Edelweiss, a mountain flower.

Remember the famous movie of the '60 "The sound of music"?
Remember Julie Andrews singing and dancing on the Austrian alps, the breathtaking view of those high mountains.....what memories!
I simply adore those places.
These are the lyrics of the song:
"Edelweiss, edelweiss, every morning you greet me.

Small and white,
Clean and bright,
You look happy to meet me.
Blossom of snow
May you bloom and grow,
Bloom and grow forever.
Edelweiss, edelweiss, bless my homeland forever

Small and white,

Clean and bright,
You look happy to meet me.
Blossom of snow
May you bloom and grow,
Bloom and grow forever.
Edelweiss, edelweiss, bless my homeland forever"

Touching!

"Edelweiss" is the name of a flower that grows on the Alps. It is protected because it's becoming more and more rare. In the german language "edel" means "noble" and "weiss" means "white". Its stunning beauty has inspired me in designing a shawl.




Modesty apart, I find it is my best creation so far.

As for knitting progress on my top, having reconsidered the length I had to rip about 35 rows (ouch!!) because I started the decreases for the waist after 15cm, way too high. Thanks to my little sis' advice (she's a lot smarter than me!!) it's looking much better. Details on progress on my next post.

A couple more glimpses of our garden for those of you who appreciate nature.

Crochet tour-de-force

Finished!



And blocking nicely on the dining room table.
A real tour the force. A few more corrections to the pattern and that will be ready too. Details on Ravelry soon. (btw, my username is missrita).

The other night I started this cotton top. Leftover thread, the blue is new and the rest recycled but in excellent condition. I don't usually go much for stripes but this combination isn't too bad and it couldn't be helped since I only have a 50gr ball of blue.


After months without knitting, can you believe I had to do the provisional cast on twice because I couldn't remember how?
Goodness! I'm keeping it simple, just 1/1 ribs and it's probably going to be open at the front although I still have to decide about sleeves...or straps.

Today I would like to leave you with some photos of our garden which is beginning to come to life again. Thank you mother nature for your generosity!

Have a great weekend everyone!

A quick update.

Like I said in my previous post, more toys but this time they are knit..


..the pattern will be ready in one or two days.
Progress on Pink and Lacey's pattern:


so far so good. Nearly finished the mesh triangle which is obviously the easy part. We'll see about the lace border which I count to start possibly before the weekend.

Seems like we're heading for an early summer here in southern Italy. Days are warming up considerably and the garden....what can I say? It's glorious.

Iris,

daisies,


and you should see the roses! They are absolutely fantastic. I will take shots this weekend and post the photos on Monday.
See you all then!

What's next?

Remember my Pink and lacey summer shawl?


I improvised as I went on.
Problem: I want to write a pattern for it.
Solution: make another shawl and write the pattern.
Pros: that gives me the possibility of testing the pattern myself.
Cons: I doubt that I can finish it in less than 8-10 days.
So this is my next goal. The yarn I have chosen is 100% laceweight wool but this time in a very pale aqua, almost white. The reason is that I see it as a lovely spring wedding shawl. Well it's an idea and there's something else too but I'm not revealing anymore for the time being, since it's only something i have been visualizing in my mind and I'm not sure it can be accomplished as a project.
In the past three weeks i have "wasted" time making toys....duckies..


frogs..


and a couple more will be ready by the end of the week.
Why did I say "wasting time"? Only because there are no children around to play with these cute toys. Pity!
Changing the subject, I don't think I have mentioned the fact that i consider myself privileged everytime i look out of a window or step outside in my garden. And the reason is this:



and as the weather gets warmer that blue sea becomes more and more inviting.
It even makes me want to grab brushes and colours and start painting, something that lately hasn't been on my mind much. But that's another story. My priorities are others at the moment, firstly spring cleaning. Not looking forward to that but someone has to do it and, guess who will? ;)

Little aliens

When I woke up this morning I couldn't have imagined that this would not have been an ordinary day. But when i looked outside I realized something was wrong...terribly wrong.
THEY were everywhere!
Hiding in the weeds..



trying to mimetic among the lemons..


under the plants...


WHAT?...on the computer...


...and...making friends with Grumpy the dwarf!


Oh, that's enough....I'd better run to separate those two before they get into some mischief...and FAST!!

Goals, not resolutions.

Let's face it, making resolutions is such a waste of time. Hand up all those who haven't thought about half a dozen things, the so called " new year resolutions", on new years day.
If you're like me you would have made plans like:
lose 4-5 pounds;
don't buy any wool until you use up at least half of your stash yarn;
remember to start writing patterns when you start the project, not when you have almost finished it;
remember to update blog at least twice a week;
etc. etc....
And if you're like me, you would have kept on eating, started new projects forgetting to write patterns, postponed updating your blog until....tomorrow!
Well as I said, I don't believe in resolutions so this year I'm trying a different approach that seems to be working quite well: I'm concentrating on goals, weekly or monthly goals, it depends, and considering the amount of work I have been doing in the past couple of months chances are that this will be a productive year.
I'm also concentrating and trying hard to remove those imaginary limits that too often create a barrier between what I wish to do and what I'm able to accomplish.
Does it makes sense? It does to me.
My list of goals is quite a long one but I'm taking it easy because deadlines make me nervous. I think that about a dozen crochet schemes and writing down a complicated pattern is a good start, yes I am satisfied.
What's next? I have to check my list....I'll tell you later!

Meanwhile I shall leave you with a project and the pattern I wrote for it. It's actually a diagram with symbols and simple instructions.
Here's the project, I've called it Squares and fans cushion:


and here you will find the scheme and instructions.
I love the versatility of this pattern. Don't you think it's perfect for a centerpiece, a tablecloth, or even a baby blanket? Come on ladies...use your fantasy!

New year, old life.

Maybe I should try to justify my long absence from my affectionate readers and apologise. I will not. The reason is simple: I am sure you will all understand how easy it is to get lost in the maze of everyday life which, in it's semplicity, in some occasions can become a real jungle. We have all been there....right?
So I shall carry on as nothing happened.
Where was I ? Oh yes. Complaining about not getting the calendars. Well they finally arrived and they are great.
No, I haven't started working on my cardi yet, but I plan to. And, having had plenty of time to reflect and organize my work, I can assure you I haven't been completely idle and very soon there will be some nice surprises (at least I hope they will be nice!). But, all in good time. The main thing is that I'm back, stronger, determined not to waste one more day of my life because life is much too precious and too short.
I will leave you with a couple of photos.
Roses in February:



And, wouldn't you just LOVE to make these little beauties for the baby of the house??

Calendars and big decisions

I think I have already mentioned that the patterns I submitted to the contest for the 2007 calendar (knit and crochet) were both published. I'm just wondering, has anyone recieved the calendars yet? Well, the end of the year is getting closer. Could they have lost my address??
The knitting pattern I submitted is a little girl's summer top:


and the crochet one is a sewing caddy:



it's perfect for using scraps and leftovers.

Last week while I was going through my usual old magazines I suddenly got the urge to make a couple of crochet squares



I like them both so much that I wouldn't know which one to choose if I decided to make something. Not that I plan to, but it's a possibility.
At the moment I'd be more inclined to making a sweater for myself. Haven't made one in years and I have a delicious alpaca blend I want to use asap. Problem: I only have 200gr white, and 150gr beige so it's going to be a 3 colour sweater. I don't mind, but can't make up my mind...
white-beige-green.....


or white-beige-brown?

Goodies from downunder!

Yes all the way from Perth W.A., bringing a ray of sunshine on a gloomy rainy and very cold day. So what do we have here?
Arisaig for me!!


It's gorgeous.
And....an assortment of needles. How I needed those. Dpns, circulars, they are not easy to find here. Can you believe it?


Yarn!


It's Patons alpaca blend in white and light coffee. I already have a few ideas for putting these to good use. The possibilities are endless!

And..

The blue is Cashmilon....could it be a Cashmere/nylon blend? The four red balls are aussie Clackheaton 5 ply pure wool, and finally this lonely ball of Carnival 8 ply 100% wool.


A little sweetness is always welcome..


Last but not least craft magazines and an enchanting little book about roses. A guide to growing and using roses including recipes, paintings and poems. I will post a few of them soon.


Thanks little sis! ;)

I'm a Raveler.

Yes I finally got invited. And what a better moment than this since I have been lacking motivation and I'm in great need of anything that will make me pick up a hook or a pair of needles. I usually associate the way I feel to the change of season. Well it's true, and considering I haven't been feeling 100%...you could say that I have a good excuse for not doing anything creative in the past couple of months. Not that I lack ideas, that's not the problem.
Going through some magazines from the 80/90's reminded me of a rather productive season that included knitting, crocheting, as well as some other crafts.
Obviously I wouldn't be caught dead wearing some of these things today, but you know what fashion is like...they were trendy and cool at the time.

The original ...

...and the one I made. It's exactly the same. Here I'm showing a close up of the embroidered part.


I used recycled yarn for this vest. The pattern looks like intarsia, but it's actually embroidered. I find it very pretty.
Next, this gorgeous cardi.


The one in the magazine has flowers on the sleeves and on the back as well as the front. A bit too "busy" for my taste so I "decorated" only the front of the cardi . Overall it's a faithful reproduction of the pattern, including the colour of the wool which is a lovely cream 100% wool from Lana Gatto.

This one I find rather unusual.

Here I didn't make the sweater, I used an Angora-Mohair I had sitting in my wardrobe.
The embroidery technique is quite unusual. It's worked by wrapping the yarn around a pencil and then stitched on the sweater to form a flower pattern. Has anyone come across this technique?
Again here I preferred a partial reproduction of the flower motif which starts on the shoulders and runs along the sleeves.

Wouldn't it be great if these things became trendy again?