"Kulan" baby cardigan

 This was one of those spontaneous knits that I wanted to cast on immediately when I discovered the pattern on Ravelry. Actually, I think I had already saved it in my favourites a long time ago but now I came across it again and was inspired!

It was a great project to use up some of my stash of assorted Latvian fingering yarns, most of it Tines I think. The grey one I know for sure but the other colours are leftovers of some nameless skeins that I bought at Hobbywool in Riga a few years ago.

First I tried to hold the yarn double to match it with the gauge suggested in the pattern, using a worsted weight yarn. But I didn't like it and it was very tiring to knit so I started again. I definitely prefer knitting with finer yarn, even though it takes a bit longer. It looks much neater at the end.

To get the correct size I picked up the amount of stitches given for the biggest children's size and that worked out well to get a size fitting a 12-18 months old. I also added 6 stitches for the steek. Apart from that I followed the instructions for the jumper pattern and then added the button band in the end. I took up slightly too many stitches for the band though, I have 86 and I should have probably done around 70 to get a better length.

Conclusion: sometimes the quickest decisions bring the best results!

*****
Pattern: "Kulan" by Isabella H.
Yarn: Grey main colour: "Tines"; other colours from Hobbywool

Portugal 2019

This easter we had planned to go on our first real holiday since the trip to the UK last summer. We were really looking forward to some warmth and sun in Portugal after the long winter, especially because Baby S. had been sick SO_MUCH. I can honestly say, we were sick of being sick!

 But of course, just a week before we were supposed to go, Baby S. got sick again - pneumonia this time. In my mind I had already cancelled the whole trip, luckily we took out travel insurance with exactly this scenario in mind.  And when I just thought it couldn't get any worse I got my second round of tonsillitis within a couple of weeks. I think our immune systems were just destroyed. But in the end the antibiotics worked wonders and we were able to go off into our holidays as planned!

We were basically a travelling pharmacy with all our pills and inhalers and whatnot but even being sick is better if you are in a nice place. So we spent first a couple of days in Lisbon, then took the train to Evora in the central Alentejo region, and rounded off the trip with a few days by the beach in Sesimbra, near Lisbon.

 All places were very different but lovely. We were just early enough to be off season so we had the whole beach to ourselves. Ok, the weather was also not exactly beach-friendly but  we're not the kind of people who hang out at the beach the whole day either. We went for a lot of walks, had delicious pasteis de nata and cheap coffee basically every day, hung out in local parks and chatted with elderly locals.

Travelling with baby is definitely different but I still enjoy it a lot. Just spending time with the three of us and escaping the daily grind is so nice! Even if you are still woken up at 6:30 am and you cannot go out and party all night (as if we ever did that), it's a holiday.