Ellie's Sweater and Booties

Here's Ellie, our housekeeper Aimee's new daughter, wearing the sweater and booties I just finished for her. I didn't note the yarn information--just know that both are wool or wool blends, worsted weight. The sweater pattern is called "Quickie Baby Sweater"; I can't remember where I found the bootie pattern, but I hope I remember because I'd like to make them again.

Stockings and Other Projects

Sigrid sent me this picture (left) of the stockings I made for her hanging on their fireplace for Christmas--I really love the colors she chose and how they are so well-coordinated. It inspired me to re-make ours in coordinating colors. I've done the two pictured here (above, in red and cream) so far. The two on the outside hanging by the fireplace pictured below are from our original set. I need a break from knitting stockings, so I'll wait until next year to re-do those. The wool is Lamb's Pride, worsted weight.

In other knitting news, I completed the pullover below; the yarn is "Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy," a 100% wool worsted weight, and the pattern is by Helen Rush, "Running Circles." It's knitted in one piece, from the top down.

And a while back I finished my first-ever lace socks! The yarn is a wool blend fingering weight sock yarn that I purchased while still in Munich (didn't remember to note the name).

Finally, here are a couple of pictures of a quilt I finished some time ago. I did the cutting, piecing and sewing, but it was quilted professionally by a machine quilter. The photo on the right shows the elaborate, beautiful quilting that really made the quilt.

Merry Christmas 2010!

We have a beautiful tree this year that I want to show you. It is even more special because we almost didn't get one. We just couldn't seem to get in the Christmas spirit, but we finally rallied because Conrad was coming home for Christmas, and we didn't want to be total wet blankets. We got a modest tree, one we were sure would be half dead already because we had waited too long to get it, and lo and behold, it has turned out to be one of our nicest trees ever. It has a very symmetrical shape and smells so good, just like a Christmas tree should.

We hope you are all having happy holidays!

Blogging

It seems I've hit a dry spell with my blog. I can't quite decide if I'd like to continue with it or not. In the meantime, Chris has started his own blog to chronicle his time abroad in New Zealand; here's the address if you're interested in taking a look:

http://chriswinter07.blog.com/

Leaving Munich

My last days here have been pretty hectic, and I haven't been able to enjoy the things I like so much...for example, the beer gardens! Not that I have spent lots of time in them! But a few weeks ago I went on a long bike ride along the Isar River with a friend (you should see the amazing network of bike paths here), and we ended up at this beer garden, called the "Waldwirtschaft" in Grosshesselohe. The atmosphere at each beer garden is different. At this one they had a jazz band playing, and it was very roomy and had an open feel.

Greg, the Prime Minister, Saying Good-Byes

Greg recently sent me this photo of the prime minister of New Zealand's visit to his ward. He thought it was amusing the way everyone got into the act, even the cleaning lady. The prime minister is the guy with the tie behind the cleaning lady.

Greg and I are both returning home soon! I arrive the end of July and Greg three weeks later. I'm in the midst of saying sad goodbyes here to students, friends and acquaintances and of trying to sell or give away everything in my apartment. It's all a lot harder than I expected.

Various Ways of Crafting

The anthology in the picture has just come out, and it contains three poems I translated into German. I have been the English native speaker consultant in a poetry translating workshop here in Munich, and I got so caught up in the project that I had to try my hand at translating into German, a very difficult endeavor for a non-native speaker. I couldn't have done it without the help of my German friend Ulrike. Thank you, Ulrike!

The poems we translated were written by contemporary British poets who write and publish a great deal of award-winning poetry. You can read more about them and read some of their poems here. Eleven of them came to Munich for a Literatur Festival that we organized and hosted for them. It was a super-intense 3 day exchange of creativity and poetry, and all involved enjoyed the experience a lot.

In knitting news, I have a crochet scarf to show off, made of self-striping sock yarn. I made something similar before, but I wasn't completely satisfied with the result. This new one is made of Schoppel Wolle Zauberball, a fingering weight, mostly wool blend. The pattern from ravelry, is called "Cascading Stylish Shawl" (I did the scarf version).