On...Ravelry much
Pink & Green bike
(The photo to the left is for
for April-May, with the colours: Green, Yellow and Pink)
Please, don't mind the title. If you're not a knitter/crocheter, you probably won't know it. I'll get to the knitting content a bit later on.
So, hey everyone (not that anyone's reading at all....coz I hardly get any comments nowadays *sobs*). Yes, I'm still alive and well. I'm still in Germany. Yes, I haven't been kicked out of the country and I shouldn't have had worried that much anyway. Thank you for all of you who expressed kind words and encouragements.
What's the story then?
Last Tuesday (8th May), I finally summed up enough guts to go to the foreigner office (henceforth "KVR") to face my doom. I was armed with a letter of confirmation / prognosis from my university, the four certificates of participation from the lectures I attended last semester, positive thoughts and a lot of charm. :-p I got to the KVR, filled out the form, went and get some horrible ugly fugly fubar photo of myself done in the photo booth (EUR 6, thank you very much) and then waited for my number to be called up with something akin to a brush with nervous breakdown going on in me. I decided to do some learning (I brought some uni stuff to read) against knitting, because:
a) I might look menacing with knitting needles and thus would make a bad impression of myself,
b) I was so nervous that I think I'd probably drop 50 zillion stitches on whatever I was going to work on, which would lead to;
c) me swearing furiously at whatever, which would then lead back to (a)
So, I settled down and read and try to forget what ever else was going on around me.
My number was called up and I went over to the room I was supposed to go to. I was half expecting the stern guy who processed my stuff two years ago, who also gave me the hard time at KVR and who was one of the causes for my fear of dealing with the KVR at all. I knocked and open the door only to be greeted by a not-German-looking woman who seemed to be very sympathisch, i.e. likeable.
I said hello in the most polite Bavarian way possible and seated myself down before handing her my visa extension application form, my fubar photo and my passport. She flipped through everything briefly and walked over to the shelf to get my file. She got that, flipped through that briefly and remarked whether I have done my pre-diploma yet, because I should've done it already but the certificate isnt in my file. Yes, I've done my pre-diploma already and there should at least be a letter from my university in my files. She found that, at which point I also have procured my Studienbuch (record of study book), where there's also a confirmation that I've passed my pre-diploma already. In that time, I noticed that she found my last extension application from two years ago and the letter of agreement that I should have finished my studies by now or I could be kicked out. I started to panic and tried to draw her attention away from that letter of agreement by telling her that if she still needs any more confirmation, I have this letter from the university and that I know about the fact that I have at most 10 years to do my first degree, blah blah blah....she just looked up and told me that I was still on good terms with the time limit. That just took loads off my psyche!
So, I thought that I should just grease up a bit and fished out my four lecture certificates and gave them to her asking whether she might need them as evidence of my studies. She took them and copied them and flipped through them....she raised her eyebrows and asked me whether I've done all these in the last semester. Yes, I said. She went on to remark that I was diligent comparing to some other foreign students who always come in totally empty-handed and haven't done a thing at all during the semester!
Yeah, I was being extremely charming.
To cut it short, she gave me until March 2009! (Another EUR 30 processing fee, thank you very much). Yeah, I'm sooooo grateful for that and I definitely will not be dilly-dallying around any more.
I'm so relieved that I have this time-limit pressure lifted off my back. So, I'm constantly working on my papers now, but am not rushing them like a mad man anymore. Thus I could relax a bit and pick up my knitting again...
...which brings me to my next point: Knitting (okay, so y'all who aren't interested in knitting content, that's all there is to read. Glad you dropped by. Do leave a comment, because I'm a comment whore :-p )
Icarus: Progress
Started: 24th April 2007
Finished: WIP
Needles: 3.5 mm / 60 cm Inox circs
Yarn: Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Lace-weight, 100% superwash virgin wool, 300g Hank (530 m / 100 g), colour: "Poison No. 5"
Pattern: "Icarus" by Miriam Felton from Interweave Knit Summer 2006
Yes, that's how much I got so far with the Icarus. I'm going slow on this one, as it's for my mum (as her Christmas pressie) and I don't want to muck it up by being impatient. Besides, I've 100+ stitches now with each row....but well, it's still a long way away until it's going to be finished.
Apart from that, I've been busy with this:
Clementine Shawlette
.....which during the meantime had grown into this:
Clementine Shawlette: Progress
Started: 11th May 2007
Finished: WIP
Needles: 3 mm / 60 cm Inox circs
Yarn: Rohrspatz & Wollmeise sock yarn, "Drachenblut"
Pattern: Clementine Shawlette by Michele Rose Orne from Interweave KNITS Spring 2007
(NB: The colours in the latter photo are darker in reality....but I had to lighten it up on the photo, otherwise it's just going to look like a lump of something dark.)
I started the Clementine Shawlette partly as a reward relieve project for getting the visa extension and partly because I'm getting on the lace-binge. For the first time after my catastrophic encounter with lace last year, I finally found the courage to knit lace and see the beauty of lace.
Now, thing is, the Clementine Shawlette's going to be for myself. No, I'm not about to cross-dress. But I can see the beauty of a lace shawl and I find it unfortunate that men can't wear it (yes, men can wear it, but have you ever seen any men walking around in public with a lacy shawl wrapped around their shoulders?)....and well, I just want something lacy for myself. So, I decide to knit myself one and to use it in my own privacy at home (and no, I will not take any photos of me wearing it and post it here). I think that's fair enough. ;-)
Also, please take note the gorgeous stitch markers a friend from Cologne (who I got to know through Daniela) made for me. She made two sets of four markers. One set is on the Icarus and one marker is on the Clementine Shawlette. Aren't they just beautiful and the perfect complement to the project?
Entrelac try-out And I've learnt something new today:
Yes! I can finally do Entrelac! And thank goodness I've already learnt how to purl backwards...otherwise all the turnings would've driven me nuts.
Lastly, is there anything more that I could say about
? Most of you knitters/crocheters out there should know about it by now. ;-) And Oh.My.God! This is one of the best thing that could happen to the knitting community! I just can't tear myself away from it. I'd been spending so much time taking photos of my FOs, WIPs and stash, just so that I can upload it onto Ravelry and get everything organised.
Okay, they're still in beta and not everyone can get on yet. But do put your name down if you want to join. I was so happy when I received the invitation in my email (it was 11 p.m.) and I started to squeal and jumped around until my neighbours thumped the ceiling. *oops* But yes, I'm so glad that I'm on Ravelry now. ;-)
Lastly, do you remember these two hanks of Wollmeise? Well, now I can talk about it a bit, because they're now being loved by their recipients, who are
! ;-)
Well, that's all for now. I hope you guys have a great week! Thanks for dropping by (and please do say hi if you were here!)
Current Mood: Definitely a whole load better than last week
Food for the ears:
Always On My Mind
Michael Buble
Originally posted on elellanyar.vox.com