The Sunniest Sunday!

Of course I am referring to April the 2nd, which was the sunniest, warmest Sunday you can dream of in April. We spiced up our short spring trips tradition, and went not only to visit our favourite park (as we did countless  times  before), but also...

We went to Narrow-gauge Railway Museum!!! And we managed to buy tickets for a short ride through forest! This place is extremely popular among families, especially on Sundays, so tickets are sold out quickly.

We had to wait for our turn for a while, so we had time to peek into every corner of the station.

We also had the opportunity to meet the dog who lives there. He greets every returning train with his wiggling  tail, and he is not at all bothered by hundreds of people going in and out.

"Why should I be? I OWN the place"

So we finally squeezed into  a tiny carriage, and went for a short, VERY LOUD trip.

It was worth all the waiting, and so so much fun! 

The train part did not take us long, and we continued this lovely afternoon in our favourite park..
We were lucky to find the last parking spot on the parking lot (yay to me for squeezing in!).

This time of the year sunlight reaches the bottom of the forest, so it is full of white and yellow flowers. And it smells of garlic because of the Bear's garlic (or wood garlic) that grows almost all around.

Last week we completed all of our new apartment paperwork, and now we just have to move in.

Unfortunately I will have to leave Korek at my parent's place. He is a 9-years-old doggo, and it would be cruel to take him away from his very own garden. I will visit him often though! It is less than a kilometer away.

I did make him a sorts of a parting gift:

A Blanket of Shame! I started a while ago, and it was meant to be a sweet vengeance for all yarn balls he stole and drooled upon. I used all pinkish acrylics I could find, and combined them in simple C2C crochet blankie. I used the Corner to Corner C2C Corner Start Tutorial by Lauri Bolland.  And I am very pleased with the result.

So is the new owner! :) He took it away while I tried to get a decent picture.

He surely looks great in pink!

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

PS.: Guess who's getting a set of interchangeables for birthday next week? Aaand who got himself a complementary skein of hand painted artistic yarn? :3

A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it.

In case any of you wondered why I'm gone - let me explain with a picture:

See? That's a good reason! Let me share some sunny memories with you!

A week ago me and hubby returned from our best summer trip so far.
We spent two weeks in mountains. To be more precise in Low Beskids. In a small village known for it's water springs.

I have to admit, I managed to drink only two glasses of the spring water. Mainly because it was salty and tasted a bit... rusty? I just hope that clean air, hours spent on hiking and relax will be enough to keep us in a good health for the next year.

First day in Wysowa greeted us with bad weather. We woke up very early, and decided to go for a stroll around the park. I guess, we weren't the only ones with this idea:

Deer. Wild deer in a park in the middle of a village! This is when I felt that's it's a perfect holiday spot for me! Even with all the rain and 99% humidity.

Of course I was prepared for that! In case of a bad weather I packed my yarn bag with freshly bought Drops Alaska. I wanted to buy Alpaca, but I got distracted by a low price and didn't read the label twice...

Aaaanyway. Inspired by all grey, green and yellow shades mixing in my surroundings I came up with an idea for a cowl.

I used a free pattern Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks by Morgen Dämmerung, but I think it's also called just star stitch. Knitting goes surprisingly fast, when you have a bad/none Internet connection, and no job to worry about. After just few days I had is all done:

In the meantime weather changed drastically. For almost a week we haven't seen a single cloud in the sky. We did our best to do as much hiking as our legs would allow.

Our longest trip involved: climbing a 881m high mountain (don't let the height fool you - it was NOT EASY), visiting a valley with dozens of horses on a giant pasture, getting lost on a way back and drinking water from a forest stream. All of this over 8 hours of almost constant walking.

It was worth it!

We also took various breaks from hinking, relaxing on beauiful meadows:

And doing some low-budget kriotheraphy for our sore feet.

Fun fact! The region we visited was world's first oil field. And the river we enjoyed so much was called Ropa - "petroleum" in English :)

It was really hard to come back to work after all this.
With all that said, I hope you'll forgive me my abscence. Returning to work was a bit of a shock, especially since it's the first time I had to do that.

I'm taking my third chance on the state exam next week  so I need plenty of relax (aka knitting another pair of socks). I could also use your crossed fingers! :)

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia

Children's Day!

Who doesn't love Children's Day? Being 26 years old is not a good enough reason not to celebrate it, right?
Over a week ago my and my hubby got invited by my in-laws to their holiday home. Placed in small town, very near to mountains. Weather was surprisingly good, so we even got to do some hiking!

I regretted not taking any of my WIP's with me, so I could do some open air crocheting.
While enjoying the view, that is.

When we took some rest in the evening, my mother-in-law asked if I heard of octopuses (or is it octopi?) for preemies. As soon as I got home I googled a bit and gathered info on The Danish Octo Project. I found also a big Polish group on Facebook, crocheting and distributing octopuses.

All softies must be made of 100% cotton, and stuffed with polyester filling.
Soo... I dug up all skein ends of Alize Bella I could find and started my work. First two projects are staying with me, because I didn't get the tension right, and filling shows through :( I couldn't bring myself to frog them, though.
Here's my collection of finished octopuses/pi:

Two in the middle are the ones staying :)

I also have some unfinished heads, and tomorrow I'm visiting my sister in search of more cotton.
Let's just have one more look at those swirling arms, shall we?

I think I could find time to crochet another one today.
Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

Long weekend is gone...

...aaand I'm back at work.

I've had an amazing 4 day long weekend, though!

On Thursday we visited Pszczyna, just like last year. On Friday we ventured in the opposite direction and arrived at Moszna (please, don't check for direct translation from Polish to English... just don't). The castle itself, looks like it was stolen from Disney logo, but it has a certain charm to it.

Not to mention a skeleton-princess in the highest tower, who did cost me some sleepless nights when I was a kid.

The most enjoyable part for me was a long stroll in the park. Rhododendrons were still in bloom... and just look:

Unfortunately two days of sunny weather turned out to be enough to build up thick stormy clouds, and Saturday and Sunday got us mostly grounded.

Every cloud has a silver lining, right? I had ALL the time in the world to knit! I started with speedkniting booties for my cousin's new baby. Bows Before Bros by Carrie Briggs :

And then I moved to crocheting my Syna Shawl.

No. I did not re-brand my Banana Leaf Shawl. I guess it's destined to be my standby project.

It's a new shawl I started on May 20th. Pattern is called  Syna by Mary Renji

I started using a delivery box as a project bag. You know how they say: reuse, re-purpose, recycle! :)So far I'm done with two lace section repeats, and I'm still enjoying my work. It is a mindless work except for moving from one section to another.

Netflix & Ch.. Crochet it is then!

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

Whooops!

Oh no! I just realized I skipped my blogging Sunday!
At least I have a decent excuse - the weather last week was PERFECT. We decided we need some fresh air so we went to our favourite park.
The one we visited last summer, and spring.

Since today we have a horribly cold and rainy Sunday... I'm back!
My "Never again" blanket is going surprisingly well. I am just few metres away from completing third skein. I can't wait to block it!

It is impossible for me to stay focused on one project at a time, so I started this crochet beauty:

Using Ten Stitch Blanket leftovers, and some black acrylic/wool mix. I follow the Granny Mandala pattern by Crochet with Raymond. I hope I will have enough patience to turn it into a circular shrug or a cardi.

Today I got an email about a big sock yarn discount. Couldn't help myself... 4 skeins are on their way.  I think this means getting be back to socks knitting this month. Just in time for the first Sockalong anniversary I guess! :)

Ohhh, now I need to make some progress on the blanket before my new yarn arrives.

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

Knitter's block.

Is there such a thing? You know, like writer's bock? I'm pretty sure there is...
...and I'm in the middle of it :(

Since my last post (three weeks ago) I managed to set up pockets and ALMOST finish ring cables in my Creamy Cardi. If it wasn't for Netflix I probably wouldn't knit a single row. But since we finally got it in Poland I have a reason/excuse to knit every evening.

I made it longer than the pattern said. 

Otherwise I would end up with pockets starting somewhere here:

I should be getting to ribbing pretty soon. I think I will go for tubular bind-off again, because I used it on collar and I absolutely loved it! Yes, yes, it takes a lot of time to complete but effects are great - no flaring and whole thing stretches just right. 

Doing Kitchener stitch over 195 stitches? Sounds like fun!

Yesterday I went on a train trip to Katowice with my hubby. Voluntary this time! We ate delicious burgers, finally went to see Revenant and had a really good time. 

And look what I took out of a slightly dusty project bag:

I'm just two double corners away from completing it! I... CAN... DO... IT! 

Also I still have some weeks left until it's new owner is born - my friend is having her baby girl in May :)

Maybe my knitter's block will go away? I can feel this tingling in my fingers! Time to knit!

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.