Tree Cozy?

My mother in-law sent me this awesome link of crazy crocheted items. i love the tree cozy. wonder how long it took her to do this?! it's nuts!
http://crochetinsider.com/galleryissue2.html

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I've downloaded the majority of Prague Christmas photos. There are still a few that are on another card. None are labeled yet. If you aren't completely bored after the first few photos and came make it through 600 snapshots of medieval architecture, you'll find some familar sites from guidebooks (Prague castle in the distance, the Charles bridge).

This one is specifically for Sangeeta.


ARRRH!!! Correction- I can only share 250 photos through Shutterfly. Contact me via email and I'll give you my Shutterfly login if you're interested in seeing all!

Prague Days 2-6

Blogging from the hotel proved to be a bit more difficult than I originally thought! So, you'll get the condensed version of the trip to Prague. It is beautiful and amazing. The architecture is incredible. I would go back in a heartbeat. The Czech people really know how to celebrate Christmas in style!

I'm currently downloading all of our 600 photos. I wanted to share a couple while the bulk is taking 2 hours to download to Shutterfly! Unfortunately I had too many pix for flickr without paying for the pro version.

P.S. - Thanks to Mary for the entry about Prague yarn stores! Unfortunately, I'm reading it after the fact. Alas. I had a lot of projects to work on so I was happy. Thanks again!

Prague Day 1

I searched all day and still no yarn store sighting! I typically have a built in radar for yarn! I'm definitely planning to search again tomorrow.

Although Ben & I are both jet lagged, we did manage to muster enough energy to walk around the city today. I took a ton of photos of the architecture, which is just amazing. We walked up to the main castle, across the Charles bridge and through Old Town. The Christmas market in Wenselas square is awesome! There are Christmas trees and lights everywhere. Vendors are selling a lot of touristy wares, hot wine, cider and hot chocolate. We're heading back there tomorrow to buy some Christmas presents.

So far the food has been decent. We had a traditional Czech meal last night. There's not much for me to eat unfortunately. As expected the Czech restaurants tend to serve mostly pork and beef. Beef goulash and dumplings are very popular. I did pass a veggie restaurant today, so I'm going to stop by tomorrow and check it out. The food is reasonably priced, but as we read in many books before our trip, if you don't watch out they'll charge you for anything and everything! Our water last night was close to $9!

Carp is the traditional Christmas Day meal in Prague. It is only served at Christmas (which is good because isn't Carp a goldfish? :) All the street vendors are currently selling carp by the pound. You can stop at one of these vendor stands, pick out your fish from an enormous tub of water and they will kill it right in front of you so that you can take it home fresh. Apparently it's quite tasty. We've both vowed to be brave and try it at Christmas. As they say, when in Rome...

We bought tickets today to a Christmas Day Mass Concert at a beautiful cathedral here. I'm so excited - it should really be amazing.

Ben is off to aikido tonight for a couple of hours. He's taking the metro there and hopefully will not get lost. The metro is quite nice. We bought 7 day passes today. The passes are good for the tram and bus systems as well.

So far we have not had a difficult time finding English speakers. Almost everyone here speaks at least a little English. I've been trying out my Czech. I can say hello, goodbye, thank you, and excuse me. I'm discovering that speaking is not as respected as in France or Germany. Czechs tend to look at you funny even if you say hello in the language. Alas. I've reverted back to pure English, which seems to please everyone :)

A demain...

I love the Internet

How cool is this? I'm sitting in Zurich Switzerland writing on my blog! We have a 4 hour layover on the way to Prague. Thank goodness we do, as the plane was late taking off from Washington DC. Seems like we were just there this morning and yet we left at 6pm last night! Weird. The airport in Zurich is beautiful. Very clean. Looks just like a big IKEA. We can see the Alps from the airport. I'm still searching for a yarn shop in the terminal. Wouldn't that be a cool business! A chain of yarn stores in airports! I did see a few folks knitting - only elderly ladies though. I thought I'd get a lot more done on the plane, but it was a bit cramped. I was working on a hat, but will frog it again. This is the 2nd time I've tried to make this simple hat and it always turns out too big. The gauge is right. The pattern is simple. For some reason though, I can't seem to finish this simple project. I'm going to rip it out again and just make mittens. On a funny note (well, maybe not so funny), the Swiss security almost took my Denise needle case. They thought it was an electronic device!

Anyone Can Knit

More Silly Quizzes :)

Because my knitting is kinda boring right now, thought I'd carry on the tradition of blog quizzes! Ah, what did we do with our time before the internet!

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North   You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Northeast
The South
The Midland
Philadelphia
North Central
The West
Boston
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Your Famous Last Words Will Be:

"What we know is not much. What we don't know is enormous."

What Will Your Famous Last Words Be?

Which Star Wars Character Are You? Your Result: Yoda You are a passive green creature with a speech impediment. You always try to find a peaceful resolution to your problems, but also aren't afraid to kick some ass if you need to.
Luke SkyWalker
Jar Jar Binks
Princess Leia
Han Solo
Darth Vader
Boba Fett
Jabba the Hutt
Which Star Wars Character Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Tarot Reading

Not sure I buy into mine :) Sangeeta & Cate both had these on their sites. Thought it was fun:

You are the World

Completion, Good Reward.

The World is the final card of the Major Arcana, and as such represents saturnian energies, time, and completion.

The World card pictures a dancer in a Yoni (sometimes made of laurel leaves). The Yoni symbolizes the great Mother, the cervix through which everything is born, and also the doorway to the next life after death. It is indicative of a complete circle. Everything is finally coming together, successfully and at last. You will get that Ph.D. you've been working for years to complete, graduate at long last, marry after a long engagement, or finish that huge project. This card is not for little ends, but for big ones, important ones, ones that come with well earned cheers and acknowledgements. Your hard work, knowledge, wisdom, patience, etc, will absolutely pay-off; you've done everything right.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Alpaca Cardi C'est Fini!

Yarn: Woven Gems Alpaca
Pattern: Basic Crewneck Cardi from Ann Budd Handy Sweater Pattern Book
Knitting Time: ~1.5 months / weekend knitting

CafePress

I'm sooo buying
this!

Belated Turkey Day Photos

We had an awesome Thanksgiving this year (No offense to our families who weren't in attendance). Ben & I traveled to Douthat State Park in Virginia, a truly special place . We stayed in a 1 room log cabin built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corp. Let me tell you, those folks knew how to build things to last! The cabins are in great shape. They've been upgraded in recent years with central heat (thank goodness)and air and newer kitchenettes. Despite these modern conveniences, the cabins still have rustic charm. The stone fireplaces are my favorite.





Needless to say, I got some knitting done while we were gone. I'm finished with the Blue Skys Cotton baby sweater - pattern KP&S. This photo shows my progress. I finished the sweater last night and will post it post blocking.


And, I started on Sangeeta's scarf made of merino wool.


I also blocked my alpaca sweater (will post tonight). I'm so pleased! Blocking rocks! I just have the button bands and tis done.