MOONSTITCHES

Tsukimi*

*: (full) moon viewing festival in autumn
Today was a lovely day. Sunny and dry, with the perfect, clear evening sky to look out for the hare in the moon and grab some of those dango (rice balls) he has been preparing for us.

Hello!
Happy to see you are still there.
It was our first real back to school season and I must say, getting back into daily routines has kept us even more busy than those long holidays.
I thought I would come back earlier but, well... it always takes me longer than expected.
I did make a couple of things which I will show you over the next days. Sewing and knitting always seem to fit in, no matter how busy I might be.
A few days ago I started knitting Harvest Moon, a new pattern by Heidi Kirrmaier. It's so simple and has such lovely, little details... the pockets! The collar...
...which I will adorn with this button:

The yarn I am using (New Alpaca Wool by Naito Shoji) is very dark blue, a colour I am currently LOVING. I hope my cardigan will turn out alright. So far I am enjoying getting to know all those new (to me) techniques, like short row shaping or i-cord edges. It's like taking a knitting class.
Back soon with all those things I made in the meantime!

Take care and do take a moment and look at the moon tonight!

Wishing you clear skies :)

End of the Golden Age

Week, Golden Week, that was, actually... but this old, tired blogger is grabbing every opportunity to get lost in real life, extending forced off times into monthly, happily spent long vacations to the point of forgetting this and admittedly other blogs as well almost completely.

Drifting away I am.
Still, I love sharing my life here, documenting what I am making and being connected.
And still I am not thinking of myself as not blogging. So, shall this be another trial.

Some pictures from this year's kodomo no hi. Grey skies, which made the koinobori shine less. Beautiful anyway.

First kakigori of the year.
This year my girl prefers Cola flavour, which seems so forbidden to her - which seems so sweet to me!

Hope you are all well and having a good time.

Will come back later to continue documenting what have been making... :)

counting again, 25

Sake bottles in front of a restaurant.
My favourite drink for the holiday season? Eggnog. As it is or with Fanta. Reminds me a lot of old times together with my parents.

.....some minutes later... I was going to write down my eggnog recipe for you and suddenly had the feeling I might have done just that in the past. So I searched my blog and discovered this.
I posted the recipe already last year.
And used a photo of sake bottles.
And I was three days behind with counting...

All said and done, so it seems. And my memory on holiday. Eggnog.

Back soon with the 26.
Till then!

holidays and laundry

I just realized our seemingly endless summer holidays are in fact more than half over, only 72 days left! Japanese kindergarten ending in March and German school starting late August brought us the impressing amount of 162 free days. Finding a balance between play and what needs to get done to supply everybody here with nutritions and clean underwear is my daily struggle. Guess you know how that is...

Anyway, we are having fun everyday and the laundry is under control, too. Only blogging about all of that and writing mails still doesn't work well.

But I have come to think that it is not a lack of time that is keeping me from it (or the constant doubt if anybody would still be interested to read about what I am doing because after more than three years of blogging I can only repeat myself). The greatest obstacle rather might have been sitting on the floor with crossed legs, bending over to reach the keyboard that's placed on the ground, too. Until yesterday. When I decided to give in and vacate my beloved but unfortunate position, moving the whole thing upwards... No more numb legs, typing so much easier and it's better for my back, too.

Yes, I have reached that age...! But this stool I am now sitting on really does wonders :)
I type!
A picture of my desk is here.
The rest of my room tomorrow, off to bed now.

Take care!

PS: You asked for a recipe for the mochi?
Add water would be my answer.
I am making the no fuss shiratama dango (mochi dumplings), using a little package of shiratamako (a lumpy glutinous rice flour) and water. And as topping either ready made kuro mitsu ("black honey", not really honey but syrup made from unrefined sugar), like in this photo, or a mix of brown and white sugar together with kinako (ground roasted soy beans). Not much to it. As to many things here in Japan.

Outsmarting myself...

In an attempt to make myself blogging again without making too much of a fuss about it because that is what prevented me from coming back earlier, I am quickly posting about what I am doing right now.
Hope it'll get easier after that first one is written!!!
Crafting/ knitting news later, if this is actually working out...
Thank you very much for your concern about my well being and telling me you missed me. I miss you too!
Take care!