Blogging Lull

I'm not sure why, but it hasn't really seemed like I have much to blog about lately...or rather, nothing more than a couple lines and a photo...so I've skipped over blogging it altogether! Maybe if I start blogging about something, the rest will fall into place...

I still haven't finished blogging about Paris, and haven't posted a single thing about Torie's wedding in September (maybe I can get to it this next week?), but I think I kept up pretty well with blogging over the holidays and the trips we took while my mom was here. (Speaking of, here is a photo of the thimbles I got while doing said traveling; there's one from Trier and one from Frankfurt.)

Oh! And I also haven't yet shared the newest addition to our household! No, it's not a baby (though a close friend of mine just had one on Tuesday!), and no, it's not an animal (in the same house as my boys?! HA!). It's a "roommate" of my craft room! (No spiders this time, I promise!) Her name is Charlotte!

Charlotte wearing my hat from Paris, Ravenclaw earrings (made by me), and the purple Luna scarf (made by me)

I bought her to model the neck wear, head wear, and earrings I make. Sadly, though, there are a few things I made recently I could have used her to model, but forgot about using her until I'd already given them away! LOL

And in that vein, here are some of the things I've recently finished, project-wise!

Triangular Scarflette I made as a last-minute decision for a friend's birthday

*PHOTOS TAKEN BY MISHA* A Hat for Emily for Elphie's husband; I made adjustments to accommodate a size larger than youth, and also made it reversible by picking up the stitches along the edge of the hat and knitting the lining

The fingerless mitts I made for The Instigator as a gift for our anniversary, complete with the logo from Zelda

And for those that pay attention to my Ravelry projects in the sidebar of my blog...you wouldn't have even known what I was knitting for these entries! These were super secret projects that I made as gifts for Kristin and Elphaba for Christmas! :D

The capelet I made for Kristin

*PHOTO TAKEN BY MISHA* The sleeved mantelet I made for Elphie

And I love my gifts from them (which I will post photos of next time)! :D :D :D They were very fitting!

In other non-knitting, non-holiday related news, Superman (who is showing signs of being Bizarro today!) lost his two front teeth almost 2 weeks ago!

And now I cannot really think of anything else to say...it seems as though my blogging steam didn't pick up today after all. (Of course, that's likely due to the fact that I'm being distracted by the boys being home from school today, doing laundry, and watching Big Bang Theory...) So I think I'll leave it here for now. :)

Over a Week Ago...

I cannot believe that it's already been over a week since I was in Paris! This entire past week blew right past me between resting up from the eventful weekend and preparing for Batman's 5th birthday and party. (I can't believe that he's 5!!!) I'd better finish blogging about Paris before everything gets too fuzzy!

After we finished seeing the interior of Notre Dame, we walked around to the back side of the cathedral and into Square Jean XXIII.

Notre Dame from the back & the Fountain of the Virgin in the Square

The Fountain of the Virgin in Square Jean XXIII

Do you see how cloudy it is in the background of that last picture?...yeah...Keep that in mind...

While we were resting in the square, we heard (cliché of clichés) accordion music!!! I just had to find the source of the music and get a picture! (There were street musicians everywhere...even in the metro stations! I loved it!)

Accordion player in the middle of Paris

After that, we picked up the bulk of our souvenirs.

My souvenirs for ME!!!

I was eying the umbrella, and it turned out I actually needed to get one, as it started to rain! (Remember those cloudy skies? Yeah, they opened up!) So we crossed back over the Seine and sought refuge in a cute café.

A Paris "beach" along the Seine!

Our view from the café...see the Eiffel Tower in the distance?!

After we had our lunch (I had a croque-monsieur, which I haven't had since French food day in high school, and the most amazing fruit tea!) and the rain had subsided, we walked down to the place that Misha was looking forward to the most....the Louvre!!!

Part of the Louvre

The view of the Louvre that is the most famous

(L to R:) The Louvre, the Eiffel Tower (in the distance), and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

We walked from the Louvre, past the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and through the Jardin des Tuileries all the way down to Place de la Concorde where we found this:

The Luxor Obelisk in Place de la Concorde

And did you know that this square used to be called Place de la Révolution which was centered around a guillotine...the guillotine. The one that beheaded Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, Danton and Robespierre! 

One of the two fountains on either side of the obelisk set against the Tower

The Instigator gave me grief for asking for spending money for souvenirs for myself. He thought that just going to Paris should have been enough for me...with as long as I wanted to go, not likely! LOL And true to (recent) form, I bought my obligatory thimble! Isn't it cool? It's got Notre Dame on one side and the Eiffel Tower on the other.

My growing thimble collection!

But our day wasn't over yet!

TO BE CONTINUED...

Collector Extraordinaire!

It actually happened sort of by mistake...I don't tend to be much of an actual collector of any one thing, though I do have pack-rat tendencies. I have so many things that I've saved from when I was younger. Most of it has sentimental significance to me, and I've held on to much of it thinking, "oh, this would be great in a scrapbook!" but have never actually scrapped any of it! LOL (Seriously...it's all packed away in a "memory trunk" at the moment...no lie...) When I was younger, I had this thing for collecting all things cat and/or Tigger. While I still have it all (somewhere in a box), I've pretty much lost interest in it. However, when I was in Domrémy-la-Pucelle looking for the perfect little souvenir for my mom, it just kind of happened...I gravitated to the thimbles!

Now, I am a craftily inclined person, but I don't generally sew very much. Maybe that's why it didn't present itself to me as an obvious choice. Also, thimbles are actually a pretty commonplace collectible, and I tend to gravitate to the not-so-common things. But it's pretty perfect as thimbles are small, and as a military family, there will be quite a bit of moving about in our future.

I got my first one in France, and I'm pretty sure that after getting myself the 2 in London that I did, I am well on my way to becoming a thimble collector extraordinaire!

(If only I could have come to this decision while living in Italy! I could have looked for thimbles from Venice, Verona, Florence, Siena and Treviso! Not to mention Salzburg! I guess that just means I'll have to go back...) ;)