Festive outfit for girls.

One of the brightest garments I've ever done. I've enjoyed so much knitting it. Smooth Lana Gatto wool and the colours that transmit the happiness while working it. 

The original patterns were taken from Speciale Lana & Bimbi 3 (2-6 anni) di Lavori feminili di Mani di Fata. This issue still can be found here:

http://www.Manidifata.it

I didn't make the sleeves and changed a little the crochet pattern. 

Cute bed linen fabric.

Every time I go to Moscow I do shopping in famous russian "Trexgornaya manufacture" store: 

http://www.trekhgorka.ru/ 

The manufacture was founded in 1799. In their store one can find a vast variety of cotton and linen fabrics for home design and bed linen and kitchen sets. There is also a souvenirs department. The prices are very friendly. 

This 20s' style fabric I bought for children bed linen.  You can see it (art.43570) here:

 http://www.trekhgorka.ru/tkani-dlya-detei 

Summer dress.

This silk-cotton muslin is perfect for a summer dress. A simple, light one, like the pattern 125 from Burda Style 4/2013: 

 or patern 103 from Burda Style 3/2012:

On the set...

Inspired with the fotosession my daughter had created her own set. 

Some photos she maid.

Sewing plans.

Finally it wasn't so cloudy so I've managed to make some photos.

Knitting is not the only vice I have. Also I like to sew. So, today I'll start to write down my plans for the fabrics acquired recently. 

Here we go!
Now the most prevalent one:

As we were invited to our friends' wedding, which will be definately the most beautiful wedding we have ever been invited to (and I'm afraid the last one in nearest 20 years), I've already provided the fabric for my daugter's dress. 

And the yarn I bought some days ago would suit it perfectly. I'm planning to make a shrug or bolero, I haven't decided yet. Fortunately, the wedding will be only in September.

Knitting books I have (for now)...

These are the books which made me change my opinion about illegible (how I used to think) old patterns. What a pitty that I haven't bought in time the first volume of "A stitch in time". It is out of print and there is a little hope there will be another edition. 

"My grandmother's knitting" is one of my favourites. Contains not only beautiful patterns, but also the articles about the designers with biographical fotos from their family's archieves. I liked a lot the colours  of "Keepsake scarf" by Rodger P. Murry, "Vintage gloves" by Robin Melanson and "Minerva bonnet" by Teva Durham has a brim made with particular technique I've never used before. 

"Brave new knits" has pushed me to start this blog. I'm not sure that my husband is still so happy about giving it to me as a present for the 8th of March.

The following books (translated in Italian) content a variety of knitting and crochet patterns.

"Fare la spesa"...

Today I went "shopping". The idea was to buy some food in local supermarket and find one particular sewing thread in my favorite Martinelli stock store (there are always new arrivals of yarns and different items for sewing in merceria department).  And look what I found! My daughter fell in love with the red cotton yarn. She was embracing and kissing it on the way home. As to me, the light turquoise cotton is awesome and lila wool-angora will inspire me to do new vintage sweaters. I hope my husband was bored enough to look through the first pages of this blog and will not know about my "extravagancy".  But I suspect, he's aware of the real meaning of the frase: "Oggi farò io la spesa" ("Today I'll go to the supermarket"). 

My precious collection

Another passion - cross-stitch. Unfortunately, there is so little free space in our appartment. The walls are covered with furniture. May be, someday, we'll have a new house to decorate. One room for one particular issue. For now, I'm collecting the most beautiful books and magazines. And an enormous amout of patterns found in internet. The main problem is to choose.  Later I will show some projects, completed and in process. 

Lace scarf.

And another scarf I like a lot.

Recently, I tend to choose bright colours. Really tired of the shops filled with black, grey and brown garments. Especially in local little shops. Seems that the colours exist only in fashion shows and magazines. May be, easy to combine the garments, but looks sad and boring. That is another reason for me to knit and sew clothes. This scarf was my ultimate "dark" creation. The yarn was too soft to resist. And, surely, at that moment it was the very bright i could find (:

Here are some of my favourites. The scarf is really my best one, finished in autumn 2011, wear it almost everyday. Thanks for the colours that suit almost every outfit. The original pattern taken (and surely modified) from Il mio tricot di Mani di fata. It took one year to start the matching hat. The pattern is mine.

And these mittens have got a real success. One pair I made as a gift for my sister in law. The other one was ordered as a gift for Christmas. The pattern was found in Internet, really don't know the author. Looking on the photos, planning to make the third one for me next season. They are all too good together, one can't separate them. 

Yarns, threads etc.

The yarns I use are mostly the stock yarns used at knitwear factories. The local "mercerie" have rather poor choice of yarn (all italian, Lana gatto and Lana Mondial are more common), and using 1-2 pl yarn allows me to choose the number of piles for every concrete model. Also I can combine different colours and blends to find the texture I'm looking for. The labels are Lana gatto, Zegna Baruffa, Cariaggi and some others. The knitting accessories are also difficult to find. When I ask for something like 3,25 needles the sellers look rather surprised. Fortunately, I can find enything I need in numerous shops of Moscow, where I travel regularly to visit my parents.  The same I can say about the canvas and threads for cross-stitch. And now I'm planning to order a lowery stand by Siesta frames Ltd:

http://siestaframes.com/acatalog/Lowery_Stainless_Steel_Workstand.html

My cross-stitch supplies:

Now I'm struggling to finish this project before it gets too warm to wear it. Mantella (poncho) published in 08/2010 Mani di fata. The original patern:

My own one:

Another pattern from this issue I have on my mind:

Some words about the accessories...

Here are my favourite shoes. Chie Mihara. Made in Spain, fortunately discovered in local shop. Very comfortable, stable, always very vintage. Deserves to collect. I have another pair, we'll post it later with an appropriate outfit.

The bag is Piper Minibag by Furla. Don't try to find the same one. When I lost any hope to have it, my husband gaved it to me as a birthday gift. Looks vintage even this one, don't you think?