KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

In 1957 the jokesters at BBC, ran a segment on the coming of spring after a mild winter and what that meant for Swiss farmers. The answer? An unusually large spaghetti crop. According to the Museum of Hoaxes, "Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied, 'place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.'"

Have great day - don't get fooled!

I am excited! I have a long weekend ahead of me. A “German” Easter weekend – with Good Friday and Easter Monday off! Woohoo – my boss decided that his team work so hard the last few weeks that we needed a break and he gave us this lovely “Easter Egg”. So, I am hoping the crazy weather here in Georgia is going to calm down a little bit and we are finally getting some warmer spring weather.

We had freeze warnings the last couple of nights and that right after some heavy rain last week. I took a bunch pictures at the office one day because the weather changed so drastically with 10 minutes.

And now – how about some knitting projects? I have been in a funk lately… I need to finish a few things that have deadlines, i.e. arrivals of babies… And some projects that I have started over a year ago and that are gifts… YIKES! But at the same time I always have a project or two going that are fun to knit for instant gratification. They take me through the long-term projects and those quickies I don’t have at the moment. And I was looking for a fast project like that but couldn’t find one. I got frustrated because I started several things and nothing pleased me… Until this:

The last Vogue Knitting issue has actually a couple of sweater patterns that I liked and this summer tank is based on one of the patterns (the one on the very right in the bottom row of pix).

I am intrigued by the construction of the pattern and the change of colors with the Noro yarn – love it!

I have been working on the baby blanket for my brother’s new baby. It is going to be a boy and his name will be Moritz. I told my sister-in-law that the name will be hard to pronounce for my American friends and that I will have to call him Moe. Which is funny because my brother already picked this as a nickname – inspired by Moe’s in the Simpsons. So, this will be Moe’s blanket (he is due on May 25).

It is knitted in the round, from the center outwards and I don’t even know how many stitched I have currently on my needles. I have to finish the last brown stripe and then I’ll add a yellow seed stitch stripe to give it a nice edge.

I finished three pairs of socks – yeah, amazingly I had the stamina to also knit the second sock..

This is my own design – just a plain toe-up sock with a baby cable running up the cuff.

And this Maelstrom by Cookie A. – I love her patterns!

And a pair of socks for a friend – also my design and also toe-up with a garter rib and a chunky cable running up at the ankles.

What else have I been doing? Hmmm… it’s been too long that I have blogged about my knitting projects… Geez.

I knitted some samples for Ms. Pixie Purls.

This is the Pineapple Fruit Loop – so cute!

And this is the Bitty Bolero. I am thinking about making a bigger version for my 3-year-old niece. Pixie Purls has some great baby/toddler patterns. Check them out!

Plus, I have a big project in time-out… Remember my excitement about the Sylvi coat before Christmas? This is how far I got…

Sorry for the dark pix... One sleeve, one front, one third of the back… And then I got an email with a pattern errata and I have not looked at it since. I am going to be very unhappy, if I have to rip these pieces. But I hope that this won’t be the case. So, cross your fingers and hopefully I can get past my “fear” soon and compare the old and the revised pattern.

With this – I wish you a HAPPY EASTER!

Have fun and hopefully we’ll have some nice weather!

Nothing exciting to report, no new knitting project, nothing finished... SO, I am going to share a funny picture that one of my knitting friends send me:

Know your Cuts of Lamb

I hope you had a great Easter weekend. Mine was nice. I got a little Easter basket from Brett - with a very cute card. And I was invited over to Jacquie's house for Easter Sunday lunch. Fabulous food - she always cooks up a storm and for Easter she always prepares some very traditional Ukranian dishes. YUMMY!

Well, the Easter weekend was nice until my fridge/freezer combo went out on Monday... Thankfully I was still off and at home. It was dead as can be... The compressor was glowing hot and instead of cold air it blew hot air into the freezer unit. Not so good... Therefore I spent most of the day running around cleaning up, throwing stuff out and buying a new appliance at Home Depot. The new unit will be delivered tomorrow. Thank goodness!

Only one more week and then STITCHES is in town! YAY - can't wait to meet up with everyone on Saturday.

The Wank It Blanket is done! YAY for that - I was really knitting like crazy to get it finished and the rows kept getting longer and longer... Very counter-productive! And finally last night around 10pm I bound off the last stitch. Now I only have to weave in all the ends and send it off to Germany.

I hope my soon-to-arrive nephew will like his first blanket.

And here something not knitting related for you. It always amazes me what people create. A friend sent me this YouTube video. It shows the largest model railway in the world and one of the most successful permanent exhibitions in Germany. Very cool and detailed - and the moderator explains everything in English. ;-)

Have a great weekend! I'll be at the Dogwood Festival tomorrow and then I bought tickets for the evening to finally take a look at the Terracotta Army of the First Emporer. Just so typical for me - the exhibition ends a day later... I'll be taking pictures!

The weather here in Georgia is simply mindblowing these days... I got a sunburn on Saturday while walking around at the Dogwood Festival and then we had more thunderstorms last night. Parts of Georgia even had tornados. And today I am freezing again - and I didn't bring a jacket to work, dangit!

So I was driving to work this morning when I took this picture of pink colored clouds.

Love those colors! They seem so peaceful after that violent storm - with rolling thunder and lightning last night.

So, here is my weekend recap. On Saturday I went to the Dogwood Festival. I have never been before - even tho, this is my 9th year in Georgia.

Of course there were dogwood trees in bloom.

I had my first funnel cake - it amazes me what kind of foods you get in the South. Deep-fried dough with powdered sugar. But at least I walked all over Piedmont Park for a couple of hours... That should make up for a little bit of that powdered sugar, right?

I looked at a bunch of art and bought some very cool silver earrings.

I watched the dogs perform.

They are very fast and it's hard to take their picture. I tried to capture one of the dogs on film.

Hermione would have loved to be part of that game. Even tho' she doesn't like the frisbee, she loves to chase after the ball. Chasing the frisbee is more Noah's thing. He is really good at it and brings it back, too. Until he gets tired and then there no way that you can make him move. Such a little man. ;-) That reminds me - the pooches haven't been on the blog in a long while. I need to take a bunch of new pictures.

Finally it got very crowded in the afternoon.

And eventually after several hours I left to go the High Musuem to finally look at the Terracotta Army of the First Emporer. It was very impressive. I didn't take the camera because I already knew that cameras were prohibited and I hate to drag things around that I don't need.

Yesterday I started a new little knitting project. I will have to take pictures and blog about it later this week. I can only say that it is totally cute and it involves twins and baby feet. ;-)

Take a wild guess what I am knitting. ;-)

And it seems like I am spending quite some time on YouTube these days. I stumbled across this totally facinating video - at least it is fascinating to me. Some people just have too much time on their hands to get creative. Bear with the video at the beginning because it is a little slow at first - but it'll pick up pace, I promise.

Very cool, one of the truly fun things I have seen lately. Have a great week!

It started with a very fun Friday night knitting group at Knitch. We all agreed that we had not laughed so much in a long time. Everyone was in a good mood. Plus, you know when Nancy gives me a headache from laughing and makes Steve snort, her job is done at the end of the evening. ;-) BTW - you guys - you need to blog. Your last entries are from January and February...

And I walked away with a finished object. Actually four finished objects.

I knitted two pairs of baby booties (from my pattern Baby Schuhe) for friends who just had identical twin boys. Congrats and good luck!

Remind me that I am not going to make the mistake of trying to be so extra creative next time and change colors three times on each bootie. That way I had to weave in eight ends on each bootie... And we all know how I much I like that... But they turned out cute and that is all that matters.

After the knitting group, I hooked up with Ms. Pixie and spent the night with her in the hotel at the convention center, where STITCHES SOUTH 2009 took place. We hardly ever get to see one another and that was great way to spend time together, knit, catch up and gossip. You know the drill... We slept in late Saturday morning (which meant for me 08:30am), had a lazy breakfast and went off to the STITCHES market place. I was surprised to learn that one is not allowed to take pictures at any of the STITCHES conventions, except when you have a press pass. Too bad...

The market place was great, but smaller than I expected. I met so many people that I hadn't seen in while. It felt good to get a bunch of heartfelt hugs and to let people know how I am doing. Again, I am so grateful for all you caring people around me. And yes, things are a lot better than a few weeks and months ago!

So, here is the little damage I have done to my credit card, one bag and four skeins of yarn:

A dark purple knitting bag from Namaste - love it!

From left to right:
- Hand-dyed sock yarn from Knit Witch - my astrology sign - called "The Crab"
- Miss Babs Sock Yarn - of course - I love the black/pink color
- "Road kill yarn” from Cherry Tree Hill (please note that I call this yarn “road kill yarn” because it has 30% possum in it)
- Hand-dyed sock yarn from Gale's Art - love the greens!

You see, I was REALLY good. And I focused on sock yarn since I just got the new Cookie A. book and I love all the patterns in her book.

After shopping, visiting and knitting, we went to dinner at Scalini's.

Many, many thanks at this point to Brittany and Wayne for the wonderful organization! There were a lot of people - WOW! I had a great time and the food was very yummy. Even tho' I chewed gum all Sunday because I had too many of the lovely garlic rolls. ;-)

And then on Sunday, I spent a quiet day in the country, south of Atlanta. It was a beautiful day – very relaxing. During a long walk through pastures with cows and creeks, I took a bunch of pictures. And this time I got a little tan without a sunburn. HAH!

You can find all the pictures I took, including a little video with cows, in the set on Flickr. Man, I wish I could lay in that grass now (maybe trying to avoid the cow pies…) and enjoy the rest of the afternoon, instead of sitting in my very chilled office in Midtown… I kid you not – I am wearing a sweater with long sleeves and my feet are freezing in my sandals… Dang A/C!

The fiber dogs haven't been on the blog in a while, actually a long while – shame on mommie. Well, they are responsible for the blog name after all... And they make me so very happy. I just look at them and smile and wish I could be them sometimes. No worries in their little world, there is always food and the backyard and someone who throws the ball. That is pretty much it…

Last night after dinner which was very low key but yummy frozen pizza, Brett and I hung out on the porch.

He knitted and didn't like it when I took his picture. Can you tell? ;-) And I played with the dogs and took a bunch of pictures and little videos while they played with the ball in the backyard.

Oh, and before I forget. Two new knitting projects are in the works. Since I just finished one baby blanket, I started another one.

This is the Op Art Blanket from Knitty. I didn’t like the way it looks in Garter stitch and therefore I changed to Stockinette Stitch. The pattern is extremely easy but looks so cool.

And socks – from the new Cookie A. book – don’t ask which pattern… I am at work and the project is at home… Sorry…

HAPPY THURSDAY – This week is almost over! YAY for that!