Weaving Olden Patterns

Well, hello readers! Thanks for all your nice comments about my article that's been published: I still haven't had time to translate it in good English, but I'm working on it and on the other ones, so I hope to post them here soon. Today I'd like to show you a new project instead, a cowl called "November Shades", whose pattern is available both on Etsy  and Ravelry . It's made once more with Tunisian crochet but this item is worked in the round! TC in the round is lots of fun: you have to work with two strands of yarn and a double-ended hook, so if you're an absolute beginner it can get tricky, but after a bit of practice it gets really enjoyable. Plus, if you take advantage of the double-ended hook to use two contrasting colors it creates a marvelous effect with pretty little effort. I'd really like to hear your opinions about this item: I'll be honest, I'm quite proud of it and how it turned out, so I hope y'all like it as much...

So, I've finally managed to publish my latest pattern, a nice Tunisian crochet cowl named "Pumpkin Skin". Since it's worked flat then sewn and it uses only one stitch besides the simple stitch it's an ideal project for beginners, for people who've tried TC, found it interesting and would like to try something different but not too hard. I rate it as an easy pattern, from an advanced beginner level on. You can download a digital copy of it from both my Ravelry  and Etsy  stores (so far only English is available, Italian version will be there soon!). Besides working on my own patterns I've also followed others' to make something: I've been asked for a couple of ladies beanies, and though the pattern's title suggests otherwise I've chosen Kim Guzman's " Favorite Beanie for Men ". I've never enjoyed making hats and such, I get bored easily and I'm almost never satisfied by how they turn out, but Kim's patter...

Hello readers! Snow has finally arrived, though late indeed, and it inspired me to create a new item with some yarn I had in stash. First, let me tell you a bit about this yarn: it's called "Kuki" by Borgo de' Pazzi , a pretty famous Italian brand which produces some lovely, high quality yarns. "Kuki" is made of wool (65%), nettle (20%) and hemp (15%), so a very interesting mix as you can see. It feels soft on skin but has great structure, so I really recommend to try it out should you happen to find it! Now, about the pattern. First, you can find it here . As you can see it's a quite huge cowl made in classic crochet, and it's pretty easy to realize too: all you need to know is how to crochet chains, simple and double stitches, and these instructions will guide you through the process in the most accurate way. So I would suggest this pattern to all kinds of crocheters: beginners might enjoy trying their hand at something easy to make but a ...

Hello everyone! Thanks a lot for your appreciation of my new neckwarmer, I'm so glad you liked it! I published its FREE pattern on Ravelry if you're interested (both in English and Italian translation), in case you decided to try it out please tell me what you think, and if you're a Ravelry user I'd be glad if you'd rate it, too! : ) Since we've still got a few cold weeks ahead I thought I'd share with you another pattern, for a project I made while most of you were not my readers yet, a pair of fingerless gloves with mitts for my boyfriend ( here 's the link to the original post).  This one's on Ravelry too ( click here ), with the others I've already told you about; it's a pretty quick project, worked with a 5.5 mm hook (US I) and worsted yarn, so there's still plenty of time left to hook and wear them! Ciao a tutte! Per cominciare grazie davvero per i vostri commenti sul mio nuovo scaldacollo, sono contenta che vi sia piaciu...

Just a quick post to wish you all a merry month of December, full of coziness and warm thoughts while waiting for Yule (or Xmas, or however you like to call this happy holiday! : )). As some of you may have noticed there have been changes in my blog, first of all my name: yes, I'm called Valentina. Melatia was just a username I chose for the web, but in the end I grew tired of it and decided to use my real name. So, not much of a change, is it? Another thing, from now on I'll write in English first and then in Italian. Might sound strange, but when I first learnt English I felt such a love for the language, as if I had found something I lost once again... my love hasn't diminished through the years, and I know I'm not perfect writing and speaking it, but words flow much more easily in English, I have much more fun when I use it, so... tough decision? Not really, and I'm happy with it! : ) Talking 'bout creative stuff, I'm... busy, to say the least. ...

Vi ricordate i guanti con la treccia che vi avevo presentato il mese scorso? Do you remember the cabled fingerless gloves I talked about last month?    Visto il successo riscosso ho pensato di scriverne lo schema e di arricchirlo con foto esplicative dei passaggi più complicati. Lo schema è stato gentilmente testato dalla cara Nata (sotto una foto di quelli che ha realitzzato lei) ed è disponibile in formato .pdf sia in italiano che in inglese (US terms). I guanti sono taglia unica e si adattano ad essere indossati da tutti; in caso di necessità particolari prima di modificare il numero di punti spesso è sufficiente provare con un filato più sottile o più spesso o un uncinetto diverso. Questi guanti sono rapidi da realizzare, basta qualche ora libera, ma fanno un figurone - e inutile che vi dica che sarebbero un ottimo regalo di Natale! : ) Se vi piacerebbe realizzare questi guanti approfittate dell'offerta lancio: fino al 3 di dicembre il prezzo dello sc...