Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of you!

K and I are at my parents' place to celebrate with my family. We are traditionally having our Christmas Dinner tonight, on Holy Eve (as pretty much everybody is doing in Germany), and then later on we are going to unpack our presents. My sister, her husband and my nephew will be here as well, plus my parents, K and me; so we'll have a full house.

There are two Christmas holidays in Germany; well, two and a half to be precise. The day of Holy Eve is half a holiday, starting at 2 p.m., and then the 25th and the 26th are holidays as well. Shops and offices are closed, restaurants, pubs and cafés are open though. The first Christmas holiday (25th) is - in my family - traditional more of a family day. We are having Wiener Schnitzel for dinner, and in the last few years I was the dessert maker. Last year we had a Lebkuchen-Tiramisu, and this year it's going to be Panna Cotta with Passionfruit sauce. The second holiday is less of a family day, and there's no big meal. Usually, my dad buys some Irish smoked salmon shortly before Christmas (he knows a guy in Ireland who sends him the salmon), so we're having that on the 26th.

I hope you're having a wonderful Christmas time! Enjoy the holidays, and in case I'm not back before New Year's, have a Happy 2007!

Yours,
Dorothee

Yay!

Finally! The meeting at university came and went, and I went quite well! I had my usual nervousness, but it wasn't as bad as it was before (that was what I was afraid of), and after the meeting I felt that I'm not as dumb that I thought I was. (We had to present the outlines for our papers, which is supposed to be 80-100 pages.) That was the reason why I didn't go to knitting group last night, because I wanted to talk my outline over with K. I couldn't have stayed there with a good feeling, it would have felt like being on tenterhooks. Originally, I had really wanted to go there because it was the last time this year that they were meeting; but this was worth it, as the university meeting was absolutely necessary.

So, that means I can relax a bit now! Although tomorrow is going to be stressful... K and I want to do a bit of relaxing, coffee drinking and freshly squeezed orange juice-drinking in the morning (as well as sleeping in a bit), then we have to go get some Christmas presents (at least we know what we want to get), clean the apartment before we go to my parents' place Friday morning. Plus, I need to wrap some presents (I bought this nice wrapping from Ikea) and make some more cookies. I had prepared the dough already, and I'd like to have them done before Christmas. K might help me, if I get lucky. And the real holiday stress starts on Friday...

Cookie Monster

First of all, thank you all for your comments on my last post! I meant to answer each one individually, and I'm trying to still do that. Please be patient!

I know, I haven't been around much lately. There were lots of things to do... first of all, I really needed to (and I still need to) work on my thesis, because I have a meeting with my professor next week. I know it's a necessary appointment, but I'm not so looking forward to it.
Then I looked into job offers, although I don't really have the time for that. The problem is, that I only want to work one day per week because my thesis claims the rest of my time. The next problem is, the deadline for the thesis is in early April, and then there are more written and oral exams following in June. So, I'll be pretty busy in the first half of 2007... and that's not the best condition when looking for a new job, especially as I'll be having the student status until the end of September only, if everything works according to my plan.

You might wonder why I was fired in the first place... a former employee is coming back from her baby break. The thing is here in Germany, if a female employee is going on baby break, she can set a date when she's coming back into the company, to work either full-time again, or part-time. And the employer has to guarantee her a workplace.
So far, so... well, not good, but fair enough. I know the lady who's coming back, she's really nice and I know it's not her fault. The one I'm really angry at is my boss. He's the head of our department, and usually he's really really busy. I usually don't see him very often, as he's out of the office quite often, and I'm only there once a week anyway. And when I'm at the office and he's there too, he doesn't even say hello to me. So, I haven't spoken to him in months now.

The day they fired me, he was out of the office too, and so my colleague (she's my direct "boss", I do the preliminary work for her) had to do his job and fire me. The thing is, she is really content with what I'm doing - as is the rest of our department, apparently including the boss of the dept. - and she doesn't want me to go. But she's not the one who makes the decisions.
Plus, the layoff came totally out of the blue. I had no idea that when my former colleague would come back, I had to go! If they had told me a few months earlier that it would come like this, I could have had the chance to look for another job. As it is now, with my deadlines and exams and tight schedule, and me being a student for not much longer any more, it will be extremely hard to find an equivalent job. And that's why I'm so angry, my boss fired me - wait! HE didn't fire me, to be exact. He had me fired; he didn't even have the decency to talk to me himself. He was back in the office last week when I was there too, but he was too busy with other stuff. So, no talk. I wonder if he considers student work as work at all.
I guess he doesn't even know that I'm working on my thesis right now; how can he when he's too busy to talk to me? He's even too busy to talk to the full-time employees of the department. Whenever they need him, they're on the edge of their seats to jump up quick enough when he ever hangs up the phone, or the door of his office opens. My colleague even said, maybe he would also talk to me about it... some time. But she said she doesn't believe it. Neither do I. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!! What a bugger!
Oh, and I did send out two applications this week: one's for an internet research job, but they had so many applications so I have to do a test (=free work for them), and the other was for a job that doesn't exist (yet). A lady from the German knitting group opened this opportunity for me, but I didn't get a response so far.


Up to more pleasant news: Wavy is done! The day after I finished it, the weather got cold: perfect timing! So, I didn't have the time to wash it, or block it, and I don't think I will. I like it the way it is! I don't know how long Wavy is, but it's almost twice as tall as I am; I used almost 5 balls of my LYS's home brand yarn.

modelling_the_wavy, originally uploaded by d.knit.

I'm my new model. And I do like my new winter coat!

In between working for university, office anger, the usual house work and trying to come up with Christmas present ideas, going to therapy and baking Christmas cookies are the things that are positive and relaxing. Well, okay, therapy is somehow relaxing as I get to lie down for almost an hour, and baking cookies is kinda relaxing even though it's quite stressful as well. Here's what I did last:

cookie_tray, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Snowflake shaped chocolate Christmas cookies with pink lemon icing. I know, I'm a cookie monster.

cookie_closeup, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Yummy! A cookie! With a silver sugar pearl.

K and I went to visit my parents in early December, to have a late birthday celebration for me. On our last day we went out for a walk in beautiful and pretty warm weather. We even picked some apples!

redapples_bluesky, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Nice red apples, aren't they? They tasted quite delicious.

K's sweater is growing, the back part is at the sleeve decreases. It might even get done this winter! And I haven't forgotten about the baby bootie instruction, I just don't get to it right now. I will post it eventually. Promised!

News

...but no pictures yet.

On Monday, I picked up a packet at the post office (because K and I went to my parents' place over the weekend), and it was a birthday present from my friend Andreas. Inside was "Last-minute knitted gifts", from my amazon wishlist. Thanks, Andreas!

I finished my Wavy scarf last night, at knitting group.

And I got fired yesterday.

I didn't know THAT

They say "still waters run deep", but not even I knew this...

Munich musings

K and I went for a walk today, as the weather was beautiful and quite warm. Too warm actually for late November; I'm glad that it was cold at my birthday.
The picture shows the river Isar, at the Deutsches Museum (German Museum). It's a really cool technical museum, so if you happen to come to Munich, do go there for a visit!

Bad weather

Finally, the weather is bad. It's raining and it's cold.
Why this is good news to me? Well, it's November, and the weather is supposed to be bad. Plus, we had a very warm October (it was more like a mild version of summer than a proper fall), then we had about 3 days in early November when it was like winter, even with snow, and then it got warm again as if it was spring. And I really couldn't cope with the warmth, for my inner season sensor was set on fall/winter.

However, the bad weather brings the disadvantage of not being able to take proper pictures during the day, as the sky is completely overcast and gray. So you'll have to believe me when I tell you that the Wavy scarf grew quite a bit; I can wrap it around my neck twice now, and the ends are somewhere between boob height and belly button height. I was pretty surprised by this, when I tried the scarf on last night because I expected it to be shorter; but I think I might want it even longer. I'm at the end of the 4th ball of yarn now, and I have 2 more left. Originally, I had planned to make matching mittens with the leftover yarn, but I think if I keep on knitting, then there's not enough yarn left. And I'm not sure if I can find the same dye lot again. (Serious problems, I know)

Last night, I finally knit a few more rows on K's sweater. I don't know what I'm doing these days, but I hardly get to knit. My usual evening schedule looks like this: Either K or I make dinner, then we eat; I sometimes do dishes either before or after dinner, then we sit on the couch and watch TV. K usually is on the computer, me sometimes too (we have our own laptops each), because I try not to read blogs during the day. Then, all of a sudden, it's almost 10 o'clock, and I have hardly started knitting. No wonder I only get a few rows done! (Except for K's sweater where I have 128 stitches on the needles, that does take ages just to finish one row) Maybe I should keep track of what I'm doing at night, what keeps me from knitting... it's not that I have to or that I want to knit every night, but that's the only time of the day when I have time to do it, and I'd like to actually finish some of the things I've started.

Oh, and Heather, if you're on the blog, please email me!

Progress?

Is it progress I'm making? On the scarf front, yes; Wavy is growing (although I don't necessarily notice it straight away), but I'm sparing you another picture of the same thing over and over again. The only difference is its length, but it's still a bit to go till it's finished.

On the baby bootie translation front? The translation itself is done, I only need to actually knit a bootie and take pictures - the problem here is the timing. Taking pictures when it's dark outside isn't so great, due to the artificial light (and it's getting dark here at 4.30 pm these days). That's why I prefer taking photos during the day, but I don't get to knit during the day unless it's a weekend. So, either I need to take some time during a weekday, or I need to take time on a weekend which isn't so great either, which leads me to the next point:
The thesis front. I'm a bit behind, so in theory I'm working every day of the week (apart from once a week, when I'm at the office, earning money). And why am I not as far as I want to be? Well, here the usual thing kicks in, somehow, you know, the thing why I'm in therapy. And I thought it got a bit better... but I guess I've still got some way to go. Oh well.
That's it, I'm back at the scarf, so the damn thing is going to be finished hopefully soon!

Oh, has anyone outside the US received their Interweave Knits Winter 2006 issue yet?

Flying

This is a progress pic on my Wavy scarf, taken on Sunday already - where did the time go?!


By now, Wavy is even longer. I can wrap it around my neck once already, but then it's still a bit short. Besides, I want it to wrap around twice anyways, so I still have some way to go.

What I'm wearing underneath the scarf is Josephine, indeed! I haven't worn her much outside the house though; I think I wore her once when I went to the local knitting group . But ever since the weather got cold enough to turn the heating on, I've been wearing her a lot inside. It's so nice to snuggle up on the couch, and to bury my neck and chin in the big collar! She's a perfect comfy-snuggly cardigan - but more of a jacket-type (I usually wear her on top of my sweater, and then I wrap myself - or K and myself - in a blanket. I know, I'm such an icicle!). Maybe I make a "wear-it-instead-of-a-sweater" cardigan-thing (I'm thinking of Starsky here) some time (I wish I had more time to JUST KNIT. Pure knitting time)... more likely to be some day, in the future... whenever that may be.

A Sale is on

My girl Christine is selling her stash! Her complete stash, that is. So, if you're interested in some nice yarn (I took a look myself, it really is very nice yarn) for a reasonable price (less than the suggested retail price, as far as I could see), then go and pay her a visit!

First Snow

The first snow this winter. Hey, if I'm lucky, I'll get snow for my birthday in three weeks!

The weather gods

... are in a crazy mood: it was about 20 degrees Celcius (that's about 68 F) only on Monday, and today it was freezing (literally!). It even snowed on my way home before! If that isn't crazy, well, then I don't know.

I haven't done much knitting lately; the ladies from the Tuesday's knitting group wanted a shared knit blog (in German), and asked me to set it up for them. So, back to blogging and some html! But now I really need to get back to knitting, I need to finish my scarf as it's so cold outside!

Oh, and I'm making progress on that baby bootee-translation! All I have left to do now is to brush up the language a little bit so you can read it fluently and it makes sense, and then knit a bootie and take pictures of the progress, so I can include them in the instructions. And that should be done soon too; hopefully I can make that bootee on the weekend and then finish off the instruction at work next week.

That's it for tonight, I'm out!

Happy Halloween!

My dessert tonight... Happy Halloween!

For Santaram

Hi Santaram,

I think I can help you with a bit of what you were asking for... however, I'd need you to give me your email address, so I can explain it to you. Just leave your email in the comments, and I'll get back to you.

Cheers,
Dorothee

Fair Trade

Today, I've been working for the company at a trade fair, and although it wasn't as busy as it could have been (I was quite bored a few times), I'm still pretty stuffed tonight (my feet are killing me! K gave me a really good foot massage though, he totally made my day).

When I responded to comments in the last post, I unintentionally left one out. I meant to answer Beta on one of my Oktoberfest posts. First of all, thank you for your comment! I'm glad you enjoyed my posts; and I don't think that keeping a Lebkuchenherz (gingerbread heart) for a couple of years is gross (unless you still plan on eating it). I think that a lot of people are doing this, because after a while (or already from the start?), the Lebkuchenherz goes hard like a brick. I actually never thought about eating a Lebkuchenherz, only a Lebkuchen (which is a type of Christmas cookie).
And it's definitely nice that I made you smile, nice to hear that!

Wavy

Guys, where did the time go? It seems to be flying lately, and there's so much I want / have to do!

I took a little break of K's sweater and started my Wavy scarf, so I can wear it once the weather turns nasty. The yarn turned out to be quite good, definitely not too flat.

wavy2, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Too bad the light wasn't good. I like the picture though.

wavy1, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Wavy, in its full beauty. It was actually too dark to take pictures, but I wanted to photograph the progress anyway. The scarf's growing, but I'm not sure if I want to make it wider than it is. It's now about 10 cm (4 in), unstretched though; but the more I knit, the less likely I'm going to frog it and cast on with more stitches. Maybe I can make it wider when I block it.

And before I finish up today, thanks again for all the comments on my Victoria Tank! Yes, I did make it myself. No, I don't mind some midriff-baring, as long as it doesn't show too much (the show-off-my-belly days are over); plus, once the straps are longer, the whole tank will reach further down. The pattern was in the Interweave Knits Summer 2004 issue, and I didn't use the recommended yarn. I bought some Rowan 4ply cotton instead, 5 balls to be exact, but only used 4 for the second-smallest size and two gigantic gauge swatches. I have seen a picture of Glampyre's Orangina, and I think that the stitches are the same, too. I think I got the idea for the Rowan yarn from that pattern.
I liked knitting the tank; it's knit in the round, so no seaming - a yay for that! The pattern may look complicated at first sight, but as it's repeated over and over again, it gets easy after a while.

And this is for Heather: I haven't forgotten the translation for the baby booties, so please be (even more) patient with me! If you need the pattern urgently, contact me, and I can email you the pattern in German.

The famous

Last weekend, I went to visit my parents and my sister and her family. We had great weather, and the usual family tiffs. Then, on Monday, my sister packed my nephew in her car, and we drove back to Munich. She stayed till Tuesday night; we did some shopping in the city (no yarn shopping though! My sister is not a knitter... when she talks about knitting something, she says "we can knit this or that", referring to me knitting and her receiving what I knit. I keep telling her that I could show her how to knit, but she doesn't really want to. Oh well.), and do you know who we ran into? In a posh baby shop? (Not that the lady looked any pregnant, she was far from that.) Lucy Liu. And my sis and I were too surprised to take photos. Dammit! (K just said, if we had listened to him, we would now own a hell lot of money - by selling the pictures) It was weird, because we didn't expect to see her, or anyone like her, on our shopping spree. But then again, I wouldn't have wanted to come up to her and ask her for a picture, because she was there in private, with her boyfriend, enjoying the sunny afternoon.

Victoria Tank... or not so

I thought, before I wash and block the Victoria Tank, I should try it on, just to see where it's too tight or too loose, or whatever, so I can adjust it (where possible) when blocking. Oh well...

Victoria tank_1, originally uploaded by d.knit.

This is the first shot of the Victoria Tank, with me inside. I like the length, and I like the width. So far, so good. What I don't like is that I have to keep my arms up, just like in the picture above: The straps are a bit too short, maybe just a centimeter or two (0.4-0.8 in). Dammit! That means I have to undo the already woven-in ends, the seaming for the picot edges, the picot edges altogether, and the crocheted strap helpers. Great. I guess this garment will go in the bin until early spring, and then I'll do the changes.

Victoria tank_2, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Here's another shot, with better light. You can't see much of the armholes, but they do pinch quite a bit, I can tell you!

Mmmmh... mud pie!

Today is Tag der deutschen Einheit (German Day of Unity), which is a national holiday, celebrating the reunification of Germany. As there was no work today, I had time to finish weaving in all the ends of the Victoria Tank, yay! And there were a hell lot of ends, I can tell ya... I'm so glad it's (almost) all done. Now, off to washing and blocking and pinning and stretching - but maybe I should try it on first. Hmm, sounds like a plan! And when I'm done I can knit K's stripey sweater (thanks for the nice comments, y'all!) and finally the pink sweater for me!
I'll leave you with something nice and delish' into this week.

You Are Mud Pie

You're the perfect combo of flavor and depth Those who like you give into their impulses

What Kind of Pie Are You?

I loves me some yarn

I had some spare time on my hands today between therapy and meeting K. for lunch, so I went for a stroll in the city. There were a few things on my mind that I wanted to check out, but I ended up with totally different stuff. I had planned to look for one certain yarn and only one yarn. I didn't find it, so I was about to leave the LYS - until I saw this:


Isn't it gorgeous? I looked at it, touched it, held it to my neck, and then I heard it whisper "I'm going to be a scarf for you!" I couldn't leave the shop without buying it anymore.


I had to work on the photos a little bit to get the color right-ish. It's a nice pinkish tone, actually quite untypical for me. Maybe that's why I liked it so much. I haven't decided on a pattern, but Wavy popped up in my mind. I'll have to make a swatch to see if it works with this yarn.

Progress and other things

I finally made some progress on K's sweater. I think it's coming along nicely, I like the stripes and absolutely love the yarn. A yay for Alpaka!

K_sweater, originally uploaded by d.knit.

The only disadvantage is that it's curling up, because it's stockinette stitch and it's on a round needle. That's a bit annoying while knitting, but it's not so bad. But as long as I get to touch the alpaka...

siegestor, originally uploaded by d.knit.

This thing above is the Siegestor here in Munich. K's office is near there, and so is the University where I study. So, when we walked past it on the weekend, I took this picture because the weather was just so nice. (It has changed since then, and it's raining constantly now)

oktoberfest_sunday, originally uploaded by d.knit.

Last sunday, at the Oktoberfest... the weather was nice and it was crowded. The second weekend of the Wiesn is called "Italian Weekend"; but not because they start serving pizza and pasta and vino rosso instead of the usual Bavarian Schweinsbraten / Schweinshaxe mit Knödeln und Sauerkraut (roast pork / knuckle of pork with potato dumplings and sauerkraut), no, they call it "Italian Weekend" because lots and lots of Italians come to visit the Oktoberfest. Munich isn't that far away from Italy (some even call it "Italy's most northern city". Some from Munich, not from Italy, that is), so lots of Italians drive across the Alps in camper vans (or mini vans, or in station wagons... or in regular cars), and park somewhere in the city. Then, they party all weekend, and maybe longer, take the train back to Italy, leave the camper van in Munich, and the second shift takes over the van and drive it back once the Oktoberfest ends. Clever, huh? (I'm not saying it's only Italians who are at the Wiesn... you'd still meet loads of Germans, French, Dutch, British, Australians, Americans, Japanese, Koreans, and any other country you can think of. It's just disproportionately many Italians on this second weekend)

Oh, and even Paris Hilton gave Munich and the Oktoberfest the honor! After she had a PR date in a supermarket, opposite the meat counter. She didn't seem to have much fun there though (they did a report on her on TV), not even when she was sipping on a Maß (a liter hump of beer); she only seemed to have fun when riding some roller coasters, listening to her single... "just like in Disneyland" or so, was what she said. (How old is she, ten? I better stop here, or else I'll keep going.)

Laurie asked to show her where her readers knit. Well, I thought I'd share this picture with you too; this is where I knit, next to the lamp, with the blue pillow in my back. This is also where I blog sometimes (like this post for example). I decided not to tidy up before taking the picture, to keep it real. Where's the knitting, you might ask? Hover over the photo with your mouse!

And last but not least, you can congratulate me for completing this bloody mouse over effect-thingy! Carola put a little tutorial on her blog, but it still took me some time until I could adjust it to my blog.

Knitting..? Oh yeah, knitting!

Didn't I use to do something in my free time and then blog about it here? Right!


The Victoria Tank is finally coming along! I need to do the neck edging, and then sew the picot edges... and weave in all the ends, of course.

Beer madness

Believe it or not, but I didn't do any knitting on the weekend. We had a guest from Melbourne, Australia, and showed her some of Munich's sights.

Like the inside of the Theatinerkirche for example...


...or the Hofbräuhaus...


...where we met some locals (I took our guest E.'s picture with that guy, and then they wanted to take my picture with him too. Oh well.)


And, of course, the Oktoberfest! In Germany it's also called "Wies'n" (pronounced "Veesn"), because the grounds where it takes place used to be just a plain field, outside Munich. Now it's in the middle of the city, but the grounds are only used three times a year: for the Oktoberfest, for a Christmas market, and for a Fest in spring (this fest is similar to the Wies'n, with rollercoasters and stuff, but way less beer tents).

This is the official entrance to the Oktoberfest grounds... and there's always loads of people. In the background you can see some of the beer tents.

As I mentioned before, the Oktoberfest was opened on Saturday. And when I say "beer tent", then I'm not talking about a camping sized tent... the biggest one holds more than 8.000 people inside!





And they sure sell Lebkuchenherzen (gingerbread hearts) at the Oktoberfest! I guess if you


Unfortunately (or, unfortunately for our guest), we didn't make it inside a tent. They (there's about 14 large ones, and some smaller ones that hold "only" 100-500 people) were all closed because they had reached their maximum capacity, but we were lucky enough to find a few seats outside the Hofbräuzelt... and people were still going crazy, no matter they were outside.

Did you ever want to see grown up drunk people dance to "YMCA"?

Back again

So much has happened since I last posted. Steve Irwin has died (Steve, I never thought you would; you did a great job! We will all miss you. Rest in peace mate). This was the saddest thing that happened in a long time.

The Pope spent a few days in Munich, and the people didn't go as crazy as everyone thought (feared) they would.


This is the best picture I could take, and he wasn't even looking my way. At first, he didn't appear for a long time, and nobody knew where he was, then he was approaching, approaching, there, gone! Hrmph! (I will not swear here.) They said the Papamobil would drive at walking speed, but the bodyguards (the bald guys near the car) actually had to jog to keep the pace. (At least that keeps them in shape) So there was no chance for the onlookers to rush ahead to get the chance for a second glance.


This is a shot of the twin towers of Munich's Frauenkirche, where the Pope held a mass while the people in the street were waiting for him to come out. The building in front of the church with the writing "Hirmer" on it is a men's department store, the biggest in Germany. They always have such beautiful flower boxes on their building!
Oh, and the Oktoberfest starts on Saturday! If you ever imagined what it's like; well, it's Hell in a huge beer tent.

In knitting news, the Victoria tank is going along quite well. The body is all done, and I'm just starting the shoulder straps and the picot edging. Then, by the end of summer, it will be finished! Yay! That's what I call great timing.

I *heart* New York

You Belong in Brooklyn

Down to earth and hard working, you're a true New Yorker. And although you may be turning into a yuppie, you never forget your roots.

Where Should Your Inner New Yorker Live?

Dear readers,

I'm sorry if I haven't responded to your comments (and I know I haven't done this a lot lately). Things are pretty stressful around here lately; but hopefully, it will all be over by this Friday - keep your fingers crossed for me!
I have decided to post the pattern for the blue baby booties, some time soon(ish) after this Friday. So please be a bit more patient with me!

Yesterday, I took the time to finally go to the post office to send out some baby stuff to my friend in Melbourne, Australia. Her baby was due in August, and I hope everything went okay and they are all happy down under (I haven't heard from her in a while).
The other package went out to a certain someone who reads this blog, so I won't tell any details yet, as it's supposed to be a kind of surprise. Maybe she'll let you know in the comments after she found it in her mailbox (and I expect that to be some time by the end of the upcoming week).

Now, back to Richard Nixon and his foreign politics...

Note to self:

Read the pattern closely before starting to knit (the next patch), so then I might not have had to frog it after noticing that I kept knitting in the Italian cast-on for about 28 rows to far and wondering why the damn ribbing was still not 8cm (3in) long. Knitting can be so simple if you only obey the pattern... (unless, of course, the pattern sucks)


This is what the sweater is supposed to look like when it's grown up. I'm really looking forward to K wearing it! (And me touching the soft alpaka, hehe)

The sweater below is for me, from an old Rebecca magazine. All I've done so far is the gauge swatch; I think I'll get started with this one once I'm done with my summer top.



This little number is from the same magazine as K's sweater. It's one of the very few German knitting magazines that are quite nice (mostly). Usually I don't like boleros because they are something in between, but nothing quite whole. I like this one though, and I'm waiting for the LYSes to get the fall/winter yarns in stock so I can buy some.


I'm out now, off to some knitting and movie watching. Sorry about the picture quality; taking photos out of magazines isn't quite that easy, and I didn't feel like making a big effort when I took them the other night. Better luck next time!

Italian approach

A few weeks ago I bought some new knitting magazines, with fresh and crisp models for fall. K chose a nice stripey sweater with a turtle neck (or should I say, I talked him into wanting it?). Our deal is, he pays for the yarn, and I do the knitting. You see, I don't believe in the boyfriend sweater curse... but I figured, when he pays for the yarn, then I don't jinx it. Clever, huh?
Anyways, this sweater required an Italian cast-on, something that was new to me. It took me two attempts (and I hated it at the start), but then I had it. It was quite easy actually, and I really like the result:


It's not as "cut-off" like it is with a regular cast-on... although, I haven't tried that many types - the way I usually cast-on is the one with the long tail. But I'm already kinda planning on using this cast-on method in something else, because it looks so good! Just like in a bought sweater... as if this would make it any more real. Isn't it strange to consider something which is handknit as not as real, or as not as proper, as something that is store-bought knit? Or is it just me?
The yarn, though, is a pleasure. It's Schachenmayr Alpaka, and I can't stop knitting with it because it's so soft. Yumm!

The other project I'm about to start is a sweater for myself. It's from a magazine from last year's fall, and thought about making it ever since. It has a deep v-neck, both on the front and on the back, and some cables. And I forgot to take a picture of the picture... I'll have to wait until daylight tomorrow.


This time I went for a quite daring color! I've had enough of muted colors, or of blue all the time, so I figured - why not? It's ggh yarn, Solitaire. The softness is nice, but no way near the Alpaka. It's quite light though, and that is a quality I like about it. It's supposed to be a winter sweater after all, and I wouldn't want a heavy piece that drags downwards.

And yes, I still do work on a summer top, although there's not much point doing that any more. My summer holiday has been cancelled, and August here was the complete opposite to July. Where July was the hottest since they started collecting the weather data, August is the coldest/rainiest/windiest in 50 years. Today it was about 13 degrees Celsius (55F), and it was pouring on and off. Not to mention the wind. I had a hard time resisting the urge to turn on the heating, I can tell ya!

Edited to add

Last night, after the last post, I checked all my knitting books to see what they said about gauge. They all had the same basic information, but that was it. They did say what to do when you didn't get the necessary stitch number, but none of them mentioned the row number, let alone what to do if your row number wasn't matching the one in the instructions. All hail to the Knitter's Handbook!

Got gauge?

Yay, K is coming back today! I'm not only saying this because he brings back the camera and then I can take pictures of the swatches I made with the new yarn I just bought... which brings me to gauge. I've noticed this before when I made gauge swatches, that I get the number of stitches right, but not always the number of rows. I then usually figure that if I adjust the needle size to get the row number right, then the stitch number will be messed up. I regard the stitch number as more important, as I need to count the stitches (when casting on, increasing, decreasing, etc.), but the length of what I knit is measured in centimeters, not counted in rows. Or do I get something wrong here? How do you handle this?
Even if I had to have the row number correct, how could I do this without affecting the stitch number? Knit tighter/looser, but not wider? Is that even possible? What are knitters like me supposed to do when this happens, or is this just "knitter's bad luck"? Books etc. only talk about the amount of stitches, and how to adjust it. But I never read anything about the importance of row numbers, or maybe I only overlooked it.

Edit: I just checked my Knitter's Almanac (aka Elizabeth Zimmermann's (or is it Montse Stanley's?) Knitter's Handbook), and it says that the stitch number is more important: "When trying to achieve tensions stated in instructions, it may be impossible to achieve botch stitch and row counts. Concentrate on the stitches and, if the row difference is large, avoid projects where the numbers of rows are crucial. In projects where length is checked with a tape measure rather than by counting rows, remember that you will probably need a different amount of yarn than the instructions say."
I think I should read my knitting books more closely. Problem solved!

50 Cent, er things

1. First Name? Dorothee
2. Were you named after anyone? Not that I know of (my Mom's friend's daughter's name was Dorothee, but my Mom didn't like the name when she first heard it. Don't ask me why she still gave me this name)
3. Last time you cried? Some time this year
4. Do you like your handwriting? Yeah, if I don't write too fast
5. What is your favorite lunch meat? I don't think I have any
6. Do you have kids? Nope
7. Would you be friends with you if you were someone else? Yep
8. Do you keep a journal? Does a blog count as a journal?
9. Do you tend toward sarcasm? Sometimes
10. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes, and I planned on keeping them
11. Would you bungee jump? No way! I'm not crazy
12. What’s your favorite cereal? Some honey-toasted crunchy organic muesli
13. Do you untie your shoes before you take them off? How else am I supposed to take them off?
14. Are you strong? Physically or mentally?
15. What is your favorite ice cream? Häagen-Dasz. Almost any kind. Yum!
16. Shoe size? Depends on the shoe
17. What do you like least about yourself? My fears
18. Who do you miss the most?
19. Do you want this sent back to you? Not really... but if you post this, let me know.
20. What color pants and shoes are you wearing right now? Light blue track pants and dark blue Birkenstock house shoes
21. Last thing you ate? Miso soup with tofu, zucchini strips and soba noodles
22. What are you listening to right now? CSI Las Vegas on tv
23. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Why would I want to be a crayon??
24. Favorite smell? Anything yummy
25. Last person you talked to on the phone? My boyfriend K
26. First thing you notice about someone of the opposite sex? Eyes/eyebrows
27. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Christine didn't send me this, but I do like her
28. Favorite drink? K's latte macchiato... good hot chocolate... Mountain Fresh Fruit Juices (unfortunately, I can't get them in Germany)... freshly squeezed orange juice... Champagne... I think I could keep going here for a while
29. Favorite sport? Horseback riding
30. Eye color? Green
31. Hat size? I can't remember it, but I know that it's big
32. Do you wear contacts? No, I wear glasses
33. Favorite food? There's too much to list it here
34. Scary movie or happy ending? Both
35. Last movie you saw at a movie theater? Volver
36. What color shirt are you wearing? Black
37. Summer or winter? Summer or winter what?
38. Hugs or kisses? By who?
39. Favorite dessert? See question 33
40. Who is most likely to respond? Respond to what? To this questionnaire?
41. Least likely to respond? See above
42. What books are you reading? A book on US-foreign policy
43. What’s on your mousepad? I don't have one
44. What did you watch on TV last night? Surface
45. Favorite sounds? They call it music
46. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Neither?
47. The furthest you’ve been from home? Define home
48. What’s your special talent? Knitting? Baking? Being there for other people?
49. Where were you born? Schwäbisch Gmünd
50. Who sent this to you? I picked it up at Christine's

Starstruck

What is it about celebrities that makes normal people giggle like 13-year-old school girls when they notice them?

There are two knitting groups in Munich where I'm going to. One is Stitch'n Bitch, which takes place twice a week and where we speak English. SnB is quite a young, fashionable crowd with lots of unusual knitting going on.
Then, there's this other (German speaking) knitting group that meets once a week; the ladies are a bit older than the ones at SnB (I got adopted by one of them last week, when we found out that I was the same age as her sons. I call her "Mama" now), and this group focuses more on the knitting instead of the bitchin'. Anyways, a little while ago I asked Elemmaciltur if he wanted to come. Well, tonight he decided to join us, and we had a nice time.
After some time, a guy walked into the restaurant and sat down at the table next to ours. I looked at him, and thought he looked familiar (I get that sometimes, and then I can't remember where I know the people from... most of the time, I've seen them somewhere at Uni, but not this time). Suddenly, a movie title popped up in my head (the trailer was on tv lately), and I thought, can it be? Can it really be Benno Fürmann? Turns out, it was.
(Okay, so this might only be interesting for my readers who know who I'm talking about... he's an actor, kinda famous in Germany)
Anyways, Benno was just sitting there, having dinner like a normal person (or should I say like the rest of us?). I'm not sure if he noticed the giggling knitters at the table next to his (okay, only Elemmaciltur and I were giggling), and if he did, if he's used to it.

I didn't have my camera with me, so I didn't even think about whether I wanted to take a photo (K went to Slovenia today and took the camera with him, in case you wanted to know). Elemmaciltur, however, got his courage together and asked him about a picture (and I admire him for that, I wouldn't have been able to do that!)... you can see the result below. For the rest of the story, check out Elemmaciltur's blog. Elemm, thanks for coming! Let's see which star we can get next week to sit next to us and watch us knit.

Elemmaciltur on the left, and Benno Fürmann on the right.

Knitting

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting and do it all the time. While finishing a piece is the plan, you still love the process, and can't imagine a day going by without giving some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation involves leaving ample space for the stash and supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn ends and you begin.http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!








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...guru? I can live with that!

This is for Grace

Above are most of the squares I've made for Grace so far. The colors aren't quite acurate, because I took the pictures at dusk. But I think the patterns come out quite well. Hopefully, I'll get some more done soon, and then off they go in the mail, heading towards Canada!

Grass widow

K is going away tomorrow for a few days while I have to stay here and work on my paper. On the one hand, I'd love to come with him, but if I get some work done, then we can go on a (short) holiday to Italy soon! That should make a good reward for me, shouldn't it?
But K is also going to take the camera with him, so I better make some pictures before he goes. I managed to make a few more squares for Grace, and I finished the ones I already made. They only need a wash now and then I have to pin and stretch them a bit, so they are the right size.

And... I ordered some yarn! Some for a sweater for myself, and some for a sweater for K (and no, I do not believe in the Boyfriend Sweater Curse!)... and I'm looking for some more for a bolero (yes! I know! A bolero for myself! Even though I never believed in boleros, because I always considered them as 'nothing whole, nothing half'. I seem to have changed my mind...) And I'm thinking about even more projects! That might have something to do with the fact that I just bought a few magazines, like the new Rebecca. Yarnyarnyarn! My precious! I want it! (I totally feel like Gollum now)

It's strange, I didn't want to buy new yarn until I hade made room for new; but I find it like you put yourself on a very strict diet. While you try and stay very good, after a while you go out and binge. Totally. Urgh. So, does that mean that I should find a 'more reasonable' kind of way for my yarn diet, so I don't binge any more? Just like with food. Healthy stuff is good and all that, but we all need a large piece of chocolate mud cake once in a while, to keep up the level of happiness, don't we?!

One down, only three gazillion more to go

Finally, another FO! Let's celebrate the reduction of my stash, even though it's only a little reduction. I made a baby hat, using some of the yarn I had leftover from my nephew's Christening Cardigan.


The green is actually much lighter and softer than in the picture. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, and it's incredibly soft. I just love knitting with it! I still have some more leftover, and I'm looking forward to using it!
I don't have a baby who could model the hat, and I'm definitely not going to put it on a doll's head because I think this looks creepy as hell! Like they'd come alive any second... Anyways, the hat's supposed to look like this:


I made it in firstborne's size. The style is really cool, because it covers so much of the baby's head. But I think it's a bit strange that the hat's name translates into "devil's hat"... What did I say about creepiness before?

The curse of self-imposed pressure

Thank God it's raining today. It's been cooler for a couple of days now, and the temperature in my apartment is back to normal now. It was about time!

Below is a picture of my last FO, baby sandals from an old Schachenmayr magazine. They are sooo cute! I made them with the Holz&Stein rosewood needles K gave me a while ago, and the colors looked so adorable. I'm thinking if I should make another pair of the sandals, but then again, seaming the sandals, weaving in the ends and sewing on the buttons was quite a pain in the ass. It took a disproportionate amount of time, compared to how long it took to knit them. But they are so pretty!


Oh well, I'll see. I still have quite some baby yarn leftover, and I definitely want to make more baby stuff.

It's a bit weird; ever since I started blogging, I always feel that I have to knit something (preferably something that's in fashion right now, or with a popular yarn), that I should take part in some kind of swap or palooza or knitalong or whatever's there. Even when I know that I'm not so interested in reading tons of other blogs, or that I simply do not have the time to do so. Or the money, or, more importantly, that I don't have the space for loads of yarn purchases for the gazillion projects that I'd like to make (and later on, while knitting, I get insecure if I'd really wear what I'm making. This just happened to the Victoria Tank).
I don't know if anyone of you knows this kind of feeling... is blogland just getting to fast for me? Now, I'm not saying it's bad to have so many swaps and knitalongs and God-knows-what-else going on, not at all. For example, I would have liked to take part in the sequel of Yarn Aboard, because I think it's a fun thing to do and I like the idea of the travelling box. But I didn't sign up, because for so many reasons... like wondering, 'is my pal going to be happy with what I send her', or thinking that I should read the blog entries of what the others received, or whatsoever. Above all, it would mean that I have to spend time reading even more blogs, that I have to buy more yarn even though I should save the money (I know I could afford it. On the other hand, I also know that it would be wiser to just save the money for the upcoming tuition fees, or a holiday), and it wouldn't reduce my stash. In general, that's not something I would worry about, it's only that my stash boxes are bursting at the seams. And my apartment is simply not big enough for more boxes (unless I throw K out... but he's been cooking a lot for me lately, so I better keep him). That's why I want to use some of the yarn I have already before I go and buy even more for new projects.
Knitting sure can be a curse! The curse of self-imposed pressure, that is. Nobody is forcing me to new projects after all. So, what am I afraid of? That I lose my readers because what I'm doing isn't "interesting" enough? That nobody leaves me a comment any more, that the internets community deserts me? This is why I'm in therapy (and no, it sure isn't a retail therapy)
I know that this won't happen. ( I hope. Oh, common, stop it, you know it won't.) Geez, it's incredible how much pressure a blog can put on one. Even though it's all in my head only.

The heat is on!

And that's for sure. Yesterday (and on Friday) we had a temperature record here - 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). What did you say, that's not much? Well, I ain't talkin' about outdoors here but inside my apartment. Yep, living at the top floor does have some disadvantages... but the view of the couple in one of the apartments in the block out the back still has their Christmas tree (which has turned into a brownish-yellow by now) up in their living room is priceless. And now, I have no idea what they are doing with this tree... maybe they want to keep it till next Christmas? They sure are environmentally conscious. I think they even decorated it with Easter eggs at Easter.

Rita has asked me about the instructions for the baby booties. To answer your question, a friend of mine has handed it on to me, and she had it from somebody else. It is in German, but if you're interested, I could translate it for you and put it on here. You'd just have to be patient with me, because I have lots to do with the preparation of my thesis, and there's also another paper I have to write (on Richard Nixon's foreign politics).
I haven't been knitting much in this heat lately, plus due to the Uni stuff... although I managed to finish another pair of baby booties in off-white and a rich yellow. They are a different style, more like sandals, and I have to look for some buttons. I hope to get that done soon... although I'm not too optimistic, because other work is piling up, quite a things need to be done in here, and I don't like going to the city when it's so damn hot. But the heat will be on for another little while...

It's about time

...for another post, at least that's what I say. I've been busy lately because I need to prepare my Magister thesis (pretty much like a Master thesis), so I have tons to read and I tried not to use the computer for blogging during the day. And at night, K had it most of the time. Anyways, I didn't get much knitting done at all over the past week.
Yesterday, as it was so nice outside, K and I decided to take a blanket to the nearest park to do some reading there, and I brought my latest project along for a little photo shoot as well.


Quite a few people I know are going to have babies over the next couple of months, so I thought I'd make some booties. The pair above still needs a cord to tie them up and I need to weave in the ends. The yarn is nothing special, some baby merino stuff I picked up at the LYS. I'm already working on the next pair, they are going to be sandals in yellow and white, and I'm using the needles K gave me a while ago. Those needles are just so adorable; they are made from rosewood and are just so smooth! Maybe I should take a picture of them too... me loves me some nice needles!

Something fresh, something new

Hello my friends!
This is my very first post on the new blog. Most of you probably know my old one, and I'd love to say welcome to you all. You'll find my old blog here, and if you want, you can read all about my history there.

Well, 'nuff said about the past. d.knit is about the future, after all! Stay tuned for some knitting content soon, today it's too late to take pictures.
Good night, and good luck!