Santa with an Accordion

A little holiday spirt (and thoughts)......

Santa playing an accordion wearing lots of fur. That about sums up Christmas in Spain so far. HAHA

 Fur is so "in" this year here, though, I am told that is always the case. This is very different from home, where most fur is fake.

Afternoon walk

Here is a series of photos I took on an afternoon walk weekend before last.

DH and I struck out to a part of the neighborhood that we had not been to before. As always Madrid has little surprises of art everywhere.

I think that we have now seen the last of fall and winter has hit, so these are the last of the fall images.

 The best display of the number 44.

 Below, look closely at the different tiles on the building (click to enlarge) it is a very nice touch.

 A pleasant park.

 Below is the most unique Christmas decoration I have ever seen. Someone tied a rope around Santa and flung him over the balcony.

 I love the next building, it is so grand and majestic. It is currently a school, but I think destined as a retirement house.

New Job

While I try to be careful about what kind of information I release on the Web, I realize that as an American I could not work in a more stereotypical job in Madrid right now. Care to guess?

My job involves a lot of traveling around the city. Which enables me to capture little gems of art like this one for you.

Various forms of transportation, portrayed in clay, and on display in a Metro station.

Here is a view of the four towers, apparently the highest in Europe, from an office window of a company I travel to often for work. There is also a distressing amount of smog, and a reflection of my camera (not a UFO).

Best gloves ever! Knit One Knit All

This is the lastest book from Schoolhouse Press of Elizabeth Zimmerman's designs. I was so excited when I heard that this book was coming out! I had to have it. Getting this book in Europe can be a bit tricky. None of the Amazon's in the EU have it (or at least when I was looking for it). I eventually got it from Loop in London.

It is a truly beautiful book made of quality paper with EZ's watercolors marking chapter breaks.

Th book is written in true EZ's style with enough information for you to recreate the pattern, but not overloading you on information. Like all of EZ's books the patterns can be adjusted fairly easily, and are written with a minium of hand holding. I have only knit one project so far, but as I am a big fan of her and Meg Swansen's work, I really will enjoy exploring the patterns.

The very first project I had to make out of this book were the garter stitch gloves.
These have the potential for being the best fitting gloves ever! The short rows mean that the back of the glove have the space and shape for the knuckles, and the thumb is the most thumb shaped thumb I have ever seen. The ridges of the garter stitch make the glove stylish, and believe should be less slippery than a stocking stitch glove. 


Unfortunately when I got gauge (un-washed swatch, my fault,) they made a huge glove. This being a superwash sock yarn meant that they got even bigger (again I should have known). They should be good for a large man’s hands.


Just do not make the mistake that I made and make two of the same hand. (I had to turn one inside out, and well it is not REALLY noticeable, you can see it when you look for it.
I am knitting these again, with smaller yarn and needles for me! I bet those of you who know me can just guess what color (hint look at the banner).

I am going to probably be making some of the baby garments next, as a lot of people I know are expecting.

Things are incredibly busy on the new job front. As an example both Tuesday and Thursday were notional holidays this week, and I still worked 50 hours or so. The good news is that as I learn my job the amount of time I have to study on my off time should go down.

Next week I go to Barcelona for a bit over the holidays and I am looking forward to the break and the yarn shopping. 

Signs of change

Many signs are around me right now.

There are signs that fall is turning rapidly into winter

 Signs of impromptu art

 Signs of graphic design genius

Signs of busy-nes.

Short post to let everyone know all is well. I am really busy settling into my new schedule and career. There is lots to learn and at times it is overwhelming all over again. I need to learn an entire new trade while keeping up with my Spanish studies. My DH and I need to relearn to share chores and errands that I had taken care of during my unemployment. I am getting used to the Spanish schedule of having lunch at 2-3 and dinner at 9-10.

So far my new job is going fairly well, and I can see the potential of it being a very fun and rewarding work.

I hope that everyone the celebrates it, had a nice Holiday weekend.

Mine was more unconventional then expected. I started work full time on Wednesday and worked until 9:30pm. I continued a schedule of both training and work on Thursday. However I made pumpkin yesterday, and life is good.

Coasting

Greetings everyone! 

A wondrous thing has happened and I start a full time job on Wednesday! Right now I am intensively training and doing my homework to prepare.

As a nice break between training and my homework I decided to take advantage of the sun and take a series of photos on my window legde. White window legdes are wonderful things, they reflect the sun like nobody's business. 

>>I will pause here so you can imagine me taking all of the photos for the next several posts on my window legde while being observed by several bemused neighbors.<<

Here is my last pet project:

 I am making cross-stitch coasters out of handspun yarn.

 The green star above is made out of wool from the same breed of sheep as the background wool. The green is Corriedale wool, and the background wool (in all three) is a thick and thin CorridaleX held double. I love how the Corriedale has more shine and luster than the dyed wool in the last two (which are Merino)

 I choose a 19 row Norwegian Star pattern out of Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting for my star pattern in the center. Since knitting stranded (two colors or more at are carried once) produces square stitches, you can use those charts for cross stitch.

I plan to make at least 6, all with different color stars.

I love that I found a way to showcase my left over handspun in a way that can be enjoyed daily. Wool absorbs water well, and is naturally dirt resistant which are both good coaster characteristics. Plus I love their country/ Northern European charm!

Un-expected Art

A little trip downtown to find the Social Security office.

Waiting for the bus and capturing the blush of fall on the trees.

Look at the rosy glow we have in the evening here. I love it!

 Going back home from the office we found an un-expected surprise. It would have probably not been unexpected if we read tour guides of the city, or if I had understood a Spanish friend better when she told me of this.

First we walked down a long set of stairs and gradually heard water over the traffic noise. We looked underneath the bridge and saw a magnificent man made water fall.

What we had stumbled on to was the Open air Sculpture Museum of Madrid.

I took the following information from this website.

 The Public Art Museum is located under the flyover built in1970 to join the streets of Juan Bravo and Eduardo Dato and accommodates 17 abstract sculptures designed by 17 Spanish artists. It is an open air museum in which the city, the inhabitants and art merge in one same space

This looks like a penguin from this side. The picture after next shows the other side.