Our oven finally died last week... it was an old one, probably put into the kitchen when the house was built back in the 1970s. It was also a rather simple one, having only one setting: Convection fan on full. (Well, it could also turn on the "Grill", which was full-on heat from the top to quickly brown things, or burn them, depending on how good you are at handling this, but that was it.)

So for about nine years, all I did with the oven was done in convection fan mode. When we moved in here, it was perfectly able to bake three large sheets of things perfectly at the same time. Recently, though (which means in the last two or three years), there were some colder spots here and there, and the dough was not perfectly done everywhere. Still good enough, though.

About half a year ago, we started thinking about thinking about a replacement, since the oven would clearly not last forever anymore... and then, last Wednesday, it died a quick and quiet death on a Biskuitrolle (Swiss roll is probably the best translation).



So. Time for a new one... and we hope to make a good choice for one that will both do what it's supposed to do, and do it for a long time. Though I am not expecting it to last as long as the old one, which must have been somewhere between about 40 and close to 50 years!

Sometimes, things don't quite go according to plan... as is the case in this ballet piece, though things are supposed to not go according to plan. Which makes this... not according to plan according to plan?

Ah, never mind. I thought it was hilarious - and it does not hurt my appreciation of actual dance going right at all - quite the opposite!

Some interesting things I stumbled across:

There's a "Jumpers and Jazz" festival in Warwick that includes a men's knitting circle. How cool is that?

More cool knitting - there's a guy offering scarf knitting via a stationary cycle matched up with a knitting machine in a train station (German article with picture and video link). That seems to be somewhere in Belgium... but maybe there will be more Cyclo-Knitters in the future, who knows?

Not interested in knitting? Here is an article about factories - to be more precise, it's a book review, but it makes for an interesting read on its own.

Just in case you feel a little like I do - that this week is slightly too long, and that there is slightly too much work to fit into the single days - here's a silly video of the Star Trek theme song, with lyrics added on top:


The singing is... hm... not the most melodic. The thing is fun overall, though. And with that posted, I shall boldly go to wash more wool, write more things about clothes depicted on a wall somewhere in Northern Germany, and catch up on the most recent emails...

Time for a link roundup again! Here you go:

I've been finding weird messages in my Facebook inbox recently - my name, a few emojis and a link to a video. This, as my browser obligingly tells me, is a virus-generated scam. While I was smart enough not to click on that link the first time it appeared (ages ago), it has become more frequent recently, and it's rather annoying to get those messages.

A totaly different message, not annoying at all but totally fascinating, is a diary written on floorboards by a carpenter in 1880 and 1881 - recently discovered in a castle in France.

If you are looking to do some knitting for KEME, Jane is still looking for volunteers for her knitting and fulling project. Here's an Interweave article about  it, including full instructions, so you know what you are getting into.

I recently stumbled across a site called The Public Medievalist, and if you are looking for some interesting medievalism-related stuff to read about, this might be just the site for you.

The first article I came across is about an incident in the SCA, where the Snartemo band caused some uproar due to its Swastika patterns. We had a very interesting paper and discussion about just this topic - the motif and the problems showing it may cause today - at the last Textile Forum, so it was a very interesting piece for me.

But there's a lot more to read on the site, and if you are interested in the topics of race and the Middle Ages, the currently running Special Series is just the thing. There's even an article about a medieval story possibly being the basis for a scene in The Last Jedi...

Today is a public holiday in Germany, so you're getting a picture of a Pfingstrose instead of a blog post.



According to its name, it should be blooming this weekend, but it des not look like it will be able to make it until tonight. Its colleague in the other flower bed has bloomed last weekend  - keeping track of the calendar does not seem to be the strong suit of these plants...