There's more to tell about the Leiden trip: Travel Adventure Stories!

I'm not someone who goes on Big Damn Adventures - I've never done trips into really far-away foreign countries with really different cultures. No hiking through China or India for me, no Turkey or Russia. But I'm fond of the little adventures. The small things that are still exciting, but there's nothing that can go desastrously wrong - and I am utterly happy when things do not go wrong, or the stories have a happy end after all.

Little adventures like travelling via the train with an interesting itinerary. In order to get to Leiden in time to have a look at the Stockings exhibition, the solution was to leave early in the evening of Thursday to catch a train in the "wrong" direction, to board the night train in Passau and then wake up in Düsseldorf. From there, it's easily possible to arrive in Leiden at noon.

I had booked one bed in an all-female compartment, which is always interesting as you never know whom you will end up sharing with. (In this case, there was only one other lady in the 3-person compartment, from Vienna, and she was very nice.) We only chatted for a very short time in the morning, as she left the train one stop earlier than I did.

The ticket for the sleeper included the bed space plus a goodie bag with some snacks, a small bottle of sparkling wine, a pair of house slippers (yes, really), a pen (to fill out the breakfast order), a pair of earplugs, a small muffin, a bottle of water, and a towel (sealed in a plastic bag) with NightJet design.

I was amazed to hear from the conductor during breakfast that these were all intended for the passengers to take away with them, and that whatever was not taken would not be re-packed, but thrown away. So I packed my towel. And the snacks (I would have taken those anyways), and the slippers, and the remainder of the goodie bag contents of my compartmentmate, who was already off the train.

Fast forward to the way back from Leiden, where I took an early train back to get home by afternoon. I had packed some food for the way, leftovers from Chinese takeout shared with friends on Saturday evening, and the bag with the food sat in the front flap pocket of my backpack. Which, in the train, went on to the shelf for luggage... until I changed trains in Duisburg (to get into the next train early, as they were predicted to be very full, and I was very much hoping to get a seat for the ride).

I did manage to get a seat in the next ICE which was not reserved... and there I discovered that the bag with food had quietly and sneakily fallen out of the backpack front, and thus still sat in the other train. Which made me sad for three reasons at once: I was without the lunch I had been really looking forward to (as yesterday's food was delicious with a capital D); I was without my trusty and very convenient re-usable silicone doggy bag, which would probably be thrown away by some train worker at the train's end station; and the food would also be wasted.

So I thought about trying to get it back via the lost-and-found service of DB... only to find out that a) they usually don't care for things worth less than 15 €, b) they do charge for their services, and c) they also charge for calling their service phone number (almost 2 € per minute from my mobile). Sigh.

And then I remembered that one of my friends lives in Karlsruhe, which is the end point of said train. Thanks to the magic of modern communication, I reached him in time (facebook can actually be useful once in a while), and he had, indeed, not any plans for lunch yet...

To my utter delight, he did manage to rescue the bag with food from the train, and I hope he enjoyed the meal! Also, this means we'll have to meet some day, for me to get the bag back, and to celebrate the successful rescue action. This shows that it's a good thing to know people at all places in the world...

It was also a good thing that the night train had supplied me with the snacks, and that my friends had handed me some fruit and extra cookies to take along on my trip back when I packed the lunch - because these had not been in the front pocket of the backpack. They were safely stored in the main compartment, and saved me from getting really hungry on the train. Hooray for friends!

 
 

Recently, I've recommended the travel mug I'm using to someone else. Again. Then I started wondering since when I've been lugging mine around... and today I've finally looked it up.

[caption id="attachment_4848" align="alignnone" width="326"] The battered trusty mug. 


I bought this mug back in fall of 2012, when it was much more shiny and only available in this one single colour, at least at the place I bought it. I wasn't too excited about the brown, but really excited about the promises that came in the description: stainless steel (so very sturdy), large capacity, completely leakproof, and holding beverages hot for a really long time. Especially the completely leakproof was something I had been looking for.

It cost me 45 Euro back then, and I did think hard about whether I wanted to spend so much money on a travel mug - but then, the plastic to-go mugs I had before hadn't been leakproof, and they had given up rather quickly, and they had a theoretical insulation (being double-walled) which was not very good.

So I did buy it. And I used it a lot - when travelling, of course, but also at home when I wanted a large coffee that would keep hot for a long time. The lid gave out in 2015; I got a replacement lid with very little hassle and for about 8 Euro from the German main distributor.

I've been totally happy with this thing ever since I got it. The lid can be a little finicky to clean if you're having milky beverages, but rinsing it out as soon as possible, using a brush or a toothbrush to get into the crevices, and occasionally taking it apart and bathing it in hot water with soda added will keep it nice and eliminate all traces of sour-milk odour, should the dire thing have happened. I'll usually fill it with coffee at home when I am travelling to have it on the road, and when I need a second one (or when I'm not starting from home), it doesn't only eliminate the need for a disposable cup, it also keeps my drink hot for long times. Since I tend to stretch out my coffee-drinking, that counts as a rather large bonus. (Downside: if you fill it with boiling hot water, it will take forever for it to cool down enough to drink. Brewing tea in there means keeping the lid off for a while, until cool enough to sip, or else you will have to wait for about 6 hours before drinking...)

When we were in London, I was even happier about the mug than usual, as there were some coffee shops that only had disposable cups, even for the people sitting down in the shop. So out came the mug... which, usually, also meant a discount on the price of the tea or coffee. And I did mention it's rather large, right? Which means that in most cases, you're getting a little more hot beverage of your choice for about the same price. Even without that bonus, though, we then did the maths... and realised that getting a pricey thermos mug, if you use it regularly, will amortise itself really quickly.

My mug has cost me 45 €. Say you're getting an average discount of 0.20 € per cup of hot beverage. That's exactly 225 hot drinks - a year has about 250 work days, so if you get a cup of something every day you are going to work, this mug has paid for itself in one year. And that's without taking the bit of extra filling into account.

Soon now, my coffee-holding travel companion could celebrate its seventh workbirthday*, and while I'm not using it every single work day, it has long since gone past the 225 hot drinks. It also has seen a lot of different countries, sat inside my car with me for hours and hours, was dropped onto hard floors (hence it can wobble a little now when it's standing), and also has seen the wrong level in a dishwasher (it's okay in the upper level, but the lower one is too hot - which is the reason a lot of the colour has peeled off). I love it, even though it looks battered and not too fancy anymore... and I'm pretty sure there are a lot of coffees and teas in its future still.

Thus, the moral of the story - if you think about getting a travel mug, go ahead and get a good one. Even if it sounds ridiculously expensive at first, it will pay for itself rather quickly!

 
*Probably by having coffee!

We have a small red currant bush in our garden, and now is the time when the fruits are ripe... so it's glorious, glorious custard time!

I love red currants best in two ways: As jelly sandwiched between Christmas cookies, where there is just no replacement for their taste, and buried under hot vanilla custard in the summer. This is one of the childhood tastes that just lingers with me, even though I am making it with different custard today... but it still is a comfort food for me. And it's utterly delicious (or at least I think so). And easy to make to boot:

Pick (or buy) ripe red currants. Make custard according to the instructions on your vanilla custard mix packet, or however else you prefer to make your vanilla custard. While it is cooking, wash the currants, shake them dry-ish, strip them from their stems, and place them into a bowl. If you like your sweet dishes sweet, sprinkle a little sugar on top of them.

Gently pour the hot custard on top of the fruit and let it sit for a bit. That's it. Enjoy.

[caption id="attachment_3882" align="alignnone" width="640"] It's not looking spectacular, I know... but the taste is wonderful.


I like it best when still warm, but it's also delicious when cold. Currant season. I love it.

I like travelling. Well, up to a point - at some point, it does get tedious, and then I really love to be home again.

It's made much nicer, though, by having stuff that I don't want to be without with me, and some things are by now a no-brainer to stick into the bag. My own pillow, for instance. While I used to be able to sleep on about any pillow when I was little, at some point, this changed, and I'm now much more comfortable with my own little pillow to rest my head on. So that does accompany me.

Another thing is some stuff to amuse me, which usually boils down to knitting and an ebook reader (as that is easy to transport and offers a whole library). Finally, something for the yoga habit: my day starts with a bit of yoga, and so I take either a mat or a yoga towel or yoga paws, depending on the space I have and the willingness to carry stuff.

And then there's the food and drink related things, like these:



If you have travelled with me, or seen me at a fair or other event, chances are high that this battered mug was there, too. It's a Thermos King Tumbler mug, holds close to half a litre of drink, is absolutely spillproof when closed and keeps things hot forever. In most cases, baristas will fill it directly and thus save one disposable cup at a time, which is also nice. I usually call it "the world's best thermos cup". I also usually have my own cutlery plus a bit of salt (you never know when you need salt) and, most recent add-on to the essentials, the mini-immersion heater. Add a few bags of tea, and the world's your oyster... because somehow, I really love to have a cup of tea in the evening when I'm alone in my room, getting ready for the night.

Anything you really, really need to have with you when you travel?

I've finally caught up on Escapepod. I still have a hard time believing it - that was a lot of stories, and most of them nice to wonderful.

From last year's bunch of stories, my three favourites were:

Joolie and Irdl
Murder or a Duck
In a Manner of Speaking.

The first two are Hugo-eligible, and I think they'll end up on my list. The third I'd nominate in a heartbeat, but unfortunately it is too old. However, if you have the time and like good stories, go check it out - though let me warn you that it is a bit sad. (If you don't like audio productions, you can also read the stories on the website if you follow the link.)

Just before the year runs out, there are a few new things in the shop - two new kinds of combed top and two versions of a really helpful little tool.

Have I made you curious?

One of the new wools is Gotland wool, consisting of light and dark fibres of similar diameter, which results in a grey overall appearance - but the yarn will, on closer look, show the dark and light fibres. It makes for a fascinating spinning, and a similarly fascinating yarn!

[caption id="attachment_2821" align="alignnone" width="640"] Black and white... makes grey. A really beautiful one in this case.


The other wool is similarly inhomogenous - but it also has different fibre diameters. It's light almost-white to dark brown in the individual fibres, resulting in a light to medium brown wool overall:

[caption id="attachment_2820" align="alignnone" width="640"] Have some variety. In your fibre diameter and in the colour!


I'm even happier, though, about finally having a special kind of helpful tool in the shop: Thread Counters. One a little pricier, but with a higher-quality lens and made from sturdy metal:

[caption id="attachment_2819" align="alignnone" width="640"] Metal Thread Counter


and the other, as the even more affordable option, made from high-quality plastic with a very good lightweight plastic lens:

[caption id="attachment_2818" align="alignnone" width="640"] Plastic Thread Counter


Both kinds are made by Eschenbach Optik (that have their company in the next large town over, which delights me no end, being a believer in regional trade and such) and they are made in Germany. Both have a tenfold magnification, which is the upper end of what thread counters usually do. I've used a thread counter for ages now (it's what I use for checking spinning angle, for instance), and having a good one really is incredibly helpful.

You can get more information about all these things in the shop - click the links in the text to get directly to the individual items, or this one here to get to the shop front, where they should all be waiting for you with their new friends...

It is a truth universally acknowledged by every spinner, weaver, knitter or other textile craftsperson that any tools needed for the craft are herd animals.

As of today, I have a new addition to my personal herd of spinning tools. Never mind that over the years I have accumulated more spindle sticks than I can shake a stick at (quite a few of the sticks intended for sale made it into my personal tool stash). Never mind that I already have two wheels (four, if you count the two not-really-functional ones).

The two functional wheels I do own already are good ones... for their purpose. The reconstruction of the medieval Great Wheel is a wonderful wheel that is suitable for serious production of woolen yarns. It may be slightly wonky, due to the fact it needs to be completely taken apart for travel, but that doesn't make it less productive. It will only do for woolen yarn, though, and it takes up a lot of space, and the yarn (as I have not practiced enough) tends to be a bit uneven. The other one is a small one - my first wheel ever, and it is rather... slow. These days, it is mostly used to wind off portions of thread for selling them, so it still earns its keep, even though not through making yarn.

Once in a while, though, I get a request from a museum regarding yarns that will be as close as possible to the historical originals. For many textiles, especially high medieval or earlier ones, that means thin, very high-twist worsted yarns. Spinning these on a spindle is technically no problem, but even if I do spin quite quickly these days, wind-up time always means that spinning takes a long time. The wheels I own are also not suitable for making yarns of this type - it is technically possible, but takes about the same time as spindle spinning does. I tried to re-vamp one wheel (that is one of the not-really-functional ones), but there were serious problems with the friction necessary to drive the very small whorls. So I can offer historical threads, yes, but as it takes very long to spin them, they are very pricey indeed.

When I was at Wackershofen the weekend before last, though, I finally got the opportunity to try out an e-spinner and see if it could be persuaded to deliver the ratio of twist and yarn intake that I need. Long story short - it did, and today this package arrived here:


Inside, nested in copious amounts of bubble-wrap, is the Zwirnzwerg (literally: plying gnome):


It doesn't come on its own, though (herd animals, remember?) - it is accompanied by a Lazy Kate and two extra bobbins (for a total of three) and a foot pedal and some spare bits (the brake cord, for instance).

The Zwirnzwerg (and how could I not fall for something called a plying gnome...) is produced in Germany, and is relatively new to the market. With all the accessories, and the maker's willingness to cater to special wishes, it is sold for a very, very fair price. The manufacturer's page is German only, but there are some pics, and google translate does a decent enough job to turn it into semi-readable English. I did ask him when we met at the Ravelry fair, and yes, he does ship internationally.

And here it is, my very own helpful gnome:


We will now have to get to know each other, and I will have to get a feel for spinning the yarns I want with it. Obviously, I had to give it a go straight away. The result?


About 0.5 mm in diameter, and with a twist angle of 35-45°.

Or, to stay with the Austen references: I am quite delighted!