Easter Menue

This year's menue starts with a terrine de salmon enveloped in zucchini, with horseradish/whipped cream and pomegranate sauce and seeds:
The main course is lamb with lemon in a bed of potatos, carots, leek and garlic (lots and lots of garlic)

For the desert we have strawberry panna cotta

Please be seated and enjoy.

Happy Easter

Great, it's Easter and I've got a cold. Nothing all winter and now it hits me.

Being the Lemming I am, I hopped (ey, cool, an Easter reverence ...) on the bandwagon for another project everybody else is knitting, and started a Nuvem from the lace yarn I picked up in Pfaffenhofen last weekend.
The Nuvem is basically a large hexagon shaped wrap that's knitted in the round.

And, in case knitting just plain stocking stitch is getting too boring, I also started on a pair of socks using some of the yarn I dyed two weeks ago.
Pattern is 'Drip Candle' and can be found in the book 'Think Outside the Sox'.
I'm using four different reds/purples I dyed plus some Wollmeise 'Brombeere'.

Zugsocking

'Zugsocking' is one of those new word creations that doesn't really make sense, but somehow still hits the nail on the head. Zugsocking is when a group of knitters come together, hop on a train and travel to a destination where they can buy yarn. And while on the train ('Zug' in german), they knit. It doesn't have to be socks, but as socks tend to be small and portable, this happens more often than not.

Well, a couple of friends and I traveled from Frankfurt to Pfaffenhofen to the holy grail of yarn stores:

Inside we found yarns of all colors (well, almost all colors - I was looking for a 'Regenbogen' but when I asked for it, I heard only loud laughter)

Still, I managed to find a skein or two ....

From left to right: 4x Nautilus, Wasserratz, Wolke, 47Ag, Cassis, NiP Amethyst dark, 2x natur, NiP Iris Sibirica, Am kalten Polar, Thriller and Single Malt.

We stayed over night in Pfaffenhofen, and after breakfast we just sat outside in the sun for a bit. We totally lucked out on the weather - the forecast was overcast and rainy, but even though it was not exactly warm, we had blue skies and sunshine.Later we moved on to Ingolstadt, where, after a long walk from the train station, we stopped at the Paradeplatz where an easter market took place. I loved this fountain which was covered with hollowed out eggs hand-painted in blue. An amazing piece of work.Later we hoped back on the train and knitted our way back home.

Great weekend, with great company and great yarn - what else can a woman want?

Ain't It Kool?

Dying wool with Kool-Aid is really, really easy (and, as it is using only approved food colors, it's also save)

I started with some Wollmeise Twin in the 'color' nature (aka undyed Wollmeise). I wound the yarn into five skeins of circa 20g each and put them in lukewarm water to soak for half an hour.


I used then a pickle jar and added about 200ml hot water (the marker is for me so I don't have to measure every time). Then I added the content of 1 package of KoolAid (here it's lemon lime)

In goes the yarn. I then placed the jar into my microwave and nuked it for about 2 min (if the water is clear the dye has all been absorbed by the yarn and it's basically finished)

I left the yarn in the water until it has cooled of, rinsed it and - voila - bright, colorful yarn.

From top to bottom:

- 1 pack of lemon lime
- 1 pack of blue berry
- 3 packs of grape (I did first one pack, but decided that it's too pale and repeated the process with two more - I think 1 more would has done it, too)
- 1 pack of cherry and then a second round with 1 pack dark cherry (the cherry alone was no different then the last skein)
- 1 pack tropical punch

The colors are bright and vivid and I'm looking forward to knitting something with them.

Only ... what to knit?

...And Off The Needles

Finished three of the four project from last week.

First one is the Castlegar Cardigan - and the problem is, I hate it. Well, maybe 'hate' is a little bit too harsh, but after I put it on yesterday the first time after washing, I looked at myself in the mirror and thought to myself I'll never wear this in public. For once it's not really my style - the model is sort of 'cutesy' and I don't exactly do cute. And, in the end the cardigan is a good two sizes too large, too.
So, I'm not going to show any pictures (sorry, but it's really for the best) and I will rip the whole thing up to reuse it for another project. I already may have an idea .....

What I finished and like and never will rip up, is my scrap yarn pillow. Perfect size (roughly 45 x 45 cm), I love the colors and it had been a load of fun making it.Hmm, lets see, what scrap yarns do I still have ....

Then I have a new pair of socks. They will stay with me for a change, even though it looks like the time I need woollen socks may be over soon.

Because it looks like spring finally has arrived.

On The Needles

Four projects in progress (though only three pictures - the socks, well, they are socks, nothing exciting or so)

Project A) A Crazy Patchwork Blanket.
I while ago I was suckered into buying acrylic yarn in 10 different colors. I'm no big fan of acrylic yarn, but, hey, it was cheap, so I actually bought some more, only to realize that if I want it out of my stash I have to do something with it one day.
Along comes this pattern from one of the blogs I follow.

This is maybe 15% into the project and currently I'm taking a break from it to knit ...

Project B)
This is the Castlegar Cardingan by Laure Chau in Wollmeise Twin 'Blaue Tinte'. It is knitted bottom-up and just yesterday I put everything on one needle (450 stitches) and started knitting the yoke.
This is good, fairly mindless knitting and I'm mostly working on it while watching 'Castle' on TV (I just bought the third season on DVD - love that show)
As this is sometimes mindnumbingly boring, I alternate with ...

Project C) Scrappy Yarn Pillow
I have a pile of leftover yarn in DKish weigth. I picked some colors I thought might harmonize, then cast on 200 stitches and make up the pattern as I go.
The size turns out ot be in the 43 ~ 45 cm width range. I gave it a bath (still on the needles) and blocked it lightly to see how much I still have to go. Answer is: not very much. So I've stopped for now and will see how the pillow fits (which, of course is a 'The Other Place' and not accessable until next Friday), then I will add a little bit more, just enough to sew in a zipper.

Hellau

Fasching (or Karneval, or Fastnacht, as it's called in some areas) is somewhat similar to Halloween in the US, especially if you look at the costumes and all the sweets that are handed out. But in other things it couldn't be more dissimilar.
For once, Fasching is a very serious event. In some areas it's political - nothing can get more serious than that. It has traditons - according to Wikipedia (and we all know if it's in Wikipedia, it must be true) it goes back to the 13th century, possibly even longer.
On the other side, it's about having fun, being somebody different for a short while and gourging yourself one last time before Lent starts.

In the little town I've grew up the traditional parade happens on Tuesday - and as far as I can recall we never had bad weather on that day. It may have rained on Sunday on the parade in Frankfurt, or snowed on the big parade in Mainz on Monday - we had neither (not always sunshine and rarely warm, as this is usually February, but no rain or snow)

So I went out and watched purple cows pass by.

I cheered for the guests from Venice.

I crossed my fingers as the little frogs crossed the street that they are not run down by cars.

I tried to catch my breath as large octopus swam by. And I picked up a ton of sweets.

Hellau to you, too!

Lemmings

Knitting - like a lot of other things - is driven by 'things that are IN'
What I mean with that is that there are certain designers whose pattern are cast on by hundreds knitters all over the world the moment the pattern is available.
Stephen West comes to mind. Some of his patterns get more than 1000 projects on Ravelry. The wide shawl 'Daybreak' for example has currently 3257 projects (two of those are by me)
There must be about a million - well, okay, maybe not a million, but A LOT - Cookie A socks out there ('Monkey', the most popular, has right now 15.286! projects - that is a lot of socks)
Last year I made Elizabeth Zimmermann's 'Baby Surprise Jacket' (16.761 projects).
A fairly new star to the knitting world is Ysolda Teague - I have made at least two of her designs so far.

The latest fad I've followed is the pattern Color Affection by Veera Välimäki - at first the pattern was only available as a kit - you had to buy the yarn to get the pattern, but finally, this month, the pattern came out for download.
I had already picked my colors so I could cast on right away (only to change my color choice mid knitting). The yarn is Wollmeise Twin in the colors Neptun, junge Maus and Moses. In reality the blues are far more petrol than on this photo.

A simple, relaxing knit, with an unusal construction, I zipped through the whole thing in a little over a week.

I don't consider myself a follower of every new trend out there to knit - but somehow I end up quiet often with the in-patterns. Well, there must be a reason they're in, right?

-20.5°C

no comment

Winter

This morning, as I was driving to work, it was -18°C

Ice is floating on the Elbe.
The ferries have stopped working.
And the lake around Castle Moritzburg is frozen.

Yep, it's winter!

Two And A Half Pair

(and, no, I'm not a fan of Two And A Half Man ... )

It's cold, I'm knitting socks.

Pair No. 1 is the pattern Eunice by CookieA - possibly my favoriet sock pattern designer (I've knitted up about half a dozen of her patterns and I'm more than willing do go back for more). The yarn is Wollmeise Twin in Brombeere.Pair No. 2 is made from Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn. I have a love/hate relationship with this yarn. The colors - to die for!, everything else - hate. It's the most none-elastic sock yarn I've ever knit with, the yarn tends to have knots all over the place (this skein had two and always with an sudden color change), it breaks super easy when knitting and it's rough on the skin while knitting (I don't mind on the foot, luckily, else it would have been a deal breaker)
But the colors!!!
Damn, it's still worth it.
The patter is a simple 3 - 1 rib, top down with an after thought heel.
Final the half-pair (and the work in progress) is made from Lorna's Lace Shepard Sock Stripe yarn. The color is a special dye job named 'Parry Hotter' in the Gryfindor colors of red and gold. I bought it serveral years ago in Noe Knits in San Francisco.
I've tried various pattern, but the stripes are so close that most pattern are just swallowed up. Finally I came across this one, and though I'm not 100% happy, I think it's about as good as it's going to get.

Listen

When I was a kid, we used to have couple of books and audio plays on LPs. I clearly remember some 'Winnetou' by Karl May, 'Die Kleine Hexe' by Ottfried Preussler and 'Hui Buh'. I'm pretty sure it drove our parents to madness, but I loved them and it basically guarentied an hour of quietness from my side.

Today, being a bit more grown up, I have learned to love audibooks. I started out with 'Lord of the Rings' and the Harry Potter series (with both Jim Dale and Stephen Fry as readers) but am not adversed to other authors (i.e. Bill Bryson, Harry Dresden, Rick Riordan, ...). Audiobooks work great when driving long distances but I also listen to them while knitting or doing cross-stitch.

The current book I'm listening to is 'The Name of The Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss. One of the reasons I picked it up was because one of my favorite voice actors - Nick Podehl - is reading it. I listened to him reading the 'Foundation' Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey (one of my favorite authors ever) a while back and when I was looking for a new audiobook I found 'The Name of the Wind' also read by him. The story seemed interesting, the reviews were good, so I picked it up. It's 28 hours long and I've listened to at least an hour every day for the last two weeks. Nick is doing a fantastic job with the different voices and dialects. I'm getting near the end of the book and I'm happy to know that there second book in the series - 'A Wise Man's Fear' - is already out and that it's even longer than TNotW: 42hr 59min.

This should keep me listening for a while.

Potholder Interlude

I've made potholders. Still working on optimizing the jogless stripes.

The cake

I made this cake for my mom's birthday last year. She insisted that I show it around here, so here it is:

Inside are pears, a bit of cocoa and loads of whipped cream, between two layers of bisquit.

If I may say so myself, it was really yummy!

End of Year Statistics

There've been 42 projects for me this year.

8 projects have been weaving, the rest mostly knitting with some crocheting thrown in.
I wove a couple of scarfs, but knitting some as well.
I've made 7 pairs of socks, though only 3 pairs stayed with me, the rest went to friends and family.
I finished two large blankets (one knitted, one crocheted)
I also made two cardigans for me.
For collegues I've made two bady cardigans (and probably will make another one for next year)

If I put all the bandwraps of all the yarn I've used last year into a big bowl I get something like this:

That is 116 band wraps!
If I add up all the yarn I've used this year, I discover that I've knitted about 24.5 km of yarn.
As I have - according to my stash list in Ravelry - still 55.3 km yarn available at home, I should be okay for the next 2 years at least.

The last project for 2011 is this hat. It has the lovely name 'Wurm' and it made with two shades of Wollmeise Twin yarn. The lighter yarn does match my new jacket, so I hope I'll get a lot of use out of it.
To all, a Happy New Year 2012. Stay healthy and be happy.

Military History

The Museum for Military History reopened a couple of months ago after its remodeling by the US star-architect Daniel Liebeskind (funny little side note here, when I had my prom at the end of dancing school, my partner's name was also Liebeskind, though I think he was a Detlef ...).
I do like this new addition to the place, a pretty cool mix of classic and modern. From the tip of the wedge you also have a pretty good view out over Dresden.
The museum itself was quite interesting - we Germans have a somewhat strange view at our military history and it certainly wasn't always flowers and songs. So it's not an easy task to find a good balance to show to the audience.The building has a lot of unusual angles and corners, and on one of the slanting walls they displayed a couple of bombs seemingly falling directly down on you. Not a nice thought to know that not too long ago those weren't just props in a museum, but real bombs made to kill people.


Mom, the second jigsaw is done:

Hey, this is post 300.
Go me!

Knitting Update

The knitting part for Cria is finished. I got 20 buttons (10 for the front and 2x5 for the cuffs) but still need to sew then on. After than it's washing and blocking and then the exciting moment where it turns out if it fits or not.
For my new Jack Wolfskin winter jacket, I made a short scarf. It's just long enough to cross properly on my chest, which is okay, and enough to keep the wind out. I would have liked it to be a little bit longer, but I ran out of the light yarn. It's nice and warm and soft, though - everything a scarf should be.

Still, a few more centimeters would have been nice.

Everybody is knitting a Hitchhiker shawl, so I'm doing one, too. I'm using Wollmeise Twin in the colorway 'Wasserratz' plus some beads on each tip. Totally love it. I did a test on the Magic Square Potholder and it turned out okay - only, there's not enough yarn left to make a second one in the same color way, so this one will be a single. So, instead, I'm making a striped version with some leftover cotton yarn I still have. It will be very colorful, I think.

That Season Again

It might come as a surprise to some, but it's x-mas season again. Didn't we just have one last year and the year before? It can't be THAT time of the year again!
As my family decided years ago to not give presents among the adults, this time is actually fairly relaxing for me. No need to hunt for that one perfect present among throngs of other desperate shoppers with the same goal. I have the whole year to look around and if I happen to come across something I just know one of my loved ones will like, I can buy it and give it to them any time I like.
Ah, the season of peace.Being in Dresden, It is inevitable that at one point or another I'm going to check out the local Christmas Market. The Strietzelmarkt is Germany's oldest Christmas Market and it's been held for 577 years. Yupp, that's longer than Christoph Columbus 'discovering' America.
The Market is held in the Altmarkt square and attracts millions of visitors.
As it was just too warm for the famous muled wine tradionally drunken on a christmas market, I just stroled around and looked at the things on display.Funny thing about Dresden, though, there's not just one christmas market, there are (at least) five.
There's the one on the Newmarket square, which is more craft orientated (it's my personal favorite)There's the medievil one in the Stallhhof (stable court yard)There's one next to the Frauenkirche (not to be confused with the one on the Neumarkt, even though they are no more than 50m appart).
There's one on the other side of the river with a big ferris wheel.
And I'm sure, there are more ...

Finally, Mom, prove I finished the jigsaw puzzle:
It was easy and it took me 2 ~ 3 hours, tops.