Little Owl Hat for a new Baby Boy!

I made this little hat up and gifted it to a co-worker for her first grandson.   She was able to fly to the states after his birth for a little visit.   The hat is a little too big but it should be perfect for next fall/winter's winter wearings.

Stranded knitted hats....

 I love the first hat.  It looks like something Mary Tyler Moore might have worn... or maybe Marlo Thomas from "That Girl" might have worn.  I knitted this for my friend Jane for Christmas.

 Sorry for the fuzzy photo.  This was knitted for a guy friend for Christmas.  This is the tweed Wool of Andes yarn from Knitpicks.com.

 I knitted the above one (yes, that is the same yarn colors that was in the first hat) for my friend Pam for Christmas.

This was for my good friend Lisa... who loves bright colors!  

The colorful yarns were all the Chroma yarn from knitpicks.   The last hat isn't knitted with black yarn- instead it's actually a deep plum. 

I also knitted myself a stranded hat for Christmas.   I'll have to see if I can find a photo of it to publish.

My blogger is still acting strange for photo downloading- it took about 45 minutes-- to download the above photos.

Another rainy day... but, at least NO SNOW is on the ground!

I tried again to post a photo- but, I don't know what on earth is wrong... but, the blogger was 'downloading' the photo for an hour and nothing happened. I'll keep trying- because after all... the photos are half of the story right?

I'm doing household cleaning jobs today because a lot of things have gone by the wayside while I've been sick for the last couple of months. I have a load in the washing machine (which takes a long, long, long time in the German washers) and my hope is to be able to do two loads of laundry- darks and whites.

I did stop and take a 20 minute knitting break in the middle of my cleaning chores.
I have to do 'entertainment breaks' whenever I need to do more than just a quick 30 minute cleaning/sorting/putting away. Ok, it's probably almost like bribery to make myself continue with the dreading cleaning chores. ;D

I usually use a timer and set it for 15-60 minutes to keep myself on task.

What do you do to 'reward yourself' or to keep yourself doing the 'not so much fun' household jobs?

I hear the washing machine 'beeping' so, it's time to go down to the cold basement and put that load in the dryer (also takes forever to complete the drying cycle) and my second load of wash in the washing machine. By the way, the dryers here 'remove' the water from the wet clothing and after every one or two loads of drying clothing- you have to remove the 'plastic' water holding device and dump the water out.

See how exciting someone's life is living in a foreign country?? No matter where you live; almost nothing changes but the outside scenery.

anybody miss me?

I'm not even going to try to post a photo-- since, that is one of the reasons that I haven't been posting- super slow Internet in the German boonies. THAT won't let me post photos- it will be downloading them for an hour and still not download/post photos. grrr

So, this is just a 'test, test, test, 1, 2, 3' (pretend that I'm hitting the microphone like you see all those people do before a performance starts up).

What's been going on?

1. I'm still in the same boonies part of Germany.

2. I have more yarn than I did the last time that I posted.

3. I have knitted several more projects.

4. My Jeep that I had to buy when I moved here is almost paid off (just a few more months).

5. I've been to Scotland. *LOVED that place!!

6. I've had pneumonia every winter that I've lived here.

7. I had unexpected surgery last summer.

8. I'm ready (past ready) to leave Germany. I enjoyed my time here- but, I've lived here for almost 4 years-- and the longest that I've lived in one place since started working overseas 22 years ago has been 3 years- so, this is a record for me.

9. I'm tired of the long, dismal, grey, cold, snowy winters here.

10. I have more Polish Pottery since I last wrote too. :D
(Hey, can you blame me? That stuff is cheap if you buy it IN Poland!)

Please leave a comment and I'll be encouraged to write more thoughts, tell more stories, share photos (I hope anyway)/etc.

I apologize, but... I've been sick a lot since I moved here. I had pneumonia last year for 6 months (Dec-June), had surgery last summer (July 1) and got sick this year in early January until now. Pneumonia. See, I need to leave Germany for my health! :D

So, what have you guys/guyettes been doing since I last blogged?