New Year Ruminations and Resolutions

The New Year is upon us and during this time after Christmas and before we all start the next year there is time for both reflection and planning.

The cold months renew my interest in knitting, every year I try to learn a new style or pattern, usually spurred on by my desire to wear the item.  From the start I always wanted to learn fairisle, and wear it, so one of the very first things I taught myself was to work with several colours and follow the graph pattern.

I learnt to knit about six years ago by watching You Tube videos, every time I didn't understand an instruction I would just look up a tutorial.  

While in Sweden this year I hunted down some local wool with the plan to make traditional Scandinavian mittens.  There are lots of patterns on Ravelry but as usual, I find that the free patterns from Drops/Garnstudio are both the easiest to follow and the best illustrated.  Often with Fairisle I make my own design by taking parts of several different patterns. This wool is quite rough and thin, ideal for this project as gloves need to be hard wearing, and it has a type of water repellence to it.

Another job to do at this hiatus between events is to take the decorations down and have a clear and tidy.  Maybe even contemplate some decorating and garden faffing.  

As a photographer I try to see the beauty in everything, perhaps taking longer than is normal to look at the everyday details.  The art of slow living is perhaps one way to describe this. Having moved away from the fast pace of London and going into semi-retirement from work gives me the ability to practise this discipline without any real effort. 

Photography definitely makes you look at the world differently and the inspiration I get from other photographers on Instagram is hugely fulfilling.  It's like meditation, and a way to appreciate the miniscule, finding beauty in every drop of dew, dried twig and petal.

poster calendar from The Future Kept

Even if you only take photos with your phone, why not take a break every day with a cuppa and play with making a cute photo. Learn as much as you can about how to work in different light and mood and if you start to really enjoy it then try an online tutorial. 

Perhaps this should be your new year's resolution ... take photos every day, make it a part of your routine, a few moments to yourself to focus on just a small detail of your everyday.  It's a beautiful thing to awake your inner creativity and a very nurturing thing to do. 

I wish you all a very happy new year, may it bring you all you wish for.  I'm preparing my home to feature on a rather fabulous blog soon and I seriously need to clean and tidy my studio for a fresh start.

Lots of love to readers of this blog, thank you very much for your support during 2015, I wouldn't be doing this without you. Janice.

Styling The Seasons December

Styling the seasons for December couldn't be easier really, it's something we all do, although some of us tend to continue the idea for the rest of the year in some form or another!  Set up by Katy and Charlotte it's been such a great community to be involved with and another thing that I have Instagram to thank for bringing us together. 

Luckily for me as I live in the countryside there is enough greenery in my garden and around where I live to supply me with some seasonal essentials - holly with berries and pine cones. 

So here's what Ive done to decorate the house this Christmas.

I like to group the mercury glass on this old over mantle. The mirror back is great at throwing the candle light back around the room for a soft mood.

I treated myself to some beeswax candles.  I have become a bit candle obsessed and along with a real fire, I like to have some nice smelling ones burning during the day. My absolute favourites this year came from Amalia who writes the blog "these small finds" and can be found on instagram as _apothecary_ .  Amalia found some beautiful blue bell jars from the USA and filled them with soy wax candles, she finds the most lovely containers including the little cake tin ones on my mantlepiece. 

These cookie hearts came from a supermarket in Sweden.  I added a bit of icing to them.  They are called Pepparkakkor and have a lovely gingerbread smell. I included them into my banister arrangement.  Im so happy to finally have a house with open wooden banisters on the staircase, for no other reason than to decorate it in December.

Some of my Swedish lights for the front window combined with the paper stars, bringing a bit of that beautiful place back home with me.

I didn't decorate this gingerbread heart myself, it was already iced with Kurbits decoration from the Swedish supermarket and luckily made it home in one piece.  The top garland is from an online dried flower company and made from cotton pods, I've never seen one before but I absolutely love it.

The design motif called Kurbits is traditional in Sweden and can be found on many things. It is a style of painting normally, based on vegetables and floral organic shapes, it was originally a fertility symbol.  You can find it on the little wooden Dala Horses, embroidered onto clothing and painted onto furniture.

In a nearby village there is a Christmas barn which opens at weekends in December, it is the most stunning Tythe barn you have ever seen and is full to bursting with decorations and presents.  I topped up on a few new pieces like the string of bells and the metal birds.  They also have candles from the candle makers St Eval which are great quality.  The Tythe barn in Haddenham is the perfect place to get you in the spirit and mood for a time of cozy evenings with friends and family, a sparkly and fairy like grotto which can be recreated at home. 

I wish you all a healthy happy holiday with good food and warm drinks to help you relax and have a few days of nesting in your very own grotto. Sending you love and peace from my little village in Buckinghamshire. 

Christmas colours of Sweden

Sweden is such a beautiful country, yes sure it has it's industrial areas and shopping malls like everywhere but the houses are such a multitude of traditional and unusual colour combinations and at this time of year, when everyone has lights in the windows and on the porches, it is picture book perfect. 

Maybe because the houses are mostly wooden cladded this has led to the whole house needing paint but the array of different colours used makes for the most beautiful look.  There is of course, the traditional red houses with white and yellow windows but look at the details and you will see that there are other things coming into play here. Usually choosing two tones but sometimes with another added for highlighting details like the window frames.

Not only are all the windows decorated with lights and Yul objects, but there is also the tradition of having a candle lit outside our door to welcome guests.  All the shop owners do this and it makes for the most magical look.  

We visited our favourite Christmas market in Sigtuna, this is such a gorgeous place, set on a lake and one of the oldest towns in Sweden. The market is a mixture of handicrafts and food.

If you are wondering what this is above, well meet Tomte a Swedish house gnome which also replaces Santa in some houses, the cute little fellow has been given a new twist here, depicting him in greenery. This Tomten lives in the forest and likes to be fed porridge!

My bag came home full, with a mixture of old and new. I found lovely knitwear in my favourite shop called Indiska. Lovely quality fairisle style cardigans and some cups from their new range. I also managed to pick up some Swedish made wool while we were in Sigtuna and intend to knit some Nordic mittens in black and white. 

No trip would be complete without a good rummage in second hand shops and a large haul of old cake tins and some mini candlesticks ticked off more on my wish list. These will all feature over on my Instagram feed over the course of this month. 

I do of course bring home many of ideas and inspiration for lights and candles, my home will feature the classic candleabra lights in the front window, stars and wreaths and decorations made from Pepparkakor (gingerbread) and folliage.   I hope these photos will help to get you in the mood too.