Knitting for Friends - Hiro, the Seed Stitch Cowl and Mt. Fuji

Hi Everyone!

Back with the Knitting for Friends series. This time my knitting traveled all the way to Japan! A friend of mine was travelling to China and Japan and I asked her to pass on this little surprise to Hiro. In fact this friend of mine who was delivering the gift will also feature soon on my blog wearing another knit item that I made specially for her.

So here is Hiro, wearing the cowl I made. If you liked the cowl, you can find the free pattern here.

Hiroshi Imase ©

A few fun facts about Hiro and some of his pictures

He is a teacher and feelosopher. In case you wonder what the letter is, the way he likes to put it the following: making a difference in kids' life by awakening their excellence. He is also a great photographer, so I decided I would share a few of his other pictures with you!

Sit back and relax. The first one has become the wallpaper on my phone because I loved it so much, then I realized it also has a calming effect on me. The light play and the whole picture is gorgeous.

Hiroshi Imase ©

 This one is also really neat. Awesome winter feeling!

Hiroshi Imase ©

I think this is a great way to wrap up 2013. I want to wish a Merry Christmas  to everyone! And a Happy New Year! Will be writing some more next year and as usual I will have a giveaway in mid January for the blog birthday. Next year will be special because I want to offer some knit items to you guys who will be joining the giveaway. I will post some patterns and then I will start a voting so you guys can decide what would make the best gift for the giveaway. See you next year!!!

Presenting Aikido Dojos - Aikido Dillingen

Aikido Dillingen ©

-Guest Post by Marcus

The Aikido division of the Budo club Dillingen e.V. is practicing Aikido accordingly to the principles and techniques of Nishio Sensei. The training courses are led by Kazuo Sato (4. Dan Aikido and 3. Dan Toho). Kazuo Sato met Nishio Sensei already in 1993 and was supporting him as translator during one of his seminars in Saarbrücken. Since 1999 Shishiya Sensei is the official representative and follower of Nishio Sensei in Germany. Shishiya was already well established and popular as assistant of Nishio Sensei, today he is continuing whose work and ideas. For the further establishment of the evolved principles of Nishio Sensei in Germany, Kazuo Sato founded in 2001 on recommendation of Nishio Sensei his own federation: the “Deutsche Aikido Renmei e.V.”. Therefore, Aikido dojo Dillingen became headquarter of the federation. Since the death of Nishio Sensei in 2005, Shishiya Sensei is visiting Germany and our dojo frequently to perform Aikido seminars and to teach the style of Nishio Sensei.

Aikido Dillingen ©

Shishiya Sensei demonstrates in his seminars the close relationship between the sword- and stick-techniques and the “empty-handed” forms of Aikido. Furthermore he is teaching Toho, which is a special form of Iaido developed by Nishio Sensei. The movements in Aikido also pointed-out by practicing the ´ken non tebiki´ or ´jo no tebiki´ forms (“ken and jo guide the movement”). Shishiya Sensei is paying a special attention to the attitude of the mind of Tori and advices consistently that Aikido is a forgiving martial art (“Yurusu Budo”, after the book of Nishio Sensei and Shishiya Sensei). Shishiya Sensei is also doing the next consequent step and modifies some of the Aikido techniques, e.g. Nikyo, Sankyo or Shiho nage, that these are free of pain for Uke, but showing the same efficiency. Even some of the sword techniques had been developed further in a way, that Uke is spared during his attack and gets several chances to think over his acting and to give up before hurting him. The sword is used only to control the movements of an aggressor, but not to hurt or kill him.

Shishiya Sensei is consequently following and developing further the leading thought of Toho of the “Sword, which is not for killing but to save lives.”

For the previous episode of presenting Aikido Dojos please head to Aikido in Oberhausen and New Orleans.

If you want your dojo to feature on Beauty and Aikido please leave a comment or drop me an e-mail.

Knitting for Friends - The Headband and the Rose

Hi Everyone!

This winter I have been taking care of my skin in a professional way and went monthly to a cosmetician. Also I stopped buying and trying creams because I get some natural products from the cosmetician. Planning to write a longer post about those products and the treatment I am getting because it totally changed my skin for the better. 

So this winter will not be about product reviews but about knitting and other hand crafted goodies. I am also planning to create something handmade for the yearly BLOG BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY that will happen in January as usual, so stay tuned!!!

Now here is one of the creations I finished not long ago for a dear friend. She asked for the headband but told me she would love to have a knit rose also. Given the color of  the yarn, I was able to create a cute rose for her as a surprise. The creation will reach her today. Hope she will like it.

If you also liked it and would like to make a similar headband, you can find the pattern here.

Current knitting project: Infinity Scarf for a dear friend.

Future knitting projects: Gloves, something special for the giveaway, another scarf

I also made some glass jewelry the past weekend. I had loads of fun!Will post them only after Christmas because I intend to give some of the jewelry as Christmas presents to family and friends.

Happy knitting!

The Warrior's Path

I have been dreaming for a long time to get some theoretical knowledge of the history of martial arts. Half a year ago I found a whole study line and was seriously considering to apply for a 3 year BA program which was focusing on aikido and martial arts. But it has been discontinued. Then this opportunity came. I just saw a post that you can win a 2 month course about martial arts. All I had to do was answer to an easy question:

What is the literal meaning of Sensei?

Answer: "person born before another"

So I just hit the right answer submitted and a few days later, before going to bed, I was checking my e-mail with sleepy eyes. An e-mail came noticing me that I won one of the free admissions to the two month course. I was so happy, just jumping and singing!

So today I am soon heading to the third Seminar. So far we discussed a lot of the historical background and I am hoping we are soon getting to the martial arts part. The main teacher is Szabó Balázs whom I have presented to you in a previous post. I will be getting back with posts that sum up the contents of each course, so if you are interested please stay tuned!

Japanese Days and Manga Self

I know that everyone is supposed to be their own self, but there is this Japanese chick inside of me that sometimes wants to come to the surface and be cute. So the best place for that is a Japanese cultural event, right. I was invited in the last August weekend to such an event. I had a lot of fun and tried out everything. In the big conference room there were movies, martial arts presentations, dancing and singing.

This is the makeup I was wearing for the day. I was using just tinted moisturizer by L'Oreal, NYC eyelash curler and the Maybelline Rocket mascara that I totally love. On top of that some 100% pure organic blush that I love. And that was it. Oh, and I bought a set of cute bow hairpins. Two of them resemble my ombred hair I think (you can see those on the table)

I listened to presentations and I also played karuta and ate some sushi. The guy at the sushi counter asked me whether I have ever eaten any sushi...then he looked at my tee and he smiled. I said I did eat... I really became keen on karuta also, so I bought a pack of them and started learning the poems called Hyakunin Isshu. Not that I understand a lot of it, but I can read Hiragana, so that helps a lot! So beware, some posts might come about karuta! I also bought a tatami on which I will be able to play it. So excited!!!

I also danced on one of those dancing video games. Then I got my manga portrait taken. It was a lot of fun! Do you think it resembles me? The portrait was done by Lainess. You can check her DevianArt profile here. I think she is quite talented.

The History of Aikido: About Jujitsu and Aikido (Hungarian)

I have decided to post these two videos for my Hungarian speaking readers, because I know from the stats that there is many of you out there :D I also attended the first lecture, but I could not make it to the second. Great that they taped it and I was able to listen to it at home.

Balazs is a great and eloquent presenter who has a lot of knowledge about aikido. He also teaches aikido at the same dojo where I train but on different days and times.

A Dress for a Special Occasion: Wine Tasting

Every lady needs that special dresses for that special occasions. Your best friend gets married, there is a cocktail party to attend, the company organizes a Christmas Party and the list can go on and on. Once you get the invite, you usually realize you have nothing to wear. Even if you have something from last year it might not fit your present style, the trends, season or what not. So then you start running around to look for that special dress that fits you. I know, been there, done that. On the last week before the Christmas Party I usually start running like crazy for the perfect dress and shoes. And I get really exhausted and frustrated. So this year I decided to look around the internet and check what is available, long before it started. This time I am looking for a dress for a wine tasting and I found this website called Dress First. They have lots of dressed and accessories there and a very good filtering system on the left hand side. You can sort by categories and you can also narrow it down to color, price, season and what not. I knew for sure the color, but am not sure about the material and the cut, so I filtered for burgundy. These two dresses are the runners up for me: 

Source: Dress First

Source: Dress First

I chose this color because I think my skin has a warm undertone. I always get compliments if I wear colors like red or burgundy. I also think that burgundy is a really nice fall color that makes me think of wine tasting. I guess I would pick the second dress which is a less dressy one as the wine tasting will be more like an informal event where we will just taste some wines and chitchat with our colleagues. But on the website you can pick from a large range: from absolutely dressy wedding or ball garments and accessories, to simple clean cut cocktail dresses.