We have had a couple slow paced days here so far, which is a nice change of pace from our usually pretty action packed travels. We arrived safely at my aunt’s house late Friday night after a rather intense 3hr drive through foggy country roads. One problem with driving in winter (besides the potentially snowy or otherwise hazerdous driving conditions) for crafters is that it gets dark early, so even leaving by around 1730/1800, it was well after dark and no good for working in the car.
Saturday started slow, and I had a bit of time to cast on a lace shawl, Everdeen, which I have been planning to do since before we came to Germany.
The yarn is Unplanned Peacock Whisper Lace, a delicious blend of alpaca (a personal weakness), cashmere (who doesn’t like that?) and silk (classic for lace shawls). I bought matching beads, which look better than they show in the picture. Beads can really change the nature of a laceweight yarn shawl, since they had weight and heft that is otherwise lacking and thus can help ensure stitch definition by stretching out the lace pattern.
I finished the nalbinding fingerless mitts I started in November just before we left, ie: the night before. I knew better than to try to block them that night when our taxi was scheduled for 4:30am. Either they would still be wet, we would forget them, or both. So I blocked them first thing Saturday morning and by Sunday, TheEnabler could claim them and wear them.
I think they came out great and he loves them and says they fit perfectly. I basically worked them in parallel, switching from one to the other every few rounds to keep things even. It’s really easy to ask somebody to try them on as you go since the stitches can’t unravel.
Today has been miserably rainy, and our adventures outside consisted of braving the Carrefour for Christmas groceries. It was extremely busy but we survived and bought most of what we need. Fresh bread will be purchased tomorrow and cranberries were not to be found.
We did do some site seeing Saturday and Sunday though when the weather was more favorable. Sunday in particular was lovely and sunny.
Saturday we visited a monastery as well as the souvenier market outside the monastery. It had lots of very touristy stuff, but some of the traditional Romanian goods, including textiles, are very nice. The cats in particular appeared to agree that the rugs were comfy and warm.
Among all the tourist goods, one stand also had some old spinning wheels:
They had four or five in total, in a couple different styles. Most had attached distaff and skeinwinder. All clearly needed various levels of repair. I’m not in the market, especially for one that needs work and would require shipping first to Germany and later to the US. I do find, however, that I have to remind myself why this is such a poor idea.
Sunday we visited a citadel, which lacked anything textile oriented, but did look pretty cool. You can see it in the pics below along with an image of homes in my aunt’s village and a view of the countryside from a nearby village.
Top: Wood houses in green fields in front of a hillside with pine trees. Center left: stone castle with stone walls and a bridge. Center right: same stone castle seen from the bottom of the hill partially hidden behind bare winter trees. Bottom: fields with houses in the middle ground, mountains behind in the late winter afternoon. Smole and fog partially obscure the houses
Tonight is mulled wine of our own concotion using local “house wine” and a warm fire. We have the tree up and decorated and feel ready for Christmas.
I love the lace shawl so far!
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