100 of 10 - Day 21 - Familiar Views

A familiar sight from my childhood -  the view out of the window from my dad's house of the Greek chapel at the top of the hill. It's quite a romantic story that is behind it - apparently it was built as a monument to a Russian princess who died very young, in childbirth, while living in Wiesbaden (which was a a popular 19th century destination for Russian nobility because of its medicinal hot springs. The old casino in Wiesbaden was one of the places Dostoevski frequented and Wiesbaden later served as one of the inspirations for his famous novel 'The Gambler'.

100 of 10 - Day 20 - Above the Clouds

I'm in Germany right now, to visit my family there. Arrived last night, so had no chance to upload anything, so here you go - my view from above the clouds. I've not been on a plane for a long time, since the boys we usually tend to drive everywhere, so it all felt very strange. It also feels very strange to  be here, in the house I grew up in, by myself, without any kids. It's a bit too quiet, and I'm not used to all this down-time. I (almost) felt bored for a while there, earlier, so I went to chat to my dad. Because of all the chatting we forgot to start cooking early enough for all the people we had coming tonight, so there was a lot of rushing around and frantically chopping vegetables so it all felt a lot more normal then. ;) 

Clearly I've forgotten how to relax and do nothing!

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Friday Photo Journal

Post-Christmas update

I've been MIA for some time now. It wasn't intentional, but when things get busy, as they often do this time of year, the blog is one of the things that falls off the cliff. There were any number of occasions when I thought 'oh, I need to blog about that', but I just never found the time to upload the photographs, look through them, write a post... I'm sure it was the same for a lot of you too.

We spent Christmas in Germany this year. It was good - seeing family and friends, spending time with the boys, taking walks in the forest, going to the local Christmas market - but it's also oh so very nice to be back. Our return journey was a bit of an adventure because after some quite mild weather the temperature dropped to -10C the day of our departure and it started snowing in the early hours of the morning. I don't think the journey to Rotterdam has ever taken us quite this long, not because we had trouble with our car (we go in a 4-wheel-drive because it isn't the first time we've been caught out by a cold snap) but because everyone else was. This is what the motorway looked like for the majority of our journey:

The boys, of course, were outraged by the whole thing. First there was no snow for DAYS, and then, on the day of our departure, when they can't play in it because they'd get wet and cold, it starts snowing. And not just that - all their hopes of a snowball fight on British shores were dashed when we arrived back home and found that there was not a fleck of snow here! 

We've had some beautiful frosty weather, though, so the day after we got back I grabbed the camera and my knitting and crochet (yes, I've still been working on WIPs!) and went into the back garden to make use of that clear winter light. 

Look at how the natural daylight makes the colours on the mystery blanket pop! I finished all the squares before we left for Germany and then assembled it all while there. I'm still working on the border, but apart from that it's done. I'm so happy with how it's turning out. Here are a few more pictures of it, though not taken outside (the frost everywhere meant that I couldn't spread it out very well...).

It should be big enough to fit a single bed quite comfortably, but I suspect it will probably end up downstairs as a snuggle blanket on the sofa. :)

I've also been working away at the Garter Yoke cardi. I'm finding the sleeve knitting quite dull, so I've been a bit slow with this, but it's made a good travel project so I got a few inches done on the way to Germany and back. I think I have perhaps 5" to go now, so I'll try to prioritise the project so I can start wearing the cardi.

  

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Keep Calm, Craft On
A Year of Projects

Happy Monday Holiday preparations...

Apologies for the relative silence these past few days - I'm in the midst of holiday preparations. We are off to Germany to see my folks, and with three lively boys to pack for, and a house to put in order, and babysitters for cats and chickens to arrange, it's been a rather all-consuming task.

I started putting it all together this morning, and as usual it looks like we are moving house. By the time I've packed clothes for 5 I have filled two suitcases (and that's only the basiscs - we can wash things at my dad's house so I don't tend to bring too much), and then there are books, and toys, and bicycles, and all sorts of other things that little boys find essential for a two-week trip.

There is also my knitting to consider of course. What do I bring on such an adventure? Not the granny squares, that's for sure. With all the odds and ends of yarn that is quite a bulky project.

Perhaps some sock knitting? I'm currently on sock #2 for boy #2, so that's definitely coming.

But how about some knitting for myself? I really REALLY want to bring the Garter Yoke Cardi along with me - but will that be too ambitious? We've had holidays before when I brought three projects along only to find that I didn't have time to knit even a single row.

Decisions, decisions...

I'll leave you with a Happy Monday picture, and will check back in once we are in Germany.

This was the sunset a few evenings ago, seen out of my office window: