WIP-Wednesday: The In-Way-Over-My-Head-Bedspread

Instead of bothering you with all the raging hormones and the fluffy babyworld I am starting to explore, I thought it would be a good idea to use this place to show you my W.I.P.s. (W.I.P. is short for Work In Progress). Maybe even ask you guys if you know ways to get each of those little buggers out of the WIPbasket and into the “Ooooooh-look-what-I’ve-made-I-am-so-proud-file.” Don’t you just love that moment…?

Due to a short attentionspan and a very large interest in hobbies and crafts whatsoever my WIPbasket is very, very, stuffed. In fact, I am talking about a basket, but I am really not that organised to keep all the stuff in a neat basket, if there even are baskets that large! They are all over the place. In the attic, in the closet, stuffed in bags under my bed, and so on and so forth. Though I am not one for New Year’s resolutions, I decided it would be a good thing to start on working away those wips, or even declare some as UFOs (UnFinished Objects) and take them apart (or throw them out).

I am starting today with my Way over your head-Crochet Beginnings Bedcover.

Why did I start this: Better yet, what was I thinking…. Well I blame it all on Lucy of Attic24. This avid little crochetfairy changed my life when I started reading her blog. I used to think about crochet as the handywork little old grey ladies were doing in the elderlyhomes. Creating lovely (but not my style) doilies and such. In comes Lucy, with her large, bold, bright coloured hookywork! I fell in love instantly and decided: I want to make me a lovely blanket for our bed. Where most people start of with a scrubbypad, a potholder or even a pillowcase, I wanted to make a total bedcover out of grannysquares in all kinds of designs and colours. Did I mention our bed is 180x200 cms (70 x 80 inch)…?

The kick off: I ordered some yarn through Ebay (fabulous bamboulene 50% bamboo, 50% wool), got overly excited when the box got delivered and started hooking. Night after night, the squares kept piling up! After each square was finished off I squeaked at Mr. Dull, so he would come look and admire my progress. I joined the squares while hooking the last row of the square and finished the ends by putting them into the next row. This way finishing off would take less time.

Progress: I have made two large blocks which both consists of 9 smaller squares, both edged with a single colour. Each block measures 55 x 55 cms.

Why did this end up in the WIPbasket?: Uuuhm, I still love this project, but I feel a bit overwhelmed with all the work that it still needs (not mentioning the costs). I am not absolutely sure about the colours, I am wondering if I should blend in some hot pink, steel blue, black and white (cream). And maybe I’ll have to rip the red and orange borders and give it a black or darkbrown or white border, to balance it out. But, I dunno…

Costs: The box of yarn cost me € 50, but I haven’t used it all for this blanket. I think I’ll have to order another € 100 worth of yarn. But € 150 is not that much for a bedspread that large.

How am I going to get this out of the Wipbasket?: First, I could just order the yarn and finish it up the way it was intended. But I think I need some directions on colours and ideas, some fresh inspiration. Second: I could make a large pillowcase with the finished blocks, maybe line it with a red cotton and put it on our bed. Third: I could frog it, but I would end up with short pieces of yarn, so that’s not an economical decision ! So tell me, do you guys have any suggestions?

The Return....

After a long, long, loooooooooooong period of absence I decided to take another go at this little blog of mine. This little-big-blogbreak of mine took almost 5 months. So much has happened and I have a lot to share.

Let me start by telling you the real reason for my blogbreak… Me and Mister Dull have been trying to get pregnant for a very long time. I am not going to bother you with all the details, but it has been a period of many hospitalvisits, and emotional rollercoasters. We decided not to tell anyone about our babyplans. I did tell my sister and best friend, but it was all hush-hush.

In the beginning of our BabyAdventure we thought: well, a couple of hospitalvisits and we will get pregnant and happy. I didn’t gave it much thought and had a lot of other things going on. Things I liked to chitter-chatter on and on about on this little nook of mine in Blogland. However, as time progressed, without a growing belly, I noticed a change in the way I blogged. My head kept wandering around everything babyrelated and I found myself pressing the Backspace key on my keyboard whenever I finished up a new message for the blog. When I read the words I typed, I noticed they were drenched in all kinds of emotions I picked up on the rollercoaster-ride of getting pregnant. And since my Mum reads the words I sent off to the WWW, I decided I had to rewrite the post and try to do so without thinking about babies and such. That worked for about 15 posts or so. Then it started to feel like work, it took a lot of energy to block out the thoughts, wonderings and anxieties and I just didn’t want to do that anymore. So I bought my self a paper diary and shut the blog down. It was a hard decision, I really loved my little space, but I just had to do it. Hope you all understand, and I certainly hope that the sweet souls that were reading my words will start doing so again.

But please keep in mind, this blog is going to change… Instead of beads (I haven’t touched them since a year ago..) I finally will be talking about babies… Because in the end it all worked out and we finally got a growing belly!

So happy to be back!

-xo- Mrs. Dull

I know, I know, (but I have a new Nephew!!!)

I said I would quit this blog. But I felt a little anxious about leaving the blogosphere to become a Lurker. Maybe I will start posting again... (Ah, the luxury of being a doubtful girl).
For now, I have a great great great new little love!! And his name is Dylan...

I love him! And my SuperSister who had to have a c-section to bring this little 8 pound handsome boy into the world, she did sooooo great!!

I'm quitting this blog...

just because I am lacking the eagerness to post my feelings here. My life and interests have shifted and changed in the last couple of months/years. I want to thank the handfull of followers who have been checking up on me regularly, and all the 'anonymous' readers as well.
Maybe I'll start a new blog in the future, but for now, a little-big-blogstop is what I need.
-XO-
Kimmie

Slow... and stressfull!

Life is swinging by in full speed. August is going to be an extremely busy month, all work stuff and the wedding of my best friend. This results in a very, very slow pace on this little blog of mine. I have a lot to tell, a lot to show, but I just can't seem to find the time to do so. The beads are still waiting in the attic, I have been knitting and crochetting and sewing lately. Love it! But no pics to show. I can't even remember when I took my last picture with my big camera. But I don't regret it, life is fun at the moment, and I don't want to loose a second by sitting at the computer...
However, I do have some ideas to blow some new life into these pages. Hmmm, we'll see.
See you in September, I guess

Back in Everyday Life...

We came home on Wednesday last week and boy were we JetLagged! We didn't get any sleep on our flight, so when we got home (around lunch) we were awake for 24 hours... We meant to stay awake till evening, so we could get in the right rhythm straight away, but we didn't manage it. Around 4 we took a 3 hour nap on the couch and it really helped. At 8 my Mom, Dad and Sister came by to watch the photos we took (all 1700 of them).
It has been an amazing trip, exhausting but fabulous! And now everyday, real life is in full swing.
I'll post some pictures when I get home tonight!

Traveling the States

I forgot to tell you guys we're on vacation (or is it called holiday? Or is that only meant for festive days?)... We are making a 3 week roadtrip around the Westcoast of the States and loving all the fabulous parks and cities. So far we've visited San Francisco and Las Vegas for the city-part and Yosemite, Sequoia, Kolob, Zion and Bryce Canyon for the parks-part. Our days are packed with activities and after traveling for 10 days, we already tend to forget the things we did the first days of our trip. And the things we do are so different from day to day! We go from biking the Golden Gate Bridge to hiking a dusty trail in Zion and from photographing the neons on the Strip to stargazing through a telescope at Bryce. We're amazed at the friendliness of the Americans, something the Europeans can take a lesson from.

But what I love the most about the families we meet, is the fact that there are a lot of people out there, teaching and educating their kids. Instead of putting their kids in front of the television with a large bag of chips, people really are out there, to learn about stars, waterworks, sealife and everything else our beautiful world has to offer. And that's a sight we don't see everyday. Nowadays, when you watch the commercials, everything seems to revolve around videogames, movies, sugarpacked snacks and never-get-off-your-ass-recliners (sorry for the bad language). Just yet I saw a commercial for a minivan; it showed a wanna-be-hot-momma that showed her new car - ok, so far I can relate - but when the camera shows the backseat, you see 2 toddlers gazing at the optional dvd-screens with headphones on their heads.... Isn't that something....? Now, we don't have kids, but I can guess that driving a long drive with kids can be a pain sometimes. But what happened to the cargames we used to do 20 years ago? What happened to watching (and appreciating) your environment and surroundings? It's like we're getting sooooooooo afraid of 'getting bored' that we need to be stimulated every single minute of the day...
Well, I'm rambling. Sorry 'bout that. I wanted to say that I love that there are still a lot of people who care, and I am happy to notice.

Wishing you all a lovely week,
-xo-

Kimmie