Sonderzug nach Pankow
I think I’ll go to Berlin. They understand me there.Archive for Crafts
Slouching past the East Side Gallery
What was that wild snarl of yarn in my last post to become? When we were in Sweden the other weekend, I spotted so many girls wearing adorable slouchy hats. I’ve seen hats like this around Berlin, but nowhere here have I seen as many, and in so many wonderful colours. I couldn’t resist making one for myself.
I’m terrible at keeping up with celebrity fashion, but when I googled around for a pattern, I discovered that Lindsay Lohan inspired this trend. It wasn’t something uniquely and adorably Swedish, but the latest from the world’s favourite tabloid fodder.
I knit slomoeknits’ slouchy copy-cat hat, but to a slightly larger gauge for slouchier effect. Originally I planned to improvise, adding elements from other patterns to get the effect I was looking for (super extra slouchy), but this hat knit up so nicely that I ended up sticking to the pattern the whole way. It’s so cozy, and was perfect for a visit to the East Side Gallery, which, oh shame, I hadn’t been to see before.
The East Side Gallery is the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin wall, reaching from the Oberbaumbrucke, the gorgeous bridge pictured below, to the Ostbahnhof, the eastern train station which was Berlin’s central station until quite recently. The most famous paintings on the Berlin Wall are along this strip.
The Oberbaumbrucke links the Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg districts of Berlin.
After the wall came down, artists from all over the world came together to paint the eastern side of the Berlin wall, which had been untouchable. The paintings on the side of the wall facing the street are by these artists, and on the other side, facing the river, in the so-called ‘death-strip’, the paintings are by local graffiti artists.
The ‘death-strip’ separating the two walls. There’s a wonderful representation of this space in Wim Wender’s Wings of Desire (der Himmel uber Berlin) in which Cassiel realizes that Damiel is finally falling, becoming like humankind, when he sees his human footsteps in the untouched sand that separates these two pure-white walls. An escapee leaves a trail behind in the sand, when he passes between the walls, making it easier for the guards to catch him and murder him for his treason. The sand captures the traces of life. Now, the wall is covered with the signs of life, and the sand has disappeared under the tread of thousands of footsteps.
The paintings that cover the wall speak of Berlin’s history, of a divided and unified city, of peace and of understanding. The gallery calls itself a monument to freedom.
No more wars. No more walls. A united world.
All the best walls have doors in them.
Happiness
If both our lives were turned to dust, like kisses from the sand,
We’d fit no better mingled thus than we do hand in hand.
The way that I’m feeling, like an ocean in a lake,
And if I stopped to breathe now that would be my worst mistake,
So I’m breathless as a fire when I hear your rushing voice,
And I will love you ever if I’m given half a choice.
- “Falling for You”, Stephen Frost
Curled up with a big cup of coffee, Mr. Frost on the stereo and a crafty project in my hands; could a Friday morning be any more pleasant?
What is it? What will it be?
Mr. Bauman and I are going to see Fahrenheit 451 tonight, put on by the company that puts on English-language plays for school classes. I hope to be pleased, but expect to be disappointed – their A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a disaster.
Here I am talking about the Lange Nacht der Museen at Vagabondish.
