A poncho for me

It was love at first sight ...

Have you seen the poncho from Simply Crochet issue 25?

When I saw it I knew that I had to make it for me! But without the fringe, I do not like fringes at all. They never seem to stay clean and neat with me. But I decided that I would think about the border later on, I ordered the yarn immediately. I had worked with Drops Nepal before, it is a chunky yarn, a mix of wool and alpaca and therefore quite gentle to the skin.

  I chose all shades of red, pink and purple: grey purple for the cowl neck and the border and all the different shades for the stripes: deep red, red, cerise, medium pink, powder pink and mix purple. 

It was so easy to start with this project. Hooking up these rows with a 6 mm hook works up extremely quickly and soon I was able to start with the stripes. I chose the colours randomly, using the main colour grey/ purple once in a while. Soon I had done the 16 rows of the original pattern. 

But as I do not want the fringes, I will continue with the "granny double crochets" until the length is fine with me. 

I happily crochet row after row and in between I squeeze myself a fresh juice from apples, pears, carrots, beetroot and fresh curcuma (it is said to be very salutary). Something fresh and healthy to get well soon.

Take care of yourself!

Viola

New Year beginnings

AGAIN! It's more than a month ago that I wrote my last post.

Why does time fly that fast? Why is there always something that keeps you from doing the things you like? This time it's been my health again. 

I didn't feel good the whole autumn and winter. I couldn't get rid of my cold, I felt exhausted and tired all the time. That's why I asked the doctor to check the blood parameters. Unfortunately the liver function test results were far from good. Two days before Christmas eve I had to go to a hospital in Hamburg for a second, more detailed test. Three weeks later I went there again to undergo a Laparoscopy of the liver (it is an operation with the help of a camera). This operation failed due to several unfortunate and painful circumstances and I have to do it a second time in a couple of week's time. 

I really fear this second operation not knowing if it will succeed this time. And I fear the pain as well, of course. But in the end I hope that everything will turn out good and my private motto for the year 2015 will be: 

THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER!

It is an uncomfortable and strange feeling to know that your body is not working well but you just do not know why. And then there are the obligatory questions the doctors ask: "Do you drink alcohol regularly?", "What about nicotine and caffeine?" Okay, I do not smoke, and I only drink green and herbal tea, that's easy, but alcohol? A glass of red wine once in a while, on Friday or Saturday evenings, is this regularly? And is this dose likely to cause liver dysfunction? Impossible, isn't it? Now I try to live a healthy life, no alcohol at all, freshly squeezed fruit juices and green smoothies for breakfast and lunch, lots of fruits and vegetables and only a teeny tiny little bit of chocolate or cake once in a while. How can I possibly live without a sweet treat? 

But knowing that there is something wrong and that I have a good reason to feel exhausted and tired makes life a little easier than before. I allow myself daily rest now and I don't have a guilty conscience anymore when I spend an hour on the sofa crocheting. And I am quite content with the things I finished and started.

I finally finished the poncho for my little girl and best of all she loves it!

 Do you like it? I like it soooo much, it is such a lovely and  colourful piece of handmade craft.

To crochet this poncho I didn't follow a pattern. I just had a picture of it in my mind because I had seen so many lovely projects in the net. But before I tell you more about my own poncho I would like to share a couple more beautiful crochet ponchos that have inspired me ....

The one above is really wonderful, made by Karen of mixture43. I immediately fell in love with her design and I knew that I had to do something similar. 

And this one you can find on Beates beatesbunterblog (it actually is a shawl, but it could have been worked as a poncho, as well). My daughter especially liked the colourful stripes but she decided that she didn't want any grey colour. 

And there is, of course, the poncho of Lucy from attic24. It is a wonderful stripy poncho in a beautiful combination of colours. So much inspiration! I could have started with 3 or 4 different ponchos at once. But then I ordered the yarn first.

Drops Cotton Merino, a yarn that is warm and very gentle on the skin. And best of all the range of colours is wide. 

My daughter chose the following colours: vanilla, bordeaux, pistachio, dark green, turquoise, jeans blue, ice blue, red, powder pink and heather.

 

Look! The sun is shining today! Woolly goodness in the sun, just beautiful!

It's all bright and flamboyant colours, and the poncho really suits my little girl. I am so happy that she's happy!

And the little bird that usually brightens up our locker suddenly wanted to nest on the poncho, as well.

And the sun again, I so much love to see the sun! I will stop this post now and take a walk outside. We had so much rain and fog the last few weeks and only a teeny tiny bit of snow last weekend. Want to see the smallest snowman ever? My daughter wanted to have one but it's been not enough snow to form a proper one.

With these pictures of last Saturday's walk I'll leave you to take the same walk again but in bright sun today!

See you soon, Viola