Archives for March 2018

I have to say that I’m cheating a bit, I’m writing this the night before to get posted today because I have to catch a train before eight.

Yesterday I had planned all kind of things out but instead of cleaning in the morning I wandered around tidying the house and finding things I needed to take with me. Like tissues, and shampoo, and I wound the yarn I wanted to take, and measured the gauge swatch, and decided on a size to knit, and put a big fat note in the pattern that I will have to recalculate everything to do with length because I didn’t get gauge.

It’s funny, the pattern said to hang the swatch for a few days weighted. Well, turns out the springy merino I’ve spun doesn’t grow in length at all. Of course the pattern is meant to be made from something like silk or alpaca, so this is all my own fault. Fortunately I am the proud owner of an app that let’s me calculate the changes easily.

There were penne arrabbiata for lunch. Only without penne because we were out (that pesky shopping list again) but girandole were almost as good.

Then I procrastinated about writing for a bit, as one does, then I started cleaning, and then I wanted to make the Hefezopf but it turned out we were completely out of yeast. Oops. I had bought everything else, and when I went grocery shopping there was still fresh yeast in the fridge. Which turned out to be bad some time during the week. But that’s not a problem because we always have dry yeast. Unless someone uses the last one and doesn’t put it on the grocery list. Oops.

Well. We can survive Easter without it. Probably. I texted my mom and asked her to get the ingredients for the Zopf and made a copy of the recipe. So I guess I’ll spend tonight baking at my parents house.

I will have a pretty tight schedule in the morning to get out of the house in time. And then I’ll spend eight hours on trains and one hour at the station in Hannover. We always plan it like that in case the train is a little late. Eight minutes for changing trains can be a little stressful. Plus there is this Asian place right in the station that has amazing food. That will be my lunch today. I’m really looking forward to that.

It’s all very exciting. And yes, I know that it’s just a trip to my parents where I’ve been dozens of times before. (Not the house I grew up in.) But we’re talking about the woman who almost gets an anxiety attack when she has to go to the grocery store. And yet I do love to travel.

I’m still waffling if I should pack everything into the daypack but it would be.a tight fit. And having a purse might be a plus. I am changing things around, though, I’m not taking the ukulele for once, and I’m packing my clothes and toiletries into the messenger bad that is my purse and everything I need on the train into the backpack. That stuff is much heavier so it’s nicer to carry on my back.

A thoroughly unproductive day and not really in a fun way.

I did start the Carbeth cardigan in the morning, so that was good.

Piano tuner was late, as usual, and it was his son coming, not himself. The son thought he was here for tuning my piano. Didn’t know he should install the LifeSaver in the piano. So he went back to the shop and fetched it. Got it installed and even vacuumed behind the piano but couldn’t attach the LEDs to the underside of the keyboard. So he said he’d be back in the afternoon between four and five.

There was a very Bavarian lunch of potato salad and Leberkäs, and then a bit of a break while knitting, and then I realized that I had to stay in the kitchen to wait for him because I didn’t know if he knew that there’s a second doorbell for the annex.

So I waited. And checked instagram, as one does. All afternoon.

He turned up at 4.30, found that the wooden thingy he had made needed something different, worked on it with his cordless drill for a bit and then – broke it.

He’ll come back later some other time. He said that he was sorry about six times or so. I tried to tell him that I know how these things go, it’s perfectly normal that there are complications, no big deal. The LifeSaver works, it’s just the LED-thing hanging in thin air.

Then it was almost time for dinner.

And then the boy texted that he would be late. And I waited for the boy. And for my husband who was outside trying to fix the greenhouse. The panels keep falling off which is a pain. And without the panels the greenhouse isn’t much use.

So my husband and I had dinner rather late, and then I waited for the boy to show up. He was pretty happy that his internship was over. He learned a ton and did actual useful work and even got a bit of money as a bonus.

Then the boy and I watched some TV, and then it was way too late to do the dishes and then I went to bed a little late.

Today there will be the cleaning of the house and the packing and the baking of the Hefezopf and the winding of the yarn and the being nervous because of travel and a shower in the evening because I won’t rush out the house at 7.35 with wet hair.

So, lots to do. Not quite the right mood for writing, I guess, but we’ll see.

It was all about the spinning yesterday, and I did actually finish the yarn I wanted. Even washed it right before bedtime. So I’m hoping it will be dry and ready to be wound into balls on Friday so that I can take it with me.

In the morning – after the boy had finally gone to work and hour later than we thought he would – just as I was getting ready to take a shower my MIL showed up, saying that the guy who will fix the fence would be coming right away instead of next week.

That was unexpected. I thought it better to shower after lunch instead.

I did teach one student. But before that I sat down, watched some bike racing and spun. And spun. It took me 2 1/4 hours to finish spinning the fiber. The I had that lesson and after that I plied. And plied.

Had dinner.

The plied some more. Right up until bedtime. So there was a lot of watching Netflix again. There is this documentary about breathtaking houses, that was fun.

Today my piano will get its own lifesaver. The piano tuner will come by at eight to put that in. I have no idea how long that will take. And I’ll probably spend all morning waiting for them to finish.

There will be potato salad and Leberkäs for lunch. There will be some writing, and the making of the packing list, and maybe some baking.

My mother told me that I will not be allowed to walk from the train station to my parents’ house, she will meet me with the car. Apparently walking 2 kilometers is completely out of the question. She always does that, she thinks about how she would feel doing the thing I am doing, and then declares it to be too hard. Or too much work. Since she can’t imagine walking that far with all her luggage while traveling I’m not allowed either.

Never mind that I’ll probably only have half the luggage she’d have (if that) and am used to running 5 kilometers four times a week. I am about to give up pointing that out to her, or saying things like, „I’ll be happy to walk after sitting all day on the train.“ The concept of getting aches and pains because you didn’t move enough is completely foreign to her.

That visit will be great fun for sure.

Last day of internship for the boy. He has been a little grumpy that all his friends have had this week off already. I can totally understand but I still think it does him good.

And then Easter. I’m only home for Good Friday where we don’t really do anything, and then I’ll be traveling all Saturday.

 

Feels like I barely did anything yesterday but in fact, I did quite a bit.

I went grocery shopping to two stores and picked the two pairs of pajamas that I had ordered for the boy up from a third one. I made myself frozen pizza for lunch. And then I sat down and spun the whole afternoon. First while watching the book cover design course all to the end and then watching some shows. I have only forty grams of fiber left before I can ply the first half or so. Probably a little more. I’m hoping to spin that all up tomorrow, maybe even ply it in the evening and wash it. That would be perfect.

I got some couscous veggie-thing for the boy for dinner and heated that up, and I boiled some eggs to go with sandwiches for my husband and me. Did all the dishes on time. Hung up laundry. I was really relieved that the clothes I’ll need over the weekend are finally washed.

Feels like I didn’t do a thing because I spent all afternoon in front of the TV. But spinning about sixty grams of merino is nothing to sneeze at. Which I did a lot. Right now the cold is wandering down to my voice again. Just lovely.

I also tested the rain jacket and shoes I want to take with me next weekend. Today it was about the same temperature it will be next Saturday and while I was a little cold, I was fine. I am not schlepping two jackets with me for four days, so I’ll settle for being a little cold on Sunday and a little too warm on Tuesday.

The boy forgot when he needed to be ready this morning so I had to get up at six. Ugh. Then it turned out that he had to leave the same time as usual so I could have slept half an hour longer.

Well, I could have left him to fend for himself but getting breakfast ready in the morning for him is really important to me. My mother always had a hard time getting up (she always stayed up too late watching TV) and so when I was eight years old I wanted an alarm clock, and once I had that I started making her coffee in the morning, and shortly after I stopped eating breakfast. I drank a glass of soda, made my own sandwiches to take to school and that was it. And so one of the few things that I really wanted to do if I ever had my own kids was to get up, cheerfully and on time (which I don’t always manage) and make breakfast and their snacks. The other thing is reading to them at night before bed. Which I did up to the point when the boy asked me to stop because he could read on his own. Turns out that, like both my husband and I, he does like reading better than being read to.

Today I’ll be teaching one student, and spin a lot and maybe write a little. With my voice getting worse again I have given up all hopes of recording the podcast this week. It’s all good. I’ll just do it next week. Sick is sick.

You’d think that without all the exercise I’d have oodles of time, and it does make my mornings a little lighter but somehow it doesn’t make as much of a difference as you’d think.

 

The good thing about being sick is that I don’t attempt to do all.the things. The bad thing is that I feel as bad as last week. Meh.

I did not spend the day in bed, though. I looked for some yoga for when you’re sick online and did that (and found that I’m surprisingly stiff), and I helped making lunch, and did the dishes, and talked to my husband who is agonizing about maybe buying a new bass guitar, and I knitted another gauge swatch for the Carbeth cardigan that looks more promising, and then I spent most of the afternoon spinning and watching Netflix. First a documentary about the Minimalists and then more „Grace and Frankie“ after dinner.

I taught one student and I played the piano for about ten minutes.

I even cooked dinner for the boy.

I also finished the Hedgerow socks in the morning. I was pretty surprised that it only took me a little more than thirteen hours to make them. I would have thought I needed more time than that.

That little experiment also showed me that most days I knit for about half an hour in the morning. Sometimes it’s a full hour but not much more.

Funny, when I list my day like that it sounds pretty busy. Didn’t feel like it, though.

Today there will be a trip to the health food store, and I will have to make my own lunch for once because my husband is going out with a friend again. There will be loads of spinning and maybe even some writing even if I don’t feel very well.

For the past few days I have been angry at myself for not getting enough done, especially with the writing.

So yesterday I set my alarm at 7 because of the start of daylight savings time; I decided to go to bed early and set it half an hour later than usual, and I managed to sleep for eight blissful hours.

I got up, had a somewhat late breakfast, and then started writing, so that was good. My husband got up around the usual time, the boy slept in (he will be so tired tomorrow morning!) and I called my mother on the phone to discuss the food for next weekend.

I helped my husband make bifteki, baked potatoes, tsatsiki, and fried eggplant and it was delicious. Didn’t look like much, though, so no picture.

And then the same thing happened as the last few days. I sat down after doing the dishes for a little break and somehow never got around to doing anything. Mind you, that happens a lot when I have a day off but not like this.

And then it hit me. My voice is still not quite there (I can talk but not for too long), and I still am having a sore throat and now the whole thing also has moved upwards into my sinuses.

So, of course I am not productive. I’m still sick. Not lying in bed with a fever sick but sick enough to not exercise (wah!) and to run out of energy after lunch. Duh.

I will now stop flogging myself for just hanging around reading instead of writing and go a bit slower.

Then I read through some blog posts in my feed reader and stumbled upon Kate Davies’ Carbeth for the umpteenth time. She even has made a cardigan version now, which I find much better than a pullover. I always thought that this would look hideous on me because of my shape. I do love, love boxy cropped tops but they usually make me look really fat. Also I thought that the lines in the front would look bad with a bigger bust. But. Then I looked through a ton of pictures on ravelry, pulled out some yarn that I still had in my stash.

I might make myself a Carbeth cardigan out of alpaca/merino yarn! It will be insanely warm for sure. I even started swatching right away.

The boy and I watched a little TV while I spun and I went to bed almost on time.

Today there will be one student and maybe a little yoga instead of the running and a lot of spinning. Some writing too.