The Doorbell Buzzer Returns!

So last night, at a reasonable hour I might add, a man comes to make an appointment. (I was prepared.) We had settled on elf Uhr today, Mittwoch. This means 11am on Wednesday to the rest of us. We "Tschuss" each other, as is the ritual, and I go about my evening relieved that I will not be woken up tomorrow at 7:33 am by someone just dying to repair the holes in my wall, which we have now become used to.

My insomnia backed off a little, waking me up at 4am, instead of its punctual 3:13 am. I knit more of the monkey (st st never fails!), listed to BBC on the magic couch (our couch is magical in that it can put anyone to sleep), and then went back to bed.

7:30 am. The doorbell rings. And the doorbells here aren't like the quaint "Ding-dong" ones we had back in the US that politely, yet ever so quietly announce your presence. Here it is easy to confuse it with an air raid. It startles you, and you wake up confused saying, "What the hell is that??"

So I get up, in my pj's, no less, as it is the crack of bloody dawn, and I answer the phone (the doorbells are hooked up to phones, where you can buzz someone in), and the guy is standing outside my door. Eager fella. And no, I didn't see him standing there--I do this all the time. I am the retard of the building.

I open the door and he is tall and chipper. I hate morning people. The apartment is a dungeon because all the rolladen (roll down shutters) are still down, and I say, "Ja?"

He realizes he has woken me up, and explains he is here to fix my wall. I explain back (yes, in German!) that he is supposed to come at 11am, not 7:30 am. He shrugs he shoulders, and we agree that, shoot, he's here now and I am already up, so go ahead. This will go on till Friday, from what he said, as there are various stages of drying that must be dealt with. Jeez.

Ok, let me try to be in a better mood by talking about my knitting. Monkey socks! I have finished them and they are in the sink soaking for blocking. They fit really well and they were fun to knit. I'll post a snap of them when they are dry.

I think the next pattern I will knit is Sabine Riefler's Snicket Socks, which can be found in Mag Knits September 2006 edition, or by clicking on this here link. Sabine designed them after being inspired by the dress Violet Baudelaire wears in the movie Lemony Snicket--A Series of Unfortunate Events. Sabine also designed the Tiffany mittens in Knitty, which I love, and I didn't realize that she is German until a few days ago.

I finished one of the mittens for Soaring Eagles last night and it did not turn out so well. I'll have to make some adjustments to it so it looks more like a mitten instead of a contraption to fit a claw (too embarrassed to show a picture of it!).

And fell in love with a slipper pattern that I will have to make for my nieces, Natalia and Mallorie, who are taking dancing lessons.