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2008-10-16T16:23:00.000+02:00

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Our Heater Control Looks Like the Hadron Collider

2008-09-23T12:01:00.006+02:00

I hear that most of the world (well, at least the parts I used to live in) is at about 70-80 degrees Fahrenheit right now. Lucky bastards. Is this how it always was and I just don't remember it?

Well, we have been freezing here. It has been in the 50's, which isn't too bad, but when your heater isn't working and you have thick-ass cement walls, your flat kinda goes into hibernation and begins to get colder. Pretty soon, hubbo and I were wearing sweaters and hats in the house wondering at what point we would see our breath.

At the end of last winter I made sure to not permanently turn off the heat because I knew I would not remember how to turn it on again come this year. I mean, look at this thing: I am scared to touch a single button on it. I swear one must control that Hadron Collider in Switzerland.
So I get the help of our neighbors, the Klauss's, upstairs. We surmise the problem is that there is no water in the boiler (see the round gauge at the left--it was at zero). Long story short, we fill it up to get pressure, next morning water is all over our floor, but now it is fixed. Turns out two knobs were kaputt so they were replaced. Oy vey.

But now we are toasty warm. I explained to Herr Huhn that I am always cold and could he please program that thing (see above) to be as warm as humanly possible, which he did. It only took pressing of about 7 buttons and turning 2 knobs to do it. Only.

But the impending winter inside the flat got me cracking on some socks that have taken me too long to finish. I bought this sock yarn a long time ago at Stitch DC (Capitol Hill) in Washington, DC, where we used to live before coming to Germany. It's Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch. I knit them up on US 2 dpns--the pattern is mine. I've made so many socks now that I don't even bother with a pattern unless I'm looking for a special stitch. They are started from the toe with a middle eastern cast on (see Anna Zilboorg's Fancy Feet) and knit with a 3x1 knit/purl ribbing till about two inches from the heel. From there I did a short row heel and then continued up the leg with the established ribbing and finished up with a hemmed top of all stockinette stitch for ten rows, one row of purl for the fold line, then another ten rows of stockinette, did a bind off, and baste stitched the edge down for a sturdy edge. Oh, and I also increased four stitches as I approached the calf (I did this in the knit section of the ribbing) so it wouldn't be so tight. All in all a very comfortable knit, and I still have a good chunk of yarn leftover from the ball.

I also started a Finnish lace pattern called Revontuli, meaning "Northern Lights". Several people on Ravelry have used Kauni, a Danish yarn, for this, and I had enough in my stash to try this. A few months ago I bought some Kauni at a LYS in Nusssloch and so this was my first time to use it. It's a very rough wool initially, and seems to have a lot of lanolin in it (unless it's oil from being spun?). I suspect that it's lanolin, though, and it makes my hands soft as I knit it. As with all lace, it'[s looks like a clump of dump now, but when I block it I'm sure it will turn out beautiful. The Finnish patterns on Ravelry are so impressive.

I'm also knitting a Finnish sweater...for the second time. First time I didn't trust my gauge (a theme of mine lately) so I frogged it). Now I am on the second go and I noticed a mistake in the garter yoke section...arrrgh..so I think I'll try fixing each stitch by dropping it and using a crochet hook to turn it around. I am so pissed about that.

Finally, my friend, Sara, who I was in the Peace Corps with, is coming to visit us tomorrow and she is staying for a month. Yay! We'll hang out here in Heidelberg for the rest of this week and then Monday we are off to Munich for Oktoberfest, then Salzburg, Austria.

Baby Bamboo Wraplan

2008-08-25T10:12:00.001+02:00

Baby Bamboo Wraplan
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

Knit in Snuggly Baby Bamboo (2 balls--I think I had 6 inches left), and based on the pattern "Offset Wraplan".

This pic is post-blocking, pre-buttoning. Now I just have to find the perfect buttons. Thanks to some info my friend, Siga, picked up when we went to the local LYS, there is a great shop up the street that sells loads of buttons. I should definitely be able to find some buttons for this baby sweater there.

Dining at the Fascist Cafe

2008-08-05T14:08:00.002+02:00

After buying some discounted Angora over at Stikkestek, Hubbo and I decided to get a snack and a beer at a local cafe down the block. So we go in, sit down, and the waitress comes over to us (no menu or anything) and asks us what we would like (this always amazes me, as if I am a psychic as to what they offer).

We ask, "Do you have any food?"

Waitress: " We have spaghetti, croque monsieur, hot dog and pizza baguette. But you must drink."

Me: "Ok, we'll have two beers."

Hubbo asks me what the heck she said (she had a thick accent) so I repeated it back to him.

Hubbo: "What the hell is a croque monsieur?"

Me: "It's a grilled cheese." I learned this from watching Julia Child.

So we laughed a little bit on the fact that they were serving a kiddies menu at this bar and forcing us to drink beer (not that we had a problem with this last bit). I was kinda hoping the menu would be something like mussels, frites, waffles and chocolates, but no, apparently, off the tourist track the fare at Belgian pubs in Bruges is the kiddies menu with beer. What the heck is up with that? Is this really true?

Speaking of beer, drinking beer outside of Germany can often be a letdown. Here, you get half-liter tall glasses of wonderful stuff. It really is good. When we went to Spain, the alcohol content was low, and the glasses so small my first thought was that the waiter was serving us a sample and I was about to go off on him for ripping us off. In Bruges, however, beer was certainly a treat. Not any of the mega-quantities that you get in Germany, but the quality was high and you should drink plenty of it if you ever happen to go to Belgium.

As for the kiddies menu, if you are ever looking to go off the beaten path, let a menu like that be your guide. Land on something like that and you are truly away from the tourists.

Frogging is Good For The Soul?

2008-08-04T17:29:00.005+02:00

I can just hear my friend, Julie, saying "It's about time you blogged something." So here it is, my dear.

So I finished the body of my February Lady Sweater, which I posted in a previous entry, and as I suspected it is way to big for my body (and I even knitted the small!). Oh well, no matter. With all the lace I have been knitting lately, worsted weight yarn feels like fat-arse rope so I am fine with frogging it out and reknitting it with some modifications that I read about on the FLS thread on Ravelry.

My bus and S-Bahn knitting is the ever-lovely Anne Hanson Lighthouse Gansey Sock which was posted in Knitty some seasons ago. I'm knitting it with Louet Gems fingering weight in colorway Indigo on US 1's. The pattern is originally meant to be knit with a heavier weight yarn for a man, but you can make it for a woman's foot using smaller needles and lighter weight yarn.
For a history of ganseys, or guernseys, see this entry.

I also finished the Fiddlehead Scarf, also an Anne Hanson design, and wore it to Bruges, Belgium this past weekend. Hubbo took me there for my birthday. Did you know Bruges is a UN World Heritage Site? The whole town seems to be surrounded by a double moat. We went to Choco-Story, which is a museum dedicated to, you guessed it, the chocolate trade. But best of all was the brewery tour at De Halve Maan (The Half Moon). For 10 Euros you got a tour of their brewery and a beer afterwards. Not only did we learn a lot, but the beer was incredible. If you ever find yourself going to Bruges, I would skip Choco-Story (which is not worth the 6 Euros at all) and do the brewery tour.

For yarnies, I did find a yarn shop in Bruges, called Stikkestek. You can go to Knitmap.com and enter in Bruges, Belgium for the info. I did manage to pick up some discounted Angora and some neat buttons, but on the whole I was not impressed. The stock they carried was mostly what I can get in Germany, plus some Rowan.

One place that was a wonderful surprise in the yarn department, though, was right near De Halve Maan (hey nothing like good beer + yarn) called "Couture Marie Brat". From the outside of the shop it looks like they sell shawls and tapestries, but in one corner I saw a skein hanging near a knitted hat. I went inside and there was an old man sewing something. I saw to his right a box full of local yarn (score!). Turns out the yarn is from Belgian sheep near the coast, and he had it in all colors. I picked up two 100-g skeins--one in blue and another in green to make some mittens. Here's the address for this place:

Couture Marie Brat
Walstraat 12, Bruges 8000
Tel: 050/33.18.76

Fiddlehead Blocking

2008-07-29T12:36:00.001+02:00

Fiddlehead Blocking
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

If you know anything about me, you know that I just love love love Anne Hanson's patterns. Go to knitspot.com now if you don't know about this fabulous woman.

Here is Fiddlehead Scarf, one of her scarves from her "Little Nothing" series. I got this pattern, with a beautiful, handdyed yarn from The Woolen Rabbit.

I just blocked it last night and the size came out to 56" x 11.75". This is much longer than the pattern called for only because I loooved the yarn and could not stop knitting with it.

FLS In Progress

2008-07-29T12:30:00.001+02:00

FLS In Progress
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

This is an adaptation of Elizabeth Zimmerman's February Sweater on Two Needles from "The Knitters Almanac". This version is by Pamela Wynne of Flint Knits, and is called February Lady Sweater. I am knitting size small using Cotton Fleece in Mariner Blue (Thanks, Julie!) that I got at Downtown Yarns on a recent trip to NYC.

Sorry the picture is so shaky--pre-coffee is something my Photoshop abilities cannot even fix.

Woolen Rabbit Whisper Laceweight in Tupelo

2008-07-03T15:04:00.001+02:00

Woolen Rabbit Whisper Laceweight in Tupelo
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

It came! It came! It came! My kit that I ordered from The Woolen Rabbit!
Kit: Fiddlehead Lace Scarf Kit by Anne Hanson of knitspot.com
Yarn: See title above
Where you can get one: www.thewoolenrabbit.com

Brain Damage Causes Knitting of Doily

2008-07-02T17:24:00.005+02:00

It's hot here. No AC (not even a choice in the matter). This is how people die in Europe, my friends.
It's obvious that this heat is causing some brain damage because I have done the unthinkable: I have knit my own doily.

But it gets worse.

Why would I do such a thing? I didn't like the doilies for sale. Please somebody get me more than the three cubes of ice I am allotted when I go out to eat and put my brain in the cooler.

In case you were wondering, here is what it looks like with the blocking wires and pins still in it.

I Bought A Dress. On Purpose.

2008-06-24T12:34:00.004+02:00

I can hear all my friends gasping on that one.

I had to buy one. Not as in I-had-to-because-it-was-calling-to-me-from-the-sale-rack-had-to, but because next month Hubbo and I are going to one of his best friends' wedding and he is in the wedding party which means I should try to look presentable. I have been putting off looking for a dress for a long time. My friends who are reading this know of one time when I have worn a dress and that was at my wedding. But even then I was practical with the whole thing and wore sneakers underneath.

So yesterday, I sucked it up and went out looking. I don't like clothes shopping something real bad. I would pick having my legs waxed, pain and all, any old day.

Why I Hate Clothes Shopping:
It's inefficient--all the effort you put into looking to get one thing only to have to get it tailored anyway.

In the end it's just a covering for your body so you don't get arrested for public nudity, so why spend so much money to avoid a fine.

With everything you will buy you will always gravitate to a favorite outfit and let everything else languish in the closet.

I'd rather spend my money elsewhere.

Finally, I don't like dresses.

This is part of why I like knitting so much, I guess. My socks always fit and my feet are never cold. But whenever I bought socks the heels were halfway up the back of my leg. Ugh. I can make sweaters the color and style that I want with sleeves that fit and when I am tired of the style years later I can frog the sweater and reknit it into something else. All I need then is a pair of Birkenstocks and a pair of jeans. Easy. Whoever said you can't hike up a mountain in Birkenstocks (clogs or sandals) is a flat out liar.

So you must be wondering what this dress is that I bought. Would you believe that it was the first dress I pulled off the rack at the first store I went into and it fit like a glove? That never happens. I went home very carefully making sure I didn't get hit by a bus. I got it at a store called Mango. It's a Spanish chain owned by, of all people shoot-me-now, Penelope Cruz. Here it is.

Slow Knitting

2008-06-10T14:40:00.012+02:00

This year one of my resolutions was, no is!, to keep my works in progress (WIPS) limited to just a few. It's now June and I am actually succeeding at this. I tend to have three going at one time--one that's good for the train (i.e. socks), one that's mindless, and one that's my long haul (i.e. lace). One sock pattern that I am just loving right now (which means I will knit this several times) is Clementines Baltic Socks. Here's mine, knit up on US 1's in Louet Gems Fingering Weight in colorway Eggplant. I'm about a third of the way through on the second sock. The only adjustment to the pattern I made was increase the pattern by four stitches for the first two pattern repeats to allow for a roomy calf.Here's my long haul: the Catalina Shawl by G. Bella. The pattern is different from most lace shawls. I wanted it to be a denser shawl so I am knitting it on US 2's with JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool 2/18 Laceweight in colorway Juniper. Out of eight repeats I am halfway on the third. I adjusted the pattern by adding another pattern repeat in the middle to make it wider. What I also like about this shawl is that since I am no where near getting close to finishing this, I can actually enjoy the process of lace knitting. One day, when I am eligible for retirement I may actually notice it's time to cast off and add the fringe.

There was another Raveler in town so of course I had to take her (and reluctant hostage-to-yarnies husband) to the yarn shop. She and I got some great goods, and I found out there is a back room full of handdyed sock yarn they were holding out on me (not anymore!). Good God. Not only was it full of sock yarn, but it was organized in Ikea tupperware. In other words, my perfectionist organizational mecca. Yeehaw! The stuff I got is a wool, silk and ramie blend. I can't wait to put them to the test next winter (ok, I can literally wait till next winter, but I'm just saying I will be prepared).And I also picked up a ball of Kauni 8/2, which is this wonderful colored yarn from Denmark. This stuff is crazy. I never knew about Kauni till I moved to Germany and hopped onto Ravelry. I already have enough of the bluish yarn to make a shawl, but I wanted to get some other color to play around with, so here is the second batch:

I Ride the Dirty Little Bike

2008-06-04T16:08:00.004+02:00

I finally got around to getting the brakes on my bike fixed.

Yeah.

Nine whole months after figuring out how to say "My brakes are squeaky." And I couldn't even remember the "squeaky" part so I had to rely on charades evil twin, the noisemaker. So I pushed my bike around the corner (much to the amazement of two older folks--it was either that I was pushing it, that I have a little folding Dahon bike that isn't common, or that it was completely engulfed in green pollen).

Me: "Hallo. Meine bremsen sind weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" (Hello, My brakes are making noise--but I make the noise)

German owner: Die bremsen sind kaputt? (the brakes are completely broken?)

Me: Nicht kaputt, nur weeeeeeeeeeee!" (no, they just weeeeeeeeeeee)

And then he said something that I'm sure meant, "Oh they're making noise when you use them."

After a back and forth of confirming that my brakes were in fact only two years old, they made some adjustments and had me try them out. They thought I was nuts (ok, I admit that making the noise would at least render me peculiar). But you know how it is--the noise only happens with you alone, when you take it in to be fixed it doesn't happen, which is what happened here. So I took it out for a test drive, lo and behold it didn't make any noise (you just watch, it will tomorrow!) and the guy waved me away with no charge.

Vay-cay to Nap Land

2008-06-03T15:12:00.009+02:00

That's right. We went to the southwestern part of Andalusia, starting in Madrid (which must mean "nightmare to drive around in, even with GPS" in funky Spain Spanish). Lola, our faceless GPS lady-voice also went on vacation with us to Spain, and took her siestas quite seriously, often taking them between tall buildings and only waking up after we passed the turn. I'd tell you her last name, but I think it's against blogger rules to post such a vile thing.

Lola aside, we drove from Madrid to our base, Canos de la Meca (imagine the squiggly thing over the n, please). This is a traditional Spanish fishing town. No tourists (except us). No English (except ours). Good thing I remember Spanish. For dinner (mind you places don't even open till 9:30 pm if you're lucky) we ate at this crazy little place called La Pirata, The Pirate. It was right on the beach (talk about your fresh fish), and the bugzapper kept us awake, if not the constant self-slapping from what the zapper missed. Luckily, I must still be full of quinine from living in Africa years ago that the mossies stay far far away from me. I ate Tortilla Espanola (again, imagine the squiggly thing on the n), which is potatoes in an egg omelet, not like the tortilla you think of that comes from Mexico. Steve and I ate more olives than should be allowable or possible by two human beings, but hey, they gave them away like pez and we didn't want to be rude.

After a couple of days of olive gorging, we decided to drive towards Gibraltar. It's that tiny UK territory on the bottom tip of Spain. You can see Morocco as you drive there. That's kinda weird. We get there, walk right in with our passports, and get on a bus that will take you across the landing strip. You can walk across the landing strip, but we didn't know that. Plus it was hot. And I was lazy. So we get dropped off in the center of town and eat at the Casements. Everybody speaks English (soo nice). I had jacket potatoes with cole slaw, which luckily my stomach decided not to regret later. No yarn shops on Gibraltar (what do those people do there?), FYI. Oh, and the beers, like the beers in Spain, are so teeny tiny! I guess all beers will seem this way after Germany.

So we go back to Spain, stupidly trusting Lola again who just seems to aim us into accidents (Spanish drivers don't really stop at red lights--it's more like a yield sign to them). After chewing her out and shoving her back in the glovebox we head back home. I think it was this night we tried a restaurant outside of Canos, and the boys had sangria (which we discovered is not on the menu but everybody has it). This place down the street had the best sangria--something coconutty in it (or kokosnubby as beginning German speakers would say). Again, more olive gorging with Steve (above) and a great potato salad thing that had tuna in it and I ATE IT. And I didn't want to wipe my tongue off with a paper towel after. It was that good. So I had to drive us home. Not a long drive, but I am short, the dashboard is high, it's a stick shift, and reverse is where first gear should be. But remarkably I get us home without hitting anyone.

The trip is thus ended with a drive to Jerez de la Frontera (where they have all the sherry places--scroll down on the link to see the horse walk Andalusian-style) to dump the car in a garage and we take a train to Seville to see the Real Alcazar. That place was amazing and if you ever plan on going to Spain you must go here. I have more pictures on my flickr page here. After we wandered around there for a while we headed back on the train to Jerez (pronounced Herr-eth) to see a flamenco performance, which was fabulous. I tried sherry again for the second time, thinking it would be the best place to have it and I have to say I didn't like it again for the second time. Tastes like old raisins; this must be an acquired taste.

All in all an amazing trip. Beautiful sites, nice people, fantastic food, and a culture that is built around napping. How can you not love this? Plus they have fantastic coffee, fried pastries, and olives. All you can eat. Which makes me wonder: has anyone ever brined themselves on vacation by eating too many olives?

Nutkins

2008-06-02T13:34:00.001+02:00

Nutkins
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

Pattern: Nutkins by Knitzi.com
Yarn: Weiner Art colorway by Tausendschön
Needles: US 1 circulars

I knit these during our recent trip to Andalusia, Spain. The pattern is very easy to memorize. I found the pattern biases a little bit, but with a good soaking and minor blocking (I just used some pins) they turned out perfect.

Alhambra on the back of a chair

2008-05-14T11:45:00.001+02:00

Alhambra on the back of a chair
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

Just finished this quick lace knit for our coming trip to Spain. The pattern is by Anne Hanson at knitspot.com, and is called Alhambra. I used less than one skein of Knit Picks Gloss Lace in colorway Port on US 4 Addi Turbo lace circulars.

Finished meaurements are 45" x 12.5"

This Is So Interesting!!

2008-05-13T13:22:00.006+02:00

Or at least I hope so. The cheap things I will say to get you to read my blog--it's like I am a politician. But seriously, an update from this corner of the world called Germany.

There was a major religious holiday in southern Germany called Corpus Christi (as a Catholic I should have known this, but I digress). So again, we had the typical characteristics of the German holiday which perplexmetothisday--i.e. where does everybody go?? Streets are quiet. They even turned the church bells off. I couldn't sleep--too bloody quiet. Chico the dog, from upstairs, is on holiday in Italy. Yes, even the dog.

Tuesday (today). Still quiet. Me thinks the Germans made a long va-cay out of it.

Now onto the knitting. I have been knitting mad, wicked fast. Oh thank you, Elizabeth Zimmerman for creating patterns out of garter stitch that actually look good so I can zoom away on some baby gifts for my pregnant friends.

A while ago I bought some lovely handpainted sockweight yarn from a place online (but here in Germany). Here is what it looked like still in the skein/hank (never quite sure what to call it when it looks like this):Hmm, yummy. But even yummier when I found the perfect pattern for it: Nutkin (Ravelry link). Usually I am not a fan of semi-striping yarns and sock patterns that call for anything beyond a simple ribbing. But Nutkin is IT. It goes soo well. I'm so pleased.
Ahhh, a turned cuff and everything. No cable needle! And yes, those are Knit Picks circulars, which I dare say are much better than the Addi Turbos. But get this--I lost my Addi Turbos (the sock ones) and for months refused to buy replacement circulars. I got the Comfort Plus ones (which I like) but just wanted my damn circulars back. Wouldn't you know that, like, three weeks after caving in and buying some the old ones resurface? I swear we have a ghost in our apartment but whatever.

Today I am blocking Alhambra (Ravelry link here)by Anne Hanson. I used less than one skein of Knit Picks Gloss Lace in colorway Port. I liked knitting with it, but we'll see how it holds up to being pushed and pulled constantly out of my bag (I don't like air conditioning, which is why I like Europe so much--hard to find AC--but it does pop up). Right now it's a plop of glop in the sink, but here's what it looked like as a WIP:
Finally, this past week I met my first Raveler, or is it Ravelryer? Her name is Jenn. She bravely endured my driving on the autobahn and we hit the yarn shops in the area, eventually finding one that was open (ha!). She and I are thinking of doing the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, Vienna. (In between hitting the yarn shops there, of course!).

Kirschweizen--or Cherry Wheat Beer

2008-05-04T16:43:00.001+02:00

Kirschweizen--or Cherry Wheat Beer
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

Today we went to Medoc, a small restaurant on the Bismarckplatz, and I got a Kirschweizen (cherry wheat beer), which was bright purple from the local cherries. A normal hefeweizen is behind my beer. It tasted really good--not too sweet or sour--just beer with the hint of the local cherries.

Swallowtail Shawl

2008-04-29T11:06:00.004+02:00

It seemed like everyone but me had knit this beautiful pattern so when Interweave Knits put it out as a special for free, I pounced! This is the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark.
It took one week to knit (I know, can you believe it?). Originally the pattern calls for a laceweight yarn, but I decided to use a heavier sportweight DROPS Alpaca that I bought in Sweden earlier this year. It used up about 2.25 balls of that--slightly more than 400 yards. This was also my first chance to try out my new Addi Turbo lace needles, US 5.

The nupps were easy to handle with the Addi Turbo lace needles--don't skimp here. But the nupps are definitely arthritis-aggravating so go slow in that section if you are unlucky enough to have this affliction. Or buy more Bengay.

I did notice a few times that I either forgot a YO here or there or I accidentally let it slip off the needle. But I managed to jerry rig a solution that's hard to see afterwards, though I did use a lifeline.

All in all it was a very fun and entrancing knit. Addictive even. Easy to block, too. What more could you ask for?

Knitting the Catalina Shawl

2008-04-12T10:29:00.003+02:00

Last week I started knitting the Catalina Shawl by g. bella knits. I was hugely attracted to this lace shawl because it was knitted more densely than other shawls and the design was different from anything I'd seen (Anne Hanson excluded, of course!). There was just something about it.

I don't know about everyone else, but with lace patterns I always have to knit about 4 inches or so to figure it out; I never get it right on the first try (not yet, anyway). In these 4 inches I mess up but always come out learning how the pattern works. The same happened here. I wasn't sure how to handle the two yo's on the next row, despite the instructions. Just slip it over--that's it, nothing more. I was golden from there.

Pattern: Catalina Shawl (click on g. Bella knits for web link to pattern) or here for the Ravelry link.

Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 in Juniper (pattern calls for 600 yards, but I have a second skein to accommodate my modification, below)

Needles: US 2 in 24" length

Modifications: I added two pattern repeats to section B to make this a wider shawl.

This is probably going to take me a couple of months to knit considering that the picture above is about50 rows and only about 4 inches long or so, pre-blocking. But it's a very fun knit, so I don't mind.

Inside Casemates

2008-04-06T14:33:00.001+02:00

Inside Casemates
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

On Friday we went to Luxembourg for the day, and checked out the Casemates near the outskirts of the city. The casemates are listed as a UN World Heritage site. Some spaces are large like this, others are so small you would have to crawl on your stomach.

Dead Socks

2008-04-01T14:08:00.004+02:00

Hubbo recently came back from a three-week training in the states, sans moi (I do not handle jet lag well anymore) and aside from the offering of Dunkin Donuts coffee (I got the shakes just holding the dang bag), I was presented with this:

The Dead Sock.
2005-2008.
Formerly Koigu PPPM
First pair of socks made for Hubbo.

I'm guessing the non-knitter would think coming home with a sock like this would make the person who knit this (me) mad. Quite the opposite; it makes me happy. He loved these socks to death. He took them everywhere. Wore them all the time.

For me, as a knitter, I don't spend hours making something so someone can put it in a drawer. If you do that, you can be sure the next time I am over at your house I will find where you're hiding it and take it back--you'll never notice it's gone anyway (you'll just think you forgot what drawer you put it in). The best compliment a knitter can get is a hole in the sock. A dead sock, a dead blanket ravaged with holes, a scarf with tattered ends after repeated wear. If you love something that much that you come back to me with it and it's in tatters, I'll make you more till the end of time (and I won't snoop in your drawers).

Finished Clapotis

2008-03-26T12:56:00.001+01:00

Finished Clapotis
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

I am so happy to be done with this knit--didn't gel with me like it did with most people. The pattern is written very well and I am a huge fan of Kate Gilbert's other stuff, but miles (ok, not miles, but it felt like it on my hands) of the pattern drove me a little batty.

Nevertheless I am very pleased with the end product, and can't wait to wear it.

The Entry In Which I Try To Sound Interesting

2008-03-24T15:55:00.002+01:00

...so please help me and pretend to be amused. Southern Germany shuts down when there is a holiday and this time it is Easter. And with Hubbo gone on business I may be going nutty with the easter candy I bought myself.

A friend asked how Germans celebrate Easter. Well, it's not so different than how Americans do it except they get more days off and relax better while doing it. Here in Germany, the Easter weekend started Thursday afternoon; people started shopping for last minute items (food, any small gifts) as everything (and I mean everything except for the streetcars) would be closed by late afternoon. Then it is like a ghost town--no people to be seen until Saturday morning. People are off visiting with family and friends.

Then on Saturday things open up again. I had to go to the Lidl (the name of the grocery store around the corner from us) to get some of those Nutella-filled croissants (god help me if I have to cook for myself when I wake up in the morning), get some milk, and then I just start grabbing food as I remember that things will be closed for two more days.

Sunday--Easter Sunday. How do I know this? Two things: no people are out and the church bells are ringing like they are trying to play every song in its playbook by sundown (we live on the block across from it). Oh, and add a third thing: Elvis movie marathon all day on tv.

So today is Easter Monday. This is something we don't have in the US (but should if you ask me). My upstairs neighbors have been gone in Italy all week (they even took the dog, Chico) and will still be gone all of next week. It's an annual thing they do. I wonder if Chico went to mass at the Vatican. He was probably so pissed that it rained. He hates the rain.

Tomorrow everything will open up again and people will reappear. I will attempt for the third time to get the car out of our Easy-Bake-Oven-sized parking spot in the underground garage without dinging the fender and go do some errands. Which reminds me, I need to get my bike to the repair shop so I can stop driving when the weather gets better (it has been snowing or hailing here for the past 4 days or so).

Rhabarber Plunder

2008-03-18T17:54:00.001+01:00

Rhabarber Plunder
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

Breakfast in Heidelberg. Baked fresh daily using seasonal fruits, the "plunder" is like an open-faced pie with custard and powdered sugar. This one has rhubarb.

I admit I have never met a plunder I didn't like.

Ei, or Egg to You and Me

2008-03-15T13:10:00.001+01:00

Ei, or Egg to You and Me
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

I went to the Apotheke (pharmacy) yesterday to buy some facewash and this was their giveaway that day. Usually I get free tissues but since Easter is this weekend, everyone got ceramic eggs.

Everlasting Clapper

2008-03-12T11:59:00.001+01:00

Everlasting Clapper
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

Knit in sportweight Euroflax Linen in colorway Eggplant. I am halfway through the pattern on slightly less than one skein. Pattern is Clapotis by Kate Gilbert.

Trainer Socks

2008-03-12T11:58:00.001+01:00

Trainer Socks
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

Gust

2008-02-28T10:05:00.001+01:00

Gust
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

Already on a second project--Gust by Anne Hanson, with the yarn I bought in Stockholm Sweden.

Doesn't look like much now, but it's another lace project, so it will magically bloom once I finish it and block it.

Such a fun knit. Get your at knitspot.com!

Hanami Stole

2008-02-27T11:33:00.001+01:00

Hanami Stole
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

Took about six weeks, but here it is, the completed Hanami Stole!

Pattern: By Melanie Gibbons at the website Pink Lemon Twist
Yarn: Laceweight 100% silk by Claudia Handpaints in colorway Moss
Yardage: 1000-1100 yards
Needles: US 3 32" circulars and several stitch markers to keep track of the repeats
Notions: beads for casting on and blocking wires
Ending measurement: 19" x 70"

On Lace--Not Just For Grannies

2008-02-26T15:19:00.002+01:00

My Clump O' Dump is about to become a butterfly. My first attempt at real lace (19" x 70", mind you) is currently drying on the floor in our foyer. This is what it looked like eons ago when I first cast on.Lace apparently becomes magical after blocking because all of the work opens up. I'm anxious to see this. I have blocked it, wires and pins and all, but I am completely terrified to pull the wires and pins out, for fear that it will turn back into Clump O' Dump, the lifeless pre-blocked mess.

Looks like I will be eating the rest of the Nutella tonight to psyche myself up for the big finale.

I'm sure my non-knitting friends are wondering why anyone in their right mind would knit lace. First, they already know I am not in my right mind. Never have been. People in their right mind live dull lives. I, too, could not understand this knitting-lace-thing. Talk about not making progress. Then I saw Hanami just before we left Washington, DC. I wanted to make something that would always remind me of the cherry blossoms there. It seemed like an easy knit, the gateway pattern into laceknitting. I tried it, messed up royally, frogged it, and then cast on again this January. With sunlight at an all time low, a good long knit to push one through winter seemed like a good fit. I found it very meditative; my mind could go blank enough to still keep track of my stitches but have room to contemplate other things. This stole will always remind me of many things, not only of DC and the cherry blossoms, but of my first winter in Germany and everything that came with it. Including, of all things, the beginning of a new Spring across the ocean, including cherry blossoms here.

Blast From The Past

2008-02-23T18:25:00.002+01:00

Tomorrow I am giving a talk about the Peace Corps in Kenya to a group of 200 Girl Scouts, so I spent the better part of this morning going through my pictures. That's when I found this gem--quite possibly one of my favorite pictures.

Cool Spick Salon is a hair salon in Kitale, Kenya (near my second site). This sign is near the post office. I'm not sure who came up with the name, but they obviously wouldn't understand why I thought it was funny, and so odd to be in Kitale, of all places. Plus I am half hispanic. I still laugh as hard now as I did the first time I saw that sign. Never mind almost ten years have passed.

Guilt-Free S.E.X. Guide

2008-02-20T16:23:00.002+01:00

Someone (she knows who she is) says I don't blog as regularly as I should. I got the can of whupass from all the way across the pond. So I am posting!

It is becoming increasingly difficult to smuggle good quality yarn into this place. So I had to devise a plan.

As a background, hubbo picks up the mail at our US mailbox since it is easier to get there by car. US company to US mailbox=cheap shipping. But to get it shipped to our flat, well, not only is it more expensive but you'll remember from earlier that the DHL people like to ring our bell at the crack of dawn (actually, since it's winter it is now officially ringing our bell BEFORE the crack of dawn). Hence the problem of sneaking in yarn. Oh, and the personal safety of the DHL man.

So yesterday I received my blocking wires from KnitPicks (schweee!!) which came in a long tube, and a small packet (which of course was yarn--Alpaca Cloud in colorway Horizon ifyoumustknow). I mean, if the plane is going to burn all that fuel just to bring me my blocking wires, then for global warming's sake I might as well be economical about my consumerism and add yarn to my order.

I digress. Hubbo has been watching me knit Hanami for the last 2 years, er, I mean two months from one leeeelte ball of skinny yarn. The end product will be a lace stole of a Japanese basket weave motif on one end and cherry blossoms on the other (this is neither here nor there, whatever that means). Said skinny ball of yarn (1200 meters of which was bought at Maryland Sheep and Fiber Festival 2007) cost me, like, $40 (it is 100% silk). So I have broken this project down into cost per day with this skein of silk to show him just how cost effective expensive laceweight can be (heh, heh). So when package of laceweight Alpaca Cloud comes through the door I give it to him in actual KnitPicks cost, cost per skein/day of enjoyment, and the cost savings achieved by using KnitPicks over another vendor. This seems to please Hubbo and I am released to put the yarn into the stash. Walla! I have, at last, found the secret to guilt-free stash enhancement.

Oh Yeah, Knitting

2008-02-15T20:33:00.005+01:00

When we went home in November, I bought a sock book that Interweave Knits had put out. Well, I have finally been slogging along on the Mock Waves Sock with the Trekking XXL that I bought in Nuernberg at Tolle Wolle. I have been reluctant to use this yarn; its colorway is so pretty and when you only have one ball of it in your stash...well...you just want to stare at it for a while. Maybe this is why I am knitting the damn sock so slow. I never knit socks this slow. I can knit them in my sleep.

I guess the fact that I am actually using the yarn should be an accomplishment in the first place. I still can't bear to use my Wollmeise. You don't whip out the china for just any old company.

So while I haven't been posting that much knitting stuff, I have been knitting, and reading about knitting, but doing it all over at Ravelry. It's a most wonderful place. Soon therapists will hear all about it.

And since I have been there so much enjoying everyone's work, this is what I have been doing today. Floor tile color is not my choice, by the way.
Boo.

Landmark for Home

2008-02-12T15:26:00.000+01:00

Everyone has a landmark on the highway (or autobahn, in our case now) that's a sign that they're close to home. This is ours, right next to the McDonalds.

Surprise! On me.

2008-02-11T14:52:00.000+01:00

On Thursday night, Hubbo surprises me with my Valentines Day gift. Early.

Two tickets to Stockholm, Sweden for the weekend. Cheeky bugger. I have been wanting to go here for a while, but Sweden has always been out of the way on my flight itinerary, so to speak. Now with living in Europe everything is two-hours or less away.

Now you must be wondering (I know some of my friends back home are), why would one be hankering to go to Sweden instead of say, Spain, or someplace warmer? Well, I have been fascinated for some time by Scandinavian knitting patterns (friends back home now even more confused). It's just interesting, people!

First things first, we head to a yarn shop for the usual yarn-as-souvenir purchase. We head over to the old town, or Gamla Stan, which is essentially an island in Stockholm. While I am inside doing my lion-pacing-in-a-cage-oh-what-will-I-buy deal, Hubbo inspects town looking for a lunch place. The yarn shop I went to was Marias Garn and was heaven. Full of local yarn that had been handspun, some fibers that I had never seen before. So much Shetland I about died (oh my gosh all the mittens I could make!) but Hubbo was, of course!, doing currency conversions in his head. Sweden is expensive people! This is what I did get, which was kismet as I was kicking myself over not buying some of this when I was in Boston in November!I swear I was not in the yarn shop that long--I arrived at 1:30pm--but when we came out it looked like it was dinner time (wtf???). I asked Hubbo for the time and he said 2:30 pm. Ah yes, Sweden. How easy it is to forget that we are closer to the Arctic Circle than we were the day before. My poor camera. The red light was freaking out telling me there was not enough natural light so basically all of my pictures blow and not even Photoshop can save them, but hey, that is a memory in and of itself! Here is one picture that miraculously turned out normal: a view of Stockholm from Gamla Stan, the old town. After eating lunch we continued to explore Gamla Stan, which is just one small part of Stockholm. We also saw some other interesting things, which I will try to post in another entry. Most notable was the Nobel Museum, where they decide the candidates for the Nobel Prize for Literature. Sorry the picture is so dark. It is 3:30 in the afternoon for crying out loud.
To say that Stockholm is beautiful is an understatement. I'd have to say that this city has been the biggest surprise of any trip we've taken. And the people were wonderful and warm. Not reserved at all and very friendly. We will definitely be going back at some point (when there is more light!) to explore the other parts of the city that we didn't get to see this time.

Appliance Love (No Not That Kind!!)

2008-02-01T14:08:00.000+01:00

When you get married (and if you've played your Crate and Barrel registry hand-scanner-laser-tag correctly) you will get lots of appliances and other doodads to finish off your new place. They make cooking time so much easier, and faster.

And then you move to the Land-of-other-voltage, aka Germany. For eight months we have been debating on whether or not to get a voltage converter, this wonderful (yet overly expensive) heavy mass of electrical ingenuity that will magically make our American appliances work here. We had tried once, early on, and I have to say, I broke the thing on the first try when I hooked up my beloved Dyson vacuum cleaner and turned it on. I like to clean (I mean, hey, I have a Dyson for crying out loud) and that whole experience was a downer and I was put off the whole converter experience for a while.

Then we tried doing a cost benefit analysis (I know, who does such a thing? This is permanent brain damage from where I used to work.) of what it would take to replace the appliances we needed for the next two and half years, and whether that would be a better thing to do.

I think a couple things started to push us over the edge towards buying this damn converter:

1. The way I make the coffee. I do not believe that coffee can be too thick or too strong. If you can stand a spoon straight up in it, even better. Hubbo, on the other hand, likes his coffee to not resemble coffee at all except in name. If he made the coffee, he would put a pinch of it in the filter with a gallon of water and still put four tablespoons of coffee creamer in his cup. An automatic coffee maker really keeps out the grit (which he likes) and I can still get a strong cup (which I like). We have been using a French press up till now. Stocks in coffee creamer have gone up considerably. Luckily, I take the proceeds and use it to buy more yarn.

2. "We could have that for dinner if only we had the ___________." Which of course we did have the __________, but it was in another voltage. Our menu options were seriously curtailed. How many times can you eat pasta?

So now we have this thing and we have already revived the rice cooker from the bomb shelter and next we will go dig out the coffee machine and the sewing machine. We are in heaven. Nothing feels more like home when you rack up the electricity bill in your own native voltage. And it even serves double duty by being really heavy--if someone tries to break in the house I can swing it at them to knock them out (it is really that heavy).

Glad Trashbags With Drawstrings Scream Foreigner!

2008-01-28T11:10:00.001+01:00

So I was throwing away our trash the other night, which is quite an ordeal here compared to what it was for us in the states. (I think I could write a loving sonnet to the one-bag-trash-chute) We were given an orientation about how to "do" the trash when we moved in (which we still never understood as it was all philosophical, really), but managed to get our hands on a chart (oh yeah, you read that one right!) that helped us divvy up our Q-tips from other nefarious items like macaroni. (If you think this is not a serious business here, let me remind you that we have four trashbins in our kitchen.) For months now I have been referring to the chart and placing things in the appropriate bin. Yet something all this time has been feeling a bit...sneaky...on our part, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I felt like we were doing something shifty (we had to be, it seemed too easy somehow) but no one was telling us and the polizei hadn't taken our trashbins to jail.

Enter nice foreign lady from downstairs. As I was hauling my second giant Glad bag with drawstrings to the trashbins she was there, too, with her compost materials and asked me if that (the plastic bag dangling from the end of her finger, which moments ago was just pulled from the compost bin) was mine. Now, I contemplating lying, but the last people you want to piss off our your buildingmates. Second, she was dangling the evidence right in front of me. No one else would use plastic bags...but an American. I mean, how else was I supposed to get the stuff downstairs? So I fessed up and used the opportunity to ask every question under the sun about this recycling thing. She was very nice about it all.

But there is still no good solution for when the paper bins fill up. We only have two for the entire building and they only come every two weeks and fill up fast. Oh well. I'll just hang up with my Glad drawstring trashbags and wait for someone to tell me what to do then when that time comes.

Also, our landlord said everyone has been failing to do their Hausordnung duties in the main areas. Hausordnung, you will be happy to find out (happy in the sense that you will enjoy laughing at me), is each tenants responsibility to wash down their portion of the steps and landing in the common areas of their apartment building each week. I started doing this when we moved in but, honestly, it still looked dirty no matter what I did so I just stopped and saved myself the effort. So now we must sweep and mop each week our landing and the steps to the next bottom floor. BUT, each building has a Hausmeister, which is the supervisor who looks over the place for all the landlords. He's responsible for mopping the entranceway. My thought is why not mop the whole place, jeez? For what we pay him in fees he should be mopping the whole place. This is one thing I just don't get about this place. The saving grace is we have very nice neighbors.

So when you start to clean your apartment this week, just think of us here, cleaning the stairwell and separating my trash into a billion (ok, exaggerating--a thousand) different piles. I love to clean and organize but this is insane. Really. If I can say that, my gosh.

Mock Wave Cable Socks

2008-01-28T11:08:00.001+01:00

Mock Wave 2
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

Crazy Scheisse Lady Is Back

2008-01-24T14:49:00.000+01:00

Some things are universal, such as retail predicting the seasons. For instance, Christmas. People start selling Christmas stuff before you can even get the Halloween candy out the door. By the time you have accepted the orange-black color scheme you are then bombarded with red-green and Burl Ives on repeat (can you tell Christmas is my nightmare?). Ok, so this probably doesn't happen in Saudi Arabia. But other than there and some other places, retail can usually be a good indicator of what's to come.

Now in Heidelberg, all the winter clothes are on sale. It's a weee bit warmer, but not so much that I would want to run around the block naked, or in der nackt (in the nude). But sure enough Spring is coming because all the, ahem, brightly colored chicken, flower and gnome ornaments are back on the shelves for purchase. These items are, in case you were wondering (you know you were!), are the "it" items for the home when it gets warm, or warm-er here. This is the birthplace of kitsch, baby.

Another thing I saw in the store windows were Halloween costumes. Now, when I saw this, I thought, "Wtf is going on here?" These folks know how to throw down. Turns out they have a Mardi Gras sort of thing here where for one day all hell breaks loose and women will run around in these costumes cutting off men's ties. Sounds crazy, yes, but it's true. So I am rounding up all of Hubbo's fugly ties on that day and sending him to work with a bag. He better come home with an empty bag or we will go down town and get them finished off.

The final sign of Spring coming, my FAVORITE sign, is the crazies have come back out. The scheisse lady on the #23 streetcar is back. I have mentioned her before. She gets on and just berates the streetcar driver, repeatedly saying "Scheisse!" all the way downtown. Oh, by the way, "Scheisse" means "Shit". She's about 75. So for about 10 minutes you're entertained/shocked/amused. It's really quite something. I must get a picture, but I am so scared she will go off on me.

I have to take my bike to the shop for a tune up. It's been sitting in the rack downstairs all winter and my brakes still squeal like you wouldn't believe. It sounds like I am wringing the neck of a small animal from miles away. Time to start riding again, or doing something. Spring is apparently coming!

Waterfall Sock #1 Finished

2008-01-24T11:49:00.001+01:00

Waterfall Sock #1 Finished
Originally uploaded by heidelblog

Pre-Blocking: The Clump of Dump

2008-01-14T14:18:00.001+01:00

Let me interrupt this knitting and traveling blog for this tiny announcement:

"Booyah!" to the Colts and especially to Peyton Manning for getting a whuppin' last night. Hee hee.

Ok, back to the blog:

I decided to make good on my list and start on my first lace scarf/stole: Hanami. I have tried this before in what was possibly the worst choice of timing for starting lace ever, so the fact that I have gotten this far in just a few days is amazing. The fact that I still like lace is even more amazing. In fact, I am addicted. Move over socks, you've got some competition.

Yeah, I know, it just looks like a clump of dump so far, but I hear this is normal for lace projects like this until you block them. We will see. Oh! You can't see this from the picture, but I also knitted some small beads on the end of the shawl. My first time with that, too!

For a zoom in on my clump of dump (I accidentally discovered a new feature on my camera that I have had for ages):
Yeaaah, buddy! I can hear you now: That looks like nuthin'.

Be patient peoples, I swear it will look like something if I can finish it.

Ok, so what the heck does Hanami mean?? If I am getting this right, Hanami is the yearly Japanese tradition of going to view the cherry blossoms. I bought this pattern from Melanie Gibbons when we found out we were moving to Germany because I wanted something that would always remind me of DC, especially the time of year when we would see the cherry blossoms. It's the most beautiful time of year in DC and the sight will quite literally take your breath away.

The part that I am knitting now, the basket weave lace, is inspired by traditional Sashiko--Japanese quilting design. I just finished the second repeat and have five more to go. I am knitting it with US 3 Knit Picks circulars (24") and the yarn is Claudia's Handpainted Silk, which comes in one skein of 1100 yards (oh yeah). Got it at Maryland Wool & Fiber 2007.

I am also knitting some mindless footies in some self-striping girly colored mess. I find the brain-numbing and brain-swallowing mix of knitting suits me well.

Off to find some bok-choy (if I can find the word in German first, that is!)

Christmas Keeps On Comin'

2008-01-11T12:12:00.000+01:00

Another perk of living overseas is that between the holidays and usual mail delays Christmas gifts can keep on coming. (I love this!). Our friends feel bad about this, but they absolutely should not: this means we get a long Christmas.

So this week my MIL sends me a lovely card with a Borders gift card. My MIL is awesome. Oh the knitting books I can buy with this thing!!! So I go onto Ravelry and check out what books my friends have and I come up with a list. Here is what I will be getting in a couple of weeks:

I just started Hanami for the second time (the first time being a few weeks before we left the states, which is not really the best time to start a lace project). I have seen so many beautiful lace shawls and stoles on Ravelry and felt inspired to give Hanami another try.

Also my friend, Sara, is living in Japan right now, so I feel doubly inspired to try a shawl with Japanese significance. Folk Shawls will be a great source for other lace projects and came highly recommended.

The second book I got is more about the author rather than the book. Elizabeth Zimmerman is well known within the knitting community. She has become even more popular with the resurgence of knitting popularity in the states. I was able to find her book Knitting Without Tears when I was home in November, but that was it. If you haven't picked up that book, you should. It takes the stress out of knitting and touches on her percentage system which enables any knitter to adapt any pattern to any size. Knitting Workshop has the infamous Baby Surprise Jacket pattern, which I have been dying to knit since so many of my friends have been having babies.

The day, and Hanami, await. It's amazing how much knitting you can do time-wise and only come up with an inch or two of work!

New Years

2008-01-06T13:11:00.000+01:00

It's only proper that a good procrastinator would write a blog about New Years six days late. I like to call it "extra contemplative". I'd like to take a moment and reflect on 2007, like so many of my fellow knitters and bloggers have done. I was lucky to start the year by moving into a new division at my old job and work with fantastic people. Not just fantastic as in fun (which they were), but we had a rhythm that worked well, and a support net that is a rare find. My husband and I lived in DC, a city we loved, doing work we believed in. It was so cool to walk to work and see the Capitol building down the block, and various MSNBC tapings being done live in front of my favorite lunch place (which gave away free pickles!!). And the best knitting shop I have ever found in the world is there--Stitch DC. When they opened a shop up the street from us, I feared for my checking account.

But now we live in Germany in the most beautiful place we could have ever imagined, right in the middle of town. Life has a way of working things out for you if you just let it. We never knew that it was possible to fall in love with a place like this so fast.

As for my knitting, I have learned a lot this year, mostly from fellow knitters on the web at their blogs: Grumperina, who taught me how to pick up the heel flap stitches in a pretty way; Anne Hanson at knitspot.com whose lace designs were so gorgeous they brought me out of self-doubt and into Teosinte, a sock pattern with lace. Now I feel like I can try anything.; the blue blog, who offered a pattern for baby pants and sure enough they looked presentable when I was finished with them; and Eunny Jang who fears nothing and takes on everything--hey, it's only yarn!

I have learned how to make my own sock patterns from any gauge yarn, and from the toe-up or from the top-down. I can do stripes and minimize the jog. Cables without a cable needle (for the easy cables at least). Set-in sleeves. Tubular cast-on. I learned intarsia. I don't like intarsia, but at least I tried it. Finally can do fair isle without it being tight as all get out. I can line anything! I designed my own scarf and my own socks. I knit my first cardigan! And I can rewrite most patterns to my liking.

For 2008, here's what I would like to learn and knit:
1. Invisible cast-on
2. My first lace shawl
3. Double knitting
4. Moebius strip
5. Knit an adult-sized blanket
6. Design an intricate pair of socks
7. Design a pair of mittens
8. Knit a BSJ
9. Learn Continental knitting

What are your desires for 2008?

There Is No Cream In Bavaria

2007-12-31T14:57:00.001+01:00

I love the Bavarian cream filling in the donuts at Dunkin' Donuts. So how happy was I when we spent the weekend in Bavaria--specifically Nurnberg. Well, let me tell you--there is no cream in Bavaria. Only cold, lebkuchen and this--happy hairy people.

Kidding (about the hairy people)! We are very lucky to live two hours west of Nurnberg, a city in the state of Bayern which is so beautiful you can hardly believe your eyes.

But Nurnberg is also known for being the focus point of Nazism, and the birthplace of the anti-race laws that soon became commonplace during the Third Reich. After WWII the famous Nurenberg Trials were held here and I have pictures of that which I will save for another day.

During our visit to Nurnberg we stayed at the Burghotel, which is on Lammstrasse just inside the wall of the Old City. The beds were just right and hey, we watched Goonies in German! Plus there was a nice meaty German breakfast in the morning. (Not that I had that but there was some lovely muesli and yogurt with tons of coffee.)

Guess what was two streets over from us? (We did not plan this.) The Mecca of all yarn shops thus far in Europe!!!I came to Nurnberg with three LYS addresses. This was near the parking garage for the hotel. I about died! They had Noro, Debbie Bliss, Trekking, Rowan!! And it was on sale!! So what did I buy? Three balls of sock yarn. Too many options and I freeze up. Oh well, at least the store was open.

On non-knitting things, here is a new year's treat that is everywhere in Germany. Am I the only one who finds this so funny? They are so big on the pig here. Pig marzipan is THE thing here. (I wonder if your brain messes with you and makes you think it faintly tastes of bacon...)

And the creepiest thing we saw was the Wedding Fountain. I have more pictures on my flickr page about it, but here is the whole fountain. It depicts all the stages of marriage.Stay tuned for more about Nurnberg in my next post! Happy New Year! Gutes Neue Jahre!

Switzerland for Christmas

2007-12-25T14:50:00.000+01:00

We are back from Basel, Switzerland, where we treated ourselves to a travel xmas present. All in all a good time, but of course, with travel there are always bizarre happenings that are the icing on the cake for any trip. As a Christmas present to you, here are some stocking stuffers that left us laughing (or at least speechless).

1. Hubbo informed me that Switzerland has a large underground system in case of war (he learned this in a Military Science class in the days of yore). I thought this strange for a country that refuses to interact with anyone, but whatever. Thinking we were just going to cross under the roundabout in a normal underground street system, we saw this (see left). There was a post office down there, some cafes, and an Indian restaurant that was making me slobber it smelled so good. Freaky freaky.

2. We stayed at a hotel near the Euro Airport and it had a casino. We went there one night for dinner, and decided to check out the casino first. Dumb me forgot my passport (I just wanted to eat!). So I went back up to the room and if I had just read this well-placed notice in the elevator I would have known to bring my ID.

3. So after finally getting into the hotel with my "guilty" ID, we proceeded to freak out the hotel staff by eating at the bar (apparently something only Americans tend to do?). But they rolled with it, and I had the best Swiss-French meal possible: Spatzli, vanilla apple, red cabbage kraut, glazed chestnuts (never had chestnuts before, only sang about them roasting on the open fire), and brussell sprouts. Weirdest thing on menu? Iceburg lettuce salad with beef bits of Wild Boar. Essentially the bacos of a Wild Boar.

4. An analogy for you! Germany: pork as Switzerland: chocolate. I don't think I saw the Swiss eat anything but chocolate the whole time we were there and for this I love them madly. Upon entering one of their many chocolate shops I stopped dead in my tracks and hubbo asked, "What's wrong?" I could only reply, "This is so wrong." Why was I not living heeere??? There was so much chocolate in forms our American brains cannot begin to imagine that it would just be best if they had a small section in front of the store where the doorman could corral all of us until we snap-out-of-it. I ended up buying one bar of this dark 70% cacao that had an orange slice in each square of chocolate. Each piece (I love orange in chocolate)! One bar is all I could handle in that mad house. When I woke up later that night unable to sleep, hubbo said, why don't you eat some chocolate? So I did, and it was so thrilling I passed out and went back to sleep.

5. In the most fitting spirit of Christmas, we met a lady late one night as we were wandering the streets trying to find our way back to the bahnhof (train station). Luckily she was going there as well so she escorted us. She said she was happy to find us as well as she didn't feel safe walking alone. She walked us all the way to our bus stop despite our protests (she was already late meeting her son). She said she liked helping people--that it was her duty as a Pakistani and as a human being to help. Then she said goodbye and asked us to pray for her.

Merry Christmas!

Koolhaas Hat

2007-12-20T13:50:00.000+01:00

The Christmas knitting has been continuing full steam and may end up being called the New Years knitting. Sigh. BUT my friends are the coolest of recipients and will be grateful nonetheless, so I am not worried.

Ok, I am worried just because I want to get it to them for Christmas, but I need to let go of that because it is just not going to happen. I only have two hands and my husband refuses to learn how to knit so I can take a break.

When I was knitting one xmas gift, he commented how much he liked it. It was a scarf in garter stitch, people. To a lot of knitters, the stitch o' death. Boring as all get out. The Man Scarf. So that is what he is getting. In black. Lana Grossa Mood, 2 skeins, knit in a trance since it doesn't really require a brain wave to complete.
He is also getting the Koolhaas Hat, which yippee!!, is fascinating and is so...sound...I will miss it when I bind off the last stitch. Jared Flood, the designer, scores big in this house with hubbo. He does the most husband-friendly designs I've found that not only please your male significant other but also keep the knitter intrigued--what a rare combination.

We are off to Switzerland for the weekend. If we had the interstate here it would probably be five hours away, but by autobahn it is only two. Merry Christmas!

I'm in Ravelry!

2007-12-18T14:34:00.000+01:00

After what felt like a looong time, this morning I opened my email and saw my Ravelry invite. This was pre-coffee excitement, which means the happy dance I did in socks on a hardwood floor could have possibly led me to the ER. Would have been worth it.

For those with Ravelry accounts, I am heidelblogknits.

Wanna know more about Ravelry and why I willingly suffered these long, cold and dark days for an e-vite? See here.

Ok, for non-knitting news (oh, the horror!), hubbo and I went to the Christmas market (or Weinachtsmarkt) last night to eat dinner from all the food vendors. This is a great way to try some German snack food or gorge yourself on some other meats you may have missed out...somehow. It was buttf*#$ing cold. I mean, longjohns-longsleeve shirt-wool sweater-wool socks-wool mittens-wool hat WITH liner-down jacket and STILL cold kinda weather. So our night out was, "Here, drink your gluhwein. Hurry eat the kartoffelpuffer (which had a very nice garlic sauce on it, I might add)." And then a speed walk to the bus stop. Despite the total body numbness, it was really quite beautiful, especially with the castle all lit up. And we got two free gluhwein mugs as souvenirs. Prost!

Eye Candy Monday

2007-12-17T11:37:00.001+01:00

Our Amaryllis has finally bloomed. It's amazing that anything green can live in what little sunlight we are getting here these days! (Our basil plant died as there wasn't enough sunlight to keep it going).

Sorry, no pictures for you on the knitting front as I don't want to give away what it is I am knitting for people for Christmas.

But in speaking of knitting, there are other uses for knitting needles:
Can you see it? The weight of the stems pulled the bulb right out of the pot one night and luckily I had a long US 7 that was perfect for a makeshift stake to keep it up. And yes, the tie to the plant is yarn (Classic Elite Summer Set if you're that interested). Like a lot of knitters I rarely use my straight knitting needles anymore; I use circulars and dpn's for almost everything. I used a lot of straights when I was in the Peace Corps as those were the needles you could find most of the time. In fact, the needle holding up my amaryllis I bought while I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya.

No, I Am Not Dead....

2007-12-13T12:21:00.001+01:00

...just knitting. A lot. I try to make most, if not all, of my Christmas gifts, so that's why I haven't been posting. So I apologize to the four people who read this thing. It has been even harder this year (I am in the mad dash of knitting this year and won't be able to knit all the gifts) because I have been feeling under the weather since we got back from the US.

For Christmas, we are asking for *literacy* in the German language. But hopefully the Santa that comes knocking around here is bilingual or otherwise he won't know what we're saying either. This week I went to the store to get shampoo. Seemed like an easy thing to me. Who could mess this up? Just look for Pantene. Sometimes they get the bilingual bottles that also say shampoo (as I cannot remember the German word for shampoo). So I look for this. I get a bottle. I go home. I get in the shower, hair is wet, I squeeze the stuff out of the bottle and lo and behold, I bought conditioner. This is my third bottle of conditioner. I promise to go to the store with a dictionary next time no matter how stupid I look because we are running out of space in the shower because of all the conditioner bottles.

The week before (yes, another supermarket fiasco as I refuse to shop at the commissary) I needed dishwasher detergent. Again I ask myself, "How hard can this be?" I go and look. Well, our supermarket puts the dishwasher detergent AND the clothes detergent next to each other (is this normally done?). Sh*t. I don't want to be eating food off of lavender-scented plates. I don't recognize the brands. The Germans gathering around me trying to shop must be thinking, "Dude, pick one. Mach schnell." I finally found one that had a picture of a wine glass on it (thank god). Can you imagine if I had put laundry detergent in the dishwasher?? Oh the foaming mess...

4 Weeks of Xmas--Can You Stand It??

2007-12-01T21:22:00.000+01:00

As they would say in Kenya when you've been away a while, "You've been lost!" We got back from our visit/vacation to the states on Sunday and have been recovering from jet lag ever since. Mr. Left is a pro, whereas I seem to have been bodysnatched by a hibernating bear. I mean, hello? I was the one that used to travel across time zones for work yet could not stay conscious for 15 minutes straight this entire week. I saw sunlight for the second time this week today (ok, considering where we live this is an achievement for anyone, but you get the point). I mean, it was so bad I could barely knit.

Now you know how truly dire this situation was.

But I am fine now and at least in the European time zones. So let me tell you what I have been up to during the wee bit of time I have been "with it" this week.

Weinachten Frohes Fest! (Or Christmas to you and me)
These people must think Americans celebrate Christmas in a totally inefficient way. We use too much paper to wrap all the gifts and don't really enjoy the season because of all the shopping, etc. I mean, because of various laws Americans can only drink in certain places and then there has to be a "DD", or designated driver, so someone can drive the drunk ones home. Well, if there was ever a reason to be pro-public transit, this is it: everyone can drink all the time anytime and get the tramdriver to take you home. I tell you, the Germans have enjoying Christmas down. I have not enjoyed Christmas for most of my life (yes, I am a bah-humbug), but this year I think I will actually like it.

Did you know Christmas as we know it comes from Germany? I was surprised, too. I vaguely remember an advent calendar and singing O Tannenbaum but not really knowing what the heck I was doing.

The other day I went looking for a christmas tree and only found these branches, called baum. That's when the song O Tannenbaum came into my head. Man, I thought, are these branches gonna be it? Come all the way to Germany for a Charlie Brown christmas?? The jury is still out on this. From what I have read, there is still a chance that a real tree may come right before xmas eve, but yeah, till then, just baum's. It's all advent in southern Germany because this is the Catholic region. I tried to go back to the flower shop today and get a *real* advent wreath with the four candles before tomorrow (the start of advent) but they were all out! Will try again tomorrow as there might be a procrastinators special :)

But at least I got some mistletoe. Or at least I think it is mistletoe.

All of this interesting fact-finding is what I love most about living in another country. This is where you discover just how weird your neighbors are. Don't think so? Imagine trying to explain the Easter Bunny to a rural Maasai bushman. No, really. Imagine it. With me?

So the Germans celebrate xmas very efficiently by having countrywide xmas markets for four weeks. Gluhwine (got alcohol with various spices and other alcohols served in ceramic mugs or boots) is served everywhere. You just take your mug from place to place for refills and shop the booths. Then you get on the carousels or ice skate and then, if you're not finished, you take it home with you on the streetcar and finish it when you get home. All very efficient. No alcohol wasted. No accidents. Boggles the mind. I tried to take a picture for you, but I left my memory card at home (had the camera), my cell phone was dead, and Mr. Left's phone was confusing. Took it as a sign to enjoy myself.

I'm Back from the Great Experiment!

2007-11-28T02:18:00.000+01:00

Yes, rest assured all you flying knitters. You CAN knit with circulars on the plane. Just don't bring the muther of all addi turbos in a size 12 and I think you'll be okay.

We got back Sunday morning, took the ICE back to Heidelberg and went right to sleep. We had a great trip visiting with friends and family on a much more relaxed schedule this time, so we were able to enjoy ourselves much more.

I finished the Cobblestone sweater for Mein Mann, my two Teosinte socks, the Minimalist Sweater, and also made two pairs of Twinkletoes for our goddaughters, Natalia and Mallorie who are both taking dance lessons. They were thrilled. Each slipper took a night to knit up and was pretty easy and straightforward. I used Rowan Calmer and size 6 dpns.

Upon arriving in New York to visit with my friend, Julie, we promptly went to Seaport Yarns, aka Yarn heaven, to lay down some serious money. This was actually hard for me because there were too many options! But I did get some Opal sock yarns, some Bamboo yarn from Sirdar, a Kwacha Kwacha, and E. Zimmerman's Knitting without Tears.

Next: Baltimore to visit some peeps down there. All was as wonderful as could be, which is all our hearts could have asked for. My Shedir hat was given to the most deserving recipient, and now I have been asked to make a matching scarf. So I am on it. xoxo.

Then we went to Philly to see my Grandmom and we talked knitting all day. The two of us can be real troublemakers. We shared knitting patterns and she showed me her stash (much bigger than mine) but I gave her some reorganization tips that are up and coming in her house that she should jump on to better manage her stash. Gotta look out for my Grandma!

Then up to New England, where the Jersey Turnpike had mercy on our souls, and we made it to Rhode Island ok. While we were up there we made a quick stop to Green Mountain Spinnery to buy some wool direct: 2 for me and 2 for Grandmom. We are making Tyrolean Stockings together from IK Fall '07. All this, plus the fact that I bought mega bag of yarn and books at Windsor Button in Boston on Temple Street, Fresh Pearls in Providence on Hope Street, and any other place I might happen to see (Mr. Left will confirm that I did indeed force him to stop at each place).

All in all, a great vacation. We got to spend time with family and friends, got to have as much free ice water as we wanted (score!), and I bought I heck of a lot of yarn and books about yarn.

Flying with Pointy Objects

2007-11-08T13:43:00.000+01:00

After maybe three revisions on the neck, Cobblestone is finished (well, rolled up wet in a towel waiting to be blocked, but that is finished to me!). Mr. Left is so happy with the finished result.

I have been getting conflicting stories on whether I'll be able to take my knitting on the plane tomorrow. The Blue Blog had no problem when she flew Lufthansa, and I have had no problems all the places I have flown to, BUT still I am nervous. (I haven't sat and just watched anything in a long time. If my hands aren't making something I feel unproductive. Knitting is my valium, so to speak.) I'll put in a lifeline at the very least, put in some bamboo dpns in my case, and leave the addi turbos on. This way, if I have to surrender my addi turbos I can do so in a jiffy (I sat on one anyway, so it's crooked and mildly annoying). I have heard that if they see the work in progress on the needles, they let it go. In Kenya, they wanted to confiscate my needles but between my Swahili and nearly finished sweater on the needles (the International Sweater of ill-repute) he relented and said to try on the next security gate. No problem.

And as usual, I am a sucker for charity causes that revolve around knitting. Today's cause? Oliver's Fund. It's for a boy who needs a wheelchair and knitters are getting together to make 4 inch squares out of sock yarn that will eventually be sewn up to make a blanket that will be raffled off. The proceeds of the raffle will go to buying the wheelchair. Kay, of the Mason Dixon duo, has offered to be the US donation point. I have already made three since last night:
The blue and variegated yarns are both from Dancing Leaf in rural Maryland. Both yarns are a wool/mohair blend and come in huge skeins. The whole process, sheep/goat to skein is done on their farm. (And their dog and cat are so friendly you either want to never leave, or throw them both in the car). The green yarn is Trekking XXL leftovers from a pair of socks I made this year.

Mad Dash of Preparations

2007-11-07T12:24:00.000+01:00

Mr. Left's sweater will be done and blocked by the trip. Just some more rows on the neck, and some grafting on the underarm, and a good blocking.So, this is how our luggage contents for the trip are shaping up:

3 bags of 24 smaller bags of gummi bears
3 bars of Christmas Chocolate (more of each coming)
6 bottles of German wine
2 skeins of Wollmeise yarn
enough yarn and patterns to stave off boredom for 2 weeks (including knitting needles and notions)
bags to bring back more stuff
oh, and some clothes

The dollar exchange rate with the Euro is, well, something like getting a leg waxing every time you go to the bank, so for us, going to America will be like going to a long lost place where the currency is incredibly cheap and we will be buying up. I plan to eat my weight in Dunkin Donuts, pad thai, and sushi. And free water when you sit down in a restaurant? LOL!

I hope some nice person will be behind me when I pass out as I walk into Borders, that warehouse of a bookstore where all the books are in English. I am just dying for some books in English. Intellectually stimulating ones! No more chic lit! So please, if you are in the Boston-area, and someone passes out in the bookstore, it's me.

In the meantime I am in full time laundry mode, which means watching your clothes get washed in the front-loader with a cup of water for 2 hours before you can dry it in the dryer. Yes, a cup of water. This gives me plenty of time to work on these:
Not that good at the short row heel usually, but this time I got it right. Perfect snug fit. Nothing like a new pair of socks on the way. Ich bin die Foxy Lady!

I've Been Tagged

2007-11-05T12:43:00.000+01:00

If you haven't read Chara Michele's blog, you should. Her handcrafts are beautiful AND she has an etsy shop (why buy something pre-fab at the mall when you can buy something handmade for someone?).

In a roundabout way I was tagged to tell four things about myself:

Jobs I've Had
1. In college I sold knives/cutlery
2. Barista
3. Patient escort in a hospital
4. Peace Corps volunteer

Places I've Lived
1. Washington, DC
2. Kenya
3. Dominican Republic
4. Germany

Foods I Love
1. French Fries
2. Tom Yum Goong
3. Mangoes
4. Sriracha hot sauce

Websites I Visit
1. www.cnn.com
2. iTunes
3. www.masondixonknitting.com
4. bbc.co.uk

Places I'd Rather Be (other than where I am now, which I love)
1. Spain
2. Uganda
3. Kenya
4. Somewhere warm

Movies I Love & TV Shows I Watch
*not much variety here as most everything is in German, and we're not that good with the language yet
1. When Harry Met Sally
2. The Daily Show Global Edition
3. Meet The Press
4. Summertime

People I Tag
Anyone who has read this far and who has a blog!

Pattern Pickin'

2007-11-05T11:50:00.000+01:00

Sorry I have been "lost", not posting to this thing like usual. In preparations for our upcoming visit to the states, I have been trying to finish Mr. Left's sweater (might have a chance at this!) while trying to find another sock pattern to take on the plane, and other patterns that will stave off moments of boredom (i.e. the Jersey Turnpike).

I was hoping to start the Firestarter socks from Yarnissima, but they are much more complicated than I thought and not the kind of soothing sock work one takes on a trip (I am not beyond kindly asking the flight attendant to page the plane to see if there is another knitter on board who can explain the pattern). So I have started Teosinte Socks by Anne Hanson of knitspot.com. I have knit these socks before and enjoyed them immensely so these are perfect.
Last time I knitted them in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Baltic, but this time I am using Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino in a wonderful reddish variegated called Foxy Lady. This is my last skein of CTH, just in time for my supershop-a-thon with Julie, who is my bf and fellow yarn-a-holic. We will throw down at Seaport Yarns, to put it mildly. Go here to check out pictures of the progress on this (the knitting, not the shopping, as that hasn't happened yet).

Congrats go out to my Peace Corps colleague, Jeff Austin, and his wife, Berna. Just a few days ago they had their first child, Tekla, a beautiful little girl. Jeff was in the next town over from mine during the first year of our service and we were both in the same sector--agroforestry. Tekla, welcome to the world and to your big Peace Corps family.

The Doorbell Buzzer Returns!

2007-10-31T10:42:00.001+01:00

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.

Appointment Maker

2007-10-30T17:05:00.000+01:00

Who buzzes your friggin' doorbell at 7:33 in the morning??

Just a question since this happened to me.

Today.

At that time.

And I don't want to know who, in terms of a name, but just who doesn't have the sense to wait until at least, maybe, 9am? (I know who it was, but lucky for them I didn't answer it. It was the principle of it.)

Let me tell you of this funny thing here that we just cannot figure out--I will call it the "Appointment Maker". We have had three small holes in our office wall for several months now, due to the pipes busting once everyone came back from holiday and the pressure surged. They have replaced the pipes (hence the holes) and have been letting the walls dry. We received a letter from the wall replacer, telling us that they would call us on such-and-such day (which was last Friday) to schedule an appointment for the following Friday. This happens all the time--receiving letters telling you in advance someone will telephone you on a future day to discuss yet another day in the future, so be prepared. Last Friday, the Friday warned about in the letter, came and went with no phone call. This meant that the workman would show up unexpectedly, so be prepared (this happened with the internet, several times).

And voila, here we were at 7:33 am and the mf'r had the nerve to call me on my mobile, too. This is where I wish my German was say, more advanced, so I could have answered the door and put my disdain more properly (chewing someone out for being late or improper is openly accepted here--last week a seven year old girl ripped the tram driver a new one for being 4 minutes late and no one batted an eye). Maybe when he comes unexpectedly again I will rip him in English just to make myself feel better. My face will say it all anyway.

In actual knitting news, I have been working on some mittens from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature book. I've always wanted to knit some of these but who to knit them for? Soaring Eagles is the perfect outlet for this and some of the yarn from the stash.
Plus all the pieces from my Minimalist Sweater (minus one sleeve, god help me) are finished and blocked and in a lovely neat pile, begging me to keep going. I hate blocking. It's always when I doubt the sizing and think the thing can't possibly fit me.
While searching for some patterns for Soaring Eagles I came across some interesting patterns. Check out Mochimochiland, a blog full of Japanese knitted...things. I am a big fan of the knitted/crocheted toilet paper roll covers, but I never imagined what they came up with.

And, then this one is great, too, especially if you have a cat and had a Cabbage Patch Kid growing up. I think Fat Frank's gotta sweater comin' to him this Christmas.... Patterns can be easily adapted to humiliate your dog. Love it!

Not a Bad Monday At All!

2007-10-29T15:05:00.000+01:00

Ok, so finally my brain picks a good night to have insomnia, so I get to watch the Red Sox win the world series. This means 3:30 am for me here. I woke Mr. Left at the bottom of the 9th for the win, and went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, made some serious progress on Cobblestone. No pictures of that. Do you really wanna see st st grow? Just go to my flickr and imagine it longer. I finished the body and am 2/3 on the first sleeve. Normally, knitting while having insomnia is not good for me (I think some folks can do it), but this just means frogging it all the next day. But happily, all the st st in this pattern is insomnia-friendly (so happy for this), so I actually made progress last night while not even knowing it!

I am also in the home stretch of my last monkey and it's looking good. I'm already getting anxious about what socks I will move onto next. I think I will do some Snicket Socks from MagKnits, since all you need is a ball of Regia which practically falls from the trees here. Maybe I will knit them up in the wool/silk blend?

The Minimalist Sweater is alllllllmost finished. I am knitting the last sleeve of that and have blocked all the other pieces. Our foyer is the official blocking area as all of our floors are hardwood and the carpet we've laid in there is the only one thick enough to handle my blocking pins. I hope to have this done by the time we fly to the states for a visit!

And finally, a package today from Wollmeise!!! Sadly, it is not for me, but I got to enjoy opening it anyway. It's for my friend, Julie, who missed out on the Wollmeise at Loopy Ewe. But why have a German yarn connection and not use it? Jules, I will keep it safe and not use any of it (swear!).

Soaring Eagles Project 2

2007-10-27T10:22:00.000+02:00

Most of us don't start thinking about Christmas gifts for people until, well, the week of Christmas (if you're like the people I know--sorry, guys). But if you're a knitter, this process starts months in advance. I have been thinking about what to knit people since about May. I am in good shape (imagine me knocking on wood!). So I will be plowing through my patterns and stash looking for some good patterns for this project called "Soaring Eagles".

Please click on the link and read about them. If you are a knitter, OR know one, please forward them the link. It's not saving the planet from global warming, or bringing peace to the middle east, but a simple act of letting a child know through a handknit garment that someone cares. A very small gesture that can go a long way. I plan on knitting some mittens and some socks.

Pictures from Prague...finally

2007-10-26T14:26:00.000+02:00

Ok, the pictures from Prague are uploaded on my Flickr. Let's see if the link works this way. Prague was gorgeous. But considering we were there at the height (or should we say lowest) point of dollar unworthiness, Mr. Left was unusually hyper on the conversion rate fun game he likes to play. Not that I blame him--we do lose a lot being paid in dollars and having to live in Euros--but I just don't feel better about it being reminded at every purchase, especially when it is the best espresso I have had in 5 months.

I find that every where we go here only makes me love Germany even more, which has been a pleasant surprise for both of us. We both had some of the stereotypes of Germany before coming here, and have found that almost all of them are wrong. We are coming to the states for a quick trip soon and I am already becoming homesick for Heidelberg (no one in the states eats pretzels and desserts for breakfast--they'll think we're nuts!). And crap beer. This place is addictive.

I got my first etsy.com order yesterday (woohoo!!)--a gorgeous skein of Green Monster merino for socks, some cedar blocks (the moths here are as big as hummers), and a skein of wool I will be dyeing myself. I should have bought two, so I can bring them with me to the states to dye them with my nieces Natalia and Mallorie. I plan on Kool-Aid dyeing them and it would be fun to do that with them and then knit them something from wool they dyed themselves. Maybe I still have time to find some natural wool...hmm..Knit Picks?? Or maybe I will get it when we go to the Green Mountain Spinnery in Vermont.

Oh, and I scored two great skeins of local, handpainted wool from die Woolmeise for my friend, Julie. When this lady hand dyes, it is like the Filene's basement bridal sale when it goes up for purchasing.

I am still slogging away on Cobblestone, but I think I made about 3 or 4 inches of progress last night. I hate st st but it's good for when you want to watch tv (we are now iTunes TV addicted) and still be productive. Didn't touch the monkey last night but will today. That could be read wrong, huh? And two parts of minimalist are drying on the floor from last night's blocking. I am a little scared about the back because it seems HUGE, but ok. Trust the pattern. Trust the pattern. I may just have to take serious liberties at the seams when I sew that baby up, so all will not be lost.

All Travel Revolves Around Knitting Projects

2007-10-25T13:56:00.000+02:00

So before we left for Prague I had to think of the proper knitting project to bring. None of the ones I had would fit the trip. I finished Jaywalker. I had a monster of a sweater to do (i.e. Minimalist and Cobblestone) and did not feel like lugging skeins of yarn everywhere so I needed a sock to do. There have been two skeins of yarn haunting me for the last two years or so. I hate to even use that word for this because they are Koigu and I love Koigu. If you think you can't wear wool, try Koigu. I love Koigu. Have I said that enough? So I took these two skeins, found a pattern that would make magic out of the color horror (I have no idea what I was thinking when I chose this color), and voila! It has worked. Check out number one:Not to mention I have finally perfected the art of picking up stitches along the heel flap thanks to Grumperina's tutorial. Some women have their "I'm-wearing-pretty-lingerie" feeling. I had a "Omigod-look-at-my-heelflap" feeling all around the hotel room on one foot (Mr. Left can confirm, sadly). As a perfectionist, I can say Grumperina is the enabler of the perfect heel flap. Oh, and I did go around saying, "Omigod, look at that heelflap!"

Thanks also to Cookie A. for her Monkey pattern (you can get it on Knitty). This yarn glowed like radiation in a dark room for two years. Cookie's pattern (I am the last person on earth to knit the monkey) somehow brings out the true intention of the hand dyed yarn. In a skein, the colors did not make sense, or even look appetizing. But knit in this pattern, the colors are perfectly synchronized.
I need to crank out the st st (stockinette stitch for you nonknitters) today on Cobblestone. This thing calls for 16 inches, with two side bands of garter. It's a beautiful sweater, but it is a man's sweater. Men do not like intricate sweaters. They like sweaters with a lot of stockinette stitch in them, or the kind of stitch that we knitters find boring. It is hard to find a pattern for men that bridges the divide between pleasing them and not boring us. This is one pattern that does bridge the divide.

Check out how the O-Wool Balance, which is a 50% organic cotton and 50% organic merino wool blend give a tweedy look. This is because of the dyeing process used, in which only animal fibers take up the dye, leaving the cotton untouched. This was a great find because the yarn called for is discontinued, and Mr. Left is always on the hot side and so this blend will be better for him anyway.

Me? I am still trying to design an electric knitted outfit that will completely encase me because I am always cold.

Meat Mess

2007-10-24T21:58:00.000+02:00

Mr. Left and I got back yesterday from our trip to Prague, and a meeting in Grafenwoehr (oh where is that umlaut on my keyboard when I need it??). I kid you not, my stomach has spent yesterday and today calming down from the autobahn. I'll post some pictures of Prague by the end of this weekend--I have to verify what each place is with my guide book. I have no idea what I took pictures of. I just do what the Japanese do and check on it later. Maybe if I had this guy, I'd already know where we went:
As the name says, he is "The Experienced Guide." He was taunting me as I had by 5 Euro espresso (which, of course, Mr. Left was converting to the exact dollar amount for me as if I had asked for this information. I didn't care--it was the best cup of coffee I had in five months.).

In the meantime, here are some things we experienced in Prague:
1. Beef, pork and the like are all followed by the word "meat". So, for example, "Beef meat", "pork meat", etc. This really drives it home for the vegan types. Best menu entry: "Meat Mess."

2. The Czech autobahn is scarier than the German autobahn. Czechs drive so fast they make Germans look like grannies with big Buicks on the highways.

3. Fly to Prague. Took us 2 hours to find our hotel. Thought we were gonna have to sleep in our car.

4. Their metro system is so easy and clean. If you ever go, get a day pass at 80 Krones--totally worth it. This is slightly more than 3 Euros. For the dollar equivalent, please email me so I can ask Mr. Left.

After we left Prague we drove two hours west to the German city of Grafenwoehr, which is pretty much unknown to most Germans. It's in southeastern Bavaria and the town is so small you can cover it on foot in about 10 minutes. Hitler trained his bodyguard regiment there and Elvis was stationed there with the army. They had an article in the paper about Elvis and a poll showed that Germans prefer the fat, 1970's Elvis (in case you wanted to know).

A bunch of us went to eat at a Gasthaus (small family inn) in the town and there were a bunch of people playing the accordion, drinking and singing volksmusic (think stereotypical Germany without the lederhosen to get a picture of this). Anyway, the food was great and we were all singing along by the end of it. The people in Bavaria are so warm. These are the things that make you fall in love with this place, and these things are everywhere.

Weather and Time Update
Starting this weekend we will now be ahead of you US folks by 7 hours. It's getting pretty cold here (in Bavaria it was below freezing one night), and it doesn't get light here till after 8 am and it gets dark earlier and earlier. This is just as weird as when we got here and would go to bed and it was still light out (11 pm) and it would only be dark till 4:30 am or so. Now it seems dark all the time.

Onto Prague

2007-10-20T03:13:00.000+02:00

It's 3:13 am as I write this. Can't sleep. And Mr. Left ate ALL of the tiramisu in the fridge. Boo.

The iPod is prepared. What did people on the autobahn do before the iPod? This is perplexing, really. You're going 100+mph up and down hills between mountains, so you're lucky if you catch two lines of a good song. So what we have been doing is listening to my favorite station (kid you not): scan. You know, the button on the radio that scans for a station for you. I could, and have, listen to this for hours. Needless to say I am the only one in the car who feels this way. So we have amped up the pod with some Hardball with Chris Matthews (which we used to watch every night in DC), and Tucker (both of whom had their office in the building behind where I used to work on Capitol Hill). And as a special bonus, which may not be the best thing to have when driving, is Stephen Colbert's new book: I Am America (And So Can You!) on audio, read by him.

If you are not a Stephen Colbert fan, please proceed to your nearest neurologist as the funny ha-ha part of your brain is malfunctioning. Seriously. We got addicted to him via The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (ok, having a swoon moment over him...). Colbert was on his show, as was Steve Carrell, and now Rob Courdry has recently left. All hilarious people. We got tickets (Mr. Left, myself, and friend Julie) to see the Colbert Report and who was there but Geoffrey!!

Who is Geoffrey? Really, people. Before The Daily Show, Colbert was on Strangers with Candy, a small series on Comedy Central (Geoffrey was the art teacher that Colbert's character was having an affair with). But who else was on this fabulous show? Amy Sedaris playing Jeri Blank. And who is her brother? David Sedaris, funniest writer of ALL TIME.

I have met David Sedaris twice at book signings in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the Sedaris family has called home for a while. Amy and the Rooster (read Me Talk Pretty One Day by David to know who the Rooster is) were there. Me Talk Pretty One Day is my favorite book of his, but this is not some book you want to pick up and read in public. Alone. Unless you like to be the weirdo laughing hysterically--and it's the laughing so hard you're crying and laughing for hours laugh. He is that funny. Even better if you can hear him read his own stories.

Big digression there, but worth it. We'll see how Stephen works on the autobahn. For Mr. Left's sake it better work out well because I have 6 knitting podcasts in the queue if it doesn't! (Including one done by expats who live in Germany--can't wait to hear this!).

Jaywalkers Update!

2007-10-17T14:30:00.000+02:00

I was beginning to think I would never finish the Jaywalkers. I have mostly been concentrating on the Minimalist Sweater, which goes slow considering it is moss stitch, but considering it is not fingering weight yarn (think dental floss, my non-knitting friends), it has been much faster than the Jaywalkers.

I mean, this Swiss stuff I have been knitting the Jaywalkers with now makes my Koigu PPPM seem almost...chunky?

Well, two days of hard pressed knitting and those babies are in the sink right now soaking for a good blocking later on my makeshift metal-hanger-cum-sock-blockers that I think even Mommie Dearest would be very happy to see out of the closet.

So back to my list. The Noro Scarf is for stash deficiency knitting only (I would never wear it only because it is like wearing a scarf with yarn that has been dragged about the farm by a kid goat. This was bought for dreams of a Clapotis long ago, but I discovered that, when knit by me, I did not like Clapotis.) So now I am trying to knit it away into things. It is scratchy and not meant for me.

Baby Bolero meant for a friend due in 2008, so I have time. No Wool Socks? Aka Summer Socks, so I have time there. Jim's socks were supposed to be his present last xmas but he has feet the size of a yeti and the traffic of the New Jersey Turnpike could not even compel me to knit the second.

So I will have to see. I need a project that will last me the weekend with the drive to Prague and back. Any suggestions?

The Strike is Over

2007-10-14T21:37:00.000+02:00

As of Saturday, the strike was over. New bookshelf with appropriately matching baskets for small, half-used balls of yarn were purchased at the Ikea in Waldorf and are now sitting behind me on the floor for assembly. It's nice to know that I have learned something in my 5 months here in Germany (the language excluded, of course): how to make an effective strike.

After arranging and organizing all of my yarn I have now determined the following:

There is a reason the babywear world uses pastels. Infants haven't fully developed their ability to see colors and focus, and I should recognize this. I should stop making my friends dress their newborns in the orange and bright green knitted items I have sent to them, if only to prevent future blindness. Sorry, guys.
I stockpile wet spun linen for no good reason and will keep on doing it. Thank you Seaport Yarns.
There is one shade of Koigu PPPM that I must have bought from a magazine while in a dark room on the internet. I say this because this color in normal lighted settings invokes a migraine, but because it's Koigu, I can't bear to get rid of it.
I don't like mohair.
I like green.

On completely unrelated knitted news, Thursday Mr. Left and I will celebrate our fourth anniversary. How to celebrate? We are driving (yes, driving!) to Prague for a few days (just a few hours away), and then we will go to southeastern Germany for a few days as well. It was either this or Rome (we realize how lucky we are to have this as our 'dilemma'), but we thought Prague would be pretty in the fall.

The Art Gallery Feeling

2007-10-12T13:04:00.000+02:00

I decided to fully embrace my new home and pull a mini-strike by taking over the bookcase.

Books used to occupy every shelf. Before we moved we had to give loads away. In trying to furnish this place, we have obviously started with most important pieces of furniture. But now we are down to my yarn shelf.

And I am waaaaiiiting.

So I staged a mini protest last night. The yarn came out of the zippered garment bags and onto the shelves. Moved those darn books right out of there, and I will certainly put them in the bomb shelter in the basement if left with no alternative.

My mini strike is already working as Mr. Left was mumbling something about going to Ikea this weekend as he was dozing off to sleep last night. Hee hee. That took about 4 hours.

The shelves certainly make this recent package of O-Wool Balance from Jimmy Beans Wool look a lot nicer than it would have in the friggin' closet in a garment bag.

It's certified organic merino wool and cotton in a 50/50 blend. I'm going to make Mr. Left a sweater for his birthday/xmas (depending upon how nice the pattern is to the brain-hand pathway, you see). Sometimes patterns have their own time continuum that I have no say in.

But for now it all looks so nice I don't even want to knit with any of it. I just want to look at it all, which must be that feeling people get at the art gallery. Feel the nice American and Canadian wool. I am just beside myself with glee. Who woulda thought it'd look so good out of the garment bag?

Amsterdam

2007-10-10T16:31:00.001+02:00

For the last few days, Mr. Left and I, and some friends from the states (Steve and Jay), have been in Amsterdam. We went by car. On the autobahn. And I drove.

I liked it. Scary thing was I was passing people in the left lane a lot. I was one of those people. While driving is a lot less stressful than being a passenger, I was still happy to give up the driving and continue on in the backseat with my knitting.

Finished Mr. Left's socks, but can't post a picture until I give them to him. I also made some progress on the minimalist sweater.

But the most important yarn note of this adventure was that I went to de Afstap, which is a place I remember stumbling onto during one of my earlier trips there (thanks to Knitting Ajour for recommending it to me!).

There I was able to drool for an hour over everything Rowan and eventually drop 50 Euro on some gorgeous Rowan Felted Tweed for a Tangled Yoke Cardigan by Eunny Jang I want to knit.

Oh yeah, and we went to the Red Light District, and my favorite chinese restaurant that has never done me wrong (the boys agreed).

Reunification Day

2007-10-03T16:24:00.000+02:00

Today Germany celebrates ten years of unity after the falling of the Berlin Wall. I fully expected this to be a cause for a big party, too, (and it may be in Berlin--who knows), but here in Heidelberg it is very quiet.

Creepy quiet. Where did everybody go?

Turns out this is a day of contemplation and prayer (?) and at most, people go outside to enjoy nature and hikes. (Sure enough this is where I found everyone!).

I took a stroll down the river, up the Hauptstrasse for a bit (where I found another Thai restaurant--score!), and then crossed the Alte Brucke (the Old Bridge) to take the Philosophenweg (Philosopher's Way) back home. Usually I take it coming down the mountainside--well, now I know why people look like they are dying on the way up! I nearly had a coronary.

Here I am standing on the Alte Brucke as I take this picture, looking back at the Altstadt (Old Town). The two white pillars hold the gateway to the town, which were once the only way to enter and exit Heidelberg (at least that is what I think the sign said--it was in German).

On Holidays you can't make a lot of racket (i.e. vacuum cleaner is out, so you know this is killing me) so I am tackling the closet instead. Basically: how to hide crap around the house in a creative way. We are getting a nice shelving unit next for my yarn that will also hold the bed linens. Up till now it has been in a giant bag. This is not the best way to keep one's investments, I said to Mr. Left.

"Some people invest in blue chips. I invest in cashmere."

Can you see the castle through the fog?

Herbstfest and Weinfest (Again!)

2007-10-01T18:15:00.000+02:00

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.

The International Sweater

2007-09-28T14:19:00.000+02:00

In a little over a week, Mr. Left and I, and two friends from the states will be piling into the bug for some whiteknuckling on the autobahn (yes, that's right, I will be driving) as we make our way to Amsterdam, the land of anything goes. This brings to mind the last time I was in Amsterdam, which was about a year ago, as I was laying over on the way to work. With me was this--the Lucky Clover Lace Wrap.
Or as I like to refer to it, Lucky-if-I'll-ever-finish-it. This unfortunate work in progress started as several luscious balls of a cashmere/silk/cotton mix of some brand I no longer can find the ball band for. It is so soft, and a light green my camera cannot capture. I thought this would be a perfect project that would keep me interested for 6 weeks away in Africa for work.

And it did. I got most of it done.

It has been from the lovely Stitch DC shop where I purchased it to Amsterdam (twice already), to Kampala, Uganda, and all throughout the southern parts of Uganda, even sneaking over the border to Rwanda. Then on a plane to Nairobi, where it then traveled the potholed roads around Kenya, then back on a plane to the Netherlands and back to DC. Then to Cincinnati on layover on the way to Seattle and in the car to Canada and Vancouver one summer, and back again. Up and back to New England several times. This sweater has even been helped along by my friend, Julie.

But as any time zone crossing traveler will testify, free wine and knitting and the loss of time do not mix (note the mess up in that picture above). Granted, when I pulled it out to examine it after about a year of not looking at it, loss of memory served me well as I couldn't figure out where I messed up exactly. So screw it. I am pressing on. If I can't figure it out now I figure no one will be looking that closely at my backside either.

Hodge Podge

2007-09-19T15:26:00.000+02:00

Hey, look at the progress on the Jaywalker socks. I am about an inch or so from beginning the decreases on the toe and binding off. Aside from a few mishaps from knitting while enjoying some of Bern's wine (a no-no but I did it anyway), this pair should be done by the time we head up to Amsterdam with some friends. (This is a good thing since a 1pm walk left my ears cold.)

A note on my needles: they are fantastic wood needles. But I recently learned why I have been getting all the stares on the streetcar, and it wasn't just for the fact that I was throwing my knitting (i.e. holding the yarn in my right hand). It turns out that wooden needles are viewed as poor quality here (might explain why I can't find them anywhere). I can see their point--why would you knit with something you can break? (I have broken my size one's--touche). But when you fly there is no way the TSA will let you through with metal needles. Maybe I will put them away for when I fly and join the metal needle knitting club...

Yesterday was the anniversary of the autobahn. I discovered this was not invented by Hitler, as I thought, but by Konrad Adenauer, and the first stretch was completed one year before Hitler came to power. Part of the purpose of the autobahn was so that Germans could enjoy the beautiful countryside while driving (which is a very scary thought when considering the speed, as I can personally attest to). So far the only thing amusing to me about the autobahn is that I am constantly saying, "OMG, can you believe how fast he was going???" but in a much more expletive vulgar unfathomable sort-of-way.

Trivia on the Autobahn:

There are speed limits. In some areas there is a lot of stau (traffic in German), so the speed is reduced to 80 kph. Otherwise it is suggested that you go no more than 130 kph, but this is not mandatory. But I can tell you the polizei do regulate this. It's just like in the US--you see the cop in the other side of the road, everybody taps their breaks, and then goes back to speeding, except here it is at the speed of light.
Germans originally mandated a speed limit on the autobahn, but when the Americans liberated Germany, they set the speed limit aside.
Despite the fact that you can mostly go as fast as you want and only use the left lane for passing (they are very serious about this and cars come out of nowhere in the left lane) there is still a lot of traffic on the autobahn. For example, it should only take an hour to go to Strasbourg, France, but depending on the traffic, it can take up to six hours!

Weinfest!!

2007-09-17T22:47:00.000+02:00

Usually I take pictures as a way to kill time and amuse myself, but this Sunday I actually forgot to take pictures when Mr. Left and I were invited to go to a weinfest (winefest) in the village of Malsch, which is about 25 minutes from Heidelberg. This is the time of year when all the winemakers harvest their grapes and everyone parties more than usual. We were invited by a German colleague, Bern, who is also a winemaker in Malsch. Between Bern and his cousin, who jointly own a vineyard, they have won a silver and nine gold medals for their wine.

Upon arriving in Malsch, we all got out of the car and walked to the venue. It really couldn't have been more fairytale-like: walking through orchards of ripe apples, pears and plums in the middle of this small, sort of empty town, then out of nowhere there are tons of cars and bicycles parked ever-so-precisely, and there is loud oom-pa-pa music coming from the tent. Winefest! Under the tents everyone was crammed into tables and benches drinking and eating and having a great time singing. I got a glass of last year's Muller Thurgau, which is a white wine--very good. Then I got a glass of Grauburgunder, which reminded me of fresh cut grass, so much so I started to sneeze. Lots of food, including learning that Schweinaxe is pig neck. My German classes came in handy on that one!

Afterwards, we walked back to the car at Bern's house where he gave each of us a bottle of his own wine that he had made. We opened it tonight. Quite literally the best red wine we have ever had. Ever. I will just have to savor it for you and have you take my word on it.

Prost!

Finally, A Post About Knitting

2007-09-15T16:08:00.000+02:00

I keep forgetting there is another aspect to write about: knitting, or in German, stricken. (As in so much yarn, so little time). In Germany, the knitting buzz is not nearly what it is in the states, so the availability and variety of the yarns reflect that. In other words, I am glad I stocked up before I came here. The yarns here are very good quality, but sometimes you want wool to look like wool, and not so tightly strung that it loses its fuzziness. (And the alternatives are acrylic, or fun fur (imagine a blown up muppet), or anything neon). It's like the difference between cotton tight on the end of a Q-tip and a cotton ball. One looks, well, tight, and the other like a small cloud. The difference between the two is how you have treated that fiber.

So imagine when I walked into my LYS (local yarn shop for you non-knitters) and they have some wool-looking sock yarn that is from, of all places, Switzerland. This is time for the poker face, where you have to subtlety claim the sock yarn from Switzerland as yours while not looking like a nut at the same time. If you are a knitter, you know the strategy. It's like when your LYS has gotten a new batch of Koigu in and no other customers in the shop have noticed yet. So get a look at this puppy named "Super Soxx":
Not only does it look and feel like wool, but it is variegated! And it only cost me 6,75 Euros for a giant ball of this well-made loveliness. So I have wasted no time. Did a swatch last night and this stuff is already being made into Grumperina's Jaywalker. I wanted something that would show off the colors but without being too intricate so that the needlework overpowered the yarn. I just finished the cuff and will get to the leg today.

Oh, and that hat that my friend, Katy, sent me extra yarn for because I was the idiot who didn't buy extra in the first place? Here's that hat, called Shedir, from the Breast Cancer Awareness Edition of Knitty. It's so soft and I can't believe I did that hat without messing one thing up. That's a first.

Thursday is National Cleaning Day

2007-09-13T14:32:00.001+02:00

I swear I am not making this stuff up. Yes, it sounds ridiculous, but no, we are not making it up. Every week on Thursday people clean like mad. I'm sure they do small things around the house all week, but they go to town on Thursday. No one would think of it on Friday (beginning of the weekend), Saturday or Sunday (the national day of quiet and if you even think of making noise the police will come to tell you to be quiet). Monday and Wednesday are market days, and Tuesday, well, I haven't figured out what they do here on Tuesday. Maybe that is when the sun comes out.

So what and how do we clean on Thursday? This, too, is on a whole new level of crazy that would bring the OCD clean freaks over here in plane loads. First, you must sweep your section of the hallway. This is called in English, "Being a good neighbor". Yes, you must sweep your hallway from your landing down to the next landing.

Next, but not necessarily in this order, you clean the inside of your house. But! You can't do this between the hours of 1-3pm as this is also mandated quiet time. Don't laugh too boisterously, no clogging or tap dancing, don't crank up the telly when Jethro Tull comes on or again the polizei (police) will come to tell you no-no or perhaps make you pay a fine if this has been a repeat visit. Once three has come, you can let it rip like you live in Berlin (but only reasonably so), and resume your chores such as cutting the grass with your non-gas lawn mower which you must plug into the outlet and have someone follow behind you carrying the cords so that you don't accidentally run over them with the blades. (Sorry, I have been unable to get a picture of this because it is so damn funny I can't keep the camera still).

Then the trash. This can easily take a half hour. No chucking-it-all-into-one-bin and throwing the bag down the chute. (Ahh the days of yore....) Nein! If you want to get technical about all of the ways trash can be sorted, come to Germany. Now don't get me wrong. I have been trying to get Mr. Left to just recycle glass and plastic for years. When we found out we were moving to Germany I was devilishly happy because now the polizei would force him into an all-out six-bin sorting recycler. My fight would be in the German government's hands and now I can relax (especially between 1-3pm daily, as I have mentioned). So we have four bins: plastic, paper, bioabfall (compost and biodegradables), and restmull (which is everything else that can't be recycled). Wine bottles in the corner get taken the glass bin down the street where they, too, get separated. Then hazmats get hauled to some location. Six bins total. Really makes you think of everything you consume when it comes time to break it down and send off all its bits to its containers.

Weird Bits On Recycling:

Even lint from the dryer gets recycled
Q-tips must be picked out of the bathroom bin and put into the non-recycled bin (restmull). Lovely.
Did you know dust isn't recyclable?
Hair goes in the compost. Good luck collecting that.
Tissue not used goes into paper bin. But if you've sneezed in it please put it in the bioabfall recycling bin.
And, if something has you stumped, do what I do and wait till late at night or early morning and run it down to the "generic" trash bin down at the bus stop when no one is looking.

It's almost three here--time to make some noise! Tschuss!!

Busy Busy

2007-08-25T17:38:00.000+02:00

Sorry I have been missing. Language classes started up again so my brain has been overloaded with irregular verbs and the philosophical reasons we are given on why a chair cannot be empty, but rather available. Then each night at least 3 hours of homework and I do it all over again the next day. I find myself losing English words. I did manage, in all of this, to finish a beautiful lace tank top in linen, a hot water bottle cozy, one Turkish sock by Anna Zilboorg, and a Rowan Calmer hat off of Knitty that my friend Katy sent me yarn for. I found my transfer key for the camera so I'll attach some next time I write. Now there are no more beginners at this level in German (most come for a quick summer course then go back home) so I will start private lessons this week till I reach intermediate, which will be soon.

Today we went to Schwetzingen (the asparagus capital of Germany), which is about 20 minutes from here. (Smelled ok, in case you were wondering.) We heard their pedestrian area was really nice and their schloss (palace/castle) was great, too. So we went. The pedestrian area was anti-climactic. Nothing has compared to Heidelberg so far--no wonder it is the founding place of Romanticism. BUT there was a great traditional German restaurant and I had a Quark (a white cheese found only in this region, kinda like sour cream) salad with onions, boiled potatoes and a side salad. It was soo good. We had to hurry and get the bill before the carb coma set in.

The schloss was nice, though totally different than the castle in Heidelberg. The one in Heidelberg is more of what you would think of in a castle. But the schloss we saw today was in a Rococo (sure I am not spelling that right at all) style. It was huge and palacial and the gardens went as far as the eye could see in every direction. We took a tour of the inside (all in German). And they don't skimp on any detail. At one point Mr. Left yawned so big that it actually sounded like a snore and we lost it--just started to crack up. This went on for two rooms (for me anyway). The next room an older lady let one rip and Mr. Left was laughing again. I was cracking up at the thought of just screaming in English, 'Let me out of here--this is the worst tour ever!!' It really was awful; even if it had been in English it would have been worse than a leg waxing I tell you. It was like watching Gosford Park in slo-mo, but worse. Now you get what I'm saying.

Musings on Meat and the Internet

2007-07-31T18:27:00.000+02:00

We live in the economic powerhouse of Europe. But when it comes to inefficiency, I'm afraid the other dirty secret in the closet (I'm sure you can guess the first one) is getting the phone and internet installed. Normally, this can take 2-4 weeks. We thought we were going to be living the high life on broadband with the first company in Germany to introduce the concept. BUT, nein. So we must say goodbye to the great progress we have made in waiting (I am understanding now what Waiting for Godot was all about really..) and succumb to the great monopoly known as Deustche Telekom. Wunderbar! At least now we can count on it only taking two weeks. I really like Germany, but I am so tired of trekking into old town to search for the internet all the time. Sigh...

Let me put a disclaimer if you are one of the few people who are reading this thing who don`t know me personally: I have a very sarcastic sense of humor. We like Germany so much we may never come back (that and the fact we want to get our investment back on how much effort it takes to learn the language).

Having said that....I nearly lost it in the meat department at the grocery store yesterday. There are aisles upon aisles of meat (and I mean meat you wouldn`t have thought to be something you would eat, or at the very least, eat that way). It doesn`t help me that I don`t know half of what the words are. I have to go down there (this is where the frozen pizzas are), and just when I think I can`t deal anymore I have the serenity of sliced cheese (ahhh). But then I turn and the blutwurst is looking right at me. Blutwurst is a sausage made out of all the coddled blood of what they have already made into other sausages (gives new light to waste not, want not). It is a black-purplish color and I can`t take it--I nearly run to the wine aisle, Mr. Left clearly understanding what is going on. I don`t think the undoing of my vegetarianism is going to work, at least for a good while. But I am getting good practice on controlling the gag reflex.

Unpacking into Nothingness

2007-07-27T17:40:00.000+02:00

We finally received the rest of our household goods (i.e. the couch, plates, etc.) last week. Not only do they deliver it up the flights of stairs, but they unpack it, and take the boxes out. Sounds easy, huh? German apartments, along with no kitchen as I mentioned earlier, also do not come with closets or anything. So you're unpacking, but into nothing. This calls for creativity, which is where all previous yarn stashing and hiding comes in handy. The living room is down. Bedroom? Well, I think everyone who ever rented this place slept in this room because the floors are incredibly warped. I didn't notice this until I tried to put up a floor lamp and the thing was leaning horribly, making me think the movers had broken it. Our dresser? Two legs don't even touch the floor. Should be interesting when we put the tv inside.

Speaking of TV's...none of them work. Yes, there is a thing here called PAL, which is not your friend. TV's from the US use some other system, so as soon as you're on the verge of going insane from not getting any Hardball with Chris Matthews (and don't feel like hanging out all night at the internet cafe shouting at the computer....like those other Americans, I mean), you plug in your TV and the thing goes crazy. The inspector comes out, and thru charades (because neither of you knows how to speak the other's language) you find out that bringing all of your TV's was useless because in Germany they use PAL and you don't have it.

But this is no big deal, because most of my time is still spent translating the recycling bins outside of our building. I have now figured out that I have been putting in cardboard in the plastic bin, mistaking kein for klein (don't for small). So I have been sticking my cardboard in the yellow bin all this time. It's no wonder they haven't taken the bin off to jail (this does happen).

So let me get back to figuring out where to hide the rest of our stuff. If you have any ideas on how to create storage, let me know. Otherwise, don't be surprised if you come by and sit down on the couch and find it stuffed with yarn. I have to put that stuff somewhere.

Bastille Day in Strasbourg, France

2007-07-15T17:52:00.000+02:00

This weekend we went to Strasbourg, France for no other reason than to just drive somewhere else. Why not France on Bastille Day? Strasbourg is in the Alsace region of France which has constantly changed hands between the German and French. By autobahn, it's about an hour away (I have a headache to prove it). In high school I took four years of French, so I'd like to think I went in with an incentive to like France. It was beautiful, but unbelievably hot. How can one hour away mean 40 degrees hotter? No wonder scores of folks die every summer there. For a few hours there, we thought we would be two of them.

So we arrived, found the hotel, and did the half-dazed Day One wandering. Day Two (the I-have-my-wits-about-me day) we took a cruise around the city and got severe sunburns. We saw the European Parliament, the Court of Human Rights, Petite France, and many more things I will remember once I have rehydrated myself. The photo above is of Petite France. Then after viewing the Parliament and Court, we passed back by St. Peters church, which was huge and beautiful. If you are into cathedrals, Europe is the place for you as they are everywhere.

Everyone in Strasbourg was preparing for Bastille Day, including hanging disco balls on the electricity poles--see for yourself. The night ended with fireworks over the bridge in Petite France, with the river Ill illuminated. In the morning we had crepes and started our death ride back to Heidelberg back on the autobahn.

Say No To Gas

2007-07-10T18:11:00.000+02:00

Class is coming along well. I can choke out a sentence to get what I need (though, the cable guy would certainly disagree with that). Today's class was most helpful. We're into our second week and are into groceries. Figures I got the meat section with my Italian nachbar (neighbor), Francesco, since I am vegetarian. Oh well, this helps Mr. Left when we go out to eat as I can at least now translate that part of the menu for him.

What got the class most excited was the part on bottled water. Some of you may have heard that Germany's tap water isn't good. It's not that it's bad (as in not treated). But there are a lot of minerals in it--the water is very hard. Drinking it gives us indigestion. So most people drink bottled water. When you go out to a restaurant, it is actually the most expensive thing on the menu. Beer is cheapest, then soda, then water. When you ask for it, the waiter will ask you if you want it with or without gas. Seemed simple enough....till you went to the store and tried to figure out which bottles were without gas. This was a classwide problem. You go to the store, try to figure out which was regular old bottled water, buy the six pack, and bada-bing, you get home and the bottles got gas. I even tried shaking the bottles at the store to see if they would fizz and nothing, to just get them home and voila--gas. We begged our teacher to help us (which she did, and we now all feel like we have conquered another part of life here). But we were all lamenting in our broken English (or sometimes Italian to Spanish to English and back again) how we buy the bottles and get home and go, "I can't drink this!!".

My class is full of people from other countries, and my other languages are coming back to the point that when I don't understand something our German teacher is explaining (only German in class) I ask one of the Spanish speakers and they explain it to me in Spanish. How funny is this?

We found out today that our remaining household goods (i.e. the couch and everything else) have arrived and will come next Thursday to the flat. We are beside ourselves. Almost two months of living out of bags, and the last week on the hardwood floors (I have almost slipped in my socks several times).

And as if my brain isn't overloading enough on the languages, we are going to Strasbourg this weekend (France). It was part of Germany at one time, but now is French. We are hoping to find a good deal on some Moet Chandon sans tariffs will be fine with us. Now I will finally have my chance to ask for the trashcan in French--Ou est la poubelle? Only the French can make a trashcan sound so pretty.

Starting German Lessons

2007-07-05T12:59:00.000+02:00

I was wrong to deny the many who went before me and said that learning German was hard. I thought, hey, this is my fourth foreign language--I am a pro at this. And by day two my brain was softer than jello left on the counter overnight. I am taking intensive beginners German. This means 3 hours a day, every day, for two weeks, at which point I reassess my sanity and willingness to live illiterate. There are 12 people in my class from all over the world. The entire class is taught in German. I thought this was good--this is how I learned Swahili. But German, to my ear, sounds like a long hacking, sort of like bronchitis without the Z-Pack, with an oy thrown in every once and a while. I have the hacking of the ever-famous ich down. I guess this is progress.
I can also now successfully purchase my morning coffee without the look of "what-did-you-just-say?" that I have been getting. Small successes make my day.

We got a small shipment from home this week, including our bikes. I rode my bike to class today. So thrilled! This is great not only because this is the first time I have been able to ride my bike since my foot surgery in March, but also because we have always dreamed of living in a place where bikes are a major transportation method.

We also moved into our flat on Monday. I have some pictures to send you, but I forgot my camera today. We managed to buy an oven, too, and it fit in the back of our beetle (no minor miracle), and we both carried it up to the second floor. Desperation brings great strength. There's no way you could have made me do that at home, for sure.

Tschuß!

Can I Get a Price Check, Bitte?

2007-06-30T19:26:00.001+02:00

Some things here are amazingly cheap, like gelato. Anywhere you go eine scoop is € .70. That is soo fair. And it's good, which means I can afford to eat it coming and going nearly everywhere I am heading. And, since I get it in a cone I am eating the container, which is good for the environment (I love the earth), and saves me that problem I discussed earlier of figuring out which of the 11 trash bins to put it in. But I digress (again, I know. I love tangents, too). Other things are so expensive you feel like someone has taken your brain or ability to read, and then you have the intense desire to immediately check with someone close by if you haven't turned into Sybil. Perhaps this is some clever trick someone has come up with to make us all chatty with one another in the retail shops (Germans don't chit-chat you see), as a way of making sure each other hasn't lost one's mind, and in the course of doing this, you have also made a friend. For instance, a plain vinyl shower curtain liner. In the states, this would cost a few bucks tops. After all it is just plastic. Nothing fancy or crafty about it, right. Here, I kid you not it ranged from €8,00 to €39,99. Just for friggin vinyl. Plastic people!! Actually, the more, shall we say, fashionably gauche it looked, the more expensive it was (this is where the yard gnome was invented after all). I managed to find a ratty one for €8,00 that will last us until we drive all the way out to Ikea (it is probably made of dissolvable material, but I am still bad with German, so I won't know till I take a shower). Just as a point of reference, it was actually cheaper to buy a brand new toilet bowl for €34,99. An ironing board? Try €50. Yeah, that thing that my mother always tried to get me to use. If I knew it was going to be as expensive as a Hummer, I would have kept the crappy one we had in the states and brought it here, but I just assumed that an ironing board was the universally cheap thing. So, if you're looking to invest to stave yourself off from the declining value of the dollar, I have two pieces of advice for you: invest in German vinyl shower curtains and ironing boards. You will get rich quick, my friends. These people iron like mad. (Ok, so I iron like mad, but whatever.)

Marzipan is Funny

2007-06-29T15:01:00.000+02:00

Germany has many food specialties--chocolate, sausages, spaetzle, schnitzel, and marzipan. You know marzipan--that almond paste that is shaped into fruits and other things that you never know what to do with (or maybe that`s just me). On the Haütpstraße is a quaint chocolaterie and I finally went in there to have a look around: truffles, jellied candies, chocolate bars from all over the world with lavendar and chili peppers, etc. I was low on Euro, and thank God for it. In the back was a big surprise: the marzipan section, which could have easily been renamed Schweinefleisch im Marzipan. Ok, just when you think you can`t possibly be shocked by anything else here (the lawnmower you plug-in was pretty good), they whip out pigs shaped out of marzipan. I felt this sudden urge to buy a bunch up (hence, the no Euro being a good thing) and horde them for a good joke. Pig heads (smiling, at that) in marzipan. A full-fledged pig that intimated the idea of being fully-cooked and ready to eat as it was also on a wooden board (yep, made of marzipan!), with utensils on the side made of--you guessed it!--made of marzipan. The ingenuity was astounding. They are quite serious people most of the time, with no sense of sarcasm from what you read in most guidebooks, and here I was looking at one of the funniest things yet. I wonder if it tasted just a leeeeetttle bit like bacon?

How to Cut Grass in Germany

2007-06-28T12:55:00.001+02:00

...very carefully or you will electrocute yourself (I'd say!). First, you must have grass AND you must be allowed to walk on it. (Please, people. I am not making this stuff up.). There are grassy areas designated for the dogs only as dogs here are *king*. They are allowed in the restaurants, in the stores, supermarkets, trains, trams, etc. Everywhere. No leashes, nothing. And they are, like everything else here, very polite and orderly. So likewise they get their own parks. We almost rented a flat that had a beautiful garden, but was strictly told we would never be allowed on it. If we wanted to sunbathe, we would have to do it on the driveway.

But I digress. So if you have grass that you are allowed to walk on, then you must next buy a lawnmower--an electric lawnmower. I kid you not--one you must plug into the outlet. No gas-spewing thing for the yard here. Then, when you want to cut your grass you must see if that time falls within the time the city allows you to cut it. I.E., not within the daily quiet time, or on the weekend when people would like to relax (yep, no grasscutting on the weekend--at all--or the polizei will be over pronto to fine you). So you most likely cut it during the week. This makes it hard to catch the sight of this event, but I have managed to twice now, and I just wish I could have some popcorn and a seat across the street, as it really is quite amusing in a Fear-Factor-meets-environmentalism sort of way. Man plugs in lawnmower at utmost inconvenient time for him and proceeds to cut the grass, rushing to get it done before quiet time while at the same time NOT chop the electrical cord up with the blades and electrocute himself.

Knitting! I am 3/4 of the way done on a sock made with Regia Cotton, and about 2/3 of the way done on a top called the Tomato. It's a cotton t-shirt made with Blue Sky Alpacas Cotton. It's organic and hand dyed in a color called pickle. My t-shirts always seem to go wrong even though I measure all throughout the process. I hope this one fits, but by the way this summer is feeling I may need to make it long-sleeved!

Trivia and Other Fun Bits

2007-06-26T18:48:00.000+02:00

There is nothing exciting to report, I'm afraid. Our car arrived today (yippee!), so now we can pay outrageous gas prices like everyone else. In our little car we are required by German law to carry an orange vest (for when we break down), a first aid kit (for when we have to render aid to someone if we are first on the scene in an accident), and a triangle. So, due to the size of our car, we have enough room for either me, or a loaf of bread. Ha ha.

We move into the flat on Sunday. Mind you we have nothing really to put in it since our couch and stuff hasn't arrived yet. We'll go to a camping store to get some camping mattresses to hold us over for the next couple of weeks.

Kidney Stones. We now know why you don't want to drink the tap water here. A friend who has lived here for a few years told us to 'not be surprised when we have to carve away the calcium buildup off our tap.' Lovely. I have had some bad water in my life (hmm...remembering the very rural areas of Africa where there was no tap), but this is bad. We even make our ice cubes out of bottled water. If you ask for a lot of ice at a restaurant, you get two ice cubes. Usually you get none at all. I think this is the only thing the French and Germans have always agreed on?? Getting dysentery from the ice was always something I was prepared for (or even willing to risk for a friggin cold soda). But kidney stones?

Porno. The place I sometimes have breakfast at has an assortment of magazines and newspaper for your enjoyment. Afterall, it is very rude to eat and run--you must sit and relax and LINGER. This is your duty (harder than you think). Well, yesterday morning I was so surprised to find among the German Good Housekeeping magazines a copy of Playboy. Nothing like some morning porno with your croissant and kaffee to start your day right. Mr. Left would like to point out their very good articles.

Chicken. It comes on everything just about whether you want it or not and whether it is listed on the menu or not as an ingredient in your food. Example: I ordered shrimp pad thai and it came with chicken. I ordered food at another restaurant--a vegetarian version, in fact--and it came with chicken. And yet, I have never seen a chicken here. There is so much meat here yet I have never seen the animals. Where are they? No one can tell me this, and this is a tour no bureau can offer me. Maybe it is being shipped in from Denmark. But I just want the noodles!

Recycling: If you are obsessive-compulsive and want to move on from the hand-washing to a new, more exciting obsession, then German trash handling laws have it for you. You can't just throw something away here. Oh no. If you do, the authorities will come and take your trash cans away from you and you will have to go to city hall and bail them out. Equal packet? Into the paper bin. Plastic bottle? Into the plastics. Used coffee filter. Ah...tricky. You must put the grounds into the compost bin and then put the filter into a piece of newspaper and then put it into the paper bin. All in all it certainly makes us use less, if only because we can't figure out how to sort the friggin stuff once we're done with it.

Ciao!

The Boat To.....Norway?

2007-06-17T19:01:00.000+02:00

Today we managed to catch one of the boats that go up and down the Neckar River to god-knows-where (none of the words in the brochure we swiped are in our dictionary and the website is only in Deutche). It looked like fun, so we thought we'd get on one depending on where it was going, etc. Going up to the pay window we knew this was going to be a problem. I am short and German people consistently ate their vegetables when I obviously was refusing them. So the words (none of which I could understand anyway, but I guess I like to at least feign I understand what is being said to me) would float out above my head from the cut-out in the plexiglass.

The Scene:
Me (not even bothering to try German as this boat is unloading): Where is this boat going to?

Man in booth: Neckargemund.

Me: What?? Where is that?

Man in booth: Neckargemund. Come back 6:30.

Me (motioning to husband, saying): I have no idea where we're going. Just give the man some Euros.

So we got on this big boat and started floating down the river to this magical (apparently) place called Neckargemund. No idea if we were coming back at 6:30 am tomorrow or 6:30 pm today. The man in the booth was not going to tell me and even if he did, I was not tall enough to even really see him over the counter anyway. So we chance it, hoping what is in my purse (melted French chapstick, cell phone, umbrella, and book) was enough to get us through the next three or 15 hours.

We figured it out. This boat is just yet another means of getting around. You can make it a pleasure cruise if you want and ride the thing round trip (which is what we did only because we didn't know any better). Or you can get on it early in the day with your bike (or not), ride to wherever (other magical, equally as obscure options available), spend the day, and then hop on and ride back. It is a beautiful ride and as soon as I can figure out how to get the pictures off my phone onto this here screen they are yours to do what you like (promise!). Imagine this in the meantime: lush mountains that literally drop into the river, old homes, people riding their bikes on the side of the river, old men in speedoos camping (select few spots, no pics only lots of people gasping in horror), and our favorite, the people at the Gasthaus dancing something I can only describe as the German can-can in traditional costume, except, well, they were really taking it quite seriously. And it was a very small village. Shame on me for laughing a bit at this, but I think it's okay--we were running after the streetcar this morning trying to catch it, so I'm sure there were lots of people getting a kick out of that. I think we're even.

2007-06-13T20:16:00.000+02:00

People, calm the heck down. I have identified a fourth, yes fourth, knitting store in this fine town. Granted it is full of the same stuff and same two brands as the other three shops I have found but I can fool myself into thinking I have variety here. We are into sock overdrive. Ceramic tile floors make me feel like I am being cryogenically saved from the feet up. It is 85 outside and I have thick woolens on.

Update #2: I have somehow made the washer go down from 119 minutes to 96. I am serious that nobody better touch that thing.

Update #3: We signed for the apartment today--woohoo! We move in July 1 and we have a parking spot (though the rule of thumb here seems to be if you put two wheels up on the curb-voila-you have a parking spot). But it came with the place, so thank you we will accept. Luckily this place is down the street from knitting shop #3 and the best outdoor market in town (whatever this means as they are everywhere). Mr. Left is still perplexed by the idea that no one refrigerates the eggs here and says they taste 'gamey'. I love them, and they remind me of the days in Kenya when you could buy them one-one fresh out of the chicken's butt. That's quality assurance.

Today's topic is lingering. To not linger is to be rude. (Yet to stare is...normal, but I digress.) When you go into a restaurant, you pick your table and sit. You order a drink. Soda is more expensive, milliliter for milliliter than beer. Or wine. Water is more expensive than everything that I'm surprised OPEC hasn't tried to make a cartel out of it yet. So you order the beer, a half-liter of it, and it's realllllly good. And you order the food, and eat it. All the while the waiter is not hounding you like they do in the states so they can turn the table. Here, you get the table all night. In fact, you are considered very rude if you don't linger. Even after you eat you are supposed to hang out and let it all digest. This is harder than you think. Imagine. Just. Sitting. And. Relaxing. Bizarre. By the time you are done with dinner and sober enough from your half-liter beer to tackle the mile of cobblestones back to the streetcars, it's 10:30pm. If you were smart enough to plan ahead, you would have bought your beer in a flasche (bottle) because here you can walk around with it and drink it and even take it home with you on the streetcar, enjoying it all the way home (which might be a better deal since I have a small bladder!). Cheers!

Drivers Ed

2007-06-08T19:59:00.000+02:00

What is worse than drivers ed when you're 15? Drivers ed when you're 30. BUT at least this time around I am entertained with signs that read "Einfahrt". On Wednesday, after three hours of cheezie driving videos (but this time imagine a Fiat on the autobahn instead of a Buick on the interstate), we took the German driving test. I have to tell you I dreaded this thing, which we heard was one of the hardest tests out there. I was already sitting there planning when I would come back to retest. The signs and rules seemed illogical, so between the streetcars, bicycles, pedestrians, and infirm with yellow arm bands (I kid you not--this is on the test) I thought it would be best for everyone if I just not drive. If I see a yarn shop, everyone gets whiplash, you know. Spargel on the side of the road? Let's pull over! I am not a city driver. But instead, I finally do well on a multiple choice test, and pass. I am free to roam the country, and all of the continent in the bug.

UPDATES:

The apartment: we have agreed to the lease and will be signing it next week. It's in a historical building so there are many rules about what we can and can't do to the inside and outside. No biggie. I'll take the stained glass and fancy ceilings, etc. We move in early July.
The washing machine: still goes for 119 minutes. I am being optimistic about this and looking at it as a great way to make my black shirts that great shade of grey I have always wanted.
The dryer: I have conquered this thing. I can now--get this--make my clothes dry with this machine. But I have no idea what I did so if anybody touches the thing I will likely hurt them.

Baby Steps

2007-06-05T14:17:00.000+02:00

Yeah, so after four days of having our Handy's we FINALLY figured out how to use them. Please believe me when I say we are not normally so retarded, just not functional in German ways. You can easily take for granted the days when you got your phone from Cingular, and somehow you just "knew" what your number was. You'd give it out to people, they would call you, the call would actually go through. All in all, a very successful, though minor, life event. Well, it didn't even occur to us to ask what our numbers would be (shouldn't this be obvious??). So after charging the darn things we could not figure out how to call each other. We tried calling places we knew. Nothing. You'd get the wrong number sound (you know this) but then the error message is in German (sorry, but I am still on "Where is the train station?"). I had the pinnacle of cell phone technology in my purse and yet I couldn't tell you what my frickin number was. So I translated the whole sheet that came with the contract. We eventually figured it out. Just took 4 days.

Today is really the first day on my own without any place to be. We pretty much have the flat set (just waiting to make an appointment with the landlord to do the contract). So I decided to come to the Hauptstraße to walk around. The Hauptstraße is the long pedestrian area in the old part of Heidelberg. I had breakfast at the Weiner Feinbacker--pretzel and a tea. You gotta love a country that eats soft pretzels for breakfast. I still have no idea what is being said to me when I buy something to eat but I was at least able to go through it without any major bumps or the foreigner-in-headlights look. Just go "Ja, Ja. Danke, bitte" at the appropriate moments and you'll be fine.

Interesting find of the day: pimples are called "pickles" here.

2007-06-03T17:25:00.001+02:00

First Pictures

2007-06-03T17:13:00.000+02:00

Some quick updates first before I post the pictures. I have accidently deleted my works in progress section on my knitting. Everything on this computer is in German so I must have hit delete somewhere thinking it was "add". I'll add that back as soon as I can translate that back (I know someone somewhere is just dying to keep up on my knitting, right?). Second thing: I think we may have found a place to live. We have three places we are interested in, all very different from one another, but today we saw a place we just died over. Keep your fingers crossed for us. We should know in the next day or so if this is a done deal. Move in date would be July 1.

Okay, onto the nitty gritty. Last night they lit up the castle to recreate the time when it was burned down (or at least a sad attempt). They do this three times in the summer. The castle is literally right above town as Heidelberg is on the side of a mountain. It was red and smoky--very cool. Then they set off fireworks on the old bridge which was also pretty neat, but it did sound like bombs were going off. We were eating dinner in a restaurant right next to the bridge and I nearly jumped out of my seat.

Today, after looking at another potential flat, we strolled around town and went up to the castle. Here are some great views of the city from there.

That's it for now. A big Happy Wedding to my friend, Julie, who is getting married today. Wish I could be there. XOXO

Learning How to Get a Cell Phone

2007-06-01T18:13:00.000+02:00

Seeing as how we are having to learn everything over again from talking to eating to public transport, I thought I'd share the saga of what it takes to get a cell phone, or what the locals call "Handy's" (imagine Hanz and Franz from SNL saying it for the true pronunciation). Getting a Handy is not as easy as you would think. It took us three days of trying, and thank god the people at O2 (where we finally ended up signing a contract) speak English and have the patience of nuns. To make a long story and many trips up the pedestrian area short, we finally have the blasted Handy's in our possession but we don't know what our numbers are, how to use them, or anything. The manuals came in German (I am appreciating the multilingualism of American commercialism more and more)but after a half hour on the German internet and a German keyboard I have found an English user guide--score! If only we had someone to call, but then again all the stuff on the screen is in German, too, so whatever. German lessons start next week with the Frau.

Today the cleaning ladies came to our apartment, which was a surprise. We thought we were on our own. I tried to tell them I was already cleaning but they told me not to do it (apparently it must be odd that someone likes to clean) and that they would come back on Friday to do it again. All in German and we somehow got one another. I still cannot figure out the European washing machines and why the cycles go on for hours. Then every once and a while odd beeping sounds come from the thing and then I have to go in there with my dictionary and figure out what it is telling me. Today it was "container empty". Apparently the moisture from wet clothes in the dryer distills an goes into a small container that you have to empty out.

It is raining. Again. Which we don't mind. Everything is beautiful and green. We are looking forward to the sun coming out sometime soon. It's a good incentive to knit like mad to keep the chill out. Not like I need a knitting incentive, though. I have to do something while I wait the 119 minutes for the washing machine cycle to be done!

We will get fat in this place

2007-05-29T19:53:00.000+02:00

I used to worry about keeping weight on. No more. Aside from excellent beer (hated beer in the states), people here have entire stores devoted to gummi bears, eat soft pretzels with butter on them for breakfast, and gelati like it is going out of style. I think it is more likely we will have a heart attack before our contract is up. And since there is a very efficient streetcar (straßebahne) system, you can drink out on the streets (literally) and stumble home all the while enjoying your open container while on the streetcar. Insane. These people have running a society down cold. I love it here.

Spargel. It is everywhere. On the side of the road, in stands on the street, in flowerr arrangements. They have entire buffets devoted to it. What is it you ask? Asparagus. BIG asparagus. And no one has stinky pee. Which leads me to the turd shelf. There are the toilets you and I know of--standard hole with sloping sides that mimic a bowl. But the turd shelf is like a step/shelf with a hole on one end. The bowl is nonexistent, but instead is flat. Makes the flushing bit kind of hard, if you know what I mean. I guess this was useful back in the days of the plague and whatnot when examining ones poo was helpful, but now, not so much.

We've Arrived

2007-05-27T17:37:00.000+02:00

After the longest seven hour flight, we finally arrived in Germany. And so did our bags. ALL of them. Amazing. After some basic orientation and breakfast, we were dropped at our temporary apartment (part of the Hotel Rose), and took a big nap before trying to do more adventurous things like washing our clothes. Do not underestimate the potential fun of washing your clothes in a German machine because nothing on it is in English. Every setting looks like this "Gerviaidhuisdzsrtfahrt". And all I want to do is a load of darks. So, we consult our German book of phrases and nothing helps (though I am now well informed about all of the sausages I can find in a restaurant). I look on the wall and the Frau of our hotel has left something that talks about the different fabrics and their potential settings and luckily my knitting comes in handy. I have knit with enough German yarns to be able to now guess the temperature and be able to sort of know what we might do at this point. So we stick it in. Somehow we have set it for 119 minutes. We now have the cleanest clothes in all of Heidelberg.

Part 2. Oh yes. The dryer. Instead of ironing we stick a shirt in the dryer. After 10 minutes, thinking we had conquered these machines, we could not figure out how to open the darn thing. Again, consulted the German book of phrases. Nothing. We then began to shout at the dryer No! No!. Pushing all the buttons, more lights blinking. Finally the thing opened. Good grief. Fun comes in evey way imaginable.

Last Night

2007-05-24T23:18:00.000+02:00

Now there isn't anything left to do...but wait to leave. The movers came, broke my bowl, undid all of the reorganization of my yarn stash. We drove the car to Baltimore and then got back to DC, and we have finally finished all the little things of moving like handing in the modem to the cable people. Now we can breathe. We have already accepted that there is no way in the world we can make it under the luggage allowance for the plane. I wonder when all of this will finally hit us--that we are moving to Europe.

The Jury Duty Headband

2007-05-10T21:41:00.000+02:00

On Tuesday I finally got to partake in a big DC pasttime--no, not the one about paying taxes and not being represented in Congress (we already do that on a regular basis). This time it was jury duty. Every two years a DC resident gets called up without fail. I was advised to bring something to do, so I brought a beautiful skein of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk (color I can't remember) that I picked up at Seaport Yarns in NYC, and a pattern called Molly's Headband. FYI, that is a perfect pattern to knit up during a day's questioning for a jury panel.

I also started Hanami (see side bar for link) for the third time. I gave up on the beads quite honestly when Mr. Left started walking on eggshells every night after I would somehow manage to cast on a different number of stitches. I'm wondering how I am going to transport this thing to Germany. What am I going to knit on the plane? I am knitting it on 32" circulars. The quick ship won't get to Germany for 4 weeks. What projects should I bring? I am wishing we shipped the car earlier so I could have hid some wool in the trunk.....

Six Giant Bags of....

2007-05-07T13:14:00.000+02:00

...clothes and shoes (okay, and a bag full of acrylic yarn I will never use on anyone) were donated to local charities this weekend as part of the "purge" that is the move to Germany. I have finally (finally!) gotten Mr. Left to ditch the ugly sweaters and some shirts whose only use should be to flag down taxis in the middle of the night. There are still some b'f'ugly ties that I WILL get to. Their day is coming. All the toiletries I have taken from hotels over the years (we travel a lot), will go to work, where my colleagues also travel a lot (it's an international firm). Half-consumed hooch also to the office for after-hours par-tays!

Finished my online socks on the way up to the wool festival, which freed me up of my WIP guilt, so I roamed the place like a lady with a free credit card. ALMOST bought that angora rabbit for $25 bucks. My purchases were:

straight needle case from Crippenworks
100% silk lace 20/2 from Claudia's Hand Painted Yarns
A book by Anna Zilboorg that I have been looking for forever
Mr. Left bought me No Sheep For You by Amy Singer--said he loved the two men sweaters in it
2 skeins Koigu PPM to make the Monkey socks

Mr. Left was impressed with my level of self-restraint, but this year I had rules: don't buy anything that I know I can get in Germany (this took a lot out of the game), only buy for the projects I have in mind, and only buy rare books you can't find anywhere else (Where have all the Barbara Walker Second Treasury's gone?). Sock yarn never counts. This made for a more enjoyable experience.

Tonight the purge continues with the personal papers--what to keep, what to scan. The movers come on the 18th for the first chunk of stuff known as the "quick ship", then on the following Monday they come for the rest of it. We ship the car next week. I still can't make sense of the mover's explanation of what gets there first (you would think this would be the stuff in the "quick ship"). All I know is thank god I am a small person so that the rest of my luggage on the plane can be for my yarn. Oh, and my hot sauce.

Three Weeks

2007-05-03T23:34:00.000+02:00

Hi, I'm Mrs. Left. I'm 30 and I live in Washington, DC with Mr. Left--for 3 more weeks anyway, then we move to Heidelberg, Germany for the next three years (more if we like it). So we are currently in the throes of pre-move bliss ("Should we keep these pans and buy new ones when we get there? How do I pack my favorite hot sauce?"). I think back to the time I shipped off to the Peace Corps for two years with two bags, and I realize that what we should be focusing on is how many bottles of hot sauce. Stock up!

Mr. Left has been so kind as to already acknowledge that most of the weight allowance in the fast shipment will be dedicated to my yarn stash and knitting patterns. I guess all those pairs of socks I have knitted for him to keep him quiet are finally paying off. The remaining 5 pounds of the 700 will be his to do what he likes.

Speaking of yarn, I am in a mad dash to finish two WIP's (works in progress)-- a pair of socks and Picovoli from Grumperina-- before this weekend's Maryland Sheep and Fiber Festival. Somehow finishing some projects frees up the guilt of buying more yarn. These festival's are the equivalent of a Britney Spears concert for teens (pre-shaved head-Federline fiasco). It's nice for Mr. Left since he can go eat all of the meats of the animals whose wool I am buying for socks and sweaters.