umpf...

Its raining and I have been sleepy all day.

And now at 4pm its getting dark. Can't get used to this at all.

I have a week and a half of leave left. Must use it at least sort of constructively.

Things that will need to be done:

Clear up the balcony garden.

Finish up Xmas projects.

Purchase Rigid Heddle Loom.

List yarns in the shop.

Buy some winter shoes.

Go on a couple of day trips.

There, since its written down it must be done now.

Now back to the sofa to knit in my PJs and listen to 'The girl with the dragon tattoo' on Audible.

But first I have to switch on the lights.

Berlin Wall

A thread on the Ravelry forums just reminded me that today is the 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.The OP asked where people were when the wall came down. It seems I was the first East German to answer, hm, we need more East Germans on Ravelry!I do recall seeing things on TV but sadly I can't remember anything specific.I was 12. I can't believe it has been 20 years, makes me feel very old.

I was very happy when we didn't have to go to school on a Saturday anymore(that came a few weeks later).

Somehow I don't think I was particularly surprised about the fall of the wall, even when I was small I remember thinking that it could not go on like this, locked away from the rest of the world.Somehow I was always convinced I would not be stuck there my whole life.

Since then I have been round the world once, been to lots of countries, got married in India, been living in the UK for a long time, got two degrees(both useless, but still).

Had the wall not come down I suspect I would be milking cows on the local community farm.That is not a joke, I would most likely not have been allowed to go to university(regardless of my grades) and decide my own fate because no one in my family, including my mother who was a primary school teacher, was a member of the party(there was only one party).It wasn't that they were particularly rebellious, they most definitely weren't.Actually I don't know why my mum wasn't in the party, I must ask her. Lack of party membership most definitely closed a number of doors.

So thank you to all the people who risked imprisonment and went to peacefully demonstrate on the streets of Leipzig and other East German towns, and thank you to the people who left everything behind and fled the country via Hungary and Czechoslovakia in their thousands. They ultimately forced the government to it's knees and brought down the wall so that I can think what I want and go anywhere I please. Thank you. I am very grateful for that.

Family knitting

I like knitting for other people. There, I've said it.

But(there is always a but) with reservations. Only if they are at least mildly appreciative of handmade things and hand work in general(or at least pretend to be).That leaves me with two friends(one boy and one girl) and my family.The rest of my friends are of the 'but you can get it cheaper in Primark' type and therefore not worthy of yarny magic.

The first autumn knit of every year is the wonderhusband's winter hat. seeing that he lost his first one at the end of the winter I admit I didn't go all out with last year's hat. It was a bit boring.But he managed to get it through the winter so this year I made a bit of an effort.

Turn a Square in Rowan pure wool aran and handspun(!) stripes. He better take good care of this one.

Next comes the Christmas knitting.Since I picked up needles and hook my poor family has been abundantly blessed with handmade gifts.They haven't complained yet.The last person in our family to have any interest(and ability) in knitting and the like was my grandmother. My family treat my own recent knitting revival with a kind of awe, it seems they think I'm channeling my grandmother(wouldn't mind that one bit).

My first christmas project this year is a pair of socks for my granddad. My granddad is a farmer, well, was a farmer, he only has some chickens now. No frilly fussy socks for him. Only a sturdy pair will do.

Which is just as well, as my ability to knit frilly fussy socks is severely limited.

Silver's sock class, one 6ply and one 4ply sockyarn held together, makes fat cosy socks.

When I was little we used to have sheep and the fleece would get sold to some mysterious place in the next town and sometimes they would get back some yarn(along with payment I suppose). This was pretty rough stuff, about aran weight to bulky and in the grease(I think). It would invariable to turned into sturdy socks by my grandma. My granddad still has some of them. Next time I'm home I will have to take pictures for historical research.

I have to admit knitting this pair of socks made me very happy, not sure why, but I always caught myself smiling while knitting away. I think its because I know my granddad can put these on on a cold January morning(and Germany gets cold!) and go feed the chickens with warm cosy feet. And partly its because I'm channeling my grandmother. And that just gives me the warm fuzzies. :)

It has been getting a little cold round here...

Our home is fairly new and very well insulated( I swear we would suffocate in here if we didn't open the windows once in a while) and hubby gives off enough warmth to heat a draughty old Victorian mansion. But I still felt there was something missing in my life, something with a little extra heat. So I finally got a hot water bottle for the first time at age 32.

I think they are a very English thing, it seems most English people spent their formative years near hot water bottles. I, however, do not recall ever having one. I think its because I'm German and we have...well, decent central heating and properly insulated houses(and mixer taps, but that is another story!Don't get me started on the mixer taps.).

I had this one for a couple of weeks before I decided a needed to make it a cover and, as I'm trying to use up things I have at the moment, I picked up half of a knitted pillow case(my first knitting project) and put it through the washing machine once to felt it a little bit. It came at just double the width of the bottle so I simply folded it over, sewed up the side and the top(leaving an opening for the neck of the bottle) turned it inside out and folded over the bottom. The edges looked a bit untidy so I made a scalloped crochet border with some matching Noro left overs and finally added some pretty buttons to the bottom of the cover. Snugly warmth guaranteed in less than half an hour!