Books

These are the top 106 books most often marked as “unread” by LibraryThing’s users (as of today). As usual, bold what you have read, italicise that you started but couldn’t finish, and strike through what you couldn’t stand. Add an asterisk* to those you’ve read more than once. Underline those on your to-read list.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and punishment
Catch-22
One hundred years of solitude
Wuthering Heights*
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi: a novel
The name of the rose*
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice*
Jane Eyre*
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair*
The Time Traveller’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods*
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius
Atlas shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran: a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha*
Middlesex*
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury tales
The historian : a novel
A portrait of the artist as a young man
Love in the time of cholera
Brave new world
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A clockwork orange
Anansi boys
The once and future king
The grapes of wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & demons
The inferno
The satanic verses
Sense and sensibility*
The picture of Dorian Gray*
Mansfield Park
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
To the lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s travels
Les misérables
The corrections
The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time*
Dune
The prince
The sound and the fury
Angela’s ashes : a memoir
The god of small things
A people’s history of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere*
A confederacy of dunces
A short history of nearly everything
Dubliners
The unbearable lightness of being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an Inquiry into Values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In cold blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The three musketeers

I don't know how to underline but there are a lot of books on my reasding list. I couldn't stand all the books I haven't finished.

Progress

As Holly asked me in my last post, I used again Kool-Aid for the yarn I dyed in pink and blue as a lot of Kool-Aid was so generously bestowed on my in the Fall into Autumn Swap. Some progress on my most recent UFOs (I have "some" more - believe me). I finished one arm on the cardigan yesterday and cast on the second one this morning:



I made some progress as well on the Hanami Stole - I am already deep into the Cherry Blossom Pattern:



Bought some new knitting magazines on the weekend (Verena, Vogue's Knit 1) and there are some nice things in there which I am itching to begin. But I promised myself to at least finish the two projects above, before I start with anything new. I noticed that I get bouts of cast-on-itis when I am stressed. Maybe because iI don't have the nerves and the patience to finish what I have already begun?

Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap

Coffee
What are your favorite kinds of coffee? (Brands, Roasts, anything at all you'd like to share!)
I usually drink Dallmayr Prodomo which is a local Munich brand
Do you prefer whole bean or ground coffee?
Ground
This time of year, there are often Holiday Blends available, and many flavored coffees - do you drink flavored coffee?
Haven't really tried it yet but Kelly sent me some which I will definitely drink!
Do you enjoy special blends?
I don't really know what that is supposed to be
How do you take your coffee? Cream and Sugar? Straight up? Decaf?
Cream and sugar, at school i drink decaf to de-stress me
Do you prefer drinking from a nice thick mug, or a matched cup and saucer?
I prefer large mugs (the larger the better)

Winter and Holidays
What is your favorite part of Winter?
The snow and the festive season
Do you celebrate a holiday in December, and if so, which holiday?
First my birthday then Christmas
If you celebrate Christmas, do you put up a tree?
My parents do and I always spend the holidays there, I don't have one in my own flat (yet?)
Would you enjoy items related to the holiday, or would you prefer a Winter themed package?
I don't really care
Do you collect anything?
Nope
Are there any holiday or winter-themed items (Snowmen, Angels, Snoflakes, Santas, etc) that you collect?
No
Do you wear scarves? Mittens? Hats?
Yes, yes, yes
What is your favorite holiday or winter treat?Please share a favorite Winter or Holiday memory.
Visiting the different christmas markets in Munich and Nuremberg. Drinking mulled wine and eating sweets, walking around and look at all thes tuff

Yarn and Crafting
Do you Knit or Crochet?
Yes, both
For how long?
Can't really say, a looong time
Do you like wooden, metal, or plastic needles\hooks?
It depends on the yarn and on the project
Circular or straight?
see above
What sort of projects do you enjoy making?
Everything that challenges me in one way or another
What are your favorite types of yarn to work with?
Cotton blends
Do you spin or dye?
I do some Koll-Aid dyeing
Do you do other crafts such as scrapbooking or needlepoint or anything else?
Needlepoint and sewing

General
When is your birthday?
8th Dec
Do you have any children? (Furry kind count!)
No
What are your favorite colors?
Pinks and violets
Do you have any allergies?
No

Guten Tag, guten Tag, ich will mein Leben zurück

This week has been insane. Meetings, meetings, horrible students, more meetings etcetc. Thank God I have now one week off to correct mountains of testpapers, yay!

Highlights of this week: my new self-dyed yarn (see below) and the concert of "Wir sind Helden" - I absolutely love this band!!! Every songs fits my life in one way or another. Amazing!

I am busily working on the arms of my cardigan - I want to have it finished asap!

I got spoiled

In the past days, two packages arrived. First from my SP11 with beautiful things in it:


The jewellery has been made especially for me and I have already worn it to school, it is just awesome:



Today I received my mystery theme swap package and Kelly had chosen the theme winter. She send me great stuff, I was really spoiled:



Thank you guys so much. This has been a very hectic week for me so far and tomorrow will even be worse, but you sweetened my days!

Hanami Stole

While waiting for the yarn for the cardigan to be delivered I started on the Hanami stole. I like the design 8as all her other designs as well) very much and I had some left over recycled yarn that is hopefully enough for the project. After frogging the MS 3 two times and thinking of buying another yarn for it, I guess I will finish this stole. I have already finished the basket weave part and am now working on the transitional chart to the cherry blossom pattern.

First snow

Today it snowed here in Munich for the first time this year! Well, it melted before it hit the ground, but the stuff was definitely white. I took this weather as (another excuse) to be lazy and do only yarn-related things. First of all, I dyed some more sock yarn. Both of these skeins will be sent out as part of swap packages. So look out ;-) For the first one I used only one pack of Kool-Aid each in Cherry and Pineapple:





For the second one I used two packs of Dark Cherry and Grape each for more intense colours:





I like the outcome of both and I have to admit I am a bit reluctant to let them go.

I made some progress on my smok-pattern cardi. Alas, I ran out of yarn for the arms (which I immediately ordered online), so I have to wait till my nice postman comes again to my doorstep. So far I really like both the outcome of the pattern and the quality of the yarn (Online Linie 130 Champ) and I am impatient to be finally able to wear it. I was a bit afraid of the collar as you start out with a certain number of stitches from the middle and then add 2 more stitches at the end of each row but it turned out quite nicely I think.


Yesterday night I went out to a party with two couples who are friends of mine and it scared me that I didn't feel like the odd one out (even when we met up with a third couple). Have I finally accepted the role of the old maiden? Is it time to buy a cat and a rocking chair?
Connected with this, there was a rumour at school among my colleagues that I was pregnant. When my boss (!!) asked me if this was true, I could only laugh uncontrollably. I mean, who am I, the Virgin Mary? Haven't seen any angles hovering at my flat recently....

Hats and swaps

This week I finished this hat - it's Gretel by Ysolda. It is a bit complicated with all the cables but I think it fits me quite well. I used Schachenmayer's Trachtenwolle.



Last week I received my "Fall into Autumn" swap package from Ariel. She sent me the most amazing stuff! Thank you so much Ariel!!!!

Holly Rocks!

Not only has she nominated me but also tagged me for a MEME 8 Random Things about me. Here it goes:

1) I can recite the prologue from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" by heart. We did that for fun during a very, very, very boring RE lesson.

2) I only have to see a film once to quote it - and I do it all the time! ("Mini me - stop h***ing the laser!")

3) Although being German I eat American style. I cut the meat beforehand, only use the fork and put my left arm under the table. This drives some German people nuts because they think it is rude.

4) More of my friends are male than female. I don't know what that says about me.

5) I absolutely destest it when people call you and not speak on your voicemail - I always wonder for hours what the wanted from me.

6) For years I have been dreaming constantly about trains, planes and airports.

7) I love to be on the telephone. I spend at least 2 hrs daily on the phone with friends.

8) If I were a boy, my name would be Elmar *urgh*

No more Rudolph

Glad to say my cold is over! No news on the knitting front but trying to lessen my number of UFOs :-)

My name!!!

Autumn coat

As the weather grows colder, and I have a cold, I thought about knitting this, but sans the fun fur sleeves (it is from the latest "online" magazine):



And as I stayed in bed most of the last couple of days (no voice, red nose etc etc) I came as far as this:



The picture doesn't do the yarn justice, it is not that orange, but rather a light brown. I was a bit afraid of the smok-pattern but it isn't that difficult and the result is quite nice.

Off to bed now, I have to be fit tomorrow!

Socks, socks, socks

Finally, I got all the socks together that I want to show you. The first three pairs I knitted on the beach on my trip to Rhodos. First there was another pair of Monkeys in Schöller+Stahl "Socka colour":



Next up were ankle socks made with the yarn left over from both the Monkeys I made so far:



Last but not least a pattern from Socktopia in a no-name brand sock yarn:



And this week I also managed to finish a pair of plain socks in "Regia colour" that I had started in June - talk about UFOs:

FO and WIP

I have finished my pink sweater and I love it! I have to say, it is simply perfect! The pattern, the size, the yarn - perfect!! I wore it today for the first time which was good as today the annual teachers' photo was taken. Never mind, that I slept only 5 hrs and had unwashed hair. At least I wore the right sweater!



Furthermore, I couldn't resist to cast on my self-dyed yarn. The colourway comes out grat, doesn't it?



Although I used orange and grape it looks like there is some blue in it which is rather nice, I think.

I'm in!!!

I got my Ravelry invite yesterday afternoon! Look for "Stoeps"!

Ravelry

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