Almost Autumn

I’ve been at my parent’s since last Thursday and the unbearably hot weather my parents complained about in the last weeks has seemingly morphed into an early autumn. It’s rainy and quite windy so my outdoor expeditions have to be carefully timed. I managed a nice walk across the fields near our house yesterday – the openness and flatness is always a welcome change after months being cooped up in the city.

I also made good progress in my Turnstile, still in the first stripe section but it’s growing fast.

In preparation for my trip to Brittany next week I’m also working on my meagre French skills.

Looks like the rain has stopped for now, so I’m off out! See U!

Knitting and walking

So, after another absence from the blog I finally have some knitting to show! I’ve cast on for a Turnstile (Rav link) because I wanted an easy pattern to take on my trip to my parents and later to Brittany. Also, it looks like a very wearable and useful piece of clothing! Sport-weight / Dk-weight yarn is rare in my stash so I’m knitting it in fingering weight – a good pattern for those special skeins of sock yarn.

So far I’ve knitted the first solid section am halfway through the first stripe section (I’m a bit behind with the pictures).

I’m already in vacation-mode and gave my new trekking boots a trial run this morning – a lovely walk and the boots did just fine!

Unfortunately there are still some blocked paths because of the huge storm we had in June and everywhere are big piles of cut trees.

The walk has a nice mixture of woods and open views of the surrounding valleys and hills and I even found a promising spot for bramble-picking – next year, though, because I won’t be here for the next three weeks.

I’m cautiously hopeful I’ll post more regularly again now I’m actually doing something besides sitting at my desk all day! Then again, I’ve lost count how often I’ve written that on here, but I’m reluctant to abandon this space fully. Anyway, hope you’re enjoying your summer, wherever you are!

Postcards from Friesland

So, to keep with the good intentions for this blog, I finally uploaded the pictures from my camera! It seems like I last did this in June 2013 which means there are lots of things I have yet to blog about (more backlog – fibre, yarn, books, pictures and stories – getting there!). Since I very much want to go forward now I’m starting with the first trip I made after handing in my dissertation in December. Before spending Christmas with my parents I went to Friesland (NL) for a few days with my best friend. We had a lovely time walking at the sea, shopping in Groningen and overall just relaxing. Grab yourself a cuppa and relax with the pictures as well, if you like (or go view the slide show on Flickr)

 

Next post will be a batch of yarn and fibre related pics, promise! See U!

Busy Week

I’ve had a really busy week doing not much besides writing and reading with the occasional short walk thrown in for good measure. So, I thought I’d Show you some of the things that kept my mood up through all the work!

A walk and a visit to the museum of roman life in Haltern am See

A vintage type-writer I bought some time ago at a flee-market – it has a place of honour on my sideboard!

My new turkish spindle from IST Crafts – so cute and it spins beautifully!

Lunch fresh from the farmer’s market

Sunsets viewed from my window

Hope you had a good week! Happy weekend!

A grand day out

After a hectic first week of the new semester I decided to believe the weather forecast and spent the probably last sunny day of October  – yesterday – outside!

Today I’ve already “had a row” with the lovely people from our examinations department – the hazard of red tape – and dragging my heavy notebook to the library on a tram stuffed to the brim was no picnic either.

So, I’m really glad I had such a nice walk yesterday and I’ve sneaked back to flickr to lighten my mood the whole morning (it’s Monday, after all). Have a look:

 

 

I seem to have developed a slight obsession with bridges since our London adventure so I took the path along the Rhine to the Theodor-Heuss-Bridge upstream and crossed the river. The sparsely developed left river bank adds a sense of open space and vastness which is usually lacking in the city.

 

Getting down from the bridge and back to the river bank turned out a bit tricky but involved walking under these beautiful trees…

Good thing I’m so short, the branches were very low.

Then it was back to the Rhine walking downstream…

I seldom walk on this side of the river which is a pity because the view is really nice from here:

 

My father and I used to come here sometimes when I was little to look for shells and skip stones. Lots of those to find on the beach! Unfortunately, I seem to have lost my skills in skipping stones 😦

There were some early kites even though it wasn’t really windy enough, but what a lovely old-school kite!

 

…and lots of people just sitting in the sun, having a picnic and enjoying the afternoon. I forgot to pack something to eat or drink so  I took to the bridges again on my way home towards a much needed cup of tea .

 

As you can see I was not the only one having a grand day out!

 

 

Now it’s back to work and back to knitting tonight – weather forecast tells me I really need to get my cold weather gear in order!

Have a nice week!

Green boots…ähm… thumb

I finally remembered to take my camera with me to my vegetable patch today! Somehow I never got round to explain why I suddenly have a vegetable patch while still living in a top-floor flat without a balcony. So, here goes!
On a grey day at the office back in January I stumbled upon a link to an organisation renting out plots in several cities just for planting and harvesting vegetables. If you want to have a garden and grow your own veggies in a german city you either have to have a garden attchached to your home or rent an allotment. Now, “renting” an allotment is very often something more like buying an allotment which can be very expensive and is usually a commitment for several years. Another downside of german allotments (Schrebergarten) is the fact that you join an association and have to abide by its rules. Since a lot of this associations are a bit “bourgeois” and very conservative you could end up with neighbours and committee members measuring the size of your beds and the length of the grass. The nice allotments are few and far between and I abandoned this concept for me.
“meine Ernte” (translated into “my harvest”) offers different sizes of vegetable patches for one year, pre-planted with around 20 vegetables, and provides the “tenants” with gardening tools and water. So, after looking at barefootrooster’s pictures of her CSA share for a long time and wishing for something similar here in Germany I pounced on this opportunity and rented a 45 sqm vegetable patch. The garden was officially opened just before Easter and since then everything has grown significantly!

Here’s the spinach:

chard:

red cabbage:

I wanted to take pictures of all vegetables for documentation but my camera gave up on me halfway though. There’s a lot more going on now and I will have to put up some netting for the peas and the beans soon! I’m off to make myself supper – red oak leaf lettuce straight from the field! I’ll be back with progress on the stripes soon! See U!

The Lure of the crocus

Every year, as soon as the sun starts to come out more and more and it is getting warmer day by day, I’m drawn to the park next to the Rhine not far from my flat. Some years ago the city council organized an event to plant a wide band of crocuses along the outer path of the park. Come spring, they bloom and form a meandering lilac -blue stripe – just beautiful!

Crocuses have always heralded spring for me and I’m totally fascinated by how the densely planted stripe can look like a luxurious carpet!

It reminds me of a childhood memory in which I recall standing at the top of what looked like a bluish-green sea that turned out to be  a field of red cabbage. I wish I had a picture of this memory…

Anyway, I’m not the only one lured to the Rhine by the crocuses – there are always lots of people kneeling amidst the flowers and balancing in odd positions to capture the crocuses from a new perspective.

I may have lain flat on the ground myself to take the picture above ;-)!
So, have you seen any crocuses lately? Enjoy them!