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)...

Spring

I had some busy time lately. Life with two small ones is quite hard sometimes. They need constant attention, and when the Poppy-seed is sleeping and the girl is in the kindergarten I choose to knit instead of writing.
Anyways, I had a good last year knitting-wise (or crafting-wise, to be more precise), I wrote about it in my Hungarian blog more than 3 months ago. Well, there were mainly small pieces, but there were quite a few... and there was a curtain-sewing experience for our home, which turned out really well, but as we chose a plain brown fabric it is not as spectacular as practical. Finally the kids do not wake up so very early in the morning.
2017 started with sock knitting. I got addicted to stripes at a certain point, so in a short time a have knitted 3 pairs,

and there was a 4th one - a bit different -, but I never sewed in the ends of this last pair. 

All the socks were knitted in sock yarn, with 2 and 2.5 mm needles.
Then I made a hat for my daughter.

Then I finally took a deep breath and made a crochet edging for the tablecloth I cross-stitched about 7 or 8 years ago.

And yesterday I sewed a circle-skirt for my daughter.

She liked the fabric, and she told me she wants a skirt to twirl.

So I gave it a try.
As the motifs have a vertical direction (twigs with flowers) I could not make the skirt in one piece, so I cut 2 half-circles. The waist-band has two casings for 2 cm wide elastic.
She likes it so much that yesterday evening she asked me if she could sleep in it, instead of her pajamas...
Now I am working on some lace-shawls, I have one done but unblocked and the second one on the needles.
And I enjoy the spring.

End of the hat-season

As I could not crochet during the winter the new hats were made only now, but it is not too late, it is really cold in the mornings and evenings around here.
My first conclusion: it is practically impossible to make a clear photo of both kids, at least one of them will move.

First I finished Klári's hat.

She wanted a ladybug. I do not like the hats with insect-heads, so I only made 7 spots, but she is fine with it, so I am fine.
The yarn is Canguro Wool Extra (local yarn), 50% wool - 50% acrylic, I used a 3.5 mm hook. It is a very bright red, which I cannot use for anybody else but her.
For the edging I used Merino Extra Fine, for the spots some black sock-yarn.
This time I omitted the ear-flaps, she has grown so much she does not need them any more.
I am not sure what is Poppyseed's hat. Probably an owl.

I still have to make the tails, but he wore the hat yesterday. (The hat is completely symmetric, it is just hard to keep it straight.)
The yarn is Canguro Wool Twister 75% wool - 25% acrylic, crocheted with a 3 mm hook. I love the color.
The edging is crocheted in Merino Extra Fine, for the eyes I used a cotton/acrylic blend and some vintage buttons, and I sewed the beak with sock-yarn.
It is good to work on these quick projects.
Now I must guess what to work on next, or at least what pattern to use for the scarf I will knit from my own handspun.

Morning in March

Since my last post my son was born on January 28th, 56 cm, 4660 grams. He was huge, that is why the last months of pregnancy were like hell. 

Now I am on my feet again, and with my daughter in the kindergarten I have my time off, as this baby is sleeping the way his sister never did :)

So, I decided to write the blog again in English too. Now follows my post translated from Hungarian

I decided to clean the house properly, as from October, due to my ball-shape I could not access some hidden places. I started to clean everywhere below the furniture. I have the energy to do this. Afterwards I will have time to get my yarns again.
Yesterday I made some pastry, as I promised to my daughter

and, if the oven was hot, I also made a cake. And a two-course lunch.
I started to feel monotonous the sock-knitting, even though I have the ruby yarn I wanted, so I have no idea what to knit. I would knit for Klári, but I am not sure she would wear it, she is in that period of nothing-is-good-enough. Poppyseed (my son) is growing so fast, that I have no idea what size to knit for him. And I am in the period of reshaping myself. So my options are to crochet some hats for the kids (I promised a ladybug-hat for Klári and I must make something for Poppyseed, his head is so big, all the hats became too small for him) or to spin. My spinning-mojo returned and spindle-spinning it is a great take-out project, even if we go to the countryside I can take it with me, and when the boys have a drink I can just twirl my spindle.
Then there is the temptation of knitting something from my first handspun, I promised Klári a scarf, a Baktus would be ideal.
And spring is coming quickly, every morning when we wake up we hear the birds singing. The family leaves the home, Poppyseed is sleeping, so I can have my light coffee in light and birdsong. I am so happy to have a sleeping child, ha wakes up only once, between 4-5 in the morning. Soon I can have my coffee on the balcony - now there is still a bit of frost every morning.
Life is beautiful, indeed.