KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

This morning, I finished the first FO from my 10-item-project list. ;-) The Silky Aria is done and very pretty. See for yourself:

Project Stats:
Pattern: Aria by Lynne Barr Craft
Needles: US 5 / 3.75 mm Knitpicks Harmony
Yarn: Miss Babs Silk
How much? 1 skein = 270.0 yards (246.9m) - I had a few inches left after the bind-off.
Colorway: Greens and Purples
Scarf measurements: 55 inches long and 5 inches wide

My roomie and I met a few of her friends for brunch in town today. She lives outside of Munich. I take the subway to work and it is actually a very short ride. I "measured" yesterday and I was able to knit 6 rows on the second sock of the Tigris Wyvern Socks.

We had no luck with the weather today. It was windy and chilly. But no matter, we went for a walk after brunch anyway. See, I did manage to move around after all. I'm actually quite surprised that I'm not more sore from yesterday's move.

We walked along the Isar river, which run through Munich, and had a great time. I miss hubby and the pooches!!!! And it's only Day 5... I know they would have loved to go for a stroll along the river. There were lots of dogs for Hermione to meet. I say Hermione because Noah is not very good with other dogs. Most of the dogs ran loose and took spontaneous swims in the river. I'm wondering if there is a leash law in Germany... I have no idea - I never had a dog in Germany. The last 10 minutes of the walk were accompanied by a downpour, but luckily we brought a bunch of umbrellas and did not get too wet.

I swear the guys were gazing after every pretty female jogger they spotted - MEN!!!

My roomie just left to spend some time with her boyfriend. I have the apartment to myself and will get some knitting done and watch a movie. I'm enjoying the down time before a crazy weekend with the folks. I'll take the train to my parents tomorrow after work and I'll come back to Munich Monday morning.

Dunkles Geplätscher aka Clapotis is growing as well. I made it past half of the length. I'm amazed how fast this knitting project knits up and what a pretty easy knit it is. I took this picture yesterday afternoon between two rainstorms. The weather in Munich is totally off at the moment - sunshine and warm one minute, black storm clouds and nasty rain the next. Oh well...

Oh, remember, I wanted to knit and watch a movie last night. Well, not so much... I thought I could go online to Netflix and watch anything to my little heart's content on the page that offers to play movies and TV series instantly. Nope - guess again... I got this nice message:

Watching Instantly Is Not Available Outside the US - Our systems indicate that the computer you are using is not located within the 50 United States or District of Columbia. Due to studio licensing reasons, movies are available to watch instantly only on computers in those locations.

DARNIT!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, instead I listened to a book on CD. Just as well...

I'll spend the weekend at my parents', and I left the laptop at my roomie's place since I already had two freakin' bags to visit my parents. One bag full of gifts for my niece and nephew... Geez. So this will be my last blog entry for the weekend. But no worries, I will blog for Saturday and Sunday and back-date the entries. ;-) You just won't be able to see them until Monday.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

I have the coolest niece. Ever. She just turned 2 and she knows how to charm you if she wants to. Mostly she is stubborn as a mule and ignores you, but is too cute to be mad at. ;-) I know she's going to break a lot of hearts in about 16 years. And I can see my bro buying a shotgun.

Her birthday gift from me - a sweep through the "Hello Kitty" store at Discover Mills Mall in Gwinnett - was a total success. My niece wore the backpack all afternoon.

I also got some knitting done while I spent Saturday at my brother's house, playing with my niece and chatting with my SIL. My bro and my parents were cutting wood and renewing some cover for a fence in the backyard and the three of us were banned from the chainsaw, etc. I wonder why...

So, voila - the Tigris Wyvern socks are finished. 2 FO's - 8 to go. Cha-ching...

Project Stats:
Size: 8
Needles: US 0 / 2.0 mm (Addi Turbo - Magic Loop)
Yarn: Zwerger Garn Opal Regenwald / Rainforest
How much? 1 skeins = 465.0 yards (425.2m)
Colorway: Tiger

The pattern is my own. I'm in the process of writing up the pattern. The repeat is already charted. Just gimme some time...

Dad, Mom, me, and my sister :-)

Sorry for the pix overload - but my hometown is too pretty not to show off!

Mom, Dad, my sister, my nephew and I went for a little hike. The weather was beautiful. And in the evening I knitted a little cell phone case for my new cell phone - using left over yarn from the Tigris Wyvern socks. YAY!

Sorry - not a written pattern - all in my head. And my Dad donated two "Bavarian"-style buttons - they're supposed to look like they're made from deer antlers. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

This was our dinner tonight - my roomie and I cooked together. We had some light pasta with lots of veggies and no meat, a salad and some yummy red wine. A nice way to chill out after a stressful Monday.

Plus, we finally got lucky and the sun was still out when we got home from work. Not like last week when there was a rainstorm every time we attempted to have dinner outside.

I realized this morning - my first week in Germany zoomed by really fast. One down, nine to go. AND - Hubby is going to be here soon. Yes, we have a spousal visit coming up. YAY for that! I'm already making plans what to do when he gets here. Lots of sightseeing, There is so-o-o-o much to do. :-)

Hanging out with my roomie is the nicest part of my being away from home, I have to say. I took the candle picture after dinner tonight. We sat on her balcony with a glass of Pinot Grigio, actually I think we killed the bottle... We finally had to go inside a little while ago because it got too cold - even with a fleece sweater and a blanket... May in Germany is still freakin' cold...

It seems like we have years to talk about to catch up on. I love to cook and she is happy that someone is feeding her - good combination, right? We met in 1990 through work, it almost instantly clicked, and we became best friends. She was with me through some rough times and knows me well. It's interesting to go back in time and remember all the people and things.

I am tired now - remember, it's 6 hours ahead of Georgia time, so it's after 11 pm - way past my usual bedtime... Good night!

This is one of the many fountains in Munich. I walked by there today on my way to my first German knitting outing. I hooked up with Victor and his Stitch 'N Bitch group at a nice bar/restaurant called Cafe Mondial. Too bad the place will close at the end of June. The knitters were a very interesting group. Lots of lace and sock knitting, and two sweater knitters. Sorry no pictures - I was too timid to ask. I'll try again next time. Victor and I chatted for quite a bit, and I'm planning to visit him on Friday at the yarn store where he works. They also have a knitting group there Friday nights. Good planning. ;-)

Knitting with the group made me realize how much I miss my homie knitting buddies in Atlanta. I just keep telling myself - I'll be home soon. In a little more than 8 weeks.

Munich is so pretty in spring... Look at the pretty flower bed next to the fountain. I love all the different colors:

It had to happen eventually... Day 12 and I finally started a new project... I brought extra yarn to Germany - stash yarn, of course!!! 2 skeins of sea silk that I bought at SAFF last year, 2 skeins of Malabrigo lace yarn, and a skein of Wollmeise sock yarn. After chatting online with Jen a couple of days ago and some brainstorming on patterns with her, I remembered that I had the Spring Things Shawl. And the lace knitters last night inspired me some more...

I woke up this morning at 6am and couldn't go back to sleep. So, I pulled out the Malabrigo lace yarn, the pattern and circular needles, and started the shawl. Yeah, call me crazy, I know, but a fresh brain in the morning is the best thing to start a lace project. I got through the first pattern repeat:

Tonight, I'm cooking for 4 people. My roomie is having coworkers over and volunteered me to cook... They must have tried the leftover pasta she brought to work one time this week for lunch and thought it was quite edible...

Thanks y'all for reading my little entries every day. I'm enjoying this enormously...

This is the view from my current office. It's on the sixth floor of an office building close to the Hauptbahnhof - the main train station in Munich. You see a very old building in the center of the picture - well, actually you see the top of it?

This is a better picture of the building called Propyläen. It is located at the Königsplatz in Munich. And here is a little history on this square:

The square was designed at the command of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria by Karl von Fischer and laid out by Leo von Klenze with the "Doric" Propylaea (Propyläen; created as memorial for the accession of Otto of Greece) and the "Ionic" Glyptothek. The "Corinthian" State Museum of Classical Art was erected by Georg Friedich Ziebland, on its back St. Boniface's Abbey is situated.

The Lenbachhaus is situated at the north-west side of the square. The area around Königsplatz is today the home to the Kunstareal, Munich's gallery and museum quarter.

I went on a field trip today to buy some yarn... Stay tuned for what I found - just one thing for Steve:

You are going to love this issue. I like every single sweater.. And I think there are 25+...

And last but not least - I finished another pair of socks on my way home from work. The Boot Socks are done:

Project Stats:
Made for Me
Size: 8
Needle: US 2 / 2.75 mm Addi Turbo (Magic Loop)
Yarn: Schachenmayr Nomotta Regia Polar Color 6-ply / 6-fädig
How much? 1 skeins = 410.0 yards (374.9m)
Colorway: Rainbow colors

Comment: I have quite a bit yarn left over. I need to weigh how much it is but I'm guessing I could knit hat, maybe...

Regia Silk Color in two colors

Three different kinds of Lana Grossa Meilenweit

Three balls of Lana Grossa Mondo (extremely soft) to knit the Very Terhi Mittens by Yarnissima

Yup - I did a little bit of shopping... Just a little bit...

I am leaving for Garmisch this morning and since I'm too lazy to schlep the laptop, there won't be daily posts while I am gone. I'll be back on Tuesday - Germany has another bank holiday on Monday, the day after Whitsunday (which is the Sunday of the feast of Whitsun or Pentecost in the Christian liturgical year, observed 7 weeks after Easter).

YAY for that! And so, the daily posts will be on vacation, too. :-)

Here I am with my mom (and my knitting hero):

My nephew took this picture on Saturday while Mom and I were knitting in the backyard and drinking coffee.

MOM - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
Thanks for being my mom and being there for our family!!!

And for all the readers - a fun quote for Mother's Day by Oscar Wilde:
"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."

PS - I am not her mom, but her aunt. But she gave me a card for Mother's Day because I'm a doggie mommy. Awwwwwwwwww...

We spent the day at an amusement park for kids called Märchenwald, a fairy tale forest with little trains, horses, cars, merry-go-rounds and one fancy rollercoaster...

Mostly my brother and I turned ourselves into idiots and pretended we were 10 years old again, and we rode some of the kiddy rides with my niece and my nephew.

My nephew and me riding a hedgehog

My bro and my niece riding a bunny

My bro and my niece riding a wild boar

My niece and me riding a horse

Mom, my nephew and me on a balloon ride

It was a fun day outdoors - tomorrow it's back to work and staying inside.

As you know I am counting weeks... So, two weeks are over and eight more to go until I return. And one week to go until Hubby gets here for a spousal visit. ;-)

Yup - that's Germany. Germans love their laws and to have their things in order... I'm in a bad mood today and I need to vent a little, sorry. It's not all pretty flowers and "Sound of Music" scenery over here.

I've made a lot of observations over the course of the 2½ weeks I've been back in Germany. One of them is how very unhappy Germans can be and how much they bicker about things.

For example - some time last week I was going from work to my roomie's apartment on the subway. There was an elderly couple sitting across from me and the man started ranting to his wife about a nearby guy who had brought his bicycle on the subway. This is allowed at certain times, but not at the time we were on the train. And the older man keep ranting and ranting and ranting - how the bicyclist should be fined and how he should be thrown off the train, yada-yada-yada... Bottom line was the subway car was half empty, the bicyclist was in the designated area where he can stay with his bike, and he didn't take up any space anybody else needed. BUT - there's a law and it has to be obeyed and people have to be punished. I know what you want to say, where to draw the line? Today it's taking a bike on the train at the wrong time, tomorrow it's robbing a bank. Well, you know, the old ranting guy didn't say anything to the bicyclist, but ranted the whole time to his poor wife, and I had to listen to him too. I think if he wanted to enforce the law, he should have said something to the bicyclist or try to find a conductor to enforce the law for him. But I guess that was too much work or would have involved having to actually confront the offender.

At least I had my knitting and my matra (knit 1, purl 1, Claudia...). But, gosh, this made me so-o-o-o angry... I've had to endure a bunch of similar things and I truly wonder what's going on with some of the people around here. I know it's not everyone, but there is a lot of bickering.

And since January this year Germany has a new law to enforce NO SMOKING. No smoking inside any public buildings. You can see all the smokers going outside for a cigarette break. There are also designated smoking areas at the train station. I couldn't help taking a picture of one:

You can see the yellow boundary painted on the stones. I didn't dare take a picture 5 minutes earlier - the yellow square was full of smokers. I think it's pretty funny that you have stand in that little square to smoke - it's so German. They all squeezed into the square - really!

And as a knitter you can imagine that I truly like the new NO SMOKING law. :-)

Yes, I can open the windows in the Munich office. It's very nice - especially when you have lovely temperatures like we have at the moment:

So, I have the window and the door to my office open, and there's a nice warm breeze. :-) Of course, the weather forecast for next week is not so nice. It's supposed to change over the weekend:

Well, I guess the weather gods don't want to disappoint Hubby when he gets here next week - there'll be the not-so-nice weather he expects us to have over here. ;-)

Buying gifts for my mom is not always easy because she has everything she wants and doesn't need anything, according to her. As you know, my mom is an avid knitter and she knits for her family constantly, and for herself, too, sometimes. Every once in a while she knits herself a sweater. Thinking about it, I think sweaters are my mom's favorite thing to knit - besides socks. She always has a pair of socks in the works.

BUT - my mom never knits socks for herself. Hmmm - that got me thinking when Mother's Day rolled around last weekend. I bought all that lovely sock yarn on Friday and figured I should knit her a pair of socks with that yummy Regia silk yarn for Mother's Day - which was two days later... You know me, I love challenges and there is also always a story.

SO - I started knitting the first sock Friday night. I chose Wendy's Peace Socks. It's a free pattern - a very pretty lace, toe up and easy sock pattern. LOVE IT.

On the train to Garmisch Saturday morning I got a bunch of knitting done.

I was past the heel Saturday evening - of course I couldn't knit any more at my parents' place because my mom would have asked me what I was knitting. So I figured I would present Mom her sock in progress (plus yarn and a cute card) in a knitting pouch Sunday morning.

That way, I figured my mom could also try the sock on and we'd see if it fits her. Well... That's where the funny story comes in... My mom has tiny feet. But not as tiny as I remembered... She was able to put the sock on her foot but it was very tight across her arch. I said, well this is not comfortable, no problem I'll rip back and add stitches. But my mom said, no, no, it'll stretch once I wear it. Yeah, right... My dad and I looked at each other and started laughing. And we both said, OK, you of all knitters would leave the sock as is and continue to knit? No way!!! You would be the first one to rip. (My mom is a stickler and everything has to be just right with HER knitting projects.) My dad actually said to my mom that he watches her ripping all the time. Ha-ha-ha-ha... But my mom kept trying to tell us that the sock will be fine in the end, not wanting me to rip back. My mom is so cute... She was even more shocked when I ripped back all the way to the toe to add more stitches there.

Basically, I started all over with the first sock Sunday afternoon and finished it Monday in the car on the way to the amusement park (and cast on for sock number two on the way back :-)). Here it is. And it fits her to a tee. That's why one has to rip, sometimes...

Of course, I had to take the first sock with me (as well as the pouch) to knit the second one to match, and finish the pair this week while I'm in Munich. I'm past the heel on sock two and sure I can finish it on the train to Garmisch this afternoon.

OOOOOOOOOOOH - and I have not shown you my new sweater! Speaking of mom and her love for knitting sweaters... When I was here, in Germany, in March to surprise my Dad for his birthday, I brought my mom some of my stash yarn. Remember this sweater from the Spring Verena issue?

Well - my mom got to work and when I came back on this trip, she gave me this gorgeous sweater:

Have a great weekend!

You know the drill - I won't have the laptop and I'll be posting again on Monday when I get back to Munich. But you might also want a break... I haven't posted this much EVER...

I finished Mom's socks on my way to Garmisch. She loves them. That makes me very happy!

Project Stats:
Pattern: Peace Socks by Wendy Johnson
Needles: US 1 / 2.25 mm Knitpicks Harmony Circular
Yarn: Schachenmayr Nomotta Regia Silk Color
How much? 2 skeins = 436.0 yards (398.7m), with a bunch left over on each skein
Colorway: Creme/grey/brown

Modifications:
I cast on extra stitches - 62 in total. And I changed the heel into a Boomerang heel and the cuff from ribbing into 4 rows of garter stitch.

I've knitted the Boomerang heel several times now and I think I'm ready to write an English tutorial for it.

I'll ask Hubby when he gets to Germany for his help taking pictures of me knitting the heel or maybe even taking a little video for YouTube and the blog. Stay tuned for that.

I still don't know if I like this heel or not. One thing is for sure - it goes damn fast.

It rained most of Saturday, and this morning I woke up around 4am to a downpour. Exactly like the forecast predicted. I turned over with the thought of knitting all day while watching German TV, and then fell back to sleep.

So, I finished Dunkles Geplätscher as well this weekend. I think it's a bit too long and I'm glad I stopped knitting on the straight portion when I did. I had 12 balls but only used 9 (well, actually about 8½).

Project Stats:
Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert Craft
Needles: US 5 / 3.75 mm Knitpicks Options Circular
Yarn: Knit Picks Elegance
How much? 8½ skeins = 935.0 yards (855.0m)
Colorway: Black

I'm going to block the shawl once I get back home to Atlanta. I like it better when the dropped stitches are all stretched out, at least with this version. This one looks more like a classy evening shawl to me. But I also want to knit a second one with funky colors in fingering weight. And my parents old, uh-h-h antique, carpet is a nice background, isn't it? ;-)

This is the view from the train this morning. It was still drizzling as the fog slowly lifted. You can see how much snow there still is on the mountain tops. And the bad weather yesterday added some more. When it rained all day yesterday, you could not see any of the mountains. They like to hide behind "curtains". My mood is kinda like that at the moment. I miss Hubby and the dogs quite a bit. Thank goodness Hubby will be here in a few days.

Yes, I miss you guys - don't be mad because Daddy has to take you to the doggie hotel while he's visiting Mommie...

Yes, Ms. Knit Witch, Mom loves the bowl I brought her in March. She uses it all the time - see? And the bowls are so pretty. I use mine a lot, too.

Dear reader, go get one for yourself, it's another knitting gadget you need. She has so many, she sells them. ;-)

Today is the second day in a row that I spent 12 hours at work. Yup, at work... That doesn't include my commute - then it would be 13 hours. I told my boss today that he's lucky I don't have a life here. Hubby and the dogs aren't here and neither are my favorite knitting groups. Yes, Jane, I still knit quite a bit - gotta stay sane with all the crazy Germans... ;-) So, I'm knitting more in the German style - home alone... Not much social knitting. Anyway - one more day and then I'm on vacation for a week.

Hubby gets here Thursday and I'll be in heaven. Sorry you have to read this again: I. REALLY. MISS. HIM. Even tho' we talk on the phone at least twice a day. So here's how excited I am about this:

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

Thanks, Chickengodess, for the link!

PS: I clicked 127 times in 30 seconds - how fast can you click? It's 9pm local time and I wonder how I should calm down...

PPS: Three down - seven more weeks to go...

Hubby is on his way as I type - YAY! He emailed me a picture of his suitcase with JUST the extra crap he has to bring - stuff I wanted that didn't fit in my suitcases when I Ieft. He wasn't complaining, he just thought it was funny that my stuff filled his bag more than all of his stuff combined. Such a dear - can't wait to hug him at the airport tomorrow morning.

I am going to be on vacation until next Thursday. This time I am taking the laptop to my parents' place. Maybe I'll get lucky and I can log on from there. And if not, we do have internet coffee shops in the mountains, not only drums and smoke signals. ;-)

While waiting for Hubby's arrival, I parked the rental car in a safe spot. Just kidding! This is actually an ad for the rental car company we got our little Fiat Bravo from.

But I did have to wait for Hubby quite a bit...

Instead of arriving from O'Hare at 09:50am, his plane landed at 12:10pm. I would have known if I'd checked the United Airlines webpage instead the Munich airport's, which never showed the delay. But it doesn't really matter where a knitter knits, right? And a longer wait makes the welcome hug even sweeter. ;-)

Hubby and I took my nephew to the brand new BMW Welt (= World) in Munich. It is a fantastic new building with a big exhibit of the latest and fanciest BMW technology:

And on the way home we ran into (not literally, of course!) a herd of cows on their way home:

This is really a daily part of rush hour in rural Bavaria.

More family members joined Hubby and me to pay the zoo in Munich a visit. I'm pretty sure he'll be glad to get back to his usual routine in our quiet home in Atlanta with our dogs as his personal zoo... ;-)

I love the colors of flamingos. Did you know flamingos are pink because their natural diet is so high in beta-carotene? Hubby did. In the zoo, they have to be fed food additives or they won't be pink! Hubby is full of these interesting tidbits and therefore very entertaining to take to the zoo. :-)) No need to read the signs.

Walking through the petting zoo was a big hit and my little niece had to feed and hug every little sheep and goat, which couldn't run away fast enough:

We watched a little argument between two jaguars, one spotted and one black:

And the sea lion show with their tricks - what they do to score some fish...

And the African wild dogs - chasing meat on a rope!

Finally... Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but it's nice to spend some quiet time with your own husband.

We escaped to drive to a very pretty castle in the mountains called Schloss Linderhof, one the castles of the famous King Ludwig. Here are some pictures - and maybe you can understand why Bavarians are still charmed by the Fairytale King and his crazy ideas:

And you can walk all over the castle grounds without paying admission. Nice, huh?

Well, the town I come from is called Garmisch-Partenkirchen. For centuries, the one town was actually two little villages, Garmisch and Partenkirchen. But because Germany wanted to host the Winter Olympics in 1936, and each of the two little villages alone was too small, they combined them.

There was a lot of rivalry between the two towns, and I'm sure if you ask some very old farmer in Partenkirchen today, he'll still tell you that all the people in Garmisch are "idiots". And vice-versa. ;-)

I was born in Garmisch, grew up in Partenkirchen and then moved with my parents to Garmisch when I was 12. Then, 6 years later, I moved away to learn a few life lessons, then came back to Partenkirchen at the age of 30. From there I moved to Atlanta two years later.

And why am I telling you all this? Because today Mom, Hubby and I took a stroll in the old part of Partenkirchen.

And of course, I have more pictures...

And the picture of the day:

A room with a view in a little Bavarian town - not unheard of to have a dungheap in front your window. ;-)

We didn't do much today. The weather was only so-so. So far, Hubby has had unusually good weather. I can't even remember if there's been any rain so far... Hmmm...

We went for a little hike. Mom was busy baby-sitting my niece and my Dad went off to help my brother renovate his house. I don't know what my brother would do without my Dad's help. Here are some more impressions from the mountains around Garmisch:

And the best picture of the day:

"Dear dog - please don't poop in front of my fence." Hubby and I got a kick out of this sign - especially because it is mounted crookedly.

I had to take Hubby to the airport today. Yup, the spousal visit is over. I'm not in a very good mood today, so I'll just post a bunch of pictures we took yesterday in Munich at Schloss Nymphenburg, yet another castle. We have quite a few around here.

Hubby and I spent the night in Munich at my roomie's place to save ourselves from getting up very early and a long drive to the airport in the morning.

Schloss Nymphenburg is famous for its botanical gardens and its china manufactory.

This is da' man himself - see, he was really here for a visit. And now he's gone and I won't see him again until July 3. At least, now half of my stay in Germany is almost over. To be precise, halftime is next Monday...

So, here are a bunch of expressions from the botanical garden. The flowers were beautiful and breathtaking:

Sorry for the color-overload... Definitely more cheerful than I right now...

Well, knitting, too. I guess I'll save you from the "Sound of Music" scenery for a while. ;-)

While waiting for Hubby at the airport last week, I resumed the Digitessa socks. You might remember that I had already started the first one back in March:

But then I screwed up the heel a couple of times, and it went into time-out for a while. Well, actually, I restarted the whole sock, but with different yarn and on a bigger needle. (Since the pattern has a lot of twisted stitches, I decided to change to a softer sock yarn and go up a needle size from 0 to 1 - I know, shocking for Miss Like-My-Socks-Knitted-Tight.)

So during that long wait at the airport, I got all the way from the toe to where the heel pattern starts. And over the course of Hubby's visit I got even further, past the heel to the ankle. It took quite a bit of time because the chart is complicated and I had to have some quiet time to work on it.

Well, here's how far I got:

It sure is a very pretty sock pattern and I love what the designer does with the heel:

BUT... see what I had when I tried it on after I finished the heel flap:

The sock is too freakin' big now. Argggggggggg... So, I ripped back to before the heel increases begin and now I'm back to square who-knows-what:

But, I'll have plenty of knitting time this weekend since I'm staying in Munich with my roomie. My parents are taking a short vacation and I'm using this as an excuse to stay put and catch up on my knitting.

Well, Mom finished my last sweater so quickly that she asked me to bring her more of my stash yarn. The dutiful daughter I am, I brought two more bags with me when I got here in April and now she's working on this pretty cardigan:

The pattern is from a Filati magazine from last summer. Mom is using some of the (discontinued) Knitpicks Shine from my stash in bright pink (I think the color is called Orchid) and I am lovin' it. Thought I'd make you a little more jealous that I get yet another knitted garment from my mom...

The weather forecast for Munich is in the mid 80s (Fahrenheit) for this weekend and this screams for lying at the Isar River during the day and BBQing or a beergarden visit in the evening. Not matter what - outdoor activities for sure. I know - now you're really jealous. ;-)

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND YOURSELF!!!

Look what I found in my roomie's fridge (actually she pointed it out to me)...

My roomie was very surprised when I told her that I'd never heard of it. "But it's the Paris Hilton drink, don't you know?" Well, Paris Hilton is not in my posse and prosecco comes in bottles for me, not in cans. I sometimes wonder what garbage gets exported from the US...

Anyway, in case you don't know this drink either, here is one of the commercials for this prosecco:

I didn't know I was living in such a fancy apartment. Hope she's not gonna raise the rent now...

Knitting pictures will follow tomorrow - when I have some progress to show. Hubby brought me Dallas - The Complete Eighth Season and the Ewings are keeping me company while knitting. Weird, I know. But I'm so enjoying the flashbacks to the 80s. How big can shoulder pads get...? I totally forgot.