Sunday, July 22, 2007

Things I've learned this week

- a procedure announced to take three hours can take five

- knitting at the dentist's is possible, but the result might have to be frogged

- my dentist knows how to knit, but she calls the stitches "knots" - which confused me (being drugged up and sore from keeping my mouth open for five hours didn't help)

- talking about anesthetics: I need an extra shot to numb everything that has to be numb 100% and I need a refresher shot after four hours so I don't have to feel the drill doing what it does

- burning tooth enamel stinks to high heaven and makes me way uncomfortable; my dentist confesses she loves the smell

- while I find it reassuring that I am not the only one who can't think of the appropriate vocabulary at times, I find it utterly disturbing when it's my dentist that keeps saying "I need one of the thingies, the blue ones" or "give me one of the round thingies"

- be alert to jump up and not swallow a cerec onlay that gets accidentally dropped

- that under normal circumstances I would feel bad if someone (the dentist assistant) missed out on a dinner invitation because she had to work late, but being the one worked upon for five hours made me somehow less compassionate

- I can read about 600 pages in 10 hours flat (but I don't get anything else done)

Saturday, July 21, 2007

It's done and over with

I got the new Harry Potter at around ten this morning and I finished reading it just now. Whew. Good book.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

I can hear you - can you hear me?

To finish the Stubborn socks one had to be really hard headed and knit on - watching the ball of yarn getting smaller and smaller and fearing that it won't be enough...well, my Mom and I have a running gag: "you have to knit faster to make the yarn last". Apparently I managed to knit fast enough.



They fit me perfectly.



I guess I have to keep them.



What do you think?



As I said, I can hear those of you out there who don't agree that variegated yarn mixes with intricate pattern like these. I think that the twisted stitches define the patterns enough to use handpainted yarns. But, since I am not always stubborn:

The "Not-so-Stubborn" alternative



I am using hot pink Kroy sock yarn and 2.5 mm needles, because it is a bit bigger than your usual 4 ply. These would fit my legs which are also a bit bigger than your usual leg, even though the twisted stitches don't make it as stretchy as your regular Stockinette stitch sock.

Now, à propos pink. Every year a brave crowd of women march against breast cancer - 60 km in all. I am not so brave to walk, but I am happy to donate to find a cure. It made me kind of feel good that I do that, when my Mom hat a health scare this year (she assures me that everything is OK). I felt helpless, but thought at least there's research ongoing to make it - hopefully, one day - end, and I contributed to that.

Ramona, one of the brave women who wants to walk on September 8 and 9, offers a sock pattern in return of your sponsoring her to partake.


Think about it. Every little bit helps.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

La tête de bois en bas

At times I can be very stubborn. Especially when I want to use a certain yarn and want to knit patterned socks.

I love me a good surprise, so I was thrilled when I received a gift in the mail. One day it just showed up. My blogging friend Mareike (who I have met on our last Germany vacation - we had a wicked breakfast in a nice little bistro) send me a skein of "Drachenwolle" in a challenging colourway. Lilac, pink, lime green and white. I forgot to take a picture of the skein, but here's the ball:


At the moment I am all about twisted stitches, and so I started on Wednesday night with a tubular 1x1 cast-on and knit ahead - only to find out that the two dark colours were pooling together and the two lighter colours did that as well. It's quite a difference in value and in the dim light of the coffee shop we were knitting in it looked a bit questionable, especially after I started the pattern.

Having knit about 8 rows I was convinced it wouldn't work. So I stopped and entertained a couple of babies instead.

When I came home I still hadn't made up my mind but knit on. This yarn is a bit thicker than your regular sock yarn, I am loving the feel of it, the stitch number matched the patterns I picked, I am using 2.5 mm needles and I was just not ready to give up.


Now I'm thinking that my obstinacy paid off. This time.

Friday, July 06, 2007

En plus

The red shawl is finished. I would't be me if I hadn't made a mistake in the first row of the garter stitch part after painstakingly undoing all the other mistakes I generated in the lace part and only discovering it after I was all done and the thing blo..., uhm, steamed.

"Mooooom, there's a hole in my knitting where it doesn't beloooong!" (her answer would most probably be: "and what am I supposed to do about it?")




When I showed the shawl to Melanie, one of the knit thing attendees Wednesday night, she said it was funny how we have to point out the mistakes we made even though other people (even knitters) wouldn't find them. What I want to say, I guess, is that I am trying really hard to be ZEN about it and not to worry about one little extra hole.

It's hard. Oh, so hard.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

I joined the party!

How exciting! I just got invited to Ravelry (and I am already wondering how on earth I'll find the time to organize all my crap. As of now I don't even have a flickr account...ahem. Yes, the only person who doesn't have one yet, that would be me.)

Dental (s)care

I have to have a (yet another) root canal. My dentist is called Mona. Tuesday at 3 p.m. she'll get on my nerve (get it?). In the meantime I'll have fun with antibiotics and pain killers that knock me halfway flat.

(It's not that I am afraid to go to the dentist, I am afraid of what the dentist is going to do to me and how much it'll hurt. And cost. Ouch.)

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Long tag no see

Caroline tagged me. A long time ago. I didn't mean to ignore it, I only found out two weeks ago. I'll just give you 7 random facts about me and not tag anyone else.

1. I like to quote movie lines. It's only fun when people know what movie from, so it's mostly just between Rolf and I.

2. I used to play the saxophone and the clarinet.

3. I love to write with fountain pens.

4. My middle name is Maria. I never liked it.

5. I flunked my first driver's licence test.

6. I read my first book when I was five.

7. I have a green belt in Judo.