The Roaming Gnome

Sadly, it has been almost a month since my last post. I blame work for my lack of blogger initiative (I know, how original) but it really has been CRAZY for the past two months. I have been traveling a lot (hence the Roaming Gnome subject line). Case in point, I am writing this from Madrid. I have been in Europe since last Monday (London, Berlin, Madrid), I leave for home tomorrow, and then return to Europe next week (London, Berlin, Paris). Phew... it is pretty exhausting and all the travel has left me little time to knit. When I am home, I am spending most of my crafty time watching season 1 of Lost and working on the blanket I am crocheting for my grandmother. I did find (finally!) a great scarf pattern for my linen yarn from Sweden. I have been using that as my travel knitting project. As soon as I am reunited with my camera and its accoutrements, I will post pictures of Madrid and the new scarf.

In lieu of any actual knitting content, I thought I would offer my top 5 favorite things about Madrid and Berlin.

Top 5 Favorite things about Madrid:
5. The Reina Sophia (the modern art museum)
4. The Palacio Real
3. Atmosphere in the public squares late at night
2. Tapas and sangria at 10:00 pm
1. Churros y Chocolate*

Top 5 Favorite things about Berlin:
5. Historical sights like Checkpoint Charley and the remnants of the Berlin wall
4. German beer
3. The Regent Hotel
2. Currywurst**
1. Yarn in department stores

Those Germans really know how to set up an excellent shopping experience. In a major department store in Berlin, the Ka Dee Wee (a store that is the size of Harrods with merchandise like you would find at Macy's), they have a whole floor devoted to fabric, buttons, sewing notions, and YARN. That's right, you can buy yarn and shoes in the same store. The selection is decent sized and mostly consists of Gedifra, Schoeller Stahl, Regia, and a little Rowan. The prices are pretty good, even considering the weak dollar. I purchased 9 balls of Donatella (a bulky yarn that is 80% wool, 20% acrylic) and two skeins of Regia sock yarn. The Donatella retails here in the US (in the few places I could even find it) for ~$11.50. I got mine for 3,00 Euro a ball. WHAT. A. STEAL. I am going to use it to knit a modified Blackberry from the fall Knitty. It will be so cozy and warm... I can't wait to start.

Next week, when in Paris, I am going to head to La Droguerie (www.ladroguerie.com) to purchase some more Euro yarn. At least there is one benefit to all this business travel.

Anyhoo... I should probably get back to my work (boo hiss)

Cheers!

* Churros y Chocolate is a delicious Spanish concoction consisting of deep fried strips of dough that you dip in "hot chocolate." Spanish hot chocolate is really a cup of dark chocolatey deliciousness with the consistency of melted Hersey's kisses. It makes our so-called hot chocolate look weak, very weak indeed.

** Currywurst is the "sausage of Berlin." It is a long, skinny sausage made with curry (it is a light yellow color) that is cut into bite sized pieces, covered with a thick, sweet, mild curry sauce, sprinkled with yellow curry powder and served with bread. It sounds kind of gross, but tastes absolutely delicious.