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I just returned from a four day business trip to Bern for my work for Planets. In between training days and presentations, luckily I had some time to check out the (old) city and take some pictures. The picture on the left is taken from the Kirchenfeldbrücke when we were walking to the archives, early in the morning.

While in Bern I visited the BärenPark (Bern’s bears), the National Historic Museum with a great exhibit about Einstein and the Natural History Museum with wonderful diorama’s.

For more pictures, see the slideshow below.

Between long days at work and making Amigurumi’s I am not spending much time on the Mon Seul Desir. I stitched for 4.5 hours in these past two weeks (that I am counting as one). I filled in more of the confetti. I am planning on finishing up all the red colors (nearly done there), then doing the flowers, and leaving the bird as the big finale….

I’m on an amigurumi roll! Even though I had planned to do a pattern from my book next, it didn’t work out that way. When I was browsing through free patterns online while eating my breakfast, I came across this pattern for amigurumi Kokeshi dolls by Suncatcher Craft Eyes, and fell in love. I spent the afternoon and evening making this cute doll.

I used Schachenmayr Catania cotton (white 0105, red 0115, brown 0179 and black 0110) and a left over purple ribbon I had. I followed the pattern, however I made two reducing mistakes in the body, and I added a lot more rows to the hair (I think about three or four to the main part, and three more to the half circle. I stuffed it with fiberfill, and if you’re real careful, it even stands on its own!

After making the cherries as my first Amigurumi project, I wanted to make a little creature. All the patterns in my book are pretty complicated (lots of parts) and I wanted to start out small, so I picked this pattern (link) of a little mouse to try out. I stitched it using Schachenmayr Catania cotton (white 0105, brown 0179 and black 0110) with a size 2 (EU size) hook, stuffing it with fiberfill. The body I made on Wednesday, and took me about and hour and a half. I spent about an hour and half on the ears and the finishing on Thursday. I wanted some black plastic eyes, but my local store didn’t have any, so I just used some black thread, put two knots in it, and attached it to the head. All in all I think it turned out real well, and I am ready for a bigger project!

On some of the geeky craft blogs I follow one of the crafts you see a lot is Amigurumi. Amigurumi is Japanese for “knitted stuffed toy”, but you can also crochet them (most are crochet). When we visited Maastricht last weekend I picked up a book about Amigurumi with instructions and several patterns, and I figured I would give it a try.

I picked up some cheap acrylic “wool” and some crochet hooks and sat down on Tuesday night with my book to try it… It was a a lot harder than it looked! I couldn’t even do the magic loop with which these pieces usually start. But, in a moment of need, YouTube is your friend. There are some great instructional videos on there that helped me understand the magic loop, and showed me how to increase and decrease my stitches. So, on Tuesday I just fiddled around and learned a few things. Firstly, the wool I got was workable, but made things a lot harder than they could be. Secondly, the recommended stitchmarkers were a must have, because I was forever losing count of my rounds.

So, on Wednesday after work I went to my great local craft shop that always has everything I want. I picked up Schachenmayr Catania cotton yarn, in the colors red, green, broken white and black. And that evening I set to work again. The first thing I wanted to try were to make cherries. I had seen the video on YouTube and figured they would be small and easy to try. I stitched my first cherry using a size 3 (EU size) hook, and it didn’t come out real nice. I also didn’t like my decreases as they left the top of the ball open and flat. The next one I made, I resolved to stitch even neater, and to use my size 2 hook. It did make it a bit tight and stiff, but I think it came out ok. I stitched the second cherry in the same manner, and then made the stem. The pattern/instructions I took from this YouTube video (link), which were very clear and simple. It took me about two hours to make, including the ball I didn’t use. I stuffed them with fiberfill. The red was Catania 0115, green was Catania 0224. The tops (not pictured) still don’t look like I want them too, as the decreases leave an open hole. However, I read later online that you can use only the top thread of the stitch to decrease, and I tried this on a later project, this works better. I also think it is because the ball is so small (1x 6sc, 4x 12sc, 1x 6sc).

Because of a promotion from Holiday Inn back in the summer, we got a free night to spend at one of their (participating) hotels. Because it was just one night, we had to find somewhere that was close enough to get to within a couple of hours and where the travel and entertainment would not be too expensive. In the end we chose to go to Maastricht for two days, which, while it is still in The Netherlands, is about as far as we could go from Hoorn and still be in The Netherlands.
The “weekend” didn’t start out too well, with us being stuck for three hours in a broken down train about twenty minutes from home. After they finally got the train moving again we travelled on to Maastricht where we arrived around three on friday. After checking in the hotel, and checking out the lovely room, we quickly went in to town. Our first stop was the Natuurhistorisch Museum where I had never been, but where Henk had been when he was younger. It was a lovely small museum, so we checked it out and where out again in about 30 minutes. We walked into the shopping center because I had decided that since I had finished my book in the beginning of the train journey, I absolutely needed a new book. Or more than one :).
So, we went to the bookstore, which has been descibed as the most beautiful in the world. It is housed in an old Dominican church, and it was very beautiful. It is from a big chain in The Netherlands called Selexyz. I like the design of their bookstores, but their selection and pricing isn’t quite for me. Not that many English books, and when they are available, they can be very expensive. But, of course I managed to pick up a few books, and even get one free because they are promoting the English book this week.
After walking through town a bit the stores were all closing and we were getting hungry so we found a nice restaurant where we had a lovely dinner. We were thinking of catching a movie afterwards, but as there were no movies we both wanted to see at a time we could see it, we just went back to our room to relax.

The follow day we checked out of the hotel, got ourselves breakfast at the bakery around the corner and walked to the Bonnefantenmuseum. We ate our breakfast sitting on the river’s edge. The museum was nice, but we only saw the Medieval collection and the old masters, as modern art doesn’t really interest either of us. That’s where we saw the funny little man in the picture. After our visit to the museum, we went back into town where we visited some antique shops, some more bookstores and the rest. We picked up some more books (you can never have enough!) and other knick knacks. We were pretty tired, so after a quick dinner at KFC, we headed back to the station. Luckily we didn’t have any problems on the return journey.

Well, this week I didn’t have that much time to stitch, so I worked on some more red and dark red, and looky there, the eye of the bird appeared. This was only 2,5 hours of stitching, bringing the total to 374,5 hours.

It has been a long, long, long time since I stitched on A Mon Seul Desir. To tell you the truth, I really had had enough of the piece. After finishing the top of the fourth page (Page 6), I really couldn’t stand any more red confetti. Also, summer had arrived, and it was really too hot to stitch, with sweaty hands messing up the fabric, needle and thread, and a major head ache from sitting in the sun.

But now the weather has turned, I took my break. I started stitching on this piece again last week, and I loved it. I started working on the red. I will stitch all the red(ish) colors before filling them in with the confetti colors of the flowers. I am leaving the bird to last for my grand finish ;).

Total time so far is 372 hours (13,5 hours this week). My stitching plan is also out of the window. Let’s see if I can finish this page by the end of November, and maybe the fifth page (halfway point!) this year.

I’ll just come right out and admit it; I love accessories, almost as much as whatever it is I am accessorizing. This week I got it into my head that I want to carry my Nintendo DS Lite (a white one) in a stylish case, so that it is a bit protected and looks a bit less like a children’s toy. I love original handmade stuff, and also import stuff that is not so common here, so I looked and looked and looked around the net, and here is what I found:

First stop: Etsy, the online marketplace of handmade goods by extremely talented crafters. There are several sellers here that sell some great cases, some with customization options.

• Angeliz makes these cute DS cases which have room for your DS (Phat, Lite or i) and 6 games. The case is made of two different fabrics and closes with Velcro. The price is $22,00.




• SiamSquare makes a more purse like case, with a handle. This case also has room for a DS (Lite or i) and 6 games, though in this case the games are stored inside the case. Three different fabric designs are used, and the case closes with Velcro. Price is $28,00 and customization options (fabric choices) are available.




• Janis13 makes a very different case, this felt Gameboy pouch. It is the color and size of an old school b/w Gameboy, and fits a DS (Lite, i) very nicely. Other colors are also available. This pouch, which closes with a zipper, can also be made for the DS Phat for an extra $2. The price for this great and original case is $14,00.




• SmileRecipe makes these cute Gadget Travel Cases that fit a DS (Lite, i) and 4 games perfectly. The fabric is from Japan, and she has some lovely unique cases up for sale. The cases close with Velcro, and cost $15,00.




• Little Mary Moo makes this cute case from denim. It fits a DS (Lite, maybe i) quite snugly. It closes with velcro, and costs $13,00.

Dawanda is like Etsy, but aimed at the European market. There are a lot less sellers, but one really stands out, and that is:

• Liflette makes these gorgeous DS covers for the DS lite and i, with room for six games in the case and a gorgeous leather wrap-around closing. If it weren’t white I would’ve gotten it! They sell for €19,50.

Of course, not only crafters make beautiful cases, so do professional companies. Especially Japan has many beautiful and unique cases, which are unfortunately hard to get here. A selection:

• Fabrix is a professional company that makes all it’s products by hand. They sell (amongst iPhone, iPod, camera and laptop sleeves) a pouch for the DS lite and DSi in various fabric choices. The case has room for two games and a Velcro closing. It sells for $28,90.




• Vis-a-vis, a Japanese company, makes this beautiful case made from kimono fabric. It slips onto your DS Lite, and can be left on while playing. They released it in 2007, and though it seems they are still selling it, I have not been able to find anyplace that sells it and ships it internationally (on a site I can understand). If anyone does, please let me know!




• Kakai makes this simple canvas cover that attaches to your DS lite, and stays on during play. It doesn’t offer much protection, but it does help to individualize your DS. $8,99 at Renchi.




• Keys Factory makes this faux-leather cover for the DS. Like the previous two covers, it attached to your DS lite to stay on during play. The only thing I find dubious about this case is that you are supposed to stick it to your DS with adhesive pads. As I like to switch cases now and then, this seems like bad solution, especially compared to the Vis-a-Vis case. $19,40 at Renchi.

Well, that’s about the best case I could find after browsing the web. If you know of any more, do not hesitate to let me know!

Reading has always been one of my hobbies. During the years I have always read, sometimes a lot, sometimes not as much. When I finished high school I started buying all the books I read, as opposed to borrowing them from the library or friends. I feel this gives me the opportunity to read on my own time and pace.
I never really read book reviews, because most books reviewed weren’t really the type I like, or because the reviewers hates books for reasons I find exceptable. Also, I like to form my own opinion and not be led by a review.
So, when I joined the LibraryThing website in 2006 it was merely to catalog my collection, and not for the ’social’ aspect of the website. I didn’t participate in the forums on the website, nor did I look at the automatically generated recommendations before I had fully cataloged my collection, because I somehow felt I was ‘cheating’.

Back in April I finished my LibraryThing catalog. I had also started tracking my buys and reads on the site. There are several fields on the book details page for this, but more importantly, there are several forum topics for this. There are topics where members posts whatever books they are reading, or have finished, and also which books they have bought. Also, since the arrival of collections on the website (collections are basically a set of books you can include or exclude from your library, enabling the creation of wishlists), there are charts of the books that are most being read, and are wished for the most. This gives a good overview of what’s popular at the moment.

Because LibaryThing is a social network, you can attach value to what certain users say or recommend. If a user has many books in common with you, you can attach a higher value to his opinion and vice versa. All the comments and recommendation really led me to many new books, some of which I might never have picked up if not for the recommendations in LibraryThing.

Some of these books are The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and Freakonomics by Steven Levitt. Some other books I stumbled upon through the internet are The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Cambell and A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr..

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am pleasantly surprised by the good suggested reading that I am finding on the internet these days, yay for the internet (the people on the internet)!