Something New

For a very long time I have wanted to participate in Ginny's Wednesday Yarn Along where everyone shares what they are knitting and reading at the time.

For some reason I've been putting it off. My blog used to be about everything creative I was doing, which included knitting, sewing, crocheting, cooking or baking. Or travel. Or what I was reading. Or whatever else delighted me.

Lately it has become pretty much only about my art and while there is nothing wrong with that, I miss documenting all the other parts of my creative life. So, here's some knitting for you. I have had this beautiful sock yarn in my stash for a few years and it just begged to be turned into socks. The Pattern is the Misti Alpaca Sock Family, which is a basic sock and quite simple to follow.

The yarn is so soft and a joy to knit with. And those colors! They remind me of the colors I use in a lot of my paintings. This is going to be a pair for Daniel for when it finally cools down. Right now, it still feels like a hot and humid summer, but I have high hopes for some fall temperatures in October.

And what am I reading? I'm on the fifth of the Harry Hole series, an excellent Norwegian crime series. Because we first discovered them on a trip to Germany, we are reading the entire series in German. I find that during the long and hot southern summers, I read a lot of books that take place in Scandinavia, the British Isles or Iceland. It allows me to cool down ... at least in my mind.

Tomorrow, I'll be back with a recipe for pretzel buns (Laugenbrötchen) and on Friday I'll have some art to show you!

Have a beautiful Wednesday and I hope you'll enjoy whatever it is you have planned.

❧ Silke

A little update...

Well, I haven't checked in in almost a week and thought I should give you a little update.

So, here's what happened. I was watering outside the other day and did a little not so graceful not so planned dance (that's putting it kindly - it was more like stumble and fall and hope that nobody saw me...) and sprained my left ankle. That sure slowed down my life having to spend a lot of time with my foot up and iced. Luckily, it's already feeling better.

You'd think I'd find lots of time to blog that way, but somehow it zapped me of my energy. What it did do is get me back into my knitting and get out some yarns from my stash to play with.

At this stage I am still staring the skeins to figure out how I'll combine them and what I'll make with them. Love those colors!

In the meantime, I've made good progress on this sweater for Daniel. Once I understood this rather complicated pattern, I didn't have to count so much anymore and it is going a lot faster and is much more fun!

And...I've been going to class to work on my drawing. We had an extension for it and it's still not finished, but here's a little detail of it to show you what I'm working on. A few more hours and it should be all done and then I'll show you the whole drawing...

Tomorrow, Daniel is coming to my class to do a watercolor demo for us - our next drawings will be done in watercolor, a medium I haven't worked with before. Wish me luck!! 

And I wish you a great weekend and hope that you are all doing well!!

Pretty things...

I always have many books, magazines and yarn laying around in various places. When I looked at the coffee table last night, I was struck by how everything sort of matched in terms of the colors.

They were so pretty! All muted and soothing. And then I noticed something else. All of those items to me are evidence for a strong pull toward a slow life with simple joys, things to be savored and enjoyed.

Sometimes I am not even aware of what I am yearning for at the moment until I take a cue from what I'm collecting around me. Does that ever happen to you?