Adventures and misfortunes of a crocheter in a cruise- V

Awake to see the first light in Istanbul. Yaaaarnss, yeeessss!!!

Wednesday, september the 4th

I'm the first one to wake up this morning. Determined to be at the bus shuttle on time, I enter the mini-bathroom like bats out of hell, wash myself and put my clothes on. This last task is a little bit difficult to accomplish in a 5.4 square feet sort of room when you suffer from sea sickness.

Anyway, I wake up the rest of the family and make them turn on the turbo.

Today is the daaayyyy! Istanbuuuuul! Yaaaaarns! YYYYesss!

Ok, ok, I have to say that I'm very interested on visiting the monuments and all that stuff...

Come on, you guys! Hurry up! Quick breakfast and off to the bus.

Our guide today is a young Turkish lady? Girl? We are going to visit the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, then head to a luxury jewellery shop and a typical Turkish carpets factory and, after that, free time for exploring the Grand Bazaar. Mc husband and I look at each other in understanding: we're going to sneakily skip the visit to the jewellery and carpet shops and go directly to the Grand Bazaar, muahahah!

Wilhelm II Fountain. What does a German fountain do here? Eh?

As always, I'm just going to tell you the little stories about our excursion:

• Mrs. Soft Kitty and I look really pretty in our hijabs. It seems a fairly easy garment to wear but we have to constantly rearrange them over our heads ( I wish I have a bottle of super glue with me).

• The tourist lady that has delayed our group because she has not made her homework and she's wearing shorts! She needs to change clothes for a proper dress and a hijab. Oh, my!

• The terrible feet odour inside the Mosque. Obviously they are foreign feet as locals are very respectful people and wash their feet among other parts of their bodies before entering the Mosque. They surely think that foreign visitors are quite filthy... and I'm afraid that they are right.

• The moderate "harassment" of the street sellers while we walk from the Blue Mosque to Hagia Sophia. Our guide tells us to ignore them and- as we see how a street seller puts one of our tourist colleges under pressure- we decide to follow to the letter our guide's advice.

Obelisc of Tutmosis III.

• Hagia Sophia is amazingly beautiful buuuut unfortunately it's under repair so we can only visit a part of it. Pity!

• Holy cow!! I forgot to transfer the directions for the yarns bazaar to my mobile phone. Panic! I ask our guide for help. I'm not sure if she understands what I want but she writes something for me in a small piece of paper to show to the sellers of the Grand Bazaar. Phew!

We walk to a street near the Grand Bazaar where we stop and, as soon as our guide tells us where is the meeting point and when we have to be there and we sneak out directly to the Grand Bazaar.

We've got an hour! Not that much. Run, run!

While Mc Husband and our little creatures do the bargaining thing, I show the sellers my piece of paper and apparently they do not understand what's written down (I'm not going to reproduce here what I think of our guide but you can use your imagination...). What the hell am I going to do now?

Grand Bazaar. Image from Estambul.es

Thirty minutes left. Panic mode on. We go to a leather shop near the second entrance of the Bazaar. That's the one a seller that might have understood what I want has sent us to ask for directions again. We buy a leather purse for Mrs. soft Kitty and again I try to explain to the seller what I want and... He understands!! And he knows!! (I would have kissed him).

The street is called Mahmutpaşa and the yarn bazaar name is Kürkçü Han. He gives us the correct directions and we fly, fly, fly... down the street.

Image from Laylock. You see the corner of the red building? That's the yarn bazaar.

I'm running now, I can see the corner of the red building, heart pumping like mad. Then, Mc makes me stop and tells me that we've run out of time. Ten minutes left to walk to the meeting point.

Cannot breath, a huge lump in my throat, I wanna cry. I've been patient, everybody has had time for their shopping, everybody except me.

We begin to walk back to the meeting point. The three of them trying to comfort me. And I explode in anger, spilling out all that I have inside. Oh, oh, this is wrong, it's not their fault. I  apologise but don't want to talk about it any more. I'm sad.

On top of that, the bus is half an hour late!! I'm fed up with the aggressive offers of the street sellers, all I want is to go back to the ship, now!

We manage to have some lunch and go back to the cabin to have a nap. It takes me forever to fall asleep but, I finally do.

We talk about the big issue while having a coffee. We will definitely go back to Istanbul, it's an amazingly beautiful city and there are so many sites left to discover that another trip is a must. Therefore I will have another opportunity to bargain for yarns.

I'm not in the mood for crocheting but I try to, while the rest of the family have a shower and dress for tonight's show and dinner. And what do I find? A mistake, a wrong stitch but not in the last round or the round before the last one. The damned stitch is four rounds back! Probably a lack of concentration due to the persistent piercing sound of the whistle of the middle-aged man disguised as a little sailor that yesterday annoyed me so much.

What else can be wrong today?

Oooor it maybe the karma. I've been a bad, bad, girl today.

Anyway, I begin to undo all the way back to the wrong stitch very slowly as an act of contrition and leave it ready for tomorrow.

The wonder-Grandpas. They did the same cruise a few years ago and due to a health condition they cannot come to the excursions with us. We only share a few hours a day but we all are having great fun together.

Tomorrow will be an entire navigation day to Dubrovnik so we will have plenty of time to explore the ship, replenish energy and enjoy a day together.

Note: if you're planning to visit Istanbul and, sinceweareatit, buy some yarn, have a look at Laylock post about the directions for the yarn bazaar and don't forget to bring with you the name of the street and the name of the bazaar.

• Hours of excursion: 5
• Hours of siesta: 2
• Hours of crocheting: more likely frogging... 0.3333...
• Sea sickness pills: 4, maybe 5, cannot concentrate with this sickness.

That's all for today which is no small thing.

Catch you next Sunday! First Sunday of 2015!

Happy New Year, my dearest Earth beings!!

Flexi-Shooees: New model Baaahh-Boties!

This is a new model and the last one for this Winter... The Baaahh-Booties!!

Aren't they cute? Ultra-cute? Mega-cute?

Adventures and misfortunes of a crocheter in a cruise- IV

The market or Agora. I bet there was a yarn shop. 

Tuesday, September the 3rd

Today, Ephesus. And we wake up early again because Smirna is an hour away from Ephesus by bus.

Our guide today is a small middle aged lady ( middle aged, what a convenient couple of words for Earth beings like me who are not able to calculate another's age at first sight).

While in the bus she explains the History of Turkey, relating facts from the past to present ones. For Clon's sake! She's like, I don't know, Saint Google!

She speaks very slowly, extreme care in pronunciation, a calm voice that would have made me have a nap if what she was talking about was not interesting enough.

We arrive to a very crowded entry to the ruines. Our 5 buses plus uncountable more from other cruises. Our little guide lady leads us between the crowd to the entry and it takes us 20 secs to get inside (she would have made a perfect football player).

The sight of this ancient roman city is spectacular. As we walk inside, our guide tells us that there is an agreement between the Austrian and the Turkish governments by which the Austrian archaeologists are the only ones allowed to work in the ruins of Ephesus - Austrian government provides the money- and the Turkish exploit the tourism in the area (clever guys!).

The temple of Hadrian.

I don't want you to get bored so I'm going to tell you just the interesting parts.

The  Austrian archaeologists have recovered all the plans of the city so that they know exactly where to work (clever Romans!).

The Odeon. 

Our wise little Yoda tells us that politicians use to meet in the Odeon to discuss all the issues about the city and that when things were turning really bad, a band of musicians were ready to play some music to calm them down. Now I know why the world is so crazy these days, no violins in the Parliament any more. Oh, my! And there were 100000 souls living in that place too!

The Curetes or posh Street.

The Curetes Street is the posh street. Rich people used to live there. One can still see the ruins of the sewage system of the city (another Roman clever invention) as well as "regular" mosaics in part of the street. They are now working in a Patrician house where the mosaics were top of grade ones, rich in colour and detail.

Close to the Patrician houses are the Temple of Adriano, the baths and the latrines or public toiletes. The last ones are in perfect condition and were the place to socialise (Cleopatra's butt was there!) but, sorry, I cannot see it, I cannot imagine myself sitting there, trying to concentrate on my own business while the person next to me speaks to me trying to establish a conversation and farts at the same time. Can you imagine it? Can you imagine the terrible odour? I suppose that they burned aromatic herbs or something like that, yuck!

Wanna share a private moment?

At the end of the street there is a magnificent view: the library of Cadalsus, the door to the Agora (the market) aaand... the "house of love".

The Library of Celsus. Strategically positioned.

Yes, the wise people of the city thought that it would be a good idea to place the library close to the market so that women would eventually come in the library before or after shopping and in front of the house of love for men, before or after (I would rather say after), well, you know...

Now we are at the theatre. It's huge. Yoda tells us that it was a very important cultural space ( not sure if gladiators fights would be considered as "culture" or gore). I'm beginning to feel like dancing but refrain myself. They've been using the theatre for concerts and other cultural events but now it's forbidden. The grades are damaged and they have to be restored. I wish I could have had the opportunity to listen to a concert there. Pity...

The theatre. I feel like dancing...

Yoda gives us a 10 minutes break and we have a little walk through the harbour street before going to the exit.

The Harbour Street.

Typical souvenirs shops, no yarns (of course) and its damn hot. We've drank 3 litres of water.

Before returning to the port we make a strategic stop at a leather factory ( they've worked things out pretty well). Firstly they show us the last models in a short catwalk room, then to the shopping space. My eyeballs turn the other way around when I see the most beautiful leather jacket in the world: soft and extremely light Napa leather in grey, knitted hood ( my inner yarn radar's fault) and an exquisite printed lining.

Magically a salesman appears close to me and, in spite of telling him that I'm only having a look and that I'm not going to try it on, he insists. Perfect fit! Mc Husband asks for the price and its astronomical (why do I have to invariably choose the most expensive item of the whole shop?) but the salesman tells us that he will make a 50% discount, that is astronomical/2, still astronomical. When they begin to bargain the price I get embarrassed, take the beauty off and go straight to the accessories part of the shop, leaving them in the middle of a futile discussion.

Back to the bus. We are late and on top of that there is a huge traffic jam in the motorway. The bus driver decides to take the first available exit and, as he takes it, we find that right in front of us a tank truck is reversing to take the motorway again (has he gone mental or what??). There has been an accident and the exit is collapsed. Then our bus driver decides to do as the tank truck driver did and reversed back into the motorway (oh, my, we are going to die!!).

We arrive to the ship just on time (phew!). Adrenaline has left our bodys exhausted. This helps us to share our lunch with the hordes in peace and harmony. A nice nap and off to the swimming pools. It's a bit chilly so we head to the indoor swimming pool. Children, swim, me, crochet. Piiiip, piiiip! A piercing whistle sound. There is a middle aged man wearing a little sailor suit with a whistle in his mouth, using it!! because some children are behaving badly. 

I take a deep breath and return to my crocheting (wow, it's getting hot, like in a sauna room). Piiip, piiiip! Twenty seconds later, piiiip, piiiip, piiiiiiiip! Dammit with the whistle!! He could slip on the wet floor and swallow the damn whistle! ( oh, oh, bad karma).

Ok, relax, have a deep breath, straight back, shoulders in position and begin crocheting again. Ten minutes later my angora yarn is getting spongy, my fingers are wet and it's impossible to...piiiip,piiiiiip! Enough!

Back to the cabin, have a nice shower and off to meet the Grandpas.

Tomorrow Istambuuul! Yaaaarns! Goood!

• Hours of excursion: 5.
• Hours of siesta: 1.
• Hours of crocheting: 0.6666...
• Sickness pills: 4 ( I've gone all over Ephesus as if I was coming back home after a Roman bacchanal).

That's all for today which is no small thing.

Catch you next Sunday!

Flexi-Shooees: new yarn colours & Color Block Loopy Star Booties

This last week I received a couple of new yarns for the Loopy Star booties. Every time I receive a package it’s pure joy for me: I open it carefully, look with adoration at my new balls of yarn, touch them, smell them. I know, I know, I’m a yarn addict but you already know it.

And the mega-cute mini-sole key holders go tooo...

First of all a big thank you to all of your +1s, likes and comments about the Flexi-Shooees and the mini-soles.

Now, the result of the raffle.

Flexi-Shooees: new sole colours!!

This week we have added two new colours of Filaflex to our chart ( a clue: one is blue and the other is brown).

I’ve already told you about the Filaflex, haven’t I? Ups, just in case, one more time.

Flexi-Shooees: new yarn colours!!

New yarn colours for the model Lollipop.

Aha! You surely thought that I had abandoned you. Nope, I wouldn’t dare to, my dearest Earth beings.

Flexi-Shooees are here!

Today's post is just this: no texts, no pics, no nothing.
If you want to see the Flexi-Shooees just click here.

Adventures and misfortunes of a crocheter in a cruise- III

Maño-father would say that Olimpia is a scattered bunch of old stones. 

September, Monday the 2nd:

The Katakolon port is an hour away from Olimpia by bus, so they’ve told all the tourist to gather together at the Safari Lounge (Safari, Golden, Diamond, Galaxy, what a bunch of weird names for bars) at 7:30 a.m. There is a mini-bathroom in our cabin, so we have had to wake up at 5:45 to have plenty of time for breakfast.

Wish it was Spring Lilac capelet- Winter 14/15

Composition:
Capelet	100% Angora

Measurements (inch):
Capelet	L: 19.3     W: 21.3 / 10.4

Note: length with neck folded as in the picture. First W measurement is for the widest part and the second one for the neck part, both measured when garment is flat.

Adventures and misfortunes of a crocheter in a cruise- II

Bari view from the ship

Sunday, September 1st

A little bit dizzy this morning. They've told me that because the ship is mega-huge ( Little Romulan's favourites, mega and huge) I won't feel anything but of course I do! Every time the ship tacks somewhere I do so too, so right before going out of the mini- bathroom I've tacked to one side and hit my head with the wall. Hurray!

Wish it was Spring- Light blue capelet- Winter 14/15

Composition:
Capelet	100% Angora

Measurements (inch):
Capelet	L: 17.3     W: 18.9 / 8.1

Note: length with neck folded as in the picture. First W measurement is for the widest part and the second one for the neck part, both measured when garment is flat.

Adventures and missfortunes of a crocheter in a cruise- I

Friday, August 29th:

What's in the box?... Surpriiiise!!

We wake up early in the morning and have a quick breakfast. The taxi driver is already awaiting for us and he takes us to the HST station. We are travelling to Madrid to meet the grandparents and our children who have been spending two weeks with them before departure.

My pulse is raising as we get close to the scanner but everything is all right. Fiuuu! First test passed.

Wish it was Spring White Capelette- Winter 14/15

Composition:
Capelet	100% Angora wool

Measurements (inch):
Capelet	L: 15.7         W: 25, 8.5

Note: length with neck folded as in the picture. First W measurement is for the widest part and the second one for the neck part, both measured when garment is flat.

Adventures and missfortunes of a crocheter in a cruise- Prologue

Ok, ok, this is not a collage but a bloody mess. What can I do? This is not my field...
By the way, pictures have been taken from internet. Whoever has any objections, speak now or forever hold your peace.

I wrote it just before leaving but I tell you the story now because Little Romulan and Mrs. Soft Kitty didn't know, so it was going to be a surprise and I had to keep it secret, you understand, don't you?

Mc's parents invited us- yes the whole family- to a cruise over the Mediterranean Sea. No thank yous enough for them (here, an adoration face).

The CoowlHat or Hatwl- Sold out!

Composition:
CoowlHat	50% wool, 10% alpaca, 40% acrylic

Measurements (inches):
CoowlHat	L: 12         W: 11

My idea of crocheting a cowl that is also a hat is not new but I bet that the name is original. Isn't it?

Now, explanation:

The "it'scostmemylife" shawl

Ok, ok (no need to be rude, you know) this is not the real name of this awesome shawl, in fact this is the Wild Rose Shawl designed by Kathryn A. White.

All right, all right, it hasn't cost me my life but, you know, I needed a dramatic title for my triumphal return and here it is!

Summer Break

Source

This is going to be my last post until September the 14th.

I'm going to be holidaying but most of all, working like mad. Yeah, I've got to make several video-tutorials for Little Romulan's class mates as we're going to have basic crochet workshops- a booster- as well as several more to learn how to crochet all sorts of items.

Round Beach Bag for Blythe- free pattern

For people- like me- who were born and raised in inner lands it's very difficult to cope with Summer living by the coast.

High temperatures and humidity is a bad, bad combination if you're not lucky enough as to spend the whole day immersed  in water. No matter how many times you have a shower or try to cool down your body temperature, 5 minutes later you'll be sweating again.

Long-term projects

Looong-term project.

I love to work in several projects at the same time, specially when one of them is a long-term project. It can be a very complex pattern or a project as an afghan, a blanket or a large shawl in which you need to work for many hours.

As promised

Well, finally I've chosen to post both options (thanks to my crocheter friends) of the pattern of the vase I showed you last week.

Actually they differ in two rows so I will write the whole pattern and then explain why I altered the last two rows.

For the lazy hands, here is the edited post.

Today’s been a short post, or not.

Catch you next Sunday!

Inspiration- edited

You never know when or where you're going to find your inspiration. It may be a common object that's been around your house for ages, a pattern in a wall, an element of nature, a painting, architecture, maths, the possibilities are endless.

One thing I'm pretty sure of is that all of us- crocheters/knitters- have had Oh I can crochet/knit this moments.

Summer Breeze

We’re ready to have dinner by the beach, a nice summer breeze gently blowing. Wonderful!

After a few minutes I'm beginning to feel a bit chilly but I convince myself that I don't need any extra clothing. After all, it's Summer!

And then is when you catch a nice Summer cold. Well, and when everybody insists on switching on the air conditioning to full power: at the mall, where all you want to buy is a warm cardy instead of that beautiful bikini, at the cinema where your eyeballs get frozen in 5 minutes, at the office where your poor brain is unable to work properly due to the hypothermia.

On the edge

They tell you that you must have a basic wardrobe. LBDs, plain shirts, plain trousers, plain, plain, plain...Boring!

And what about T-shirts? Yes, plain white, plain black, plain any colour...Boring!

Leon coaster pattern

Sometimes Mr. Husband and I dig at each other, politely of course.

Several months ago his 3D printing community organised a 3D printer party at Leon, a beautiful city to the northwest of Spain.

A piece of Summer sky

At least that’s what this ribbon’s colours suggest me and it is sooo soft.

Firstly I thought of shooting the typical pics showing how to use the shawl as it is, on the hips as a light cover… But this way is interesting too, don’t you think?

A small change

Ok, so once again I have to apologise because I'm late (yet again) and because I haven't told you in time that I'm going to make a small change in my site.

The reasons:

Crochet foundation in the round

SC foundation joined with sl st.

Today an effective tip to crochet a foundation whateverthestitch in round.

Deja Jetmir from Crochet ever after is the clever Earth being that helps you to create a new stitch when you join your foundation row to crochet in the round so that there is no need to close the initial gap with a tapestry needle when the project is finished.

A bolero's diary

Yes, I know I’m late today but you will find out why very soon.

My rose brown viscose yarn told me that she wanted to be a bolero, not any bolero but this one.

It was going to be the first garment that I make for myself.

Instinct: yes, nice match.

Brain: I agree, so let’s crochet it!

Chichiriviche- Spring/Summer 2014

Someday, when I grow old (hahah! As if I wasn't old enough) I'd like to visit this astonishing place.

Chichiriviche is located in the state of Falcon, in Venezuela. It is a fishermen small town and one of the starting points towards the islands of Morrocoy National Park.

Blythe Summer cap with removable flower

Hmmm, not sure about the flower...

Today it's Blythe's turn to show off.

Last summer I crocheted one of my favorite human patterns for Berta (actually, Chloe is my model for today, I think she was a little bit jealous so I let her be the leading lady). 

The pattern is a design by Alla Koval and you can download it here.

If I remember well I used cotton thread number 5 and a 1.75 mm hook.

I also crocheted a small flower for embellishment but I had a problem: I wanted it to be removable.

Mother Power

So, the experiment of the week is Mother Power: a little tribute to all the mothers in the world.

During this last week I've been crocheting a few daisies following a wonderful pattern by Melibondre, Mc Husband has printed a beautiful orange vase and I've arranged a little present for any mother who would like to take it.

Today ( it's Mother's Day here in Spain) Mrs. Soft Kitty, Little Romulan, Mc Husband and I went to the promenade at around 1 pm. We left the present with an explanatory note in a sea walk bench and sat in a chiringuito in front of the bench while we waited. 

Experiments

Yes, my lateral thinking has led me to make a little experiment so for once, today’s post will be a Sunday post. Wow! That reminds me of the Sunday Roast. For Clon’s sake, I’m hungry!

Catch you next Sunday!

Frappé- Spring/Summer 2014

As Spring is already here and Summer is just around the corner it's time to talk about coffee (yes, yes, wait and see).

As I'm a very positive Earth being, I like to think that the temperature is rising and that it's just the right time to start making frappé coffee and crocheting Summer accessories.

T-shirt yarn clutch pattern for Mother's Day

As I told you here, last year we had several workshops with Little Romulan and his classmates using t-shirt yarn.

This year I'd like to teach them how to crochet useful things keeping it as simple as possible. We're going to use chains and single crochet- I hope they haven't forgotten how to make them- to work a clutch for Mother's Day. What a nice little present, don’t you think?

I think the pattern is easy enough for them to understand and follow.

So let's go:

Nemo mesh shawl- Spring/Summer 2014

What is the topic for today? Oh, yes, yes...No, it isn't that. Let me think...No, that's not the topic either. Hmmm...Yes, I remember!

Yesterday I forgot to pick up Little Romulan from school after a long school-excursion day. I felt terribly guilty while I was waiting for my dearest friend Nadia to bring him home- thank you, darling- and for the rest of the evening and part of the night...until I fell asleep.

Inheritance

Today, lateral thinking but I promiss that it’s related to our passion, that is working with yarn.

Firstly I have to tell you a story: my second surname (yes, here in Spain we have two surnames, father’s and mother’s) is Mouliaá.

We’ve been wondering for ages where did it come from. We had our suspicions but we didn’t know for sure until my uncle came up with our family tree as a result of years of research.

The first Mouliaá that we know about, Arnaldo Guillaume de Mouliaá, was a noble Frenchman born in the Bearne region (south of France) in the XVII century.

When I told Little Romulan the story he asked:

-“ Mummy, so we are rich, aren’t we?” (they are studying the Middle Age at school and everything related to nobles and knights is cool. Poor thing… ). Note: we have to revise together when the Middle Age started and ended, I think he’s a little bit confused.

Blythe simple beanie pattern with different stitches

Today’s tutorial is going to be a sort of a second part of the simple beanie tutorial that I posted a few weeks ago but instead of changing yarn and hook diameter I’m going to use the same for a HDC and a DC beanie.

Just in case you have a fish memory like mine and need a refresher or you haven’t read the first post (naughty, naughty, well if you just happened to visit me by chance I forgive you) you can read it here.

Why you need to read the first post? Because we’re going to use the same pattern and see what happens if we work HDC or DC instead of SC.

Leeets go!

Voilà le printemps!- Spring/Summer 2014

That is, Hurray, Spring is here!

Finally Winter is gone, days are longer, the sun is shining, the little flowers are bloomimg everywhere,  a new wardrobe awaiting…or not

I'm fed up!

To the left, specially under my logo, ugly ribbing. To the right, improved ribbing.

That's what my niece Martina shouted at her mum last afternoon.

My sister looked at her in astonishment waiting for an explanation and the little one said:

- " Mummy, let's play "I'm fed up" teachers!