We made it to Germany!

And so did the cat. A bit traumatized, but she's adjusted to the hotel room pretty well.

We're staying in a military hotel in Wiesbaden, off base, thankfully, and within walking distance to the downtown shopping district and many beautiful parks! Wiesbaden is a truly beautiful little city (just under 300k people) and I am looking forward to exploring it!

It looks like we will not be able to live off base :( We were not sure that we wanted to, but we liked the idea of having a downtown apartment and being able to walk to the bar and the bakery etc. At least on base we will have a full-size US-style kitchen and 110 power outlets (So I can use my mixer!) We will probably be in the hotel for about a month though until a place on base opens up, which is going to suck, but whatever, at least they have free breakfast, free laundry, and free internet.

Aside from J's sponsor, and a few guys from his shop and their families that we went to dinner with the first night we were here, we haven't met anyone yet. I hope to make some friends soon though, because the days while J is at work are going to get boring fast! Also, TV here sucks.

I'm excited about going to my first knitting meetup tomorrow night! I found them on Ravelry, and there is a group that meets in town on Thursdays (mostly Germans and expats I think) and one that meets on base on Mondays.


I miss my spinning wheel :(

With nothing much to do all day while J is at work, I've been walking around the city. Yesterday I explored 3 beautiful parks, and walked home through the market.
I found these outside a shop. I want them!


And inside I found Sheep's Milk Chocolate! Which i not as good as yarn, but interesting nonetheless.


More pictures of Wiesbaden!

The parks here have HUGE trees!


Click here to see the whole set so far!

Pictures of my February Lady Sweater!

I gave this to my Mom for xmas last year, but didn't get any pictures of it finished!

Modeled by her friend Tanya.

February Lady Sweater, in Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool
Modified to use size 6 needles, made the largest size to get a medium sweater.

I need to make one of these for myself!

Off to Germany we go!

Craigslisted the last of the furniture yesterday, and have been camping in our house since Tuesday. No bed, no tables, chairs, dishes, etc! Sleeping on a borrowed foam mattress on the floor, eating out or on paper plates, giving away all our food, condiments, and booze!

It's nice to have some downtime though to read, knit, and blog, via borrowed WiFi.

I'm glad we've had the chance to do some last minute hanging-out with our friends, going out to eat at our favorite restaurants and to the movies.

Monday we saw District 9, which was quite good and not what I expected. Not a feel-good action flick, but worth watching.

Tuesday we went out to dinner at Harryman's House in Reisterstown. I wish we'd known about this place sooner! Their food was great, I had Tuna Tartare and a Beet and Goat Cheese salad, with a lovely Sauvignon Blanc. The entrees looked amazing, but pricey.

After dinner we saw The Time Traveler's Wife. I had loved the book, and came to the movie with both excitement and trepidation, as movies are never as good as the book.
The movie was decent, but lacked the depth of story and feeling that the book has. Those who had not read the book enjoyed it, and everyone cried, which is a good sign.

Wednesday we were at the mall buying books and looking for laptop batteries and decided to see G.I Joe. Joe was a big fan of the toys and cartoon growing up, so he really wanted to see it.
I expected it to be pretty bad, and it only slightly exceeded my expectations. I could appreciate them wanting to keep the spirit of the cartoon, and I'm sure pre-teen boys everywhere loved it, but there were some glaring flaws in the writing/story I couldnt get past.

Thursday we went back to the mall for one last dinner at Chevy's. Joe and I love their chicken floutas, and Mexican food is notoriously hard to come by in Germany! The floutas (like a taquito) come with sour cream, guacamole, mango salsa, beans, tamalito (like a corn tamale, yum!), and this amazing habanero jelly to dip them in. SOOO GOOD and only about $10!

We have friends coming down tonight and staying through Saturday, then we're off on our plane Sunday!

We might have internet at the hotel in Germany. I hope so. All our guidebooks got packed in the moving shipment! Rats!

Dishwasher Dyeing

I have a bunch of undyed yarns and fibers to dye before I leave the country, as I cannot take 12 quart mason jars full of concentrated acid dyes with me!

A friend of mine mentioned she heard about dyeing fiber in the dishwasher! This sounds amazing for summer because you don't have to heat up your house with the oven, and you can steam more at one time than in either the microwave or the crockpot.

So, I sat out on my deck in the sweltering heat yesterday and painted 7 skeins of sock yarn!

After they were painted I wrapped them in plastic wrap, put them into heat-proof crockpot liner bags (3 skeins to a bag), twist tied the bags and put them on the top rack of my dishwasher (wish some other dishes as well), turned it on and crossed my fingers!

Here's the results!




CLICK THIS ONE TO SEE THE WHOLE PICTURE

The Perfect Hat

I knew I wanted a vintage-style hat to wear to my wedding, to go with my 40's style dress. None of the vintage shops in town turned up anything, and while there were options on the internet, not only is it hard to tell what something is going to look like on you when it's displayed on a bald, plastic, head, I am also very picky about my hats. (They were all also very expensive)

So after some research into what I wanted, and realizing I couldnt get the "real" hat making materials I needed around here, I improvised!

I crocheted and felted a tiny diamond-shaped pillbox hat (I felted the hat into its pointed shape) and added a huge flower, a white feather clip, and a big bow made out of Russian veiling.







I had so much fun with it I'm thinking about making a bunch and selling them on Etsy!

The Wedding!

So much happened this summer! It feels like that first weekend in May, when we learned we were going to Germany, was both yesterday and 2 years ago! I'm going to post about all of our adventures separately, as I have time now that I quit my job to prepare for the move.

The wedding was on June 27th, in Mt. Vernon Park in Baltimore, and it was lovely. It was everything we wanted it to be (even given our lowered budget and expectations).
Our close friend Tim married us, and we had a traditional Handfasting ceremony instead of a ring ceremony. A Handfasting is where your hands are bound together with a cord or ribbons, to signify the binding of your hearts, families, etc.

After the brief ceremony we walked up the hill to a fabulous lunch at Ixia, which is actually no longer in business :( Our wedding reception was held the last weekend they were open. But the food and atmosphere was perfect! Everyone enjoyed themselves, and the cakes my mother and I made were a hit!
We made Lemon Coconut, with coconut-cream cheese icing and lemon curd, Carrot cake with orange and ginger, Chocolate Mousse Cake, and Vanilla Custard-filled cupcakes with strawberry icing!

It was great to spend time with family and friends from out of town we don't see often, as well as sharing the day with our close local friends.

Here's some pictures! Click on any one to be taken to the Flick page with ALL the pictures.