Vrana in November

This Sunday, after we voted for the fourth time this year :), husband and I went for a stroll in park Vrana. We've been to the park several times, but always in the spring. Of course, the park is gorgeous when the trees and the flowers are in bloom, but on this late November day the sun was shining, the temperatures were mild and we had a very nice walk along the grounds of the former tzar's palace.

 :I am enjoying wearing my hand made clothes this year - here I have my favourite black Grasser sweater, the Chanel skirt, a hand-made necklace and my brown CC CopyCat Beanie.

Navy Sweater for Husband

Hot off the sewing machine and the overlocker - a new sweater for my husband, which I only finished  last night.

The pattern is from KnipMode 05 / 2020, a Dutch sewing magazine, which has a Russian translation and I buy single patterns from it from time to time from the online shop of burda.ru. The sizing of KnipMode is a bit different from that of Burda, as they design for taller and more robust male figures, which suits my husband well.

My husband is size 52 according to their table, but I cut the sweater in size 50, as I read that it was a bit oversized. What I have found is that the sweater does not have a good balance of proportions - the width of the body is OK, but the sleeves are narrow and the neckline is too wide, even after I added a broader neckpiece to it.

My first finishing of a neckline with a Petersham ribbon - I love it!, it looks so clean and professional :) I'll definitely continue using this technique for finishing the necklines of men's sweaters and hoodies.

Instead of the decorative details, suggested by the pattern, I added two horizontal grey stripes to the front to bring together the grey ribbing of the neck, sleeves and hem. I am pretty pleased with the overall look.

Pattern: Sweater #4 from KnipMode 05 / 2020

Size: 50

Fabric: navy cotton double knit, grey cotton ribbing

Time to make: 4 days

 

Baylovo In November

Photos from our hike to Spasova Mogila near the village of Baylovo. For some reason we have hiked this place many times, almost every year, but always in late winter or early spring, never in the summer or autumn. While deliberating where to hike this Saturday, we wanted an open track with plenty of sunshine and Baylovo fit the bill exactly. It is a fairly easy walk through fields of crops to a small hill with an old humble chapel on top of the hill - extremely enjoyable and satisfying.

:The gorgeous path between the fields of crops. This is my most favourite part of the trail

Hike info:

Destination: St Spas Chapel

Mountain: Spasova Mogila

Total length: 11.6 km

Elevation gain: 80 m

Total duration (plus rest): 3 h

Average difficulty: 2 / 10 

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: men's boxers, knitted socks, Raglan sweater

I:  lingerie, starry night socks, Teal Boatneck, Houndstooth Hoodie, in the backpack brown cc copycat beanie, fingerless mitts

 

:Yellowhammer (жълта овесарка)

:St Spas Chapel on top of Spasova Mogila

:We had our picnic here with a view to the fields of the village of Golema Rakovitza and the endless chains of Lozen mountain

:The southern slopes of Spasova Mogila

:The village of Baylovo

:After the hike we decided to take a different route back home and had a short walk around the Ognyanovo dam

Jack Joggers by Vikisews

These are the short joggers I made for our son together with the Burda shorts for myself out of the remnant cotton French terry fabric. For his shorts I used the newly acquired pattern from Vikisews, as I was not happy with the cut of the Burda pattern I used for my husband's joggers. To liven them up I added a strip of grey to the opening of the pockets and some labels from discarded old shorts.

I'm quite happy with the fit and I really like how these turned out. He's modelling them together with the grey T-shirt I made for him earlier this autumn.

And as my husband is absolutely in love with his warm joggers, I plan to sew a new pair of Jack joggers for husband, using some thick sweater knit cotton fabric.

Pattern: Jack by Vikisews

Size: 42 (M) Height: 178-184 cm

Fabric: cotton French terry

Time to make: 3 days

 

Alinsky Monastery in November 2021

It was so unusually warm on Saturday for November that we hiked the entire trail clad just in our longsleeve T-shirts and a hoody in the backpacks. We chose the open and picturesque track to Alinsky monastery in Plana mountain, again a repeat of last year's November hike almost to the date. However, this Saturday, although very warm, the sky was cloudy and the photos I took did not come out as bright and colorful as last year's.

Hike info:

Destination: Alinsky Monastery

Mountain: Plana

Total length: 13 km

Elevation gain: 200 m

Total duration (plus picnic and rests): 4 hours

Average difficulty: 3 / 10

Me-made items, worn on this hike:

Husband: men's boxers

I:  lingerie, in the backpack brown cc copycat beanie, fingerless mitts