Winter Mood

Hello my dears... The past week was rather tiring for me on the job side - more translation work started coming in which resulted in me being completely drained by the end of the day. As soon as I work half day from home, it might seem like an easy task, but it isn't. In fact, my day is endless. Some days I simply feel like curling up on a bed and doing nothing at all. It doesn't happen, almost never. My sleep timings also depend on little A's preference, however one good thing is that he finally started sleeping through the night. Before that I couldn't get a proper night's rest for more than 2 years :O Hence I am very happy for both of us.
Thank you everyone for your wishes for my mom's recovery. She is already at home and doing well, though would need to be more careful from now on and still requires to support her arm. Life seems to be getting on its' usual track.
That winter mood always visits me as Christmas and New year approach. It's time for cozy evenings and hot chai, for warm socks and crocheting. As our house gets colder, I feel the need to keep warm whenever and however possible.
Yesterday I had a crocheting "onset" and accomplished a sweater for little A. I still need to work on to weaving the ends and probably blocking it. The pattern is "from my head". The yarn I used is like 15 years old! I got it from home last year. First, I had doubts about the colour, but then, why boys should wear only all dark and blue and green?  I am planning on adding some applique to it.

Updated - sweater pictures! :) Its a little bulky and tacky, but Ok to wear at home. I have a pattern for another crochet sweater, so hopefully the second attempt will be better. My model though refused me taking his pictures in a new attire :)

 Recently I tried making something new - baked samosas. They are a totally healthy vegan version of a popular Indian snack. I am going to make more... when I feel like :P

Have a happy day my friends whenever you are! Blessed be!

Life as it is

Hello dear friends! Hope these few weeks of  a new year were good to you and brought only positive and joyful things to your family.

gachak

Day before yesterday we celebrated Lohri festival, with bonfire, gachak (Indian sweets with various nuts), dancing. Though this festival marks end of the winter and start of the spring... it has become cold the very next day! We have not been getting "proper" winter since it started here in Chandigarh. However foggy and cold weather has settled yesterday and today as well. I am happy though because I am a winter girl you know.

But I have been restless for a over a week now because my little A is about to have his vaccination today, and we know it is going to be a painful one (DTwP), because the painless one (DTaP) is not available in India for the past few months, and no one knows when and where it might appear. We have been following the vaccination schedule since little A's birth, but I have never been worried more than this time! First I cannot see him crying and feeling pain when the medicine is injected...plus extremely worried about how he is going to be post vaccination. He might as well be fine, but we prepare for high fever and at least a couple of tough days for him and us. I just want it to pass soon so we can move on and have our usual routine.
I know there are many discussions regarding vaccination in the internet and many opinions, many scary stories, LOADS of information which actually doesn't ease my mind and my heart. I consulted with several friends, some of them are doctors, so we decided to vaccinate.
As of now I am looking forward to be with my little one who became very choosy about who is going to be with him, and got attached to my in-laws a lot lately. He is growing very fast, speaking his own language, but definitely meaning to say something, so I guess his speaking skills are about to bloom by the time he is 2 years old. We are also thinking of a good preschool for him, and this thought itself makes me sad and worried. I cannot imagine him being out of the house without any of us beside him! Really really tough decisions are there, and I shall get used to the thought that my little A will have to be on his own some time and some day...

Sending wishes of cozy and cheerful atmosphere in your house! 

Holidays' Spirit Created by Yourself :)

Hello my lovely friends! West Christian Christmas is just round the corner so is the New year! I am full of holidays' spirit these days, creating the mood myself for myself and wanting to share with all of you. I will also visit your lovely blogs soon, since I absolutely LOVE all the holiday posts made by you, and I want to finally keep a pace too :)
(Maybe not related to this post, but I started reading the Thirteenth Tale by Diana Setterfield and I love it! Anyone read it too? Perfect read to divert your thoughts).
My holiday spirit started with ... baking! I tried for the first time to bake cookies in our IFB convection oven. First attempt... hmmm, too sugary and buttery and crunchy, but we ate it all :P

Second attempt - much much better! I am going to use the same recipe with different flavours for Christmas treats. In plans, let's see how it realizes itself, to make a traditional winter wine gluhwein! :) Yumm! I will find this eggless recipe among my notes and provide a link here.

Yahoo, I managed to make some tree ornaments! Which cost zero I believe. Here is a Pinterest inspiration  - a Christmas star ornament made of sticks :) I later painted it golden, and also painted pine cones my D got from Manali last year, more photos are yet to come.

 We went to buy a New year tree few days ago, and it was proudly placed in the drawing room :))) Of course I wanted to have it primary for my little A to enjoy all the celebrations related to Christmas and New Year, since we cannot go to Kazakhstan this winter. But.. I am a big child too, therefor it brings loads of joy to me as well. It is not yet fully decorated in this picture.

And at last... My little boy is now a Christmas elf! :) I don't usually post his pictures in my blog, but it's a special occasion now. How do you like his look? D's childhood sweater (more than 30 years old!), and a red hooded shirt along with a hat created an unexpectedly elf-looking costume. Little A loves wearing this Santa hat, especially that it has become really cold at home. Here are his photos to compare how much he grew since last year. I cannot believe this! :)

To conclude my post ;

Happy holidays and happy coming up Christmas, dear friends, from our family! 

Merry Christmas 2013!

Have a Merry, Happy, Jolly Christmas and winter holidays! 

I have off from office today, so enjoying my day! I hope to be back to blogging soon as I have things to share with you, my dears!

All Together - Blanket, Birthday and Tangerines

Life definitely decided to take over in the past few weeks. I was caught up in its events, unexpected turns and many new beginnings. Besides I did it -- I finished my BIG Summer Blanket. Well, it was completed on the 21st of November, but I could post about it only now. I am not making it a huge Ta-dah, and somehow other things now seemed more important than this afghan. But yes, I can't believe I actually have it now and I am so thrilled to be able to make this myself.

As you see it is sunny in India still, especially around 10 in the morning, it is such a pleasant time to be outside. Here my D helping to present the blanket he liked a lot too, and already cuddled up inside it few evenings ago. 

This was taken on the chairs at the back yard. I love the colors!

Seems endless in this picture. It took me nearly 10 month for complete finishing of it, I might not attempt something like this soon.

And not so spread on our bed. I think it is okay as it was not intended to be used as a bed cover. It is enough for both of us to comfortable be under it.

It was my birthday on the 26th, and this is a small rose my D gifted me after the clock stroke 00.00. The rose is still so fresh and has become even more beautiful as petals unfolded. He also gifted me a pack of 6 handmade neem soaps. Oh, what else can be better than a fragrance filled shower? :) Though he says he doesn't know how to choose gifts, he knows my choice well now. Come on, it's been more than 3 years!

May be you remember me mentioning our citrus tree. So here are its fruits we collected yesterday morning. Fragrant, fresh, juicy tangerines as I call them. Mmm... :) 

That's all in this post of mine, but more is coming. I have started small cross stitch projects, and another crochet afghan, a smaller one this time. I am in a winter holidays mood that much that I even saw a snowfall at our back yard in my dream, and could breathe in fresh slightly frosty air... in my dream. What can I do? I am a winter type of a girl. 

I am missing all of you a lot, my friends, but I tried to visit some of your posts and comment. Hope everything is fine in your corner of the world. Take care and have an awesome week ahead! Happy December!

Indian Winter and Snug Things

My questioning mood has passed by, I can't think too much about things I don't understand.May be it's not required. So I'm just trying to dive into my sunny winter days again...with many pictures this time! 

Indian winter reminds me my native country's warm autumn... Cloudy sky, some trees' leaves gained the autumn colors . The tree in front of our house changes its attire according to the season, unlike other, green all year long.

We had another homely weekend. Indian cardamon tea and some tasty crackers are the best to keep warm in a cold house.

My husband got these socks cum shoes from his mum and can't spend his evenings without them now. Our heater is "on" too; we like the kind of light it gives.

Of course, Indian winter can't be spent without light and fragrances. Mmm, lemon grass!

The tree was established on Sunday. I'm planning to get some lights for it as well.  I bought that small Santa from my university's shop in Moscow, there are more of them at my parents' place. Now I have a piece of memories on my New Year tree..

And Ta-dah! The ripple baby blanket is ready. It took me quite a while to weave the ends. Baby boy was born on the 10th of December, so now we need to think of the option of delivering the blanket to his parents as they live in another city :) I know it needs to be altered and may be steam ironed.

More... some new yarn from the Indian brand Vardhman. Pretty colors, smooth thread, and I have a project in my mind to use it for. 

These were some moments of the past weekend. I'm grateful being able to have peaceful and snug time with my D. 

Have a great cozy day!

It Was Yesterday

It was yesterday but I couldn't upload pictures on time. Hope you don't mind me showing just few snaps of yesterday morning. It was indeed unusual as it was cloudy, it rained in some places in the city and snowed in the mountains! Yes, it became significantly colder now so I am wearing warm socks and jackets at home (and outside:)) The sun though is still piercing the layer of clouds. It is Sunny India after all! :)

Yesterday I also took the picture of gladioli my husband gifted me on my b'day which was on 26th of November, just next to my Dad's :) The flowers now cheering up my room's gloomy look at this time of the year.

I am sorry for being so disorganized in this post (have I ever been organized?) as I seem not having any particular idea to blog about at the moment.The crochet project I started didn't come out well... yet. So I couldn't present it. I finished the ripple baby blanket and now weaving the ends and then "Ta-dah!" hopefully. I have two finished crochet gifts: first one I can't show here as someone might see (just like Charlotte said in her blog), and I need to find time for another one to take pictures. 

So for now - "Baba Yaga's Hut in the Woods" drawing I made some time back, inspired by the Russian fairy tales and my Summer visit to parents. Didn't expect it to be so bright. I am thinking of another drawing "Baba Yaga's hut during Christmas time" perhaps? Hehe. Have a great day ahead and be happy, my friends!

United Summer and Winter

Winter has come.. oh really? Not in my city! At least, not such, that everyone has an imagine of... This season in the North India (I am not talking about Himalayas, as it is -16 in some places there already) is like some of the Summer days in Kazakhstan. The trees are green, some are blooming, it is above 20 in day time...and yea, my garden is still producing vegetables. There has been a significant change since my last garden update - now you can see the pods on the bean bushes! I planted seeds of some salad few days ago. It has already given second leaves. Ahh... so cute :)

 Just look at my lemon yellow marigolds in their full bloom! My first attempt of making a flower bed. Though marigolds are not quiet like those which my Mum had, I feel so good when seeing them every morning. There are about 20 of them as of now, and these are the most fluffy ones.

In spite of really Summer like days, I don't forget about coming up holidays and their attributes... like snow! I found this Linda's Snowflake Potholder on Ravelry and tried the pattern straight away. This potholder went to my colleagues home, as I gifted it to her for her b'day. I definitely want to make more of them for gifting.

Hope you all having a good week! Happy Thanksgiving and wishing you more Summer like days!

Jar Lantern to Create Cozy Winter

  May be it's a little early, especially during still sunny Indian days, to think about the winter. Though I do. My native country has real winter, you know what I mean, snow, frost, necessity to wear warm fur clothes and a good central heating system, which allows you to feel so comfortable at home... :) Indian winter is something opposite. The temperature in December, January can be  +23 and more, but the nights... oh it is so cold at home! Our heaters warm the room up only till they are on. So I was thinking that I'd like to have some tiny source of light and warmth in our room to make it a snug place during the winter. Inspired by the numerous ideas of DIY jar lanterns, I came up with this one. It was quick and spontaneous crafting.

                                                    

                                          

The area wasn't covered evenly though, but still the light effect is quiet what I was hoping for. I should think of another way of the background coating for other lanterns, and perhaps try to decoupage tissue or thin paper. Let's see where my craving for cozy winter leads me. How do you create coziness in your house?

***Have a nice weekend!***