Meditation

I meditate twice a day-most days.

I am trying to attain sainthood.

Trouble is I have never been sure that I don't just nap twice a day.

Sandhausen

This is the little town that Lia and Lui live in. This is John and Lia.
This is John and me.

This is of a woman rolling tobacco. This is a tobacco growing area. I saw my first ever tobacco growing in fields. Had no idea the grew it here in Germany.

Worms

Mannheim

The modern art gallery we went to is the middle building on left in the photo above.

German Trip again

These pictures are of Speyer. I really enjoy old places like this.

Holly took us to the museum and we saw an expo about Attila the Hun which was excellent. We have tried doing this sort of thing before but have not found them accessible. However, they are and fortunately Holly speaks German so was able to ask and we were then able to find the disabled entrance and facilities.

My John is a well educated man, used to teach and an Historian by trade. Holly is a Doctor(MD), Lia is a language teacher and Lui a Professor. I have to say that I often feel completely out of my depth in such company. My education finished at 15 and I have educated myself since. And certainly not in the way these people are. So I am not really able to talk with them in the same way. I cannot have conversations, educated ones,about history of art or history. I handle that most of the time. Sometimes though I feel so inadequate and it can affect me thus: I either clam up and people can think I am sulking or miserable, and I am neither, or I rabbit on nervously and make a fool of myself. I have this voice in my head telling me to shut up! So I think I might have enjoyed myself better if I was could talk with these people on their level. (I hasten to add that no one spoke down to me or anything.)

No One Is Perfect

So last night it was just watch a film night. I did not want to knit or do anything, just watch a film.

I chose Premonition with Sandra Bullock, who could be Carly Simon's daughter.

I found the film disturbing and upsetting and would have rather not seen it. However, I was engrossed and intrigued and emotionally affected by it. John on the other hand didn't like it and would have turned it off after 10 minutes!

We then saw a film called Sleeping Dogs which was most unusual to say the least. I cannot say here what the premise was. We did not know when we chose the film. It was entertaining and thought provoking though.

Later in bed, getting my back stroked, I felt really weary, fed up of never feeling comfortable. If not hurting, then aching all the bloody time. This week my hands are burning and aching, my knuckles sore. I have not had real pain in my legs or hips but have been very weak and unable to walk far due to that. So I console myself by saying well at least the pain isn't bad. Then early this morning I am awakened by my hips and have to get up. So it starts again.....

Yes I know moaning is of no use at all and most of the time I am good at ignoring it all and enjoying John, my dogs, and and the knitting. Sometimes though, it just really pisses me off. 24/7 pain or discomfort is annoying at best.

Plus my new spec frames are in. I had to order them cos the nose bridge on mine has broken. I bought the damn frame in Peterborough. This means I can only go on Saturday to collect them because I cannot go on my own(the shop is in a mall) and John needs to be with me. We have not got a free Saturday for a while....

I HATE the dependency this condition brings with it.

The Andersson Heel

Okay here it is. This just an explanation of the heel, not a whole sock pattern. That you can do for yourself.

Lets assume you have 72sts all told for your sock, split into two. (if you insist with knitting with the hedgehog, you'll have to work it out over 3 or 4 needles yourself.)

You are knitting toe up. You want to increase a total of 30sts (the amount that suits my instep)on the 36sts that make the sole. You also want the increasing to be completed just about 1/2 to an inch from the end of your foot. My gauge was 13 RPI and I started by increases on row 81 and finished on row 109. (I do not count my cast on and toe increase rows). (You must be prepared to frog so that the you ge the heel to be right for your foot length)

So on row 81 I increased every other row on both sides of the sole, 1 stitch in. When I had the required number of stitches, I knit another row and then across the instep stitches.

Now I am ready to make the heel.

The heel middle needs to be 34sts. I increased 15 sts either side of the 36sts I started with.

Subtract 34sts from 66sts which leaves with 32 sts. Divide the 32sts by 2 = 16 sts Add to the 34 sts. I need to knit 50sts, SSK and turn. Sl1, Purl until I have 16 sts left, then P2tog and turn. Sl1 and knit to stiche before gap. SSK, turn. Sl1 and purl to 1 st shy of gap, P2tog and turn

I Just kept doing this until I had worked all sts. I will have 36sts left on my needle.

I then just continue in the round.

Note: there were gaps when I rejoined to knit in the round. I closed them my way and you can close them the way you do.

If your sock was 60sts all told, you'd 30sts for your sole, you may increase to 50sts. In which case you'd need 28 ts for you middle heel, divide what is left by 2, in this case that would leave 16. So you knit 44 sts, SSK, turn etc

Your middle heel is always 2sts less than the total sts for your sole. The amount of stitches you knit before you SSK and turn is that total original sole sts minus 2 plus HALF the sts you increased.

EDIT: I found this fits better when I start the heel shaping 2 inches from foot end. i.e my foot is 10" long and so I start to turn the heel when sock is 8" long.

Antonio Banderas with Andersson Heel

Smooth with plenty of spice.

This is the sock yarn from Germany at 0.70 pence a 50 gm ball! That is €1 or $1.40. Very soft. 75% wool 25% nylon.

I knit the whole thing on 2.25mm Hiya Hiya needles. It is knit from the toe up.

The heel I am especially pleased with. It has a gusset, and a wide German style heel. No picking up of stitches. I have rather modestly named it the Andersson Heel. ;-)

It really is easy to do. Took a bit of working out-it got frogged twice -but by the 3rd attempt, I had it figured out.

Is This Love?

John has spent the last 2 days sorting out my stash for me. He sorted into count and fibre. The attic is full too. My sock stash is downstairs.

Gosh, how the word stash has changed in meaning for me over the years......

Trier

These two image are of the centre of Trier, Germany. We have been here before in 2005 on our way to Lake Konstanz.

It is a nice little town and has good clothes shopping and yarn shops.

I bought a Trachten suede jacket and shirt. I love traditional German clothing (Bavarian).

It peed down with rain and we had to buy a rain mac each. I had to phone Lia to ask her what to ask for. She told us a 'regan mantel'. Not the correct spelling but by saying it we were directed to the right place and bought two long plastic ones. With added sunglasses we could have looked like cheap FBI!

Liege

These are pictures taken in the centre of Liege, Belgium, our stopover on the way to Mannheim.

The weather was wet and chilly and it really looked as if we might have then the UK's awful summer with us. We consoled ourselves with the knowledge that we were going to be visiting with people in Mannheim so maybe it won't matter if it was wet.

Liege was not pleasant. It was full, really, of street people with drink/drug problems. We are approached and harassed several times in an hour or so. I always find this difficult, having some experience as a street person myself many years ago. I was fortunate and on the streets thru fear not because of drink/drugs.

We stopped for coffee. In the gap between ordering and the waiter returning, I must have gone elsewhere in my mind because I jumped out of skin when he returned with our order. It made us both laugh, though my laugh was tinged with embarrassment. I still have over done reflexes.(exaggerated startle response)

Poor Thing

Luna Lovegood's honeymoon with Yankee was definitely successful.

Poor Luna is suffering morning sickness right now and is off her food.


She is 4 weeks tomorrow, pups due October 6th.

Nonsense!!!! My Reply

Okay, first of all this 'lovely' little email implies that people who suffer do so because they do not believe in God or do not ask for God to help.

In other words, this is just another take on the 'blame the victim' attitude. Actually, it is highly likely that the 'blame the victim' attitude is biblical.

It is also a blatant lie which stands out a mile to anyone who bothers to think. Duh!

If it were true, then no one who professes to believe in God and who prays to her, would suffer. They wouldn't get sick, no one would ever hurt them, they'd never be poor. I think you get the picture.

I know of a 3 year old who just died of cancer. They suffered. What sort of evil belief system suggests this child suffered because they did not pray or believe? Or worse because their parents didn't?

Now to the last bit of the offending email: no one KNOWS there is a God! You can believe there is, you can feel sure there is, you can be fervent in your belief. But you cannot KNOW.

No human being has access to ABSOLUTE TRUTH. We only have our ideas and the meanings we create. That is it. We do not live our lives based on absolute truth, because we cannot know TRUTH. We live our lives based on our ideas and on the meanings we have created from our experience.

Even though not mentioned in the email, I will also add that the the idea that some people have that their 'sins' are 'paid' for by someone else, that we each have our personal whipping boy, is also clearly not true, no matter how much we may wish to be absolved of out personal responsibility.

How can I feel sure of this?

Simply because we suffer and we die!

IF someone else had paid for our sins, then we would not suffer the consequences of our errors(sins). We also would not die, because the wages of (punishment for) sin is death. Even the Holier Than Thou brigade die.

I have not written about belief in a god or supreme being or divine force or whatever. I see nothing wrong in such a belief. In fact it can neither be proven nor disproved. I also find a definite atheistic point of view to be as silly as a definite religious one.

None of us knows if there is a creator or not. No matter how much we fancy we do.

My objection is to the damaging stories people have made up about God. The damage they do to children by teaching it as TRUTH. I object strongly to evil portrayed in these stories and the inability of many people to see how these stories severely damage the human race.

Also, it disturbs me greatly that people believe them.

Just as an example, there are those that believe that the story of Noah is true. Forget for a moment the Ark and the cute animals walking in 2 by 2 and how lovely Noah and his family were.

WHAT SORT OF MONSTER DROWNS MEN , WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND ANIMALS BECAUSE HE IS PISSED OFF?

More to the point, what sort of person believes in such a monster? Could it be a person who harbours such foul feelings of revenge and destruction? Is this why they are able to accept such a God? Because their God thinks and feels the way they do?

All god's I have so far come across are made in man's image, not the other way around, and as such they very clearly display the worst components of man-the desire for worship and praise, the desire to control, the desire to destroy.

Finally, I often here people say 'if it brings them comfort to believe what's the harm? '

It harms because their comfort is at the expense of others!

It is these 'comforting' beliefs that allowed the Holocaust to happen for one, that allowed Matthew Shepherd to die the awful death he died, that allowed the 11th September attacks and countless other acts of evil.

It is this 'comfort' that allowed slavery, for women to be treated as chattels, for children to be abused(and still so). I could go on.

WHAT PEOPLE BELIEVE MATTERS. Beliefs based on error and evil , no matter how comforting to the holder, costs lives.

Just a cursory look at our world will show this is so.

Lightening Recovery

Shilpa had abdominal surgery today-late morning. By evening she was running around and later stuffed her face at meal time.

Her 'top dog' has had 6 days away and is still too knackered to post on this blog properly!

I will post more pics of the trip and also my thoughts on 'Nonsense'.

At least I have almost finished the first sock of a dark navy pair for John. I have knit them plain-the dark is just too much for anything else.

Nonsense!!!!

This is one of the best explanations
of why God allows pain and suffering
that I have seen. It's an explanation
people will understand.

A man went to a barbershop to have
his hair cut and his beard trimmed.
As the barber began to work,
they began to have a good conversation.
They talked about so many things
and various subjects.

When they eventually touched on
the subject of God, the barber said:
"I don't believe that God exists."

"Why do you say that?"
asked the customer.

"Well, you just have to go out in
the street to realize that God
doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists,
would there be so many sick people?
Would there be abandoned children?
If God existed, there would be neither
suffering nor pain.
I can't imagine a loving a God who
would allow all of these things."

The customer thought for a moment,
but didn't respond because he didn't
want to start an argument.
The barber finished his job and the customer
left the shop.
Just after he left the barbershop,
he saw a man in the street with long,
stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed
beard. He looked dirty and un-kept.

The customer turned back and entered
the barber shop again and he said
to the barber:
"You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say that?"
asked the surprised barber.
"I am here, and I am a barber.
And I just worked on you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed.
"Barbers don't exist because
if they did, there would be no
people with dirty long hair
and untrimmed beards,
like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers DO exist!
What happens is, people
do not come to me."

"Exactly!"-
affirmed the customer.
"That's the point!
God, too, DOES exist!
What happens, is, people
don't go to Him
and do not look for Him.
That's why there's so much pain
and suffering in the world."

If you KNOW God exists,
send this to other people---
If you think God doesn't exist,
then just delete it!

I SHALL GIVE MY REASONS FOR BELIEVING THIS TO BE NONSENSE LATER.

Schloss

The Kunstmesse Schloss at Schwetzingen, one of the places Lia took us. Beautiful gardens and follies.
The mosque in the Schloss gardens.
Mr and Mrs Peacock, also in the gardens.

German Trip

From left to right: Diana, Diana, Lia and Tina. Picture taken in Holly's home. This was the Thursday evening. The two Dianas and Tina are from the TownsendSocksKnitALong group on Yahoo.

It was a very pleasant evening spent with good company. I was very glad to have met these people. Holly, who is not in the picture, myself and the four in the picture all knit differently but we all produce the goods!

How about this then? There are 60 something steps up to Holly's home. I need not have been concerned-there is also a lift(elevator)!!! I was impressed.

There is much more to say and more pictures to show but I am still very tired so it will be added slowly.

Stash Enhancement

These are mostly for John's socks. The red, rust and light blue are beige and light grey are for me. Most of these balls cost me less than £1 (pound) per 50gm ball!The 50gm balls cost me £1 each! The Regia 100gm balls cost me about £5 each. Much cheaper than here in the UK.

Lia took us to Globus, a very large 'shop' which sold everything. It was amazing, shopping heaven. It is here I bought the cheaper sock yarn though they did sell lots of Regia.

In all the shops I went in, I saw none of the Kaffe Fasset yarn from Regia.

Strangely, the most expensive place for yarn was the department stores which sold Regia in only 50gm balls . However, it was still cheaper than the UK at only £2.80 per ball.

My Own Bed

I am back.

I have driven for 9.5 hours today and 600 miles.

I could have sworn I went 'no mail' before I left and now have hundreds to sort thru...

I will try and read and reply tomorrow or the next day.

I might even photograph the sock yarn stash enhancement.....

Hello From Germany

At present I am in Lia's home in Sandhausen and will be driving back home in the morning. We have had a good time. Holly took us around Thursday and Friday, and Lia did today. It's been very hot. Very tired but little pain.

LOT'S OF SOCK YARN BARGAINS!!!!!!!!!