Greetings from Germany and Stoll!

Well, we made it over here and through our first week of knitting classes! Thanks to all the folks who pre-ordered custom fit sweaters and other goodies through the kickstarter campaign, we are going to be the proud parents of a Stoll knitting machine! In order to prevent ourselves from breaking it on the first day we have to learn all about it over here at the Stoll headquarters in Reutlingen, Germany.

So far, classes have consisted of learning all the different knit structures on hand powered knitting machines! For me this is more or less a total delight! For Mariano, it’s a special kind of hell that has him more than ready to move onto the computerized knitting machines. Needless to say, we have a good laugh about 4 times a day and have been dubbed “Team America” by our teacher and classmates. After a rigorous morning of knitting, Mariano has decided that knitting could actually be an Olympic sport.

We are fortunate enough to be able to stay with some friends while we are here in a small village called Dettenhausen located about 20 kilometers away from Stoll, which means loads and loads of public transportation to and from classes every day. While riding trains and busses is an experience of its own (one we don’t get much of in the mountains of North Carolina), walking around the towns and villages has been a special treat. The prettiest place we have been to so far is an awesome little city called Tubingen.

Without further adieu (and because I need to get to bed) here are some more photos from our travels!

It’s hard to fathom people living and working in spaces like these without stopping to freak out every day about how beautiful and picturesque everything is, but it’s amazing what you can get used to. The smoke pouring from chimneys and the graffiti we see everywhere are constant reminders that people actually live here.

Also, email grace@appalatch.com if you want a post card all the way from Germany!