Total beginner or world’s worst knitter? Then make a gorgeous throw

Knitting is relaxing, therapeutic and fun – and you have something to show for your efforts – sometimes very quickly.

I am not a great knitter but I have made lots of small and large scarves, wraps and throws that I am proud to have in my home or wear myself, or give as gifts. People are also happy to pay me for my knitted items, sold for good causes. I have found the satisfaction of making beautiful things with gorgeous wool. 

My secret? I use interesting wool or yarn. I mix it up together so each blended strand has a unique colour, found only in my creation.

If you want to try this out, here is the recipe: First decide how quickly you need to see a result or you’ll give up. How patient are you? If you need a result in five days of evening TV watching, buy some huge knitting needles (pins). If you do have huge needles, you will need thick yarn. I recommend that you buy the loveliest knitting needles that you can afford or find. Enjoy the experience of collecting together your equipment. Perhaps find beautiful wooden knitting pins with coloured ends. Make your creative experience a sensual and visual delight. No-one now is knitting to provide necessary clothing. We knit for the joy of the experience and to exercise our creativity. Make the whole process fun.

Then find your yarn. To make my unique projects I buy two or three colours or types of wool and knit them alongside each other so that each stand is doubled or trebled. It makes for a thick and interesting texture. If one of the strands is yarn that is itself textured with ‘eyelashes’ or bobbles, then the result makes for a fabulous variegated twist on the original approach. The added bonus is that your project grows quickly. I want to see the result of my efforts fast!

Don’t worry if you drop stitches or make extra ones, or your ‘tension’ is inconsistent. All these add to the individual hand made character of your scarf or blanket.

With this technique you can make something for anyone – use the softest baby yarn and you can make a cosy baby or crib blanket. Use the finest cashmere and you can make a throw to cuddle up with on the sofa while you watch a Sunday afternoon movie. You can make a short scarf or shoulder shawl in a few hours or an evening. Have fun and just get started.

The Metamorphic Technique – a tool for transformation

Many of us want to change our lives and the options to do so often seem to involve effort or self revelation. One method which is easy, relaxing and effortless is the Metamorphic Technique.

A practitioner of the Technique works by a gentle stroking touch - first on the feet, then the hands, and finally the head. During a session, which takes about an hour, you can talk, drift into a state of deep relaxation or do whatever feels natural. Without the need to discuss them, old patterns of behaviour and life can drop away.

Created by a British man, Robert St John, in the 1960s, and developed by Gaston St Pierre, the Technique has travelled around the world although most practitioners are still based in the UK. No fancy equipment is needed, only the detached presence of the practitioner. The wonder is only that this almost shy modality is not better known.

The Metamorphic Technique can be taken up by anyone and is a wonderful gift to the recipient. Not only is it healing to adults but it is the perfect simple practice for developmentally challenged children or adults. It tends to bring balance to life, and its teachers describe how everyone is on a spectrum of ‘afferent’ and ‘efferent’. The most afferent individuals might be inward looking, even autistic, and inclined to think without action, whilst the most efferent would be inclined to act first and think later. Use of the Technique can provide a catalyst towards balance.

A simple practice which you can do anytime is derived from the work. It is the ‘conceptual pattern’ or healing circle. Place one hand over the other in the opposite direction, making a space inside the hands. Now, with any finger, touch the outside of the first knuckle of each thumb. 

Visualise or think into the space you have created, a person, name or situation which you wish to allow energy to flow to. Now move your hands to make tiny circles onto those places which your hands touch. Allow the energy to go where it may without trying to influence the outcome. Continue for a minute or two or until you feel a shift.

  

You can find out more about the Metamorphic Technique online or from the Metamorphic Association. In the USA, the practice of Metamorphosis is available, which follows the work of Robert St John more closely.

Image: Cindy Silverlock, Metamorphosis Center 

Vibrate your way to happiness

Haven't we all had days where nothing went right? And other times when everything fell into place? As if the universe is toying with us?
The wonderful and annoying truth is that the world is not random, but the results we see around us are the effects of our own vibrations.
The good news is that we can affect our vibrations, which actually equate to our emotional state of being, by observing our own feelings and consciously moving them.

Everything in our bodies, and indeed in the whole universe, is moving, at an atomic level. Everything is in fact energy in motion. Therefore, vibration is our natural state. Why not make vibration work for you or work with your vibration to feel better and produce better results in life. How does better emotion translate into raising vibrations you may ask?

Why do depressed people feel 'low'? Why is a good mood 'upbeat'?
 
A faster tempo is not always ideal. It can become hyper or manic. The ideal pace is harmonious; resonating with goodwill, appreciation and love. So the vibration we might seek would be in tune with our surroundings; expressing a yes to life and our current reality.
 
So how can we tune ourselves to that note which reverberates with happiness and joy?
 
First, appreciate yourself for the unique being you are.
Secondly, find something in your immediately vicinity, however small, to appreciate.
Thirdly, focus on those things you can genuinely appreciate until you feel yourself resonate with that good feeling place.
Fourth, when things are not going so well, take a moment to focus on what you would like to be doing and feeling.
Fifth, feel free to feel the emotion that you ARE feeling, and recognise that a better feeling place is not always happy. It could still be angry, irritated etc.
Sixth, give yourself a break. Make it easier to feel a good vibration by using music, meditation, a cup of hot chocolate or whatever works for you.
Finally, know that you can change your vibration and feel happier and more harmonious and therefore you always have the power to choose.

Your vibration is your key to life, love and happiness. Choose it wisely and feel an inner smile.
 
With acknowledgement, love and appreciation for Esther and Jerry Hicks.

Visit the second best seaside town in England

Well, why would you want to do that? And why not go to the first best?

Before you ask, the second best seaside town in England is Broadstairs, in the Isle of Thanet, on England’s south east coast, Kent, as voted by Guardian readers. (Number 1 was St Ives, in Cornwall).

Broadstairs has retained its Victorian charm and even, at certain weeks of the year, its Dickensian characters. It has several lovely sandy beaches, a paddling pool, rides for kiddies on the beach and a bandstand where bands play on a Sunday afternoon in the summer.

The town can be reached in a couple of hours by car or train from London or elsewhere in the south and once there, unlike Cornwall, you can probably find a place to park. Although ‘Busy Broadstairs’ is full of families over the summer, it is never unbearably crowded and the railway station is only a 10 minute walk away from the beach.

There are events throughout the spring, summer and autumn in Broadstairs – with frequent firework displays over Viking Bay, Dickens Week in June, when characters parade around and take a dip in the sea in costume, to Folk Week in August when the town is taken over by musicians and dancers, to a grand Food Festival at the end of September and into October.

A gem of a tiny old cinema, the Palace, shows a regular programme of new commercial releases with a weekly art film evening on Tuesdays. Morelli’s huge original ice cream parlour, a preserved 50s classic, still serves knickerbocker glories, and huge specials made for two people.

A wide range of restaurants in the town make it a good choice for grown ups too, with plenty of coastal walks, top golf courses and historic locations in Thanet itself and nearby areas of East Kent.

Whether for a day trip by the sea (and the weather usually is better than inland) or a short break or a family seaside holiday, Broadstairs can’t be beaten.

How to make an Instant Denim Jeans bag

A denim jeans bag is quick and cheap to make and fun to carry. It makes an easy project for you or with your children or for teens.    

Ingredients

A pair of denim shorts

A long or short handle with clips at the ends

Fabric glue

I loved using a pair of decorated small girl’s denim shorts. They came from the thrift store, are already prettily embellished, and make a sweet bag that is not so big that it looks like a weekend case. Also, it does not need such strong handles as a bag made from a larger pair of jeans or shorts. Even from the back, it also does not look as though you are carrying a fat butt. The wee pockets make useful places to put your phone, tickets etc.

Find an old bag (don’t we all know some!) with a spare shoulder strap, (the kind that is usually just discarded and forgotten somewhere), to use for a shoulder length handle.

Turn the shorts inside out and run a line of fabric glue (I use Fabric-tac) along the end of the leg. You can also use a glue gun and hot glue sticks. Press the fabric together. Repeat on the other leg!

Test the strength of the bag seams by carrying around your typical handbag load at home first.  

An over the shoulder handle from a strong laptop case looks perfect for a plain jeans look and has comfortable shoulder padding.

 You can upgrade your purse by:

·        Threading a scarf or a rolled piece of fabric (or even a belt) through the belt loops, matching the color to your outfit.

·        Inserting beaded ribbon between the front and back sides of the leg when you glue it, making a fringe. Bear in mind you may rest your bag down on the beads, however, so you wouldn’t want to put it on the floor.

·        Embellish it with iron-on transfers   

·        Reinforcing the glued legs by hand sewing with strong thread using a darning needle.

·     Adding a closure made of a spot of velcro on the mid points of back and front, or along the whole way, if you want something more secure.

You could use an old denim miniskirt for a straighter look across the base.  

With a large floppy pink scarf, through the belt loops, tied with a bow, and a leather handle, your bag takes on a pretty, girlie character and you could carry it at a wedding.

            

How to write a press release in under 10 minutes

One of the best skills to learn so that you can market your business better and cheaper is how to write a press release. And not just how to write the press release but to make sure it is a release that works for your business and doesn’t take hours of your time.

The most important feature of your press release is not the layout or the line spacing but naming your business or organisation.

So, first, write an eye catching headline. For example, as the British would say, ‘It’s all about bums on seats’.

Then, second, put the name of your business in your first sentence, for example, ‘The Heavyweight Chair Co. has made a breakthrough in the construction of cane chairs for larger people.’ Your first sentence also needs to clearly tell people your news in a nutshell. Don’t keep readers waiting. It’s a news release not a cliffhanger.

Add a couple of sentences to explain your breakthrough. ‘The chairs are now stronger and larger so they are safer for heavier occupants. Heavyweight Chair Co. cane chairs can now seat people up to 420 pounds.’   

Third, and this may appear obvious, make your press release about something new or make sure that you find a new interpretation of events.

Fourth, get a quote about your news from someone who endorses your point of view or buys your product. For example, ‘Weightlifter Giant Joe said, “I love this chair for relaxing outdoors.” ‘  

Fifth, take a picture, to send with your press release, of one or more people, in a way that relates to your news. Send it out with a caption, e.g. ‘Giant Joe in his new cane chair. ’

Keep your sentences short and snappy. Keep the whole thing on one page. 

Remember that your outlets for the release can now be many different channels – local press, radio or TV, Facebook, Twitter, trade media, free distribution websites etc. Journalists and editors are busy. Make it easy for them to find you by being sure to add your contact details to the release itself. Don’t make them search your email message.

Now you could sit back and wait for coverage but for maximum publicity the best way is to hunt reporters down and speak to them one on one. Good luck! 

Arizona – heart of the Midwest?

As an Englishwoman, the thing I really love about Arizona is the politeness and courtesy I find there. There is an assumption that English people are constantly apologizing and saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ but for me, the real good manners of folk in Arizona is a delight.

It is not about the, ‘have a nice day’ from store assistants but more about the behaviour of customers who even excuse themselves in passing before your eyeline if you are browsing the shelves. In the English supermarket car park, it often feels as if drivers would cheerfully drive over you, whereas in Arizona, vehicles stop and allow pedestrians to walk or push their carts unthreatened.

My compliments to locals on their general civility produced the explanation that it was the influx of people from the Midwest that accounts for the local courteousness. The good people of the harsh Midwest have brought their social etiquette and mores into the warm and welcoming climate of Arizona.    

For me, the two make a perfect combination – a glorious climate – so long as sun is on your agenda – and charming, welcoming people.

There are many things about Arizona that take me back there: the landscapes, the desert, the plants and birdlife and the climate, of course, but if the service and helpfulness was not there, the heart of the place would be different. Many of the regular visitors to Arizona, the ‘snowbirds’, are themselves Midwestern and so the patterns of the locals are reinforced by visitors themselves. I felt naturally obliged to be part of the way of life, and understood that just by being there, I became a politer person.        

In a wider sense the experience helped me realize how important is the environment that we create at work or school. If our everyday interactions are based on respect and courtesy, any exception to that standard is rather shocking. Whether dealing with our customers or our colleagues, our manner speaks volumes about what we think of them. Any newcomer to a group or organisation will tend to adapt themselves to the prevailing tone. If we want a harmonious and friendly organisation we need to set standards that everyone embraces willingly. We need to give our own environment a Midwestern frame of mind.  

A powerful story of love and hope

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer 

Julie Orringer’s stunning achievement in bringing to life the events and relationships between two Jewish families in Hungary over the war years is all the more remarkable for being a first novel. At 600 pages of detail about life, hope and struggle this is clearly a book that has been gestating for a good while. It was worth the effort.

The Invisible Bridge achieves the task of a great piece of art – illuminating the observer’s life as it unfolds on its own terms.

The streets of Hungary and Paris and the geographical and architectural landscapes within the book provide a structure and texture which acts as a framework for a story of complex personalities that evoke interest and empathy – even some of the less attractive characters.

Even through the inevitable descent into catastrophic events, The Invisible Bridge maintains a quiet detachment which allows the reader to stay alongside the protagonists without turning away from the horror.

The storytelling itself is captivating, with endless small surprises waiting like wrapped party gifts along the way. Even the love story at the heart of the book unfolds like pass the parcel, as layers of secrets are revealed. Indeed, secrecy is another theme of the novel, as are work and family relationships.

The main characters are strong, resilient and talented, and also loving, and generous. They have a sense of belonging to each other as well as to places.

If the book has a weakness it would be the relatively brief and neat ending. Perhaps Orringer is leaving open the door for another episode of the family saga. Somehow I don’t think so. That would be beneath her.

This is a book which is uplifting and human, warm with the small and intimate details of everyday life as well as the foreboding march of war. It should find its way onto prize shortlists, and very possibly win.  

Forget the Recession - Always Have a Great Job

It’s easy in a time of economic downturn to join the people who constantly tell you how hard life is. “No wonder”, they say, you “can’t get a job/get out of debt, etc. Look at the economy”. The fact is that most people are in work, and many are still buying better cars, going on cruises, trading up their home and paying for good education.

The key to always having a great job is self belief and marketing. You are a business, create your own niche.

The first most important element in having a great job is - don’t just respond just to ads, market yourself. This is especially important for younger people without experience, or older folk who might be overlooked or sidelined in a regular process of submitting and selecting applications. Trade on your skills and go out there and tell potential hirers that you are available.

Write spec letters and send your cv – to the decision maker in the company or organisation where you could fit in, or to recruitment agencies. And don’t forget to call your contacts. It can be a bit embarrassing to admit that you’re looking for a job (especially for us English who don’t wish to admit to difficulties). But creating opportunities for yourself boosts your self esteem as you take back your power over your life. 

We’ve all heard that 90% of jobs are not advertised and the process of getting better jobs can be easier than being hired for lesser jobs. Putting together a good CV or resume to advertise yourself, making contacts and sending out your letter, is far less work than filling in tedious application forms designed to test your bureaucracy skills. It may still be worth working on some of those forms, but don’t confine yourself to those avenues. 

On a personal level, be upbeat and confident. You may be a job seeker but you are a person of value, with useful skills, admirable qualities and a contribution to make. Unless you have been living in a cave you have done interesting things with your life. If you have successfully held down a job before, achieved a qualification, or run a household just remember what applies to you - there are always great jobs for good people.

Finally, be flexible. Consider contracting or taking a short term post or working further away from home. The rates you can be paid will likely make it worthwhile, especially if you live in a pleasant but quieter area. It can be a tough life to commute long distance – for you and your family – but you may be surprised by the respect (and financial reward) you command based on your previous experience. After all, an expert is ‘someone who comes from more than five miles away’.

Don’t underestimate your worth. Applicants are turned down for jobs every day because they are too good for the job. Even if you have been out of the market for some time, the right employer will recognise your value.  

Flower essences – a path to unfoldment

‘Is it like aromatherapy?’ I am always asked when I say that I work with flower essences. The answer is ‘no’. Neither are flower essences like homeopathy.

Flower essences are made from the energetic and vibrational essence of flowers captured in water. Most essences are made by floating flowers in a bowl of water in sunshine, but some essence makers choose not to harm the flowers and make the solution by bringing the water and flowers close together for a period of hours, allowing the flowers to energise the water.

Although there are historic precedents, the first recent examples of flower essences were the Bach flower remedies, famously created from wild flowers in the mid 20^th century by the British physician, Dr Bach. Dr Bach intuitively understood the properties of the flowers and also the ‘doctrine of signatures’: the way in which the physical properties of the plant and the flower symbolize its innate action as a remedy.

Since the creation of the 38 Bach flower remedies and the widely used combination for states of shock and crisis, known as Bach ‘rescue remedy’, a world of flower essences has been created. They are produced across the globe, from every type of flower, vegetable, orchid and tree. Their qualities are gentle yet speak deeply to our spiritual centre. Many of them have real physical effects but legislation often prohibits any claims. Most of all, the essences provide an emotional support and stairway into new territories.

Over time, essences have been created that move us emotionally, with, for example, Australian Bush Flower Essences providing a powerful range of healing resources. One of my favourites is Bottlebrush, which can be relied on to sweep out old thinking and bring change.

Increasingly, newer essences are not remedies but resources for spiritual growth and awareness. Living Tree Orchid Essences, produced on the Isle of Gigha in Scotland, have beautiful and uplifting qualities The orchid Paphiopedilum Armeni White is used to make the essence Purity of Heart whose qualities embody the understanding that there is enough time to do anything. This has certainly helped me to relax under pressure and act more gracefully in the world.

I could argue the case for the effectiveness of flower essences which are used to effectively treat animals as well as people and are used in hospitals in some parts of the world.

However I would simply urge anyone with an open mind to investigate for themselves and try whatever essences you are drawn to – by name, by flower or by picture. These beautiful infusions are a huge resource which nature offers us, to heal and revitalize and provide all the qualities we can use.

About me

My interests include mind, body, spirit, - and value. We all want quality and value and they are very subjective, depending on how you feel at the time. I have many interests and occupations - communications and marketing, books, travel, spiritual life and alternative therapies, self development, beauty, money and wealth.

I live in England right now and I have travelled extensively, with time spent in Australia and USA among other places. 

As a practitioner of various healing arts including Reiki, the Metamorphic Technique, and flower essences, I know that energy is life. Everything is energy and vibration. Whatever we give out is returned, so I work and live ethically and generously to the best of my ability.