Monday 30 June 2008

Knitting in Erlangen

On June 14th, I met Silke and her 13 months old baby for a yarn shop tour in Erlangen. We ended up in a nice cafe for lunch and we also knitted a few stitches (it was world wide knit in public day).
According to several people on Ravelry, the best yarn shop in the area is Wollkontor. From the outside it doesn't look big, but inside it is like Aladdin's cave! It is huge! there is a room at the back behind the counter with all the sock yarn (I've never seen so much choice in my life!) and also a knitting machine, and more yarn!

Inside, it is very busy but the choice is amazing!

Some of the sock yarn:

So, my stash grew considerably during these 3 weeks (luckily I didn't have much time for shopping, otherwise, it would have been a lot worse!). I bought yarn in several places, so this is what I got:

In the meantime, I manage to knit a pair and a half of socks and 2/3 of a baby jacket (picture later, once it will be finished).

Sunday 29 June 2008

Erlangen

I am now back in sunny Dundee. I really enjoyed my stay in Germany. It is a much more attractive country than I thought. I could see myself living there for some time...
The aim of the trip was work, however, I managed some sightseeing during the weekends. I have hundreds of pictures to go through so it will take a little time to upload them on the web. Also, I won't flood you with photos, I'll just select some of them to post on the blog, otherwise, most of them will be on flickr if you want to see them all.
I was based in Erlangen, a nice and wealthy (half of the population is employed by Siemens, the other half by the university) small town.
Some pictures of the city centre:
I was staying next to the biology department of the University, about 3 km from the city center. It was a great location for wood walking!!! This is a picture of the university, The buildings are spread within the forest:

I love that giant pea pod:

Sunday 8 June 2008

I'll be right back

Tomorrow, I am going to Germany for 3 weeks (for work).
GruikGruik wanted to come with me, so he put on his hat and jacket, and started packing his rucksack...

but I managed to make him change his mind by bringing him to the German market and beer festival here in Dundee (no pictures, he hid the all time, too afraid to be turn into sausages).
In the meantime, Leon decided to try GruikGruik's outfit on

Rucksack included...

When GruikGruik came back, terrorized by what he saw at the German market, and spotted Leon with his stuff, he went red in the face...

punched him to recover his belongings...

When Leon woke up, he saw a giant pink worm hunting him...


He tried to fly high but the worm managed to get near him,

and, very soon, they were 2 worms! Leon tried to hide but then...

...he collapsed again and when he woke up, the worms were gone! It was just a side effect of the punch! GruikGruik doesn't know his strength.
To cheer him up I asked Leon if he wanted to come with me to Germany (as GruikGruik has now decided to go to France with his daddy in 2 weeks) but he his afraid of flying!
Charlie recommended me to knit him some pigeon tranquilizers but I run out of time so I will go for hypnosis instead.

My suitcase is almost ready,

and I managed to knit another pair of bootees on Friday (I didn't do any knitting yesterday (Saturday), I was working all day).

Although, I am going to Erlangen for work, I will meet a raveler on Saturday, who nicely offered to take me for a yarn shop tour of the town. I can't wait!
We will sure go to this shop: http://www.wollkontor-erlangen.de/shop/ which have been recommended by several people on Ravelry!
Well, I don't have a laptop, so I am not sure I will be able to blog while I'll be there, but I'll tell you everything when I'll come back!
Cheerio!!!!

Tuesday 3 June 2008

Farmyard

I knitted Alan dart's cow last year but didn't do the eyes. So, after a year of blindness, I sew a couple of beads on that poor cow face and now it can see the surroundings!

I also knitted a sheep... It is the second one, the first one (knitted last year) is now enjoying a life of leisure in the South West of France...

I've finished the bootees I was talking about on the previous post,

and I started the flower dress. I goes much faster than expected. I will probably have the front finished before going to Germany.