(La neve sulle palme)

(Il tempo tu-sai-che-fa)

If they were, then designers like me would have a hard time selling patterns:  by the time I've done the knitting

Gift-wrapping took priority over cuttlefish-knitting on Christmas Eve, so I didn't finish this critter until the 26th-

Razziando l'armadio dei figli! With two sons*, I always thought I would miss out on the joys of having daughters "borrow" items from my closet-- and perhaps returning the favor. Con due figli maschi*, pensavo sempre di perdere le gioie di avere figlie, coloro che potrebbero prendere a prestito le cose dal mio armadio-- ed anche di perdere la possibilita' di prendere a prestito le loro cose. But maybe I was too quick to call Florin a "child's" vest; I was looking at it the other day, and thought, "I wonder if that would fit me." And the result? Not bad; not bad at all! Pero', forse ero troppo affrettata quando chiamavo il Florin un gile' dei bambini; lo stavo guardando l'altro giorno, e pensavo, "Mi chiedo se quello mi starebbe bene." Niente male; niente male affatto! *I do have two grown stepdaughters, but somehow I doubt that raiding their closets would do anything to endear me to them (hi Carmen!). *Ho due figliastre grandi, ma dubito che di razziare i loro armadi mi renderebbe caro a loro.

Last August during our annual sailboat trip I was working on Sorelle; this year, the as-yet-to-be-named top-down raglan pullover (Tilli Tomas Fil de la Me

I don't tend to get a lot of knitterly gifts-- not to worry, I purchase plenty of yarn and needles and books and knotions for myself! I did get this cool T-shirt from my sister last year.... Anyway, this year for my birthday I was lucky enough to receive two skeins of this lovely cashmere yarn, in colorway "Cape Sky," hand dyed in a lobster pot, no less!! And with them came the cutest birthday card ever; AND, a couple of days later, I received a "Daily Dose of Fiber" Ravelry shirt in the mail (haven't yet gotten a photo of that). Thanks Carmen!

I think this has been the longest time I've gone without posting since starting this blog.  The time just slipped away:  somewhere between leaving Italy for the summer, arriving back in the U.S., and taking care of various home- and family-related needs, suddenly, it became July.  I haven't done a great deal of knitting either, although I have made an important step in regard to my future designing and knitting (or perhaps non-knitting) life:  I've hired a Test Knitter.  I'm anxiously awaiting the results, but in fact there's probably no turning back:  I just want to design more things than I can possibly knit with my own two hands. Near future plans:  by the time the kids are back in school, there are several things I want to accomplish, design-wise.  I want to write up designs for a hat or two; and for a child's vest with which I hope to kill two birds with one stone (surely there's a kinder way to express this sentiment!), namely create something personal for my two sons, for whom I've neither knit nor designed in the past almost-two-years, and create a design which will be relatively quick and fun to knit.  I want to work up various submissions including one for Twist Collective, which to me is an intriguing and exciting twist on the online knitting magazine.  I want to finish my top-down raglan sweater using Tilli Tomas Fil de la Mer, on which I am slowly progressing; I didn't take any photos of the four different neckline treatments I tried, or the three different sleeve cuff ideas I had, but next post:  photos of what still remains. 

With each of my last few projects, the number of swatches I have done has steadily increased (I hope this trend doesn't continue!).  I've done multiple swatches for different reasons; for my project for an upcoming issue of Vogue Knitting,

I heard my song today!  (Meaning the song mentioned here.) 

Superstizioso?  Ho sentito la mia canzone-- la canzone cio che parlo qui.