Holiday fever! Already????!!!!

Hello, my dear friends!

Those of you who knows me best know very well my obsession with handmade Christmas gifts….  There’s no need to talk about that much… but did I tell you that I want to have a nice Christmas tree this year… ? Since I’m so insane, I’m not only crafting gifts, I’m making tree ornaments too….

I have a precise idea about how my tree should look like and I’m playing a lot with the hook and different kind of yarn. I’d like to have sparkling garlands, nice white snowflakes, macarons and some felted embroidered hearts…. Let’s see if I’ll be able to finish off all the ornaments in time…

In the meantime I have finished off, blocked and stored the stole I was making for one of my sisters in law…

This is Luule pattern by Susanne Visch and I love it a lot! The yarn I used wasn’t the best one I have ever knitted with but it was worth the effort. The colors of this stole are too bright, in my opinion, but are perfect for the lady it is meant to. And I’m happy I was able to store it at last!!

As you can imagine, a new project is on my needles which should be finished off in three or four days… The Stone Tulip Shawl for my Mother in law ….

What can I say… I can’t wait to have it finished off and blocked!!!!!

My Mother in law is going to have a small pressie before Christmas, though… three pot holders…

I’m not satisfied with the finishing of those, however. Sewing is still my weak spot which has to be improved a lot… Sometimes it happens that my projects turn out nice but sometimes they do not…. I have to work a lot on appliqués….

At last, I knitted myself a hat! It was a while that I wanted to make this for me, a pattern I saw for the first time on Sewchet’s blog…

This hat is perfect! I love this pattern very much and I love to wear it during our waks… By the way, we spent a few hours outdoors this weekend and here are some photos of the Lake seen from above!

I hope that you will enjoy this views!

I have to go now and have lunch ready!!

(Breathe, Tajana, breathe….)

Love

xxx

Tajana

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October

Hello my dear friends!

Autumn is here! Already?! I don’t know how and why time flies so fast, maybe aging do not bring only wrinkles but it also changes our percepction of time flow… Well, I don’t care! At all! I love this time of year (this came with age for sure… 😛 ) for its colours, the need to gather in house and the pleasure to spend my evenings on the sofa watching television and knitting.

The walks in the mountains also become shorter and less frequent but they are still good and liberating. Here are some shuts from the Apennines.

I  particulary love the second photo of the first row…. It is quite poetic…

Spending time indoor and crafting are a perfect autumnal coefficient and I’m glad that I can show you some results of that sum…

A cozy hooded capelet

A friend of mine asked me to knit a hooded capelet for her daughter and I finished it off some days ago… I followed this pattern but I changed the lenght and the gauge. I used 8 mm needles and have to say that I love more those big cables instead the smaller ones…

The WIP

After have FO the red stole I have started a new one… This new one is also meant for one of my SILs… 🙂

I found a lovely pattern with which I fell in love so, despite the itchy and irritating yarn, I’m stubbornly  working on it.

The first of three beanies

From time to time I have to put aside this project though and make something quick with a yarn which caresses my hands. Merino for this purpose is great…

The beanie for my BM’s nephew is finished off 🙂 🙂 🙂 and I like the pompom quite a lot 🙂

A simple and easy pattern by Purl Soho but so lovely!! I adore Purl Soho’s projects. They are all so easy and fresh and modern and so IN and… and…. Just go and have a look!

Happy October and happy crafting!!

Love

xxx

Tajana

Popping out again

Hello, my dear friends!

It has been a while since my last post here on the blog. What had happened….? Well… It is hard to say but let it put that way… I have a compulsive need to create and hold in my hands the result of this compulsive activity. Around Christmas last year I found so hard to spend time both online and crafting and I discovered Instagram, a quick and easy way to share photos, exactly what I needed in that very moment. So you can easily imagine what had occured. I was able to show you my WIPs and FO projects and follow and be followed by all my blog friends. Well, to be frank it is much easier to find me on my personal Facebook profile and on Instagram than here or on Pinterest…. So I totally neglected my blog and all that beautiful people who are my ultimate inspiration. As I always say that there wouldn’t be any crafted goodie at mine if there weren’t you, my friends, who inspired me.

I have to thank Roma for bringing me down from the moon. With few lovely words she made me think about the goal I gave to this blog and I understood that writing always  calmed down that crafty urge I have and always made me collect my thoughts. For a new beginning. Maybe I’ll not be present so often as I used to be but i promise I’ll start sharing again my projects here in blogland. All the photos you’ll find on Instagram first…. Sorry for that!! But my musing will be written here.

I’d like to start with sharing one of the Christmas gifts I finished off lately. I knitted a stole for one of my SILs ….

It has taken me a while to knit this stole but it is totally worth the effort. The pattern is a simple one, I just replicated a lace chart from Elisabeth Lovic’s book. 🙂

I have knitted two shawls too… the Stone Tulip Shawl! What a beautiful pattern!

The first one is for a friend of mine while the second one is meant for another SIL (there are three of them… the gift for the third one is in progress… ).

A friend of mine asked me to crochet her a Mermaid tail blanket.

 

If you like to make one of these you can find a pattern here.

My Big man and I were away for a holiday in the mountains this summer and having a break under a glacier eating a sandwich with home made bread and wearing hand made socks was great!

Alost the same feeling as in the moment i found this book in my mailbox!

I had fun with little sewing projects…

…. and I crocheted a Sleepy Bear following a pattern by Jennifer Olivarez.

This was a very busy summer because I discovered the joy of fruit…

….and made a lot of jam!

I hope that I was able to illustrate a bit of what had happened here down in Italy during my absence. Now I have to say bye and hurry to knead my flat bread with the yeast starter (…who is yelling for some attention down in the kitchen… ).

Stay tuned and have a nice day, lovely people out there!

Love

xxx

Tajana

Salva

Abilmente Vicenza

Hello, my dear friends!

Here I am! Abilmente Vicenza is behind me and I can happily tell you that it was great.

I don’t even know where to start to write about this beautiful fair! As I arrived I was captured by a warm creative stream which led me around and which I can still strongly feel even if two days has already passed. It was beautiful being a part ot that colourful and so inspiring event.

The members of the Magliuomini group are simply amazing.

I was welcomed with kindness and was put at my ease from the very first moment and even if I was so very thrilled I was never disoriented. Pretending to have winning an Academy Award (….. be patient with me and excuse my emotionalisam…  because I feel like that for real….), a special thanks goes to Kate Alinari, known as the Magliuomini’s Godmother, and to Paolo Dalle Piane,  known as Magliuomini’s Boss!

Great experts and yarn lovers, their support was of a great help for me. Thank you, guys!!

This overall sense of well-being helped me during my class which went well and I was so pleased by my pupils’ desire to organize a knit café and work on socks again 🙂 . I was so concentrated on explaining (…and on trying to avoid leaving a bad impression…) that I didn’t take photos of my class but there are two of them published on my FB page taken by one of my pupil’s husband so you can see us ‘in action’ 🙂 . But despite my fear and excitement, I had fun indeed!

I saw amazing crochet and knit installation art!

Do you remember or have you heard about the World’s biggest blanket crocheted in Trieste and displayed in Piazza Unità on June 20th 2015? I have published some photos on my FB page… well, pieces of it were displayed at Abilmente…

I was overwhelmed by this crochet beauty…. The power of the hook rules!!

There was a yarny tribute to Mondrian…

Amazing, don’t you think?! And of course, this is only a little part of the whole …. I felt like Alice in Wonderland and I spent more time looking around in awe than taking photos. But I hope that I gave you the idea of what I have seen…

There’s more…

…. and more and more and more…. I’m sorry that I didn’t have more time to visit the fair. You need at least two days to see everything.

The list of events organized by the Magliuomini Group was rich indeed! I was so lucky because I was able to attend to a meeting with two extraordinary artists, the DAMSS, on Friday afternoon. Trying to summarise the presentation of their art two words come up to my mind, precisely contamination and experimentation! And an invitation to try to do the same by ourselves!!

(…. I fell in love with her… a deep, visceral love… )

As you can see, the two artists work mostly with fiber exploring the effects if treated with artistic techniques from other fields like those used in furniture restoration… Their work is an union of art and handicraft and highlights the importance of the beauty in everyday’s life. Their enthusiasm was contagious and I came home with a new awareness of which role art should have in my life. Oh, now I know what I want as Christmas gift! Their book!!

I’m so so so so very glad to tell that I had the chance to try some crafts I have never tried before….

…. like doing some spool knitting 🙂

This is an interesting technique suitable for knitted jewellry and much more and I was thinking about buying a spool… I have to thank Sara Lo Sasso for have shown me how it works 🙂 .

And … I SPUN!!!

I was invited by Fiberfabry to try to spun, he explained me the basics of spinning and have to admit that I’m tempted to buy a spindle….

All this was crazy!!! What a great experience!!!

I think you can easily imagine that I came home with new goodies…. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

First of all I have to show you the gift I received from Magliuomini 🙂

Is there anything that I have to say about this photo?? The yarn is amazing as it is the knitting needle gauge!! And it’s ROWAN!!! As the yarn I bought for my hat….

(Do you like this shade of red, Claire? It is not exactly cherry red but I think that, by adding the Rowan’s kidsilk haze from the previous photo, I will obtain a nice result… 🙂 )

You can also see the result of my very first spinning on the above photo 😀 .

And as last but not least, I bought a self healing mat and a rotary cutter.

It’s an A2 cutting mat, 24″x18″, for 18 euros. Well, I liked the price so much that I decided to buy it!! What do you say, was it a bargain? I couldn’t find anything under 30 euros in the stores I was looking for it before so I purchased it at the fair…

At the very end of this long post I’d like to show you my pass ….

…. and tell once again how great Abilmente was for me!!

I wish you a good beginning of the week!!

Love

xxx

Tajana

The Outfit…

…. for tomorrow is ready….

…. crocheted shawl, crocheted mittens, sewed skirt and knitted socks….

A close up on my skirt, socks and boots….

Yes,I’m ready! And so awfully excited!!!

Love

xxx

Tajana

PS:I have a second outfit ready too, only in case I don’t feel at my ease when I dress up tomorrow morning…. yeah, such a womanly paranoia….

Almost there…

Hello my dear friends!

I’m almost ready for Abilmente….. Oh, I couldn’t be more excited! I have finished off the last pair of socks….

….that one I’m going to wear and have put aside everything I have to carry with me….

I wrote a little report about sock knitting (in 10 copies) and made some very rough cards with my blog and email address written on. Just in case…. Tomorrow I will prepare the lesson itself and that is it! Oh, I’m thrilled!!!

I will be honest and tell that I’m a bit tired and I don’t spend much time online but I follow all your gorgeous craft on my WordPress reader!! I feel always so inspired by you and your work! Thank you for being always there! ❤ ❤ ❤

Love

xxx

Tajana

Exciting Events

Hello, my friends!!

How are you? Wow, it is the first day of Autum today!!! How do you feel about that?? The beginning of a colourful season and it is my brother’s birthday!! This is nice! I’ll call him later to wish him a happy birthday 🙂

Since we are entering a cooler part of the year and since this morning I saw this sky…

… I thought it is time to slow down a bit and write a post about what has happened and what is happening lately…

I was at home in Croatia last week and came back with a nice goodie….

A thermic mug!!! Oh, what a big deal indeed! But as I saw it at the supermarket I fell in love with this simple thing and had to buy it! So now I will have hot tea for a longer time than usual! I love those small life pleasures….

I’m thrilled!! Indeed! Like a child! Because I’m going to attend Abilmente! Abilmente is a craft fair held thrice a year here in Italy, twice in Vicenza and once in Rome. There will be a lot of yarn, needles, hooks, fabrics, threads…. and a lot of great creative people! I was invited by a nice group of male knitters called #magliuomini ( find here their FB page and here their blog ) to attend the fair as a sock knitting teacher. I will hold a four hour workshop and anybody interested in socks will get the basic directions to try themself in sock knitting. This is simply exciting!!! This is the first time ever that I’m going to attend an event like that and I’m out of my mind for that! Since there is a lot of excitement to deal with I started to work on my workshop to calm myself down and have finished off my first pair of socks  🙂

(… to notice the thermic mug in its natural surrounding….)

Today I take a day off from knitting but I’m going to start a new pair of socks with the grey yarn from the below photo..

…. yarn bought in Trieste during my last trip in Croatia in a nice yarn store, Lalanalà, run by two lovely ladies indeed! It was fun to buy some yarn in a store I read about and liked on Facebook! This store had opened a long time after I left Trieste and I am so glad to have found a pearl like that in a town I love so much!

Will the excitement end…? No, it will not for a quite long time! Because I received Sheila’s parcel!!! We had a gift exchange and look what this lovely lady and expert tailor sent me…. ❤ ❤ ❤

A bag to bring along my projects…

…. and the matching card keeper, coin purse and phone case with my name embroidered on! How, for God’s sake, can I avoid to have my heart melted?? And did you see the beautiful card she sent me?

My friends, I’m so overwhelmed by all this excitement! Nice things are happening lately and I have to admit that I’m enjoying it with a lot of joy!!

Now it is time to lend on Earth again (…. Huston is calling, Tajana, answer, please!!!) and get on work! New ideas are in the air and I hope I’ll be able to materialize them!

Have a great day!!

Love

xxx

Tajana

Holiday Pictures :: Part 3

Hello, my friends!

Here I am with the last part of our holiday pictures, those I loved most. It was the first time that my Big man and me went to the island of Cres, just one of the myriad islands of the Croatian coast, and the nearest to my home town. Oh, even if I was several times on the island by myself, this time was different though ❤ . It was a really nice experience : the ferry, Lubenice, the Vrana Lake and the rainbow that saw us home at the end of the day. I especially loved our walk to the beach Sv. Ivan (St. John), a beach I heard a lot and where my brother has already been while it was the first time for me. You have a 45 minutes walk down a steep path to reach the beach and the way back takes you twice as much time.  It was hard but totally worth the effort and I’m so so so very glad that my BM loved it too. He’s a mountain kind of guy and it is hard to make him like the coast but I managed to surprised him at last!! Oh, bravo to me, indeed!!

Enjoy the view!! ❤ ❤ ❤

The ferry trip

On the island and the City of Cres

Lubenice

(ignore my look, please, but I have to post this photo to prove I was there… do you spot the village of Lubenice behind me, up there on the cliff?)

(The water was freezing but I had one of the most delicious swim ever down here)

(some stone castles,not built by me, and Jennifer’s skull hoodie 🙂 )

The Vrana Lake

On the way home

Love

xxx

Tajana

Holiday Pictures :: Part 2

Hello,my friends!

Your comments on my previous post made me feel so happy indeed!!

Thank you all for your kind words of appreciation! I’m moved and so very pleased!

I was thinking about publishing the following photos late this evening but my enthusiasm grew so fast thanks to you that I decided to post them immediately.

I wish you to enjoy, travel and dream again ❤ ❤ ❤

Buje – Buie d’Istria

Novigrad – Cittanova

Love

xxx

Tajana

Holiday Pictures :: Part 1

Hello, my friedns!

As promised, I’m back with the pictures from our holiday which was quite nice, in particular because I saw places from my original country with new more mature eyes.

I’ll show you three places today, one in Slovenia and two in Croatia, which made me feel quite thrilled. The only thing I’m sorry about is that we didn’t take more photos of Kobarid, Caporetto in Italian, it deserves more attention indeed, but we weren’t allowed to take photos in the museum, our final destination in this lovely town. So please, just click to the links you’ll find in my post to have more info about the places we visited. I just want to say that Ernest Hemingway,whose work I studied during college, described the Italian retreat at the end of the Battle of Caporetto, WWI, in his novel A Farewell to Arms. For this reason the visit to The Kobarid Museum was very touching for me. Once at my Mum’s, I looked among my old college books and found the novel and brought it home with me.

Kobarid – Caporetto

Groznjan – Grisignana

Zavrsje – Piemonte d’Istria

Love

xxx

Tajana