First of all, my incoming mail, not just from the past week but since before Christmas already. November was a bad month mail-wise but the letters started arriving by December and kept coming

so here are letters from Emma, Renee, Päivi, Martina, Jenny H, Alesha and Emilie and a charming little package from Jenny M =D it was filled with sweets ^^

and here are some of the charming details:

Finnish stamp nr 1. It has braille on it, if you look closely you can see the bumps

Finnish stamp nr. 2... they just have the cutest stamps there

I wrote back to most of the letters already, and in fact today received a new letter from Emma =) and I didn’t take pictures of everything. But I took a picture of this weeks outgoing mail:

there’s a letter to Rin from Australia whose interview was on Julie’s blog last week and I just had to write her a letter. And a letter to Martina from Slovakia. And as you can seen I’ve been trying to be creative. I browsed through Rin’s fabulous blog and was amazed by her creativity when it comes to mail art that I thought I might try some things myself. I’m still so inexperienced in this … these two envelopes were my first trys. The one to Rin features a Harry Potter fan art of Luna by myself that I printed on the envelope and I added a few dashes of colour. For the other I cut out a flower from some paper that was still in my arts-drawer. I do want to try other ways of making envelopes, from other colourful paper maybe and I browsed through old pamphlets from museums that I was keeping, goddess knows for what, and cut out a few things. I have a few ideas, maybe I can show you more next week.

Yesterday, though, I had another idea. I love stationery but it’s basically impossible to find anything cute here in Germany. So a few weeks ago I bought coloured printing paper in A5 with the intention of just using it like that, as stationery. Unfortunately I didn’t pay attention and got paper that’s a bit too heavy to my taste (160 grams). Nevertheless I played a bit with quotes and pictures and printed three designs (the one on the left though is printed on 90g plain white paper using a scan of one of my favourite postcards)

The quote on the left is from Lord of the rings. This to be exact. A favourite of mine.

The one in the middle is a Wicked design. The quote says “The only obligations I am under are the ones I assign to myself”. It’s from the novel.

The one on the right is a Huna design. Huna is the traditional Hawaiian philosophy and the quote are the seven principles.

I’m really happy how these turned out and I have a few more colours I can play with and I’m sure I’ll find more intriguing quotes to put on paper =) I might even dig out the old typewriter again.

I had planned to present all the lovely finished Christmas projects but of course I forgot to take pictures of most of them… so here is just one of the many presents I knit last year, my sister’s cardigan:

This is the pattern and it’s the third pattern I knit from the book New England Knits. The patterns are really well written and I love most of them and I can’t wait to embark on the next project I did some changes, I omitted the third cable because I wanted to add waist shaping. I’m so glad I did, my sister has a lovely waist that needs to be shown off :p It fits perfectly and she has worn it a lot already and gotten compliments for it so this present was a huge success =)

Then I have a personal success to report, the first finished stranded colour work item:

Perianth in Regia cotton, lovely pattern, lovely yarn. Unexperienced knitter, it looks wobbly but I’ve read before that blocking will make a huge difference so let’s wait and see until the other one is finished.

And there are these to projects on the needles:

The Shalom cardigan (which I’m knitting in a quite different gauge, so lots of changes) and Caprio which is about halfway finished.

So this is it, more on Friday!

So I thought I could make Fridays not just about mail but also about Christmas cookies =) because today I started baking for Christmas … or rather for the whole advent season. Since Christmas is still five weeks away and the advent season hasn’t really begun I chose two kinds of cookies that are not necessarily immediately associated with Christmas but which still belong on every German Christmas cookie plate: Heidesand and Schwarz-Weiß Gebäck.

the Heidesand dough cut up. Actually it's supposed to be round but it was so crumbly that this was all I could manage

Heidesand is one of my favourite kind of cookies but I never made them myself before… baking cookies is an art so my first attempt isn’t really what I’m used from my grandma’s baking… but they taste good. So… Heidesand are traditional cookies from the north of Germany and are similar to shortbread but not quite the same. they are made with butter as well, but not as much as is used in shortbread. The trick is to brown the butter before mixing it with the rest of the ingredients and this is I think where I went wrong because I was afraid I’d spoil the butter so it probabyl wasn’t brown enough and it also wasn’t hard enough again when I started mixing the sugar in. The name means heathland sand and they are called thus because the dough (and the cookies as well) are very light in colour, like sand, and quite crumbly as well. Though, again, mine are not really that crumbly.

The second kind I made, Schwarz Weiß Gebäck, in English Black and White cookies are two coloured cookies. I couldn’t find any information as

and the spirals =)

to where these cookies originate from but they are not quite as old as Heidesand because cocoa is used and that wasn’t generally available in Europe until the 18th century I believe and even then the ordinary people wouldn’t have had access to it. So part of the dough is mixed with cocoa and then the two doughs are combined in fancy patterns. I chose the spiral because I like it as a symbol (and also because it is easy to make ) and the chessboard pattern which I screwed up a bit. I didn’t have much dough and in the end it was a little thin and broke in parts. But they turned up great anyway and taste fabulous.

For next week you can look forward to Vanillekipferl and Zedernbrot

Heute war ich meine Cousine Carolin besuchen und wir waren zusammen mit Bobby spazieren.
So, meet Carolin and Bobby:

me and Carolin

Bobby, a quite hyperactive young dog who likes me... for some reason =)

It was a wonderful afternoon. Quite wintery already though. When I got there at 3pm it already felt like the sun was setting. The air is cold and clear at the moment, perfect for walking and enjoying the landscape. We had a lot of fun together. I raced with Bobby over the meadow – he has a lot of energy and Carolin was loud and cute as always. And very fascinated by the idea that I would “put her on the internet”

And I also went yarn shopping today =) Yesterday the twist collective winter edition was released and I couldn’t resist two patterns: Caprio and Perianth. This was the first time I purchased from twist and I like the patterns. The could be more detailed but in the end they are not that complex.

There is Online’s Linie 5 Corafino in blue, a 60% merino, 40% acrylic blend, a quite light sportweight. It’s much thinner than my sport weight sock yarn. My gauge was a little off but it wasn’t much so I took the 4mm needles anyway.

The second, for the mittens, is Regia’s Cotton, 41% new wool, 34% cotton, 25% polyamide. My first sock yarn with cotton and it feels delightful. I love it and can’t wait to cast on those mittens.

I already cast on for the scarf and it looks good. Progress pictures will follow next week.

I also can report that one Christmas project is done and the other as good as. Just one seam, the button band and the buttons… and weaving in ends. But I have weeks left until Christmas so no problem at all =)

On a sad note, I still haven’t received any mail I want letters!

Except today, because I had to be at the dentist at 9. I hate the dentist… everyone does I guess… but this is hopefully all worth it because I’m getting a new front tooth. I was nine when I chipped my left front tooth. It was repaired to last around 10 years. It ended up lasting much longer but lately it was showing that it had been repaired so now I get  a corona (crown?) which will hopefully be a near ultimate solution and will also hopefully be neater. It turns out to be a painful and very, very unpleasant process… I almost choked on the dental imprint thingy and I hate to be numb like that (especially today it went up my nose as well! my nose was numb… yuck!) and now it hurts… ouch and I have to llive with the transitional corona for a week and a half.

So, yes, this day sucked. I also didn’t sleep well because I dreamed of the dentists and a sms woke up in the middle of the night (no complaining though as I expected that sms) and I still didn’t get any mail

now, I’ll let myself be entertained by the German matchmaking show Bauer sucht Frau (farmers are set up with women from the city) which is delightfully undemanding and it’s always fascinating to see those men… with their very clear ideas of gender roles and very own ideas of how women should be … and the consequently following conflicts and fights.

There are different traditions surrounding this day. In a lot of cities there are processions after sunset with people carrying lights and singing songs and often there is a person dressed up as the saint, with a red cloak and on a horse in the procession as well.

Another tradition is that children will go from house to house once its dark with little lanterns and lampions. Often these are self-made in school or kindergarten.  They ring at doors and then they sing one or two songs and then they get sweets. At least around here they do. We used to do it too of course as children so I looked through our old photos and indeed found one of my sister and me, from 1995 with our lanterns.

I’m on the left I remember that my favourite lantern was the one I made in kindergarten one year. It was a fish, the rainbow-fish, from the picture book, which I loved =) Later I also took the old lantern, made of wood that we had in the basement. It was heavy, but beautiful, especially since I put a real candle inside I loved it retro already back then ^^

Children singing “Sankt Martin, Sankt Martin” which retells the legend in song.

This day always challenges me as to how live as a Pagan with Christian traditions. As a teenager (and a while later as well) I absolutely boycotted it. Not going downstairs to give out sweets, or listen to the children sing. I’m more relaxed today and the kids are usually so sweet with their singing and their lanterns so I no longer oppose it. Also, the thing it commemorates, a rather wealthy man sharing his cloak with a poor man is nothing to object at all. So I acknowledge the day and the saint and give out sweets and chocolate, hoping the kids have also learned why they get them and that there was this man all those centuries ago who helped the poor and that it is a noble thing to do.

A friend of mine travels a lot for his work and though I’ve known him for a few months I only recently mentioned to him that I collected postcards and asked if he’d look for some from Algeria for me. I know, crazy to know someone who’s all over the world all the time and not ask him for postcards… I’m not myself at the moment :p but I’m getting there. So he brought me postcards =) a whole lot actually, but here are the three I picked out to go up on my wardrobe door, two from Algeria, one from Paris where he had a stopover:

What I learned about Algeria while he was there: They are on London time, people there shoot in the air to celebrate weddings… there might have been more but it’s all a few weeks ago already The middle postcard shows a library by the way, that is if I deciphered that correctly from the back, my French is basically only guesswork.

Same good friend embarked on a holiday to Ireland right after he got back from Algeria and from there also sent postcards. (The ones above, he brought in person, the ones that follow were sent by mail =) )

I really like the one on the left =) and yes, these two made it to the wardrobe as well.

And the story isn’t over, yet, he brought souvenirs for me. And even though I’ve only known him for a few months he knew what to bring me: =D

behold, it’s yarn! The already mentioned unicorn yarn that I started a hat with and a wool blend tweed-ish yarn that I don’t have any idea yet what to make with. No well… I wouldn’t be a knitter if I didn’t have a million ideas =) I just have to make a decision

He also brought cookies (very yummy) and a Dandelion & Burdock fermented botanical drink that is puzzling me a little… When do you drink something like this? And is it right that it is standing on my alcohol shelf together with the Whiskey and berry liqueur? And what is burdock? I know the German word now but it didn’t help…I think I’ll wait for the right moment… and make him suffer enjoy this with me.

now I have a bit of randomness as well =) I had a bit of an epiphany last week and today regarding bra sizes… I’ve been wearing the wrong size all my life and consequently buying them was an ordeal in the past. Now I finally figured out what I should wear… and I got the two best fitting bras of my life today. They’re also my first “adult” ones I didn’t own a black bra before… well, now I do and also a berry coloured one (which I got in case I won’t find a real red one before new year’s… I figured berry is the closest I get to red for now…) in case you always drag three sizes of the same bra to try out and none of them fit and you return home feeling like you must be some kind of weird alien because there are just no bras to fit you… there is hope go and do some research, get the measuring tape out and then try again

I had a long shopping afternoon, spent a ton of money at the drugstore (for face lotion, lip balm, body oil that I’ll try as a leave-in for my hair, and well, this and that) and also sent out two letters (Belgium and France) which now makes me a sad letterless person =( nothing to reply to left …

I am in a weird place in my life right now. When I think about where I was a year ago it absolutely seems like the life of another person. I was busy, I had a social life and I was living my life somewhat independently. More so than I do now, anyway. Unemployment doesn’t treat me well at all and I feel like my life isn’t at all in my hands at the moment. On top of it all my love life is completely screwed up… I haven’t yet lost my optimism completely, though There must be a place for me somewhere and I am determined to find it.

I thought I’d try to sum up what I have been up to since I last wrote with some pictures. There was the trip to the Externsteine. It was cold and rainy, even though it was late July. I spent hours with a friend sitting up there just talking, first on the back on the far right and later on top of the small rock you can just make out on the left.

The Externsteine

The lake at the Externsteine

I was at an amazing zoo with friends, of which I only have one picture at hand right now:

me in the so-called "Bush"

And then on a weekend trip at the North Sea and on Helgoland

some people are photogenic... some ... not (on the car-ferry on the Weser)

on the ferry again, this is the Weser, a river, not yet the ocean. But from that shore over there the majority of immigrants to the USA departed in the 19th century

on the dyke in Cuxhaven

a container ship coming from Hamburg, presumably... this is the mouth of the river Elbe

On Helgoland, the ships, we came with the one in the far back

Helgoland's most famous landmark, Die lange Anna (the long Anna) and the cliffs

it is a truly charming little island and worth a visit!

Then our little city hosted a big festival with around 10 000 guests and a beer tent that beggars all description.. it was just so huge… It is called Bundesfest and it is the annual festival of a big umbrella organisation of traditional clubs, Schützenvereine. It is hard to explain, I guess it has to be witnessed. I have a weird relationship with those festivals as I grew up with them and usually feel kind of at home in that atmosphere but on the other hand it’s just one more excuse to party, drink beer and exclude all that smells foreign.

my sister, on the right, getting ready for their performance

in the parade, I think they came from around Cologne, poor little girls got drenched

trying to capture the size of the tent

And that’s about it. I have some more pictures to share, hopefully soon. I made them with my dad’s analogue reflex camera so they still have to get developed and the film isn’t full yet (how retro =D ). But there also was some knitting:

a new beret =) first time Noro Noro Kureyon which I got on ebay. I love the colors. ^^

Salem Hooded Jacket which I love. The details escape me tonight but it was a Merino blend if I remember correctly. I knit this while studying for the oral exams which I found funny because one of my topics in History was witchcraft persecutions and trials in the USA ^^

Catkin, which I simply couldn’t resist a few weeks ago. The pattern is so gorgeous, knitting it was tiresome but worth it, I love it! =)

On the needles at the moment are two secret Christmas projects, gloves, a hat (in a crazy, unicorn-colour yarn that was a present and that I just had to try ^^), a scarf, a shawlette that I only needs its ends woven in … and of course some hibernating projects pictures will follow

Also it’s great how diverse the fandom is. People of all ages and from all over the world united over Harry Potter craziness! I just love it.

My thought on Pottermore? I have no idea, basically… I expect a lot of text as it’s described as a reading experience, not a game and not a network. So it will probably be kind of linear. Progressing through the story and the occasional mini-game. I do wonder how they’ll do it with the House points though as I read somewhere that you could collect House points.  What I’m absolutely excited for is what our role as beta testers will actually be and if they’ll want feedback from us and in what form. It says that we could help shape it and doesn’t that sound exciting!? They want it to be great and I guess they want the fans to love it and by doing this competition they sure got the attention of the craziest and most committed Potter fans. I know, of course, that this has a lot to do with marketing… it’s not about giving us a special treat but about getting attention and getting the craziest fans from all around the world as testers. I know… do I care? Not really =D I still think it’s exciting. Even if we get to see raw content or mistakes, it’s what we’ll be there for then I guess.

I just hope it won’t take too long until I get in =D

But at least I have something to show you: my finished Greenfield cardigan

yeah ... I know ... the flash ... not my brightest moment but this is still the best picture of the lot I took

I used the yarn that I got on the flea market in Münster last summer and frankly I only knit the pattern because the yarn seemed to fit, not so much because I was in love with the pattern. The good news is though,  that I really think that this cardi is wearable =) It fits even though it’s a little big. I’m not sure if my gauge was off or if it’s just because it’s cotton.  I made some adjustments, well, I left out the leaves on the bottom because I think they would have looked weird in this striped version and I shortened the sleeves because I just  don’t like 3/4 length sleeves… it has to be short, long or elbow length for me.

The pattern was quite straight-forward, not to say boring… I’ll never understand what people like about garter stitch. It’s so boring … and I don’t even like how it looks. Though I have to admit that it goes great with my striped here… but still… garter is boring.

I think this is really the only finished object I have … sad but true. I didn’t have much time for knitting and might have lost my mojo a little as well. Now I have some unfinished projects on the needles, for example Wendy’s Summer Mystery Shawlette which so far looks great and will be my first shawl knitted in this way.

Other great news I have is that I got the grades for my thesis and it went really very very well =) Now I’m preparing my  oral exams which is annoying and sucks in all kind of ways. I hate oral exams. But I do hope I shall blog more often again now =)