We landed in Auckland, New Zealand, with no plans and a slow first week getting our land legs, finding our bearings and making plans for the next few weeks. I had quite a bit of yarn left, and obviously lots of time. So I thought, why not get into another project? Perhaps for my 4 year-old niece, Luna. I had a big skein of off-white yarn, and small green, pink and purple skeins. Based on what I used on the ship, I surely had enough left to make a bigger blanket. Flipping through my Crochet World magazine, I found the Confetti Stars design by Martha Brooks Stein which looked simple enough.

The pattern was pretty straight forward: “ch 3, join in first ch to form a ring, ch 5, dc in ring, ch 2, [dc in ring, ch 2] 5 times, join in 3rd ch of beg ch-5…” Translation: make an eight spoke wheel of color, and crochet a white square around it, leaving an 8 inch thread to stitch the squares together. Once all the squares are stitched together and all threads are tucked, crochet 4 border rows.

From wheel to square to stitched.

Color-wise, I chose the horizontal order purple->green->pink, staggering them each row. All was good… until I stitched about 3 or 4 rows together. The blanket looked pretty narrow. What happened? Oh! I was using light yarn instead of medium yarn which made my squares smaller (barely 2″ instead of 2″3/4). Oopsie! I also realized that I needed to adjust the pattern size from 52″x76″ to 50″x84″ to fit a French twin bed. After some calculations (thank you Justin!), we came to the conclusion I needed to make more squares. 293 additional squares to be exact. For real? Yes, for real. Ok, no problem.

Crochet… crochet… crochet.

In Queenstown, it was pretty cold and rainy so we decided to find a room for two nights instead of camping in our Spaceship. The next morning we woke up with a few, really itchy bites. Ack! What if it were bedbugs!? We decided to leave the hotel, after drying all of our clothes, backpacks…. and crochet material (heat kills the bugs and their microscopic eggs). I put the yarn, crocheted squares and the stitched piece into a bag to avoid major tangling with other stuff in the dryer. We took things out relieved, as nothing was damaged… but the bag of yarn came out majorly tangled! It was a solid ball of yarn mess! I seriously considered just chucking the whole thing.

Then, I thought of my niece. Nothing obliged me to keep going, but wouldn’t she like a little blankie made by her Tata Steph? Ok. I proceeded to untangle the mess, one string at a time. It took me several days.

Back on track and bug-free I continued to make the little squares wherever we were. Justin helped tucking threads on a train (thank you Justin!) and I even took the yarn on our 6-day Abel Tasman trek, much to the surprise of other trekkers.

Not even remotely halfway through, I ran out of white yarn. Great. I looked online to see if I could order a new skein, but the websites wouldn’t ship outside of the US. Inevitably, I turned to Justin’s sweet Mom, who went to the store and bought the Ecru Bernat Baby Sport skein to ship to our next WWOOFing gig at a Marlborough winery. (Thank you Kathy!) In the meantime I made a bunch of colored wheels.

I received the new white skein and cranked the production to the max everyday after returning from working in the vines. It was November. I thought to myself… I can get this done by Christmas.

Crochet… crochet… tuck… tuck… stitch… stitch.

Stitched squares.

We left New Zealand and flew to Bali mid-December. In Bali, it was the rainy season, which in theory meant we’d be in indoors quite a bit, enabling me to make progress. Well, it was hot and extremely humid… I did not need any extra heat on my lap. Also, swimming in pools and walking around rice fields was very distracting. What do you know? I blinked and Christmas was here.

I was a few rows from being done with the first half when we flew to the Philippines. Since I had slowed down the pace in Bali, I thought to myself… I’ll definitely be done by the time we leave the Philippines. Yeah right. Our stay there was so action packed (and wonderful!) that I made little progress. Once in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), we slowed down considerably which enabled me to savor watching music videos while tucking threads. Looking at my progress though, I was never going to be able to finish anytime soon. Since the stitched part was getting pretty bulky, I needed to ship what was done to Mom in France. That way, I could lighten my load and do the assembly when we got there.

The post office being closed when I tried to ship it in Saigon, I took advantage of our boat ride up the Mekong Delta on our way to Phnom Penh to make/stitch a few more squares. The 1st half was complete, it was time to ship it to Mom. Yeah but… how would I make sure the 2 halves would match? Make a color pattern, of course! So I put together a spreadsheet. Geeky, but oh so helpful!

The color pattern, with the half mark, row and column numbers.

The blanket then followed me to Siem Reap, where I worked on it in between temple visits. Then I took a break in Hoi An (Vietnam) because we were too busy getting clothes tailor made (blame me again…). I resumed in the train up the Vietnamese coast to Hanoi. I paused during our 3-day Halong Bay cruise (too busy being in awe, eating and thinking about familiarity). I resumed back in Hanoi, to forget about the gloomy weather. I continued in Luang Prabang (Laos), followed by Chiang Mai (Thailand). I also took the blanket with me at the Yoga Retreat on Koh Phangan, which made for a nice evening occupation… when I had electricity. In Bangkok, Justin and I hadn’t seen each-other in 2 weeks, so the blanket was pushed aside for a bit.

By then I was sure I’d be done with it, but oh no, I still had much stitching and tucking ahead. That meant I had to take it to India, which was not my preference. In the end, I was glad I did. It enabled me to do something familiar, in the great, constant unfamiliar. Most of my squares being done, I stitched on trains, buses, in our hotel rooms, always making sure to lay the blanket on something clean. It made for the entertainment of a lot of people on these rides.

In Mumbai, soon before our departure to Nairobi, I had most of the 2nd half done, with just a few more squares to make, about 2 rows to stitch and threads to tuck when… I ran out of white yarn. Again! Since I didn’t want to bring the blanket with me in Africa (we’d be camping the whole time and I didn’t know how dirty we might get), I ordered a skein online and had it shipped to Justin’s Mom who then shipped it to my Mom (thanks again, Kathy!). I also shipped the 2nd half to France, so I could resume “production” there early June and surely could finish it in time for Luna’s birthday on the 13th. Plus, I could use a crochet break.

The beautifully stitched box containing the 2nd half of the blanket (and other things) sent from India to France.

As soon as we arrived in France, I hit the crochet hook right away, with the end in sight. I made good progress and started crocheting the border rows. But oh was there so much thread tucking to do! So many little buggers to thread on a needle, slip into the pattern and cut the tip. Hundreds! Mom started to help me (thank you Mom!) but clearly I wasn’t going to finish it for Luna’s Birthday. Grrr.

Typical scene in Mom’s garden: me crocheting, Justin on the laptop.

I did as much as I could before we left for our road trip through a chunk of France (via Dad’s house in the Rhone valley) and northern Italy. While we were driving our little hearts away, Mom was tucking threads at home (thanks again, Mom!). When we returned, we had 2 weeks left before taking a train to Le Havre to catch our ship across the Atlantic. I simply had to finish the blanket! I only had one last border round to do.

Crochet… crochet… final tuck. Phew! It was done. At last!

Et voilà! It went really well with Mom’s garden.

Detail of a corner and border.

Luna had seen me work on it a little bit, so she wasn’t surprised at all when I gave it to her. She said: “But you showed this to me before!” I laughed and replied that I wasn’t done with it the 1st time, but this time it’s all finished and it was hers. I asked: “Do you like it?” She responded: “Yes, it’s beeeeeautiful!”

This blanket has seen the world and has been seen by the world. It was one of the biggest projects I have ever gotten into. It has also proven that I am apparently ETA*-impaired. But I am very proud of it and it is now living a happy life on Luna’s bed… where it fits just about right.

Luna, the bed and the blankie from Tata Steph.

PS: For the geeks… here are some figures about the blanket.

Started: Oct 2010
Completed: Aug 2012
Length of white yarn: ~ 3000 yards / **** meters
Length of colored yarn: ~ 1200 yards / 1 097 meters
Crochet hook size: H and I
Number of squares: 19 x 36 = 684
Number of border rows: 4
Number of threads to tuck (3 per square): 2052
Time per square (color + white): 10 – 15 minutes
Time per border: 90 – 120 minutes
Time to stitch 1 row: 60 – 90 minutes
Time to tuck one thread: 30 seconds (0.5 minutes)
Estimated number of hours of work:
Minimum: (684*10)+(4*90)+(2052*0.5)+(60*36) = 10386 minutes = 173.1 hours
Maximum: (684*15)+(4*120)+(2052*0.5)+(90*36) = 15006 minutes = 250.1 hours
Average: 12696 minutes = 211.6 hours. That’s 8.81 days of non-stop work without sleeping, eating or peeing.
Countries visited while crocheting: New Zealand, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, India, France.

* Estimated Time of Arrival

So I brought 2 Camembert size Bries and 2 St Marcellin size ones. The first bigger one was munched on by her, Justin and I…. little wedge by little wedge and woosh it was gone. The second one, I wrapped it in a pre-made (didn’t have the patience to go for homemade) puff pastry. You know how many times you have to fold the dough to make puff pastry? Too many, that’s how many.

Anyways… puff pastry with some homemade jam (see, I make other srtuff than cheese) and some crushed almonds. I baked in the oven for a good 30-35 minutes and it turned out golden, melty, yummy. Maybe a little too doughy for me, but still really yummy. The Brie practically dissolved.

Next time, I might try Phyllo dough.

And to kick off the New Year… I’m not making resolutions because I know I will break them and I don’t like to be disappointed. Instead, I got a hair cut (well, before the New Year, but it still counts) to have a fresh look on myself. The new me will do all sorts of cool things that won’t even fit on a list…. I will let it unfold as it comes.

Off for the wonderful year of change that I’m hoping 2010 to be. Happy New Year everyone!

I don’t feel like I ever got the full story, or at least not consciously – you know, when you’re younger and hear your family’s love stories, you say “yeah, yeah, very cool, mmhmm, that’s really cute” – so this time, I didn’t want to miss it.

To paint the picture a little bit, my grandmother’s family owned a farm for several generations in the town of Egaules, central France. My grandfather’s family lived in Clermont-Ferrand and his dad was a train mechanic. Now in those days, we have to realize that there was a big difference in social class between industrial workers and farmers. This will be relevant later in the story…

Part of Mamie’s family business was to deliver butter and other foods to people in the towns nearby. One day, in 1942, the government required young male students to join a farm to help out during the war. At the time, Papou was studying medicine to become a family doctor. He had to drop his studies and his mom sent him to Mamie’s farm, since she knew the “butter lady”.

Papou ended up spending 3 years at the farm, leaving lots of time to get to know the daughter… one thing led to another, they started dating when she was 14 and he was 20. He got to return to college for a short while during this time, but only to come back to the farm instead of being sent to work for the Germans.

The photo below was taken with Papou’s camera… on self timer. Notice Mamie’s dress and how the fabric wasn’t uniform? She told me they didn’t have enough fabric at the time to make full dresses, so they would patch up different pieces. Turned out quite nice if you ask me!

Papou would take her to his family once in a while, in Clermont-Ferrand. But one day, his Dad decided to refuse to ever see her again. The reason being they were getting too serious and she was the daughter of a peasant, which was too disgraceful to approve of their love. They ended up getting married at the farm, with close family, except for Papou’s parents who didn’t attend the ceremony. His sister walked him down the aisle instead.

Below is a picture of their very modest wedding, with Papou on the left and Mamie’s brother on the right. It was on July 23rd, 1949.

Papou and Mamie ended up having 3 children, Bernadette (center), Christiane (right-Mom) and Alain (left). They were all three born in their house with the help of Dr. Roux at Ardes-sur-Couze, a very snowy part of France in the winter.

To get away from the snow they would take vacations on the French Riviera in little towns like Seillans (which is their current next door village) and Le Bar-sur-Loup. I believe that this picture was taken along the shore, near L’Esterel. I love the Vespa leaned against the wall! Classic.

So can you believe it? I was born because my Mom was born because her Mom’s Mom delivered butter to my Mom’s Dad’s Mom!
I think that’s pretty cool.

I packed two of them tight is a double zip-lock bag for both exposure to air and to prevent the smell to leak! Uh yes, it was smelly. I didn’t want any airport dogs detecting it and wanting to eat it, so I sealed it really well and put it in one of those thermal lunch bags. Turns out it came out pretty soft and stinky, but apparently, so my family says, pretty good!

I loved writing on that label, origin: USA, producer: Stephanie, and crossing out “purchased” for “made”. Ha! So funny… to me.

The first glimpse of the small wheel was promising.

A nice white and yellow, wrinkly crust, wrapped a soft body when pressed down gently.

Indeed pretty soft when the knife went through.

Ta-da! A really creamy, gooey thick edge with a slightly firmer center.

By now Justin was in another room pinching his nose. Just kidding, he had a piece. I think. Hmm I’ll have to ask him. Maybe he’s traumatized forever with my stinky, but – so my Mom, Dad, Sister, aunt and grand-ma say – accurate cheese.

I can’t believe it! I made Camembert! In my kitchen! In San Francisco! I put it on a plane for 14 hours and it made it onto plates in France! And people liked it! Or everyone was very polite with me. Hmm…

My sister, Aurelie, just turned 25 while we were there. She’s married and has an adorable two year old, Luna. Her life is full to the brim which makes talking window opportunities a little slim at times, especially with the time difference. I love her very much and wish I could chat with her like we used to when I still lived in France or would visit for a whole month.

But this visit, we managed to carve out some time to just the two of us…. at a spa. Yes, in a spa! How perfect. The spa day was a gift for our birthdays from Dad (our birthdays are not really close together, but who cares). So the next day I arrived, we headed to the Thalazur thalassotherapy center in Antibes (specializing in sea water treatments) for the day.

Check us out in our robes! That was pretty much the outfit for the following 6 hours. (Photo not so awesome, but the thrill and anticipation was there).

In the morning we had 4 treatment each, including a sea water massaging bath (awesome!), a marine mud wrap for joints (heck of hot, but completely erased all pain from my right knee), a sea water high pressure -super jet- shower (invigorating) and a massage (so relaxing).

Once we were pampered and loose, we had a wonderful lunch with a view from the mountains to the sea.

They served us a fresh fruit smoothie.

And a delicious 3 course meal.

As if this wasn’t enough bliss, we had access to their pools for the afternoon.

Sure enough a sweet nap took place on our lovely poolside spot.

When do we ever get to be pampered like this? It was such perfect time (right after the long, body-wrecking plane trip and before visiting people and eating like *French* pigs).

Thank you Dad for giving Aurelie and I the very rare opportunity to relax together and enjoy ourselves. This moment is very dear to me. I love you Lili! Big bisous :-)

And here’s a cute picture that makes me smile… in lieu of a real one. Coming soon!

Aurélie and Michelangelo (Michel) celebrated the events in the lovely village of Valbonne. The festivities started at 10am and we decided to wrap it up at 2am (suggesting that people we still partying after that).

Happy times.

With my Dad, we’re trying to find an online version of the film named “Ce qu’il en reste“, with no luck so far. The closest I got was finding an excerpt of the film. You can find it here or here (it requires Real Media Player… and the ability to either speak Hungarian or read French subtitles). There’s also a wonderful blog post here quoting her talking about the film. Again, it’s in French, but Google Translate does a pretty good job at, well, translating.

My great uncle, Peter, is actually going to meet with her in Paris this spring. We might get juicy information on genealogy and maybe a DVD? I can’t wait to get more information!

Here are a few of my favorites…

Me in Oct 1979. Look at those chubby cheeks! Still haven’t totally lost them.

Mom cutting Dad’s hair… classic.

My Grandfather, Papi Claude, teasing my cousin Jill.

Group family shot. From Left to right: Renee (my grandmother), Chantal (my aunt), Barbara (my half great aunt) Edith (my great-grandfather’s wife), Claude (my grandfather), me (facing back), Christiane (my Mom) and Jean-Claude (my Dad).