On holiday

There is spring-holiday in the kindergarten, and we decided to spend it at the countryside. It is the first time that we left home for such a long period of time with two children, but it was a good decision. It is not our countryside-house - it is too faraway for husband for commuting -, we came to grandma. It is 8 km from the city, but a completely different world, it is hard to find signal for mobiles, but I like it this way. 
On Sunday evening we were afraid, that we will not get here before the rain,

we barely succeeded. But then the rain came. And when it paused for a while mole crickets were singing and owls were calling. It was beautiful. And then the rain fell for the night. And another day. And another night. It was cold. And then yesterday afternoon the sun begun to shine, we had a starry night - and a freezing morning, with temperatures below 0.
But the view was fabulous. In one direction,

and the other.

I had hopes to knit a lot, but I was wrong. I am busy with one kid or the other and in the evening I am much too tired, so I prefer to sleep. At least Poppyseed kept his good sleeping habit, so I can rest.
But I had a finished garment, I completed it on Sunday morning, I washed it, and took it with me still wet. It is unblocked, but I could not get it off from Klári for two days. She likes it. I could not take normal pictures,

"Mom, catch me!" and she ran...

It is a top-down raglan, with an I-cord CO, and it has a lace-edging. It has 3/4 sleeves - I made it for warmer weather, but this is what we have now, she wore it these days...

I knit it with 3.5 mm circulars (for the I-cord I used 3.25 mm needles), the yarn is cotton-acrylic, but I do not know its name.
Meanwhile I bought the yarn for another garment for the Princess - pink and gray Cotton Gold (and for me black and turquoise), but I cannot decide to knit a pullover or a tunic, and what kind of yoke to make: circular or raglan or contiguous... so I am waiting for the inspiration and knitting a pair of vanilla socks for myself.
(we wanted to spend the weekend in our countryside house, but they announced heavy rain, so it seems that we will give up on our plans and until then we enjoy the "repose" here...

Colorful

Before I had my daughter my relationship with colors was really strict. My palette had colors like green, dark blue, naturals (cream, white, beige, brown), but I was afraid of pink, purple, yellow or any other vivid color. Since then a lot has changed. For example I really want to knit a colorful striped pullover, and a few days ago I wrote about that terracotta yarn which will be a pullover. For me. One day.
For the princess I am knitting colorful stuff regularly, for the last time a shawl.

Its story begun in Spetember 2012, when Bucika dyed a roving for me, on which I started the spinning.
A big part of it became a usable yarn, but not for the project I imagined (I wanted a hat, but the yarn seemed too thin). So, for quite a while it stood in my handspun yarn box, waiting for the right project. That is how this shawl was born.
Initially I wanted some lacy edging, but the whole stuff  was like a sunset,

so I skipped this, and made a simple crescent shawl in garter stitch.

I love its colors.

In the yarn there are only few portions where the two plies are the same color, but in the knitted piece it seems like a uni-color thing. (oh, and the yarn looks completely different than I would have guessed from the roving)

Klárika loves it. It is true, the shawl-season is over, but there will be autumns-winters in the future. And it will cheer up our days.

Must stashbust

The last period we rearranged our home and I realized that I must optimize my stash. In order to achieve this goal I should reduce the yarn-amount I have. So I made some plans which yarns I should use up real quickly. (which of course might not happen the way I planned, and I might buy more yarn.)
I have this yarn, I bought it a while ago, for a pullover for myself:

then I did not use it and now I cannot decide whether to knit the Milkweed with it, or to use another yarn (I planned to use Merino extra fine, but after a discussion with Maris I became quite skeptical viewing the MEF).
There was a sock-yarn in great color

(it is a beautiful deep claret red, but it was impossible to photograph it), I bought quite a quantity of it, and now I know it will become a striped pullover (with black), and not a few pairs of socks.
I have 600 grams of this,

I have no plans for it, but probably I will knit something for the kids for next winter - but I must use it up, because it needs a huge space, being so fluffy.
And then there are some By Buci yarns.
I should knit with them not because they need space, but because it is so great to work with them.

I saw once a shawl on a blog. It said: cast on 100 sts, and knit until your yarn allows you. I would go for the autumn-colors with this project, but I do not know. Each one is gorgeous.
This By Buci yarn will become a pair of gloves, I know.

Probably a Laris Design-glove, but I cannot decide which one. Probably the Eve with no beads in it, but I do not know for sure. Until now I have knitted 5 pairs of her gloves and I love how the patterns are written and how elegant the finished glove will be. 
And having all these plans now I started to knit (but ripped it already) a fairy-top for the little lady. But I am at least knitting it using stash-yarn...

Getting out from the city

Last weekend we decided that it is time to rest. We had some difficult times in the last 2 weeks, so, after finishing the last piece of furniture we decided that we will celebrate the whole stuff. So husband called a friend, he said that they cannot come as they are in the mountains (foothills of the mountains, in fact), but we are welcome to visit them there. So we packed our stuff and in half hour we were on our way to the mountains. In the city it is spring:

As we got closer to the mountains it was a bit colder, but it is obvious that winter finished its game now. From the Mures valley we had a great panorama of the snowy ridges of the Calimani Mountains

we had to go right below the God's Chair.
We arrived quite late and there were no lights for photos - this is the only normal photo I took when the last sun rays found their way to the steep valley:

The boys had lots of courage, as they were outside until midnight, maybe even later, but I fell asleep with the children - the night was incredibly hard, I slept very little, but it does not matter.
Klári was like a colt, she ran all evening and all morning the next day, and when she rested she threw twigs and pebbles in the brook. And she even stepped in it, for our happiness.

In the morning I wanted to find some ferns and went by myself to a nearby rocky slope

and in the area I have also found some Carpathian endemics: Pulmonaria rubra

and Symphytum cordatum.

I have also found spring lights

bright blue sky

shed spider-skin.

Then on our way back home we had to visit my favorite checkered lily-spot. It was gorgeous, in glorious weather - but we got very wet on the humid grassland.

It seems that Klári begun to enjoy touring, so I can only hope that we will have some great hiking-times from now on.
PS. I had my knitting with me, but I had no occasion of knitting one single stitch...

Finding my pace

It seems that we will go back to normal sooner than I imagined. Poppyseed had slept practically all night, he woke up at 5:13, when I usually wake up myself. He did this at his almost two moths age what his sister never did until the age of 2 years, or more (still there are nights when she wakes up *). Then he fell asleep again and he is sleeping at this time. (Klári never fell back asleep when there was light in the morning).
There is no child like this. I hope he will keep this good sleeping habit.
I should start to deal with my diastasis recti. The last days I read a lot about it, and I found out, that there are some exercises that are forbidden (crunches, sit-ups, etc), which could strain organs outside the abdominal wall. But there are several exercises which are recommended even after a C-section. The doctor allowed me also to get on the stationary bike. But this will be possible only after we finish the adult-puzzle we have in the house (an Ikea sofa in pieces, and next week the bed for the kids will arrive, that one also in pieces).
I casted-on a shawl. Probably for Klári, but she told me yesterday that she does not like shawls, anyhow this is an issue we will discuss when I will have the finished item. I will knit it as big as the yarn allows it, if she does not like it I will take it.

I do not want to complicate it, I think garter stitch is ideal for handspun yarns, I might knit a discrete lace on the edge, though.
It seems that I will be able to comply many plans I have.
Our new life will be good.

* at 2 months she woke up 7-8 times a night, every night, and she kept it like this until she was 8 months, and then until the age of 2 years she woke up 3-4 times a night

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.