Lately, flowers, lovely mail, tea & bath

I've been so grateful lately. Especially for the lovely mail that I received from my friend Liesl. Her packaging is the most precious one. I've been grateful for the beautiful tulips that I bought at the market and stayed in my kitchen for a week. I've been grateful for short quotes that I had everyday on my yogi tea bags. I've been grateful for the delicious natural soaps that I bought yesterday: honey and tea tree leaves.

Not pictured: My second batch of ginger beer. I had to wait for five minutes before being able to open the bottle. The bubbles were so crazy inside! But it was worth it. That was the best sparkling beverage that I have ever drank. My kombucha is doing very fine. I gave my friend Kristin the first baby that I had, so she could make her own drinks. I've been re watching the Edible garden. This show is so inspiring. And I've been grateful for the friendships that I made in here. I'm always so excited before seeing my latvian/german girlfriends on Thursday evening.

I'm so grateful for the little pleasures that I can find in simple things. They make me so happy.

A Latvian Wool Circle

Since early December, I'm taking part in a "wool circle " that my dear friend Kristin hosts in her fantastic studio every week. I kept telling myself for a long time that I should bring my camera and snap pictures of our little gathering, but I was always too shy and probably too busy knitting, to ask if I could take pictures. Well yesterday afternoon, I came earlier to her place, and helped her to prepare some turkish food for the evening. We spent a great time together chatting and drinking a lot of tea. Her tiny studio is the coziest place ever. She invested a lot of time and efforts to make this place her little cozy nest. And I'm quite sad to know that she'll be back to Germany in just a few weeks.

But for the happy part of the story, we're going (the six of us) to spend a whole week together knitting, spinning, dyeing, wool shopping and saunaying, in a very pretty latvian house. Are you taking part in a wool circle too? It's always so nice to gather with people that share the same passion for fibers.

Ps: Thank you so much for your kind comments of my Praline cardigan!

My very first knitted cardigan |Praline|

Pattern: Praline Cardigan, Gudrun Johnston // Yarn: De Rerum Natura, Ulysse {in Aster}

After teasing you for weeks, months? Here it is, my very first knitted cardigan. Oh I know that it's far far from being perfect. I made countless mistakes here and there. But I love it so very much, still. The original pattern showcases a short version -that I found absolutely perfect- but I thought that a longer version would be much more appropriate for our winter. Though I promised myself that I will make another shorter one in a mustard/ dark yellow shade, once I'll be a little bit more experienced.

Even though the knitting part is finished, my cardigan is not completely done. I assigned myself another task that I'm pretty excited about. I know that I could easily find wooden buttons in some shop here or on Etsy, but I decided to make them instead! To be continued!

Here & there lately

Here:

I test knitted a stunning hat pattern. I finished my Praline cardigan! I'm in the process of blocking it now. I still have to find pretty wooden buttons for it. I added vintage swedish candle holders to the Etsy shop. I used my essential oils roll-on almost everyday this week. I've been searching for inspiration in books. Started a new health program {fertility awareness method}. Purchased a large amount of yarn for my Etsy shop. I handdyed yarn with tumeric, and I got the most beautiful gradient yellow!

Elsewhere:

I stumbled upon this beautiful video featuring Gudrun Johnston. Anna has been making several sweaters lately, and they all look so pretty. I've been enjoying the snow through Liesl's blog (she's going to release an adorable clothing collection very soon). Karen's Acer cardigan is simply stunning. Soul mama handdyed yarn makes me want to experiment more with natural dyeing. I share the same thoughts about this subject.

Daily updates & work in progress

These days I'm completely hooked with instagram. I like to start my day by browsing this beautiful application and see how people document and capture simple moments of their life. It's also a great way to post daily updates of my work in progress. Then I display them in my Ravelry Project page to keep a trace of my work. It's always so nice to look back on a previous project. Each single picture is full of memorie.

For daily updates, you can find me on Instagram, with the profile bmandarines.

Simple living: Kitchen tools

1. Honey dipper // 2. Cheesecloth // 3.  Natural Kitchen Sponge // 4. Vegetable brush // 5. Cooking string // 6. Linen dishcloth.

This is what I'm dreaming of these days: natural products for my kitchen. These could be described in three words: simple, natural & effective. There's no doubt that with these, I would spend even more time in my kitchen, experimenting with new things.

I think it's about the middle of November last year, that I started to teach myself more about food preservation. It's been such a fascinating journey so far, and I'm pretty excited to share my discoveries very soon. I've already made two sauerkrauts, four pickles recipes, and since yesterday evening, I'm the happy mommy of a kombucha scoby! 

*Picture not sourced from Pinterest.