South Korea Suicide Watch

Today I would like to share with you a video on the South Korean Suicide Watch. 

Since the Korean War South Korea has develloped rapidly economically. Society changed drastically. 

This is one side effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jYBWBlEd0U

!Take care of yourself!

Dirk/Eugene the Dragon - Lalylala Crochet Pattern

New family member: Eugene Dragon. He's totally not liking having his picture taken.

I've made another Lalylala Pattern, this time it is Dirk the Dragon. Only he's called Eugene in our house. :)

The pattern is really good, good detailed descriptions, photographs and all. They are available in several languages (check out her homepage lalylala.com), I've used the German one.

I had slight trouble finding the yarn she recommended, so I ended up using a completely different one  (6ply instead of 4 ply) and also a lot darker, but I like him anyway, even though he is a lot bigger than planned. Also I didn't attach the hood "deep" enough in the face, but I DO like that little fellow anyway. He has a certain look about him that reminds me of my children...

For the scarf I used a big "Strickliesl" (= knitting jenny), which was good fun, loved making endless strings as a child... :)

The pattern is a CLEAR recommendation.

(Just in case you wondered why I am crocheting so much and not sewing much at the moment: In preparation of the move I had to box my sewing stuff, crocheting is a great alternative because you can store the things you need in a tiny box. I also start to enjoy the madness of crocheting (one needle and you twist and sling and pull that thread back and forth and you crochet in spirals and back and forth and up and down and all directions,... whoever invented crocheting techniques must have been so creative!)

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Cost: Pattern about 6 Euros (available on several platforms, check her homepage for more details), 3  green balls of wool 6-ply tweed (12 Euros), white cotton 1 ball (2 Euros), 1 red speckled yarn I still had in my stash. Total: 20 Euros

Things learnt:
Halbes Stäbchen, Doppeltes Stäbchen, 3 fach Stäbchen, Mäusezähnchen (no idea what those are in English...)

Shopping is NOT a hobby

Boxing day at Selfridge's.

This might sound weird, but if I look around myself, listen to the TV, the radio, look at people in town - it must be considered one. I've even googled it, and there is evidence - there are a lot of people out there that consider shopping a leisure activity. And it isn't. No. Really not.

Let me be very open with you: How empty must your life be, if you consider shopping a hobby?  -

Don't get offended - I was there once. I spend hours walking through "all" the shops in town and looking at the windows. And I didn't only spend time there. Hindsight is a marvellous thing, I consider all those hours a waste of time now, but then again that's how it turned out.

There are a lot of articles on this topic online, so I recommend a few to you here.
If you are at loss about what to do with that time that you would have usually spend shopping, why not have a look at my post about "pleasant activities"?  http://hertzwerk-freiburg.blogspot.com/2016/08/go-for-pleasant-activities.html


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/sep/09/shopping-not-a-hobby

http://www.theminimalistmom.com/2012/05/shoppinghobby/

http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2010/05/if-shopping-is-your-passion-then-get-another-hobby.html

http://into-mind.com/blog/2016/7/25/why-shopping-is-a-bad-hobby-and-what-to-do-instead

http://www.sustainababy.com.au/blog/July-2014/101-Small-things---5-Shopping-is-not-a-hobby

http://simplicityrelished.com/5-mindset-changes-that-limit-unnecessary-shopping/

http://www.becomingminimalist.com/be-better/

If you have problems with saying "no" to shopping but want to quit, I have these suggestions for you:

 - Stay away from town and do something from the "pleasant activities list".
 - Stay away from your computer. Just don't go on your "usual" shopping pages. You don't need it.
 - Only go shopping with a list and stick to that list.
 - Transfer all spare money to a savings account. Don't carry a card for that account with you.
 - Don't use the credit card. Leave it at home if you can't control pulling it out.
 - Start using cash if you are generally more of a card user. If the money's gone the money's gone. And that's that.
 - Be disciplined. You are worth so much more than that T-Shirt. Especially if you don't buy it.

If you want to know, what hobbies are, here's the link to the wikipedia definition, that can also serve as inspiration! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby 


And to close the circle to the above image, THIS is what you stretch out your hands for desperately. Food.

http://www.earthtimes.org/politics/climate-talks-succeed-poor/1655/

The behaviour of oversatisfied consumers in the western world seems obscene to me sometimes. A lot, actually.

Princess Leia - Amour fou crochet

Due to the fact that I have to pack all my sewing stuff (because of "the move") and still want to do something I have been looking into crocheting again. I stumbled across this lady from Buenos Aires, Argentina http://www.amourfou-crochet.com/ who is designing great stuff. 

I've made 2 Leias already (the first looks a bit different because I did something wrong with my single crochet). And somehow I am very tempted to make another, third one. 

She is standing all by herself but somehow the arm ended up casually leaning on my sewing machine.

The pattern is brilliant, very good descriptions and instructions and available in several languages.

Highly recommended!

(She's got other real characters, too!)

I don't usually link shops, but here's the etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/AmourFouCrochet 

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Things learnt: crocheting onto an figure, Noppenmasche for the Nose
Cost: Pattern about 5 Euros, Material: about 10 Euros (I made 2 Leias from it though)

Go for "Pleasant activities"!

So, today I have something for you that will keep you from shopping. :)

It's a pleasant activities list I've made up and you can download the pdf and use it, if you wish.

Pleasant activities list

What's that about?
The list of pleasant activities comes originally from behavioural therapy to treat e.g. depression. But you don't have to suffer from depression or any other psychiatric disorder to benefit from the list. I am just telling you that to underline, how very efficient such a list can be and that it found its way into clinical practise as well.

My suggestion is you try to do one activity every day, you can just follow the list or pick random items. There are 392 suggestions on it, so you can even leave out 27 to get through an entire year! Some of the suggested activities take a lot longer than just a day, so you can expand some of the suggestions, too. Some of the activities will just not be for you. But you can "think around them", for example if the list says "play football" and you really really can't imagine playing football (not even with the kids or the dog or yourself), then replace it with another sport. Play golf. Or tennis. But it is the idea that you challenge yourself a little. :)

If you like the idea, you can fb about it, or write on it on your blog. Or take picture and publish it on instagram.And share it.  And: Have fun with it!

( I am even toying with the idea to blog about it myself... maybe one reason to get on instagram... which so far I have no idea what it is about... that should possible go on the list, too!!)


Some more lists on pleasant activities:
http://www.dbtselfhelp.com/html/er_handout_8.html

http://www.healthnetsolutions.com/dsp/PleasantEventsSchedule.pdf

https://www.robertjmeyersphd.com/download/Pleasant%20Activities%20List%20(PAL).pdf

http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/docs/Fun%20Activities%20Catalogue.pdf

Favourite Shoes' 2nd life

It is Make and Mend Monday again! :)

And after three years I can finally wear my favourite shoes again.

As I was tidying through our attic, I came across a pair of shoes I had been missing for 3 years. They were (and are) my favourite "every day shoes" and I thought I had lost them or accidentally thrown them away 3 years ago when we had to move rather hastily into this flat (exactly, the flat we are moving out again now...). I don't know how and why, but they were in a wicker basket underneath some backpacks. 

The attic has a very unforgiving climate - it can be well over 40 degrees Celsius in summer and blow zero in winter. So when I put them on again and walked around, the sole broke. The leather is still fine, even after 10 years of wearing them in rain and sun and all, but the sole had it. 

So today I picked them up from the shoemaker, who resoled them and they are as good as new for 38 Euros. :) 

Here's a picture, as you can see, you can't really see anythings been done to the soles. :) 

I'm "stuffocating"!

Just one short post today, because it is really really bothering me (and has been for some time):

I am "stuffocatig"!!!

Why? Because I have to move house in November and go through every drawer, every single item, pack it (or not!), think about where it goes (new house, charity or other give-away, rubbish...) and it is literally hard work. I take bags of rubbish to the bin and the place seems to look exactly as it did 3 hours ago when I started tidying though those drawers. It is hard work, it is frustrating, I feel as if I wasn't moving an inch forward. Sometimes I feel I just throw everything out of the window and start from scratch. Of course that doesn't make sense. I wish I had more help. BUT: I have to go through this myself, because I have accumulated all that stuff. 

And it feels so liberating when I have finally cleared an area, given items their place. 

Outer order is inner order. 

If there is anybody out there who is feeling like giving me a thumbs up on this: feel free to comment. It will be highly appreciated. :)