Rubén's New Set! Jacket and Hat... :)

Dear friends,

How are you all? I am fine, can't wait to go home next Friday, for the whooole summer! Therefore, I have been knitting like crazy to finish my last big project. Rubén's mother (see Rubén here, with his first set of hat and jacket last year) has asked me to do something for next winter, and I simply LOOOOVE special requests! She said that she had liked the pattern of the very first jacket I did in April 2006 (click here to see it) - but she wanted, of course, different colours. She said dark blue, and I thought I would lighten it up with some soft cream vanilla marmor effect! Also, I have been using the same pattern, which I have tested last year, and it works perfectly well with my 5-1/2mm and 5mm needles. Also, this time I did the second step: the matching hat, and I just think it's soooo lovely! What do you think?

I don't have double pointed needles here in Switzerland, so, for the I-Cord, I just slipped the 3 stitches to the other needle at every row, as if I were purling, or something like that... well, it works :) Picking up stitches is already something that does not worry me in the least... but once again, I think I should not finish the collar so soon. When I work on it, I always have the impression that it's massive.. but when I bind off, I realize it's not as long as I wanted in order to fold it on the neck... mmm, but it's probably better this way, the baby doesn't need a huge collar to struggle with... So, here it is! Notice Winnie the Pooh with the hat ;) It's too big for him, LOL! :)

PS: DON'T PANIC! Click the photos to enlarge them! :)

Love,
Flavio

Several things...

Dear friends!

Today I found a fantastic marketplace stand with incredibly soft, thin silk (I presume) hanks. I have asked for the price and misunderstood. The woman said that with 100g I can do a scarf or something. I chose a fantastic mix of light blues... they are hand-dyed, hand made. When I had to pay, I was too ashamed to say no. It simply was my fault, I had misunderstood. It cost me 35CHF (28USD, 21EUR)... Now, the first thing will be: I hope I'll be able to do balls out of the hank... if it all tangles up, it will be an (expensive) tragedy. What do you think?

Also, at the end of april I took the train to Italy to see my aunts and my grandmother. I took my knitting with me, in my big flower-tote... I was afraid people would laugh, but they didn't... they just looked a lot... although I must admit that the tote is not very... discreet. Oh well. Here I was with my 300g ball... gosh! :) I had troubles closing the zip. Maybe next time I'll travel with smaller balls. Good thing about train: no metal detector = knitting needles are OK! :)

Love,
Flavio

My new philosophy of life...

Dear friends,

Here I am again - I survived the moving, and now I can write from my new home, where I have already started knitting a new project, a lovely baby jacket mixing dark blue and cream. I have been going through a very stressful period, and I have been wondering about the important things in life. Well, the other day I couldn't stop thinking about a group of words that, together, made special sense to me. I thought I would make a new philosophy of life out of these three ideas. It is like a simple list of instructions for life. I think it will work just fine. It's rather simple, I know, but it sounds nice and I think it covers most of what I want to do in life without stress. I am very much hoping to be able to follow this, without getting lost in the way. So, here it goes:

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1) Give love to the most important people in your life.

1bis) Ask for respect the same way you give respect to people.

2) Sing, and make a source of light and love of your singing.

3) Knit beautiful, little things for the people you love.

99) Do not get in trouble. Really.

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I am willing to give this a try. I wish that it will work to make my life a better episode of the world. Thank you for reading all this. Lots of love to you all!

Flavio