The perfect day.

This is how it started...



....ever seen anything more beautiful?
It happened a couple of days ago. My son decided to take a day off work to get some things he needed and he asked me to join him, and I gladly said yes. On the way back from Barcellona, 30 minutes away from here, we decided to stop at Portorosa to take some photos and visit the new Hilton hotel.




We took a long walk through the canals....


it was such a warm day



and finally a refreshing ice cream in one of the many restaurants of the locality.


Here in Sicily Easter officially gives the start to a long season of local festivities, usually religious, which last two or three days and end with fireworks. So from now on almost every weekend at around midnight the sky will become alive with coloured sparks above at least one of the towns which are visible from up here.


The Easter weekend passed very quickly. After a sizzling bbq....


and the sweets of the tradition...


it's time for spring cleaning, put away the winter clothes and reorganize the wardrobes. This is going to be my mission for this coming week and I can't say I'm looking forward to it, but if I don't do it who will??

Hallo!

And happy Easter everyone!
Have a great weekend with your loved ones.

Hailstorm.

I certainly didn't expect to find this when I looked out my window the other morning:


...around the trees...


...on my favourite cicas.
Unusual for this time of year, but life goes on.
And my brain is working overtime again. What I have been thinking about is another blog or, better still, a site where I can make a proper gallery of my works, including my paintings, a recipe section, my ideas on recycling, etc..

Knitting news:
1) the beige shawl is currently resting inside the knitting basket. Why? Well I seem to have lost interest in that project but I am not planning to frog it (yet).
2) the crochet stole is almost finished. Which means I have about 10cm to go before working out some kind of edging. I had decided to leave it without but it turned out slightly narrower than I though.
3) I am trying to figure out a way of knitting a rectangular shawl on the bias. Now, what I want is not a diagonal shape (as in Clapotis, for instance), but a 90° angle on each corner of the shawl. In other words a perfect rectangle. I have an idea which to me seems right and it should work, at least in theory. Any suggestions?

Coffe anyone?

I need a break.

And what is a break without a hot and strong cup of coffee?
Yes, caffeine is my drug and I can't live without it.


Progress on the beige shawl


and on the crochet stole I have decided to make with the blue laceweight wool I bought recently


I have estimated I will need approximately 5 balls (250gr.) of yarn for this project. There's an amazing difference between the amount of yarn it takes to make a crochet garment and the amount it takes to knit one. I wouldn't need more than 2- 2 1/2 balls to knit a stole of the same measure, but crocheting gives me the advantage of not having to follow a written pattern. I might have said this before, but it's impossible for me to knit anything other than simple ribbing at night when I'm relaxing in front of my favourite tv program.
Therefore I have been working on the beige shawl in the afternoon. No. I have been trying to work on my beige shawl in the afternoon. Which means knitting a row or two in between chores and at the same time planning my next project.
Oh yes. If you came close enough to my head you would hear a low buzzing sound coming out of my ears. No, I'm not an alien....it's simply my brain working overtime. PLEASE give me a 26 hour day! Is it too much to ask for? Just two extra hours would make me a happy woman. I need time for myself, to make my ideas and projects become reality....and I don't mean just for knitting! I have other passions, painting, writing (in italian of course), and I would like to experience some kind of lace making technique. Not to mention joining a gym.
Dreams, dreams.....

Spring flowers.

Almond...


Acacia......

Moonlight on the gulf...


So romantic!!

This is not so romantic...


It's my favourite lace weight wool and I have just discovered it's out of production!
I was so disappointed when the lady at the yarn store told me that I grabbed as much of it as I could...18 balls. I know there's other brands, but I have worked with this one and I find it perfect for lacy shawls. It's the one I used for the Kiri and the Fircone shawls (which btw is still a ufo!)


I have plans for these 18 balls.
I am already working on a project using the blue wool but I won't say what it is just in case I change my mind. You know the saying "it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind"? It fits me perfectly. So it will be a surprise.
This is on the needles at the moment


obviously another shawl (what, another one??)
What can I do, I just can't stop making them.

Recipe: Orecchiette Primavera.

Just as I promised here's the recipe for Orecchiette Primavera.
For 4-5 servings you will need:

400gr. pasta (orecchiette or some other type)
1 tbsp finely chopped onion (possibly spring onion)
3/4 cup frozen baby peas
3/4 cup potatoes in small dices
1/4 cup chopped Parma ham ( bacon or plain ham will do)
1 tblsp butter
2 tbsps olive oil
200 ml cream
2-3 tbsps grated parmesan cheese ( or any tasty mature cheese)
parsley
salt
pepper

Melt butter in a casserole, add oil, peas, potatoes and saute' gently adding a little water when needed
add salt ( use little salt because the ham and the parmesan cheese will add a lot of sapidity to the sauce) and pepper and continue cooking till the vegetables are just tender.
Add the parsley and the ham.
Cook for further 2 minutes, add the cream ( here in Italy we use a very thick cream for this type of recipe which has the consistency of cream cheese)
fold the cream with the rest of the ingredients and turn off the flame.
Cook the pasta in penty of water and a little salt " al dente" and drain well. I have used orecchiette but other types are just as good , such as pennette.
Put the casserole back on the stove on a low flame, add the pasta and the parmesan cheese
mix everything
serve hot.
This dish is delicious and it can be made in less than 30 minutes! Try it and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Back with a FO.

Just under 1000 meters of a lovely wool/alpaca blend ( m. 150 x 50 gr.) for this crocheted shawl:



I love this stitch and I didn't follow a pattern for the shawl, I just started and kept crocheting until I was happy with the size. I wasn't too sure about the edging but at the end I decided that the lace was rich enough and a round of chain would have been enough. Yes, I'm quite happy with the result.
As far as the knitted shawl is concerned there's been little progress. I'm not giving myself a deadline but I hope to finish it by the middle of March, but then again what's the hurry?

Another weekend.

Earlier today I was pleasantly surprised by finding links to my blog and my free patterns on Yarn and thread links. Thank you Scrunchyy!
The crochet shawl is almost completed but I still have to figure out how to finish it off, I mean what type of edging to add to it. I can't make up my mind, but it will be something very simple.
As far as the knitted shawl is concerned, I have made very little progress, in other words no pictures to post yet.
How about some cross stitch instead?
These will be framed one day:




Tablecloths.
Crochet and linen squares with cross stitch flowers:


Close up:


Fruit and butterflies on Aida cloth:




And that's not all folks.

Metereopatic.

meteoropathy (from Greek meteora, celestial phenomena, and pathos, feeling, pain, suffering): a disorder, or physical condition, or symptom due to climate or conditions of weather such as humidity, temperature or pressure.

This definition couldn't be more appropriate for me.
Two days of non-stop rain and the very strong wind from the north that we are experiencing have been putting my nerves to a severe trial.
Lack of concentration is the thing that bothers me most. Feeling sleepy and apathic, weak and headachy? Join the club!
In spite of that I have tried hard to keep myself busy:


I've been working at this shawl mostly at night. Not having a scheme to follow makes it easy to crochet and watch some nice movie at the same time.
The small piece of knitting on the corner at the top is another shawl. The picture is a bit blurry but I will take a close up just as soon as I have knitted enough to show the actual pattern. Normally I don't like having more that one project going at the same time but as I have stated many times before I just cannot concentrate on anything other than plain knitting at night. So I have found this solution and I'm quite satisfied. For the time being anyway.

Another shawl.

Is it spring already?
Well, something is definately happening out there. As a matter of fact a lot of the plants in our garden have never stopped flowering. Amazing!! Our almond trees have beautiful sweet smelling white flowers, the acacia tree with its bright yellow inflorescence reminds me of a soft cloud, coloured and fragrant, a joy for the eye.
And me...well I'm in a creative mood.
After a period of mental lethargy I am beginning to make order in that messy confusion of ideas that has been lurking in my head since the beginning of this year.
The knit and crochet patterns for the calendar submissions had all my concentration for weeks. Now that's out of the way and I'm concretely planning a couple of projects. First of all a crochet shawl. This is the swatch I made last night:


Yes it is pretty! I reproduced part of a round doily that my mother had given me years ago. The wool I plan to use is the on the right. It is actually lighter that it looks in the picture, a beautiful shade of pink. I have 150 grams, approx. 675 meters. I really hope it will be enough.
I have also made a swatch for a knitted shawl, but I'm not 100% sure I like it. I'll post a photo of it once I have made up my mind about it. Give me a few more days!