Do you prefer cake ?

Kindling your imagination: A small road in the countryside - leading your vision beyond the horizon.

Countryside

Buying yarn has something to do with having a vision. It is an exciting and rewarding experience, mind-stretching and nerve-racking at the same time. One visualizes the existing stash, colors, textures, quantity, suitability... The very probability of actual use takes second place to desire for more. We split our personality into two, one on the outside, giving us as much positive feed as we want, and one on the inside, the reality person, reasoning, weighing the pros and cons of the potential purchase, but also soberly searching for excuses to add to a vast existing stash and so forth.

 Doesn't this wrap's shape and strong neon-line colors set your fantasy in motion?

Then there is the lure of the yarn's presentation! We perceive not just skeins, cones or hard core balls, we visually caress Hankenskeins, and yes! CAKES and donut balls! See these and more in this illustration (Interweave). Various known and unknown gadgets cast their spell on us and our credit card. A Nostepinne (Wickeldorn, Ball Winder)
in various new versions, incredibly easy-to-handle Bamboo Curved Needle Sets for socks, hats and loops, a true must-have for a dedicated sock or cowl knitter... Dream on, knitters and yarn fanatics!

 

This wrap created itself in my hands last winter (2016-2017). The meanderings are the opposite to straight lines, back and forth they rise and fall and add peaks and valleys to the structure. Smaller glossy beads and heart-shaped buttons in green, black and purple will catch the eye when the wrap is worn and thus becoming alive. It is a gift for Hélène, our Parisian family member, and - true to proverbial expectations - a très chique and beautiful Parisienne, wearing the wrap with great aplomb (Glitzy freeform wrap / scarf for Hélène)

Northern Lights / Aurora Borealis

Photographs copyright Valerie Mader + Ute Mader

Laden with Texture and Color

All colors are my favorite. Is the singular of favorite correct grammatically, visually, perceptively, sensitively? Hard to decide, but the essence of all colors certainly is. I've been gathering yarn for decades, like this lovely Austermann Fancy Mix bought many years ago. 

Count the colors !

The first Breeze wrap I made I gave to a dear friend in France, using some of my many socalled orphan yarns (only one skein available for purchase) but Jane Thornley's Breeze pattern is so versatile that I could not resist drawing on the Breeze system again, this time using my long-treasured Austermann Fancy Mix. I combined it with some dramatic black and a golden cord I bought at the Berlin Textile Art exhibition last week  - adding volume, glamor and ritzy chic. After all, this is a gift for a special lady who is a goldsmith. What a wonderful and truly precious profession!

Golden Wrap

This time I wove a golden cord - twinned with a smooth black leather thread - through the smaller CO-edge as a draw-string. Gathered into undulating waves, it turns into a lovely shoulder-hugging cowl, framing the neck in precious colors like in a Klimt painting, or Egon Schiele's Crescent of Houses (1915, Der Häuserbogen II, Leopold Museum, Vienna).
Please see the wrap "Winter Breeze" posted earlier in this blog to get an idea of the shape (triangular) and size (always depending on the person who will receive the wrap).

Please visit ARTSY if you wish to know more about  Egon Schiele or Gustav Klimt. ARTSY is an association with the mission to make works of art available for viewing and buying on the Internet.

 Egon Schiele: Crescent of Houses

Happiness is the sum of many small things

Texture plus color are difficult to describe - that is why it is a haptic and visual sensation at once. It is easy to equal such sensations to those being in a garden with a bounty of bright flowers in summer and muted ones in winter. Since I moved to Berlin, I came to appreciate even more Peter Joseph Lenné's astounding capabilities as a garden designer and architect, a master landscaper.

Sanssouci - castle and vineyards

Amonst many prestigeous positions he was a founding member of the Prussian Society for the Promotion of Horticulture in 1822, and accepted the position of Manager of the Parks Division and the Orchard Cultivation. What is so utterly amazing is the fact that he, with no help of airplanes or hot-air balloons, was able to visualize an overall parc concept, incorporating many lakes, the river Havel, a number of existing castles such as Sanssouci (the above picture is by museumsportal-berlin.de) in Potsdam, and castles to be yet designed and built. The overall concept included the Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) - the ensemble part of the Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin (UNESCO World Heritage Site). Truly a man with a lot of foresight, patience, know-how, experience, vision and imagination, such as all great gardeners must possess.

Relocating

Le Lauragais, in the Midi, in France. Walking across vast meadows, cut once in late May and now covered with a short gruffy aftermath, again offering visual protection for field mice darting through the new growth of grass and weeds, I think of the seasons passing year after year, eternally changing, coming and going, surviving us all.

A deer feasting on fresh green grass

I see the deer stepping out of nowhere, feeding on the new grass in the coolness of the evening. A summer meadow flower smell fills the air. I feel acutely homesick for the landscape although I have not even departed yet. I miss the feeling of belonging to this place we will have called home for so long - while I am still there and departure is but a remote day away. Ambivalence might come close to our state of mind.
There are not enough words to describe the feeling of loss and how I dread the time when for inevitable reasons that loss of our paradise becomes real and inevitable. I wish....     Cut.

Salix integra ""Hakuro Nishiki"; Harlekinweide / Zierweide, Saule

Relocating, again. Physically and mentally. This time it is different, circumstances dictated the move. We are heading for a life - a different life - in a city, in Berlin, one of the largest capitals in the world, a sprawling city of more than 3.5 million people, one third of its territory covered by forests, parks, gardens, and rivers. I am discovering private and public  gardens and consider them mine for the viewing.

Bridges: scarf with drop stitch ladders connecting cables

Garden flowers, so different from the wealth and unbridled abundance of wild flowers, so colorwheel-composed and arranged and yet not conveying the same impression of nature's harmony. Tamed for a purpose. Different. Bits of nature parcelled out to alleviate concrete monotony. Showcases in most places, gardeners tending designed gardens, meadows turned weedless lawns, wild flowers replaced by suitable soil and climate-adapted flower arrangements. But still - flowers and 440.000 trees, lovely boulevards and a surprising number of smaller parks contributing to the "green lung" of Berlin.

Bridges: scarf with drop stitch ladders connecting cables

Reapproaching textile work  - it is difficult these days. The now omnipresent conflicts in the world, the wars, and flight and plight of the refugees streaming into Europe, the rising of nationalistic parties in many countries, the presently apparent political chaos caused by the nation-splitting referendum in England - all of this makes it difficult to settle down to something seemingly inanely normal such as textile crafts, I almost feel guilty sitting down with my needles and yarn and concentrate on lacy pattern with a more or less intricate repeat...

Above: An off-white scarf made of ivory-colored mohair and the finest Chinese natural silk and Moroccan embroidery silk, three cables connected by drop-stitch bridges. Just right for days in spring with a northern breeze.

Moroccan Embroidery Silk - adding hues of color to other yarns

Below: Dipping into my huge stash, the approaching summer called for an intensely colorful scarf. It is knit lengthwise. CO on a multiple of 18. Roughly following a Feather and Fan pattern. Meanderings in bright colors and crazy lacy stitch patterns, alternating needle sizes and yarn gauge. If you are uncertain about gauges, this is a good site to get acquainted with yarn calculations. Color mix: of course nature is way ahead of me, could have added a million more colors! Just follow your mood...

Glitzy freeform wrap / scarf for Hélène

Britzer Garten (Berlin)

I thought it might be interesting to introduce a number of famous Berliner personalities:
1) Journalist, writer, author, satirist: Kurt Tucholsky "The New York Times hailed him as "one of the most brilliant writers of republican Germany. He was a poet as well as a critic and was so versatile that he used five or six pen names. As Peter Panter he was an outstanding essayist who at one time wrote topical sketches in the Vossische Zeitung, which ceased to appear under the Nazi regime; as Theobald Tiger he wrote satirical poems that were frequently interpreted by popular actors in vaudeville and cabarets, and as Ignatz Wrobel he contributed regularly to the Weltbühne, an independent weekly that was one of the first publications prohibited by the Hitler government."

 

This is from a poem (1924) on travelling through places and times: 

Die Kinder lärmen auf den bunten Steinen. 

Die Sonne scheint und glitzert auf ein Haus. 

Ich sitze still und lasse mich bescheinen 

und ruh von meinem Vaterlande aus.

Children play noisily on the colorful rocks.

The sun is shining, rays glistening on a roof.

I am sitting quietly, basking in the sun

and take a rest from my fatherland

Transparency - Compassion - Hope

"Sometimes the fog in the early morning, just before sunrise, seems to let us gently become aware of the light, opening opaque windows to the bluer sky beyond and wiping them shut a number of times before the gossamer fog cloak becomes transparent". This is a parable for each day, month or year: As time passes, we experience new impressions, events and changes in our lifes, some easily apparent, some hidden until the last moment.

Fog  Blanketing the Fields

According to the Gregorian calendar, the year 2016 is just a few hours away. I pray and hope for peace in the many troubled places around the globe. While the past twelve months were predominantly marked by horrible events, there were also sparks of hope glimmering as if one was asked not to give up and instead get engaged in helping no matter whom. Even if one drops but a penny into the cup a person in need holds out, at that moment you are momentarily engaged into caring about your fellow human being. A small token of your empathy- yet you do make a difference. Everybody does.

Winter Time

Sometimes life changes within a few moments. One sees an image, a picture one cannot wipe from the retina, it logs into our memory, indelibly. The picture of the small child, washed up on shore of a Turkish beach. It is this image of drowned Syrian boy Aylan that went around the world, it brought near the horrors of war, and it stirred a public outcry for help, commiseration and sympathy for the surviving father. I am hoping that we continue to see that image lodged in our brain and that we will remember the fate of this three-year-old child every time we must make a decision whether to accept a refugee or sent her/him back to a place he or she desperately wanted to leave.

Santolina

New Year Resolutions? I was not ever making any. This time will be the first. I don't have much to offer. But maybe teaching a small child how to knit would be a worthwhile gift, lasting a life-time?
Teaching a child the language it will from now on need to make friends, to feel at home in kindergarten, school, and indeed in life. Let us welcome those homeless people into our web of life.

Resilient and Strong

Winter time - I was knitting a few hats for children for our local Refugee Help Center. Always welcome are scarves, mitts, cowls and chokers. Here is a choker, knit in the round with bobbly wool, with a crocheted edge of silky ribbon and fine fuzzy mohair.

Choker

Loopy Yarn

Design Ideas Unlimited

No new post since the beginning of the new year? It isn't that I wouldn't know what to write, admire and share. In the the contrary, there is so much to write about, so much to share - but so little time. But then the freedom of time lies just beyond that wall of commitments we choose to erect ourselves. So let me plunge right into the ongoing second quarter of the year 2015.

Three Designs by Victor

My grandson Victor has this uncanny feeling for his Oma's favorite activities, apart from spoiling him as much as his parents will allow. He surprised me with the request: "Can you teach me how to knit, Oma? We can knit a jumper together!" Now if that isn't music in every grandmother's ears, a fanfare and wake-up call to dash to the nearest LYS with my grandson. He made three designs in a matter of ten minutes, bold colors, and not a moment of hesitation - and off we went.

Victor and his Little Prince Scarf

To stick to the time frame of 8 days from start to finish, the bulky jumper turned into a colorful scarf, spring is coming and no pampering of British school children, please! The second project would be a tropical fish and finally he wanted to chrochet a palm tree at the sea. All designs were color-coded and annotated, both in writing and verbally. The blue line escaping from the top of the palm tree ought to be disregarded though, it was "just a thought, but you can ignore it." (What a relief!)

Design by Victor: Tropical Fish

He knew exactly what he wanted and in the yarn shop, he wavered not for a second when chosing the yarn and colors for each project. We also picked up knitting needles and a fat crochet hook. He danced and skipped along the sidewalk on our way home, carrying the bag with his yarn loot. I found it endearing that he checked on all facts, such as "fat needles" are not a sign for beginner knitters, and we began to guess what size of needles were used for the jumpers/cardigans of people we met on our way home. Victor would jubilantly pass someone with a bulky jumper and sing out loudly: "UK Triple 000" (his favorite!).

Victor's Palm Tree on a Sandy Beach at the Sea

He loved going through the motions with the "fat needles" and when he took some time off, just to get that latest Lego completed, he had me under his supervision: "Keep on knitting, Oma", he admonished me when I let the knitting drop in my lap to have a sip of tea. For the land-sea scape he did crochet the palm tree trunk while I was responsible for the blue backdrop added later. I love his confidence that Oma can just knit anything he wanted (sadly: except Lego) and why not? After all we have picture knitting, intarsia, fair isle etc. all at our disposal.

Scarf: Knitting needles US 15/10-12 mm. Chunky yarn such as "Seriously Chunky" Cygnet. Cast on an odd number of stitches, ca. 17. Knit the first and last 2 rows in seed stitch 3 and last 3 stitches in seed stitch to prevent curling. Change color 4 times, not exactly at 1/4th of the length of the scarf, it looks more casual if the halfway point is a bit off. Add tassels if you wish. Neatly weave in ends from color change before your grandson cuts them off without much ado. The fish receives an eye made of one small button placed on top of a larger button and sewed to where the fish eye is supposed to be. Ask Victor.

Joan Ingilby

During our vacation in the UK, I happened to chance on this link about little known knitting facts you might enjoy reading. And below is a clip from a newspaper, telling about Joan Ingilby (born near Ripon) who was "a chronicler of centuries-old rural life in Yorkshire and the co-author of "The Old Hand Knitters of the Dales".  Unfortunately the bookshop in Ripley Castle did not carry a copy but if you come across the book it promises to be an interesting read.

Ripley Castle Gardens

And one more item on the extile front: A nice and versatile stitch I saw recently is this one: "twice-turned-stitch" with an excellent video tutorial.

Sample knit with Lighthouse Waves on US Size 9 needles

and there is a pretty free cowl pattern using this stitch as well. I would imagine that a lacy yarn and larger needles would produce a wonderful lightweight shawl or wrap for those cooler summer evenings. In winter time the option of knitting a baby blanket appears to be the obvious choice.

A few dark colors: Slate roof glistening after a heavy rainfall

Many bright colors: Victor painted a pepple and hid it for the Easter Bunny

If you are interested in more helpful knitting/crochet links check out this post (scroll to bottom)

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.