Wavin’ Flag

Remember how I talked about soccer fever? That it was Euro 2012 time? And that it was time to celebrate the beginning of Euro 2012, and to cheer on Germany? Well, I didn’t quite manage to create a German food menu, instead I made carrot pancakes, a spring potato salad and a cherry, corn and fennel salad. But now, with the Olympics, I have another chance to create a ‘German fan menu.’

One option is to come up with food inspired by the German flag. The German flag is composed of stripes in yellow, red and black. Or I could do the completely lazy version and make Bratwurst and Sauerkraut. I could also make some kind of classic German cake like a Black Forest cake. There are also delicious fruit cakes in Germany, but I’d rather challenge myself. Btw, did you know that the German chocolate cake is actually German’s chocolate cake - named after the chocolate brand German’s? If you ask a German for a German chocolate cake, they’ll probably look confused and ask you what kind of chocolate cake you’d like.

A three layer cake: yellow cake, red velvet cake and chocolate cake

I’m not the first person to think of making a flag cake. Petite Kitchenesse made a beautiful version, with layers of yellow cake, red velvet cake and chocolate cake. I think that’s the way to go. The black flag will just have to be made of chocolate. I’m so not making a black cake, nor will I use food coloring to turn it black. Who would want to eat that? It’ll just look like a burnt cake. And the actual “black cake” which is a dark fruit cake derived from the British plum pudding – yeah, no. I was never a fan of fruit cake, so that one is a no go (I want to eat it too!).

I love all these cakes separately, but I’m not quite sure how the flavors will all go together. I mean, will the flavors meld, or will they clash???? I could also go a different direction and make a German Beer Coffee Cake. It looks interesting, but also strange. And it again has hints of fruit cake. Sigh.

The post title is inspired by K’Naan’s song “Wavin’ Flag” which is awesomely soccer themed. It’s also the song Coke used for its FIFA World Cup 2010 commercials. Don’t be turned off by that – all the big sponsors release pretty great soccer themed commercials for the big soccer tournament.

Wavin Flag Coca Cola Celebration Mix

Peppermint Princess

Glaubst du an den lieben Gott oder an Guevara
ich glaube an die Deutsche Bank denn die zahlt aus in bar au
Liebling lass uns tanzen hast du noch ‘nen Pfefferminz ‘nen Pfefferminz
so und nun gib mir ‘nen Kuss mit Pfefferminz bin ich dein Prinz

- “Mit Pfefferminz bin ich dein Prinz” by Marius Müller-Westernhagen

You know how you sometimes just fall in love with a skein of yarn due to its name? Yes? No? Well, that was the case with me. When I’d just discovered Wollmeise yarn, I was looking at colors on the Wollmeise website, trying to figure out what colors I’d like. That was before I discovered how challenging it is to order Wollmeise yarn, and that you won’t easily find the color you like in stock. No, you just have to hope that the color you want will be available at that update, and you’ll have to hope no one snaps it up before you can checkout with it.

Pfefferminz Prinz above, Tiefer See below

Well, I was looking at the blue-green color family, and I immediately fell in love with two colors: “Tiefer See” which is the blue-green as ‘the blue and green of a deep mountain lake,’ and “Pfefferminz Prinz,” which must be inspired by the song above that is titled “With peppermint I’m your prince.” Well, I like that song, so I just had to like the color. The skein is lighter than the Tiefer See colorway – a very pretty turquoise and light green.

Thankfully I managed to score a skein of Pfefferminz Prinz thanks to a fellow Raveler. And when you finally get ahold of a yarn color that you’ve been hoping for, oh, forever, you of course have to find a project that will show off the colors.

One of the most frequently knit patterns using Wollmeise is the ubiquitous Clapotis scarf/shawl, second only behind the Hitchhiker pattern. I wanted more of a skinny scarf that would be light enough to wear during the summer, so I modified the pattern into a narrow scarf. It’s super easy to modify the pattern to the desired width and length. So many Ravelers have already done that, there are many many helpful project notes out there. In fact, there is an entire group dedicated to knitting your own Clapotis.

The best suggestion is to weight your yarn skein(s) before casting on, to then weight it again after the increase section, before knitting the straight part. Then you know how much yarn you can use for the straight section, and not run out of yarn. The scarf itself is knit on a bias, and stitches are dropped at regular intervals to created the lacy effects. You have to get used to dropping the stitches – normally I’m so super careful not to drop any. It’s a really fun scarf, and I understand why many people knit multiple Clapotis scarves – but that endless straight section is somewhat mindless. I’m not a huge fan of projects that are endless. I’ll be knitting a bunch of other scarves, but I can see myself knitting another Clapotis again sometime in the future.

Soccer fever

Note: I’m not ignoring the political situation in the Ukraine. There has been a lot of discussion about the imprisonment and treatment of Yulia Timoshenko, the former prime minister of the Ukraine. But apart from that, the human rights situation is deplorable as well. There are reports of police brutality and torture. Attention needs to be paid to the situation in the Ukraine not just during spotlight that the Euro 2012 shines on the country, but also beyond. Visit Amnesty International for more information.

Tomorrow is the day! Tomorrow the Euro 2012 starts! The hosts are Poland and Ukraine, and the first game is Poland vs Greece, kicking off at 6pm EST. The Euro Cup ranks just below the FIFA World Cup, at least for me. I foresee lots of soccer watching and neglecting the rest of my life. There’ll be viewing parties, at home or maybe even at work. People will have flags up, people will be wearing team jerseys and face paint, some people even decorate their cars accordingly.

Well, I have to cheer on my favorite team, Germany. It’s been a while since Germany won a Euro championship – the last time was 1996. The last time Germany won the FIFA World Cup was 1990 (Germany still played as West Germany). Which is totally contrary to Gary Lineker‘s quote: ”Soccer is a game for 22 people that run around, play the ball, and one referee who makes a slew of mistakes, and in the end Germany always wins.” But Germany and England do have a soccer rivalry – just think of the Wembley goal during the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

They’re toe-up, so the stripes look upside down. Note the soccer appropriate footstool!

I was in Germany during the 2006 world cup, and the atmosphere there was amazing. They had public viewing parties, the weather was awesome, and all in all the mood was great (you’ll always have a few Hooligans and others up for trouble, but all in all it was pretty peaceful). Oh, and in addition to the mood, people were pretty euphoric because Germany was doing really well. Whenever a critical game took place the roads were pretty much deserted during the game. Depending on the results people were driving around, cheering, waving flags and honking like mad. You’ll also get that during games involving Turkey’s team since there are so many Turkish people in Germany. In fact, a lot of Germans cheered for Turkey except for the Euro 2008 semis where Germany played against Turkey. But in 2006, people were so euphoric and so excited by this young team that it ended up being called “ein Sommermärchen” – a summer fairytale. There even was a documentary with that name dealing with that period during that summer.

This time I’ll once again will be in Germany for the Euro tournament. I’m hoping for lots of soccer related parties. And I’ll get the chance to wear my Germany socks (hand-knit of course!). In fact, I still need to knit more Germany socks for friends and family. The munchkins of course need German flag socks. And I know a few other people who’d love German flag colored socks. I may be starting something, though – I think a few people might want socks in the their favorite team’s colors.

Join in, and no matter what time you’re cheering for, I hope you have lots of fun! Yay for 90 minutes (or more) of watching 22 people chasing a black and white ball. Yay for soccer!

My knitting or crochet hero

Day 3: April 25, 2012. Your Knitting Or Crochet Hero
Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you. There are not too many guidelines for this, it’s really about introducing your readers to someone who they might not know who is an inspiration to you. It might be a family member or friend, a specific designer or writer, indie dyer or another blogger. If you are writing about a knitting designer and you have knitted some of their designs, don’t forget to show them off. Remember to get permission from the owner if you wish to use another person’s pictures.

This is Mami. Mami is my great-aunt and totally rocks. She’s 85 years old and still fit as a fiddle – she obviously suffers from of the pains and aches that you get as you get older, but mentally she’s really fit. She putters around on her computer and has figured out how to Skype on her own and regularly calls us, sends us emails and so on. She’s full of stories which she tells with that humor that’s so much a part of her personality. She loves all of us so much and gets worried any time she hears that we’re not well. And how can you not love someone who still makes you Mickey Mouse or bunny pancakes (with a fluffy little bunny tail!) pancakes even though you’re an adult. Ok, they look more like mutated bunny pancakes, but still! Mami is just full of awesome. I think she just signed up for Ravelry, so I look forward to see her on there two.

Mami telling us puppet stories that she used to tell us when we were kiddos

Mami learned how to knit in India – South India – which I always thought was strange since I think it’s pretty much too warm to knit lovely wool items. But apparently many in that generation learned how to knit, and I’ve seen plenty of babies there packed up in layers of wool, despite the weather. Anyway, Mami can really craft. She taught me how to embroider when I was younger. I have a few pillow cases and table cloths that I’ve made, and a few that are still waiting to be finished. I’m the one who really enjoyed it – the rest of the family wasn’t so thrilled. When I started to knit, my family’s response was “Finally, something more useful than embroidery!” So when I originally decided to learn how to knit in order to knit the Shaun the Sheep mobile for nephew #1, I was so glad I could ask Mami for advice. She has been knitting and crocheting since she was a little girl, and has created many many lovely projects, including beautiful blankets for the family.

Mami taught me some of the techniques that she’d been taught, passing on her knowledge. For example, after casting on – she prefers the knitted cast on – she then knits the stitches through the back loop on the following row. She says it creates a neater look. I haven’t used the technique much though – I usually use the long-tail cast on. But still, as I was getting started on my first knitted project, a scarf with a bunch of different stitch patterns, I could ask her all kinds of questions, about the tensioning of my yarn, how to keep the stitches even, whether I was knitting and purling properly, and so on. They’re all those questions that you have as a newbie, where it’s so good to have someone to help you out in person. Online videos only get you so far when you’re starting with a new craft. And Mami mostly knits without a pattern, basing her projects on the recipient’s measures and desired design. That takes some serious skill in my opinion.

Mami meditates every day, and goes for regular walk - she really keeps herself fit, even at her age

Mami however would probably be shocked by my yarn snobbishness. She probably would be horrified by the thought of paying upwards of $20 for a skein of yarn. She’s always used what’s at hand, and her yarn stores were Michaels, Hobby Lobby etc – not that there’s anything wrong with that, I just don’t think she’s ever been in a local yarn store or has knit with indie dyer yarn. She’d probably be amazed by all the types of yarn, and the different fiber combinations that are out there. In fact, I know she’d be interested in the yarn that I’m using for my current wip.

The yarn is Habu, which is known for its unusual yarn bases. The two yarns are Habu superfine merino, and Habu silk stainless steel, and the pattern is the ubiquitous Kusha Kusha scarf (you can buy this as a kit and they can also do custom color combinations for you, or you buy the yarns individually). This is my new endless project – plain stockingette, with a few interesting elements here and there. It is a bit harder to knit than my provence shawl since the yarn is so much finer and you need to make sure to catch both strands. Then again, the project is pretty forgiving of any errors since I’ll be felting the part with both strands of yarn. The texture will be quite interesting and it’s already quite scrunchable, as you can see, due to the steel in it.

The book btw is a German book, ‘Jim Knopf und Lukas the Lokomotivfuehrer‘ (Jim Knopf and Lukas the train conductor). The author is Michael Ende, the author of the ‘Neverending Story’ – but this book is waaaay better. It’s a childhood favorite – I have fond memories of the story being read to us, in bits and pieces as a bedtime story. There’s also an excellent puppet theater version of the book, a toddler version with short stories based on the book, and the audiobook version is really good, too. And the best part is that there’s a second story, too, ‘Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13′ (Jim Knopf and the wild 13), where the 13 are pirates. Unfortunately I haven’t found an English translation of the books which is really quite a pity.

So, that’s it for today’s blog post. If you’re interested in more of my knitting shenanigans, you can find me on Ravelry, username anji. And if you’re interested in seeing other posts on the topic ‘My Knitting or Crochet Hero from other bloggers who’ll be blogging today on this topic, just search on Google (or another search engine) for the tag 3KCBWDAY3 or Twitter for hashtag #3KCBW. And for all of you Yarn Alongers, I’m still participating in this week’s Yarn Along. If you’re interested, check it out – there are links to other great Yarn Along posts there, with information on how to participate yourself. You can also find a link to this post through Tami’s Amis,through Ambassador Crochet’s Wip Wednesday and Frontier Dreams’ Keep Calm and Craft on (KCCO) series. Happy crafting!

Mmmmm, donuts

I sound like Homer Simpson. But DCist (ok, all those _ists out there) have this post out on how to make your own donuts. Tempting, so tempting…

I so totally want to make donuts. But I expect that they warm and melty and delicious like Krispy Kreme donuts. I mean, who doesn’t love a Krispy Kreme donut that’s just hot and fresh, and melts in your mouth? Heaven! I remember the world before I discovered Krispy Kreme and I used to – very rarely – go to Dunkin Donuts. In fact, I recently bought a few donuts there to bring as dessert to a friend’s last minute dinner get together – and we were all horribly disappointed. They were dry and hard and, oh, just terrible. Is it just me, or does Dunkin Donuts really not make good donuts any more? Are they all about the coffee now?

Then there’s the beignet version. I haven’t had any – heresy, I know – but I’ve heard great and delicious things about them. I’m sure there are great ones and not so great ones out there. Btw, did you know that they’re the official state doughnut of Louisiana? I didn’t even know that there’s such a thing as a state donut!

Berliner

Germany has its own donut version: the Berliner, the jelly filled version, and Krapfen, non jelly filled. The Berliner is typically filled with raspberry, red current, plum or strawberry jam, or some mix of that, while the Krapfen is the dough by itself, which is then deep fried, although there are also apple versions, which include apples in its dough. The dough is a sweet yeast dough, and the finished Berliner/Krapfen is typically dusted with sugar or powdered sugar. You’ll find especially in the days – ok weeks – leading up to Fasching, aka carnival or Mardi Gras. Nowadays you’ll also find newfangled versions filled with pudding or even ‘black forest’ versions with cherries and whipped cream.

Btw, I always found President Kennedy famous speech “Ich bin ein Berliner” rather hilarious, at least when I was a child, because it basically translates to “I am a jelly filled donut.” Yes, I know it is meant to show his solidarity with the West German people, particularly those of Berlin. But it still makes me chuckle.

Oh, and all for all those Simpson lovers out there:

Lucky socks part II

more Germany socks

I already posted about a pair of socks knit in the German flag colors. This pair of socks was actually knit before that and they’re part II of the great sock experiment – these were knit on toe-up on two circular needles. My favorite sock construction technique, and knitting with two circular needles is way faster than knitting with dps or using magic loop. The pattern is from Wendy Johnson’s book ‘Socks from the Toe-Up.’ The book is very good overview on toe-up sock construction and it has really nice patterns. I did modify the pattern slightly – I used Judy’s Magical Cast-On instead of the short-row toe as the pattern recommends – if I’d used that method then the stripes would have worked properly.

note the matching chair

The socks fit perfectly, and they’re for watching soccer. Lucky socks, here I come!

Ahhhhhhh

Hefeweizen

Lololol

port-a-potty

Die Mauer – the Berlin Wall

50 years ago today, on the night from the 12th to the 13th August, East German troops and workers began the construction of the Berlin Wall. East Germany had been hemorrhaging its population to West Germany, particularly its well-educated and well-trained young professionals. To stem the population loss, Walter Ulbricht, head of the GDR, and his Secretary of Security, Erich Honeker (Ulbricht’s successor) devised a plan to retain its populace. With backing from the Soviet Union, at midnight on August 12th, East Germany closed the borders to the West. The initial barbed-wire fence was followed by brick and concrete walls once people started escaping, especially through buildings adjoining the wall.

Ultimately the wall surrounded not just West Berlin but the entire GDR border to West Germany. It culminated in a dangerous border zone consisting of multiple walls, chain-link fences, minefields, and a carefully maintained strip of sand that would show any footprints. Watchtowers were placed along the wall and guards were given the order “shoot to kill.” The wall was billed as an “antifascist protection” wall, meant to protect the GDR’s population.

There were many famous successful attempts to defect, especially in those early days – such as the famous jump of NVA soldier Conrad Schumann across the then barbed wire fence.

This US government documentary from 1962, titled “The Wall” shows some of the iconic images of the first year, including many of the escape attempts, as well some of the images surrounding the construction. Obviously the documentary is narrated from the US point of view.

Over the next 50 years, approximately 2.5 million people fled East Germany. But for every successful defection, there were many that failed. Current estimates are that at least 138 people died involving incidents at the German-German border. Approximately 25000 people ended up facing legal prosecution for “Republikfluch” – flight attempts. Usually the victims were then closely watched by the Stasi, the East German State Security service – if they hadn’t already been under observation. In fact, the Stasi had files on one third of its population. If you’re looking for a great movie about a Stasi man’s observation of a writer and his wife, and how he gets entangled in their lives, you should see the 2006 movie “The Lives of Others” (Das Leben der Anderen).

Bernauer Strasse, one of the Berlin streets along which the Berlin Wall ran, and the location of some of the most famous escapes from East Berlin, is now the place of the Berlin Wall Memorial. The memorial shows where the Wall used to be and includes a reconstruction of a strip of the former Wall defensive measures.

The Newseum in Washington, DC contains the largest piece of the Berlin Wall outside Germany, made up of three Wall segments, and it also has a Wall watchtower that used to stand at Checkpoint Charly. It also has a great online interactive exhibit on the news reports surrounding the Berlin Wall.

In January 1989, Erich Honeker, head of the GDR proclaimed that “the Wall will still stand in 50, even in 100 years. Yet only a few months later, on November 9th, the Wall came down – literally, and soon physically as well. The 45km long Berlin Wall ultimately lasted 28 years, 2 months and 27 days.

Lucky socks

Germany won 3:2 against  Brazil, so I’m assuming that the socks are lucky socks. Yay!