Q2'26 3/8

Oh look, it's Latvija!

I was kicking myself for not getting much done this quarter, but I suppose my excuse for it is that I was travelling for 6 of 13 weeks, and injured for two more.  The trips have been lovely but I'm hoping to get back to some semblance of normalcy and get some shit done.

I'm realizing I still haven't photographed the pieces I did in Greece, but they are two of the three items I finished this quarter. The Poncho felt like a big accomplishment!

So it's:

1. Little mat
2. Big mat
3. Poncho

As far as Q3 goes, my doctor has told me I am losing 20 lbs (and given me a coach to work with) so I'll be spending time on that and also on the exercise to support it. And I'm in WA for a week at a weaving class. 

Things that feel like low hanging fruit:

1. The Alabama Channin bandana is about 2/3 done. Beads take time! It's fun in small chunks.
2. The headband still just needs ends sewn in.
3. 4 napkins need hemming. <Yawn>
4. The baby blankets are nearly weavable. Slowest Project Ever.
5. Slightly more progress on the table substrate has been made.
6. The panels for the last rice bag are done and the bag just needs sewing together.
7. Finish the basket from Ashland.

The knitted T-shirt is idiot knitting but I should actually finish it in Q3 or Q4; 

The table and the two baby blankets are a priority. I'll poke through the rest of the list later and see what else I want to add to it. 

End of May, forward motion...

Age of Aquarius Poncho, headless

Greece was awesome. I decided not to blog about it at the time which I think was the right call. I did made a tiny-eensy mat learning kilim techniques, and a smallish (20x15cm?) piece as well. More on that at some point. 

I did somehow manage to pinch a nerve in my neck and was asked by the doctor to limit the extreme weaving. I've been away from the loom and taking things carefully. So:

No further much progress on the baby blanket.

The poncho got completed in Ashland! Somehow the beads I bought in Athens are a perfect match. The headless photo is because the sun was bright and I was squinting and my face was uncooperative.   

I'm working on the knitted T-shirt, already a few inches past the armhole.  I'm hoping it'll fit when it's done. Yes, I realize I could have tried it on when I got to the armhole but I didn't so now I'm just going to go with it.

Stenciled, lined, ready to go

I started the rose T Shirt; I printed the stencil and cut some strips. I've started a rose on the back but haven't gotten very far. I used a shirt pattern I've used before but I suspect something is off and I many have to trim it to fit when I go to sew it together.

I didn't do anything with the french terry top (other than move it from one side of the table to the other), and I didn't work on the knitted skirt or the table. 

I did spend some time beading on the Sonia kerchief from the School of Making; it's the project from the beading class I took a while back.

I'm not sure I'll have time to update this (or if there will be anything to update it with) before the next adventure... 

Heading out, saving state for when I return....

I'm heading out on a trip (where am I going? here's a hint)

and want to make a few notes on where I am on projects and what I want to be doing when I get back.

I checked threading and wound the baby blankets on to the loom. There's one mistake that's marked and needs fixing.  I need to check the denting in the reed (there are some empty slots, then I'm ready to tie up, tie on, and start weaving. This should go pretty fast at this point since the thing that was blocking me (big tangled ugly mess) is fixed.

Before I go to Ashland, I'd like to finish the poncho; that involves sewing the shoulder seams, then picking up and knitting on the edge. Current knitting project (T shirt) will be with me.

Before Ashland I'd also like to start the rose T shirt. That'll mean printing out the rose pattern and  copying to something I can stencil with. Also getting a T pattern (I have the one from The School of Making), checking fit, cutting it out and stenciling. Also cutting the strips for the roses. This is probably 1/2 day of work.

I have the material and traced pattern for the french terry top, would be nice to start on that too; I think it'll go pretty fast. 

I'd like to replace the top of the knitted skirt so I can start wearing it again. Maybe to Ashland.

And I need to start working on the table; I'd like to evaluate the glass I got from C. and finish prepping the substrate.

Q1'26 Finshed list (5)

Zig's belly spot

The studio is not at this minute my happy place, and I'm not sure why. I need to reflect on this and figure out how to fix it. I think it involves less time on my phone. This is reflected in the very few completed projects from this Q1'26.

What else has been going on? A little travel. End of life care for a beloved cat. Lots of German study.

If I've kept accurate notes, this is what's done. I reserve the right to come back and add anything I remember later.

1. Coffee mug postcards
2. An Andean pickup band
3. Card woven band (plus I taught a class in it)
4. A basket
5. Some prepped fiber

Yep, not much, but I have a lot of things that really wouldn't take much time to complete: 

1. The Alabama Channin bandana is about 1/2 done. Beads take time!
2. The headband still just needs ends sewn in.
3. 4 napkins need hemming. <Yawn>
4. The Age of Aquarius poncho panels are complete; it needs sewing together and a band knitted on the sleeves. 
5. The baby blankets are almost wound on. Slowest Project Ever.
6. There some small progress on the table substrate.
7. The panels for the last rice bag are done and the bag just needs sewing together.

I also started a knitted t-shirt for travel knitting. More on that in a later post.

Two things that are stalled and maybe gone:

• The Dissent sweater: I'm debating whether or not I like it enough to not frog it. The color work is not well done; the white is the wrong yarn.
• I mentioned a 2nd block I've carved. While I like it in theory I think I could do a better job, just haven't done it.

I also attended an Alabama Channin class with some amazing roses sewn onto fabric with beads... there was a tshirt online that had the roses on the yoke, and I must have it.  I have fabric for this and bought beads to do it as well. In addition, I'd like to make a t-shirt using their techniques but another graphic in the blue fabrics I have. I am aiming to do that this summer. 

Will Q2. be any better? Hmmm... I have 6 weeks of travel planned over the next 9 weeks. So we'll see if anything gets done!

2 classes, not much else.

 I took another embroidery  class from the Alabama Channin School of Making, this time using beads to and her other techniques to make a fancy bandana. I've been working my way slowly through it.

We were given a year free membership in the School of Making club, so I've downloaded the pattern for a modern styled top (the Fractal Top) and have the material; I just need to cut it out and get sewing! 

I took a drum carding class from Clemes and Clemes through Serendipity spinners, and we made a bunch of batts. I think it was fun but not sure I'd get a drum carder. We did some rolags but I have not spun them yet.

I am still threading Baby blankets but more than 1/2 way through; it hurts my back a bit. 

I'm still knitting on the Age of Aquarius poncho; it's pretty much my "idiot knitting" project right now. I also have everything ready to go for the next rice bag, just waiting for the right time to do the sewing!

AND one of the cats is sick. It's very distracting, which I think is keeping me from being productive.

Mid Feb status

Not bad, needs a redo

About a week ago, I got home from a 5 day knitting retreat with the usual suspects... It was great to spend time with everyone! Lots of knitting, lots of food, glorious weather... K and I did some inkle weaving. I finished my band and got her started on hers. We'll see if it's her thing or not.  I also got some good progress on my knitted poncho; it's not going to be the forever project I'd thought it might be. 

The weekend prior to that, I gave a clinic in warping for card weaving for 7 people. I don't think of myself as a good teacher, and some folks got it and others didn't. On the other hand, this happens in classes with good teachers as well.  We'll see if we have any new card weavers! Now I have 20 cards warped up in purple and white crochet cotton and am looking for a longer project. 

I also decided to recarve my leaves block; I don't care for the look of the empty spaces and I'd like to play more with the mechanics of carving. I need to start that this week.

The embroidery on the last rice bag is done! Now all I have to do is assemble it and I can retire that box. Looking forward to this. 

Foodwise, I cooked a lovely cod dish with mash potatoes and roasted fennel to go with a bottle of Trebbiano we bought in Florence. For dessert, cute little lemon cheese cakes. That was Valentine's Day :)

Mostly lino printing

Ich möchte gerne ein Kaffee bitte!

Here's my latest postcard.  I was playing with Chatgpt to generate the image, so the art is not my own. Here's my artistic critique:

What I like: 

I like the feel of the image, it reminds of that first sip of good coffee on a cold morning...  The brown, a mix of burnt sienna and black, is dark enough to work well as a print but feels much cozier to me.  I'm pleased with it and happy enough to send it out.  I also played with making less of a mess while printing so there's less ink on the backsides. Specifically I wiped my hands on a rag right before touching any paper...

Room for improvement:

I might have done a better job cleaning up the chatter marks in the border. I'm generally a big fan of chatter marks but they may be a bit distracting. 

Molly Hashimoto uses a T square to guide her border lines; that's probably a good idea. 

I never get tired of these

I'm still struggling with small cuts and this has a whole bunch of them. I had to recut a lot of the small spiky bits and they're still not clean. The very small cuts toward the right of the cup should be more parallel. 

A couple of things to mention... First, it would be good to check on my inventory of postcards before I start printing! I printed 9 and ran out.  Which is too bad because the ink had exactly the right consistancy and was printing super well. I'd mixed in a new (to me) ink thinner (burnt plate oil) and had gotten it just right. The second run of 9 today was not quite as successful and I fixed a couple of spots with a brush. 

I got tired of printing coffee cups and still had some ink left, so I printed 4 general purpose cards with an old image which used the last of the ink.  I've been needing some cards...

I also test printed a block I carved out while listening to a lecture. I wanted to try out this method for leaves.  I found it difficult to space the cuts correctly, and even to put the cuts exactly where I want them.  That's why this practice is a good idea. I think I'm going to print in black or dark green on a light green surface.

I still need to carve something for the Molly Hashimoto class; I have two ideas sketched up but haven't gotten to them yet. 

In the non-lino world, I'm still working on the last rice bag (almost done with 3rd side) and nearly done knitting the first of two panels for the Age of Aquarius poncho.  The Alabama Channin class got pushed out a month. I started an Andean Pickup Band and it's come back to me quickly, including how to work with a pickup cross. More on that in a later post.  I also started putting drywall tape on the edge of my mosaic substrate, which is annoying complex because it is round; I did about 1/4 of the table before giving up for the day.

I made this chicken and rice with carmelized lemons; it was tasty! But way too much rice. I think next time I would add more onion/shallot and garlic, more red pepper, more lemon, and 6 thighs, and maybe reduce the rice to 1.5 cups (and 3 cups of stock).  

Mid January status and new cookbook challenge, apparently I'm real busy

Slightly wonky basket, perfect for a beer cozy 

I made a basket in workshop taught by Barbara Shapiro. These are Japanese flower knots which are totally intimidating and seem impossible until you've made 4, then they're addictive. The base is a hexagonal weave. The basket benefitted from being sprayed with water, then allowed to dry with a pint jar inside; it's much less wonky now! Made from craft band, a Japanese recycled paper product. It was so addicting that I ordered a roll of the paper band (arrived) and a book from Japan (not arrived, and in Japanese) so I can try to make some more baskets.

Poor woven band

I finished a cardwoven band in 5/2 cotton (and a mystery fiber), started last year when I did the demo for a guild study group. For some reason I was incapable of counting to 8 reliably but I like the difference in the band as I varied from 4-12 or more turns. BTW, these always look better when ironed (this has been ironed). 

I'd intended to go to the Serendipity Spinners meeting this month with my little e-spinner, only to find that the drive band was busted. I thought I'd ordered new ones... and went looking... I found evidence in my email that I'd ordered bands and an extra motor, but could not find them in the studio.  I found them later, in the first place I looked, just after I'd ordered more (they're just O-rings) off the internet. I did go to the meeting, and I spun some on some blue wool I'd gotten at one of the SOAR conferences. I'm spinning really thin so I can weave with it....

Rice bag #4, Side 1... will it ever end? 

Still working on the Age of Aquarius Poncho; I'm guessing I'm about 16" into the 18" piece, which will be 1/2 of the finished poncho. It's going much faster than I'd anticipated. 

I'm taking another Molly Hashimoto block printing class but German has started and I'm fully occupied with that. I need to get organized...

I'm also working on that 4th rice bag; I have 2 of the 4 panels ready, and the base is ready to go.  I'm having fun with the stitches I learned in the first Alabama Channin class. When that's finished, I can put away the rice bag box; that's part of a (very) slow effort to declutter the studio.

There's a new cookbook challenge... I'll pick a cookbook this time, or ask DH for his recommendation, then cook from it, but only in months when I'm home enough. This month, I'm cooking from Madhur Jaffrey's Instant Indian Cookbook.  I made the Ground Lamb with Peas and the Stir Fried Green Beans in a South Indian style. and served it with rice and an 11 year old Gangloff Condrieu; the pairing was excellent.  I didn't cook the beans in the Instant Pot, and didn't precook them at all; instead I stir fried them in the spices and left them super crunchy. I could eat these beans every day.  In February, I'll go back to Georg Lang's Hungarian cookbook to try out the paprika I brought home with me.

What's up for the foreseeable future? 

• I have some prints to make for my class.
• Next Friday, I'm taking another Alabama Channin class, this time on beading. 
• I have to finish warping my loom and get that project underway.
• I'll work on the Poncho while watching TV in the evenings and while knitting in public.
• I'm giving a mini clinic on how to warp up for card weaving on Feb 1, so I'll warp up another band in 10/2 cotton. 
• K and I are going to play with Andean Pickup on the inkle loom while at our knitting retreat in early February, so I need to get ready for that.
• I have to get back to the mosaic studio. I don't think I'm ready to start tiling but I have to work on the substrate to make it rounder, and add the drywall tape to the border. I can realistically do the edging as well before I'm ready to transfer  the design and start laying real glass.

I've also got my Goethe class, the homework for my other German tutor, and I need to get out on the bike to prep for the bike trip in early summer. Yikes.

2026 New Years Resolutions?

It being the New Year and all, I should probably try to figure out some goals for the year. Yep, they're going to look a lot like last year, but hey, I'll spell them out anyways. 

I'm also feeling a little out of sorts; when I travel I lose momentum and can't get back into a rhythm. And travelling isn't as much fun as it was, it makes me a little anxious. These are mindset issues, and I must fix them.

Two things that will take up a lot of time in 2026;  learning German and getting in shape for that bike trip in June. I'm on it!!!

I'm also been cooking pretty much nonstop since December 18th. It's been fun but I've had enough and am ready to going to go back to cooking a couple of times a week.  But I will be resurrecting some sort of cooking challenge; maybe one where I pick the cookbook?

As for the studio...

The Easy Stuff:

• There's a blue sweater that just needs buttons. I can't celebrate it's one year anniversary unfinished.
• I'm in three classes: a basketry class, another Alabama Channin class (embroidery), and another Molly Hashimoto class (block printing).  All three classes produce samples/products. These will happen.
  
• 4 napkins still need hemming.

Some Things that Need to be Done.

• 

  This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius Poncho

  I'm partly through warping for 2 baby blankets, one of which is for a baby that has just arrived.
• I'm working on the Age of Aquarius Poncho, great for TV and travel knitting. I suppose it doesn't 
  "need to be done" but I need an idiot project.
• The bistro table for the pool deck must be done. I have a design, I have a substrate. Now I just need to get to it.
• I need some cards in my stationary stock. 

Other Things in Progress:

• I've carved 2 blocks and need to do test prints.
• I'm working on the Dissent sweater, nearly done with the yoke.
• That headband from the knitting cruise...

Other Things:

• More prints. Although I have 2 almost ready to test print, and will do 2 in Molly's class, so that puts me in a good position. I'm also thinking about holiday cards.
• Another rice bag, then I can get rid of the box of parts. The pieces are quilted and waiting for embellishment.
• Another little gnome, then I can get rid of the rest of the class yarn and get rid of the box all the bits and pieces are stored in.
• Doubleweave pillows; pattern is drafted, yarn is on the shelf waiting.
• Quilt the pink hawaiian baby quilt
• Finish one of the unfinished quilts. (Niemeyer?)
• Stepping stones.
• Stranded mittens.
• I bought some yarn for sweaters; one from a indie dyer in Budapest, and the other for a Julie Weisenberger sweater. I may cast one on at the retreat in Feb knowing that it'll take awhile for me to get to the idiot knitting.... 
• I'd like to weave a couple of throw blankets.

===================

I'll continue to include the UFO LIST from way back just to keep me honest... I added a few things.

Knitting: 

1. Anna Zilboorg Sweater- I need to fish it out and make a plan 
2. A Capella- frog and return the yarn to the yarn pool 
3. Sunset and Sand- needs frogging! 
4. The jacket with the embroidery that needs rework. If I recall correctly there's an issue with the collar, and the sleeves, and I'm not sure what else...

Weaving:

1. This is super easy, since it's either on the loom or not...  
2. There are have three ikat warps (two from Indonesia, and one from a friend) that need weaving. 
3. There are a number of warps I pulled for a dyeing class then got sick and missed it.

Quilting (Can the list really still be this long?):

1. Fan blocks: I've been dithering about what to do with them for 25 years or so.
2. The first Judy Niemeyer quilt (straighter pieces): I may need to figure out setting strips but otherwise I think I photoed a layout and I should be ready to finish the top.
3. The second Judy Niemeyer class (curved pieces): I stopped while piecing the top together but I did photo the layout; so I need to remember what I was doing and do it.
4. Judy Niemeyer place mat kit: it's in the bookshelf, waiting to be made.
5. Chili pepper quilt: Ick. Maybe donate?
6. Around the Twist quilt: It's done except I think a couple of the corners need sewing? This'll probably go to donation
7. One or two Hawaiians? (small) that need quilting One blue, one pink Where is the blue hawaiian?
8. A cute but fussy quilt that I started in pinks and blues but I'm not sure I'm precise enough to finish
9. I pieced a baby sized black and white drunkards path 35 years ago? Maybe more? It needs borders then quilting..

Sewing:

1. I bought a jacket sewing class
2. I'd like to do some Alabama Channin type embroidery on garments.

Spinning:

• Ugh. I need to eval. Spin all the stuff?

Mosaic:

Something 3d? Using Paltiya?

Q4'25 finished list 13/36

The "ugly duckling" towels

1) The Poppy table top. I think this table has been well celebrated, no need to continue here 

2) Postcards with the 6K year old pot motiv.

3-7) 5 towels, 4 of which now live happily somewhere else. Here's a photo of the two I liked the best. The light blue is actually a grey (but reads blue next to the other colors) and the bright green is mustard. I tried them together but didn't think the colors would look good together; I thought the mustard would overwhelm and the grey would wash out, but for some reason I tried it anyways. Super glad I did. 

Chemo cap to a Hungarian cancer center

8) Napkins, quantity 2/6. Why am I counting these as one item, but the towels separately? Not sure, it just felt right. Someday I'll hem the other 4.

9) Hat for me (there's no photo yet but the hat debuted in Europe and was quite warm).

10) Hat for charity; I knit the Hurricane hat in a worsted weight cotton. To be frank I was disappointed that they were only able to collect 40 hats (and some folks did more than one!) from the 120 of us on board.

11) Baby Sweater in a useless wool.

12) A wreath. Do I count that? Since it's not persistent?

13) A tiny weaving in a tapestry class offered by K.D. 

Did I add that right? 36 items this year?

I was going to rush to finish these items that are "almost" done, then decided not to rush just to mark them off the list.

• A sweater that needs buttons.
• 4 napkins that need hemming.
• A headband that needs finishing. 

I do have some ideas of what I want to work on in 2026; but also need to figure out how to keep momentum with all the travelling I'll be doing. More on that later.

Christmas Cooking!

 

I haven't been in the studio much, other than to carve a block, hem a couple of napkins and prep the design for the next table... I've been cooking instead. Here's the list since the 18th or so...

• Beef and pork ragu from Marcella Hazan's cookbook (double batch; we had it over pasta twice and I froze the rest). (With a Castello Di Ama Chianti)
• Lamb tagine (with 1991 Xavier Vignon Châteauneuf-du-Pape)

Sourdough sandwich bread

Sourdough discard crackers

Peanut brittle

Carmelized onion quiche, pieced together from a few recipes on the internet, with a nice Schmalz Wachauer Riesling. A+ for the wine pairing.

Cinnamon rolls https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/best-cinnamon-rolls/. (these are not Mom style rolls... they're the soft pull apart ones. I may have found a recipe for Mom's style https://www.onesarcasticbaker.com/schnecken/). These were great with coffee

Lasagna (home made noodles) with the ragu from earlier on this list. Homemade noodles apparently don't need to be prebaked and have a silky wonderful texture. Why would you ever buy them dried? Wine was a Castello di Ama Chianti, older than the last. 

Chocolate marshmallows from this recipe. I mixed up some of the black cocoa powder K. gave me and it didn't taste good; dumped that and went with regular cocoa powder. The recipe calls for a 9x9 pan but the marshmallows are about 1.5 inches thick! I had to cut them down.  Next time I'd use a flatter pan.  https://www.theflavorbender.com/homemade-chocolate-marshmallows-recipe/

Chicken, sausage, and shrimp gumbo from a Paul Prudhome recipe with cornbread from a Love and Lemons recipe.  We had this with a French white burgundy.

At this point I was a little tired of cooking. Plus the freezer is getting full. So I took a break:  an evening out in the city at Lers Ros (Thai) and some jazz, and the night out with my knitting buddies. 

I didn't mention DH's chocolate disaster... apparently when you get a little water into the chocolate you're tempering, it can seize which is a technical word for it gets a very nasty texture... It's still in the fridge, awaiting my decision on whether or not it can be saved. I'll see if I can use the wisdom of the internet to beat it back into smooth glossiness by adding a bit of cream and heat; if that works, it'll become pots du creme. I'm also planning on making tamales with a red chile pork filling for New Years... more on that later. 

DH also convinced me (after watching me search for a recipe) that I need a recipe log... Here it is!

The cat photo? They've been fighting over this pillow, and had just come to an uneasy truce. A bit later they curled up together and looked very cute indeed.

ETA: The pots du creme were not particularly successful... although tasty, they did not have the creamy texture I was looking for.  For New Years I made a Rustic Tamale from Rick Bayless's cookbook, with red chile pork inside and a tomatillo-chipotle salsa. Rick calls for masa para tamales, then has you beat in lard... Sadly I did not read the masa ingredients, as it already contained lard so the dish was edible but super fatty; we threw out the leftovers. To use up the banana leaves and masa, I made some black bean tamales (no additional lard) and they were darn tasty.  Thus ends the December cooking frenzy! The freezer is pretty full :)

GSC Winter 25, Budapest

Hungarian Parliament

Dear Future Self, You need to stay on top of travel updates, or you forget too much.

Anyways, we passed Bratislava just after dinner after leaving Vienna... Lovely fortifications right on the river...

Everyone on deck to see the sights

Our tour directors suggested we see Budapest just after dawn (about 8AM) as we approached by boat... On the left bank was the Parliament building and on the right bank, the old castle and the Hapsburg Imperial complex.

Later that day I did my last tour; we went up to the Castle Hill; viewed some of the imperial administration buildings and dwellings, including Sissi's riding arena; ended up on the Fisherman's Bastion next to the cathedral overlooking the river and Pest (the flatter side), and visited the Christmas Market there. There were a lot of spicy grey and black ravens, and in fact, the raven (with a ring in it's beak) plays some part in the cathedral... In the afternoon I visited the marketplace and bought some paprika.

We defend the homeland with weapons
and money.  Subscribe to a war loan

P left in the very early morning, and at a more reasonable hour, I was off the boat for good and exploring... I was gobsmacked by the buildings. So many Art Nouveau style buildings!!! I spent the morning at the National Museum, which was pretty good; I really enjoyed the early 1900's posters. The pre-history collection was good, but the basement containing the Roman era stuff was closed for renovation.  I then wandered over to the Musuem of Applied Arts which is a Art Nouveau style building and is supposed to house a lot of things from that era; it was "wrapped" for renovation and closed. I walked back through the Christmas Markets. The street food was a little different; really long sausages again, and I saw more than one vendor selling little cabbage rolls. 

2nd largest Synagogue in the world

In my wandering, I found an interesting motiv on a building, and a plaque. Thank you Google Translate!!! I found Radio Budapest, where the 1956 rebellion started. Atlas Obscura has a good article on it...

The next day I went to the Dohany Street Synagogue and took their free tour. Wow! It was built in 1859, designed by Catholic architects who didn't get the memo... So there's pulpits (never been used as far as our guide knew); the bima in the front, not the center, and behind the ark there's an huge organ. Apparently the synagogue technically ends at the back of the ark so the organ, while in the building, is technically outside the synagogue. And if someone happened to be playing it on the sabbath, who was going to argue? Liszt was one of the organists.  Directly next to the Synagogue was a stunning temple dedicated to the Jewish heroes from WWI.  

Ceiling of the heroes temple

In the afternoon, I walked up Castle Hill to see the National Gallery. Inside was a special exhibit of painting by Lajos Tihanyi... He never achieved success as an artist and I wonder how much that had to do with him being unwilling to part with his work? I captured several of those to show DH, they're in Photos. I didn't look at the early ecclesiastical work but focused mostly on the collection of painting since 1850 or so; it's a great collection.

And that's about it for Budapest. If I go again, I would find an architecture tour aimed at the end of the Belle Epoque through the Art Nouveau Period. And probably find a phone with a better camera.

Just some random building

Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/E3facX1MQA3Tihhm8

I'm not sure how I feel about river cruises... My friend J says she and A look at them as an overview, then decide which places they may want to go back to. I don't really feel that I got to know any places well enough to tell if they're worth another visit. Passau? Regensburg? Would I have wanted to see more of Nürnberg? I don't think I've given them a fair chance. Would I want to eliminate towns on river tours as places to visit? Based on the bus traffic?

If I look at the number of photos I took in Nürnberg and Budapest, I think I was a lot more engaged when I wandered by myself than with a tour. But I learned a lot from the tours. So... yeah. Not sure :)

GSC Winter 25: Regensburg, Passau, Melk, Wien

Regensburg Roman tower

 I'm lumping these places together as I saw them all as part of the AMA tour. I'd hoped we'd have a day in each port, and move from port to port each night; that would have given me time to explore the city a bit. We did sail a lot at night, but most of our port calls were relatively short, giving time for the AMA tour, a quick dash through the Markt then back to the boat.  I'll just note what particularly struck me in these places...

There was a sizable Roman fort in Regensburg with well built walls that were incorporated into the later medieval wall.  This was an old Roman tower by one of the gates... the garrison held about 6000 people!

The bridge over the Danube was very old and very beautiful... 

Artists quarter in Passau

Three rivers come together in Passau at the Dreiflusseck... When the Inn is snowfed from the Alps it often flows much faster than the Danube, effectively damning it with water. When this happens, the area of town by the river floods profoundly! This area is home to a lot of artists who have their ateliers in the ground floor and live on the floor above; when a flood is coming, they can move everything to up to their living quarters.

I didn't take many photos in Melk... they were the process of taking all the books out of the library for renovation. The chapel is lovely and well documented by others. I am certainly coming to realize that my favorite type of church architecture is Gothic.

We stopped in Linz briefly to pick up the group who had spent the day in Salzburg but it was cold and dark and rainy and the Markt was closed anyways so I went to bed. 

Normally one would not dream of Vienna not having it's own page but... I took a tour of "Imperial Vienna" which was a drive around the Ringstrasse followed by a walking tour which completely ignored the beautiful Michaelertor, and allowed us 20 minutes of free time at Stephensplatz. What's sad to me is that folks will take this cruise and say they've seen Vienna.  I'm trying not to be judgy but this type of travel does not suit me. We did walk by the Spanish Riding School where I missed a photo of 3 Lipps going to workout; the lead one was showing off; I did see this one posing in his stall.

Lippazaner in his stall

I took the tour to Schönbrunn which was really a bus to the Christkindlmarkt (we saw St Nick!!!) and did not include a garden or Schloss tour. This was not my favorite market. I tried the Uhudler (Glühwein from Burgenland) which was WAY too sweet and not to my taste. 

Our plan is to visit Austria next fall, so I felt okay about not spending the day doing something useful. 

Regensburg: https://photos.app.goo.gl/9n2P4WWsyPSUdUur5

Passau: https://photos.app.goo.gl/eHUQCCA9fU2oW6TR8

Melk: https://photos.app.goo.gl/neo1yZhog6jqjnsb8

Vienna: https://photos.app.goo.gl/oa5yCJCJbRZoNaxC8

GSC, WInter 25, Nürnberg

I arrived in Nuremberg yesterday from Frankfurt; my DB train was only 35 minutes late!!! Apparently that’s really good.  And the announcements were unintelligible so I feel like my experience was complete. I was so tired from not sleeping that I walked around like a zombie for a couple hours, ate some food, then fell asleep. At 1AM, I woke up (that’s my current problem) but opened the window; I was asleep a bit later and feel much better today. The open window was key.

When DH and I travel, we have a plan, and he keeps me moving. When I travel alone, I often have a list but no plan… I assume I’ll do what ever I feel like doing. The problem with that is when I’m zombie tired, then I don’t want to do anything. So… A plan. 

Sebalduskirche, inside

Today after a fine breakfast at the Karl August, I wandered around the old town and saw:

Sebalduskirche, all dressed up Advent. I did see it the night before when I did my zombie walk, but it nice to see it in the daylight (sunset at 4:20). I had watched them decorating the altar.

Lorenzkirche

Kaiserberg: I love fortifications! But all the normal signs were not present. I wonder if it had been destroyed in WWII bombing and not rebuilt?

Albrecht Drurer house: I saw it from the outside but didn’t go in

Tiergärtnertor: this was pretty interesting, but would not photo well. What was interesting to me was that the gate exited parallel to the wall and moat. 

The wall, and some huge ass tower… I don’t know exactly what the tower was. I’d started walking along the wall, figuring maybe I’d walk the entire perimeter *6-7KM) but when I got to the tower, I decided I was cold and I abandoned to go see the Lorenzkirche. 

Two knit shops: I asked about local wool, and was informed that there are a lot of German brands, and they can’t carry everything, so why was I asking. I thanked them very much and left.

Frauenkirche: I actually saw this the night before, in the dark, as they were getting ready for the Market opening. Lovely church. 

The Market opening was nice to see. First they turned off all the lights; then lit the front of the church. A  children’s choir sung, there was a small brass band, the Christmas trees were lit and the Christkindl read the traditional poem before the lights were turned on again. I had a bad angle to the stage so there might have been other things going on… It took awhile for the sizable crowd to disperse.  (The crowd had its advantages… I was a lot warmer when I was stuck in the middle of a sea of bodies). I’ll check the online video footage of it later to see if I missed anything.

The Market stalls were open in the afternoon, so I was able to walk through… I bought some super warm mittens!!! I was delighted to see that the offerings were different (and better) than what I saw in Frankfurt; I was afraid they’d be the same from city to city.

On Saturday, I checked out and went to find the Germanisches Museum… On my way I dropped back into a booth at the Christkindlesmarkt where I’d seen this darn cute little ornaments… I decided to buy them because there was no one at the Markt! Not so when I walked back, it was super super crowded.

I brought some home...

The Germanisches Museum was good… they claim to cover 60000 years of germanic history. I was delighted to see the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Chacolithic, and Iron Age artifacts. Yes, there were spindle whorls and damn small ones, too; those are made for very fine threads. My favorite artifact was the bull from Hallstatt. A lot of the collection on display was ecclesiastical stuff from the Middle Ages which is not my thing. The 20th century collections were interesting. 

My tour on the first day of the cruise took us out and around the city... then out to where the Nazi parade grounds and the courthouse where the WWII trials were. Seeing this from the bus was fine. The court is still in use and you can tour it only when there's not a trial being conducted. 

We then went to the castle where I learned some interesting things about the fortifications, and how to tell which parts of the wall were rebuilt and which were original (if there was a hole in the middle of the stone, it was original). The stone masons would put the holes in the blocks so that they could be lifted with calipers on a pulley system.

Nürnberg photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/EmWfuVrJcxJNcygFA

GSC, WInter 25, More Frankfurt

 The weather was lovely today and I just felt like walking. After coffee near Willi Brandt Platz with it’s giant Euro, I found Faber & Castell’s flagship store and bought a couple of pencils and a sketch pad plus a cool eraser and sharpener, plus a small sketch pad, then popped into the bookstore nearby and picked up some German short stories (intermediate level of course).

I just read about the verb genießen in one of my German blogs. Apparently it’s not used in the same sense that we over use enjoy; the blogger had other suggestions (Das gefällt mir oder hat Spaß gemacht) but when I bought host chestnuts and commented on the sunny weather, the vendor told me it was a great day to enjoy being outdoors. AND she used the verb genießen, and that, according to the blog, is the appropriate use.  So much to learn.

I went in search of the Dom and finally found it. It was destroyed by fire in the 1800’s, and rebuilt, then a good deal of the church was destroyed and most of the surrounding area was leveled during WWII. It was rebuilt yet again, in the same gothic style. It’s a well lit, happy, airy cathedral with modern pale pastel stained glass windows. 

One of the rebuilt streets parallel to the river between the Rômerplatz and the Dom (Saalgasse) was a sheer and unexpected delight; each of the buildings was a little different, modern in feel yet with a nod to the past… I photoed some of the buildings. 

The next stop was lunch in Sachsenhausen… then the Liebieghaus Sculpture Museum. The main theme of the ground floor galleries were animal bronzes by August Gaul.  Apparently there was a Berlin Secession Movement similar to the Vienna Secession… The museum has a deep collection of ancient statuary as well as European historical art, and the Gaul pieces were located here and there amongst the older works highlighting various themes… It was really good. His bronze lioness brought tears to my eyes although I can’t tell you why I found her so moving.  In the basement was a huge collection of ivory carvings… after my initial distaste, I started to admire the material and the skilled carving. I think I would look carefully at the exhibition before returning, since such a large part of the collection is not in my sweet spot, but I’m super glad I dropped by.

I did go out a bit tonight; there was a Pokémon meetup… Slightly more organized than the ones I did with P&W in RWC. Basically, after giving folks time to finish one raid, the host would yell out a nearby location and the 40 or so participants would then move to the next location, then back on her signal. The other notable difference was that level of cigarette smoke despite the presence of a couple of young children. The meet up was located between the giant Euro and the Opera House, which was playing music to the plaza. Was there a performance? Between 6 and 7 PM? Hmmmm… A somewhat surreal experience but I got to hear (and try to decipher) a lot of accents.

Things to do in Frankfurt:

The Städel Museum

The sculpture museum down the street if so inclined

A quick visit to the Römerberg, including a walk down Saalgasse and a trip to the cathedral.

The archeology museum.

I missed 

a number of contemporary art museums

the design museum

and a trip to nearby Darmstadt.

There are a number of other museums (history) that might have proved interesting too, but I think you'd need to focus on a period.

GSC, Winter 25, Zürich and Frankfurt

 Here starts the travelogue… I’m calling it GSC for German Speaking Countries.... 

Lucy!!!

I spent 2 nights in Zürich; I spent a lovely afternoon with M and then had coffee the next day with an ex co-worker. M and I toured the Christmas Markets, then shared some fondue… Jeez, I really like cheese fondue but I can only eat it every 10 years or so… I stayed at the Townhouse Boutique Hotel which is about 2 blocks from the train station; it’s relatively inexpensive, and it was clean and mostly quiet. Next time I’d try to find someplace a little posher.

Zürich just turned on the Christmas lights, which are affectionately named Lucy. Here’s a view of Bahnhofstrasse, with Lucy, in the Sky with Diamonds. Yep, it was cold. I also stopped for some chestnuts. Note: Chestnuts are nearly impossible to peel once they’ve cooled, so eat them fast!

I had some extra time before my train to Frankfurt left, and it was raining, so I ducked into a church, and failed to record its name. It’s in the old town near the Fraumünster. I popped in to take a quick look; it’s a fairly plain church with a white and wood interior, and as I sat down to look around, the organist began to practice. It was lovely…

Frankfurt skyline

On to Frankfurt, where I’m trying to prove that you can easily fill 2 days with things to do. I visited the Städel and spent 3 happy hours looking at art. Not sure if it was the art (which was amazing) or the fact that I was listening to music through headphones… I grabbed this photo from the roof. Is that not the longest river boat you’ve ever seen? (ETA: turns out this is pretty much standard, and was the length of our boat.... It was amazing to see the Captain turn it around on the river.)

I spent a fair amount of time thinking about art and how pieces “feel” like each other and how artists view something then riff on it. I’ll put comments on the photos in the album…

Afterwards, I found the Christmas Market; it felt like it was a mile long, winding through the old town streets! I’ll put comments on the photos for that too. It was remarkably nostalgic and brought back fond memories of my mother, and I nearly cried a few times… I have no idea where all that emotion came from!! What triggered it was the old style ornaments, the wood things that spin around when you put candles under them, the vanille kipfel, and those wreaths and stuff that are made out of spices.  And the advent calendars. I ate too many kipfel. (Gipfel?)  I didn’t photo the barriers everywhere to prevent a car/truck from terrorizing the Market, but I did get the long line of Polizei cars…

It feels like the Market here is more about meeting friends for a drink and some street food before than about buying presents, but there were a lot of stalls selling small presents, or Christmas decorations. The street food was largely German (and the potato pancakes looked amazing!) but there were a few other stands including one selling Vegan German food and a couple offering burritos and tacos. Lots of Glũhwein.

On the way home I put my cookies in my pocket and ducked into the Archeology museum; it’s got a lot of well preserved artifacts from a Roman town nearby in the 200s or 300s. I believe a sign indicated they’re dug a trench and erected stone watchtower but had never built walls, like they did on the Scottish border. I thought the museum was interesting but I’m not sure it was on the must see list. 

Sachsenhausen, across the river, is exactly what it sounds like.... Where the Saxon's houses were. 

A link to the photo album for Zürich and Frankfurt is here https://photos.app.goo.gl/23kARYq7uhg57Lh58

Leaving....

I have a short list of things to do before I leave town.... 

Towels are hemmed and the hat is done. I've started the Age of Aquarius Poncho, from a pattern we got at the Portland Retreat, and Scotland vacation yarn; that'll be my travel project.

I never got around to writing about the sweater class I took in Ashland. The shoulders are really the trick of this sweater.  The shoulders look like set in sleeves but the knitting is easy like raglan sleeves. The front looks like this.

The sleeve is supposed to sit more naturally on the shoulder, which is the point of the tailoring. I was unable to talk the cats into modeling, and there are no babies in my life at this point, so I can't show it on a warm body...

I also cooked for the freezer to assuage my guilt from leaving DH on his own for T-day. I made some sausage and lentil soup, and these baked beans, but in the slow cooker; I added a little garlic and mustard.  Definately make these beans again. I think I'll do them in the oven next time, it'll warm up the house and make the consistency of the beans a little different.

https://dancearoundthekitchen.com/baked-beans-from-scratch/

Travelogue to commence shortly :)

Events, projects getting finished, projects getting planned...

I just finished the second of two events I did for our guild members! I think I've mentioned the first; a weave-in, where 7 of us came together and wove (mostly) from the same pattern. I have 6 new napkins waiting to be hemmed (five of which are identical and one is lovely but confusingly different). I had input the pattern into my weaving software incorrectly, so the motif is wrong but a consistant manner; then I noticed one of motifs is just wrong. I didn't notice it until days later, and I'm disappointed but once it's covered with BBQ sauce, who'll know the difference? Most of the rest of the group is still weaving off their projects, I'm looking forward to the pictures! (I'll post a photos of mine here once they're hemmed). 

Now that the event is over, I can finish the 3 unhemmed towels that I have that were waiting for the weave-in; I had them set aside to show the difference wet finishing makes to that weave structure. Now they can be finished!

Looks like there's a lot of hemming in my future... There are also 2 King size pillowcases that are worn on the hem crease; I'll hem those down to Queen size and get them back into the linen closet. (Note: Queen size is 30" deep as opposed to Kind which are 36" deep)

The second event was a study group in our guild called "Creative Endeavors" and I gave a quick card weaving demo/lesson. J had asked me to do it and I didn't feel good about saying no... I only had 2 hours minus their time for socializing and "Show and Tell" but managed to cover a whole lot (I think) and everyone got to play with the cards. A couple of people are pretty excited about trying it again so I offered to do a little warping and weaving clinic on a simple band. Now I want to do more card weaving. I'll have to wait until after my trip...

These two events took a lot of planning and work but the participants were very grateful and it was totally worth it. I feel like the guild needs more members teaching members and I'm hoping that by modeling the behavior we'll get more of that. I'm wondering if the space is the issue? Maybe I'll see if anyone wants to teach something here next summer.

A Celebration of a Table

Recent history

 The table top is done!!! Once the grout has dried a bit, we'll mount it to the table base... I'll need to seal the grout next week as well but I'm counting it as done.

I'm very pleased with the finished product; it looks better in person that in the photo.  HOWEVER... If I didn't critique my work, then how would I become a better artistan?

I originally wanted a ring of poppies in a field of graduating color, but one I got the poppies ready to go the rest of the concept didn't work. The project went on timeout. Then one day I thought it would be awesome to do a bay laurel (a native species) leaf border, like you see on quilts; I guessed where to put it and was relatively pleased with it. That took awhile as I got tired of cutting leaves, and wasn't sure of the spacing. (More timeout.) Once I completed the leaves, I couldn't figure out what to put in the middled (Again more timeout). Somewhere in the middle of this, the garage bay that I affectionately call "Studio B" was used for storage for a variety of fiber things, sapping my gumption. Finally, I decided to put radiating leaves in the center, and almost put the table again figuring out out what to use as background; this time, I just went for it. The thin gap between the leaves and the outer border was problematic.  But I finished the table. And grouted it today.

Better in person than in the photo... Table is 2' in 
diameter (60 cm?)

So the biggest issue was the design. Had I gone into the project with a design that worked,  we'd have been using this table 5 years ago and I could have moved onto other projects that didn't make me feel bad about my decisions.

Other issues?

• I don't love the leaves in the center. But I don't hate them, and I don't know what I could have done otherwise. 
• For background areas, I need to pay attention to piece size; pieces should be fairly uniform in size, even with crazy piecing.  Also, the grout gaps should be more uniform. The ones around and between the leaves are particularly oversized, which made it hard to grout.
• The leaves are higher in some spots; I think I used more thinset under them. DH will not be happy about this! But really, neither am I.
• I don't care for the dark tiles in the outermost border; they would stand out less if they were closer to a uniform value. I almost pried them off but then decided to finish the table instead.
• The pieces between the outer border and the leaf wreath were super fussy to cut, and are a bit wonky. They only work because they're close to the color of the grout, which hides a multitude of issues. I'm happy with the result but the implementation is in response to bad design choices.
• If probably could have mixed the background color (going from light to dark) a little better.
• The background should have ended in an uninterrupted grout against the wreath. It's not bad, but it's not right.

And what pleases me about the piece?

• I really love the flowers, more so than before they were grouted. The dark grout ("Espresso") really makes them pop.  They're happy, they read to me as my beloved poppies.
• The wreath makes me happy. It gives motion to the piece, and frames the flowers nicely. 
• The dark brown border looks nice while not competing with the anything else. Instead of being a lame attempt to fill an awkward space, I think it's a nice finish.
• It's a lovely counterpart to the other table in the vicinity; different size and style but much of the same glass, and the same grout. 

The other poppy table