Herbstfest and Weinfest (Again!)

This weekend the town of Heidelberg officially welcomed in Fall (or Herbst if you wanna say it proper-like) by turning the Hauptstrasse into a smorgasbord of new wine, beer, food, and QVC-like kitchen knickknacks you might need for later. Please don't ask about that latter; I have no idea how it fits in. We would have taken pictures but the foot traffic was so bad it made the beltway at rush hour look like freeflowing bliss.

One important thing to know is that the knitting shop was open late, so I bought mee-self some grey merino wool to make some fingerless gloves designed by Cheryl Niamath for when we head up to Amsterdam this weekend. Finished them in less than a day and no extremities are accidentally losing bloodflow due to my tight knitting. For the pattern, check out Knitty.

There is also a male-friendly version from the same designer available if you go to Knitty's archive.

When I was done knitting these, I used the leftover to make a little baby hat. A lot of friends are having wee-one's, so having extras on hand are a good idea and I can crank out little baby hats and socks in my sleep. Gauge is 4.75 sts to the inch on size 7's. I cast on 66 sts, did a k3,p3 rib for about an inch or so then switched to an even knit stitch till I got to 3.75 inches from CO. To decrease at the crown, I [k9, k2tog] till the end, then k one row even. The next row I [k8, k2tog] till the end, then k one row even. I kept alternating between a decrease row and an even row till I got to approximately [k4, k2tog] till the end and then I eliminated the knitting rows completely and kept decreasing until there were 4 sts. Then I knit in the round for about an inch, decreased to 2 stitches and did an i-cord for the length of my choice to get the funny nub on top.

On the emerging from illiteracy front, I have two bits of info to report. First, I conducted all my little errands today in German with success, which means that the Germans did not ask me to please speak English. I am finally getting a handle on word order and those articles. The second is I have discovered DTV books, which are normal, everyday books BUT they have the English on one side and the German on the opposing page. Translating user manuals and instructions on food boxes (exciting as that may be) is now part of the past and we're moving onto this:



Ok, I didn't say it was going to be an exciting title, only that it would be more exciting than the backs of food boxes.