The Happy Living Shop: great idea's for living a happy joyfull life!

A whole new world is opening up now that I’m expecting our first baby. There are so many new products I’ve never even looked at. And some are very (VERY!) stylish. Although I question the practicallity. One of these is this super duper cutie and elegant Diaper Clutch, spotted at Posh Tots. Yep! You heard it, not a diaper bag, but a diaper clutch!!

Yummy Mommy Clutch!

Petunia Pickle Bottom is an American brand that puts the yummy back in the mommy. Their little clutch might not have space for essentials as: toys, a change of clothes, burp cloths, bottles, dummies, tissues, etc.

But there is space for: diapers/wipes, ointment/cream and it has a large fold-out/snap-out wipe-able changing pad. And I’m sure you can take a little plastic bag to put the used diaper in. What you then do with that used diaper if there is no bin around I hate to think about.

So practical? No, not at all. Thankfully they have a (almost as) cute backpack with plenty of space for all listed above. I might try and get a hold of one of those. And should anyone want to give one of those nice clutches away: I still wouldn’t say no!

Loads of space in this baby!

I bought Rowans Baby Crochet book by Lois Daykin a few years ago when my best friend was expecting her first baby. Although in the end I never used it because I choose to knit her other things. Now that I’m expecting myself I thought it was a great moment to revisit the book.

I wanted to do some stash busting so was looking for a pattern to use up my Cherry Tree Hill Super Sock Merino in Razzle Dazzle. Originally purchased to make a fine pair of socks. However I just finished working on my new design for Koolhaas socks (pattern coming soon), so really had enough of socks. Plus now that we’re expecting a girl I felt I should use it for her.

Very Cherry cardy

I decided on the Baby wrap cardigan (Ravelry link). And although I’m over the moon with the result, the pattern was a pain. It is written most confusingly.

Example:
Inc 2 sts ever alt row on the front edge side and at the same time Inc 2 sts on the neckline over the next 4 rows.

Why not say:

• Next row: inc 2 sts on the neckline side
• Next row: inc 2 sts on both sides
• Repeat last two rows.

This plus the baby brain I’m suffering from means that I did the whole thing twice (except for 1 arm and 2 rows on the back).

So my tips for this pattern are:

1. Count your stitches often if you have baby brain.
2. Read each section twice and make sure you understand before proceding.
3. Use stitch devision below.

The cardy gets devided up into 5 sections:
front left: 22 sts
left armhole: 6 sts
back: 46 sts
right armhole: 6 sts
front right: 22 sts
Total: 102 sts

Pretty little bow

I also have used a button sewn on the inside of bow to use as a fastener, instead of poppers. The crochet stitches form little buttonholes, so by using a button I will be able to always adjust the fit according to the size of the baby. More info on the project on my Ravelry project page.

One more remark and this is that I used Clover crochet hooks which I purchased a while back at iKnit London. The set was not cheap, but what a great buy!! A pleasure to use!

Many people have heard of the benefits of meditation, but when they try they hit a wall. The most common problem when watching the breath is feeling you can’t get enough air. Only by stopping and shifting your focus back to everyday life can a normal breathing pattern be re-established.

One of the causes might be the depth of your breathing. Many people’s breathing is very shallow. The moment you focus on you breath (like you do during meditation) your breathing – now consious – gets deeper and slower. This can feel very unnatural on two levels: physically and psycologically.

Your body is physically not used to dealing with deep breathing. Muscles and tendons don’t normally stretch that far to let air in. Also your lungs and the surrounding tissue and organs are effected. Deep breathing can – for some – be like a strenous workout after years of only light excersise. And like in the given example the only way to get to that level of competance is to build up slow.

The initial psycological impact of deep breathing can be quite sever. Most of us are inour minds – so to speak – all day long. To shift focus from our thinking and problem solving mind to our (to the mind rather dull) workings of our bodies is a stretch. The idea of breath awareness meditation is just that: to be aware of the breath, but to out mind – who always wants to control situations – this is too hard. So instead of quietly following the breath in and out, the mind takes over and starts to control our breathing. It is now no longer natural and this is where the problem arises. The effort that goes into controlling your breathing (a natural response of the body) is so great that it soon wears the person out. Breathing then becomes harder and harder.

The solution to either or both issues is simple: one breath meditation. Like the spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle says in this book A New Earth: “one consious breath is a meditation”.

Breathe as if you're on top of the world!

One breath meditation

During the course of your day take one deep breath as often as you can remember. Simply focus on the air going into your lungs, the slight pause and then the air flowing out of your lungs again. That’s all. Continue what you were doing. If you feel comfortable with 2 or 3 breaths, than focus for those breaths, but one is enough.

Don’t make an issue out of it – in case you forget. With all meditation one of the golden rules is never to fuss. If something goes as planned: fine. If not: fine too! There is no right or wrong. However as with all ’systems’, they only work if you do them. So if you find yourself forgetting to take the one consious breath rather often then use something to remind yourself.

If you work in an office you can pick one of your colleague’s phone. As soon as you hear it ringing, take the one consious breath. If you work in a shop, you could use customers paying with a certain credit card as your reminder. Every time you see someone pull out that particular brand card, take your one consious breath. When you want to increase the amount of consious breaths, simply add another phone or another brand card.

After 1 week you might start to notice you feel far more centered and balanced. Even one breath at a time this can be accomplished. In fact that is also how an hour long meditation works: one breath at a time! This one consious breath routine isn’t a lot of work, but the medical benefits can be great. Blood pressure might go down as can stress levels. You might experience less headaches and a general sense of wellbeing.

If you are ready for the next step or wish to learn more about meditation in general, please read our Meditation Guide.

One of the first things I knitted for my baby where these sweet little baby booties. They are great for using up bits of leftover yarn. Because back in April we didn’t know if our child would be a boy or a girl, I didn’t add the buttons. Then yesterday I decided to walk to Kingly Court – just of Carnaby Street – to All the Fun of the fair. This little knitting shop has an excellent selection of quirky stuff, including buttons. I scored normal salmon ones for the booties, but also purchased several wooden strawberry buttons. I have no idea what I’ll use them for, but I’ll knit something around it .

Baby booties

(details in Ravelry)

• Pattern: Saartje’s Bootees by Saartje de Bruijn
• Yarn: Patons UK 100% Cotton DK in Raffia and Off-White
• Needles: 2mm (US 0)
• Buttons: 10p each at All the Fun of the fair (Kingly Court, London)

No more muddy bottoms!

Okay! It may not be the most important thing in the world, but keeping a lovely (expensive?) handbag looking nice can be quite a challange. I own a white Le Pilage handbag from Longchamps, yes you read that correctly: white! And although I found a good way to clean Le Pilage hanbags, prevention is better in my book. So these dinky little bag hangers from Luxe Link are just the ticket, spotted in the very cute online store of Cambria Cove. They are such cute little gadgets and very handy. Just unfold and hang your bag on the table. Particulary useful when drinking a nice iced tea or rosé on the patio/terras. Keep those bags hanging ladies…

I very much like the turquiose bag hangers, shame I don’t live in the states and I’ve not spotted them here in Europe!

To begin with I’d like to say that this is my own experience and view on life and is in now way meant to hurt or “covert” anyone. I’m offering this information because I know many who struggle to conceive and there might be things in here they could benefit from. We didn’t struggle… at all and I do believe our mind set might have something to do with it. I have no proof for this and I leave it to the reader to form their own opinion about such things…

Happy no matter what!

My dear partner came to me one day and said: why don’t we just see what happens. This was a reaction on me saying I really would like to have a child, which was several months before. Since then I had not mentioned it, because I believe people have to make up their own mind about such things as important as having children and pressure from a partner can’t be beneficial. So I decided in my heart of hearts to be happy no matter what. I would be happy with children in my life and I would be happy without children in my life. I know for some this may not be an option, but I’ve been in dark places before and it is no way to live once life from there. The only way to be free is to be happy no matter what.

Moon Phases

What is a natural cycle like?

So I took two weeks to get my head around the idea. Thinking you want a child is different than actually having it happen. So I did some research, because I had no clue what a natural cycle would be like. I had taken the birth control pill all my life and only stopped once. That time I had very tender breasts and severe menstral pains, so I got back on it straight away. So here I was about to go the pill-less road. Quite a new experience for a modern, working woman like me – who up until that point had always been in control of nature. Now I was going to let nature take control of me, which meant I needed a bit more info. For years I heard that the moon was of great influence on the earth, including woman’s cycles. So I started there, thinking we would – like the tides of the ocean – sync with the moon and have regular, moon influenced cycles. Well, I didn’t find that info and am still in the dark if this is so. But what I read somewhere was that you are most fertile when the moon is in the same phase as when you where born. So I looked up my birth moon phase, which was ‘Last Quater’ also know as a waning moon (going from Full Moon to New Moon). So I looked up the moon phases for 2010 and found out when it would be a Last Quarter moon again, which was Friday January 8th. My period would be about 2 weeks before that, so I stopped the pill 5 days before that. This because it always took 5 days to get my period after I stopped with the pill when I was on it. It was no different this time. I had my period and about two weeks after that I felt a very local abdominal pain I identified as my ovulation.

Second time lucky!

I didn’t get pregnant that month, but in my head it wasn’t anything to worry about. You hear that it can take up to a year for a healthy couple to fall pregnant so there was nothing to worry about. I had always believed I was very fertile. I also knew my body might need some time to come off the pill and adjust to mother natures way. So I happily continued on. The next month I felt the ovulation again and we had two ’shots’ at it by chance around that time. Two weeks later I felt the normal period cramps, but no period. By the time I was 3 days late I wondered if I was pregnant. I knew my body might need to adjust after coming off the pill, but I felt cramps and was a little worried. If I was pregnant fine, but if not, then something is wrong down there. Better to be safe, so on Friday 19th of February I bought a pregnancy test and tested on Saturday morning. It was a plus, we were pregnant 2 months of coming off the pill!! I only had 1 ‘normal’ period!!!

Shocking…

Needless to say I was in a bit of a shock and so was my partner. It had come so easily and so quickly. It took us some time to get our heads around it, but we were very  happy, just stunned. I have NO clue if the method used was of any influence, but for the benefit of others I thought I’d share the story and ‘technique’ (if you can call it that) with the world. The cramps was the major contruction work that was going on down there. I kept feeling it for weeks before it settled a little. I also started to feel the baby when I was in my 16th week, which is very very early. Perhaps body awareness meditation is to responsible for this, I’m not sure. But I find it a great benefit and joy to be so in touch with my body in this special time.

Mind over matter

I do believe certain things helped us concieve so quickly. Mainly our mindsets. During every medical test there is always a control-group to test against. Often some of the people in the control group get a placebo. Why? Because the idea that you are getting a pil which does A, B or C; actually focusses the mind on this with the result that even if a human is given a fake pill, a placebo, they still have effect A, B or C. This proves that our mind is a very VERY powerful tool when it comes to directing our own body. More – in my opinion – than has so far been admitted by the medical community. Anyway mind and attidue have a great effect. In our case these mind-sets helped (my opinion only): 

1. We where not trying: meaning we where relaxed and openminded (or almost none-minded) about it all
2. Believe in fertility: all my life I thought I would conceive quickly, and I did
3. Believe in mother nature: I placed my absolute faith in nature, a very powerfull force, better to flow with it than fight it
4. What will be, will be: whenever is the right time that is when the universe (God if you like) will click with us and that is the perfect timing
5. Daily happiness: nothing works so well as being ‘Just happy’. I always try to think this when I get stressed: all I have to do is: Just Be. nothing else.

Again this is my own experience and view on life and things. I will try and give more info on the power of thougth in the coming weeks, because for me it has been truly magical. I hope this may help some people. My dear friends have been trying for their second child for over a year now and I understand most of the above is very easily said one or two months in, but the longer you go the harder it is. For all those people like my dear friend and her husband I’ve written my story. I hope it helps and wish you all the luck and happiness in the world.

Hello there world! I’ve been away for quite a while. The reason is: my partner and I are expecting our first baby! Yes! And the little baby was partly to blame for my blogging abscense. The first trimester I experienced a lot of nausea and fatigue. This meant that during the week I tried to hold down my full time job and travel to and from work (a total of 11 hours a day) as best I could. At the weekends I rested up and did the housework, which left little time for anything else.

This week I’m 20 weeks into the pregnancy and I feel so (SO!!!) much better. I’ve started to pick up all the things I haven’t done for months and hope to come back to blogging a bit more. Having a baby is a great new adventure and very inspiring for the Happy Living Blog as it will focus my attention to new facets of life. I will also change the tone and feel of the blog. I tried to keep it professional, but in the end I’ll be sharing more and more ideas that have great impact on my life, so a more personal approach seems suitable. Topics will remain as old focussed on: Crafts, Mind & Body, Home, Food & Drink, Gardening, Travel & Outings and now Babies and Children.

However weather you have a family or not, I hope this blog will offer that which makes people truly happy. Time after time it is proven by researchers that happiness is only partly depended on income. When we earn enough not to worry day and night, the emphasis shifts to being in good health, having good family relationships and/or good friends and finding a balance between work and home. Add to this the importance of a nice, clean, beautiful house – a place you want come home too and feel like it’s your space; a balance mind and feeling at ease in your own body + the creativity of crafts/hobbies/reading/gardening/etc and in my book you got a recipe for a happy life and a great blog .

I’ve always been fascinated by Japan. It’s such a country of strange concepts. Modern technology and acient traditions go hand it hand, well most of the time. I really like gadgets and the strange uses the Japanese think up for them – my favorite is still the cat talk analyser, which I still hope to purchase one day, so I can finally make sense of what my feline friends are actually miauwing about. Still the biggest allure japan has for me is it’s traditions and ‘wabi-Sabi’ attitude towards life. Wabi-what?? I hear you say. Wabi-Sabi; the art to see beauty in (handcrafted) imperfect item.

Expansion and diversity
We live in a mass produced world here in the west. Almost everything you own comes from a factory. From iPhones to cars and desks to flats, even your clothes: mass produced. So what? you might wonder. Well it means every thing around is the same. All is made with templates and flawed items never get to the shop. So due to the industrialisation we ticked the box “expansion” but there is another great force moving the species forward: diversity! Look at the history of humans and you see progress and survivabillity due to diversification. True some human beings – for fear and other reasons – have tried to stop diversification, but their efforts can never withstand the driving force of the whole species.

For centuries both these forces have devoped on a similar scale. However since the industralisation, expansion took presedence. And this has brought great wealth to most of us here in the west. Many who complain about the credit crunch seem to have forgotten that even 60 years ago meat was not a staple most families saw on the dinner table every night. Nor did many woman have more than 1 or 2 ‘good dresses’. Likewise kids and shoes. And even though we now live better than ever, we seem to have lost something along the way – and we seem to feel it. Or if you had a plot of land, could you grow anything on it that would feed you? Let alone grow/keep food whole year round?

Wabi-Sabi bowls made by artist Shannon Garson

Connection
We lost our connection. What connection? you may ask. Well THE connection. That what links us to eachother, the planet, nature, our own bodies even (all we do is sit in front of computers and tvs using our mind not our bodies). And we also seem to have lost selfsufficentcy and most imporantly our creativity. Ask youself: if I was placed in front of a blank canvas with some paint materials would I be able to produce anything unique? I’m not talking “art” here, just something unique and truly yours?

The enormus popularity at the moment of allotment gardening, making you own jams/cheese/yoghurt, etc and crafts like spinning, knitting and sewing are signs of humanity seeking that lost connection. Parents wanting their children to experience what it feels like to make something with their own hands or make something grow. Both are experiences which can not be felt by talking about it in a class room. They have to be done by the person themselves.

Timelessness
I always experience a different time sensation when gardening. I end up hours later surpised time has flown without me noticing it. It’s not like when I’m having fun and 1 hour feels more like 40 minutes, it’s like there was No Time as far as I was aware and I just popped back in normal life 3 hours later. This experience of timelessness calms the soul.

Wabi-Sabi
So, how is this all connected with Wabi-Sabi objects? Well, I believe that items made by the human hand, with imperfections and inspired by the makers creativity and executed with love and attention – have an intrinsic beauty. An object crafted with the focus that takes the maker into that timeless dimension previously mentioned connects the body and mind to the soul - which dells in that same timeless dimension. This sounds odd, especially when you think about it. But it is really something that should be experienced rather than though about or even discussed… try it. Look at something you think of as Wabi-Sabi and feel (don’t think).

Ever since I wrote a blog post about Lindsay Lohan’s slouchy beret back in September 2007 I’ve been getting a lot of hits on that article. Mainly from knitters trying to find a pattern to knit a hat like Lindsay was wearing. Lilo – as Lohan is also called- popped out for a stroll sporting a black slouchy beret looking rather fab. At the time I was knitting the famous ‘Le Slouch’ beret, a pattern which is no longer available. So I decided to create my own and after researching all sort of variations on the moss stitch I finally found one that looks like Lindsay’s! I then knitted various berets to find one that closely matched the pic of Lohan and so finally here it is: the Lilo slouchy beret pattern!

Lindsay's fab black slouchy beret is now available as a pattern from my store!

The pattern knits fairly quick (I did most versions in 5-6 hours or less). This means its great for last minute gift knitting. The black beret is a great gift as it can be worn to dress up an outfit using it as a fashion item like Lindsay did, or it works well with those loving alternative styles (emo, goth, alto, grunge, etc) like many teenagers.

This is a great project for intermediate beginners. Those ready to move a step up. The skills needed for this pattern are:

• cast on
• knit/purl
• knit in the round
• decreases

Lilo Slouchy Beret

Inspired by Lindsay Lohan's slouchy beret and now available!

price: £3.00

buy now

Skill Level: intermediate beginner

Skills: knit in the round & decreasing

Size: fit adult woman’s head (±55cm)

gauge: 16 sts per 10cm/4inch in pattern stitch

Materials needed

• 3x Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky in black
• 5mm/US size 9 circular needle
• 6mm/US size 10 circular needle
• 6mm/US size 10 double pointed needles
• 1 stitch marker in main color
• 7 stitch markers in alternative color
• tapestry needle or crochet hook to weave in the end

The Lilo Slouchy Beret is currently for sale through Ravelry only. Ravelry is a free online website for the knitting/crochet community. It has a pattern library, forums and a system to manage and plan your projects. If you don’t have a Ravelry account, please open one for free.

Traditional new years resolutions are things like stop smoking, loose weight, etc. This year I decided to approach the question differently. Instead of looking at what is wrong I choose to look at what I want. To look forward positively instead of backwards/current moment with negativitiy. I asked myself how I would live my life if I could change anything and everything. What would I want from it for myself. Based on that vision of my ideal life situation I started making my list. The end result is a list of 6 items.

photo taken from Bingbings flickr stream

1. Live healthier; by taking time for healthy eating, excersising & having a healthy weight, enough sleep and better hygiene (I really should floss ever day!) I hope to enjoy life more. I always realise around the gluttonous christmas time that I hate being bogged down, full up and letargic. But when I take the time to care for my health, I feel great! Still the main focus is that I want this, not I MUST do it.

2. To complete & finish things; As you might have noticed when looking at the frequency I update the site or finish promised products… I’m a starter, not a finisher. I get so many great ideas I find it hard to focus. So this year I want to end up with a list of things I finished and completed. I’m ignoring all my ‘to-do’ projects and have a brand new list: a finshed list. I will fill in absolutely anything I finsh. Goal of 2010: fill up the list!

3. Tidy & Throw! I come from a ‘oh-that-might-come-in-handy-later family. I have a tendency to keep anything and everything. It wouldn’t be beyond me to keep empty jars… in case I ever want to make candle holders to hang down the tree -that I still need to grow- in the garden… Do I need to say more. So on the list is to declutter, throw and tidy up. You may not realise it but possesions actually bog you down. The more stuff you have, especially untidy and unused stuff – the more you are smothered. Ideas, potential, talent all get smothered. So out with the stuff, in with the good vibe and ideas!

4. Quality before Quantity. If the whole credit crunch taught us one thing it is that we don’t need more! We really don’t! Last year I was perfectly fine only buying clothes I needed. In fact its a lot less work when you know what you need. No more miss matched stuff that you bought on the spurr of the moment that doesn’t really fit with anything. Now I got this whole less is more sassed, I’m going one step further. Buying quality pieces, be it clothes or home ware or anything really. I want to live with a beautiful things around me! That would be lovely. Not a lot of cheap stuff or stuff that dates.. just a few really nice items!

5. Find balance. In 2010 my focus is on finding balance in anything I do. Be it small or big. The moment I feel odd (this could be anything from uncomfortable to angry, annoyed, etc) I know I’ve lost it. I want my normal state to be one of inner joy and peace. If I loose touch with this I want to take a step back from whatever I’m doing and ask myself: what is up? Why do I feel so strange? I’ve been practising this in 2009 and it’s become very important to me. If I don’t sort out me, then no one will. It is my responsibility to feel good! Wherever I am and whatever I’m doing! I must find balance.

6. Stop & take in. There is so much beauty in this life and its rushing by. Why? Not because it’s hurring around, but because we are! We are soooo busy and forget to stop and look. So this year my focus is on stopping at least once a day (hoping to work up to once an hour) and really look at where I am and take it in. Take in the fact that I’m alive, that I’m breathing, that millions upon millions of cells are working hard to keep me going, that the world is full of wonder and colours, people and animals. That the world floats in infinate space and the planet is like a spec of dust and I’m a tiny human on that spec of dust. Wow! Isn’t life marvelous!?!

I hope you all have great resolutions too! Feel free to post any you might have made.

May 2010 bring you the life you have in mind!