Incoherent Scribblings

Petit Point

Well, my start-itis continues! When I was at Creativa a couple of months ago I bought some very cute charts by Cornelia Papesch (a German designer) that called for a brand of floss that I was unfamiliar with, Vaupel & Heilenbeck (V&H), and while Gosia encouraged me to try V&H out, I hadn’t yet bought any of it.

Then today, on the EMS Cross Stitch Board, someone else was looking for a V&H to DMC/Anchor conversion chart and someone was nice enough to post a link to one. I immediately downloaded it and pulled out my Cornelia Papesch designs. I was just going to look to see if the floss conversions made sense, honest! But “Frühlings-Mix” started screaming at me and I couldn’t help myself.

Since these designs can either be done with traditional cross stitch or petit point, the next thing I knew I was looking up exactly what petit point was online. As I read about petit point, I thought it sounded kind of neat. So I cut out some fabric and started stitching away!

For those of you not in the know, I would describe petit point as half-stitching over one. It is also suggested that you use the “continental stitch” when doing petit point so that your half-stitches don’t get lost within the fabric. And so I learned how to do that tonight too!
I am doing this design using 27 Count Linda, it is stitching up really fast, and I think it looks really neat!

Now, I really must feed the cats and then I am off to bed. Toodles!

Right before Left

I will admit it: I am right-left challenged. Unlike many women, I don’t have a problem with north, south, east, or west, but for some reason I frequently mix-up my right and left. These mix-ups have been the source of many jokes between A. and me and can be frustrating at times, but before I came to Germany I never realized that mixing up right and left could put me in danger.

On German streets, the rule is right before left and they take this rule very seriously. It doesn’t matter if you are on a bicycle or in a car; the American attitude that whoever gets to the intersection first has the right of way is completely unacceptable in Germany. (I believe technically the “right before left rule” is also true in America, but in all of my years driving, I never saw anyone obey it.) In Germany, if you drive on when you should be obeying the right-before-left rule, the other person is extremely unlikely to stop, and if you so happen to get into an accident, it will be your fault.

When I took my written driver’s test here in Germany (I didn’t have take a driving test) I passed with flying colors. In theory I have no problems whatsoever with “right before left.” In practice however, it is another matter. It isn’t because I don’t agree with the rule; it is because of my right-left difficulties.

In fact, A. believes that I am so right-left challenged that he will be the first to admit that he is very uncomfortable with me driving here. Therefore, since we only have one car, Germany has decent public transportation, and to give my husband peace of mind, I don’t drive very often anymore. And honestly, I don’t mind.

It is amazing how lazy I was an American driver. For example, I used to drive one block to the convenience store near my house for a candy bar or a can of Coke instead of walk! But I digress…

Ever since we came to Germany, I have thought I might like a bicycle. It would be great to have one to use as transportation, but also for fun and exercise. I loved riding my bike as a kid and I was never in such great shape as I was the summer that I had no car and had to bike to work everyday.

Whether or not I would actually use a bicycle here in Germany or not is still up in the air. I like to think that I would, but in all likelihood it is probably just another one of my whims.

However, when I mentioned to A. that a bicycle might be something he could get me for my birthday this year, a look of doubt came into his eye. I gave him my reasons for wanting a bicycle and though he listened with skepticism at my eagerness for exercise, in the end he reluctantly agreed that if I wanted a bike I could have one. When I sensed this lack of enthusiasm in his voice, I assumed it had to do with the price. After all, even used bicycles aren’t cheap in Germany.

No, he told me it wasn’t the price that had him concerned. When I quizzed him about what it was, I had to promise not to get mad before he would tell me. As we all know, when a man says that to a woman the chances that she won’t get mad are very slim, but I promised anyway.

He told me that one of the main reasons he wasn’t eager for me to get a bike was because he was concerned for my safety. He said that even though we have lived in Germany for three years and he knows that I am aware of the right before left rule, he still didn’t trust me to always look to my right instead of my left for the traffic!

At first I was a bit irritated. But since I promised not get mad, I stopped and reflected on this statement. And in the end, I had to admit to myself that sadly enough, he probably has a point.