Wednesday, November 29, 2006

London 2006 Part one


It was a journey to the future as London is 8 hours ahead of us. The trip was not bad at all and United is a great airline to fly. I have never oficially been to Europe as a Tourist at least, and I had no expectations, but to have a good time.

I was received at Inmigration by a wonderful Lady of African descent, with a delightful British Accent. The were a lot of the officers who were smiling as I had my Christmas regalia on.

It brought smiles to their faces. We went ahead to pick our luggage and from the luggage reclaim, we proceeded to take the underground to the Hotel .

It was amazing for me to think that London itself has about 7 to 8 Million People, twice the population of my Native Puerto Rico. To have so many people in one city and have it working so smoothly to the visitors' eyes is an amazing job.



Lots of people were in the underground which comes above ground as well.

There were people from many cultures and many languages spoken. Lots of people using the train from the airport, what a delight. When we left San Francisco, we also used the public system to get to the airport without any problems, but the fact that there is no real space designated for luggage like in London.

The fair was a bit expensive if you thought of the exchange rate, otherwise it was very affordable. The hotel was about 50 steps away from the underground exit to the street. By the way there are not exit signs. The exits are marked "Way Out", very clever, but it is important to look around to see which way is out.


So we arrived to our hotel, The Regent's Palace Hotel. It was not the biggest hotel in London, but just the facts that it was steps away from the underground and we had a full private bathroom with shower was nice enough for me. The rooms are too small for the furniture the have, and they do not take advantage of the room's design. It is not dirty , but it is not sparkling clean. Nevertheless it was a very popular hotel. It was never empty while we were there and people were turned away sometimes.

The Hotel restaurant was Ok, their breakfast was satisfactory and under sanitary conditions. The Bar O Callaghan's Irish Bar was right at the entrance and even though our floor was Non-Smoking floor, you could smell the smoke coming from the Bar, not a very nice smell.

The concierge services were excellent, James was very knowledgeable and corteous. We arrived Thanksgiving day, and that night we will go to Waxy O Connors Pub I don't know if you ever ate at a Pub, but the experience is different. O Connors was like a laberynth of ups and downs walkways. You order at the bar and then you sit down. We had Fish and Chips, and I will tell you, these are the real deal and nothing in the States compares to the Unique Wonderful Taste that my palate encountered.

By the way, there was another Irish Pub, which I will not mentioned the name, maybe just once, O'Neill's chain,you will know which one it is. I guess I am not the first one to figure it out as I found a comment by an Irishman here if you click on this link >>> O' Neill's Critique. Noone could have described it better than a Houndsditch. If you have a hat, they will ask you to remove it, just as you are coming from the street, No greeting you but the fact that you will have to take your hat off.. I thought that was rude , specially as we were getting ready to take our hats off as we entered.

Next time I am in London I will be avoiding this unorthodox , not to real Irish Pub. I guess anyone can put an O and an apostrophe and called themselves an Irish Pub. Avoid O'Neills, go to Waxy O'Connors instead. Thanks for stopping by, I will continue later on with part two as I take you through the London Experience..

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving 2006!


This Thanksgiving I was fortunate to spend it with Mike and some friends in London. It was a great experience and I will be sharing with you some of the pictures of my trip. In the meantime you can have a small slide show from this link below.

I was welcomed at Her Majesty's Customs by a a great Professional team. The experience was very positive and very fast. I was guarding the luggage, even though I could have packed as much LOL!

I would not mind returning to London in the near future. Even at these times of hightened Security , the experience was extremely positive.

The flickr show was only temporary and is no longer available.


London is a great city, needless to say thousands of years old and a great place to visit and live. I can say you don't really need a car as the underground, one of Europe's oldest, is nice to travel by.

Here is a view from our hotel room. The Hotel, The Regent's Palace, was modest, but perfect for the vacation. What a great Vacation. I shall keep you updated throughtout the weekend.




Monday, November 20, 2006

The Xmas Hat that is 2006 !

This is the Hat that was not, but ow is. It has a pompom Now, a green pompom. It is made with Aurora 8 , Karabella, Merino Wool. The texture is amazing. The bottom , or white part is actually a fuzzy acrylic yarn. This hat was knitted.
















I also made a Christmas Scarf, which you see below. Thanks for stopping by.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Men Who Crochet

Men Who Crochet and those who Teach them.
Here is Moi. I am teaching a class to a group of peers that want to learn to crochet. Today we took the basics, of making a chain, slip stitch and single crochet. This hat that I am wearing is made by a friend and member of Crochet Depot, Candy , http://groups.msn.com/crochetdepot Candy, using the pattern from Deneen ,
you can find the pattern Deneens cotton-skull-cap-great-as-chemo-cap.



The idea came from the fact that the guys wanted to make hats and scarfs. Today's basics are enough to make scarfs and hats. It was in Spanish and a challenge as I learned to Crochet in English and even though the movements are the same, the names are different. Thanks to Scott and Guillermo for their efforts in making a Crochet In Spanish manuscript that I was able to give copies to all of them. There will be a second class and in the futute there will be a class of Men who Knit. Thanks for stopping by.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Bernie the Bear Is born!


So here we have the latest stitch on the Crochet Block. His name is Bernie and it is part of my Christmas exchange items. I Have been very busy between Crochet and Kniting . I am working on creating a Koala Teddy Bear, which I don't know when it will be done, but definitley I will start it sometime during the weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Teddy Bear Making Step 2 , 3, 4 LOL!



Well at least something is coming out great. The hat that was and is not, is different now, but that's another posting that I will have for tomorrow to show you the progress. I am proud of myself, becuase I realized what was wrong.

In the meantime here is my Teddy Bear in parts. I was tempted to make a legend, but I am in a hurry with many deadlines. I can always edit the picture and make the legend later. LOL

Upper left are the ears, I added the dark inside of the ear. The pattern di dnot include such a thing. Upper right you see an arm or a leg, not much difference inpictures. In reality the arm is slender and a little smaller. The legs are thicker. The pad on the paw and the fingers are my own addition.

Lower left you will see the body and to the lower right you see the face with the embroidered mouth. I will have a picture of the finished Teddy Bear before Saturday as I put it together, the bear and the picture. Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Hat on the round for Christmas!

Well here is the hat that was and is no more because it is too small for yours trully. I frogged it and I am starting from the casting on , once more. I don't know what I am going to do next wether to use a bigger gauge or and more stitches. I think both, and at two inches I should see if I like what I see. But by Monday I will have a picture of the progress of my adventure in knitting.. Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Teddy Bear Making Step one


Believe you me, I am very busy always trying to get myself into something crafty, that's me CraftyAndy. I am continuing to knit, I actually have two projects in needles, one in double pointed and the other one in a circular needle. Both projects are going on time and very good.


In the meantime I have other things to keep me busy and company. I am making a Teddy bear and here are the first four steps.

1. Create the Head.
2. Put the eyes on, then close the head.
3. Make muzzle .
4. Put nose in, stitch.

The head is not complete by any means. This is an inspiration after reading a combination of patterns from the internet and liking something from each, then I added my own touch which you will see as I post more pictures later on.

Just a note, I know that I have successfully done a great job when I want to keep the item that I am making. I also believe that we need to improve on patterns that we find in the internet. I have seen some beautiful Potholders and dishcloths with what I call limpy holding rings. I know the patterns say to do a chain 8 and slip stitch, but I make the rings strong by making a chain eight and doing at least 20 sc in the ring, that's to go with the pattern, It makes more sense to me.

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Double Pointed Needles instead

Well I have changed from circular needles to double circular needles, and now to 4 double pointed needles the fourth one is to do the changes. I just don't want to make the hat flat.

I think challenging myself is nice and I will learn something new. Actually I learned today to cast on in the easiest of way. The cast on I taught myself to do was harder, still effective, but this one will change my view of knitting. I have one skein of christmas red and one skein of christmas green Aurora 8 Merino wool. It is for hats. I will throw a little bit of white in the shape of a snowflake . Anyway, thanks for stopping by. Later on this week I will have the makings of a Teddy Bear. Very lovely bear, it is a design combination of three or four patterns, plus some additions that I made to the patterns.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Santa's hat on the round Part 1


This is the saga of making a hat for my holiday season. A hat that is festive and not that easy to make as I am not that experienced in knitting. This pattern called for the hat to be made flat and maybe if I did not like a challenge I would have followed the instructions. It would definitely be easier to just make it flat.

I decided to make it on the round, I finished the hat, but did not like the way it looked. So what did I do? I frogged the hat to about 5 inches of the starting point. I will tell you that frogging a work that is knited is no picnic. I remember why I don't like kniting, and I guess is mostly because of my lack of experience in kniting. If I would count the hours I have crochet versus the hours I have knited it would be at least 10 times more crochet than knit.

So going back to kniting, once you frog your knit piece you have to pick up your stitches and that my friend is the ugly side of kniting. Crochet you have one stitch to worry about. In this piece I had 64 stitches to pick up.

What was the end result of all this craziness? Two circular needles, then I thought about it and I got it in one circular needle with a very long cable. I am not going to frog the garment again so I have to think how will I manage this or will it end up in 3 double pointed needles?

I will keep you updated later on on my saga for the perfect knited hat, LOL. Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Santa's Little Helper 2006



Santa's little helper this year is kniting his hat. I am doing something that I have never tried and so far I am liking it. I am kniting on the round with a circular needle. I will be making myself a hat and a Scarf with the Santa Theme, I do not know if it will be ready by next week, but I will try my best.

In the meantime I am working on a Mystery CAL and a 5 (five) Christmas Stockings, I have made 1.75 LOL. I am also working on Teddy Bears, let's see if I can make some with either style, meaning crochet and knit. I am also waiting for a new shipment of yarn to which I will be making hats, socks and who knows what else. Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, November 06, 2006

Potholders For Christmas 2006




Some of the things that I have been working on. You guessed it, Christmas Potholders. This one are for an exchange and they are my own design. But this does not stop here, I have plenty of projects on the table.

This weekend I had to go to the laundromat and I took advantadge of the time to work on some of my projects for the Holidays.

I am also in a Christmas Holiday exchange, we are exchangeing a Teddy Bear and two other items. At least one of the items has to be crocheted. Well, I will continue my work and will share more pictures with you later on. Thanks fro stopping by.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Christmas Projects 2006



This is some of the yarn in my stash, but it is by no means all the yarn for my Christmas , Winter Projects. I just ordered more wool for some neat hats and socks and still have some Christmas Stockings and Teddy Bears to make. I will have more pictures by the weekend's end.

Today I got some Tunisian Crochet Hooks. I find that it is very easy to teach people with the big hooks. I had to look for them as they are not easy to find. Ebay has always been a life saver when it come to items like that. Thanks for stopping by, I will have some Christmas Potholders for showing tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Winter Scarf for that Winter Hat Nov 06





Here you have that scarf for that Hat. It is very light , but since it has various materials , I think it will be warm enough. I was able to block it with a little steam, never touching the item. It blocked wonderfully. What did I used for a pattern? I used the lattice Square from the 63 More Easy to Make Squares Afghan Booklet. I was going to go for a more complex pattern, but when I considered the situation at hand this is what I saw.

When you have a complicated pattern, you need a simple yarn. By the same token when you have not so good yarn a complicated pattern can make your yarn look fabulous. The point I am trying to show you is , too much going on and either your pattern or your yarn will get lost in your masterpiece . It is just my opinion and the way I do things. I also designed this scarf to have a soft wide area for the neck , and the rest has lots of textures for your fingers to entertain themselves while you are in line out side waiting to go to the Opera. Thanks for stopping by and come back later one I will have some other project that I am working on soon.

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