In the Park

For more than a couple of years now I try to go out for an hour - an hour and a half every work day. I work from home (always have been, not just now) and I have the liberty to organize my work hours as I find fit as long as I deliver on time. Not that I am successful in my endevours - in reality I go out for a walk on average on two or three out of five work days, but there's always the goal and the plan at the start of the day that I will find the time and the will to do it. 

Usually it is enough just to put my walking clothes and shoes on and step out of the door - once that barrier of laziness and unwillingness is crossed, I enjoy my walks and do not consider the time lost. I usually listen to music and ponder on my daily plans and craft projects; I've tried doing Duolingo exercises while walking, but it's not really worth it.

The first pictures were taken during my last week's walks on Friday and Saturday, when late autumn was still the season to be experienced, with cold wind on Friday and some warmer breeze on Saturday.

And I took these snowy ones yesterday, after the snowfall during Monday night. Such a difference just in a couple of hours. But as lovely as the birch trees look on the snowy background, I'm glad that the temperatures are rising and the snow is melting - I'm not ready to part with autumn yet, and snow is such a hassle in the city. Frankly, I wouldn't mind a warm snowless winter in Sofia with plenty of snow on Vitosha :))

Snow in April and Other Incidents

Last night I made my first Pavlova. Or rather, I started making my first Pavlova, following strictly the recipe in this excellent Russian culinary site.
For the meringues I used 4 egg whites, 180 g sugar + 10 g vanilla sugar + 1 vanilla, 3 tsp corn farina, 1 tsp white vinegar and 1/2 tsp lemon juice. The whites looked perfectly beaten, I distributed them into two circles, as described in the recipe and placed them in the warm oven at 100C.

And the baking began. Two hours later the meringues were still semi-liquid in the center, so I continued baking them and checking them and increasing the temperature of the oven to 120C and still baking them until it was midnight. I was mad and exhausted, so I turned off the oven and left them there to cool.

In the morning the meringues were still sticking to the baking paper, soft inside, but I removed them somehow and assembled the cake.
For the cream I used 200 ml French heavy whipping cream with 2 tbsp of vanilla powdered sugar and 250 g sour cream with 4 tbsp of white sugar.

I was too frustrated with this cake to bother much with the decoration, so I just scattered a few handfuls of fresh strawberries between the two layers and on top. A few hours ago I was certain that this is not only my first but also my last Pavlova, but now, that I've tasted it, I might have reconsidered :))

And a few pictures from our balcony of the snow we had yesterday (it's snowing big fat snowflakes as I write this post). The temperatures are close to but still above zero and the ground is already warm, so the snow cover is only temporary, but still - we want our spring back!

The cold and the snow precipitation is not comparable to that in other European countries like Austria or Moldova, but we had to take out the winter hats, sweaters and coats.

Looking forward to normal warm April days ...

First Snow

Following last week's sunny weekend we began the new week with our first snow in the city - two days of heavy snowing made Sofia a winter fairy tale land again.

And what's better in winter than the smell of roasted apples with brown sugar, rum and cinnamon :)

I've got a new FO - a free shawl pattern named Shells & Tide by Veronika Jobe. It's written for worsted weight yarn, but I made my interpretation in light fingering weight 100% wool - a scarf rather than a wrap. The unblocked scarf is 150 x 35 cm and I'm currently blocking it to 200 x 47 cm.

WIP: Burgundy Cardigan

I finally finished knitting my husband's burgundy cardigan today! According to my Ravelry notes, this project took me longer than four months and included two complete backs - after I finished the back and the fronts and assembled them together, I didn't like the baggy look of the cardigan, so I ripped the back and reknitted it with 10 stitches less; three fronts - the first was too narrow; and four sleeves - the first two were simple stockinette but I then decided that cabled would be better. Crazy, right :)))

Meanwhile winter is back - and with a vengeance. It's been snowing steadily for three days now and this is the most snow we've had this year. And I thought spring was due ...

The color of the cardigan is not at all red, but dark burgundy, quite like the wine, with shades of brown and purplish. Currently I'm mattress stitching the sleeves and after I attach them to the body all I'll be left with would be to find suitable buttons. And maybe wet block the cardigan. I did steam block it, but I'm still considering wet blocking it nonetheless.

Alpacana Jane

Pattern: personal pattern, using the idea of Jane by Jane Richmond
Yarn: Lanoso Alpacana 130 m
Needle: 4.5 mm rib, 5 mm body
Time to knit: a few hours

The weather this February is quite dynamic, as the weather people call it. Only two days ago it was +16C and skate time, today it's sleigh time. It was gloomy and rainy all day yesterday and during the night the rain must have turned into snow, because this morning we woke to a super beautiful winter fairytale scenery - white streets and trees and bright blue sky.

I'm so glad I have another hat to show you on this beautiful background. And though the hat is nothing special, the background is hopefully compensating :)
The yarn is recycled from another hat I knitted last year. It was my most favourite and warm hat, but it relaxed too much, so I decided to reknit it. This time I improvised a pattern, similar to Jane Richmond's Jane. I don't have her pattern, and anyway my gauge, yardage (only 130 m) and yarn are all wrong for her pattern, but I love those mock cables and the double brim.

This time I cast on a significantly smaller amount of stitches for the brim - only 60 sts and used a smaller circular needle (4.5 mm). For the body I increased every two stitches to 3 for a total of 90 stitches and knitted evenly in the round until I had about 10 m of yarn left and then started improvising decreases, until the yarn was all knitted up. That's it :)

And now a most curious series of pictures - find the hidden hat :) 

That's the camouflage hat to go for, if you need to hide in a snowy forest :)))