing Rooms.  Sunday afteroon I was knackered, Pat even made me a sandwich for lunch:

All he's missing is a Kiss the Cook apron.  I managed some sewing, this cute little bag for a gift for a friend. 

And also this football on the left, which is part of an Amish Puzzle ball I've wanted to make for a long time since I read my favorite sewing book Last Minute Patchwork Gifts.  It's the gift that's a pleasure to make, a pleasure to give and hopefully it will give the reciepient some pleasure as well!

Today was a really special day because I got to see my good friend Molly (who actually looked exactly the same today!) who was down to be "standardized" for her teaching.  Remember I made this Itty Bitty Baby Dress?  Well Molly, being the good friend she is, gave me an action shot on the same day as me giving the dress.

This is a woman who knows how to appreciate a handmade gift (and ensure more will be on the way....).  So nice to see her and talk to her without baby interruptions, though I look forward to seeing Katelyn when she is more mobile.  I felt like I ate so much at lunch, but I'm hungry now!  Just  made some chocolate chip banana muffins with Nestle Chocolate Chips imported from the US, I think I'll go enjoy some.

Cheers

So......prom and so...... thankful

Hello Dear Readers,

Sorry for the lack of bloggage last week.  I worked both days at the Sewing Rooms and was catching up from Paris, but I'm back this Thanksgiving weekend.  I am thankful this weekend that I have a nice boss who let me work extra hours to take Thursday afternoon off, and I'm thankful that his graduate student, fellow American Mindy, could come by with a delicious sweet potato casserole complete with marshmallows (hard to find in England)! And just plain thankful that I have a job at all!  Well two in fact, go me!

 Here we are setting out the feast, with Patrick taking photos on his phone.  I made a nut loaf which came out pretty good, we ate it with cranberry sauce.  I also made a pumpkin pie from a new recipe I didn't read that closely. Turns out you are supposed to make it the night before and have it set in the fridge, oh well!

I'm also thankful this weekend for the photos my friend Jennifer (who visited this summer) posted on her shutterfly site.  These have already made the rounds around the Skippys and Facebook, but I want to post them here for my benefit too (and any non Skippy readers - btw, don't know if I mentioned it before but the group of people I hung out with in High School refer to ourselves as Skippys, may have to post about that sometime).

Here we are on our High School band trip to New York, can't remember exactly which year it was, but very strange to see the towers there.  That's my friend Susan on the left, Adam in the middle giving us a hug, and Devin smiling from the right.

So...... prom (the phrase heard 100 times in the last month of Senior Year).  Amy in a dress! Me in that tiara I misplaced at the post prom party and never saw again (Devin, perhaps your mother found it when they moved?).  Melch's red and black dragon dress which I made, and hammered all the eyelets up the back by hand. Jon visiting from Canada!  I love this photo, so many friends and memories.

And a few years later (Chris is now in the picture, check out that facial hair!).  At Adam's place for New Year's, my Sophmore year in college.

I'm so thankful for the internet and this blog which allows me to keep up with those friends, and for having the chance to see Jen and Amy this year.  I had so much fun with them, as if it was the day after the prom photo and not 11 years later. 

Hope all Americans had a lovely Thanksgiving, no matter where you had to spend it or with who, it's the thought that counts, and every one who is able to read this should be pretty thankful for what they have.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sex(y scientists) and the City, or, Midnight(s) in Paris

Salut Mon Chers Lecteurs,

What a fantastic weekend I've had in Paris!  I took the Eurostar on Thursday evening with my friends Jacquie and Aurelie.  We stayed at Aurelie's Great-aunt's flat which was the cutest garret you ever saw, something out of a modern La Boheme. Slanted roofs and half a bath tub, complete with ornery downstairs neighbors who hit their ceiling with a broom. 

Paris is very much a city of art, but I didn't appreciate just how much there would be just around!  Apparently the famous graffiti artist Blek le Rat has kicked off a lot of it, and these little space invader mosaics can be seen all over the city.  It's one thing knowing Paris is a center for art and culture, but I was blown away by it.  I really came away with a lot of inspiration and ideas for new projects, one of the things I love about traveling. I regret that I didn't bring my sketch/idea book with me to capture it all.

 It also helped that we were with a local who knew which sites to take us to, such as this view of Paris by Night that we got on top of a famous department store.

 We steered pretty clear of the touristy stuff, though I got a good view of the famous tower by night as well.  We had spent the day walking walking and walking, starting with the local market places, going to Sacre Ceure where we had a sunny picnic (and I picked up some Linen fabric for a bath towel - so absorbent!)

 The last day was more walking walking walking, and discovering lovely historic architecture in the older part of the city such as the Marie.  We had so much bread wine and cheese, but really I could have stayed and eaten another week.  We had Corsican food, Aurelie's Great Aunt fed us crepes with homemade jelly and we also had traditional buckwheat crepes from a Brittany crepeerie.  The company was so good too, above are Aurelie and Elisabetta and me in Louis XIII square (I believe). Not pictured are Jacquie and Mirella.

The last evening we couldn't stay away from Notre Dame and walking on the Seine like all good tourists.  We also checked out the famous Shakespeare and Company, the English language book shop facing Notre Dame.

There was just so much to do and see, we are already thinking of another trip back.  I really need to take Chris next time too, it was really a romantic city and though Elisabetta let me hold her arm while we were walking on the Seine (she's Italian, it's very natural) it's not quite the same.  This was more like a taster to whet my appetite for more.

Mes amis au revoir!!