Weekending

What a busy, beautiful winter weekend we had. There was no baking though, no Sonntagssüß. Instead I am joining Amanda for some Weekending. We spend most of it outside in the cold. Both my men were standing (sitting) on frozen ice for the first time in their lives!

The "lake" we went to is in a park in Cologne, called Blücherpark. One of my very favourite spots, especially in Summer when there are concerts, public viewing soccer and weekend picnics. But no need to miss summer this weekend!

And then there was lots of crafting going on inside. I finished my socks, I did some driftwood painting and made a valentines bracelet for my man. (I know it looks like an old ladys golden bracelet, but wait till you see him wearing it...) There is a great tutorial on purlbee if you forgot the "how to" from girly days ;-)

{this moment}

Some time back, Soulemama came up with this wonderful tradition:

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - 

Stick to your socks

Socks... I think I can say I made it through the worst part. After Aarons godmother showed me how to do it I finished one heel (with lots of very wide stitches). Then again, I got that far with my first pair in school but never made it past the second heel. The other thing that kept me from finishing my socks was three beautiful skeins of chunky purple which I found on sale on Monday and which quickly wanted to be turned into a warming cowl. Only I was too lazy to find a good pattern and just cast on what fitted onto my needels. Three skeins turned out to be not very much for the nummer of stitches I cast on. The cowl became too loose but small in rows. And I really wanted something to cover my ears because I don't like hats. So, I did some folding, a few stiches of sewing and born was my very unique and cosy cowl...

This weeks tea was a memorial to my late grandmother who died last week. She and my granddad lived in the north of Germany, where I also grew up. The tea they drank every day is called "Ostfriesentee". Its a strong black tea to be drunk with sugar and cream. The special part is that you don't stir the tea after adding cream and sugar, so the tea becomes very sweet towards the bottom of the cup. The tea cups I used my grandmother gave to me a few years ago, she wanted to make sure my sisters and me wouldn't fight over her stuff when she was dead...

The book I discovered on Amazon last week has exhited me a lot so far (despite some not so new projects when you are already part of blogging country) Some ideas sound so much fun I want to share them with you soon.

Now, Wednesday morning has turned into lunch time, my boy is hungry and tired, I have to go to work soon and I am very happy I can use my new cowl! I can't wait to check out your projects tonight.

Happy knitting with Giny!

Schaufensterbummel - Window "Shopping"

 

Zwei gedeckte Tafeln

Heute gab es viel Besuch bei uns, Kinder, Erwachsene, Tiere und viel, viel Strickzeug, zum Leidwesen der Kinder, so was Langweiliges...
Dafür gab es als Ausgleich einen herrlich saftigen Marmorkuchen, schon so oft gebacken, dass es keines Rezeptes mehr bedarf, und doch immer wieder einfach gut. Es muss auch bei mir nicht immer exotisch und außergewöhnlich sein. Weitere Sonntagssüßköstlichkeiten findet ihr diesemal bei Nina, der heute auch nach Marmorkuchen war. :-)

Marmorkuchen

250 Gramm Butter

250 Gramm Zucker

4 Eier

500 Gramm Mehl

1 Prise Salz

1 Päckchen Backpulver

Zitronensaft

Kakaopulver

Butter und Eier schaumig schlage. Die Eier nach und nach unterrühren. Den Rest der Zutaten dazu, bis auf den Kakao. Hälfte des Teiges in die gefettete Form füllen, die andere Hälfte mit Kakao vermischen. Den dunklen Teig auf dem hellen verteilen und mit einer Gabel etwas durcheinander ziehen. 

Bei ca. 180° Grad ca 45 backen.

Die zwei gedeckte Tafel war für die Zaungäste die draußen auf dem Balkon bisher vergeblich nach Futter suchten. Dafür habe ich einen Treibholzast in Vogelfutter und Kokosfett festgegossen und diesen dann aufgehängt. Kommt gut an, vor allem bei denn Meisen. Leider fliegen sie immer weg, sobald ich mit der Kamera komme.

{this moment}

Today, my moment is not from this week and not without words. This morning my grandmother died. I want to show you those moments with her that mean most to me: Aaron and me around the same age on her arm. To look at these pictures today is not easy but still very comforting. It feels a bit like she is still holding us, which I am sure, she is.
She died at the age of 85. She had lived in a retirement place for the last half year with my granddad taking as much care of her as he could, squeezing her a glas of lemon juice from their own tree every day. She didn't always recognize him. In the last year she had bought more then one cow and filled the freezer with meat just in case we came around (three hour drive) and she could cook for us.
Her life was not easy, nore was she. She was a very strong demanding woman, scary at times. She loved us to bits. Growing up, she was the most important person in my life, next to my parents. It takes time to realize she is really gone. I hope she will find rest now, finally, after a very restless life.

Conquering fears

It is true. Seriously. Since school I have been afraid of knitting socks! I went to a Waldorf School and in grade 4 or 5 (I don't remember exactly, at least at an unbelievably early age) every child has to knit its own socks. After a year full of nightmares and a burned out teacher, I made it to 1 1/2 Socks. The unfinished one is still buried in some drawer at my parents house... the other one was used as a stocking for Nikolaus at one point.
But, yarn along  and no more sock-knitting grandmas made it happen! I conquered my fears and cast on for socks. I bought the most beautiful yarn I could find (Olè, by katia) to get the right motivation and almost finished the first cuff - when I noticed it was too tight and would never slip over my rather big ankle like this. So, after a night of frustration, I remembered Enim Sous brave ravelling last week and did the same. And started again with 8 more stitches.
So, here I am, still at the cuff. but I am VERY motivated to keep going until the  very sweet end aka warm new socks on my feet.
I also got some lovely Manos del Uruguay for my first Shalom, ment to be worn by Aaron, but I am afraid I will need some more details on the pattern for boys from JenMuna. I hope she will be well again soon and help me out ;-)

Btw: am I  the only one around here, who has trouble taking undisturbed pictures during day light?

The book I got from the library this week is called "Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting". Writen by Myla and Jon Kabat-Zinn. It is kind of spiritual, maybe a little too much for my taste, but still I was drawn to it and I like where it says to stop optimizing your child and start to just watch it grow. The more I read it, the more I like it.

My cup of tea today and most of last week is a white tea with rose blossoms. Very tender without the need for sugar or milk. And a very lovely scent. Do you smell it?