*A winter fairy tale & Crocheting a fabulous rose cushion

{Music: Into white – Cat Stevens + Epilogue – Two Lanes + Signal – Koshun Nakao}

The fairytale-like winter weather made me feel like entering a long awaited dream. I crocheted a "Fabulous rose cushion" and poured candles from wax remnants again.

Ps: Yes, our Christmas tree is still up. And no, I was not freezing at all outside, I had at least 5 layers of clothes on.

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*A glimmer of spring & the caterpillar in the salad

After the frost days the weather changed drastically, we had at least 16 degrees, the birds were happily twittering while the rabbits were enjoying the uplifting sunshine on the field behind our home.

Recently I have found a tiny caterpillar in my salad from the grocery shop. It was too cold to put it outside, so I placed it in a terrarium with some more salad and twigs. It was eating non stop until one day it started to crawl around a lot, seemingly searching for something. On the next day it was surrounded by a thin construct of threads, it obviously started to pupate. I never had the possibility to observe such happening so closely, I mean all the different stadiums. It's utterly fascinating! You could still see through the net construct, the green caterpillar changed into a brown, more solid pupa. I will for sure follow the process further and hope I will be able to see how the butterfly or moth will hatch!

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*Wintry triangle scarf

Close-ups of the wintry triangle scarf that I finished last week. The pattern is from the Japanese magazine "Motif recipe for crochet". I instantly fell in love with the design! For some reasons I had to crochet two extra granny squares to make it work. It fits in perfectly the frosty weather, don't you think?

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*Star in the light

Ich bin nicht ich.

Ich bin jener,

der an meiner Seite geht, ohne dass ich ihn erblicke,

den ich oft besuche,

und den ich oft vergesse.

Jener, der ruhig schweigt, wenn ich spreche,

der sanftmütig verzeiht, wenn ich hasse,

der umherschweift, wo ich nicht bin,

der aufrecht bleiben wird, wenn ich sterbe.

{Juan Ramón Jiménez}

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*Winter shades & Crocheting a triangle scarf

{Music: Us together – Keaton Henson + I sat – Keaton Henson + Every Age (José Gonzáles) – Lambert Rework}

Walks through the frosty landscape,

enjoying all those beautiful winter shades

and slowly working on a wintry triangle scarf.

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*winter roses

I'm always impressed how strong roses are. Many are still blooming at the very end of December and even today when everything was covered with a thick layer of frost, there were some rose buds that looked just like they were about to bloom any moment. Except of the cold winds, I'm really pleased with the winter weather right now. We have no snow, but the frosts are beautiful and nature's shades very inspiring!

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*Striped wrap

I'm still waiting for my analogue pictures from December. I really hope they did not get lost during the development process, but I rather think the photo center was too busy around the holidays.

In the meantime I'm showing you some close-ups of the big striped wrap that I started knitting at the beginning of 2019 and continued this autumn and finally finished at the beginning of the new year. I would certainly have picked different colors if I started it now, those wools I got gifted back then and wanted to use them at last. It is the biggest piece of knitwear that I ever made so far and is easily also used as little blanket. The advantage of knitting such big pieces, is that you can warm your legs with it while working on it. Very practically in winter time!

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*Hedgehog

Another plushie from the Japanese "Dakko Amigurumi & Cushion" magazine, a little hedgehog. I love the tiny ears, they look so cute!

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*Hitsuji

Close-ups of my first finished crochet project in the new year. The pattern is from the same Japanese magazine like the duck I made in December. I did not know which animal this should be, but my sister said instantly that it is a sheep and she was right, "Hitsuji" is the Japanese word for sheep and I love how it turned out! I really like Japanese crochet magazines, they have such minimalistic and calm designs. Especially the ones in this magazine remind me of the crochet stuffed animals from my childhood days in the early 80s.

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*New year nature walks & Needlework projects

{Music: Crocus – Jiří Horák + Veiled –Two Lanes}

Welcoming the new year that brought us beautiful frost and the pinkest morning sky that I have ever experienced. I started several new crochet projects and finally finished knitting my big striped wrap. Days are filled with bird visits and calm and healing moments at home.

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*when...

 

When I rise up

let me rise up joyful

like a bird.

When I fall

let me fall without regret

like a leaf.

{Wendell Berry)

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*2025

I wished I could show you the pictures of today instead of this series that I shot at the beginning of December, because we had an exceptional beautiful start into the new year, weatherwise. We had my favorite sort of frost, the one that creates those pretty long ice needles and it was also misty! But through the mist the sun was shimmering and created this breathtaking atmosphere which felt otherworldly. On our New Years walk we spotted a flock of mountain goats on a field, that later hied away into the forest. It was a very rare sight to see them so freely and not in a fenced-in area! I hope you had also a good start into 2025 and that it will treat you kindly!

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