December Challenge, anyone?

Can you believe it's December already? The year just flew by! I’ve been reflecting on the year and had to admit that, to put it kindly, I have not been great with my morning routine. Truthfully, my track record for this year's morning routing is basically non-existent.Despite planning to, I have also not managed to keep a visual journal. I haven’t sketched much since I finished the 100-day challenge. I am sure it is directly connected to my morning routing failure.See DED is my me time where I usually find time to sketch regularly. My friend Il-haam and I planned to do a 30-day or even a 100-day challenge together in autumn- but life happened.  So we postponed it. Indefinitely.Autumn is nearly over. The year is nearly over as well. Yet we both would still like to do a challenge. So we were looking at when to start it and how long we want to commit for now. We both agreed on 30 days and that we rather begin in mid-December than on the 1st of January. We feel like we rather finish the year strong and then connect the new year. I like to start things quite immediately rather than waiting for a specific time. But we both thought it would be wise to give ourselves a week to 10 days to properly define our goals and intentions. The idea behind daily challenges is to get into a habit of something. This could be anything from a daily walk, studying, reading, writing, arts & crafts, whatever. Anything goes really. The benefit of doing something consistently for 30 days, 60 or 100 is that we get used to overcoming whatever holds us back from doing it in the first place. And hopefully getting into the habit of it.I love these challenges because I find it easier to keep going when I count towards a goal. Also, I am an overachiever so crossing off days is a daily achievement. In my experience doing any challenges with a community is extremely inspiring and has a bigger and longer lasting impact on me. It doesn’t matter what the individual challenges are that each person is doing, the fact that we all support each other when we struggle and simply knowing one isn’t alone in the challenge is a huge help. And then for me most importantly there is the accountability that comes with sharing one’s intentions.  For me, it has more gravity. I probably think about it more but most importantly I define my goals and intentions more accurately. For this 30 Day Challenge, I decided to give the visual journal another go. I am still defining the parameters for my goals and I am pondering what I realistically could get done on a daily basis. As I take probably 3 hours to finish a journal page I won't be able to do one page a day. Also frankly I don't think my life is interesting enough to fill a whole page on a daily basis. I am not sure what Il-haam will do. We have not discussed details yet. We just set a date and said we will check in around the 10 of December to talk about details. We starting on Monday 16th of December. Does anyone else want to join?

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Currently on my needles: September ’24

During hot weather, I tend to crochet more for some reason. I often make bags or hats during the summer. Or any other cotton or raffia project I fancy. Last year I knitted a lace cardigan from lyocell yarn, and started a t-shirt from linen yarn that I stashed away because knitting with 3mm needles turned out to take an eternity, it was already mid-autumn and I still had managed to do ⅔ of the project. At the beginning of this summer, I had ideas for 2 tops, started designing them and bought the pattern for two more. Then I bought the yard for one of the patterns I bought and one of my designs. I was looking for the yarn of the other two tops, but I suddenly decided this was ridiculous. And I stopped my yarn shopping and project plotting. In all honesty 2023 was a year full of UFOs. I had planned to change this and wanted to alternate with new projects and finish the UFOs. And my summer knit plans went totally against that resolution.I also realised that I tend to make plans for knits on a monthly basis, then get yarn and cast on... and then the season changes and I have 3 or 4 projects on the go, which I then stash to start a whole lot of new projects, repeat the entire thing all over again in 3-4months. So I did not cast on my lace cardigan design, because I had already started my summer top. I've been pretty good about it. But I am a slow-mo, so I am still knitting the same thing since mid-July in mid-September. I am determined to finish it, hope it will only be another 2 weeks or so. I am not casting on anything. I haven't bought yarn in several months as well. Once this is done I am thinking of starting a winter project (I got this idea and the yarn last February) which will take me at least 3 months. And I am planning to have small projects on the side. So just two things on the go. I hope to remedy the 3 socks suffering from single-sock-syndrome during autumn. Currently on my needles Cilla Sun Pattern by Anne Ventzel For details to my version click on the title.

September Morning Musings

Can you believe nearly ¾ of the year has already flown by? This fact quite strikes me. I feel a sense of urgency atm. Oddly it's an urgency to slow down, treasure time and live in the moment. I feel very aware of my time being limited. I am currently visiting home, as a family member is not well. It is the main reason I have spent a lot of time in Switzerland this past year. First and foremost I am very grateful that I am able to do this. Freelancing is a massive gift for me. Also being faced with our mortality puts many things in perspective for me. I feel very aware of my priorities in life. It puts into perspective who and what is most important to me. Second I also feel strongly that there are things I still would love to learn and explore, and don't want to make excuses to postpone them. I saw a reel on IG the other day, about how two years passed and nothing changed... the excuses are the same-but if one just starts moving towards one's dreams in small steps, two years later most things won't be much different, except we have small experiences that change our lives. This spoke to me and I am now writing a list of skills I still want to learn and things I want to do. A sort of bucket list of skills. I might share them later here. (Don't hold your breath, since I am terrible at writing posts these days)Do you have skills you want to learn? I am also reflecting on the year so far. The 100 Day Project was an interesting experience for me. It's been interesting sketching for 100 consecutive days. My inner overachiever still preens with the fact, that she managed to finish the 100 days. From a skill point of view, it was interesting and creatively I found it very expansive, even though I was worried I would run out of ideas or feel stifled.I did however not feel like it was very interactive with other artists. Maybe it's about the algorithms or we are all social media overloaded. Who knows? But one of the reasons I loved Damn Early Days was the sense of community it created. While I did my own thing and was one of the few people in my time zone who took part, others were struggling with me. There was an exchange of ideas and experiences. Also most importantly reminders to be patient with ourselves and our intentions. It helped me get even better at setting goals and pursuing them. And it helped me overcome my fear of routine, and how to build one that helps me expand rather than stiffle me. And last but certainly not least I learnt a whole lot about habits. When I told a friend about these experiences I had the idea to do another 100 days- for the last 100 days of the year. But then life happened and I kinda forgot that the last 100 days of 2024 start on the 23rd of September, so I decided to do a 30-day challenge instead with whoever is keen to join. Starting in October. The idea is to write a goal and make an intention to do something consistently for 30 days. This could be something creative or physical or studying whatever, for at least 5 minutes every day. Or if one wants the goal could be walking 3km or reading one page.. the sky is the limit. I think it is important to make time and to challenge oneself but not to make it impossible. For example, I would not be able to finish a sketch every day because it usually takes me at least 3 hours. Would you be interested in taking part in a 30-day challenge?

The 100 Day Project 2024

The 100 Days Project started in 2011 with New Zealand graphic designer Emma Rogan, who read about a class called ‘100 Days of Design’, run by Michael Bierut, at Yale School of Visual Arts.  The idea behind this is to build a creative habit and learn through continuity. The project has since evolved into an online and worldwide challenge.  Every year, thousands of people all around the world commit to 100 days of creating. Anyone can participate.The idea is simple: choose a creative project, do it every single day for 100 days, and share your process on social using the hashtag #The100DayProject.The next round of the project will start on February 18, 2024- tomorrow  A couple of weeks ago, I decided to join the #100dayproject this year.At first, I thought of doing one sketch a dayBut very quickly I had to admit that this slow-mo will never be able to do 100 sketches in 100 days because it takes me hours to finish a sketch. Realistically I can’t sketch for 3 or more hours a day. Also, honestly; I don’t really want to. So I was thinking maybe to commit to 15 minutes of being creative. But frankly, that’s just a cop-out. So I dismissed that instantly. I also keep coming back to sketching as my challenge and I even considered attempting to do a visual journal again. I like the idea of keeping a visual journal and have tried on several occasions- but again I simply can’t keep it up because it takes way too long to sketch.  Having done a 30-day art challenge every March for the previous 3 years, where I just sketched every day for 30 days, I know that sketching first thing in the morning is relaxing and also helps me focus and be more productive for the rest of the day. I felt it was easier to keep up my evening routine and my early morning routine.When I tried to do the 30-day art challenge in August last year to do a visual journal - I failed, only keeping up for 23 days.As I was thinking about it, I realized that I haven't sketched much since then. So I took a step back and thought about why I wanted to do the challenge and what would I really like to gain from it. Basically, I would like to rebuild a daily habit of sketching and hopefully help me anchor my morning routine with it. I don't care about having a hundred sketches or a finished journal at the end of this. I want to enjoy this time of quiet and enjoy the small progresses, indulge ideas and inspirations and most importantly the joy and growth continuity brings. So long story short: I intend to sketch every day for at least 30 minutes for 100 days I got myself a small sketchbook - because I like the idea of having a small portable journal to fall back to- but I will just see where this journey takes me. No pressure to sketch anything specific or in a specific medium or journal, just to make the time every morning and enjoy the journey. Are you joining the #The100DayProject?

Reflections on 2023 and setting new goals for 2024

First up, I am running a little late with setting my goals for this year. Usually, I spend time in the last few weeks of the year, reflecting on said year and setting new priorities and intentions for the new year. Most of the time, by New Year I have my intentions and priorities written out and set myself 3-5 goals/ challenges as well. 2023 was a difficult year for me. A year of losses on many levels. From financial to personal, you name it. November and December were the culmination of it all. I could not even consider planning anything. I felt like what I needed was solitude and stillness. So December was spent mourning and accepting all the losses. The first week of January brought a couple of more disappointments and betrayals, I found that while I still was mourning the passing of close friends, I was also angry about the loss of friendships. So I took a bunch of long walks. Watched sunrises and quietly reflected on my year of losses. I felt like I was a ship in the middle of the fog, while I was sure my general direction was correct the lighthouse was switched off. I felt somewhat lost and alone. So I re-evaluated my general direction in life. Reflected my actions and events of 2023. What I realized is that it was a purification. A laying out the core of my intention and also relationships. A simple culling of unimportant stuff from my life. But also a reminder of what and who is truly important to me. Some priorities have shifted, but most have stayed the same. Most significantly these difficulties amplified the importance of my chore values and priorities in life. A new long-term project somehow emerged from this process. I am not nearly ready to even share the idea of it, it's still very new and not quite explainable/thought-through. But I know that it is something that I need to work towards starting quite immediately. Right now I am busy writing out my priorities and intentions for 2024.At the beginning of the year, I decided to set myself two goals regardless of anything that was happening in my life. Reading Goal: 204books read in 2024 (the usual thing) 52/2024: this time I thought it would be clever to do 52reels instead of 52 photos. I will post on the 52/2024 in a bit. I have done 3 reels so far and I don't think this was my smartest idea... Last week I had the idea to do Project 24. I haven't quite worked out all the details. But essentially it's a photography project that I will be working on for the year. Today I decided to join the 100Days of Art Challenge -which starts on Feb. 18th. I am going to sketch every day for 100 days. Also, I am starting my Damn Early Days routine again. Started today. The goal is to keep it going for the whole year. So my 5 goals/challenges for 2024 are now set. Did you set any goals for 2024?

Morning Musings. 1. November 2023

While I think that in some ways human imagination and creativity are incredible and seemingly limitless. I find that the majority of us end up applying what we have experienced or seen. So most times there is some of our ego in what we do. Which is interesting and positive when it comes to making art for example.But the more I reflect on it the more I find that most of us apply this to all actions and thoughts. So most of our actions come through a viewpoint of our own experience and views and are thus permeated with at least a small part of it. How is one truly selfless? How does one put "one's self into someone else's boots"? Without dragging one's own experiences and views into it? I think that letting go of one's own history to look at a situation or to act from a "fresh" point of view is one of the most difficult things to do. And in reality, it is most times nearly impossible. Is it necessary? When it comes to the current situation we find ourselves in, it is what Humanity desperately needs, in my opinion. People who act with no agenda or personal gain. People who act from a space that is free of the ego, their desires, and fears. Those actions- the actions that come with intention straight from the heart- have the most impact. No matter how small. They are the seeds that can change the world An entire city can not change one man. But one man can change the entire city.

Currently on my needles: June’23

In the last 6 months, I started a lot of projects and frogged the majority of them. Restarted half of them and generally finished only a very few. I keep forgetting to take photos of the finished projects and keep planning to post about them. Hopefully, I will get around to it a wee bit later. At the moment I am working only on two projects: Cassiopeia Named after the constellation because for some reason the yarns remind me of unicorns and the name seemed fitting for a unicorn. Simple toe-up socks that I knit while on the go, striping the two yarns every row, the white-speckled one being the MC. Yarns Das Mondschaf HydraEinhornpups (white speckled) TreLiz AresMadala (multicolored stripey) Find details on the Cassiopeia project page Sea Daffodils This project is another of my idea-to-needles experiment. Let's hope it will work out this time.I am aiming to make a lacey tee inspired by the frozen flowers I discovered on a winter hike in Switzerland. Yarn Mirafil FasciaFrozen Sea #355 I only did some swatching, a lot of charting, and cast on the back so far. It's going to be slow, but so far I really love the fabric and drape I get from the yarn. Find more details on the Frost Flowers project page

Zurich, Another Point of View

"To me, photography is an art of observation.It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... little to do with the thing you see and everthing to do with the way you see it." Elliott Erwitt I was born and raised in a small town close to Zurich, so I've been there thousands of times. Every time I visit home I also visit Zurich. This means I got lots of photos of the city some I liked enough to put into my portfolio. But I got a lot of the usual same same viewpoints that you would get if you would google for images. Don't get me wrong, those viewpoints are very pretty. However, there are only so many times I feel I can post the same view unless it's a spectacular amazing photo I feel I have done that. So the last few visits I didn't even bother taking those photos, yet I have taken quite a few photos, which I would not add to my portfolio or my professional IG, because I simply felt they were not quite good enough. Lately, however, I have been rethinking the expectations I have of my photography and I have decided not to niche myself according to what I think is expected instead I am trying to just take photos of what resonates with me in the moment. Like snapping moments that I find interesting, beautiful views, details that catch my eye, the way the light falls... trying to convey a viewpoint and feeling more than the perfect photo. It's been creatively quite liberating because frankly I have been overly critical of myself and the result was not better photos but fewer and fewer photos with lots of frustrations. I still think that it's important I push myself to improve my craft and snap the best possible picture. I am still a relentless overachiever and a perfectionist. But in all honesty, when I look at my work the photos I like best are not the ones that are technically the best or the ones one would put into a travel catalog, it's the ones that somehow reflect the most what captured my attention at that moment. Those moments of beauty that I managed to capture really well. Going through my photos of the last year I realized that I have lots of unpublished photos that I really like. They are not quite your usual viewpoints of places, nor the prettiest. And clearly, I didn't feel they fit my professional IG, yet I feel they reflect much more of that trip and my creativity. And quite a few that I really loved were taken in Zurich. I realized that they portray a much more personal account of the city I love and know so well. While I am not sure I will share any of these on IG, I decided to share them in this space. That's what this space was for to share my thoughts and inspirations. So here are snippets of Zurich from another point of view. Or more accurately: Zurich from my point of view.

Reflections on January & February 2023

As I was writing a blog post about my reflections on January Turkey was hit by the biggest earthquake the area has seen in more than a century. So if felt frivolous to write about my goals and routines or post some pretty photos. I decided to stay off social media in general and concentrate on how I can help the community here. The destruction and loss caused by the three huge earthquakes are simply overwhelming. The Turkish community has been mourning and will be dealing with the repercussions of the disasters for many years to come. It is difficult to even comprehend the vastness of the losses. The affected area stretches over 400km and over 13.5 Million people are directly affected. So many people perished. Entire cities are in rubble. It's completely devastating. How does one even put words to loss of that scale? It felt apocalyptic. Yet within this devastation, I saw so many wonderful things emerge. People rallying to help, incredible generosity from all over the world but especially within the Turkish community, and many beautiful accounts of what can only be called small miracles, like people being found under the rubble 2 weeks later completely uninjured. So much hope despite the fear and pain. For me personally, it put everything into perspective. A reminder of the might of the Majestic, destiny, and that life is too short to waste it on unimportant stuff and toxic people.I found myself being grateful for the goodness in my life and the people love. I still feel like I am not quite ready, however, I am trying to slowly ease into social media. I have started a new photo project, instead of doing a photo a day I am doing a photo a week, so 52 photos in 2023. I find it actually more challenging to remember not only to take the photo but also to post it on IG. I am way behind with posting but have managed to keep up with taking photos, even if half the time I remember on Sunday to take the photo for the week. One of the decisions I made at the end of 2022 is to pursue more passion projects when it comes to photography. And I found that doing photo walks is invigorating, inspiring, and therapeutic. I find that I enjoy photography and creating more because of this. I will share my knitting escapades in a separate post. I have made the firm decision to finish my WIP before starting any more. I am running out of needles, that should give you a clue of how out of hand things have gotten. February was all about supporting those who need me, in all kinds of different ways. I think that in truth I am at my best when I help. Throughout my life serving my community has been important to me, and the events have reconfirmed that it is a pillar of strength for me. While I was planning and building routines, setting goals, planning, and starting new projects in January. Very simplified: restarting my outward life. February realigned my inward and spiritual striving. We also had our 25th wedding anniversary in February. This feels like a huge milestone, even if it is only one year more than last year. I am grateful for the wonderful companion I have had on this journey. How we still don't make much sense on paper, but we still work. I am looking forward to hopefully many more years of compassion and care for each other and plenty of adventures. Word of the MonthJanuary: ClarityFebruary: Remembrance

Reflections on 2022: The Year of Haste

Looking back on 2022 two things really stood out: Everything seems to rush by. It seems like it was a very short year and I felt quite often rushed. I feel like I was super busy and achieved rather little. The second thing that seems to have dominated 22 was that I was sick. It feels like I was sick a whole lot of the year. In reality, I was sick exactly 3. But I was sick for the whole of June and parts of July and it took ages to recover. Then I was sick again end of the year, again it took me what felt like ages to recover (two weeks). Both these things actually brought me to the conclusion to take a step back and just have a holiday for the last 10 days of the year. I mostly ignored my phone, the only interaction with my laptop was to edit photos and I was only on social media to keep going with my Project 365. Literally posting the photo of the day and calling it a day. I did reach the goals I set for myself. BUT at the beginning of 2022, I did say how I am setting 3 quite simple goals and that I would rather make intentions and write down what I would like to prioritize during the year instead. So maybe it wasn't that huge of a feat. I did reach my reading goal of 200 books ( but that is my usual so not that special) and I did also finish my 365 Photo Project. I will talk about it a little later.My overall impression is however that I didn't manage to get very much done. When I was sick at the end of May I stopped my morning routine. No more sunrise walks, no more sketching in the morning, also no more study time. This also meant much less journaling and I didn't keep a bullet journal. For the first time in over 6 years, I just stopped doing my bullet journal- the result sadly meant I didn't really keep up with my routines and I was also less organized and my multitasking was rather questionable. Even after I recover I didn't manage to get back into my morning routine, and obviously, my evening routine, which was always my weak point was totally thrown out the window. I think this is a huge reason why I did feel more stressed and why I didn't get half as much done as I usually do. The feeling of being stressed a lot and not being able to keep up permeated many aspects of my life. I often found myself rushing somewhere or thinking I should be doing a million things. I feel like I got sidetracked and distracted a lot. Most importantly, I feel like there were far too few moments when I was fully in the moment. I found social media overwhelming and I stopped posting because I was overthinking as usual. Also, I found the trolls stressful. Instead of being inspired and connecting with others, I just felt stressed and alienated half the time, or I would get sucked into the vortex of random posts and then be stressed because I wasted time. Writing my stress-fest down like that makes it all look quite dire. But really I had many amazing moments. I went on 5 trips (not as many as I used to do before 2020 but I good amount). I spent a lot of time with my family. I got to see a lot of friends. Both were even more of a treat after two years of barely being able to see anyone. I made quite a few new friends. I got a bit lost with my work and what I wanted to do but found in all of the stressing very clear signs of what I really don't want to do. And with that a clear indication of where I want with my creative life and work. So ending the year in my beloved alps. Sipping coffee as I watched the sun rise over one of the snowy peaks I felt like I could finally breathe. And when took my pen and started journaling what came out was clarity. I was very clear on my goals for 2023 and how I want the rest of my life to look. So 2022 might be a year of haste for me, overall and in general but really it also ended up as a gateway to clarity. PS: As pomised I will talk about the 365 Photos in 2022 project a wee bit later (give me a few days)

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