KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

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…