• Finish a project
• Do some journaling
• Have tea (earl grey is my favourite at the moment)

I took these shots yesterday from the back of the car through the window using my cell phone, but I love how they turned out. This is our village seen from far away. We’re on a hilltop, we are driving down towards the forest here.

Loving this right now! Click image to listen in YouTube. Or you can just read the lyrics.
Sorry for ghostposts earlier.

Remember the other day when everything looked like this? Now it’s more like this:

Fog, heavy rain, whistling wind. I feel quiet. The storks are returning to North. I saw some last weekend and right now I hear them singing as they fly above our village.

I have been thinking a lot recently of tao. I am totally into yin and yang, not because I believe in some Eastern religion or mythology, but because it makes encountering life’s winding roads easier and more acceptable. A couple of days ago I posted my favourite excerpt which explains this nicely.

It’s nice not to think of anything sometimes.

Pattern: Freeform Domino Knit Tam by Sarah Bradberry
Yarn: Twilleys Freedom Spirit 100% wool in Fire and Earth colourways
Needles: Changing as I go dpns and circulars around 3mm, metal and bamboo.

Verdict: I liiike! This is my most favourite yarn ever so everything I knit from it turns out great anyway. I loved the domino entrelac pattern and the colourways turned out great, but the ribbed rim ended up too tight - I must have decreased too much or should have used bigger needles for the rib. I don’t know who will be able to wear this, ever, apart from Mr. Teddy, above. Bottom picture shows the hat being blocked with the help of a plate.

I just danced crazily in my living room (I’m a poor poor poor dancer).
I highly recommend it.

They’re ready! My take on Knitty’s Matrix mittens, knit in super warm brown and white merino something. I know, I already advertised these a couple of weeks ago, but it’s so rare that I get to finish any knitthings these days so here we go again.

I’m starting to like fair isle type stuff, this is fun! Although, knitting anything in double is always a problem. The thumb for the second mitten was on hold for something like hundred years. But now, they’re done and I’m so proud!

When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.
Difficult and easy support each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low depend on each other.
Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the Master
acts without doing anything
and teaches without saying anything.
Things arise and she lets them come;
things disappear and she lets them go.
She has but doesn’t possess,
acts but doesn’t expect.
When her work is done, she forgets it.
That is why it lasts forever.

(Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching)

Playing with my sewing machine.  I will probably live to regret the fabric combination of flannel and silk, but hey, it looks irresistible!

To celebrate the Kosovo independence, here’s a transcript of one of my earlier posts which was written in Finnish.

Kosovo.

The ice cold bathroom fills up with thick steam as soon as I turn on the shower. It is impossible to adjust the temperature - the water is either too hot or too cold. I soon run out of warm water. I have to rinse my hair with cold water.

Today we get electricity for two hours every four hours. It is always a big surprise when the lights go off, unannounced. Nobody remembers where matches, candles and candlesticks are kept, as if the last time they were needed was sometime last year. Someone finds a small table lamp which is brought in the living room and connected to the inventor. The inventor is a car battery that can produce power just long enough for us to watch a film or for someone to dry their hair. We don’t use flashlights. An aggregate is too dangerous, the gasoline may blow up.

We sleep under three blankets: the radiator in the sleeping room is out of order. An electrician is summoned and the problem is fixed in the morning. The electrician is offered a glass of raki.

We have café macchiato, fresh lemonade made of real lemons, two chocolate bombits-pastries and one pudding cake. The cakes are beautiful like jewels.

The air smells of smoke. Most houses burn wood for heating. In front of a qepaptore we are surrounded by the smell of roasted meat. The aroma of salted roasted peanuts and sunflower seeds lingers further down the street.

At home in Luxembourg. It is grey. Cars are passing each other on the highway and people hurry to work looking serious. We play Kosovo for a couple of more days, drinking tea from small glasses and wearing indoor shoes, as if our floor was freezing cold.