Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

My Italian adventure continues

@brittarnhild

Leaving Santa Maria is always sad, but hopefully I will be back again next year for another retreat.
Deo Volente.

On the picture you see the new church bell, given to Santa Maria by friends in Norway (the group to which I belong)

We left after breakfast, to go in different directions. Thoms drove me, and two of the others, to the train station in a nearby town. While waiting for the train to Firenze, I spotted these cute little chics, swallows I presume, up under the roof.

In Firenze I found another train which took me directly up to Venezia. And from the train station Santa Lucia a boat out to Murano and the small, family owned hotel where we always stay.

There I hardly had time to leave my suitcase before going out again.
To breath my beloved city.

Last day, with show and tell

@brittarnhild

The last day has come, too fast as always. Tomorrow we are leaving, some of us to fly home, some to continue our Italian adventures. It has been a very productive and creative week, and now it is time to show what we have knitted.

Sofia has been our teacher during the week, showing us how to make two of her beautiful mitten patterns. And look what amazing work the group has done!

I already have the mittens, and decided to do my own work during the week. A pair of wrist warmers with irises embroidered on, and something I am not sure what to cal, it is the very beginning of what I hope will be a huge Bible blanket or board. 1.Mosebok means Genesis.

Paola baked us an apple pie for the last afternoon tea,

and loads of photos of the group were shot.

 

Santa Maria in flowers and fresco

@brittarnhild

This nigella damascene, love in the mist, is called "virgin in the blue" in Norwegian. A perfect name for a flower at Santa Maria.

Inside the church at Santa Maria you find an old fresco of the virgin.
I took this picture a few years ago.

During the pandemic an artist has been visiting Santa Maria to restore the fresco, which now looks like this.
I am absolutely no art expert, but I can't help missing the old one.......

 

 

A new day with needles

@brittarnhild

   

At Santa Maria every day starts, and ends, in the church. With reading from the Scripture, hymns, prayers and silence.

And only then we are ready to start painting the fresh, new day.

We continue to knit. We have lunch, we have tea, we hike, we talk. And always we knit.

Just before lunch we had a visitor, the Norwegian knit designer Kari Hestnes, who now lives in Tuscany. Kari told us about her amazing life as a knit designer, and showed us a few of the many knitting books she has made.

 

Stitch by stitch

@brittarnhild

Sofia (you can find her on instagram as @sofiastales) is a knit designer. Among her many designs are a series of beautiful mittens, and for this retreat she has picked two mitten patterns, leading the participants during the process of knitting them.

The group of knitters, from Norway and Sweden, are all avid knitters, and soon beautiful mittens are on their way.

No rain today, and even though it is nice to have a light cardigan, we can sit outside.

Today is The Day of the Swedish Flag, "Svenska flaggans dag" and also Sofias birthday. One of the participants picks her a bouquet of wild flowers and Paola bakes a strawberry cream cake.

If the night is clear, we can see all the way down to Firenze/Florence

 

Stillness

@brittarnhild

I still remember the first time I visited my parents in law to be, almost 45 years ago. My bedroom was up in the attic, and I could not sleep because everything was so quiet. I was used to live close to a busy street, something I am today as well, and there you could here no cars, and very few sounds from nature as well. It was this same stillness I experienced last night in my bed in the small room where I have spent so many night before. Sharing one wall with the church, old stones, serene, and quiet. A good stillness, but how to sleep? Then I heard the well known sounds of the tawny owl, which we hear every night at our cabin, and with it, sleep came.

The knitting retreat has started. Everybody has arrived and I can feel it will be a good and blessed week.
Sofia and I had a quiet morning, spending some time together after breakfast for the last preparations, knitting together, talking together, laughing together, being still together.

 

Paola and her two helpers, Ann Karin from Germany and Anna from Italy (it is Anna you see in the picture above) were busy in the kitchen,

and just in time for lunch the first participants arrived.

It has been raining on and off most of the day. Good for the nature, and we manage anyway.

Finally back in Santa Maria a Ferrano

@brittarnhild

Today everything is quiet around the table, but tomorrow it will fill up with ladies from Norway and Sweden and their yarn and needles.

Three years cancelled because of the pandemic, but now, finally, the knitting retreat here at Santa Maria in Tuscany will happen.

Terje left Roma this morning and flew back home. A couple of hours later I boarded the train to Firenze/Florence. There I met Sofia Capelle, my Swedish friend who will teach knitting during the retreat. We had lunch together, and then found, eventually, to correct bus up to the small village Diacetto. There we were met by a friend of Santa Maria, and all of a sudden I was back in this lovely place.

Sofia and I have come one day before the group. Sofia has never been here before, neither met Paola who live close by and will take care of us during the coming week.

Preparing for a knitting retreat

@brittarnhild

If you are a long time reader of Britt-Arnhild´s House in the Woods, you already know about Santa Maria a Ferrano. Santa Maria is an ecumenical retreat center, affiliated with the Episcopal Church in Europe, cultivating the intersection between spirituality and art.

I have been to Santa Maria several times, and twice I've been in charge of a Norwegian retreat together with Thomas Müller, who run the center together with his wife Paola.

Next spring, from April 26th till May 2nd, I will be back, this time to be in charge of a Swedish-Norwegian retreat for knitters.

We opened the registration today, and I am crossing my fingers (praying) that there will be enough people interested to come.

This time the retreat will be in Norwegian/Swedish only, but I know that quite a few English speaking people are interested, so we might do another retreat in the autumn, in English.

You can read more about the retreat here:
Santa Maria a Ferrano, strikkeretreat.

 

Casa Marta

@brittarnhild

Can you see the little house to the right in the picture? It is Casa Marta, a new little house at Santa Maria a Ferrano, the retreat center in Toscana where I have spent the past two Easters. Casa Marta (House Marta) is a new little house, open to rent, perfect for two, or for one wanting to write.......

One can always dream.......