Moving on ...

You might have noticed that it's been a while since I last posted anything here ... or maybe you haven't.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I've moved over here. It's still quite new and there's no guarantee that it will work, but I'm hoping :)

I've decided to move elsewhere because I wanted to try something new (between me and you, I still believe that blogger is way more user-friendly than wordpress, but I wanted to give it a try), but I also wanted to completely shed the rants and focus more on lighter, prettier things.

I won't be closing down this blog, and I might still post some stuff in the future, but I'm planning on being more active on the new one.


So this is not really an adieu :)

Take care, and hope you'll join me on the other side :)

Feel good song :)

I haven't blogged for a while, mainly because some time last year I had decided that I want to stop complaining about stuff, and give more space to nice things ... coz we already give too much importance to sad things in life. Anyway, each time I was about to post something, something sad or bad would crop up and I would eventually decide not to post it.

Anyway, today I was scheduled to work the evening shift. Management comes with perks, so I can leave early and continue working from home - no questions asked. Fortunately (or unfortunately) we have a TV in the office so the guys, most of which are football fanatics, can follow any ongoing leagues or tournaments when the work slows down. Unfortunately at times someone decides to switch the channel to MTV - which means the whole office has to listen to the endless crap that oozes out of MTV (and having the most cringe-worthy songs repeated ever 45mins or so, something which drives me up the wall) or to TVM!!!!! which means that the whole office has to bear some incredibly moronic program which TVM decides to air *shivers*

BUT!! there are those wonderful times when the TV is switched on to the Discovery Channel, so we get to work to the soothing voice of Bear Grylls or to the wacky voices of Mythbusters' duo while desperately trying to blow up something. But my favourite thing in the whole world are the ads on the Discovery Channel. I know that it might sound stupid to you, but they tend to use very nice music. For example about a month ago they had an ad which featured The Flower Duet from Delibes' Lakmé. Don't know about you but I simply love this melody.


As I said earlier on, I can leave early and continue working from home - no questions asked. Usually I leave anytime between 19:30 and 21:00, because round that time everything would have died down and we almost never receive any requests which need to be forwarded to me. So at that point I pack up and head back home from where I can monitor the situation while being comfy in my pygamas and possibly watching a movie. Today I had to stick around more than usual - I actually met the guy who works the night shifts (no, we're not being evil, he asked us to only work the night shifts so that he can have ample time to train basketball and football during the day) who I hadn't seen in quite a while!!! - and I got to listen to one of the best feel-good songs ever ... and without much further ado (coz frankly I guess the intro was far too long), here you go!!! Hope you'll like it as much as I do :)





Have a great day!!! :)

Happy new year! :)

Just wanted to wish you all a very happy new year full of love & laughter :)

thank you for checking out my random and endless banter throughout 2009 :)

Have a good evening ... and be safe! Let the guys at the Emergency Dept at Mater Dei have a quiet and peaceful evening ;)

xoxoxoxoxo

i'm a hooker and i'm gonna do rapunzel

I know I know, it's such a childish title, but I came up with it a while ago and I honestly didn't want to pass it up.

Each time I start a new project or buy some new yarn, I always say that this time round I will write a post about it. Well, as you can clearly see I have barely brushed on the fact that I crochet in my whole blog!

I've taught myself this craft over the internet ... thankfully there are a lot of generous souls out there who have posted a lot of tutorials :) I will compile a list of helpful websites in another post some other time.

So I've cleared the "hooker" bit (if you haven't got it yet, the main tool crocheters use is a hook). Now on to the Rapunzel bit.

Meet Rapunzel ...



no not the girl! the top!


It's been created by Aoibhe Ni Shuilleabhain (you can find her here and here) and it's suggested yarn is Sublime Kid Mohair. Now, I'm not a girl who spends a looot of money on yarn, but I decided that for once I was going to use the same yarn that is mentioned in the pattern because I was totally head over heels in love with the design and didn't want anything to go wrong, so I bought it from English Yarns ... taking little notice that there was a nice insert on the side which gave you 3 options - save, spend, splurge. Yes, you've guessed right, the Sublime is the "splurge" option, arrrrggghhh!! But, to be honest I'm not regretting my purchase, honestly!

Anyway, I was super excited when I received the yarn, but I had some other ongoing projects and I didn't want to have another thing going on. I've earmarked this project for quite a long time, but I postponed it a bit because I was super afraid of using this kind of yarn. It had to many bits flying about and looked quite fragile, and I absolutely didn't want to ruin it for 2 main reasons - it's price, and the limited amount of quantity there is for this colour, so I left it to the side for some time.

In the meantime I got more yarn, worked on other projects, until I discovered that Tal-Lira (the Maltese version of the dollar store) sold yarn (!!!!!). Nothing special and no variety, just one thing, but a few colour options. It's a 100% acrylic yarn, but it had a very similar feel to the Sublime one (no, I'm in no way trying to offend the kid mohair!) - feels fragile and it looks fray-ey. I've done a whole shawl with this yarn (will feature in another post), and it gave me enough confidence and insight to be able to use mohair without ruining it.

So earlier this month I finally starting working on it, but halfway through the front half I noticed that there was something wrong ... it was far too big. I actually did do a small swatch, but as usual I didn't care much of the results. (I know! I should be ashamed of myself!) I was reaaaaally frustrated, and couldn't even frog it (it gets tangled up) but my mum offered to do the frogging for me. After a lot of grumbling and refusal from my side I conceded and she did it ... what took me only a few hours to wip up (let say around 5), it took her over 8 hours to frog, such is the nature of mohair. I tried to swatch again but I still couldn't meet the gauge and at this point I was really frustrated and disappointed, so much so I barely crocheted anything else - just a headband and a monster pouch.

Anyway, yesterday I went to the yarn shop and got some yarn to get some other projects done (and in a way to motivate myself to start crocheting again) and today, while I was browsing some patterns on Ravelry, I stumbled on the Inside Crochet discussion board. I half-heartedly went through the topics to check if there was anything about Rapunzel, and in fact there was one! And amidst questions and discussions about yarn and hook sizes there was this question which has proved to be a gem:

I have a friend at the yarn shop that wants to make your design and we were wondering if the DC is a British DC or an American DC.

Suddenly everything made sense! How could I NOT have thought about that!!! This is a pattern taken from a British magazine, and I was thinking of it in American terms!! Aaaaaaaaa!!!! I couldn't believe that it didn't occur to me, and it was such a great aha moment that I felt almost euphoric!

I'm still a bit afraid of starting it all over, but this time I will swatch and I will make sure that it comes out right. So yes, I'm a hooker and I'm gonna do Rapunzel (take 2) ... I will keep you posted on the progress of it :)

As mentioned at the beginning of the post, I will also blog about the new yarn I've bought, and in the future I will post pictures of my finished objects ... slowly but surely :)

ps: this pattern is featured in the second issue of Inside Crochet :)
pps: if you want to buy a digital copy of any issues of this magazine, you can obtain it from Yudu :)

The Alchemist

I just wanted to drop a quick note to celebrate the 21st anniversary of The Alchemist (a novel by the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho).

If you have never had the opportunity to read this book, go out there and get it ... do not pass up on this really beautiful piece of work. Not all of Coelho's novels appeal to the general public, and I understand that. But this one is different ... after all that's the reason for its huge success! It has been translated in about 67 languages and it has been on the tongue of the general public ever since.

I'm gonna leave you with the most famous sentence of this book:

"When you want something, the whole Universe conspires to help you realise your dream"

Villa Francia

Just wanted to let you know, in case you have missed it, that on September 13th, Villa Francia in Hal Lija will be open for public.

I've never been there myself, but I did see bits of a program about the extensive restoration work that was done on it, and trust me, both the work and the place seemed pretty impressive.

For more information about this place, check out this article and this article.

If I were you, I would make sure to keep my day free ... that's what I'm planning to do :)

[photo by Matthew Mirabelli, taken from The Times of Malta Online

information via: The Times of Malta Online and Office of the Prime Minister]

Pangea expedition: expanding one's knowledge

Last time I mentioned that I had the occasion to leaf through a magazine published by Mercedes-Benz.

One of the articles listed there was about a project sponsored by this same company - the Pangea Expedition. Basically there is this one guy, Mike Horn, who wants to share the beauty of the earth with youngsters. He plans to circumnavigate the world over 4 years with young people so that they really understand why they should appreciate earth, and work hard for protecting it.

When I read about it, I simply wanted to join in, but unfortunately I no longer appertain to the age range, which is between 13 and 20 years old. The participants have to go through training in Switzerland, as this is no easy task, but I bet that those that pass will be awarded the experience of a lifetme.

2 thumbs up for Horn ... and as for you, any reader, pass the word, who knows ... maybe it will one day fall on the ears of a young teen who might take this opportunity and expand his/her knowledge :)