KnitFreak

The time has come.

I'm finally saying goodbye to knitfreak.

You will find my new blog here, at d.knit. So far it's still pretty empty there, and don't let the banner freak you out, I just felt like something fresh. 

Hope to see you all over there at the new place!
Dorothee

Thank you for your comments on the Move! It does help a lot to hear various opinions on that topic.

Now, there are a few more things bothering me: when I move, should I make a fresh and new blog and start from zero, or should I try and keep all my knitfreak-postings? And if I want to keep what I wrote so far, how can I move all that to the new blog?

Geez, I think moving house is easier (and less effort) than moving blogs...

P.S.: France won last night (1:0), and will play Italy on Sunday in the finals. Allez les bleus! 

"Allez les bleus!"* is what the French fans shout to cheer their team on. They are playing against Portugal here in Munich tonight, and I hope they make it to the finals on Sunday!

 ALLEZ LES BLEUS!

* Les Bleus is the nickname of the French football team, meaning The Blues. So, the fans shout "Go Blues!"

Slowly but surely, I'm running out of space on blogspirit. Of course there's the possibility of subscribing to their services, but then I'd have to pay a monthly fee for more disk space (which is the most urgent thing) and for other services that I don't know what they are, nor if I need them. Now, I'm still studying, so that's my greatest reason for not paying for any of the stuff I'm using on the internets. That's why I'm thinking of moving my blog to somewhere with lots more disk space, and where I don't have to pay for whatever it is they offer. There's the question I'm asking myself: Should I get my own homepage (although I don't know much about stuff like html and other blogging-necessary things, let alone how to get a domain), or should I stick to a blog platform? Which platform is good? Anybody out there who can recommend a blog service? I heard that blogger is pretty good... I'm wondering if it would give me freedom of design, what I can do with photos (like, have a bunch of them at miniature size and display them as one picture), how hard a move would be at all (with importing/moving my stuff from here), and that kind of stuff.

So, I guess the question goes out to my readers... is anyone of you on blogger? Did anyone move their blog? Do you have any tips or recommendations? Feel free to leave a comment, or email me at knitfreak[at]web[dot]de. Your experiences are much appreciated!

Please leave a one-word comment that you think best describes me - it can only be one word long. Then copy and paste this into your blog so that I may leave a word about you.

;-) 

The blog world has me back! There's been lots going on over here during the past week and a half, and not much of it was good. First, I had this bad cold, nothing too serious, I was just not feeling well. You know, when you're in the stage when you're not sick enough to stay in bed the whole time, but you're still not well enough to go on with your regular work. And that annoys the heck out of me, every time I have it! Plus, my right eye was troubling me. A lot. Five years ago, I've been diagnosed with a disease called Uveitis, which appears in batches. The disease is basically an inflammation which appears in the background of the eye; my eye looks perfectly normal though, because only an ophthalmologist can see it with their things. And just before Easter, on my dad's birthday, I had another one. Fortunately, it's not as bad as it could be (it can affect the visual nerve), and so I don't need to take heavy medication (if it gets bad, you'd have to take steroids and cortisone for about 4 weeks, and while doing that, you'd have to get your liver functions tested on a regular basis); in fact, the doctors said I couldn't do anything. So, what's so bad about this, you might wonder... the only way I notice that something is wrong with my eye is that I can't see properly. It is as if there is a grey-ish cloud in my right eye, in the right-hand center of my focus, and this cloud is moving with my eye movements. And it won't go away, at least not for a while. A long while, that is. (5 years ago, when the Uveitis first occurred, I asked the doctor at the University Eye Clinic in Tübingen how long it will take for this cloud to go away. He said it would take about 3 to 4 months. A few years later, I could still see the cloud. Another doctor told me that there is no way anybody could tell me how long it would take until the thing goes away.)
Well, now you know why I wasn't feeling too well lately... this whole affair affected my mood a lot.

But now to something more cheerful! For those of you who live in Munich or Munich-area, a group of knitters is meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, April 25) from 6.30 pm onwards at a restaurant/tavern/cantina place called "Esszimmer" (= Dining Room), to knit together and maybe learn a few things together. If you want to come, either leave a comment on my blog, or contact Amélie. Everybody's welcome! Oh, and we'll probably speak German, but that shouldn't scare English speakers off!

Now, finally, I'll come to the knitting content!
I'm still, or, again, knitting sockapaloooza socks!

The pattern is again from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks, the shell pattern. It might look complicated, but the instructions are soooo easy-peasy! And the yarn is called Singapore, from Ewa's place. (I know, I know, the site's still not in English, but we're working on it! If you want to order some of her yarns without speaking any German, I'm happy to assist. Her yarns are very seasonal, she makes about 10 balls from each color)
The heel on this sock is turned and I'm on my way down towards the toes. I know, I already made a pair of socks for my sockpal, but this is the yarn I originally intended for her. Remember, I wanted to knit the socks as my Olympic project, but then the yarn didn't arrive... The only problem is now, I won't be able to finish the second pair of socks in time to mail them so they arrive on May 1st. I'll ask my pal if she prefers either one pair of socks on time or a pair of socks and a surprise, but a bit later... I'll see what she wants.
Oh, and if my sockpal aka the person who's making socks for me is reading this: in case you need some more time, take it! I don't mind waiting a bit.

There's another project I've been making without posting about it. See, my nephew's christening is coming up in May, and my sister asked me if I could make a cardigan that he could wear then. Although the christening is in late May, the weather might be chilly; or it might be so warm that he doesn't need a cardigan at all. Anyways, I agreed to knit the cardigan (what did you think I'd do?), and we chose the cardigan with fair-isle yoke from the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino book. My sister and I said we'd make a different pattern for the yoke though (well, she says, and I make) because we didn't like the colors of the pattern as in the instructions.

All I need to finish now is the button bands and the sleeves. Although I'm not sure how long I should make the sleeves... my nephew doesn't live nearby, so I can't just go over to my sister's house and try the cardigan on. I might make the sleeves and try them on the day before the christening, and then seam them, or... I'm coming up with a different idea. I don't really like the thought of making everything in the last minute, but what can I do?
Here's a close-up of the yoke:

Isn't it pretty? I hope the little one will look just gorgeous!

Wasn't there another project, still unfinished? Yep, Josephine. She's still unfinished, because I didn't touch her since the last time. I basically told her to bugger off until I feel like finishing her. Which most likely won't be until I'm done with the sockapaloooza socks and the christening cardigan. Josephine will have to wait. And then there's still Starsky to think about... and I want to reduce my stash a bit over summer.

Oh, and before I forget it: I'd like to thank everybody who commented on this post. I decided to leave Josephine as she is, I won't frog her or anything. You cheered me up a lot, so eventually I'll just set in the sleeves and weave in all the ends. Thanks you guys, YOU ROCK!!!

Yes, I'm still around, although not blogging much lately. I'm not healthy at the moment, and not in the best of moods, so there you go. Plus, there's lots of other stuff I need to sort out, but I just can't manage to get to it.
Still knitting away (although not on Josephine. she's resting in a corner, until I feel like seaming her. Your comments helped a lot, though!!! more on that later), and there should be an update coming soon, involving pictures and knitting content.

And finally, temperatures are rising to a more comfortable level in Munich! Thank God, it was about time. Considering we had snow here only last week...

Picture-heavy post ahead - if you like snow, get a cup of coffee while your computer loads the photos. But I'm warning you, there ain't no knitting pictures!

I spent a long weekend at my parents' place, where we had lots of snow just like in the rest of Southern Germany. In a village near where my parents live, they had a ski jumping tournament:

The youngest contestant was only 12! These guys (and 4 girls as well) did jumps up to 98 meters (328 feet)! Can you believe it?

Another pic from the drive.

Some of you might have heard that last Sunday, Munich had 50cm (almost 20 inches!) of fresh snow. So, today I thought I'd go out for a little photoshoot, because we don't get that much snow in early March. Only every 20 years or so.

The view from my loungeroom.

The view from my bedroom window.

My bedroom window - from outside.

Dude, where's my car??

This is how deep the snow is - almost to my knees (and I'm quite tall for a girl)! (Yes, I did jump into the snow just to take a picture of my legs to show you how much snow there is... how snow-crazy can one get? And did I mention that I love the snow?)

Only sit on this bench if you're wearing your long john's.

Can you see the kid in this picture? Well, there used to be stairs where he stands, so you can walk up to the statue. Until the snow came... and now the kids are riding their sledges down the non-existent stairs!

This is a huge square in the middle of the city, where the Oktoberfest takes place... but now, it's only a snow desert!

And I promise you knitting content and pictures in the next post. There's quite some stuff in the pipeline!

Don't worry, it's still too early for my mailperson to come.

A week ago or so I bought a plant at a supermarket. On Sunday, it looked like this:

 

Today, it looks like this:

 

Check out the details:

 

Isn't it gorgeous?! I'm surprised how accurate the camera captures the color, once I turn off the flash...

Yarn news hopefully later today!