Sign of life

Happy New Year everybody!
I'm still here, doing fine. I just don't feel like blogging. Anyways, I want to share a post with you that I prepared in July... 2008. I can't believe how time flies!


Wow, I didn't realize it's been so long since my last post! The sale went quite well, most of the stuff is gone but there's some left. If you're interested, have a look at my last post and let me know.

There hasn't been too much knitting chez d.knit lately because I started a new job in June. It's a new challenge for me because it's in an area that I haven't worked before, but so far it's really great. I like the team, the environment (free café lattes!), and, of course, the work. Even the boring parts.
Well, back to knitting: I started Froot Loop socks and almost finished a secret project that I can't talk about on the blog yet. Other than that... I didn't do much. I packed up my glam cardigan in a plastic bag and put it in a box because I just couldn't bring myself to sewing and finishing it up. It's too warm to work with alpaca right now anyway, I think I'll postpone that until late summer or early fall. Sock knitting is perfect right now because we're in some sort of heat wave and socks are small enough.


P.S.: In the meantime, I haven't only finished Froot Loop socks, but also a pair of Nutkins and I almost finished Stefanie Japel's Back to School U-Neck Vest. There's more to see in my Ravelry profile... well, apart from photos. Didn't get around to take any.

Pictureless,

unvoluntarily. Seriously. The other day I really wanted to install my camera software on K's computer, so I went to the drawer where all the software disks are and... couldn't find the one for the camera. Nowhere. (But I did find two other things I've been looking for a while) Now, I know that I'm somewhat chaotic and not too orderly, but I always know where all my important stuff is, so I can't explain why I can't find this particular CD. A couple of months ago I took it to my parents' place to install it on their computer, and I thought I brought it back with me. Maybe it's still there... I hope to find it out when I'm there for Christmas. All this computer stuff really sucks! *grrrrrrrrrrr*

Blog Break

I'm taking a break from my blog. There's so much other stuff going on right now that I need to take care of. You can still reach me through the comment section or by email, but I don't guarantee that I'll have the time to get back to you quickly.

Anyways, wish me luck! I'll be back in a few weeks.

Restrict?

On Monday morning (US time), the world stood still in Blacksburg, Virginia. My heart goes out to everyone who has lost a beloved, who was injured, and might still be fighting for their life, and to the family of the shooter. They all must go through a horrific time now.

Such a tragic occurrence should never have happened, and I'm wondering what the guy's motives were. I know I'm probably touching a hot potatoe here; but then I read that someone said, "it would have been less bad if a student or lecturer had a gun and shot the killer" and I think, Hello??! Are you seriously suggesting that more guns would have been a solution, and are, for future incidents? Does this sound like a clever idea?
I know it's in the American constitution, that everyone should be able to defend themselves and carry arms, but the constitution was written a long time ago under different circumstances. Life has changed, quite a lot actually, in more than 200 years. For example, the Bible says a lot about how one should live their life, too, but does society always stick to it? (I know that there are people out there who take the Bible literally, but I'm not talking about them) An eye for an eye? Sounds like a vendetta to me, if we all did this.

Back to my point: Is it necessary in today's United States to keep fire arms at hand? What for anyway? Apart from the constitutional right - what does a regular dude need a gun for, given that they're not a hunter/police officer/ranger/soldier/etc.? I start thinking, what are they afraid of? Anarchy? That can't really be it, or otherwise there would be anarchy everywhere in countries where there aren't many guns (like in front of my doorstep - believe me, everything's in right order out there). Isn't it about time to restrict the possession of fire arms, in order to try and prevent massacres like in Blacksburg in the future? Wouldn't having less guns also mean less abuse of guns?

As tragic the shooting in Virginia was, I hope it galvanizes people as to rethink and hopefully restrict access to fire arms. Charlton Heston said, "From my cold, dead hands" - they had to take two guns from the cold, dead hands of the student who shot himself and 32 others. I'd rather they had taken those guns from the warm and living hands of this student, and 32 more people would still be alive.

"Whoa..."

was what I thought when I looked at my blog just then, "it's been a week since I last posted!" I'm usually trying to post on a more or less regular basis at least once a week, but lately I didn't feel like blogging much. Not even like reading my blogroll much either. I'm still knitting and making plans for future knits, I also signed up for Sockapalooza 4 and can't wait till it starts, but blogging? Meh...

Oh, well, it'll come back to me. Plus, I want to post some pictures I took lately, like the ones where K models his green socks (I forced him to do so), or the ones I took yesterday at knit group (that's a group that I usually don't go to) when the ladies wound some balls, or the ones with a caterpillar crawling on my hand in K's lunch break in the Englischer Garten. And I'm thinking of reviving Video Day - I completely forgot about it last Thursday. On that day I went to my parents' place for my dad's birthday on Friday, and I returned to Munich on Saturday. And I'd like to talk about which hat I'm not going to make for my nephew's birthday (which isn't until November anyway) due to something my sister said, but I'm not sure if she reads this blog and I better not talk about it. I'll see.

Anyways, I hope you have a great day - the weather here is unbelievable! It's so nice and sunny outside, actually I should go and sit in the park as the forecast says rain and cool for Wednesday. I'd take my knitting, too.

Fav!

Wow! I made my own favicon! You should be able to see it in the address bar instead of the bright orange Blogger-b (unless you're using Internet Explorer; I heard that the favicon isn't working in IE); and you should be able to see the favicon when you bookmark my blog (I think this applies for new bookmarks only).
I'm so proud I did it!

I also have some knitting news for you: I'm well into the first sleeve of the K_sweater, it's maybe halfway done. I can't wait to finish the sleeve(s) so I can cast on for a baby hat for my ex-coworker; I'd like to make the bunny tail hat in a bear version with some leftover Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. I have to take pictures of my progress on the K_sweater this weekend because K might take the camera to Melbourne. Tomorrow we're doing some souvenir shopping for his family, I hope the weather is nice enough for some decent photos. Munich is (supposedly) the safest place this weekend, as the Conference on Security Policy is in town. They do that every year, and every year it's a pain in the ass again - these "important" people reside at the Hotel Bayrischer Hof which is in the city center. Loads and loads of police in riot gear with machine guns (this is quite exceptional for Germany... most guns we get to see here are in American tv shows) bar the hotel and the area around it - nobody except for residents can get in or out. This leads to detours and delays in traffic, and it's just annoying.

The curse of self-imposed pressure

Thank God it's raining today. It's been cooler for a couple of days now, and the temperature in my apartment is back to normal now. It was about time!

Below is a picture of my last FO, baby sandals from an old Schachenmayr magazine. They are sooo cute! I made them with the Holz&Stein rosewood needles K gave me a while ago, and the colors looked so adorable. I'm thinking if I should make another pair of the sandals, but then again, seaming the sandals, weaving in the ends and sewing on the buttons was quite a pain in the ass. It took a disproportionate amount of time, compared to how long it took to knit them. But they are so pretty!


Oh well, I'll see. I still have quite some baby yarn leftover, and I definitely want to make more baby stuff.

It's a bit weird; ever since I started blogging, I always feel that I have to knit something (preferably something that's in fashion right now, or with a popular yarn), that I should take part in some kind of swap or palooza or knitalong or whatever's there. Even when I know that I'm not so interested in reading tons of other blogs, or that I simply do not have the time to do so. Or the money, or, more importantly, that I don't have the space for loads of yarn purchases for the gazillion projects that I'd like to make (and later on, while knitting, I get insecure if I'd really wear what I'm making. This just happened to the Victoria Tank).
I don't know if anyone of you knows this kind of feeling... is blogland just getting to fast for me? Now, I'm not saying it's bad to have so many swaps and knitalongs and God-knows-what-else going on, not at all. For example, I would have liked to take part in the sequel of Yarn Aboard, because I think it's a fun thing to do and I like the idea of the travelling box. But I didn't sign up, because for so many reasons... like wondering, 'is my pal going to be happy with what I send her', or thinking that I should read the blog entries of what the others received, or whatsoever. Above all, it would mean that I have to spend time reading even more blogs, that I have to buy more yarn even though I should save the money (I know I could afford it. On the other hand, I also know that it would be wiser to just save the money for the upcoming tuition fees, or a holiday), and it wouldn't reduce my stash. In general, that's not something I would worry about, it's only that my stash boxes are bursting at the seams. And my apartment is simply not big enough for more boxes (unless I throw K out... but he's been cooking a lot for me lately, so I better keep him). That's why I want to use some of the yarn I have already before I go and buy even more for new projects.
Knitting sure can be a curse! The curse of self-imposed pressure, that is. Nobody is forcing me to new projects after all. So, what am I afraid of? That I lose my readers because what I'm doing isn't "interesting" enough? That nobody leaves me a comment any more, that the internets community deserts me? This is why I'm in therapy (and no, it sure isn't a retail therapy)
I know that this won't happen. ( I hope. Oh, common, stop it, you know it won't.) Geez, it's incredible how much pressure a blog can put on one. Even though it's all in my head only.