maskerade

A gift for a little Italian boy

@brittarnhild

In April two years ago a little boy was born here in Florence. Parents from Romania, grandparents from California. Through updates from the grandparents and photos on facebook from the mother, we have followed the growth of the little boy, and today we met him for the first time.

Italy is different from Norway. It si much warmer here. But still, a woolen sweather from Norway can be a good thing for a little boy. So here is one for you sweet, handsom Nicolas Lanny. We hope it gives you warmth and love.

 

Look at this book cover

@brittarnhild

Dagmar, my dear friend in Austria, who is a knitter and a reader of "maskerade" sent me a photo of a book she good in the mail. Doesn´t it look tempting!

 

Inspiration for a wrist warmer found in Uffizi

@brittarnhild

 

We have spent a few hours at Uffizi today, the oldest museum in Modern Europe, started back in 1591 by Francesco I de Medici. In between the more (for me) well known paintings, I found one called The Three Archangels and Tobias, by Francesco Botticini. I think what made me see it was the word Tobias. You see, almost every time I visit Venice, I read Miss Garnet´s Angel by Salley Vickers. The Apocryphe tale about Tobias and the Archangel Gabriel plays an important role in Miss Garnet´s Angel. I have visited the church in Venice where part of the story is set, and I have read the apocryphe tale several times.

Looking at Botticini´s painting, my eyes fell on Tobias´wrist.
Can you see it? Wouldn´t this make a most amazing knitted wrist warmer :-)

 

 

Pasquetta, Little Easter

@brittarnhild

Today, Easter Monday, is called Pasquetta, Little Easter here in Italy. It is a red calendar day, and a day when families go out together.

The shop windows still have their Easter decorations, and I love watching all the huge chocolate eggs they have here in Italy.

Sometimes we see mothers or grandmothers with four or five huge eggs in their hands. How children, and grown-ups, manage to eat all this chocolate, is a puzzle for me.

One more Easter egg bag before I close Easter on "maskerade". This one is knitted by Mardelle, one of "maskerade´s" readers. It is lovely, isn´t it :-)

 

Artist market at Santo Spirito

@brittarnhild

After a week up in the Tuscan Hills, we have come to Florence, where we will stay in the cozy little apartment of dear friends for another Italian week. We arrived last night, had dnner with some friends thene, and today we were both fresh and ready for a day of exploration. The pottery people whom I mentioned the other day had told us that they would be at a Sunday Art Market at Piazza Santo Spirito, so that became our first goal for the day.

I will write about the market in another post, over in The House in the Woods, but here I want to show you some lovely yarn I found at the market.

The market at Santo Spirito was quite big and I don´t know what made me spot the little stand with the yarn, but there it was, and as soon as I saw it, my finger wanted to touch the sweet woll. And when they had touched it, I simply knew I needed some. I could have gone for the off-white, but somehow I couldn´t let go the cappuccino brown. May be bacause cappuccino the coffee we drink it Italy, always.

Next to the few skeins of yarn were a few scarves. They were off-white, but don´t you think a cappuccino brown scarf would be just perfect :-) I bought two skeins, 100g each, and took a photo of the scarf. Now I will have to make my own pattern, and then let the soft, tender alpacca wool run between my fingers.

Of course I will let you know when I get there :-)

Here it the website to the company which makes the soft alpacca wool.

 

Lagre

Lagre

A repost from The House in the Woods

@brittarnhild

Summer. Long days. Short work days. A week alone in The House in the Woods, in The Blue Garden. Time at hand. Time to relax. Time to reflect.

And with that came time to be creative.

The love to create has followed me since birth.
The love to create is part of my life.
A meal, a garden, a bouquet of flowers, a stilleben,
a letter, an early Saturday morning photo walk, a travel, a blog post,
a journal entry, a book. A marriage.
A life. 

Knitting, quilting, crochet, embroidering........

It is all part of my life.

During my week alone an idea started to play in my head.
A design formed.

I don´t knit A LOT any more, as I used to.
Still, small project are also pieces of art.

I found some left over yarn down in my basement studio and started to knit.
It was easy during The Olympics.
Not that I watched much of it.
But the Norwegian girls playing handball, winning the gold medal......

.....well, it gave me a few hours with my needles,
and prevented me from biting my nails.

The idea, the design turned out so well, I decided to buy some new yarn,
trying to ignore the fact that I have bags and bags and baskets and baskets down in the studio.

As the knitting unfolds,
as beads will be sewn on,
as creativity will unfold....

.....I´ll let you know....

 

....some day. 

The last of the Easter egg bags and some creative inspiration.

@brittarnhild

Today I knitted the last of this year´s Easter egg bags. I have given away 12 of them here in Italy now, all filled with chocolate eggs. Today has been the last full day of our retreat at Santa Maria, and when we had our afternoon coffee, I presented the others with a bag. We are eight people at the retreat. I did´t manage to knit eight bags for us, but these eight people make four couple. One bag for each couple :-)

After coffee we went to visit a couple who makes pottery. I feast of colours and patterns and shapes.  I was very inspired and look forward to play more with my own colours when I am back home.

Knitting doesn´t have to be boring you know. Well, knitting is never boring. Knitting gives me a wonderful oppportunity to play and to be creative.

 

Knitted coat for the tree

@brittarnhild

It took me some days to discover it, but once I did, curiosity got me. A tree with a knitted coat?

I asked Paolo, who lives parttime here at Santa Maria, "Listen Paola, I have discovered something strange with one of the trees out in the garden. A kind of knitted coat. Can you tell me more about it?"

Sure, Paola could explain. There are a lot of artists and artisans visiting Santa Maria, one of them a young student from Dresden in Germany. The knitted coat is her project and is meant to me good for the tree, especially in winter. The knitting is made to expand, to grow as the tree grows.

Knitting is a good retreat

@brittarnhild

 

 The theme of the retreat is St.Frances. Every morning we read a piece of his The Canticle of the Creature and some lines from the scripture, and then we reflect upon this during the day. We walk, we work in the kitchen, we pray, we reflect, and most of the day we are silent. In the afternoon we have break from silence, and can share our thoughts if we want to.

The weather is sunny and nice, just as I have imagined the Tuscan Hills to be in April.

 

And as always, a perfect way for me to be silent, to reflect, to let my thoughts flow, is to knit.
The second stocking is halfway done.

 

Lagre

The first stocking is done

@brittarnhild

Oh my, it really did take some work to finish the first stocking, and I guess the second one will take at least as long. But now it is done, and the second one is started.

I am actually not supposed to spend time on blogging while I am on the retreat, but I was so excited when I saw the finished sock, I walked around to find a perfect place the photograph it and then I just had to show it to you :-)

Cute, isn´t it :-)