*Easypeasy Bandana Nr.2

Close-ups of the blue triangle scarf that I knitted for my dear sister. The pattern is from Susanne Müller, available for free on her ravelry page. Again, I used a different kind of wool and thinner needles, so I adjusted the number of stitches. I hope she will have good use for it! I find the size really practically.

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*Knitting through March, fluffy alpacas & finding the first snowdrops

{Music: A raw acoustic song that tells stories – Trail + Children's Waltz – Serge Dusault + Spotless Mind – Jon Brion + Chill Acoustic Folk Guitar – Alison}

Two more finished knitting projects, 

a cute & mindful Birthday gift,

visiting the fluffy alpacas 

and a lot of snowdrop hunting.

Marie made this little "Sunny" plushie for my Birthday – I was moved to tears when I first saw it. What a thoughtful and special gift! He is standing near our bed now, just where our real Sunny slept at night. Thank you once again, Marie, you made my day! And if you, dear readers, want to see more of Marie's wonderful handmade plushies, feel free to have a look at her blog!

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*winter is back & another moth surprise

Finally taking a moment to sit down and writing here. I guess you are more into spring mode already, but those pictures are actually fitting today, because it is snowing right now! But at the beginning of March we had fabulous mild and sunny weather. In March we always have a lot to celebrate. It was also my Birthday on which I went on the search for snowdrops again and luckily I was successful, but apart from snowdrops, nature needs a little more time to wake up this year. The forests are still barren, but tiny buds are appearing more and more on the trees. I have finished knitting two more bandana scarfs, one for my sister and the other one for a dear friend. I also bisque fired my latest ceramics which are waiting now patiently for getting glazed. On the weekend I had to stay in bed most of the time, but something exciting happened! I think I did not mention it here yet, but some months ago, we found a strange, hairy thing on one of our firewood logs. I thought it looks like a cocoon, so I made some research and to my surprise it is the cocoon of the biggest existing moth species in Austria: the giant emperor moth (Wiener Nachtpfauenauge). So we put the log aside, but to be honest I did not have much hope that it will hatch, but yesterday in the morning it did! I have never seen one in real life before and I understand why it is so hard to get to see one. Not only because they are nocturnal, their life span is very short. They are living only a few days, don't eat and the only thing they are up for is searching a mate to reproduce, laying eggs and then they die. But I'm delighted! To be able to observe such beautiful creature so closely is amazing! I will for sure share some pictures soon! For now, I'm just showing you how the cocoon looked:

So stay tuned! :)

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*Koala chushion

The pattern of this sweet koala cushion is also from the Japanese craft book "Crochet with Sonomono: Animal Cuddle Amigurumi." I knew instantly when I saw it the first time, that I have to make it! I decided to embroider the eyes instead of using plastic ones. I think it makes it more cozy. I went up the little oak forest to make pictures. The sun was such a relief after the row of gloomy days that we had before. On the weekend I was looking for snowdrops, but nature is sleeping still here. Yesterday morning we had minus 6 degrees and today also frost again, but it seems it will get milder very soon!

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*Solo Lino Print Top

Welcome to March!

The pattern for this crochet top is from the magazine "Lana Grossa häkeln – Ausgabe 3" and is also available for free on ravelry. I used a different sort of wool, so I had to adjust the pattern, but it turned out better than expected in the end. Of course the temperatures are still too cold to wear it like this outside, but the light was beautiful on that day, so I decided to make some pictures out of doors. It is extremely soft and it will for sure be a garment that I will wear regularly.

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*A lavender crochet top, winter walks & A koala on the oak tree

 

{Music: Par la fenêtre de Théo – Alexandra Stréliski  + Dune – Muriël Bostdorp}

February is coming to an end. We made some really nice nature walks and I finished two more crochet projects, a lavender top and a cute koala cushion.

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*Slowly

Langsam,

den Tag abwarten, 

die Dinge ruhen lassen,

das Herz hochhalten

und die Seele rein.

{Claudia Voglhuber}

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*in the core of winter

It's minus 13 degrees at the moment. Almost every morning I go up the attic after I made fire in the stoves and have a moment on the balcony to experience the sunrise and observe the first birds flying around. People are heading by busy in their cars, but nature seems unimpressed by the stress of humans. February feels here more like the core of winter and not like we are coming to an end of it. The continuous low night temperatures keep the spring flowers here for the longest time waiting in the ground. I work a lot on my needlework projects and am reading several books at once. And slightly, but only slightly I start to daydream about the new gardening year.

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*Easypeasy Bandana

Some close-ups of the knitted little triangle scarf that I finished recently. The pattern is from Susanne Müller (Paulastrickt) and you can download it for free on her ravelry page. I used thinner wool and needles, so I had to add stitches in the middle part to make it fit for me. It turned out super practically and so soft. At the moment I wear it day and night. When I was a teenager I had a similar vintage baby blue handknitted scarf that I had always with me, but sadly it got lost somewhere and I still think of it and wanted to create something similar for a long time. 

By the way, my moth hatched at the beginning of the week. It turned out to be a silver Y moth. I had to release it into nature, because I'm not able to provide food for it, but I hope it will make it despite of the cold temperatures. Here it is sitting on my arm for a last goodbye.

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*Horse cushion

The pattern of the horse cushion is from the Japanese craft book "Crochet with Sonomono: Animal Cuddle Amigurumi" and with every project I learn a little something new. Like here – the spots on the horses body are crocheted and not embroidered. Have a nice weekend!

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