Red Threads: untangling

Always playing catch-up

2011-11-05T01:38:00.001+09:00

I think I need more schedules and time management in my life. I feel like I get so much more done when I am super busy with all kinds of deadlines and commitments! I used to be so productive and involved and creative in college, when I had no time for anything, and now I'm lucky if I make it to the gym and do the dishes a few times a week. OK, so I can blame it on the baby, but really she's not that much of a time suck compared to other babies, I just get sucked into the internet or a tv show and then I'm comfy and don't feel like putting away laundry or updating the blog. This shouldn't be work; and it's not, really, but it still takes time and effort.

Anyway, Fridays are going to be "Update the Blog" day! Mondays will be "Put away laundry" day but we'll see how that goes; I think the former will be easier to stick to!

In September we had our first Family Vacation. We drove from here in Wiesbaden down to Zurich and then through Italy to the French Riviera the next day. While long, the drive was beautiful (especially Switzerland and the French/Italian coast!) and the baby was very well behaved.

We hit traffic coming into Zurich so we didn't have much time to explore the city, but we took a nice walk down to the lake then had drinks with friends after a quick dinner.

Driving through Switzerland it was tunnel after tunnel, including a 22 kilometer long one! Gorgeous views though.

We knew about the toll-sticker needed to drive through Switzerland, but we had no idea that we would pay twice that in tolls to drive through Italy and France! We spent something like 150 Euro JUST on tolls, and then there was gas to buy and parking to pay for.. Next time we will FLY to France!

We stayed at a nice little family-owned place in Juan-les-Pins, on the cheaper side of the Antibes penninsula. We didn't get to do much, but even so our day and a half of sand and sun, art, and great food really recharged us! Almost enough to counteract the brain-numbing effects of the 15 hour trip home.

Most of these were taken from the terrace of the Picasso Museum, which was lovely.

We rented spots on the beach (Helios Plage) with loungers and an umbrella. It was quite expensive but worth it. You could ever order drinks and food right on the beach! Mimi spent her time napping and playing with Daddy in the water; her first time in the sea!

OMG the pastries were so delicious! Our hotel was right around the corner from this wonderful little bakery, and we would buy our breakfast there in the mornings. Little chouquettes (profiteroles rolled in sugar), croissants, eclairs, and raspberry tarts with custard! They taste even better eaten in warm morning light by the sea :)

Monaco, seen from a rest stop on the way home

Baby Pic-Spam!

2011-09-17T20:12:00.000+09:00

This is the dress I knit for her to come home from the hospital in, but even though I knit it smaller than the smallest size it was still quite wide! It fits her now around the chest, but it's a bit too short for my long Banana Baby!

I've taken so many good pictures of Mimi recently! She really hams it up for the camera! Here's the first three of the "X-Months-Old" series I'm doing as well.

This one is my new favorite

also cute

And SMILES!

Want more? Visit my flickr page!

August in Kaiserslautern! Part Two

2011-09-17T19:26:00.000+09:00

My SIL is "deployed" here for 6 months, and we got to hang out with her and go to the Gartenschau, a huge garden/park with playgrounds, a skate park, huge slides, and DINOSAURS! It also has an upper area with kitchen gardens, a chapel made of vines, and a little restaurant with a great view. It was a gorgeous day and we got a great workout!

Mmmmm, Flammkuchen! Thin pizza crust with a creamy sauce, onions, and German bacon!

We went to Globus, a huge German superstore with great selection, and got lovely mushrooms and fresh wheat bread and wine to make mushroom pasta for dinner. We found these mini pineapple! I've never seen a mini pineapple!

I also got to visit the new Aquatic Center on Ramstein, which has a lap/diving pool, a nice big kids pool with slides and a castle, and a baby wading pool. We took the baby to the pool for the first time! I wouldn't say she loved it, but she didn't mind it, and that's a good start :) I wish we had a pool here in Wiesbaden, on base I mean, we'd go all the time! There's some decent German ones around, but we'd have to drive and pay to get in.

In late August we even got a few days where it was warm enough to go to the outside pool and this tiny lake with a beach!

Mimi was not feeling the lake! It was a bit on the cold side.

It was so nice to have people to go out to lunch or window shop with! Even Joe won't join me for that, most days!

August in Kaiserslautern! Part One

2011-09-17T17:51:00.000+09:00

Joe was gone for all of August, so I went and stayed with some friends an hour away in Kaiserslautern for the month. It was great! So much more fun than staying home alone with the baby! I hate cooking for just myself as well, so I loved having people to cook for, and didn't lose a single pound more of baby-weight :P

We went to the Japanese Garden, which was small, but nice, and they have a lot of pretty Koi. Entrance prices to the gardens and attractions around here are expensive though, so I don't think we'll go again.

My friends, Dan and Angela. Angela took most of these pictures.

I love this one! There's a rock garden off to the right.

Back to Blogging!

2011-09-17T17:35:00.000+09:00

Mirabelle plums covering the footbridge

I've naturally been a bit distracted lately...I started this post in July, and here it is September and I'm finishing it.

I realized I didn't even post a picture of the finished Tamarix Quilt I made! (Ravelry link) It took forever and was really boring, but I love the result. It's a little big to use right now, but when we get back to the US and the baby has her own room it will be nice.

I brought it to the hospital with me, and it came in handy!

I finished spinning half of my FatcatKnits Polwarth top in Magnolia and started making this sideways baby sweater. The original pattern was done in boring gray and cream and I would never even have noticed it if I hadn't seen a black, white, and green one:

I need to finish spinning the rest of the yarn before I can finish the sweater, but this new blanket project (I know, I said no more blankets :P ) has been taking up all my attention lately. My friend and I are nearly done already! I decided to go with the white background instead of the taupe.

I love my window boxes this year! They're inside right now while they do work on the foundations.

Welcome Amelia!

2011-05-28T22:57:00.000+09:00

Here she is! Amelia Rose, born May 26th at 9:18am. 7 lbs 4oz, about 21 inches long.

After a lovely day of walking in the fields, doing yoga, and cooking dinner with friends, my water broke at 3am, 3 days past my due date. Amelia was born 6 hours later!
We went to the hospital at 4:30, and I was only 1cm dilated. By 8:30 I was ready to push! Hard and fast, no drugs, no interventions, no complications, no tearing! I gave birth kneeling on my yoga mat. Hubs and the midwife were awesome!
She got 10/10 on her Apgar test, and we spent the next 48 hours getting to know each other and learning to breastfeed in the hospital. German Healthcare FTW!

Lemon Blueberry Loaf Cake

2011-05-16T23:50:00.001+09:00

So, a while ago I found this recipe online for a Lemon-Blueberry Loaf cake, wrote it down, and have never again been able to find the same one online but it is a FABULOUS recipe! I've made it 4 times for small events and I never have leftovers!

I'm posting it by popular demand :)

Lemon-Blueberry Loaf Cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (I recommend the sour cream)
1 1/3 c white sugar, divided
3 eggs
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c vegetable oil
1 c fresh or frozen blueberries, tossed in flour
juice of 1 lemon, at least 1/2 cup
1/2 c confectioners sugar

Grease and flour a 9x5" loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, bp, salt). In a large bowl, combine sour cream, 1c sugar, eggs, lemon zest, 2 TBSP lemon juice, and vanilla. Whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ones in 3 batches. Fold in the oil and the blueberries and pour into the prepared pan.
Bake 1 hour, or until top is firm and a knife comes out clean.
Meanwhile, dissolve 1/3c sugar in 1/3c lemon juice, either in a saucepan or in the microwave. Set lemon syrup aside.
When the cake is done, use a skewer to poke some holes in the cake top and along the sides, then pour the lemon syrup over the cake and allow to cool completely.
When ready to serve, mix the 1/2c confectioners syrup with any remaining lemon juice or lemon syrup and a little water to form a glaze. Plate the cake and drizzle with glaze to serve.

Lemon-Poppy seed muffin adaptation:
Makes 12 muffins
Preheat oven to 350, line muffin tin with muffin papers.

Make as above except omit the blueberries and add 2 TBSP poppy seeds.
Bake 25 minutes or until tops are firm and a tester comes out clean.
Skip the lemon syrup step and glaze the muffins with lemon juice/conf sugar glaze while they are still slightly warm using a pastry brush.

Almost Time!

2011-05-16T03:05:00.000+09:00

Blogging has obviously not been a priority this year.

The baby could arrive any day now! Official estimated due date is May 23rd, and first babies are often late, so we'll see. I'm not in much of a rush, as I have actually been sleeping better lately, but I'm still anxious to meet her, and to get my body back!

Here's a collection of bump shots, so you can see the progression:

26 Weeks

28 weeks, at a Fasching (like Mardi Gras) party in Kiedrich.

32 Weeks

35 Weeks, outside the Greek Othodox church on the Neroberg in Wiesbaden, Easter.

37 weeks, we went to Biebrich for the Greek festival. It was a gorgeous day!

39 weeks

My yoga teacher threw me a really lovely Navajo Blessingway Ceremony at the end of April. It's like a baby shower, but more of a ceremony welcoming the mother-to-be into this new phase of life! Her daughter wove flowers that people had brought into my hair. She did some readings, washed my feet, and passed around a bowl of cornmeal that my friends ground their prayers and wishes for me into, before rubbing that on my feet as well. It was very relaxing and made me feel very loved :)Then we had cake and presents.
People brought peonies, lilacs, pansies, etc from their gardens for me, and one friend brought this gorgeous lavender rose!

I was also part of a "birth bead swap" through the May Due Date club on the mothering.com forums. Each member contributed beads to be sent to each member, so that everyone has a necklace of 35 or so beads to remind them of the other women who are also going through this together. I wore my necklace to the Blessingway Ceremony.

I'm so sick of this Tamarix Quilt! It's "done", except for one side of the edging, and weaving in all the ends on the back. I'm saving the weaving part for when I go into labor, as they say it's good to have a mindless project that is easy to see progress on to distract you. Apparently, when you can no longer work on the project (or focus on anything but contractions) it's time to go to the hospital!
Here's a work in progress shot from halfway through:

Unfortunately I don't yet have pictures of my blanket finished, or the really cute little cotton dress and hat I made for the baby. Later this week I will post some.

I haven't been spinning as much as usual, but here's some things I've finished this year. Click the pics to see bigger!
FatcatKnits Polwarth in the Magnolia colorway! I love this stuff! I still have the other half of the top to spin up, this is half of it. I plan to stripe it in a baby sweater. Navajo-ply, about 100 yds DK weight:

More FatCatKnits top, Azurite on Merino top. Bulky 2-ply.. I think about 100 yds

And some more FCK BFL in Esther:

I pretty much only buy pre-dyed top from FatCatKnits.com. I love her colorways!

I made a few little newborn-sized wool soakers for the baby too. The first one is handspun Falkland and Cascade 220, the red is Malabrigo, I don't know what the last is:

Baby Stuff

2011-02-27T21:59:00.000+09:00

Blogging has not been my strong suit lately! Looks like I have not made a post in over a month. Sorry!

At the end of January J and I were able to go back to Baltimore for a week, and my friend threw me a baby shower! It was totally an unexpected gesture, and I loved getting to spend some time with a large group of my friends all at once, and received lovely, thoughtful, presents! Here's a link to the whole Flickr set, and some highlights below:
The loot! I was blown away! A handmade quilt, hand-designed onesies, thoughtfully chosen clothes and books and toys; everything was perfect!

The food was fantastic; my friend made two kinds of mini quiche, poached pears and mimosas, along with cake pops, veggies, bagels, etc! And other friends brought cupcakes and baked brie.

As a party activity all the girls hand-painted onesies and signed them for me!

The trip was really great, but surprisingly exhausting. It will probably be a long time before we get back to MD, so I'm glad we got to see nearly everyone we wanted, at least briefly, and go to the places we missed the most. The only bad part was that J and I were both sick for the trip home! He only minorly so, but I was nauseated and miserable for most of the way back.

The pace of the pregnancy has certainly picked up! I have appointments every two weeks now, and am starting to put on weight and can only wear one pair of my pants. I have enough dresses to get me through though, I think. You can see the baby's movements through my clothes now, and I'm starting to be uncomfortable walking or standing for long periods due to ligament pain. Overall though it's been a lot easier than I expected! The hardest part is still to come though :P

Here you can see I've gained about 15 lbs.

Subi is all over me at every opportunity these days:

We've also started to acquire all the "baby stuff" we'll need. So far we have the Pack N Play we'll be using as a bed, a used swing, a carseat/stroller travel system, an assortment of cloth diapers, lots of clothes, and I'll be getting a Bumbo seat and a Boppy pillow from a friend this week. I think we're off to a good start!

More Cookies, and a bump shot!

2011-01-13T21:59:00.000+09:00

I shared these at my knitting group this week and they were a big hit! One woman said they were the best No-Bakes she'd ever had! Most recipes are pretty similar to mine, but the key is the cooking time, you really have to pay attention! These cookies are really more of a candy, as they have no flour. They are also gluten-free, but make sure your recipient can eat Oats.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar
3 TBSP cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 margarine or butter
a pinch of salt
3 cups of Quick Cook oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

-In a saucepan, bring sugar, cocoa, butter, milk and salt to a ROLLING BOIL.
-BOIL ONE MINUTE. Use a timer for this!
-Turn off the heat. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth, followed by the vanilla and the oats.
-Using a tablespoon, drop onto waxed paper-covered sheets or cooling racks and allow to set at least 4 hours. Do not chill. Store at room temperature in a sealed container. Try to avoid eating the entire batch yourself!

As I promised, here is a bump shot from the other day: 21.5 weeks and finally showing! I'm carrying very high so most of my clothes still fit, which is nice. Button-down shirts and dresses are a bit tight though.

And here's a pretty picture I took at dawn the other day, out my kitchen window:

So I'm very excited that I get to go back to Maryland for a week at the end of January! J has a training and is flying me out so we can spend a week with friends at the end of it before the baby comes, as it might be a while before we get to see them again. The friend we are staying with is throwing me a baby shower! This is very unexpected and I am very excited and grateful, even if it is a little early. I still feel a little weird about starting to acquire baby stuff, but I know the last few months are going to fly by!

Recap-ing the Holidays, mostly in pictures

2011-01-02T00:09:00.000+09:00

November and December were very busy months! One of the special education aids at the middle school hurt his knee, so I took over for him for a few weeks. I don't often work every day, and it was a little stressful at first because being a full-time aid is hard work and the kids' schedules are confusing, but I got the schedule down just in time to give it back up to the real aid in December :P What was really great though was getting to spend lots of time with the other teachers. I really love the school community here! Two of the other special ed teachers are also pregnant and due in January and February, so I expect I will be subbing a fair amount in the coming weeks too.

Originally we were planning to go to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, but J's Mom said nearly no one was coming this year, so we'll plan on going next year when we'll have the baby to show off. Instead we had 6 friends over and had a great time playing Apples to Apples and Taboo. I tried out a new dessert recipe, an Apple-Walnut Galette, which was a huge hit with the Germans as they (for the most part) do not like pumpkin pie. I cheated and used a pre-made crust.

Our table is too small to seat 8 people, so our upstairs neighbor who was out of town kindly let us use her enormous dining set, in her apartment, which was great because we got to use her fridge and oven as well. Here's our little appetizer and dessert spread in my apartment, and the turkey, and some other pictures from the evening.

Early in December we attended the AF Holiday party, which this year was held at the very impressive Wiesbaden Kurhaus, which also houses an old and elegant casino. We had a really nice dinner sitting with some of J's work friends, then ditched the dancing to go play some Black Jack! The casino is all dark wood and mirrors and makes you feel like you're in some swanky Chicago Speakeasy or something. J played for 2 hours and won 40 Euros!

In December we did various festive things like go to the Wiesbaden and Rudesheim Christmas Markets, make homemade caramels with my Hallstadt Salt to go in giftmas presents, and set up our FishyJewLlamaTree, which is now staggering under the weight of so many llamas, alpaca and lambs!

Wiesbaden Shining Star Market

Mini fancy chocolate bundt cakes made with my new silicon pan

Enjoying Rudesheimer Kaffee with our neighbors

FishyJewLlamaTree, with new Ram on top

Also, I made my first fruitcake, from scratch! The store didn't have any glacee cherries so I threw in some marachinos for color. I had to candy my own citrus peel and everything!

It was delicious, but huge, and we still have some left.

Finally, the crown jewel of our holiday season: Our trip to Prague Christmas weekend! We stayed in a really nice hotel with a pool/hottub overlooking the city, brought along two friends, went to the opera (Carmen) and had a fabulous time enjoying this gorgeous city in lightly falling snow. We totally want to go back! Unfortunately my camera died partway through our main sightseeing day, and I haven't had a chance to upload J's yet so my pictures are limited.

At Prague castle

When we walked down the steps to get to the Charles Bridge and wandered in to this lovely little gallery with paintings and prints by Natalie Pekka, and we fell in love with a somewhat-cubist style painting of a cellist on the bridge so we brought it home with us :) Still need to get it framed. I'll try to remember to take a picture of it later.

Here's some shots from the bridge:

The martyred saint you are supposed to make a wish on:

I'll post some more when I can upload J's.

Holiday Knitting!
I'm about a quarter of the way done with my Tamarix Quilt baby blanket, in Knit Picks Comfy. It's easy, but even though the squares are fast it's a bit boring. It's fun watching the pattern come together though!

And I made J a pirate hat for giftmas, from the "We call them pirates" pattern (ravelry link) He loves it!

And for good measure, here's a gratuitous baby-bump picture. About 18 weeks here.

Cookie Recipes too good not to share!

2010-12-30T20:32:00.002+09:00

I thought I had blogged these recipes before, but can't seem to find an entry with them, nor can I find the one exact recipe online so I thought I'd write it up here!

Mint Chocolate Crackles
They melt in your mouth! You can also make these without the mint for a plain chocolate crackle cookie.

Ingredients:

2c flour
1c unsweetened cocoa powder
2c white sugar
2tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2c vegetable oil
4 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
1tsp peppermint extract
1/2c confectioners sugar for rolling cookies in

In a medium bowl, mix together the cocoa, sugar, and oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and mint. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, then stir into the cocoa mixture in batches. Cover the dough and chill for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven for 350F degrees. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into one inch balls, then coat with confectioners sugar before placing on the prepared cookies sheets.

Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from the sheet immediately and cool on a wire rack (If they sit too long on the sheet they will spread).

Another favorite of mine that are good year-round are Earl Grey Tea Cookies! These little shortbread cookies have real tea leaves in them and have a very unique flavor. You could try a differently perfumed black tea such as peach or vanilla for a different effect. (Not my picture) Recipe from Real Simple Magazine, as I'm too lazy to re-type mine (it's the same).

Ingredients:
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
* 2 tablespoons Earl Grey tea leaves, from approximately 6 tea bags
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 1 tablespoon orange zest (optional)
* 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Pulse together all the dry ingredients in a food processor until the tea leaves are pulverized. Add the vanilla, 1 teaspoon water, and the butter. Pulse together until a dough is formed.

2. Divide the dough in half. Place each half on a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into a 12-inch log, about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

3. Slice each log into disks, 1/3 inch thick. Place on parchment- or foil-lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart.

4. Bake until the edges are JUST brown, about 12 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.

For a change, I'm going to try rolling the dough out in sheets before chilling and using my new teapot cookie cutter on them!

October

2010-11-14T01:08:00.000+09:00

October was generally pretty awesome!

The first weekend in the month I took the train down to Munich to visit my old college roommate Meghan, and her boyfriend Stefan, and to attend the last weekend of Oktoberfest. We went to Oktoberfest last year and had a great time, but not being able to drink makes it not quite as enjoyable. I was looking forward to the food though, and hoped to go on a ride or two.

We ended up joining another old college friend who was in town for work and went to the fair Thursday night, the night I got into town. We didn't go to the same tent as last year, and the food was not nearly as good, which was a disappointment. The tent band was pretty awesome though, and we had fun catching up. I didn't get to go on any rides, and would have rather gone to bed afterward, but instead we went to another bar for a while. What a long day! I did get some cool pictures though!
Inside the tent:

Meghan trying to drink beer backwards

The swings!

The rest of the weekend was great. Friday Meghan and I slept in and had a relaxing day. We took a walk with the dog and ate at a great local soup place for lunch. I had carrot-ginger soup with coconut milk, which was fantastic, and perfect for my somewhat-woozy pregnant self. We hung around the house until dinner, when we went to a local pub and she had the best Schnitzel I've ever had! Muenchner-style Schnitzel is coated in mustard and horseradish before frying, so it has tons of extra flavor, and the bacon and onion potatoes were amazing as well. My dish was not nearly so good, but she had tons to share so it was ok.

Saturday we had planned to hike up to a Huete (mountain lodge) and stay the night, but apparently it was the last weekend most of them are open, and being a gorgeous weekend they were already all full. We decided to do a day hike instead and hopefully catch an early dinner on top of the mountain, but unfortunately the end of the trail was too steep for the dog, and it was starting to get dark, so we didn't make it to the top. We still had a great hike with some great views!

This was a cow pasture 2/3 of the way up the mountain. The bottom part was all forest, then it turns to pasture then to rock. Weird to think of cows up this high!

You can see the Huete we were headed for but didn't make it to. It would have been about another hour around the side of the mountain.

View from the other side of the mountain:

The sun came out on our way back down

We stopped in Tegernsee, a GORGEOUS little lakeside resort town for dinner, and ate at the local brewery which had amazing food! So probably a better dinner than we would have had on top of the mountain anyway. We also got to sit outside and enjoy the night air and the lovely setting.

The brewery

Sunday, my last day there, we were joined by two of Meghan and Stefan's friends and visited a pretty collection of small lakes surrounded by forest and pasture. There are walking paths and campgrounds around the lakes, and it was quite busy, but we still had a great time and had a lovely picnic at the side of one of the bigger lakes. It was a stunning Indian Summer day and it was great to spend it outside!

I returned Monday. Overall a great trip, and I'm so glad I got to spend so much of it outside! We really don't do enough hiking etc at home.

When J came back a few weeks later we were able to take out postponed trip to Salzburg and Hallstatt, Austria!

Salzburg is about 6 hours south of us by car, but it was a beautiful day for a drive and went by really quickly. The scenery once you get near the alps is worth the drive alone! Since we had rescheduled this trip from September we were hoping the good weather would hold and it wouldn't be too cold. There was snow on the mountains, but the fall leaves were still on the trees in the valleys and it stayed in the 50's for most of our trip (and didn't rain!) so we were happy.

We stopped in Salzburg for lunch and tried the local favorite sausage, Bosna, which is a slightly spicy sausage traditionally served with onions, mustard and parsley on a roll with "spice" powder. Cheap and delicious!
Here's J eating his, standing on one of the more famous AltStadt shopping streets in Salzburg, with very expensive clothing and jewelry. Even the McDonalds has a fancy hanging sign!

Flower and farmer's market in the Old Town

We didn't stay in Salzburg long, as we wanted to get to Hallstatt before dark. Hallstatt is an ancient salt-mining town on a narrow lake, very typical for the Salzkammergut region, but famous for it's salt mine that you can tour, and it's picture-postcard quality.
Here's the view from our hotel on the other side of the lake from the town of Hallstatt.

We liked our hotel, but it was very quiet because it was the very end of the season. It was SeeHotel am Hallstattersee, and has its own pool and lakeside with a swimming area, so it'd be great to go in the summer. I think all rooms have a view of the lake, for half the price of staying IN Hallstatt. You would need a car though because the little towns are quite spread out.
The first day we took a cable car up a nearby mountain and visited a cave that has ice in it year round!
Here's J outside the cave, then some shots from inside. Sorry they kinda suck, it's hard to take pictures in caves! They would turn out the lights in the section we just went through to conserve energy.

After the ice cave we took the goldola further up the mountain and hiked out to the "Five Fingers" which is an observation platform with a fantastic view. It was quite nice weather on top, surprisingly, and I took off my jacket and scarf to walk around. Unfortunately we realized when we came back down that my scarf had decided it wanted to stay on top of the mountain :( We would have had to pay again to go get it, so I will have to make another some time.
We rode up with some paragliders, and it was cool to see them sail down the mountain!

We were planning on grabbing some lunch in Hallstatt then doing the salt mine tour that afternoon, but J wasn't feeling well so we took a rest until dinner, then went to a great restaurant/hostel, Gruener Baum, in Hallstatt that specializes in local fish. The lake itself is so clear you can see probably 20 ft down! We ordered the local trout, which was lightly seasoned and grilled to perfection, with tomato soup, and had apple strudel for dessert. It was lovely. The restaurant has live ivy that grows in through the windows and fish heads on the outside wall:

The next day J was still not feeling well, so we had a lazy morning and went into town for lunch/supper.
Hallstatt

I love the houses built into the side of the mountain"

We ate at a cafe on this square. I had a really good broccoli-cheese strudel with a salad, and one of the best desserts I've ever had!

Cheese and strawberry dumplings. They're like cheesecake meets the best homemade jelly doughnut you can imagine. OMG.

We did not get to do the salt mine, but Hallstatt would be a great place to go with kids (there was a really cool playground at the lakeside too!) so maybe eventually we'll get back there when the Sea Monkey is old enough to enjoy it.

We unfortunately did nothing for Halloween this year, just sat at home and carved pumpkins, but at least the tree outside my window looked festive!

Lonely September, Lovely Food

2010-11-01T06:09:00.000+09:00

I really can't complain too much about J's trips for work, considering he usually is only gone for 6 weeks at the max, and everyone else's husbands are deployed for a year at a time, but it still sucks. Especially when I know he could be in danger :( Such is Military Life.

Since it was the first few weeks of the pregnancy I slept A LOT. I pretty much slept, read, went to yoga, and hung out on the internet for September.

Luckily, my awesome upstairs neighbor is here to keep me company and we've both been eating better because of it. Cooking for yourself sucks, so if I'm cooking for both of us I'll make real food instead of subsisting on canned baked beans and cottage cheese.

Growing up my best friend was Ukrainian, and her mom made awesome Borscht. I'd been craving beets, which were oddly hard to find here, but I did get some at the farmer's market. I was trying to find one online that matched my memory, but there are as many kinds of borscht as there are kinds of chili, so I thought I'd just go straight to the source and I emailed her mom and got the recipe, which I will now share with you!

This makes A LOT of soup. It filled my 7-quart Dutch Oven, so be prepared to freeze half or feed an army.

Angela's Borscht

1 bunch beets (I used 1 kilo I think, but in the US they come bundled, right?)
3 carrots
1 lg onion
4 potatoes
1/2 head of cabbage
1 15oz can of red beans (optional)
1 6oz can of tomato paste
1 15oz can tomato sauce
3 bay leaves
2-4 cloves garlic, pressed
6 TBSP vinegar, more to taste
2 tsp sugar
S&P to taste *I used beef bullion granules instead of salt for extra depth of flavor.
fresh dill and sour cream to serve THIS IS IMPORTANT

Shred the carrots and beets in a food processor (like for coleslaw). Set aside and shred the cabbage. Saute the chopped onion in some olive oil in a separate saute pan until soft, then add the carrots, garlic, and beets. Saute 10 minutes until soft.

Bring 5 quarts (about) of water to a boil in your soup pot, then add the cubed potatoes, cabbage, and bay leaves. Boil 10 minutes.

To the saute pan, add the tomato paste and sauce, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Cook 10 minutes.

Add the contents of the saute pan to the soup pot. Simmer 10 minutes and adjust flavors if necessary. Turn off heat, add the beans (rinsed), and serve with sour cream and fresh herbs.

Another great meal we shared is a local Frankfurt-Area specially known as Gruen Sosse, "Green Sauce". This summery meatless meal was apparently Goethe's favorite.
I had it at a German friend's house and fell in love! This is another dish with a lot of variations, so you can suit it to your own taste without feeling unfaithful to the tradition of it :P

Unfortunately, you do need a large selection of fresh herbs, some of which are mostly grown only in this part of Germany or collected wild. They sell packets of the herbs in special kits just for the sauce. Packets usually contain a mix of Chervil, Parsley, Sorrel, Burnet(?), Chives, Borage, Cress, Tarragon, and Dill; depending on the season. My particular mix had no dill, but I don't know what they substituted.

Traditionally this sauce is eaten cold over hot boiled fingerling potatoes and hardboiled eggs.

Clean the herbs and remove the stems. Chop by hand or coarsely in a food processor. Mash the yolk of one of the hardboiled eggs with a few TBSP of olive oil, and add S&P, 1 TBSP mustard or creamy horseradish and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Some people add some fresh diced onion and mayo at this point too. Combine with the herbs. Add 1-2 cups of sour cream or yogurt (or a mix) to achieve the desired consistency, and allow to chill while you boil the potatoes.
serve like this: (Not my picture)

My neighbor and I also got to have a lovely walk through the field into town and had a picnic in the KurPark on a gorgeous Indian Summer day and got some nice pictures:
The view from the field near the base

September, Labor Day Weekend

2010-10-30T18:42:00.000+09:00

For Labor Day Weekend we were supposed to go to Austria, but our cat got a bad bladder infection and we had to stay home :( So to make it feel more like a holiday weekend we made sure to get out of the house both Saturday and Sunday, especially since J was leaving for a month in Afghanistan a few days later.

Saturday was a beautiful day, but we didn't get our act together until late afternoon, so decided to explore a riverside Palace park in Wiesbaden that we had never been to before. The Biebrich Palace was built in 1702 by Prince Georg August Samuel of Nassau-Idstein, it served as the ducal residence for the independent Duchy of Nassau from 1816 until 1866. I think it's the most beautiful palace I have seen in Germany! We did not go inside, just wandered the grounds and gardens behind the palace, and admired the local green parrots that live in the trees here.
(Not my picture)

The light was fading, but we did manage to get some neat pictures I think, including happening upon a wedding party!

Sunday we drove up the Rhine to Koblenz, where the Rhine and Moselle rivers meet.
(Not my picture)

We intended to stop in Limburger to take some photos of the huge cathedral there, then go to the art museum in Koblenz, but we missed Limburger by accident, and then J was starving, so by the time we were ready to go to the museum they were closing :( We walked around the AltStadt (Old Town) and got some ice cream, but overall Koblenz was not a particularly pretty or interesting town IMO.

The huge monument at the joining of the rivers of Kaiser Wilhelm is pretty impressive though, as is this fountain in the main square:

Top and bottom of fountain, I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the whole thing.

Now for some AKC! (actual knitting content)
I guess I also forgot to post about my tea cozy. It's actually crochet, and it's modified from this Scallop Tea Cozy pattern to accommodate my self-striping handspun romney. This pattern uses a TON of yarn, and I had to make it for a smaller tea pot than intended, and still had to add some more yarn to the bottom. Instead of making two pieces and seaming them, leaving openings for the handle and spout, I made it in one piece, leaving a hole for the spout, and seamed it around the handle. Here's the start to finish:

Big News! Also the Germania Monument, August catch-up

2010-10-30T18:04:00.000+09:00

Sorry I've been off the radar for so long! Sooo much has been going on, but I really have no excuse for not blogging.

The biggest big news is I'M PREGNANT! I found out in September, and am due in May! We're very excited :) My baby blanket yarn came in the other day and I started a Tamarix Quilt (ravelry link) I'm using KnitPicks Comfy Worsted in blues and purples. Purple is unisex, right? :P I was going to do neutrals but didn't like the neutral color selection for the yarn I wanted to use. I'm loving the Comfy, and I hear it wears really well.

So for updates I'm going to do a few posts so that the newest stuff will show up at the top.

My last post was at the end of August, and there was one mini-trip that I didn't post about that month.

We had not yet done the Germania monument in Rudesheim, which is a huge statue at the top of a hill overlooking the Rhine river, a castle, vineyards, and 3 lovely little towns. The monument is accessible by gondola or chairlift, and since it was such a lovely day we took the chairlift. Click here to see the whole set.

That's all for August, so I'm going to make a new post for September.

Finished Summit!

2010-08-28T17:34:00.000+09:00

This was one of the quickest, most fun projects I've done in a while. Spun to finished it was less than two weeks!

The Summit pattern is a lot of fun. Like entrelac it involves knitting back and forth over small sections of the piece at a time, so you feel like you've accomplished something every step of the way. I loved watching the color progressions in the yarn!

Here's the Ravelry link, if you want to favorite it or something. RedThread's Handspun Summit

I changed the pattern to a larger gauge to accommodate both my thicker yarn and having not much of it. Not sure of the yardage, I was too excited to count, but it was about 100 grams, light worsted weight. I used size 7 (4.5 mm) needles, and did 6 vertical columns of the pattern.

Spinning and Summit

2010-08-14T21:07:00.000+09:00

I finished spinning up that Romney lamb, and I looove how it came out! I split the roving lengthwise, spun both plies from the same end and plied together in the same order. The colors didn't completely line up, but enough to get lovely gradations of color. This fiber is interesting because it feels as soft as merino, but has the shine of Romney! I'll have to try to get my hands on some more lamb fiber! It also took the dye differently from anything I've worked with before. Just sucked the color right out of the solution without even giving it time to soak to the middle of the roving! So there was a good amount of white, but in spinning it just created more shades of color. It's hard to see the striping in a hank, so I wound it into a ball and cast on the beginnings of a Summit scarf.

This is such an interesting pattern! It's like entrelac-meets-clapotis-meets-swiss-cheese! I didn't see any handspun versions on Ravelry yet, so mine will be special :)

Going to the Wiesbaden Wine Festival today! Should be fun :)

On the Needles :

2010-08-12T00:51:00.000+09:00

*First, sorry to anyone trying to access the Double Knitting or Entrelac tutorials! The pictures are temporarily down, as a very old web service I used to use was canceled and they were lost. I may have to re-take them if I can't find the original images, so it could be a little while.*

And on the wheel! Hand-dyed by me, Romney lamb

From this

New yarn! And magazine!

I have start-itis. It's rare for me, but it has persisted through the summer and I'm quite enjoying it, since I've managed to finish things too!
I just got the new Interweave Knits, and am in love with a few sweaters, but especially the Elementary Vest (rav link). I love nearly everything Melissa Wehrle designs! And I just so happened to have yarn for this, since I had planned on doing some kind of argyle vest with it, but didn't have the right pattern and was too lazy at the time to design my own.

The yarn is Catalina Baby Silk, a silk and Alpaca blend. Lovely stuff! I have some gray Ultra Alpaca for the third embroidered color as well. It will be my Ravenclaw Vest hehe

My big Malabrigo order from the Robin's Nest LYS "Malabrigo Madness" Sale came in! Got a fantastic deal on a whole bag of the Frost Gray worsted and a bag of the Tortuga lace weight. I plan on using the lace for a Geodesic Cardigan and the worsted for a stripey cardigan with the handspun falkland orangey blue stuff.

I also received this lovely cake of merino laceweight from my friend Andrea for my birthday. Not sure of the brand, but it feels like the Malabrigo. I think I'll make a Lacey Baktus out of that, although it looks pretty nice just sitting on my futon!

Sweaters, Peach Salsa, and Pie

2010-08-08T19:31:00.000+09:00

August is here, and it seems that summers in Germany are a lot like Fall in Maryland, except not as warm. It's not really COLD per se, just not summer. We did get a nice day in the 70's yesterday though and J and I went out and played some tennis, which was pretty embarrassing as I haven't played in like 13 years and wasn't very good then either!

I looove to host dinner parties, so I was very excited about having company on Thursday! Company is a great excuse to clean the house and make fantastic food we might not otherwise make. Here's the menu:

Homemade Guacamole with chips as an appetizer (I stood in the grocery store for like 10 minutes finding the perfect avocados! It paid off!)

Cuban grilled pork chops with Sofrito mashed potatoes, recipe courtesy of Guy Fieri; (He does the chops in a pan, but we like 'em on the grill). You MUST try the potatoes! They are one of my favorite side dishes of all time.
With Peach Salsa (recipe to follow)

Garlic-mint green bean salad

And Handpicked Blackberry and peach pie for dessert, with vanilla ice cream! YUM.
Throughout the route I take to go running are fields lined with blackberry bushes. I'd had my eye on them for days, and went out to pick them when they looked ready, but someone had beat me to most of the easy ones! I battled the thorns and stinging nettles though to get my 4 cups of berries! Unfortunately they were a little sour, but the ice cream helps ;)

Peach Salsa Recipe

I serve this over the pork chops instead of the garnish he recommends.

1/2 lb multicolor cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 large gold peaches, peeled, pitted and diced
1 jalapeno pepper (seeded)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 small red onion
Small handful of Cilantro leaves

Juice of one lime
A generous 2 pinches of kosher salt

Place the quartered tomatoes and diced peaches in a bowl. Finely chop all remaining ingredients and mix together. Add the lime juice and salt to taste. Allow to chill in the fridge for AT LEAST one hour before serving.

I was so proud of my nice tidy dining room I had to take a picture :)

I also JUST finished my Heather Hoodie Vest from KnitScene Fall 2009. (Click the link to visit Ravelry for more details) There are a number of sweaters I plan to make from this issue, but since this has short sleeves and I had the yarn for it I cast on in June to be ready for September/October. I reached my goal early! This was a pretty quick knit on size 10 1/2 needles.

My only issues with the pattern was the hood is way too deep, and a little short in the front. To remedy this I should have picked up fewer stitches for the hood, and done some short rows at the neck to keep it from pulling when up. It would be way too much work to rip out all the edging and the hood to redo it though so I'll just deal.
I do like the buttons I found, even if I had originally wanted green toggles:

Currently on the needles are some Wollmeise Hedera socks in Sonne, and I think I'll start another sweater!

Back from Vacation! And Cherry Muffins!

2010-08-01T21:43:00.000+09:00

We're back from our trip to the US (MD, PA, NY), and it is cold and rainy here in Germany :( Where did summer go? It's only August 1st! I hope we'll get some more hot weather before fall. I'd hoped we could afford (time and money) to do another trip to France this month, but I think the best we can hope for is camping in the Alps or the Black Forest.

Before I forget, I want to share the recipe for these fantastic Cherry Almond Muffins! My neighbor's friend has been bringing her bags and bags of dark sweet cherries from his garden, and she's been giving most of them to me. I've frozen most for use during the winter, but I wanted to make something special with the fresh ones to eat now!

Cherry-Almond Muffins

Ingredients:
1 stick (1/2c) butter
3/4c sugar
2 eggs
2c flour
1/2c milk
2tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups chopped fresh cherries
1c sliced almonds, divided
1tsp almond extract
1/2c powdered sugar (for topping)
1-2TBSP milk (for topping)

Directions
In a saucepan or frying pan, cook the cherries over low heat for 30-40 minutes to remove some of the water. Cherries should be dark red and much softer.

Preheat the oven for 375F and line a 12-muffin tin with muffin cups.
Cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then add to the batter, alternating with the 1/2c milk until smooth. Add the almond extract, then fold in the cherries and half the almonds.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups and top with the remaining almonds. Bake for 30 minutes. When the muffins are done, mix the powdered sugar and 1T or milk to make a glaze. Brush it over the still-hot muffins and allow muffins to cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Anyway, back to our trip :) We went back to Baltimore for a few days to catch up with friends and do some shopping before attending our friends' wedding in Philadelphia. It was quite the whirlwind tour! Our plane out of Frankfurt was 2 hours late, which made us miss our connection in NY. "Don't worry!" they said, "There's another flight two hours later that you can catch!"
Unfortunately the next flight was NOT to BWI, but to DC! So we arrived in DC around 8pm (as opposed to the 5:30pm we should have been in Baltimore), then had to take the subway and a commuter train to BWI to rent our car, then drive to north Baltimore to our friend's house. We didn't get in until 1am, and missed having dinner with other friends. Fortunately, the rest of the trip went smoothly.

Thursday we spent shopping for clothes and boating shoes, then met up with a bunch of friends in Fell's Point for dinner and drinks at our favorite roof-top rum bar. Unfortunately, the quality of the food has gone downhill since I was there last, and not everyone enjoyed their meal (myself included), but the view and the company was still nice :)

Baltimore was in the midst of a heat wave, per usual, so Friday we decided to take advantage of the heat and went river tubing in Gunpowder Falls state park, followed by a relaxed BBQ and some amazing Watermelon and goat cheese salad.

Saturday was the wedding, so we drove up to Philadelphia very early in the morning. It had decided to thunderstorm, and I was very worried about being late, but we arrived 1/2 hour before the wedding and were some of the first people there! I think the weather made all the locals late. It's unfortunate that it had to be inside, but they needed the rain, and the church is gorgeous anyway. It's an old Unitarian church with all the original wood and stone and lovely stained glass windows. The couple had met there when they attended a UU youth conference in high school. It was a lovely wedding, and it was great to celebrate with so many of our close friends :)

The two lovely brides!

The lovely ceremony was followed by a reception with some unique and varied entertainment, provided by many of our talented friends!

The rest of the evening was spent at one of the Brides parents' house for a BBQ, and it was great to have some down time to catch up with everyone.
See the rest of this set here.

The following morning we drove over to NJ to visit our friend Luke who is keeping all our snakes for us while we're in Germany. I had never seen his place, so it was cool to visit our snakes, meet his, and have some lunch before driving back to Baltimore.

Monday morning we left very early to catch a train up to Albany NY, where we rented another car to drive to Elizabethtown, in the Adirondack Mountains, to spend 10 days with my Dad. The train ride north was surprisingly beautiful, as it follows the Hudson river the whole way!

Joe spent every possible moment fishing, and caught a lot of fish (mostly Bass, Pike, and Perch), but most were too small to eat, with the exception of one delicious Walleye.
Here's Joe with his first big Bass of the trip:

That weekend our friend Luke from NJ, and my friend Laura from Toronto came to visit, and we rented a pontoon boat to spend the day on the Lower Saranac lake. We had a great time swimming, fishing, eating yummy picnic food and relaxing in the gorgeous setting.

See the full set here

Sunday Laura and I took a horseback trail ride and I got to show her my hometown of Lake Placid. I can't believe we've been friends 13 years and she's never been there before! We had a great girls' day while the boys were out fishing in the rain :P

Wednesday, after our friends left Joe and I accompanied our friend Dave to his camp on Union Falls Pond. The weather was a bit stormy, but we still managed to get some swimming and fishing in, along with a campfire, fresh cooked fish, and a gorgeous starlit boat ride on the lake.

Waiting for the rain to clear

Overall we had a fabulous trip and did not want to leave! Joe says Germany is very boring by comparison, but I think we just need to look harder for places to do fun stuff.

Stitch Markers in the Shop!

2010-06-21T01:58:00.000+09:00

New stitch markers in my Etsy shop! Come visit!

Swarovski crystals, Czech glass, mother of pearl, semi-precious stones and more!

Alsace! And more room for pictures!

2010-06-20T20:30:00.000+09:00

J was out of town for a few weeks, and I decided that we needed to go on a mini vacation when he came back! Originally the plan was to go to the south of France, but we didn't have time, so we went to Alsace. Alsace is about 3 hours away, and looks a lot like the Rhine region, but with mountains. I was particularly interested in finding some good Gewurztraminer, as they do not make it here and it's my favorite wine.

We stayed in a cute little hotel in Orbey(Le Domaine de Pairis), which is out in the countryside and not walking distance to anything, but it was reasonably priced, had good food, and the owner speaks English. I speak a bit of French, but it's very rusty. We also had a rushing brook outside our window that was very pleasant to go to sleep listening to.

On our way out on Friday we stopped in the tiny, touristy but lovely town of Ribeauville. J had never eaten Escargot, so of course we had some of that along with the local specialty Tarte Flambee, aka Flammkuchen, aka pizza with cream sauce.

They are very fond of their local Storks in Alsace, and all the souvenir shops had all kinds of things with storks on them. I bought a shot glass. There was even a storks' nest on top of one of the buildings!

After lunch we visited a butterfly garden, which was small and could have used a good primping, but nevertheless had plenty of beautiful butterflies.

On our way out we got up close and personal with a stork!

The next day we visited Haut Koenigsburg Castle, which is a fully restored castle 800 meters up a mountain. It was by far the biggest and most impressive castle we have visited so far, and we've been to quite a few in Germany!
Click the picture to see more castle pictures!

Also, SNAILS!

After the castle, we went to Colmar and visited the Unterlinden Museum, which has a really beautiful and interested collection of 15th century devotional art, along with an incredible weapons collection and some ancient and modern collections as well. Colmar also has nice restaurants and great shopping. I think if we go back we might stay right in Colmar, but for this trip we did enjoy the peace and quiet out in the country.

I also definitely recommend a drive through the mountains west of Munster. So picturesque it doesn't even look real!

All in all a lovely little getaway! Click any picture to see the rest of the set.

HAT

2010-05-18T05:21:00.000+09:00

WANT WANT WANT. I wish hats were more fashionable.. I mean, they are in the winter, but no one wears fabulous ridiculous hats anymore! I could rock the hell out of that hat though. If I had the $100 or so to buy it. Visit this shop at your own risk. http://www.etsy.com/shop/BoringSidney

I need to make more fascinators and find occasions to wear them as well. The one for my wedding was fun! I also need to find a source for sinamay. It would be awesome to take a haberdashery class, but I've never even seen one offered.

May better shape up...

2010-05-11T03:50:00.000+09:00

I got spoiled on those two beautiful weeks we had in April! It's been back to 50's and raining most days lately, or at least cloudy. It's totally put a damper on my motivation to get outside and run. In fact, I haven't run in a week! I totally suck at this. I'll have to start over with Week Two of the Couch to 5k program, even though I've already run it 4 times. I'm dreading making the leap from running from 90 seconds at a time to 3 minutes at a time. GOD I AM PATHETIC! I can do an hour and a half of Power Yoga, but I can't run a mile? ugh. Not looking forward to bikini season this year either!

I do feel a little accomplished though because despite not having a deck or even a balcony here, I managed to get a little gardening in! Our front windowsill is more than big enough for a good sized window box, and I filled mine with the traditional Geraniums and Lobelia. I'm hoping to spruce up the area around our building sometime this summer as well. There are a few stragly rose bushes, but the area needs a lot of work and some more plants.

J is going on a business trip for most of the rest of the month, provided the Iceland volcano doesn't get in the way. I have a small stockpile of stuff to keep me occupied:
-The last two Sookie Books on audiobook, Dead and Gone: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel (Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood) and I just got the new one, Dead in the Family (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 10), whoo hoo!

-Books 4, 5, 6 and 7 of The Black Dagger Brotherhood (So far #3 is my favorite, read it twice!)

-And I plan to catch up on Doctor Who, starting with Season 3, and try to get my hands on Torchwood

I'm still working on my Laminaria shawl, and plan to cast on a pair of toe-up Hederas with my new Wollmeise. Between all that, subbing, knitting group, and hopefully a night out dancing and a trip to Munich, the weeks should fly by, right? Arrgh.. I hate that he has to leave, but it could be a lot worse! Most everyone else here loses their husbands for 6 months to a year at a time!

My Shop is OPEN!

2010-05-06T20:31:00.000+09:00

I FINALLY got my Etsy shop up! And I already made my first sale! I am soo excited :)
Come visit!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/RedThreadKnits

Here's what my studio looked like on photo day :) (More yarn behind me on the futon)

Playing Catch-Up

2010-05-01T19:42:00.000+09:00

I oscillate between having not enough going on to bother updating, and having too much to talk about!

In the last few weeks the weather has been beautiful, and I have woken up from my winter hibernation. I have discovered shortcut walking paths to the beautiful park in downtown (to which I have been 3 times now), have taken up jogging (which I suck at), and went wine tasting with friends on Thursday. I've also been doing a lot of spinning, per usual, and have a rare case of start-itis! Must be spring!

J and I had our first picnic of the year in the lovely Kurpark, near the beautiful Kurhaus and pond, under blooming magnolias and cherry trees. One of my favorite wedding gifts from my Mom was a fleece-lined picnic blanket with attached carrying strap. We took our lunch and our books and spent the afternoon soaking up the April sunshine! Unfortunately we did not have the opportunity to do it in true European style, like I had originally intended, with fresh bread and cheese and fruit from the farmers market and local wine, because J had hurt his knee and we had to drive instead of walking. Soon though I want to take a hike through the vineyards to the Niederwald Monument above the Rhine and have a proper feast!

Last week we bought propane for the grill! Time for summer food! We made Moroccan grilled chicken, with grilled zucchini and tabbouleh salad one evening, and had Gazpacho the next. Gazpacho just screams summertime to me! Here is my recipe for the perfect meal on a hot sticky day:

Spanish Gazpacho
Serve chilled with fresh soft bread and avocado on the side. Goes perfectly with a Mojito!

1/2 small onion
2 jalapenos
2 cloves of garlic
1 cucumber, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 green or red bell pepper, diced *optional
3 Tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lime
1-2 pints V8 juice, to taste
salt and pepper
cilantro for garnish

Combine the onion, garlic, jalapenos, lime juice, oil, and half the diced cucumber in a blender and blend until smooth. Add a little of the V8 if necessary to get it smooth. Pour into a storage bowl with a lid, add the rest of the cucumber and diced tomatoes and peppers if using, the V8, and salt and pepper. Stir to combine well then refrigerate for at least an hour. Garnish with cilantro before serving.

The semi-sweet German Auslese wine I bought on Thursday would also go really well with Gazpacho, or the Moroccan chicken! We tasted 18 different German reds and whites at the Alexander Freimuth winery, overlooking fields of grapes and yellow rapeseed blossoms. I can't believe I forgot my camera!

In craft-related news, I am very jealous of all of you who get to attend the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival this weekend! It will be the first in 5 years that I have not gotten to attend! I usually buy all my spinning fiber for the year there, so I will have to do some serious online shopping to replenish my stores. If we were not going back to the US in July for a wedding I would have flown back in a heartbeat. Maybe next year!

I finished spinning up my FatCatKnits fiber , Buster in Falkland, and Sante Fe in BFL.

Here's the BFL, navajo plied fingering weight for socks:

And about 300m of light worsted singles from the Falkland, to be stripes in a future Malabrigo cardigan

from this fiber

I also did a lot of dyeing lately, and hope to open and Etsy.com shop soon!

For knitting I am working on the Laminaria shawl from Knitty.com in some chartreuse merino laceweight, designing a fisherman sweater in Rambouillet wool, and itching to start some socks in my VERY FIRST WOLLMEISE! The color is Sonne (Sun) which is blindingly bright yellow, orange, and red. I'm torn between Hedera from Knitty, and Sam from Sock Innovation. Both by Cookie A. I just received the sock book and it is fantastic! Totally should be part of any sock knitter's collection.

What do you think? Hedera:

Or Sam?

I like to listen to audiobooks while I knit or spin, and for the last few months I have been on a huge Vampire kick! Last fall I read all the Sookie books, and I love the True Blood TV series too (YAY for new season in June!), and then I read the Twilight books (better than expected, but the movies are hilarious in their teen-angsty-ness), the Mercy Thompson werewolf books (go well with the Sookie-verse) and now I am reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood books which I am really enjoying. I think I will read The Historian when I finish this series!

J and I wanted to take a bike ride today, but it is cloudy and threatening to rain. Maybe I will buy some new window boxes and do some planting instead.

Finally Spring!

2010-03-24T17:50:00.002+09:00

J was in Maryland for work for most of February, and I did a lot of reading and knitting while he was gone, but not much else! I did join him in MD for 10 days around his birthday though, which was wonderful because we got to party with all our friends and feel like we were on vacation in our former-home :)

We also spent a few nights with friends in DC, and ate at Art Smith's restaurant "Art and Soul" which was AMAZING! I had blackened scallops on sweet potato puree with bacon and chipotle, and J had a filet mignon with a blue cheese topping and wild mushroom couscous.

Upon our return we celebrated again with a Rockband party at J's coworker's house, and I made a chocolate bundt cake with Bailey's whipped cream. So easy and so good! Here's a link to the recipe. There was hardly any left after the party, so I made another later in the week for us!

It's warming up quickly here in Wiesbaden, and the daffodils and tulips are budding! We should have leaves and flowers all over in another few days :)

Here's some appropriately bright spring fiber projects I've been working on!

I finally got more blocking pins to finish my Aeolian shawl I knit around xmas. I love it! It's the Shawlette size, in 100% silk on a size 5. Ravelry page here.

I seamed my Brea bag, finally, and will line it soon as well

Finished my Pomatomous Socks, and started Skew! I LOVE skew. They fit amazingly well on my weird pointed feet, and this yarn is gorgeous.

Now for spinning! I finished plying my merino silk, but one skein's colors lined up well, and the other didn't, so I expect to stripe them when I knit something.

I needed a break from the ordinary, so I made this art yarn. I love it! About 50 yards or so.

Here's some FatCatKnits Falkland I spun up. I LOVE her fiber! It practically spins itself. I loved this roving combination, but I'm not thrilled with the muted 3-ply it became. I might sell it.

Now I'm starting a sock yarn with this FatCatKnits BFL in Sante Fe

"The Best Beer in the World"

2010-03-24T17:02:00.006+09:00

I'm not a very good blogger, but I'm going to blame winter for my hibernation. In winter I tend to stay inside, even on weekends, catching up on movies, books, tv and knitting. Now that it's spring things should be a bit more frequent!

J and I just got back from our first adventure of the new year! He finally got an appointment at the St. Sixtus Monastery of Westvletern, near Poperinge Belgium, to buy some of the "Best Beer In the World". The Trappist Westvleteren 12 is a Belgian quad style beer that is only brewed and sold by appointment at this monastery, so you can imagine how excited he was to get an appointment!

Poperinge, Belgium, is north of Antwerp, in the Flanders Fields area of Belgium. We drove about four and a half hours through rolling farmland tipped with green to reach this "Hop Capital", and stayed in a tiny hotel on the main square. Our lovely room (with a HUGE bathroom) had a balcony overlooking a little manicured courtyard with a koi pond. While the town itself is a bit boring, I wouldn't have minded a few more nights in that hotel!

We were caravaning with two of J's coworkers, so we spent some time at the monastery both Monday and Tuesday, for our respective appointments. Unfortunately you cannot go inside the monastery, but there is an adjoining restaurant for visitors with a nice view of the surrounding fields, where we sat and drank the monks' beer and munched on Croque Monsieur sandwiches made with local ham and cheese.

We spent our short stay wandering the small town, having a wonderful dinner in the local Irish pub, drinking lots of good beer, and visiting the many World War I monuments in the area.
Memorial to the Irish Soldiers

Another memorial and cemetary

On the ride up I had been mentally reviewing my high school French in preparation for our stay, but unfortunately in that area of Belgium they speak Dutch! Everyone spoke English too though, so we got along fine. I did get to use my French at the chocolate shop in the next town over though! MMmm Belgian Chocolate! J goes a little nuts over truffles and we got an entire pound of our favorites, including Fruits de la Mer (swirled chocolate sea shells with hazelnut creme), Mocha, Irish Cream, rich ganache and pistachio cream.

On our way out of town we stopped at a beer warehouse to stock up on other amazing Belgian beers that are hard to get (or more expensive) in Germany or the US, including Duvel, Trappist Rochefort, Westmalle, St. Bernardus, and Karmeliet.
(Our friend's car, but we had nearly as much)

If we go back this summer we will bring our bikes to take advantage of the gorgeous routes and trails in the area. We saw so many bicyclists!

Click here to see the rest of the photos from this trip.

Manly Mitts Pattern!

2010-02-06T23:33:00.003+09:00

Sorry this took so long to write up, guess I haven't been in a blogging mood.

Manly Mitts!
I made these for my husband for Christmas at his request. The yarn I used is a random worsted weight cashmere, but I would actually advise against using a %100 cashmere, silk, or alpaca yarn for this project as it stretches out too much.

Supplies
About 50 grams worsted weight yarn (100 yds or so)
size US#5/3.75mm 32" circular needle, or double points.
stitch markers

Diamond Chart

"-" indicates a purl stitch, all others are knit.

Abbreviations
PM-Place Marker
M1- lift bar from between the stitches, place on left needle and knit through the back loop

Cuff
Cast on 36 stitches, join and begin working 1x1 ribbing for 2 inches.

Hand with thumb gusset
On the next round knit 5 stitches, PM M1 PM, then start following the Diamond chart.
Following round M1 k1 M1 between the markers. Follow the chart for the rest of the round.

Continue following the diamond chart, increasing 2 stitches between the markers every 3rd round, until the gusset measures 17 stitches. Work two more rows, then place gusset stitches on waste yarn.

Continue working the Diamond chart over the hand stitches until the mitt is 1/2 inch shorter than you want it. Finish hand by working 1x1 ribbing for 1/2 inch then bind off.

Thumb Gusset finishing
Place the thumb stitches on your circular or double points, picking up 1-2 stitches in the gap between the thumb and the hand. Work 1x1 ribbing for 1/2 inch then bind off.

Repeat for the other mitt.

Let me know if you have questions!

Batty!

2010-01-24T21:50:00.003+09:00

Lots of fiber content today! But first a status update.

I've been substitute teaching pretty regularly, and it's usually pretty fun and easy, but I'm still not used to being on call. I really don't like waiting for the phone to ring at 7am every morning. Usually they tell me in advance though, so it's ok.

We haven't gone out much this month, but we did attend a wine tasting party with Joe's coworkers last Friday. We tasted about 16 wines, mostly whites, from a local vinyard at the owner's house. We purchased 7 bottles. Wine is very affordable here, and very good (if you like German whites).

I made my first batts on my new Kitten Drum Carder!
I got it for xmas, and was having a lot of trouble with too much fiber sticking to the licker-in, and not filling the drum correctly, but I was able to fix this by adjusting the distance of the drums and using a dog brush to pack the fiber onto the drum. I think the fleece that I was trying to learn on was a little too damaged anyway though.

These were made with some Border Leicester fleece I got last year and washed and dyed myself. I separated the colors and flicked open the locks, and carded each color into its own batt, then stripped them apart to combine into 2 striped batts. I estimate that I have just under 4oz between the two of them, but my friend has my scale right now so I'm not certain.

The dark purple batt

The finished striped batt

And look how big it got when it came off the 10" carder! It doubled!

I'm re-ordering dye supplies this week (had to leave my dyes in MD) and will be making many more batts in the near future :) It's a lot of work, but fun.

I'm currently spinning up some Merino/Silk/Angora batts I got a few years ago at MDSW. I got some encouragement and ideas on how to spin it on Ravelry, and am enjoying watching the color changes. I decided to split each 1/2 oz batt in half lengthwise, creating two similar piles of 2.5oz each, and spin the batts 2 at a time by color. So hopefully I will be able to have a two ply laceweight yarn with long stripes of solid color. The dye job is not even at all though so there will be some mixing. I am debating plying the 2 finished strands with a third strand of sewing thread with tiny beads.

Here's how it's spinning up. The first picture the dark orange is not visible, which is why I included the second, even though it's blurry.

I also finished my Spiral Cowl, using Tess Designer Yarns Cultivated Silk (gorgeous stuff, I had exactly enough in one skein), and a handmade button. It's surprising how very warm it is!

I finished Amused as well, but I am not happy with how the ribbing sits on my hips, so I'm going to rip it out and extend the stockinette and make it a tunic/dress, since I have a ton of yarn left.

I'm also working on Pomatomous again, this time Magic Loop so it's less confusing!
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Also, if you're on Ravelry, go HERE to see the hat, cowl and mitts my friend made from my English Licorice handspun!
And here to see the shawl she made from my hand-dyed sock yarn!

New Year's Eve!

2010-01-03T20:17:00.002+09:00

For New Year's Eve Joe and I joined two friends of ours for dinner, fireworks, and dancing in Frankfurt.

I love an excuse to get dressed up, and I am just sad there are no head-to-toe pictures, because I don't wear this dress very often! It's one of those where it drapes in the front, and WAY down the back. I had pointy brown boots too, and got my hair done and even painted my nails! I went all out.

We had drinks and munchies at our friend's apartment and watched a "traditional" British comedy called "Dinner for One". The Germans love this short play, and it is played on a loop all New Year's Eve, despite being in English and not being popular anywhere else in the world.

It's Miss Sophie's 90th birthday, and all her friends are dead, so her butler acts them all out for her. It's great!

For dinner we ate at an Ethiopian place. I have only had Ethiopian food once before, so this was a bit of an adventure, but we got a big party platter with a variety of stuff on it to try. I think they tone down the spices and weird stuff for this platter though, no raw beef and nothing very spicy like I had before. It was very good though, and fun to eat with our hands! The rest of the diners were mostly African so that was interesting too.

After dinner we went to the river bank to ring in the new year and watch fireworks with the rest of the city. Unlike other NYE events I've been to, there is no professional fireworks company that puts on a show, just thousands of Germans launching their own mortars and roman candles over the river! Very dangerous and chaotic, but fun and exciting as well.

Following that we went to a club for drinks and dancing. Our friend Chris had heard good things about this event from people who went last year, and it was full of pretty people, but it was not at all our scene. Ilona, Chris and I had fun dancing (mostly to early 90's and 80's music) but Joe was bored out of his mind. Next year I will try to find something a bit more interesting.

And last night we got more snow!

We also drove down to Ramstein AFB with those same friends to go bowling, see Sherlock Holmes, and have dinner at Chili's. Unfortunately both showings of the movie were sold out, but it was still a fun day. The theater here on base is showing it too, but the projectionist is horrible so we try not to go there.

Giftmas and other Holiday stuff

2009-12-31T20:37:00.002+09:00

The weekend before Christmas we got a bunch of snow! I was not expecting this at all, but it was a nice surprise. It stuck around through the weekend, and snowed a bit more on the 21st, but by Christmas Eve it had rained and most of it was gone. I'm just happy we had a few days of it though!

The Saturday before Christmas the weather during the day was a bit dodgy, and we were not sure of the condition of the roads, but I wanted to fit in one more Christmas Market and get out of the house for a bit.
I had seen pictures and heard good things about Rudesheim, which is a cute little town right on the Rhine river. It was bitter cold, but we walked around through the narrow streets and crowds of shoppers for about an hour that evening, listening to carolers and stopping for some much-needed Rudesheim Coffee!
They make a local brandy in Rudesheim called Asbach Uralt, which they light on fire then add to coffee with sugar and LOTS of whipped cream, and serve it in these interesting cups. Very warming!

We were a bit too cold to do any shopping, but we definitely need to go back and explore more of Rudesheim's shops and restaurants in warmer weather!

On the morning of the 21st it was clear with fresh snow, and Joe and I walked out to the edge of the base to watch the Solstice Sunrise over the fields.

And then 15 or so members of both knitting groups I belong to came over for a Solstice Knitting Brunch! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, except of the Pineapple Upside-Down cakes I made!

I also made AMAZING Cranberry Eggnog scones, via this King Arthur Flour recipe (added cinnamon and cranberries instead of chips), and my Chocolate Mint Crackle cookies too.

The rest of the week was very low-key. I made some fingerless gloves for Joe for Giftmas (I'll post the pattern later), finished plying some more Gale's Art Merino, and we had a quiet and romantic dinner on Christmas Eve, so that on Christmas we could be lazy and not have to cook. I made apricot-glazed ham, roasted acorn squash, green bean casserole and stuffing. We had apple pie for dessert.

Giftmas highlights include a FANCY KITTY DRUM CARDER from my wonderful husband, and the new Judith MacKenzie McCuin spinning book, a cute dress and little tea pots from my sister, a cool modern tea pot from my Mom, and a Schacht drop spindle, along with the usual assortment of games and candy and clothes.

And here's a picture of our "Fishy-Jew-Llama-Tree" Now with more Alpacas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday week!

Twisted Tweed, Toe Up, Two at a Time, Magic Loop, with contrasting heels/toes!

2009-12-13T08:45:00.003+09:00

So, a friend in my knitting group is learning to knit socks, and wanted to make socks like the Twisted Tweed socks, but Two-at-a-Time Toe-Up using magic loop. "Not a problem!" I said, as it's an easy stitch pattern to adapt.

Also had to adjust for gauge since she's using DeKAY Duets Sock Yarn from A Swell Yarn Shop which is a squishy DK weight yarn with a contrasting heel and toe skein.

So this should fit an 8-9inch circumference foot, knit on size 3 needles with a gauge of 6 stitches per inch. This pattern assumes you already know how to knit using the Magic Loop.
Afterthought heel in a contrasting color, so you can use ALL your main color yarn!

Email me if you have questions!

Pattern:

Toes
Cast on 6 stitches in the Contrasting Color (CC) using the backwards loop method. Slide them down the needle.
Using the outside end of the ball, cast on another 6 stitches.

Knit both sets of stitches with their respective working yarn (outside of ball/inside of ball)
Turn your work and slide both sets to stitches to the other end of your circular needle.

Pick up 6 stitches from the CO row of each set, using their respective working yarns.
Knit two rounds.
(Good diagrams of this process in this free KnitPicks Pattern)

Toe Increases:

Row 1: K1, kfb, knit to last 2 stitches on the needle, kfb, k1. Turn work and repeat for back needle.
Row 2: knit

Repeat these two rows for each sock until there are 48 stitches per sock (24 stitches on each side).

Begin Twisted Tweed pattern with Main Color yarn:
Break off CC yarn and switch to Main Color (MC). Knit one round on each sock.
Attach a safety pin to the front side of each sock as a reminder that the tweed pattern will only be worked on this side, while
knitting the foot.

Row 1: *Sl3 with yarn in front, k3* repeat to end
Row 2, and every even row: knit
Row 3: *k1, sl3 with yarn in front, k2* repeat to end
Row 5: *k2, sl3 with yarn in front, k1* repeat to end
Row 7: *k3, sl3 with yarn in front* repeat to end
Row 9: sl1 with yarn in front *k3, sl3 with yarn in front* repeat to end (you will end with 2 slipped stitches)
Row 11: sl2 with yarn in front *k3, sl3 with yarn in front* repeat to end (you will end with 1 slipped stitch)

Repeat these rounds until the sock (when worn) just reaches your ankle bone.

Heel marker
Knit across the front of each sock.
With waste yarn, knit across the back of each sock, letting the waste yarn trail between the two socks. turn the work and purl back
across these same stitches, again letting the yarn trail between the socks.

Switch back to MC and begin the legs.
Knit 1 round.
Follow Twisted Tweed pattern until almost out of yarn, knitting the pattern all the way around the leg this time.

Knit 1-1.5 inches of 1x1 ribbing at the top of each leg.
Bind off using the sewn bind off method.

Afterthought Heel
Using pointed scissors, carefully cut out the waste yarn and remove from the heel stitches. Place the live stitches half on one

needle and half on the other (top and bottom).
Knit one round with CC, picking up one extra stitch at the beginning and end of each needle to fill in any gaps.

Heel Decreases.
Round 1: k1, k2tog, knit to last 3 stitches on needle, ssk, k1. Repeat for back needle.
Round 2: knit

Repeat these two rounds 10 or 11 times, until you have 12 or 8 stitches remaining, depending on the depth of your heel.
Use kitchner stitch to graft the heel together.

French Onion Soup, and German Christmas Markets

2009-12-12T21:45:00.003+09:00

All of Germany is getting ready for Christmas, and many towns have Christmas Markets: richly decorated stalls setup in town squares and pedestrian zones, strung with lights and selling gifts, ornaments, and hot mulled wine (Gluhwein).

Last weekend we joined some friends from Frankfurt and drove out to Ronneberg, a 13th century castle that is famous for it's medieval events. They have a medieval market this time of year unlike other Christmas markets. It's really more like a small Renaissance Festival, complete with patrons dressed in wool and fur garb, and minstrels playing carols. It was colder than expected, so I was a bit envious of the long wool cloaks with fur collars!
(click any picture to go to Flickr and see the whole set!

We drank gluhwein, ate meat on a stick, and had lovely fried apples for lunch, and bought a bottle of blueberry wine in a funny bottle.

The inside of the castle was also full of vendors, and you could climb up the tower, and also have coffee and cake in one of the main halls.

Old St. Nick!

We also visited the Christmas Markets here in Wiesbaden and in Mainz. The one here in Wiesbaden is large and beautiful, but I think the Mainz one had more interesting vendors, including one that sold spices, and one that sold only marzipan!
Wiesbaden Shooting Star Market

Mainz Christmas Market. I wish they'd had the lights on!

Last night was Joe's company Holiday Party, held in the ballroom of a very fancy local casino.

It was fun to get dressed up, and dinner was wonderful, but it made me miss the Agora Holiday party at the Engineer's Club, and all my amazing Agora
friends.

I did win a bottle of local sparkling Riesling in the raffle though!

We got all the Giftmas presents sent off yesterday, and today I'm cleaning the house and made French Onion Soup! It was delicious! Here's the recipe, tweaked from a few online:

Sarah's French Onion Soup

5 medium onions, sliced thin
3 TBSP Butter
3 TBSP flour
1 TBSP sugar
1 1/2 cups ale or other medium-dark beer
3 cans beef broth
2 TBSP brandy (optional)
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce (optional)
1 TBSP fresh thyme, or 1/2 dried
1 Tsp Herb de Provence (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

1 slice rye or pumpernickel bread per bowl,
grated swiss cheese

Melt the butter in a soup pot or dutch oven. Add the onions and cook over medium-low heat for 45 minutes, stirring often, until onions are beginning to brown and are very broken down. Add the sugar halfway through to aid the caramelization process.

Add the flour and stir. Cook one minute.
Add all the liquid ingredients, and the herbs. Simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper as needed.

Preheat the broiler. Ladle the soup into oven-safe crocks or bowls, top with a slice of bread and lots of grated cheese. Place under the broiler until the cheese is bubbly. ENJOY!

November is Over

2009-12-01T18:51:00.003+09:00

Fall is disappearing faster than the leaves from the trees, it seems.
I'm already assembling things to give for giftmas, and thinking about Solstice parties and possible Ski/Snowboarding vacations we can take around the holiday.

I've been domestically busy lately, even though we haven't gotten out of the house much because of the dismal, rainy weather. I hope December is dryer.

I started substitute teaching the day before Thanksgiving, which was not as bad as it could have been, but still a bit stressful. I need to start trying to be up and showered by 7:30 in case I get a call to come in. I am not a morning person, and I need a lot of sleep so I am not really looking forward to this.
Usually they try to give you a few days notice, but that's not possible if someone is sick.
I'm thinking I should look into getting a sun-light, to help me get up on dark days and to brighten my mood throughout the winter. Unfortunately the good ones are fairly expensive, and it's kindof a low priority.

I've been doing a lot of cooking and baking lately, in honor of the changing seasons and Thanksgiving. The weekend before Thanksgiving we had our big feast, and Meghan and Stefan were able to come up from Munich to spend it with us! We also had our friend Chris from Frankfurt here (who I know from DC), so it was really great to be able to share our first holiday away from Baltimore with friends we knew from back home.
I spend Friday baking, so the oven would be free for the Turkey on Saturday. Here's the spread!

Herb Butter Roast Turkey with Brandy Gravy

The sides: Green Bean Casserole, Corn Pudding, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Mashed Kabocha squash with cranberries and pecans, Apple and sausage stuffing, and homemade cranberry orange sauce.

YUM!

And last but not least, Dessert!
Apple pie, Pumpkin Pie, and Peanut Butter Kiss cookies, which were a big hit!

Our Guests!

Here's Meghan playing Rockband

On Thanksgiving itself we went to Joe's squadron's potluck. We had been to one the previous week as well.

I've been doing a lot of knitting as well as spinning lately, this fall I have finished two pairs of socks, a clapotis I started years ago, some fingerless mitts, a Nimbus sweater, and I'm on the home stretch of a second sweater, Amused, from Knitty.com!
Here's the socks (a gift for my Mom's B-day) and the sweater for me. I'll post about the Amused sweater later.

Nimbus, a free pattern from Berroco

The pattern calls for a bulky yarn on size 11 needles. I wanted to use some DK 100% alpaca I had, so I doubled it and used size 10 needles, which gave me a gauge of 16 st and 19 rows in 4". I used the stitch counts for the 48" size to adjust the gauge, and the measurements of the 36 inch size. I wet blocked all pieces to size before seaming.
I also tacked down the collar to keep it from rolling up.

I'm very happy with it, it fits well and it very comfy! Only drawback is the 100% alpaca makes it a VERY HEAVY sweater, both in weight and in warmth. The short sleeves and length though make it more versatile.

Here's the Shadow Rib Two-at-a-time toe-up socks with Afterthought heels I made for my Mom! Using Blue Ridge Yarns Kaleidoscope Superwash Sock Yarn, in Wild Cherry. Loved the yarn, hated the color, but she picked it out.
When I do toe-up socks again, if I’m not making the heels and toes in a different yarn I will use a short row heel, as I had to take a guess when to stop for the leg because I needed to leave enough yarn to do the toes.

Here's what I'm spinning! More Gale's Art Merino. 2-ply, light worsted weight

And here's what's on the wheel, Gale's Art Merino in Orchid

This week I hope to drag Joe out of the house to go to the annual Wiesbaden "Shining Star Market", a Christmas market, and tonight I'm going out to dinner with a friend and to see "The Full Monty" at the English theater in Frankfurt!

It's November!

2009-11-05T23:00:00.003+09:00

Where the hell did October go? It feels like it was October for like a week, then gone! We were totally unprepared for Halloween this year. No pumpkins or gourds or other fall decorations, didn't pull out the pumpkin baskets, the Halloween lights, nothing! I found myself running back from the store with the only candy I could find (Hershey Kisses) expecting to find mobs of Trick-or-Treaters at our door... but apparently they don't let the kids in the buildings so they have Trick-or-Treat BBQs outside. Weird. And now I have a ton of extra chocolate. Just what I need!

Halloween night we did have friends over for dinner, and then we drove out into the middle of nowhere to an old monastery where they were having a Halloween/Goth night. I was lazy and decided to wear my bumblebee costume from last year, which was pretty funny because everyone else there was in scary or gothy costumes, so I kindof stood out :P But it was fun to hang out with friends and drink hot spiced wine and dance.

Because we had friends coming over we finally got the house all set up (well, 90%)!
A friend and I also went to Ikea yesterday to get a rug for the office, a replacement spice rack since the movers lost mine, and I picked up a new blanket for the couch and a few houseplants.
I don't have pictures of the bedroom and office yet, but here is the living/dining/kitchen area! Click on any one of these to go to the Flickr page and see them fullsize:

And the view from the kitchen window: (Ignore the scaffolding, they were fixing the roof)

I've also been spinning up a storm lately!
Here's the finished Black/Pink/White merino, about worsted weight 240 meters or so. Sold to a friend, since it doesn't go with any of my coats.

And I had some lovely Romney that a friend in Baltimore had dyed, but I didn't know what to do with since Romney is very scratchy (To me, anyway), but I've been admiring all the pretty tea cozies on Ravelry lately, and thought it would be a perfect use for it! I Navajo plied it to keep the colors clean.

Not much else new is going on. I'm interviewing to be a substitute teacher this week, so I hope to work at least a few days before xmas to have some money for gifts!

We're having friends over for Thanksgiving, which should be nice. It will be our first time ever hosting Thanksgiving dinner! I am nervous about roasting a whole turkey. Maybe we will just do a breast, since it should be 5 people. I'm glad we can get my favorite Kabocha squash here!

October!

2009-10-19T21:44:00.002+09:00

I love October :) With the crisp fall air, turning leaves, pumpkins, and of course sweaters! Last week was spent studying for my German final, finishing up some yarn, and putting all my stuff in it's new proper places. Almost done. This week I plan to apply to start Substitute Teaching! And our car should be here tomorrow!

I love pumpkin. I bought a big can of pumpkin at the store to make pumpkin bread last week, but that only used one cup (they only had the big can), so I've been eating pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin pancakes, and I make pumpkin cookies with the last of it the other day.

I also made a wonderful Sweet Potato Chili, but I adjusted the recipe to use canned Chipotle chilis, beef broth instead of water, and a large splash of orange juice to bring out the flavor of the sweet potato. And I added corn.

First time using the Le Creuset Dutch Oven we got from my mom for our wedding! I LOVE this pot!

We've been very busy trying to put away all our stuff away! Here's what it looked like at the end of the first day, in the dining room, and in my office.

It's almost done now, but still we need to hang the artwork and clean a bit more.

When I received my wheel without anything to spin, a local shepherdess from down the Rhine offered to send me some of her sheeps' fleece to spin as a welcome gift! I love getting to try out new sheep breeds, so I was very excited about this, and was expecting some cleaned locks.
Well, the package arrived the other day and included much more than I expected! In addition to a big ball of carded grey roving from her sheep, she also sent a large cream/beige batt of alpaca silk, some dyed wool pencil roving, and 4oz of gorgeous hand dyed merino top!
The Merino, plus the singles I am working on:

The bag of wonderful fluff! Gray sheep at the top, alpaca on the left:

They gray is going to become yarn for these awesome Prairie Boot Slippers (ravelry link)

I also finished plying the chartreuse merino silk I was working on, and also the merino soy-silk that my friend so graciously gave me to spin up for her while I waited for my stash to get here:

Wicked Witch Merino Soy-SIlk

Amazing Steampunk Bugs!

2009-10-14T16:17:00.003+09:00

These are amazing, and I really wish I had $1400 lying around to purchase one!
"Borrowing from science fiction and fact, Insect Lab customizes real insect specimens with antique watch parts and other technological components. From ladybugs to grasshoppers, each is individually hand adorned, a unique celebration of the contradictions and confluences between nature and technology."
http://www.insectlabstudio.com/

Also, I want this. I'm obsessed with Cicadas. From here: http://www.lunaparc.com/insect-pages/cicada.htm Their site is kindof disgusting though.

Munich, and our first Oktoberfest!

2009-10-10T19:11:00.003+09:00

J and I have had a busy few weeks since my last post. We've been to visit Frankfurt, down to Munich for our first Oktoberfest, and yesterday we received our Household Goods shipment!

I haven't been able to post any of my new pictures until now because for some reason my computer does not want to connect to the LAN (but it likes the wireless fine).

Munich was wonderful! We drove down after German class last Wednesday (about a 4-5 hour drive) and arrived around 8:30. Unfortunately we spent another 45 minutes looking for parking, because the neighborhood that Meghan lives in is within walking distance to Oktoberfest, and it was full to the brim! We finally got lucky, and went to say our hellos.

I hadn't seen Meghan since I came back from Japan in 2005, and then it was only for dinner while we were both passing through Seattle, so it was really great to spend some time with her! We were roommates senior year of college, and had traveled Italy together previously.

We were famished, so we took the dog and walked to a nearby restaurant where I had some delicious German-equivalent of Mac and Cheese: KaseSpatzle with fried onions. YUM and beer, of course.

The next day Meghan and her bf Stefan had to work, so J and I borrowed their bikes and took a short tour of the city!
We saw the town hall, with it's famous Glockenspiele, the pedestrian shopping district, a wonderful spice shop, some traditional gift and Dirndl shops. We also found a yarn shop!

Click any picture to visit the whole Flickr set, I hate how the blog cuts off the right side of the photo!
The Town Hall

Glockenspiele

Blooming Artichokes

The Palace Gardens

The yarn and spices I bought (hard-to-find Sezschuan Peppercorns, and a Sweinebraten spice mix), and a wedding gift from Meghan of a Bavarian cookbook!

That evening Meghan and Stefan got all dressed up in their traditional garb and we went to Oktoberfest! I had no idea that everyone dresses up for this! You can tell the tourists by their modern clothes and their stupid Oktoberfest hats. I will definitely be buying myself a Dirndl for next year, one that I can also wear to Renaissance Faires when we get back. J and I rode through it on our bikes that afternoon, before coming back to do some eating and drinking later.

Oktoberfest is now more of an amusement park than anything else. Of course a large section of it is covered in giant beer halls, and there is wonderful food being sold everywhere, but that part is kindof dwarfed by the roller coaster and giant ferris wheel.

Giant animatronic lion on the Lowenbrau tent

Guys in their Lederhosen, who need to pull up their socks

Also interesting was that cabled sweaters and vests are traditional as well, and I saw more beautiful sweaters and handknit-looking socks than any knitter could ask for!

Meghan and Stefan, ready for Oktoberfest!

Yay! Pretzels, beer, bratwurst and Saurkraut!

J and I had DELICIOUS roast Ox and potato salad

And beer, of course!

Inside the Augustiner (A traditional Munich Brewery) Beer tent

PROST!

There was much drinking, eating, and standing on the benches singing along with the band! A good time was had by all :)

The next day, Meghan and I decided to walk off some of that beer with a nice long walk with the dog through the forest and along the river.
Munich (and most German cities I've visited so far) are nice in that they include many forested parks or other communal natural spaces for people to walk or bike in.

With their dog, Corina.

I love this house!

Our last full day in Munich Meghan, J and I drove down to the beginning of the Alps, where the famous Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castles are. The beautiful flat farmland abruptly ends where the mountains start.
We visited both the lived-in Castle of Hohenschwangau, and Crazy King Ludwig's "Disney Castle" as it's derogatorily known, but we didn't go inside, just hiked around the castles and the surrounding hills and to the lake, before taking a Goldola ride up a nearby mountain to watch the Paragliding/Hanggliding conventioners show off their stuff! They ride the gondola up and then jump right off the side of the mountain to glide over the flat farmland 900 meters below. We were lucky enough to be there the same weekend as Free Flight Tegelberg, the biggest Paragliding festival in Germany!

You could rent little boats to go on the lake. Gorgeous teal water!

Unfortunately, Neuschwanstein castle was covered in scaffolding on the best side to view it :(

Looks kinda like home!

You can see how it goes from mountains immediately to flat farmland

I love these hats! They look stupid on me though :(

This kind takes off from the ground

Up we go!

A Hang Glider ready for takeoff!

After some cake, coffee, and watching people jump off the cliff for a while, we went back down the mountain and rode the Luge Sled! A tow line drags your sled to the top and you zoom down a twisty, metal luge run! Totally worth the 2 Euro.

Dusk

J and I enjoyed capturing a truly phenomenal sunset!

Dont forget to visit the flickr page to see ALL the photos from this trip! Just click on a picture to be taken to the set.

Frankfurt, and the Zoo

2009-10-10T18:51:00.003+09:00

Our day trip to Frankfurt, which is about half an hour away, was on a beautiful fall Saturday, and we had left early enough to hope to catch the weekly flea market that is held along the banks of the Main river. Unfortunately, it wasn't where the internet said it was, and we did not find it. So we went to the Zoo!

The Frankfurt zoo is fairly small, but they did have a fairly extensive collection of smaller animals, some of which I had never seen before! Including a ferret-like creature that lives in North America that I had never even heard of. Sorry I don't remember what it was called..

They also had an aquarium section, which I thought was different for a zoo, and a large section just for nocturnal creatures.

Here's the highlights! Click on any picture to visit the entire Flickr set.

Malaysian Sun Bear. Doesn't it look like a Sharpei?

Funny Mongoose thing. Sorry I didn't write down their names!

Flamingo!

J, none too happy to have his picture taken. Also, yummy CurryWurst (a bratwurst covered in curry ketchup and curry powder) and Frankfurt Apfelwein that tastes like oak-aged hard cider.

After the zoo we walked down Zeil street, the pedestrian shopping zone, and went in this amazing geodesic funnel-shaped mall! It was gorgeous! Here's a pic on the top floor:

This guy's job really sucks: Walking Bratwurst vendor

And here's the obligatory picture of Romerberg square!

Dissapointed and Anxious.

2009-09-23T03:05:00.000+09:00

Joe and I stayed home today to wait for our "Unaccompanied Baggage" shipment of kitchen goods and my spinning wheel to arrive today, which it did around 10am.

After hanging the curtains, I pulled out my wheel and realized that I had forgotten to pack any spinning fiber in the basket. Great. Spinning wheel and nothing to spin! At least a local shepherdess has promised to send me some fleece as a welcome present soon.

We started unpacking the boxes and putting things away, and when we were getting to the bottom we realized that we were still missing stuff. A lot of stuff. An ENTIRE BOX OF STUFF.

THEY LOST A BOX WITH THE ENTIRE CONTENTS OF OUR DISHWASHER, including:
My blue and white Japanese bowls
Most of our drinking glasses, including Joe's collection of pub pint glasses
A few pots
My jars of tea
ALL the silverware

The boxes are unmarked, and Joe is not hopeful that the lost box will be able to be found. I'm trying to be optimistic, as some of that stuff is irreplaceable. This discovery effectively took the wind out of our sails, and we have been moping around our now-cluttered apartment ever since.

Out of the Hotel!

2009-09-18T21:25:00.002+09:00

We're in an apartment! We decided to take another look at the place on base that they were offering us, weighed the pros and cons of living in that apartment and living on base, and decided to take it!

It is much smaller than the house we are coming from, but we expected that. It has a nice new kitchen, dishwasher, washer/dryer, and lots of closets.
It does not have any outside living space, but it looks over a grassy park/playground area, and has good light and windows that can be opened. It is walking distance to the PX, the Commissary, and either of the schools I may be working at, so we can probably avoid buying a second car.
It is also walking distance to the train station and the downtown shopping area. It also has parking. So all in all we expect it to work out well for us :) I haven't lived in the same house for 3 years since moving out of my parents' house! Hope I don't get too bored of it!

No pictures for now because we don't have wireless internet yet, and I don't have my photos on Joe's computer.

Our "Short Shipment" of stuff is being delivered on Tuesday! In this shipment is our kitchen stuff (pots, pans, dishes, etc) and MY SPINNING WHEEL! I am very excited :)

German class is going well, but it is a bit slow for me and Joe, who have experience learning other languages. I got a 97% on my midterm.

We will have a landline phone soon and will be able to call the US for free! We do not yet have cell phones though, which is a little inconvenient. We were discouraged to learn that there are no All-of-Europe plans, only German plans.

Email me if you have questions!

Bacharach, Rheinstein Castle, and Cologne

2009-09-09T16:39:00.005+09:00

Click any picture to visit the flickr page with the rest of the set!

For Labor Day weekend J and I had hoped to do a nice, long, European adventure, perhaps to Amsterdam or Prague or Austria, but since we needed to have our rental car back Monday morning, and had things to do on Friday morning, that really didn't leave us much time. Also, apparently we need to get a special pass to drive in Austria AND our friends there were busy. So we stayed in the general area and did some exploring.

When we took our Rhine cruise, we passed a little town called Bacharach that we wanted to visit, so Friday after our errands we drove down the river. Driving down the river is not nearly as scenic as taking the boat, and some of the castles you can't even see from the road! But while the boat took 3 hours to reach Bacharach, we were there in about one hour. Unfortunately it was raining.

Not the best day for touring, but it wasn't too cold so we braved the rain and hiked around the vineyards, old towers and ramparts, and took pictures of the ruined church that is now an amphitheater. Back down in the village (full of lovely half-timbered houses) we found an inviting little restaurant for lunch where the owner spoke English.

While eating our lunch, J happened to notice a few photos and a signed paper above our heads on the wall. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a signed photo of Gackt the Japanese Pop Star! Apparently he had been visiting the town while shooting a movie, and the restaurant owners got a picture with him and a note from him! How random! The owner heard us talking about it and showed us a collection of photos that the production company had sent of Gackt around Bacharach. Small world!

After lunch the rain began to lessen, and we decided to climb up to the castle we had driven by on the way there. As we arrived the rain stopped and the sun came out!
I LOVED Rheinstein Castle. It is a small, cozy castle high on a cliff above the Rhine, with two lovely garden courtyards with fantastic views. It's a museum now, with the rooms decorated as they were for the Archbishop of Mainz. The pictures of this fairy-tale place speak for themselves I think!

Saturday we drove up to Cologne, to see the huge Cathedral and some art museums. Unfortunately we got a late start, and hit rain on the way, so we didn't reach our destination until after 2pm. J had never been to a Gothic Cathedral before, (not even St. Patrick's in NY!) so this was a big deal for him! The cathedral is awe-inspiring, and we enjoyed the stained glass, but it's not in my top 5.

After the cathedral we had lunch at a Mexican/Italian restaurant with horrible service. That's one thing somewhat annoying about the "No Tipping" thing here. The servers already get paid by the hour, and people don't generally tip, so there is no incentive for them to be nice to you. It took us over an hour and a half to get an order of fajitas and a burrito. At least the food was surprisingly decent.

After lunch it was getting late and we only had time for one museum, so we visited the Wallraf-Richartz Museum. This impressive museum houses artwork covering every genre from the 13th century through the 19th century, but has an especially large collection of medieval devotional artwork (which I was not particularly interested in). We need to go back so we can visit the Ludvig Museum that has an amazing collection of art from WWII onward.

We took a detour through the German countryside on our way home.

Sunday and Monday were spent going to BBQs, doing laundry, going to my knitting group and the grocery store, and studying in the park for our German class.

Rhine River Cruise!

2009-09-01T21:53:00.005+09:00

To celebrate the end of summer, J and I went on a river boat cruise up and down a romantic section of the Rhine River. The Rhine runs from Switzerland to Holland, but the most scenic part is between Wiesbaden and Koblenz. Due to funds and time we took it from Wiesbaden to St. Goar. If you are going to do the cruise, buy the day pass online at www.k-d.com and save a bunch off the ticket price.

Also plan on taking the train home because going upstream, as we learned, takes FOREVER!

We got on the boat around 10am, and it was bright and sunny, but the day was only going to get up to about 70 degrees. It has been fairly hot here, so I'm glad I looked up the weather for Saturday in advance and knew it would be cool! When the wind kicked in we were quite cold sitting on the roof of the ship, but that's where the best view is.

This stretch of river has 9 riverside towns, 12 castles, 2 monuments, and innumerable vineyards climbing the steep slopes of the river. Apparently, the slate of the mountain sides holds in the heat after the sun goes down, making the grapes that grow on them sweeter than those grown on the flat fields above the river, making for better wine.

We reached At. Goar around 1pm, and hat lunch at the Hotel Markt, recommended by Rick Steves in his Germany 2009 guide. The Rick Steves guide so far has been pretty good in terms of detailed and interesting information and recommendations on attractions and food, however the city we are living in he suggests you "Too big and too famous, Don't waste your time on it". HA!

I had Saurbrauten, which I didn't know was a specialty of this area, with a glass of local Spatenbruger white wine. It was delicious! I keep attempting to like potato dumplings and failing though :(

We did not have time to visit the castle, but it's supposed to be one of the more interesting ones to go in. The castle directly across the river looks like it has been renovated, and the guidebook said that a rich Japanese guy bought it in the 90's, intending to make it a Japanese destination resort, but his proposed plans and additions to the property were turned down by the German government, and he simply abandoned the idea! I think it's empty now, which is a shame because it would make a great hotel.
"Japanese" Castel

Here's my other favorite shots from the trip! All there was to do on the boat was eat, drink, and take pictures, as I FORGOT MY KNITTING!

Go HERE to see the rest of the set!

We made it to Germany!

2009-08-27T01:53:00.003+09:00

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!

2009-08-23T09:25:00.002+09:00

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!

2009-08-22T01:46:00.002+09:00

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

2009-08-11T09:41:00.003+09:00

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

2009-08-11T09:21:00.002+09:00

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!

2009-08-08T08:57:00.005+09:00

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.

Carding and Dyeing Adventures!

2009-06-14T02:56:00.003+09:00

So, about a month ago I got 3 whole fleeces from a friend's farm. I've washed them, and this past weekend I mixed up my acid dyes and dyed and carded a bunch!

Carding is SO SLOW. Well, it's not the carding itself, so much as the flicking to get the fiber ready for carding. I borrowed this carder, I need to start saving to buy one. I'm thinking a Schacht or a Duncan.

I hooked it to my BBQ so I could card outside hehe

before and after

Playing with Dye

I did some in the crockpot, and some in aluminum caseroles.

I love this color!

There was pink, and blue, and rainbow as well! Fun, but time consuming.

And I'm currently spinning my big Rambouillet batt from MDSW

J says it looks like drier lint, but I love it anyway!

We're Getting Married and Moving to Germany!

2009-06-14T02:43:00.002+09:00

SURPRISE!
J got orders to Germany for AUGUST and I'm going with him! We'll be stationed at Weisbaden, near Frankfurt on the Rhine river. FOR THREE YEARS!

And we're getting married! Eee! Not quite the big family wedding we were originally planning for next year, but I think we found a happy medium. Oh yeah, and it's at the end of the month!

Sad things are that I had JUST signed up for Art Ed, then had to drop them. Guess it will be another few years before I'm an art teacher.
We have to sell/give away all our pets except Subi (Charlie is going to live with J's brother).
We have to leave MD, which we love, and all our friends, and be even further from our families.

BUT Europe! We'll get to go everywhere and see everything! Weekends in Prague! Honeymoon in Italy! Skiing in the Alps! And of course mountains, castles, beer and brats in Germany. We're very excited. Truth be told we were getting the travel bug again.

We just got bands for now, as we're on a budget, but it sparkles! Hard to get a picture of though!

I'll be updating my blog much more often after the move, with all my European adventures!

Spring is for Sheep!

2009-05-04T05:06:00.002+09:00

The last 10 days have been wonderfully full of sheep-related activities! From my twice-monthly spinning meet, to sheep shearing day on the farm, to MDSW, it's been fiberlicious! Click on any picture to view the whole set.

Last Sunday I went up to visit a beautiful pre-civil war farm owned my a very interesting woman in my spinning group. She has a small flock of Border Leicester Crosses, and she was having them sheared that day. We helped skirt the fleeces and got our pick of the flock! I took home 2 and a half HUGE garbage bags full of raw wool!

Her neighbor brought over 2 sheep, and one is a Jacob! I want to raise Jacob sheep!

The farm was so beautiful, and we sat and spun on the lawn in front of the pond, in the shade of ancient trees.

Yesterday my friend and I went to Maryland Sheep and Wool! The best day of the year for most NE fiberphiles! My budget was on the small side this year, and since I still have a lot from last year I bought some non-wool items as well.
8 oz cotswold locks (to dye)
4 oz Silk/Merino/Angora roving
9 ceramic buttons
a whole bunch more dyed locks
6 oz batt of naturally gray Rambouillet
a niddy-noddy
2 llama finger puppets and an alpaca xmas ornament!
also bought 4oz BFL FatCatKnits hand-dyed fiber from Clover Hill Yarn Shop before the show, and got some awesome mini stitch markers from LizardSmells at the LSG post-MDSW meetup!

so cute!

buttons

I was going to mow the lawn today, and plant my herbs, but it's raining. OH WELL guess I have to stay inside and play with wool!

I do need a warm sunny weekend soon though! I have 10+ lbs of wool to wash and dry! And then dye!

Spinning and Geckos!

2009-04-05T12:15:00.002+09:00

So I guess J thought the side table where the old smaller fish tank used to be looked a bit empty, so he went out and got a pair of Satanic Leaf-Tailed Geckos!
(He'd wanted them for a while, he just found a great deal). We set up the tank last week, and he drove to NY to get them yesterday. They are so cute and tiny!

Here's a full body picture (not our gecko, just an example of what their tail looks like)

They eat crickets, which I'm not too happy about keeping, but the new Cricket Keepers they have now seem to make it easier.

Also working on some new yarn! This is some overdyed brown BFL that I got at last year's MDSW from Gale's Art
It's going to be a traditional 3-ply fingering weight, probably for socks.

I'm slowly but surely collecting the equipment and supplies to dye some yarn and fiber. I need to get a table to put in my spare room to work on though! I could try it in the kitchen, but there's really not enough space.

I went to the library today and got out Deb Menz's book "Color in Spinning", and it the BEST book about color with regard to fiber that I have found!

Also reading Lisa Lloyd's "A Fine Fleece: Knitting with Handspun Yarns", which is much more informative than I thought it would be, and has some great traditional sweater patterns!

Also very much enjoying

1st Baby Snake!

2009-03-26T23:11:00.001+09:00

1st Baby Snake!, originally uploaded by RedQueen715.

We have new babies!
The Carpet Python eggs are hatching! Each egg had a 50/50 chance of looking like its mom or dad, and happily 7 of the ten have the reduced pattern (Jaguar) like their dad, Brutus!

Lazy weekend

2009-03-02T09:52:00.002+09:00

We got a taste of spring last week, but now it’s gone. Went from being in the 60’s to snowing. blech. I’m ready for spring! I’m ready to get my container gardening going this year! I’m hoping most of my herbs will come back from last year, but I’ll have to buy basil of course, and cilantro, and maybe a few others. Not going to bother with bulbs or tomatoes this year, the bulbs took way too long and the tomatoes don't get enough sun on the north side of the house.

I started Amused from the Winter Knitty, in some dark olive cashmere I got from School Products in NYC for an amazing price. The bf has been rubbing the swatch whenever he gets a chance so maybe I’ll make another trip up to NY at some point and get some for a sweater for him. He’ll have to wait in line though.. so many more projects and presents ahead of him!

I’m working on designing a sweater for my dad, a cabled yoke sweater with a tree motif. It’s still mostly sketches, but I got his measurements from his gf so at least I’ll know what size to make.

Nothing much else is new around here, J went to a snake show with his friend from NJ over the weekend so I had the house to myself. I was super lazy and watched movies and knit all yesterday :P I did get up early and go to yoga in the morning though! Today I did the dishes, restretched a painting I’ve had rolled up for years, and tidied my yarn room.
My yarn room/office feels so unfinished because I have no money for fabric to make curtains and a slipcover for my ugly green chair yet. I want to do the whole room in black and white damask pattern, with pink accents. So Girly! I also need to take a weekend and transform the 3rd upstairs room into a guest bedroom/art room. We need to get a futon though, and move all the junk out.

First Corespun Yarn!

2009-03-02T01:29:00.003+09:00

My first corespun yarn! This hotpink and teal batt with Angelina was given to me a few years ago, and I never knew what to do with it!
I spun it around a commercial 2-ply, and threw in some purple mohair locks and some handfuls of sari silk fiber.

This is about 80yds, all that could fit on the bobbin. I have more of the batt left so I'll probably make some more of it.

Destash!

2009-02-15T02:13:00.002+09:00

Getting rid of a bunch of stuff, hopefully. I've tried to do this before, but was unsuccessful.
Here's a link to my Ravelry Trade/Sell page. Please look!
Highlights include:
Sari Silk
Mohair
Alpaca
http://www.ravelry.com/people/redthread/stash/trade
There's some stuff that is "Free to a Good Home" as well.
I'm hoping for cash or spinning fiber in exchange.. FSM knows I don't need more yarn!

Also, on the yarn front, I ordered some Acid Dyes! I've decided to put my Art Degree and painting skills to work and do some COLOR! So, watch this space in the near future for my adventures in DyeLand!

The Big Fish Move!

2009-02-15T01:33:00.003+09:00

Last August when I went to visit my Dad in NY, I dragged home a lovely piece of driftwood from Lake Champlain. This driftwood, while it fit in the new 55 gallon corner tank, didn't fit in the way we wanted, and didn't want to sit on the bottom either. SO it sat in the tank for months, while I bought the new filter, the gravel, etc, and cycled the tank around it.

About a month or so ago we finally dragged the thing back out of the tank, sawed off about 4 inches off the back, rigged it to fishline with suction cups, and stuck it to the bottom of the tank. Then we bought some plants, and a Pleco, and so it has been sitting, waiting, for the Goldfishes.

I finally got brave enough and confident that the new tank wouldn't poison them, and they made the big move last weekend!

More pictures in the set, click the picture to go to Flickr!

Unfortunately, it looks like my new plants brought with them a nasty guest :( ICK. I hate Ick (as do all fishkeepers), and I especially hate it in a planted tank because I can't use my old-standby treatment, salt, to cure it. So, here's my poor fishes, covered in Ick, and swimming in Malachite Green/Formalin for a few days. They're big healthy fish so they should make it out ok, but I worry when they're sick.
Guess we have to postpone ordering the new Panda Butterfly Goldfish!
Punkin is NOT a happy fishie :(

New Baby Snake!
This little guy is a pure Diamond Carpet Python. We don't have a name for him yet. All the light part will turn yellow.

Weekend, Charlie, Rush Hour

2009-02-04T12:08:00.001+09:00

So, Friday I was a bit bummed out because J and I were supposed to go to this club in DC with a whole bunch of people and EVERYONE bailed on us :( suck.

We debated whether we wanted to go by ourselves, and decided to go out to dinner and then decide. We went to this Korean BBQ place that was within walking distance of our old house, and we never knew it was there. Apparently this place has the best, most authentic, Korean BBQ around here.
It's hibashi style, where you grill the meat at your table on a built in grill (gas in this case). We ordered marinated beef slices and shortribs, and a korean onion pancake on the side. In Japan you dont get much in the way of side dishes, so we were a bit overwhelmed when they brought out bowls and bowls of little appatizer/side dishes! kimchi and pickles and soup and egg and veggies... soo much food. We couldn't even make a dent in the pancake, but it was full of raw jalapenos, so we didn't try very hard anyway. The meet was great though, so now that we know how much and of what we like it will be easy and cheap next time!

After dinner we were too full to move, so we rented Max Payne and Pineapple Express and went home. Max Payne was OK, better than Pinapple Express, which we watched Sunday.

Saturday was a lot of fun, and totally saved the weekend. We went to the Visionary Arts Museum with some friends from DC. It was cool to go with people who really get into art and the stories behind it. They loved it! Then we had dinner at Paper Moon, which is a perfect complement to the museum :P Followed by beer RockBand at our house. Good Times!

Also, MEET CHARLIE! Charlie is the newest edition to the household. He came from PetSmart, and is the sweetest, nicest, cuddliest little kitty evar! He purrs all the time! He's still learning the rules of the house, but he's adapting, and so is Subi, amazingly. We even had both of them sleeping on the bed last night!
Click for more pics!

Also, I'm starting a project that I've wanted to do for a while. I'm going to try to take a picture on my commute home every day. Here's today's! Not awesome, but it was off the cuff.

Yoga and Yarn!

2009-01-26T05:58:00.002+09:00

What day could be better?

Got up early today to go to yoga with a friend. I Haven't gone to a real yoga class in years! I do circuit training twice a week, but it's really not the same thing and doesn't fulfill the same needs. I LOVED it. It was just what I needed, and I really need to make an effort to find the time and the money to do more of it. We went to Parkside Yoga by Patterson Park. A very small studio, but it was fairly easy to get to, and is donation based. The teacher talked A LOT throughout the class, but gave very good instruction and helped me get into the right mindset. He was talking about how we store our experiences in our muscles, and how yoga and stretching is the only way to release those built up tensions and emotions. I have been in a very good place mentally lately, so I was completely unprepared for the flood of emotion that I released in certain poses! I pushed my shoulders down while in a Pigeon stretch and nearly sobbed outloud from the emotional rush! Very very interesting. My friend was saying I was acting high afterwards, and I think she was right, I haven't felt that kind of a rush and release in a while.

After yoga we had lunch at the Liquid Earth cafe, which is a vegetarian/vegan restaurant in Fells Point. I had yummy squash chilli, but their chai was horrible. The vegan brownie was probably the best vegan brownie I've had though, if a bit dryer than I would have liked in a normal brownie.

On the way to my house we stopped at Cloverhill yarn shop because my friend had never been, and found this wonderful new Crystal Palace Yarn, Mini Mochi! It comes in lovely long-print colorways, including a true rainbow. I got two balls and plan to make some Fabulous Socks with them :)

We got to geek out about knitting for the rest of the afternoon, then her bf came over and we played Settlers of Catan. Overall a fun and fulfilling day!

Holiday Recap!

2009-01-26T05:49:00.002+09:00

Holiday Season 2008 I think was a success, even if we were all a little poorer than last year.
Highlights include visiting my Mom and my sister in NC and getting to visit The Biltmore House, wonderful holiday parties in and around Baltimore, getting some new books, new yarn, and new clothes, and having relative success in airline travel! Even if I did have to change flights, airports, and airlines both going there and back.

Pictures on Flickr of my Company Holiday Party, trip to Asheville NC etc

Me and a chicken at the Biltmore in Asheville, and outside the Biltmore House.

Finished my Mom's February Lady Sweater CHRISTMAS EVE, but I don't have any pictures! Fits well, and I hope she send me some soon so I can post them!
With my little bit of Christmas money I got 10 balls of Kathmandu Aran from Purl's Yarn Emporium in Asheville, which I've been drooling over forever! And a very nice person on Ravelry trader me for 2 more balls, so I have enough to make a hooded cabled cardigan!
I also bought sock yarn for another pair of mom-socks, and some chartreuse laceweight yarn from Paradise Fibers, also in Asheville.

Also finished J's reversible Chullo hat! Handspun chunky alpaca, and orange Malabrigo chunky. I LOVE the Malabrigo, will definitely have to get some of that for me!

Am working on a Brea Bag from Berroco, using Lamb's Pride worsted, doubled on 9s. I Love this color!

November Knitting

2008-11-23T00:59:00.003+09:00

I'm trying to write this entry, and since the sun is streaming through the window I can't sit on the couch, because the sun would be in my eyes. so I was sitting in the round chair (we call it the Mushroom Chair)and Subi hops up and pushes me out of the chair! Headbutts her way in behind me and pushes me out! It's more cat-shaped than it is human-shaped, but How Rude
Here's Subi now occupying the Mushroom Chair

Last night I got to go to my spinning meeting, which is now bi-monthly (YAY!) and I got to work on this:

Which I'm spinning into a lightweight single, like this:

And there was a woman there who had a Bosworth Charkha Wheel that sits on your lap, or in front of you on the floor, and I got to try spinning some cashmere on it. Very cool and portable, but I think I'll stick with my Lendrum ;)

Also got to wear this hat I made, out of some leftover Manos in the Lava colorway, held with Moda Dea Aerie.
It's my Monk Hat pattern, which is available for free, linked on the right.

It looks really cute with my new redish/orange coat!
I also got to play the "Settlers of Catan" Card Game, which I haven't seen before. We have the board game, but this is a two player card game. It was fun, but it takes a long time!

It was my Mom's birthday yesterday, and she waited till then to open the package I sent her. She loved her neckwarmer :)
Here's a pic of the February Lady sweater in progress!
The largest size knit on size 6 (instead of 8) needles is working out well to be about a medium. I'm about ready to measure to see if I can start the lace part now!

Sienna Swirl, Part Two

2008-11-16T03:53:00.003+09:00

Today I sent my beloved Sienna Swirl off to my mother in NC who hopefully will love it as much as I do. I don't know if it will go with any of her coats, and I have never known her to wear a scarf, let alone a neckwarmer, but she sort of kindof hinted that she might like one when she saw my black one, and she likes the yarn I chose.
I am totally in love with the buttons!

I got them at this wonderful little shop in Hampden called RedTree, where they sell gorgeous over-priced home furnishings, awesome jewelry, and other stuff I want but cannot afford. The yarn is Berroco "Jasper", 3 skeins double-stranded, on a size...10? needle I think (maybe 10.5).
You can find the pattern and see my original black one by clicking the link to the Swirl Neckwarmer in the sidebar.

In other news, I tried to go to my spinning night last night, as the last I heard we were doing it twice a month now, and I got all my stuff packed up and drove on over and found a dark store :( That's the second time this has happened to me THIS WEEK. First with my knit night and now this. I'm going to try to go to new (to me) knit night in Hampden on Tuesday, wish me luck!

I work at The Celtic Knot tomorrow... Carole is hoping the shop will be sold by thanksgiving, so this will probably be my last time working there. I will really really miss it :(

Sorry about the Hiatus

2008-11-10T09:01:00.004+09:00

Don't think anyone actually reads this thing anymore, but then again I don't do much to promote it either.
Once of the things I have been working on this year though is trying to NOT feel guilty about not posting. I am not defined by my blog.
Looking back though, this has been a very exciting year for our country, and I wish I had blogged more :P C'est La Vie.

It's been an exciting year so far for Joe and I as well, not least of which was moving into a new HOUSE (still renting, but at least it's not an apartment!). A cute 3-bedroom rowhouse in a quiet suburban neighborhood, fairly convenient for work and shopping. It has a finished basement, which Joe calls his "Man Cave" even though it's mostly what could be called a "Family Room".
We had a small housewarming party, and a large Halloween party recently, and have been very pleased with how well the house is suited to entertaining. People congregated in the kitchen, the livingroom/dining area, out on the deck and in the basement. We're hoping to have the fireplace working by the time it gets cold enough to turn on the heat.
I have some complaints about the kitchen (no storage or counter space), but other than that it's everything we need and more! There's still a few important pieces of furniture to buy, but I'm sure it will come together nicely eventually.

Here's some pictures of the house, with and without Halloween Guests. Click an image to see the rest of the set.

Messy Yarn Room

Snake Wall in the Man Cave

Joe is gone for the month :( But that means I'm getting tons of knitting done! My February Lady Sweater is coming along beautifully, in Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool. I'm doing the largest size but on a size 6 needle, and aiming for a medium-sized sweater when I am done. Wish me luck.
I also stopped by Spinster Yarns in Lauraville, MD yesterday, which is lovely, and the owner Andrea is very very nice :) I anticipate returning many times, as her tastes seem to be fairly in line with my own. I also stopped into the adorable bookstore cafe upstairs, and the new Neil Gaiman book threw itself off the shelf at me and I had to take it home. It came with a free coffee too! I am jealous that my friends live within walking distance of the cafe and the yarn shop!
Here's my current WIPs

This is a double-knit earflat hat for Joe, out of handspun bulky alpaca from fiber I got last Xmas, and some awesome Malabrigo Chunky I bought while in NC. It's going to be warm as hell!

The alpaca was a bit of an adventure, as it spins entirely differently from the wools I had been spinning. I got the hang of it though, and the navajo-plied result is wonderfully light and fluffy!

Damn You Demon Cat!

2008-06-21T23:24:00.001+09:00

Ugh! Subi is such a freak! She was all cute and nice and trying politely to wake me up for work at 7:30 (cat's don't understand weekends), by nuzzling my neck and purring and murring, then she cuddled up with me and was being all nice and cuddly from 7:30 till 9:30, purring and kneading and such, and then all of a sudden she clamps her teeth onto my wrist! I threw her off and she attacked me three more times with full teeth and claws before I threw the comforter over her and wrapper her up until she calmed down. I swear I think our cat has neurological problems or something! What a beast! Now my arms are all scratched up :( I am bigger than her! She is supposed to fear me! Not charge at me after I throw her off!

I think that Subaru is in league with Basement Cat!

Busy weekends make for shorter weeks

2008-06-20T09:26:00.002+09:00

Joe just left :(
He'll be gone about 10 days, more or less depending on how well the job goes. The good part is he will be on base the whole time. The bad part is he will be living in a tent in a dangerous country, climbing big stuff and messing around with all kinds of cables and equipment. The flight is about 14 hour too, which totally sucks.
I get to enjoy some peace and quiet though, it's nice not to have to tv on all the time!
I just had a piece of cheese and a glass of Instant Breakfast for dinner. I guess that's better than the cookies and ice cream I was craving...
I totally don't feel like being domestic and cleaning the kitchen and doing the laundry like I should do tonight. Maybe in a little while.

It feels like Friday, but it is not. I don't know what I want to do tomorrow yet. I'll probably just stay home and watch What Not to Wear and knit.
Saturday is the Baltimore Pride Festival, and R and I are going to go out to lunch and go shopping and go to the parade/block party and who knows what else :) Should be a blast! Sunday will probably be pretty lazy.
I should make some plans for during the week to make it go faster. Who wants to hang out?!

It's not even July yet and the summer feels like it is going by too quickly. It doesn't help that Joe will probably be gone for most of August :( So we can't even go camping or anything then. I am looking forward to our trip to PA in early September, but I'd also really like to go for a weekend or overnight trip to Assateague Island or really just to the beach anywhere. If you are going to the beach, CALL ME!! I have lived in MD for almost 3 years and I haven't been to the ocean once. (OK, we went to Ocean City when I was 9 and we were visiting my grandparents, but that doesn't count.)

Last year we were SO GOOD about getting out of the house: mountain biking, hiking a bit, etc, and I haven't gotten to go at all yet this year. I went with him and his coworker when they went rock climbing a little while back, and that was a little bit of hiking, but since I don't really rock climb it was a bit boring in the middle.
I was the official photographer, here's some pics! These were at "king and Queen's Seat" in a state park in Bel Air.

Also, we saw wild snakes humping!

Last weekend was pretty busy!
We Stayed with R&B Friday night so we wouldn't have to worry about parking for Hon Fest on Saturday. In the morning we had omlettes and yummy mango-chicken sausage and lattes and cake (which I was too full to eat). Then we went out into the jungle heat!

We didn't stay out long, it was too hot for us and the dogs, even with frequent air conditioned breaks. I did buy an awesome bright green and black sundress, a shell button necklace, and a hot pink plastic monstrosity to go with my Silver SpaceGirl outfit!
After a brief nap we headed over to Melissa's house for a Beer-Tasting-BBQ! More pictures are on Mary's flickr www.flickr.com/mricks . I need to start taking my camera more places! Joe has brought mine with him on his trip, and his is very bulky though, so I guess I'll do without for now :(

After dinner we got all dressed up and went dancing at the final Elektroshock! This was lots of fun, and I got to wear my silver vinyl mini kilt and bodice with hot pink thigh-highs and stripper heels and my pink plastic necklace. Joe got tired early though, and I had to work on Sunday, so we left a little after Neska's set.

Sunday we were going to go see "The Happening", but we ended up getting Five Guys and renting "Semi Pro" instead. (Semi Pro SUCKS btw, don't bother! I was so bored I got up and cleaned the fishtank in the middle of the movie)
OK, this is long enough. Out for Now!

Futons, Socks, and Another Scarf-otis

2008-06-04T10:15:00.004+09:00

Lots has been going on in Sarah-Land lately.
J and I finally turned our backroom/overgrown closet into a usable space, just in time for a Memorial Day party! (That was kindof the point actually, we didn't want people to feel like they had to be stuck in the livingroom). We are really loving it now: very comfy, bright, futon, usable table, a place to hide the mountain bikes.. it's great!
Here's the tour:

*Notice yarn stash under desk*

Huge coffee table, perfect for craft parties!

I also cut all my hair off! Short hair is definitely IN this summer, all my friends are cutting their's off!

Also, we got a new snake! This is Dolores (so named because she has a frown on her head)

Adding to our collection, we are now up to 6 pythons.
Aggie (the biggest)
While she may look scary in this picture, she's actually a big sweetheart who loves to come out of her cage to play and snuggle!

Brutus

Baby Leonard (Lenny)

Penelope (Penny)

and I can't find the pictures of Cider, but she looks a lot like a bigger version of Penny.

OK now for some knitting content...
Here's what my Tess Superwash is becoming! Another Scarf-Otis (scarf-size Clapotis). While I hated how boring the first one was to make, I love wearing it, and I really think it is one of the best patterns for showing off varigated yarn. Here she is, working up nicely on my size 7 ebony needles.

Also on the needles is the Twisted Tweed sock pattern in Trekking XXL

I've been trying to work for one hour per day on something crafty, whether it's blogging about being crafting, making stitch markers, knitting, spinning, ANYTHING. Hopefully soon I can coordinate a monthly craft night with the girl friends and get some use out of the new room!

Sienna Swirl and Navajo Plying

2008-05-14T11:04:00.002+09:00

So my second Swirl Neckwarmer, "Sienna Swirl" is done, except for the buttons and weaving in ends. I don't have the buttons yet though, so it's a good thing I don't plan on giving it away any time soon ;)
It's hard to get a good picture of dark browns at night inside!

Modifications:
This scarflet came out a little smaller than the alpaca one, and I needed to adjust the scallops accordingly. There are only about 2 single crochet stitches between each button loop, and only 8 double crochet in each scallop. Maybe I used a smaller hook last time? I don't know.

I've also been procrastinating on finishing some Alpaca I have been spinning for a hat for J, because I am not yet completely comfortable with Navajo Plying on my Lendrum DT. I can do it fine on a spindle, but the wheel is another entirely different ball of yarn ;) So, while I had a few days off recuperating from getting my wisdom teeth out, I spun up some singles from a random batt I had lying around, got some tips from the Ravely girls and practiced! While on heavy painkillers! Much better than my 1st attempt, still not perfect, but I have 2 more oz of that same wool and 4 more of something similar. Good thing it is no longer hat season, so I'm not in a rush!

MDSW 2008!

2008-05-13T10:41:00.007+09:00

This was my third visit to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, the East Coast's biggest fiber festival! I look forward to the festival all year, and usually pick up some luscious yarn and my spinning fiber for the year, as good spinning fiber is hard to come by in person around here.

I also love meeting and talking with all the other Yarnies! I even got a very cute knitting tattoo (temporary) from Gale, the photographer for the new book Shear Spirit, and she posted a pic of me wearing it on the book blog! Turns out she also photographed my Dragon Scarf when it was donated to the Orphan Foundation 3 years ago! Knitting makes the world such a small, cozy, place :)

Here's what I got! (unfortunately no pictures from the festival itself)

Yummy handdyed Merino from Gale's Art in Georgia. After I bought this, at least 4 people stopped me to ask where I got it! I bet they were sold out by Sunday! (but you can buy on Etsy!)
8oz of the purple/gren/gold and 4oz of the pinks

Also 4oz of Black Blue-Face, overdyed with pinks and greens

8oz of equally-luscious Stormy Mountain Fibers Merino

My annual purchase from Tess Designers Yarns: 8oz of handdyed superwash merino, for another scarf-clapotis. I love her colors and yarns so much I would go just for their booth! I wish they had a better website though!

5oz of BUTTERY angora, silk, wool, alpaca from Wild Meadow Angora
I bought a few batts from them 2 years ago and have been hooked! Their fiber spins itself, it is a dream to work with!

A Sheep Tape Measure, since we only have the all-black ones at the shop

More of my favorite Ebony Needles (Susanne's)

AND a purchase I almost missed out on and am super excited about:
The Perfect Wool for a special cable project! 2 lbs worth! ssshhh it's a secret sweater! I wanted something fairly local, undyed, sustainable and supportive of small business, but also affordable, and this wool from Mangham Manor Farm in Virginia was it :)

I had a fabulous time this year and am completely thrilled with my purchases! Did I mention the weather was gorgeous?! Couldn't have asked for a better day :)

I found a template I can tolerate for now

2008-05-13T10:40:00.001+09:00

Still working on making it pretty and adding links, but I'm feeling happy enough with it to make new posts :)

Under Construction

2008-04-14T06:32:00.001+09:00

Don't quite know where I'm going with this yet, just know it had to change. Work in Progress, comments appreciated.

Personally I don't like the sidebar being a solid color.

Blogger vs Wordpress

2008-04-14T01:39:00.002+09:00

So I'm re-vamping the blog, and was considerin moving to Wordpress. I'd heard really great things about it, but so far it's really not adding up:
Wordpress does not:
allow free (or easy) CSS modification
allow flickr badges
have easy-to-use sidebar options

Wordpress does
have better comment format, but not nearly as good as LJ, which I already use for non-knitting content.
have multi-level blog options built in, like built in pages.

Please check out both versions of this blog, and let me know what you think! I've heard from some people that white on black text is hard to read, but I disagree think it looks much more interesting (and that's how I prefer the other blogs I read as well, including my LJ friends page)
Keep in mind I cannot change the colors of the wordpress blog without changing the template, only the top picture
http://redthreadknits.wordpress.com

Quiet Weekend

2008-04-13T01:47:00.000+09:00

Sorry to those who read both my LJ and this blog, I've been doubling up lately.
I don't know if I needed the alone-time or what, but due to motivation and finances my weekend is turning out to be very mellow and quiet.
I stayed in last night and did some housework, then knit while watching Pursuit of Happiness and What Not to Wear, and I fully enjoyed myself. The only disappointments of the night were a bad choice in white wine on my part, and not paying enough attention to my knitting and having to rip back 3 rows twice in one movie.
Yesterday Subi woke me up at 8:30 in the morning, which turned out to be not so bad, as it was a truly gorgeous day and I had my tea and breakfast out in the warm spring air on the deck, and had plenty of time to check email, make a white bean and cucumber salad, and enjoy myself before heading over to the yarn shop for a few extra hours of work. It was a very slow day, but I enjoyed getting to sit and knit with Jess, and chat about Ravelry and the Sheep and Wool festival coming up, even if being there did mean I couldn't spend the day outside.
I came home to this view from my deck:

Then my dad called, and I got to chat with him about news, politics, religion, the environment, and everything else for about 2 hours which was really nice. I also bought a plane ticket to go up and see him for a weekend, as I haven't seen him in nearly a year.
By then it was after 10pm, and I didn't feel like spending the possible $50 to come out tonight when I'm trying to save cash for the fiber festival.

Spring!

2008-04-06T01:29:00.000+09:00

I haven't posted anything of substance in months! I'm going to try to post AT LEAST once or twice a week now. Sorry, no real knitting content in this post, but I promise to have fibery goodness in next weeks post!

J is going away on one of his trips for the month, starting Wednesday, so I will have more time to post. It's hard to get anything done when he's around, as he's a cuddle monster and is always in my lap (not that I'm complaining).

Friday night J and I went out to dinner with two other couples to a lovely Italian restaurant on Charles St called Sotto Sopra. It's on the expensive side, but I felt the food, the setting, and the service were worth the price. I had duck raviolli in a sweet, reduced veal broth, with a goat cheese and arugula salad with dried cherries. I had creme brulee for dessert. We also got a bottle of wine called a Vernaccia, from San Geminano, Italy. It was light and fruity, but also had a nice dry crispness that was perfect with my meal. We're probably going to pool our cash and buy a case of the stuff.

The ritual of going to dinner at a fancy restaurant is still fun for me: the table arrangement, the order the waitress takes our orders in and serves us, the wine ritual... We remarked how it was both nice to be taken seriously at a nice restaurant, but sad because it means we're getting old!

A few weeks ago I was really proud of us, as we spent the whole weekend cleaning the house top to bottom (except the backroom which only got tidied a bit). The house stayed that way for about a week. Now it's back to it's regular messy state. It's just so hard to devote precious free time to doing stupid mundane things like dishes and laundry and tidying up, even though we feel better after they are done. I can cook and decorate and grow things and knit and all that fun domestic stuff, but when it comes to housework, I throw in the towel ;)

I've been watching the weather the past few weeks as I was anxious to get my Calla Lilly bulbs in their pot. I have Caladium in another long pot as well. I only get partial sun, but I'm hoping for a luscious colorful deck this year. I'm also planting herbs, lettuce, and spinach.

On Easter I made Spinach Quiche! It was my first quiche, but I learned from my mom that to avoid a soggy quiche you need to pre-bake the crust:

Spinach, onions, bell pepper, swiss and cheddar cheese.

I also have some pretty pictures over on Flickr from when J, M and I went to Longwood Gardens in PA. My camera battery died soon after we got there, so I used M's camera for most of it:

When J gets back we'll start new-apartment hunting in earnest. We'd really like to rent a house, but we'll see what we can find. We want a place with 3 bedrooms, or 2 bedrooms and a finished basement so the snakes can have their own room and I can still have a studio. I wish we could afford to buy, but it's not going to happen this year.

Tucked behind Old Ellicott City, a bit down the river is Oella. The apartments in Oella that they built in the old mill look absolutely gorgeous, and are in a wonderful location, but are ridiculously priced! We were pretty sad to discover we couldn't afford to get something there in a space we could use. I'd still like to tour them though. http://www.oellamills.com/

Meander Scarf

2008-03-17T11:53:00.003+09:00

The image of melting ice and snow meandering down the mountains, filling the rivers and winding away to the sea, was my inspiration for the rivulets of cool blues and greens looping across this scarf. The colors and spiraling pattern will have you thinking about Spring, but its two cozy layers will keep you nice and warm during those last cold-snaps!
I wanted to create a stitch pattern that was rich and organic in appearance, but geometric enough to lend itself well to knit stitches. The Greek Key design fit the bill, being a squared spiral, and is a perfect motif to use with Double Knitting. Double Knitting is an extremely versatile technique that creates a reversible, double-thick fabric, ideal for flat pieces such as scarves.
The double-knitting technique is explained in the pattern, but a brief tutorial can also be found HERE

Pattern available for purchase! $5.00

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Length: 72 inches
Width: 5 inches

MATERIALS
[MC] Cascade 220 Heathers [%100 Peruvian Wool; 220yd per 100g skein]; Lake Chelan (sea green), color# 9451, 1 skein
[CC] Cascade 220 Heathers; [%100 Peruvian Wool; 220yd per 100g skein]; Mallard (blue) ; color# 2448, 1 skein
NEEDLES
1 set US #7/4.5 mm straight needles

GAUGE
20 sts/28 rows = 4” in stockinette stitch using one color
17 sts/18 rows = 4” in pattern (Double-Sided stockinette stitch using Meander Chart)

Also on Ravelry!

Sources for Help with Rogue Grafting

2008-03-10T08:40:00.001+09:00

First of all, for Beth:
PumpkinKnits wrote a cheat sheet for grafting the Rogue hood! It's linked on the right hand side on her blog.
Also, Wise Hilda wrote a basic explanation of grafting ribs or cables as well.

More FOs, WIPs and Orchids, coming up next!

Little Red Riding Rogue

2008-03-03T10:03:00.003+09:00

OMG IT'S DONE!
DONE! Over two years in the making, and the sweater is finally done!
I've been working on this sweater for over 2 years. I knit it, then procrastinated the seaming, and then it sat on the bookcase in the hopes that it would install its own zipper for probably about a year.
Being too big didn't help its case any either, but a good spray-down and a careful run through the dryer took care of the extra long sleeves and some of the extra fabric.
So here she is, my FINALLY FINISHED OBJECT

This is my cardiganization of Girl From Auntie's Rogue Pullover, minus the pockets. There's info on the pattern site about converting it to a cardigan, and links to other bloggers who have written out the modifications. I also added an i-cord edging to create a zipper..placket? I don't know what else you'd call that. I kinda wish I'd still added pockets, but whatever. It could also use some short rows at the back of the neck, IMHO.

Yarn: 6.3 skeins of Plymouth Galway Highland Heather in rust
Size: 38" this pattern runs BIG. I wish I'd made the smaller size, and I definitely wish I'd adjusted the size of the sleeves and the depth of the armholes. They're huge! The circumference of the sleeves is VERY large at the top, and the armholes come down to the bottom of my chest, and I don't find that very flattering, and neither is the 7 or so inches of positive ease, but the darn thing IS warm and comfy ;) The sleeves were also very long before I threw the thing in the dryer.
I didn't realize the original design included a lot of positive ease anyway, and wanted something I could wear a bit like a jacket, but it's much bigger than how I usually like my sweaters.

I sewed the zipper by hand, as my seamstress friends were too intimidated by knitwear to help me :P But I think I will have one of them go over the stitches to reinforce them (I'm not the best at hand-sewing either).

I very fun and fairly quick knit, but it does have some fiddly grafting on top (which was kinda fun, once you get the hang of it). Very well written pattern!

On Ravelry too! I'm RedThread!

Diagonal Scarf

2008-03-02T04:36:00.002+09:00

puffyscarf2, originally uploaded by RedQueen715.

Oh Noes! I ran out RIGHT at the end! This was frustrating, however, the scarf was only about 4.5' long, and quite wide, so I decided it wouldn't be such a big deal to frog it and start over, especialy since the whole thing only took a few hours.
I made the 2nd scarf with smaller triangles (17 stitches), and this made it narrower and longer.

It's done in 2 balls of Karabella Puffy, which is a gorgeous almost-boucle super-bulky merino. I used a size 13 needle. It LOVES to be garter stich, but that's boring, so I compromised and did a garter stitch Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf . This pattern is so fast and fun! More details about the construction over on Ravelry. I really want to buy a few balls in Mustard and make one for myself! The finished scarf is about 5.5 feet long, and 6 inches wide. I'm not sure how to block it, because I think soaking it might "deflate" the fluffy merino. I'll probably steam it, but on something this thick I can't image that that would have any effect on it. Suggestions appreciated!

Swirl Neckwarmer

2008-02-18T12:03:00.001+09:00

Swirl Neckwarmer!

I was inspired to create my own button-up neckwarmer after seeing YarnballBoogie's "Fourteen". Everyone at The Celtic Knot has been going ga-ga over the one we have knit up in Frog Tree Merino. I changed the pattern up quite a bit to suit my yarn and style. This pattern is done in a traditional Brioche stitch, with decorative crochet button holes. I found that traditional Brioche creates more defined ridges, when compared to Fisherman's Rib (the stitch used in the original pattern).
Yarn: Catalina Bulky Alpaca, 2 skeins (comparable to Cascade Chunky Baby Alpaca, or 200 grams of the yarn of your choice)
Needles: US 10.5
Extras: Medium-Large crochet hook (I think I used an N)
3 1-inch buttons (I got my handmade porcelain buttons from Joan Miller, ButtonBliss on Etsy)

Directions:
Holding two strands held together CO 20 stitches
Set-up Row: *YO, Slip 1, Knit 1* repeat across the row
Pattern Row: *YO, Slip 1, k2tog* repeat across
Repeat the pattern row until you have only a few yards of yarn remaining. Bind off loosely, but do not cut your yarn.

Crochet button holes:
Distances are estimated.
Using safety pins, mark the spaces where you want your button holes to be. They should be roughly 1/2-inch in from the edge on both sides, and one in the center.
Row 1: chain 1, single crochet in the next two bound-off stitches. Chain 3. Skipping the next 2-3 bound-off stitches, single crochet in the following 5 bound-of stitches. Chain 3. Skipping the next 2-3 bound-off stitches, single crochet in the following 5 bound-of stitches. Chain 3. Skipping the next 2-3 bound-off stitches, single crochet in the last two bound-of stitches.
Row 2: Chain 2, Double crochet 8 times in the hole formed by the "chain 3" button hole from the previous row. Single crochet to anchor the scallop. Double crochet 9 times in the next button hole, single crochet to anchor it, and repeat for the last button hole. Cut yarn leaving a 6-inch tail and pull the end through the loop to secure it. Weave in all ends.

Attach your buttons up the left side of the neckwarmer, using your button holes as a guide.

Whirlwind NYC trip!

2008-02-17T04:45:00.001+09:00

Last Friday I took the bus up to NYC to visit with my friend Day, who is from Staten Island, but who has lived in Seattle for the past 6 or 7 years. He was in town to see his family for Chinese New Year.
I've never hung out with Day in NY so this was really different for us. I got on the bus around 7am, took a nice long nap, and arrived in downtown Manhattan a little before 11am. I had some time before Dayvd could meet me, so I wandered towards a Starbucks on 42nd st, right next to a Yoshinoya beefbowl restaurant. I was pretty surprised to see Yoshinoya, because outside Japan I'd only seen them in Hawaii! So I walked into Starbucks with Japan on my mind, and sat in the window with my $4 latte and overpriced banana bread. To my right was an asian girl who looked about my age, reading a New York City travel guide...in Japanese! I figured she might have just arrived and said Ohaiyoo Gozaimasu! (Good Morning!) and asked where she was from. She was more than a little surprised, but excited, to find someone speaking to her in Japanese, and said she is a grad student in Tokyo, here to interview some people from the UN for her Political Science thesis (how cool!). We talked for a good while, about NY and Tokyo and her trip, and I mentioned we were interested in visiting the MOMA that day. "Oh!" she said, "You should go after 4pm, it's free! I was thinking of going, myself!" This was pretty cool, because I'm sure we would have gone at like, 3:30, and would have still had to pay $20 to get in, if Chizu hadn't said something! She is going to be in DC next for a week, and I said she should give me a call if she's lonely :)

Day showed up, and we decided to head to Chinatown for lunch. I LOVE eating in Chinatown(s) with Dayvd because he knows what most of the food is, and can talk in Chinese with the waitstaff. We always end up with food I never would have ordered by myself :) We found a little place with a huge fake tree in the middle of the restaurant, decorated with everything from Halloween pumpkins, Valentine hearts, to New Year's paper lanterns. We had pan-friend pork dumplings, steamed seafood dumplings, and noodles and veggies in sauce. The noodles were too bland for my taste but the dumplings were wonderful. After lunch we took our time wandering up Broadway towards Union Square park to meet his friend from Art School, Tae-rin. On our way we popped into Dean and Deluca. I could spend an entire afternoon, and my entire paycheck in that store! Wonderful gourmet meats and cheeses (one whole case of different bleu cheeses!), beautiful fresh fruits and veggies, stunning flowers, artisanal chocolates, and an amazing array of jams, vinegars, sauces, spices and kitchen accouterments. We tasted some local jams and chutneys being displayed by the creator herself, and she said that all the fruit (except the exotic, like mango) is sourced locally. I tried her hot plum chutney, and despite the $10 pricetag, had to have some :) But hey, I'm supporting small business and farms, and damn this stuff is good! I also bought a long wooden pestle so I can make Mojitos this summer. I have been looking EVERYWHERE for one of these!

We also wandered around Pottery Barn, as I'd never been in one of their stores, and marveled at the gorgeous patterned plates and Snail napkin rings which I think I need to own!
We commented to each other about how Manhattan really is it's own little ecosystem...with completely different culture from the rest of the country, or even the rest of the state. We noticed that in general, Manhattanites are slimmer and more fashionable compared to the average American, and on a daily basis are faced with more options in terms of food, shopping and activities than most people are exposed to in a year.

We waited in the park for Tae-rin and people watched for a bit, and took silly pictures:

Then it was off to the MoMa! I'd never been before, and it was fun to be there with someone who loves art as much as I do :) It was way to busy and crowded though (since it was free), and I was already exhausted from walking around the city, so we didn't go through it as thoroughly as we could have. I still enjoyed seeing some works that I had only seen in books before though.
Running low on fuel, we took the subway to Brooklyn for pizza, and parted ways. I headed up to Queens to meet my friend Dylan, and Tae-rin and Day headed back to their respective houses.
Dylan and I had a low-key evening of junk food, beer and cartoons, and then I fell into exhausted sleep.

Saturday I had the opportunity to spend some time with Brian, whom I haven't seen since senior year of college, and only briefly. While we talk on the phone a lot, it was really good to get some "face time" :) We ate lunch at my favorite diner, the Tick Tock at 34th and 8th, and had eggs over sausage, smothered in cheese, with two potato pancakes on the side, AND sweet potato fries. Talk about a power lunch!
Here's Bri looking swarthy at the diner:

After lunch I dragged him yarn shop browsing with me, on the condition that I make him a new scarf and hat. We went to School Products in the garment district, which is NYC's oldest yarn shop, and owned by my coworker's family! I name dropped and the owner was very happy to show us around the store and give me a little discount on the incredibly inexpensive cone of cashmere that I bought (post about my purchases soon to come). We then hopped a train to the West Village, where I have never really spent any time before. It's really interesting area of the city! Almost more like Philadelphia in feeling and ambiance. We popped into one mini yarn shop we stumbled upon on our way, and marveled about how little tiny second-floor shops with not much stock can stay in business. We then proceeded to The Point, which is a knitting cafe I'd read a lot about on the internet. It too was much smaller than I expected, and it was crazy busy since they were having their Saturday sit and knit. We got some coffee and cooled our heels for a bit, sharing a table with some VERY snotty obnoxious beginner knitters. Overall, aside from at School Products we did not find the staff or the patrons at these shops to be particularly friendly, which is typical for NYC, but not typical for most yarn shops.

It was getting to be late afternoon, so we headed back up to midtown, as Brian had to catch a 7pm train home to CT, and got a few pints and some wings at Tir Na Nog, and debated about whether the bartender's Irish accent was real or not. Overall it was a very fun, fairly inexpensive trip, and I think i'll be heading up to NYC more often, now that I know the bus is frequent, convenient and cheap ($38 roundtrip). Let me know if you want to come with me next time!

Hat for Brigid

2008-02-03T11:53:00.000+09:00

Another Earflap Hat!
This one for my other co-worker, Brigid. Despite how much I love them, I don't think I'll make one for myself, since I think they look kinda silly on me.
I have a Fake Isle hat in the works for me!

I spent the day helping with our big "5th Anniversary Sale" at the yarn shop today! That was quite fun since most of us who work there were there, and I don't get to see them very often. It was very busy too, lots of friendly people :) I even met some new Ravelers to add to my friends list! They are big fans of Storm Moon Knits yarn, and they practically cleaned us out! I haven't bought any yet, but I'm rather fond of her "Gaz" colorway, so maybe next time we get some more in I'll splurge.

We decided that on the couch watching March of the Penguins was where we needed to be tonight. I've been fighting a nasty cold/flu thing all week, and while I feel better than I did during the week, my hearing and balance is a bit off and I still feel icky. Thank goodness for tea! And fleece pjs *snuggle*

My Monk hat made for Real Monks..er..Nuns!

2008-02-03T01:49:00.000+09:00

I was contacted recently by Willow Million of "String of Gems" in California, thanking me for my Monk Hat Pattern which she informed me they were using to knit hats to take with them to Tibet to give to 250 Buddhist Nuns whose livlihood they help support! I love the idea of contributing to something that will help people so directly. And they do need our help! They are trying to get 250 hats BY March 3rd. So if you have some extra wool yarn, and an extra hour or two, please knit a hat for them!

Excerped from the message I received from Willow:

You may know that Cathy (owner of Inner Journey in Los Gatos, CA andmember of Gyalwa Gyatso Buddhist Center in Campbell, CA) is a tirelesssupporter 250 nuns near Lhasa, Tibet.
I am knitting some wool hats forthe nuns and looking for other knitters who would like to participate. Cathy would personally deliver any hats we can complete when shevisits them in March. She is leaving on March 12, so I am setting mypersonal deadline for March 3. I have already researched the yarn,which is very reasonably-priced and the pattern, which knits upquickly with size 11 needles.

Here is some background information about the nuns and their needs:
IntroducingString of Gems A foundation dedicated to the financial welfare of Buddhist Nunsin and around Lhasa, Tibet. String of Gems was founded in 2001 around a dinner table at theShambala Hotel in Lhasa, Tibet. After 2 previous trips to Tibet, wewanted to give something back to the people and country we were forming a definite attachment to. The more time we spent with theTibetan people, the more we saw how important their religious identityand culture was to them. These are a kind and gentle people who walk their Buddhist beliefs everyday. Of all the things we could do to help the people of Tibet., one need above all became very apparent once we were introduced to a group of Buddhist Nuns. They needed help gettingtheir day to day needs met. They seemed to have been abandoned byeveryone! Since 1949, more than 6,000 monasteries and nunneries have been destroyed. Thousands of Tibetans have fled into exile, followingtheir spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama. What may be lesswell known is that, currently, Tibetans are still subjected to gross human rights violations everyday. The exile of thousands of Tibetan and Chinese monks and nuns continues today as China's genocidal politics persist. There are numerous nunneries and thousands of nunsin residence who are barely surviving. These humble nuns have next tonothing except their belief's and are in need of so many things frombasics like shoes, blankets, food, and tools to overwhelming itemssuch as roads to their nunneries, yaks to haul firewood and supplies,and repairs for the nunnery buildings themselves. In Tibet women are still second class citizens and nuns in particular are under aconstant threat of personal and religious prosecution.We are currently financially helping 4 Nunneries in the Lhasa area:Garu, Mechong Ri , Chupsong, and Nemo. There are approximately 250nuns currently occupying these nunneries. About every six months wewire money to a much-trusted Tibetan friend who takes these funds outto each nunnery where it is used to buy everything from rice and gheeto sutra books and Stupas. It is impossible to wire large amounts ofmoney into the personal account of a Tibetan citizen as it acts as ared flag for the Chinese government.
String of Gems is a grass roots group of individuals dedicated to the ongoing financial needs of these extraordinary women.
Bless you for helping us get in touch with knitters who would bewilling to make some Hats for Nuns.Yours in the Dharma, Willow

Here's the page she made with the address to send the hats to, desired yarn to use, and you can learn a little more about their organization:
http://mysite.verizon.net/reso5cyd/hatsfornuns/

Thanks for your help and your interest in their cause!

6-Degrees of Karabella

2008-01-20T03:49:00.000+09:00

So the other day the new-er girl in my office came up to me holding a new "Runway Knits" book, which I had not yet had the pleasure of perusing yet. She exclaimed "It's my Aunt's!", by which I thought she meant that she had purchased it for or borrowed it from her aunt, as she (co-worker) is just learning to knit. No, that's not what she meant. She meant that her Aunt WROTE the book. Her Aunt (well, techincally her mother's cousin) is the creator of Karabella Yarns, Berta Karapetyan, and the Author of "Runway Knits", designer for Donna Karen, etc! *Squee!*
AND she's close with her! She want me to come with her if she goes to NYC to go her her store, School Products! How cool is that? What's funny is that, as a non-knitter, she never realised that any of this could possibly be a big deal.
That's my little brush with knitting greatness for the month :)

Also, I've been smitten by YanBallBoogie's Fourteen (Briche, buttoned neck-warmer). However, I'm using a true brioche rather than fisherman's rib, and mine's wider, and I'm using 2 strands of Catalina Baby Alpaca Chunky in black. It is YUMMY. I was thinking of making it into a real scarf, but I only have 4 balls, and still want to make a matching hat. 2 balls will be perfect length for the neckwarmer.

My First 3-Ply!

2008-01-14T12:30:00.000+09:00

I've been lazily spinning up this lovely Cormo/Alpaca roving I bought at Sheep and Wool (from Foxhill Farm) for a long time now, and finally I got to try my hand at plying it! This was my first non-Navajo 3-ply job, and I think I did pretty well. I still need some work on plying, but I used the "Spice Jar top" trick and I think that helped. (You run each of the plies through a whole in the lid and it helps to keep them separated).
It's about a sport weight I think, about 13 or 14 WPI if I'm figuring that correctly. I'm not sure what to do with it yet, but I think it could be lovely as some twisted-stitch mittens (if I have enough).
Here it is!

Also some WIPs!
Here's the very beginnings of my GreenGable Pullover I found on Ravelry. I originally was going to make the Leaf Lace Pullover with this yarn, but the more FOs I saw of it, the less I liked it. It just looks kindof frumpy on everyone. I LOVE the bold cabling in this design, and I think the Polar will show it off nicely!

And here's my languishing Pomatomus sock. Stitch patterns usually never give me a problem, but I keep getting lost in this one! I think I just need a good few hours to push throuh the complicated bits, instead of trying to work on it when I'm distracted. I'm using Ellen Cooper hand-dyed Merino.

Xmas Loot! And Hats!

2008-01-06T00:34:00.000+09:00

An adorable Alpaca finger puppet! I got a grey one around here too somewhere...must be buried in my stocking.

I got 5 colors of Alpaca top my Mom got from a farm near my hometown! How wonderful is that?! J has already decided that he NEEDS an earflap hat from the back Alpaca. He also picked out the chunky orange Malabrigo below for stripes.

Also, spinning books!

hehe I'm so easy to buy for.

So, remember that pink/lavender chunky handspun I made from the NC wool my mom got me? Well, I turned it into and earflap hat for my sis for giftmas! Here's J modelling the hat. info on Ravelry, I'm RedThread:

And here's another version of the same hat, that I made for a coworker who is moving to Chicago. It's Noro Kureyon and Cascade 220 held together. This is the Knitty Gritty Camo Earflap Hat Pattern, if you were wondering.

Find me on Ravelry! I'm RedThread

December Recap

2008-01-05T23:46:00.000+09:00

January is here!
Unfortunately, this year's "Selfish Knitting Month" is going to be postponed until February, as I'm still working on some late giftmas presents :P
I'm hoping to build a new home for the blog soon! A home page for easy access to pattern and pictures, and hopefully handspun yarn for sale!
In the meantime, I have added a link in the sidebar for the Dragon Scarf.

December was very eventful! Full of parties and friends and family and food, along with plenty of stress, from things like buying a car, and having way too much crap to do at work.
J and I celebrated our 4th New Year's Eve together by having a beautiful, luscious, dinner at Red Maple. I tried my first Vouvray while there, and will have to seek out a bottle in the near future! It went wonderfully with my pomagranite grilled swordfish and purple potato salad! Joe thuroughly enjoyed his beef tenderloin and spinach mashed potatoes as well. Unfortunately we didn't make it out to the party at the club later due J not feeling well, but there's always next year :)

For Solstice this year J and I put together a huge feast for 4 of our closest friends. As I didn't cook for Thanksgiving, and knew I wouldn't be cooking for xmas, this was my one chance to have my own Holiday Dinner. It involved much planning and a few evenings of prep, but it was well worth it! Here's the spread:
*Cranberry and Pink Champagne cocktails when my guests arrived
*toasty crustini topped with honey-walnut goat cheese, warm saute'd pear, and a curl of proscuitto as an appatizer
*Handmade winter squash ravioli cut into star shapes, in a sage cream sauce; for the first course.
*Roast Goose with Brandied-Cranberry reduction sauce (Thanks Emeril!)
*Quinoa with squash and dried fruit
*Roasted beet salad with fennel and herbed goat cheese over greens
*Mocha-Walnut cookies with Dublin Mudslide ice cream for dessert

Everything came out just as planned, and wonderfully delicious! Goose takes a little work, but was easier than expected. I don't think I'll bother making my own pasta dough again though, at least not until I buy a Kitchen Aid mixer with a pasta attachment! I wish I'd taken pictures! I was too busy to think about it..

December limit reached!

2007-12-19T02:17:00.000+09:00

Sorry Everyone!
My Download Limit for December has been reached!
Dragon Scarf Pattern will be available for download again in January. I am very sorry for this inconvenience.
Alternatively, you can email me and we can set up a private paypal transaction if you need it immediately :)redqueen715 at yahoo

CHINESE LUCK DRAGON SCARF PATTERN!!!

2007-12-03T01:24:00.002+09:00

It's here! I've had this thing done for months, but couldn't get it converted correctly into a pdf! Thanks to kind people on Ravelry who offered to help me, it's now ready to go! Click on the "Buy Now" link to download a copy for $6.00 US that will be delivered to you via email.

About the Chinese Luck Dragon Scarf:
This scarf won first place at the 2005 Washington D.C. “Scarf Style Scarf Contest” sponsored by Interweave Knits, to benefit orphans and AIDS victims. It is also the scarf that launched the “Red Scarf Project”, and part of the proceeds of every pattern sale will be donated to The Orphan Foundation of America. It features two layers of texture and color, with i-cord details, and fastens by pulling the tail through the mouth.
Read my original post about this scarf!

Materials:
Lamb’s Pride Worsted, Cascade 220 Wool or
100 grams worsted weight wool 1 full hank each of red (MC) and yellow (CC1), or any 2 contrasting colored worsted weight yarns.
One ball of Crystal Palace Yarns Squiggle (50gr, 100yds) in “Firecracker” (red/yellow/orange print) (CC2)
Needles: US#9, plus two double pointed needles or one circular needle size 7 or 8 for i-cord
crochet hook
tapestry needle
Gauge: 4 st/in (gauge is relatively unimportant for this scarf, as long as you use a worsted weight yarn)

Errata:
Errata:
In the “Scale Pattern” section the non-repeats are not written out for the ends of the rows. It should be:
Row 1: K2, P1, K5, P1 end K2

Row 2: P1, K3, P3 end P1

Row 3: P5, K1 end P5

Row 4 As for row 3

Row 5 As for row 2

Row 6 As for Row 1

Ravelry Link, if you're interested.

Email any questions about the pattern or problems you encounter to me at wishchick99@yahoo.com
If you are having trouble using the Buy Now button, please click this link to purchase the pattern

My Downstream package!

2007-09-29T09:18:00.000+09:00

So, I was silly and didn't take pictures of the K1T2 package I sent out, and I wish I did, BUT Cindy did!
I'll outline the contents for you anyway:
2 kinds of locally distributed loose teas from small businesses
-whole leaf white tea with melon and pear
-black tea with vanilla
One bar of local handmade Green Tea soap
One skein of Trecking wool/bamboo sock yarn in neutral grey/green/orange/browns, that coordinates beautifully with the Carnelian stitch markers that I made :)
6 cherry blossom shaped teacup coasters in maroon
A tea ball for the loose tea
A honey-lemon tea stirrer
And a tin full of tiny Earl Grey Tea shortbread cookies, made by me!

Knit1Tea2 Package!

2007-09-26T11:27:00.000+09:00

I had soo much fun with this swap! I got to shop for yarn and tea and make pretty things and talk to very nice other knitters.. all in all a great experience :) Not to mention the wonderful package I received yesterday! Thank you so much, Jennifer!
So, the goods, I got:

FOUR kinds of organic Green Tea! Lemon Mint, Sencha, "Fog Lifter" green tea, and a Genmai Matcha. I haven't seen Matcha since I left Japan, so that should be interesting! Also because that one is a genmai matcha, it has toasted brown rice in it. Looks very different from the matcha I'm used to. I'm sure it will be excellent :)
AND I got a TEA STICK to steep them in! I'm sooo excited about this, I've wanted one for a long time now and had never seen it in person. VERY cool invention. Check it out! http://gamilacompany.com/tea/

I got a pack of yummy-looking Chocolate scone mix, a skein of Malabrigo worstead in varigated greens (SO SOFT), a Caribou Coffee car coaster, some cafe mints, and a handknit tea towel and washcloth set! And look! The tea towel has a teapot knit into it and it says TEA at the bottom! How clever! I couldn't get a good picture of the washcloth, but it has a teacup and says tea as well :)

And it all came with a nice little note all tight in a tin. Thank you so much Knit and Tea pal! The yarn is so soft it will have to be a hat or neckwarmer..something next to the skin :)

Craft Night!

2007-09-18T08:37:00.000+09:00

Saturday night was Girls Craft Night! A few friends and I got together to knit, make jewelry, chat, spin, eat fudge and drink wine!
One of my friends recently took a job at a fabulous Bead Shop. They had a sale last week and I bought some yellow turquoise, carnellian chips, designer silver and copper headpins and assorted pretty glass beads :)
I made some stitch markers, and these! I needed something to wear with brown, and I don't wear much gold, so copper it is!

Camping in PA!

2007-09-18T08:11:00.000+09:00

Joe and I went camping last weekend..er...weekend before this past one, with and in Pennsylvania. We went to Raystown Lake and stayed at this nice little campground that has campsites right on the lake! We had beautiful weather, and got to spend our evenings outside by the fire playing games, or lying by the lake staring up at the stars. Only things we didn't like about the lake were the many loud motorboats and the lakeweed.
Joe was the only one whose vacation wasn't as nice as it could be, since he got stung by what we think was a ground wasp, and got food poisoning on our last night :(
Here's some pictures!

and our beautiful new friend! The Spicebush Swallowtail Caterpillar!

(those aren't his real eyes)

I finished it!

2007-09-18T08:06:00.000+09:00

I'm in love with my new scarf :) I haven't knit a scarf in a while since I get bored knitting rectangles, but this yarn was too beautiful to pass up! I saw a sample knit up in one of my LYSs and snagged the last skein of the yarn, Schaeffer Yarns "Helene", a merino silk single. This is the "My So-Called Scarf" pattern. Used size 13 needles instead of 11s. It's sooo cuddly!

Lovely Weekend

2007-09-04T06:26:00.001+09:00

This Friday Joe came home after being gone for a month. It's one of the longest trips he's been on since we've been together. I am very glad to have him home, and he is very glad to be here :)
We got let out of work early on Friday, and I skipped my workout so I could come straight home. We lazed about and ordered pizza and watched Perfume, and went to bed early.
Saturday we had planned to take a drive, but after going to Randallstown to the pet store to get supplies for the new snakes, Joe wanted to spend the day setting up the new tanks. So he set up the tanks, and I repotted some of my plants, and we made broccoli cheese soup for dinner with biscuits, YUM! using a lower-fat recipe from Eating Well magazine. It uses white beans to add thickness, protein and fiber instead of a roux.

Sunday we took our drive, by backroads, west to New Market. It was a beautiful day, with white puffy clouds, and a light breeze, and not too hot. We drove through Mt. Airy as well, and up and over to Lake Linganore, then walked through New Market and admired the little shops and the cute buildings before heading back.
There was a rib place in New Market that looked really good, but we weren't hungry yet, so we went to Famous Dave's when we got back. I'd never tried their chopped pork sandwhich, so I got that instead of my usual ribs, and it was very good, especially with coleslaw on it. I do looove BBQ pork.

Today, Labor Day, I enjoyed sleeping in, and spending most of the day in my pjs, making white bean hummus, drinking arabian ice tea and spinning on the porch.
ahhhh this is the life!

Here's my 1st finished wheel yarn, a bulky hand dyed wool from North Carolina that my mother gave me.

and my first "art yarn", a mishmash of nearly everything I got in a sample pack from someone in the SpinningFiber Community on LJ.

I'm currently spinning up a lovely natural Cormo-Alpaca blend I got at sheep and wool, hopefully to become and 3-ply for mittens.

Feeling better...

2007-08-28T07:26:00.000+09:00

With the help of my fabulous Shaeffer Helene, merino silk, that I got at Lovely Yarns in Hampden, Baltimore, when I went on that little adventure a week or so ago.
Also, I have to say THANK YOU for all the nice comments people have made, both here and on my LJ! I wasn't aware I had any readers left! I haven't been very active as a poster or a reader lately, I'm trying to remedy that.

I'd been meaning to make a My-So-Called-Scarf for a while now, and hadn't found the perfect yarn for it yet. They had a shop model made up with the Helene, and it was just about the most gorgeous thing ever, even in a colorway I didn't like! and they had ONE..SKEIN...LEFT. So I had to have it. And I'm very happy with that particular impulse buy ;)
Here's what she's becoming!

Also, I'm very excited about my silly little cherry tomato plant. It doesn't get quite enough sun, so it's very long and spindly, and is attempting to climb up to the next floor, but it IS making little tomatoes! Aren't they cute?!

For more Life Details, like about my visit to the amazing Baltimore restuarant Red Maple, and other current adventures and randomness, please go visit my personal LiveJournal here

BLARGH!

2007-08-24T09:55:00.000+09:00

I wonder if laziness is related to depression. I mean, I'm happy with where I am in my life and I love my friends and my boyfriend and all that, but
I find it so hard to get motivated to do anything lately. When I'm here alone in my house I turn into a slob, and I don't enjoy it. I also think un-motivation is cyclical, because I sit here on the couch, thinking about doing creative stuff, and then I feel guilty because what I SHOULD be doing is the dishes, or the laundry, or the bathroom... and then I don't feel like it so I sit here and watch crap on tv or look at crap on the internet. And this is how my life seems to go since I graduated college. Sure i've had some periods where I was a little more proactively creative, like when I was working at the knitting store more, or when joe's home and we cook (we don't do it as much anymore), but for the most part, even when Joe is home we sit on the couch and watch movies until bedtime. NOthing gets cleaned, nothing gets created, I don't even knit so much anymore.
The only thing that seems to work even a little bit is company. We love to entertain and we like the house to look nice, so we get off our asses and clean up, but within a day or two it's back to being a pit.
Being messy really isn't what's bothering me so much though, I've always been this way. It's my total lack of motivation to paint or draw or do anything with my art materials. That's really it...I used to be messy BECAUSE I was too busy being creative to bother with cleaning up. Now i'm still messy because I feel like I should make stuff, but the passion isn't there, and then I feel bad about that, then I feel bad about living in such a mess.
Originally I told myself that this creative lull was just because I didn't have any space. Now I have the space, a whole extra room in which to work, and I just use it as a dumping ground for all our extra crap, and no matter how many hours I put into tidying it up, the clutter in there grows like mushrooms.
I can't even motivate myself to finish writing this damn knitting pattern for my scarf, I't 95% done, it's just not perfect, and not in the form I want it to be in (kits). I think i'm going to have to give up the kit dream though and just sell it from my webpage. I have about 3 or so other patterns i'm supposed to be writing up too... and about 10 started projects including some things I was hoping could be presents. I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm really not proud of this lazy slug who spends her evening eating baked beans out of a can for dinner and watching TLC, surrounded by dirty tea cups and over due DVDs.

On Long-Distance Love,...and Yarn, of course

2007-08-19T08:29:00.000+09:00

This morning I got to talk to Joe for a few hours through Yahoo Messenger. It's great because you can use it like a phone and talk for free. We spent our time talking mostly about snakes, snake tanks, having a snake and alpaca farm and living off our hobbies (snakes and yarn, respectively), and then while we were thinking about farms we spent a good long while window shopping for houses. One thing that I do enjoy doing when Joe is gone is being online together. It seems silly, but we really have the best time wandering the net together; sharing houses, websites, youtube videos, girls we think are hot, etc. That's how we got through our three months apart before I moved to MD. We've decided to start saving/shopping for a house in Maryland, probably in Frederick county where it's still a little cheaper, and you can hav trees, or maybe a condo in Ellicott City (we saw some nice ones). Everything in Howard County is so expensive though :(

For once I had no plans today. Earlier in the week I tried to go to this yarn shop up in Hampen, but it happened to be closed that day, so I wandered around a bit and bought some lovely paper bits at this adorable little paper store instead. I didn't go back later in the week because they're only open till 5:30 on the weekdays I found out anyway. Thursday I went to see Bedazzled, the bead store Erin works at (totally wonderful and overwhelming), and Stardust and eat yummy mexican food. Stardust was wonderful, and it was hilarious going to a movie with Erin because she gets so excited she bounces up and down in her seat hehehe.

So after I got off the phone/computer with Joe I drove out to Hampden to see this yarn shop. Now, I don't generally think of myself as a nervous person. Conversely, I tend to be very relaxed and laid-back, but there are some things that totally stress me out. One of them is going (especially driving) to new places alone. This seems totally weird to me, as I lived in a country where I didn't know anyone or speak the language well, and took the train everywhere and I was fine.. well, most of the time. I definitely much prefer going places with people or meeting them there. But as anyone who remembers when I first got my car will tell you, driving places freaks me out. So, I went to this yarn shop, a place where I should feel completely at ease, and I pick up a skein and nearly drop it because I am trembling and feeling lightheaded. Weird. But I get over that by being overly friendly and talkative with everyone, and touching everything. I'd promised myself I was only going to spend $20, but of course I end up with one of the most expensive (if not THE most expensive) skein of yarn in the whole place (a 50/50 wool silk hand-dyed blend, my weakness), for $45 and a t-shirt. She threw in the pattern and pin I wanted for free ;) Then I got an iced coffee, some ginger cookies, a piece of watermellon and sat and knit my socks and chatted with the owner and an adorable little tattooed pixie for the rest of the afternoon. I do love yarn shops :) I'm a bit envious because the building it is in s exactly the sort of place I want MY knitting cafe to be in, in the same kindof neighborhood. ALso, she's only been there a year, and I've been here for 2 years, so I guess I missed the boat on that one ;) not that I have an extra 10k lying around that I could sink into a new yarn shop anyway, but i'm still jealous. It's a cute little shop too. They don't have nearly as much as CK, but they have a nice variety and some different stuff. It's always amazing how different every yarn shop is.

I was going to call around and see what people are up to tonight, but I really can't afford to spend any more money this weekend. So I will sit on my couch, watch either Gone with the Wind, A Very Long Engagement, or 300, and play with my new silk yarn, as I already know exactly what i'm going to make with it.
Sounds like a lovely evening to me :) Pictures of new stuff to come. Maybe. If I feel like it.

Also, you can't imagine how much I am loving this cooler weather. In fact, I am sitting on my deck typing this on my laptop right now!
As much as I adore summer, I think I am ready for fall.