Schlagwort: Thank You

December 29

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„Happy Birthday“ to wake me up, a fancy cake for breakfast that J and M had made …

IMG_0160… followed by two hours of reading and knitting in a lovely café.

IMG_0162Afterwards, all three of us went to watch Alba Berlin play basketball (sadly an ugly game due to fouls, trash talk, and whippings. Alba won though).

© Alba Berlin
© Alba Berlin

Finally at night, we had dinner at a tiny Italian restaurant …

© Trattoria Bocca Del Buon Gusto

… with a handful of extraordinary friends: the professor who mentored my master thesis in American Studies and her husband, a devoted basketball fan; my lively and charming Belgian friend, photographer and mother of 5 boys, with her sharp-witted Swiss husband, and J’s former basketball coach, a very gentle young man from India who grew up in France and will go back to India next week to work with „sports without borders.“

Quite an experiment as they had never met before but we hit it off right from the start! I don’t remember having so much fun, so many interesting conversations, so much friendship and warmth at a long table in a long time.

I am inspired, grateful, and a year older! Thank you all 🙂

 

1970s crochet blankets

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Back in the 70s, when my sisters and I were kids, my mom would make blankets for us that we would use as bedspreads for years to come.

Looking back, it amazes me how she managed to keep the making of those huge blankets a secret until Christmas.

Lately, all three of them moved in with me. And I am not even sure my sisters know that I became the „keeper of handmade bedspreads“ 🙂

The one with horizontal stripes in yellow, red, beige, and brown belongs to my elder sister. My younger sister was pleased to get the vertically striped one in turquoise, brown, and beige. Ultimately, mine is the checkered one in red, green, brown, and beige.

You can tell they’re old, you can tell they’re used but there is no doubt I will bring them back out again next fall.

crochet blankets

striped croched blanket

striped crochet blanket

checkered crochet blanket

crochet blankets

Did I ever say thank you? Just to make sure: Thank you, Mami 🙂

Sewing machine

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Years ago, a colleague gave me his mother’s old sewing machine. Dusty, a little battered, and long hidden in his attic, it finally came my way the day I casually mentioned that having one would be nice. I can’t say I ever used it for anything “big” – I’ve always been more about fixing than creating.

Over the years, though, it became my go-to for patching the kid’s jeans. Zillions of patches. The machine was reliable, eager, humming along as it stitched whatever I needed – straight stitches, zig-zags, you name it. Sure, I occasionally broke a needle, but that was the extent of the drama. No serious breakdowns.

Still, we never really bonded. Maybe it was the weight – it’s a beast. Dragging it out of the basement, carrying it into the kitchen, setting it up on the table… I hated every step. So naturally, I procrastinated, letting the pile of jeans grow until, inevitably, the kid had nothing left to wear. By that time, of course, he’d grown, and all those freshly patched jeans were suddenly too short.

So why am I telling you this? Because today I finally decided it was time to find a new home for my 1950s Ideal Zick-Zack Deluxe. I listed it on eBay for free, hoping someone out there would convince me they’d be the perfect new owner. Within an hour or two, about 20 people responded.

My gut led me to Ritva – a young mother of two, devoted to needlework (at least that’s what she said). I loved her emails, the way she wrote, and I have to admit, I was curious about someone named Ritva. Isn’t that a beautiful name? I’d never heard it before.

To make a long story short: an hour ago, Ritva came by. She seemed to really adore the machine, its accessories, and even the suitcase it came with. It was love at first sight. And when she started praising all the advantages of an old machine over the newer “plastic” ones, I couldn’t help feeling a tiny pang of regret for letting it go.

Have a wonderful new life, Ideal Zick-Zack Deluxe, and thank you for being part of our family for the last 25 years. I promise I’ll think of you every time the kid rips his pants.

Happy New Year

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So here we are – it’s 2013! And what can I say? Thank you for stopping by the häkelmonster from time to time, thank you for leaving comments on my posts, for your encouragement, and – probably most important of all – thank you for welcoming me so warmly into the world of crafts and blogs.

Your company, your support, and your kind words have made this journey not only easier, but also a truly joyful one. I’m deeply grateful for every visit, every note, and every little bit of encouragement along the way.

May the New Year be good to you, may all resolutions be kept (…), and may we see or read or write each other soon.

Happy New Year!

happy new year haekelmonster