Keyhole Scarf

My second knitted item was the Keyhole Scarf. I got the pattern from Ravelry here. You may have to set up an account to see it. This scarf has a hole in one of the sides and the other side slips through it. It makes the scarf less bulky.

I learned a couple new things making this scarf. The Stockinette stitch and how to Loop Cast On.

The Stockinette stitch is just a combination of knits and purl stitches. For the hole I had to bind off (BO) to make the hole and Loop Cast On (LCO) to bring the stitches back together and close the hole. 

I did screw up the pattern by not reading/following the directions. You're supposed to knit on the right side of your scarf and then do a purl/knit combo on the wrong side...and I did the combo on both sides. Oops. So my scarf looks a little different than the pattern's example. I also used an 8mm needle instead of the recommended 5mm, because I only had the 8. 

In addition to the hole, there's a nice border that goes around the scarf.  My keyhole ended up being too big so I stitched half of it closed afterwards. You can definitely tell where I stitched up part of the keyhole, but you have to look closely and I don't plan on letting anyone inspect my scarves for imperfections.

Unlike my last scarf I didn't add any stitches. Last time I didn't pay attention to how many stitches were on each row and I ended up adding a lot. Making one end of the scarf way bigger than the other end. This time I paid more attention, I started with 30 stitches per row and ended with 30.

I finished this one in 3 weeks (1 week faster than the last one). I like it and I think I'll wear it. 

On to the next make.

You can tell where I sewed the keyhole to make it smaller. It doesn't look that bad in person.

My First Swiss Marathon - October 26

On Sunday I ran the Swiss City Marathon in Lucerne. Lucerne is an hour and half away, so we boarded Tucker on Saturday and drove up to pick up my race packet. Their Expos are not as elaborate as American ones. We ate a late lunch and walked around. We hadn't been to Lucerne in 3 years. Last time we came it was on a Sunday, raining and everything was closed. I don't remember too much about the town. This time it was raining again, but we noticed all the shops and cute streets. I think we'll go back for a weekend to explore more. It was also very crowded and it was hard to find parking to get to the expo.

On race day it wasn't raining and the temperatures were supposed to be in the 50s. We were nervous about parking so we parked at the first parking garage we saw and walked a mile to the start. There were tons of port-a-potty's. And they were right at the start line, so you didn't need to go far if you had to pee. There was no line for them, going to the bathroom before a race is typically a long nightmare. So having no lines is pretty awesome.

Last time I ran only my timer worked, not the GPS. I thought I screwed up when I started it but it was confirmed on race day that something is wrong with the GPS. I think my Garmin has died. But I had a pacing band with the splits I needed to hit for a 4 hour marathon. And I ran my timer, so I knew my time. The only downfall was I only knew my split every 5k. I typically look at my pace every minute so going 3 miles at a time without knowing was hard.

When the race started at 9am, they did staggered starts. At 9am the fast people went, at 9:05 the 3:30-3:45 people went,  at 9:10 the 4 hour people went, and so on. I had every intention of starting with the 4 hour pace group. I stood where I was supposed to, but it was so far back from the starting line. And there was a ton of space to move up. Ultimately I moved up. The 3:45 pacers moved up too to fill in the gaps, but the 4 hour pacers stayed back. It also drove me crazy to watch people start and just stand there. I didn't like the idea of staring the race over 10 minutes behind, so I ended up going with the 9:05 start group. I had no intention of keeping up with the 9:45 pacers, I just wanted to get this thing started.

Since I didn't have my GPS, I ended up going too fast the first 5k (I missed the 1k marker so couldn't check my pace there). Instead of 9:09 pace, I probably did 8:15. I was 3 minutes ahead of schedule. I slowed down slightly. I like the idea of having a cushion but I was going too fast and knew I'd feel it later. The marathon course was 2 loops of the 1/2 marathon course. I didn't love the fact that it was a loop course, but I will say it made it easier for Mike to see me a bunch of times. The course was pretty flat, it had 2 noticeable inclines on the loop. They were not steep at all, and not terribly long but you noticed them. The first time around they were not a big deal, but I knew it'd be harder the 2nd time around, so I was glad I had my time cushion.

The Swiss City Marathon is the 3rd largest Swiss Marathon (behind Zurich and Jungfrau). But it's still small compared to US races. There was a marathon, 1/2 marathon and 5 mile option. 6,348 people completed the marathon or 1/2. (I'm not sure how many did the 5 mile.) And of those only 1,468 did the marathon, and only 268 women completed the marathon. That's crazy, I wonder why there aren't more women. I promise your uterus won't fall out.

Despite the seemingly small race size, the spectator support was huge. It was like the city was having a party and everyone came out. Spectators would set up tables decked out with table cloths, food, wine and beer. One table even had a candelabra.  And they ate and celebrated the entire race. They cheered and rang cow bells like they knew every runner. Besides that there were lots of percussion bands, and alphorns. Some of the bands wore bright costumes, it reminded me very much of Mardi Gras. There were tons of giant inflatable arches, and flags. You also ran through what I think was a parking garage that they decked out with glow sticks and a fog machine. They had fluorescent shoes hanging from the ceiling for a really cool effect.

Picture from the Swiss City Marathon Website

There was an area with a red swiss carpet, balloons and water fountains that sprayed water over your head. This wasn't even the finish line.

Picture from the Swiss City Marathon Website

One of the inflatable archways. They had at least 10 set up around the course.
Picture from the Swiss City Marathon website.

Men walking with giant cow bells in sync. These things were LOUD.
Picture by my husband.

The marathoners and 1/2 marathoners ran together for 12.9 miles, then they went straight to the finish and we turned around to do the loop all over again. The runners really thinned out, and it was a little discouraging to know others were finishing and I was only half way there. Of course spectators for the 1/2 were gone, but people who set up tables were just as enthusiastic during the second loop. I hit "the wall" from around mile 17 to 21. My knees started to hurt, and I could feel a blister on my foot. I had to walk up the 2nd incline. I was still on pace for breaking 4 hours, but mentally I knew I wouldn't break it. I probably sabotaged myself. I walked for almost 3 minutes up the incline, and then again for a minute at the 35k mark with Mike. After the short walk break I mentally felt refreshed and ran a decent pace to the finish. The 35k mark is 21.7 miles. For a while I thought I only had 3 miles to go so that is probably why I picked up the pace.

My pace band and all the course markings were in kilometers but in my head I still think in miles, so I did a lot of conversions in my head. It kept me busy. But I kept thinking a marathon is only slightly past 40k, but it's actually 42.16 kms. Those 2kms were long. Once you got to the 40k mark the finish line was straight ahead but you still had 1.2 miles to go. There was also a fake out for the finish line. There were flags and a archway that I thought was the finish, but then you turned and had another 300 meters to go.

Photo of the finish line.
Picture from the Swiss City Marathon website.

Finishers shirt

Shoe bag

The finish line was at the Swiss Museum of Transport, which was on Amazing Race last season.

Picture with a giant tunnel boring machine.

I think the race was organized really well. They had lots of aide stations and volunteers. All of the streets were blocked off, so you never had to share the road with cars. And you didn't see any angry motorists who wanted to get through. The spectator support was awesome, it was easy for Mike to get around to see me. The weather was great. The small race size and staggered start were nice, I didn't have to weave through people at the beginning. The medal is small compared to US medals, but I think it's pretty standard for Switzerland. They are less flashy here. The tracking app Mike used to track me was accurate and updated quickly. Though it didn't say the distance I was at, only the location. So he had to do a lot of map checking to figure out where I was. I also got a text from the race right after I finished with my time and my rank (I finished 122 out of 268 for the women). My husband also did a great job cheering me on. I could always hear him, even at the end with a crowd of people around cheering. I think if I ran this course again and was in the same shape, I could shave off at least two minutes. Mentally I need to deal with the second half of the race better...and no walk breaks.

6 month check in

I think this is our last family photo. And this was 8 months ago!

I've now been in Switzerland for a little over 6 months. It has gone by pretty fast. I thought I would have a job by now, but I still spend my days at home. Many people ask what I do all day. Honestly, I don't really know. I wake up at 8am every weekday and don't take naps. We don't have cable so I'm not in front of the TV all day. I decided to write what I've done over these 6 months. And while I'm at it I wrote down some goals for the next 6 months.

What I've done:

• Our house is set up and organized. Furniture has been bought and put together and pictures have been hung. Our house is visitor ready.
• I've started reading again. I read before, but maybe only 2 books a year. So far I've read 19 books in six months. They are all easy reads and most are free or cheap on ibooks. 
• I don't watch hours upon hours of TV. We don't have cable, but we can download shows. We still watch the shows we liked to watch before, but now I don't watch 5 hours of House Hunters every weekend.
• I started to knit. I've only knitted 2 scarves, but it's a start. I do a lot of research on how to knit, pattens, tips, materials needed.
• I sewed two garment pieces and am excited to sew more. Again alot of research goes into sewing. Learning about different fabrics, presser feet, needles, techniques, patterns, and all the other notions needed. And I learned what a haberdashery is. And trying to figure out how to buy fabric takes forever. A lot of places won't ship here, and buying fabric at a store in Switzerland is crazy expensive.
• I started to learn German. We've been going to classes for a little over 2 months. 
• I've been meeting with a career counselor for a little over 2 months. I have a Swiss resume, cover letter, sample cold emails and brushed up on my interviewing skills. And I finally created a Linkedin account. I've researched companies in the area and created a spreadsheet of potential companies, their office language, where they are located and who to contact.
• I clean the house and go to the grocery store during the week. It's nice to have chores done so the weekends are free.
• We've visited Croatia, Germany and Italy.
• We kind of started to meet new people (outside of 3M). We've gone to 2 social events, and talked to a few new people. 
• Tucker and I go on walks. With no yard for Tucker I have to walk him. We walk about 2 miles a day. Tucker's leash walking skills have greatly improved.
• I run 5 times a week.
• We cook most days. Nothing fancy. We went from eating out 4 meals a week, to maybe once every other week. 
• I started to learn some new skills, like Access and SAP.
• I started this blog.
• I got married. 
• We ran in 3 local races...and my 4th is at the end of October.

Now a few goals for the next six months:

• Improve my German. I want to be able to ask a sales person for something, or go to a restaurant and order in German. Despite German being one of the national languages of Switzerland (they have 4), swiss people don't speak German. They speak Swiss German, which is actually very different. It's hard to practice a language when most aren't even speaking it. But we need to push through and practice at home more.
• I want Tucker to make friends. He doesn't have any, and it makes me sad.
• I want to visit more countries. Maybe Austria, France, Spain, Portugal and the south of Italy. Not all in the next six months. :)
• I want to learn to ski.
• I want to knit socks and at least attempt to knit a sweater
• I want to sew at least one thing a month
• I want to join a running club
• I want to be more active in clubs. There's a few expat groups that I need to join. 
• I want to make some kind of income

Oktoberfest in München, September 26

Oktoberfest was always on my bucket list of things to do. But I wasn't going to fly to Germany just to go to it, so up until 6 months ago I never thought I'd have the chance to go. But now we are only a 5 hour drive away, so we decided to go this year with 4 of our friends.

Mike and I have a German class on Thursdays, so while our friends left for Munich right after work on Thursday we stayed for class. Actually, my class was canceled so I went to Starbuck's and knitted.

Oktoberfest is a 16 day festival. It started in 1810 as a celebration for the marriage of King Ludwig I and Princess Therese Saxe-Hildburghausen.  (I wrote about King Ludwig's son's castle that we visited here.) There are 14 big tents, these tents hold from 1,000 to 4,000 people each. And then there are 20 small tents, that hold  from 60 up to 450 each. You need to make a reservation for the big tents, if you don't have a reservation you have to wait in line until a spot is available. And there are 3 reservation times: early afternoon, mid afternoon and evening. We got a reservation for Friday early afternoon (we waited too long to make the reservation and this was the only time slot available).

Our tent was Marstall. It was newcomer for 2014. Inside it can hold 3,200 and an additional 1,000 outside. The tents are built from scratch each year. They stated building the tents in July. They were very well made, painted, had beautiful wall decorations, and best of all the bathrooms were great. Entry into the tents is free, but you have to spend at least 45 euros...that 45 can go towards lunch and beer. It was early so the atmosphere was very tame, I'd like to go to the evening reservation to see what it's like. The best thing was we got super quick service and there was never a line for the bathroom. And it was nice to be able to talk and hear our friends without having to scream.

The carousel is where the band played. 

Even the glasses were beautiful

In addition to the beer tents there are also rides. On Saturday we rode the rides. It was fun but I forgotten how expensive rides are. 8 euros to ride a rollercoaster. Ahh.

This is one of the small tents (thought this one wasn't even a tent), it had a carousel that spoon around. 

After Oktoberfest everyone went with me to Oberpollinger to shop for fabric/yarn.

All in all we had a good time. It was not nearly as wild as I had imagined (totally because we had a day reservation). Munich doesn't let you dance on the benches like Bern did. They had security everywhere, keeping people in line. I'm sure at night it's different. Like I said I hope to go back and do a night reservation one day, I want to see the tents packed, and hear everyone singing the German songs, swaying and toasting. But I'm not sure how many more chances I'll get to go back. I'm going to have to start having kids soon, so I may not get the chance.

Lately, I've been feeling like I need a prebaby bucket list.  What do I want to do and where do I want to go before I have kids? Four years ago I bought a sports car, because I knew I would only have a chance to own one then or when I'm 50. Sports cars and carseats/kids don't go. I'm glad I bought it...I loved that car. Extended vacations, long baths, sleeping in, late nights, long runs (for a few months pre and post baby), my prebaby body and having extra fun money are all things I need to enjoy while I can. Also, living abroad means we have no free babysitters, no hand me down baby items, no baby showers, and no family/friends for our kids to play with. (Yes, I'll make new friends, but it's not the same as friends you've known for years). We will be taking on parenthood alone. I know it'll all work out, tons of people have moved away and had babies alone. And I know it'll be worth it. I had to give up being spontaneous and sleeping past 8am for Tucker, and it was totally worth it. Who needs to have late nights at Oktoberfest when I can have my own mini me to dress up in baby lederhosen.

First knitted item

I first took a knitting class 7 months ago. It was a one day class and I didn't love it. My needles were too big for me and it felt awkward. I threw away the piece I started (it was too tangled and knotted to even try and save the yarn), and didn't think about it again. I decided to revisit knitting because there is a small group that meets on Thursdays to knit (and they speak English). I wanted to practice before I went, so I wouldn't embarrass myself too bad.

I thought it would take me a week, but it took a month! How do people knock these out in a day? Every time I picked up speed I would drop a stitch. I don't know how to fix mistakes, so my scarf is covered in mistakes. I also wasn't paying attention and by the end I had added 10 extra stitches to each row. Eeeck.

I just did a simple garter stitch scarf. I had to relearn how to cast on, do the garter stitch, add new yarn and bind off.

I never got into it and didn't really enjoy it, but I will say when I finished I immediately started a second one.

For my second scarf I decided to make a key hole scarf. It starts with a garter stitch and then you switch to the Stockineet stitch (which is just the knit and purl stitch combined). Changing the stitch makes a boarder on the bottoms and on the sides. But I can already tell I made it too wide. I added 5 stitches to the pattern (thinking it would be too skinny) but now I wish I hadn't. I've been paying close attention and haven't added any stitches. And so far I've made less mistakes (only 2 so far). I'm also pretty sure I'm going to run out of yarn and I don't know the brand/color of my yarn. I seem to use way more yarn than other people.   

 So far I think knitting is really hard. I really want to make socks and a simple cardigan one day, so I'll keep trying.  But I do like that you can do it anywhere. At a coffee shop, on the train, in a plane.....it's very convenient.