Weaving in Valle d'Itria

 Last week, on a cold windy day, we visited Alberobello, a city of Trulli architecture in the Valle d'Itria (Valley of Itria) on the east coast of Italy. To get out of the wind, we stepped into this shop, which displayed hundreds of unique hand-crafted whistles. As we explored towards the back of the shop, we stepped into a room filled from top to bottom with fabric. All linen, and all hand-made.

The very nice (and effective) salesgirl explained to us that all of the fabric was handmade by retired local women on looms in the old traditional way. The girl showed us a knock-off pattern from China, where the pattern clearly repeated in a manufactured way (those can be found also in Alberobello). The patterns were unique: grapes = abundance, bells = fidelity, peacocks = immortality, and the trullo meant happiness.

What I found the most fascinating was that the dyes were all plant-based and traditional: parlsey & nettle made the greens, strawberry the red, onion the yellow, and more. There were many different sizes of cloths - napkins, tablecloth sizes, different towel sizes, little cup-shaped ones for getting things out of the oven, breadbasket bags, etc.

It was quite an amazing sight, and one of the few demonstrations of textile work I had seen so far in Italy. I decided to take home a bag to use for knitting. :) After, they also let us up on the roof of the house, for a fun panorama over the roofs, and also of the laundry hung up to dry!

Tern Toe-up Socks

I have finally cast-on and am working on the Tern Toe-up Socks, a free pattern by Pam Allen on Ravelry! I've been admiring this pattern since we first began travelling, but I didn't start them until just three days ago. I've made two pairs of socks, cuff-down, but I've been intimidated by toe-up socks. But, thanks to my friend Molly's encouragement back in the States, I decided to tackle these. And they have been pretty smooth sailing thus far!

The cast-on uses "Judy's Magic Cast-on" which was not too bad to start (I think after I did the "Starry Starry Night" Shawl that this kind of cast-on is not so intimidating). Then, after a few rounds it starts into a simple pattern for the top of the sock: k2, p2, with every 6 rounds being a cable row. The cables aren't bad either! Only one is crossed in front, and then 5 stitches are knitted from a needle held to the back.

I think, really, that this pattern is even simpler (so far) than my first sock pattern, which were the "Spring Forward" socks, also free on Ravelry. The pattern for the Tern socks is much shorter to memorize - I only need to remember when to do the cable rows, everything else is k2, p2.

I'm using Textiles a Mano's Caricia, in a purple-navy color. I'm already getting close to the heel!

My Little Ponies

Before leaving our olive harvest home, I crocheted these two little ponies for Giovanna (our host)'s granddaughters. We met her granddaughters the first weekend we were there, and they helped us to repair the olive nets. Their names are Emilia (age 11; pronounced Em-ee-lee-ah), and Tulia (age 9; pronounced Too-lee-ah). Tulia made me a sweet little herb sachet, so I wanted to make something for them in return.

I learned from Giovanna that their favorite animal is the horse, so I went looking for a good horse pattern. I found this one, the Crochet Pony Pattern, and started on it. I learned a little crochet a few years ago, but it has been a long time! It took me a while to dust off my single-crochet skills to get going.

This is also an amigurumi pattern (amigurumi comes from Japanese, it literally means a crocheted or knitted stuffed toy). There are different skills for making amigurumi, such as starting with a very small circle of crochet which has no center hole. This is called the magic circle, and I became pretty darn good at it as almost every piece of the pony is started with it!

I had to change hook sizes a number of times before I had a good result - these were made with a size E hook and my leftover Calafate yarn from Textiles A Mano. I used some Caricia in navy blue and teal for the manes. Really, this was quite a fast project once I had a gauge that I liked. It took about three evenings to make both ponies.

I also had another motivation for making these - I loved My Little Pony as a child (although this pattern is based on the new series of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which is also quite good in my opinion), and so it was a walk down memory lane to make a pony stuffed toy. :) I think they turned out quite cute, and I know the girls will love them. Give this pattern a try, it was a great project for my first amigurumi!

Notre Dame de Grace sweater

At last, I have pictures to post of my finished Notre Dame de Grace sweater! It turned out great, and I love the colors. Truthfully, it's been finished since November 1st, but between finishing the olive harvest and then travelling in Napoli, I haven't managed to get a picture up of it. But it has been great to have it here - it does get cold in Italy, even in southern Napoli. :)

Seaming on Halloween

It is an amazingly satisfying thing to see a project, which has been in pieces for months, finally come together with the magic of seaming. It's currently 5 pm here in Italy, where I sit cozy and warm in our room, watching the night descend and the rain fall outside. Usually, I can see the adjacent hillside, which is covered in trees, a small vineyard, and more olive trees. Right now, it's shrouded in gray - it's been raining since this morning.

My Notre Dame de Grace sweater has one sleeve attached now, and I can't wait to seam the next one on! Seaming, for me and many other people, looms like a monumental nightmarish task - as bad as watching a B class Halloween movie. ;) This is the fourth sweater I've made, and even though I dread seaming, I find that once I have passed the beginning point, I enjoy the process. There is a certain joy to seeing stitches close up together, one by one, and separate pieces become complete.

Halloween is a new holiday in Italy - there is no trick or treating, or costumes... but the idea of Halloween marketing has certainly spread here. We've seen many shops decorated with a classic Jack O'Lantern in the display window, and orange lights. But, that's about as far as Halloween extends.

Still, even though there will not be trick-or-treaters knocking on our host Giovanna's door tonight, I feel a connection through the rainy weather to Halloween in Oregon.

To my wonderful knitting group at Textiles A Mano in Eugene - everyone, I'm thinking of you tonight. Have a wonderful, magical evening of knitting, watch out for witches & warlocks, and.... Trick or Treat! :D

Tweedeldee in Venice

Here is a picture of Tweedeldee, the Textiles a Mano travel owl, visiting famous Venice! We had a great time exploring the tiny streets and canals - it is a city of so many textures and colors.

Today we leave Venice for nearby Padua! It will be nice to have more open space - here in Venice, there are mainly little closed in alleyways and streets, and always too many people. The wide open green spaces of Oregon are truly to be treasured!

A lazy morning

We have arrived safely in Passau, Germany! Our travel began on Monday at noon, and didn't end until 22 hours later on Tuesday evening - a very grueling day! We did get some sleep here and there along the way - four hours on the plane to London, and a couple one-hour naps in airports and on the short flight to Munich. We then took a two-hour train to Passau, and a taxi to our hotel. Devlin is working here for Hewlett-Packard until Saturday - and very conveniently, HP is in the same building as our hotel! All he has to do is go downstairs, and he's at work. :)

As a result of our long travel day, I was very lazy Wednesday morning. After we had breakfast in the hotel cafe (cold meats and cheese, a roll with "krauten" cream cheese - this means "herbs" in German - mainly chives, I think), and Devlin went downstairs for work, I got straight back in bed. I took out my tablet and my knitting and put on "Ratatouille." It was wonderful, and so relaxing, and I finished one sleeve for my Notre Dame de Grace sweater!

But, after lunch, I was ready for an excursion into the outside world. I went on a 5km (3 mile) run from the hotel, first through some beautiful woods, then chugged up a very steep hill, and then down again, and finally, became lost in a residential area. Luckily though, with my phone's gps, I was able to meander until I found my way back again. :) Here are some pictures from my run - the trees are all changing colors, and it was fun to see different styles of houses! The one below is rather neat.

And now, to take a break from blogging/travel planning - I'm going to go knit! In bed. And probably I'll watch an episode of Poirot. :D

The Wheel

I began drop spindling in February, thanks to the loving encouragement and enabling of my knitting/spinning group at Textiles a Mano in Eugene. I think it began thanks to Jo, who I watched making ethereally thin single-ply on a number of beautiful spindles. She let me borrow five or six of her spindles, and with a bit of blue-faced leicester, or BFL, I was off and spinning. I was encouraged by the rest of the spinners, who I saw every Saturday making beautiful, truly unique handspun on their wheels and spindles. My original idea in pursuing spinning was to take my spindle on my upcoming trip to Europe in October, as another craft I could do while being nomadic and traveling light.

Fast-forward to June. I've spent the last couple months watching my friend Peggy learn to spin on her new wheel, an Ashford Joy, I learned to chain ply on the fly from my friend Stephanie, and I went to the Black Sheep Gathering with my friends from the shop and spent hilariously fun hours examining fiber and yarn.

Jump to July 4th. Devlin, my partner, and I went to his mom's house in Newport for dinner and the fireworks. His mom invited her neighbors, Denise & Lewis, over to dinner as well, and we had a lovely meal. After, I pulled out my new Bosworth (found at Black Sheep) and began to work on my chain-ply. Denise was watching, and after a little while, she said, "You know, I have a spinning wheel in my closet - it's been there 20 years - and I think you'd be the right person to have it."

I just about fell off the deck. "Really?? A spinning wheel? " I asked her. I tried at first to sound light and not over-eager, but I was unable to hide my astonishment.

We decided we would go fetch the wheel the next morning... but after the dishes were done, I just couldn't wait. We trooped over to Denise's home, and she pulled the wheel out. It was a lovely little Ashford traveler, as I later learned, dry and in need of some wood finishing wax, but otherwise in perfect shape.

And thus, I am now spinning on my new wheel, thanks to Denise's generosity! I have finished a small test-ply skein, and I'm now on to spinning Esmeralda with a lovely skein of "Destin" by Dicentra. Now I have three months to spin my head off before we go to Europe!