KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

Well, this is all Famous Steve's fault... he created a monster yesterday. ;-) During the day, I noticed that he changed his Ravelry avatar and I complimented him on it. His new avatar looks like Famous Steve, but as a fourth grader from South Park - so cool. When I asked him how he got a South Park avatar, he told me where to go online to get my own, and later on I had a bit of time to get creative.

First, I came up with a regular one - with my blog theme, me and the poochies:

Then I thought I should do something different for the time I'll be gone, and I came up with a Bavarian theme...

And then Famous Steve twisted my arm really bad and made me join the Ravelry group called South Park-a-teers. I'm still amazed what groups you can find on Ravelry... I'm sure I mentioned before that Hubby and I totally love South Park, and we buy every season on DVD as soon as it's released.

So, since I'm going to be in Munich for such a long time, I wanted to find a bunch of yarn stores and knitting groups over there. And thanks again to Ravelry, I found both. I figured I should be prepared for the 10 weeks and have a place to shop and to hang out with local knitters. Which doesn't mean I don't love my local knitting buddies anymore, I hope you know that. It's more like an addict who needs to find a support group away from her regular support group. ;-)

While searching for the local Stitch N' Bitch group in Munich, I found Victor on Ravelry, who is the organizer of three meet-ups in Munich. He was just on German TV to talk about knitting and I'm sure you know him from the Knitters Uncensored Podcast.

This is his clip from the German TV station:

And you can find an English translation of the dialogue on Victor's blog. And while you're there, go drool over his gorgeous knitting and spinning projects. I can't wait to meet him and his knitting group in Munich.

I also came up with a list of projects that I'd like to take to Germany. 10 projects for 10 weeks - makes sense, right?

Here's my list:

Started in June 2007 - Bayerische Socks by Eunny Jang
Status: Sock 1 is done and I'm past the heel on no. 2

Started in Jluy 2007 - Twisted Flower Socks by Cookie A.
Status: Sock 1 is done and I need to start no. 2

Started in November 2007 - Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks by Cat Bordhi
Status: Sock 1 is done and I need to start no. 2

Started in January 2008 - Boot Socks (my own design with German boomerang heel)
Status: Sock 1 is done and I'm on way to the heel from the toe up on no. 2

Started in January 2008 - Argyle Socks (my own design)
Status: I'm working on sock 1

Started in February 2008 - Tigris Wyvern Sock (my own design)
Status: Sock 1 is done and I'm past the heel on no. 2, halfway into the cuff

Started in March 2008 - La Digitessa by Yarnissima
Status: I was past the heel on sock 1 but had to rip back

Started in April 2008 - Aria Scarf from Knitting New Scarves
Status: The hank of silk is more than half gone

Started in April 2008 - Dunkles Geplätscher - the Clapotis from Knitty, Fall 2004
Status: I'm on ball 3 of 12

Started in April 2008 - Tweedy Aran Cardigan from Interweave Knits, Winter 2001/2002
Status: I cast on for the back and I'm just past the beginning of the waist decreases

It would be awesome if I could get all the socks finished while I'm away and then I'll come back with 7 (!) pairs of socks. Three of them are actually on the Mission Possible 2008 list. YAY for that!

Plus I'm contemplating taking the two hanks of gorgeous sea silk I bought at SAFF last year to knit Muir. Hopefully, I can fit everything into my luggage... I sure sound like I'll never find a yarn store in Munich...