A New Sensation

It’s easy to forget that you live in a foreign country sometimes. (Ok, definitely not the African continent, but surely in Europe.) One example of this is grocery shopping. I went to Rewe yesterday (like a Tesco or other supermarket) and bought some avocadoes (I was too lazy to get up early for the farmer’s market here on Wednesday). So imagine my surprise when I get home and unpack them only to find this sticker on it:

That just would not show up on an avocado in the US.

Anyway, on the knitting front husbeast reminded me last night that Mother’s Day is in a couple of months–that would be the perfect time to give my MIL a second, but summery, cardigan. I decided that I’m going to knit her Estelle (rav link) by Linden Heflin.

It calls for a worsted weight yarn but I think if I knit it in a cotton/microfaser blend (or even bamboo) it should be perfect for her. While I look for yarn (let me know if you have any recommendations in this area) I’m going to knit myself a wintery version of it in some Misti Alpacas Tonos that I got recently at Webs in Northhampton, Massachusetts. FYI, if you have not been to Webs, you must go. It is Mecca for knitters and they let you walk around the warehouse. And there is even a sitting area with magazines for all the bored friends and husbands.

Finally, I have a new semi-finished object to show you. This is Fruit of the Vine (rav link) by Anne Hanson –my favorite designer.  It’s made out of Jaggerspun Zephyr 2/18 laceweight in colorway Juniper. I used US 4 and did 38 repeats–about 444 yards. Now I just have to block it, which I dread as much as doing a set-in sleeve.

FO: Hamamelis Shawl

Knitting lace can take quite a lot of concentration. Between keeping your eye out for any errata, making sure you have all the yarn overs in the right place, and making sure you’re reading the chart correctly, it is very easy to mess something up. And I don’t like using lifelines so that creates even more drama when I mess up.

But not so with this (rav link) pattern by Kirsten Kapur at Through The Loops (non-rav link). This was easily the most relaxing, enjoyable knit ever.

Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy, colorway In Vino Veritas, approx. 1 skein (I had some left over)

Needles: US 6 circular (4.00 mm)

Size: Medium

I received this yarn from my friend, KatJ (rav link) for Christmas. So awesome! Nothing like getting yarn in the mail from a fellow yarnie.

How To House 44 Lizards in Your Underwear

A few weeks ago husbeast and I were in Washington, DC for a conference. Thanks to jet lag I actually woke up nice and early and decided to go to Dunkin Donuts for a coffee. While I was in there I was treated to some nice, hometown displays of affection that commonly pass between would-be patrons and restaurant staff.

A homeless man was waiting inside the doorway of the DD and this did not please the staff there. After a few polite exchanges that resulted in the man having to go, he told the DD staff (in less vague terms) to, “Go suck my [dangly bits].” As if this wasn’t enough, one of the DD staff replied, “Yeah, I’ll go suck it.” None of the other customers in the shop were even fazed. I’m guessing this was a normal morning occurrence.

Yeah, baby. DC. How I soo not missed that, even though it was funny. Germans would never tell you such a thing, no matter how unruly they might feel; it’s just unbelievably impolite, and an inefficient way of expressing one’s grief.

No, Germans, in large, are some of the most polite people I have ever met. And their efficiency is remarkable.They organize everything (you should see our recycling system). This admirable display of efficiency and organization was seen last week in New Zealand as a German man tried to board a plane with 44 lizards in his underwear. Now when I heard this, I thought, “I bet he made sure those lizards were well-organized in that underwear of his!”

When this stuff becomes predictable to me on such a correct scale, I begin to think we have lived here too long now.

Knitting in Twilight

I like to post pictures here when I blog, but with it being winter in Germany, light is not something we get a lot of. And my camera only knows how to overexpose a shot or underexpose them (I guess this is really just a problem I have and don’t know how to fix on these “easy” point-and-shoot’s). Well we had a bit of actual sunlight this morning so I grabbed some FO’s to take pics of.

First, these are Fa Fa Fa Socks (rav link), knit in Dragonfly Fiber sock yarn in the colorway Riptide. This sock yarn was an unexpected gift from my friend, Kat, for Christmas. I loooove green so I was thrilled to knit these socks.

Then I found this great pattern (rav link) that uses up scrap yarn, which we all have too much of. These are going to some cats back home. I stuffed them with fiberfill and a teabag of this Schlaf und Nerventee (Sleep and Nervousness tea) that I got for my insomnia a while back. The tea worked great but smelled like ass. A friend’s cat confirmed that this ass-like smell was catnip (she went craaaazy). Hopefully Steve and Jay’s cats also like it!

I’ve got some other WIPs going–a pair of Gentlemans Sock with Lozenge Pattern by Nancy Bush (for the husbeast) and a Wee Wurm Hat for a friend’s little girl. Both are from the stash so I love that. Both are great for insomnia and jetlag knitting, which unfortunately I have been doing a lot of lately.

History of Nudity in Germany

Today there is a great article on FKK  (Freikoerperkultur), or as we prudish Americans say “public nudity”, in The Local, an online English-version newspaper for Germany.  As you may remember from a previous post, public nudity can take a little getting used to, but usually quite freeing once you get over the newness of it. I never thought I’d have the balls to go to a spa here and let it all hang out (you don’t get an option on this–nudity is the rule), but thanks to a friend I got over that weirdness and have been spa-hopping my heart out. I tell ya, there is nothing like four hours in a spa (for only 20 Euros!) when it is miserable outside.

What’s great about the article is that it talks about why FKK is/was so popular and why it came about. Plus it’s an interesting tidbit considering the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is on Monday.

But one thing the article misses is that West Germans (Wessies) are portrayed as being prudish and against FKK. Maybe this was so back then, but I can’t really agree with that now–nude seems to be the norm in the swimming/spa arena.