New Store: Beadies!

Hi Everyone!

This post is about a new store that I found here in Utrecht (I didn't find it really... Danja found it and told me about it). I went there for the first time with Sytze on Friday. I saw all these cool beads and the idea is that you can make your own jewlery. Anything from earings, bracelete or necklaces. I decided to try it all out and found some cute things to remind me of Holland (so a bracalete filled with a lot of blue and white).

Usually there are people in the store that help you put your jelwary together. It was close to closing for them though, so they were not so friendly towards me... thirty minutes before closing I packed my things together, payed and left. I did not have my bacelete finished by then - It's a good idea to take an entire afternoon the first time.

When I went back yesterday, I saw all the pretty already made jelwary that they have for sale. The necklaces and the braceletes are all very cute and pretty cheap (ranging form 10 - 30 Euros). I thought this was a very affordable price.

I was so excited yesterday, that we went there early (it's a Saturday so we were there by 1 p.m.). Sytze made me some earings to go with my bracelete and I made myself a necklace to remind me of the ocean when I am not there... it still turned out pink and pictures are to follow.

From the range of beads they sell at Beadies and the help you recieve putting your jelwary together is great. It's even better if you already know what you are doing, because spending more than an hour in that store is horrible. It took me and hour and 15 minutes to get all the beads for my necklace and by then all I wanted to do was go home. I didn't even want to put my jelwary together there.

I will be going back to pick out some other nice things that I like. I hope to also get the beads there for the girls' braceletes/ necklaces for Christmas. I will not get the wiring there, since all they offer is metal and not silver.

Love,
Sam

The trouble with the Swallow Tail Shawl

Hi Everyone!

This is just a quick update on how far I have gotten and what I have been up to (I know it's insane that I have managed to update twice this month!)

So far I have gotten through the body of the swallow tail shawl. Now I am working on the edging and noticing that something has gone terribly wrong. I am on the second row of the shawl and I have way too little stitches. I am missing four on one side and three on the other. I'm going to have to rip back (too bad I didn't throw myself a lifeline...

I am stuck on my fawks socks, because I am obsessed with the shawl. I think it's a good idea to keep them on the needles for now, because the shawl can sometimes need a break (like now).

I've been busy with the moving thing. I have no idea how I am going to transport my stash, since I have used the moving containers for the kitchen stuff. I think I'll have to go out and buy some new boxes for my stash :-( That of course cuts into my budget. We'll see how far I get.

Anyways, once I get the pictures takes for the furniture that I am going to sell, I'll try to get the pictures up from my knitting!

Much love,
Sam

A Fresh Start in All Senses

Once again I have been neglecting my blogg. Not for the normal reasons of being super busy with other things of course :-S

As of the 26th of October, I will be moving back to Switzerland in the hopes of persuing a medical carreer. After getting fed up with the style here in Utrecht, I heard that there might be a chance for me to start medicine in Zurich. This is awesome! The only reason that I had set aside medicine was because I thought that I did not fullfill all of the requirements. This seems to have changed the last year. If I do not happen to get into a medical carreer right from the start, I will start training as a nurse and then go into medicine. This is difficult but not impossible. Thanks to the training in Switzerland, I will be allowed to give vacinations (not often practiced in other countries) as well as doing the first inspections of the pacient and things like stitches. This I am super excited about. Either which direction I go (either as a Doctor or as a Nurse) I am considering working with disabled children or in the emergency room.

So as to accompany my change in life style (if you haven't done the math yet, a Swiss Franc can buy a lot of pretty pretty yarn) I have started my first shawl. I think I have already doomed my success, because I have chosen a very large shawl. Today I cast on 110 starting stitches of the "Rose Trellis Shawl". I love the look of it and I am excited about using up some of the pink lace-weight yarn that I had gotten over Ebay in order to make my "biggest wrap ever" - which took me 2 years to finish.

In just over two weeks I will be leaving the beautiful city of Utrecht and I am having mixed feelings about it. There is a REAL appartment set up and waiting for me in Switzerland (once I get a job and some money that is) which I am excited about, since my last appartment alone has been over a year ago. But I am looking forward to being on my own, persuing a carreer that I am despiratly excited about but at the same time, I am sorry that it will not be possible in a city that I love to live in. I am also sad that I will be doing monthly visits with my now boyfriend but I am certain that we will be able to get over this bump in the road and make it work (even though I have no faith in long distance due to previous relationships).

I'm thinking this is going to be my last blogg from the Netherlands and for that then my last words in Dutch from Holland!

Ik heb het echt genoten hier in Utrecht te wonen and ik wens me dat die mensen en die Stadt het zelfte blijven als ik hier op bezoek ben! Ik hoop erg snell wier in Utrecht te zijn en de Nederlanden het een plek in mij hart gevonden. Misschien ben ik hier ook heel snell wie voor en Medicine-praktika!

Liefs,
Sam