August | 2023 | Knitigating Circumstances

We had a great holiday in Germany, exploring forest, lake, and city. Very little knitting was accomplished, mostly due to shoulder problems, so this post is a knitting-free zone. We spent a week in Freiburg with our friend, Inge. (We stayed at the home of Inge’s sister and brother-in-law, Eva and Klaus, who were very generous and lovely people, lending us their home and showing us their city.) During that time we went for long walks in the forest, explored the city, ate lots of cake, and enjoyed each other’s company. We then all three went by train to the Bodensee (Lake Konstanz) where we spent three nights in the Bad Hotel in Uberlingen, followed by three nights at the amazing spa hotel Hirschen Horn in Gaienhofen. Our friends, Theo and Jonnie, moved to the area a few years ago and were great guides. The five of us had a smashing time.

Here are some of the many photos of forest, lake, and city (and cake).

The hills above Freiburg:

By the lake, Uberlingen:

Meersburg (just to the left of the yellow building is the terrace of the restaurant where we ate dinner, with a spectacular view of the lake):

Dinner on said terrace in Meersburg; Inge (looking fabulous) with Doug:

Engravings on the buildings in the old town of Konstanz:

There was lots of cake consumed on this trip. The below piece is super special to me, because it was gluten-free (yay!) and absolutely amazing.

Up above the Lake:

At the Bad Hotel, Uberlingen:

This church is next to the hotel in Gaienhofen and we could see it from our balcony. Jonny and I are making shadow pictures on the wall:

The lake at sunset, taken from Hagnau. The mountains across the lake are the Swiss Alps.

Imperia. Statue in Konstanz. She holds in her hands Pope Martin V and Emperor Sigismund. The statue refers to the Council of Konstanz (1414-1418), which took place in Konstanz. It is one of about 40 statues by Perter Lenk that Doug took photos of on this trip, many of which I wouldn’t post here, but all of which are great and very funny to boot.

Steeple from Stein am Rhein (Switzerland):

Close-up of the dragon:

House in Stein am Rhein with a pleasing pattern:

We went to a great museum in St. Margen of the clock-making history of the Black Forest. Amongst all of the old, traditional clocks, was this modern one:

Here is a video which I took at the Basilica de Birnau. It shows not only the amazing Basilica, but also the spectacular view. (It also has Doug, caught unaware, which is pretty funny.)

Another glorious view of the lake, taken at Birnau:

A picture perfect evening sky:

That seems like a good place to stop. It was a lovely trip (even without any knitting)!

Today I bring you three tales of woe:

Swatches lie
Shoulders are sort of necessary for knitting
When you pick boring projects so as not to tax your brain, it turns out that they are boring

These can be summed up in a sad photo:

Do you think that this may be, perhaps, too big?

I originally bought this yarn (Kalinka 21, a linen/wool blend) to make the lovely Joni. I then decided that my post-covid brain was still too tired to follow the pattern and to focus properly. (And the pattern was 17 pages long!) I tried and tried to find a pattern to make with this yarn that would be totally simple – no counting, no thinking, no fancy stitches, minimal details, and settled on Dune by eri shimizu:

There is a bit of shaping at the shoulders (which, true to recent form, had me ripping and re-knitting a few times):

But after that it is just stockinette all the way down. Unless of course, your swatch lies (see first photo above), in which case you will need to do some major ripping before you can get to the stockinette all the way down bit. (For information sake, I ripped out quite a bit, and now have 32 less stitches on the needles. It will still have plenty of ease.) Here is a photo after having ripped out and knit back down again:

Not only am I struggling with swatches that lie, but I am having major troubles with my shoulder. It hurts. I am having physio done, which hurts, and doing lots of therapeutic exercise, which hurts. And yes, it turns out that shoulders are a necessary part of the knitting process. This makes me grumpy. (Perhaps you could divine this from the above photo? Hee hee.)

And to top it all off, while knitting endless rounds of stockinette on tiny needles may not be taxing on the brain, it is still boring. The fact that I purposely sought out boring does not make it any less boring.

But never fear, dear reader! I would not bring you a depressing tale of woe without a silver lining. (Actually, had I written this post last week as intended, it would have ended here with me feeling sorry for myself. You have thus benefited from my lack of attention to timely blogging.) I have found two solutions to my tales of woe. First, I bought some new yarn (Isager Trio 2) in a beautiful red:

And cast on another project, Anker Tee by PetiteKnit.

This one is equally boring to knit, in fact maybe more so, as it is endless rounds of k1p1 ribbing, followed by endless rounds of stockinette. But it is RED, which makes me happy, and I can alternate between one project and the other when either one threatens to put me to sleep.

Second, I am on holiday. Here is a photo of me and my friend Inge, walking in the hills around St. Märgen in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) in Germany.

We are spending a week in Freiburg with Inge and then we will all head to Überlingen and Konstanz for another week with our friends Theo and Jonathan. Today it is 15 degrees (59F) and absolutely pissing down rain, but next week by the lake it will be beautiful. And being with good friends is a silver lining all by itself, regardless of weather.

Wishing you a good week, with swatches that are truthful, shoulders that don’t hurt, and non-boring projects on your needles!