June 2023 | study logbook. Being a scanner

maipenquynh on 2. July 2023

I was recently reminded by the blog post „Wie erstelle ich einen Handarbeitsblog?" (DeepL translated: how to create a handicraft blog) from the german blog verdrehtemasche.de that I also wanted to share my insights from failures – lessons learned so to speak. To do that, I need a bit more space for words and text, so I’m splitting the monthly review for June to have a try. And then I will see if/how that works. Today’s review will cover the more general / the „Being a scanner“ part; the „Something with photo“ will come separately.

Concert, workshop on how to read out loud, adult education courses

I was at a concert and it was a seated one- which ended up being fine for the artist and his music as the songs were played to piano music and a surprising string quartet (oh, so nice!). But for the previous supporting/opening band it didn’t fit at all as it was very (!) danceable music and just swaying your shoulders isn’t even half the fun. I can imagine that it’s a bit sad for the supporting band when people can’t/won’t dance along at all.

Quite spontaneously I took part in a workshop with the topic „Lust an Büchern wecken" (DeepL translated: „Awakening desire for books“) – it was about how to make books palatable to small children (nursery age). It was very interesting and I learned a lot! Let’s see how and when I can apply it.

My adult education classes came to an end and I have to look elsewhere to bridge the summer break. One course was a language class and I want to keep up the language skills at least into this year’s autumn (planned travel). The second course was a bit of exercise to counteract all the sitting. My weaker self is very strong but sitting a lot remains and I should overcome it. Hopefully I will be motivated to do something in July :‘)

Elderberry syrup

The elderberry syrup which I have set up in May- is ready! The recipe (german) according which I prepared the syrup is this one . Sterilising the bottles was a bit tinkery but making the syrup itself is quite easy. It’s quite good and I like Elderberry syrup most as a spritzer. I offered the syrup also to my colleagues and I think they liked it as well and they enjoy it on the one or other hot summer day. I still remember my colleague’s comment when he smelled the glass for the first time: „It smells like summer“ – isn’t that a wonderful comment?

darning

At the beginning of the month I did a „darning workshop“ with someone who was interested in darning. Her socks had holes and so we sat down together. She sat down with her socks and I did with my equipment (darning yarn, needles, darning egg) and then I explained the darning technique to her. I used one of my own socks to darn and eventually it made it back to life: Abby. Abby had two small holes but since they were so close to each other, I darned them in one go.

It had been a while since I had used the weave darning method and I didn’t know exactly how to anchor the thread at the end. Abby was darned in two colours, classic black and white, thus the darning looks like a chessboard. The second sock, Ally, continues to be holey since I didn’t find the motivation to work on her after the „workshop“ evening haha.

Showing/teaching someone else is always a small challenge. But it worked out and the „workshop“ was successful, eventually she was able to bring three socks back to life! Half jokingly and half seriously, I wonder if I could set up something real in these regards?

Other handicrafts

At the moment there’s nothing much concerning other handicrafts. Even though I felt like crocheting more animals after I did the dino , nothing has grabbed me. And knitting - nada. I’ve often heard that knitting is more of a winter hobby, and maybe that’s just the way it is with me this year. In contrast, I’m thinking of trying embroidery again. Aren’t shirts with such small prints or embroidery on a chest trendy these days? It’s not that easy to find such things so I thought about making them myself and gifting them to interested people.

Apart from the realisation that nothing happened here, I have nothing to share. I don’t know how useful it is to write that down then.

~

In case your wondering why I’m done with my monthly review so early: Thanks to my holiday week I was able to collect my thoughts earlier this time 😀

Back! with a repaired piece of work

maipenquynh on 15. May 2022

It’s like starting a new blog. How do I begin? How to say Hello?

If you’ve started a blog once – or wanted to fill something with life which was empty before such as a notebook, a sketch book, then you may know this feeling of respect for the first symbol. Whether it’s a full-stop, a number, a line.

To my surprise, I do feel that today as well. Though I was only having a break.

In the meantime I did this and that. Hopefully some things will make it on the blog eventually. I wished to find a focus for the blog but this didn’t happen. But I also didn’t look for one to be honest. Time just flew and now it’s mid May 2022. I thought about the blog a few times and there were a lot of topics when I tought „I definitely want to bring THIS topic on my blog!“. I still don’t have a proper schedule for my blog though I think that would be really nice. There are a lot of things which would be nice regarding my blog. But planning and organizing takes time and energy. And it seems that this is not what it should be right now.

Today, I don’t only welcome back myself on my blog but I also bring something else along which is my most current repaired piece of work. Freshly darned on the couch! I mended a sock (again), started yesterday and this spot here took around 5 to 6 hours. That sounds like quite a while but I really enjoyed the time and in my opinion darning is some kind of meditation (like other handicrafts) therefore this number of time just remains a plain number to me.

Repairing culture is something I’m really fascinated by, in every way and I also think that repairing is healing. Not only for the piece to be repaired but also for myself. It’s like this feeling when you create something with your own hands and feet.

But on top, there’s this feeling of taking away the pain because you cared about the spot that has hurt.

I know it got a bit dramatic😄

I’m at the beginning of getting to know how to repair clothes and other textiles (such as the zippers of bed linen). But in general I think every kind of repairing and thereby bringing new life into an existing piece is super cool! Working with wood stuff! Repairing a bicycle!

Have you ever repaired something or brought it to someone else for repairing? Do you want to be able to repair more or do you think that it’s okay that things come to an end eventually?

PS: Although the colour of the sock is different in the photos, it is the same one. There’s still some work regarding my „documentary“ photos 😀

About the sock siblings and darning

maipenquynh on 23. June 2021

Es war mal ein Sockenpaar. Ein Geschwisterpaar, das lange stolz getragen wurde. Weiß mit rosafarbigen Rauten. Was sie besonders liebenswert machte, war ihr festes Bündchen. Die Besitzerin wusste ein festes Sockenbündchen, das die Socke gut sitzen lässt, schon immer zu schätzen. Denn an Socken ist wenig nerviger als wenn das Bündchen nicht fest genug ist und ständig rutscht, an der Ferse vorbei. Und obwohl dieses Sockenpaar keinesfalls diese Schwäche hatte, so wurden beide schon seit einiger Zeit nicht mehr getragen. Stattdessen verweilten sie im Schrank und konnten von der kühlen Oberfläche eines Fußbodens nur noch träumen. Die Erinnerung an an die Innenseite eines Schuhs verblassten nach und nach. Über einen Fuß gestreift zu werden, den Fußboden zu spüren, in einem schlecht durchlüfteten Schuh zu stecken.

Später erfuhren sie, dass alles, was sie bisher kannten und mochten gleichzeitig auch der Grund dafür war, dass von nun an der Vergangenheit angehören sollte. Denn sie hatten Löcher. Löcher an den Fersen. Gerade weil die Besitzerin so gerne das Geschwisterpaar anzog und damit durch die Welt ging, entstanden die Löcher und führte dazu, dass sie nimmermehr getragen wurden.

Alle waren traurig, nicht nur das Sockenpaar, sondern auch die Besitzerin. Denn wie oft begegnet man schon einem Sockenpaar, das einfach passt? Von der Dicke der Socke, von der Länge, der Farbe und vor allem vom Bündchen her? Die Besitzerin brachte es nicht übers Herz, das Geschwisterpaar zu entsorgen, obwohl es keine Chance mehr für sie gab. Wie sollten denn diese Löcher wieder heile werden? Die Besitzerin hatte keine magischen Kräfte, mit denen diese Löcher verschwinden können.

Eines Tages, die Besitzerin war in einem Nähcafé, hörte sie das erste Mal von einer Tätigkeit namens „stopfen“. Es hieß, damit könne man Löcher schließen. Aber nicht, indem man etwa die Ränder zusammenzieht und vernäht. Nein – dort, wo ein Loch ist, sollte neues Gewebe entstehen. Die Besitzerin war  verwirrt und konnte sich solch eine Tätigkeit nicht vorstellen. Neues Gewebe erstellen, wo eigentlich nichts ist?

Wie die Geschichte dann genau weiterging, ist nicht mehr ganz  bekannt. Was bekannt ist, ist dass die Besitzerin einem Instagram-Account folgte, das sich viel mit dem Reparieren und Erhalten von Kleidungsstücken beschäftigte und so lernte sie das Wort „mending“ kennen. Faszinierend, was alles möglich war.

And at some point, the sock pair owner understood: the technique she saw on the Instagram account was called "stopfen" in German.

Damit war es um sie geschehen. Auf einmal ergab alles Sinn und sie machte sich auf, Wissen übers Stopfen anzusammeln. Sie kaufte sich übrig gebliebenes Garn und Nadeln von anderen Menschen. Alles war da, aber noch zögerte sie, den ersten Handgriff zu machen. Aber was brachte dieses Zögern schon? Irgendwo musste sie anfangen. Und die Glücklichen (oder die Unglücklichen?) waren das Geschwisterpaar Socken. Sie bekamen als erstes eine Chance darauf, neues Leben eingehaucht zu bekommen. Und so geschah es, die Fotografien beweisen es.

Nach zwei Tagen tun und werkeln war es geschafft: Beide Socken waren gestopft und das Loch verschwunden. Socke 1 wurde mit der unscheinbaren Garnfarbe beige repariert, während Socke 2 ein bisschen mutiger war mit der Farbe babyblau. Auch in der Feinheit der Stopftätigkeit unterschied sich das Geschwisterpaar. Während die Erstgestopfte noch grob bearbeitet wurde, war das Zweitgestopfte schon feinmaschiger gearbeitet. Dennoch waren am Ende des Tages alle drei – das Sockenpaar und die Besitzerin – froh und stolz, wieder eine gemeinsame Zeit vor sich zu sehen. Und wenn die Socken nicht gestorben sind, dann leben sie noch heute.