On Sunday night, we left Rottweil, and drove back to Munich for a short flight Monday to Venice. Venice is all that, AND a bag o' chips! Beautiful scenery everywhere, famous canals, bridges and architecture, several smaller islands (Murano specializes in glass, Burano in lace) and wonderful restaurants everywhere! What more could you ask for?

We arrived on Monday afternoon in Venice. Our hotel was about half way between the famous Rialto Bridge (shown here behind Filbert)

and the Piazza San Marco, again behind Filbert:

I think he's showing a bit of jet lag, those whiskers are going to need a session with a curling iron after we're back home!

On Tuesday morning, we made our way to the Vaporetto station at Fondamenta Nuove on the north side of Venice for a quick trip to Murano and Burano. Can you find Filbert in the geraniums?

While we were visiting Burano, Filbert crossed paths with the Roaming Gnome! He was apparently also on assignment in Italy:

More to come as we move on to Florence!

Becky

Well, the plan was to blog as we went through Europe...problem with that is that there apparently is not adequate internet service to upload photos from anywhere in Europe. I went into an internet cafe in Venice and wanted to purchase computer time to upload my photo card to Shutterfly, which would then allow me to choose photos, etc. The poor Venetian man at the i-cafe about fell over, offered to burn a disc from the card, and announced that it would take "HOURS, if not DAYS!" to upload my photo card. So I will be posting over the next few days to give you all updates on the trip.

Here's Filbert watching out the plane window as we landed in Munich:

Then it was off to get the rental car, and on to the Autobahn:


(I think the speed limit on the Autobahn was a little much for poor Filbert, but The Hand and I sure had a great time zipping along in our little rental Audi - note that European cars are apparently designed for much shorter people than us, as we both had serious "cricks" in our necks after driving this car around Germany for three days!)

We arrived in Rottweil, as you know from the last blog entry. There were over 600 dogs at the Klubsieger (which is the equivalent of a huge national specialty, drawing entries from all over Europe). Filbert had a great time visiting with his new friends, and enjoying the Bavarian landscape. Here's a photo of the town sqaure - very picturesque!

Rottweil welcomed all the Rottweilers with open arms - there were small silver doggie water bowls all over town at the shops where the dogs were welcome, and the ADRK (German Rottweiler club/registry) had commissioned several Rottweiler carvings that were scattered throughout the town. We found one at the local bakery:

I'll will post more later as we move on to Venice, Florence and Rome...

Becky

I'm writing this blog entry from Rottweil Germany, and am in the process of uploading photos of the first part of our trip... this may not work, but I'm going to publish this little post as a test... bear with me, and we'll see if this works.

Filbert and I got a wonderful surprise when we arrived at the airport in Vancouver in preparation for the flight to Frankfurt - The Hand had booked Business Class tickets. Here's Filbert and The Hand in the Maple Leaf Lounge, readying himself for boarding:

And Filbert arriving in Frankfurt, just about to board his flight to Munich:

The internet cafe is about to close, and The Hand and I are headed for the nearest Brauhaus (Filbert is too young to have a brewski, so he's tucked safely in bed at the hotel). That's it for now!

Auf Weidersehn,

Becky

Naturally "Dawn" silk & wool shawl

Okay, here's the finished, blocked and fabulous Angel Lace shawl on Laura. It will be in the shop tomorrow, and then will be traveling with me for 10 days! After I get back home, it will be displayed in the shop. Stop by if you'd like a quick lesson in how to add beads to edgings without pre-stringing.

If you've been in the shop in the last few days and noticed that some of our models have gone missing, it's because they are at the NW Washington Fair in Lynden. Laura garnered a bunch o' blue ribbons on her entries, including a Best of Professional Division with her green Stahman Shawl knit from Jade Sapphire Mongolian 2 ply cashmere. If you're going to the Lynden Fair, be sure and stop to have a look at her stunning work!! She done good!

auf Wiedersehen, (practicing, again!)

Becky

Angel Shawl in "Dawn" by Naturally aka Before and After Blocking!

I promised you I'd take photos of the Angel Lace shawl after it was finished, before it was blocked and then again after blocking to demonstrate what a huge difference blocking out your lace will make in a finished project. Ta Da!! Here is the UNblocked shawl:

I put a pencil in the photo to give you a point of reference as to the size of the unblocked shawl. The funny little "spots" that you see along the edges are teeny glass beads that I decided to knit into the edge. I couldn't get a good close up photo of them, but they are small green faceted bead with an iridescent surface...pretty! So now you know - don't despair when your knitted lace looks like something that's been lurking in the bottom of the laundry hamper for days - it's supposed to look that way!

Now here's a shot of the lace after it's been blocked. It looks a little strange because I have it blocked out on two different color towels, so it's a little distracting - sorry. But it's what I had on hand at the time, what can I say?? By the way, note the long pins used for blocking - they are called Blocker Pins, come in a kit that includes a batch of long and short pins, flexible pins (for curves around necklines, armholes, etc.), t-pins for pinning out the solid longer lengths, and even a yardstick! You just run the length of the blocker pin through the edge of your project, apply even tension and use the t-pins to stick through into your blocker board, cardboard, toweling, spare bed (basically, whatever you're using for a blocking surface) and viola! Instant straight edges! Or in this case, when the pins are run through the points of scalloped edging, I guess I should say viola!! Instant Pointy Edges!! They are Worth Their Weight In Gold. Really.

Anyway, here's a photo of the BLOCKED shawl:

Waaaayy bigger - note the pencil in the photo in comparison to the first photo. When this comes off the blocker pins, probably tomorrow, I will take a photo of it on a person and hopefully you will be able to see the gorgeous little angels and the beaded edging. This is Fiber Trends' newest lace shawl pattern, called Angel Lace. I used four skeins of Naturally Dawn, which is a 50% wool and 50% silk laceweight yarn. I wish the computer had Touch-a-Vision, because this yarn is yummy!! The shawl will be packed in my suitcase on Thursday when I get on an airplane and head out on vacation.

The Hand, Filbert and I will try and post photos and news to the blog on our travels!

Ciao (I'm getting in practice),

Becky