Slow living

A New year has begun. I have spent my day cherishing everything that I am grateful for in my life. And there is so much that it makes me cry! One thing I am so grateful for is that last year I had the courage to change some elementary elements in my life. First when pondering the possibility for change I thought that I was going to have to settle down for something that I need to work hard to accept but actually I was so wrong. After making up my mind about changing the course of my career and my life, our family's life has grown to a whole different level of well-being. I am so grateful and happy. This year my goal is to continue to seek slow living and well-being for myself and for my loved ones, finding us rest in everyday life. I wish that my dreams come true and that  all your dreams come true as well.

hugs,
Anu

ps. In these pictures you can find some of the things I am so grateful for: moments with my loved ones (new year celebration with family), small knitting projects of mine (hat and a scarf a knitted early autumn), friends (mittens, tea, card and a coaster from lovely friends) and nature (pine cones my son gave me to make me happy), tea times!

About trees and their ways

 The season is changing. I can feel the lovely autumn air coming closer. I want to embrace it and  celebrate this oncoming time of year. Yellow and golden leaves, welcome!!


- Anu

Something warm

Sweet Sunday to you my friend! I have spent my morning swimming in the glorious august sun, drinking elderberry, quince and honey flavored tea and planning something to knit. I am ever so grateful for dearest Anna who sent me this beautiful skein of alpaca yarn together with all kinds of other treats! Thank you - you are a sweet soul!!
The past week has been very exciting. My new job has officially begun. These first days have been quite busy - lots of passwords to remember, lots of new faces and some new tasks as well. Nevertheless it feels great! A great, great week.
I have also had an extremely lovely snail mail week. I received this parcel from Anna and and my new scarf from Gudrun Sjöden arrived. I thought it would look nice with the cotton knit (last post) and also with autumn cardigans - the ones I already have and the one I am about to knit. It is nice to have plans for the oncoming autumn season.



hugs!!

Anu


 ps. Maybe I will use the yarn that Anna sent to me to knit this hat
pps. I found a new (for me - it has been there for two years!!) yarn shop just a few kilometers away from our home. They had Debbie Bliss Winter Garden in gold/yellow. Apparently the yarn is no longer in the collection in the future so it was on sale. I bought some... LOVE the color.

My very Own Cotton Knit

Today I have been enjoying the day wearing my hand knitted summer tee I just finished knitting. In the beginning of this summer I saw this (click) and kind of fell in love with the curvy neckline. I wanted to knit a neckline like that but otherwise to have more of a work appropriate tee. Finally I ended up drawing my own pattern. After knitting the bust I changed to over sized needles to capture a more relaxed and breezy look. I am so happy with the result.
I learned that Lang Sol is a wonderful yarn to knit!! Because I am not that experienced a knitter I find these little findings very valuable. Some yarns just feel like "YES" and some not so much. This is a definite YES - yarn :)

Other reasons for happiness today:

• pairing my summer knit with an organic cotton skirt I sew in June  (you can see the fabric underneath the yarn ball) and my "friendship pearls". You see, we picked them out together :) One for me and one for her. That is a lovely memory.
• ordering new yarn for a cowl. I'll tell you more later. By the way, is it just me or do you knitters have this enthusiasm about new patterns and yarn when the fall is slowly coming closer?
• getting a full basket of sweet peaches and apples from the market
• and this huge news of mine; I have got a new job!!! I loved my old one in so many ways but  sometimes things one loves separately do not work together or are just too much when they are all together. That is what happened to me. My working days were way too long, my weekends and evenings were full of work (because of multiple roles and responsibilities at my work) and that just is not something at least I can live with year after year. My family is everything to me and I felt constant agony of being always at work and for that reason away from them. I was also exhausted and did not have much time for anything else either, like a social life or crafts I enjoy so much. I am going to miss my students and my closest colleagues sorely but I just needed to jump! For our family's sake and for mine too. What a blessing there was a soft descent -  I got a new job just some four kilometers from our home (compared to some 50 km I used to have). I have the same aged students, teaching, counseling and administrative work but only drastically less per week. Hurray!! So this new summer tee of mine is going to see some action in August :)

ps.

something to say about photographs 3, 7, 8:
 3. A meadow in Mossby Sweden - oh, how I love poppies!!
7. Wall in a church at Kalmar castle, Sweden

8. Pickles yarn store, Oslo, Norway


“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.”Nora Ephron


“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” Nelson Mandela

...And just wanted to say once more that sometimes you just have to jump!



 Anu

Gratitude Sunday: Both solitude and the best kind of company

I need both. Just like I need conversation and silence.

Today I am very grateful for:

• the rain! It has been so hot that I needed some cooling off. Actually now we have a little thunderstorm going on 
• friendship and true and special friends
•  the BEAUTIFUL moment I had with a special friend in her country, Norway
• and all of the presents I got from her: her time, conversation, sharing, caring and things she had made and prepared for me and that she afterwards sent for me via email (like this wonderful christian magazine)
• LOVELY emails
•  that I am quite ok despite of falling down yesterday. I once wrote about these health issues. Due to those my steps are not always steady and yesterday it happened that I fell. I hurt my leg quite badly but it could have been so much worse.
• the recent family vacation we had in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. We had such a great time there together.
• new yarn and many ideas - too many actually :)
• new knitting patterns
• that my summer cotton knit  ( kind of a t-shirt) is all done - hurray!! It is a simple little knit but still -  hurray!!
• the chocolate cake that is waiting for our family in the kitchen - it is a dessert after dinner but I have difficulties to be patient :)
• some new finds:
• Jordyn's blog I found today
• Melisa's blog and DIY ideas like this leather journal and this dream keeper

Photos:

1. Me wearing a cowl this beautiful lady kindly made for me! Cowl love! /Norway.

2. Hammars backar /Southern Sweden 

3. A.C. Perchs tearoom /Aarhus, Denmark

4. Me on a beach crocheting in silence /Mossby Sweden

5. + 6. + 7. Waffles and tea with a true friend tasting the teas and admiring the tings we gave to each other and  :) /Norway

I am wishing you a lovely day!!

Anu

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I really enjoy my visits in inspirational blogs. One of my favourites is Vibeke's A Butterfly in my hair and it was there where I found this idea of a Gratitude Sunday last year. Vibeke wrote that she tries to join in on Gratitude Sunday with Taryn and all the others over at her blog Wooly Moss Roots. I am thankful for this lovely idea for Taryn and for Vibeke who brought this to my attention.

  Almost exactly a year ago I started listing things I am grateful for here in english (In finnish I have done that on and off for years in my private diary). Those most important things I am grateful for in my life like my family and faith are the same as mentioned here. I have so much to be grateful for. We all do.

Soft and lovely

Right now I am in love with these colors I have gathered in my pictures. Soft pink, lilac, warm grey and sunlight. Can one say that sunlight is a color? At least for me it is ;)
Ooh, how I have enjoyed these summer days. I feel like I have almost been living inside a soft pink bubble. This bubble has taken me to a meadow after meadow. Free time, almost all the time in the world (except housework and all that ;)) for me and my loved ones to spend doing happy and inspiring things. We have just come home from a wonderful Scandinavia tour during which I got to meet my dear friend!!! It was heavenly! One knows when one has found a kindred spirit :)We traveled from Finland to Sweden, Denmark and Norway by car and ferries. There was something for everyone in our family. Our son's little feet got to run on a hot and soft beach in Mossby and in Copenhagen Tivoli plus Legoland. My husband got to enjoy his favorite bbq place and other things he likes and I got to meet my friend and pop in to tea and yarn boutiques. We all LOVED to explore the nature.
Now I am going to enjoy going through my photographs from our trip, knit a little (one tee is soon all done) and taste all of my new teas :)  I got sooo tasty tea from Vibeke on top of plenty of other wonderful things! Thank you!!! I love this cowl you made for me and that basket too (you can see a peek of the greyish basket in my first picture)!! I also had the opprtunity to visit A.C.Perch tea shop and salon in Copenhagen and Aarhus and on top of all this I visited Palais de The in Oslo.
Guess what else is on my mind? Well, what kind of a cardigan to knit out of this heavenly summer wool I bought from Pickles Oslo? I love to go through options. I would like it to be something quite simple so that the yarn would have all the attention.
I also wanted to share with you some pictures of a dress I sew on June. It is made of linen. I did not have any pattern but just improvised. I quite like how it turned out.

I am wishing you soul warming summer days!!
Anu

ps. I adore this cup I got from Ystad, Sweden. Maria Liliegren makes all kinds of funky ceramics. It was exiting to see her studio. My favorite is the series called ALBA. This Alba cup of mine is going to be much loved :)
pps. Can you see the text on the pink wall? It says: All people smile in the same language. So true!

These summer days have offered me little escapes and lovely moments exploring my home town and also nearby cities. I have found lovely tea houses, yarn shops, beautiful scenery and warm and cosy company. This yarn shop was like a dream and this coffee house just to my taste. 

hugs,
Anu


Ps. Thank you for your lovely comments to my previous post!