backpacks ready!

planes are fun

lollipops for takeoff

thirty minutes later

look what movie I got to watch!

and a little plane knitting

B plays "einkaufen"

S helps out in the kitchen

hey look, we have cousins!

Oh yes, the boys are having fun at oma and opa's. So much fun that I've even gotten some knitting done.

continental knitting

My current project is a secret project. Shhhh... people are listening. But I can tell you that it's stripey and colorful and lots of fun to knit. The yarn has a long history too. I originally spotted it on sale last january at one of my favorite yarn stores, Wild & Wooly. I let it go and Kerstin picked it up. We didn't even know each other then, but our similar taste in sale yarn brought us together! Well her project didn't succeed in the end and she generously passed the yarn on to me. And now I've finally found the right project for it. Here's a sneak peek of my progress so far. That's all I can show you until after Christmas. Sorry! But don't worry, there's at least one other vacation project planned, so I'll be able to post more progress pics once I start that one.

The Knitsmiths. Don't forget about me, ladies! I'll be back in a couple of weeks.

Knit Out Boston. Two year wait for the Knit Out to return to Boston and I'm out of the country. Poo.

Blog surfing. Internet time is big money over here, so I'm not blog surfing while on vacation. Just a quick check of email, blog update and I'm offline. So write comments and fill me in on everything I've been missing!

I arranged to have some little knitgoodies waiting for me when I arrived here in Germany. I ordered all my favorite German mags.

Burda, Verena, Rebecca, Filati

But the best post I received was a sweet package from Helene. Helene knitted our tea party mascot, Miss Muffin, and all the tiny little pastries that belong to a tiny Miss Muffin tea party. She generously sent me my own tray of yummy pastries.

mmmmmm....

Since you can't possibly appreciate how tiny these pastries are, here's a close-up with a penny for scale. Incredible, Helene! But that's not all, in recognition of my Olympic effort at finishing up all my projects before my trip, she made me this awesome gold medal. Thank you so much!

first class, Helene!

If I'm lucky there might just be a few more things on their way to me....

(It's so fun blogging from Germany. Now I can post as early as Wendy!)

Another sneak peek at my secret project, which is coming along fabulously. I'm loving the colors. They remind me of sherbert.

just a few ends to weave in

Yes, stripes means weaving in ends. It's unavoidable. I know, I know, you all want me to weave in as I go, but when I try, the colors keep popping through to the other side and it'll all just be neater when I do it later with the tapestry needle. It's not like you have to do it. (Of course, if you want to, I wouldn't mind! Hee, hee.)

* subway

We're off to Munich for a few days of mommy and daddy r&r. The boys are so busy driving toy tractors and discovering new playgrounds to even notice.

Greetings from Munich!

While on my mini-vacation within a vacation, I decided to really relax and brought no computer and no knitting. But that shouldn't stop me from doing a little knitblogging, right? I am able to blog from this internet place underground in the Marienplatz subway station. I'll be able to post a picture of it tomorrow when I get back to the in-laws, but for now you can check out the view inside from their webcam. If you're lucky you may spot me surfing my vacation away! This "internet point" (it's like an internet cafe, minus the cafe) is really a great idea. We paid only six Euros for two hours of internet time for each of us, which we've been able to use over a number of days. You pay, get a login code and password, use as much as you want, and come back tomorrow. The account even keeps your bookmarks and URL history. Could not be easier, people! Except for the smoke, I love this place.

Hmmm... that's pretty much how I feel about all of Germany.

Back from Munich!

We surfed.

We rubbed the lions at the Residenzpalast for luck.

We laughed at the dirndl t-shirts being sold in preparation for Oktoberfest.

We laughed at the funny german words.

And guess what's right next door to the Suckfüll? The Wollkorb!

Oh yes, it's a yarn store!

More tomorrow....

I may not have done much knitting while in Munich, but I did get a couple of new projects for the knitting bag.

First, from the Wollkorb - a Lana Grossa haven! - two balls of Cat yarn, the softest, fuzzy yarn ever.

After letting out a little moan upon feeling the sample swatch, the saleslady came up to me and told me what my fingers already new - there's alpaca in there! I'm thinking a fuzzy scarf to go with my new Zara jean jacket.

I also visited Wolle Rödel, where I got my cool circ needle holder last time I was in Munich. Lots more fabby Lana Grossa yarns, but I restrained myself. Yeah, I restrained myself so that I could get two bags of a soft wool/acrylic blend in white to make Ubernatural.

check out that Sonderpreis: 1.50 Euros!

But that's not all! A little package of Phildar patterns arrived at my in-laws while I was gone (thanks!). I just happened to bring along the perfect yarn for one particular sweater from this catalog (hee, hee).

It's more stash yarn. I am being soooo good! (Pause for applause - thank you, thank you.) I originally got the Phildar yarn from Leigh. She had bought it to make this sweater. The yarn didn't agree with her and I bought the yarn from her and had planned to make the same sweater. In the meantime, I've produced more than a few feminine sweaters (like Rosebud) with big, bell sleeves (like Klaralund) and am thinking, do I really need another? Not really. But I do need this sweater. It's the black one in the picture, but mine's gonna have the big stripes from the original sweater I'd planned. This is going to be so cool.

Fall, here I come!

Yes, Silvia, we did leave Munich on the morning that Oktoberfest began. Since we used to live in Munich, we've been to Oktoberfest many times, so we decided not to stay for it this time (plus the hotels become crazy expensive!). Of course, there are regular Biergartens open all the time in the warmer months which are usually more pleasant to visit anyway. So don't worry, we did make it to a Biergarten or two for a Maß or two. And here's the proof:

cheers!

the sheep in the field behind the hedge

knitted teddy bears from the attic

woven in ends on my secret project

sock yarn on sale in the department store

my new pop sweater underway!

Our vacation is over and it's time to say good-bye. While we're in the air on our way home, I'll leave you to say good-bye to a couple of old knitalongs whose time has also passed.

See you soon back in the Eastern Time Zone!

We survived the trip back. It was a little dicey for a while there. The boys were IN-SANE for the first few hours of the flight. But they settled down when the kiddie cartoons came on. At first they had a hard time seeing the screen between the crack in the seats.

Once we figured out that they could stand and still not block other people's view, they enjoyed it. S found the Goofy cartoon particularly gripping.

And then they fell asleep until landing. Hallalujah! I knitted more of the back of the pop sweater while they slept, making it up to the first color change.

Again, I had no problems bringing knitting needles on the plane. Three cheers for Lufthansa and sleeping toddlers - knit, knit, hooray!