Is it me or is it Monday?

I am really tired today. I don't know why, except that maybe I stayed up too late on the weekend nights and am now paying for it. I also have a headache that has lasted for two days (no mom, I didn't do any drinking this weekend) and it is getting a little old. I don't know, maybe I need my thyroid checked.


Anyway, I have pictures of the finished baby blanket. I am pleased with how it turned out. It is sweet but not too babyish. What do you think?

Cozy baby blanket

And a close-up of the edge:

Crochet edgings look so neat

I didn't really use a pattern, just a waffle texture that was created by alternating 3 double crochets and 3 front-post double crochets across the row, and then doing the reverse on the way back. Actually, Hub designed it for me... he is stellar with a crochet hook. This is one of the main reasons why I love him so.

The final texture of the blanket is soft and springy with a pleasant thickness that makes it seem like it will be nice and warm. The blanket was knit in Plymouth Encore (75% acrylic, 25% wool) and it is machine washable and dryable (just in case you didn't know, this is an extremely important feature when knitting things for messy creatures like babies). I hope that the recipient likes it.

I am cruising along on the Ugg booties. I have one bootie finished except for the seaming and am ready to shape the foot on the second one. I will hopefully have the set finished by the weekend. I am glad that the work day is almost over. I think I need to go lie down.

Cheers!

More baby knits...

I have been finishing things at a mean clip these days. First, I finished the set for the new baby of my coworker. Little Baby Girl arrived on Dec. 23 but I haven't had a chance to see her yet. I am hoping that her mom brings her into the office for a little meet-and-greet sometime soon. I did take a picture of the set before I packed it up.

So tiny, so shimmery

The hat is from the same pattern that I posted about the other day. The mitts are my own pattern (that I still need to polish up and share). The booties are from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. I have no idea what the yarn is. It is something I don't even remember purchasing and the label has long since disappeared. All I know is that the yarn is 100% acrylic (read: machine washable) with a shimmery pink strand through it.

I also finished the blanked I was crocheting for the sick baby from my message board. I haven't taken any pictures yet but I will before I mail it out.

Last night I started a new project for yet another coworker's baby-to-be. This woman is having a baby girl in early March and to celebrate, I am knitting a pair of Ugg Booties. I love this pattern. I made a pair for Gub when she was little and they were super cute. She got compliments every time she wore them. Here is what I have so far.

These Uggs are bootie-licious

I have decided to do the colors in reverse. In the original pattern, the light color is the top of the bootie and the dark color is the sole. I think the darker yarn shows off the Plush trim better so I am reversing the colors. They are knit with Berroco Suede which is kind of a pain in the butt to work with. The yarn has a yucky tendency to split and my needle tips keep snagging it. Oh well, the finished product is cute enough to make up for it!

Off to have an early dinner with some new friends and our kiddos. We haven't really spent a lot of time with this couple so it should be interesting (and hopefully a lot of fun).

Cheers!

Everyone Loves Baby Knits

I attended a baby shower today for a lovely friend of mine who is due in late February with her first child. As far as baby showers go, it was a nice one with really yummy cake. I have to admit that I generally don't enjoy baby showers all that much. I don't know why; I like babies and I like watching people open presents and get excited about things. I think my problem with baby showers is that they feature an often overwhelming amount of stuff (99% of which is totally unnecessary) and the guest of honor is usually so late in her pregnancy that she spends most of the time looking completely fatigued. Today's mom-to-be was no exception. She looked lovely and was obviously excited, but she was just so clearly exhausted that I kind of felt bad for her. She is one of those effortlessly graceful people. You know the kind... those rare people who always look put together, always have a smile on their face, and always greet you as if you are the most important person in the world. If someone like that is visibly fatigued, I think it is safe to say that the festivities were wearing a little thin.

Anyway, I tucked my knit hat and mitts into the gift that I bought for her and her husband. It was great because as soon as she pulled them out of the bag, she knew the gift was from me. Out of the mountains of presents that were in front of her, she knew mine automatically because of the knits. I loved that... it is nice to have a little something special that sets your gift apart and lets people know that you care enough to put your own time and effort into making something for them. The set got lots of ooohs and ahhhs from the audience and at the end of the shower her husband made a point of telling me how much he liked them. It definitely made yesterday's pressure knitting worth it.

Cheers!

Oh Yes She Did...

That's right, I finished the baby hat the night BEFORE the shower! Considering that I just started the project this afternoon, I couldn't be more pleased. Together with the mitts I knit a while ago, they make a lovely little set.

Aww, they are just so darn wee!

This picture doesn't really show off the colors at all, the lighting is a little tough at night, but you get the idea. The hat and mitt cuffs are a soft light green and the hat trim and mitts are white. Both pieces are knit with Cara Mia (I don't remember who makes this yarn or exactly what the composition is, but it is nice and soft and machine washable). The hat pattern is the Bundle of Joy Hat, a lovely free pattern from Isela Phelps of Purling Sprite Designs. The mitts are a pattern of my own (which I plan to post once I get it cleaned up a bit). I hope that she likes them.

Cheers!

Knitting Under Pressure

What do you think of knitting deadlines? Generally, I am not a fan of the pressure they put on you. I find that when I have looming deadlines, my knitting often gets erratic - full of errors and weird tension issues. Yet, here I am, working furiously to complete a baby hat in time for a baby shower tomorrow at 11:00 am. I don't even have an excuse, really. I just decided today that it would be nice if I could whip up a hat to match mitts that I knit a long time ago. Sigh, I am not sure why I do this to myself, other than for all the ohhs and ahhs hand knit baby gear usually brings (insert evil grin here). Here is what I have so far:

So tiny, yet so overwhelming

I have been knitting in between actual work tasks today. I am hoping that once I put Gub to bed, I can crank the rest of it out.

Also, my stuff from Webs arrived and I have finally gotten around to taking a picture of it.

New additions to the family... aren't they lovely!

Clockwise from the top: 5 skeins of Rowan All Seasons Cotton, 2 skeins of Southwest Trading Company's Gianna, 2 hanks of Elsebeth Lavold's Silky Cashmere, and 1 ball of RCY Soft Lux. I am in mad, raving love with the Silky Cashmere. As the name implies, this yarn is composed of 55% silk and 45% cashmere. It is soooooo soft and luxurious to touch. I just want to wrap myself in it. Unfortunately, the yardage is pretty small (44 yards per hank) and I only have 2 hanks. I am hoping I can make a thin, lacy scarf that I can wear all year round.

Off to make dinner and work on the baby hat. Hopefully I will be able to post tomorrow about my success in meeting my knitting deadline.


Cheers!

KIP

When you see the acronym "KIP", do you immediately think "knitting in public"? If you are a knitter who is active on the web, you probably do. When I see "KIP", however, my first thought is "knitting in a plane".

I have never really been one to knit in public. For one thing, I am rarely in a public place that is conducive to knitting. When I am out, I am usually shopping, eating, or doing something otherwise active. While I am sure there are some tremendously industrious knitters out there who are capable of knitting while browsing the aisles of the grocery store, I am definitely not one of them. Of course when I do go to places that offer good knitting accommodations, such as MD office waiting rooms, I never remember to bring my knitting. These days, I would say a good 95% of my knitting is done on the couch in front of the TV after Gub has gone to bed.

Before Gub was born, the one place where you did often find me knitting was in airports and on planes. When I traveled a lot for my job, knitting was my sanity-saver. It kept me from going nutty when I was faced with yet another flight delay or when I was alone in a hotel room watching BBC World News for the 3rd hour in a row because there were no other TV channels being broadcast in English (interestingly, even in our vast world the top news stories tend to remain pretty much the same during any given time period). Since Gub came along, The Company has graciously allowed me to minimize my travel as much as humanly possible. Unfortunately, there are still times when clients call and I have to go.

Which brings me to the knitting topic of this post. I am leaving later this afternoon to head to Wilmington, DE (oh yeah, its exotic travel) for a meeting tomorrow morning. Since I (used to) travel so often, packing takes me all of 5 minutes. Selecting the right knitting to bring takes a bit more time and careful thought. There are just so many considerations to think about when selecting plane knitting. So without further ado, I am proud to present my Rules of Plane Knitting Project Selection, developed and honed by years of travel experience:

• First, whatever you bring needs to be portable which means small items or small parts of larger items, small balls of yarn, and not too many colors (so you don't have to carry too many balls of yarn). They are pretty strict about carry on rules these days and you don't want your knitting to end up in your suitcase buried in the belly of the plane.
• Second, you want to make sure that the knit is simple enough that you can pick it up and put it down as needed without losing your place (such as when one is eavesdropping on the occasional juicy cell phone conversation), but interesting enough to hold your attention through many flight-delayed hours in the airport.
• Third, you don't want to bring anything that is too close to completion. I have learned from experience that it really sucks to finish your project part way through a flight, leaving you with nothing else to do.
• Fourth, think carefully about your needle choices. DPNs are small and portable but you have to factor in the risk of dropping a needle and having it roll away down the aisle of the plane. Large metal needles may cause problems at security checkpoints. Circulars are generally a good choice as are bamboo straight needles.
• Sixth, make sure you bring all the little accessories that make your knitting successful. While you can probably MacGyver anything you need in a pinch (thread from your own coat as a stitch marker anyone?), it sure is nice to have a little travel bag with some stitch markers, some waste yarn, a circular cutting tool (these are safe to use on planes), and a plastic yarn needle.
• Finally, make sure you like what you are working on. You are going to be in one place with no access to other projects for a while. It is best when you actually enjoy what you are knitting!

After carefully considering these rules, I have chosen to knit Branching Out from Knitty using size 6 bamboo needles and Elan's Peruvian Baby Cashmere fingering weight yarn. The lace will be interesting enough to keep me going and the whole thing fits into a quart size zip top bag. I will post some pictures of my progress once I am back home. Safe travels everyone.

Cheers!

I Need a New System

My stash is in a sad state of (dis)organization. I have decided that I need a new storage system for all of my lovely yarn. Right now, most of my yarn is loosely grouped by color in six large plastic bins with drawers. The bins are stacked, three high, against one of the walls in my home office. I also have a smaller four-drawer bin that holds my finer gauge yarn, my super nice stuff, and my random odds and ends. My little drawer is okay but my big bins are starting to collapse under the weight of all of the yarn. I think I also need to purge some of the yarn I will most likely never use. Lots of well meaning and thoughtful people give me yarn and I always feel compelled to take it. I mean, you never know what you might need, right? If I thought about it honestly though, I will probably never use most of it. Maybe I will sort all my yarn and donate the unwanted stuff to some organization that could use it to do kids crafts or something.

The challenge is, even after I purge, I don't know how else to organize everything that's left. Should I get a piece of furniture, like an armoir, or another bin system? Do they make yarn storage systems? Maybe I should invent one... that could be my way to make millions! Sigh, any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers!

Happy New Year!

I bet that 90%+ of the blogger posts created today have "Happy New Year" in the title. :)

So how was your Christmas? Mine was very nice. I spent some time in my hometown with my mom, dad, and siblings. Most of them live pretty far away and with the girl, we don't get out there very often so it was nice to see them all. It was especially nice to have someone else entertain the girl for a while. It almost felt like a vacation.

The girl had a pretty good Christmas. She liked opening the presents for a little while. Her favorite gift was a toy kitchen from Santa. Here is a picture of her playing with it for the first time. She was very excited when she saw it and it is still fun for her more than a week later (now that is a toy with some staying power).

Would you like some fries with that?

In fiber news, I am still working on the baby set for my coworker. She actually had her baby girl on Dec. 23 (a little more than a week early). It sounds like everyone is healthy and doing well. I have finished the booties and the mittens and I am about half way through the hat. Once the set is complete, I will post a picture. For the moment, the hat knitting has been put on hold for a special project.

I participate in an online message board for women who had babies in September, 2006. We chat with each other about our kids, ask questions, talk about life, etc. They are a nice group of women, many of whom have been posting since we all found out we were pregnant about 2 years ago. Last week, one of the women found out that her son, who has been sick for a little while, has cancer. This little boy has been given a 50/50 chance of survival and his family is devastated. He is so young and it is so unfair that he has to go through this. Lately I've noticed that before you have kids, stories about bad things happening to kids make you sad. However, once you have one of your own, stories about kids getting hurt or sick absolutely break your heart because you imagine something like that happening to your own little one. So I am crocheting him a little blanket. It isn't much, but at least it is something warm that he can hold on to, and his parents will know that people are thinking of him during this horrible time. I am using a nice soft acrylic wool blend (Plymouth Encore) in green and a waffle pattern. Here is a picture of the work in progress:

Full view

Here is a close up of the waffle pattern

My goal is to get it finished by next week so I can send it along with some "get well" wishes. I hope your 2008 starts off as happy and healthy as possible.

Cheers!

Also...

I realize that my previous post did not mention knitting in any way. To give you just a little taste of what has been going on, I will mention that I ordered some yarn from Webs the other day. I haven't bought any yarn in a long time because I have been trying to use up some of my enormous stash. However, I had $32.00 left on a gift certificate from a while ago and they were having a huge sale so I thought, "what the heck." I ordered enough Rowan All Seasons Cotton to make Trellis from Knitty (I have been jonesing to make this for a while now) in the 18 month size, and a couple of random skeins of yarn that looked pretty. I am not sure what I will do with the other yarn I ordered but hey, my stash could use a little sprucing up. I'll post pictures of the yarn when it arrives. There is knitting happening too, including a pattern for baby mitts, but that is another post for another day.

Cheers!

Organization

I have a love-hate relationship with organization. In many ways, I am a tremendously organized person. I almost never forget meetings and appointments, I don't double book my schedule, and I don't generally lose things. In other ways, I am a disaster. If you saw my desk at work, the chaos might make you wonder how I accomplish anything. My house is often in disarray and my car is usually a mess.

However, it is the time of year when I feel compelled to organize at least one part of my life. In 2006, my closet got a makeover. In 2007 we bought a shed and completely organized the garage (Hub did most of the work). With 2008 quickly approaching, my goal is to get my recipes organized. While this might not sound like a big job, you have to understand how many recipes Hub and I have. We both like to cook and we both like to buy cookbooks. The two shelves on our baker's rack are completely crammed with cookbooks and there are more squirreled away in the basement. Of course rather than use all of those cookbooks, I constantly go online and print out new recipes to try. Once I am done with them, I usually shove them in other books, put somewhere on the baker's rack, or bury them on the counter, never to be found again. I also like to tear out recipes from magazines and add them to the pile. Because these recipes are all over the place, I tend to forget about them and never make them.

To counteract this craziness, I have embarked on Phase I of Recipe Organization, 2008. Hub and I went to Staples and purchased a sturdy three-ring binder, a package of 200 sheet protectors, and some dividers. I have spent my free time over the last few days gathering all of my printed and magazine recipes, going through them, tossing the ones I will never make, and setting aside those that I like. I am now going online and printing out copies of all of the magazine recipes that I can find. For those that I can't get access to, I am typing them out in Word. Each recipe goes into its own sheet protector (with the picture cut out from the magazine if available). The binder will be organized by category, with the recipes arranged alphabetically. Phew, it is just so much organization that it makes me giddy!

Once this is complete, Phase II will involve going through our cookbooks and donating those that we never use. I am not sure if there will be a Phase III yet, we'll have to see how the first two pieces go.

The biggest upside of all of this work is that I will never again have to ask my mom for the same three recipes I ask for every year.

Cheers!

Peepers? We Have Your Peepers!

A title like that can only mean one thing... I finished the girl's bear! Woo hoo!

After yesterday's post, I decided to just suck it up, get out the needle and thread, and go for it. I went pretty simple, just a french knot for each eye. They are small but I think they work nicely with the bear face. Take a look and tell me what you think:

I think Mr. Bear is pretty darn cute. He will be peaking out of the girl's stocking, courtesy of Santa. I hope she likes him.

I probably won't post again until after Christmas. The fam is headed to my mom's house in "outstate NY" (says Hub) and there is no Internet access there. Have a lovely holiday, eat lots of good food, and hug your loves ones. I hope Santa is good to you all.

Cheers!

Oooo, Christmas is Almost Here!

I am really excited for Christmas this year. Having a kiddo brings all the excitement that Christmas used to be rushing back. I have always been a lover of all things related to Christmas; I believed in Santa until I was 12. Seriously - I just figured that he didn't bring anything to the non-believers and that was how he made it all over the world in one night. It made logical sense to me. In any case, watching my girl get all excited when she sees the tree ("tee, tee" she says while pointing at it and wriggling her little body around) makes me so happy. I really can't wait until she gets to open all of her presents. I am sure that she will have way more fun playing with the wrapping and boxes than the actual toys, but whatever. I mean, how many times in your life do you get to roll around in a veritable orgy of wrapping paper? Not nearly enough!

Of course it helps that the weather is playing along. Here is the view from my home office:

My Winter Wonderland

As long as I am cozy and inside, I love that deep blanket of snow. It makes me want some hot chocolate... mmmm.


On the knitting front, I am putting the finishing touches on a little pink bear that will go in the girl's stocking. All that is left is to embroider the eyes. Did I mention that I HATE embroidering and that I am terrible at it? Unfortunately, I can't justify leaving Mr. Bear without peepers so embroider I shall.

Peeper-less Bear

I am also working on a little set for one of my coworkers. It is a crazy baby factory in my office right now and the first of the pregnant ladies is due on Jan. 2 with a little girl. I am working on a set that includes booties, mittens, and a hat, all in a lovely white yarn with a thread of pink metallic sparkle running through it. These will be very stylish outerwear options for the trendiest winter babies! I am almost done knitting the second bootie and once that is finished, I will sew them up and get going on the mittens. The only thing I don't have is a good hat pattern so if anyone has a link to one knit with sportweight yarn, don't hold back. I'll post pictures of the whole set once I get it finished.


I hope you have a merry holiday (or whatever you celebrate). I am off to get me some hot chocolate.

Cheers!

Toddlers and Stash Don't Mix

I have made it through the first year of motherhood and seem to have emerged relatively unscathed. If only the same could be said for my knitting. Actually, the knitting is fine, it was just taking a hiatus while I learned what being sleep deprived really means and how to balance full time work with full time work (i.e., balancing paid work with non-paid-but-equally-demanding work).

I am proud to say that I am officially back. My needles are no longer lonely and my yarn is being loved once more. In fact, I made a hat last night. That's right, a whole grown-up sized hat complete with a pom-pom. It even turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Said hat was knit from a pattern out of my 2005 Knitting Project A Day calendar in RCY Soft Lux using size 8's. The RCY is nice and soft and is a lovely winter white color. What you can't see in the picture is that the yarn has a thin gold metallic thread running through it that adds just a hint of sparkle... perfect for a holiday winter hat.

Other things that I have been working on lately include:

Thumbless baby mitts (don't they just make you want to cry from cuteness!) and...

A scarf in a lovely heathered purple alpaca. This is the yarn that I bought for my very first knitting project years ago. I learned to knit with this yarn and produced a finished product that was, in a word, awful. It was a ribbed scarf that was knit with needles way too small for the yarn and a pattern that hid the loveliness of the texture. I frogged it and spent the last two years trying to figure out what this yarn wanted to be. Turns out, my scarf instinct was correct and this is the final product

The picture isn't the greatest but suffice it to say that the yarn is finally at peace.

There is more knitting going on too but I don't want to blow my load with my first post in a year so you will have to wait.

As for the title of this post, girlfriend has recently figured out how to open the plastic drawers where I store my yarn. Most of the time all she does is open the drawers and pet the yarn (we use the word "gentle" a lot in my house these days). Every once in a while though, her impulses get the better of her and suddenly there is yarn flying all over my home office. It makes quite a mess and takes a while to untangle the skeins (especially when she rips the labels off). Unfortunately, she thinks playing with my yarn is the most fun a girl could ever have, so there will be no keeping her out of it. Oh well, at least she has good instincts.

Cheers!

Christmas Card Picture

Hi,

I need help deciding which picture to use on this year's Christmas card. All responses are appreciated!


Picture 1:

Picture 2:

Picture 3:

Cheers!

Aubrey is here!

Here are a couple of pictures of my brand new sweet baby girl!

Cheers!

Since I've Been Gone

Clearly, it has been a long time since I have posted... over 7 months, to be precise. A lot as happened lately and, unfortunately, not much of it has included knitting. You see, shortly after Christmas, Hub and I found out that we are going to have a baby! Yes, we have successfully managed to procreate and we are very excited. Our little bundle (a girl, as told to us by our ultrasound tech) is due in early September.

So after the do-nothing-but-stare-at-the-TV exhaustion of the first trimester passed, most of my free time has been devoted to reading about pregnancy, childbirth, and raising kids. I have done some knitting for my little girl though (all knitting for me has been put on hold). Turns out, knitting baby stuff is pretty darn fun. Everything is so small that you can feel all accomplished knitting sweaters that only take a few days. Booties and little hats are even easier! Here is a picture of the things I have made so far:

Item descriptions starting from the top left, clockwise:

• A very soft little pink hat that I did not knit (someone who works with my mother knit that for me)
• A fleecy cotton caftan-type sweater
• A soft little hat knit in Plush
• The famous Ugg Booties
• A baby blanket knit with Lion Brand
• And in the center, a pair of booties knit with Classic Elite tencel and pima cotton blend (I can't remember the name)

I am also working on a small teddy bear knit with Elan's lace weight alpaca and cashmere and Knitty's Devin. I hope to finish them soon, though I am at the place with Devin where I need to pick up the 200 neck band stitches... yuck!

As I am now coming to the start of pregnancy week 31 (only 9 more to go!!), I thought I would share a picture of me and my big round belly. Enjoy (and don't mind the pants)...

Cheers!

Send Meds, Quick...

I am back in the realm of serious knitting addiction. When I first learned to knit last year, I was what one might call obsessed. Over the spring and summer, my desire to knit all the time faded to a more normal hobby-level. Now that winter is here, the bug is back in full, brain-addling force. I cannot control my desire to keep starting projects. I have a nice mix of four projects going right now, a bulky shrug, a worsted weight wool cardigan, a hat, and a soft cotton baby blanket. Lots of diversity to keep almost anyone satisfied but no, not me... I will probably cast on tonight for a scarf for a Christmas gift.

Sigh, I am afraid that nothing is going to cure me. I guess I have to just go with the flow, cast on at will, and hopefully finish my winter projects before spring!

Pictures of some recent finished objects as soon as I find my camera (this is why I don't clean.. I lose things that way!)

Cheers!

My International Friends...

Meet my new international friends... yarn from Berlin and London!
Across from top left - Regia sock yarn, 2 skeins of Rowan Soft Lux, 4 skeins of Louisa Harding merino and cashmere, 2 skeins of Louisa Harding Kimono Angora, and Gedifra Donatella (showing 2 of 9 skeins).

I enjoy yarn shopping in other places... it is a great way to take in the local culture.

I have been working on finishing various other projects. I completed the blanket for my grandmother (no pictures yet) which is cause for a big sigh of relief. It always stresses me out to have to knit for deadlines. Thus I have decided not to knit too many Christmas presents this year.

I finally dug through the stash and found a nice scarf pattern for my Swedish linen (purchased this summer). I found it on some random free site (sorry I don't have the link). Check out the close up of the leaf pattern:

And a picture of the scarf, nearing completion:
I have since finished it and it is very nice. I need to do some final blocking prior to taking it out for a spin but I am definitely pleased.

Finally, I couldn't resist casting on for a new project... a pair of wrist warmers made out of the Louisa Harding angora yarn. It is yummy and soft and should make for some nice light warmth.
I am nearly up to the thumb hole part. They are pretty quick and easy.

Next time, I will hopefully have pictures of my Blackberry in process and Samus.

Cheers!

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.

Friends + Smoked Meat = Fun...

Hub and I had a meat smokin' party this past weekend. We had friends visiting from my hometown in upstate New York, friends from Medford, and friends from Rhode Island to our house on Saturday for a special kind of cookout. For those of you not familiar with a smoker, it is a cooking apparatus that looks like a grill but is designed to cook meat low and slow with the addition of wood chips. The smoke creates a delicious flavor in the meat and the low, slow cooking method keeps the meat extremely juicy. Hub went a little crazy and brined two cornish hens, a pork shoulder, and a bone-in pork sirloin, made a spice rub for a chili-rubbed brisket, and smoked some fresh salmon (a gift from our neighbor). It was a serious protein fest... and it was delicious. Since smoking is a day long affair, I had tons of time to knit while I hung out with my friends. I made my friend Bob a nice little hat for the upcoming winter.

He looks a little like a thug but I think it works!

I have also been making some serious progress on all of my projects. Every once in a while I get to a point where I become maniacal about finishing my WIPs. To that end, I finished a lacy scarf I was making out of Kid et Soire and Estelle Dazzle (no pictures because it might become a gift) and I finally finished my Chic Knits Ribby Shell (remember that, it was one of the first posts I ever blogged)! I must say, now that I am finished with it, I really like it. It is one of the first garments I have made that fits me very nicely. Plus, it just looks sharp.
Now all the WIPs I have left include the blanket for my grandmother, the Flower Basket shawl, and Samus. Since that's only three projects, I have started a hat for my dad for Christmas. Super... I love starting new projects!

Cheers!