Happy Birthday Tarzan!

Hello lovely people! It's really nice of you to drop by and take the time to read my blog! I see that we have a few more members to the group :-) A big warm welcome to you all!!!

Things have been busy, busy, busy since returning to work from my visit home, hence the lack of posts! I have had a little change around with my job which means I am once again busy rehearsing and learning new material.
Normally in the show I play my one ensemble track eight shows a week.  However, due to a colleague at work being away for a little while, I have been asked to become a 'swing'. This means that I am learning the parts of all 9 ensemble men. Once I know all of the tracks I'll be able to cover the parts of other cast members if they are away due to illness, injury or vacation.
It's been really great rehearsing and my brain is definitely being challenged. I'm frantically trying to remember all of the changes with the flying material and choreography. It's a great way to make the show "fresh' for me once again! I will be kept on my toes until the new year, then I'll go back to my own ensemble track.

Over the past couple of weeks we have also had some exciting guests pay us a visit!
As you all know last weekend Leona Lewis came to watch the show and I got a sneaky picture with her, which was stupidly exciting!!!
Then this week, even bigger than Leona Lewis!! We had Mr Phil Collins pop by and hang out with us! It was in honour of our third anniversary playing Tarzan in Hamburg. We had a Birthday party with Phil Collins as guest of honour.  It was great that he could be there with us,  after all he did write all of the music for the show so it was just as much a celebration for him as it was for us.
We got to have a group picture taken and he also very kindly signed a poster for me.

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 Me and Phil.

Tarzan cast having a big group picture! I'm the monkey in the front on the very right of the picture.

It was a really great show! He even came up on stage at the end of the show, much to the delight of the cast and the audience! I'll leave you with a little video from the end of the show when he came on stage and pressed his hand into a piece of clay "Hollywood walk of fame" style!

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Picture Perfect Sundays!!!

Ok so it's not so much 'Picture Perfect Sundays' more like look at me with Leona Lewis!
It was a very exciting day at yesterday at work as a rumour that Leona Lewis was coming to pay "Tarzan' a visit was spreading around the cast. By spreading I mean I was telling everybody that this is what I had heard :-)

I was so excited! I'm really a big fan of her music plus I love a bit of celeb spotting!
So half an our before our second show I'm wandering around the corridors at work, looking for Leona Lewis. Now we had not officially been told that she was coming, I guess so crazy people (like myself) didn't creep around the corridors trying to hunt her down.
Suddenly she walks past me. I freeze, say "HELLO" (I must have looked like a complete geek) and she Says "hello' back (I think she was a tad scared of me). I suddenly whip out my camera and flash it straight in her face!!! here are the results!

Some of the Tarzan cast with Leona Lewis that's me in the centre next to her. I think she was particularly jealous of my wig cap!
Fun times!

Have a lovely Sunday everybody!!!

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Yarn, Yarn, Yarn!!!

What a beautiful sunny Saturday morning!
I have a fresh cup of coffee at hand as I sit down at my computer, I do love my coffee!!

I thought that this morning  I would show you a couple of little projects I've been working on over the past week.

Both of these projects were such a pleasure to make! They were nice and fast and I'm so happy with how both of them turned out!
I picked up the yarn for both of these projects at a local store. The store stocks a lot of different brands and varieties of yarn. I do have to say it is a little pricey. So I didn't buy very much, hence the small projects!

The first project was made with "Lang Yarns' Tosca Light. I just bought one skein of 100g. I loved the colour of it and how it gently changes colour as you work through the skein.

 It is very soft and easy it was to work with. I ended up making a gorgeously light "Japanese Flower Scarf' for my mum. The scarf is two flowers wide and twelve long, I just kept making it as big as I could with the one skein I had. Hopefully it will be long enough!
Once it was finished I blocked it and sprayed it with a little starch so the flowers stay nice and open. I'm really happy with it and can't wait to send it home to my mum, I think she will love it!

The second project was one that I made for myself! I'm not usually keen on making things for myself to wear. I find it hard to find nice patterns for guys, as most either look too feminine or are just plain DISCUSTING! So usually I make things for woman and end up giving them as gifts to friends and family. However, this one is a keeper and I'm so happy with how it looks when it's on!
It is a small cowl perfect for the cold winter here in Hamburg. It goes nicely with my new coat, I love wearing different shades of grey together.

It was made using two skeins of "Rowan, Alpaca Chunky" in a deep charcoal/grey.

It works up very thick and will be super warm around my neck!
I improvised with the pattern and simply made a chain long enough to fit around my neck, follwed by lines of double crochet. Very simple huh!
Here it is, I love it so much!

Well there we have it two quick and easy projects!
I love buying different yarn and seeing how it is to work with. I was really impressed with both of these and would recommend them to anybody and everybody!

Finally a little explosion of colour!  I bought this deliciously soft merino wool at the craft store. It was a tad expensive, but I couldn't resist!

Isn't it 'truly Scrumptious! (ooh look at that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang reference! :-))

The colours are deeper and darker than normal,  not as in your face as some of my previous coloured projects!
I am already working these yummy colours into a little something. I will most probably share with you very very soon!

Well that's all from me for now!!!
Have a lovely weekend everybody!!!

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Blankets Galore

Hello lovely readers!!
It's me! Back again! I've had a lovely weekend away visiting my family back in England.
It was a trip I should have made months ago and really was long overdue! I had such a lovely time, I got to see my family and top up on all of the home comforts I miss whilst living Germany. I took lots of pictures to share with all of you and will talking about my visit home very very soon!

Now I'm back in Hamburg feeling a little recharged (mum fed me up with all of her gorgeous baking!) and ready to go once again!

I had one of my wisdom teeth pulled out yesterday and have mainly been sat at home nursing my swollen face!! Its still pretty swollen but definitely on the mend. I was really scared of getting this tooth pulled out, I have never had one done before. I do have to say though, it really was not as bad as I had thought. The worst part was probably the anticipation of getting it done and the horror stories people had been feeding me.
I was supposed to have it pulled out the day before I went to visit my Mum and Dad. I changed my appointment at the last minute. This was a very good move on my part, as with the amount of swelling and bleeding it would have really ruined my lovely weekend with the family!
I have very little pain and the swelling is going down slowly but surely!
I still have a couple of days free before I go back to work so I have a little time for some serious blogging and hooking time!!!

On my return from the dentist I got straight on with working on a little project I started last month. My blanket!!!

As you know last month I made a trip to the wool factory and bought a big skein of gorgeous thick white wool. I have been working on this project for a little while and am so happy with how it is going. A couple of progress pics are needed, I think:

As you can see, I have kept it really very simple. Just very large granny squares joined together and then I am probably going to add a boarder and some tassles.

I have also had a play around with adding a flower to the centre of each square and maybe some buttons? I'm still deciding on that at the moment.

I'm really loving how this project is coming along. However, I do have to be honest with you all. Keeping this project very simple has also made it the most BORING project I have ever made! This is why I have needed a little side line project to keep the crochet bug satisfied!

Here it is! My side line, secret project! My "Neat Ripple Blanket"!!!!!
This is another one of the patterns from Lucy at Attic24. A pattern I have been meaning to try for a very long time.  Want to see some pictures?

I used Style craft DK and once again was not disappointed with how the colours worked along side each other.

The ripple pattern was very easy to follow. I did however find that the moment I switched off I would forget which part of the ripple I was on, so I had to pay attention!
There is something very comforting about these soft waves of yummy colour. I am so in love with this blanket!

Once the main blanket was done I then added a border and a simple shell edging to finish it off. 

And here it is all finished on my bed with some of the bright pillows Dennis and I have made between us! I'm so so happy with this and will definitely make another one some time soon!


With another gorgeous blanket finished, I could not resist putting all of them together for a group shot!
Here they all are, the blankets Dennis and I have made over the past year!

It makes me want to dive into them and snuggle up with my swollen face and a couple of pain killers!! Bliss :-)!

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