New England Knitting -> German Knitting

As I mentioned in the last post, I am headed for Europe! When? Oh, tomorrow. Have I packed? No way... I haven't even finished unpacking yet. First stop will be Tübingen, Germany for about 3 weeks to work in the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems on a human behavioral/robotics project. Just before I started this blog, I was there from July through December, so it will be nice to go back for a little bit and see all of my German friends again. Plus, after being away from Michael for 6 months, 3 weeks will be a breeze!

Sheep in Tübingen

My neighborhood in Tübingen

Lemberg in Autumn

Me at Rhine Falls in Switzerland

Neues Rathaus in Munich

My dad and the view from Schloss Lichtenstein

Michael and I on FaceTime and just so happened to be wearing matching shirts

One of the best parts about staying in Germany is that I have so much extra time.  Where I stay, I don't have to cook meals or clean... basically no responsibilities besides work and knitting. During my last visit, was when I really started playing around with designs, including the two hats I freestyled.

This project was dubbed the "German Ski Hat" because of the colors.
This pattern requires using 3 strands at once... so I'm thinking of publishing an easy
 and advanced version of the pattern with different numbers of colors.

Thanks Apollo for modeling!

This one is the "Swiss Hat" because I made it for a Swiss guy. How original....

This time around, I want to write these patterns up! Plus come up with a few more :) After Germany I'll be off to Valencia, Spain for one week of conference and then one week of vacation, which Michael will join me for. I'm sooo excited for this! I just happened to find this blog post listing all of the yarn stores (tiendas de lanas) in Valencia. But besides perusing yarn, Michael and I plan to enjoy some relaxation time biking along the coast and drinking wine.

Right now, the most important thing I need to think about in terms of packing is what to bring on the transatlantic flight... that's some good quality knitting time. Currently, I'm working on the Caramel cardigan I'm working on, which I need to get some progress pictures of. I also thought I would bring along some yarn to play around with designs. And by some yarn, I mean almost all the yarn I bought last week. Maybe that's too ambitious, but I think it's better to be over prepared than to be stuck on a plane with no knitting.

I'll have one more post tomorrow, Favorites Friday, in New England. I better be packed by then!!

Cape Ann Wedding Blanket

What a crazy week! I know I made a huge deal about how difficult and time consuming packing would be, but it turned out to be not so bad. That's probably because my process of packing is to throw everything is boxes/bags and cross my fingers that nothing will break. You can definitely tell which boxes I packed versus those that Michael packed --- Michael neatly bubble wrapped fragile items whereas I wrapped our diningware in sweaters.

Michael and I enjoying Lobster Martinis after a long day of moving.

Because packing didn't take as much time as I thought, I was able to squeeze in enough time to finish the Cape Ann Blanket in time for the wedding!  You can tell I'm proud of this one by the number of FO pictures I took.

First picture right after finishing!

This closeup picture is truest in color.

Blanket on the hotel bed

Blanket on another couch... Seriously I took pictures of this blanket everywhere!

After "modeling" the blanket, my roommates also wanted to get in on the action....

Where's Michael???

Dave in his element. I gave him $8 in quarters for letting me post this picture.

Although, there were a few snags. I finished the blanket on Thursday afternoon, and then hand washed and blocked the massive thing that night. I thought 36 hours would be enough to time to let the blanket dry, but I was wrong. Unfortunately I didn't have a fan as it was packed in the moving truck, which I'm sure would have helped. I mean the blanket was dry, but not completely dry in a few places. Fortunately, I had my partner in crime help me blow dry the slightly damp spots in the hotel room a few hours before the wedding.

After packing up all of our stuff, Michael and I had to sleep on the floor next to the blanket being blocked. #knitlife

T-minus two hours until the wedding... 

And the wedding! Luckily we got there early enough to watch the Nepali ceremony before the Western ceremony. The bride, Bijaya, looked absolutely gorgeous (as did her new husband Brendan of course). I'll admit that most of the time I had no idea what was going on, but Bijaya would occasionally provide commentary --- my favorite being when she turned to Brendan and said nonchalantly, "Now we're married". The reception was a ton of fun too. Michael and I had such an amazing time danced our butts off with friends. I definitely took some notes for the wedding that I have to start planning one of these days.

Nepali wedding ceremony.

Close up of the bride and groom.

The guys partaking in the tradition of bargaining for the groom's shoes.

Getting back to the knitting... Now that the blanket is done, I'm jumping into the Caramel cardigan I mentioned last post. I feel like I'm skipping summer and jumping right into fall knits, but I'm okay with that. It means I'll be able to wear the project soon after I finish. But then again, maybe I'll cast on Celes by Jared Flood in the next few days too. I've been eyeing this pattern for a while now. What a gorgeous spring/summer/fall scarf this would make!

Greetings from Charleston!

Greetings from Charleston, South Carolina, the land of heat and humidity. As a girl with frizzy/curly hair, of course this was the first thing I noticed. 

I have only been in the South for 24 hours, and its not necessarily bad, but it has been thundering up a storm. I also think there was a tornado warning last night... Even worse though, there are no yarn stores here! I guess that's a good thing. I won't be tempted to add to my stash or start a new project. But let’s be honest, it’s highly disappointing.

In the meantime, I've been doing some serious work on the Cape Ann Blanket — only 9 balls of yarn left! I made some good headway on the plane, but I need to make a conscious effort to stay on time with this project.

Making a lot of progress!

Isn't this AirBnB room so adorable?
I also have to remember to take a picture of Millie, the three-legged, cancer-surviving cat!

Despite what I said about needing to be disciplined, I have started to think about my next project already. I’m thinking of making Caramel by Isabel Kraumer in solid navy blue. I’ll use the same the Baby Camel/Merino/Nylon blend yarn that I did in the Guernsey Blanket. In fact, I'm planning to add a similar chevron pattern along the front band, inspired by the blanket and the Guernsey Wrap by Jared Flood. Now that I think about it, I'll pretty much be remaking the Guernsey Blanket as a cardigan. Given how cozy and cool the blanket came out, I'm totally okay with that.

I even did swatch of the herringbone pattern for the frontband...
I need to stop procrastinating and finish the blanket first.