It seems like I forgot that I had a blog, right?

In a way.. I did. Life has been busy.. and it seems like I had nothing to write about, nothing exciting to share, and no photos to share.. (darn slow Internet here)... that made it difficult to share the photos that I did take.. however,

SOME GOOD NEWS.. I have been out and every weekend since Thanksgiving and now that I am winter break from teaching.. I do have a lot to share. So, look for upcoming updates in the near future.

Weather: SNOW on the ground

CLUES that IT might be time to stop the gift knitting...

I've been working off and on knitting some of my Christmas gifts. I only have one gift 100% completed... Here it is...

This was knitted out of a pretty royal blue mohair yarn.. for a nice elderly lady that I know in southern Oklahoma. I thought that it would keep her warm and be nice to not have to worry about the ends of her scarf coming undone while she was out doing errands or working in the yard.









Last night, I opened up one of my photo files on my computerand as I scanned the photos.... I noticed something very familiar... very, very familiar...

Yes, you are seeing that right.. it is the exact same scarf, in the exact same yarn, knitted in the exact same color.. and dare I admit it? Already knitted and gifted to the same person... YES, the same person.. that I had knitted and planned to gift this 2009 version to... sigh *At least, I noticed the duplication before I mailed the scarf to Oklahoma.


I do have just enough yarn left to knit some gloves or mittens. At least, I won't have to worry if the colors will match.. since, I know that the yarn is a perfect match to the scarf that she already has... :D


I mean.. it's bad enough to give the exact same purchased gift to someone...


.. but, honestly.. to KNIT THE EXACT SAME ITEM, OUT OF THE EXACT SAME YARN, IN THE EXACT SAME COLOR? and plan to give it to the exact same person???

Say it ain't so...

Last Wednesday morning, I walked outside to my car, ready to drive to work. I walked outside without a jacket or coat- since.. it hadn't been cold up to this point- just early morning chilly-ness.

AND.. what did I see? *Notice the red roses in the background?





Not only the first frost of the year.. but, a light dusting of actual snowflakes. I opened up the door, put in my purse and my lunch.. and grabbed the now very cold cotton cloth thin jacket that I had left in the car the day before- because of the rain... and I started digging around for the ice scraper from the last time that I had used it in March.

The next morning, Thursday, I looked out my classroom window and I had to do a double take.. it was snowing.. not only snowing but the snow was already sticking on the blacktop, the grass, and the rooftops visible from my classroom. It snowed all day long and when I got home.. I still had a few reminders of the first snowfall of the upcoming winter season....Look at the roses now!




It also snowed all day on Friday... and it sleeted for about 30 minutes on Sunday afternoon.

Good news... my snow tires are on my Jeep now.. but, truthfully.. I just never, ever thought that I'd ever live where I needed snow tires. :D

Now, that I'm home.. from the Polish Pottery dish shopping adventure

I wish that I had bought these items....

Polish Pottery Shopping

We stopped at many different places.. sometimes an area would have up to 6 different shops and truthfully.. I didn't go into all of them. There was just too much to see- and it sometimes took quite awhile to get waited on.. standing in line with the others from the bus who had made purchases.. (only 1 person ringing up purchases and wrapping up the pottery).. so, sometimes.. I only went into a couple of stores.. because of spending so much time waiting in line.. (we were only given a certain amount of time per bus stop- but, it was plenty of time to shop.. trust me!)






I can appreciate the newer painting styles and colors.. but, I will admit that I am drawn to the traditional blue patterns. I had already purchased some polish pottery casserole dishes and other pieces when I lived in northern Italy about 12 years ago. So, I also only purchased the blue and white patterns so that they would 'mix and match' nicely with other pieces that I already owned.

Some of the newer styles...






I'll be posting photos of what I did buy soon...

This weekend, I went to POLAND and bought..

Polish Pottery.. of course!


I went on a trip arranged through the base. The cost was $59.00 for a long, long, long bus ride. We departed at 12:30am.. on what was officially 'Saturday' early morning. I don't sleep on public transportation. I wish I could- but, I just can't.
Yet, in my eternal optimism- I did bring a pillow 'just in case' this was the first time in my life that I went to sleep on public transportation.

Of course, I didn't and there I was BORED.. BORED. Everyone on the bus was asleep.. no snoring.. all females on the bus except for the bus drivers. Not to say that females don't snore- but, you know what I mean.. women don't USUALLY SNORE or snore loudly.


I didn't want to turn the light on for my seat and read, knit, or make shadow puppets. No, I kept trying to go to sleep... and it was useless.


We had a 30 minute rest stop, about 3:30am. Nothing was open and many of us bought ice-cream bars.. the only option at 3:30am. We had to pay to use the toilets.. at the autobahn rest stop.. about 50 euro or about 80 cents (USA).

Now, the toliet had quite an interesting feature.. automatic cleaning of the seat.. here it is in action.. see the tiny stream of water?

Well, I was about to open the door and before I walked out of the stall- I was amazed when the toliet seat rotated around in a circle.. see how the oval is wider now?

Yes, I was in the public pay toilet taking photos... what else was I to do? Of course, if you've read my blog for very long.. you know that this isn't the first toilet photo either. :D


We arrived about 6:30am to this tiny town on the highway. I'm sure that there was more 'town' somewhere.. but, all we saw were 4 buildings.

Click on the photo and you can read the name of the town that we stopped in. There were 2 polish pottery places across the street from each other.



*Darn it... The photo downloading isn't co-operating with me. I'll publish more photos tomorrow.

Behold the POWER of the YELLOW BAG!!

WHITE GARBAGE bag inside the YELLOW BAG



In Germany where I live, there are very specific 'garbage pick up rules'... I left Seoul, Korea, a year ago, with twice weekly recycling garbage pickup of any type of trash that you'd possibly have. It just had to be placed in the correct recycling bins.

TO...my new home with once a month paper pick up, twice a month 'refuse trash' or as I call it: Bad food and once a month 'yellow bag' trash.

Yellow bag.. trash consists of: plastics, Styrofoam, pieces of aluminium foil. There is no arrangement for the pick up of: cans, glass, or cardboard boxes.

I continued using the American kitchen trash bags in 3 plastic kitchen trash cans.. to help sort the trash and keep it divided up in the proper categories of: PAPER, aluminium cans (even if I don't know where to toss them- I know that they don't go in the trash that does get picked up and putting them in their own bag helps), and of course the yellow bag trash.

When I first moved here.. I asked my landlord where to get the 'yellow plastic bags' for the yellow bag trash. HE gave me a few and they did last a long time- since, this trash is only picked up ONCE A MONTH! I would simply lift up the white kitchen trash can plastic bag from the 'yellow bag' trash can.. and slip it inside the provided PLASTIC YELLOW BAG.

However, recently... I ran out of the YELLOW BAGS for YELLOW BAG TRASH DAY. I asked around and no one knew where to get them either or they told me that they'd been given regular amounts from their landlords, or they just put the trash out in the regular American plastic garbage bags and that the trash guys had taken their 'trash' and left them the much needed plastic yellow bags.

So, that is what I did. However, apparently.. the trash guys in my town.. follow the rules a bit more stringently. They left my nicely tied white plastic regular kitchen trash bags... on my yard to wait for the next month's yellow bag trash pick-up day.. but, they did at least leave me a roll of the REQUIRED PLASTIC YELLOW BAG TRASH BAGS.

So, apparently.. that plastic 'yellow bag' wrapped around the nice, clean, white plastic garbage bag.. lets the trash men know that THE PLASTIC YELLOW BAG is TRASH.. but, a plain PLASTIC WHITE TRASH BAG??.. well, clearly it could be just anything.. but,apparently trash and must be left behind.

So, the lesson is: THE PLASTIC YELLOW BAG HAS POWER... the WHITE PLASTIC TRASH BAG does not!

Newsflash! I made a pair of real socks to fit a human...

It all started with this yarn:




I first made a pair of fuzzy feet... (pattern can be found on line) that I discussed in a previous post. Pre-felting..

Felted..


Then, I knitted some little sock ornaments. I have made more since this photo using a variety of little sock ornament patterns.


And.. eventually after knitting what seemed like forever.. I had a pair of socks. I was even able to knit the stripes/colors to match on both socks. On one side, near the ankle, there is a small smattering of red stitches.. and I was amazed that the yarn did the exact same thing in the exact same place on the other sock too.

Goodbye summer

We've just finished our first week of school for the new term. The little first graders were so cute this week.. telling me that they were 'not little kindergartners now- but, that they were big first graders!'

Here is a little straw fella that was posted at the city limits this summer. I never had my camera or either had a car right on my bumper so I wasn't able to take the photo for some time. I was sad to see one day that someone actually 'knocked him down'... but, he was finally righted and is still standing proudly welcoming all to Grafenwohr, Germany.
I do believe that the little sign at the straw fella's feet.. is a message in German to NOT KNOCK THE STRAW MAN DOWN or something to that effect?

The mornings have already started getting darker- just this week... oh no.. tell me we aren't entering the 'dark season of leaving the house in the dark and coming home in the dark' already! =:O

My first afghan!

I have known how to knit for what seems like forever but, I've just never knitted an afghan- I just couldn't imagine working forever on one project! I've had many friends request that I knit them an afghan- but, I'd always tell them.. "I love you, but...I don't love anyone that much!" And, truthfully, I sort of meant it too. ha ha



However, last year in the yarn market of Seoul, Korea, I found this amazing self changing tweedy yarn. I knitted up what I now know is the log cabin square- I was just using the quilt concept of a log cabin square and no pattern. I loved how the yarn slowly changed colors so that it looked like I had changed the colors for various knitted sides.

I showed the squares to Lisa, my friend and knitting student at the time, how the squares looked knitted up. She loved the way that the squares looked and decided that she wanted some of the yarn too. So, off we went to the yarn market and eventually purchased 3 different color ways and then split up the cost and the skeins so that we'd each have a larger variety of colors.

I knitted and knitted on the squares and I even took the wool yarn with me on a trip to Cambodia and there I discovered that 'feltable wool, humidity, and high temperatures found in a tropical jungle location' were not a good mix. THE WOOL FELTED IN THE SKEIN!

I had to interrupt my knitting last spring, summer, and even into the early fall, on the log cabin squares - because of torn tendons in my right hand. Once my hand was well- it was time to knit some Christmas gifts. However, I've recently been able to finish the remaining squares (far more than show in the photo) and I'm now in the process of seaming the squares together.

While I enjoyed knitting my first afghan.. I don't want anyone to get any ideas that I might knit one for you.

I plan to knit strips of the dark blue between the knitted squares- just like a quilt.

Oh happy day.. No longer will it look like the Clampet's came for a visit on wash day..

The German appliances are loaned to us from the military... My dryer never has worked well. The longest cycle is 1 hour and 57 minutes and my clothes would still be wet damp. I could run them through the cycle 2x.. yes, that's 3 hours and 54 minutes and my clothing would still be SO WET that they had to be put on a drying rack to dry for 4-6 hours (summer) to a day or so (winter).

I had reported the problem two times. I had someone come and check the dryer two times. They (The GERMAN man who was the manager of the appliances) basically told me that 'that's just the way it is'... that the German washing machines didn't spin the clothing as fast/hard as the American washing machines did.. so, the clothing was just 'wetter' when it went into the dryer anyway. *I told him that that might be true.. but, clothing should be dry after 3 hours and 54 minutes in the dryer!! =:O

I reminded them that I always clean the lint trap and dump the water container out after each load. I'd been doing what I could to help the dryer do the job. *The dryers work on a different principle than stateside dryers do... you have a container that collects the water removed from the clothing in the dryer. You pull this 'container' out and dump the water out.

They told me that they just didn't have any more dryers available at this time.

Last week, I came home to find a note from the appliance people to call them to make arrangements for a dryer delivery. I called and it was delivered yesterday. IT IS BRAND NEW!

Yes, as soon as the delivery guys left.. I went upstairs to get some dirty clothing from the clothes hamper, washed them, and put them in the new dryer as soon as the long washing cycle was completed.

Doing the.. "I can dry my clothing and don't have to dry my shirts and pillowcases draped over the back of my patio chairs when I run out of room on the drying rack" HAPPY DANCE!!

Color: White I don't think that there is another choice- but, that's OK!

On the other hand, I really did enjoy the nice outdoor fresh smell on my sheets.. humm

TIP # 351: Never send an email w/out being fully awake

Just check out: www.postsecret.com for August 16 *I think that they change their secrets weekly.

I looked at the site this morning... (someone had told me about the site) and while some 'secrets' are to put it one way.. a little more blunt.... after all they are actual secrets that others have mailed in anonymously, right? And, some secrets are secrets for a reason. I also found some were funny, endearing, and even sad.


Anyway... I found one about a school teacher. So, since it is the start of school for all my teacher friends - I went through my address book and did a copy/paste of the photo and sent it to every teacher that I know... some now retired, etc.


WHAT I DIDN'T KNOW WAS several of the secrets were also copied not just the funny teacher secret that I wanted to send to my friends. You can see where this is going, right?

AND.. yes, after I sent the email.. I went through the 'sent file' and that is when I discovered that not only was the secret that I wanted to send.. sent but, several secrets prior to that innocent, funny, put you in a good mood for the beginning of the new year... teacher secret were also sent.

The title of the email? Ok, who sent their secret to postsecret.com???

Curious? Think, oh.. it couldn't be that bad.. could it... well, here you go.. this is the first secret that was posted...


Cute? Not bad..

Here's the only postsecret that I meant to send in my email:

Now, you see why I was inspired to do an immediate 'copy/paste' and email that image to my friends, co-workers, and even former teachers and principals?

Ok, now... just go on to www.postsecret.blogspot.com or even just www.postsecret.com

and check out the images that were between these two images, posted here, that I accidently sent in my email.. but, you have to do it before the upcoming weekend.

And, I assure you .. YOU WILL LAUGH AT ME ... yes, at me and I won't blame you one bit. Sigh...

At least this is the first time that I've sent something in an email that I didn't mean to send.. it was bound to happen at some point, right? RIGHT?

Psst.... wanna see Italy?

Well, I've lived in two different locations in Italy and it is by far my favorite country overall. Each place you live has unique qualities that you miss when you leave... but, to me.. Italy is one of those places that is exactly as you had imagined it in your mind. I felt kin to the generations of the past as I'd walk along the worn cobblestones and marble sidewalks. Many buildings in the area were 200-800 years old.

When my storage shipment arrived this summer... a few of my Italian treasures did too.

This is the baker's rack that was made for me by the same man who made my wrought iron bed that couldn't be brought up the narrow turns on my German staircase. See the metal box in the floor? That's a transformer and it has to be used to plug a 110 (American wattage) electrical item so that it can be used in a 220 voltage home in Europe. It makes a humm when it's being used. The transformer gets plugged into the wall and then there are outlets on the front of the transformer to plug in the American appliances/etc. *I have to use one of these in my 'entertainment room' (uh, office for those who want to be traditional). *And, yes.. it does use more electricity when you use the transformer.

The chicken pitchers on the top (I have more of them too) are from all the little towns in Northern Italy where I lived the first time I moved to Italy. Each town makes their own 'chicken pitcher' design. It is the traditional gift to give to someone when they move into a new home.

The hand painted tiles on the back of the baker's rack were from a small town along the Amalfi Coast that I found before I moved away from Italy the last time. The painted scene is of the little town as seen from the train station.

Some of my polish pottery is on the rack too- but, I think it goes well with the Italian ceramics too. On the shelf, right below the marble top, (which I requested to be the Italian Green Marble from the man who made the rack) are my hand painted dishes that were made for me in Nove in northern Italy. *click on the photos for a larger/clearer view


I just loved this candlestick holder when I found it in that little Amalfi coast town. I like a touch of whimsy here and there.


Close up of the fruit plates. I had found this tiny shop.. (a room in a house) with a small amount of ceramics for sale. I had purchased a vase and pitcher in this same design- but, it was all that they had in this beautiful fruit design. Finally, I made them understand with drawing plates/etc. and the fruit designs and pointing back and forth to the vase and the drawing.. that I wanted them to do the same painting on a set of dishes. The fruits painted on the vase and pitcher was the most beautiful of any hand painted ceramics that I ever saw in Italy and I just knew that they'd be beautiful on a set of dishes.

They finally understood and I paid the money due and would return in a month's time. Aren't they amazing? Funny part: THEY DID NOT STAMP the DISHES MADE IN ITALY or sign the artwork. Reason? I'm here now and would know that they were made in Italy- because they made them for me. The 'made in Italy' stamp is for items that might not stay in Italy.


Hand painted ceramic tile showing the castles of Gaeta from the ocean, that I looked down upon from the house that I was living in when I lived in Gaeta, Italy.





The only items that I had used in the past were the fruit dishes- all other items had been purchased right before I moved from Gaeta and immediately put into storage until I could live in a place big enough to hold all of my household goods.

Oh! 'FUZZY FEET' boy did you shrink...

Yes, I've been knitting for years and years... since the late 80's... and yet.. I have never, ever knit socks.

Well, the early years is quite understandable that I wouldn't know how to knit socks.. there was no sock yarn sold in my southern region of Oklahoma.. it took years to find someone to teach me how to knit. As a matter of fact, I used to buy Vogue knitting magazines (the only option at that time where I lived) and had already taught myself the knitting abbreviations/etc. I just didn't know how to knit. There was no such thing as the Internet or any books at that time (at least not where I lived) that taught you how to knit.

So, I'd ask everyone I met.. for years.. if anyone knew how to knit.. none did.. they all knew how to crochet. I was finally taught how to knit by someone from Australia who was living in my little southern Oklahoma town.. for a few months while her husband learned how to fly helicopters! What a small world. She was in line in front of me at the grocery store and when I heard her accent.. I knew that she was from: AUSTRALIA

And.. to my mind: Australia = sheep = knitting

So, I asked once more.. the question that I had asked time and again.. "Do you know how to knit?" She did and she taught me how to knit. I took to knitting immediately... I learned knit and purl on my little swatch.. then, I asked her to show me how to make cables.. she did and I was off in my own knitting world. After mastering my cable on this swatch, holding my beginning knit and purl stitches, I do remember that she suddenly grabbed my first knitting attempt.. 'my little swatch' out of my hands.. and proceeded to rip the stitches out so I could start over now that I had even tension. I was aghast- after all I was so proud of my first rows of knitting.

*As a result, I always let those that I teach how to knit to keep their first little swatch of knitting.. it is a big milestone after all.

My first project? A cotton summer sleeveless top out of the only cotton yarn available to me: Peaches and Cream


I went through my knitting magazines and I found stitch patterns that I liked and figured out how to knit these different stitch patterns in little squares of different stitches on my first garment. I added a crochet picot edge. I wore it all the time.. of course, at the time I wasn't aware of cotton's tendency to 'grow and stretch' out of shape. As a result.. it got wider and shorter over time.

About two weeks ago, I decided it was time to knit some socks. I selected the pattern: Fuzzy Feet (found on ravelry or from an Internet search) I used some felt-able wool from Wool of the Andes... and some fun fur that had been in my household goods storage shipment that came this summer to add a nice fun touch to the cuff of the soon to be felted 'slippers'... Even though the yarn looks 'pink' in the skein, I was delighted to find that it was really a purple-ish and white mixture of fun fur and it went perfectly with the purple yarn that I was knitting my 'fuzzy feet' out of..


I have had these giant socks finished for about 10 days and yesterday.. I finally decided to felt them. Remember, I am living in Germany.. which means: FRONT LOAD WASHING MACHINE.. which means:







YOU CAN NOT STOP THE WASH CYCLE

Oh no.. Oh no... Yes, you can see where this is going.. and you can also understand why I had not attempted to felt the giant socks for 10 days?

So, here were are... the finished and felted socks where are now 'slippers'.. I think that they turned out cute, though.. Just as I had imagined that they would look..
Right? I can see now that my color selections were perfect together.. the fun fur did add just that right 'fun' touch...



Except.. Of course.. they are never going to fit even my toes...


I have not given up the 'knitting socks' skill though. Fortunately, I did not felt the giant and now big enough to fit a 4 year old 'Fuzzy Feet' socks.. for 10 days.. otherwise, I might not have attempted to start a pair of 'real fit you when you finish' (at least you hope they do) socks with no felting involved.

I've been really busy lately.. but, I do knit at least a 1/2 inch on them every night .. see?

I'd also started knitting little sock ornaments. I knitted a sock from a variety of patterns that I found on line- to find one that made the best shaped socks... and of course a pattern that made sense..