Knitting Fla

Kitty Love Washcloth :)

2011-08-13T10:32:00.003+02:00

Dearest friends,

My blog has lost almost all of its followers - only 3 now! Sigh :)

In order to finish the ball of yarn I had in orange, I thought to add a little gadget for the baby set - and I found a lovely washcloth - so cute, with a kitten and a heart! :)

Easy peasy :) Just knit and purl ;)

Here it is :)

Love,
Flavio

Saartje Booties :)

2011-08-09T00:39:00.006+02:00

Dear friends!

Sooo, here I am again - the baby who is supposed to get the Aviatrix Baby Hat will be born tomorrow - and I found the time to do some extra thingies before we go visit the newborn! I mixed the hat-yarn with some spare green merino I had and... I enjoyed the occasion to knit my FIRST baby booties ever! They are so cute and quick to make! Just I wasn't very happy about the loop holes for the buttons, they are not really ideal, but well, there it goes! :)

I find it quite sweet :) What do you think? I found the pattern on Raverly :)

Oh, and here a photo of the hat and the booties together! :)

Love,
Flavio

Aviatrix Baby Hat :)

2011-08-07T16:30:00.007+02:00

Dear friends!

I haven't posted anything for a loooong time, I know. You probably have forgotten this blog. But truth is, I hadn't knitted anything either! Sorry :( Life got suddenly extremely busier and I didn't have the concentration for knitting something new. I have got a lovely excuse now: a friend is going to give birth very soon and I thought I'd do a lovely baby hat - so, I found this AVIATRIX BABY HAT pattern on RAVELRY and chose a lovely PEACH coloured yarn at my local shopping mall :) Only, I didn't have the 3.25 needles with me, so I did the whole pattern with the smaller needles asked for in the pattern (3mm) --- it works actually!

It was quite easy and I loved the "melon" shaping of the head - for this I had to learn a new kind of movement: WRAP AND TURN :) Nice to see there is always something new to learn! I hope the baby and the mother will like this :) The earflaps and straps are so cute as well :)

Love,
Fla

2010... poor 2010!

2010-10-24T23:39:00.006+02:00

Dear friends!

Yes, I really haven't been knitting until now. Crazy year. Well, actually... I did a little pouch for the tarot cards in the summer :) I bought the deck and read that it must be protected in a special thing that must be very personal - and I thought, well, I can knit one :) It is complete with a string you can pull to open and close it :) It is quite lovely, and I used a skein I still hadn't started, very plush and comfy! :)

Also, I did yesterday a little doll pullover --- the cute thing is, I improvised the pattern! Hihihi... I started doing some checkers... and then I was not sure how to go on. I thought... let's try a pullover for a doll or similar :) - I did the front, splitting the neck shaping in two needles, etc. etc... the fair-isle looked quite nice, and I was happy about it. Then I did the back, the sleeves, the neck... and this was the result:

Well, sorry for being so absent. I am just about to get my MA degree in Singing, so... I am quite busy, yep :)

Love,
Fla :)

Step nº 3 - Keene Toddler Vest is READY!!!

2009-12-04T12:16:00.005+01:00

Dear friends!

Yoohooooo! It's finished!

It's taken quite a long time to finish this vest, but I am SOOO happy about it. I will post it inmediately to my Raverly profile of course. And I also found a baby for it, so I can't wait to take photos of the baby wearing it, although it might be a bit big for him now, so we can wait for spring (it's actually very good for spring too, with a shirt under :) I really loved the pattern. I just had soo little time to do this, that I had to take spare half hours here and there to work on it!

The sewing and collar/sleeve "editing" might look a bit torturing from the outside... (see photo). Plus, I have never learned to use a circular, so I couldn't do the neck collar as per instructions. This means, I simply did the back collar separately and the front V-collar separately as well, and then I sew them together. You can't really notice from a distance, so... I guess I did the right thing! Sorry, still haven't found the time to learn the circular knitting... oh well! (This prevents me from undertaking a huge number of patterns, in fact!)

Soooo... here it is! The ribbon is a traditional Fla-Trademark, but is of course optional in case the mother doesn't like it. The vest is nice anyway as it is! It also feels nice with this PODIUM yarn I bought in Spain. Yoohoo! I also love the cables, etc etc :) The shaping was also OK, although I forgot the right/left-slanting factor and it could have looked even more perfect, but hey, I am human :) LOL!

Hope you like it!

Love,
Fla

Step nº 2 - Cable Sleeveless Cardigan...

2009-12-01T14:17:00.004+01:00

Dear friends

sooooooooo... Front side is also ready! Not sure what will happen to the collar shaping! Oh well :) Will keep you posted... :) Must get this ready for the 18th December, for Masako's Baby! :)

Love,
Fla

A BIG ball!

2009-11-01T01:15:00.004+01:00

Dear friends :)

Now... what should I do with this? ;) LOL! It really is BEAUTIFUL and DELUXE, but have NO idea what it is or what brand. Got the big cone from my Aunt and I turned it into a ball... must be at least 1kg, must be the perfect excuse to do something huge... any idea?!

Just began a baby pullover...

2009-11-01T01:05:00.004+01:00

Dear friends!

Woooof, yet another baby pullover? Well, this one seems sooo nice! It's the Keene Toddler Vest (sleeveless) by Marilyn Losee, which I found on Ravelry.com (I am flavio83 there, by the way!) - I liked the idea to go back to cables, and the two-colour ribbing was just so sweet to see on the pattern, that I really wanted to give it a try. Plus, the smallest size (12-18 month-old) requires very little yarn! Yay :) Have a look at the pattern on-line, it's free :)

Well, I started it and I have the back, it was not so difficult to do actually, and the cables look OOOOH so nice. I had some trouble with the neck and arm shaping but, eventually, I did it. It's just, the pattern seems to forget that the decreasings require to break the cables at a certain point, at the very end... well, I hope I did it right :) I chose deep blue as CC and ivory or "broken white" as MC.

Hope you like it? :)
Love, Flavio

Autumn hat for the cousine

2009-10-02T14:44:00.003+02:00

Dear friends!

A cousine of mine promised me a chocolate cake if I made her a hat. Well, that was easy to satisfy! I bought a lovely skein and used half of it to do this. I hadn't knit in a long time, I have to say, unfortunately. But here it is. I will use the rest of the skein to do a matching little magic scarf. I am in Germany rehearsing an opera and had little time for myself, but I found a HUUUUGE shop of yarn and... wow. I couldn't resist. Also, the cousine's hat was a good excuse!

OK; this is super bulky yarn. The girl at the shop said 9mm needles... I thought it was going to be too "transparent", if you know what I mean. So, I did the border in rib 2x2 but than doubled yarn for the rest of the hat, and it worked very fine! Well, I hope it's going to be liked by the cousine! LOL!

See you soon! :)

Love,
Flavio

I am alive, yes - Sleeveless autumn "over-all" pullover :)

2009-08-05T20:12:00.010+02:00

Dear friends!

Yes, I am clearly still alive. I am so ashamed that I haven't posted a thing since December. It's really been a problem of time and... impulse. What I mean is: when you have a project on the needles and you start working on it... and when you start losing the inspiration and, eventually, the wishes to finish it... you know what I am talking about. This was on the needles since AUGUST 2008 (Geez). I had promised it. And little by little I tried to complete the back of the sweater. This extermely HARD pattern I got in Germany was twice as complicated to understand because it was in German, and I have learned to knit in English. So, go figure! Plus, the pattern was quite a complicated one with a lot of counting and reverse purling and stuff... yikes!

So, when I finished the back, it felt like a huge stone. But then, I had to do the front. I tried to use as many dead hours as possible (waiting during rehearsals, etc., causing the smiles and curious looks of my colleagues) -- and that was it. I really couldn't find the guts to go for the sleeves. It felt like it would have been ENDLESS. SO this is why I decided to take this off the needles and sew. Basta. Ciao. Just a sleeveless pullover, after all the super hard work on the pattern. It looks nice, especially since the shoulders were supposed to be weird in the pattern, with two slopes and button holes (!)... which I also camouflaged with kitsch yellow ribbons. Oh la la. C'est comme ça! --- So this is it, girls! I feel like I can start my knitting life again now. This project was like a curse on the needles. It prevented me from knitting anything else for months (except the armwarmers, see previous post) --- and I never felt like finishing it, so you see the results!

My blog friends must have thought I had quit the blog! I am so sorry :(

So, here it is. Hope you like it.

Please, give me a sign that you are still there reading this :)

Love,
Fla

I am alive! Wrist/arm warmers for Ilektra

2008-12-13T15:59:00.003+01:00

Dear friends,

How are you doing? I know I have no excuse for not posting so often. Well, actually I have. I have so much to do in school, and I haven't been knitting THAT much. I have a baby pullover on the needles (bambú, 3mm) since middle August - and meanwhile I started a little project to approach knitting again. My Greek colleague Ilektra wanted some nice armwarmers. I found this pattern (quite nice!) - and we chose a lovely "cream/ivory" yarn. Will put more details on Ravelry :)

Also, I found the pattern quite nice and good looking. It wasn't difficult at all, I just had to find time to do it... like, 10 rows every day... yes, it took forever.

I hope you like the photos :) And sorry again for not being so present... Lots of love!

Fla

Ok I am terrible... sorry

2008-09-14T12:46:00.005+02:00

Dear friends,

Wow, it's been a while, heh. I have been so terribly busy. Bachelor concert, other concerts, an opera during August... I have been really so busy that I haven't been able to knit anything. I felt terrible about that. When I was in Germany, I bought needles and yarn and now I am doing a baby sweater. A nice pattern, I will post some pics soon! For the moment being, here is some pics that I got from January (!!), with little Aitana wearing the lovely sleeveless version of the TRELLIS jacket. Jon appears in one of the pictures, holding the baby :) She is sweet, isn't she? :)

I hope you like the pics. It's great to see the little babies wearing the things I have knitted especially for them! :)

By the way, I am on Ravelry as well... in case you wondered ;)

Love,
Fla

Amazingly, after 2 months...

2008-04-08T09:01:00.004+02:00

Dear friends!

Yes, apparently I have found the time to post something again. And, more importantly, to knit something again. These months are being incredibly hectic, and I cannot believe how little I am knitting at the moment. It is a bit frustrating. But I cannot be obsessed about it. I mean, it's supposed to be a pleasure hobby. I shouldn't feel it like a duty - like, "if you don't do it often, you are bad". But well... here is my last thing. A hat that stayed on the needles for two or three months until I found the time and disposition to finish it. Again, a marmor effect on red and white, as my good old Swiss (as in colours) scallop scarf.

This little hat goes quite well with the scarf, although the yarn is bigger and different in quality. The scarf is softer and more "high quality". This is cheap harsh acrylic ;) But who cares! I like it anyway. I wanted to do the Irish Hiking Hat, with the cables, and started doing it that way, but then the cable needle was just too tight for the double yarn and the needle I was using. So I did two series of cables with great pain (LOL) - and then just kept reducing. It was lovely to think where and when to knit 2 together or ssk1, in order not to destroy the cables pattern too abruptly. Well, I hope you like the result :)

Lots of love,
Flavio

Rubén and his fantastic sweater!

2008-02-16T10:30:00.004+01:00

Dear friends,

Soooo, here I am again. Wow, I haven't posted anything since October. This really goes to show how busy life is becoming lately. I am so sorry. Also, I feel so terrible because I practically haven't had time to knit. This is very sad, and I feel guilty about it... Does this happen to you sometimes?

I hope you enjoy this, nonetheless: finally I have got photos of the beautiful Rubén with his Sweater! Yes, the one I did this summer :) It looks much nicer in reality, but here it is anyway. I hope you like it! :)

Love,
Fla

I am on Ravelry!

2007-10-08T13:09:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

I am finally on Ravelry! I have been adding things and it is SO MUCH FUN! My ID there is "flavio83" - feel free to add me :)

Lots of love,
Flavio

Little Rubén! And me learning crochet...

2007-09-30T21:43:00.000+02:00

Dear friends!

Here I am again. Today I visited little Rubén and his family, and his mother Marián took the little jacket and hat I did for him in June, for this autumn. We tried it on and now the size is perfect! He's just one year old, and I thought this would be for 2-year old, but wow. The kid is big, or the pattern is small, LOL! Anyway, it looks sooo nice on the baby. I am so proud! He really looked cute, although it was almost impossible to take a photo of him with the hat on (I understand, because today it was a bit too hot for the hat... and generally babies don't like strange hats :) - Don't you think he looks soooo cute? The guy with long hair is me, LOL. Yes, I have never had my hair sooo long as I have it now.

Well, back to Rubén. He's growing up quite nicely! And he has such a funny face! Especially the eyes are very piercing :) Quite a difference from last year's pictures with the first things I knit for him. The fruit jacket is still in use, by the way! It's wonderful to knit for such a baby (and such a nice mother! She loves to use my experiments :) She made me a gift: my first real crochet hook and instructions! As you can see in the photos, I was quite puzzled. I find it soooo difficult, but I'll try to practise. I find it so unstable compared to my good old 2 straight needles. It's very difficult to get started, and get the thread go through the loops... oh well. But I will learn, promise! :) Poor me! As if I didn't have enough worries!

Hehehe... ;)

Lots of love,
Flavio

My biggest sweater! WOW!

2007-09-29T00:10:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

Wow, I have finished it! I made the collar and it looks OH SO NICE. I am so happy about this sweater! The yarn is very simple, nothing beautiful, but now that I have tried the pattern out of the magazine, I think I would like to do it again with a nicer yarn. This one is a simple mix of two acrylic yarns (blue and pale yellow, worked 2 strands at a time). It has set-in sleeves. All of it is in ribbing: body, sleeves, collar... It is very easy to do, just... SLOOOOW, because I am a slow (but precise) knitter, and this was my biggest sweater ever: it can fit a 4-year old child because the ribbing really spreads out (it looks small in the picture but you can really spread the fabric). I hope you like it! :)

Love,
Flavio

My "Lol Cat" test results :)

2007-09-29T00:09:00.000+02:00

Your Score: Sad Cookie Cat

72% Affectionate, 39% Excitable, 75% Hungry

You are the classic Shakespearian tragedy of the lolcat universe. The sad story of a baking a cookie, succumbing to gluttony, and in turn consuming the very cookie that was to be offered. Bad grammar ensues.

Link: The Which Lolcat Are You? Test written by GumOtaku on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

First blocking... oh dear!

2007-09-26T19:22:00.001+02:00

Dear friends,

Well, here I am, trying to enjoy my last days at home before leaving again for Switzerland. I am working on my bigger sweater ever, aprox. for a 4-5 year-old child. The pattern comes from a nice Spanish magazine. Looks nice, but... I wanted to block the pieces. I DO NOT have a good space for that. Plus, I have never blocked anything ever.

I thought I'd take a big table, but a tablecloth on it, and literally "block" the pieces to the specified sizes - with... clothpegs. I know, this will look ridiculous to all of you but... do you have any better ideas? I am sooo ignorant about blocking. Argh :( I have turned everything "moderately wet". Let's see what happens... I am a bit afraid. I don't even know if I should leave it there all night... uhm.

I will keep you posted...

Love,
Flavio

Summer Knitting - Strawberry Baby Jacket and Hat

2007-09-06T21:43:00.000+02:00

Dear friends!

Well... here it is, I am so proud of it! I really wanted to try something new, that is: creating my own baby jacket, without following any pattern. My friend Arantza gave me some hint and here I was, trying to figure out how to decrease for my FIRST PAIR OF RANGLAN SLEEVES! Oh myyyy! Well, I used this super soft acrylic (incredibly soft, I love it), and with barely 110g I was able to do a jacket and a hat! It doesn't look terrible, and proportions are OK, I think. The shaping worked, and I even did the button edge while knitting the fronts: this way it looks more regular and I don't have to pick up stitches later to do it vertically. I was afraid the sleeves would look (AGAIN!) too thin or not big enough. I seem to have a problem with sleeve-measuring... oh well. What do you think? I am quite happy, the jacket looks ready to be worn this winter by a girl baby... Now I have to find one among the army of cousins, aunts and friends... mmm. The hat was a simple garter + stockinette stitch thing. I am getting better at distributing the decreases. How do you do it, by the way? I never know if I do it the right way.

Lots of love!!! :)
Flavio

Summer Knitting - Zebra Jacket, mini-scarf and hat

2007-09-06T21:38:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

What can I say? I had 200g of this super-bulky domino yarn in black and white... and I was stupid enough not to make a scarf out of it. Instead, I thought I would do a baby jacket. First lesson learned therefrom: NEVER do a baby jacket with a ultra-bulky yarn. It simply won't work. Looks fat, chunky and too hot for a baby. And heavy. It's SOOO heavy. I think I won't give this to anyone... and I am too lazy to unravel the whole thing. I had a bit of yarn left so I did a mini-hat and a mini mini mini scarf - probably not good for a baby, or even dangerous (suffocation?). Do I sound pessimistic? Well, maybe... argh. Doesn't look too bad... it even has two non-existent sleeves, good for spring...

Bwahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :(

Love,
Flavio

Summer Knitting - iPod Pouch!

2007-09-06T21:29:00.000+02:00

Dear friends!

My dear friend Gunhild asked me to knit a pouch for her iPod "nano". She gave me the size of it and I came up with this simple pattern. I thought I would use very thin yarn - but doubling it, and 3mm straight needles. She said the iPod is turquoise. Then, I chose turquoise yarn (looks like cotton, or simply 1-ply acrylic, I am not sure. The thing is: I had never worked with such a tiny yarn. I started with some ribbing, and then stockinette stitch with regular "bulge" done with a purled row, just to give some variety to the whole thing. It also helps to grab the pouch! :) Then, I would knit to a bit more length than the iPod heigth - after that, I would simply repeat everything, but mirrored, as if it were from bottom to top. Then I would sew everything. I still have to give it to Gunhild, but I tried it with my partner's mobile phone, and it works! Wow. It really looks small and nice. Very very sweet. I should do more thingies like this for friends...

What do you think? :)

Love,
Flavio

Alba loved her gifts! Oh, the joys of knitting!

2007-08-23T21:23:00.001+02:00

Dearest friends,

Well, what can I say! Alba was given the things I knitted for her, and she loved them! She wanted to try them inmediately, even if we are in the middle of summer. This is only a little selection of the pictures that I have been sent by friends - I wasn't there unfortunately. I have been told that she started catwalking like crazy! WOW :) Well, I am so happy to see that she enjoyed the gifts so much. It is a huge satisfaction :) She's just 2 years old (and a half).

Hope you like the photos. She looks so funny playing with the scarf! :)

200g of acrylic well used!

Love, Flavio :)

August Knitting...

2007-08-18T19:21:00.000+02:00

Dear friends...

Wow. Doesn't look like I have been knitting a lot this August. Partly, it was a bit too hot to sit down and knit (although the computer is hotter - but I must have some priorities, alas). Anyway, I have been doing a very simple hat and scarf for a daughter of a friend - little Lucía, 2 years and a half old. I will send it per post, because the family is not here for holidays anymore, they went back home last week. Argh! I wasn't fast enough.

The scarf is my typical 2x2 ribbing with spaghetti ending. The hat is soooo simple: just some 2x2 ribbing, then stockinette stitch, and then some pseudo-random decreasing here and there... pon-pon is NOT a pon-pon... just some more spaghetti, you know. I have never been able to learn how to do a decen pon-pon :(

Anyway, here it is. It looks nice. There has been some discussions, recently, about using acrylic or not, on the Knitting Novices list. Well, this is acrylic. I bought it in a little chinese shop: four balls 50g each (yes, this is exactly four balls, nothing left) - and it is soft and plush. I love it! Well, 99% of what you saw on this blog is acrylic...

Anyway, hope you like the little august thingy. I am about to finish a terrible, horrible jacket with a very very fat yarn... will let you know everything about this adventure...

Love,
Flavio

My knitting tote and other things...

2007-07-30T13:58:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

How are you? Sorry for not posting anything in a month. I have been quite busy although I am officially on holiday... visited many places, did a summer course... and have had some trouble with my health, but that's another story. Also, I bought an i-Pod and I love it, so now I am listening to my favourite music here and there :) It's great in airports, where you have to wait so long...

The blue silk thing I bought for so much money is now in the waste. Everything got totally tangled and I was desperated and frustrated. I won't buy a hank anymore - sorry. I feel so sad about it. :(

I am preparing a scarf now. Just to relax. Also, I am looking for a pattern for my mother but I can't find anything similar. Will let you know... Oh! By the way, some people on Knitting Novices talked about their knitting tote. Hope you like mine! I left it in Switzerland though... will use it again from October on! :)

Love,
Flavio

Rubén's New Set! Jacket and Hat... :)

2007-06-30T23:54:00.000+02:00

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...

2007-06-28T22:30:00.000+02:00

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...

2007-06-10T00:02:00.000+02:00

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:

************************************************************

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.

************************************************************

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

I love Gromit! :)

2007-05-23T18:25:00.000+02:00

Bau Bau! Guau Guau! Bark Bark! :)
I did not know that Gromit could knit! Isn't it lovely? :)

Bau Bau! Guau Guau! Bark Bark! :)

Trellis Jacket: READY!

2007-05-06T21:09:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

Oh my... it's done. I have had terribly busy days, that's why I have not posted this before. But yes, the Trellis jacket is, more or less, ready. Problems I have had: it was sooo slow to knit! Besides, I always get proportions wrong because gauge is never exactly as in the pattern instructions. Plus, I left half the place for the armhole as asked for in the pattern. Result: I could not make the required sleeves, the armhole was too small. So, I just picked up stitches and did some very short sleeves... I hope they are not too bad... although one can really notice they are ... wrong. Well, anyway... It doesn't look too bad anyway. The back is especially lovely, I think. Next time I make sure to have proper measuring... What do you think of it anyway? I hope you like it at least a bit ;)

Love,
Flavio

The Magic Scarf (thanks Paulina!)

2007-04-13T16:10:00.000+02:00

Dear Friends!

I have finally found a use for the wonderful 3 balls my friend Gunhild had bought me. My friend Paulina (check out her knitting blog!) gave me this fantastic idea of the magic scarf! It is so easy, and works well with big, beautiful yarns, because the resulting stitches are very simplistic. You cast on an X number of stitches, and on first round you K1, YO, K1, YO, K1 etc. to end. Then, you go on with stockinette stitch and, in last round, you BIND OFF only ODD stitches, and you drop all EVEN stitches. I.e.: K1, drop 1, K1, close one stitch, drop 1, K1, close one stitch, etc... the dropped stitches will magically rip (you have to help them!), but they were the YO stitches, so the scarf won't break into pieces! It will be tighter (the scarf) and veeeeery airy. Now, I did a terrible mistake at first, I casted on too many stitches and the result was... sort of a blanket... URGH... well, I ripped everything and here is the final result: my first magic scarf!

Gràcies, Paulina! :)

Red Diamond Scarf + Red Hat...

2007-04-09T22:54:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

Yes, I have been ill (fever with very hot temperature :( - so I haven't knitted for one day, but I really tried. Nevertheless, today I feel much better, so I used the whole day to finish the Red Diamond scarf and the little matching hat. The pattern was just lovely. I mean the stitch pattern. There wasn't a specific scarf pattern anyway. I took a lovely stitch pattern from a magazine and simply multiplied it x 8, and knitted for as long as I wanted. For the hat, I took a different leafy pattern. For the hat, I took one size bigger needles and double yarn. Problems? Well... I always have this tendency to bind off near the end of the project, maybe for nerves, maybe because I really want to finish... and most of the times I have this feeling that it's TOO short. The scarf... is not too short... but should be ideally longer? I have no idea. I am always afraid that my works are too short. Ack. And the hat? Just the same feeling. Is it too narrow? Is it too short? Will it fit my partner's cousine?

Well, I cross my fingers. The leafy pattern looks lovely anyway ;) Let me know if you want the instructions. Oh, by the way, the little tails at each end look a bit mediocre, don't they? Hehe...

Love!
Flavio :)

Found a "baby" for my "fat" sweater...

2007-04-07T16:36:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

I was worried because I thought I would never be able to give this sweater to anyone. But I visited my parents in Spain and I thought... uhm. Maybe I know someone.... my mother has this huge, hairy King Kong in the living room. wow. He is wide enough... my mother wanted to try and... here we have the newly dressed King Kong. IT was very pleased with the sweater. I brought two flags from Basel (the Swiss flag and the Basel flag), and we thought we would make some funny photos. My brother and my father took them. LOL!! The pics are too funny! :) I hope you like them! :)

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Love and hugs from HOME (finally!)
Fla :)

It's my birthdayyyyy

2007-03-24T23:30:00.000+01:00

Dear friends!

It's my birthday! I have had lovely calls and messages from the family and my lovely friends, but the best thing was, definitely, a present from my friend Gunhild: she bought me some precious yarn: black and blue with glitter, wool, polyamid, polyester... looks SOOOO fantastic! It's chunky and 150g, I think I can make a scarf out of it? Maybe a chunky, spring scarf with many holes. Any suggestion?

Love,
Flavio

Trellis Sweater - Back is ready!

2007-03-21T22:23:00.000+01:00

Dear friends,

I can't believe I have been able to complete the back. I am not sure about gauge. Funnily enough, this is going to be a bit taller than necessary. Last sweater was too wide... oh well. Maybe it will be sort of a longish jacket or something... This is, theorically, Trellis' Sweater from Knitty.com. I thought it was going to be such a challenge: the cables are lovely and I had to learn something new, the left twist. The neck shaping looks nice. Well, this is it. Looks lovely, doesn't it? Well, at least I am very happy with it! :) Can't wait to hear your comments (if any!) - tomorrow I will start with the front sides.

Lots of love,
Flavio

Starting this difficult pattern...

2007-03-19T11:03:00.000+01:00

Dear friends,

How are you? I must thank the friends from the KnittingNovices list, because they were able to help me with the "left twist" - I didn't understand the instructions in the pattern and now I have been able to start this! I am trying the "difficult" Trellis Sweater as seen on knitty.com; I have finally the chance to use my cable needle again! Wow. I am not sure about the gauge, but this time I will make sure it is not going to be wider than taller! Really! :) This is the beginning of the back. I hope you like it. There is a little mistake in the cable at the very beginning (I held the needle in front instead of back on two occasions), but I am not going to re-do everything again.

Hope you like it ;)

Love,
Flavio

Oh no... wrong proportions... :(

2007-03-12T17:38:00.000+01:00

Dear friends,

I have finally finished this endless striped sweater with ribbed checker... it was such a slow process. It was nice to be able to do stripes bringing the yarn from below, without having to cut always (that was a relief) - now, unfortunately I got the proportions wrong. It came to be wider than higher. It is probably unwearable. The gauge was evidently wrong, and I even misread the inches for the heigth. I noticed too late, and I didn't want to start over again - so, I did the sleeves and seamed. It definitely was good for practicing... I'll probably use it for a teddy bear, I don't know... such a shame :(

What do you think?

Love!

Flavio

Little things

2007-02-26T21:28:00.000+01:00

Dear friends,

How are you? I am on holiday at home in Spain, but on Friday I'll fly back to Switzerland (school starts again!) - I have been able to take photos of a few things I have been doing lately. The first two pics are terribly awful (I took them with a terrible camara, sorry!) - a bluish 2x2 ribbing scarf I did for my love, and an orange-purple (hehe) hat in stockinette with a few garter stitch rows as decoration :)

Then, another white-grey baby hat. These works I did in Christmas (so, the photos came late, sorry!) - now, these holidays, I have been able to do a nice ribbing scarf (2 x 2, of course) - with a very chunky multicolour yarn. I only had 2 balls, so it came to be a bit short, but I gave it to my mother and she loved it. Also, I started a red scarf in a leaf-lace pattern, which is very challenging but is coming out very nicely.

What do you think?

Love,

Flavio :)

Fla Knitting!

2007-02-13T22:39:00.000+01:00

Dear friends!!

This is my first photo while actually knitting!! I hope you like it. It was taken by my friend Giovanni at the School's cafeteria, while waiting for a lesson. I have never brought my work to school but... hey, it was a hit! everyone wanted to know about it... a few girls asked me to teach them. Hehe, isn't that funny? Hope you like the picture ;) I love it, it shows me doing my favourite hobby ;)

Love, Fla

Hats, hats, hats...

2007-01-30T18:53:00.000+01:00

Dear friends,

How are you? Here the weather is sooo cold, at least for what I have been used to in the last years... I have seen snow falling for the first time in many many years... and wow, it's chilly! Also, my computer died, but I have able to save, at least, my knitting photos... argh. Well, I have been knitting a lot lately, because I had no computer... and I have been doing four hats. My brother, as I mentioned on list, wanted me to knit the Jayne Cobb hat. I found a lovely pattern on the Internet, and the friends from the Knitting Novices list also helped a lot with their advices. My first version is a bit too loose: one thread for rather big needles. Then, I discovered (thank you Fellow Novices!) that I could have double yarn from the same skein! Thus I was able to do a double-strand version, which is much stabler and stronger. Also slightly bigger, which helps (my brother has a rather big head).

My parents also asked for hats. This is the first time I knit something for my parents or brother. I did a dark, plain stockinette hat, with a 2x2 ribbing edge for dad, hope he likes it. For my mother, a rather colourful one (I had the remaining yarn from the baby sweater I did before Christmas...). I am afraid it is going to be slightly too short... Well... Let me know if you like them :) I am rather proud about the second version of the Jayne Cobb hat. Looks perfect, at least in my humble opinion!

Loveeeeeeeeeeeee,

Flavio :)

Glittery Orange Scarf and mini-hat!

2007-01-16T20:29:00.000+01:00

Dear friends,

Here I am again! I have managed to knit some more... I had promised a dear friend at the school to knit a scarf in orange tones for her... here it is! I was too lazy to find a pattern, and I was a bit disappointed with a very slow zig-zag pattern which I had given up because it was too slow to knit... Now, for this scarf I just cast on an X number of stitches, with a border of 4 stitches in garter stitch and the rest in stockinette stitch. So easy! But... I had chosen a very strange yarn: sort of irregular, with lots of glittery threads going in and out... a bit difficult to work with. Well, I have been able to, eventually :) I also thought I'd made a little hat, but maybe it'll be too small for the head... I am always miscalculating the size of hats... I hate that :(

Anyway, the result is so niceee! I hope Armelle will like it :)

Do you like the colours? Unfortunately the camara has not been able to catch the colours are they are... it's much nicer "live" :)

Lots of love,
Flavio

Fruity Jacket for Rubén

2007-01-07T21:42:00.000+01:00

Dear friends,

I was able to make a scarf since I moved to Switzerland... the school consumes most of my time and I find myself knitting late in the evening or simply on weekends. When I get back home I am just so tired that I only have time to eat and have a shower... (and check my email, of course). I feel so guilty about not having sent anything since October... it's awful! I hope to be more regular from now on. I'll simply be much slower... Oh, I also did a little hat when I was home for the Christmas holidays, but I am not sure I have made a decent photo to it...

The good news are: making simple hats is now like making a cup of coffee! I have mastered that! Now, I am not sure I'll ever be able to master circular needles...

I have been in Germany for shopping (it's cheaper than here) and I found some LOVELY yarn: with this multivariegated yarn I have made this lovely Baby Jacket I found on the Internet. I needed less than one ball (each ball was 100g I think). Wow! Well, the problem came when, for the sleeves, you had to pick stitches from the holders with a circular needle and do the sleeves with that. Now... I wasn't able to make a complete row with circular needles. Everything was so strange and difficult to me... I can't seem to be able to manage the "rope"... and how stitches go through the "rope"... argh.

So, after two hours I found the solution: cast off. This provoked the jacket to have "semi-sleeves", if you know what I mean. So... a sort of waistcoat for spring, maybe. The mother loved it and it'll be great for the spring when the baby is a bit bigger. And I loved the pattern. The decoration near the collar was sooo slow to work (lots of yo)...

The yarn is soft and lovely. I am happy it worked :) I flew to Spain with the jacket in my bag and it proved to be a lovely present. Soon, pics of Rubén with the jacket on!

Love and hugs, Flavio

Happy new year, fellow knitters!

2007-01-07T20:54:00.000+01:00

Hello dear friends!

I am sorry that I haven't posted for so long. School is so time consuming... I have been knitting meanwhile! I will post something soon... The problem is, I have lost track of a few pictures of thinkg I have knitted (a scarf, for istance). But I have done a loooovely baby jacket for Rubén. Will send photos as well!

I am finding very nice yarn here in Switzerland. Wow :)

Oh, by the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Love,
Flavio

Hello world!

2006-10-25T19:25:00.000+02:00

I am so proud of my scallop scarf! I wear it everyday at school, and since the weather is so windy right now, I am making quite good use of it! Lots of hugs from Switzerland... (I miss home so much...)

Rubén and his sweater and hat!

2006-10-21T20:11:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

Hello again from cold and expensive Switzerland! I have been missing home a lot when I received this photo from my dear friend Marián: her son Rubén, who is barely two months and a half old, with the lovely one-piece jacket that Allison helped me to complete (the pattern I found on the web was wrong: can you remember my suffering? ;) Click here to come back to the whole process.

Isn't he just SOOOOO lovely? I am so proud of what I knitted! And supposedly this was a problematic sweater (the hand-cuffs, the wrong ridge that I had to correct...) - it doesn't look so bad, doesn't it! And it was my first project WITH matching accessory! Wow :)

I hope you like the photo and the model ;) Congratulations Rubén! You are the cutest knitting-baby of the month! :-D

Love,
Fla

Still alive...

2006-10-14T19:56:00.000+02:00

Dear friends...

I am still alive, yes. I am in Switzerland. The first week was hard... but here I am. Lessons starts on Monday. Can't wait. Now, I have been able to find out that in this country all big malls have complete yarn sectors, with endless choice of colours and sorts! Isn't that exciting? I have received my needles and tools, so I can knit again. Here knitting is still much more in vogue than in Spain, it seems. What excited me most, though, is the fact that, here, they also sell 500g (!) balls! That's half a kilogram! Wow. I had never seen such huge balls in Spain. They cost 19.90CHF (aprox. 15.60USD), and come in variegated colours (at least the brand I saw). Here is the one I bought... I hope you like it. Colours are much nicer than in the photo... sorry!

Love,
Flavio

What kind of knitter...? (Quiz)

2006-09-27T23:26:00.000+02:00

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Goddess. You are constantly giving and are unconcerned with reward, you simply want others to love knitting as much as you do. If someone wants to knit miles of novelty yarns, you are there for them. If someone wants to learn short row shaping, you can help. There are no taboos in knitting, only opportunities to grow. Everyone should have friend like you around if they want to learn to knit, and there's a good chance that your passion has rubbed off on a few others.http://marniemaclean.com

Take this quiz!

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My super Swiss scarf! (Scallop Scarf)

2006-09-27T19:23:00.000+02:00

Dearest friends!

This will be my last update from Spain. On Sunday I'll take an airplane to Switzerland, and I am so nervous about it! I am not sure when I'll have an Internet connection there, or when I'll have enough time to knit again there. I'll receive my knitting needles and some yarn later during October, so I won't even have my tools inmediately. Will I be able to cope? :)

Well, I wanted to finish this before I parted. It is the Scallop Scarf featured in the wonderful book "Knitting for Dummies", which I personally love. I have learned a lot from this book, and this scarf looked like something I would have loved to do. I thought I'd mix two colours for this one, and... why not the Swiss national colours, red and white? Well, here they are. I loved the pattern. I was amazed at the result. It is so... WAVY! I didn't think a few k2tog, ssk and such would SHAPE so much. Isn't it incredible? The scarf had to be "built" in two parts. The central part is a 2x2 rib that would hug the neck. There goes the seaming, of course. The ribbing had to be done with smaller needles (I used 6mm for the waves and 5.5mm for the ribbing... I didn't have 5mm needles, but I bought them yesterday anyway!).

I run out of white almost at the very end. I panicked. I had to start a "vanilla" ball of yarn. The colour is not exactly white... but it's the neck part, and one won't notice from a certain distance. Good. At least I could finish the scarf today, so I can focus on preparing my suitcases! :) Notice the lovely details in the photographs. Doesn't it look huggable and very chic at the same time? Unfortunately the photo cannot get the real feeling of the scarf in the "real" world. It is... sooooooo lovely! It's probably one of the favourite objects I have ever knitted. I feel so proud! And it really covers your neck! Wow! :)

What do you think? In the meantime I tried some fair-isle to keep the practice, but I did a really small hat (probably good only for a really small newborn!) Anyway I considered it an exercise, so I am not too worried about giving it out as a gift. Isn't blue over white lovely? The flower design is from Knitting for Dummies as well. I hope you like both things. Would love to read your comments before I leave... sigh! I will miss you all! Really! I hope to be back very soon with more projects and more yarn!

Long live knitting :)

80s Striped 3-Colour Jacket! FINISHED!

2006-09-21T13:19:00.000+02:00

Wow, dear friends.

This has been a real torture. I had to rip off and re-do the collar three times because I wasn't able to pick up stitches properly. The cast-off edges tended to break at the same time and it all went CRAZY. I can't believe I had to patience to finish the work. Front bands were a nightmare too. Really. I had this idea of doing buttonholes. This made the fabric to pull in and the colour striped didn't match at all, it was so frustrating (must be because of the yo/k2tog thing or something... or simply because the MC yarn is, inexplicably, thinner than the CC yarns!). After 3 trials, I decided to make blank front bands, with just... nothing. So, the jacket remains open. Sorry... :(

Anyway, I am happy about the sleeves. This is the first time I have to sew whole sleeves in the armholes. I had a stressful time figuring out how it would look like, because there were obviously MORE stitches in armholes than in the sleeve's top edge! But it worked, thankfully.

Well, this is the result. I hope you like it... now I have to find a child to give it too. The size is supposed to be 4 (4 year old?) - but isn't it a bit small? I am not sure. Anyway... here it is! Would love to hear your comments!

I am happy, it's my first jacket with REAL stripes, and my third jacket ever!
Love, Flavio

My hat works!

2006-09-21T13:09:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

This is tooooo sweet! A friend of mine made her niece to try on one of my hats: this is the result. Isn't she SOOO cute with it? When I was sent the photo I felt so proud and happy! This is the first photo ever of anyone wearing one of my things! WOW :) Say hello to Genoveva!!!

Lots of love,
Flavio

80s Striped 3-Colour Jacket! First Phase completed...

2006-09-17T11:40:00.000+02:00

Dear friends

I hope all is well with you. I have been a bit silent lately because I am planning my departure and I am so nervous! But I knitting like crazy, as I told you previously. I wanted to do something difficult before parting, because I am not sure if I'll have my knitting needles with me inmediately. It depends on what I can pack in my suitcase... Argh :) Now, back to the project. I found this wonderful pattern on Bernat's website. I never thought I could do one of these, when I first signed up to access the patterns... but hey, it looks like I can, now! I am improving! Yeahhhh ;)

This one is called "Lu Lu Bernat Child Jacket". You can easily find it on Google. It asks for some very precise yarn, but I used what I have got at home. The pattern gives 4 different sizes: 2/4/6/8. I chose size 4. This asked for 2 50g balls of main colour and 1 50g ball of each contrasting colour (all in all, 3 colours). I had this three colours, each in a big ball of 100g. I thought... wow, I can do this :)

The first problem came with the stripes. The pattern asked to carry colours up the work sides instead of cutting the yarn, but I haven't been able to do this, because the fabric pulled in too much or either was too loose! I'll have to practice this. So, I decided to cut the yarn each time. This means now I have to weave in everything... or to make strong knots and snip with scissors... hehehe ;) The "Stripe Pattern" says: 3 rows in MC, 3 in CC1 and 3 in CC2. I thought... if I want white to be my main colour, why not giving it one more row? I am not sure this is correct, but that's what I did. 4 rows in white, 3 rows in blue, 3 rows in red. The jacket has a garter edge to it which must be knitted with smaller needles. In fact the patterns says you need two sets of needles: 4.5mm and 5.5mm. Another problem! My 5.5mm were being used for the Ocean Ribbing Scarf, so... I used 6mm! Luckily the result is not too bad!

The back looks very nice. The front sides involved some shaping, at the same time as the stripe pattern. I had to calculate when to change colours AND when to increase or decrease... wow. It was exhausting! The problem came with the sleeves. I always forget to change to big needles after the garter edge, so ruining the beginning every time. Frustrating! Also, it was very exhausting to count rows for the increases. It said: increase at each end of needle on 5th row, then 3 times on every other 4th row, then 3 times on every other 6th row. Yeeeeeeeeeew! Did I have to count! I had to unravel a whole sleeve because I misread the pattern (at end of the needle) and only increased at the END of the needle, not at EACH end... gosh!

Well, here are the parts. I hope you like the result! It looks so 80s... I love it :) Now comes the difficult part. My book says I have to weave in ends and block BEFORE seaming. Good... but this is acrylic, and I have read I can't steam-block synthetic yarns! Does this mean I have to wet-block with a simple water-spray bottle? I have never done this before, so... I am a bit nervous. The last phase will be picking up stitches to do the collar and the front bands. It say I have to sew a zipper but I have no idea how to do that. Maybe I should do button holes instead? I am not sure... would love to hear your suggestions...

Love, Flavio

Two sweety hats

2006-09-14T18:30:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

Here I am again - well, I am knitting like crazy lately! Must be because I am nervous about leaving for Switzerland and I am trying to get some distraction. Well, two friends of mine wanted me to knit two little hats for them. I think they wanted something more "winter-like", but I have discovered the yarn is a bit too soft and maybe they'll suffer some cold temperature with those. Luckily it never snows here. Christina wanted a plain white hat, no cables, no nothing. Not even an i-cord on top! Well, I hope she won't mind the ribbon ;) Monica wanted a pink hat. Since they didn't want anything special, I just recycled an old easy pattern: some garter stitch on edge, then all stockinette stitch and some decreasing. That's it... Seaming is better now :) Good, that means I am improving, I guess! :-)

Hope you like them :)
Love, Flavio

Peppermint Pocket!

2006-09-07T15:31:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

I was asked to knit a little purse-pocket to put some peppermint in it. Wow! I took some loose yarn I had in my closet, a chunky purple one, I cast on 18 stitches or so, and began with some garter stitch. Then, I left a garter edge and tried to do a heart in purl stitches against stockinette stitch. Then, I seamed and finished it. I didn't seam all the border, so I could leave a hole to put the peppermint inside!

Do you like it? :) Hehehe

Love,
Flavio

My first two scarves! Cables and ribbing...

2006-09-07T13:33:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

How are you? I hope everything is fine from where you are reading this. Here the weather is still hot but a bit more bearable. I have finally been able to finish my first two scarves! One of them is the Irish Hiking Scarf we all are doing on the Knitalong blog. I hope you like it! I chose a very colourful yarn and the result is lovely. I call it "rainbow cables" :) Also, I finally was able to finish the ocean ribbing scarf (a simple 2x2 ribbing, lovely touch, it looks soooo soft!). The Ocean ribbing scarf is a present for my special one. I'll use the Irish Rainbow cable scarf in Basel, for the cold winter :)

Maybe they are a bit short (more or less 130cm) but it's ok :) I have used exactly two balls for each scarf. Good to know for other projects! I would love to do the matching Irish Hat with cables but the pattern I found is not clear... any clue?

Hope you like the pictures :) Leave a comment, please :)

Love,
Flavio

New! Baby sweater and matching hat!

2006-08-24T23:51:00.000+02:00

Dearest friends,

How are you all? I am glad that you are still looking at my blog, it makes me so happy! I have been knitting a lot these days, it is such a relief to stress. As I told you, I was planning to knit a baby sweater for the son of a friend. He was born barely a month ago, and the sweater is intended to work for this winter, so I tried to figure out how big the baby would be in those months. Now, I have been looking for a pattern and discarded one that looked a bit too difficult. The one I chose, though, although it looked easy, contained many mistakes. Wonderful Allison from the Knitting Novices helped me SO MUCH with this sweater. I am totally indebted to her for all her personalized advices and instructions. This was soooo important to me. I would like to publicly express my gratitude to such a wonderful teacher, even at thousands of kilometres away (she is in the USA, as most of you, while I am in Europe!).

Allison helped a lot, so I could make something decent out of this wrong, imprecise pattern. This is a one-piece sweater, with lots of "put stitches on holder" and similar thingies involved. It was OK, although the mistakes in the pattern made the whole thing slower because I felt so puzzled when the results didn't show up like the photograph given with the pattern...

I chose a baby yarn, very soft acrylic, but since I love SO much to mix yarns and colours, I bought two skeins: one white, and the other blue. These look so cute together. The result is very very soft, really. The yarn was also very cheap. I added yellow and pink ribbons (yes, yellow and pink...) -- and, of course, I did a little matching hat. I am not sure about the size... this is still something that makes me nervous about knitting: being able to calculate the size of the person you are knitting for... basically, my thought was: If I get the size wrong, the present will be useless and they will never make the baby wear it. I know this sounds a bit too pessimistic, but... I hate the idea of knitting something that will never be worn. Now... maybe they'll save it as a "symbolic" present, something their friend had knitted with his heart on the needles (sorry, this might not sound very idiomatic, but I thought it was poetical!) - who knows?

Anyway, here it is. The whole thing, I mean. Also, this has been my very first time trying mattress stitch. Oh yes. The "almost invisible" seaming. It was challenging. It looks fabulous. BUT. BUT. BUT! Sleeves are awful. Really. The mattress stitch went wonderfully until I reached the arms of the sweater. One of the sides was BOUND OFF, not stockinette stitch. And the direction had changed: not vertical, but horizontal. I had no idea where to pass my tapestry needle through. So, I simply seamed as it came... a bit "chunky" and "ugly". I know. But that's what I did. Now I know what's the next thing I have to learn. Seaming sleeves, when one of the sides has been bound off. Argh. Any comment on this?

By the way: this is my second sweater (this was the very first experiment: but then, the pattern was perfect and it worked wonderfully!) - I have learned mattress stitch (more or less) and I have learnt a huge lesson from Allison: I have to focus more on my knitting, without hurries. It must be a meticulous process, really. I am so glad I am progressing at this. I feel proud to be able to knit - it is one of my childhood dreams and now I can do it! Wow. I wish my sweet great-aunt could see me, but I am sure she's looking at me while I knit. She was always knitting, always. And she was soooo great at it. Knitting makes me feel nice because it is like going back to the 80s, when I was a child, looking at my great aunt knitting and talking about the weather and how hard BOTH World Wars had been. She had lived both...

Well, sorry for the ranting. I hope you like the pictures... I know, it's not perfect. But I hope they will appreciate it.

Lots of love from your Flavio!

Cables and cables and cables...

2006-08-10T23:48:00.000+02:00

Hello, dear friends!

I joined both KAL (the Irish Hiking Scarf and the Conquering Cables). Since the project applies to both, here it is. I have begun my very first scarf with cables... following the pattern given by the blog's homepage. I am enjoying this very much. It knits up quite quickly, and the cable isn't difficult... I bought a cable needle and I enjoy it, although sometimes I am not very sure how to handle it when it's hanging in front of work. Sometimes it gets stucked with the work while I am trying to knit the first three stitches before those on the cable.. oh well :) About the yarn: It's called "Colore", by "Rubí" - this is made in Seville. I haven't been able to find it anywhere on the Internet. I am afraid it is an obscure brand made exclusively for a big commercial centre (El corte inglés). Anyway, here is the beginning of the scarf.

**** ********

The yarn is multicoloured but the cables show up nicely. It really looks lovely, more than in the photographs (isn't that frustrating?). Anyway, I am going to continue this. I have two balls... it should server. They measure some 260meters together.

Would love to hear your comments :) Look how it mixes in a lovely way with my "ocean" ribbing scarf (also under "construction" :D

Love,

Flavio

Lots of new finished projects! And a new scarf...

2006-08-06T16:09:00.000+02:00

Hello dear friends!

Well, I am back, finally! I had lots of work this week, but I was able to finish a few pending projects. Now, let me explain in detail: I had these one hat and one shawl going, those in the previous post. The mixed-alpaca dark hat is so itchy. I wasn't quite in the mood to work on it because of the hot weather - nonetheless, I managed to finish it. But I had to do it in a hurry, because a friend just gave birth to a baby and I thought I'd make a soft acrylic hat in light colours. I bought lots of new balls at the mall, they were on offer! There was thick yarn (how do I say this in English? It's good for 5/6/7mm needles).

I bought white and blue, so I could do a little sailor hat. I used the very first hat pattern I did as I started learning - the "Ken Dulaan Hat" I had found on a knitting blog. The pattern is intended for huge yarn or three threads at a time, so I always make too small hats with that pattern: but they are OK for a baby! So, now I had two hats: a dark one in alpaca (maybe too itchy for the baby, whose name is Rubén) and the little sailor hat which is sooo fresh. I'll give these as a present on Monday :) I hope the mother will appreciate it!

The shawl... well, I am quite nervous these days, as some of you know. I didn't have the patience to make a huge shawl, and I needed the needles. So, I just bound it off --- why not? Ok, it's too small to be a shawl.. but I have an excuse now :) It can be a "doll shawl", that is, a shawl for a doll! It's perfect this way! Or it could be a triangular dishcloth.. only, it's too strange, because of the pattern experiments I did on it! Oh well... I'll save it as a sample :) Or maybe I could make a triangular flag with it, adding a pole to the longest straight side!

Also, I thought I have never ever finished a complete scarf. That's incredible! So, since I need a scarf for the next winter (I'll move to a very cold country, Switzerland) - I bought a fantasy yarn which is soooo lovely. It's made of shades of blue. Maybe I could add in a green/red mix in the middle in case the two balls aren't enough... but I am not sure yet. Let's see what happens. I am doing plain 2x2 ribbing and it looks fabulous. Wow, I love this yarn! In case you want to look for it, the brand name is "Rubí", the specialty is called "Colore". They are made in Seville (Spain). I am not sure you'll find it abroad... but who cares, you have so many wonderful yarns in the USA! :) ***envy envy***

Would love to hear your comments on those little thingies. I feel better being back to knitting more or less actively!

Love,

Flavio

More progresses...

2006-07-25T10:51:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

Here are the progresses on my two pending works. I am very slow right now due to health issues and the terribly hot weather - which makes me wonder: do you knit comfortably during summer? If yes, how can you do it? :) About the triangular shawl: I am not very sure how to continue, I guess I'll do some other decorations... let's see. The hat, I could have finished it much earlier but... just looking at the semi-alpaca yarn makes me sweat. Gosh. 37Cº here...Hope you enjoy the photos!

By the way, I am sorry not to have posted more often those days. I have some health issues that I must direct before focusing on other things... but luckily once one learns to knit, one never forgets ;)

Love, Flavio

June Knitting. Oh dear.

2006-06-28T18:28:00.000+02:00

Dear friends!

It's been such a long time since I have posted any knitting here. Yes, I have been terribly busy with exams, studying, exams, studying, more exams... it's awful! I have barely had time to knit those weeks. As I advanced to you, I have started a triangular shawl and another "warm woolies" hat but in wool/acrylic/alpaca. I'll also show you the other Rainbow hat (same pattern) I knitted, together with the first one. The hat is lovely, although the yarn is soooo itchy! Gosh. But it looks quite elegant when knitted. More than the ball itself. Yes. Then, the shawl. I am increasing at end and beginning every other row - but, you'll notice I got tired of stockinette stitch and I have started doing a 2x2 rib decoration. I am not sure how this will go. I'll probably do 10 rows of ribbing then go back to stockinette. It will look decorative, maybe. I am not sure if that will work. Any suggestion? I am not sure what I'll finish first. And I am not sure the remaining ball of alpaca will be enough to finish the hat. Oh gosh. It'll be smaller, I think...

Back to knitting...

2006-06-03T15:10:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

Yes, it seems that I am back to knitting! I have to study hard but I have a bit of time to start knitting again. I began a multicolour baby jacket but had to unravel it all after the 5th row: I can't seem to find a way to "change to larger needles" - the stitches are too tight to slide them to a larger needle! They won't pass! Mmmm...

Well, anyway, I did another rainbow hat, identical to the last one. :)

More later...

Love, Flavio

Spring 1988

2006-05-16T14:26:00.000+02:00

Rainbow Hat (Warm Woolies)

2006-05-11T16:45:00.000+02:00

Dear friends!

Hello! I haven't posted in a long time because those days I have been very very busy. I abandoned the "easy child sweater all in one" project, because it didn't motivate me. So, I wanted to do something quick and nice. I had that lovely rainbow yarn, so I thought I'd do a hat with I-Cord decoration "á la Teletubby" ;-) So, here it is. First, 8 rows in garter stitch, then, some seven inches in stockinette stitch. Gradual decreasing and... I-Cord :) Some thoughts about the process:

1) This is my first REAL I-Cord: the "I-Cords" I did before were not exactly I-Cords, because I did not have DPN needles. Now, I have them. The hat was done with 7mm needles, but I didn't have 7mm DPN, so I used 5.50mm DPN needles. Wow! It looks like a ... rope, or something like that! It's a great feeling!

2) Pattern (available for free at http://www.warmwoolies.org) requested double thick yarn, so I used two yarns of the same rainbow kind at the same time. Only, one of the balls almost ran out, so I changed it for another yarn, which is very similar (same company), but with slightly softer tones: pink, brown, grey...). The mix was great, and gives an idea of gradual change. Look at the picture and let me know if you notice the change from two identical yarns to two different yarns, similar but with slightly different pastel tones.

3) My seaming has improved! Now, it is practically invisible. I worked it with the wrong side facing me, and threading the yarn through the stitches that were nearest to each edge. It works!

Any comments? :)
Love,
Flavio

Working, working, working...

2006-05-07T14:50:00.000+02:00

Dear friends!

It is true that I haven't posted for a while. This is because I have less spare time lately, and I have started two different projects on different needles and I am not sure what to finish first. I have started an easy "Woolies" (?) hat, whose pattern was cited on KnittingNovices a while ago, and an "all in one" sweater. Both will feature double yarn with different colours. I am sorry I haven't posted the progress yet, but they really are in the beginning. I wish I had more spare time, but exams are approaching...

Love,

Flavio

My yarn and my tools (crazy pictures!)

2006-05-02T19:12:00.000+02:00

Dear friends, here I am again! This time, I thought I'd post photos of all my knitting tools and the yarn I have at the moment. I hope you like them! First, my tools: you can see straight needles of many sizes, three sets of DPNs (still unused), four sets of circular needles (unused, and the string is 35inches or so!), safety pins, measuring tape, two cable needles, scissors, a little crotchet for mistakes, row counters, assorted tapestry needles... Then, photos of my yarn. I have started a "all in one piece" baby sweater mixing the huge yellow and blue skeins. They had a great discount at El Corte Inglés :-) I couldn't resist! AS you can see, there are also some lovely multicolour balls, and the usual orange and purple acrylic, which knit very fast and are so bright! I love them :) Anyway, I'd love to hear your comments. What would you do with some of these balls? See those lovely summer acrylic ones on the right. They look so fresh. Maybe I could do socks with them, if I were able to take those four needles together :( -

Love, Flavio

Here it is! At last!

2006-04-30T13:07:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

Well, here it is, at last. It's my first baby jacket, completed! The pattern is a very good one and I have learnt a tremendous lot from it. I have done my first neck shaping, my first "complex" structure, my first buttons, my first time picking up stitches... It's been an incredible journey! I am sorry if I have not been able to post meanwhile. I wanted to have it completed and finished before posting again on the blog.

So, here are the photos... Yes, it is not perfect. The fronts are not perfectly symmetrical after buttons have been placed... oh well. It's not a problem. Also, I was so impatient I only did half collar: it had to be twice as long, but I was impatient. Anyway, it doesn't look too bad.

I am so proud of my seaming down the fronts and sleeves! Wow!

There isn't a single thread popping out! It's all "a piece" now! Isn't it too funny! Wow, I am very very happy about my first baby jacket. I used three colours. The blue-purple is for stockinette stitch. The orange-purple is for garter stitch.

What do you think? Do you like it? Please, leave your comments...

Lots of love,
Flavio

First Sleeve Coming...

2006-04-22T21:02:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

Thank you so much for the help you are giving me through the Knitting Novices group. It is absolutely invaluable. I can't believe how much you are supporting me through my knitting learning! I was totally panic-stricken because I couldn't understand the "pick up stitches BETWEEN the two markers" instruction in my pattern. Well... my friends at the group explained the mystery and.. here it is! Picking up stitches was very easy, though it's the first time I do it. Really! I might be not very good at seaming, but I am improving... now, picking up stitches was absolutely easy. I was scared since I read it was tricky but... hey, it worked! :) The pattern must be a good one. Proportions look good! The sleeve is looking so cute, with the last inch in garter orange stitch!

Now, I'll have to seam the arm length before seaming down to the low edge of front and back. At least, I guess so! I'll try to do the other sleeve identical... wow, I feel that the jacket is getting a good shape! I am thrilled! It will be my very first real complex "wearable" thing! Have a look at the pictures and let me know what you think. I am very satisfied with the sleeve, its decreases, the shape... I even used different decreases: on left side of sleeve, I did a right slant (K2Tog); on right side, I used left slant (ssk) - this way, the shaping is perfect! WOW! :)

Looking forward to your comments!
Love,
Flavio

My first attempt at... BABY JACKETS!

2006-04-20T17:42:00.000+02:00

Dear Friends,

I am not sure where to start from. I have started an ambitious projects, but I don't know how it will go. I wanted to try a "baby jacket" pattern classified as "beginner". I can't remember where I got it from. I search it on Google but it does not come up. I am puzzled!

It says it requires "Cherub DK" and "Cherub Temptations" yarn, but I am using generic yarn. I am mixing three colour. When the pattern says "use 2 yarns of DK", I mix orange and purple. When it says "use 1 yarn of DK and 1 yarn of Temptations", I mix purple and light blue.

I was very thrilled with the plan. First, I had to start with the back: 50 stitches on. Good. 2" in garter stitch, then, 4 times of [6 rows in St st + 2 in Garter st]. All, mixing colours. Garter would be orange and purple, while St st would be purple and light blue. After this, all St st until desired lenght (some 31cm). Instructions said to place 18 center stitches on a holder for neck, and to place on holders each shoulder side, to bind them off together with the fronts. But I am not daring enough to do that, so I followed the second given chance: bind off now back shoulder stitches and sew them to shoulder fronts later.

After this came the hard part: the front sides! This implied doing the same as the back, but splitted in two: 23 + 23 stitches. Also, it involved neck shaping. I HAVE NEVER SHAPED A NECK BEFORE! - Ok, calm down Fla. There must be a solution to this. I tried to follow the instructions. All seemed to go well. The right side gave a nice neck shape. Bind off 3 stitches, dec 1 every other row three times and that's it. NOW... it asked for the same design on the left front, but REVERSED!

I thought this would mean symmetry or something like that. Now. Consider this: if, on right front, neck shaping started with binding off 3 st at the beginning of the desired row, then dec 1 every other row, now I had to DEC 1 AND bind off 3 st at the end of the desired row! This meant I HAD TO CUT THE YARN after BO the 3 last stitches, which caused a stress, because... how was I to continue the following rows after a bind off? I thought the only way was to add yarn, which would produce another loose end, and what's worse, in a neck shape. Oh well. Please, friends, let me know if I did the correct thing or if I misread the instructions. After this, I continued to desired lenght and bind off all 16 remaining stitches. After I bound off, I saw the left front was SHORTER than the right front. I PANICKED. Now I had to learn how to unravel bound off stitches. I trembled.

It sort of worked although the last stitch was... weird. Oh well. I continued knitting ignoring that, and it worked. I worked up to CORRECT length and bound off. Pheeeeeeeeeeeeeew!!

Now, I have two fronts and a back. They look nice and soft. THE WORST part comes now.

I AM AFRAID OF SLEEVES!!! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Please, I need your support :)

Love,
Flavio

Knit It! (Fair Isle Impromptu)

2006-04-14T11:45:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

Well, here it is: have been working on this last afternoon and morning. I wanted to mix three colours (although in separate designs, not all together) - and I designed it all myself: the Greek decoration, the hearts and little diamonds, plus the strange "thingy" in the middle. I also had a hard time trying to design the letters: it all had to be symmetrical, and I only had 34 stitches to work on. First thing was preparing the garter stitch frame. The work nonetheless rolled. What I did is placing it under heavy books all night long. This sort of worked! It almost does not roll now. Maybe I did some sort of basic blocking? ROTFL. It is all acrylic, and I have read I should not use steam on it otherwise it'll "break" or ruin.

I thought about doing hearts and diamonds in orange yarn (yes, again orange!) *** To fill in the symmetry, I added a little zig-zag: looks nice! Then, in purple, the Greek frame. I am so happy it looks so well. When I drew it on paper for the pattern, I was afraid it wouldn't look right. It does! Then, the words. Wanted to write something about knitting. I thought "knit it!" would do it. It looks so funny! Also the "i" with the dots... aren't they lovely? Would love to hear your comments :)

Also, do I have to call it "dishcloth" even when it's not intended for dishes?!

Love,
Flavio

I am fine

2006-04-13T21:49:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

I am fine - sorry for not having posted anything those days. I have been very busy, and hadn't a lot of time left for knitting either :( Alas! ** But, I am working on a new "dishcloth" (although I'll never use if for dishes, so I just like to call it "knit-square"). I have invented the design, in Fair-Isle, and used three colours! You'll see... surprise, surprise ;-)

In the photo, you can see my first hat ever which I gave as a present, two or three months ago. I did it for a little cousin (a few month old). Notice my spaghetti pom-pon! I just cut short strings of yarn and tied them to the top: they looked so funny! Hope you like it :)

Good Morning Darling!

2006-04-10T22:44:00.000+02:00

Good Morning
Darling :*)

Ice Cream: Vanilla with Watermelon Hearts

2006-04-09T16:17:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

Well, I felt the need to use one of those lovely yarns I bought in Italy, so I thought I'd repeat a familiar pattern: the heart hat. I know, I should try something new, but I am a bit nervous lately so I sticked to what I know. I used vanilla as Main Colour (I know, it looks too white on the photos, but I swear it's like cream or ice cream!) - and hearts were done in watermelon as Contrasting Colour. Isn't it sweet?

This yarn is much "fatter" (chunkier?) than the one you saw in the blue/orange heart hat. I couldn't cast on 72 stitches, so I did it with 40 (it had to be a multiple of 8). It got quite high, in the end the hat looked very small. I can barely put it in my hand, so to speak. Well. Another doll hat for my collection... When will I be able to do a real hat for a real adult? Anyway, it's a nice exercise. What do you think of how it looks anyway?

Now... I really am unhappy with my seaming. I don't like how it looks. I am apparently doing something wrong. What's that? I wish somebody could help me with this. Please, leave your comments. I'll love to read them!

Lots of love,
Flavio

My first attempt at CABLE!

2006-04-07T19:31:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

I have finally dared to try cable for the first time. I didn't know what to use as a cable, but I found something "U-shaped" that might work. This little experiment is based on what I can see in the great book Knitting for Dummies. It's a simple Sl3 on cable and hold in front, K3, K3 from cable rhythm. The first attempts were pathetical: I wasn't able to do a good cable. I created big "holes" between the cable parts and it looked awful.

Now, it looks better. I have to practice a lot yet, but this is my first complete cable. What do you think? I have seen more difficult patterns for cable, but they look impossible. I am also quite confused with the chart icons for cable. They look very strange! Anyway, this is what I have done. Doing a sweater is still very far from where I am in my knitting skills right now. But I don't despair ;-)

Lots of love,
Flavio

My first lace pattern!

2006-04-04T18:59:00.000+02:00

Dear friends,

Here I am again with a new work. I have finally been able to finish a lovely lace pattern that I have found in the great book Knitting for Dummies. I just love it. It is called "Miniature Leaf". It was quite difficult at first, mostly because when you miss one of the stitches the design is ruined. Eventually I was able to finish a decent square, with a garter-stitch frame, so it looks like a lovely framed picture :) What do you think?

I chose, once again, orange yarn. It's so bright! Notice those details between the stitches... Do you like it? What do you think? I would love to hear your comments, really :) If you want me to give out the pattern, just let me know and I'll post it. I used 4.5mm needles (size 7, I guess).

Love,
Flavio

Heart Hat!

2006-04-01T10:59:00.000+02:00

Dear Friends,

I have been able to knit, in 4 hours, a decent hat for the little cousine. I didn't want to give the little ones, so my friends from Knitting Novice adviced a lovely pattern for a baby hat: it features a rolled brim (because of stockinette), hearts in contrasting colour and a topknot decoration. I also added a pink lace for the baby :) Well, since I learned how to do Fair Isle, I was very happy to try this one. It is my very first time doing an actual garment INCLUDING Fair Isle technique. Yes, I did some experiments before, but they were just rectangular samplers. This time it's a real object, a hat, with Fair Isle in it. I was afraid about weaving in the loose ends, it is still something that looks too random for me... but it's getting better. I am becoming quite fast with stockinette, and the decreasing part was a pleasure! The little hearts are lovely, and I managed to do a nice topknot. It is not I-cord though. Following the instructions, I worked the remaining 9 stitches for a few inches then bound off. This created a lovely "string". It was stockinette, but I knitted the first and last stitch on each side, so it rolled in its sides, which was very useful! I joined the top and bottom and the "cord" seaming with the remaining yarn: I don't know if this is correct, but it worked!

I am very happy with it. I am not sure the little baby appreciated the effort (4 hours non stop!), being only 1 year old, but it was such a nice feeling having been able to create something wearable and nice! Wow :) I am happy for this...

Let me know if you like it too :)

Lots of love,

Flavio

Knitting Frustration

2006-03-30T22:13:00.000+02:00

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...

2006-03-30T16:08:00.000+02:00

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!

2006-03-21T09:31:00.000+01:00

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?

2006-03-20T17:30:00.000+01:00

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 :)

2006-03-19T18:25:00.000+01:00

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