Knitting and Knitting

Dear Friends, the days seem to be zooming by as we've been busy with all kinds of things. We went to the circus to see Cirque du Soleil's Quidam, which was magical! We spent time with friends, in the garden, cooking and working. In all of that, I always come back to my knitting to keep me calm and centered.

Although I have to admit that knitting with this lacy ruffle yarn was not so relaxing. I really had to pay attention, but the resulting scarves are beautiful - soft, ruffly and elegant with a silver sparkle. They have made their way into my Etsy shop here. 

Remember the swirly hat from my last post? I decided it needed a shawl to go with it. It's the Rosy Glen Shawl pattern (I made it a little larger than in the pattern), which you can find for free on the Lion Brand Website.

And as always when I knit, Ramses is close by. Over the years he's learned that he cannot sit on my yarn or on whatever it is I am knitting, nor can he play with the yarn, but he still loves being close and snuggling in.

The sun has come out again and we are experiencing a perfect spring. It's warm, but not too warm and the humidity hasn't set in yet. We are loving it!

I hope the sun is shining wherever you are!!

❧ Silke

Two cozy things

... on this very rainy Sunday morning:

1. whole wheat pancakes with maple syrup and blueberries. I found the recipe here and have made them several times already. I make half a recipe for the two of us, have used both soy milk and buttermilk and I substitute coconut palm sugar for the sugar. Delicious!! 

2. a very cute swirly knit cap. I found the pattern here and knit it up quickly with Lion Brand Amazing yarn.

I sincerely hope your Sunday is sunnier than ours. Our weather should be less rainy next week and we are looking forward to it!

Happy Sunday!

❧ Silke

There are days...

... when only chocolate will do the trick.

And on one of those days I made a batch of whole wheat dark chocolate chip cookies, the recipe for which I found here.

They are big.

And crunchy. 

And chocolaty. 

And totally delicious! 

❧ Silke

Welcome back!

Welcome back to me and to you! This was my longest unscheduled blog break yet! But I needed it - somehow I was overwhelmed and under-inspired by life for a a few weeks. I wasn't painting or doing much of anything creative. I went back to basics for a while, which for me are reading, cooking, and knitting.

Last weekend though we went to Atlanta for the Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera exhibit at the High Museum. It was phenomenal and left me feeling renewed and inspired.

Daniel found us a great hotel within walking distance to the museum and the wonderful little restaurants in the area.

It was a quick trip, but so worth it! Atlanta is starting to grow on us with every time we visit.

On our way home, we stopped at Atlanta Underground, which is a mall that is in the old storefronts of Atlanta, which are now below the new city. It only goes on for two blocks or so, but it was really interesting.

Everything looks like you should be above ground. The mall was nothing to speak of, but the old buildings had some beautiful details.

I am off to take Winslow to the vet for his annual checkup and then back home to hopefully paint a little. With renewed energy I hope to have much to share with you soon!!

In the meantime, I am glad to be back and am looking forward to seeing what you've been up to!

❧ Silke

Spring has arrived!

Spring is finally here with sunshine and warm weather and colors in the yard. Of course with the sun the weeds are growing as well, but even this yellow dandelion is beautiful in the spring.

Finally I get to bring cut flowers inside from the yard again to enjoy!

And we get to admire this young osprey pair (Fischadler auf deutsch) that has built a nest in our neighborhood, right by a bigger pond. If you click on the photo, you can see it much bigger. The nice thing is that osprey usually mate for life and use the same nest year after year.

I hear that it is still quite cold in many parts of the US and Europe as well, but I hope that spring is arriving for all of you waiting for it!

❧ Silke