Red fox bag

Working on my swap socks I badly needed a proper bag. And ta-daaah here it is, after a nice afternoon at my sewing machine. Love the foxy pattern and the lining. I've bought both at the La volpe rossa shop in Opcina near the place where I live.   Also love the wool I'm using. It's a very soft blend I've purchased at the  http://www.ortodegliulivi.it . It's a 2 ply I'm using doubled.

 

Sto lavorando ai calzini traforati per lo swap di ravelry e, sapete com'e' , sentivo che mi mancava una borsina portalavoro. Cosi' ho ripreso la mia macchina da cucire - abbandonata un bel po' di anni fa, dopo l'ultimo lenzuolino per il secondo figlio neonato - ed ho improvvisato una borsa morbida e capiente. La stoffa l'ho presa da La volpe rossa a Opicina, l'ho leggermente imbottita, e ci ho aggiunto una tasca multiuso. Non  portero' mattoni, ma la lana e qualche gadget si. Lavoro le calze con la lana prodotta dall'azienda agricola http://www.ortodegliulivi.it. usata doppia.

New knitting

It was so hot outside that I just stopped knitting. Then I went to Vienna and I had such a wonderful evening with Barbara and Kristine, two really skilled knitters, and I was back on needles again.
Here are a small display of my latest efforts.
First of all the socks I'm knitting for my swap partner. Hope she will like them, because the pattern is so really lacy-nice and the strech cotton is just perfect for the project. I'm not sure about the beads, but she can crash them with a hammer, no?  

 This is another version of Fluss des Lebens sock, knitted in one of the really tousend yarns of Tausendschoen , the yellow one are plain socks for my son M., knitted in Opal Hundertwasser.

Of couse I'm not only knitting socks. I'm on a Rowan project knitted with the Lana Grossa's Linea pura cotton-kashmere  blend. I bargain I could not resist.....you know there is no cure for this.

More about lakes and knitting

I'm knitting socks those days - four or five at the same time. First because I'm nervous, second because I have enough DPNs ....










third because I've just received a parcel from strickstduschon.de and I could not resist the temptation: I almost immediatly cast on a pair of socks in Mango. As for the other socks, here they are - multiple of Fluss des Lebens pattern I'm knitting for a KAL on Ravelry. To tell you the trouth I'm not sure my German is good enough to understand what's going on there, but the pattern is really nice, the socks are wearable and all I have to do is post the pics of the finished work.







I have a Posh yarn silky variation and a quite pshychadelic cotton version. In the real life the colour is a very nice turquoise melange and the socks are for a young and very tenacious girl called Lina. She plays ice hockey and she is great.
Another Fluss des Lebens and a plain pair of Hundertwasser socks.

The other pictures are related with our last trip in Carinthia. Please note - there were no mosquitos in sight. Uau.

Summer lace

It's time to take decisions. The first, and at the very moment the most important was: what kind of socks will I knit for my secret international sock swap partner ??? She - ok, this is not a secret - lives in a country I didnot even know was that country  - I mean, I did not understand that the state abbreviation has to be read as.... , of course now I know all about the place. At least the correct spell of the country. Not bad, ; ).

I have the yarn and I have the pattern - tomorrow I'll cast on the socks, and.... not just those socks. I have made a donation to Cuore di maglia and got a super cute PDF booklet named Summer lace. Cristiana Brenna's Bollicine will be my next knitting project. The other projects will have to wait a little, but I can tell you that I'll even try to fix the featured knitting bag, even if I'm not a true sewing machine lover.

Swap-Swap-Swap

 This morning the postman (no, she is a lady) came by with a small parcell from the USA. Small - but with a great content - please, have a look: this is what Tammy made and put together for me. I love flowers and owls - here they are in my favourite version, seeds, a bookmark and stitch markers. Thank you Tammy - Grazie!

Since it was a sock swap - there was also a pair of socks inside this tiny box. They are so nicely knitted (did you use 2 mm needles??) and they fit so well, I'm just sorry it's too hot to wear them right now. Love them. Have I thanked you, already, Tammy? Ok, maybe another hvala (in slovene) will do.

It's hot, but who could resist???? surely not me - see how perfectly they fit? Bye now, I have to cast on whatever, just to make my new owls fly.....

Watching TV and knitting projects

 I'm sure you have a secret place full of yarn. Maybe it's not so secret - how could you possibly hide all the yarn you've bought in your adult life just because you have to? Well. Now it's time to give a sense to this forgotten yarn. At least I'm in the mood, so I'm clearing (and cleaning) my stash. Right now I'm working on a crochet stole that will put an end to my Noro scraps. It's the right project for TV afternoons, since your crochet hook is going his way and you can follow your favourite program.

While I'm devoting myself to mindless crochet work, I'm also knitting a dark blue cotton gansey for my son. It request more attention, but in the meantime you don't get bored and you just go on knitting.

Rosa's finished and other stories

This morning I had to do the dirty work: iron! If you are a mother and you tend to repeat the mantra "wash yourself, change your clothes"  to your teenage boys, sooner or later you have to confront yourself with a mountain of clean, but not jet ironed jeans, T-shirts , underpants. You know what I mean.
So I did my job - it helps a lot listening to Radio 3 RAI, I love you - and then I took a little time for my last knitting. This is my Emma Fassio's Rosa's sleeveless cardi, knitted halfway through the bodice using a Lana Grossa sock yarn combined with a matching colour of lace yarn and finished with the solo sock yarn. The result is a very airy vest I'll use to be tres chic in my garden.  

The vest was my second Emma Fassio's project. The first one being the Spring shawl knitted with one skein of Noro sock yarn. I'm using it regularly because I love the zest of those colours, but i did not have a proper picture of the finished shawlette. So, here it is.

knitting time

I don't know how it goes chez vous, but I'm always knitting lots of things in the same time. It's not only I'm a little bit compulsive - just a  little - it's mostly because there are different projects for different moments of the day, even of the year.
I have a very flexible timetable at work. Sometimes I have to be at work at 5.30 AM, sometimes I'm working till late.You understand that it will be impossible for me to knit complicated cables in the late afternoon after an A working day (from 5.30 till 13.00) - that's why the Tzugumi's Celtic Plait Shrug has to wait for more relaxed hours, while I'm mindlessly knitting an oh-so-easy Emma Fassio's Rosa's sleeveless cardi-jumper.

It's the right  project for people watching TV or being half asleep. I need  knitting work like this even when I have to think or make plans - my hands are working by their own while I'm fully focused on the project I have in mind.....
Right now I'm struggling with maths - constructing a gansey for my son Luka. It will be a heavy one, knittend in yeans cotton from Rowan and I have made the cast on using a channel islands way that provides a very strong border. It take me hours to cast on 166 sts, but the result is really nice. Now I have to put together the design....

My name is red - finished

Meet my tiny herb garden. It's very usefull - you just go outside and pick whatever you need for your meal: fresh herbs for an omelette, something to add to your best salsa, even mint leaves for tasty drinks you'll serve your visiting friends.

 I've just finished my new sweater - a Stitch diva project I've already knitted in a Rowan tweed version. For this one I've used a Lana grossa yarn, a smooth cotton blend with a bright red colour that's not the one you see here. The picture was taken with my smartphone, but somehow it did not work. To give you an idea, the sweater lies on an electrical blue throw....