Knitting Frustration

I have to knit a baby hat for a one-year old cousine. She is so cute! I wanted to try the same pattern I used for my first hat, taken from www.yarnharlot.com. It's called the "Ken Dulaan" hat, but I don't do the I-Cord as for now. The problem is: I don't have the huge yarn, and my biggest needles are 8mm. This means the results are smaller. Now, for the first attempt, I used the pink 50% wool / 50% acrylic ball. It looks so nice! The problem is, the hat is too small. Looks like a doll hat. I added a yellow ribbon.

Then, I tried again with the strange multicolour dark wool/acrylic/alpaca yarn. It was SO hard to work with. Really. It is... "hairy". Lots of little hairs of alpaca came out as I knitted, and I eventually breathed some. I had the alpaca hairs in my throat. It wasn't a nice experience... I casted on more stitches but... still it looks small. Maybe it won't be small on the baby's head, who knows. I added a pink ribbon because the yarn is so dark! What do you think?

So: I'll have to tell the parents to use these as hats for the girl's dolls when she'll be older. I don't think she'll be able to wear them :( Gauge and those things are frustrating!

Love,

Flavio

Back from Italy with more balls of...

Dear friends,

Here I am again, and I am sorry for the delay. I am finally back from Italy, where I have been able to visit a little and cozy yarn shop. There, I bought some Italian balls of yarn which are simply adorable. You can see them on the left. Four balls are 50% wool 50% acrylic. The two green balls are pure Merino. The blue ball is 100% pure wool. The huge multicoloured one has also Alpaca in it!

Aren't they lovely? I can't wait to do something with them. Yes, I have also bought 10 metres of yellow lace and 10 metres of pink lace, to do ribbons and decorations. Who knows :-)

Now I have to knit a lovely hat for a little cousine. Let's see if I can do it for tomorrow :)

Love,
Flavio

Leaving for Italy -- A little seed stitch!

Dear friends!

I am leaving for a few days to Italy, so I won't be able to post for a while. That's sad! Meanwhile, please accept my excuses. Now, this is a funny piece: a little square (or rectangle!) with a simple garter stitch frame and a seed stitch design in the middle. I am not really sure what's its use (looks like a little dishcloth or a bedcloth for a doll!) - but I found it on the Project Linus website and thought it would be a nice way to use the remains of a multicolour ball I had used to do some doll hats :-) Well, I will come back soon with more things and more thoughts...

Lots of love,

Flavio

Why knitting?

Well, it's a long story to tell!

My first contact with active knitting happened when I was six or seven years old. My grand-aunt, Valentina, a very sweet, old woman, knitted all day in her cozy, little room, on a wooden chair besides her little bed. I loved to stay there and listen to her stories, her memories of World War I and World War II... she barely spoke Italian: she used the lovely regional language that gave to her stories a special taste.

The grand-aunt knitted the most wonderful garments. Huge blankets, socks for the whole family, sweaters... all were perfect. Her needles were magic! It all was very fascinating to me. I wanted to learn, but she didn't notice my interest, or she thought I was too young (and a boy). She lent me two needles and a skein, but I couldn't make out how to use them. Also, we didn't visit her too much, so it was in vain. I moved to Spain when I was 11, and saw her only once again, the year before she died, when I was 20. I couldn't ask her to teach me (nor I had the idea of knitting in my head) because she was very thin and could barely take a glass of water. Requiescat in pace, Zia!

Last year I felt the need to find this connection to the past. I bought needles, yarn... and looked for information on the Internet. I found many sources, but it was all a bit confusing. I learned how to cast on and how to knit stitches. A grandmother-in-law taught me how to purl and how to hold the yarn properly, with the aid of the little finger. I was able to do a few experiments, but then the hot summer prevented me from trying anything else.

Now, it's serious. I am really into serious knitting now, although I am a beginner. I would love to share with you all my progresses as I go on learning. I have already done a few baby hats, and did my first hand-knitted present to a relative: everyone was very excited and praised my little hat, and I was so proud! Actually CREATING something and giving it out as a present was such a great feeling. It's sort of addictive :-)

Here is my last sample: I am learning to do Fair-Isle, with two colours (bluette and orange). It looks nice, but it's just a start... I am trying a lace-pattern with nice holes, and the Knitting for Dummies book helps so much! Also, I am loving www.knittinghelp.com. It really helps when you are starting out. I recommend it highly!

Well, here it is :) I hope you like it!

Welcome to my blog :)

Hello there :)

My name is Flavio and I love to knit. I have tried to have a blog twice before, without success. I certainly don't pretend to have a successful blog. Sometimes I love to share my thoughts. And pictures of my knitting. Or ideas about music, life, things that annoy me...

Knitting is a lovely activity and it is very relaxing and challenging. I am so busy everyday, that it helps me to disconnect from worries. And music is wonderful too! I am a classical singer and a pianist. I have a degree in Translation Studies but have just begun a new degree, Classics (Latin and Ancient Greek), which is one of my favourite things :)

So, enough. I'll start to post soon about things, knitting and other stuff. I hope I won't bore you too much :)

Oh, by the way, this blog is trilingual: I will sometimes post in English, Italian or Spanish (even Catalan if needed) - and you can comment in any of these languages :) Latin is welcome too ;)

Potete scrivere i vostri commenti anche in Italiano, nessun problema :) // También podéis comentar en castellano, no hay problema :)) // Podeu deixar els vostres comentaris en català, no hi ha cap problema ;-) // Latine quoque scribere potes, amice :-)

Love,

Flavio