I am certainly gearing up for Christmas early this year! :P

I worked up this dishcloth the other night. It's called the "Diamond Dishcloth" and works up crocheting in back loops only.  I'm not sure if it will become an all time favorite, but it was fun to try it out.

Hey if you're only ravelry and want to be my friend you can find me there as dinah.  I'd love to have more ravelry friends.  & if you're not on ravelry, NOW is the time to JOIN!  it is heaven, absolute heaven for crocheters and knitters.

 I made this crazy dishcloth the other day using this pattern.  It has a lovely step by step picture tutorial to follow, which is great cause otherwise I never would have figured it out.

It did get a little confusing the further along I got.  I kept getting turned around and lost.  I frogged this back to the basic form quite a few times over the night.

Overall, I enjoyed this pattern.  The craziness of the pattern didn't show up all that well with the variegated cotton.  I want to make another one using a solid colour so that the blocks definitely stand out.

I took some pictures of my 'stash' and I think it's clear I've developed a little bit of a problem.  The sad thing is this, that's not even all of my stash.  I have a whole other 3 drawer stand full of bits of yarn and a smaller container full of yo-yo's waiting to be joined into something,

You can see below that I've got a bunch of sweaters lined up to unravel.  I've had these sweaters for almost 2 years now.  I bought about 6 or 7 when I very first learned how to unravel...and for the most part they've just been sitting in the tub...waiting....

I've also got some projects that I've started and never finished.  See that blue and pink mess, that's a round ripple that I lost interest in rather quickly.

My new mission is to DE-STASH.  & I don't mean just not buy any new stuff, but to actively use up my thread!  I'm also thinking that I shouldn't accept any 'new' yarn donations from well meaning grandma's until I've got my stash undercontrol.

I'd like for it to only be 1 tub and the bag and maybe the 3 drawer stand.

I've recently discovered this whole world of 'curly girl'.  It's all about a new way to care for curly hair and let me tell you, I have a shit ton of curly hair.  I've just taken the book out of the library and I've quickly looked around the internet and I've decided to give the very basics a go.

The basics are:

1.  No Shampoo.  Shampoo has this stuff that doesn't react well with curly hair, I guess sort of stripping the curl out of it.  Instead of shampoo you do this crazy massage thing with conditioner to your hair.  You also condition twice.

2.  No brushing.  Ever.  Instead you can comb your hair with a wide tooth comb or simply do finger combing.

3.  No Terry Cloth.  Say goodbye to towels.  Instead you do this weird plop thing with a t-shirt before and after adding product.

So, today was Day 1 of being a curly girl.  Keep an eye out for progress pics!

We've been back for almost 1 week now and things have finally just started to get back to normal.  Andrew was not adjusting to the time change at all.  For the first few days he was waking up at 3:30, 4, 4:30 AM.  That's AM!  Husband and I are not morning people at all.  (***Please note it has taken me about 2 week to write this post...we've been back over 2 weeks now.  I"m a slow writer and photo uploader****)

I don't want to be one of those people that lingers on and on about their trip for 86 blog posts and shares every. single. picture they took, so I'm going to aim to have 1 post about the trip (maybe 2, we'll see how much my fingers fly during this post).

Day 1 - Sunday, June 13

Does this day even count?  I arrived at Manchester airport in the early afternoon.  I didn't have the greatest flights over.  There were many delays and unexpected twists.  But I made it over the pond safely and without missing any of my flights.

Husband picked me up from Manchester Airport and we drove to his parents house.  It's about an hours drive.  The thing I notice right away is that everything is so much more green and pretty then it was last time I had been to the UK.  5 years ago I visited Husband while he still lived there during the winter.  Everything had been drab and dreary and bleak and gray. 
I am so excited to see Andrew when we get to the IL's house.  Remember, I haven't seen him for 2 weeks.

We go for supper at the The Boar's Head Pub and I am so tired from my 2 day journey that I am falling asleep so we all return home and I promptly fall asleep at like 8 PM.

Day 2 - Monday, June 14
Today is Andrew's 5th birthday so I am roused from my jet lagged sleep to celebrate Andrew's birthday.  We decide to go to Martin Mere, which is a Wetland Centre close by to where Steve's parents live.

If you pay £1 you get a HUGE bag of birdseed and you can feed the birds as you walk.  The ducks follow you wherever you go, even if you're not feeding them.


Day 3 - Tuesday, June 15

Husband and I visit Preston as he needs a hair cut and I need to buy a pair of shoes.  I don't think we did much of anything else that day...it's hard to remember. :P



Day 4 - Wednesday, June 16

We decide to venture out on our own with Andrew to Chester for the day.  Our first stop was the Blue Planet Aquarium just outside of Chester.  It was a wonderful experience for all 3 of us.  We were there for about 2 hours and saw almost every kind of fish and lizard and bird and creepy crawly known to man.  Some of the highlights were the sharks (not miniature like the ones in Winnipeg!!), Jellyfish, and Manta Rays.  We actually got to touch a Ray--it was smooth and soft and rubbery all at the same time.



After we finished at the aquarium we headed into Chester's city centre and found a pub to have lunch at where our child promptly fell asleep.  Too many late nights and too much birthday for this little boy.  He slept for about 45 minutes before we convinced him that it was time to wake up!  There was no time for sleeping, too much to do and see!
One of the highlights of our trip was definitely visiting Chester Cathedral.  You can see the top of the Cathedral as walk along the wall in the picture below.  I was not expecting this Cathedral to be so moving and intense for me, but it was and I am so glad that we decided to visit it.



The Cathedral had a delightful courtyard and the 3 of us really enjoyed this in the middle of the courtyard.  We didn't know much about it or what it was about, so I googled once we got home to find out:

Water of Life

The sculpture depicts the life changing encounter between Jesus and the woman of Samaria, as told in John’s gospel, and explores the literal and spiritual life-giving properties of water.

This striking 3.3m bronze, sculptural water feature, was commissioned for Chester Cathedral and gifted to the cathedral by Capital Bank.

The circular shape brings the two figures face to face, lending intensity and tenderness to the encounter. Water flows continually from the shared cup, over the hands and into the pool in the dish below, from where the sculpture is lit at night, through the water.

Around this dish are the words ;

“ Jesus said, ‘ the water that I shall give will be an inner spring always welling up for eternal life.’ “ John 4:14

The sculpture was dedicated by the Dean of Chester Cathedral, Dr Stephen S. Smalley, on 8th May 1994.

Day 5 - Thursday, June 17 - York

We decided to visit York.  While there we visited the Jorvik Viking Centre (which we didn't get any pictures of), Yorkminster (which didn't allow pictures of the crypt/museum), and we did a York Boat Tour on the River Use. 
The Yorkminster, which is something like the largest Cathedral in the UK?  Maybe Europe?  I can't remember anymore.  The Minster dates back to Roman times and the basement has a remarkable "Undercroft, Treasury, and Crypt" in the basement.  It was unbelievable to see the parts where the Roman building stood and to see the building take shape over the thousands of years.  We weren't allowed to take picutres in the basement and upstairs a church service was going so we were unable to see much of the sanctuary and I was hesitant to take pictures of the inside because I didn't want to disturb anyone.
Andrew had behaved so well in the Cathedral that we promised him McDonalds.  Thank goodness that Husband had lived in York years ago because I don't think I would have been able to find the McDonald's on my own.  Note the Vivienne Westwood store in the foreground.









I'm going to stop here for now...even though I still have another week to blog about.  I'm just very excited to share my trip!

Before I post about our trip to the UK I wanted show off some crocheting that I did before I left on the trip.

This is Andrew's birthday blanket.  It's still not done.  I need to weave in all the ends and crochet a border.  I'm thinking 1 row of DC in blue, 1 row of SC in pink, 1 row of DC in blue.
Once this project is finished I will have used up most of the bad yarn that I blogged about here.   Thank goodness because I'm sick of it.

I started to make this hat for Andrew with the intention that he could take it to the UK.  Needless to say it turned out to not be a summer hat.  It's too small for me, too big for Andrew, and Husband won't even look at it.   I guess it will go in the Christmas Present Box..

Because the first hat didn't work out I made him this one instead.  It's like a beanie hat, I guess.  I don't like it much, but Andrew loves it.  He wouldn't stop moving, hence the blurry pictures.