Decisions, decisions - Melyiket válasszam

... avagy itt a piros, hol a piros :D

Number 4 is the most likely candidate, brightened up with a shot of white :)

New flat, new snow - Új lakás, új hó

Early this morning we signed the contract for the new flat. This will be the second place i live since i moved to england 5 years ago, and this is the second time we had snow this year 8the first time lasted for a week :P) The nerves with the paperwork and workplace problems in the last two weeks pretty much took away the exitement but it was still a very good feeling to have it all settled. I had to fire up the boiler - 'coz i'm good with boilers - ha ha... Took a couple of hours to warm up, though a breakfast did help to feel less numb of the cold. We tried to ring up the landlord too as according to the contract we have to ask his permission for any redecorations but he didn't answered - P thought that's good as it means he doesn't really care what we do. So we did some measurements - until i broke the tape measure, then sampled a few paints in the bedroom where the wallpaper looks actually quite bad, so can't think that the landlord would have problem with that being taken care of.
Around one o'clock it started snowing, which was looked quite pretty and really cold considering how close we are to the seashore - and not some protected estuary but the actual North Sea. Wind was blowing from the direction of the shore blowing the snow paralell with the ground. We started to think about getting to move in spite of all this as we knew it can get really bad at least considering public transport. Well we've been a bit too slow (or too quick?) because we just missed a bus, then for about an hour, there were no buses nor trains going, and the snow just kept falling. When finally a train came and did depart too the snow was almost over but i was so numb that even the hot shower weren't enough to warm me up.
Then in the evening the girls tried to convince me to go out to dance - well i'm really not in the mood for clubbing and definately don't want to stick my nose out of the door until i don't have to at tomorrow morning.Hopefully i wont be numb then.

Left in the cold - Hidegen hagyva

Without heating or hot water for two weeks, including a week of snow and freezing temperatures. My boiler started to break down about a month ago and gradually got worse. Took a while to chase down the plumber and then convince him that yes, the booiler really does what it does - apparently, this type aither works, or breaks down completely, while mine does turn on sometimes, but mostly not. So showers are totally out of question, and the flat cooled down to about 12 °C too :P Good thing i have fond memories in having to wash using a basin from summer holidays spent at my godparents house, before they built a bathroom for they house and had only a bedroom, a kitchen and an outhouse. Otherwise i would feel really angry for spending the majority of my wages on rent and bills and feeling miserable in a cold flat.
I have a small fan heater which warms up my bedroom nicely, tho the lounge never gets really cozy being bigger and with horrible insulation, and of course it eats up electricity at 2 pounds a day rate. 3 if i'm home and need it during the daylight hours.
Plumber spent quite a lot of time on it on thursday, and couldnt fix it, so now he has to talk with the manufacturer, and hopefully he will fix it on monday. I can't have more time off for plumbing - in fact i'm facing a disciplinary on monday for missing too much time, had a warning from earlier, and as i stayed home to get my broken boiler fixed, now i'm on the official stage. Great. Hopefully i'll have to face only my manager who already gave me a tell-off but if the the other boss is there it will be harsh. Had the last three days off and as the prospect of this kept popping up my had i couldn't really enjoy my holiday. And it also annoys me that they couldn't just wrote off that day as holiday - i guess because my boss is sure we were off for house-hunting on that day :P

Luckily there are some things that can keep me happy despite the antarctical conditions and bitchy bosses, amongst them is having a coffee at starbucks and knitting :) I actually got an order, from my cousin's wife. She said "make me a shawl like yours " :) She has a black and white checkered coat so tought black would be nice with that. Finally i had an excuse to try a twinkle yarn, and even tho it turned out lighter (not black with sparkly flecks but light and dark grey) she liked the yarn so hopefully she will like the finished shawl too.

-5

Azt hiszem rekordod döntöttünk, legalábbis mióta én itt lakok, ilyen hideg tuti nem volt. Még jó hogy péntek van :)

I think this is a new record, this is the lowest ever at least since i live here. Good thing its friday :)

Second snow - Második hó

First snow - Első hó

There was a bit of snowfall this morning, the first this winter - what else could possibly have a more cheering up effect in a monday morning? :)

It started to really fall when i reached High street - i made this picture in front of the station, looking towards the university. Then, Shoeburyness being closer to the see, there was even more there. Yey :)

Of course all was gone at lunchtime - only a few very small patches remained in the shadows.

Only the cold remained for the evening, had a nice meal at Wimpey's - i thought it's a fast food place like macd's or bking, but it was almost a restaurant - including they prices. But it was nice, nice food, well made, the orange juice yummy, even the ketchup was tasty. Good thing i didn't know its not a cheap place beforehand otherwise i never would've gone in, especially not in a monday evening when i'm planning a nice homecooked meal for tomorrow :D

Soaking the frog - Békaáztatás

Soaking the hat i made for P using Squashed Frog (Easyknits (what else...) merino/cashmere yarn). Of course it came out bigger then should be so i dumped it into hot water, in hope of some shrinkage, but being a superwash yarn, it had no effect.
So i throw it into the washing machine. Fringers crossed it comes out ok.

HP 7 /1

Watched it yesterday! Boyfriend wanted to take me to Lakeside because they have sofas there (and beer ;) but bus replacements were runnning instead of the trains so we postponed that. The local cinema was nearly full, so had a look around the area and ended up going to Romford. The whole day was bit tight on the schedule but also we had luck each and every time - all trains and buses were on time, with minimal waiting. The shopping centre we went to was a nice building design-wise, all floating roofs and creativity, but i bet the architect never heard about fear of heights. There was a pavement escalator (not stairs but smooth surface) wich went up with a u-bend, very slowly, in the middle of the building, far away from any wall, with two floor high drops on both sides. Freaked both of us out. Had to look up the stairs later which were no more then fire-exit stairs, stickered up with "Stairs to all levels" for people like us.
Other then this, it was really nice. We had dinner at a fully packed Nando's and silly me realized after finishing that they do indeed make plain chicken :P Usually i have medium hot ones, but yesterday i wasn't in a spicy food - mood. For the movie we got ourselves a twister bottle of blue and orange fruit juice (wich leaked after the crashed ice in it melted), sweet popcorn, and a selection of sweets. Felt like being on Hogwarts Express trying out all the sweets from the trolley :)
We catched the last train home, and our luck lasted, both the toilets and the waiting room were open so i was saved from having to stand in the freezing night at 1 am for 40 minutes while in desperate need of a loo.
And the film itself? Mmmm :) This was the first HP movie which i didn't felt rushed, they finally had time to do all the things nicely, staying true to the book's plot as much as possible without the feeling that they left half the important things out. The first scene, as soon they showed Hermione in her room... i knew what will happen, and it made me cry right away. And a couple more scenes too, not to mention i always well up when the main title comes up. Also we agreed that Ron was the best in the whole movie, i just cant get over Hermione's talk, the actress' timing is always a bit off for me, and the guy who plays Harry is just going along somehow. All in all i really liked this as finally it didnt feel like its just an illustration of the book version, but a real interpretation.

On the knitting front, i messed up the seconf glove. Started the fingers in the same row i did the thumb in :P

Wrap up - Öltözködjünk rétegesen

I've finished 3 projects in the last couple of days which made me sit down and just grin to the outside world and feeling contented. Ok so the third is still not totally finished but only coz i'm picky. So i had to start something new :) Gloves for boyfriend :)

Easyknits

This shop should be shot down and Jon (the guy running it) locked up. (Just kidding!!) Every time i think i got all the stuff i like from there, he comes up with something i-have-to-have-it-RiGHT-NOW!! :D
The sock club kit just came in couple weeks ago - inspired by Van Gogh's Sunflowers, instant woosh :) Next day, i had a look at the shop and what did i found?

Twinkling yarn. Just what i need for winter to cheer me up in the cold. And i had no money to have any!!

Today's the first day in weeks i have some yarn-money to spend, so i went to the page, and what do i see? Lace yarn. L-A-C-E. Ok maybe these ones i'll be able to resist, whit a bit of persuaison.
And then there's the merino-silk blend which has one of my favourite colour combinations ever, the all-colour-mix. Tho i might get that one in a less elegant fibre, there's a bfl version too...

I'll leave half of last weeks wage there. Of course the sly little rascal comes up with the best stuff before christmas, it's business after all. But he does keep coming up with colourways that are so spot on for me that if i could dye my own yarn i probably couldnt make them so close to my taste.

Keep up the good work Jon :)

(And no, this is not an advertisement, i'm just really enthusiastic about my favourite yarn-shop :)

# 196

Sometimes its just too hard to come up whit a good title. Or any title. Anyways, today is only about...


... will come back tomorow frozen to the bones if im really unlucky :D

Milagros

20 and counting :)

4UP

It's so good to have some good news and hopeful things going on. I hope everithing goes well at that mine in Chile :) I was following the news since they were found and is so heartwarming to see a country and even people from other contries join together, things being handled right by authorites, experts asked, even survivors of the Peru plane crash lending a hand, in all, its just so good to see humans doing well :)

10.10.10

Komolyan, egy ilyen dátum mellett nem lehet elmenni :) 2010. 10. 10. Rosszul indult nap után nagy lelkizés, megfejelve egy kis vásárlással délután - valami tényleg lehet a levegőben, mert vettem egy vállpánt nélküli miniruhát, ami még sosem forult elő az elmúlt 29 évben. Meg balerina-cipőt is hozzá, mivel csak sportos cipőim vannak. És még tetszenek is :D Tegnap is vettem pár holmit, bár nem (csak) ruhákat, hanem paplant meg hizatot is, úgyhogy a számlámra rá sem merek nézni, szegény totálisan anorexiás ez után a hétvégi fogyókúra után...

Seriously, how could a date like this go unnoticed? :D 10th of the 10th month of the 2010th year. Wow.
Today started badly, followed with a hefty discussion, topped off with shopping in the afternoon - something must be in the air as i bought a strapless minidress - something i never did in the last 29 years. Plus balerina-shoes to go woth it as i only own sporty shoes. And strangely, i like them :) I bought couple things yesterday too tho not only clothes but duvet and cover too so my poor bank account must be totally anorexic after this weight-loss diet....

Wardobe finished - Szekrény befejezve

Wardrobe in making - Ruhásszekrény, készülőfélben

Birthday presents - Szülinapi ajándékok

I dont know what's the costum in England but in Hungary we say birthdays are valid plus and minus 8 days from the real date - meaning birthday wishes and presents can be 8 days early or late and are considered being right on time. Well, seven days, but royalmail needed the last three :D
A "bigbottle" of Soak to wash all my handknits with it, and a pair of fancy rosewood needles, only 6 inches long, but hopefully i will use them to make scarfs this autumn as much as i use my symphony woods for shawls :)

Friday off - Szabadpéntek

Two days of holiday and actually done some knitting... first off, i finished this scarf yesterday. A bit short but run out of yarn, but the recipient liked it a lot :) (yeayy, knitting for someone else is goood :D)
The usual after-finish dilemma kicked in today: i picked up some long-going projects, some new yarn, had a cup of tea, then after a bit of an argument with myself i decided to do two things side-by-side. So i will rip back the "Lush and lacy" cardi i started in last december and was laying around for months, in a half-sewed half-screwed state, excuse my french. It was too big as i discovered, plus i messed up not just the sewing but the neck-band too. :P Plus there were 3 more balls left, (hopefully) enough for the hoodie and full-lenght sleeves of the Central Park Hoodie i really wanted to do for ages. Couldn't visualize it from this yarn but i'm giving it a go anyways, better then leave the yarn laying around.The paralell project will be another Swallowtail, with the same yarn - Easyknits skinny semi-solid - just different colour, this time Plum Jam. Just to be true to myself i messed this one up too, even before getting out any needles. I've wound up the yarn onto the yarn winder's base so i couldnt pull the ball of. Had to undo it by hand and wind back to the swift. Well done :P

Ahh and as i had a birthday couple days ago, i was thinking on baking a cake for myself... better skip that right now, dont want to burn down the kitchen :D

Friday out - Pénteki zizi

Getting asked for id 4 days before your 29th birthday in an over-18's pub is not a bad thing :D

Day out - Kirándulás

Hadley Castle, sheep and blackberries...

wtf?!

The new Linkin Park song, Catalyst. Its cool up until 1:18, when it should be kicking in, but instead... would've been a hit 15 years ago at a mayday, i guess? First time i heard i just couldn't stop laughing. Straaange stuff. :P
New album comes out on my birthday (14 september) better be something better!!

Begging puppy eyes - Könyörgő kiskutyaszemek

On saturday i was hanging around in Canvey, eating ice cream and playing with a dobermann so big i didnt needed to bend down at all or he to lift up his head for me to pet him. He's heeling from a small surgery - there are stitches on his chest, and two more on his side - and needed company so i was helping out dog-babysitting :)
He made this begging puppy-face for the 15 minutes straight, as long as i was eating. I resisted. I'm experienced in this :)
Was a bit surprised though to realize that dogs can and do make this begging face no matter size or age and invariably look just way too cute...

Szombaton Canvey-n voltam, jégkrémet ettem és egy akkora dobermannal játszottam, hogy nem kellett lehajolnom vagy éppenséggel neki fölemelnie a fejét ahhoz hogy megsimogassam. Egy kisebb műtétből lábadozik - látszanak is az öltések a mellkasán, meg van még kettő sebe az oldalán is - úgyhogy kellett neki a társaság, én meg besegítettem a kutya-bébicsőszségben :)
Végig ezt a könyörgő kiskutya-pofát csinálta amíg ettem a jégkrémet, kb 15 percig. Persze ellenálltam, van ebben gyakorlatom :)
Azon viszont meglepődtem, hogy ezek szerint mérettől és életkortól függetlenül, minden kutya tudja ezt az arckifejezést produkálni - és egyszerűen túl édesek ilyenkor...

Clouds - Felhők

30 blocks and counting - 30 négyzet, egyelőre

Még tavaly elkezdtem egy patchwork-szerű ágytakarót, hogy felhasználjam valamire az akril/műszálas fonalaimat. 25 és 30 között vagyok valahol, és valami ritka béna gombolyagból kötök, ez a harmadik négyzetem és még mindig van belőle egy csomó - sose lesz vége! Alig várom, hogy meglegyen a minimum 60 négyzet, ami egy kisebb takaróhoz kell, és köthessek valami tényleg szépet valami tényleg szép fonalból...

I'm currently knittting a patchwork bedcover, to use up all my acrilic yarns - i started this last year. Right now i'm using the most crappy ball ever, this is the third square i'm on and there's still plenty of yarn left. Brrr. Can't wait to have 60 square finished (i have between 25 and 30 right now) so i can make a smaller throw and move on to knit something really pretty from some really pretty yarn...

Where did july go?! - Hova tűnt a július?!

I did overtime yesterday and read The Little Prince in english for the first time. I finished it on the train which was full with people going home after a day at the beach... I still remember full paragraphs in hungarian, said by the voice-actors from an audio performance of the book. I wished i knew french though, some nuances can be so lost in translation.

After i got home, i realized it's august already - i'm afraid i missed out on this summer. Not the first time. Though on friday we went for a drink with a couple of collegues and sat in the back garden, wich is definetly something very summer-y as other times its just too cold and windy to sit outside after work. It was a bit crazy evening... ended up at some flat with eight or ten girls in it and only one (very ugly) guy, aside from us. Not the best proportions for a houseparty i think. We came home shortly with cousin K and climbed onto everything along the way, like building materials, rails, fences, fountains... damn snowboard movies have a bad influence on me :D and K likes it when i'm a bit "loosened up by beer". Thanks.

Why i don't blog - Amiért nem írok

I was working on this. Used up a 150g/475 m big roll of BFL yarn with about two meters left over. Its 212 cm long and 30 wide. Biiiggg. I wish i've made it wider though, and could've used some wires when blocked as the edges should be loopy - well i didn't had the amount of pins nor the patience to pin them in place at every row. As there's a loop at the beginning of each row. Next payday, maybe.

Ezen dolgoztam. 150 grammnyi / 475 méternyi kékpofájú gyapjút evett föl, talán két méternyi ha maradt. 212 centi hosszú és 30 széles avagy túlnagy. Szélesebbre kellett volna kötnöm, és nem ártott volna néhány blokkolótű sem, mert így nem látszanak a hurkok a két hosszanti oldalon. Minden sor elején van egy hurok, csak épp nem volt se elég gombostűm, se elég türelmem egyesével kipöckölni őket. Majd következő fizuból veszek drótokat.

I was also working on these - top row middle and right plus bottom row left were done last saturday. Took about two hours each plus a few breaks (like lunch, brewing tea and stuff) and watched a stupid amount of documentaries on youtube. I run out of the interesting ones and also my head still spins a bit from the amount of information so now i'm off to snowboard videos. Much less brainy but the occasional rap and hip-hop as background music is annoying.

Ezekkel is haladtam - felső sor középső és jobboldali plusz az alsó sor baloldalija mind a múlt hét szombati kötő-maratonom eredménye. Kb két óra kellett mindegyikre, nem számolva a szüneteket (úgymint étkezés, teaivás és hasonlók). Ó és egy rakás doku-film a jutúbon. Kifogytam az üsszes érdekesből mostanra, meg a fejem iszsong egy kicsit - még mindig - a sok infótól, úgyhogy most snowboard-ot nézek. Sokkal kevesebb agymunka kell hozzá, csak az időnkénti rap/hip-hop kísérőzene idegesít.

Yesterday i found an interview in german and was totally surprised how much i understood. The only word i had absolutely no clue of was Schulter. Looked up - it means shoulder. The etimology enthusiast in me was seriously dissappointed for not figuring this out :D But it's good to know that i still understand german and 10 years of learning wasn't entirely in vain :)

Tegnap találtam egy cikket, németül volt, és teljesen meglepődtem, hogy mennyire jól megértettem. A "shulter" volt az egyetlen szó, aminek a jelentéséről halvány gőzöm sem volt, megnéztem a szótárban, és vállat jelent. Ami angolul ugye shoulder, vagyis majdnem ugyanaz. Azt hittem lefejelem az asztalt, én a nagy etimológus, ilyet bakizni :D De azért jó tudni, hogy nem felejtettem el mégse németül és nem volt hiábavaló a 10 év tanulás :)

Finally final - Itt a vége

I just broke a nice habit. At the last two world cup finals, i was traveling - not just traveling, flying actually. In 2002, we catched the second half after landing and giving up a city sightseeing tour; in 2006, we were sitting in the lounge and had to board before it was finished.
Now, i'm sitting at home - altough not in my home country.

Go Holland, go Spain, go Vuvuzelas ;)

(btw i couldnt help smiling when i saw the bbc guys all dressed up suit-and-tie for the final :D )

Concerning football - Ami a focit illeti

"Football is a game played by 22 people and always won by the germans. " I heard this a couple years ago when England was beaten by Germany, again. I was never that impressed by them but wow what a play today. Poor poor Argentina.

"A foci egy olyan játék, amit 22-en játszanak, és mindig a németek nyernek." 4-0 Argentína ellen, szuper meccs.

That guy is Maradona??!! Wow. And i saw him playing when he was called the best player in the world! Ok it might have been like twenty years ago... no wait, i can't be that old...

Hát Maradonát nem ismertem volna föl ha nem mondják be a nevét. És én még láttam játszani anno, amikor ő volt a legjobb játékos a világon. Persze lehet, hogy ez már 20 éve volt... na neeem, annyira nem lehetek öreg...

This is the third big tournament since i live here in England and the support was they highest ever now - more flags, hats and shirts then at the last two occasions put together. At least here in Southend.
This is how our canteen looked like; thats three tv-sets on top of big boxes. Normally we dont have any. (I hope they leave one here after the cup...)

Az angolok beleadtak mindent a dekorálásba - annyi zászló, mez meg miegyéb van (volt) mindenfelé, mint az előző vb + eb alatt összesen. A gyári kantin is teljesen ki volt dekorálva, a három tévéről nem is beszélve. Eddig soha nem volt tévénk (remélem egyet legalább itthagynak a vb után...)

Some of my collegues before the match against Slovenia. We were allowed to watch the match in the canteen but no payment for that time (no holiday either) and no beer.

Pár kollégám élt a lehetőséggel hogy nézhettük a meccset - munkaidőben, fizu/szabi és sör nélkül.

The last teabreak was just before halftime, so we arrived to find virtually no free chairs. We had to sit on the tables at back, then after 5 minutes, at halftime, everyone rushed out and we could have a look at the highlights. Some girls from the office were mingling with the working class too :)

Az utolsó szünetünk félidő előtt öt perccel kezdődött, úgyhogy csak a terem hátuljában tudtunk leülni az asztalokra. Aztán öt perc múlva mindenki kirohant a félidei cigire, és megnézhettük az összefoglalót. Volt ott egy pár csaj az irodából is, keverve a munkásnéppel :)

Let's knit... - Akkor kössünk...

I was knitting a shawl last week (up until i lost track of what row i'm on and put the thing aside) that had an interesting feature: every row started with a yarn over wich made a nice loopy edging on both sides. Today, i'm working on a simple square and didn't undertsood why do i keep having more and more stitches and funny loops all around. Well because i automaticaly started every row with a yarn over!! Bad habits :)

Múlt héten egy olyan sálat kötöttem (amíg el nem felejtettem, melyik sorban járok, és félreraktam az egészet későbbi kibogozásra) amin minden sor egy ráhajtással kezdődött, így szép csipkés széle lett. Ma nekiálltam egy sima négyszögnek, és nem értettem honnan került a sorok szélére az a sok lyuk meg fölösleges szem. Mert még mindig ráhajtással kezdtem a sorokat :)

Random picture - Fénygépezős

... for playful businessmen, presented by the National Rail, UK.

... játékos lelkű üzletembereknek, a National Rail avagy Nemzeti Vasúttársaság, UK, jóvoltából.

Still alive - Még mindig élek

... altough barely. Lost my blogging "mojo". Together with the knitting one. Sunshine seems to help though and i even went to a real holiday, the first time in years. Or maybe centuries :D


... bár éppenhogycsak. Eccerűen nem volt kedvem blogolni. Kötni se. A napfény segít azért :) Ééés nyaralni is voltam, kb évszázadok óta először...

Like it / Like it not - Szeretem / nem szeretem

Like it: my Symphony interchangable needle tips, size 3.25mm. I bought these only because i wanted to try wooden needles. Originally didn't liked them, i was constatly afraid that the tips will get chipped off, the needle will broke in the middle, i didn't liked the colours, they were much slower then the metal needles... But in the course of the last year, i ended up using these a lots of times even when i started with different sizes or on plastic needles. I just keep ending up working with these and now i'm fairly sure they wont broke just buy holding them. I made some of my biggest knitting accomplishments with these, an Aeolian and a Swallowtail lace shawl, among other projects.
Good old tools which slowly but surely worked themselves into being one of my core knitting necessities.

Like it not: garter stitch. I'm all right with them as edging as they stop the fabric from rolling but as an all-around stitch, row after row, i just can't stand it. Soooo slow, and i have to fight to get the tip of the needle under the loop at every stitch... Guess would be less bad with a looser tension but i'm a tight knitter. So, for now, no garter stitch blankies and squares. I'll stick to lace :)

Like it: AC/DC. A couple of years back my brother and me asked our mum what kind of music did she listened to when she was our age. We both are no-mainstream, me liking heavy metal and world music and my bro liking punk, and we knew our dad liked pop-rock and she was in high school '72-76, in the height of abba and boney-m, so we wondered if it just us gone astray... Her answer: "Well, i liked stuff like ac/dc, led zeppelin and such". Both our jaws dropped. She grew like 4 inches in the eyes of my brother and we went "Ahaa!!! So it's a genetic thing. Not our fault!" Something genetic must be in it as our closest cousin - who is first cousin on both sides, yeah crazy family we are - is also into hard rock. Blame the parents :D

Like it not: i spent way too much money on yarn in the last two months. I barely bought anything in january and february, and now i'm falling over the other side of the horse (or what's the expression.) I think i spent between a hundred and hundred and fifty pounds. I dont wast to count it 'coz i'm afraid i'd end up something even closer to two hundred. At least i love all of them, everything i bought :)

Still dumb... - Még mindig...

Started a simple cardigan pattern. Instruction: Cast on 115 stitches. Using markers, that's 30 + 30 + 30 +15. Right? It was for me, for 5 cm of ribbing and another 8 rows of stocking st, at least. After that, I felt really really dumb. Have to take up crosswords or some logic-boosting thing before i sink into the level of a holstein-friesian.

Mooo.

Probably because of this (another...) failure, i led myself persuaded by my cousin K and cousin-in-law C to go with them to a club after the pub instead of going home. I dressed deliberately casually, jeans and training shoes, as the clubs here all have dress-code. Unfortunately for me the other two wasn't too dressed up either plus the place wasn't full so they let me in too. Before i knew what's happening i was paying the 6 pounds entry and got to the edge of the dancefloor... Luckily the bar was nearby too. It turned out quite nicely though, somehow i found the don'give a damn rocker in me and even the music couldn't bother. We had a funny evening, girls night out while my other cousin was babysitting his daughter at home :D
And thank god - or whoever invented it - for the green tea. ;)

Butulok - Dumbing down

Mert 8x6 az 32. Aha. A sok szivacs az oka, egyszerűen kiszívják az ember agyát... Még jó hogy a két kollégám se jutott többre, a thai csaj nem tud angolul számolni, a lengyel meg lengyelül se :)

Vasárnap meg voltunk moziban és vettünk leckét sárkány-edzésből. Nagggyon tetszett, C-nek nem annyira pedig miatta mentünk, négy felnőtt a három és fél évessel (jó kifogás). Moost vana Miért? korszakban és rendszeresen ez a válasza bármit mond neki az ember. Balszerencséréjére az anyukája profi a csattanós, gyors válaszokban, mi meg próbálunk nem röhögni :) Mos is volt egy jó párbeszédük: a film nézése helyett a pótülőkéjével játszott, háttal a vászonnak.
- C, gyere, nézd leesett a kisfiú.
- Mért? - Fel se nézve.
- Mert nem figyeltél.
Na erre fölkapta a fejét és kikukucskált. De attól tartok a málnaszörp tetszett neki a legjobban az egész mozizásban.

Spring, sunshine, horse racing - and the dark clouds - Tavasz, napsütés, lóverseny - és a sötét felhők

I was working this morning, first overtime in ages or at least months. I hope this means the company is going up :) Same for the weather, sunshine and blossoming trees in abundance, plus my cousin's wife and daughter are arriving at the afternoon so it looks to be a very nice weekend.
Yesterday we had a little betting game at the workplace too. Today's the Grand National - horse race - and the managers cut up a start list, and for a bet of one pound, you get to pick a horsename and if your horse wins, you take all 40 pounds. I was working with two of the chinese womens and their faces just lit up when the boss said the last bit :D "Yeah, we want to win all the money!!" :D And then we spent half an hour laughing at the horse names. Mine is #20, Snowy Morning - this one's more on the cute rather then on the funny side, and as i watched quite a lot of ski and snowboard lately it seemed sort of appropriate. The funniest name was "Comply or Die" i think, this one got the most laughs.

On the more serious side, i saw a piece of news printed out and handed around by the polish people at teabreak but only saw the title. That was around 10 am so it only talked about a plane crash involving the polish president. Now i read the whole article about the tragedy and feel so sorry for all the polish people. May those people who served their country rest in peace. So many great people had died, i guess the whole country is in shock.

Just a sidenote though - i dearly hope this won't cause diplomatic problems, and it was "just" a mechanical failure or pilot problem, not something more sinister. There's sooo much going on already right now, with all the elections: both Hungary and the UK will held parliamentary elections in may; and the "unrest" - what a stupid word for near-civil-war-like situations - Kyrgizistan and Thailand too, i have thai collegues too - everyone's going to be miserable now that spring is here?!

Ok heads up, i'm 27 rows away from finishing my aeolian shawl and relatives are coming and the sun shines :)

Just look at the date - Milyen nap is van?

I clicked on wikipedia to check out the news for today and read: "A Japanese multinational conglomerate (headquarters pictured) investigates how some of its customers were accidentally sent back in time to the year 1999. " I said what, and read again, maybe i just mis-translated something... then i remembered what day is :) I love wikipedia on this day :D
And i'm getting better, last year i browsed through most of the page and was totally confused before realizing what's going on. Hehe :)

Csak még egy "csak egy szombat" - Just another "just another saturday"

Input:

Zene / Music: The Offspring
Étel/Food: Vegyes zöldség leves / Vegetable soup

Output:

Pénz / Money:túúúl sok/ tooo much. :P
Kötés / Knitting: zero.


De még csak dél van, előttem a nap java része :)
But it's only noon, most of the day is still in front of me :)

Március 15. és a tavaszi letargia - 15 March and a K.O.

Azért jobban örültem volna, ha nem totális levertséggel ébredek, de olyan szinten, hogy tökéletesen üres fejjel támolyogtam ki az állomásra, a vonaton majdnem bőgtem minden ok nélkül, és 20 perc után hazakérezkedtem hogy ki tudjam bőgni magam. Tavaszi letargia? Vagy most jön ki rajtam a hosszú tél? Pár hete már érett a dolog de hogy ennyira padlóra küldjön... Nem egy méltó tiszteletadás a nemzeti ünnepen :(

It would've been a nice day if i hadn't woken up feeling totally beaten and on the verge of crying with no concrete reason whatsoever. I lasted 20 minutes at work then asked to be let home so i could cry it out. Spring letarghy or the long winter? I felt down for weeks but didn't expected to be knocked out this much. Not an appropriate tribute in our National Day :(

Phat Fiber Sampler Box

This thing is creepy. The shop had about 1670 sell at 15:00 and 1736 at 15:01. Thanks to a tutorial i managed to rush through the checkout , then went back to actually take a look at the things, and all was gone. In about 40 seconds. This would've looked nasty in a real shop!!!

Mi az ördög... - What the devil...

You Are The Devil

You don't represent evil, but you do represent the animalistic side of humans.
You demonstrate what happens when we listen to our first instincts.
At times you tend to be materialistic and hedonistic, giving in to temptation.
Admit it, you're guilty of acting first - and forgetting to think later!
Your fortune:
Right now, you may be having a difficult time as a result of choices you have made.
You need to think about what's important in your life, and discover what chains you down.
It is the time to acknowledge your faults and take steps to overcome them.
It's also the time to let go of any fears or inhibitions that are holding you back.

Aha, mert írd be a neved és megmondjuk melyik tarot kártya vagy. :D Ott kéne hagynom ezeket a blogthing-es kvízeket mielőtt teljesen becsavarodok :D

Yeah, submit your name and we'll tell you what tarot card you are. :D I should leave these bloghthing quizes before i go totally crazy. :D

Jim, Johnny, Jack...

Ma egész nap azon gondolkoztam, hogy a Jim Beam meg a Johnny Walker mellett melyik a harmadik m-betűs májméreg. Mármint j-betűs. Már a gondolatra berúgok vagy mi?!!Bár inkább csak az alliterációt terjesztettem ki ösztönösen. :)
Aztán az előbb bementem a spájzba és szembetalálkoztam Jack-kel :) A tennessee-i gyerek, nem a whitechapel-i a késsel :D Borzasztó a szaga, az ízéről nem is beszélve, de egy korty után hat.

Ez volt az én hétvégi ereszd-el-a hajamat jelenetem :D

I was pondering all day today about who is the third m-letter i mean j-letter... liqour-guy beside Jim Beam and Johnny Walker. Then walked into the cupboard under the stairs and met Jack :) The tennessee guy, not the whitechapel one with knife. :) It smells horrible not mention how it tastes, but one sip makes the effect.

This was my weekend lets-go-wild party :D

Zsiráf - Giraffe

You Are a Giraffe

You are down to earth and realistic. You are able to see far off into the horizon.
You bring a lot of perspective to other's lives. You are never too myopic.
You are honest to a fault. You tend to tell it how it is, even if someone isn't ready to hear it.
You are very down to earth and practical. You prioritize what matters in your life, and you don't waste your time.

Ezt a napot is megértem. A 154 centis magasságommal, zsiráf :)

I never thought i'll be once labeled as giraffe with my 5'1" height. :)

Itt találtam / found it here: blogthings.com

Utolsó nap - Last day

And Canada won! Yes :) If not the hungarians, at least them ;)

...

Pretty soon the fire in the cauldron will be gone. I won't see it go just as i didn't saw it being lit. Didn't saw the opening ceremony and the same will be the case with the closing, and this i regret a bit, because these shows where always big events to watch on the tv while i was growing up, but also, i dont have a tv set now and no one to watch as my cousins aren't interested in winter sports and the rest of my family is too far away. I watched the games on bbc online, not everything, and not compulsively, and often in the background while doing knitting. I cheered mostly for strangers, for good games, for people whose few-line backround stories cathced my attention or just had a catchy name; i cheered for brits and hungarians in particular - when i could get snippets of them, when not, i had to do with poles and any neighbourghs like slovaks and slovenians and austrians. Or anyone. They where good games, great moments, lots of fog and snow, and well, canada can cheer :)

Next up in one and a half years : London. Can't wait :)

A részvétel a fontos... - What matters is being there...

I wanted to write about the two guys who came last in the 50 km cross country and put up a big fight at the end and sprinted for the finish line to catch the 47th place - they raced just like those who went for the medals.

But then started the ice hockey final and got stuck. And i said myself i won't get exited or anything, but did. Of course. Of course chewed my nails and got that stone in the stomach and those damn americans scored 24.4 seconds back. It's so bad to watch them canadians do the same stupid thing as hungarians and english do: getting nervous and let it slip.

Hope not. Fingers crossed.

Btw i finished the Gail during the 50k and cast off during the hockey.

Utolsó előtti nap - Next to last day

One more day to go in Vancouver... i don't like closing ceremonies, they are beautiful of course but watching the olympic light go out and being left with the bleak weekdays, so melancholy. Same as getting the decorations off the christmas tree. Or the start of term in school. Apart of seeing everyone back :)
I've just cast off the traveling jitterbug - i have 5 g of yarn left. I've played a bit at the last 10 rows on the stocking stitch section as i wanted to make 12 repeats instead of 11, and needed 173 stitches or 14 more than the pattern stated, but in the same amount of rows - so i had to squeese that plus 14 stitches in somewhere. I made some m1's on all sides - middle of the right and left parts of both sides, so increased 10 stiches every 2 rows instead of six. Of course i've messed up big time. On the rs row, right part had 5 more stitches then needed, while the left part had 3 st's missing. Holy cow. I don't know what went wrong, i was counting and paying attention. Luckily after that i didn't had any major problems, no rip-backs, no skipped rows, not even hand-ache.
All is well if the end is well, this was a quick knit, yarn was enough, i've got to know again a new type of triangular shawl(ette)s and i'm getting more and more insight of their construction - so far without having to buy any expensive books. Time to donate to ravelry :)

Angol időjárás, megint - English weather, again

This time living up to the reputation regarding the quantity and frequency of rain. Today was the first day of the week when i did not get soaked either in the morning or at the evening (or both). Today we had big wind only :P

I had three days totally off of knitting. I didn't had anything on the needles to just carry on, and was too knocked off after the swallowtail to start anything new. I wanted to do two little scarves/shawls plus the big lacey one during the olympics time, i had one small and the big one down, olympics still going, so after a remarkably short time of pondering ( a mere 2 hours...) i grabbed one of the jitterbugs and cast on for a Traveling woman. I had a bit of a sway towards the Multnomah with stocking stitch instead of garter st as the colours are on the rustic side and would have looked well with those big calm waves, but it also would've made it too rustic. So i stuck with the traveling eoman and it goes quite nice, i'm on the middle of the second repeat of chart a. The probably will be too short for three repeats as the edge chart quite big. I have time until sunday evening, so even with the planned pub visit i'll finish it easily.
Next olympics i'll have to do something really big. Like a Herbert Niebling lace with 2000 (two thousand) sticthes in one round or some norwegian colourwork jumper on 3mm needles.

I ordered some yarn and other stuff off the internet including a 2,5 mm circular addi needle i needed in order to start a project. Except when the needles arrived and i held them i just couldn't remember what project was that. Maybe some gloves. Now i have to go back to my ravelry page and dug up my Favourites pile... like i don't do this enough times already (about once a week, takes hours :D )

Medálosztás - Medal ceremony

"Please accept this Ravatar bouquet from the beautiful Bobettes, wearing gorgeous lacy scarves, cowls and shawls of many colors:

and this medal from the head of the International Ravelympic Committee, Adonis Dionysius Bobicus Maximus:

Now please rise for the Ravelry International Anthem.

dum…dedumdum..de…dummmdedumdidoh…..(crescendo)…Dah!!!

And the crowd runs off in search of blocking wires and T-Pins… because they’re all I.L.L."

Ezért kaptam.
I earned it with this.

:)

(I.L.L. = I Love Lace ;)

Pssszt - Pssst

Csak akkor akartam írni róla amikor már megkaptam a medált érte, de a moderátor asszem amerikai, és még mindig nincs eredményhirdetés a mai napra, és már majdnem 10 órája befejeztem, szóval... befejeztem a Swallowtail-t, blokkolva, elvarrva, és szép lett nagyon, még meg is dícsérték, igaz hogy a fonal színét - ami nekem nem igazán esetem, de hát ízlések és pofonok :D
Aztán meg két órámba került befejezni a bejegyzést a londoni utamról, eredeti dátum szerint február 10-re van keltezve. És hova lett már megint a hétvégém?!

I wanted to announce it when i got the badge but the moderator who gives out the medals is american i guess and i finished almost 10 hours ago, so... the Swallowtail is finished, blocked, sewn up, pretty and already complimented or at least the colour of the yarn - which i wasn't particularly fond of, but for each they own :D
Also i spent about 2 hours writing up the london trip and posted it with the original date, february 10... where's my weekend again?!

Hm, swallowtail azt jelenti pillangó, a lepkék egy csoportja. Meg vagyok lőve, én eddig azt hittem ez két szó szinonímája egymásnak - olyasmi mint hogy mi vasban (Vas megye) a rovarokat úgy általában simán bogárnak hívjuk. Csak épp a rovar-bogárnál tudjuk, hogy mi a különbség, de attól még nyelvjárási jellegzetességként simán felcseréljük, a lepke-pillangó dologról viszont nem tudtam. És biológiából érettségiztem!

Wow swallowtail means butterfly... in hungarian, we use two words: lepke and pillango (papillon) as synonims but pillango (butterflies) are actually a subfamily in the family of lepke (Papilionidae). In my home county on the western border we use these words exchangably, just as bug and insect, these are dialect specialities. I knew about the bug thing but not about the butterfly. And i took biology as one of my matriculation exam subjects!

Érme bűvészet - Coin magic

Last weekend i found an interesting coin in my purse. I'm using that small vallet only in the canteen during weekdays, so i must have get it there with the change. It says United States on the tail side and has "1 dime" written on it. I found this strange as i thought the currency is dollar in the USA :D
I looked it up on wiki and now i understand why are they always using the nicknames for the coins in the films. Because that's what's written on them. Not 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents but 1 dime, quarter, half dollar, and no numbers. Crazy people.
Also it's interesting that the dime - 10 cents - is the same size and colour as the 5p here; and the nickel - 5 cents - is just slightly smaller and has the same colour as the 10p. I might add, the hungarian 5 forint and 10 forint are like copies of the british 5 and 10 pence. International coin-spiracy. Nothing can beat in weirdness the good old 50p though.


"Weird! What a shape! This is money?" (quote from Ron Weasley)


This dime was the most interesting (furthest from home) coin i found here in England so far; the others were an euro 1 cent, spanish one if i remember right, i picked it up from the pavement on High street; and two twenty pence pieces, one from Gibraltar and one from Guernsey. I've got these two from the canteen too; we have a lots of different people working there from around the world, some doesn't even know british money well, so it's not that surprising.
I collect the rarer 50p and 2 pounds pieces too, i have about 30 pounds worth of those in my jewellery box. Sometimes when i'm very short on change i use a couple of them and then spend weeks to try get them back.
Last year there was a big re-design on the coins and now the reverses make up the the royal shield - being a heraldry geek, i almost squeeked when saw the first puzzle-piece amongst the change and realized this will be one of the best puzzles i ever did. I checked every single piece of change i could get my paws on and took two months after having all the others to hunt down a 1p coin, the last missing piece, with the help of my cousin who got the bug from me and was also collecting them on his own. I like the old reverses too, so many historical references on them: Tudor arms, Prince of Wales arms, scottish thistle, royal lion, tudor rose, the full royal coat of arms and these are just the basic ones... the one and two pounds have at least a dozen variations each. I love living history :)

I also keep a hungarian 20 forint piece in my vallet, which has a stool iris on it ; and a 50 forint, with a saker falcon, in my jeans pocket. Coin magic ;)

Ázik - Soaking

Swallowtail elkötve, beáztatva. Jobb mancs hasogat. Körülnéztem a szobában, és rendetlenség van. Ideje visszatérni a való világba :)

Swallowtail bind off, in the soak. Right paw aching. Had taken a look around the room and it's a mess. Time to come back to the real world :)

(Az ott a bbc olimpiai közvetítése, on-line. Most azér örülnék egy tévének... az nem pixeles és nem akad :P )

(That's the bbc's on-line olympics coverage. I'd like a tv set right now... no pixels and no erratic stream :P)

Hatodik nap - Day six

Nincs időm írni, olimpiázok :D A bbc online közvetítást nézem, és némelyik kommentátornak haláli angol humora van. A többi meg kommentátor átkát okoz sorozatosan - amikor elkezdik mondani, mennyire jó valaki, az illető általában esik egy jó nagyot... :D

No time to write, doing olympics :) Some of these bbc commentators have real funny british humour, the rest have commentator's curse - every time they start to praise someone the person they talk about falls :D :D

11 ismétlésnél tartok a kis mintából a Swallowtail-en, és úgy döntöttem a receptben írt számú ismétlést fogom kötni. Majdnem biztos hogy ki fogok fogyni a fonalból, valószínűleg 4 sorral a vége előtt, mint a Gail-nél, de a rövidítés csökkentené a kihívási értéket is. Hosszabbítás mondjuk szintén őrültség lenne :D

11 repeats of the budding lace pattern on the swallowtail done, and i decided to go with the original number of repeats. Almost sure i'll end up four rows short like with the Gail, but this supposed to be a challange... shortening it would lessen that. Lenghtening it would be total crazy too :D
...
Ami a munkát illeti - a gyár adott nekünk egy cirádásan fogalmazott levelet, miszerint nincs elég megrendelésünk, úgyhogy ha valaki ki szeretne venni pár napot, örömmel engedélyezik. Fizetetlen szabi persze. Főnök nem adott nekem a levélből, kicsit tartottam tőle hogy azért, mert rám ez valamiért nem vonatkozik, de csak elfelejtett.

On the working front - factory gave us a pretty elaborate letter about not having enough orders so if we want to take a few days off they'd be glad to let us have them. Unpaid of course. Boss skipped me so i thought maybe i'm excluded but she just forget about me.

Téli olimpia - Winter Olympics

Results so far: half a dozen golds, found two different online streams, finished the Saroyan i cast on at two o'clock in the morning (torch-lit-time :D ) and started a Swallowtail.

I'm having a bit of a HP series syndrome with these triangle shawls - all have the same construction, you know how they build up, how things will just get bigger and bigger until a crazy ending. The structure - garter st edging, *increase section, pattern, middle increase section*, center stitch, repeat from * to *, garter st edging. The patterns and row count are different, as are the yarn and the needles too, but really like the books in the series. Difference is i'm starting to get bored with this - i'm on the third shawl now - but didn't mind it with the books, not at the seventh, not even when i read all the previous books when a new one came out.
Next shawl will be something different. Bottom-up, or half circle... thinking about it, the latest mustn't be that different though. Anyways.

Hehe, the commentator on bbc just compared ski jumping to quidditch :D :D