It's destiny

My horoscope for today:
It's time to go beyond borders. That curiosity you've always had about distant lands, foreign customs and languages? It's time to explore them to the fullest. These avenues may just be life changing.

How spooky is it that I get this horoscope 5 weeks before I leave for Ireland?
To make it even spookier, about two months ago I went to lunch with a coworker and we were having Chinese. During our meal I was telling her how I've been trying to go to Ireland the past three years but that something had always come up to stop me from going but this year I had decided that I was going this year as soon as I got my tax refund. At the end of lunch I opened my fortune cookie:
You will step on the soil of many countries.
I remember it exactly because I tacked it up at my desk as a reminder to not allow anything to stop me from going this year.

Since then, I've decided that I do need to step on the soil of many countries and that from now on I will use my tax refund every year to travel to Europe. Theres so many things I want to do, like ride a gondola through the canals of Venice, see the Eiffel Tower, visit the Louvre, walk through Pompeii. Theres so much I want to see and do.
I can't even describe how much I'm looking forward to this trip. I truly hope that it is life changing like my horoscope says it will be.

I'm staying home this weekend. I had a nice time with my friend and her family last weekend (and to those who suggested I get a dog to satisfy that matenal itch - I already have one, an adorable pembroke corgi-miniature american eskimo mix who is the sweetest thing EVER), but I've got a lot to do this weekend. Some of its self indulgent, and a little bit of its housework related. I have some laundry to get caught up on along with other housework, but I also plan on getting a manicure and pedicure tomorrow and I have quite a bit of knitting and crocheting to do.

On the needles:

1. A messenger type bag experiment.
I've started this with the thought that it would be my daily travel bag for Ireland. Something to use in place of a purse to carry my daily necessities such as my passport, camera, guide book, etc. I'm thinking it may be too big though. Im knitting it up in stockinette using two stands of yarn - Patons Classic Wool in a heathered grey and black. I'm hoping that using the two colors together will give it a marbled effect. I'm using the two colors for the body and strap of the bag and I have a dusty blue that I'll use for trim to seam the sides up and possibly add a little pocket or two with.

2. baby afghan
one of the managers at work had a little boy last week that I'm knitting up an afghan for. Normally I would have had this finished before the baby was born, but they were waiting until the birth to find out whether it was a boy or girl so the day he was born I got the yarn (yes, I cheated on my yarn diet. AGAIN) and started the afghan.

3. A tank top type experiment.
Notice a trend here?
A while back I'd gotten some Moda Dea Ticker Tape because it was on sale at Michaels. This was long before the yarn diet. I've been hanging onto this yarn for about two months now, not knowing what I was going to do with it when I decided that the color (bright & light pink) would look great on my little cousing Janae. This pattern I'm making up as I go along. I have a general idea of the look I'm going for, so we'll see how it turns out. I'm putting it on hold for the time being to work on....

4. kids sweater.
Tara of Coffee Crochet has designed a childs sweater and I'm testing the pattern for her. Its going a little slow because of the other projects I have going on right now. Once finished, this one will go to a coworkers little one.

5. Roll brim hat.
I'm using Noro Kureyon. I love the colors in this yarn - deep jewel tones. Hopefully I'll have a finished product to show you some time soon.
I've started this damn thing about 3 times. The first time I got only 4 or 5 rounds into it when I saw that I'd dropped a stitch so I'd ribbed it out to start over. The second time I'd gotten to the point of decreasing and had switched to DPN's. About 10 rows after switching to the DPN's I noticed that I'd somehow flipped the hat inside out when I'd switched to the DPN's and had been knitting on the purl side ever since. I ripped out and started over. The third time I'd almost finished the hat. Had gone all the way down to the final decrease and had all but pulled the yarn through the final stitches when I decided to try it on. I swear I had measured the thing before I started decreasing but apparently, I screwed up. The think looked like a kippah.

6. The Brangelina Wide Ribbed Brim Hat
I'm using Crystal Palace Yarns Baby Alpaca Grande in black for this one. I love this yarn, its so fluffy and luscious.
I'm only on my first try with this one but have already managed to throw off the rib pattern for this one. I've ripped it out and will be starting it again.... eventually.
Pattern credit - Crazy Aunt Purl.

So, I've got quite a few projects in the works at the moment.
Theres also another felted bag in the works. Its a mix between the felted purses I've been making recently and this cute number by Crazy Aunt Purl. More on this one later.

Next Friday I'm off to Portland again to visit the grandparents. A nice long weekend to relax on the mountain top.