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

Christmas is coming...

... and the goose is getting fat. Hey, put a penny in the old man's hat....

This is one of the songs that we will sing during our Christmas concert next Saturday. Maybe the English readers of you will know this song, but it is pretty new to me. I am singing in a chorus and I really have to learn my text until then. But the most difficult song is a wonderful Swedish one called ' Jul, jul, stralande jul'. Do you want to listen to it? There is a  youtube video here, a Swedish chorus singing it just beautifully. I really have problems with the text, so I have to find half an hour to learn it before Saturday.

If somebody of you happens to be in the Northern part of Germany next Saturday and doesn't know what to do, here is my invitation:

 I love those concerts in a church, the atmosphere there is always so festive and moody and everyone is in high spirits.

Finally our house is getting a little christmassy, my daughter started crafting, paper stars and Christmas trees. The stars look just lovely in windows.

She already uses these trees to play with her Schleich animals, but I like them very much, as well and rearranged them for my purposes.

 

 I have crocheted a mug cosy in rainbow colours, to freshen my spirits.

 I drank a yogi tea this morning, with honey and cream and when I had a look at the paper of the teabag there was this quote: 'Du musst dein Haus verlassen, um zu lernen' (You have to leave your house to be able to learn). This is definitely true but as it is rainy and stormy today I am very lucky that I haven't go to work today and that I can spend my time indoors. 

Another lovely Christmas crochet project were these star coasters that we are using daily at the moment. The pattern is very simple, it is just a chart and you can find it on pinterest, here.

Have a wonderful Christmas time! 

Thank you all for your sweet comments, I am happy that you didn't forget me while I have been away from blogland. A warm welcome to my new followers, I will write more regularly as long as everyone keeps well and fit.
 

Remember me?

Gracious me! Is it really that long since my last post?

Time is flying by.

I thought I should get in touch with you again.

Say a big, big.......

HELLO!!!

I have been lost in the fog somehow... 

In the fog of lots of activities (first) and lots of illnesses (second). We have really been knocked down, one by one, by colds and stomach flu. I am surprised how much it has taken hold of me! I feel like I have been ill for weeks! But being a mum it is impossible to spend a few days in bed to be completely cured and as a consequence I ended up with a bronchitis. Now life is really slow, I'll try to prepare for Christmas but one by one. The kids are alright again, thank goodness!

I haven't been to blogland for such a long time, so much has happened since last time and I am really sorry that I couldn't find  time to share snippets of my doings here with you.

But I'll try to catch up now and I think it's best to do a little overview:

At the beginning of October I won a give-away! I got this gorgeous pattern through the lovely blog of Annemarie. Aren't these petits fours cute and look delicious? I do love them so much but unfortunately I haven't tried the patterns until now. I got 17, yes, it's right, seventeen! patterns as an Ebook and I will definitely try them as soon as life is running in normal pace again. Thanks a lot for your generous give-away, Annemarie!

 About one week after I won the fabulous petits fours crochet patterns I won another give-away! Can you imagine how astonished I was? I was swept off my feet because usually I am not the winning type of person. I got this wonderful Drops yarn with a pattern for crocheted wrist warmers. Thanks a lot Anne from Crochet between two worlds! I will make something very nice from this yarn, I have already worked with it, it is a wonderful yarn, a mix of cotton and merino and very soft.

 
Then Autumn school holidays started, two much needed, lazy weeks for the peewees. And it was my mothers birthday! I gave her the granny hottie I crocheted not long ago and a light crocheted dragon shawl. For that shawl I used a soft merino yarn, light but snugly.

I do love the pattern a lot, maybe I will crochet one for me, as well.

  Then there was another birthday to celebrate! 

 My daughter turn 10! 

 It was a significant birthday for her, she just loved getting her first "zero". I was a little nostalgic and reflective as I realised that now my both children have turned from small children to almost teenagers. Our life will definitely change. On the one hand I really appreciate them getting more and more independent because it allows myself room for my own interests but on the other I will miss them being so close to me. 

On the morning of her birthday Little E was very excited because we promised to visit the Harry Potter exhibition in Cologne. She is a great Harry Potter fan, she's read all the books for several times, we just couldn't stop her. She is able to recite whole passages of the books and sometimes I have the feeling that for her the lines between the "Potter world" and our world are blurred. J and I and even Little J have read the books, as well, so we were all exited about this exhibition. And apart from the horrendously high entrance fee the show was very interesting and the kids were fascinated and delighted.

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My Little E got a magic wand as a birthday gift and the next days thousands of magic spells filled our house. We are now so well protected, no dark magic will do us any harm. I fell save and well-protected with such a skilled daughter in the house!

Of course, we did organise a birthday party for Little E at home with all her friends. As it was a girls' party, it was no problem to find something to keep them busy. I bought some horses, elephants and dolphins from papier-mâché and the girls had a lot of fun decorating them with decopatch papers. 

They were sitting around the table, working with their hands chatting and enjoying each others company. And after a good 1.5 hours they were very proud of their results: 

  There was a lot of cake and cookies, as well:

Little E's own style of lemon cake. 

 Some Americans... (how do English people call them?)

 ... and some brownies.

On St. Martin's day we were all not feeling too well, therefore we didn't participate in any St. Martin's procession. But we spend a peaceful afternoon baking 'Stutenkerle' and enjoying a wonderful 'Kaffetrinken'. 

J (on the left, before it was getting hot for him in the oven... and he really got more and more voluminous during baking) and me (on the right)...

 













Little J (on the left, the red spot is nothing poisonous, he just tried some Haribo bears on his Stutenkerl) and Little E (on the right, the one without raisins...)
 

Then another surprise waited for me. Elizabeth from Mrs Thomasina Tittlemouse sent me a set of rings and lights to crochet a lantern. This is how hers looks like:

Isn't it gorgeous? I have already started with mine but it is nothing I can show you at the moment. I will do it soon, promised! I want to light mine at Christmas, I have already chosen the window where I will put it. Thanks a lot, Elizabeth! I really appreciated your parcel a lot.

I hope that you will forgive me my past silence. November is a difficult month for me and I was feeling too unwell to express myself in English. But I promise that I will show you soon my crochet works of the past. I am so behind with the things I started early in September or October. But I did a little Christmas crocheting. Want to see?

And at the end of this post - if you had the patience to read it until the end - I 'l come back to the fog...

Nach Martinitag viel Nebel sind, so wird der Winter meist gelind'... (If there is a lot of fog after St. Martin's, the winter will get mild). 

See you soon, großes Indianer-Ehrenwort! 

(Indian Scout's honour???) 

Stay healthy, 

Viola