On No Fibre Content

Still-Life with Fountain (edited), originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

*Urgh* It's hot!

And what to do when it's hot?

This:

Summertime indulgence [141:366, 28.06.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Ahhhh....nice cool ice-cream.

Have you noticed how uninspired my post has started out? Yeah, the aftermath of the thesis plus the heat plus the onslaught of revision plus work are all contributing nicely to turning my brain into One.Big.Mush.

Okay, okay, I've been enjoying my time with Dr. D for the past five days, too. We hardly got to see each other in the past three/four weeks. First, it was my mad-rush to finish off my thesis. Then there's my job at the hostel...I do the morning shifts and so I start at 7 a.m. This means I get up at 5 a.m....yeah, sure I can get up later and do a mad-dash to be in time for work, too...but that's not my style. I need my time in the morning chewing on my Muesli and taking a shower. So yeah, 5 a.m. to get up that is. And sure enough, that's not such an attractive time to get up if you were spending the night before at your boyfriend's, eh? So, in order to make up for the past weeks, I've been seeing Dr. D everyday for the past five days, which is a new record for us. It wasn't 24 hours spent together though. I had to leave to get home and do a couple of stuff in between, too. But the best surprise for me was on Friday evening when I wasn't expecting to go over to him because there was a knit-night...he rang me up and asked whether I wouldn't want to come over. Now, that was new for me. None of my previous boyfriends were like that. All they ever asked me was along the line of "Haven't you got somewhere else to go?". Yeah, Dr. D's definitely for keeping.

Anyhoo, Dr. D's leaving to go on a week long vacay with his family tomorrow....so I'll be all alone *queues "All By Myself"*. But fear not, for I have a whole load of stuff planned to do (well, work is still there to do and also revisions...but let's be honest, who would want to know about those?). And it's pretty sure that there will be blogger-visit on Thursday...not telling you which one though. ;-p Anyway, I got to meet up with Dr. D today after work for an afternoon tea (lawdy, that sounds absolutely bloody prissy, doesn't it?) at our favourite place: Victorian Tea House. So, that was extra nice to see him after such a nerve-wrecking day at the hostel (no, I'm not going to start telling you here about how dealing with international guests can really make one goes bonkers)....so yeah, I at least got to see him before he leaves tomorrow. ;-)

Apropos, blogger-visit. I was pleasantly surprised last Thursday when MunchOfLife really popped into Lanaiolo! He wrote to me a couple of weeks ago on Ravelry asking for some LYS suggestions in Munich and I told him a couple as well as my LYS...and he actually made it there! Great to have met you!

I've been feeling really bad about SP12, too. I haven't given that much thought as needed be for the package for my downstream pal. And being the perfectionist that I am, I don't want to give away any clues that might reveal anything about me. But it's just hard when you're living in a foreign country. Oh well, I guess at least revealing the country you're living in isn't going to hurt, eh? But because of this, I still haven't got everything together for the first package. I guess I should make it priority number one for this week to get the package together and finally send it off.

Talking about SP12, I guess I should answer the week's question, too: What would you consider the perfect amount of stash?

Now, that's one hard nut to crack. I used to think that I could never ever have enough yarn...but the confining space actually got me re-thinking about it and I'm happy with what I've got right now. I reckon that the perfect amount of stash is the amount that you feel comfortable with without having any guilt on "having too much". I always jokingly say that I have waaaay too much stash, but I know that it's puny comparing to some of you out there. Bottom line is, I'm happy with it and that's what counts. ;-)

So, that' all for now. I've got too many UFOs on the needles and the attempt to reduce them only mysteriously procures more new projects. Don't ask me how I managed to do that...but it just happened. Hopefully I will have a cute FO to show you soon. ;-)

Right now, I'm going to pop in a DVD (no hostel work tomorrow, since there's a guy coming to read last winter's heat usage in the building and I'm not leaving my keys with my so-called neighbours, since I don't know jack about them) and knit on one of the new UFO. Y'all have a great start to the week, eh?

(Oh, and one last thought thrown in: Boohoo on Germany for playing such a lousy game last night resulting in ending up being second for the European Cup. Junx, Ihr könnt echt viel besser als das gestern! - Don't know when I turned into such a footy. LOL.)

Current Mood: Missing Dr. D already...but I'm feeing good, as long as there is enough ice-cream.
Food for the ears: Okay, okay, so this first clip is not music. Thanks to the Gal with the Orange Body-suit (TM - harhar, you know who you are), I'm now addicted to Jeffery and Cole on YouTube. They're absolutely hilarious and got me ROFLing every time I watch a new clip (besides, I think that Jeffery is such a QT!):



And in order to not leave you dry without music, here's what I'm...well, anticipating (OH.Mah.Gaaaaaaaaaawd, I'm so gay in this post!):



Yeah, and the song in my favourite mise-en-scenes:

On Some breathing space

Flowers [131:366, 15.06.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Well, I handed in my thesis of doomy-doom-doom yesterday. So, now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that things will go fine and that I'll pass that first stage and get to the exams. This will also mean that I have to gear up for the revisions. *urgh* Can't it just all be over now?

I think that for the moment, I should answer the SP12 question from last week:

What is your favourite summer drink?

I really don't know. I just drink what I feel like. Some kind of fruity cocktail, I guess. And wine's always there....perhaps more cool white wine in the summer.

I just don't drink soft drinks any more apart from the Schorle stuff.

Hehe, yeah, that's all I can come up with. Sorry, but my brain's pretty useless at the moment. I took yesterday off and visited a friend who just recently had a baby....which reminded me of an FO that I haven't shown you:

Baby Surprise Jacket [123:366, 01.06.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 23rd May 2008
Finish: 31st May 2008
Needles: 4 mm / 80 cm Addi Lace
Yarn: Handgefaerbt.com, Winter Abo 2007
Pattern: Baby Surpise Jacket (BSJ) by Elizabeth Zimmermann

Yup, I made my first BSJ. It's still too big for the little girl though.

Anyway, I think I'm going to retire for the day to just lounge around and do nothing apart from knitting and spinning and think about the first package for my downstream SP12. ;-)

Y'all have a great week out there!

Current Mood: Addle-brained
Food for the ears: "Daschn" - Claudia Koreck

On Hey! What's the Big Ideaaaaa?!

First attempt at designing [105:366, 14.05.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 13th May 2008
Finish: WIP
Needles: 2.5 mm / 80 cm Addi Lace
Yarn: Wollmeise 100% superwash Merino Sockenwolle, "Frosch"
Pattern: My own, based on a stitch pattern.

I have been debating with myself whether I wanted to blog about this one or not...but I guessed that since the picture's public on Flickr anyway, I might as well talk about it.

Anyway, so this is "Salomé (Dance of the Seven Veils)". Since I've taken this photo, the sock has grown to the point where I'm putting in my own design. But it has already come to a halt due to the fact that I still need to work on my thesis.

When do you start calling a design your own design? At the moment, this is a modification or a put-together of a pattern out of a pattern book. But I have plans for this one.

What do you think? I think that if I'm successful at figuring everything out with this pattern, the biggest problem would be sizing, since I wear EUR 44 / US Men 10.5....and the stitch count for the pattern adds up just perfect for my size. This will mean that there will be problem with sizing for smaller feet. Or maybe I should just do this for men only. ;-p Although I already have some great ideas for sizing down...however, I will be able to work that out only when I've finished this sock.

You wouldn't believe how many times I've frogged and restarted the sock before I settled on this. I started off with another yarn, then figured I should just use Wollmeise. Chose the wrong colourway, then another wrong colourway before I ended up with this one. (Not to mention the first try with that other yarn....it involved about 6 times of frogging...now I know the pain of designing.)

I'm still not sure what will happen with the design, i.e. whether I'm going to submit it or sell it or publish it for free. I'll have to see.

The Yarn Wench: "Feather" [111:366, 20.05.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 16th May 2008
Finish: first bobbin of singles on 17.05.2008; second bobbin of singles on 18.05.2008; Plied on 19th May 2008
WPI: 15 WPI
Yardage: Bobbin: 304 metres / 82 g; Spindle: 48 metres / 13 g
Fibre: 3.3 oz / 95 g of The Yarn Wench Domestic in "Feather", sent to me by KnottyNaomi
Wheel & Settings: Singles spun worsted and two-plied on Kromski Minstrel, 8.5:1 double-drive. Left-over singles Andean-plied on Butterflygirl Designs 1.6 oz carved Agate top-whorl

Anyhow, since I have no real knit FOs to show, here's at least a spinning FO.

I'm really happy with the result of this yarn. It's my first real 2-ply using my wheel and tensioned lazy kate.

I got the bobbin so full while plying that it wouldn't take on any more yarn, so I had to break off and make an Andean-bracelet to ply on the spindle.

Interestingly, the spindle plied yarn seems to turn out differently...probably because the two-ply resulted from the same singles and not from two strands of different singles. The colours are a bit heathered and the yarn is fuzzier. Mind you though, it might be the fact that I hit the singles in the part where the colours are lighter than other parts, too.

All in all, I'm happy with the yarn. I could probably get a decent size anklets out of the skein.

Here are some more photos:

The Yarn Wench: "Feather", originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

The Yarn Wench: "Feather", originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Anyway, it was my 4th Blogiversary on this past Sunday (18th May 2008). I said in a previous post that I would do some kind of contest. Well, I haven't thought of anything yet. So, it will be on hold for the moment until I can think of something. Then we'll have a contest. ;-)

Lastly, before I try getting back to my thesis, I'm going to share with you the real reason why I'm blogging right now instead of doing my thesis. Thing is, this morning, I heard a song that's been stuck in my head all day long now....and well, I can't concentrate because of it. Some of you might already have an inkling of the song from the title of the post...so be warned, you might get it stuck in your head, too. LOL. The song is at the end of the post. ;-p

Have a great week every one!

ETA: I might have a very exciting piece of news concerning myself soon. I don't want to reveal it at the moment - so not to jinx it. And just to be clear: No, Dr. D and I aren't getting married or anything like that. Just in case you were thinking along that line. :-p

Current Mood: Jiggly
Food for the Ears:

On..thanks, Crazy Aunt Purl....

...for making me bawling my eyes out.

There are altogether 2 songs that can make me cry on the spot (usually I jump up in time to change the songs or leave before I have to hear them) and 2 other songs that after repeated hearing I'd start bawling...

Well, Laurie, aka Crazy Aunt Purl had to go ahead and talk about the movie and post the YouTube video of the song that belongs to the latter categories of songs-that-make-me-cry-like-a-baby....so guess what happened? Yeah, and Dr. D's not here this weekend either.....

Here's the video...one of the best love songs of all time (yeah, I can be tacky and full of cliche some time):



Good night....

Current Mood: *meh*
Food for the ears: See the YouTube video above...

On Ricky, Ricky, Ricky!!!! (and Eros *urgh*)

Okay, I have to admit that I can't stand Eros Ramazotti. But the fact that this has Ricky in it...well, I'll tolerate Eros.

Enjoy:

No estamos solos:



No siamo soli:



...and while I'm at it, I think I'll throw in "Te extraño, te olvido, te amo"....if you know why I like Ricky, then this is where it all started:

On A Diamond in the Rough

I saw this on David's Blog....and it's just truly amazing. I got goosebumps watching just this little clip and it actually brought tears to my eyes....okay, if you're not an opera fan you might feel a bit *meh* about this, but for me, it's just stunning:



You could see that the juries were pretty surprised by the first tone uttered from him.

"Vincerò...vincerò", indeed, for I surely hope that he will win. *chapeau* He gets a standing ovation from me.

Current Mood: Busy but procrastinating a bit
Food for the ears: "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's 'Turandot'

On....Brigitte.de, WWKIP-Day...and just Yay!!!!

Wollmeise Sock yarn: Pfauenauge, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

First thing first:

HERZLICH WILKOMMEN an alle, die hier vom Artikel auf Brigitte.de gekommen sind! Ich hoffe, ihr habt Spaß daran, meinen Blog zu durchforsten! (Ich schreibe manchmal auch auf Deutsch oder einfach zwei-sprachig, jedoch zum größten Teil auf Englisch).

And now, back to business. If you can't understand what I've just written above...well, I was interviewed via email last year by the online version of the magazine Brigitte.de about my knitting. And now the article is now online!!!! *YAY!* (the article is however in German).

So, as you can see from the picture....my Wollmeise order came in yesterday!! *Yay!* I'm only going to show you the hanks for myself. There were seven hanks altogether, but four of them are going to different people all over the world as swaps/gifts. So, I can't show them here yet, otherwise I'd be taking the surprise away. ;-) I'll post the pictures when each recipient has received his/her hank.

The one above is "Pfauenauge" which means the European Peacock or Inachis Io. I'm going to make some kind of lace pattern with this. No, not socks, but scarf or something akin to it.

Wollmeise Sock yarn: Wellensittichvogelfeder, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

This "Wellensittichvogelfeder" means so much as Budgerigar's feather.

Wollmeise Sock Yarn: Farn, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

And this one "Farn", means "Fern".

Now, have you noticed something about all my yarns in the past couple of months? There is a shift....a shift in colour preference. I've gone from blue to green. I have no idea why. I still like blue, but for some reason, I'm collecting a lot of greens right now.

Okay, now go and get something to mop up your keyboard from all the drool first before carrying on. :-p

The Magic of re-hanking and good photography, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Earlier this year, Bockstark Knits gave me two hanks of sock yarn she got off eBay, because they looked totally *meh*. I mean, it looked *meh* to me, too, but hey, I'm not saying no to free yarn! :-p

Anyhow, two nights ago, I felt the urge to cast on for some kind of socks...well, actually I know why: I wanted to know whether I could still handle DPNs and knit socks cuff down or not. So, I thought that if I'm just going to play around, then I'm not going to use something like Wollmeise...and these two hanks came in mind. So, I made yarn-cake out of them and started knitting with one (that one will come a tad later). The other one I re-hanked and take a photo of, the result of which is the above photo. Now, comparing the new photo to how it looked originally (I actually said that it looks like barf), you can see what the magic of re-hanking yarn and some good photography could do to it. ;-)

"Monkey" just jumped on the needles, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Started: 05th June 2007
Finished: Might frog it soon, this was just for fun
Needles: 2.5 mm Inox DPNs
Yarn: Das Sockenschaf sock yarn (80% wool 20% acrylic; 100 g / 500 m), "Das Meer"
Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A. from Knitty Winter 2006

So this is the other hank. Yeah, magic of yarn-cake and good photography, eh?

I cast-on for Monkey. Yes, I know, it will never fit me. But then I could just give them to my mum....although I'm srsly thinking that I'm going to frog this really soon because, well, the yarn's not so hot to knit with. It's really thin - almost a lace-weight -, and so my stitches are somewhat loose. Besides, I'd rather give my mum socks that are knit up in lovely wool than something I'd just play with. :-)

So, that's all for the moment. I have to go prepare for the recording of the next episode of now. So, I'm going to leave you with this, completely non-knitting-related:

Inter-World Map, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Have a great day!

Current Mood: VERY giddy!
Food for the ears:

On my newest Gay-Trash addiction

That's Magnus Carlsson....you know, the sexy blond one from Alcazar.

I can't stop listening to the song...ended up just buying it from iTunes and now it's playing up and down on iPod.

Current Mood: Jitterbug
Food for the ears: Live Forever - Magnus Carlsson

On...Warning: Knitting Contents ahead!

NB: If you're actually here for non-knitting-related topics, then you should go and read my last entry.

Extreme knitting: Kolenyas #9 & #10, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

1. Kolenyas #9 & #10, 2. Kolenyas in progress (#9 & #10), 3. Kolenyas in progress (#9 & #10), 4. Kolenyas in progress (#9 & #10)

Started: 07th January 2007
Finished: These are WIPs! - Half way @ 20th March 2007
Yarn: Noro Kureyon, 100% Wool, colour #124 and #180
Needle: 3.5 mm INOX dpns
Pattern: Kolenya from Sheep and No City
Technique: Knitting two Kolenyas at once on one set of dpns using Kory Stamper's 2 Socks in 1 method from Knitty Fall 2006

To tell you the truth, I'm a bit overwhelmed right now and don't exactly know where to start blogging with all the knitting related stuff I have to tell you. So, I'm just stabbing my finger blindly at a point an pick that one as the starting point.

Let's kick off with the above....Can you still remember my extreme knitting phase? Well, I left the project to marinate in the UFO-box for so long...knitting two things at once takes quite a while and it tired me out. Apart from that I made the mistake - even with much care - of crossing the yarn once...so that when I finished each side of the Kolenyas and was pulling them apart from each other...well, you know the scenario: The darn things wouldn't separate.

I ended up having to cut the stitch *inserts desperate scream here* and then fudge it together afterwards. And because of this experience, I'll be knitting the other side of each pair separately.

*Lesson learned*

Yarnissima Yarn Swap and Mini-Socks, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

1. Mini-Sock for Mini-Sock-Blocker, 2. Mini-Sock!, 3. Unknown Sock Yarn from Yarnissima, 4. Package from Yarnissima!

Yes, I have new sock yarns! I did a yarn swap with Yarnissima!. I got two 50g balls of the Meilenweit, the mysterious sock yarn (which, she told me, is a Regia), some of her Moo-cards and lastly the mini-sock blocker/key-chain. And so I couldn't resist knitting mini-socks right away. Maybe I should consider joining the Wee Tiny Sock Swap.

Yarn Cakes, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

1. Noro Kureyon #124, the other side of the Kolenya, 2. Noro Kureyon #180, the other side of the Kolenya, 3. Rowan Summer Tweed, 4. Unknown Yarn

So, the Kureyons are for the other side of the Kolenyas I was talking about before. The Rowan Summer Tweed will be turned into a Shedir in due time.

The last yarn cake is an interesting one. You see, I bought this ballwinder and swift and this yarn came with it...along with some other horrific stuff that I dutifully threw in the bin right away. I got about 5 hanks of this golden-hairy-yarn....enough to make a sweater. But I definitely won't be making myself any sweater that sheds golden hair any time soon. *urgh* So, I'm giving them to one of the gals from SnB. One ball's going to Shernoh though...although I'm not sure what the heck he's going to do with it. I don't really think that the yarn is very suitable for crocheting...but well, he can play around with it nevertheless. Who knows.

The latest Kolenyas, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

1. Kolenyas #13, 2. Kolenyas #12, 3. Kolenyas #9 & #10, 4. Kolenyas #11 (for Shernoh)

Apart from the double-knit Kolenyas, I have also finished three other pairs of Kolenyas. Click on the links above for information on each individual pair.

The big picture is a pair of Kolenyas I knit out of Noro's Silk Garden. It's the first pair I tried with Silk Garden and now I think I'm going to knit more Kolenyas with this yarn now. The yarn is sooooooooooo soft after the wash and it feels so good on the skin. The only notorious thing I can't stand with Silk Garden is the knots. Thank goodness I found only one knot in this skein. Right now I'm knitting another pair in Silk Garden. The yarn is light enough even for Summer - well, that's how I feel.

Okay, well that's all for now. I hope that I'll get a chance to blog again before I leave for Cologne next week. So, for expat bloggers up in the area: I'll be in Cologne from 04th until 14th April! If you guys want to meet up, you know how you can contact me!

Otherwise: Have a great weekend and if I don't blog: Happy Easter!

Current Mood: Still sick but feeling better already
Food for the ears: "Thirst in an Ocean" by Peopod

On a weekend in Cologne

Moi by S., originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

First off, this is going to be an extremely picture-heavy post. Sorry to those of you out there with slow connection. Secondly, it'll be in English only...coz I couldn't be bothered with multiple languages at the moment. :-p

So, let's kick off!

I went to teach (snotty with cold and all) last Thursday morning with my luggage trailing behind me. After the lesson I went straight to Munich's main train station and got on the train without any further ado. As soon as I got on the train, I pulled out my Wollmeise yarn cake in "Amazonas" and started swatching for my next sock...(real knitting content and pictures will be interspersed in the post). I sat in my seat and knit for four and half hours solid...all the way to Cologne. I could feel the eyes on me...but nobody was brave enough to struck up a conversation with me or ask me about my knitting. *tsk*

I don't know what I was really expecting from this trip....I just wanted to get out of Munich and move on with my life (in the aspect of my relationship and all). I chatted with Frank the evening before to see when he and his friends are leaving for Cologne, since I didn't really want to bump into them on the train....well, they were leaving towards the evening so I was safe. :-p The thing that I was looking forward to in Cologne was to see the city and meet up with Belinda and J. True, I was going to meet up with S. for the first time - I was staying at his place....and I looked forward to meeting him...however I really didn't know what to expect....but we'll get to that.

As we were approaching Cologne I sent a text to tell S. that I was almost there. The train arrived on time (*gasp!*) in Cologne....I got out and there he was! Talking about precision! *LOL* I didn't tell him which carriage I was in, but it seemed he got it right anyway.

Still, no real impression of the guy, apart from "hi, you're nice, thanks for having me."

I took a quick look at the Cathedral of Cologne and we went down to catch the tube/tram to go drop my stuff off at S.'s place. That's where the fun started....

...I had to get a ticket for the public transportation in Cologne. Shernoh had no idea....so I ended up going to the counter. Anyway, I went up to the lady at the counter and greeted her with "Grüß Gott!" and I thanked her later with "Merci!"...both of which was such a give-away about being Bavarian. S. remarked afterwards that the lady was beaming and unusually and exceptionally nice to me....and we just put it down at the fact that I was using Bavarian words whereas I wasn't even in Bavaria...and not that I look like a German, or a Bavarian at all. *LOL* (I knew it, I should've just worn my Janker there!).

The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful, since I was tired from the trip and also from having a cold. In the evening however, we met up with two of S.'s friends at a small café/bar. We all ended up having 2 Caipirinhas each....and golly! The cocktails there were cheap-o! I mean, the caipi cost EUR 4.50! That's the normal price!!! For Munich, that would've been the Happy Hour price...so, yeah, I ended up having actually two and a half glass of caipis, since S. was well on his way after the first glass already! *LOL* So after that, we just went home to bed.

Daniela, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

On Friday morning, we woke up to what seemed like a promising sunny day....which turned grey and wet in the afternoon.

I however woke up to what felt like someone had dropped a building on my whole body while I was sleeping. No, it wasn't the alcohol, but the cold. So, I spent most of the morning trying to revive myself and ransacking S.'s medical supply. I had to be tip-top on that day since I was going to meet up with J. and Belinda in the afternoon. Anyway, I felt better after having a shower....Marc, another friend from Cologne, rang me up to see whether I want to meet up for lunch...and there I went. Meeting up with Marc for the first time and had a quick lunch with him and some chit-chat.

After lunch, I asked Marc to take me over to Christophstrasse. I had a definite place in mind that I wanted to go to...and that was Maschenkunst, a knitting shop. I was all giddy, because the owner of Maschenkunst is Daniela Johannsenova, who also does the podcast Secret Knitting!

So I walked into the shop with Marc. There were only two ladies there, a younger one and an older one. The younger one greeted me and I, again, "Grüß Gott!" back. Without further ado, I just blurted out and asked whether she was Daniela...she said yes. I was sure I noticed some kind of recognition in her eyes. So, I went up to shake her hand and introduced myself saying that I listen to her podcast and came from Munich. She countered back with "Do you blog, too?" and I said "Yes!". Daniela went on, a bit more excited now: "I know your blog!!...Do you guys want some coffee?"...of course, both I and Marc took up the offer.

Moi & Daniela, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Poor Marc, he doesn't even knit and he got dragged into an LYS by me, sitting there having coffee and listen to knitting chit-chat. He actually was pulled into the conversation by the older lady there....That was such a display of the easy-going Klösch mentality. People just get into chit-chat with each other really easily.

Anyway, I stayed there for about an hour or so fondling yarn and keeping myself from making such a splurge there....Daniela sure has yummy stuff in her shop! During the course of the conversation she actually mentioned that a lot of the people who come into her shop actually know my blog. Who are you guys??? Please, do de-lurk!!! Anyhow, by the end I couldn't hold out any longer and had to take something with me....it was a hard exercise already not to jump around the shop fondling all those yarn...so I guess I had to take something home with me.....

Trekking pro natura & Colinette's Jitterbug, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

...I ended up buying myself a hank of Colinette's Jitterbug sock yarn in "Copperbeach" (#67). Then Daniela asked me whether I've ever knit with Bamboo-yarn. I said no...and what do you know? She offered me a skein of Zitron's "Trekking pro natura" to test-knit for her!!! How could I turn down such an offer? So, now that skein will be the next one to go on the needles as soon as I get one of my socks off the needles! *LOL* Tausend Dank noch mal, Daniela!!!!

Here are the details of both yarn...aren't they just yummy?

Colinette's Jitterbug detail, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Colinette's Jitterbug sock yarn, 100% superwash Merino, colourway "Copperbeach" #67

Trekking pro natura detail, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Zitron's "Trekking pro natura" sock yarn: 75% New Wool, 25% Bamboo; colourway # 1640

J., moi & Belinda, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

After the visit to Maschenkunst, Marc took me to the Cologne's main station for me to meet up with S. again and to meet up with J. and Belinda.

I was really anticipating this meeting since it was the first Expat-Blogger meeting I'd been to. I didn't know what to expect....heck, I didn't even know what J. looks like. Thank goodness I knew what Belinda looks like, so I was trying to spot her. As for my part, I decided to deck myself out with as much hand-knit items as possible. I was sure that Belinda would be able to spot me easily enough as a knitter. :-p

Anyway, I was actually able to spot both Belinda and J. before they spotted me. It was such a pleasure to have met them finally. I introduced them both to S. and we made our way out of the station. It turned out that it was Belinda's very first time in Cologne, too! So, we popped into the Cathedral and had a look around before making our way to a café nearby.

Moi and S., originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

I don't know how long we stayed...but then Belinda had to leave to catch her train home...and shortly afterwards, J. also had to leave.

We had such a great time talking about all sorts of things...although I kept steering my conversation back to knitting-related topics as soon as I turn to Belinda, much to the chagrin of both S. and J. *LOL* But for that, Belinda got to fondle my new yarn from Maschenkunst. :-p

Belinda also brought me a belated birthday gift. It was the German (translated) version of My Horizontal Life: A collection of One-Night Stands by Chelsea Handler. I'm halfway through the book now and find it absolutely hilarious. Thanks, Belinda!!!

Groß St. Martin & Martinsviertel, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

On Saturday, the weather was nice and the forecast was saying that it was going to stay so. Thus, sightseeing it was to be.

S. took me down to the Rhein-Promenade to have stroll along the Rhine. We then made a detour into the old part of Cologne around Martinsviertel and went to see the Church Groß St. Martin.

Angel Statue, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

This is one of the statue in the church. The very first picture of this post of myself was taken by S. in the church.

The Cathedral of Cologne, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Afterwards, we headed over to the Cathedral where I was determined to climb the 509 steps up the 157.31 m tall spire of the south tower.

S., originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

S., originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

We got to the top and took a look around taking photos. There was quite a bit of people up there with us...I didn't expect anything else with the kind of weather we were having.

Afterwards, we took a walk through Cologne to Café Wahlen to meet up with the two friends of S. that I've already met on my first night Cologne. The café was this old place full of either retired people or gays. It was a pretty funny mixture actually. Unfortunately I forgot to pack my knitting stuff with me that morning...I sure would've been such an eye-opener to sit there and knit in that café! *LOL*

We went to the shopping mile of Cologne (sorry, can't remember the name) and walked around looking at this and that. It was really fun going around with these three. :-)

The chocolate fountain, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

On Sunday, we went to the Chocolate Museum. The place was pretty interesting actually, I particularly liked the part where you see how they produce all these chocolate bars/dolls.

Chocolate moulds, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Choco Rabbits, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Originally I was planning to come back to Munich on Sunday evening...but seeing as how things were developing, I just didn't want to come home at all. I was having such a good time in Cologne - not to mention in great company -, that I decided to stay on until Monday and to come back on Monday evening instead.

Damien Rice Concert Ticket, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Now, S. had been telling me that he was going to a concert on Sunday evening with his friends. We weren't sure about what I should do because I didn't have a ticket...apart from that I didn't really know the music of the musician. Sure, S. played some for me already and I found it okay. The concert was that of Damien Rice. His friends tried to get me a ticket, but it was too late to book over the internet. We found out however that there were still tickets available at the concert itself. I was a bit worried about the fact that those tickets might have been sold-out by the time we got there, but I decided not to be a bad-sports and just went along anyway under the motto of: "I have my knitting with me, if it must be, I'll just go off somewhere and knit." *LOL*

We got there and there was this huge line of people quadruple-stretching around the building already. I was thinking "Oh, great" to myself. We all started walking down along the line when suddenly the others stopped and I backtracked them. They were talking to this one girl who was selling off her ticket at the normal price! So, I grabbed it. *heh* Yeah, so I went to a Damien Rice concert! *woohoo!*

I didn't know how popular the guy actually was until afterwards....and I have to say that the music really grew on me and last night I ended up buying both of his albums from iTunes.

7, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

100, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Silhouette, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Then suddenly Monday was again there....I knew that I had to leave in the evening...which made me feel pretty weird, because I just didn't want to leave. The day was glorious and sunny. A perfect Spring day.

S. and I went out for a walk and took photos....the results of which are these last few photos. There are some really great shots of both myself and S. as well as other stuff:

S., originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Moi by S., originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Moi by S., originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

This very last one is perhaps one of the best photo of myself I've ever seen....and I also really like the one of S. in front of the brown-wall.

Anyway, we went to get some ice-cream after that. My first ice-cream in 2007! They have some really interesting flavours there. I had my usual fruity one, which was mango as well as two other unusual flavours: Rose and Chili-Chocolate. Both tasted wonderfully...but the chili-chocolate was hot!

Then the time for me to leave came and we made our ways to Cologne's main station. I always hate saying good-bye....especially this one. The five days I spent in Cologne was so wonderful that I can't really put it into words. It took me my whole concentration to keep some sort of smile on my face. S. turned kind of quiet already on the way to the station...

...I held off long enough until the train actually moved off and I opened S.'s little gift to me that I ended up crying. The poor guy sitting next to me looked pretty concerned that I was bawling my eyes out....

The train was again on time (*gasp!*) and I got home without any hiccups. This thus concludes my first ever trip to Cologne....

@ S.: Ich weiß echt nicht, wie ich Dir für das absolut wunderschöne Wochenende danken soll...aber ich glaube, Du weißt's ja selber. Es bleibt nichts anderes übrig als Dir noch mal so viel "Danke" zu sagen!!! Eine "zauberhafte Begegenung" halt, gel? Den Rest wissen wir ja schon.....*Meerschweinchen* ;-)

And now to the knitting content:

Wollmeise yarn cake: knitted up, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Started: 08th March 2007
Finished: WIP
Yarn: Rohrspatz & Wollmeise superwash sock yarn, 100% wool; colourway "Amazonas" (Amazon)
Needle: 2.5 mm/ US #1-2 Addi Turbos (using MagicLoop method)
Pattern: Universal Toe-up Sock using Magic Cast-On

Yeah, that's all I got around to knit during my whole WE in Cologne....but hey, I had other things to do! I'm loving the colour and how it's knitting up...even with the pooling. I think that the pooling really makes the whole thing look like the Amazon itself! ;-)

Then there're the other two yarn cakes that I raced over to Bockstark Knits for on Wednesday to wind up before leaving for Cologne:

Wollmeise yarn cakes, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Wollmeise yarn cake: Iris Sibirica, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Wollmeise yarn cake: Drachenblut, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

While I was typing this gargantuan entry in, my doorbell rang....and there came the postman with a package for me from Amazon.de in tow. I was thinking: "I didn't order anything from Amazon....did I?" The package was addressed to me though....so I opened it to find this:

Gift package from Amazon.de, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

A glimpse into the card revealed that it was a belated birthday present from a blog-friend of mine, Juneau. Opening up the package, and I got this:

Melanie Falick's Weekend Knitting, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

*Yay!!!!!!* Vielen Dank, Juneau!!!!

Well, guys, that's all I have to post now....it took me almost solid four hours to compose this whole entry up....so I seriouly need a break. Hope you had fun reading...and kudos to all those who actually made it to here. ;-) Have a great week!

Current Mood: Absolutely marvelously fantabulously great!!!
Food for the ears: The animals were gone by Damien Rice. Listen to the song on my Vox

On knitting, yarn, Strickliesl and English classes

JayWalker, Rhubarb and Strickliesl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

JayWalker
Started: I think March 2006
Finished: still on the needles
Yarn: Regia Canadian Colour 4-ply sock yarn, colour #4727
Needle: 2.5 mm/ US #1/#2 Inox dpns
Pattern: JayWalker by Grumperina on MagKnits

Rhabarber
Rohrspatz & Wollmeise worsted Merino yarn in the colourway "Rhabarber" ("Rhubarb")

Strickliesl
yarn: unknown

Above is more or less the descriptions of all the things in the photo. So now let me go back a step.

You remember my JayWalker? The one I started in March, frogged and restarted again when I was in Thailand. Well, I finished the one side of it and started on the other side....got the cuff down and then the second-sock-syndrome hit me and the half-knitted JayWalker sat around in my UFO-stash until last week. I decided to pick it up again and have set the goal to finish it by this weekend....and I'm pretty much on track.

Thing is, I knitted the cuff pretty long and I've got quite a big foot...so when I finished the first sock, I hadn't got enough yarn for the second sock. Went to my LYS and they had ran out of that colourway already. Luckily enough, they could get another skein in for me...but unfortunately not in the same dye lot. Thus, the one that I'm knitting right now has a more vibrant colour than the one that's off the needles already.

Anyway, I rolled the "Rhubarb" yarn from Rohrspatz & Wollmeise into a ball yesterday. I'm planning on making another My So Called Scarf..although I'm not sure whether I'd be able to wear it in this colourway or not...if not, I kinda have a recipient in mind already. ;-)

Now, that red and white with a smiley face on it you see on the right is what the Germans call Strickliesl. Basically, it's a little wooden doll that you use to make I-cords with....although I think that knitting an I-cord is a lot easier to do with needles than with this doll. So why do I have it?

Well, on Tuesday was the last day for the English class that I teach this year...and what happened? The students gave me gifts! They gave me the Strickliesl (because I told them that I knit) and three bottles of wine. So sweet of them!

Anyway, talking about English classes, I'm getting two more classes from January on. The class I'm teaching right now is elementary, but the two new classes will be an intermediate class and an advance class. Now, I don't think I should have any problems with the intermediate class...but I'm a bit scared of the advance one. I mean, how advance is "advance"? Any of you guys out there have tips for me? How I should go about it in the first lesson? What I should prepare for?

I know full well that I can't possibly plan the lessons for the intermediate and advance classes like I do for the elementary class. And to top it off, I'll be teaching three days in a row: Tuesdays with the elementary class, Wednesdays with the intermediate and Thursdays with the advance class. So, any tips and recommendations are very welcomed!

Lastly, I went to see Eragon yesterday....I'm reading the book right now and have to say that the movie totally muck up everything....I'm not saying that the movie's bad, but they had to re-write quite a lot of stuff in there and shift the stories around so much...it was entertaining enough, as long as you don't start comparing it to The Lord of the Rings Triology. I still haven't finished the book, but since I'm already on Christmas Holidays from the uni, I'll be able to finish it (I also have to work on my course papers, too!)

Oh, yeah, the guy who plays Eragon, Edward Speleers is kinda hot. *LOL*

That's all for now. If I don't blog more, then I wish y'all a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year! Have a safe holiday and take good care of yourselves!!!

Current Mood: In holiday moods
Food for the Ears: Past Life Regressed - Deirdre Flint: I don't know why, but in the past three or four days I started to listen to Deirdre Flint's songs again. Thanks to Brenda Dayne for introducing me (and her other listeners) to Deirdre's hilarious songs over her knitting podcast Cast-On. I usually cracked up listening to The Boob Fairy but have never really listened to the lyrics of the other songs...until a couple of days ago...and they are just as hilarious! Go listen to it!