KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

Yo - I'll be missing in action for a while - working on a surprise for a very special person. I'll be back after Easter. Have a great time - don't do anything I wouldn't do.

I will miss my knitting buddies and the knitting groups - but it is just going to be for a few days. I think we can manage that. :-)

When I get back, there will be tons of pictures, FOs and a naming contest for my latest pair of socks. Stay tuned!

Hey everyone - Happy Easter - enjoy a nice spring Sunday! I'm back from my undercover surprise - more later. Hubby and I are off to Jacquie's house today for an Easter dinner. Yesterday we baked a coconut cake to bring. Maybe I can get a longer post in tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

Well - my usual problem. I don't blog for a while and then there are a ton of things I would like to write about. Thankfully by the time I get around to a post, I already forgot half of the things.

So, where was I? I mean this literally... There was a change in location involved, actually in continents. I was in Germany for a short trip. YAY - to surprise my Dad for his 70th birthday. I had planned this since January and only my sister-in-law knew that I was coming. Well - I had to have one spy to make sure that my parents would really be there. Sometimes they have those crazy spur-of-the-moment ideas and just take off for a couple of days. That would have been funny – me ringing the door bell until I turn blue and nobody answers.

So, I arrived in Munich Friday morning on March 14. Which brings me to another thing – I can already see that this post will go all over the place. March 14 is the birthday of another very special man in my life. No, not Albert Einstein… HUBBY! Though, I sometimes feel like I am married to an Albert Einstein. So, I was a bad wife and not there for his birthday. But I asked him before I booked my trip and he said that he’ll be fine and that we’ll celebrate his birthday when I get back. Dad’s rights are a bit older. ;-)

So, Hubby, happy belated birthday from the blog.

Love ya! Many happy returns! Stay as healthy and fun to be with as you are!

So, I arrived in Munich Friday morning on March 14. It was pouring freakin’ cats and dogs.

I rented a car to be independent. It took a lot longer than usual to get to my parents’ place. But they were home. When I rang the doorbell, I interrupted them getting the apartment ready for my Dad’s birthday party the next day. Mom was mopping the floor and Dad was re-arranging the furniture. They were so happy to see me and so excited! So cool that everything worked out and I could surprise them. It was really funny because my SIL didn’t even tell my brother. He was just as surprised, and so was my sister.

Saturday was Dad’s big day. 70 – I can’t believe it. Happy Birthday! Stay healthy for many, many more years!

We went to lunch at a traditional Bavarian restaurant. And afterwards we all went back to my parents' place. It was pretty crowded in their tiny living room with a long table and 14 people. Mom outdid herself and had fabulous cakes ready for everyone. That Saturday was also the only day with sunshine and a few hours with blue skies.

The rest of my trip, I had rain and snow.

And therefore I don’t have as many pictures as usual, SORRY! But I took a few shots of my niece and my nephew.

Which means that I got a lot of knitting done, always a good thing when you have endless WIPs.

I worked on the Mystery Stole 3, one of my Mission Possible 2008 projects, and I am finally on the last clue – the wing. It is really very pretty and I am hoping to finish it soon. Unfortunately one of the wooden tips of my Knitpicks Harmony broke out of the metal part and I only had metal circular needles with the same size with me. I didn’t dare to change the needles and take the shawl back on the plane. I still feel better with wooden needles on a plane. Somehow I think that metal needles are a dare for the security officers to take them away.

Shortly before I left for Germany, I started the Neiman Sweater. I really liked the pattern when it was published and I bought some Knitpicks Palette in the colors Black and Tidepool last year. When I finally started the project, I realized what I volunteered myself for: A sweater in fingering weight yarn in black on needles size US 2 (2.75mm) and US 2.5 (3.0mm), knitted in the round. Hello tons of stitches here I come.

I have 3 more inches of straight knitting, now that I'm connecting the body and the sleeves. And then it is time for the yoke. Surprisingly the sweater went pretty fast so far. I got this far in 2.5 weeks. Of course 20 hours on an airplane helps a lot. It’ll be fun to knit the color work. I tried the sweater on a couple of nights ago and it fits very nicely. I made a slight change to the pattern to accommodate my wide hips. I started out with size no. 5 and after the shaping of the waist, I continued to knit with the measurements for size no. 4.

The Bayrische Socks also made into my knitting bag. I finished sock no. one and I am past the heel of sock no. two. It took me quite a while to get back into the rhythm of the charts, but it’s OK now. Two more sock projects were in the bag, but I hardly touched them. But you never know what you would like to knit, so you need to bring a variety, right?

I also destashed while I was in Germany. Remember my post about all the sweaters I wanted to knit from the VERENA Spring Issue? Well, my mom was nagging me (really nagging me) that I should mail her some of my stash and she would knit some of those sweaters for me. At the time, I couldn’t tell her that I would be visiting soon and I would bring her some yarn. She kept asking and asking… So, I took two bags of yarn for her to knit these two sweaters:

Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool
How much? 7 skeins = 1344.0 yards (1229.0 m)
Colorway: Rosehip (21)

Yarn: Knit One Crochet Too Angora Soft
How much? 15 skeins = 1725.0 yards (1577.3 m)
Colorway: Blue (635)

I know, I know… I am very lucky to have her and no, she is not up for adoption. ;-) She started the first sweater while I was there and the pattern is coming out very pretty with the Silky Wool.

Speaking of Mom – I have to show off one of her latest knitting projects. My nephew kept asking her for a knitted sweater with a wolf’s head on the front. Mom finally found a pattern in a VERENA from 1987. Yup, she also has a huge collection of knitting magazines. And she went out and bought fingering weight yarn and knitted a mostly black sweater on tiny needles. Think we are related somehow???

So, here's my nephew’s fabulous new sweater – with three wolf heads…

Mom told me at some point she had like 15 balls of yarn all tangled up in the back. Insane intarsia is all I can think of… She is truly my inspiration and such an accomplished knitter.

Mom was also very proud of my published Tubey socks. Finally a simple pattern for socks, she said. She can’t understand why I always knit these fancy patterns into my socks. I guess for her socks are mostly practical and don’t have to have a pretty pattern.

So, the trip to Germany was very nice. I loved the quality time I spent with my parents alone. Believe it or not they are babysitting my nephew and niece quite a bit and when they were over to visit, I was glad when there were gone and there was peace and quiet. I am getting old, I'm telling you.

Stay tuned for the next post – a contest is coming up!!!

Oh, wait – I have a cute picture of the poochies – they were happy to see their mommy again and were kinda glued to me last weekend:

Hubby took a perfect picture – sorry I had to chop my head off. Not even close as photogenic as the dogs…

I’m not a huge fan of memes, but every once in a while I put one I like on my blog. While I was looking at Wendy's blog to possibly find a good free poll tool (yes, I am gearing up for the contest!!!), I saw this one.

The rules:

1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them on your blog for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. Looking them up is cheating, please don’t.

Here we go...

1.
Good. Someday, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But, until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughter's wedding day.

Movie: The Godfather (1972) - Quote from Don Corleone (Marlon Brando)
Guessed it: Jody at 3:52pm - 03.28.08
Guessed it: Emily at 3:54pm - 03.28.08

2.
He: What if I were in a coma, and the doc says, "One more day?"
She: I'd throw you into the ocean... Shock therapy.

Movie: Lola Rennt aka Run Lola Run (1999) - Quote from Manni and Lola (Moritz Bleibtreu and Franka Potente)
Guessed it: Elizabeth at 2:48am - 03.29.08

3.
I am Shiva, the god of death.

Movie: Michael Clayton (2007) - Quote from Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson)
Guessed it: Morticcia at 2:04pm - 03.31.08

4.
You know, once you muscle your way past the gag reflex, all kinds of possibilities open up.

Movie: Ratatouille (2007) - Quote from Emile (voice of Peter Sohn)
Guessed it: Lisa at 5:24pm - 03.28.08

5.
Okay. Now I'm going to do his teeth and cut off his fingers. You might want to leave room.

Movie: Eastern Promises (2007) - Quote from Nikolai Luzhin (Viggio Mortensen)
Guessed it: Donna at 4:21pm - 03.28.08
Guessed it: Lisa at 5:24pm - 03.28.08

6.
Hey, man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody who needs a haircut.
Movie: Easy Rider (1969) - Quote from Billy (Dennis Hopper)

Guessed it: Phyllis' son-in-law at 2:22pm - 03.29.08

7.
My country send me to United States to make movie-film. Please, come and see my film. If it not success, I will be execute.

Movie: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) - Quote from Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen)
Guessed it: Jody at 3:52pm - 03.28.08
Guessed it: Emily at 3:54pm - 03.28.08

8.
We have a question: Do you want to be a cop, or do you want to appear to be a cop? It's an honest question. A lot of guys just want to appear to be cops. Gun, badge, pretend they're on TV.

Movie: The Departed (2006) - Quote from Det. Capt. Oliver Queenan (Martin Sheen)
Guessed it: Rachel at 11:12pm - 03.29.08

9.
Baa-ram-ewe, baa-ram-ewe. To your breed, your fleece, your clan be true. Sheep be true. Baa-ram-ewe.
Movie: Babe (1995) - Quote from the sheep (the sheep password)
Guessed it: Donna at 4:18pm - 03.28.08
Guessed it: Angie at 5:50pm - 03.28.08

10.
Do you like my meadow? Try some of my grass! Please have a blade, please do, it's so delectable and so darn good looking!

Movie: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) - Quote from Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp)
Guessed it: Rachel at 11:10pm - 03.29.08

I have to say I liked all these movies a lot when we watched them, but I wouldn't consider them all favorites. There is one on the list which is my all-time favorite. Some of you might know which one. ;-)

Happy Friday - the contest will be up this weekend!

Okidoki - here we go. Ready?

I am looking for a name for a pair of socks. The design is my own. Here is a peek at the socks in progress:

And this is a close up of the pattern:

I am knitting with Zwerger Garn Opal Regenwald / Rainforest (Colorway Tiger) and the pattern is based on Barbara Walker's "Dragon Scales".

Now, put your thinking caps on (as Lily Chin would say) and come up with a name for these socks. The contest will be closed on Sunday April 6, 2008, at midnight. After that I will run a poll with all entries to vote on. The name with the most votes will win some yarn and the person who came up with the name will be mentioned in the pattern, once it is written up.

What is the prize??? Sock yarn, of course. The winner will get a skein of Rohrspatz & Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash hand-dyed (574 yards). The color is called Campari Orange. I bought this color because it is one of my favorite drinks. ;-)

I think the dyer did an execllent job in getting the colors right - look at the old Campari ad I found:

Good luck to all the participants!

I can't wait to see all the cool names you come up with. By the way, I was not able to tie up the hank of yarn as tight as it came from Germany after I took the pictures... I guess that's a special skill.