Knitting Sandwich

europe trip: of interest to knitters

one more vacation-themed post... things that might be of interest to other knitters/crafters...

like sheep in a cathedral in rome:

or a tapestry in the residenz dedicated to sheep sheering:

 the timing worked out so that i got to go to a sheep and wool festival with claire while i was in germany!

 lots of travel time equated lots of knitting time and i finished my matchy-match sister cowl (also known as rhythmic (rav link)) while in germany!

 then i cast on for my *8th* annual red scarf project scarf (this one's a 3x3 slip stitch scarf (rav link)):

 while in london, we made a pilgrimage to the holiest of holies - the cath kidston store:

one of the most amazing parts of the trip was getting to meet up with anna of anna's creative corner and her adorable son luke while we were in london.  we had lunch and then chatted while the kids played in a play yard.  this was our first time meeting in person, but it felt completely comfortable, like catching up with an old friend!  

 -melissa

europe trip: london

lily and i ended our trip with three days in london (brian was in denmark for work).  oh london, this was my first time visiting and it won't be my last!  i loved every single minute we spent in this city.  this really was a dream come true for me i can't tell you how much i loved london...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 -melissa

europe trip: munich

we spent just one day in munich, and while that is definitely not enough time to see everything this splendid city has to offer, we did our best to squeeze in as much as possible!  we visited the rathaus (and got to see the glockenspiel in action), an open market, a couple stunning cathedrals, had lunch at a biergarten, and toured the jaw-dropping splendor that is the residenz.  an exhausting but amazing day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-melissa

europe trip: bavaria

we were lucky to get to spend an entire week with claire in germany!  she lives in the charming little village of neuching, which is about 30 minutes north east of munich.  we went on many excursions exploring the surrounding villages (erding and landshut are pictured below) and countryside.  mostly though we just enjoyed being with claire, georg, and that gorgeous boy mateo.  we can't thank them enough for their generosity, hospitality, and all the effort they went through to make sure we had the most amazing time.  (which we did!!) 

i love you clairey and can't wait to get to come back and see you again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 -melissa

europe trip: rome

i'm home from my amazing trip to europe!!  we had such a wonderful wonderful time, it was like a dream come true!  i have so many photos i want to share, i'll apologize in advance for the next few posts being extremely photo heavy.

our first stop was rome and we were there for three days.  rome was amazing.  it was gorgeous - it was old, it was new, it was everything in between... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 -melissa

mitts completed

the hedgerow mitts (rav link) for my friend are completed!

 and just in time too, as the weather report is calling for a dusting of snow tomorrow night!

 i love how these turned out, and more importantly so does my friend!  she was super excited to get them because she's heading out on a camping trip this weekend, so it's perfect timing!

and as an aside, i'll be gone from blogland for the next two weeks because we're going on a trip!  to visit claire!!  in germany!!  we leave tomorrow and i'm so excited i can barely stand it!  along with germany we also have a couple other stops planned, because well, we're all the way over there, we might as well do it up right!

 bon voyage!  

-melissa

the epic western road trip

brace yourselves: "what i did on my summer vacation" photos are coming!

 

lily and i left mankato and headed to omaha for a few days with my family and for me (lily had an overnight with my parents) a night out at the sara bareilles concert with my sister and future sister-in-law!

we then headed across nebraska, just like the pioneers, stopping at chimney rock and the scottsbluff monument.

 we then drove on to jackson hole, wy (where i had never been before) home of the majestic tetons:

 we picked brian up at the airport (he couldn't take the whole time off work, but was able to fly out and meet us for the wy/mt part of the trip) and spent a few days enjoying yellowstone.

 we then drove up to bozeman, mt (which just happens to be where brian and i met) and spent a couple days visiting old haunts...

 the impetus for the trip was my good friend's daughter's wedding...

 the we dropped brian off at the airport and headed on to south dakota for some good old fashioned road trip silliness:

 after almost two weeks we found ourselves back home:

 and as i opened the trip with a concert, it seemed only fitting to end with a concert as well.  we got back to mankato at 7:05pm and pat benatar took the stage at 8:00pm!  

 a perfectly rockin' way to end a perfectly rockin' road trip!

-melissa

knitting the scenery

i am currently in the midst of an epic western road trip... i promise to write more about it when i get home and have time to sort through all my photos.  but today something happened that i just had to blog about.  we were leaving jackson, wy and driving to bozeman, mt.  brian was driving and i was working on a mini square for blankie.  i chose the yarn, for no particular reason, when the scenery looked like this:

 so imagine my surprise when i looked down and saw that i was knitting this:

 while we were driving through this:

kismet.  perfection.  end scene.

-melissa 

road trip crafting

this week my friend blair and i took our kids to kansas city for a little summer road trip fun!  we visited legoland discovery center, the sealife aquarium, and the historic union station, as well as taking many swims in the hotel pool:

fun was had by all!!  

and what were blair and i up to during the downtime?

hotel crafting!!

i was working on putting together all the finished pieces of blankie, 6 of the 9 squares are all knit up, but there was that pesky red sashing still to go.  it's not the fastest or most interesting parts of the project, so it was good that for the most part i was trapped in a car with nothing better to do but knit yards and yards of garter stitch!

 even after the car ride i still had a couple rows left to finish at home:

 finally today i was finished (well finished with *this* part... there's still lots of knitting to go!).  all the completed squares are connected and all ends are woven in!

here it is in all it's glory, hanging out with my crazy overgrown garden!  it is making me so so happy to see blankie reach this point!  all those nice tidy right angles are making the neurotic crafter in me sigh with relief:

 humor me with just one more photo, i'm feeling pretty darned accomplished today!

 a big thanks to blair for being such a driving superstar and giving me all that knitting time in the car!

-melissa

blast from the past

my week at the lake was beyond relaxing.

 words and photos can not do it justice.

there was also knitting to be knit while relaxing at the lake.  i worked a bit on my latest ripple afghan, but mostly worked on blankie.

what?  

blankie?!?  

what is this ghost of a project?!?

ahem.  you *may* remember back in february of 2009 when i started a sock yarn blanket?  no?  that's okay, i'm not offended, you can click here for the post if you feel you'd like to.  

it turns out i've been working on this one solid section of blankie for well over a year... the first blog reference i can find to it is in april of 2013 and even then i was speaking of, "dusting it off."  so for at least a year and a half blankie has languished in a mostly ignored state.  

poor blankie.  

finally i had had enough!  i brought the solid square with me and spent all week working away on it, and on the drive home finished the last stitch on the most drawn out square of all time...

 it doesn't look like much, does it?  i know... but please take a moment to appreciate the subtle shading of the yarn and the fanciful angles of the mitered squares... okay, i know, it's boring... but with it's completion i have now made six of the nine squares of my blankie:

and that, to me at least, is not boring at all!  i am recharged!  bring it blankie!!!  i am super excited to knit your sweet little squares again!!!

-melissa