Skip to main content

WIP Wednesday: Back in the USA

On Monday, we traveled back to the US from Cologne, Germany - a long trip which involved a cab ride to the airport, an hourlong flight to Berlin, a somewhat confusing transfer to a huge Airbus which we were taken to via bus from the boarding gate, and the 9 hour transatlantic flight back home. Going through customs, changing our Euros back to dollars, and getting our luggage was a cake walk in comparison. And then there was the 20 minute ride home via the CTA Blue line, complete with a passenger having a very loud and angry phone conversation in our train car - ah, it's good to be home! Doorstep to doorstep, I think we were in transit some 18 hours. Pretty exhausting but totally worth it because Germany was awesome. I can't wait to share more posts with you about it, but for now, I just want to get back to "normal" and share my current WIPS.

First off are the projects I started before the trip - the Boson Cowl in Ancient Arts Merino/Silk Fingering:
And a simple stockinette hat using Bijou Basin Ranch's Xanadu and Shangri-La yarns held double:

I was really worried that my knitting needles would be confiscated on the trip home to the point that I packed both of these projects and took some yarn and a crochet hook with the express purpose of beginning a crochet project on the return flight home. I'm not sure why I packed extra yarn when I was at a place where there was all the yarn and it was inevitable that some would come home with me, but for some reason I did, and it ended up not being used because I couldn't resist winding off one of the skeins of ArtYarns Merino Cloud I got at the H+H show. On Monday morning at the Cologne Airport (AKA Sunday night CST), I had a ball of yarn and a crochet hook:
By the time I was ready to go to bed on Monday night (at 7pm, thank you, jet lag!), here's what I had completed of my second Calm Cowl:
On Friday, I'll be sharing my stash enhancement from the trip, but for now, here are some amazing little samples of some yarns that are made in Southern Germany which were gifted to me by my new friend Patrija:
I'm excited to play around with these little skeins, and I'm pretty sure I will be ordering a full skein or two in the very near future!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Overdyeing A Finished Knit

Even after just a few years of knitting or crocheting, you're bound to have some finished projects lying around that never get worn or used. After 10+ years of crafting, I have more than just "some" or "a few"....and with my ongoing quest to declutter my house this year, I've become obsessed with going through these forlorn projects and making some Big Decisions. Sometimes, they are perfectly fine and just need a new and loving home. Other projects may have not turned out quite right: there might have been some mistakes in the knitting that I thought I could live with, or the yarn was gorgeous but not well-matched to the pattern, or my  taste has drastically changed since I finished making the project...in any case, why on earth did I keep knitting?! Who knows, but I don't feel good about gifting anything that falls into this category to someone else. These projects have been relegated to the "frog pile" (or should I say, frog pond?), to b...

A Finished Sweater, With Cat Hair

After losing Tilly and Robin within a year of each other, I sure didn't think I'd be finding cat hair in my knitting any time soon. But the universe had other ideas. Over the winter, a white feral cat adopted us. I'd noticed her when we moved into our apartment last summer - I would see her hiding in the bushes or sunning herself in the grass when she thought no one was looking. I assumed she was someone's cat until I realized how skittish she was around humans, plus she had a tipped ear, which is a universal sign that a feral/stray cat has been spayed. Neighbors confirmed that she was a feral kitty (descended from several generations of feral cats, in fact), and that she has survived on her wits and whatever food various residents put out for her.  We had some bitterly cold days over the winter, and I just felt so sorry for this poor kitty! I started offering her treats and slowly gained her trust. She didn't even want to come inside our apartment at first, much le...

Australian Superfine Merino Yarn Review & Giveaway

After more than ten years of knitting, I can still have new experiences - even with well-covered territory such as merino yarn! This recent merino experience actually took me by surprise: I've spun with it, I've dyed it, I've knit with it, and I've even crocheted with it...I was pretty sure I knew all there was to know about merino! Turns out, there are four different classifications of merino fiber, sorted by micron count range . At the bottom of the spectrum is Strong Merino , which ranges from 26-22.9 microns; above that is Fine Merino , which ranges from 20.1-23 microns; next up is Extra Fine Merino, which ranges from 20-15.6 microns; and at the very top of the heap is Superfine Merino Wool , with a micron range of 18.5-15.6. If you're into numbers and wondering how these four classes stack up against other fibers you may be familiar with, here are a few for comparison's sake: BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) has a micron range of 24-28, Cashmere goat down ...