Loopy Elf Susan brought her cute grandbaby in to Loopy Central yesterday. We love Lulu! (No, that’s not her real name. But that’s what she gets called from time to time, and it seemed good for the blog.) You might remember seeing her almost a year ago, on this post. Susan used the Zauberball Starke 6 to knit up this cute sweater for her. And then had to get a dress to match the sweater, of course. Trying to get an 18 month old to stay still and pose for sweater photos is …. not gonna happen. So here are the results:

The last photo? She was ready for the sweater to be OFF. Now.

I’m headed to Ohio for our twice-a-year TNNA Market today, and won’t be back until Monday evening. I’ll post again on Wednesday and will fill you in on what I found at Market! Also, I’ll announce the winner of the Mini Contest that day as well. Watch for the Update on Monday night – we have a whole bunch of wonderful Dragonfly Djinni for you, along with some other great stuff!

Sheri whomightbeneedingsomeJeni’sIceCreamwhileinColumbus

Remember Balloon Animals? You take a big long tube-type balloon, blow it up, and then twist and turn and flip and flop and suddenly you have a recognizable animal (or flower, or some such thing). I wondered who first came up with such a thing, and went searching. According to ‘Great Balloons! The Complete Book of Balloon Sculpting’ by Jean Merlin (1994), the first recorded “balloon” animals were actually made by the Aztecs out of animal bladders (more than I needed to know). They fashioned them as gifts to the gods as a sacrifice, and there were only two models made – dogs and a type of donkey. The process took several days to complete. You can read more about it here if you’re interested.

Here is something that’s a whole lot more fun! Check out this new pattern pack from CiD Designs. By knitting up tubes in different yarns (patterned, solids, etc), you can have the fun of a balloon animal design, with something that will last a whole lot longer. Aren’t they cute? I had to sit and play with the samples when I saw them. The packet of 10 patterns come in this vinyl packet. With just a few increases and decreases, you can knit up a bunch. Great for leftover sock yarn. You get patterns for a Monkey, Bee, Penguin, Tiger, Poodle, Elephant, Duck, Crocodile, Bird, and Flower Tiara.

CiD also has other really cute patterns, which are also great for using up bits of yarn. I like that the patterns come with the accessories, like the eyes. I am kind of taken with Sheldon Turtle, Squeak, and Tadeus Croaker. It seems like every knitter needs a frog on the shelf, just to remind us that frogging is a necessary evil. Or a liberating freedom. I see it as a liberating freedom. If I’m in the middle of something and it’s not working the way I want it to, it feels great to just rip it out and move on. But I know some people do everything possible to avoid it. How about you? Do you see frogging (ripping out) as a necessary evil or a liberating freedom?

Sheri whojustkeepsaddingfunprojectstoher”toknit”list

While we were in Germany, my favorite place to shop was the Wollmeise Brick and Mortar store in downtown Pfaffenhofen (Claudia’s hometown). As you might imagine, it is FILLED with color! The shop is open on Fridays and Saturdays, 3 weekends a month. We went our first day there (for coffee and cake and breathing in the fumes – so wonderful). We were there a couple more days, and then had to go back the last day of our trip, too. (This was my fault. I couldn’t stand not getting one more last chance look at the yarn, and Claudia was so sweet to zip us back down there one more time. It really was sad to leave it behind!)

There are knitted curtains in the windows, which Claudia did up on her knitting machine. And check out this cute mouse, fashioned out of a skein of Feldmaus! The window displays were really fun. Inside, there are three big cases of yarn – one for 100%, one for Twin, and one for “Nobody’s Perfect” which are skeins with a knot in them. There also also a few smaller cases and several baskets of laceweight. (Yes, we did talk about getting laceweight here again – we hope to have it later this summer or early fall.)

If you ever get a chance to visit this shop in person, please don’t miss the bathroom. It’s PINK, with a pink rose-covered toilet seat, a crystal chandelier, and notes from knitters all over the walls. Be sure to add your signature with the black pens that are next to the mirror. I feel bad for the people who don’t realize it’s there, because it’s definitely a must-see in the shop. It made me wish that we had an in-store restroom for knitters to sign at Loopy Central! Somehow, I don’t think the landlord (and other building tenants) would appreciate knitter signatures in the restrooms in the building hallway.

The couches are usually full of knitters, speaking rapidly in German. Knitting Daughter and I got to sit and knit and talk all day Saturday, and it always amazes me that you can connect with knitters all over the world, even if you don’t speak the same language. We didn’t have any trouble sharing projects and appreciating what everyone else was doing. I met Anne, the designer for Arlene’s World of Lace. She hung out all day Saturday and is even more camera-shy than Claudia! (Thus, no photo to share.) She is the designer of the popular “Not a Drop” scarf on Ravelry, as well as many other amazing designs. She was as sweet as could be. In this photo, you can catch Claudia’s back and can also see Knitting Daughter, working on a scarf. I worked on Citron in Wollmeise Lace Raku-Regenbogen while I was there. Photos when it’s done. I think I’m going to make it a bit longer than the pattern calls for.

And finally, as promised, a photo of one section of Andreas and Claudia’s back yard. It’s like a little slice of paradise! Their cat Moses loves stalking around in there, including watching the fish in the small pond in the back corner. All I’d need would be a nice comfy chair, a mug of coffee, and a knitting project, and I could hang out there all day. See the bush in the front right corner of the photo? That’s a Hazelnut bush. I had no idea they grew like that. Claudia said the bush will get really tall and will head up the back side of their house.

In Update news this week – we’re doing a couple of random Wollmeise updates this week, instead of our regular Monday evening “What’s New”. While I was heading over to Germany, we had boxes of Wollmeise yarn heading over here! I think some is still stuck in Customs, but we’ll put up what we do have. And next week – a regular Monday night Update again for you.

Sheri whoworkedonCitronthisweekend.Howaboutyou?

We’re back! Knitting Daughter and I had a great time visiting Claudia and her family in Germany. What a treat! It is taking me a bit of time to get my head out of the jetlag clouds and back into work, so I figured I had better write this post this morning while it might still make sense.

We left on Tuesday and arrived on Wednesday morning. Claudia picked us up at the airport and took us home to catch breakfast and a few hours of sleep, before heading out to explore. Germany is GREEN all over the place. It is absolutely beautiful. Lots of rain and cool weather while we were there (which you know I like). We saw lots of fields of hops growing in Claudia’s town. Hops are used in the making of beer and you don’t see hops around here. They grow up the lines attached to the poles, and are harvested later in the summer. It’s a good industry for their town. The other thing that we saw growing all over was Spargle – which translates to Asparagus. Did you know that when the asparagus turns green, it is over-ripe and bitter? I’ve always liked asparagus, but the white asparagus that you get in Germany (before it turns over-ripe green) is so much better.

We spent the week being shuttled to and fro through the beautiful countryside by Claudia and/or Andreas. They are awesome hosts. We went to Munich a couple of days, to tour the famous Neuschwanstein Castle another day (see the photo? And to think the King lived in that castle for less than 150 days before his death). We also spent an afternoon tracking down my roots in a small village a few hours away. (Zipped down the Autobahn to get there. Not sure I’m a big fan of those fast speeds and crazy highways, but we had good drivers in Claudia and Andreas, and we lived to tell about it!) My grandparents came to the U.S. from Germany when they were in their 20′s, and it was fun to be in their town of Schnaitheim (near Heidenheim), see their old stomping grounds, and have coffee in a shop around the corner from their neighborhood. This is the photo of the schoolhouse that they attended. We found my grandpa’s house – or rather, land. The original house has been torn down and a four-family flat built in its place. It’s always sad to see that happen.

Now for the Mini Contest – where do your grandparents come from? I have a set of grandparents from Germany and a set of grandparents from here in the U.S. How about you? Leave a comment and I’ll randomly draw one winner in a week. (That’s what makes it a mini contest – just one winner. You know we usually draw a prize for every 250 or so comments in our regular monthly blog contests, but this time I have just one big skein of Wollmeise Lace to give as a prize!)

On Monday I’ll share photos of our time at the Wollmeise brick and mortar shop, as well as a photo of Claudia’s beautiful garden-filled backyard. It almost made me want to garden! (But not quite. I kept thinking of the heat and humidity that always arrives in St. Louis in July and August….)

Sheri hopingyouhaveagreatweekendandhavetimetoknit