slowclothes

Valle del Elqui

2012-02-09T09:07:00.000+01:00

Los chilenos lo conocen, a todos los otros se los recomiendo...
Cada dos años peregrinamos con mi familia 15'000 Km para llegar al Valle del rio Elqui, en la región Coquimbo/La Serena, al norte de Santiago de Chile. Para mi este es el lugar donde el sueño de una vida lenta se vuelve realidad.
Aquí me toca volver a apreciar la belleza de todo aquello para lo que uno se toma tiempo. Sea cocinar, pasear o dedicarse a hacer cualquier tipo de trabajo. Lo admirable aquí, aunque parezca obvio, es que me toca en el valle tomar nuevamente conciencia de lo hermoso e importante que es hacer una cosa después de la otra.

Vivimos en el mundo del multitasking, en que tendemos cada vez más a tratar de hacer varias cosas al mismo tiempo, perdiendo todo el sentido de lo que es la calidad de nuestro trabajo.

En el valle la gente parece moverse más lento, trabajar más tranquilos, pero se dedican, se dedican cuidadosamente a lo que hacen y parecen apreciar mucho lo que tienen.

Simple pero admirable...

Se trata de no tener ni producir más sino mejor. Ese concepto de la lentitud, que en las regiones de habla inglesa y en el mundo moderno se llamaría el Slow Movement ("In Price of Slow" de Carl Honoré) está en voga y parece ser una de esas modas de los ricos y los famosos, aburridos de lo mucho que tienen, pero sería equívoco decir que es así. A mi me dá más bien la impresión de que aquel que tiene menos tiene más posibilidades de encontrar el rítmo adecuado en su vida. La gente del Valle del Elqui lo prueba.

2012-02-07T09:50:00.000+01:00

Dear all, I have made a big decision concerning this blog and I'm ready to tell you now.

I will change the language I'm writing in. I know with this decision I will also be changing my readers and will have to say goodbye to many who have been following for a long time now. Thank you to you all!

I want to write in my own language, Spanish, the language of my heart, the language of the warmest words I can speak. I greet with this change a community of modern, engaged and curious, open minded women and men I will be pleased to welcome in this pages.

Keep doin' and never stop being curious.

Making Christmas

2011-12-06T17:56:00.001+01:00

I have been trying to figure out how am I going to pack presents for my friends. I found almost a year ago in a thrift store little photos of famous artists from the fifties, which someone collected from cigarette packs. They are so charming I had to take them. They have been waiting since then to be used. I added some paper for cakes in silver and also chocolate hearts. This will be my standard this year.

I also made my advent decoration. This time with moss, some glass snow and little figurines from the model train shop. I bought kids playing in the snow and with their sledges. But outside the snow still does not come...

The Winter ...

2011-11-18T10:09:00.000+01:00

...is here and I finally get to knitt. I made this cowl for myself with a wonderful cashmere tweed, handmade, that I could not resist. It comes from the godess hands of Rita.

I decided I need something to put on that is fast and does not bother with knots and stuff inside my jacket. I realized that I can also use it as a very cute headband.

The next project will be something involving this tresure of zippers I found in the thrift store.

The days are gray and cold and it seems to me that we need some color here. So much that the book project with Karin becomes more and more colorful I guess the more the cold days get near.

Sun, fruit and freshness

2011-07-08T08:27:00.001+02:00

The time has come for all ripe stuff in my garden. This year the apricot tree has produce a huge ammount of fantastic fruit, all organic. Too much fruit at once so I made some jam with puting a bit of Risling wine in it and smooting everything afterwords to get a pieceless jam that everybody in my familiy will get to love.

The alfonso mangoes where directly brought to me from India. They are THE Mangoes at their best. How do I deserve that? One week catsitting, that's it. Lucky me. The mangoes where eaten straight like that, all with the raw hands. While the juice was running down their elbows,h the kids could not get enough. Some where made to a delicious Mango Lassi with a soft scent of kardamom.

My frist Instructable is a string

2011-05-11T10:04:00.001+02:00

My first little "Instructable" comes with something very simple.

How to make a string to play or decorate out of shirts or T-shirts. I use the strings to play horsewaggon with Isa or I put pom poms on them to make a B-day decoration. Anything you want. The strings are cheap and can be made by the children. If you have many t-shirts you can consider making string to knit yourself a rug!

Create, try, experiment

2011-05-04T22:07:00.002+02:00

What can actually happen with all does poor abbandoned chocolate bunnys laying around all over the place? They can turn into nice rich Brownies.

After this experiment the kids got something like a bunny fever and found this good origami video. This are inflatable paper bunnys, amazing and fun to put into an envelope and brighten someones day. They made this whole army of bunnys in just a half hour.

Doin' Things

2011-05-03T11:38:00.001+02:00

After Easter we the princess and I had lots of carrots we made for hanging on the easter tree, so we had to come up with a possible reuse. Finding something was easy, she loves making hairpins out of things so we made some for her and her best friend.

I never in my life thought of making so much stuff for easter. The eggs with natural dyes, decoration and more decoration, bread lambs and cookies with bunny forms covered with pink and blue sugar. Lots of fun this time. The children are getting older and we have more time to just be together and crate.

Pasta making is lots of work but also so much fun. So we get to do it a lot lately. The dough below made very nice Ravioli filled with ricotta and mintleaves.

I also just got myself a new very good book from with lots of easy fun stuff to sew from Pip Lincolne. "Meet me at Mike's" is full packed with groovy projects like this purse I made for a friend's B-Day.

First collection

2010-12-01T10:17:00.001+01:00

There is things that can just never get to be unfashionable, things you get to love over the years and can use them and reuse them again and again.

The boys know that very well and even the big guy now talks about his poor cold ears! Now...

My first collection is here!!!!


some of the colours

They will be sold in a Shop for modern childwear in Zürich and possibly also in Baden. I will be taking orders on any size, also adult and in many colour combinations. Making takes about two weeks (slowclothes remember?)

The "slow" shows outside and "clothes" inside


Pure 100% goodness, swiss made

Mango-Mascarpone Monument

2010-11-14T16:46:00.001+01:00

I spent 3 hours fighting against all sorts of ingredients to get this cake done for Kerstin. She turned 45 so I decided that being 45 would be for me the half of a lifetime, so she actually deserves it.

Yes, girls... I'm not doing this for every B-Day. But the one or other "old cookie" will get one of this for her celebration.

For Nina

2010-11-08T10:29:00.004+01:00

My very good Belgian Friend living in Brussels just got a baby! Nina...

That was certainliy the perfect oportunity to get some Babygoodies done again. For the first, a cudly alien who has no name jet

and

a Ms. Zimmermans classic in baby alpaca. A little bit difficult to knit but just lovely and warm.

Listen

2010-10-27T18:42:00.000+02:00

Hey, I'm around again. Was helping my family getting started in shoool and in a new job. Though times but fruitfull.

I've been knitting and doing but not posting for this reason.

To get you started and as a reward por my patient visitors I found one of my favorite songs for you.

Just listen...

I finally finished the scarf I was knitting for myself with the wool Stefanie kindly gave to me. I had to spinn it first and I got me started into that too. I wear it everyday now and it keeps me warm. I just enjoy it so much I could also go to sleep with it!

I took the pattern from Jane Sowerby's Victorian Lace Today, which is full of beautiful things but very scary if you think of how thin the wool is, that you are suposed to be using!

Nothing for my dear swiss friends

2010-06-22T14:18:00.000+02:00

Dear everybody,

I have been away but have not stopped working on my stuff. I'll show you soon. For now I have something for you that is not intended for the tender eyes of my swiss friends (although I can feel their desapointment all around me and understand it well):

Mundial Sudafrica 2010: Chile Vs Suiza (Relato de Claudio Palma DirecTV HD) from Ricardo Alvarez on Vimeo.

Until soon,

Paz

They all know it will come but they try to live everyday thinking it won't happen today

2010-03-03T09:53:00.002+01:00

Chile is one of the areas in the world with the most tectonic activity. My parents live outside Santiago and had to put up with a couple of difficult days but fortunately nothing happened to them or their home. I'm thankful for that but very sad for all other people suffering. My oncle, the eldest brother of my mom, his wife and two children live about 40 Km from the epicentrum...we are still hopeing to hear from them. His doughter living in Santiago is desperate, so are we. My dad cannot comunicate with anybody of his family, also living near the most damaged parts of the south, in Talca.

In December we travelled to all those beautiful places, the region I belive to be the soul of Chile. The wine production takes place mostly there and you find lots of historical sites from the colonial time.

I think of my friends who moved two years ago from Switzerland to Chile, bought a beautiful old colonial house and have been renovating ever since. They lost great part of their efforts in 120 seconds.

I saw today the President of Chile, a very strong woman, who everybody admires talk to the journalist while letting the tears run down her face.

To all helping in anyway or spending to help, thank you so much.

"Isa" the little cardigan

2010-01-21T15:43:00.001+01:00

So finally I finished the little cardigan which I was designing using a pattern for a scarf I found in the Spinn-off Magazine. I can't believe that I just used one single skein of Noro Sockyarn and still had quite a piece left!

I'll probably be publishing on ravelry very soon, so look for me there (Maria Paz) if you are interested on the pattern.

Back and fighting

2010-01-18T14:26:00.001+01:00

I'm back. Had a hard time getting used to the cold weather in Switzerland so I was like frozen for at least two weeks. Now I'm knitting again, that means probably that I'm back to life after a dream and a time to get back from it.

At first I had to do the sorting thing with my needles, because there is lots of people who know I knit. They keep on giving me their used needles.

Partially finished

2009-11-17T11:10:00.001+01:00

The blue velvet dress is finished and the little lady of the house looks precious in it. Because the skirt is very wide there is place enough to move, jump and play and it is still nice and warm. It is the first time that I sew something that comes out as I actually wanted it and it turned out to be something I would do again blindly (almost). I just love this dress. If anybody wants to lend the pattern well...just say so.

And the Cashmere-Tweed sweater for Noah (we actually call him the calf, because he drinks about 3 liters of milk per day, that is if I get to stop him) is finished. It came out a bit big but he will grow (with so much milk I can't be worried about that) in it I guess. I'm lucky that he wants to put it on in the first place an even likes it! Yes, as Mason&Dixson in "Knitting outside the lines" would say: "Kids grow up. Somewhere in the range of 8 to 10, Johnny and Dylan get the idea that what Auntie Knitty is making for them is flat-out the fugliest stuff they have ever seen. They dig in their heels, and their heels are not wearing handknit slipper socks." This article and in fact the whole book is absolutely worth the money. It is tough work to knit for teens, believe me it is!

After all the work came Eliane and friendly asked if he could help me with preparing the big trip to the south so I wished a real american apple pie for dinner and she took this very seriously. The most delicious help I have ever had.

All things queuing up

2009-10-29T22:45:00.004+01:00

There is lots of things I should get to finish soon, some are queuing up for a long time now.

There is the scarf I started knitting with a pattern from Spin off Magazine Number 28. It is a nice pattern but I'm not a friend of knitting scarfs, so after about 20 cm I decided to make an other piece just like the first (everything with Noro sock-yarn) and let it be turned into the lower part of a round yoke cardi for the little lady of the house.

Then we have the cardi for Noah in Tweedlux from from Schulana, which I must say is a very nice wool but it seams to be an endless source of straw. Most expensive straw I have ever bought! The basic Model, Bronson comes from last Rowan Magazine an its downloadable for free. I Could not just leave it and added some little extras to get the fun in the knitting. The photos in general are not soo good, because I did them all at night. The color is much darker. I'll make nice photos when finished.

The little lady of the house wants a special dress for the coming holidays and I found this blue velvet cut and also the perfect pattern as I put some order in my sewing things. I can show you now the upper part. I'm very proud to say that the borders in light blue are made from a shirt belonging to my husband that I could not throw away without cutting the best parts of the nice fabric. Lucky me to have kept the trims for more than two years now.

And when talking about sewing I can say that there is one thing I actually have finished. I found a long time ago in a flea market an overlock machine. The name Bambinalock reminds me of the good Baby-lock series. This must be a copy. It is 20 years old and comes from a sewing studio. It is extremely easy to use and very sturdy. There is no hundreds of extras and it does not make coffee either. But it does its job perfectly. Only the electrician part with the cables had to be done first and it took me some time to figure out how. Now I don't know how could I sew before without an overlock. It makes the sewing much more fun. OK, but I would never pay a big sum for one of these. Recycle.

At at last I have to show you what I found in a salvation army shop lately. You must know first that I'm fascinated by fish figures, pictures, anything. Well there was this beautiful and complete set of German porcelain to serve fish, all hand painted and just one of a kind. Every image is different and there is also a big serving platte. Recycle once again...

Lawyer's Heart

2009-10-20T13:16:00.005+02:00

Do lawyers have a heart? Yes, please, they do. This humble lawyer here has one that does not exactly know which way to go, or... does this desk look like the desk of a lawyer?

After lots of thinking I'm convinced of being more than a lawyer, a general social sciences person. I also found the right thing for me in the Master of Advanced Studies in Diversitiy Management from the Lucerne University. Sounds very good to me if only the financial part was not so...say..difficult (about 25´000 USD of difficulty?).

I did not expect anything better this days. It has been a quite difficult month. Many things have gone wrong so I'm seeing my life at the moment through a quite disappointing lens. And to top all of it our young kitty Nube just disapered!

We are all very sad because of this and have been looking for him everywhere with absolute no success. We miss him a lot and I realize I miss him most. He was my everyday companion. And this just when I made the most beautiful housing for the little furry guy. Stefanie theached me everything I need to know about felting a house in a very personal felting class. Now I only need the cat to get everything right.

And so I somehow always get people to lighten me up. This time Elise and her big buddy Jacke (dog) came to our door to give us the first reminder of Halloween festivities. This Dracula fingers are absolutely real. We were actually scared to eat them, but they tasted delicious. Elise, get me the recipie here right now!!!

And about the Knitting: I'll be getting you some images soon of my new cardigan invention for noah and the little sweet cardi made out of sock wool (Noro please) for Isabelle.

Hope the next weeks will be getting sunnier.

Pure Love

2009-09-15T13:57:00.001+02:00

My son Noah worked yesteday 5 hours on this washing cloth. He was very chalenged knowing what his mom can do with thread and decided to do also a fancy colour-changeing thing. Everything was neatly sewed up so no threads show. We used it straight away to clean the mess he made while eating nachos with avocado.

His little piece of work remeinds me of the love we put in all things handmade and it brings me to vodoo. Yo know the dolls used for voodoo have hairs of the person in question and so on. The principle of vodoo is putting your thoughts into this doll as so to believe you had the person itself in front of you. Well, I supouse that handmade things have got the same magical powers voodoo dolls have (in positive). They are filled with love and positive thoughts from the maker. But should the maker get to be in a hard situation, for example beacause of bad working conditions, you would also get this bad feelings into the things that are being made by the hands that are suffering. So poor working conditions would be like poisson for the consumers? I let you think about it...

Fundación chol-chol and other

2009-09-03T10:17:00.003+02:00

Finally I could make friends with youtube and now I beleive to know how to embed the video from the mapuche women.

Funny about this organisation ist that first they tryed to aid the mapuche families by teaching the men and generating jobs for them. After a few years work, they wanted to know how the families life standard had progressed with the proyect and dicovered that the men were earning more but this was not at all reflected in a better life for the family (i let you guess why). So, they took up the work with the women and started by offering a knitting course and saw that there were much more people interested as expected. Now with the old knowledge of the women and some new techniques learned in the courses, the families are getting by much better than before and the women do not have to spend hours and day in the markets selling their textiles for ridiculous prices.

Help women, change the world.

And so I leave again to paint a table for my doughters room, cook, clean and do administration all in an our before the kids come back from school. Bye!

Impulsiv

2009-08-25T15:55:00.007+02:00

Sometimes, in the middle of the night the ideas assault me and next day I suddenly have a new project going on. This time I decided that my daughter had to have an kid mohair little bolero jacket for the fall. I'm experimenting with drop stitches. Will see how it all comes out. I have been knitting by 27°, my hands warm and moist, but what should I do, this is my obsession and little cute girls just must have a fluffy bolero!

And, Noah my eldest decided to take the production of football T-Shirts in his own hands for the school championship and is doing very well without any help. I teached the basics and he is doing pretty well alone. The numbers on the back are made of an old white linen sheet. He zigzags everything. The T's have a very cool grungy look.

This week, as impulsive as I'm I wrote to Elaine Lipson from the Red Thread Studio to just tell her how I very much love her blog, and I was lucky to gain a friend. Her blog is a treasure for all who share the slow cloth passion. She explores the web and other places to find her textile treasures. Elaine is absolutely worth visiting.

What's coming

2009-08-11T13:18:00.005+02:00

This week I have been writting my plans, putting them to paper helps me think and get some stuff clear.

In november I'll be going to Chile for 6 weeks, Noah, Elias and Isabelle will be going to school there and I expecto to be able to get some research done about chilean slow clothes development.

I will be visiting Araucania Yarns (http://www.araucaniayarns.com). They are doing an amazing slow work. They produce yarns with row materials of mostly local provenience and dye it all by hand with local labor in socialy responsable maner.

Also will be visiting the women of Fundación Chol-Chol http://www.cholchol.org. Mapuche people from Chile working with self produced and self processed wool. The beauty of their work lies in simplicity and in the natural dyes they use.

Will be posting a very nice video about fundacion chol-chol (that is when I find out how to embed it, anybody there to help?)

Summer Knitting and Sewing

2009-08-05T14:59:00.004+02:00

I had this old pair of trausers from my husband and made some pokets out of the sturdy fabric for the apron of my little one. After that I thought that the pockets of the trausers are actually something very difficult to do and dicided to recycle them into my wash hanging, pegs apron.

I also wanted to knit a hat from some Noro beauty I had but Iended up making a bag. Used some old piece of silk with a stitched fish I made for the insides. Yes...you can say I was very busy...

Summer

2009-08-05T14:16:00.001+02:00

Yes, I was absent for a long time now, but... I was working hard too. The summer has brought me to many and very nice ideas. First of course all the preserving hat to be done, and of course the yummy eating of the many fruits from our garden. and then there was the kniting and new the sewing of course.

Reading was also in the list. I wanted to know more about textile arts in africa and found for ex. that the most apreciated wax printed fabrics whi

ch decorate the bodys of african women who look very gracious and beautiful in their traditional garments are MADE IN HOLLAND???!! Why? Because the Dutch have been a long time now in the african market. They send their peolple many times a year to the african countrys to search for trends. Why wax fabrics?

"In the mid-eighteenth century the Dutch recruited troops from the Gold coast to fight their colonial wars in Java. The troops returned to Africa with a taste for Javanese wax-resist textiles, which subsequetly were introduced into the region...By the 1920s, firms in Switzerland, France and Japan had adopted the process and fierce competition ensued to develop designs that would appeal to local tastes and reflect topical concerns" (The Poetics of Cloth/Alisa LaGamma). Now the predominant industry is Vlisco followed by Akosobo Limited Textiles in Accra, whose designers are trained in schools such as the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana

And the textile traditions that have existed for at least a millenium and continue to be practiced in west africa today? They have a hard time competing with the industrialy produced staff, many workshops must close as the big producers get bigger and bigger.

I wanted to try and see this wax prints and bought some at the very nice and recomendable site of Rosa Pomar http://www.rosapomar.com, and did as you see just some cute experiments with it.

Chullos and the right price

2009-07-04T06:59:00.002+02:00

When it takes 6 weeks to make a hat of this kind how can you convince the buyer, that he is paying for 6 weeks work from the last few people knowing this knitting technique? How do you make the price.

I will be selling this hats and I'm trying to figure out what the right price is. I know what they cost in the making of course, but what will be the buyers be paying? I need to pay the transport of course and the import and earn something but most important, I would like to earn enough to be able to give the money back to the producers in the form of help for the school of textile art, to get electric light in their homes so they can knit at night and so on. Am I an utopist?

I admire the work of Maiwa Textiles in Canada very much. They say: "You may think that slow clothes would be prohibitively expensive to make. It is not true. The fact is that mass produced clothes (jeans for example) have production costs of a few dollars per item, yet consumers pay high prices for designer wear. What is missing is an understanding of the real costs of clothing and an appreciation of their value"

Anybody for suggestions?

Kaffe Fassett but with a different touch

2009-06-09T08:31:00.004+02:00

It took me ages to finish this Pullunder but then my housband's B-day was coming around and this was suposed to be his B-day present! I had to work every fee minute of my day (and that is not a lot really) and I took the whole thing and needles just about everywhere I went, but in the end I made it.

This is as you know a modell from Kaffe Fassetts new book but I decided that the back would look much better stiped, but I made the stripes so that the colors from the front would follow the line exactly on the back.

The shirt is from Paul Smith and I think it does match perfectly.

Got already a lot of compliments, my husband wants to wear the pullunder everyday but it is too hot now for it. That makes up for all the work.

Flusi and the lost socks!

2009-05-31T23:05:00.003+02:00

Do you know why the socks keep on getting lost in my washing? Everybody has this problem. Now in our home we have a big bag full of one-leged socks waiting to find their beloved one. Some socks have been there for four years already but as it is in life, not everybody can find the perfect couple ans so some stay single forever.

Well, we know what is happening here: it's Flusi, the Sockmonster.

We got the book about Flusi some years ago from a friend that knows our unsolved problem with the socks, now there is a new one: "Flusi and the Sockwool" (only in German I think).

Coats celebrates its 60th anniversary with it and made also nice sockwool for children. I say...just great to motivate children and families to knit. The book is given for free with the wool by the Coats retailers. Good idea, well done!

World Wide Knit in Public Day

2009-05-12T09:43:00.002+02:00

World Wide Knit in Public Day

June 13th 2009

Join us as we knit with hundreds of other knitters around the world on the same day!

Where: Ennetbaden, Switzerland, right next to the Catholic Church St. Michael in the house of the day care center (Tagesstrukturen)

When: On June 13th 2009 from 16:00

Bring: Your Knitting and the best piece you have ever made.

World Wide Knit in Public

2009-05-12T09:30:00.002+02:00

Welttag des Strickens

Samstag 13. * Juni * 2009

Wir stricken mit tausenden von StrickerInnen überall auf der Welt!

Wo: Ennetbaden, gelber Pavillon (Tagesstrukturen) neben der katholischen Kirche St. Michael

Wann: am 13. Juni ab 16:00 Uhr

Bring: Dein Strickzeug und vielleicht dein Lieblingsstrickstück

Catwalk

2009-05-05T10:17:00.003+02:00

Today it was model day...

Isabelle showed us her cache cour or gilet or pullunder made of Araucania handdyed yarns and some rests. All cotton...

and the cute little Livio showed us his little cardi made of merino superwash with little dragonfly buttons simbols of reincarnation and of the soul itself. Both are own designs. If somebody wants the instructions I will try and write them.

Stefetui very fast

2009-04-02T23:39:00.005+02:00

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand...there you go.

The STEFETUI is born.

A while ago I asked my friend Stefanie, queen of the felting art, if she would make for me a kind of pencil case but for knitting needles (she is also a very inventive designer).

With three children, a perfectily managed houshold (yes, I'm envious) and a beauty of a little garden plus a big felting education project I thought she would get back to me in a couple of years, which is something I would understand. Well, I was totally wrong...

After two months since the first conversation THE STEFETUI is here, all made by hand. Stefanie you are amazing!

Foggi fogg very grey and sad but crochetting

2009-04-01T22:44:00.004+02:00

I promise I did not tell the guy to do this. He just decided himself it was time for taking on serious crochetting. The problem is he does not want to stop anymore, won't let me turn the lights of. Jet another yarnaddict in my home.

Better yarnaddict than depressed...and don't you ask me about the weather hier.

Waiting for the Monsoon (clic to hear the podcast)

2009-01-30T10:16:00.005+01:00

Maiwa Textiles is doing a lot for the preservation of textile crafts being forgotten through the fast industrialisation of the textile work. They have made a few videos and many podcasts that are worth seeing. I only hope the slowclothes community keeps on growing so that we one day have the possibility to influence decisions and to get our oppinion to be heard and shared by a large ammount of people. See also http://www.maiwa.com/

Save the Children

2009-01-21T11:10:00.001+01:00

The girls of the knitting club have been working hard on this hats for the babies of Save the Children. I want to hope there is other knitting clubs around here doing this job too. Thogh in Switzerland ist knitting to this point I think still thoght of being something for oldies and hippies. There is no many who belive there is this other kind of knitter who loves fashion and natural fibers.
When I was a child sometimes I saw old men walking around in beautifully made cossy sweaters and always thoght: This man is fortunate, he must have someone who loves him. This is what I really love about the knitting (ok, just looking at woll and its colours and textures makes quite nervous too)

Crazy knitting or "The last Knit"

2009-01-20T14:57:00.006+01:00

Absolultly crazy and fantastic video. The worst part is that I feel I'm not far from this!

I do not read Cosmopolitan or else for going to bed no! I look at knitting books! When I have a minute free I knit or spinn and can't think of anything else. If I have the time to go shopping I think first of the wollyshop near in the next village. When I'm watching a bad movie and one of the actors wears a cable sweater I start to wonder how was it done and afterwords I actually do find the film was alright even if it was James Bond himself who was wearing the sweater! What is happening to me...

Kidsknitting

2009-01-13T14:37:00.002+01:00

For the ones thinking a five year old is too young to knit! I was in the textile work class of my eight year old son and heard one or the other child saying they can’t learn knitting, it is much too difficult. To all of them and to all of us who may sometimes think something could be too difficult for us to knit, I dedicate this photo.

Knitting teaches us not to give up and to trust ourselves and what is in us. As the Buddhism says:

What is in our past and what is in our future is nothing compared to what is in us!

I found this photo in the very precious book by Marcia Lewandowski

Folk Knits

Mary x-mass to you all

2008-12-18T22:21:00.000+01:00

Taditional Art not to be lost

2008-12-17T10:41:00.007+01:00

Today I want to show you something very special, the "Centro de Textiles Tradicionales del Cusco". Cusco, this region of Peru near Machu Pichu is keeper of the old textile traditions of the precolumbian people. The indians here (do not like calling them like that because they are not, nor aborigines because those are australin, but can not find a better word) learn in their early childhood the Art. Much is being forgotten, for example the process of natural dying because of the introduction of industrial chemical methods, also the techniques are getting lost because the big comerce does not have place for complicated stuff that takes time and therefore money. Anyhow, the "Centro de Textiles" works together with some villages that are working towards preservation and revival. The results are beautiful. Please look at the beautiful hats, mostly made without pattern just out of the memory (try to do that yourself!!). Just worth looking into it. Special: jung boys and Men knit and wave too.

Wool works

2008-12-16T09:53:00.003+01:00

So I did finished it!...only to be able to start the next. Does

anybody know the masses of a new born! How do I make something for someone I can not take the masses of! Please help!

EZ patterns are truly fun to knit and one actually can read to it!! Did try it. I read the history of the japanese language printed form wikipedia.

And what about spinning? Yes, the Humanus spinning wheel is wonderful! No noise an very fast if you want or slower if you prefer. You just have to turn the whorl. You can use any of both feet and lefthanded spinners are invited too. Nice, very nice... Elias has tried it already and is doing quite well on it.

The Postman rings twice and.....Humanus is here!!!!

2008-11-25T14:10:00.012+01:00

I have been searching for this spinning wheel for so long!!! Humanus, made in Switzerland. Truly expensiv but as I have heard over an over one of the best. Very easy to use. I'll try it and tell you more about it. Found it in http://www.ricardo.ch/ for little money. Was bought in 1982 but looks pefect and as I can see it works.

If everything goes well I'be selling my ashford traditional, which is also quite fine but I do not have enought space for two so... watch out.

and...

I have been on this Kaffee Fasset for an eternity. I'm making it for my husband who actualy chose the most dificult model for men in "Kaffe Knits again". I will not do the back like the front, it will be a sourprise for all of you, just wait.

and..

A friend is expecting a baby due for February, not much time left and if you consider that most of my girfriends are over 40 the chance I'll get to knit baby things are getting smaller and smalller so let's do it right I thoght and grabed my Zimmerman evergreen.

Pardon me I didn't knit that for you

2008-11-21T14:14:00.002+01:00

Mason & Dikson just did it again! Who knows their book will understand how serious they are about this song. Great fun!!!

Waiting for the Monsoon

2008-11-16T22:40:00.003+01:00

For the ones interested in the slow clothes movement, this is a quite good podcast.

The crafters revival is coming and also increesing respect for all handmade. I have observed that slowly the people get to understand that crafters do not need to be compared with the industy and are no longer seen as a cheap and unefficient option to the industrial production. Crafts are slow because they are thoghtful. It sometimes needs slowliness to get the best out of something.

The cat, the wool, and the pan

2008-11-14T09:21:00.003+01:00

Our cat seams to love wool. This was alpaca, handspun. I bought it from chilean highland indians.

I had to wait until Nube got tired and finally went away for his nap. After that I couldn't find him anymore. Thought he might be ofended but then I found him sitting very happy in one of the kitchen cabins.

The Last Knit

2008-11-13T22:57:00.001+01:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6ZjMWLqJvM

Stegosaurus Knitting

2008-11-11T16:08:00.003+01:00

Adapted from a design from Lucinda Guy I made this Stego for my 5 year old Elias. He adores it ever since. Was not very difficult but he's got quite a big head so I had to redo the neckpart.

The Wednesday Night Knitting Club

2008-03-11T15:11:00.004+01:00

The Wednesday
Night Knitting
Club

Wer möchte mit mir in Ennetbaden für alle Strick-Interessierte einen Strick-
Club auf die Beine stellen?
Wir treffen uns jeden
zweiten Mittwochabend des
Monats ab 19:30 Uhr und bis
ca. 22 Uhr treffen.
Im Gelben-Pavillon (Tagesstrukturen).

The Natural Knitter

2008-03-05T22:44:00.005+01:00

I just love this book. The name sais it all. You get very useful info about natural fibers, ever pineapple! an for each of the presented fibers also a project. The photos are beautiful and inspireing.

Who's making the clothes we are wareing?

2007-12-02T22:14:00.001+01:00

While in the past centurys mostly women manufactured in homework all the clothing needs for their families, now they have been luckyly freed from this cores. But the machine that sews the clothes for itself without the human hands and abilities has not been invented jet. So now the women in rich countrys are not making the clothes anymore but it would be wrong to beleave that this is a progress for all. The work just was delegated to millions of poor women and men working in sweat shops everywhere in the third world. I understand that we cannot come back to making everything ourselves but we can learn to apreciate this hard work that is beeing done for us through learning how it is done and or getting somehow in contact with the people working for us. Knowing the faces behind our clothes. When we do this, we will probably have a hard time just buying a nice fashionable skirt for little money only to throw it away at the end of the season. That would be a good day for all. And the fashion industry alltogether will have to rethink their ever faster changeing tendencys.