KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

This is my roomie! She finally surrendered her digital camera's memory card and I transferred the picture one of her coworkers took of us in a beergarden.

So, this is her. She really hates it when you take her picture, but she nevertheless likes to take your picture all the time. Having a picture of her is really a rarity. And we still get along great - even after 5 weeks of being housemates.

She went rock climbing today (crazy woman) with her boyfriend and I had a few blissful hours to myself on her balcony. Guess what I did...

I. AM. ABSOLUTELY. IN. LOVE. WITH. THIS. SOCK.

I'm so glad I ripped back to make the sock shorter. I guess three times really is the lucky charm. I couldn't stop knitting the Digitessa sock today and finished it a few minutes ago. The pattern is a delight to knit. Yarnissima, the designer, wrote 16 pages of perfect instructions and charts. Kudos to her!

And now I have four socks that are in desperate need of siblings... Oje...

This weekend, I also finished the back of a new cardigan, which can also be worn as a wrap:

Originally I had other plans for the hank of yarn Jen gave me for Christmas last year. I tried several things and finally (I thought back in April) decided to knit the Tweedy Aran Cardigan by Norah Gaughan:

But then I changed my mind again while pondering here in Germany, because I thought the beautiful variegations of red needed a calmer pattern. Meaning boring stockinette stitch, but I'm very happy with the outcome now. I was really torn what to knit, and consulted (if you remember) with Jen, Hubby and then with my parents and they all thought the yarn would work for the busy pattern and gave it a thumbs-up. But I was just not happy... I'm sure you know what I mean.

And now this weekend is over... They just go by so fast! But that gets me closer to flying back home, hah!

Germany has a disease... It has a fever and the fever is called Euro 2008 and it the European Soccer Championship. The championship is hosted by Switzerland and Austria and the games start this Saturday, Germany's first game is on Sunday.

My mom is a big soccer fan and I'm very certain that she will watch as many games as she can - and at the same time she will get a lot of knitting done. I thought all the soccer craziness over here is at least worthy of an itty bitty blog entry, and I'll let you listen to a Shaggy song:

So, I'm sitting here all alone with a knitting decision. Help, please!

I'm working on the Spring Thing Shawl on the subway to and from work, and tonight (after another 12-hour-day, mind you) I just got to the point where I should switch to the next pattern repeat. But, I think it's too small but I don't really know. Maybe I'm just too tired right now. I surely don't want a kerchief, but I also don't want to go overboard and have a shawl that's too big.

I know the picture doesn't tell you much, but I'm about halfway through the first of the two Malabrigo lace skeins. The pattern calls for a mohair lace knitted with US #5. I'm using lace weight but on a US #6. Also, after blocking, the lace shawl should measure 30 inches down the center back. My shawl now measures about 15 inches down the center back without a lot of stretching. And I'm going to block the shawl for sure.

The lace pattern is very pretty and I keep thinking it would look good on a sock... No, no, no - DO NOT start another pair of socks!

So what do you think I should do? Follow the pattern directions and start the new chart with a new pattern or knit a few more repeats of the cute little lace pattern?

I tried really hard to finish the Bayerische Socks today but it's getting late and I'm getting very tired. So, before I screw up the twisted stitch patterns, I'd rather be smart for once, and stop and go to bed. And Hubby just called and we talked for half an hour. I think it's funny when he wishes me a good night and for him at home it's only a little after 4:00pm.

Oh, and a funny thing happened this morning on the subway. A little boy sitting across from me with his mom (who was in her twenties, I'm guessing) watched me knitting on the sock for a while. Then he asked his mom, "Can you do that, too?" And his mom replied, "No, but your grandmother can." Go figure... Only grannies knit, right?

Yup, they're done. Finally... When I updated my Ravelry project list, I noticed that I started these socks in June 2007...

Project Stats:
Pattern: Bayerische Socks by Eunny Jang
Needle: US 0 / 2.0 mm (metal dpns)
Yarn: Austermann Step
How much? 1 skein = 460.0 yards (420.6m)
Colorway: Melba

And the socks were on my Mission Possible 2008 list. That's cool, too.

Another weekend ahead and another Friday where I miss my Friday night knitting group at Knitch! But - only 4 more Fridays and I'll be back. I can't wait!!!

Before I left for Germany something stupid happened. One of the clasps of my beloved Jordana Paige knitting bag broke off, so I couldn't take the bag to Germany. I emailed Jordana Paige and asked if they could repair or replace the bag. I got an answer within a few days and was told to send the bag back and they would make it right.

Hubby was my mailman and sent the bag off while I was over here in Germany, and a new bag came a couple of days ago. Voila:

I'm very happy and I have to say that I am totally with Jordana Paige's customer service. Granted, the clasp shouldn't have broken off in the first place, but they handled the problem perfectly.

Have a great weekend. I'll be visiting my brother and his family, since Mom and Dad are still on vacation until Sunday. They'll come by Sunday afternoon when they return to pick me up and then I get to spend an evening with them as well.

You know the drill - posts will resume on Monday. :-)

I spent the weekend at my brother's house, and on Saturday they organized a BBQ. Well, the grill was outside; the people, the food and drinks where inside because it was freakin' freezin. What else to expect in June in the Alps? We were really unlucky with the weather... But no matter, we BBQ'd anyway.

Told ya the European Soccer championship started this weekend and my family is soccer crazy. I am the black sheep (again) because I could NOT care less about soccer.

I have to say, it was a lot of fun, despite that is was all family. ;-)

Sunday was a quiet day. The "old" people tried to recover from the BBQ and going to bed late. In my case - 01:00 am is about 4 hours past my bedtime...

Anyways my darlin' niece was up bright and early and wanted to show me all the farm animals close. She has a petting zoo in walking distance because she lives in a tiny village. So, we took carrots and old bread and went for a walk. And we saw...

Horses - who loved the carrots!

Goats - who loved the bread and didn't mind being choked to death in return. ;-)

Pigs - unfortunately they just got their breakfast and couldn't care less about any visitors.

Cute bunnies - who thought that the grass from the other side of the fence was a real treat.

He was sooooooooooo fluffy!

Weird chicken - who looked like they lost their behind.

Super - all these animals!

I have to say I did something really cool yesterday. Not that I saved the world, but I saved a Bavarian knitted cardigan from death in a garbage can.

Here is the story. My sil's bil (you saw him on one of the pictures a couple of days ago) inherited a traditional Bavarian cardigan from his grandfather. This type of cardigan is a piece of clothing that Bavarian farmers wear as a working cardigan or jacket to keep them warm. It is very rough and knitted from sheep wool that is bascially spun and not treated at all, not even washed. When you knit with this wool, you can feel the grease. It is normally a worsted weight and your hands start hurting after a while because the wool is so sturdy.

To cut a long story short - the cardigan was stored for a while and while in storage in an old house in an old closet, a mouse found it and ate its way through the cardigan. When they pulled the cardigan out of the closet it had three gigantic holes:

So, they asked me if I could look at the cardigan and see if there is anything that I could do to fix it. It is the only memento he has from his grandfather and it would be terrible if he would have to throw it out.

Well, I told them I would take a look and ask my mom if she had any of that sheep wool in her stash to match the wool the cardigan had been knitted with. And of course, my mom keeps every leftover ball of yarn from everything she has ever knitted (because you might need some yarn to fix a hole - how right she is) and we found a ball that matched the cardigan pretty well.

So, I went to work on hole #1 on the sleeve:

Hole #2 was a bit trickier because the mouse also destroyed part of the cable pattern:

And hole #3 was the biggest one but was a little easier because it was only garter stitch to repair.

After two hours of fiddling, knitting and ripping, kitchner stitch (don't even ask...) and weaving in the fringed edges etc., I am very happy to show you the cardigan without holes:

My dad, a professional tailor, was very impressed with my skills to mend a hole in a garment. I guess he still remembers me running to him when I had a little hole in my pants and couldn't fix it myself. ;-)

I enjoyed this little project a lot because I was able to save a knitted memento and that makes a knitter happy, right! And to be a show off... ;-)

Have a great week!

I was thinking about how to not spell out the title of the movie I have seen twice in three days now... Here is the movie poster so you'll know which movie I'm talking about:

I saw it in German the first time on Sunday with my SIL. SO NOT FUNNY! The jokes get lost in translation. And this evening I saw it for the second time with one of my coworkers, this time in English. Much better, but still just a so-so movie. Especially since I have never been into the TV series. (I haven't seen a single episode.)

I have to say I have never read a book like this one before. In my entire life. HONESTLY!!!

My roomie gave it to me after we talked about the author recently. Charlotte Roche, 29, became famous as a TV moderator on a German music channel called VIVA 2. Famous because of her unusual "non-conformist" moderation style.

The book is about the hysteria we humans have with hygiene and the title translates into "Wetlands" in English. All I'm going to say is I sit in the subway with my mouth wide open (not literally, but in my mind) because the author uses unimaginable language (even for guys) in her book when she talks about the wetlands of the book's heroine... It's so bizarre that it made me almost ill when I first started to read it. And now it's like a train wreck... You don't want to look, but you have to. I feel like I don't know if I should stop reading it and give the book back or if I should finish it tonight. Honestly, extremely strange...

Yes, I do other stuff besides knitting and visiting family. I just wonder what good it does me...

... why German women want Portugal to win the soccer EM 2008:

Sorry, I couldn't help it. My roomie emailed me this picture knowing that I hate soccer... I don't watch any of the games, not even the ones with Germany. And, I'm not going to start now, not even because of these good-looking players. And because my roomie knows me well, she made sure that when we meet a bunch of girlfriends tonight for drinks that we would get together at a location without a big TV screen. YAY!

Another reason for posting this picture for y'all is that I have no knitting pictures to show... Well, I haven't taken any pictures lately, but I am still knitting - no worries. Knitting pix are on the agenda for this weekend.

Which reminds me - are you going to be part of a WWKIPD event on Saturday? I'll join a bunch of knitters in Munich. There are three locations that host an event and I am planning to visit them all throughout the day - thank goodness for fabulous public transportation. :-)

I found three locations in Munich for a knitting-in-public-event tomorrow:

No. 1 - Hosted by: Wolle Rödel
Location: Wolle Rödel München
Time: 9 am
How to get there:
Wolle Rödel München, Rosental 9, 80331 München

No. 2 - Hosted by: Lanaiolo
Location: Lanaiolo
Time: 12-18pm
How to get there:
U4 in the direction of "Arabellapark", station to get off: "Prinzregentenplatz". Walk up Grillparzerstrasse and the shop is on the right hand side (Grillparzerstr. 35, 81675 Munich).

No. 3 - Hosted by: Maschentreff / Erika Temes
Location: Pasinger Fabrik in Muenchen-Pasing, August-Exter-Str.1s
Time: 2pm
How to get there:
The cultural center / restaurant is directly located at the S-Bahn station Pasing, rear entrance.

We'll see at what time I'll get out of the house and what the weather will be like tomorrow but the BIG plan is to visit all three... The forecast is not so good - mostly cloudy, highs in the mid 60s, lows in the mid 40s. At least I can wear one of mom's knitted sweaters. :-)

And if you are in Munich - knitting in public, I'll be wearing my Ravelry badge which says BAVGIRL. Say hi, will ya?

PS: I wonder if I jinxed the German soccer team yesterday with my post about the team from Portugal. Because they lost the game... Oh well, sorry boys...

I left the house around 11:30am and got to the Marienplatz around noon - just in time for the famous Glockenspiel.

And since it's Munich 850th birthday this year, a ton of people were in town to kick off the big birthday party. Nope, they did not all join me for knitting public... But I filmed a few seconds of Bavarian music for you.

And nope, the video is not shacky because I was swaying with the music... Now onto the review of the WWKIPD events.

No. 1 - Hosted by: Wolle Rödel

Believe it or not, there was nobody knitting when I got to the store, dangit. I asked if there was no knitting in public - as advertised - but the shop employee told me that nobody came in to stay and knit so far. Well, so I had to do some shopping...

a nice cotton blend for a sweater

and more sock yarn...

Say no more... I know I am already surrounded by too much...

And then - me being a good knitter - I sat down for a couple of rows of lace knitting but nobody joined me. How pitiful I thought and left to go to the next stop. On my way I had to cross Marienplatz and walk to Odeonsplatz to catch one of the subways.

But it took forever because of these masses of people. I got actually pretty annoyed. Stupid to plan a walk in down-town on such day... That just shows you how informed I am.

While being pushed from one Platz to the other, I came by this booth and was very tempted to buy this felted cape, until the lady told me the price...

I couldn't justify 180 Euros, even tho' it looks totally cool. After about 30 minutes later, I showed up at the second WWKIPD event. And what a surprise I found there...

No. 2 - Hosted by: Lanaiolo

A cool shop but no comparison to your shop, Kim!

They had a buffet and little bar with snacks and drinks for the event. The yarn selection wasn't very big but I found something anyway - you know me.

Funky scarf yarn

Nice soft Italian Merino

And a couple of magazine with Bavarian men and women patterns

AND - THERE WERE KNITTERS!!!

A bunch of them have blogs - Victor, Projektleiterin, Christiane, Sternenelfin, Angelika - and I think most of them are on Ravelry.

And guess what, I did not make it to location no. 3. I sat and knitted for three hours at Lanaiolo and got back home around 5pm. Hope you had a fun WWKIPD as well!

Remember the funky scarf yarn I bought yesterday? I turned it into a funky scarf this morning ...

Pattern: Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf by Karen Baumer
Needle: US 13 / 9.0 mm Knitpicks Harmony
Yarn: Gedifra Filorosa
How much? 1 skein = 148.0 yards (135.3m)

I wanted to knit a little gift for my roomie and she was very happy when I presented the scarf to her after a couple of hours. ;-)

One comment on the yarn. The ball cost 13 Euros. A pretty stiff price but I knew my roomie would like the different textures and color combinations. What I didn't like tho' was that those 13 Euros got me 148 yards of leftover funky yarn knotted together. Note to self - I can make those funky yarn balls myself from my leftover yarn. Seriously!

Brett had a birthday last week and I promised him a new sweater. From a German pattern:

and with German yarn:

Now that I have everything one needs to make a sweater, I just need to make a gauge swatch and get started. ;-) Off I go to swatch! More with progress later!

While I was looking for a bunch of old photos, I found an old picture from WWKIPD in 2006:

Ashley, Michelle, Travis, Jana (just her curls), Jacquie, Katey, Karen, Tammy & Leon
Jen & Jill in the back

We had a fabulous day at the Chattahoochee river in June 2006. I can't believe that this was two (!) years ago!

I swatched a tiny bit last night and cast on for the sweater this morning. Here is how far I got - I am ready to start the cable pattern now. YAY!

I had to make a few changes (after consulting the tiny swatch) because I am not knitting on gauge, oh well... I already went down to a needle US #2. Sure hope the Yarn Doctor feels the sweater love. ;-) I know people who knit socks on that size of needle...

So, my gauge is 24 sts and 36 rows instead of 22 sts and 33 rows.Therefore I had to re-calculate the rows for the stripe patterns as follows:

Stripe pattern 1 (front and back):
34 instead of 30 rows in blue
24 instead of 22 rows in chocolate
48 instead of 44 rows in blue
24 instead of 22 rows in creme
22 instead of 20 rows in blue
*8 instead of 6 rows in chocolate
18 instead of 16 rows in blue
8 instead of 6 rows in creme* (repeat * to*)

Stripe pattern 2 (sleeves):
30 instead of 28 rows in blue
24 instead of 22 rows in chocolate
48 instead of 44 rows in blue
24 instead of 22 rows in creme
26 instead of 24 rows in blue

Sorry to bore you with the stripe pattern, but I am using the blog as a note pad in this case.

That's the progress I made through a third time of the "you-know-which" movie and a soccer game - Germany vs. Portugal. Yep, you read correctly - they made me watch soccer... But I knitted and all was well. Germany won - YAY for that!

I love how the blue and the chocolate brown look together.

Have a great evening! By the way - this time around in two weeks, I'll be back in Atlanta! Can't wait to see y'all!!!

Thanks Steve! I don't think I have been tagged before. :-)

The Rules:
Rules are posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their names. Then the player goes to each of the “named” people’s blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. If you’ve been tagged, you do the same, letting the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer. Your answer, of course, is the answer to the following questions. Here we go!

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
1998? I was living in Germany working in the IT industry and hadn't meet Hubby yet, but I was already knitting for 20 years.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?
1. Pack a bag for the weekend.
2. Buy a train ticket to go visit my family in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
3. Find my mom's cook book that has American recipes because my SIL and I want to bake a cherry and an apple pie tomorrow.
4. Post this meme on my blog.
5. A lot of crap I have been pushing away from me at the office and that needs finally some attention.

3. Snacks I enjoy:
Too many things I shouldn't eat, but mostly salty stuff. I am not big on chocolate.

4. Places I’ve lived:
Germany: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Frankfurt, Geretsried, Grainau, Munich
USA: Alpharetta, Buford

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Quit my job. Buy a yarn store and a Corvette Stingray. I know it is a crappy car but then I could afford the repairs. Travel to New Zealand and Japan (they are still on my to-travel-list) and take my sweet-ass time traveling. Make my parents retirement really nice and comfortable. Buy Hubby as many jigsaw puzzles as he can stand. Buy Hermione some sheep to herd. But I am sure that there are many more things I would do and buy...

The rules say I have to tag 5 people now.
How about Jacquie, Phyllis, Brittany, Sandy, and Grace? And if you're feeling left out because I didn't tag you, feel free to swipe the meme and post answers on your blog, then let me know in the comments.

And blog posts will continue on Monday - have a wonderful weekend!!!

... I heard your voice. I wish I would have known.

When you didn't call me back, I knew something happened to you.

Today I found out that you died. I will always love you and never forget you.

Hubby never wanted his face on the blog. Today I want to show you my all-time favorite picture. This is hard for me, but this I how I will always remember him.

I am leaving Germany this morning to go back and take care of Hubby, one last time.

I am not sure what to expect when I get back home, not sure what needs to be done and how. I never thought I would lose Hubby so soon. Thankfully I have a lot of beautiful friends and my wonderful family to lean on.

I am not sure how much I will be able to blog, I might be gone for a while, I might use the blog as a lifeline or an outlet. There are so many things that whirl around in my head.

One main thing - what would have happened if I would have been there. I know this is nothing I should ask myself. I couldn't have changed a heart attack. But still, I ask myself...

I am back home and everything feels so bizarre. Like I am watching myself and it is like a sad movie. I can't get my head around that when I come into the living room or Hubby's office that he is not there and never will be ever again. He is really gone. That will take a long time for me to understand.

The dogs were amazing when I got home. Jacquie picked me up at the airport. The police was very thorough when they left yesterday and locked all the locks, even the one on the door into the garage. Which meant that I had to call a locksmith for us to get into the house.

While the locksmith opened the front door, Jacquie drove off to fill up my fridge and leave me some privacy to enter the house by myself. That was the part I feared most because I didn't know what to expect and what kind of a mess I would find.

But - I was glad to find nothing out of the order. I don't know how the dogs did it, but there were no puddles or poop. Amazing - the poor things were by themselves for the good part of two days.

Now we are all three cuddled up on the futon in my crafts room and I will try to get some sleep. And three of us will have have to get into a new routine. I kept myself busy with doing laundry and getting things in order. That is good therapy at the moment. I made several phone calls to Hubby's dearest friends and they are all in shock. It was just so unexpected - 55 is way too young to die. It is hard to tell people that their best friend from first grade just passed away.

Hubby's sister will come into town from Vermont tomorrow, with her husband, and then we will make plans for the arrangements.

I'll keep you posted. We might just have a very small and very private memorial service. Just like Hubby was a very private person. I just don't know yet and I don't want to decide this by myself.

THANK YOU ALL FOR THE LOVING COMMENTS!!!

This means so much to me. I promise to ask for help and a shoulder to cry on. I am sure I will need this soon...

...and hello prescription sunglasses.

It is just not worth it at the moment to wear eye make-up. Even though there is laughter, there are also moments where I think that I am going to drown in tears and I will never have “unpuffy” eyes again. But I know it is good to go through the emotions and that I just have to go with the flow. BUT - I hate that my emotions are soooo out of control. And this is sooo hard for the German in me who likes to be in control 24/7, but I am taking a day at a time and I am trying make the best of it and trying to control as much as I can.

I am going to share a few moments from yesterday and the day before that made me laugh – which while I am typing this brings another smile to my face. Thank goodness for all these memories that carry me through this.

And at this point my apologies that the English on my blog is not going to be the high standard anymore that you are used to. One of Irwin’s many fantastic things was that he was the editor-in-chief of my knitting blog. It is time for me to stop saying Hubby. I like his name better. For example, one time Irwin decided that it would be better to write “chick flicks” instead of “girlie movies”. Which I am sure would have been entertaining to you guys, if he hadn’t changed it. ;-)

So, here is something funny that happened with Jacquie the day she picked me up at the airport while we had to wait for the locksmith to get into the house. Jacquie suggested to make some phone calls and offered me her cell phone. I don’t know if you have seen the movie “Sex and The City” or not. If not, I am going to spoil the movie for you now, sorry… Carrie’s groom – Big – doesn’t show up at the wedding and so she asks for a phone to call him. Samantha hands her an iPhone which Carrie returns immediately and says “I don't know how to work this!” Jacquie handed me her iPhone and I looked at it and had to laugh because I had no clue what to do. So, I had a “Sex and the City” moment. Poor Jacquie had to dial for me… If you know Jacquie, you know she is a gadget queen. I admire her for that. I am in many ways still so old-fashioned. I still write stuff in notebooks at work. I know, shocking.

And speaking of Jacquie – I am so grateful for all the things she started organizing and getting friends lined up for food etc. You guys are an amazing bunch. Knitters, duh!!! What else to expect, right? My SIL is vegetarian and I asked for food that she can eat as well. Which I know is hard for you Southern gals. The food from last night was really delicious - even though I am not into eating at the moment.

So, while I was gone to the airport to pick-up my SIL and her husband, Jacquie and her wonderful daughter Jessica organized that the sofa Irwin died on would be gone. When we got home, I had a new sofa in my living room. Well, it is borrowed but new for me. And then I will go shopping for a new couch when I feel like. And after all that, Jacquie made poor Jessica dust the endless shelves in my living room. Amazing ladies – I can tell you. They also took the Christmas tree down for me. Irwin wanted to do that but liked to look at the crystal ornaments we hung up last year and so we still had the tree up in June… But interestingly we were not alone with still having the tree up that late because Jessica took her tree down last weekend. She told me that it was funny when she and her friend came by to pick up the sofa. She walked in the door and passed the tree and her friend said, “Oh, look, they still have their tree up.” It was so normal for Jessica having her tree up that she didn’t even notice. Too funny…

After Jessica and Jacquie left yesterday, I had a sparkling new living room, dusted and with shampooed (!) carpets. Told you they were awesome…

Thanks to all of you at this point for all the wonderful messages, emails, voicemails, comments. It makes me feel so much better to know that I have this wonderful group of people who take care of me. It is good for me to write on the blog and let you know what is going on at the moment. THANK YOU - for reading and caring!!!

A lot of bizarre things also happened. One of them was that George Carlin died June 22 in California from heart failure. The same day as Irwin died from a heart attack. Well, Irwin's official date on the death certificate will be the 23rd because that is when he was found. But the medical examiner told me that he passed away between 12-14 hours before they found him which then would have been the 22nd. I talked to Irwin's best friend back from the cup scout days for a long time last night and he told me that Irwin was totally fond of George Carlin which I didn’t know. But thinking about it, Irwin and George Carlin’s humor was very similar at times.

We - meaning my SIL, her husband and I – also decided what to do about Irwin’s arrangements.

We were thinking about how we could possibly accommodate all the people who knew Irwin and wanted to say good-bye, which is quite a challenge because they live in Michigan, Vermont, Georgia, New York and Germany. He sure doesn’t make it easy – always a challenge that man.

Irwin’s last will was to be cremated which caused a bit of a stir on the Jewish side of the family. But there is no way that I wouldn’t honor his last wish. The cremation is today and there will be no service – at the moment. I am still too shocked and raw to deal with any kind of arrangements and more than a few people at a time. Time needs to pass for that and I also want his friends and our families to have time to absorb what happened. We are planning to sprinkle his ashes later at different locations, on his Mom’s and Grandmother’s graves in New York, somewhere in Georgia Mountains where we used to take the dogs for a hiking vacation and somewhere in the German Alps. I am think I might take him to his all-time favorite castle, Neuschwanstein. We’ll see. But one thing is for sure – Irwin who didn’t really like to travel will be travelling. He loved to be at different places but he hated to get there.

Here is another little morbid snippet. When we got to the funeral home, we waited in the reception area and my SIL said “Wow, this place is huge. They could have weddings, christenings, etc. here too.” I didn’t get her joke right away and said that it might be a little morbid to have those happy occasions at the same place as the sad ones and asked her where she read that they would do that. When she explained that is was just a joke that she made up, we started laughing and I got the evil eye from one of the elderly funeral directors. That experience makes me want to re-watch all the episodes of "Six Feet Under", one of my favorite TV shows.

Well, sleeping and eating don’t seem to be my favorite things at the moment. But at least I got about 4 hours last night. I figure I will be very tired at some point and then I am just going to sleep then.

The dogs are wonderful. Like little shadows following me around. Well, Hermione being her usual self thinks that my SIL and her husband are here to visit her and Hermione can be quite a nuisance when she is begging for attention. And I think she knows that she can get away with it at the moment. I just don’t feel like correcting her. I will never know what the dogs felt and saw when Irwin died, but I am glad they were there and he was not all alone. I know how much he loved them. Such good kiddos!

Speaking of Ms.-I-need-all-of-your-attention-now is squeezing herself between me and the laptop – literally! It’s time for the morning trip to the backyard. And I have written enough for the moment. Thanks so much for all of your thoughts – I hope I will be able to pay back all your kindness some day. Don’t ask me to knit you an afghan tho’!

We are doing ok. So far so good. Irwin's sister is a big help. She and I have had wonderful long conversations about Irwin and we enjoy each other’s stories since she came to visit.

This morning we designed an announcement card and a thank you card. It has been very emotional because we were thinking about what to do best. We wanted to add a famous quote to the announcement card. And that turned into a long search for the perfect one, of course.

We started out with Albert Einstein, because Irwin and Albert share the same birthday and Irwin was also a brainy. Here is what we looked at:

If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.

Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.

Then we started looking at quotes from Groucho Marx because he was Irwin's favorite comedian.

Either he's dead or my watch has stopped. (from A Day at the Races (1937))

Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water! And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now, uh... Now you tell me what you know.

But in the end we didn't use any of them. Irwin would have thought that it would be hilarious to have one those quotes on his card, but we figured they were not really appropriate for a death announcement.

Finally I found a really lovely quote that referred to a jigsaw puzzle. You might remember that Irwin collected jigsaw puzzles and his collection is gigantic - over 8,000 different puzzles.

I wonder when I can face our basement and think about what to do with his puzzles. Besides the puzzles he also owns a big collection of books and matchbox cars. Well, that is not for now but eventually I will have to think about it.

This afternoon we went to the funeral home and picked Irwin's remains up. That was probably the most bizarre situation in my life so far, especially because the guys at the funeral home were kind of creepy. My SIL's husband carried the box outside - I just couldn't. He is a really sweet guy and very comforting for me to have around with my SIL.

It is more final now – when you have a piece of paper in your hand that states that your husband is now in a box in front of you. I think it is good for me to have such a clear picture because I kept thinking that Irwin would just show up and everything would go back to normal.

The last time I saw him was at the Munich airport when he came to visit me in May. He went through the security area and up the stairs and waived at me. I stayed until I didn’t see him anymore. You wonder why you do these things.

The puppies enjoy the extra hands for petting. I told them that will probably stop once the visitors from Vermont go home.

It is good for me to see the happy dogs playing around in the backyard.

My SIL and her husband went back home to Vermont this morning. As I said before, they were a big help and support the last few days. Yesterday was our last evening together and we did something special to honor Irwin. We watched “A Day at the Races” with the Marx Brothers. I once gave Irwin the whole collection of Marx Brothers movies and so we didn’t even have to go out to rent it. We all laughed a lot, especially when the quote came up we thought about putting on the card: “Either he's dead or my watch has stopped.”

So now, it's facing the facts for me. I am alone and I have to get on with my life without Irwin which is so unbelievable. I keep getting phone calls from Irwin's friends who can't believe that he is gone. I know I can't believe it either. But yesterday was somewhat of a special day when we picked up his remains. I think it starts sinking in that he is really, really gone.

My boss called me today to check on me and he asked me how I was doing. We haven't talked since Wednesday morning and therefore I told him what arrangements we had planned and that Irwin was cremated in the meantime. And then he asked what kind of service we had and he was surprised when I told him that there was no service yet. He asked about where “they” were holding onto Irwin until we had some kind of service because in Germany you can't take the ashes homes. By law, they will have to remain at the cemetery in a plot. When I told him that Irwin was in a box at home, residing in our dining room sideboard next to his favorite Riedel wine glasses, my boss started to laugh and said that only I could come up with such a resting place for my husband. I will go to work on Monday for a few hours and have our IT guy set up my laptop to logon from home. That way, if I have a terrible time at work, I can just go home and work from there and I don’t have to face people with my puffy eyes.

After I dropped the Vermonters off at the airport this morning, I went to visit Jane and Mittens.

I figured I would visit with a few close friends at the beginning and then get out in public more. I still need a lot of space - after all it just happened six freakin’ days ago. Jane and I had a very quiet visit, except when Mittens - who misses his little brother Socks who is at the vet at the moment - tried to get our attention and either chewed on Jane’s hair or my flip-flops. We talked for several hours and I even knitted a few rows. The first rows ever since I came back from Germany on Tuesday. It just takes another knitter to inspire. ;-)

I realized over the last few days how differently people grief in Germany and here in the US. In Germany grief is something very private. People pay their respects at a memorial service or mass and maybe get together for a meal. Other than that you have to call upon your friends when you need help. In the US it is very different. The support is very open and you get food, people offer to run errands, etc. I can see that people might get overwhelmed both ways and so far I have had a very healthy balance between enough space to grief and a fridge that has never been fuller. I got a lot of fruit which I love and I tried to convince Hermione and Noah that bananas would be just as good as dog food but somehow they didn’t trust me…

My parents call every day to check on me and they can’t believe when I tell them how wonderful my friends take care of everything. When my brother called today, he joked and said, “Hey, if you play your cards right, you can have someone clean your house and dog sit for you for a while.” Well, little bro, that might be a little abusive, I think. Plus, I discovered the soothing comfort of cleaning. And I am not a big fan of having other people clean up my mess.

Anyways, I am still so in awe over all the kindness and offers to help. Just wonderful to feel all this love!

I took the pooches for a walk a little while ago and the walk turned into quite a big loop. I just felt like walking even tho’ it was pretty hot. And I think I exhausted Hermione and Noah. Poor things, they are currently pretending that they are a piece of rug next to my feet.

I can't believe that it is already been a week...

After a pretty restless night, my day started out with cleaning. I am really not myself because I. HATE. CLEANING.... That is why Irwin once got me a t-shirt that says “Cleaning and cooking is for people who have not discovered knitting yet.”

A friend of Irwin's from the past called me back yesterday evening and I was very emotional after the call and therefore couldn't really sleep much. The two of them had lost contact after Hurricane Katrina happened. The friend lived in New Orleans and his house, where Irwin and I spent one Christmas back in 2002, was destroyed during the hurricane. They haven't talked to one another in a very long time and I wanted to reach his friend and let him know about Irwin because they had been very close friends back then. It is so sad for me to tell all his friends that he is gone.

So this morning, I was thinking of what to do with myself and I started out cleaning the two porches we have. The dogs kept me company and played in the backyard. After that, I decided that I wanted to put some of Irwin's books away - which have been laying around in the living room - in boxes for the basement. I just can't look at them at the moment. Eventually, I will also have to decide what to do with his books. He got a lot of them and they are all in excellent shape. I am thinking about donating them to a public library. Any other thoughts?

Then I went knitting with Jen to Jacquie's house who hosted a little knit-in and Jane, Diana and Regan joined us. It was just the right size of a group without getting overwhelming for me. I am so grateful for my knitting friends. What would I do without them? We chatted and knitted for a few hours and it took my mind of Irwin.

Maybe that is one of the reasons why I am a lot calmer tonight. I think it is because things are starting slowly to fall into place. Or maybe the glass of red wine is helping, too...

I compiled a CD for Irwin's sister with all of the pictures I could find on his computer of him. As you can imagine, there are not that many because he took mostly pictures of me and the dogs and he also didn't like his picture taken.

This one I found with my SIL on a stack of memorabilia from his time in Texas. He was crazy about fast things – like roller coasters and cars. And so he went skydiving one time.

I love this picture with his big grin. Even tho’ the strong wind is helping to make him smile like Steve Martin. ;-)

If you care to look at more pictures, I created an album on Flickr.

I am going to work tomorrow for a few hours to check on things and I will also let my laptop get set up so I can work from home.

Have a good night – I am trying to go to sleep now.

The picture of today is of Irwin's favorite soft toy, a dog called Honkey.

Irwin got Honkey - the dog with the black nose in the center of the picture - in 1954. My SIL took Honkey as a memento back to Vermont and united Honkey with some of her childhood toys. They look happy to be retired together in a basket, don't you think?

My day today was very draining. It started out with phone calls to the phone company and such. After a few calls I gave up. How many times can you repeat that your husband died last week and they have to change whatever service he had with them to you? Really bleh...

Then I went to the office for a few hours and met with the attorney who will handle Irwin's estate for me. He said that everything looks pretty easy since Irwin had a will and I have full power-of-attorney. But I don't trust attorneys, remember - I work for one. ;-) Anyways, hopefully there will be no hick-ups along the way.

And then I went to dinner with Famous Steve. I wanted to swing by the restaurant where Brett works to say hello and show him the progress on his sweater and maybe have a chat and a drink. I called Steve on the spur of the moment and asked if he wanted to join me. He works around the corner of the restaurant. Steve was already on his way home but turned around to keep me company. Such a sweet guy!!! That was my highlight for today! And of course seeing Brett - not to forget! Who invited me and the pups to hang out by his pool. I don't think he knows in how much trouble he could get with the dogs at the pool. ;-)

I also picked up the announcement and thank-you cards. They turned out really beautiful. I'll post a scan some other time. I am too tired tonight.

This morning before I had to leave for work and to do the errands, I set up the new doggy day camp. I am baby gating the dogs in the kitchen which is pretty big and sunny and has windows for them to "watch TV". I think this set-up will work for the time being. They were very excited when I got home and I had two dancing dogs. ;-) After they had their dinner, we went for a walk. I so enjoy their company. And they enjoy that they can sleep with me on the bed in my crafts room. I can't sleep in the bedroom at the moment. I don't know if I ever will... But that is not for now to decide.

AND AGAIN - I so love all your comments on the blog. They really carry me through this rough time. Thanks for being here for me!