Autumn and Advent

I want this advent to be very simple. I want to walk everyday and take time to be alone in nature. I want to be with God alone for a part of every day. 

We will read our advent devotions and make our advent wreathe.

We will practice old carols.

We will make florentines for friends and neighbours as we do every year. 

Today, Boo made the fluffiest pumpkin muffins sprinkled all over with cinnamon sugar.

I went on a long walk with Nanouk as the sun sunk slowly. 

The last of the geraniums have been brought in. 

The rabbit had a snuggle and we visited some friends and my mum. Some days she is very sleepy but she loves to hear the girls chattering around her, the sounds of life being lived.

I cherish these simple days especially as the girls are growing up so fast. 

Tonight, a fire and a read aloud. 

I hope you are all enjoying a gentle Autumn.

Afternoon Quiet

 ‘In spite of all the making and mending and all the work that had to be done, with no labour saving devices whatsoever, not even and electric kettle, life was not pressurised in Ashcott, or at any rate in our own home. 

Looking back, I see how almost all the teaching our parents have us was by example rather than in words. It stood us in good stead in later years. One thing Mother always did, and which most of the other housewives didn’t do, as far as we knew, was that once the washing up was done after the midday meal, she would have her own daily wash ( we always washed in the kitchen), take off her morning, working frock, put on a pretty one, and then settle down with her book for the afternoon. Whenever there was any sunshine she’d sit in the sheltered, sun-trap courtyard at the back of the house. She loved the sun. In winter she would sit by the fire. She didn’t get on with her sewing or bending - this she did in the evenings; there were always lots of socks to be darned and other garments to mend. The afternoon was for relaxing and she sat reading, maybe keeping an eye on the youngest child at the same time, but otherwise just sitting there quietly. 

I think this had a quite specific effect on us all. Father would usually be sitting down at that time too, but he never sat in the sun. He’d sit indoors even in beautiful weather. His outdoor time was when he was gardening, or walking. 

All this gave a tranquility to the home, and a great sense of peace and contentment. As we grew older and spent less time in active play, we too would settle down with our books ( I often had my knitting at the same time) and read, or think the long, long thoughts of youth.

- Countryside and Cloister - Reminiscences of a Carmelite Nun - Marie T Litchfield

thoughts on my morning routine

 I was late to joining Facebook. I only started looking at my feed about a year or so ago. For some reason the energy I get from Facebook seems to make me feel tired and weary. I used to think it was a good way to hear about and share interesting articles, but more and more I come away from Facebook with a weary, jaded feeling. I don't like it. I can't explain it but I don't like it.

 I want to change this part of my morning routine. There is something about the morning that is sacred. The way I spend my morning colours the whole of my day.

Surely, energy emanates from our rituals, and our habits. Our rituals and habits form and in-form us. Similarly the in-formation we absorb effects us and our energy output.

"We are what we eat," in broader terms than simply nutrition. We are also the words we hear, the images we see, and the environment we live in. These things are our culture. They are the brushstrokes that create the undulations of our internal landscapes.

Tani was baptized and confirmed during the Easter Vigil Mass 7 years ago. After the Mass he told me of the incredible sense of peace that overwhelmed him for days after the event. He is an analytical person, his mind never stops. For that week he felt profound inner stillness.

But how to attain this fleeting, transitory awareness?  I cannot attest to retaining it throughout every interaction or situation. Far from it. I too easily digress into the fluctuating nature of my own emotional condition. But I have found one thing, that if I devote the beginning of my day to beauty, meditation, prayer, stillness and free thought the rest of my day is positively effected by it.

What we do grows from the energy of who we are.

After all our cells are changing all the time.

"Your body is constantly replacing old cells with new ones at the rate of millions per second. By the time you finish reading this sentence, 50 million of your cells will have died and been replaced by others. "
citation




 “Consider that you can see less than 1% of the electromagnetic spectrum and hear less than 1% of the acoustic spectrum. As you read this, you are traveling at 220 km/sec across the galaxy. 90% of the cells in your body carry their own microbial DNA and are not “you.” The atoms in your body are 99.9999999999999999% empty space and none of them are the ones you were born with, but they all originated in the belly of a star. Human beings have 46 chromosomes, 2 less than the common potato. The existence of the rainbow depends on the conical photo-receptors in your eyes; to animals without cones, the rainbow does not exist. So you don’t just look at a rainbow, you create it. This is pretty amazing, especially considering that all the beautiful colors you see represent less than 1% of the electromagnetic spectrum.” Sergio Toporek
 

{Yarn Along}

 I am still working on Matilda's Pickles Vest. I'm a little less inspired third time around, not because I don't like the pattern, I love it, it's just that novelty motivates me when it comes to knitting and I'm ready to get my hands on some interesting textures and colourways after metres and metres of what is a very pretty but rather monotonous beige/lavender aran.

I have been enjoying "Listening Below the Noise" by Anne D. Le Clare. It was gifted to me by a very kind and thoughtful friend and I have already copied down many a quote from it's pages.

"Just as a blade can pare fruit, sculpt wood or inflict injury, or a key can set free or imprison, in hundreds of tongues around the world, words are being employed both to hurt and to heal. To cause both peace and chaos. To connect and to isolate. To praise and to condemn. Create harmony and discord. Honor and abase. To mask truth and to tell it. To align and to alienate neighbors and nations.
Again I consider, how do I use my allotment? How mindful am I of my intent? How responsible am I to my speech? How long will the effects of my carelessly spoken words linger? In silence, I sit and contemplate."

 

"There is a book called The Hidden Messages of Water by the Japanese scientist Dr. Masuru Emoto. When Dr. Emoto began experimenting with photographing crystals, he found that when the water he used for the experiments was exposed to words like "love" and "gratitude" and "wisdom," it formed stunningly beautiful crystals. But when it was subjected to words like "hate" and "You're ugly," the crystals became dark, malformed and fragmented.
Earlier this morning, as I stared at the photographs Dr. Emoto took - visual evidence of the power of language - I wondered this: If the vibrations of words can affect water so dramatically, what do they do to us? We who are comprised of more than 70% water."



" Our emotions and feelings have an effect on the world moment by moment," Dr. Emoto writes. "If you send out words and images of creativity, then you will be contributing to the creation of a beautiful world. However, emitting messages of destruction, you contribute to the destruction of the universe."

Anne D. LeClare  "Listening Below the Noise - The Transformative Power of Silence"

sharing with Small Things and Frontier Dreams

Free Shawl Pattern - Forgotton Ways for Modern Days

I received the most lovely surprise in the post yesterday.

By the luckiest chance I won the beautiful book "Forgotten Ways for Modern Days" over at Annie Cholewa.

Please pop over to visit her thoughtful space if you get a chance. You'll be glad you did.

I always use natural, gentle and homemade products around the home but have found myself uninspired by household tasks of late. I suppose it is easy to fall into survival mode with a big, busy family. What is that saying about shoveling snow while it's still snowing?

I understand that I need a level of beauty and order around me. It is the way I'm made. (Moon in Libra)

Yet I am  comfortable with homely shabbiness. I enjoy seeing piles of books, jars of colouring pencils, floury counter-tops and scattered balls of yarn. These are the marks of a happy, full and living home. 

But a drop of essential oil, the scent of lemon zest, mustard yellow drying balls for winter loads and pots of salad resting on the windowsill ... make my heart happy.

And more than that, they inspire me to enjoy the small tasks again.

Today I am ordering some roving to make those mustard yellow dryer balls with the girls.

 

Last week I had a need to knit something very simple and warm for myself. I wanted something therapeutic, rhythmical and garter stitched. I learned to knit by knitting garter stitch squares and there is the nostalgia I suppose.
I wasn't sure whether this shawl would turn out as I hoped but somehow, as if by magic the vision in my head appeared upon my needles.

It is a very simple pattern. Gauge doesn't really matter as the garter stitch pattern is very forgiving and allows for a lot of stretch. This shawl is pretty much medium sized but it can be adjusted by knitting more rows in the middle section to make it longer.

Using 3.75 needles and 100grams Sirdar Country Style DK in Slate
Cast on 3 stitches

First row K2, knit into the front and back of next stitch
Second row knit

Continue in this way increasing on one side of the shawl every other row until you have 72 stitches on your needle.

Now increase every 4th row instead of every 2nd row until you have 75 stitches on your needle 

Continue knitting straight in garter stitch for  about 6 inches or so. (your yarn will probably end around 3 inches in and this will mark your halfway point)

Instead of increasing on the second stitch from the bottom edge of the shawl you'll now be decreasing by knitting two stitches together.

First row of decrease: K2, k2tog, knit to end of row
Knit next 3 rows straight

Repeat until you have 72 stitches on your needle

Then continue decreasing by knitting two stitches then knitting two stitches together at the beginning of  every other row (the bottom edge of your shawl)  until three stitches remain on your needle.
Knit two together.

Cast off.

You can stretch the shawl length ways and block for a wider wrap that you can pin with a shawl pin.
I decided to sew the points together without blocking first (about an inch and a half along both seams) I wore it this way all day yesterday and it seems to work well.



Joining Small things and Frontier Dreams