MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

This family is going to Finland for Christmas and we have no internet connection there, so I wish everyone a very merry holiday!!!! That is last year's Christmas tree.

Oliver

Oliver found a trolley, ready to leave for Finland!

Oliver on my shawls, best place in the world to sleep!

Oliver in the shopping-bag, full of the same shawls!

Wonderful FO's

This is a gorgeous pattern fron one of my favourite blogs, http://assemblage.typepad.com/assemblage/
the pattern is called sev(en) circle http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sevencircle.

The yarn is from http://www.chiligredelin.se/ The softest most luscious alpaca in strong vibrant colours... luckily I have more skeins, because this is a Christmas present for my stylish, modern 82-year old mother!
And this my Sylvi http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sylvi by my absolutely favourite blogger and friend http://madebymyself.blogspot.com/

This was fun to knit, relatively quick and I only wish it were a bit longer... or maybe I should be shorter! I changed the cuffs, but otherwise followed the perfect pattern!

I could definitely make another of these! =)

How do you like the clovers in almost December? Gorgeous green, huh? =)

The Gnomes part II

These apples look so... beautiful!!!! And this is somewhat what our gnomes look like :

The Story of the Gnomes that live with us

A long time ago, caveman's great grandfather met a gnome couple during his travels, and brought them home with him, to his garden overlooking the sea here in Southern Italy.

My children have been enjoying these gnomes for all their lives, and every now and then one of them takes little presents of food and things and they always receive something in return. These are not Santa's gnomes, but they do give little presents on the first Sunday of the advent, and then they have been known to surprise with a Easter set up as well! We've never actually seen them, but we know they are there, somewhere near the pine tree in the photograph, so that is were we leave them little things.

This what Minerva took them the other day, some walnuts and a tangerine laying on a fig leaf, because neither grows down in the garden and in the winter they must need some extra food.

The next day she found this:

The tangerine had been peeled and had disappeared along with one walnut and the other walnut half had been made into a little toy!!!

When you lightly press the stick, it makes a twanging sound in the walnut half!!!! Guess which little girl tresures her little 'toy' as much as if it were made of gold???

I believe in Santa Claus and in gnomes, because the world would be a much duller place without them!!!!

Roasted chestnuts and cheerful wool!!!

The smell of roasted chestnuts is very much part of winter for me, and the kids love them!

I was feeling a bit blue today, too much time spent at home, so I drove the 18km to my yarn store to see what was new! I really didn't need yarn, but... the light grey was so pretty... 8 balls, the red was GORGEOUS... 10 balls, and the white looked good with the other two! ( I have black in stash) So...

And I bought three balls each of Filatura di Crosa Hyrcus in grey ,this past summer, for friend and me, and I'm dreaming of a shawl in two colours, so I got two balls in black! ( would you my friend, like some too?)

At this point I had just enough money to buy three balls of mozzarella at the dairy, still warm and oozing milk so that's what we had for lunch with crusty bread and tomatoes!

How soft yarn and warm mozzarella and chestnuts can do to make a blue day become cheerful!!!

Cinnamon rolls and lazy cats!

Cinnamon rolls and tea for dinner last night.... mmmm!

                                And this is Oliver on among his sister's other furry friends!

Sunny southern Italy

I have taken photos from here before, to show the pretty view! Not so pretty today... the sea is out there somewhere... And it hasn't rained, so the wet on the ground is just...wet.

Only three children in Minerva's class were at school today, the rest home with the swine flu... we're still laughing! =)

November sunset and cheesecake

These were taken from the window of the car while rushing from one appointment to the other... no time to stop, but couldn't leave it unphotographed!

And this is what we are having for dinner cheesecake with cherry-jam swirls! I love lazy Sundays with good food and all the kids at home!

Funny girl!

Every time I empty my little camera of photos, I find some taken by Minerva! (the thing on her head is a cauldron)

These are Halloween-themed!!! (notice the spittle running down her chin like a vampire and blood?)

Funny girl! She'd like to receive a videocamera (or whatever they're called nowadays) for Christmas... is almost 9 too young?

Humidity

This is what it looks like today... and it's 15°C and raining...

It's very hard to explain humidity, bad humidity, to someone who has never experienced it, but the air is heavy and us asthmatics can't catch our breath, and you feel hot if you move, but as soon as you stay still the humidity goes through whatever sweater you are wearing and you feel chilled, even when it's not cold at all! It's no fun...

So today is the perfect day for mugs of tea, candles burning, knitting and maybe... some Christmas carols!!! (After all... little more than a month left) =) And I think I'll bake something too...

Autumn afternoons

This is my favourite mug, and the one I ALWAYS use for tea... it's chipped, and silly but it has just the right ratio of width and height!

  And this is one silly cat who enjoys home so much in the winter!  Oliver rolled up on the couch!

and on his sister's bottom

This morning

The view from the piazza up in Castro, towards North...

And towards East...

And this is the castle... and the piazza...it's really small.

Some flowers,

Sylvi

Sylvi finished, but no better photos yet... and no closure yet...

http://twistcollective.com/collection/index.php/component/content/article/60-winter-2008-patterns/147-sylvi-by-mari-muinonen

Filatura di Crosa Natur

And another 'pipo'

A 'pipo' a day keeps the doctor away!

Pattern: Windschief by Stephen West yarn: Finnwool Karstalanka from a friend

Halloween on its way...

He's been asking for this for ages... =)

Time flies!

Time flies and it never seems to be enough for blogging and even for taking nice photos with the new camera. But in exactly two months time we''ll be flying to Finland for Christmas!!!! Can't wait...

This summer a friend =) gave me a skein of Pukkilu from http://www.handu.fi/shop/ . I started socks and I started fingerless gloves, but this what my Pukkilu yarn turned into... #09 Eyelet Cap from Vogue Knitting ... Don't ask me why Aurora wears it pulled down , but the yarn is beautiful and the hat a quick knit!

And this is Kit by Kim Hargreaves that I started in Helsinki this summer and then had to wait for more yarn to be sent...It's made with Rowan RYC Cashsoft Aran and it is soooo soft! I absolutely LOVE the stitch, almost the same as the sleeves in Pyorre by Mari Muinonen / tikru ...

This and that!

This was in the window of Max&co, and although I'm not a poncho person, this appealed to me..., so I took a photo of it flat...

And since it's been rainy for two days now... I'll show you Oliver's favourite place to watch the rain... he controls the street from there!

                                  And these are stuffed eggplant, ready to go in the oven...

And last but not least, Ilu's Pukkilu yarn has finally decided what it wants to become! It tried being a sock, it tried being a fingerless glove, and now it finally is almost ready, as the Eyelet cap from Vogue Knitting Fall 2009...