Knitting Sandwich

yarn pilgrimage

I have to admit that I haven't been very inspired by the yarn store options I've found so far in Munich.  Most of them carry all the same big-name brands of mostly spongy merino yarn with not a whole lot of variety to choose from in terms of color, fiber or texture.  I am really missing the handdyes and independent yarns that took up the majority of shelves in my little Brooklyn yarn stores. 

However, If you become desperate and begin to investigate the ravelry projects of other local Müncheners, you'll find over and over again the name Wollmeise  and their charming shop in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm.  Pfaffenhofen (don't you love that name?!) is a little town about 50 kilometers outside of Munich where apparently people flood to from all directions in search of their infamous handdyed sock yarn.

And so I got myself to the train station

 

and about half an hour later arrived in the (now infamous) Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm.

 

After a brief wander into the center of town, I found the most wonderful color oasis imaginable. 

This store is just overflowing with the most delicious colorways and unique dyes imaginable.  (sorry that my iphone pictures don't do them justice at all)

 

The impossible part is picking which colorways to take home or stopping yourself from taking home more than you can carry on the train.  I settled on these three lovelies

and then whipped up a horseshoe lace cowl for my mother-in-law's birthday.

Three cheers for Wollmeise and yarn pilgrimages!  (now if I can only figure out a way to take a yarn pilrimage back to my Brooklyn yarn stores....)

-cmvs

Sandwich Meetup -Mankato/Skype

What a wonderful weekend!  

Not only did I get to take Sabrina to Minnesota but we also got a virtual sandwich meet up with Claire and Georg!

It was such a delight to hang out with Melissa and her adorable family.  And a double delight to watch Lily and Sabrina reading together

Playing together

Contemplating the big issue of life (while eating lollipops) together

Thank you Melissa!

-Lindsey

 

more roads = more ripples

lots of travels means lots of time for crochet in the car!  woot woot!!

between that and my audiobook it was a very lovely day in the car!

-melissa

road trip ripples

a 14 hour drive down to tennessee gives a gal a fair amount of time for crafting.

this trip found me working on a ripple blanket (pattern by lucy of attic24) for bundles of joy.

safe travels (and lots of crafty time) to anyone traveling for the holidays!

-melissa 

first frost

It was a bit hard to make the transition back to everyday life following the absolute paradise that was our wedding/honeymoon.  Luckily, a few days after our return (from 80 degree sunny weather), we were greeted by Munich's first frost.  To me, first frost always feels like an exciting battlecry to knitters everywhere.  Bring on the cold weather and snuggly new knits! 

I whipped out a simple frost emergency hat between lunch and dinner the first day. I chose the wide rimmed beanie for its speedy knitup in such vital conditions.

And after my head was safely frost-protected, we celebated some more by taking a Sunday afternoon drive for a mini Alpine honeymoon.  Can you believe we live only about an hour and a half away from this?

This is a little village called Alpbach in the Austrian Alps.  And look- we found the first snow!

We had some lunch,

Ran into some funny Alpine characters

And just breathed in this glorious view. 

On the way back, we stopped to take a walk along the German Tegernsee. With the most gorgeous fall colors and perfect autumn crispness, it was such a blissfull way to reacclimate ourselves and bask in the gorgeous beauties of 'home' as well. 

Today being All Saints Day, we had another day of freedom and how lucky for me that my husband was quite happy to squeeze in a knitting photoshoot in the most beautiful of surroundings. 

We took my newly finished mitered crosses blanket up to a hilltop in the Bavarian Alps for a little taste of some mountain air before I mail it off to my nun friend tomorrow.  Last year for Christmas she gave me a bunch of yarn which I think she found in the convent basement and I was happy to use it to make a blanket surprise for her. 

While we were there, I got to show off the donner pass cowl that I made last night with the GLORIOUS handspun yarn Melissa made!  Have you checked out her shop?  She's girlplussheep on etsy and her handspuns are more scrumptious than I can even describe.  What a privielage to carry such wooly bliss around my neck!  Thanks Melissa!

I hope you are all enjoying the beauties of fall and that first breath of frost as well!

-cmvs

 

 

european sandwich - the big day

for these posts about our amazing european sandwich meetup lindsey and melissa will be making tag-team posts.  lindsey will post in orange and melissa will post in green.

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the next morning was the big day!  we went over to the pink house to help claire decorate the reception tent.

 

We got to hang the lovely hearts that friends and family knit.

We scampered home to get ready for the wedding and got back just in time to watch claire's cousin putting on her makeup.

Claire's dad did an amazing job with the ceremony.  By telling his sweet stories in both English and German, I don't think there was a dry eye in the garden he dubbed the 'cathedral of nature'.

On to the reception!  the food was amazing

the cake was topped with a traditional portuguese rooster.

Entertainment was charming.  Claire's cousin's son sang traditional Portugese Fado

claire and georg didn't sing, but they did give heartfelt thank you speeches in both english and german.

We crashed Claire and Georg's photo shoot

But really, who could resist this beauty?

seriously, have you ever seen a more beautiful bride?

we even taught their portuguese photographer the word, "smootch!"

The shawl turned out perfectly and looked amazing with Claire's dress and feathers.

It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed it long into the night.

-lindsey & melissa

European sandwich - Lisbon

for these posts about our amazing european sandwich meetup lindsey and melissa will be making tag-team posts.  lindsey will post in orange and melissa will post in green.

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After an exciting but exhausting day in Amsterdam, the fabulous Clarie and her amazing aunt, Tia Christina, picked us up in Lisbon and whisked us off to Christina's house for a much needed sleep. 

Our first day in Lisbon we started off at the river

Walked up many hills

I love Portuguese graffiti, so creative

and also amazingly beautiful...

Walked past beautiful tiled buildings.  The tiles were stunning and every place you looked.

although there were also lots of untiled building that were beautiful as well.

we were quite the relaxed tourists, but we did have one rule: if we passed a church and we could get inside, we would go in.

after much wandering and wandering and coffee and more beautiful wanderings we finally ended up at the castle (the Castelo de São Jorge).

we then scampered down the hill in time to meet up with claire and georg and some wisconsin friends.

we had coffee (of course) and the most delicious pastries to be found in portugal, the beloved pasteis de nata.  (this was the first portuguese words lindsey and i learned. and we put them to good work - ordering them everywhere we went!)

we wandered over to claire's cousin's home to watch the sunset...

then strolled our way back to claire's aunt's apartment, enjoying every single sight.

- lindsey & melissa

tying the knot and weaving in the ends

So, it's official...

We're married!

Only a few days after making the cross-Altantic move to Germany, we went off to the registrar's office (just Georg, I and my translator) and we did it!

(it totally cracks me up to have my translator in our wedding pictures-- I can't help but post this)

 

Immediately afterwards we hopped on a train bound for Prague and enjoyed a glorious weekend there. 

Of course there was plenty of knitting to be had on the train, especially appropriate when you're in the midst of your wedding shawl (for the official family celebration in October).

This is my first forray into entrelac (it's the Wedding entrelac shrug) and unfortunately this pattern is not at all designed for novice entrelacers.  I had a very difficult time starting out, especially because it begins differently than most online entrelac tutorials.  Thus, after I finally figured out how it worked, I made up this chart which I am hoping will someday be useful to a fellow confused knitter out there.

Glad to say that I've finally figured it out though and it's coming along slowly.  I am using someLion Brand baby alpaca which makes the endeavor all the more scrumptious.

There are absolutely not enough words to describe how gorgeous and endlessly charming Prague is. Really, both of us were totally blown away.  Unfortunately I don't have many photos as of yet since both G&I are primarily film photographers... but for the meantime I leave you with a few glimpses of Prague at both day & night...

and many greetings from us to you!

-cmvs

 

 

top five suitcase stickers: places we've been

Hello all!

So terribly sorry about the delay in posting the top five list this month, I'm going through a complete computer nightmare over here.

Since last month we focused on the places we dream of going to, we thought it appropriate to focus this month on the favorite places we've been.  With no further ado, here are our lists!

Melissa's list:

1. vancouver island - we went here on our honeymoon, to victoria and tofino and oh, i just loved every second of it!  the country is beyond beautiful... words can't really do it justice.
2. florida keys - i'm usually not a beachy kind of girl, but the keys just called to me.  it was such a wonderful trip - so relaxing and with just a touch of quirky fun.
3. new orleans - we went to celebrate brian's 30th birthday, and celebrate we did!!  new orleans is such a grand old city, there is always beauty around every corner.
4. fairy lake, mt - i used to live in bozeman, mt and fairy lake is about a 45 minute drive up into the mountains.  besides being stunningly beautiful it's where brian and i got engaged, so it will always have a special place in my heart.
5. nyc - claire, i am so thankful that you live in nyc because i get to come and visit so often.  i love this city.  i could visit a million times and there would still be more to experience and see.
6.i'm obviously not as well-traveled as the rest of the sandwich, for example, here's a picture of me the first time i saw the ocean.  i was 24.

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Lindsey's list:

1. Tobago - Michael and I went here on our honeymoon.  It was so beautiful and relaxing, we had so much fun playing in the waves.
2. Shanghai China - I spend a semester in Shanghai and loved everything about it: the language classes, clubs, food, travel, even the calligraphy classes that I did horribly in.
3. Game parks in Kenya - growing up overseas I was amazingly lucky that my dad's company sent the family to America every year.  Our best trip home had a 'stop over' in Kenya for a photo safari.
4. National parks, Utah - I can't pick just one, I loved exploring every park we visited and want to go back to see more of them.
5. Preikestolen, Norway - My parents moved to Stavanger when I went to college.  What an amazing country.  This was my favorite hike.

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cmv's list:

1&2. Lisbon, Portugal- Most of my family is in Lisbon so I was lucky enough to spend most of my summers there as a child. Besides the emotional connection, I really can't think of a more beautiful place on earth.  Even the walls and the floors around you are covered with incredible charm and artistry.
3. Barcelona, Spain- Besides the amazing color and culture, you have the astounding works of Gaudi architecture.  Love it.
4. Salvador de Bahia, Brazil- When I decided to live in Brazil for a few years (many years ago) I wanted to go to Salvador.  Instead I ended up in the absolute polar opposite place, a small German town in the middle of nowhere.  Which of course only made the visit to the incredibly vibrant, colorful, musical, artistic land of Salvador all the more wonderful.
5. Berlin, Germany- Oh I love Berlin.  The powerful history and diametric opposites, all before your very eyes.  Wonderful.
6. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil- It just doesn't get much better than Rio.  A city overflowing with life  (good AND bad) and stunning natural beauty.

There are so many incredible places in this world both close to and far from home-- what are your favorite places you've been?

-cmv & the sandwich

home for easter

Hello and Happy Easter to you all!

I haven't been home to WI for Easter in many many years. This year, however, there was this phenomenal exhibit of street photography at the Milwaukee Art Museum (which just happens to be one of my favorite places on earth) so I saw that as the perfect excuse to come and spend the holiday here in the midwest.

So I elatedly went to the airport (of my OTHER favorite places on earth)

and after two short flights, I was greeted by Lake Michigan,

and arrived in Milwaukee.

It was lovely to be home again

and spend some (midwestern style) time with my family

before heading to that glorious museum for a completely awesome exhibit which was well worth the flight over!

I encourage anyone who's in this neck of the woods not to miss this exhibit- it's around until April 25th and if you're into photography it really is unmissable.

I hope you are all having wonderful Easters of your own-- a very happy holiday and happy spring to you all!

-cmv