Amazing gifts: knitted Santa Lucia by Pam

I'm sure you know Pam.

Not only because I've mentioned her other times here on my blog as one of my best "on-line friends", but also because she writes a successfull blog (gingerbreadsnowflakes) with lot of readers.

But if you don't know Pam, well, you should! This post is for you, too.

She had very hard times this year, but she was so kind to finish a gift she promised to send me some months ago.
Look what it is:

A knitted doll with the sembiance of Saint Lucy (Santa Lucia in italian), so well made and so beautiful! 

And so precious to me, also because I know she knitted it for me during a very sad storm of her life.

The choice to make and give a Santa Lucia doll can appear a bit strange, but it isn't, because our friendship started to grow when we had the opportunity to share our thoughts about Santa Lucia day's traditions (some of you probably remember that I wrote for Pam' blog a guest article about italian traditions for Santa Lucia's day).

So this is not only a beautiful gift, but is also a symbol of the friendship between me and Pam :)

Lucia is now with Zarina, another "doll" Pam sent me some time ago (yes, I am a very lucky girl!).

I'm sure these two girls are good friend now. They probably spent the first night together chatting and chatting about almost everything, because, well, girls do it!

This doll surprised me for the care of its making and for some details like the hair and the candle crown:

And, ehm, I don't want to be insolent, but... look! Lucia wears panties, too!

:P

Love these details!

I'm very happy she is with me now!

Pam is a talented knitter and, since she is crazy for Christmas (according to her words), she also knits Christmas ornaments. 

Here you can find some of the ones Pam recently made (balls, mushroom, an elf and... oh, that polar bear!!!). 
To make them she follows Alan Dart's patterns; I think you have to take a look if you need ideas to dig into some Christmas knitting.

And also these balls are beautiful (patterns by Arne and Carlos). 

In the mail box I found also a little precious gift for mum:

Look what was inside the bubble wrap:

One of Pam's scandinavian shaved wood ornaments!!!

I can't wait to give it to my mum. For a happy coincidence I'll probably will be at mum's home with her gifts in my hands around S. Lucy's day! :)

A big THANK YOU to Pam and a suggestion for you: don't forget to visit Pam's blog if you haven't done it before. It's full of crafty and creative ideas for all seasons and I'm sure there is something that will inspire you!

Silver and gold

Look what AuntFran made for my shop these days:

 

 

Knitted cuffs in gold and silver with buttons!

Love them! I've just uploaded them in the shop (12 € is a fair price, I think).

 

My favourite is this one in gold:

 

 

I really like how the thread sparkles and, oh, I'm in love with that vintage buttons with their mushroom shape :)

 

 

Since I have a strong fascination for mother-of-pearl, this cuff placed second in my rank:

 

 

It's made of an interesting white thread with silver fibers, very soft and a bit sparkling. Less elegant than the golden cuff: I think it is for girls with a rocker soul!

 

Same thread (but more simple metallic buttons) for the second cuff in silver:

 

 

Aunt Fran knitted braids in both the silver cuffs, I'm not sure if the photos show it clearly or not. Taking photos of sparkling objects is not so simple as I was expecting befor starting, but I'm quite satisfied by my snapshots.

Here at my parents' home (where I'm still living now) I'm experimenting with a lot of rustic backgroungs like the old wooden board you can see in the photos above (and in this one). I'm taking advantage of the natural light I have in the garden... how beautiful is light in september! Still bright, but soft!

 

AuntFran is not the only one working on new things these days, of course!

After tidying up my sewing trunk, I've realized a pouch with fabric and leather leftovers I found in it:

 

 

I'm also embroidering and sewing new Xmas stars.

It's a "no-sewing-machine project", 100% made by hands, perfect for me in this period, when I'm trying to keep company with mum while sitting in the garden or watching together a tv show.

 

 

I'm going to write a blog post soon to show you the completed stars, because they are a bit different from the stars I made last year.

New supplies and tools I bought from Etsy shops

Recently I spent some money for new supplies and craft tools from Etsy.

We always need new crafty things to test and experiment with, do you agree?

I haven't use them yet, because I've been busy with other things, but I can't wait to start new projects with them.

 

They are...

 

... a lovely vintage scalloped trim from Altmeansold, a shop owned by Antonella, a member of Etsy Italia Team.

I love it!

Antonella sells mainly vintage fashion and housewares, but its shop also has a section for vintage supplies like the trim I bought (still available, if you're interested). Take a look in her shop for vintage buttons, ribbons, lace and other amazing things from the past!

 

... a doll knitting set from Annemarie.

In the kit I found the knitting doll, a stick, photocopied instructions and some yarn (in green, my favourite color!) to start using the doll.

 

 

In Italy we call this tool "caterinetta", a word that always make me laugh because it sounds like "little Catherine" :)

I'm not sure I've 100% understood how to use it, but I'll do my best to learn!

Annemarie's shop is filled with amazing and colorful crocheted items (amigurumi!), supplies and kit and crochet patterns!

 

... plastic safety eyes from einenie, a swiss shop owned by Anita.

 

I'm going to use them in my future crocheted animals (Mr Buh needs a friend!). This kind of eyes gives more expressiveness to amigurumi: in Anita's shop you can buy them in different measurements and colors.

 

I had great shopping experiences with all these three shops (fast shipping, kindness and precision), so take note of them if you need new supplies for your crafty moments!

 

Recycling cotton yarn from an ugly super cheap pullover

I'm slowly becoming a bit crazy for recycling.

My fiancè says I do odd things :)

But I'm happy when I give a new life to old and refused materials and I'm always surprised by what I can make with them.

So I go on.

Recently I went to the local market (not only vegetables and food for sale, but a lot of other things) and, as I did last dicember, I bought some cheap craft materials.

Among them... a 90s style cotton pullover for 1 €!

Too ugly to be worn again, but so big!!!

I noticed it wasn't cutted and sewn, like most of the clothes around us, but its parts have been knitted separately and then sewn together without cutting the thread.

If you have not idea of what I'm blathering about ... here a photo  of the inner seams:

You can recycle the thread of this kind of pullovers and it's what I'm doing right now.

You have to patiently remove the stitches that join the different parts of your pullover:

Then you can find the start of the thread and start to unravel:

It's a long work and I haven't finished it yet. But I'm still dreaming about what to do with all the cotton thread (cream and light blue) I'll obtain.

The thread is too thick (according to my taste) to make another pullover (I like clothes made of thin fibers).

What can I make with it?

A knitted bag for spring? Some accessories for my home?

A crocheted coin purse

This is the first object I've made for the shop with the crocheted works my AuntFran realized for me during last Xmas holidays.

She crocheted the blue part, using a high quality cotton thread. I added the red flower (yes, I can crochet!), the lining and the zipper.

So here we have a lovely coin purse!

Well, of course it can be used not only for coins, but also for cards, little cell phones, jewelry and other little objects needing a safe home in our bag.

AuntFran made also:

- a smaller version of this purse (crocheted)

- the exterior part of a tote bag and its handles (in the same color, crocheted)

- the exterior part of a tote bag in dark camel (knitted)

All of these in... 7 days! She is soooo fast! *___*

I have a lot to do to list new items as soon as possible.

Recently I've also added some new items in my shop:

- a ladybug pincushion / soft toy: here

- Elizabeth the giraffe: here

- a moleskine case with a lot of colored dots: here

And I decided to present again two old objects:

- this camel pouch

- this moleskine case in yellow and brown

So, if you're in the mood for some handmade shopping, consider my shop :)

Xmas holidays projects: knitted neckwarmer (and vintage earrings)

During my last holidays at home AuntFran helped me in knitting and crocheting something for me (and she crocheted and knitted a lot of things for my/our shop... coming soon!).

The first project has been a neck warmer. I wanted to make something like this: I love the retro design and the feeling of warm it gives.

So I tried.

My aunt gave me a yarn ball she saved from old projects. It has a color I can't clearly define: it's a sort of light brown, or a dark mustard. Have you any idea about its real name?

The result isn't precise. There are a lot of indecisions in my stitches, the work is a bit irregular. This scarf is moaning: "MadameRenard, you are really a beginner"! Eh, eh :)

Well, I like it the same!

Oh, I hope you can see the earrings I'm wearing in these photos. They belonged to my beloved grandmother. We had a very special relation and when she died (november 1995) AuntFran (her daughter) gave my her wedding ring and invited me to choose one of her jewels for me. I was 18 years old and I picked up these simple heart shaped earrings. They are old, probably my grandmother purchased them 50-60 years ago.

Now my taste is different and I like other kinds of jewelry. But I often wear these earrings, because they remember my lovely granny!

But I'm digressing too much, let's come back to the neck warmer! I haven't follow any pattern (though it is a free pattern on Ravelry), because I have a lot of difficulties in reading knitting patterns and translating them from english to italian.

As usual, I've started to work and reached the shape I wanted. Ok, nearly!

If you are on Ravelry you can decide to become my friend: I'm here!

Two small handmade Christmas trees

Ouch, I'm sick!

I have a high temperature and a stomachache. This is not what I've planned for my holidays, unfortunately. I want to do a lot of funny things with people I love, so I hope to restore soon. Fingers crossed for me!

I'm trying to stay not-on-the-sofa right now, so I decided to write a post about two small handmade Christmas trees I've seen in these days.

One has been made by my friend Lory as a Xmas gift. She knew we haven't purchased a real tree yet, so she realized one for us. I love this kind of gift, Lory has been so kind and loving!

And the tree is beautiful! It's a paper cone covered with traditional italian ornaments. It's enlightening my kitchen table now!

The second tree is by mum: a simple paper cone with a chain of multicolored and flashing lights rolled around.

Simple choices work well, sometimes! :)

This evening I had to see my friends, but my illness stopped me at home -__-

I'm going to sip a hot herbal tea and read some pages of my new book. Or knit a row or two of my new project, started today with AuntFran.

Bye!

Something from my weekend... flea markets and quince jam!

How did you spend your weekend?

Saturday I've finishe to make 15 jars of quince jam, aeten pizza with friends, started to decorate some sea stones with guache, cleaned the home.

Yesterday S. and I have been in Catania to visit the local flea market and to buy some Christmas gifts.

I love second-hand objects and flea markets, but yesterday I couldn't find something to buy, except three small books about knitting and crocheting.

And you?

Some photos I took this week

I have so many things to blog about in these days!

School is out for summer, so I don't work and I have a lot of time for art&craft experiments, for reading, exploring the garden and take photos of .... everything.

Yaeh! :)

So many things to say that... today I decided to write a post where photos will help me to tell you about all is filling my life now.

I'm a lucky girl

I won a beautiful set of cards from PaintedFishStudio thanks to Carina's giveaway!

I know, this is the third giveaway I won this year. Lucky girl!

The cards arrived really well-packed; they looked so professional!

And Jen sent me also a cute and funny gift: a red fish able to tell something about your fortune.

When it was on my hand it said that I'm in love! :)

Thank you, Jen!

Your cards are lovely, the fish is so cute and your service is really good!

Amazing succulents

My dad grows succulents in the garden. It has a sort of collection (140 vases, I'm not joking!). In this period of the year they gave us amazing big and colorful flowers. Look at the following photos: aren't they incredible?

Hallo world, this is me

I took some photos of me. The one with mustache is for Etsy Italia Team (we have a lot of fun, great team!). The other one shows me reflected in a car's roof.

Recycling with AuntFran. Ops, we did it again :)
We made a second bag with recycled t-shirt yarn (here you can find the first bag). This is made of one dress and one big t-shirt. Knitted by my aunt. I've added a fabric lining with two pockets. Do you like it?



 I planned to write blog posts about:

- postage stamps, real and faux

- me walking toward art journaling (a sort of)

- new damask bags (and bike bags, too)

- batik

So, stay tuned!

First project with recycled t-shirt yarn: a striped bag!

Do you remember when I recycled some t-shirts in yarn to knit (or crochet) with AuntFran?

She was impatient for experiment it that she made two samples the same day and started two days later a project: a striped bag for me.

I wanted something realized with the acid green thread, but it wasn't enough to make something wearable, so she mixed it with the blue and the white threads.

Thought I wasn't not 100% satisfied by the result, I accepted it (thank you, dear aunt!!!) and I decided to sew the lining and the handles with some blue cotton fabric.

The bag has also two inner pockets and a magnetic snap for more safety.

What do you think about it?

As I wrote above, I'm not 100% happy with it, but I think it will be perfect for summer. I'll wear it with blue-jeans and a sporty t-shirt.

My aunt really enjoyed knitting with this kind of thread, so yesterday we worked on one of her old summer dresses (really old!): now we have 3 balls of caramel and sand recycled yarn.

I'm really curious to see what AuntFran will make with them!
She is so skilled in knitting and crocheting!

I like this detail of the finished bag :)

It clearly shows how this kind of knitted tissue is strong and sturdy.

SOME NEWS ABOUT GIVEAWAYS AND VIDEO MAKING

- Today I received a great new: I won one of the Carina's giveaways!!! Wow, I'm so happy!!! I won a set of beautiful cards by Painted Fish Studio, probably these these with a bike.
- In these days I'm experimenting with video making (with my modest tools) as probably you've noticed yesterday. So I'm going to realize a video that will show the draw of the winner of my giveaway. I will post it next wednesday!
You have still some hours to sign in!

Sunday afternoon

Warm weather definitely arrived, so yesterday I decided to reorganize my wardrobe putting away winter clothes and setting handy t-shirts, linen trousers and fresh skirts :)

Then I spent a few hours with auntFran choosing some old clothes to recycle and to make new craft material with.

We selected some t-shirts (blue, green and white with blue letters) and made balls of recycled t-shirt yarn (I photograohed them with the white&yellow ball I made last november).

We have a project about these: a summer bag for me, knitted (or crocheted) by my aunt, with a fabric lining made by me. I don't know exactly how it will be; auntFran realized samples using this yarn, one crocheted and one knitted.

I like best the knitted one, but before deciding I want to see another sample auntFran will make with a bigger crochet hook.

Then we started to unravel two old handmade cotton vests (they were too small for us and a bit out of fashion). Now we have four big balls of a good quality cotton thread, two in green and two in bright red. We have not projetcs about them. Probably we'll save them for future craft works, such as bags, as usual :)

Other things about my weekend:

- I worked the night between saturday and sunday as a tourist guide in my favourite museum. I love this kind of job, the particula art you can find there and my co-workers! I had a lot of fun

- My family and I dined out on sunday evening to celebrate my parents' 35th wedding anniversary. Good food and a lot of laughing, thanks to my cousins (they are auntFran's sons)