Off the needles

Last week I made this summercardi. I bought the yarn in Holland, the lady in the yarnshop wore this cardi and I fall in love with the 'spring' colors and the  simple model.

Spring is coming....

Although the nights are still cold, you can see and feel that spring is near.

In he newspaper they mentioned that the cranes are coming back.

So I started pruning my roses, I have about 70 roses, all different varieties. This is the result of 3 hours work and I have not finished yet!

Alphabe Thursday

I am joining Jenny Matlock for Alphabe Thursday. Today's letter is 'H'.

My 'H' word is HAMEAU, the French word for hamlet. I live in a hameau, there are 6 houses together and we belong to a small village with 260 inhabitants (including the 15 hameau's). There is a church, a small postoffice , a municipal hall and a village hall where they organize about 6 meals a year, for the inhabitants.

Here they say that we live in 'la cambrousse', they mean that here in this French countryside, there is nothing and nothing. There is only rural tranquility
These pictures of a part of the hameau were made last summer.

If you want to visit the other participants, go to Jenny's blog......

Emmaüs

The name of the Emmaüs organisation was chosen by the founder Abbé Pierre, the name symbolises HOPE. It comes from a story in St Luke's Gospel and although Emmaüs is not a religious organisation, communities around the world have kept the name because of its symbolism. The story (chapter 24, vv 12-13) describes how shortly after jesus' death, two of his followers were at Emmaüs , a place near Jerusalem, when they saw the resurrected Jesus and so regained hope.

The first Emmaüs community was founded In Paris in 1949 by Abbé Pierre, a catholic priest and former member of the French resistance.

He devoted himself to fighting homelessness and poverty. To raise the money that was needed they became 'rag pickers', collecting things that people no longer wanted . They sold them and so the concept of companions,(man and woman who live and work in Emmaüs) self supporting businesses with the profit going to those in great need, was born.

Many companions were homeless for a variety of reasons. For some Emmaüs, will fill a short term need, f.a. to gain new skills, to resocialize, to recover from addiction. Others will stay for a longer time  or it will be their permanent home.

In France you can find Emmaüs 'shops' in almost each town. It's a kind of big fleemarket where you can find all sorts of things.......

I bought these vintage ribbons for 1 euro

These beautiful retro coffee cups, also for 1 euro.

Resto du coeur

Your turn now?

Off the needles

When I was in Holland I knitted two shawls. The first one is the 'Andrea's shawl pattern', knitted with Rowan Kid Classic. It came out a bit small , I 'll definitely knit  a big a bigger one with the same yarn.

The second one is 'Damson' from Ysolda Teague, knitted with Malabrigo sockyarn. I like the result but it's not so cosy as the other one, due to the sockyarn.

I am inspired a lot by Bea. She is going to knit 10 shawls in 2010, and believe me, in the meantime she also knits cardigans and socks!

My clapotis arrived in the U.S. It's a very special feeling that I gave it away and someone, so far away, is wearing it now. It looks great on her.

A bit of this and a bit of that

Yesterday i came home from my trip in Holland. In Paris I was a bit in a hurry so not enough time to buy books at Junku's. But I bought this book with recipes from Clea. She has a very interesting blog with healthy cooking recipes: low fat, little sugar, vegetarian....

I also bought this cute little notebook.

In the seventies and eighties there was a very popular craftmagazine in France. It was called "100 IDEES". There is a blog where the fans of this magazine exchange lost numbers or try to complete their collection. I also used this site and I found someone who wanted to sell her collection. I received about 110 numbers !!!!  Not the complete collection, but I am still searching...... 

Someone gave us a  young chicken, she is so very cute...