Númenna - Nan Annûn

On Catching up with Life

2008-10-06T11:24:00.006+02:00

Morgan, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 11th September 2008
Finish: 23rd September 2008
Needles: 4 mm / 80 cm Addi Turbos and Addi Lace
Yarn: GGH Cumba; 42% new wool, 28% alpaca, 30% acrylic; colour #014 (anthracite), dye lot #85459
Pattern: Morgan by Anne Kuo Lukito in Knitty Fall 2008 issue
Modification: I had to add more snap buttons on each side near the base of the peak because of the softness of the yarn and my gauge, the crown gets pulled back and puckers in a weird way. I also sew the buttons through to the top of the hat, otherwise it will just totally puffs up and look weird.

So, yes, my written exams are over more than a week ago. They were all horrible, and I think I did absolutely miserable on the last two, especially the last one....it was catastrophic. But well, I don't want to talk about it, because I can't do anything about it any more and so I'm resorting to the wait and see strategy.

Anyway, I started knitting Morgan shortly before my exams...probably out of sheer frustration with the studying. I finished the cap on the evening after I've written my second to last exam.

Morgan [201:366, 24.09.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

I'm really happy with the FO. It's hard for me to find a hat/cap that suits me and the Ivy Cap style always looks good on me. I had been wanting to knit one in a long time but have never found a pattern. I was going to try designing one myself, but well, the pattern came out first. Better for me not having to break my head trying to figure it out on my own. :-p

Knitting this was a bit of a challenge (or I was just too thick to understand the instruction properly), but Anne was very helpful when I bombarded her with Ravelry PMs asking her about how to do this and that.

Doing the peak insertion was a challenge. I used a place mat from IKEA. And since my printer ran out of ink, I couldn't print out the template and so I had to do some measurements and free-hand drawing and then cut it and trim to fit. Once I've sewn close the pocket of the peak with the stabiliser in it, the stabiliser kept slipping around, so I ended up sewing along the very bottom edge of the stabiliser to keep it in place and it worked well. Plus, it created a small pocket between the original stabiliser pocket and the sewn-in bottom where I can just pull yarn through and hide it inside the pocket. How very clever of me. :-p

Anyhow, I can see this being knitted up again in other colours and yarns!

I really like the yarn....I'm now considering getting enough of it to make myself a jersey. :-p

Autumn in Baden-Baden [203:366, 30.09.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

In the last week of my exams, I got an email from a German TV channel trying to get into contact with me....

Last year, the German knitting group was interviewed by a TV channel but the interview still hasn't been aired. I had emailed them a couple of times asking about when the interview was going to be aired, but they said that they will let me know when they decide to air it. Then came the email that they will be airing the interview on a local network in Baden-Baden but not yet on national TV and I haven't heard from them since until the email.

So, I got in contact with them and they told me that they were going to be airing the interview on national TV on a midday show. The reason for their getting in contact with me was however because they wanted to invite me to be a live guest on that show on the day. :-p Yeah, so I went to Baden-Baden and went on national TV. It was kind of a nervous experience because I thought I would make a fool of myself. But from what other people told me, it turned out really good. :-p

Now I have to see whether there might be a possibility of finding a clip of it somewhere to post on my blog. :-p

Narn i Chîn Húrin [207:366, 06.10.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Otherwise not much has been going on after my exams, apart from the fact that my immune system relaxed and I caught a cold. :-/

I'm going to try applying for an internship and start looking for serious job for when I'm finished with studying.

Apart from that, after my exams I decided to pick up "Unfinished Tales of Númenor" again after having put it down three years ago while getting stuck reading the Narn version in it.

While rereading the Unfinished Tales, I remembered that I had never actually picked up the new edition of "The Children of Húrin" and thought that I would do so just for the sakes of it and also to treat myself to something after the exams. And so I've been digging the whole Lord of the Rings stuff all over again. I never realised how much I have missed Middle Earth.

So, right now I'm going to finish reading Unfinished Tales first and then read the new edition of the Narn. I wonder if there's any new information in it (well, at least the Sindarin has been corrected from "Narn i Hîn Húrin" to the correct lenition of "Narn i Chîn Húrin").

Ai! Laurië lantar lassi súrinen..... [206:366, 05.10.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I still have a couple of stuff going on that I will eventually reveal here. Just keep your fingers crossed for me, eh?

I'll leave you now with my favourite LotR poem:

Namárië
Altariëllo nainië Lóriëndesse.

Ai! Laurië lantar lassi súrinen,
yéni únótime ve rámar aldaron!
Yéni ve linte yuldar avániër
mi oromardi lisse-miruvóreva
Andúne pella, Vardo tellumar
nu luini, yassen tintilar i eleni
ómaryo airetári-lírinen.

Sí man i yulma nin enquantulva?

An sí Tintalle Varda Oiolosseo
ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortane,
ar ilye tiër unduláve lumbule;
ar sindanóriëllo caita mornië
i falmalinnar imbe met, ar hísië
untúpa Calaciryo míri oiale.
Sí vanwa ná, Rómello vanwa, Valimar!

Namárië! Nai hiruvalye Valimar.
Nai elye hiruva. Namárië!

-----

Have a great week everyone!

ETA:

I totally forgot about this. Sternenelfin nominated me for this award last month.

Here are the rules:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated.

And so, I'm nominating the next 7 people as follow:

1. Spinning against the Tide
2. Moonstitches
3. Sock-a-holic
4. Ewe Give Me The Knits!
5. Sew Mad
6. Alala
7. Smoking Hot Needles

Current Mood: Okay
Food for the Ears: "May it Be" - Enya (Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

On Exams totally suck....

2008-09-25T18:17:00.003+02:00

...that's all I have to say.

And I need a hug.

Current Mood: Gloomy
Food for the Ears:

On Bracing for the onslaught...and remembering

2008-09-11T16:12:00.010+02:00

Emil Clapotis [190:366, 08.09.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 24th March 2008
Finish: 07th September 2008
Yarn: Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Sockenwolle, 100% Superwash Merino in Emil
Needles: 4.5 mm - 80 cm Addi Lace
Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert from Knitty Fall 2004

Hey there. I thought I better blog now before the onslaught that's my (final) diploma exams begin next week. Couple of things I want to share here, so let's start off with an FO.

After I finished my first Clapotis (which I still need to send off), I embarked upon knitting myself one to use as a scarf. The malheur happened when I saw the finishing line. I ran out of yarn.

The Wollmeise was kind enough to send me yarn in order for me to finish this project...and now it's waiting here for the cooler weather, so that I can wear it. I didn't block this Clapotis out that much, so that it will retain its wave and so the scarf looks more like a ribbing where there are dropped stitches.

Emil Clapotis, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

So, like I said, my exams start next week. I hate exams. I don't like preparing for it and I don't feel prepared for it either. But heck, I'm going to give the best I can do and at least I can say I did my best at it. I'm not the type who would drive myself crazy studying 24 hours a day and try cramming everything in. If I had enough, then I had enough.

But there's something good in all this, too:

Study reinforcement [189:366, 06.09.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

My lovely dear knitter friend, Alala turned up at Lanaiolo last Friday when I was working with the package above for me. There were:

- Chocolate covered coffee beans (dark chocolate and milk chocolate)
- Gorgeous stitch markers!

Thinking Cap / Tea Cozy from Alala [191:366, 09.09.08], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

She knitted this super cute Thinking Cap for me (which she said can also double as Tea Cozy).

Joukahainen, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 5th September 2008
Finish: WIP
Needles: 4.5 mm / 100 cm Addi Turbos
Yarn: Cascade 220, 100% Peruvian Highland Wool; colour 8886, dye lot 7414
Pattern: Joukahainen by Kristel Nyberg. Published in Finnish in the magazine Ulla 03/07. Pattern is available as an English translation as Ravelry download.

She also brought me 5 skeins of Cascade 220 in this Italian Plum colourway. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned to her that I wanted to knit a simple stockinette in the round sweater for myself in an intense purple colour (no idea why I suddenly want to wear this colour...never worn it before) but that the yarn I found in the LYS in the colour I wanted was, well, it was heavy fingering weight. I wanted Aran/worsted weight so that I can knit without having to look. Alala said that she's got some and that it wasn't the right purple she was looking for and that I could have them. So, that's where I got the yarn from. Woohoo! Thank you, Alala!

So this Joukahainen is my studying project. After I finished the ribbing, I got just this stockinette in the round for at least 35 cm...so I can knit and read at the same time. This is also the reason why I got that far.

Fire!.....again?!, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

A couple of weeks ago, the garbage house in front of my flat building burned down.

On Monday, I was just sitting here studying and minding my own business when I started to smell smoke and thought that someone was doing BBQ....the smell got stronger, then came the yelling and shouting. "Fire!" was interjected somewhere, accompanied by sirens and more yelling.

I went out on my balcony and had a coughing fit. The flat two stories down below me and a bit further apparently was burning....and all the smoke was coming up towards my place.

Yup, fire brigade was there again. People looking at what's going on. I stayed on the balcony and observed the goings-on.

I don't know how the fire was started, but apparently, the fire was already put out by the time the fire brigade was there. So, they only had to set up the fan to blow out all the smoke.

There must be some kind of pyromaniac living in the building I'm in. Gotta watch out and devise a plan to save my yarn, spinning fibre and wheel. Oh yeah, passport and wallet would have been a good thing to grab, too. :-p

HHHH Package! [192:366, 10.09.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

And I got my HHHH package from my upstream yesterday...well, actually it arrived on Monday...just not at my place, but at the Customs. So I had to go over to the Customs - which is out in the middle of nowhere, the trip there and back to my flat took about 3 hours - and explained to the officer what a mystery swap over the internet is and how it works. He believed me, but I think he was way more skeptical about the fact that I spin. I should have just brought my drop spindle along with me. Luckily, my upstream included a little letter in the package. So, the officer went through the letter briefly and so it was clear that this package wasn't purchased, i.e. I didn't have to pay any extra customs fees. *phew*

Anyway, LOVE the package! Thank you so much Saffronknits!

She sent me:

- Nigh Vine: 4 oz. of spindle spun and navajo-plied merino (fibre from FatCatKnits)
- Solar dyed superwash merino-tencel in "Rain Forest" from Spincerely (and a small sample in pink/white)
- 4 oz. of natural Brown Romney from Hello Yarn
- Ghirardelli Chocolate-Mint (gone within 3 minutes of my getting home and opening up the package).
- Peanut Butter M&M's...which will go to Dr. D, since I'm allergic to peanuts
- Ashford mini niddy noddy
- Tazo Wild Sweet Orange Herbal Tea

What a great package! Thank you soooo much!

Baby Booties [193:366, 11.09.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 09th September 2008
Finish: 10th September 2008
Needles: 2.5 mm Prym DPNs
Yarn: OnLine Linie2 Supersocke Silk; 55% merino superwash, 20% silk, 25% polyamide; colour #0003, dye lot #28334
Pattern: Baby Booties by Katharina Ritter from Lanaiolo
For: N.'s baby

Last week, my boss at the LYS asked me to test knit her baby booties pattern. That's where I got the pattern from. Then on Monday, Dr. D asked me whether I could knit a pair of baby booties for one of his pregnant friend who's moving away. So, I whipped these up for the occasion. ;-) (I sent a link of the picture to Dr. D this morning and he said that they're very cute. LOL) I was really happy to have actually got a request to knit from Dr. D....which also reminds me that I should start knitting his scarf soon, since Autumn is already upon us.

Anyway, the pattern is easy enough to memorise, although I find it a bit fiddly knitting such a small item on DPNs, since the needles tend to get in the way. However, it's a cute pattern nevertheless...and quick to knit, too!

Oh, and have you seen the Fall 2008 issue of Knitty yet? Yeah, loads of great stuff in there. I really like Versatility! It's such a cool thing. I definitely will knit it. Just have to find someone to wear it :-p. And after I finish writing this up, I'm heading over to Lanaiolo to grab some yarn to swatch for Morgan. I have always wanted to knit this kind of hat but have never found any pattern for it. I had been mulling in my head about designing it myself for a while now, but have never got around to it...but hey, this is great! Now I don't have to make my head explode trying to figure out how to make it work, but now I just have to follow the pattern! Yay!

And one last thing.....if you haven't received your Wollmeise Sock-Club package yet and don't want to be spoilt of the surprise then you can skip the rest of the post....or scroll down real quick to get to the comment section. Otherwise proceed at your own risk. ;-p

Wollmeise Spoiler Warning, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Wollmeise Sock-Club: September 2008 [188:366, 05.09.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Yes, I got my Wollmeise Sock-Club shipment! Yay!

Wollmeise: Hollerstaud'n, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Wollmeise: Buxkranzl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

The colours are so intense that my camera couldn't deal with them. :-) I soooooo want to knit with Hollerstaud'n now...but I've got 50,000 other things to knit and to do and to learn. Ah...the trivialities in life. Why can't I just do nothing but knit and spin all day?

And before I leave you today...for probably two weeks while I have my exams, I just want to share this with you, as well as the song at the end of the post:

It's 11th September...seven years have past. I wasn't directly affected personally by what had happened. I don't care whether it's a conspiracy or not. I just want to remember all the people who have lost their lives and their families that have been affected by the event...and the consequences that followed.

However, with all that has happened, even with all the wars and fights and the negativities that are actually affecting the world, affecting us all right now...I just don't want to forget that the world is actually a wonderful place. There are people out there that really want to make the world a better place for everyone. There are beautiful places in the world that should be kept beautiful and not tainted by whatever greed some people might have....I won't go into details because I could write a thesis on this. All I want to say is: Remember this day...and keep in mind that we can all make a difference, some how or another.

Have a great weekend and weeks to come, everyone. Wish me luck for my exams.

Current Mood: Pensive
Food for the Ears:

On...Some effing stupid person

2008-08-28T15:55:00.004+02:00

Warning: if you don't like excessive swearing and don't want to read a rant or are going judge me because of this in the future, then skip this entry. I just need a place to vent right now.

Where I live, there's a community laundromat for the whole complex around here. A lot of people have their own washing machine and dryer in their flats. I don't. So, I have to use the community laundromat.

I was doing my laundry today. Usually I throw in my washing, throw in the amount of tokens that's needed for that wash cycle and walk away to do other stuff in my flat and then go back down when the time's ready and the washing would be finished. I would then throw them in the dryer and then put in the amount of tokens required usually for my laundry to be completely dry, which would take up about 45 minutes.

Today, everything went fine. I threw my washing in to the dryer, put in the tokens and walked away. There was only this one old lady in the laundromat. 35 minutes went by and I went back down to check on it and retrieve the laundry. I came back, seeing the same old lady leaving. Got to the dryer....my laundry wasn't in the dryer. In fact, it was outside, fucking dripping wet.

I ran out to the old lady, asked her politely whether she had taken out my laundry, this was her answer:

"There's a sign saying that you need to take your laundry out when it's finished, and your stuff was cooking in there already."

For whatever reasons, probably stress due to the looming exams and studying, that just pushed the right button on me and got me so aggravated. I half yelled at the lady that my bloody fucking laundry is still dripping wet and that she in fact used my fucking tokens to dry her stupid laundry. She just retorted with the similar answer as above.

I sputtered and had to walk away before I would totally flip. I called back to her loudly and said, in exact words and in English, that she was "a stupid fucking bitch!!!", followed by German "Kruzifix noch amoi, welch arrogantes Arschloch!!"

I actually like old people, I get along with them, I respect them, I'm usually very nice to them. I know that one day, I'm going to be old, too. But to be such an arrogant bat of an arsehole like this fucking c**t was just too much. If she had said sorry or offered me back some tokens for the fact that she used mine without permission, then I probably wouldn't have flipped like that. But the fact that she looked me in the face and tried to lecture me that it was my fault?! I wish she would go fucking rolling burn in hell for that.

I couldn't believe how angry I was at her, and it goes to show that I was so angry I couldn't retort back in German in the first place.

Current Mood: Don't fucking mess with me!

On Oída ouk eidós...

2008-08-23T14:19:00.007+02:00

Oída ouk eidós [183:366, 23.08.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 06th March 2008
Finish: 21st August 2008
Yarn: Gedifra Shetland Deluxe: 50% New Wool, 25% Baby Alpaca, 25% Mohair
Needles: 4.5 mm / 100 cm Addi Turbos
Pattern: Hemlock Ring Blanket by Jared Flood from Brooklyntweed

"I know that I know nothing"....yeah, Socrates. You see where I'm going with that?

Perfect timing that I finished my Hemlock Ring Blanket.

Dr. D's away on another wedding this weekend and I need to study for my diploma exams that's coming in mid-September. The weather is turning into Autumn, i.e. it's cooler now and it's been raining and drizzling. So I can snuggle my legs under my blanket and study away. Perfect weather for such a thing and a cuppa to go with it.

....and yes, I'm sitting on the floor. Sometimes I like to sit on the floor. And if you want to know, I've got Beethoven's Symphonies running in the background. ;-)

And if it still hasn't dawn on you: I study political science...and with the theories, I have to read Socrates and the likes. This being a Hemlock Ring Blanket, I find that it is a kind of funny coincidence that the blanket be named "Hemlock", which is the poison extracted from the plant Conium, which is also commonly known as poisonous hemlock, which they used to executed Socrates. ;-)

Here are the rest of the photos. Have a great and better weekend than mine, everyone!

Hemlock Ring Blanket, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Current Mood: Overloaded and missing Dr. D
Food for the Ears: "Finale - Allegro molto" from Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 "Eroica" by Ludwig van Beethoven (Berliner Philharmoniker - Herbert von Karajan)

On Sneak Preview

2008-08-21T18:26:00.010+02:00

Hemlock Ring Blanket (blocking) [182:366, 21.08.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 06th March 2008
Finish: 21st August 2008
Yarn: Gedifra Shetland Deluxe: 50% New Wool, 25% Baby Alpaca, 25% Mohair
Needles: 4.5 mm / 100 cm Addi Turbos
Pattern: Hemlock Ring Blanket by Jared Flood from Brooklyntweed

Finally, it's finished! I mucked something up and had to put it away for months on end before I could come back to it and frog back down to fix the mistake....

....however, when I was blocking it, I can see a mistake in the section that's the start of the round. Oh well, can't do anything about that now. I'll just have to live with it. I'm sure that I will still love it though.

The diametre of the blanket is about 100 cm. I could have done it bigger, but I just couldn't knit any more on it. I used up about 5 balls of the yarn. Still have a ball and a bit more left. I'll probably knit a hat out of that. :-p

I'll have to think of how I could set the photoshoot up. My place definitely doesn't look like a cozy, trendy place for such a blanket. I'll see.

Anyway, this week sucks. I've got a bit of a health issue - nothing major, so don't worry -, but it has prevented me from seeing Dr. D for the whole week, then he's not going to be around for the weekend...and then I have my exams in less than a month which will mean crunch-time for me and less time for Dr. D - yeah, riiiight. But nonetheless, the week SUX ASS!

Oh, and have you heard? Ricky Martin's a daddy now of twins....who came from a surrogate mother. Come on, Ricky, tesoro, why don't you just finally come out of the closet? I mean, if you can't do the job yourself but instead chose a plastic cub....that's kinda...well, pointing to a direction, eh? Just sayin'. *winks*

ETA: And THIS HERE is a more hilarious view of the issue. (Just read the post, not the comments. They're left there by big-head jerks.)

Well, I guess that's all I have to tell. Have to go cuddle up with my new blankie as a substitute for Dr. D for the time being. :-p (Yeah, you can tell that I'm in a weird mood.)

Current Mood: *meh*
Food for the ears: With that news above, I guess this is what Ricky has been doing to a plastic cup (Awwww, now, now, don't be offended. I know for sure that it is funny! If you don't like my dirty humour, then bite me. *LOL*):

On A Public Service Announcement

2008-08-19T20:45:00.004+02:00

Just in case you didn't know, The Wollmeise is doing a sock club. Registration for the lottery has opened! For more information and registration, go

HERE

ETA: If you have visited the Sock-Club site before it went online, please clear your browser cookies first before trying to go there. It also seems that the system might not like Yahoo very much. If you have a gMail account or other email account, I would suggest you use that.

Good luck to everyone!

End of Public Service Announcement.

On lounging about

2008-08-15T16:36:00.006+02:00

Knitting and Green Tea [179:366, 15.08.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Swatched: 22nd July 2008
Started: 24th July 2008
Finished: WIP
Yarn: "Carpe Diem" from Lang Yarns; 70% merino, 30% alpaca
Needles: 5.5 cm / 80 cm Addi Turbos
Pattern: "Putting Down Roots" from "Inspired Cabled Knits" by Fiona Ellis
Modification: Using bigger needles and yarn, so less pattern repeats. Will be eliminating the turned cuffs and the turtle-neck for ribbed cuffs and v-neck. I also added the ribbing at the bottom of the body, too.

Okay, for once I can post on the date that is required for SP12...not that it really matters that much, coz I'm already in contact with my Upstream anyway *waves at Freestyle Fibre* ;-)

I'm feeling a bit better about the whole issue yesterday now. However, I'm still feeling about off today, but that's probably due to the weather being freakishly cold (12 degrees celcius, approx. 53 degrees fahrenheit - and this in the middle of August!).

Anyway, it's a holiday here (at least in the Catholic parts of Germany: Christ's Ascension Day. ETA: It could be Maria's Ascension....can't remember which now.) today and seriously, I should have been using my time to study for my diploma exams. I tried earlier on when I woke up, but my head was all over the place, not to mention the damn headache (I'm blaming the air pressure for that). I tried again after breakfast and coffee but I just couldn't concentrate. So, I gave up for today and decided that I would just knit and drink tea to warm myself up.

I've been knitting on the front part of my Putting Down Roots jersey. Got about half of it done already....I wish that it would be done already. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy knitting this....but I've been seeing so many jerseys that I want to knit lately. Really don't know what got into me about knitting garments lately. But perhaps that's a good thing, because that means that I will be wearing stuff that people can see (as opposed to socks).

So, that's all I have to tell. Have a great weekend, y'all!

ETA: And don't forget to go and check out the Red Scarf Project, Scout's even holding a contest!

Current Mood: Better
Food for the Ears: (This song makes me feel all fuzzy every time)

On things that can't be mend

2008-08-14T17:46:00.006+02:00

No, no, things with Dr. D are fine....great, perfect even. :-) This post is on a totally different issue, nothing to do with Dr. D.

I've thought long and hard whether I should write this or not since yesterday and decided that I need my outlet nevertheless.

I just want to check whether I take too much from the world or not. Sure, sometimes I appear selfish, but I do give back when I can. There are times when I get things because I ask for it...and there are times when I get things I didn't even ask for. So, what's the problem there? I will give back when I can.

People come and go....things come up, take shape and can fall apart.

Something fell apart yesterday. Things were said that were, at least for me, totally under the belt. And I don't think that it can be mend....at least not now...perhaps not forever. I'm sad about it, but I think I'm old enough to know what I'm doing and how I want to do things.

I usually don't say stuff, out of courtesy or politeness or whatever, but when I do say something, it somehow usually turns ugly. So, does this mean that I should never ever say a thing at all? Do I always have to be correct and nice and all? And I wonder why people don't really say anything to me when they've got problems with me and then just leave it until I say something and then they'd whip back at me and things like this happen.

Perhaps this post isn't worth it and it will probably make things worse. But you know what? Fuck it. This is my space and I need to vent.

Perhaps my mum has been right all along: You can never trust another person, unless they're family. But if I don't trust anyone at all, then I'm all alone. And no, I don't like that. So, I guess I just have to live with this...this not saying and then saying and getting hurt. C'est la vie, I guess.

Current mood: Gloomy and kinda sad
Food for the ears: Cry Ophelia - Adam Cohen

On...not that I like Paris Hilton...

2008-08-06T18:06:00.003+02:00

......but this one got me ROFLMAO:

Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Adfunny videosFunnyOrDie.com

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Not that great a day at work. Had to deal with a jerk-ass....but that's a story for another time. Right now, I'm just looking forward to seeing Dr. D.

Hope your week's going well!

Current Mood: Tired
Food for the Ears: Wir sind Helden: Sa Itte Miyo (Von hier an blind)

...and the original German version:

On Secret Pal Package!

2008-08-04T19:03:00.004+02:00

First SP Package! [170:366, 04.08.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Yay! My first ever SP12 package arrived today.

There are:
- A cute card
- 4 oz. of superwash merino from The Ranches Angoras
- Spinning Designer Yarns by Diane Varney
- A box of Bendick's Bittermints

Thank you so much Upstream Pal! I've planned to ditch studying tomorrow and dust off my wheel in order to spin (yeah, the guilt about not having got around to spin for my downstream HHHH pal is setting in pretty bad)....and hey, maybe I'll even make some designer yarns with the aid of the book, too!

Oh, and I declare you totally evil...which means that I love you. Coz, you introduced me to my newest addiction that's called "Bendick's Bittermints". OMG!!! I have to exude all ounces of resistance so that I won't gobble down the whole thing in one go. It's THAT good!!!! MORREEEEEE!!!!!!!! :-p

And the fibre?! Thanks for introducing me to the Ranches Angoras! They certainly have some yummy fibre! I'll have to plan what I'll do with this one. Got so many things to spin right now. :-)

Thank you sooooo much!

Schloss Nymphenburg [169:366, 03.08.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

In other news, I spent Sunday with Dr. D and one of his friend. We went and had breakfast then went over to Schloss Nymphenburg and the connecting Botanical Garden to take a stroll. It was a lovely sunny day....but I kinda ruined part of it by having thrown a tantrum over some stupid things and promptly got a bull's eye rebuttal with me ending in tears. The rebuttal came both from Dr. D and his friend. I really do give them credits that they were totally right in what they'd said and so, the only thing I could say here is mea culpa. Don't get me wrong and think that Dr. D was being harsh on me....actually he was really sweet about it - and that's why I love this guy to bits - and like I said, it was my fault anyway. Things are fine now and I've also come to realise a couple of things about myself. :-) Well, it will only get better, eh?

That's all for now. Nothing else to report. So please excuse me while I go dust off my Radzimierz and start spinning again. :-p Have a great week everyone!

Current Mood: Great, even though tired...but I'm feeling kinda fuzzy. :-p
Food for the Ears: (Don't you bloody dare laugh at me with this one. I grew up listening to my mum listening to this)

On Uninspired

2008-07-28T19:58:00.003+02:00

Putting Down Roots [164:366, 28.07.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Swatched: 22nd July 2008
Started: 24th July 2008
Finished: WIP
Yarn: "Carpe Diem" from Lang Yarns; 70% merino, 30% alpaca
Needles: 5.5 cm / 80 cm Addi Turbos
Pattern: "Putting Down Roots" from "Inspired Cabled Knits" by Fiona Ellis
Modification: Using bigger needles and yarn, so less pattern repeats. Will be eliminating the turned cuffs and the turtle-neck for ribbed cuffs and v-neck. I also added the ribbing at the bottom of the body, too.

Errr...hi there. No idea where the last two weeks have gone....but I'm still around. There's not much to tell apart from the fact that my life is going on some kind of cycle right now with work, study and boyfriend. Although I seriously need to push study into the forefront at some point soon but I just can't find the motivation for it at the moment. Work has been sucking away my energy....no, not the LYS work but the hostel work. I ended up coming home from there and laying myself down for a nap, only to wake up three hours later every time. *urgh*

Anyway, I don't think you would want to hear me moan, so here goes some knitting content.

I actually was enabled by my boss at the LYS knitting with the Lang "Carpe Diem". It's 70% merino, 30% alpaca bulky weight. I was seduced by its softness and the fact that it can be knit up pretty fast. And so, I took on the endeavour of knitting myself a new jersey.

I'm not a garment knitter....but I might turn into one, if this one's a success. I originally wanted to knit a simple cable design that my boss did, but found that I can't keep my interest at it and needed something more than that. I went off and hunt around my books and found "Putting Down Roots" in "Inspired Cable Knits" by Fiona Ellis. Mind you though, the sweater was done in DK and it was designed for women. Thank goodness there weren't any shaping to the garment, so I could just transfer it without doing much tinkling with the pattern itself....although I have to admit that before I got this far, I had to frog the thing about 6 times in order to get the stitch count perfect for a fitting sweater that won't look as though I'm trying to wear baby size.

So, keep your fingers crossed for me that this will go well.

Moo Mini Cards: New Batch! [161:366, 24.07.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

In other news, I got a new batch of 100 Moo Mini Cards. I seriously never anticipated that I would actually be able to use up my last 100 mini cards, but surprisingly, I have only two of them left at the moment.

Funnily enough though, this batch of mini cards were sent to me from New Zealand. I thought that Moo actually was produced in England. Well, never mind. As long as the price still stays the same (and especially with the exchange rates right now!).

Otherwise, there's nothing else to tell. I've been neglecting internet life for a bit, because there are so many other things to do. Unfortunately, when I neglect internet life, it also means that other things that are on the net are also neglected. I have close to 500 unread posts on Bloglines, which I'll skim through. I haven't answered the SP12 questions from the past two weeks (not even mentioning the fact that I haven't got in touch with both my Upstream Pal and Downstream Pal for the past two weeks, too). At least I got around to notifying my Downstream HHHH Pal of the fact that life is sucking my energy and I might be slow on my part...which reminds me that I should perhaps spend this evening spinning a bit. I seriously haven't touched my wheel in at least a month now.

Well, I guess that's all for this tasteless post. Sorry about that, but the lack of energy and other stuff to do is pretty contra-productive to my blogging. Hopefully, I'll do better next time. Until then, have a great week!

Current Mood: *urgh*
Food for the Ears:

On Weekend in a Hamlet

2008-07-14T16:53:00.006+02:00

Untereßfeld: Impression [155:366, 13.07.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

So, I'm back from the wedding! The weekend was great! It was beautiful and I'm really happy for the couple...even though I don't know them that well.

Dr. D and I got there on Friday evening. Originally due to some misunderstandings, we thought that we would have to go stay in a hotel in a neighbouring town....but as it turned out, we got a guest room waiting for us at the home of the bridegroom.

Untereßfeld really is a hamlet. There aren't even 300 people living there and there's just one main (two-lane) street going through the township.

The stay over there was a bit of an experience for me. It was perhaps the second time that I spent my time in the circle of a German family and got to see what really goes on behind it all. It was definitely very different from how my family goes about our business. But then again, my family isn't very much the standard of Thai families either. ;-p

Untereßfeld: Sky, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

When we got there on Friday, the weather was kind of overcast and it had rained prior to our arrival. I was dreading that it would rain on the wedding day...but well, everything was inside after all. Luckily though, Saturday started out a bit overcast but everything cleared up by the time the ceremony began in the afternoon and we had really lovely warm weather for the rest of the day.

Untereßfeld: Inside the church, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

The wedding took place in a small, simple, yet beautiful church. It was a catholic ceremony...which I definitely am not used to (not that I'm used to any kind of wedding at all). I found it kinda funny with all the constant standing up and sitting down to sing or whatever. I hummed to the songs. Tried to sing one of them but I just felt out of place, not being catholic and all (actually, I'm pretty much a pagan, since I officially really don't have a religion...but that's a story for another post). Luckily though the ceremony wasn't that foreign to me. After all, I went to an all-boy catholic school back in Thailand (yeah, no wonder I turned gay. *LOL* Please, don't take offense in my saying that...I'm sure it wasn't the school or catholicism, but I just can't resist making that comment).

After the church ceremony, the whole party moved off to the tent that was set up on the property of the bride's house (well, technically not her house, but that's where she grew up in)...and the party began. First there was coffee and cakes ("Kaffee & Kuchen")...coz you know, it's the afternoon after all and it's German tradition (or that's how I perceived it). Then games and fun....there was a live-kicker using real people. I played along and even wore a footy tricot borrowed from Dr. D. I ended up kicking the ball right into the tummy of a kid. Poor thing. He got a bit sobby, but after 10 minutes, he was off running and laughing again. :-p

Untereßfeld: House facade, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Untereßfeld: Sunset, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Yummy dinner buffet followed, filled with typical dishes of the Franconian region.

I took a walk with Dr. D through the hamlet after dinner and got some pretty amazing photos. It's really lovely there with all the old house facades and open area out in the middle of nowhere. I can't imagine living there though, but it's definitely a kind of place I would visit. I reckon that it's even better than, say, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, because it's not swarmed by tourists and thus still retains it's authenticity and charm.

We went back to the party and stayed on until about 2.30 a.m. I even danced and yelled to the music - something that I seldom do...but thanks to enough alcohol level that was kept constant, I was feeling quite good and brave enough for such an act.

The people there was lovely. I didn't get to talk or meet with everybody, because with about 120 guests, you just can't keep up with them all...not to mention trying to figure out the relationship all of them have with the wedded couple. The people from the hamlet itself were also lovely. Especially those from the houses of the bride and groom. I mean, it's a hamlet...I'm pretty much the most exotic thing around for the whole weekend, my being Asian at the least. But the fact that I'm there with my boyfriend probably got the town talking. :-p I was careful at first to not exhibit too much of a public affection while we were there...but you can guess what happened as the evening wore on and I got enough alcohol running constantly through my system, eh? ;-p

I had a really great time there and felt very welcomed. But the best of it all was the fact that I actually got to spend so much time with Dr. D. I was afraid that our time together there was going to be very limited because of the humdrum going on around the wedding and with Dr. D's friends there...not to mention about my trying to be careful about PDA (no, not the smartphone type) there. However, I was wrong. 90 percent of the time, I was at his side or vice-versa...and that meant a lot to me. There were also a couple of some small gestures that occurred on the weekend that are too personal to share...but at least I can still say that they were something that made me extremely happy and meant a lot to me.

So, the bottom line is that I had a great time over the weekend.

Now I can start ranting. :-p

On our way back with the train, there were some glitches with the freaking ever-so-efficient (NB: sarcasm was meant here) Deutsche Bahn. We got on the train...and when the train moved out of the track, came the announcement that the train - which we saw on the destination board as going directly to Munich - wasn't going to go to Munich, but instead was going to end in some place because of "planned track maintenance". WTF?! Why didn't they effing show it on the announcement boards, so that we could at least find an alternative prior to boarding the train? And when the ticket control lady came, Dr. D asked her about an alternative way...let's just say that the lady was freaking stupid as a dough and couldn't even answer the question posed properly. Why can't the stupid company and the people who work there think a bit more towards the customers instead of just fooling around and make money out of customers' frustration over their fucking inefficiencies?!

So, we had no choice but to stay on the train. I was boiling up inside the whole time but refrained from saying anything because I could've blown. And honestly, I could've just yelled at the ticket controller (she was the one who did the said announcement). Stupid cow. Dr. D didn't even realise that I was boiling inside. It got even worse when we got to the "end-station". What happened there was that we had to out to the front of that station and take the bus that was organised by the DB to go to the next station, where we could then board on to another train that would then take us directly to Munich. Now, how bloody stupid is this? For the whole fucking train, they had organised only TWO freaking buses! Then just as we were pulling into said station to change to the bus, they made another announcement saying that people who have their bikes with them couldn't take the bus, because the bus wasn't equipped for bike transportations! WHAT THE FUCK DB?!

Seriously, how can this be?! Expensive, if not exorbitantly over-priced ticket and bloody extremely lousy service. Really, why are state-owned enterprises so shitty?

DB-Rant over...new rant begins:

I just went and did my groceries shopping. Like always, I had my iPod stuck firmly into my ears. Now, when you see people with an ear buds or headphones on, what do you think they would want? Well, last thing they would want was to be disturbed, right?

As I was selecting my yoghurts from the shelves, minding my own business and listening to podcasts, I suddenly noticed a figure beside me. I looked up to see a lady about 50-60 years old mouthing something very loudly and intently at me. I took the ear buds out of my ears and was greeted by a half-shout: "Niiiiii Haaaaaaoooo!!!".

"Entschuldigung?", I said. The lady repeated, even louder and even with more pronounced lengthening of the vowels this time: "Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoooooooo!!!!!!". I was irritated and told her blandly, injecting as much venom into my voice as I could muster and told her that I wasn't Chinese. I thought that was enough signal to tell her to piss off and leave me alone, but no! She tried to start a conversation with me. Good gracious lady! Leave me alone!

You know, I don't mind talking to old ladies, but there are days and times and places where I just wanted to be left alone...and obviously this lady didn't get it.

I mean, in retrospect, I think that it was funny. But generally, I have a certain contempt towards people who just plainly assume I were Chinese. I don't mind if they asked me directly if I were Chinese....but if you come up to me and start talking to me in Chinese without any preemption, then you can expect me to be pissed off at you. For me, that's just plain rude and ignorant. Not every Asian person you see strolling around are Chinese. I don't go around saying that every blond person must be German or the likes either, so don't fucking do that to me.

So, there you go. That was my rants for the day.

And just to suddenly change gear: I've got an appointment to see an orthopaedist this Wednesday...so I'll know what the heck is going on with my arm.

Oh, and I just ordered a half-kilo pack of my own mix of ecological friendly muesli over at MyMuesli.com. Don't know what got into me...but I just wanted to try it. EUR 11 be damned, I just wanted to try it out. :-p

Lastly, to answer the SP12 questions:

1) Where is your favorite place to go for vacation/holiday?
- Really, I have no idea. I've always said that my favourite destination of all is Paris. But I'm not sure whether that holds true still. I think I need to see other places first in order to answer this question properly.

2) Where is one place you’d like to go?
- I would say Rome at the moment.

Well, that's all for now. Wishing you all a fabulous week!

Current Mood: Pretty good
Food for the Ears:

On Those Little Things That Make You Feel Good

2008-07-08T20:14:00.006+02:00

So tiny! [145:366, 02.07.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

...like realising how precious life is.

Last week I went to visit a dear friend who just had her baby a couple of months ago. The little girl has grown since the last time I saw her. But still, she's tiny. Sometimes you just forget how tiny babies actually are.

Elemm Meets Kelp! [146:366, 03.07.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

...or like realising that you can have so much fun with people you've never even met before in real life.

Last Thursday, Kelp! was in Munich and I got to meet up with her and her guy. I showed her Munich and braved through a thunderstorm with her. We met up with her guy R. and went to have a great dinner at a Bavarian restaurant and brought the evening to a close with a couple of drinks.

It was so nice to meet another blogger from the other side of the pond. Something that doesn't happen a lot to me. Sure, I do meet other bloggers around here, but it just feels different when it is somebody from another continent, whose blog I've been reading and following for quite a while.

Hope there will be many more of this kind of meeting in the future.

Snail! [149:366, 06.07.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

...like meeting nice people from the place to work at.

This past Saturday, I went over to cook dinner at Looking At The Star's place for her and one of our friends. We had a lovely evening. I got kinda drunk since the girls hardly drank the wine and all so I ended up drinking about 3/4 of the bottle by myself. I suggested we go over to the hostel I work at to have a couple of drinks at the bar there and hang out. I packed up some food that was left (believe me, I cooked enough to feed six people that evening) as dinner for my work colleague who was working.

When we were at the hostel, we struck up a conversation with this guy who was there with this other girl. It kind of carried on and resulting in us going on a bike tour around Munich together on Sunday and spending a nice day together. Now I hope that I can keep in contact with them. Such a nice bunch (well, I got them on Facebook now, so that should help).

The snail picture has nothing to do with the story, apart from the fact that it's a picture I took later on that day when I met up with the SnB group and we ended up not knitting because it was so hot. We went for a walk instead and ended up having some drinks and some good time together.

Another little thing that makes me feel good is the fact that there are people in the blogosphere think of me and tagged me on a meme. So, this time it was Alala:

The Rules: each player answers the questions. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 or 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What I was doing 10 years ago:
Let's see, 10 years ago would be 1999. I was preparing for my University Bursary exams in New Zealand. Looking forward to the end of the school year and was wondering what life would hold for me in the next ten years. It's kind of funny to look back at it now. It makes me miss my friends and people I know from New Zealand. It makes me miss my host family and their two little girls....I think it's high time I revive my contact with them and send them a postcard or something.

2. What 5 things are on on my to-do list for today (in no particular order):
- Finish up this blog post
- Iron the shirt I want to wear tomorrow
- Do the dishes
- Tidy up my place a bit
- Go to bed early

3. Snacks I enjoy:
Seems like Alala and I have some things in common. I love pistachios, as well as chocolate-mint combination!

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
If it's a definite sum then I would spend it as follows: A quarter of it would be invested. A quarter would go directly to my family. A quarter would be put to a good cause. The last quarter would probably be put into a bank for whatever use. I would definitely take out, let's say, at least EUR 50,000 (if it's in Euro) at the very beginning and just go and spend it on a shopping spree.

5. Places I have lived. (I'm counting only places that I lived in for longer than a year):
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Cambridge, New Zealand
- Munich, Germany

I'm tagging the following people:
- Cashmere Dreams
- Ewe Give Me The Knits!
- Funky Carolina
- Kelp! Knits
- Middle Earth Knitter
- Smoking Hot Needles

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or not? [150:366, 07.07.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

...like knowing that there are people out there who care about you.

Ever since I've handed in my thesis, my forearm/wrist and the area leading from the outer side of the arm to the pinkie have been bothering me. It always feels very tight and hurts a bit, especially after a long period of using the computer or knitting. It bothered me and it hurt so much yesterday after work that I decided I needed to see a doctor about it. So there I went and talked to her....she said that it is possible that this is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome...and I started to freak out inwardly.

So now I have to go see an orthopaedist about this. Let's hope that it's nothing serious. For the time being, I need to try and not over-use the wrist and to slather on loads of anti-inflammatory cream and then wrap it up like the picture. This means that I won't be able to really knit for a while. *meh* This SUX. I reckon that all this came from writing my thesis. Yeah, let's blame that. Coz knitting is always good for you.

The thing about this that really touched me was all the comments I got on this photo wishing me well. Sometimes, it makes you feel really good to have people sympathising with you, even if you don't know them personally or have never met them before in real life. Sometimes, just some nice words can work wonders.

Talking about words that work wonders: Like I've mentioned in my last post, Dr. D's been away on holiday for a week. The past couple of days had been unusually unbearable for me for some reasons. I missed him terribly. I kept myself busy with work and meeting with friends and it didn't feel so bad for a while. It was just in the evening when I'm back at home alone. I just missed Dr. D.

We had been sending some text messages while he was away, but I didn't want to bother him too much since he was on holiday after all and he should have his time. Anyway, the whole point of this is that he sent me a text back yesterday with three little words that just made me feel happy.

Bottom line is though, he's back in Munich now. We talked on the phone earlier. I told him about my hand/wrist, which he reckons that it isn't CTS (yes, he would know these kind of things, but let me tell you that he's not a medical doctor - just in case you might think that). Whatever it was, it sure was good to hear his voice again.

Well that was pretty much all I had to say. I'll be spending the weekend with Dr. D out of town on a wedding of two of his friends. I'm both looking forward to it and also not really looking forward to it. In my whole life, I haven't attended many weddings. I think that there were about 2 of them that I ever attended to when I was very young and I remember them to be tiring and boring event (hey, I was just a kid!), so I don't know how this wedding will be. Besides, this is a German wedding in a small village...so I don't even know what to expect. I do look forward to attending the wedding though.

What I'm not looking forward to about the wedding is the fact that I won't be spending a weekend alone with Dr. D. Granted, we had quite a bit of alone time directly before his leaving on holidays. So, I guess that evens it out, even though we hardly got to see each other prior to that.

Before I go, I guess I can also answer the latest SP12 questions, too:
1. What yarn (that you don’t have/haven’t used) would make your stash “complete”?
I don't really know, since I pretty much have what I want. I wouldn't say no to more yarn though, but I just don't have the space. As to what yarn would make my stash complete, I would say the SeaSilk/MariSilk stuff. I've used it before, but I really like them and wouldn't mind them becoming a staple in my stash.

2. What yarn do you never want to be without?
Wollmeise, of course! *duh*

So, I guess that's all! Have a great rest-of-the-week and a good weekend!

Current Mood: Better now that Dr. D's back in town
Food for the Ears: (Feel good music with good meanings in the lyrics. Love, love, love Jason Mraz!)