At the Beginning of Year 2016

we are all hoping that this year things will take a turn for the better. There were so many tragic events and a lot of grief and sadness during the past year. The hope for freedom and safety drew refugees across dangerous seas, and they were welcomed with open arms or rejected on the grounds of many reasons, an uncertain future awaiting them either way. Nobody knows overall solutions to those troubling problems... But at least we can try and help.

Snow Hat

Last year, I began knitting items for children as my contribution to help people coming into Germany. They are ill prepared for cold winters and snowy conditions and so I thought of hats:

Snow Hat - fluffy white with gold sprinkles

This is a nice pattern, a hat with inbuilt ear flaps, using a light color to make the wearer visible and thus safer during the dark winter hours. Story behind it:

Snow Hat

After I had already started and been about halfway, I was not happy with my winged earflaps. So I did an earflap hat/cap pattern search on Ravelry, a search which was followed by a determined and quick frogging activity.

Snow Hat - moss stitch brim

Using fancitiger's pattern "Ice Skating Cap" I quickly knit up this pretty cap plus two more and dropped them off at one of those collection centers for items useful for refugees. It warms my heart to think they will warm somebody's ears...

Snow Hat - creamy white and gold

I love to knit. Sometime people ask me why I knit. The very question can only come from somebody not involved in textile crafts. Knitting, crochet and other textile techniques involve the brain and the heart and soul simultaneously. While I knit, I can think of wonderful events in my life - especially of my family and friends and cats, as well as of the many wonderful homes I've lived in in a number of countries. In short: it makes me happy.

Winter Morning - Le Lauragais

Observations -  "A small child is toddling along the sidewalk, stopping now and then, seemingly for no particular reason, and then just as spontaneously picking up speed for a short dash to the next attraction, seemingly invisible to everybody but the child. The adult following the child smilingly seems to have no hurry at all in her steps, her arms are a bit stretched out, hands open and ready to catch the child if need be. The child laughs and turns around to share his joy of having seen something new and the grandmother responds in kind with an understanding and reassuring smile."

Frosted Berries (Copyright Valerie Mader)

Symbolic Frontier of Lights - Berlin

On November 9th, Berlin celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. 7000 ballons were lit along a 15 km long segment of the former course of the wall that once separated the city. Truly a symbolic frontier of lights - LICHTERGRENZE - . At the Brandenburg Gate, Conductor Daniel Barenboim directed the Berliner Staatskapelle playing Beethoven's Ode to Joy, renaming it for the event: FREIHEIT SCHÖNER GÖTTERFUNKEN - ODE TO FREEDOM. 

Daily Press: Fireworks illuminating Brandenburg Gate, 9 November 2014

And then the illuminated balloons were released, one after the other, their shell shimmering for some moments and then disappearing into the night, like the wall disappeared out of view. A truly magic moment. Listen to The Winds of Change to catch the spirit.

At the center: Can you see my daughter looking back?

 An estimated one million people wandered slowly through the streets, smiling, happy and elated with the spirit of freedom and unity.

Just before sundown - near Kremmen (Brandenburg, Germany)

Grey Cranes (Grus Grus) flying South

A week before this event, friends invited us for a trip to Kremmen (near Berlin) where thousands of Grey Cranes stop to feed and rest for a few days on their long flight South. A truly amazing event it was, seeing these flocks of cranes flying above, honking as if to have a conversation or keep in close contact during their long trip, constantly changing individual positions in the long stretched-out lines but essentially maintaining their famous energy-saving V-formation, oldest birds leading.

Grey Cranes Flying South

Grey Cranes Flying South

The sky was cloudy, a blessing in disguise because it allowed us to witness an amazingly beautiful sunset, trees silhouetted against the sky of many colors, cranes crossing our path on the ground and flying above in smaller and larger groups - PURE MAGIC!

Knitting took a back seat for the past couple of weeks but a few projects saw the light of the day. I want to make an unsual textile piece to showcase the gift from a very generous and always inspiring Ravelry friend, Faith Welsh of FIBER FUSION Taos. She (Faith Welsh) and her friend Monte McBride are blessed with a true feeling for fibers as you can easily see when visiting their sites. I was the lucky winner of two skeins of gorgeous silk yarn, so beautiful I have it sit in front of me during work to feast my eyes whenever I want to. Hard to find a project displaying the yarn in its full beauty - maybe a scribble shawlette, lacy and light, combined with kid silk haze? A heart-warming idea ...

Recycled Silk from Fiber Fusion

Shining and glossy, candy of eyes and soul

Magnificent Colors!

Imagine! Faith and Monte are selling these !

Wide horizons -TEXTILE ART BERLIN III

The Lauragais landscape flows in soft waves to the far horizon. Occasionally, there is a bastide, a castle or a windmill accentuating the slight rises from the plains, serving as a resting point to the eye before searching for yet another elevation. The golden sea of sunflowers and wheat, the multi-colored untilled fields and the various green crops gracing the undulating harmonious landscape create a visual harmony no man can replicate in all its beauty and variety.

Le Lauragais

In most every way the picture above - grandson Victor, lifting his arms in a subconscious gesture as if ready to take off, joining and greeting a glider passing above while daughter Anne is capturing the moment with her camera - this very picture encapsulates our sentiments and feelings for the Lauragais. Loving the moment, enjoying the present, yet also longing for faraway places we have not yet seen. Having lived in Le Lauragais for almost two decades it is quite a change to reign in the accustomed distant views to neighboring long tree-lined boulevards, stately houses, the occasional quiet park and clear lakes... moving to a city.

The city of Berlin offers much in way of culture and art, an overflowing cornucopia of events, exhibitions and exciting places old and new to visit. Below are a few more pictures taken at the impressive TEXTILE ART BERLIN. I am going to do some more research to add the artist's name to each creation. The variety of work was simply overwhelming and it is hard to make a selection. Also see Textile Art Berlin Part I and Part II.

A quilt quite out of the ordinary!

A masterful combination of many crafts and materials

Fish or Bird - Loons come to mind

Lace Work - Heron Taking Flight

Quilt made of fleece and wood

Primavera Quilt

Luminous Quilt

Stained Glass Window St. Marien Church Angermünde

Stained Glass Pieces - St. Marien Church, Angermünde - Scherbenfenster

Don't the stained glass windows resemble the quilt? So luminous. The stained glass window with no obvious motif was made was made with hundreds of small glass fragments and sherds collected from the rubble by the citizens of Angermünde after the church itself had been bombed.

Scherbenfenster - Stained Glass Window made of Fragments - St. Marien Church Angermünde

It is called The Fragment Window and was pieced together soon after the war and left as one can see it now as a reminder and warning for later generations.

Speaking of new horizons - I came across a lovely Estonian Lace pattern which Megan Mills figured out - and in Aukland, New Zealand she is about as far away from Berlin as one can be - so hurray once again for Ravelry to have offered a meeting place for crafty people! I was so eager to try this lace pattern that I set aside other projects (a turn of events well known to fellow crafters), downloaded Megan's charted and written pattern and made a small lace patch that grew and grew. But now what ? No more of the same yarn - maybe I should turn it into one module of a vest?
Spring 2015 - the swatch grew into a shawl and was swooped off the needles by a wonderful friend who is now wearing it in California (USA).

Estonian Lace Pattern - Recreated by Megan Mills

Estionian Lace Pattern - Recreated by Megan Mills

Estonian Lace Pattern - Recharted and written by Megan Mills

White Lily - just for opening and closing this post with a picture of nature's splendor!

The Many Meanings of Moving

The avant-garde painter, poet and typographist Francis Picabia is said to have thought of this bonmot: "Our heads are round so that thinking can change direction", while John Maynard Keynes - when being accused during a heated argument with a high government official of being a bit inconstant with his opinions - replied: "Once the facts change, I must change my opinion. And what are you doing, Sir?"

A peaceful morning in the Lauragais country-side

Yes, it is perfectly acceptable and even advisable to change one's opinion if the facts change. A few years ago I realized that "eventually I will have to move closer to a larger city", and the "eventually" has become now. Moving - with all its meanings. In the languages I know "moving" always has several meanings. Changer l'adresse, déménager, changing, moving, umziehen, verziehen - the verbs denote change and, depending on your interpretation and mood, also hold a corcucopia, a corne d'abondance of options, beckons with new chances and experiences.

Japanese Ornamental Apple  (Malus Floribunda)

A move is moving in many ways. We consciously say good-bye to local friends we made and are not simply torn apart with no farewell. We say good-bye to things we learned to love or were the very reason we picked as our home so many years ago in the first place. Moving is the farewell to the environment we appreciated and became accustomed to. Moving is the realization that our friends will no longer be in the vicinity for a quick face-to-face visit. Consoling and moving in a different sense is the realization that the nightingale will keep on singing her song, that the barn owls will spread their wings and glide silently through the night, that the occasional deer will stilt elegantly through the high grass around the house, the red squirrels will chatter up in the 400 year old oak trees and the hoopoe family will raise their young ones in the same hollow tree as every year.

Sunrise in the Lauragais

We have to accept change or even trigger it ourselves because the facts changed.
So almost two years ago, I started packing and sorting, donating and giving things away, reducing decades of accumulations to a few cartons and just basic furniture. Accumulations, which were bestowed on me by grandparents, parents and friends - lovely books, linen, china, each holding special memories of family and friends. Despite all efforts, I found no home for 45 years of National Geographic Magazines, a complete collection from 1968 to 2010. I found no home for yellowed pocket books from the Sixties, which were so essential to me at that time, nor for almost all the other books of my library comprising more than 60 years of reading. 

Hoopoe guarding golden silk

I almost felt I betrayed the authors... Ralph Ellison, Rachel Carson, Nadine Gordimer, Gail Sheehy, Oliver La Farge, Mari Sandoz, Vine Deloria Jr., and James Welch, whose Winter in the Blood moved me to tears - but burning their books was less painful than throwing them into the container at the tip. I watched the smoke rising into the clear sky and thought of how their thoughts have changed and enriched my life and, in effect, that of my children, so their work lives on in the mind of many.
I parted with Leonard Cohen, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Pete Seeger and the very early Beatles. Parted with The Platters, Ray Charles, Nat King Cole, Miriam Makeba, Floyd Red Crow Westerman. Van Cliburn and Glen Gould, playing Tchaikovsky and Bach. A record with Yevgeny Yevtushenko reading his powerful poem of Babiyy Yar. I am certain that my US friends of old would have appreciated these treasures, but of course, they hung on to their own copies as well, we were the sixties generation.

By http://cyberbrethren.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/sixties.jpg

The doors to a different setting are opening and I will see the positive and joyful options and remember gratefully the past - and I am glad I didn't miss a single day of appreciating what I have and had.
Occasionally though, I need to take my mind off from saying farewell - time to relax a bit and instead concentrate on something less emotional, knitting a lace pattern for example - just difficult enough to stay concentrated but allowing thoughts to ramble in between repeats - knitters know that phenomenon, how one's hands seem to memorize the rapport faster than one's brain! As most of my stash is already keeping precious antique books in their moving boxes safely cushioned against jolts, I quickly saved ArtYarns Beaded Silk Mohair from becoming stuffing material, treating myself to one of the most treasured yarns in my stash for making a lace cowl.

Flared Lace Smoke Ring Cowl with Art Yarn Beaded Silk Mohair

Flared Lace Smoke Ring Cowl with Art Yarn Beaded Silk Mohair

Art Yarns Beaded Silk Mohair

The cowl pattern is by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer, it is called Flared Lace Smoke Ring. The picture below is copyright Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer.

Dutch Masters Painting the Sky

As if the night sky wanted to stay into the day - splendiferous display of colors: from charcoal black and ashy grey, from dazzling yellow to brilliant amber to bright, almost incandescent and eruptive gold, from a tender hue of pink to earthy terra cotta to smoldering, glowing deep red, from eggshell white to azure blue - engraving the landscape silhouette in all its details against the horizon. The Dutch master painters must also have been early risers ...

This post does not include my usual textile references and new projects - but I thought you would enjoy looking at the autum sky now that October is here and we need to feast our eyes on those wonderful fall colors! 

PS: Of course there's always a small yarn tale to tell - this specific one is ribbon yarn by Louisa Harding and the muted silk is home-spun and one of my earliest efforts of dyeing pastel colors. At least some of the yarns are immersing themselves into the above color abundance.

Blown by the wind...

Today, first day of September, there is already an autumn tune in the air, literally: the breeze from the Atlantic is briskly whistling, taking the first leaves off the trees, whirling them up before letting them gently settle in a protected corner, a gathering place until they are revisited by yet a stronger breeze. It appears as if the steady wind was driving the crop across the fields, creating undulating waves of golden green, moving through the valleys and beyond towards the horizon.

In October 1965, when I arrived in Chicago on a glorious fall sunshine morning, I learned within days why the Second City was also called Windy City. Those winds were strong, forceful and freezingly cold in those long and harsh Midwest winters, while most of the time they very welcome in the humid heat of the summer, refreshing one's spirits. Wind is a magician, creating beautiful patterns on land and sea and we all love the tiny ripplings on the shimmering surface of lakes or mighty foam-crested waves at a shoreline created by wind.

For some time now, I've been looking for a project suitable for the iridescent 70% cotton/30% polyamide yarn Cambio (Lana Grossa) I had bought a long time ago. I came across this beautiful Sakasama Jacket, designed by Ravelry designer OlgaJazzy.
Although the yarn used in Olga's original is totally different I thought I'd give it a try. The Cambio is a bit slick and slippery when being knit and the drop will be different. But then, maybe this is just a test run?
I like the shiny green and purple combination and am hoping that I won't run out of yarn before the BO!

The green and purple of the Cambio yarn picks up the light and uses it to assume subtle color variations - while the dewy sheen on the leaves quickly turns into a brighter green when touched lightly.

When it rains, the shimmering blue of raindrops falling from a dark sky simply adds more beauty and allows the leaves to reflect their environment over and over again, in every dew drop, each a magnifying glass for the ambient universe. And if you miss the sound of rain and happen to have an hour off, here is rain, rain, rain... You might also appreciate this Sound of Rain - by Led Zeppelin.

In time for fall, the Noro cowl AYA is finished and ready to snugly protect against chills. If you are curious about the name, check out this explanation on Wiki.

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong."

Joseph Chilton Pearce