Surfacing
You're looking at a swatch from a hat project, already completed, already photographed, almost set for sale. It's a pattern I'm fairly proud of, and I'm sure you'll like it the instant you see it, and perhaps even make it! This sudden burst of inspiration may stem from cabin fever, but the person who benefits will be you, dear Yummy Yarn reader! I already have 3 additional patterns in the making...
I'd hoped my first post of 2008 would coincide with the launch of a new blog redesign, but it was not to be. The last time I looked at my blog code was 3 years and 3 versions ago; in Movable Type 4.1 every single asset has been modularized. It's taken at least a month to just look over the code and try to wrap it around the design I created. I finally caved in and wrapped my design around the code, which had me growling at every other line. I just growled right now, writing about it. Movable Type, make your code user-friendly! And what's up with 300+ lines of CSS? Grr. (I'm not asking for dumbed-down notes, but it wouldn't hurt to add comments so that clueless people like me know what line of css affects which asset. You know?)
Life in Bavaria has been interesting so far. While the weather has been weird (too much summer rainfall, short winter), living hasn't been dull. We watched the Bundesliga finals in the city, where the local team (1. FC Nuremberg) won the national title, visited all the museums, walked in historical towns such as Rothenburg, eaten all manner of heavy German specialties (although I did draw the line with fleischküchle), picked mushrooms in the forest behind our house (that was a lot of fun), visited the zoo, attended three Christkindlesmarkts, and seen the Christkind. So far, so good.
Two things happened this year that we've (well, primarily me) been excited about. You'll know from previous posts how much I like polar bears, so it's total bliss that there is a newborn eisbär at the Nuremberg Zoo! (The link gives you some background on the situation.) The other big thing is that Germany enacted a nationwide ban on smoking in eating establishments. Yay! There have been many times where we've entered a restaurant and had to sit in a haze while people smoked around us. Now it's law, and punishable with fines for both the proprietor (1,000 Euros) and the guest (40 Euros). We were actually surprised that Bavaria, which is the most traditional and most conservative of the German states, has the strictest laws. But it's all good, and we can breathe freely!
Three weeks, three links:
◊ National Geographic has a news feed. This takes you to pictures of Sir Edmund Hillary.
◊ The Martha, she has a blog.
◊ Ha ha, sneezing baby panda.Ha ha!
