A bit late but… Happy New Year

Hello, my dear friends!

A very happy new year to all of you!!! I wish you a lot of love, happiness, fun, WIPs, FOs and yarn!

How are you?

Did you have some good and cozy time spend in a good company of the loved ones? I truly hope you did and that the beginning of the year is exciting and satisfying!

It seems that 2017 is going to be a surprising year as 2016 was… Well, I can speak for the part of the world I’m living in since Italy is still stroken by strong earthquakes, fortunately far away from Peschiera del Garda, but which are causing so many tragedies. I do hope that Mother Nature will give a break to the population suffering this disater.

2017 is the year of my 40th birthday too. Whaaaaaaaaat??? Already?? But but…. I was a little girl only yesterday! I swear! IT WAS YESTERDAY!

Oh, I will tell a lie if I say that I’m not affraid of the time flowing by but on the other hand I feel so well! Life is treating me very well indeed and I’m so thankful for the chance I had to enjoy some very happy and rich moments despite all the adversities. I do hope that this will continue for a long time ahead…

I owe you some Christmas photos. As I tell you I knitted socks as Christmas gifts for the family men and here are some photos. It had taken me a month to finish all the pairs and I took photos only of some of them…

The project I’m most proud of is a two color stranded hat! I have to thank to a friend of mine for the help and the directions given! It had had a big success and, apart the two knitted for my nephews, I knitted two more of them commissioned by friends of mine.

This is a project I do love to knit so much! It is fun, lovely and so nice. The pattern I use is this one. 🙂

I crocheted a Sleepy Bear for my BM’s nephew 🙂

… and despite my perplexity about the color, the little chap likes to play with this crocheted guy :).

And here are all my gifts gathered together..

I can’t deny that there was a lot of stress about deadlines and the satisfaction of everyone’s desire, but everybody liked their pressie so I felt so very well after Christmas.

We had a handmade Christmas tree this year …

… and we have a new leafy friend to take care about…

A bonsai. A ficus tree…. purchased before Christmas and it is still alive! Yeah!!

To not be forgotten: would you like to make the lovely snowman from the upper picture? Click here 🙂 . And if you need the translation, I can ask the permission to the designer to translate her pattern.

What had happened more… let’s see… Oh,well, anything special… I’m back on my craft 🙂 🙂 🙂

My BM made me a nice gift…

Oh I almost forgot about a pre Christmas quick commission, a pair of mitts and a hat for a little nine months old girl…

… and I made myself Amabie…

I think that that’s it for now and that I didn’t forget anything. After holidays life has continued to flow in its usual way, I’m so happy about that, and I can tell that I have a lot to do. A commission, a gift exchange (Roma, I didn’t forget about, after the stole it is your turn 🙂 ), a hat and a scarf for my BM and a lot of accounting study…

So let us put on the go mode!

Love

xxx

Tajana

 

 

Salva

Salva

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Let’s talk about…

Hello,my friends!

Oh,yeah,let’s talk about,but with a smile as always 🙂 because after annoying things there the good ones happen, as it should be. This morning I got out for a ride with my bike and I lost one of the pedals for my sake it happened quite close to my Big man’s workplace but neither he nor me were able to fix the damage… The nice owner ot the bookshop/coffee bar I used to spend my time the first days we were in Peschiera gave me the directions for ‘bike doctors’ who solved the problem in half an hour. Oh,lucky me 🙂 because now I know where I have to go in case of troubles 🙂 Well,my plan wasn’t exactly that but at least I got out,had a ride,had a walk and sweated like a donkey!! 😛 Oh,and enjoyed the view…

Unfortunately there’s never an end to annoying troubles…. I pulled a thread out of my mustard dress… 😦

….grrrrr…. why does not that happen to garments you do not care about at all!!! Fortunately the thread wasn’t broken and I fixed that easily. I washed the dress and now you can notice anything but I must be much more careful with my knitted goodies from now on… well, that happened on Sunday when we got home from my in Laws …. that to tell you that I was proudly showing my new garment all around and will continue to do that despite the awareness of the pulled thread in the inside…. 😛

There’s was a street market in Berceto on Sunday… I realized that I don’t talk much about my Big man’s home town and that’s not nice from me.I often refer to as ‘my in Laws’ but I don’t do justice to this nice burg on the Apennines. Maybe I still don’t feel at home there but that does not mean that I have to not talk about at all. Berceto deserves a better ambassador for sure! So from now on I’ll try to do better and I’ll start by telling that during all Summer there are a lot of small nice happenings and village fêtes in Berceto and its surroundings. As I said there was a nice market with a lot of interesting stalls, mostly by handmade items. But one of them had used books and I’ve found this on it…

Artistically speaking, the ‘Art Nouveau’ period is my favourite… It is so easy to feel both the desperation and the visceral need for beauty in the work of the very beginning of the 20th century artists. My mind stops to think as I see this…

…. and this….

…. and not to talk about Gustav Klimt paintings, absolutely my favourites!! I tried to use his colours in my craft but have to admit that it is not easy at all. Maybe my mustard dress and Jennifer’s origami necklace could slightly recall his style but slightly indeed… A friend of mine told me that my granny square blanket reminds her on Klimt’s work and I have to admit that her words made me feel so good… I’ll try to use more yellow,white, black and gold in my work from now on.

My friends, do you remember that Sheila from Sewchet had a giveaway for her Bloggiversary a while ago….? and I was the lucky winner!!! Well,some days ago her parcel arrived at mine!! I was just writing this post when the postman rang the bell… What an excitement!! Now I’m more calm and more aware of the beauty I’m surrounded with. Hers like all the others gifts I have received up till now talk about the skill and passion and time and fondness put in crafting them. This makes me move to tears!

Enjoy Sheila’s lovely goodies!

Love

xxx

Tajana

FO :: Elisabeth Lovick’s Crescent Shawl and a really magnificent gift

Hello, my dear friends!

These last two weeks were quite busy and intensely lived, in particular in its affective and emotional aspect. My Big man is working an awfully lot and the days he was at home I was focused on him and our life together and didn’t have the right concentration to blog. Well, to be honest, we are facing some issues that require a lot of energy and self confidence so I prefered being present in the real life rather than in the virual one. On the other hand, I didn’t stop to craft mostly because this is the best way to muse about everyday life and its problems as well as because my hands were itching to craft something from Elisabeth Lovick’s book.

But before writing about my last FO I’d like to show you what bmaryglaser sent me from the States…

The American Cook Book…

AMAZING!!!!

I have secretly desired it for ages…. and it is exactly as I imagined it….

…..just woooooooooooooooooooooow…..

That kind lady called Brittany Mary put in the parcel another amazing item…..

….which, as I saw it, made me recall Janis Joplin’s song Me and Bobby McGee….

Bmary glued all the pieces of this beautiful car all by herself…. how, for God’s sake, can’t I be moved to tears… ?

And last but not least, she crocheted a beautiful headband and wrote me a gorgeous card…

Bmary, I forgot to tell you that I’m on my way to make my hair grow under my Big man’s strict demand…. I think that this summer I will be the coolest girl in town…. 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

What can I say…. when I saw the contents of the parcel I was astonished!!! It is far beyond my expectations and I really don’t know how to thank you properly, Bmary!!! I enjoy every single goodie you sent me. Thank you ❤ ❤ ❤

Now, the Crescent shawl…. the photos just do not do it justice. I’ll try to make a better photo session of the shawl next week (I’m traveling to Croatia on Thursday) but up till then….

I have finished off the shawl an hour ago and have blocked it on the bed. I do not usually soak my knitted projects monstly because I do not have an appropriate surface to put them to dry …. I usually wet them with an odor eliminator, block them and make dry on the bed. Well, it works almost as well as soaking…. 🙂

I’m in love with Shetland lace…. I was so affrait not to be able to knit the shawl but it had turned out better that I could have eventually expected…. It was such a pleasure knitting this goodie as well as seeing it shaping while blocking…. and the colour…. it is not an usual red… oh no.. it is a nice cherry red that I love really much….

Dear Jennifer, your first goodie is ready 🙂 🙂 🙂 I’ll focus on a second one now… 🙂 🙂 🙂

Love

xxx

Tajana

I feel guilty…

… because only my Big man is working and because it is still a hard task to find a job for me nowadays … and even if I manage to save money by crafting (for ex. I was lucky because I had spent only 10 € for my tee yarn, 10 balls in total…. Katia had it on sale…) and I’m very careful about spending it (like buying boots which I will wear for the next three or four years – because I always wear the same shoes and this is the period of my keeping them intact – for 87 € instead of 125 €…. ), I can’t avoid to feel guilty….  I feel guilty because I saw a larger sum than usual melted in my hands and today I bought a book for my own pleasure only …. for 16 € …..

Money well spent indeed… I know that many of you will agree with me, but I know that I will feel guilty for the next five or six days….

Oh, I wish life were a bit easier sometimes…..

Back home…

… from Lucera…. and guess what…? Since my Big man’s flat is a kind of pied-à-terre, there was no TV, no internet connection (save my smartphone…), no Parma friends for an happy hour…. and what can you do when you find yourself in THAT situation….??? Well…

…. first of all, you can go out and make new friends 🙂 🙂 🙂 …. this is basic!

…then…

…. you can easily knit, wrapped in a cozy blanket and wearing funny socks…. you don’t feel lonely that way 😉 …

….. making a great WIP progress….

…. you can take selfies,just because….

…. and can hop around shopping nice goodies….

I have found a pattern for a beautiful sweater, just perfect for my Big man…..

My to do list is always so full of projects…. but I simply can’t resist to this nice garment… I see already my companion wearing it….

🙂 🙂 🙂

Love

xxx

Tajana

That’s why….

…. I should never go shopping….

There’s anything else to be said….