Hello, my lovelies!

I've been a bit away from here... but not completely! In between striving to learn some new skills and getting reacquainted with work schedules and replanning "silly stuff" like grocery shopping (which can be fun if you have the time to do it off of rush hours and at your own pace but is completely annoying when everyone else is trying to do it at the same time as you) I'm still managing to maintain some sanity... with some yarn around my fingers :) Hopping on over to check out what you're doing, leaving a comment or two here and there and staying in touch by mail and phone with Marjo and Carla...

Not much time for nice pictures, yet... but let me tell you I've finished off a few WIP's, yeaaay!!! The one I'll be sporting tomorrow (and hopely getting a pretty picture of) is a shawlette where I've pinned one of Marjo's beautiful flowers   and let me tell you, it looks wonderful, if I may say so myself. 

Right now I'm finishing this cowl and about to move on to the hat--I'm not really a hat / beanie type of person but I'll give it a try, the colors are so yummy!

 Tempting, this little sweater, isn't it? I've been trying to control mysel... making a few things for Christmas gifts  and not all for myself lol!

And before I take off... for those of you who are granny squares fans... here's a great easy and fun idea--it would look awesome with a black turtleneck under it! A total of 6 granny squares, 2 large ones for the front and back and 2 smaller ones for each sleave.

(All of these are patterns by Katia, made with their yarn Darling and are in their Fall / Winter magazines)

I'll be back soon, hopefully with pictures of my own work :)

Oh... and by the way, hop on over to visit Marjo's Cosy Corner, she's feeling a bit under the weather and at the hospital right now and needing a lot of good wishes!

XXX

Teresa

Still here!

Hello, everyone!

Just dropping in to say hello...

Hope everything is alright with you!

I've been working a lot, trying to get back into the swing of things... and saving just a itsy bitty time to peek into your blogs and leave a message or two and hooking just a tiny bit...

...and off I go again! 

(Don't give up on me, please! I'll be back as soon as I'm settled again!)

Have a wonderful week :)

xxx

Thank you, Marjo and Sam!

Two lovely ladies have nominated me for awards--Sam, for the Versatile Blogger Award

and Marjo has tagged me too...

Well, first of all, thank you, my dears, for this honor! I am very proud to have been nominated by you both :) 

Apparently I'm supposed to say a few things about myself--let's see if I can come up with somethings that you may not know about me, but some are probably not news.

1. My heart is split between the 3 continents I've lived in: 

• Africa, where I was born, in Angola; 

• America, where I lived in the USA for a total of 8 years (St.Paul, MN, and Brunswick, ME), as a child and during college years and where I love to go back everytime I get a chance;

• Europe, Portugal, where my family is from and where I currently live 

But I guess I could add the other 2 continents, as my great grandfather was Goese (Asia)

...and I've always dreamt of going "down under"...

2. Yes, you've guessed it. I LOVE the

3. I was always the quietest, most dilligent student who would barely be noticed except for when test results came back--and then I used to be among the top 2 or 3. Here, too, I was split between 2 special loves (science and arts) though I also loved languages... So I guess it comes as no surprise that I studied Biology and Archaeology, Statistics and computer science, as well as English, French and Italian (a wee bit forgotten!) A bit of a Jack of all trades and master at none, I guess...

4. I have worked as secretary, lab assistant in a museum of art, Italian tutor, Biology teacher, coordinator of the administrative area in a lab (blood tests etc), seller, marketing project manager, IT project manager...among others and not necessarily in this order. I am currently working for the government and setting my heart (or maybe not lol) on learning how to program with C# and SQL... still feeling quite lost!

5. My true love are crafts, though. I love all crafts of all kinds and have tried many of them--crochet, knitting, cross stitch, petit point, arraiolos

(I made this rug many years ago, though this picture isn't mine), macramé, oil painting, acrylic painting, sewing... I started as a child by dressing up my dolls in fabric and crochet dresses

and I spent a lot of time drawing paper dolls and designing their attires!

6. I have survived breast cancer twice now. The first time was 10 years ago, when I was 37. This 2nd time came as a shock, I thought I had beaten the "Beast" for good and it came back. I was lucky enough to have detected it soon enough that everything could be controlled through surgery, chemo and radiation therapy. Now I know I'll fight it for the rest of my life, making sure it doesn't catch me off guard. Ever. I am not letting it win over me.

7. I am a cat person. This is my little girl, Pantera, who is almost 14 now

and is sitting next to me on the sofa, right now, checking out what I'm writing about her but looking at the window because the birds are going wild outside, as the sun sets. She's a part of the family, of course! Even if she isn't in this picture...

All the rest... well, you can read about it somewhere in here or ask me!


Now... I'm supposed to nominate some people for these awards too... so here are some of the blogs I can't live without :)  Some of these people have become Friends over time, but they also bring inspiration, love and gorgeous things into Blogland and I really can't tell which award is more adequate for each, so I'm nominating them for both (I hope that's OK!)

1. Carla at Simply by Carla
2. Marjo at Marjo's Cosy Corner
3. Meredith at Mereknits
4. Marilyn at Room on the Left
5. MeMe Rose (I'm not sure if I she wants me to write her name here :) )
6. Alice at Crochet with Raymond
7. Tammy at T's Daily Treasures
8. Mia at Mias Landiv
9. Annette at My Rose Valley
10. Jacquie at Bunny Mummy
11. Paula at Paula's Homemade Life
12. Ana at Mãos de Sapo e Pés de Pato
13. Carol at Beads and Birds
14. Annette at Petunia Pill
15. BumbleBri at Live.Laugh.Love.Create

There are many more wonderful blogs and people I'd love to nominate... maybe I'll create my own award for that :)

I'm sure you agree with me if you know them--make sure you pay them a visit, if you don't :)

xxx

Just popping in to say hello!

Hello my dear readers!

I'm back... working...

...or rather from before 9 to around 6...

Wouldn't it be fun if it were like this? (well... or maybe not... lol)

The truth is, I've been away for too long... and am not used to this routine anymore! So instead of this...

(sniffle...)

...I am now stuck with learning this...

...on my own and it seems like it's going to take...

...to get there!

Please don't give up on me... I hope to have a little time to pop in this weekend, even though I will be going with the guys to the 

Avon Cruzade Against Breast Cancer

Thinking of you, Marjo, and all the girls and boys who have to fight this battle!

XXX

PS - thank you so much for your Award, Sam, I promise I'll get back to it soon!!!

Guincho or Cornwall?

Hello! I hope you are all doing well :)

We all have a special place we dream of going someday... right? 

Let me tell you a (not really) secret... this is the place I've been dreaming of.

It's Cornwall, in the UK.

Maybe motivated by the countless romances I read of King Arthur and his Knights, Lady Morgan and the druids, the mists and the centuries old trees... I've been dreaming of this for a long time.

We do have some places that call out for me just as much--Guincho, near Sintra (not so far from Lisbon)

It even has the mists hoovering over it most of the time, with the sun shining through 

Or Porto Covo, further south...

When I started to make my Japanese Flower Scarf I noticed the color pattern resembled so much these colors I love in these places.  (Yes, it turned out to be a flower scarf instead of the granny square version... It was so much nicer!) 

The deep blue of the ocean, the teal / turquoise of the closer waters, the sand, the grass and even the darker stone cliffs

So that was the name I gave my scarf: the Cornwall scarf, but it could easily be the Guincho scarf as well

Over my bed cover... hmmm... can you tell how much I love these colors?! :)

This yarn is so wonderful to crochet with a 2 mm hook. 

It creates random patterns as the you go through the various shades in the yarn... And it becomes faster to make!  The Japanese flowers are wonderfully easy and nice to make! I even got to read while making them, a new, wonderfull book written by my dear junior high school friend Maria Cristina Becho, called "Cantos da Casa" (Corners of Home). 

I am not a fast crochetter.

 I work slowly, but this flower is so agreable  to make and the color changes are so pleasing to the eye that I made it in less than a week--that's amazing for me! The flowers are small, about the size of my palm, so I made a total of 54 flowers for this shawl, 12, 13, 14 and 15 flowers in each row.

This is me, modelling it over my t-shirt as it's still way too warm to wear anything else... and my favourite pin holding it in the front. 

I can't wait for it to get cooler to start wearing it!

Another project completed before I go back to work... I'm happy!

What are you working on? Any new ideas or patterns? I need to start something else now :)

xxx

A bit of a busy bee...

Hello my dears!

Did you think I was away... again? 

No... just being a bit of a busy bee :)

Ok... let's see if I can bring you up to date (sort of, at least!)

Yesterday I went to the Junta Medica (sort of a medical board) who though I am fit to go back to work, after a few months on sick leave. That's great news, right? 

It means I'm off from all treatments and back to my controls--every 3 months--to make sure the Beast is gone for good and stays that way :) 

The bad news is I'll have less time for my girly things that have kept me busy and sane all these months... but now that I have found again my long lost love for crochet and knitting and all crafts alike I'm not letting them go!

In the mean time, here are some of the things I've been up to...

The leftover yarn... 

Well, I wasn't talking about big bundles of them, just teeny weeny bits of yarn you think you can do nothing of... 

How about some potholders (the right one was based on Alice's African Flower Potholder at Crochet with Raymond? 

Or some embelishments for a sweater / scarf (check out the scarf below) ?  

A pin cushion like these I think are so cute at Pontinhos Meus--I didn't get around to this yet but I will!

Anyway, after these I finished a few WIP's...

Remember Ana's handdyed yarn? Here's the finished result.

I searched and searched and finally found this pattern called Saroyan and as I read about it on Liz Abinante's blog it seemed to be the perfect pattern for this! It shows off beautifully the changes in color and it was just right for the amout of yarn I had (120gr, one skein)

The crochet flower I mentioned above seems to be the perfect finishing touch for it, with a little green button for the center (it took me forever to make this up... the patterns I found just didn't quite cut it!) I think I know just where this scarf is going to end up ;) (more on that later...)

Oh... and you liked the little cardigan underneath it?

That was a project finished a little while ago... Probably my most favorite cardigan :) I'll tell you more about it some other day...

Last but not least--the new yarn love is keeping my hands busy! But now I'm torn between the granny square scarf and a Japanese flower scarf... 

I'm sure you are all busy bees these days too... what have you been up to?

XXX

I'm soooooooo in love!

This was not the post I had planned on doing today... I got sidetracked and uterly, completely, madly in love!

On my way home from a doctor's appointment in Lisbon I stopped by my usual yarn supplier. Half afraid, I must confess. She had ordered and had probably just received the new Fall / Winter yarns and I was scared. You know that feeling... happy, anxious, but really scared I would fall into temptation. I guess I should have just driven home... or not!!!!

Do you know Katia Yarns? Take a look at it... at your own risk!!! It's in several languages and has pictures of their pattern catalogues and yarns.

D. Julia, a sweet, dear lady who owns and runs the shop, said "Teresa, look what I've got here for you..." and my heart fell. 

A whole, entire magazine full of gorgeous patterns, a few of them with Granny Squares, actually 2 entire magazines (yes, BumbleBri, they had version of a sweater like the one you posted about today! Just 4 big squares, front, back and 2 folded in half for the 2 sleeves), the most gorgeous yarns... I'm doomed! 

D.Julia hadn't unpacked the new yarns yet and I was halfway torn between the desire to run off before she did and the wish to get my hands on some... But I stayed until there was nobody else in the store... then she smiled and said "I'm just as anxious as you, let's check it out!" and went inside my Aladin's cave to open some boxes (I would think I died and went to in heaven if I ever went in that back storage room... that's why I don't dare!)

Yeap... you figured it out... I came home with a few more balls of yarn... I didn't need but I was in love with!

She lent me the magazine (she sells them) so I wouldn't have to buy one and promised to save me some other yarns when she receives them, because she only got 3 of the shades of the one I wanted (Darling, a fingerling 60% merino / 40% poliamide thread that is sooooo yummy!)

Here are just a few of the ones I'm pretty sure I can't resist making... the cover one too, of course!

I bet I could get myself to wear a hat this year...

Black and grey and tons of awesome colors and feels

I got some yarn last year that would be awesome if I made it like this (with some leggings and high boots, of course! How comfy can you get?!)

It's warm here, around 30ºC (that is high 80's for those of you in Farenheit degrees) and it seems like the Summer is just arriving. Something tells me we're going to have a looooooong Summer and I won't get to wear anything warm that soon... but then that'll leave me with a lot more time to get my act in gear ;) even though it isn't as tempting to knit in hot weather!

Have you started your Autumn / Winter cuddly stuff yet...?

Hope you wave a wonderful weekend--while I control myself and continue to finish off the leftover yarns... I'll show you how next monday, hopefully!

XXX