Time for crochet

 Strucked by an You tube video posted on FB by Rosalba Strega (immediatly slurped) I decided the "chaleto" was the right project for partialy destash my sock yarn basket(s). There was this Lana grossa Solo Tono waiting for me to make something out of those 3 skeins. Socks? No way, but a crocheted "chaleto", yes. I added another Lana grossa bargain purchase, a synthetic purple yarn I just don't know why did I bought it. It was really cheap, on sale, that's all I remember. Well, now the yarn has regained in dignity. Just guess how the project will turn out one of these days.  

 Little Cottage Conforts is inviting us to organic holidays! It's a giveaway, but who could resist? Not me, for sure. I love this way of touring and the link she suggested was on my favourite list in no time. To prove that I'm not cheating, I'll share with you the pics of those cute  kittens from a bio farm in Austria  www.liendl.at where we stay  the last two days while arranging al the necessary for our sons attending  school in Klagenfur. 

felicita' pura

 Have you ever heard of something like a big bang of happiness? Sure it was about me opening my swap parcel and finding inside The Socks... owlish, balcanisch, perfect in their knitted performance and fitting like tailor made. I was moved to tears when I saw Erin's masterpiece. It was like she decided to share part of her inner life with me - her Canadian roots turned into marple sweeties, her Icelandic honeymoon turned into tiny buttons, her love for knitting patiently woven into a sample of crossed sts, cables, fancy toes and structurated heels of  a pair of socks I've already elected as a fetish or, better, a totem. Again, thank you gradskoolknitter.

Back from Devon (and Cornwall)

Back from our family trip to Devon and Cornwall I'm too busy with laundry and ironing to write down my impression. So enjoy this small selection of photos and wait for better times......

Yelverton, Devon

Near Plymouth

... delicious.....

Exeter

Sir Francis Drake's home ....

sunset view from our B'n'B in the Dartmoor area

swap socks

Here they are - Brussel's lace socks for my swap partner. I really hope she'll like them, because they are not ordinary socks, but I had almost no informations about her wishes or preferences, so I went my way. At least she'll have a nice piece of knitting in her secret box. What if she dislikes beads? Pazienza....

Those two are made just for me and my delight. I really like the yarn, but maybe not the random colorway. I have to try another pattern, maybe just 2k2p all the way. I have plenty of yarn to make experiments.
What else? Oh, yes, maybe a short not about or short trip to Bad Gleichenberg, a thermal place in the Styria region, a dream place for our little one. He wants to become a chef, you know Ratatouille,no? and even a cheese sommelier like they call people sniffing and serving cheese selections in fancy restaurants. He is far too young, but he was always like this - determinate. Look at him - right on the spot (well, not really, because the school was two bloks away)

 Being there, we decided to visit a castle with a fantastic wiev - I'm sure they could spot the Turks at the moment they gathered on the Bosphor. Alas it was a place of pain and torture for all those people (women and men) accused of sorcery.

But they were prevident and they had their own vineyards, so they could burn those poor souls alive when totaly drunk. he,he
I had bad toughts because every second witch was named Eva..... uh.

Let me come to an end with a much nicer photo - look at those lovely storks, nesting in the very center of a small village near Gornja Radgona.

The fastest wool shipping ever

Bloggin' here, bloggin' there, I came across a post from "a knitting bear..."
The fellow knitter linked me to http://www.ortodegliulivi.it/ , a bio-farm selling pure homespun wool - (on sale, at the time)
I was tempted - both by the offer and by their dyeing tips, so and I ordered 2 kg of their wool - in the 2 and 4 ply version, having lot of projects on the list (a wedding shawl, a baby surprise, some heritage heavy socks for a swap, some home made natural dyeing, things like this).
As you can see from the not so brilliant pic taken with my smartphone, the two cones are already making friends in my (one of the many) knitting corb.
Let me tell you the wool is superb, with a delicate parfume of lavender, soft at touch.
But - most of all - Chiara, from L'Orto degli Ulivi, sent the parcel yesterday morning and I  got the wool today, before noon. Poste italiane being involved, I can assure you it's a WR.
Look, I've seen tons of advertisement about superb yarns, I've even seen people spreading a good word about a seller being rewarded with  hats, mittens, stitchmarkers, pretty soaps... Not at all in this case - I'm totally AD and sponsor free, but  I also feel free to heartly reccomend you L'Orto degli Ulivi farm and their wool. That is.

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.