Back in the U.S.A.

Hello, hello, hello...

I am back - since yesterday afternoon. I left Germany in the middle of the night - my flight left at 6:45am local time (12:45am Atlanta time). So, with driving to the airport from the little Bavarian village etc., I "got up" at 9:45pm Monday night and after 17 hours of travelling I was back in Buford, Georgia. It was in the 40's when I left Germany, I was freakin' freezing and in Atlanta it was a "yummy" 85 degrees. That is what I call a change in weather... Luckily, I sometimes have a brain and I dressed in layers (5) and I packed the flipflops on the top of the bag for Atlanta. Off came 4 layers and the hiking boots when I arrived at Hartsfield. Geez - it does not have to be soooo extreme. But, oh no, we don't have global warming...

So, I am sitting here with matches holding my eyes open. No, it is not that bad but my internal clock is somehow still set on German time and I woke up last night at 2am (which is 8am in Germany) and I thought, hell - this is way too early. I managed to doze some more but I have a feeling I am going to bed early today...

And I got to do some unpacking and laundry. Mom tried to wash everything she could steal from my room before I left but she did not find everything. ;-) I truly felt like I was in a time warp and back in 1986...

I had a really good time. Although being with your parents 24/7 for 10 days can be interesting. As much as I love my folks, I am almost 39 years old and I have been living out of the parental nest for almost 20 years. But nevertheless, I spent almost the entire time with them - of course - and my sister and brother and some very dear friends.

I knitted a lot since the weather was so accommodating for this addiction. Since I had only 1.5 days of sunshine and the rest was rain and rain and more rain, Mom and I knitted almost competitively. :-) She started a very cool cardigan for me. And ripped the whole thing and started over with one size bigger needles and since she was at it, she also started the whole cardigan in one piece, meaning both fronts and the back together. "It just looks nicer" is what she said. And she always amazes me, she does not mind ripping. I sure do...

I got to wear my finished socks most of the days at home. My parents have tiles and wood in their apartment and I did not bring any warm pairs of socks - what a lucky coincidence that I had one on my needles...

I took a ton of pictures - of my niece and my niece, and oh, of my niece. Yeah - I already mentioned a gazillion times that she is super-cute. But I also took a bunch of pictures of the rest of my family and the town and surroundings and my knitting projects. Bear with me - hubby already transferred them from the camera. If I have time, I'll post some tomorrow.

Since I am having trouble with the Internet connection, I'll keep this post short. Just wanted to let y'all know that I am back and I am still addicted to knitting. Wait until you see my new imported stash ;-)

Rain, Rain, Rain... Good Knitting Weather ;-)

As expected, the weather has been really nasty. There was one day so far - Monday - with sunshine. Other than that is has been quite terrible. Cold and rainy... But I am not here to get a tan - for that I would fly to my friend's in the Bahamas to have a beach vacation. Anyway - a good thing about bad weather, one gets a lot of knitting done, ha!

But first - a little update on the travelling.

Leaving Amsterdam was a little troublesome. The plane had a flat tire and we had to wait for the ground crew to fix it. So, my poor nephew (and my sis and her hubby) had to wait a little bit for a quite tired me. Which is understandable since I went 24 hours without sleep. I guess I was just too excited to see everybody.

After a quick stop in Munich, we went to my parents' place. They live about an hour south of Munich in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a little town at the foot of Germany's highest mountains, ~10,000 feet. Garmisch hosted the Winter Olympics in 1936 - OK enough history for now.

After we got to my parents, I drove with them to visit my bro, his wife and the new baby. My little niece is very, very, very, very, very cute. I took a bunch of pictures. Sorry, all the pix have to wait until I get back to the US - be patient with me. My sister-in-law loved all the stuff I knitted for my little niece. She'd better! ;-)

Sunday was very quiet and I did a lot of catching up with my parents. Mom and I got a bunch of knitting done - gee, what a surprise! ;-) I finished the first sock and also the second scarf with the Knit Picks Vacation yarn. I gave the scarf to Mom. Originally I planned to make her a scarf from the Rowan Haze I brought with me but Mom can't have mohair on her skin - it gives her a terrible itch. Darnit... There goes the nice lace scarf for her. Oh well, I guess I'll have to use the Rowan for a scarf for me now. Sorry Mom, I tried to spoil you... I also found the mistake on the lace baby blanket. One yo (yarn over) was missing and screwed up a whole row. Thankfully, I found it pretty quickly and had to rip back only a few rows.

On Monday, Mom and I made a trip to the new yarn store. OMG - I bought so much stuff... I got really embarrassed in front of my mom. I bought yarn for four sweaters and four pair of socks. I might go back and buy some more (without Mom). The store had some totally incredible deals. For all the yarn I bought on Monday, I paid only about $90 incl. taxes. Can you believe it?

Monday afternoon I spent some more time holding my niece for a few hours. Ask me if I care if she gets spoiled while I'm here. Hehehe...

Yesterday - Tuesday - a girlfriend from Munich came to visit and we spent a lovely evening together with good food and wine at a local Italian restaurant, yummy! ;-) We had a lot of catching up to do. About 2½ years... We email and talk on the phone every once in a while, but it is always different in person.

Tonight I'll see my siblings, nephew and niece at a friend's place (who is also my sister-in-law's sister - yes, I come from a small town and everybody is related - NOT!). We planned a BBQ, but I think it is going to be more like a cook-in than a cook-out since it is still raining.

At least I'm getting my knitting fix over here as well! And I'm catching up on sleep. So far Mom has allowed me to help her with the dishes once(!). She keeps throwing me out of the kitchen with the excuse that I'm on vacation. Gotta love the Mom! ;-)

Hope my vacation stories are not too boring. Miss y'all :-)

Update from Amsterdam

Well - it is 6:30am local time and I am sitting at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. And I thought - hey, I need to kill two hours while waiting for my connection to Munich. I might as well buy 60 minutes for 9€ and post a blog entry from abroad.

So far the travel experiences were mostly nice. First of all, hubby and I were totally flabbergasted when I checked in at Hartsfield. I think it took under 2 minutes. NWA has this incredible kiosk system. You just slide your passport, get boarding passes for all your flight segments, use the touchscreen to say how many bags you're checking, and somebody - a NWA employee of course - comes running with the tag for your checked luggage. Totally amazing. Hubby wondered why this process wasn't invented years ago. I wonder, too...

I left Atlanta at 12:29pm and arrived a little bit after 2:30pm in Detroit. I was booked on KLM, although this segment was operated by NWA. On the flight to Detroit, I sat next to a VERY charming young man (4 years old) and his mom. The boy was really a doll. Very well behaved, I kid you not - I was very surprised. And he was very sweet. He offered me chocolate chip cookies and candy, which I declined - since I had chewing gum ;-) And of course I was knitting. I have 4 projects in my backpack. I know I am crazy - no comments necessary. ;-) I brought the baby blanket, the socks and yarn for two funky scarves.

Since I did not want to start the baby blanket on the short flight, I got going on the first scarf. I had some JoAnn yarn in my stash and I decided to knit one for my sis-in-law since it was her birthday this week and I only got her a couple of pink T-shirts (she loves pink). So, I was knitting away and the little man next to me commented on my knitting as follows, and I quote: "You do a very nice job." How darling - he is going to be a heartbreaker in 15 years. ;-)

He was actually so charming that I forgot my book in the seat-pocket. Darnit - now I have to buy another copy of the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Rules! I don't have high hopes of getting it back - even with my address on the inside - yes, I know I am anal. ;-) Anyway - I hope it'll find a new owner who has as much fun with the book as I had.

The plane from Detroit to Amsterdam had the most astounding inflight entertainment system. I've traveled a lot but never had something like this. There was a little screen for each passenger in the seatback ahead and a remote control in the armrest. I will scan the program guide for you because there were too many movies to choose from. And I could start the movies when I wanted and pause when I needed a break. Totally awesome.

So, I didn't sleep a minute. I am usually too excited when I travel. Even two white wines didn't help. So, I finished scarves no. 1 and no. 2. Then I noticed that I must have screwed up the lace pattern on the baby blanket at some point at home - no it was not the wine on the plane. I need to investigate this at my parent's place on a big table... So after the scarves, I started knitting on the sock with the magic loop. Love it, had get used to it though.

And I watched "King Kong". I really, really liked the movie. Adrien Brody is great. Never cared for Jack Black... And did not in this movie either... I also watched "Match Point", Woody Allen's latest film - typically Woody Allen movie about New Yorkers in screwed up relationships, except in London this time. And for good measure, a crappy movie with Martin Lawrence, "Big Momma 2", although it had its moments. :-)

OK - people - gotta run to the gate now. Don't want to miss my flight to Munich!

The Sweater Gods Aren't Mad Anymore...

Thank goodness the curse did not last... I was so worried after the green tank top. Well, you know how it is... Paranoia everywhere ;-) Anyway - I felt very hyper last Saturday and thought about finishing the sand colored Knit Picks Shine sweater. All the knitting was done. I "only" had to sew it together and weave in a brazillion ends.

So, I plopped "The Godfather Trilogy" (yes, all three movies) in the DVD player and I finished sewing somewhat into the second part. But then I realized that I had to knit a band for the collar which according to the pattern had to be sewn on as well. But at the point I had it with the sewing and I tried to knit it on but nothing looked right... So, I gave in and knitted the band and while I knitted it, I sewed it on as well to make sure I would not knit it too long. By the end of part three I was done with the collar and it was 2am Sunday. I finally went to bed and left the weaving for Sunday later that day - I was way too tired for this at 2am.

And then something funny happened... When I was done with weaving in the ends, hubby came over and looked at the sweater and asked me what I was finishing up. I showed him my sweater very proudly. It layed on the table and hubby only said: "Boy, that looks stupid." I was in shock... Could it be that I knitted another sweater and it looks awful again??? OH NO!!! So, I tried it on. It fits great - I surely should lose 10-15 pounds which I am intending to do after the vacation in Germany. But after all, I really like it. When hubby saw me wearing the sweater, he thought it is gorgeous and took the following pictures. SO - here I am with the new sweater, without makeup and a bad hair day - BUT, as long as the sweater looks great, I don't care!!!




And then - boy, this was really a productive weekend - I blocked and sewed (can you believe it? more sewing...) the shrug together that I knitted for my colleague for her birthday on Friday. Very unusual that I finish something way ahead of time. Here I am modeling her shrug:




And I wanted to make a hat and booties for Julia to match the little cardigan I knitted for her a few weeks ago. Here is what I found in one of my books, "Knitting For Baby". The hat is knitted on straight needles with short rows. Interesting little knitting project (super fast to knit, REALLY!) and I added some FunFur for the little princess with a crochet border.




Julia also gets a bunny from Auntie Claudia - I found this little fella on Jen's blog and she got the pattern for the Schmeebunny here. That were one of the coolest instructions I ever followed. Go check them out. At first you think you have to have a major in geometry... Now, this is the Schmeebunny, first unfelted:


And here it moved - wasn't me, I swear ;-)


And here he is felted with a cute little crochet scarf. I first started knitting a scarf, but 4 stitches with leftover sock yarn was just too tedious. Sorry, I like knitting a lot but this did not go fast enough for me. Crocheting the scarf was way faster. Ok, ok, all you crocheters, I confess!


And now the magic question. What do I take on the plane to knit? I have about 18 travel hours to kill. I'll bring a baby blanket that is knitted in the round from the inside out. I am on round 77 with 320 stitches. The bind off is on row 142 with 576 - yay, so few stitches, NOT!


And socks. And I am getting adventurous in my old age. I bought a 40 inch circular needle for my Mountain Color Bearfoot socks. YES - I am going to try the magic loop sock. Mom will be shocked. She and I are old-fashioned sock knitters with double-pointed needles. I figured I am a lesser threat with a long loop (not really...) than with 5 metal dpns. And I got the little book. So, I should be fine ;-)


Mom also told me to bring some cotton yarn from my stash since she wants to knit a couple of sweaters for me. I won't say NO to this ;-) Two very good reasons: I can get rid of stash and buy more in Germany, HA! All the nice German and Italian yarns, HA! Are you jealous yet??? See, that's how I felt when I couldn't go to Maryland...

OK, y'all that is it for a while. I might blog while I am in Germany, if I can physically separate myself from my little nice and my nephew. My nephew (he is 8 years old) is already very excited - he and my sister are going to pick me up at the airport Saturday morning. I don't know if he is excited about seeing me or the possible presents Auntie has in her suitcase...

Take care - til June! Happy Knitting - viel Spass beim Stricken (as we say in Germany)!!!

4 Days and Counting...

On Friday around this time I'll be hanging out at the Atlanta airport waiting for my flight to Munich via Amsterdam. I know I will miss my hubby and the furry kids terribly, but I also can't wait to see my family, especially my new niece - she'll be four weeks old next Monday. I don't know who is more excited, me or my mom. Yesterday on the phone she said: "Oh my, next Sunday you are going to be here already!"

I had a very productive knitting weekend - more about this in the next blog entry. Gotta be patient with me, I took a ton of pictures that need to be processed... And blogger.com sometimes acts up and doesn't let me upload pictures as fast as I want to and the webpage crashes... But I won't complain. As hubby says, you don't look a gift horse in the month. After all blogger.com is a free service...

So - I'll be posting one more entry after this one before I leave for the vacation and then you'll hear from me again when I get back, at the beginning of June. Enjoy the break ;-)

In the meantime, I have a few things I wanted to share - not soooo knitting related.

What, if women ruled the world:


And here are some pictures of the roses and the rhododendron in our front yard. I can not believe how pretty they are - especially since I don't do anything for them. No watering with champagne and no classical music for the roses. Just gorgeous, all by themselves. Don't you just love nature - making the best out of nothing?




OK, I have one knitting related picture for you. Pixie took a snap shot of me knitting at the SNB-NEGA meeting on Saturday. You can see more pictures of our meetings at her blog photo album.


And as you can see on my T-Shirt - I am one of her biggest fans. No, Pixie, don't get scared. I am not the dangerous kind, even with the pointy stix in my hands ;-)

More pictures and stories about my knitting projects in my next report - have a great week.

K.D. for Knitting Disaster

Are you ready for drama - and for a change this blog entry is entirely dedicated to knitting. KNITTING GONE BAD... Maybe you can imagine the soundtrack from "Psycho" or "Jaws" at this point.

Not that this has not happened to me before. I start knitting a project, finish it and it turns into something I will never wear. I can understand if I don't swatch that I might end up with a piece of clothing too big or too small. But this time I swatched to make sure... I am sure you've heard about this phenomenon or - even worse - it happened to you, too (my deepest heartfelt sympathies at this point). This is especially bad when it is a big project like a sweater, which means you put a lot of knitting hours into it.

Well - it happened again last week. Thankfully it was not a sweater, only a tank top. But I wanted to finish it so badly before my vacation. It is finished alright... OK - I am over the screaming, the cursing and the thoughts about lighting a fire and burning this baby...

I am talking about the avocado green tank top, knitted in the round with a lace border, the Cami Soleil from knitty.com. I was so thrilled when I found the yarn (silk/rayon mix) online for a good price – maybe that should have been my first red flag... I really liked the pattern and off I went, swatching and all. It did not take me very long either. One thing I noticed while knitting with this yarn, there was green stuff everywhere I knit with it. That should have been a second red flag...

After I finished knitting it, weaving in the ends and adding a crochet border at the armholes, I soaked the piece in water, let the excess water run out, and went on to block it. OMG – the yarn turned into a pilling nightmare and it stretched to the horizon – YUCK!!! The only part I like about this “thing” is the lace border – that turned out really nice. This is a close up of the yarn:


And this is what the cami is supposed to look like - never mind the yarn but the shape:


And now look how my version looks...


Hubby took a picture of me wearing it. He kept telling me to smile - this is how much smiling I could muster... I think I look like I belong in a Russian summer camp. Not a very flattering piece of clothing.

Since the cami is knitted in the round I have no seams on either side but I figured I could hold in the sides a bit and kind of tailor it a little more. Or I could cut off the lace border and turn it into a cowl and throw the rest away... What do you think?

Any suggestions on what to do to try and salvage the piece would be highly appreciated. I am putting you lovely knitting friends to the task!

In addition, I now have to overcome the anxiety of finishing up another sweater that is completed and is waiting to be put together. Do you know the feeling? I am thinking about not blocking it because I don't want to mess it up. Fortunately it is a cotton sweater. The yarn is not an unknown factor this time...

OK - off for now.

Something Cute for a Change

I am a sucker for animals - and especially for cute animal pictures. Here are a few I received the other day.


Must.... reach.... the.... cookie....


Is this your kid?


Thanks, I had it done at that fabulous new salon downtown!
In case you care to know, I am getting a haircut in a few hours. Nothing fancy like this cutie. I want to grow my hair out and it just takes forever to get past the shoulders. Anyway - sorry to bore you...


A nip here, a tuck there........you look marvelous Dahhhhling!
And that is how I feel just now - old, tired and wrinkly - can somebody hand me a double-venti latte and some pins? I can't wake up and it is afternoon already... I guess I will catch up on my sleep when I am in Germany. Only 9 more days... Mom always lets me sleep in and has coffee ready when I get up. She already told me a about a new LYS in town - can't wait to shop with her!

Ok - be patient, I am working on a knitting update from the weekend and last week. I had a terrible disaster happen to me. I am still recovering... Knitting gone VERY bad - so bad I am ready to burn the project. Stay tuned for the update - I am working on it.

And here is something encouraging - especially when I think about a 10-hour flight to Germany.


I think I'll do the knitting and have the flight attendants take care of me ;-)

How about this...

What do you do when you are bored and you have time to surf around and find silly questionnaires?... You post this on your knitting blog:

What Time Of Day Are You?

I Am Sunset

Even though you still may be young, you already feel like you've accomplished a lot in life. And you feel free to pave your own path now, and you're not even sure where it will take you. Maybe you'll pursue higher education in a subject you enjoy - or travel the world for a few years. Either way, you approach life with a relaxed, open attitude. And that will take you far!

I love sunsets, nothing nicer to watch with a good drink in your hand on a nice deck or porch and your honey right next to you.

If Your Life Was a Movie, What Genre Would It Be?

The Movie Of My Life Is A Black Comedy

In your life, things are so twisted that you just have to laugh. You may end up insane, but you'll have fun on the way to the asylum. Your best movie matches: Being John Malkovich, The Royal Tenenbaums, American Psycho

HEY - I only twist my stitches when the pattern calls for it. Loved the movies Being John Malkovich and The Royal Tenenbaums. Have not seen American Psycho.

What American City Are You?

I Am New York

Cosmopolitan and sophisticated, you enjoy the newest in food, art, and culture. You also appreciate a good amount of grit - and very little shocks you. You're competitive, driven, and very likely to succeed. Famous people from New York: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Tupac Shakur, Woody Allen

What could be better - hubby is from da Bronx! NYC is a great city. I love to visit but wouldn't want to live there - too crazy! And Woody Allen is one of my favorite directors!

LA-DI-DA - have a happy Thursday!

Have you ever?

I found something interesting today. Here is a questionnaire for you:

Have you ever:
 decided to kick the habit only to "fall off the yarn wagon"? yes
 knitted alone or first thing in the morning? yes
 gone on a knitting binge? yes
 had a craving for just a little yarn fix? yes
 been a pusher, turning others on, even minors, to this habit? yes - I teach knitting...
 experienced blackouts... Finding yarn in your stash you swear you never bought? YES...

Are you:
 an adult child of a knitter? yes
 a compulsive overknitter? yes
 living in denial... no
 telling yourself you actually save money by knitting clothes and gifts? no
 believing you can save on therapy bills by knitting? hmmm...
 certain that you can quit any time you want? yes, no, ...
 calling yourself a social or recreational knitter? YES!!!

 Has your cat ever gotten "messed up" after getting into your stash again? no cat, and the dogs know how to behave!
 Is your definition of a "needle exchange" different from that of non-knitters? yes
 Is too much yarn never enough for you? too much yarn?

If you can answer yes to...
10 or more questions - you may be a knitaholic - I CONFESS!!!
8-9 questions - you may be a compulsive overknitter
6-7 questions - you may be a yarn junkie
4-5 questions - you may be a chronic social knitter
0-3 questions - you are living in denial or you're at the wrong web site!

Now there is help...
Now there is Knitters Anonymous...
You are not alone!

Well - we know that, don't we?

Finally - A Knitting Update

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know I have a knitting blog and the last few entries had no knitting pictures - how dare me...

Ok, so yes, I had a productive weekend - got lots of knitting done. Don't ask what state of cleanliness our house is in. But I have only two hands and it is hard to clean with the pointy stix in your hands.

So, here we go. First the finished projects.

I finished three scarves for a charity project Relay For Life that my friend Jenny sponsors through her employer. The scarves will be sold in a fund raiser.


Then I finished a shrug for a colleague (ok, I still have to weave in the ends and sew the side seams together, but the knitting is done). I used Knit Picks “Vacation” and it knitted up real nice and very fast. I was surprised. I think I am going to make another one for myself - WHEN??? The pattern is the Streakers Shrug by Pam Allen from the Interweave Spring Issue. I’ll post another picture when it is completely finished.


Here are the Knit-A-Long dishcloths for April:




I finished a hat and scarf set for my little niece Julia – I hope it will still fit her in three weeks:


And here are pictures of the felted bag I knitted as an experiment to see how the creme color would felt. Well, it didn’t really... I don’t like it. You can still see the stitches. So here it is – look for yourself, before and after felting:




It took about 50 minutes to felt as much as it did and then I gave up. The felted material is also a lot stiffer than my other felted items and I had a hard time shaping the bag when it came out of the washer. I can only guess that this comes from bleaching the wool to make it light-colored. The bag itself came out cute and I will surely drag it around. Now I have a summer color in my stash of felted bags. But I won’t use white or creme again if I can help it. Learned my lesson through this experiment. Well – that’s one thing experiments are good for, right?

And here are my first short row heel socks. As I said before, I don’t like the short rows – I guess I am a true flap heel girl. Now I know. So, I am thinking, this will be my one and only pair of socks with short row heels. I love the yarn though – it is very soft.




And then – of course – during the Friday SNB meeting at the yarn store, I had to buy yarn. If I go there on a regular basis, Visa will love me even more... Here is what I bought:


Some Rowan Haze for a scarf for my mom, I don’t think I’ll have it ready for Mother’s Day, but I will try. And some Berroco cotton blend for me. And an old Interweave Issue that I don’t own, from last year.

And now for something completely different... It can’t be all about knitting – no, you're right, it can be ;-)

Anyway, I got another cow this weekend. People who know me really well know that I love cows. (I guess only people who know you really well should know this kind of thing...) So, hubby feeds this addiction whenever he can and started a collection for me a few years ago. Now I am the proud owner of every medium-sized CowParade© figurine that was ever produced. I own just over 300 (no, we don’t have a farm, their average size is about 5" x 7" x 3") and they are everywhere in our house - the bathroom, the bedroom, the living room, my knitting room (yes, the cows share the space with the yarn). Here is proof:




So anyway – my German friend Ellen and her hubby were in Atlanta this weekend. Ellen and I worked together in Atlanta for a while. Then she moved back to Germany, got married, and last year her German hubby and she moved to groovy San Francisco. Envy – I love SF. So, my hubby and I and the dogs (yes, the whole family went) met them for breakfast and Ellen brought me a gift from their recent trip to Las Vegas. That was so sweet – she remembered:


OK – I feel as goofy as this cow and I am exhausted now. More posting later!

May 1 - Labor Day in Germany

... And everybody is off work there today! Not fair ;-) These Germans have way too much vacation already. Ha - and I wanted to share something funny, so you'll have a good laugh on the Germans this Monday.

We all know that politicians need a vacation, too, from their stressful jobs, etc., etc., etc. So - the German "Chancellorette" was caught with her pants down while vacationing with her hubby on the Italian island of Ischia. Leave it to the Brits to put the picture on the front page of a newspaper - poor Angela Merkel ;-) Here is the "PG-rated" version of the front page of "The Sun":


I thought the headline was hilarious - a pun on "the Bundestag", which is the senate in Germany, and "bum", a British word for your behind. Too bad that Angela didn't cover up properly and the almighty papparazzis got a good shot of her. You can actually find an uncensored picture somewhere online, but I didn't want to make y'all feel sick...

I took lots of pictures over the weekend - not of Angela, silly, but of my knitting stuff. I'll post them shortly. Seems like I never have enough time these days. Have a great week!