A month has passed ...

since I managed to post anything. Part of that is probably that I've been having trouble with communications, but most of that is surely Christmas. But now the presents are either done or officially late, so I'm going to try and take a moment or two regularly to post here and I hope to get at least a handful of pictures posted before the holiday.

Since I was in Vienna when last I wrote, I'll report that it does not in fact rain every day there. Thursday was entirely dry. Hooray! I also had time that evening to go a yarn shop briefly. Through the good offices of Ravelry I found a place near a subway station and headed out. I found the shop only a few minutes before it closed but the owners, a man and a woman, stayed and helped me. They spoke no English and my fiber-related German is abysmal, but we managed fairly well.

The shop was tiny, smaller than my living room with an L-shaped counter that separated me from petting the yarn myself. Nonetheless, I enjoyed chatting with them about the similarities and differences in knitting practices in California and Austria. They told me that there are no producers of fiber in Austria, most of there stock was either from Germany or Italy. Sadly, none of it matched my current quest and since most of the brands they carry are available in the Bay Area at similar prices (despite the current exchange rate), so I bought only a few skeins of memento/gift yarn. For myself, I acquired a few skeins of Lang Seide (silk) in shades of rose that I think I'll use for gloves and a hat (or scarf) and couple of varigated skeins in fall colors. The latter are sadly acrylic, but the colors were so pretty and the owners so helpful that I decided it was worth the fairly small cost.

Better even than yarn shopping was waiting for me "am Graben", the main shopping street in the old part of Vienna. They turned the Christmas lights on! I had heard for years about how wonderful Vienna is a Christmas time and indeed it was. The lights are just incredible, the main street has incredible swags and chandeliers of lights looking very much like you might see Strauss himself wandering down the street. On the side streets, the displays are more modern with each having a different theme. There were traditional stars in white in some, snow flurries of little lights, or red bells, shooting stars or packages in others. Though the shops all close at six the streets were filled with people, mostly German-speaking, wandering downtown enjoying the season, the roasted chestnuts, potato puffs and Gluehwein (traditional mulled wine). I'm pretty sure I snacked with a fair number of folks from the Austrian ski team. Being in Vienna during the Christmas season had been one of the things on my life list and I wasn't disappointed.

I think I'll wrap it up for now, I promise I'll make it back in less than a month for the next post.

Now coming to you from Vienna

Just in case one of the few of you who have found me here decided to check -

I've been in Vienna now for four days and it has confirmed my all experience in Austria: it rains.

Every day. I suspect that might not really be true, but today marks my 10th day in Austria (over 25 years or so) and I have been rained on every day.

That said, I'm really enjoying my trip so far. The IAEA offices are located inside the UN center. I was both excited and proud to get a UN badge as a "delegate" and I got a lump in my throat as I walked through the circle of flags in the center courtyard going to the building where my meetings are being held. At the same time, I feel a bit embarrassed that I hardly recognize any of the flags. The diversity here is amazing and though I'm fairly well traveled, my history feels a bit parochial here. The cafeteria (which serves a terrific selection of lunch options) is a fascinating babble (or is that Babel). It probably seats 400 or more, and though English is spoken at a fair number of the tables, I've heard snippets of languages I doubt I've ever heard before. I'm here for three more days yet, but already I'm hoping for the opportunity to return.

Not much news on the knitting front. By the time I got out on Saturday the shops were already closed (at noon) and they are closed Sunday. Work has kept me too busy to go hunting for a not-so LYS, but I've located a couple thanks to Google, Mapquest and my subway map so I haven't given up hope.

In the meantime, I was right in thinking I could do just about one glove on the flight over. Unfortunately, it was mostly the first glove, so I've had to keep my hands in my pockets. The second glove is almost half done, so we'll see if I get it done before I leave. Even if I don't I'll be sure to get a picture of at least one glove somewhere suitable.

That's all for now.
Bis bald.


(And I didn't even have to go back and make any corrections from this German keyboard.)

Welcome to me

I've been thinking about setting up a blog for quite a while, but for some reason tonight seems like the time to do it. This will blog will primarily be about knitting with some crocheting; music, language, engineering and poetry are also likely to appear at some point.

One of the main reasons for doing this now is that I have visited about 20 more-or-less Local Yarn Shops in San Francisco Bay Area over the last month or so and I though it would be interesting to make a few notes while I still remember what I found. More about that later as I'm hoping to finish short posts regularly instead of waiting until I have enough time for a comprehensive treatise (though I will try to be comprehensible).

I am a notorious starter, my current fiber-related WIP number somewhere above 15. In addition, I'm finishing a bathroom remodel and have started redoing my back patio. One of my motivations in putting this blog together is to try to embarrass myself into finishing something now and then.

The other reason I wanted to start this is to set up a place where I can keep track of the many interesting bloggers and web sites I enjoy visiting, and to document ideas for more projects. I'm hoping that having a place to write them down will mean that I don't actually buy fiber and cast on.

That's it for now, it's time to figure out where I dropped a stitch. (Hmm, I bet that's why it seemed like a good idea to take a knitting break)