New yarn......I couldn't resist!

As last year came to an end, I made a little promise with myself to finish off projects before starting new ones.........that hasn't lasted too long! OOOOOOPS!!

Throughout January I've been working ferociously on a project. A bright and coulourful project, made with the yummy yarn that Dennis gave to me as a present for Christmas.

So far it's a mountain of glorious granny squares! I've been very good at sewing in the ends as I go along, something I'm not usually very good at!

 

Its coming on nicely but I do find that things can get a little boring when working on a project of this scale.
I've decided to break the sometimes monotonous cycle of granny squares. A couple of side line projects to keep my hunger for new creativeness well and truly satisfied.

At the weekend I went into the craft store with a gift voucher I had also received for Christmas. I spent it entirely on new yarn!!!!! BRIGHT, SOFT and UTTERLY GORGEOUS!!!!

I saw these delightfully bright shades of Wolle Rodel's Baby wool. I couldn't resist buying a selection of vibrant rainbow colours.

When purchasing this lovely wool, I had an idea in mind of making a tea cosy to fit our new teapot. I have to confess I bought this teapot especially as I wanted a try making a tea cosy. Dennis and I tend to prefer coffee over tea!

It is very cute and matches our lovely milk jug.

I also chose 6 shades of Rico Baby Classic dk. I went for cooler shades of blue, pink and purple, plus a pure white to break up the pastel colours. I also bought a plain cushion so I can already start to dress it in these lovely colours.

 

I made a start on my cushion this morning. I've started with a ripple and am going to see where it takes me!

Isn't it so nice starting new projects. I love the feeling of knowing that you can create anything that your mind conjours up. I also love how rewarding it is when you finish a project and can sit back and admire your work! To say "I made that" is such a great feeling!

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Food Glorious Food!!!

What a very busy week we both have had!!
Before I've even had time to notice, we've made full circle and are back at the start of a new week!

Dennis has been busy working all week. He was asked to be part of a workshop ensemble with the cruise ship company he works for. He spent the week rehearsing new shows along with a creative team, testing the shows to see if they would work when put onto a ship. It was a nice job for him as it was just one week long. He got to work with some new people and had a chance to catch up with some old colleagues, which was nice. However, I do think he was a little relieved to have finished yesterday, as it sure was a long and intensive week!


I've been rehearsing each day and and then performing the show in the evenings. It was also a bit of a tense week for me as the Disney creative team were in Hamburg for a "clean up" week. "The Disneys" come to Hamburg every now and then from America. They spend the week checking if the show is up to standard and tidying up any messy or unclear parts. It's always a time of hard work and concentration. At the end of the week the show is back on track with a more focused energy from the whole cast.
I've been very much looking forward to my Monday off from work. I gave a sigh of relief once the week was over as the pressure of having the big bosses in town had lifted.

Whilst Dennis finished his last day of rehearsals I spent the day alone pottering around the apartment. I worked a little on my projects, spent some time sorting out neglected chores then took a stroll into town and wandered around the shops.
I met Dennis once he had finished work. We walked around the shops a little more before taking a trip to the grocery store. We headed home stocked up with goodies for a night of yummy food in front of the television.

Once home, groceries unpacked, I got down to making dinner. We decided to have an evening of some of our favourite dishes, a random selection of yummyness!
The food looked so delicious that I couldn't help but share with all of you lovely people! 

I just love how vibrant the food looks. The bright red tomatoes next to the deep green basil!!

 Onions, sliced and diced. A scrumptious shade of magenta!

 Nice big mushrooms, washed, de-stalked and ready for roasting.

Gorgeous Garlic! I know it can be a little stinky at times, but I love nothing more than garlic! Garlic butter, garlic bread, roasted with meats and potatoes. Its just soooooo tasty!

A freshly baked baguette. Warm and crunchy! This is a meal in itself! Give me some fresh bread and a tub of butter and I'm in heaven!

Smooth and creamy goats cheese! 

Once the mushrooms had roasted, I filled them with freshly made onion marlmalade.

I then topped them with goats cheese and roasted them shortly untill the cheese was melted and golden. 

I love how rustic these mushroom always look. They are so yummy! 

Juicy mushrooms filled with sweet onion malmalade, topped with creamy goats cheese!

We made deliciously tasty "pigs in Blankets", (sausages wrapped in bacon) I would always have these during our Christmas dinner at home in England. I don't think they're exclusive to Christmas though?

And finally Bruschetta! Thickly sliced crusty bread topped with a homemade salsa:

Diced tomatoes, onions, pressed garlic, tasty basil, a drop of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper!

A selection of some of our favourite foods washed down with a nice chilled bottle of Rosé......Bliss!!

 All of this scrumptiousness wouldnt be complete without a little something sweet to end.

Cute and highly indulgent cupcakes! DeLiCiOuS!!!!

We sure did enjoy our Yummy Monday! I'm thinking we should probably hit the gym tomorrow :-)

and Dennis xxx

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New Projects (and fake Tulips)

It may have been very rainy in Hamburg, but that hasn't kept us from having a very productive day!
We've received a lot of positive messages about the new design of our blog, which has not only made us crazy happy, but it's also fueling our creativity and encouraging our work here on the blog.
A big THANKS for all the lovely comments and support! We really appreciate it.

We've both been off from work today, and ventured into the city for a hardcore gym session. With the depressing weather it seems that much harder to push ourselves to get to the gym! However, once we were there with our headphones on and our favorite music playing, it didn't seem all that bad.

After the gym we've had a lovely afternoon at home, finishing old projects and starting new ones.

Dennis finished a blanket. It's actually the 'neat ripple' pattern from Lucy at Attic24 but with a little alteration. It's worked through the back loops only, making the waves pop! Another thing you might notice is that's it's in one color. Not very common for a ripple, but I believe it works just lovely and makes it a very calm and 'neat ripple' ;-) The measurements are about 1,80 by 1,20 meters which doesn't really show on this picture. This ripple actually worked up very fast, using quite a thick pure merino yarn, and an 8mm hook!

 And here is a new addition to our apartment, some lovely Dutch tulips...

 ...which are as fake as they could be, but we still love them.

Don't they fit perfectly in our new milk jug?
Notice the little brown boxes full of Matt's current work in progress?
Wanna see what's inside?

A million trillion gazillion granny squares! Made with the fabulous wool received at Christmas.
More on this project as it continues to grow...

Here's a little something Dennis has been trying out. It's not very often he pulls out the knitting needles, but once he gets an idea in his head!

Another thing we're both VERY excited about, and that's an understatement, is the announcement of Sophie Kinsella's new novel! We've both been obsessed with her books from day 1 and we're always the first in line to buy her newest additions. If you haven't read any of her books, we really recommend them. They are one hilarious read and can't wait until next month when this one is released!

Hope you all had a lovely Monday?

and Dennis xxx

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Scraps...

Over the last two years, Matt and I have been working on many many projects. The problem with having two people crocheting a lot, is that you end up with a big collection of left-over yarn! A couple of days ago we had a big sort out of all our yarn and found out how much this actually was. After emptying out all the places where we store our yarn we found out that it's enough to fill up a big garbage bag! But is a garbage bag really the right place for all this forgotten yarn? It's a bit sad to just throw it all away, but then again, what can you make from these tiny little amounts of yarn?

I started to see a little project in this bunch of happy colors! A blanket! I started to experiment a little with some different squares and even tried to knit one! My knitting is terribly slow however and I was sure I would give up on the blanket after 1 day, so I just went back to the very basics: A simple and plain granny square consisting of 3 rounds.

I showed my project to Matt after I'd made about 4 squares, and he came up with the idea that we could both work on this blanket at the same time! I was thrilled by this, since we never work on something together. Every crocheter has their own tension, and the stitches might come out a little different, but with a blanket like this, it doesn't matter! That's the fun of it! Granny squares can adjust quite a lot because of the spaces in between the stitches. You can use a lot of different types of yarn, thick or thin, acrylic or natural fibers. Of course you have to watch out a tiny little bit, no crazy bulky yarn, and no lace weight yarn, but other than that, pretty much any yarn will do!

We chose to join all the squares as we go, which makes it a very easy project to work on! And did I mention how fast it goes when you work on it together? We join one square after the other, and sometimes even have to wait for each other to finish the joining. In 2 days we managed to make 63 squares! I'm really excited about how colourful it's turning out and I really enjoy going through all the scraps and bits of yarn, because a lot of them bring back memories of other projects we've worked on!

It's also a great project to work on besides your other projects. It doesn't take long to add a couple of squares every day or every week. And as long as you use one colour per square, you don't have so much ends to sew in!

Having a crazy bunch of left-over yarn suddenly doesn't seem like such a bad thing anymore. I think we've found a good solution for it!

What do you do with your left over yarn?

Dennis xxx

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Postcards

I made the most of my day off from work, by giving the apartment a big clean up. Its something I've been meaning to do for a little while, but kept putting off.
Through the course of the day everything was pulled apart, sorted and reorganized. I couldn't quite believe just how much junk I had been hoarding! Lots of things for charity, recycling and the garbage men to take away. Not only does the apartment feel cleaner and more roomy, my head does also. I feel less hectic and more calm, which can only be a good thing at the start of a new week!

Whilst sorting through some folders I came across old Birthday, Christmas and Anniversary cards Dennis and I had unknowingly been saving. It was so nice to read through the messages we had written to each other, along with the messages from close friends and family. It really made me feel very lucky and happy to have so many close people in my life.

I also found a collection of postcards in our folders that Dennis had collected on a trip to Denmark. I really loved each of them. Such interesting pictures, I couldn't help but share with you!
Here is a selection of some of the postcards, good luck cards, Birthday and Anniversary cards. They really put a smile on my face and I hope you will also enjoy looking through them :-)

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