Back to Reality

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." William Morris (British designer)

The stuff is sorted out (so proud, and I even enjoyed it, I think you can train your decluttering and cleaning muscles) and just in time a new book arrived yesterday with the "amazon man" (that is what my husband calls him, he suspects us to have an affair, considering how often he stops by with presents for me...):



Organized Simplicity - The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living
(I seem to need a book or two for everything that interests me at a given moment - this blog already starts looking like a review...) by Tsh Oxenreider. I just discovered her blog simplemom a couple of days ago and started browsing the book last night. Having been a chaos-cat for most of my life this is new and very surprising direction for me.

Together with the challenges of back-to-the-yoga-mat-teaching,
a four-year-old who recently doesn't want to go kindergarten at all and my intention to remain sane, the prescription for tonight is - my own personal Knit Night! Results coming soon.

PS: Now I understand why yesterday was such a powerful and unusual day (if you are not a kundalini yogi don't be estranged by the turban and the mantras in the beginning, this woman really knows her numerology)!

PPS: I don't usually wear a turban.

Organisational Freak

This:


(stuff from my desk, from actually under my desk and all my daughter's drawings and artwork from the last months)

needs to get into this:



or it will eventually land here:

The Hanging on the Wall

New Year's resolution number one is a (relatively) clean home with less clutter. As it is written in the book Simplify your life (it is a German book with an English title, I have never read it but a friend told me about it), the best place to start with is your desk. Or above your desk, in my case.
Last year I made those wall pockets, inspired by the wall pockets in here and in here.



This weekend we finally got around to drill the holes in the wall for the hooks to hold the bamboo stick. I am very much pleased with the result!

I bought the linen on a special market this fall - Stoffmarkt Holland. It it is a Dutch open air fabric market touring through Germany offering loads of fabrics and lots of bargains.

What I especially like - the Japanese look of it, with the Japanese girls and flowers on the ribbon.





So after all this cleaning and organising, let's sit back and relax with a well-deserved cup of delicious japanese genmaicha tea and some japanese yarn for knitting and - just enjoy Sunday afternoon.



Today is the last day of my holiday - tomorrow I am back on the yoga mat teaching.

A Year in Pink and Purple III - Colours of my Stash

Just for fun I wanted to take a look at my wool. I took most of it out of the drawer and put in on the table - a sea of pink and purple (see also A Year in Pink and Purple and A Year in Pink and Purple II).







The little bits of green give me a lot of hope.



And I can see a rainbow.

More Inspiration: Children's Art

The main reason for me to start embroidering (and knitting and sewing and so much more) was an idea I found in the highly recommendable book The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections by Amanda Blake Soule (thank you forever), the best book I know about creativity, young children and family. One project in this great book is a pillow with an embroidered piece of children's art in front. On Amanda's beautiful and ever-so-inspirational blog soulemama you can also see a wallhanging and a quilt.

I took a couple of daughter's recent drawings - fairies, princesses and a house of hearts. Here is my progress:










I enjoy embroidering these little pieces so much, such a sweet thing to do.

Inspiration Corner: Russia

Matryoshka dolls! Sometimes also known as babushka dolls, which I find funny because no-one in Russia calls them like that. A babushka is a grandma. And the matryoshkas don't look like grannies at all, being also a symbol of motherhood and fertility.



These little girls seem to be a lot around these days, as you can see on fabric and boxes. I have plans with them...

Baby Fun

Last year we had the pleasure of 16 (!) babies born in our circle of family and friends. Today I had the wonderful chance to visit the latest arrival.

Born to a special mama, who became a good friend of mine last year.
We met at a sewing course, and soon she would come to my prenatal yoga classes and also be infected with the knitting virus and become a member of Oldenburg Knit Night. I have never seen such a young woman be that productive in her pregnancy, sewing and knitting all those cute baby things, for herself, her husband (and she even found the time to sew a bag for my knitting stuff).

Special mama, special baby boy. Born on winter solstice day, he entered the world exactly at the time of the full lunar eclipse.

So, special presents.



Warm baby socks. I wondered whether those socks would fit, but newborn feet are really that small. They came in a little drawstring bag from vintage fabric. The pattern is from Regia Journal 4001.
The wool is Lana Grossa Merino Superfein.

And I also wanted to try my newest embroidery skills.



A great book, Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray, comes with more then 400 sweet and modern embroidery designs (plus CD to adapt designs to different sizes) and 17 projects to make, like baby bodysuits.



I chose this little sheep.



All the good luck in the world for you!

Knitting in India

My fascination with wool started on the last warm and sunny day of September in 2009, when I felt the autumn coming and an endless desire to crochet a blanket. A blanket in my daughter's favourite colours, to keep her warm during my month long absence in November (part of the blanket can be seen in yesterday's post).

When I embarked on my trip to India for my Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training in Rishikesh at the Parmath Niketan Ashram, I took with me a bag full of cotton yarn (knowing how warm it can be in India, who wants to knit with wool then?) in all the colours of the rainbow, or more yogalike in all the colours of the chakras. I had metal hooks for my regular crochet and bamboo hooks for the flight (time on a plane was never more enjoyable). This was to become my meditation blanket.


at the airport in Hamburg


stopover in Istanbul


during classes

I wanted to capture all the wonderful energy of yoga, meditation and India in this blanket.

And while crocheting my way through the yoga teacher training I found Indian co-crafters.



An old man with his stall sitting at the banks of the Holy River Ganga where he has been knitting and selling his works for years and years (I especially love those water bottle holders hanging in front).





The lovely lady in the little shop of the ashram, where we got our daily supplies of water, cashew nuts and tissues. Yes, the winter was coming to Northern India, too!



in shops around town








Once, while sitting in the beautiful gardens of the ashram, an Indian lady with her daughter approached me, very interested in my crochet (always a good icebreaker in India) and my pink yarn. And very happy when I gave it to her.



Then all those brave Indian men, always proud to wear pink and purple.





and the occasional blue



What I love most - knitting for the little ones. Mamas and grandmas keeping them warm & cozy.







Thank you, India!

A Year in Pink and Purple II

New Year - same likings. I could not resist the urge to cast on two brand new projects in those colours, with yummy Zauberball and Noro Kureyon from last year's stash. Hmmm...

Family Hats

With the coldest winter for 40 years in Northern Germany around us, it makes sense to cover your head and ears properly. Just in time shortly before Christmas I found this book:



Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. "Kim's Hats" offers a variety of hats with a basic pattern, I picked the Flap Ear Hat. It knits up really quickly, in 3-4 hours.



The first one was for my daughter in her favourite colours, the wool is Lana Grossa Superbingo.



Then I also wanted one.



Knitted with "Claudia" Four Seasons Gruendl.

One more for the man in the house - here come the Family Hats!



Wherever you are, I hope you stay warm, too.

A Clean Start

New Year resolutions... if any,
(1) I would like my house to be in more or less order. Always a challenge with a crafty and self-employed mama and an also very crafty, energetic and lovely four-year-old, who likes to draw, paint and play with glue ALL THE TIME (mama, why do we have to clean at all, we can play all day?). BIG thanks to the down-to-earth man in the house, who keeps things real and is the best and efficient cleaner ever. Nice & clean New Year!

Last year brought a lot of new and exciting things into our house.

a sewing machine



lots and lots of wonderful books about knitting, crochet, sewing and embroidery

knitting tools galore





a serger, which was my christmas gift to myself

and a lot of wool and fabric in the chest of drawers underneath



These gadgets are fantastic and I am so happy to have and use them, but I want to get rid of all the clutter in the house, nobody will miss when it is gone. Less is more (craft books not included..), how true is that.

I have this picture of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi in my house. I bought it in Rishikesh / Northern India during my Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training in 2008. Lakshmi is known as the goddess of prosperity. But not the sheer abundance of only money, but the divine power within that gives you contentment no matter how the circumstances are. And from that inner feeling happiness, satisfaction and success can radiate into the world and come into your life. Very beautiful.



Money must flow and to remind me of that and a lot of other benefits,
resolution (2): drink a lot of water

Magic number (3): finish my longest sitting UFO - the babette meditation blanket

PS: My Kundalini Yoga Guru Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa from L.A. wears what looks like a hand knitted sweater in her New Year's Message - that surely is a good sign.