Finding balance – no matter what kind of balance it is:  emotionally, figuratively, financially, physically -  can be a difficult task.   There are complete self-help courses on finding the work/life balance, on balancing your relationships, balancing your finances. 

One of the major draws for people interested in yoga is learning how to balance – both balancing on one foot (or one hand!) but also finding the balance in your own life to avoid stress.  Personally, yoga has helped me greatly in this way:  balancing my emotions (not as quick to anger or  sadness), as well as feeling more stability as I physically walk through the world.

Louise instructs Alecia in natarajasana - "king dancer pose"

The Balance sequences of yoga asanas can be some of the most challenging of any yoga pose.  It is true that some days really are better than others.  One day, it may be quite simple to stand on one foot and raise your arms overhead, but the next day may bring a completely different feeling.  Both internal and external factors play in to your sense of balance:  how much sleep you got the night before, what you eat, your stress level, your hormonal and/or blood sugar levels.   When I was at my lowest point last year with Lyme disease, I struggled very much with balance.  Lyme challenges your balance alone, but when you introduce new medications and chemicals in to the body, there is an even greater chance of imbalance.  It took many months of practice to get back to the point where I felt comfortable doing balance poses.  The real lesson for me was finding an internal balance, and letting that shine through to the outside.  Plus, a good dose of self-understading, and just realizing that it did NOT mean I was doomed to be sick forever if I could not balance on one foot. 

The focus of this month’s Yoga Teacher Training was on balance poses and hip openers – two classes of yoga asanas that are very challenging physically, but that also have emotional and psychological ties.  Like balance poses, hip openers – any pose that internally or externally rotates the hip muscles – can bring up deep seated emotions and feelings.  The hips, being attached to the base of the spine, have a direct connection up to the brain.  Hip openers are some of my favorite poses, personally, because they are the ones that truly make me feel different after finishing them.  

Hannah and I doing a partner variation on Eka Pada Rajakapotasana - "One Legged King Pigeon Pose"

• Standing on one leg while washing dishes, or brushing your teeth.  Make sure to also switch to the other leg so that you do both sides!
  

  Using a drishti - a point of focus and concentration - is key in balance poses

• Finding a drishti, or a point of intense focus, is one of the keys to finding freedom and expansion in balance poses.  In standing balances, your drishti point is often looking out over the horizon at a fixed point.  Do not choose something that moves (like your reflection in a mirror) as this will cause imbalance.
• A high lunge is both a hip opener AND a balance pose.  You can start out with your legs closer and slowly widen your stance.  For more stability, you can also place your back heel on a wall and still get the benefit of the pose. 
• Vrksasana, or tree pose, is probably one of the most recognizable yoga poses.  It also serves as both a balance pose and a small hip opener.  You can also place your foot at your calf, and you can perform this standing next to a wall, in case you feel the least bit wobbly. 

The last two weeks have been a steady stream of cooking and baking experiments and voracious reading habits.  When discussing this with a friend over the weekend, she told me, “Well, this just means you have more time!”  And if that is indeed the case – longer daylight hours and less time parked in front of the television – well, then yes, I do have more time, and I am relishing every second of it!

Two books have completely inspired by cooking and baking of late.  I checked them both out at the library, and promptly purchased my own copies.  Once you make 11 things from a cookbook, it seems like a good time to buy your own, right? 

The Vegan Table pretty much blew my mind the minute I picked it up.  First off, it is a *beautiful book* with great photography - nearly every one of the 200 recipes in this book has a full length color photo, artfully arranged and lighted.  Eye-catching indeed.  Of course, that is purely the aesthetic.   Then you start to look at the recipes and your mouth just starts to water right then and there.  Give me a vegan cookbook and I am like Pavlov’s dog!    This cookbook came out this summer, and the timing could not be better.  It is just chocked full of recipes for the fresh fruits and vegetables that you find at the farmers’ markets and your local store.  Even if you are not a vegan, there is an endless supply of healthy and fresh recipes in this book to inspire you. 

In just over a week, I made nearly a dozen recipes from the book, including:  Berry Crisp, Herb-Infused Portabello Mushrooms, Lentil Mustard Salad, Quinoa Corn Salad, Beet Chocolate Bundt Cake, and Eggplant Caponara.  And now that I have my very own copy of the book, I am planning to make many many more.  There are all sorts of entertaining ideas for holidays and/or seasonal pairings.  This is such an amazing book that I think it may be perfect… or at least as close to perfect as anything I have ever seen.  [GoodReads review]

 The second book, had I not seen Vegan Table before it, would have been my #1 favorite.  It is also a wonderful cookbook in it’s own right with SO many ideas. Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook is written and arranged by the same woman who put together the fun Vegan Cupcakes book that I reviewed a few posts back.  With this book, she truly expands and covers the whole vegan gamut.  Amazing recipes for hundreds of foods.  Like the one above, it is a great resource for anyone who wants to introduce more fresh ingredients and vegetables into their meals, regardless of the vegan name.   I used it several times when I had an ingredient in hand, and wanted to find a recipe to use it in.  This was specifically the case with some pumpkin puree I had.  Last year, we had several large pumpkins in the garden.  We pureed the pumpkins and froze them into blocks in the freezer.  Needing to make more room for this year’s harvest, I pulled out one of the blocks and searched for a recipe.  I came to the delicious sounding “Pumpkin Crumb Cake with Pecan Streusel”.  YUM!  So, I set out and made 2 batches of the cake:  one for my friends at Yoga Teacher Training over the weekend, and one for Kris and I at home.  One block down and many more ideas to go!  (On the pumpkin crumb cake note:  It was truly an international cake!  The molasses used in the recipe was from a sugar cane farm in Peru -that we visited on our trip in 2007- and the pecans were from my uncle’s orchard in Alabama.  I love the memories that cooking can bring back!) [GoodReads Review]

Here is my friend Kath enjoying the Pumpkin cake this past weekend at YTT:

I also surprised my YTT friends with some zucchini bread that I made – with the zucchini fresh from my garden.  I used this recipe from the Vegan Street Kitchen and it was perfect!  A great way to use the zucchini too.  The thing I really liked about the recipe was the lack of refined sugars – maple syrup was the sweetener and it was just right.

Alecia seemed to enjoy it!

The cooking and baking fever continues around here, especially when I look out at my garden – growing so well as the Maryland humidity rises.  I am planning a series of posts about cooking/baking with herbs – especially herbs directly cut (or purchased fresh) from you garden:  I can’t wait to share some of the delicious recipes I have tried with you… in the meantime, here is one to whet your appetite.  A tried-and-true recipe from last year’s harvest that I am repeating this year…

Freshly cut basil from the garden to make the delectable vegan pesto!

* I looked up the word “relish” to get an idea of the etymology – and I came across this definition: to relish – to take zestful pleasure in   but I just love this definition.  ZESTful!  Yes!

PS - Yes, I am gung-ho about my veganism.  Yes, I realize that this is a huge topic that could take many posts to discuss and explain.  My veganism is very important to me, but I will never force my opinions on anyone.  I don’t like to be preached to, and I will not do this to others. Food and what we eat are sensitive matters that can be just as touchy and controversial as discussing politics and religion.  The one thing that I will say is that it is very important to know and understand where your food comes from and how it arrives on your plate;  for your health, your longevity, and your general happiness.  Veganism is a choice I have made, although I have family and good friends who continue to eat meat and dairy products.  I myself have not felt the complete conviction to eschew all of my animal fibers in my yarn stash, but I follow the same maxim here – I like to know where my products come from.  Thanks for reading, and if you would like to hear more about this, let me know by email or in the comments section… I am considering an addendum page to this blog about food politics and choices, as it is something that I deeply care about and would be happy to provide information about my path.

My sister’s due date is still a few months away – early October – but I am doing my part to make sure that Baby V is well-outfitted after her arrival!

“Fleecy Niecey” cardigan
Pattern: Baby Raglan (free pattern)
Yarn: Fleece Artist BFL Aran, “Cosmic Dawn”
Needles: Size US 8

I bought this lovely variegated yarn in Nova Scotia last summer - Fleece Artist is made in Nova Scotia, so what better way to think about my trip than to knit with the yarn I bought there?  Now the little cardi will be boxed up and sent to California for Baby V.   I was hoping to have longer sleeves on this, but I simply ran out of yarn – I didn’t want to make it any shorter, so it is a short-sleeved wool cardigan… yeah, I know…  My plan is to find a jewel-toned onesie for her to wear underneath – my little niece will be quite hip with the layered look.  I modified the pattern a bit here using seed stitch in place of ribbing and also turned down the collar.  I may add a button or pick up a cute pin or snap to match this… still deciding.

Using the same pattern, I made this slightly more summery version of the cardigan – little bit longer sleeves too!  I picked up the adorable watermelon button to match the marled pink yarn – RYC Cotton Jeans in “Sierra”.  I did use ribbing, as the pattern calls for, on the neckline, the sleeves, and the hemline. 

The pattern, like all top-down raglans, is so easy to knit and to modify.  Of course the small size of these make them such quick knits, and a great way to bust through some skeins of yarn from the stash.  Planning to make many more like these – perhaps a whole rainbow of them!

Knitting for baby is definitely fun – but I also enjoy knitting for sisters… and I  thought that Mimi deserved a nice garment too!  Her birthday was last week – and I am typically behind in my good intentions – but I started a beautiful Kim Hargreaves pattern for her:  the “Ruby” cardigan from the Breeze collection.  The wide open neck line is definitely the eye-catching factor in this piece.  When I picked up the pattern book a few months back, this (and the corresponding pullover “Rose”) was among my favorites in the book – one of the reasons I bought it in the first place.  When Mimi and I were discussing it recently, I sent her the link for the pattern and she liked this one the most too.  I love the chance to make something for her that she loves as much as I do!  We decided that a belted cardigan would be a good idea right now during pregnancy and after the baby is born - lots of options and easy to remove.  Plus, it is flowy, drapey, and has a nice shape.  I particularly love the frills of picot stitches on the edges. 

I cast on with Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed and immediately started the front left panel of the cardigan.  More progress since this initial shot too.  Garter stitches and simple stockinette – simple and beautiful

I hesitated to blog about my progress on Kris’s Olympics pullover simply because it looks like a cream-colored blob… knitting stockinette in the round is not condusive to eye-catching photography.  However, I received a few messages about the sweater, so I thought that a progress report was due!  The past few weeks have been a steady stream of stockinette.  To keep with the Winter Olympics theme:  an “avalanche” of stockinette.  Snowy slopes of stockinette.  You get the picture.

Juggling this project along with a few others has not been too hard - this is my easy-peasy knit, my knitting-while-watching-TV knit.  And I actually have several inches to show for it now.  I just started my third ball of Reynolds Whiskey – a lovely yarn, by the way – and am rounding about 12.5 inches.  A few more to go before I start the stranded colorwork band across the chest.  Then, I need to make the sleeves and yoke everything together before finishing up the top.  I am pleasantly surprised to have so much progress on size US 1.5 needles, and I know that once I get to the colorwork, it will fly by…  Can’t wait to get to that point!  It is just two-colored, but this yarn has all sorts of little heathery bits in it.  I think it will look great.

Dale of Norway finally released their Vancouver designs (full PDF here).  For each Winter Olympics, the Norwegian design/yarn company comes out with a set of ski sweater patterns (and matching accessories) to commemorate the Olympics. In previous years, this design has incorporated regional and cultural influences of the Olympic location.  There has been a little bit of criticism on this point this year; several people have noted that this design has nothing that evokes “Vancouver” about it.  It seems like the designers had a lot of things to pull from for this design, but they are right that it doesn’t necessarily look like the traditional designs – there is very little about it that says “Vancouver” or even “Canada” about this sweater.   Not even a maple leaf or some sort of nod to the theme of the First Nations.  No incorporations of Canadian natural features, etc…

That being said, I do like the design.  I like the simplicity of the colorwork.  It makes it more wearable and versatile to me.  Plus, I think the colorwork on the shoulders is a nice feature.  It’s unique, as I don’t recall seeing many other stranded designs like this one.  The women’s pullover has a deep v-neck which is also a new look.  I appreciate the innovation and the updated look and I don’t think it looks as dated – it is more flattering to many figures (the ribbed sides) and has a nice silhouette.

The owner of my LYS has knit the last four Olympic pullovers, and she tells me that they are planning a class on knitting this one.  Although the pattern is not what I expected, I do still like it, so I think I might sign up.  The class is not until next winter though, so it will probably be done well after my trip to Vancouver…

 So, my plan worked.  Kris’s Dale pullover, the Liberec 2009 design, and the one I am planning for myself (Dale #150 booklet) will be perfect for our official Vancouver sweaters. 

…of course, I need to get plugging on my gift knits (mom’s! Mimi’s!) before I can start my own pullover!  Must get knitting!

I have always been an early riser. As a child and a teen, I got up with the sun – and sometime before -when the house was quiet and just read for hours upon hours. When I was in school, I used to do my homework in these early morning hours. The early riser mentality continues today… Kris does not sleep in really late, but I usually have a good three hours of “me” time before he stirs. I get up, feed the kitties and puppies, make myself some tea, and choose my activity. Reading, yoga and meditation, knitting, baking, catching up on some of “my” TV shows, and a few household chores usually fill those hours. It is kind of amazing how much I can accomplish in these wee hours. I feel so productive!

This particular Saturday morning was no exception… and it was wonderful.

Before 9am, I had made 32 oz. of peach freezer jam, read four chapters of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (re-read in anticipation of the movie’s release this Wednesday!) and had planned a knitting project and wound up the lovely handspun yarn that I bought at MDSW a few weeks back. Ahh, early bird gets the… jam

I am committed to several large knitting projects right now – all gift knits for others. This is my year of knitting for others, and so far, I am behind schedule. I have my mother’s lovely cardigan on the needles, but her birthday and Mother’s Day have long-since passed. Luckily, she understands and says “well, it is summer, I wouldn’t be wearing a sweater anyway…” Thanks for understanding, Mom! I am also making a cardigan for my sister, Mimi. She just moved to the central coast of California and is enjoying the mild summer temps. I think a cardigan will be an all-year round staple for her. We sure are excited to get out there and visit later this year when the baby is born! The other big gift knit is Kris’s Olympic sweater. The progress on this one is surprising, and I will write a whole post about it very soon.

The jam was a simple “recipe” from the back of the jar can.  This used “freezer” pectin, so no cooking was necessary.  I  had eight peaches that I bought on Thursday at the farmers’ market and picked up the cute little short and stout jars last night.  The cute factor was definitely the reason I made the purchase!  I used regular sugar, but cut down the amounts – it called for 1 1/2 cup of sugar, and 2/3 c was plenty for a nice “gel”.  Crushed peaches, sugar, and pectin, and then put them in the little jars and stuck them in the freezer.  So easy and immediately usable too.  And aren’t they great for the Project Spectrum theme?  summertime orange peaches and metal lids!  I am thinking about more canning – I have loads of berries from our outings to the farm – mixed berry jam or strawberry preserves sound quite delectable!

This early bird truly lucked out this morning with the delicious fresh jam on toast: