Sunshine on my shoulders....makes me happy!!!Snow in my ears.....makes me sad!or at least a bit cranky!But to thwart those lonely, cold feelings, we have Faschings Tuesday here in Germany. The day when everyone goes crazy - not just for New Orleans and Rio anymore :) The management has delivered traditional Faschings Krapfen - yes, they call doughnuts "krapfen" over here. I get such a kick out of ordering something with the word "krap" in it - juvenile, I know - but it keeps me smiling.Olympics: I'm proud to report I earned 2 Gold Medals in the Olympics this year. I designed and finished the half-finger gloves for the Irishman and finished AND BLOCKED the sweater for his brother! Yay me!
Ahh, a pair of gloves to make Picaso jealous. Maybe it's time I skulk over to the dark side and try my hand at blocking. So far, the only thing I've blocked is a Flower Basket Shawl that looked like 6-day-old spaghetti until I attacked it with pins and a spray bottle. It seems ridiculous to block gloves, but I'm guessing (hoping desperately!) that the stranding-thing is what's got this pair all funky looking.Are the Olympics just for knitting - or is blocking part of that challenge?Next event is to finish the Beast - jeeeze! I hope that doesn't include blocking as well! My weekend is soooo screwed! Looks like I'm going to have to park my tooshy on the couch (ok, no big challenge there) and force myself to sit still and run aran yarn through my hands. This could be accomplished with some cranberry juice/Bacardi limon and Season 2 of The Shield. I'll only have to take my eyes off of Vic to tie in the ends ;)Can't you just cut the tension with a knife here? Will I make the cutoff? Will I try to hide the ends of my knitting on Sunday's blog pictures? Or will I try to convince my friends in Blogtown that the recipient really did request a aran-patterned sweater without a neck....P.S. Ever try typing a blog entry while wearing unblocked gloves? It's crap, my fingers are cramping.
Today is Weiberfasching in Germany - it roughly translates to Womyn's Karnival. It's the day when women through-out Germany run through the streets with scissors and cut off the neckties of any unsuspecting males silly enough to have worn one today. I never thought I'd have the nerve to attack a perfectly good silk tie, but lo, my work colleague Thorston wore an old stained tie today. He sacrificed himself and our work dress code at my desk only 20 minutes ago. Shortly after, Alfred gave himself up to the same cause (his is the shiny leather tie on the left) he says it's an old tie from the back of his closet (any guesses as to the decade??) What's that?? Where's my Olympic Update?? Things are top secret here in Franken. There's been some work going on, but I'm not spilling all my beans just yet. Let's just say that I, also, am waiting with bated breath to see if I'm standing on the podium on Sunday night with tears of joy glistening in the corners of my exhausted eyes.
The ones where I get excited when I look at the seed catalog and feel the slightest warmth from a sun ray and then I look outside to the grey skies and snow flakes floating by the window and get all sad and blah-ey again.This is usually the time when I start shopping for bright coloured-yarns and making
crazy clown socks for the Irishman.
To curb the potential danger of this shopping spree (shah!) I spent a little time at www.bastelundhobbykiste.de on Monday and ordered a couple of things to cheer me up. First I found the Spring 06 Interweave Knits (yes, in Germany!!!) and then I finally located a Dale of Norway kids pattern book. A Spin-Off book on socks caught my eye and a hand-painted skein of Opal for €8!!! Nice rainbow colours to chase away the blues :)To distract myself, I'm going to focus on finishing my Olympic Self-designed gloves. Gold is a nice, bright colour, isn't it??
My colleague tried to describe these socks yesterday and I couldn't, for the life of me imagine what they looked like. So she brought the pattern booklet this morning.I'm speechless.Doesn't this look like the sort of sock that would interest Eve Ensler. I have to admit, I'm not an expert on *exactly* what THAT looks like, but I'm pretty sure, these socks are a woolly celebration of womanhood!!
