In the Fog - Manastirishte 2017

Our hike today was to a place we love to visit - mt. Manastirishte on Plana. It is usually an easy and relaxing hike, but today it was mud, snow and fog. The paths were untrodden and we met not one person on our way to and from the peak (who else is as crazy as us to hike on a foggy day :)

Peak Marchin Kamak

The fields of Plana

The fog and the clouds cleared for a while and we had half an hour of sunshine

Manastirishte in the distance

Vitosha, covered by clouds

Winter is still reigning on top of the mountain

The chapel at the top

Marsh Tit (Parus Palustris)

Soon the clouds and the fog covered the mountain again

The village of Plana in the distance

Blue Snood and Pussycat Hat

A couple of amusing winter accessories for Gaby I knit at the beginning of the month. First - a blue snood for her penguin hat. She wanted it broader and  shorter, so that it would fit snug around the face and cover the mouth and nose in our freezing winter mornings.

Pattern: Blue Snood (personal pattern)
Yarn: Alize Lanagold 590, 230 g
Needle: 4 mm
Time to knit: 9 days

The snood is seamless, cast with provisional cast on and finished with kitchener stitch.
Gaby is wearing it from the wrong side on these photos, but I noticed it only when I browsed through the photos at home. It happens :)

With the remaining 70 g from the third ball of the yarn I made a small pussycat hat. The metal token is from a pair of old jeans. Currently this is Gaby's favourite hat :)

Pattern: Pussycat Hat from prjaga.ru
Yarn: Alize Lanagold 590, 70 g
Needle: 4 mm
Time to knit: 3 days

Simple Skyp Socks

The Simple Skyp Socks for my husband are done and he claims they suit his feet like gloves. I used elastic tubular cast on, which is very stretchy and sewn bind off and I followed the second size in the pattern with slight modifications to accommodate for my very different yarn and gauge.

Pattern: Simple Skyp Socks by Adrienne Ku (free on Ravelry)
Yarn:  Alize Ecolana, 100% wool, 100 g, hand dyed
Needle: 3.5 mm
Time to knit: 8 days

I'm so glad I finally figured out what to do with the 100 g of pure wool I dyed last year. The pattern is lovely, easy and well written, I recommend it highly!

To the Blue Arrow Shelter

We've hiked Vitosha from the village of Zeleznitza so many times, and yet we had never hiked the trail we climbed today with our FB hiking group. The day was sunny, warm, just perfect for mountain hikes, so glad we did it. And we'll definitely come back in spring and summer to see it all in green.

Mt. Manastirishte, the highest of Plana,  in the distance

The entrance to the trail