Weekly pattern

 As I was looking for this week's suggestion, I thought I might just look at the "New on Ravelry" list, and boy, was I dissapointed. I mean, the first few page were full of... not very finely worked crochet amigurumis, and hardly any garment, I had to go down to page 5 to see something I would even consider making.

Then there was the Choose your own Canada sweater...

Incidentally it is also on the first page of Ravelry's Hot Right Now list...

It follows the already succesful formula of a yoke sweater with tematic stranded patterns, centered around a topic, like Christmas, Eastern, this designer has a garden themed one, and now Canada. 

What the Friday?

 This week, I'll bring you a bodice (of a dress) from the 1840-ies... or the 1860-ies... Which can be bought on Ebay, here.

Now, the desciprion puts it to the period of the civil war, but I am not sure, as it's elements can be also typical for the 1840. The shaping darts running to one pont, and the wide sleeves are more 1840-ies, the wide, off sholder line is more 1860-ies.

One thing is sure: the short sleeves mean, it was the bodice for evening events, of a ball gown.

I like the colors, and the plaid of teh fabric too.

Nostalgia

Last weekend, I spent a day in the city, where I grew up...

 It is always an interesting, kind of ambivalent feeling, because as a teenager I hated living there. 

Our family (my father and my mother as well) were from a different city, and I always felt an outsider there. Now, looking back, the feeling might have been more about me (as a grewn up, living elsewhere I still often feel as an outsider), than with the city.

Whenever I go back (which is not often, though), I see the beauty of the city, I love many parts of it, I love walking around there, and wonder, how would it feel to live in a particular part or another, especially the banks of either river, that runs together at the center of the city.

I gone there to take a lacemaking lesson, which was a great opportunity to take out my lacemaking stuff, which I have not used in quite a few months.

While Norbert went over to see the aviation museum, which holds one of the small aircafts my father designed and built. 

After that we walked around and saw stuff, like a duck's butt...

And a part of the Tisza-banks where I've never been... or at least I do not remember. When I was small we often walked a lot around with my father, so it could be that we did walk around this part as well, but as a teenager I did not.

Seeing the rowers made my hear beat a little bit faster, because as a young teen I was also a rower (would you have thought that of me?), and so many times I rowed upriver like that.

The rosegarden is gorgeous, as every spring and early summer, but I just cannot forgive where it is. 

Back, when I was living there, there was a publing pool and strand there, yes, in the middle of the city, I learned to swimm there, and that place witnessed of many events of my teenage years. Then instead of spending money on renovating it, they simply bulldosed it down. So, however beautiful that park and the roses, I always feel bitter.

There is a synagogue, which holds exhibitions, and the sculpture that I already shown you a few years ago... It is actually a WWI memento, but everybody calls it "the Naked Butt" and you can see why.

There are two bridge in the city just for walkers, one across the smaller river (now, with the low water levels it looks hardly a creek, but when the spring rains run down from the far away mountains, it can get prety high) Zagyva. Back then I loved that bridge, and I was so sorry to see in the last few years to see it closed down, but this year, it was renovated and reopened. Hurray.

The other one is across the bigger river, Tisza, which did not existed, when I lived there.

Last year, there was a point, when it seemd, I might just have to go there more often, for a job, and I was actually happy about that.... Unfortunately then nothing came out of it, and I was sorry for that.

(Photos: Norbert Varga @Bodeszphoto)

Weekly SO

Just as I was whining last week, about that I feel like I am out of opinions, I bumped into one pretty strong, like someone butted my head...

And that is, how much I hate and resent that social media, especially Instagramm is trying to force us to use /post videos/reels instead of pictures... 

In one level I do understand that for them, the longer one stays on their pages the better it is for them, and looking at a reel/video takes longer than looking at a picture... HOWEVER....

Back at the heydays of social media things were more clearly defined, and I would like to have that definition back, meaning that if I want chitchat, and such, I1d go to Facebook, if I want to look at pictures I would go on Instagram, and if I want to look reels and videos, I would go to Tik Tok or Youtube. 

I resent the fact that I want to look at pictures and I go on Instagram, and a ton of videos and reels are pushed into my face. I would also hate this, if I would be someone, who would "use" Instagram for more than I do, like a more or less haphasard picture-journal, without caring much about the number of followers, likes, etc. 

It takes so much more effort to make, edit and post videos than pictures, and many people I followed stopped posting there...

Historical thigh high stockings

 Ahh, finally a post  which embodies the original spirit of this blog... You see, I have not forget that this is supposed to be a craft-blog...

Anyhow, You have already seen me knitting historical stockings, study the "texel stocking", doing its reconstruction project, back in 2018, and knitting quiet a few pairs since, many of which didn't even make the blog, because... well, they are not the most exciting knitting, and I admit, even the study of them seems, that only exciting for some people. 

The last bunch of them, that I took to the Groelle event last fall was posted here, and all of them but one (a small sized red one) was either given away (as a long owed wedding present to teammates of mine) or sold. 

One sold was bough by an Italian reenactor friend of mine, who got it for his long time girlfriend, and then at the very end of February he sent me a message, that he would like to have his own stockings to wear with his 17th and 16th century clothes. Yes, that means two pairs of stockings, a pair of (regular) knee high ones, and can I make a pair that is thigh high, as 16th century breeches are shorter?

Oh sure, hold my Coca Cola. I started knitting the black one, and did it without much problem, however, when I started to think about the long one... I needed to recalculate the length, the starting number of stitches, and the way how I get down to the knee, especially because the intended wearer was not here to keep trying it on, so I could only hope that it will fit. We exchanged a number of messages, can you please measure this and that distance, now, I need that circumference please... 

You have seen the beginning (and an early stitchcount) of it here.

I had no time or the inclination to further calculate just how many stitches in that pair of stocking, but its indication enough to say: a LOT.

Once I got down to the knee, things were easier, as I already knew how to proceed.

It was a LOT of knitting, but thankfully we were travelling a fair amount in March and April, so I had car-knitting time...

You can see, how much longer they are than the regular knee highs... (and how much MORE knitting).

Let it be enough to say, that a regular knee high pair takes about 3-4 skein of yarn, this one used up 5 full skein, to the last meter.

However, my friend, Samuele was really happy with them, they fit him great, so it was all well.

He wore it all through the weekend, even into the battle.

Yarn: DROPS Flora (5 skein) (I bought it from Nordfonal)

Needles: Knit Pro 2,25

Weekly pattern

 This week it is the Around the world sweater.

If you look at it, you will see, why I love it.

Round yoke, stranded, perfect to use up leftovers, scraps and/ or yarns with long colorchanges. 

Short Comment

 This post should have come on yesterday (saturday), but... Sorry, my days are still messed up, but I hope I can go back to regular schedule in a few days. 

Anyhow, I already mentioned the yarnstore we dropped in Florence, and here are pictures to prove it.

I haven't done a big search on the net, I just typed "yarnstore" into Google maps, and went for the closest one. Their sellection was nice, but nothing really extra, though I could have raided their Rowan tweed selection (if I had the money, which I did not :-( ).

The ladies were exeptionally nice there though.

What the Friday?

 This is a special edition of What The Friday, because usually I post things I find on the Internet, and today, I brought no one but two things from Florance shop windows...

You know, when you think about Italy, one usually thinks how good the food is (especially pizzas), and how good the fashion is (especially footwear).

Now, I've eaten the worst pizza in my life in... Yes, in Italy, or rather in the Vatican (where, incidentally, I also drank the most watery, but most expesive coca cola as well), and I have seen the two ugliest shoes in a shop-window, ever, in Italy. 

Unfortunately, I have not made notes on the shop's names, nor the price, but believe me, they were in the inner part of the old city, in one of the really fancy shops, and their price amounted to many hundreds of Euros. 

The see through plastic sandal reminded me to those cheap ones some kids were to the pool or beaches, because instead of swimming they walked at the bottom, and were afraid their feet will get roughed up.

The white, high boots just reminded me those we call medical shoes, or pregnant-woman shoes, those people wore them, who were standing a lot, and needed...whatever. 

No, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against white shoes, lace up shoes, high boots, or whatever, but like this, together in one pair just had strike me as effing ugly. 

Thats it for this week. I will look for some extra pretty dress for next week, okay? 

Florence

 I left off our Italian trip after arriving to Florance late at night, and in last week's strong opinion I told you, how much I love to travel, whether we do full touristy stuff, or just wander around. 

So we had one day in Florance, and Florance is one of those cities I cannot get bored of, I would gladly go and wonder around anytime, every time we are close. 

This wasn't my first time, as we have been there in 2020. Yes, in "high" covid times, and I still think that one of the best decision we did about travel was that despite all the threats and despite all the opinions we got, we did go and had that trip. I will never ever see those cities we've seen like that again, with so few tourists, even if the Pitti palace can go and fuck itself (it is anothe story of me wanting to see the Medici clothes and the Medici stocking, do you want to read about that?), I have the fondest memories of that trip.

We have been there twice since, and as I said, neither of us can get bored of it.

This time we had no particular plans, except to wonder around and see... 

We have seen the leather market...

And the foodmarket...

As we were looking for a yarnstore (just for the fun of it), we wondered into a church, that turned out to house the tomb of Cosimo Medici...

It had a gorgeous courtyard and a fantastic orange tree at the middle:

In the cellar there were religious relics, including dressed up sculptures...

And that aforementioned tomb of Cosimo.

Since our favorite ice-cream place is on the other side of the river Arno, we did cross the Ponte Vecchio, ate our ice cream,  looted the Little Prince shelf of a book-store, sat at the front of the Pitti Palace (because I was trying to reorganize my backpack to fit the new additions of my Little Prince book-collection into)

Stopped at the close-by Holy Trinity sqare, listened to music, took a rest... and decided that there might be the best pizza in the next street, we will not stand in line for an hour to get it...

And then walked back to the other side. 

The next day we drove crossing the Appenins, and me, so prone to motion sickness, umm... let me just say, it was not easy, I even had to put down my knitting about halfway through.