Holidays gone, so back to business!

Back in England after wedding season in Italy!
It feels good to be home, even if I have to admit I enjoyed being on holiday and able to relax.

One of the most amazing things about Italy is that the weather really differs from region to region.
For the last wedding of the year (congratulations again Laura and Mauro!) we were on Garda Lake. The sun was shining and we had about 28 degrees. Not too bad for late September!

Have a look and judge for yourself if it doesn’t look like we were still in full Summer!

These pictures were taken in Gargnano, one of the beautiful little towns on the Garda Lake (and some of my family lives there, so I guess advertising is always good).

The wedding was on the weekend then on Sunday afternoon we traveled to the Alps to my beloved Bormio. As a child first and as a teenager later, I spent most of my Summers in there. There are so many good memories for me stored in the narrow cobblestone roads of that town and I enjoyed sharing them with Steven (the BF).

Our time in the Alps was really lovely even if we got surprised by … the SNOW. Yes it is not uncommon for it to snow at such altitude, still it was only late September! Despite the couple of gray days we also had a really clear sky and a preview of the Alps in white, which is always something magical.

As I said in the beginning now we are back in England and life went back to our normal routine.

Going to Tesco to do our normal food shopping run, I noticed that Christmas food, decorations and themed items are already on display available for purchase.

It always seems that Christmas creeps on me with little or no notice, so this time I decided to start working on my handmade decorations early (or at least I am trying to).

So off with my first project.
I tried my hand at a knitted star decoration. I made this using King Cole Glitz (variegated yarn in Christmas colours). Here it is:

The pattern is not mine, so I am just going to leave you the link if you want to try it yourself It is called “Iron Craft Challenge #24 – Knit Star Ornaments”. 

I think the result is really pretty, but the amount of sewing required to assemble the star is not for me. I guess it depends on your own pet peeves, mine is sewing so this one will remain a lone star 😀

On the other hand, I like the yarn. It is really festive and it feel great while knitting (despite being a 97% Acrylic 3% Polyester mix).

So I tried it on a different project.. A classic Christmas bauble! I modified a basic pattern called “Pretty Christmas Bauble from Val Pierce” published on Deramores website. The pattern is worked flat and designed to cover a stiff plastic bauble. Instead, I worked it in round and filled the bauble with polyester filling (that’s also why my bauble is not a perfect round shape).

I can see these projects are cute, but they are not what I am going for. I guess I will have to keep experimenting and trying different ideas. I still have to finish a crochet project that I started this late Summer and maybe that will do the trick.

For now I enjoy having this lovely Christmas yarn and scouting the internet for inspiration. If you have a pattern that you think it will work well with it, please feel free to share it with me!