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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I’m still here

Hello, my dear friends!

Yes, I am, I’m still here! I have been neglected the blog for a while and that because I’m on a big delay with my Christmas gifts cratfing… Oh, well, I will be able to make everything on my “to do” list but I’m not sure if I will have the scarf I want to knit for me before Christmas…. I hope a miracle will happen but I’m affraid it will have to wait until next year…

Oh, never mind, here are my latest FO…

An off the scedule hat for my BM…

The pattern is the same I used for my hat, the Cabled Hat by Debbie Bliss.

My Mother in law Stone Tulip Shawl

I have to admit that I like it a lot!

The Lace Scarf for my Mum

I followed this pattern and even if it is in Finnish it is easy to understand.

All the gifts for the ladies are done and now it is gentlemen’s turn…

Socks, socks, socks!!!

I have started with my Father in law…

…. and I’m going on with my brother’s pair…

Oh, I feel I’m working so slowly….

Some more Christmas tree ornaments are ready too….

Making all those things by hands… Insanity! That’s the most suitable term to describe how I’m feeling in these days!

So…. since the last few months were so discouraging because a lot of bad things had happened (Brexit, Trump president of the USA, Italy stroken by two terrible earthquakes…. I stop here!) I’d like to share with you some random photos of this still beautiful autumn…

Places we have been….

Garda

Garda

Garda

Lazise

Verona

Verona

My dears, enjoy and relax! Of course, if you have time for 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

Bye!!

Ponti sul Mincio (… yes, I love to make selfies 🙂 )

Love

xxx

Tajana

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

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

Back From Holiday

Hello, my friends!

How are you? Is everything ok?? I hope it is and I hope that you are having a great end of this crazy summer! My Big man is back to work and I’m back to my crafting after having spent four days in Croatia. There is a lot of things to talk about and I was wondering which photos share with you first. There are many of them to be shown, in particular those from our holidays are quite interesting, but I decided to start with the craft done before leaving, to put some order in the last week happenings. Both because I’d like to do justice to a great crochet designer and a friend and because I’d like to show you my first Xmas scarf FO yesterday night 🙂

As first, let start with the second bag I sewed for the family girls. I have found a tutorial for a really nice bag. I have simply fell in love with it and decided to try myself with, even if it looked a bit tricky…. well, it wasn’t so difficult to sew but I have had some problems with the union of the top and the bottom since the main fabric and the lining have to be attached in the same time…. oh,my version of it isn’t so bad at all, since I use jute and it looks quite cozy, but if I want to sew an elegant version, like the one from the tutorial, I have to be more careful…. here are the photos of my bag…

I find it so suitable for my artistic SIL! Very simple, made out from some natural fabric as jute and with one beautiful flower to adorn it. I hope she will like it 🙂 What do you think about my versione of the Canvas Slim Bag? Do you like it and, in particular, do you like the crocheted flower? I’m so very happy to introduce this ornament to you because its pattern was written by my friend Jennifer whose blog, Squirrel Picnic, I simply adore. This lovely lady is writing a crochet book, The Big Acorn Race, and asked me to be a tester for her pattern for this lovely flower named Tall ‘n’ Fast!

Can you imagine how happy and honoured I was and am to have taken part to her beautiful project!!! I highly recommend you to have a look at her blog,you’ll find there a lot of inspiration, and follow her during the book writing! She’s a genious indeed!! Can’t wait to see the book! Hi, Jennifer, hugs are crossing the ocean!! ❤

The first Xmas scarf is done! YIPPEE!!! I have started it a while ago and since I worked only during evenings I’m happy that it is FO 🙂 Since today it is quite cloudy I was lucky to have caught some sunshine during the photo session 😀

A simple seed stitch and some nice soft yarn, a mixture of cotton and merino wool, in a nice dark brown shade. So manly,don’t you think? 😉

I’ll be back soon with my holiday photos.

Love

xxx

Tajana

A bit of late crochet

I had a crochet phase today and it was so very relaxing indeed…. it is one of those super quick projects which gives you a great satisfaction….

It is Suzann Thompson’s Columbine and it is one of my favourite flower from her book … This is going to be the only decoration for my Mum’s bag…. Up till now the project looks nice LOL LOL LOL  …..the bag is still a piece of fabric though…. 😛 😛 😛

Wish you all a good nignt…

Love

xxx

Tajana

The mustard yarn epilogue

Oh,yeah,it is true! I had bought a big amount of the mustard cotton yarn and I tried to make the most of it indeed! First the dress, then the Crescent shawl and, as last, this little goodie… a grocery bag…

…. well,in fact it is too small to carry groceries but it is perfect for books…. LOL The cost of the yarn? 26 € for thirteen balls thanks to my friend Katia. I’m quite satisfied with my maths LOL and even if I had paid it twice as much it still would have been a bargain.

Back to the bag, I had found the pattern online quite a while ago but I don’t remember where. Here’s the photo I saved on my computer and if the author recognizes it as his own pattern I kindly ask to let me know.

 

As you can see, the size can be adjust as you want and it is quite quick to crochet so… Have fun!!

I can easily suppose that you could be slightly sick of seeing all that mustard at mine…. 😛

…. but,oh,there’s a ball left!!!!! Can you spot it?

Seriously now, I think that I’ll take a break of that mustard but in a few days even this last ball will be happily used for a very good purpose so I hope that you’ll forgive me its longlasting presence at mine… Do you remember the Charity Yarn Bombing promoted by The Grange Range last year?? This event will occure again in August this year so I will use it to crochet flowers! And if you are interested to, just have a look at The Grange Range blog for more informations:

https://thegrangerange.wordpress.com/2015/06/28/charity-yarn-bombing-2015/

Have a great weekend, kind and lovely people out there!!

Love

xxx

Tajana

Back online again

Hello,my friends!

Here I am again!! The internet connection is now fully functional and I am able to show you where we have moved and what I have been crafting lately… 🙂

Let start with Peschiera del Garda. Those of you who were following me on Instagram had aready seen these photos but now I can arrange them with a new order and sense…

Have a look to the downtown….

…. and to the surroundings…. my favourites!!! Because I can have as many bike rides as I like!!!

We moved in a nice part of Italy and I foresee a lot of solitary rides,a condition which I like a lot. Do not misunderstand me,I’m a very sociable woman,but I love that condition which brings me to stay a lot with myself musing about my spiritual and earthly life. Oh,I’m always and so often looking for answers…

Between one question and another rising in my mind,we had settled down 😀 and I have started to decorate our home… here it is, my crafting corner… 🙂

…. and the very first of the four curtains sewed and hanged.. 🙂

Wine and spices can’t never miss at ours….

….as can’t good food….

And what about knitting and crocheting…..??? Don’t worry! Here I am with my last project….

…. and with some crochet cameos…

I crocheted this sweet creature for my kitchen to keep me good company while cooking or when my Big man is away… did I do the right thing… 🙂 🙂 🙂 ???

There are a lot of things still to do in this new home but up till now I’m satisfied with what has been done and how we had managed all the move thing! And now we are back to our normal life. Well,I miss my Parma friends but I will go back to Parma from time to time,we are not so far away 🙂

I’m so happy to be online again so I can catch up with the latest news in the blogsphere! I missed you so much,I missed the way I feel when I read all your fabulous posts!! My door to the marvel of creation is open again and can’t wait to discover all the beauty you were up to lately!

Love

xxx

Tajana

Freshness

The unbearable need to crochet

It happened! It stroke me like a thunder! I simply had to crochet it!

A few days ago I was looking for inspiration on Pinterest,just because, and have found this…. originally published here… and there was anything but anything indeed that I could have done to push away that painful need to craft this amazing doily…. despite all the work and the tasks to be acomplished in these days…. for my sake, the doily was quite quick to crochet and I FO it and iron it a half an hour ago… Even if it has a quite mushy look it is still the most trendy doily I have crocheted up till now and I like quite a lot how it turned out… I foresee more doilies crocheted following the same patterns but trying different colours…. It will be fun indeed 🙂 🙂 🙂

Enjoy…