New Year, Same Old Blog

Ahem.  Although I felt very pleased over the holidays to finish my shopping well before the holidays, ship gifts and do baking, something had to fall off the radar.   Sorry, friends.  It was you.

It was a very busy year- house guests through the summer and fall, a major construction project and a long trip in September combined to make it all rush by.  There was also a lot of employment related work that left me unwilling to spend time in front of the computer in the evenings.  Particularly when it meant wrestling with Photobucket's latest so-called upgrade to try and make it do things that used to be a lot easier.  However.  While I still intend to get the rest of the travel photos up, I have decided that there is no excuse for depriving the world of my latest craft endeavors, not to mention the unbearable cuteness of my household.  For example:

There has been a lot of seriously cuddlesome behavior happening since the weather turned colder.  Jake and Cookie have decided that they are pals united in the desire to be warm.   Biscuit is happy to cuddle with people, but I think he mostly doesn't really notice the chillier temperatures.  It's the fluff.

Though he has been known to seek a blanket now and again.

"Mine!"

And of course there has been crafting.   You knew that, right?  For example, before I mailed off the Oriel socks before Christmas, I finally got a picture that bears some resemblance to their actual color.

The recipient was very happy with them, which is always nice to hear.  

Then just about one minute into Christmas morning, I wove in the last end and blocked the last knitted gift, socks for my sister. (Edit- pattern is yet another pair of  Sagittarius socks.)

As soon as the holidays were over, I went nuts casting on new things.  Because I'd spent the last few weeks trying to stay on target for the holidays, I was ready to cut loose.   Which then took a back seat to preparing for our 4-day New Year's house party/board gaming extravaganza.    Here, I'm doing a little baking, under the stern supervision of Biscuit.  (He wanted to be a lot more paws-on about it, but I banished him to the pass through, where he could see but not touch.) 

Over the long weekend, I made substantial progress on a new pair of socks, and finished them up a week or two afterward.  (Deep Water Dye Works Tweed in colorway Lichen.  The pattern is Charlene Schurch's Alternating 2x2 Rib)

Then one snowy evening I stopped in to the bookstore to wait for the snowplows and sanders to catch up with the storm- when you can't brake (even very gently) without losing traction, it's time to wait for a sander!  And what should I find but a group of knitters and crocheters crafting for charity.  So when I got home, I searched out the various hats and things I had made.  And I figured I really should finish the Mock Aran hat that I'd started back in the fall.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled it out of a knitting bag and found that it was already finished.  

Naturally I went around and checked other bags to see if any other WIPs had finished themselves without me knowing it, but this appears to be the only one.   If I figure out how it happened, I'll let you know.   So I went back the next week and donated my hats, plus another bagful supplied by a friend at our weekly knitting group.  

And then I happened by the local yarn store (yes, these things happen), and found that they were collecting red hats for preemies for a pediatric heart awareness event at the hospital.   So I went right home and cast on.  

I did have to sternly remind myself of the size of my stash to get out without any new yarn.  The baby hats used up one full skein, so on balance the stash is going down.  Slowly.

And in the last couple of weeks, I've been alternating my attention between a scrappy baby blanket (no photo yet, but I've used up a whole whack of baby odd and ends in it), and a scarf for my aunt-in-law.   Which I rushed to finish because I was seeing her yesterday.   Once I blocked it, I had to put the blocking mats on top of a bookcase to dissuade my assistant from sitting on it. 

(He's not easily discouraged. He sat on the step-stool for quite some time, trying to figure out how to get himself up there.) 

I had to gently finish drying the last hint of moisture with a hairdryer yesterday morning before we took off. But I was quite pleased with it.   It's the last skein of yarn I bought from Wandering Cat Yarns, a couple of years ago.  The yarn is Slinky Solo Cat in the colorway Blue Skies, a luscious silk/wool blend.

The pattern is the Strangling Vine Lace Scarf,  which isn't a terribly appealing name, but I loved the pattern.  Super easy four row repeat and I really liked the way it looks.  Here's a closer look at the pattern.  The way the pattern rows alternate makes it look at lot more complex than it is.  

Anyway.  That's what I've been up to.  Hopefully (since you've made it this far), you're more impressed than Cookie and Jake. 

The Vacation Continues: Berlin, Part 1

After an insanely busy couple of months, which included an 'update' by Photobucket that makes organizing my albums significantly more difficult, we return to our previously scheduled travelogue already in progress. 

After a moderate wait at Orly Airport (which we are nominating for 'worst airport wifi ever'), we took a short flight to Berlin, where our weather luck deserted us.  We were met by my husband's uncle in a light drizzle and took the subway to their lovely apartment.  After a nice brunch, the rain tapered off and set out for our first stop, the Deutsches Technikmuseum, (German Museum of Technology).

They have a magnificent Jacquard loom, the largest I've ever seen.  

The Jacquard loom is famous not just for the fabric that bears its name, but for its groundbreaking technology- it could be set to make many different patterns using punch cards.  This was a revolutionary idea which was very important in early computers.

We couldn't possibly miss the steam locomotives (this one was a freight locomotive):

By the time we left the museum, the day was clearing up beautifully.   We walked past the ruins of Anhalter Bahnhof- it was the largest train station in Berlin before its destruction in WWII.

From there we took the train into the center of Berlin, to Potsdamer Platz, where there are a few sections of the Berlin wall still standing.  With tasteful explanatory plaques in various languages.

A fascinating sight, since I recall seeing the news when the Berlin Wall came down.  It was quite astonishing how thoroughly Germany has re-integrated.   Standing in Potsdamer Platz you can turn 360 degrees and scarcely see any buildings more than 20 years old.  I'm not a fan of modern architechture, but I quite liked the canopied central plaza.

My husband's aunt took us for flammkuchen at the restaurant overlooking the plaza.  Thus fortified, we set out walking.

We walked up to the Holocaust Memorial.  There wasn't time to see it the first day, but we returned later.   Having seen the Holocaust museum in Washington DC, I had wondered if this would be different and it was.  Aside from the heavy freighting of significance given simply by the location, this museum was built as a memorial to the victims- all the lives destroyed.  It was well done- and unlike many museums, the visitors were largely silent and solemn.  No one was unmoved.

We passed through the Brandenburg Gate and walked under the Lindens.

We ambled through a bunch of interlinked courtyards filled with arty little stores and cafes, called Hackesche Höfe.

I found some roses for Valerie:

I was charmed to see that the center of one court had been filled with a giant sandbox, for the entertainment of the kinder.

We regarded this as sort of a preliminary exploration- we were staying for five days, so we had much more planned.  

The Vacation Begins: Paris

Yes, it is once again that time when I fill the blog with my vacation photos and yarns (mostly of the story type, but not entirely).    This year, we determined that the time had finally come to see something of the Continent.  We were lured to this plan in part because we had been invited by my husband's aunt and uncle to come and see them in Berlin, where they were spending the summer and fall this year.   Not unusually, our ambitions led us to try cram as much as possible into the allotted time.   So on September 3, we embarked on a nearly three week odyssey through northern Europe, starting with a couple of days in Paris.

As is our habit, we tend to do a lot of walking our first day, so as to stay awake and adjust to the new time zone as quickly as possible.  We were staying in the Quartier Latin, just a few blocks from the Jardin de Luxembourg, so it's hardly surprising that we strolled first in that direction.

The Parisian garden, we observed, tends to involve large paved areas with a few manicured sections of grass (on which one is not permitted to walk) and carefully groomed trees and flowerbeds.  In fact the compulsion to order has driven them to quite some extremes- like square trees.  Really.  Look at the trees on the left below.

From there, we naturally proceeded along to the river.

We observed with interest the reconstruction of the old market at Les Halles.  It will be quite interesting to see when it's done.

We strolled up to Monmartre, noting a plethora of restaurants for future reference.  The view from Monmartre is of course spectacular.

By the time we'd wound down, had dinner, and discovered that Paris is the City of Love even for cars-

-we were ready to call it a day.

In the morning we set out walking again, this time to take in the Promenade Plantée,

It's an elevated park built on an old rail viaduct and was part of the inspiration for New York City's High Line park, of which we are very fond.    We found it to be a lovely walk, and quite busy with other walkers and joggers.

From the park we strolled to the Bois de Vincennes, a wooded park on the edge of the city, where we found a whimsical monster in the forest.

Our direction was not a matter of chance, as I was interested in seeing the Chateau de Vincennes. I visited it on my first trip to Paris, over 30 years ago, but did not see the inside, as it was closed the day I was there.   This time, fortune favored us (note the drawbridge is down).

Vincennes was used by several French kings from the 14th to the 17th century, but much of the audio guide commentary talked of Charles V (called 'the Wise').  We toured the central tower, which was interesting.

One of the coolest parts was seeing Charles' study, a tiny room.   Though the present room is bare stone, the appearance of the room is known from historical descriptions.  So they have created  a virtual reconstruction of the paneling, the furniture, what it would have looked like.   The attendant handed us an iPad, and as we pointed it at different areas of the room, it showed us the decorated and furnished version, as if we were looking through a window.  Someday I expect that we'll be able to see entire buildings that way, using virtual reality glasses.  

As with any castle, it had its own church, the Sainte Chapelle, resembling a miniature of one of the large cathedrals.  

After walking all over the chateau, we got a quick lunch and then headed back into the city center for an afternoon at the Louvre.   We've long since given up trying to see large museums in marathon sessions- we reach saturation after a few hours.  That's a strategy that applies trebly to the Louvre, which is vast.  And as gorgeous as much of the art is, I find that the building itself is just as worthy of admiration. 

We wandered about, looking at some furniture, some art, some ridiculously elaborate armor.  

It was staggering, as always.   On our exit to the courtyard, we discovered the source of a phenomenon we'd observed around the city- tourists holding their cellphones on a long stick to take selfies.  Outside the Louvre, we found a number of enterprising vendors, selling the selfie-sticks.  Apparently no one has told them that selfies kill more people than shark attacks do. (Do I need to tell you that we did not purchase one of these abominations?  I hope not.)

We walked around some more- 

-eventually finding our way back to the restaurant district near Monmartre, where we found our last dinner in Paris.  On our way back to the hotel we found an electronics store to sell us a European power adapter for our multifarious electronics, and headed back to the hotel to get an early night, as we would need to be up at 4 AM to catch our flight to Berlin.  Fortunately our execrable French (and the hotel staff's rather better English) were up to arranging for an early wake-up call and a taxi in the airport in the morning.  Because while we'd carefully arranged a hotel near the train line most convenient to Orly,  we had only belatedly checked the train times and found that the first train of the morning was marginal in terms of getting us to the airport in time for our flight.  

To be continued...

Oh, yeah, and there was a slideshow with all the other photos...(Best way to see the captions- expand the image using the slanted arrow key on the lower left and then jiggle the mouse or touch the touchscreen to keep the captions visible.  For some silly reason they dim them out if there's no screen input.)