3

3 years ago he was this not-so-beautiful baby:

And today he is this beautiful young man. Tamás (aka Poppy)

Optimism

Yarns and plants helped me through tough periods of my life.

I turn to them again, as it seems that I will live with an autoimmune disease. The symptoms and blood-tests show that I might have Sjögren Syndrome. If it will remain at this stage my life will not become harder.
But the thought of depending of medication for the rest of my life is frightening. And I now probably have a disease about which I had no idea last Friday morning, and in the evening I exercised the pronunciation of it.
When I went for the Ravelry-challenge this year I had no idea about having such a motivation. For sure there will be 19+2 finished projects.
And I will arrange the balcony with lots of plants, which I did not do in 2018, due to our rushing way of life. I will slow it down a bit.
But this will have to wait, as it is still snow on the hill near the city,

and mud on the streets. There is wet, dripping whiteness left only in the shade.

And this melting is OK for me now, I need some colors and warm and light. It helps to be more optimistic when there is color in the grayness. (although I like gray)
So I dug out an old WIP-sock for portable project

(photo from July 2016) 

and there is another WIP going on: a rusty pullover. I cannot make photos, as there is still not enough light for this.
And we have blooming Kalanchoe and Hippeastrum at home...

Snowy

Life at the countryside is different.

The winter at the countryside is also different. I love seeing traces of last year's life - and knowing that down in the soil there is the new bud for these dry stuff.

I love everything about it - too bad, that tomorrow we have to go back to the city.
But I hope, winter isn't over yet. And also hope, that we will come again soon.
It is gray here as well, even if the sun tried to break through the clouds.
It was snowing,

but there was a bit of sunshine.

Just moments of it.
The kids are enjoying the snow. We tried to build snowmen, but couldn't, so we only made "molcanoes" (volcanoes, as Poppy says it).
If one is looking for it, can find some colors. This yellow...

It is gorgeous...
And there is green, hidden in the sea of gray.

Or just under the snow-cover.

Inside there is so much color.
I am knitting in the mornings and in the evenings. Yellow and red and rust.

And when I am alone, I am listening to Einaudi.
And there are some thin Geranium-flowers, lost in time.

The evenings are so different in this quietness.

And nights are calmer.

January

I am at home, spending some days of vacation I have left from last year.
It is winter, with some snow and temperature below 0. I needed this, after last year's spring-like winter.

During daytime I am playing with the kids, we go out, I cook a bit, and I enjoy it.
In the evenings (after the small one is sleeping, if we succeed to put him to bed) I am knitting and enjoy the lights of the Christmas-tree (we still have it, and it will stay this week).

I have knit a scarf for myself. It is finished, but I do not have a photo of it while wearing it.

Then I made wristlets for Klári (finished, but no photo).
Then mittens for Poppy (he had 2 pairs, but the cuff was too short, so they kept falling).

And after knitting so much with acrylic I craved the touch of merino, and when Klári asked for a scarf I took some remaining of handdyed by Buci and bamboo knitting needles, and now I am knitting and knitting and it feels oh so good.

We went for a walk in the woods on Sunday.

I know now why I tend to be bored by this kind of winter after Christmas: I miss the light. I love winter, I love gray, but I miss the sparkling lights.

We enjoyed the walk though, we pulled the kids on the sleigh and they were running a bit in the snow.
We will go to the countryside tomorrow. We hope for a bit more snow and temperatures below freezing, so we will go outside and enjoy nature.
I keep planning my yarn-related adventures for this year
I saw a pullover. Crocheted, but I just fell in love. So much, that I already made a swatch for it.

I will have one.
B. wants socks. He will have a pair for his size 45 feet. Speaking of socks: a good friend of ours still haven't got nothing handmade by me. So he will have his first pair of my handknitted socks for his birthday (in October).
And I have a huge quantity of acrylic yarns, I got them from a colleague. I think a part of them will become a crochet blanket. The yarns are thinner, but I will make a smaller blanket for summertime, for Klári. She would love it, I know.
And now back to my coffee and knitting needles in the morning calmness (Poppy came here and he is sleeping by my side now)...

New year pompom

Last year I could not knit and crochet as much, as I would have wanted. I had serious reasons (work, children, 2 places to live, two households), but I must recognize, it was the laziness also.
I would like some more knitting this year, so I joined the Ravelry challenge.

I would like to finish 21 projects this year. For real there are 19, but I have two, which came to this year almost finished. 
The first finished project of 2019 is a hat.

I imagined it a long time ago.
I had the pompom.
I had the colored yarn from an older project.
I imagined how highlighted would be the colored yarn by a white striping.
But I could not find the time to start it.
Not until 29 December. That day I cast on with an off-white yarn (I got that from a colleagu)
I was not sure about is, then I put the pompom near the yarn, and bingo!
I unraveled the ribbing two times. First, because I had too many stitches (I have no idea how this happened, I know maths), second because I thought that cabled 2x2 ribbing would look better.
Then I knitted with garter stitch in the round, changing the yarns every garter row (2 rounds).
I used 3.5 mm circulars. The white yarn is some acrylic, the colored is Red Heart Unforgettable, Polo colorway.

I planned to finish it before New Year, but on 31 December we had to go and search for a wounded bear. We did not find it unfortunately, in 6 hours.

I got home tired and feeling cold. So I put a blanket on myself and had warm coffees.
So, the hat got finished yesterday. Photos were taken today, when there was 10 minutes of sunshine.
(the hat is worn by my daughter, and it is too big for her)

Now there is dark and gray again. I am knitting a soft white cloud - a scarf to go with my new hat. Just plain stockinette. My soul needs this.