Joji

English version here  

Joji Locatelli è una designer argentina che crea capi estremamente interessanti.

Poichè ogni volta che ho provato ad entrare nel suo gruppo ravelry ho avuto la sensazione di essermi avventurata nel terminal dell'aeroporto di Roma dopo che era andato a fuoco l'intero edificio (un supplizio che non auguro a nessuno) e della designer neanche l'ombra, non posso esprimere un mio parere sulla persona. Cosa che di per sè non è nè un bene nè un male.

Giudichiamo i suoi pattern e basta (ma vi ricordate il mio post sulle knitter di cuore? Ecco, a me questo atteggiamento disamora parecchio. Infatti non lavoro i suoi pattern con gran piacere)

Le linee sono interessanti, i pattern spiegati bene, anche se io li ho trovati un pò faticosi da seguire. A differenza di altre designer, con Joji non ti puoi permettere di abbassare troppo la guardia.

Ho fatto il Japan Sleeves con una lana di Valentina Snailyarn fenomenale, un misto bfl/seta lucido e morbido. Un piacere da lavorare.

non la foto migliore ma cosa speri di ottenere
se ti ricordi sempre di notte?

Il lavoro è interessante, prima si lavorano le due bande a pizzo e poi si riprende uno dei lati  dei due inserti (si avviano delle maglie al centro) e si dà forma al corpo e alle maniche grazie ai ferri accorciati.

Ecco, qui due annotazioni:
1. io odio il W&T avvolgi e gira. Per quanto ci provi, secondo me rimane sempre troppo visibile il punto di "svolta". Preferisco di gran lunga i ferri accorciati alla tedesca. Qui ho voluto seguire il pattern e non ne sono soddisfatta. Ok, annotato
2. il lavoro qui è lunghissimo, non solo devi portare il filo dietro al lavoro perchè essendo a righe  E a ferri accorciati, capita a volte di dover portare il filo dietro al lavoro senza lavorarlo, ma ad un certo punto ogni ferro è di circa 300 maglie. E' vero che una volta finito non hai le maniche da fare ma... ad un certo punto diventa realmente alienante, tra le millemila maglie e le righe.

E sai che alla fine ti toccherà anche cucire insieme i due pezzi...  ebbene sì... cucire.

A quel punto continui in tondo e anche lì... non finisce mai.

Insomma: il risultato finale è splendido ma la strada per raggiungerlo irta di insidie. Quello è un maglione che non ripeterei neanche sotto tortura. Bello ma sta bene così com'è.

Il secondo invece nettamente meglio, è il lemongrass. Fatto con una lana di sostanza, un donegal tweed arrivato dritto dritto dall'Irlanda, regalo di Natale di mai sorella. Questo è un patter semplice e gradevole.

Ho seguito pedissequamente le istruzioni... e ho fatto male. Lei mette sulla "costa" del raglan un lavoro operato che con la sua lana rende, con la mia, grossa e tweed, assolutamente no. Un sacco di lavoro per nulla... E' bene considerare quindi con che lana si sta lavorando questo maglione.

In ogni caso è stato un lavoro veloce e divertente. Peccato che sia molto pesante e qui di scarso utilizzo... in più devo smontare il collo: troppo corto per  piegarsi bene, e cmq troppo caldo.
Questo forse potrei anche rifarlo, con una lana anche grossetta (è un aran) ma con una caduta più morbida.


English

Joji Locatelli is a knitwear designer from Argentina that creates very interesting garments. 

Everytime I've tried to join her ravelry group I had the feeling of entering Rome's airport terminal after the fire that destroyed it (an experience I wouldn't wish to my worse enemy) and the designer was nowhere to see.  So I cannot say what I think of her as a person just because I've never read a word from her apart from some advertising.

This isn't a good or bad thing per se buuut... you remember the post about the knitter from the heart? Well, I don't like knitting her patterns very much, even if I aknowledge that they're wonderful. 

Interesting shapes, detailed instructions but slightly complicated... unlike other designers, here you can't let you guard down.

I've knitted Japan Sleeves with a fabulous Snailyarn, a mix bfl/silk that's squishy and soft. A real pleasure to knit with.

not the best pic but that's what you get
 when you remember taking pics always at ngiht

The construction is interesting, first you knit the two lace panelsthan you pick up stitches along one side of both of them and shape sleeves + back with short rows. 

Here two notes:
1. I hate W&T . I've tried a lot but the turning is always a  bit too evident for my taste. I very much prefer german short-rows but this time I followed instructions and I'm not quite satisfied with the results
2. knitting here is looooooooooooooooong and booooooooooooooooooooring and streeeeeeeeeeessing.
You have to knit stripes, carry the yarn along the back of the work and knit roughly 300 sts every row (with short rows thrown in). 
It's true that once finished you don't have to knit sleeves but... YOU HAVE TO SEW THEM. Yes... exactly... sew... all along  the bottom part of the sleeves. 

The final result is awesome but the path leading to it scattered with pain.
No way I'll reknit it


The second one is much better: Lemongrass.
I knitted it with a aran yarn that came, with all its greenish splendour,  directly from the green Ireland. It's a Donegal tweed gifted to me by my sister. 

This pattern is much easier and nice to knit. 

I slavishly followed instruction and I shouldn't have. The raglan "ridge" is nicely patterned but with my yarn it only resulted in a bumpy edge: nice on her sweater, ugly on mine.

In any case, the knitting was fast and rewarding. Pity that's extremely warm and not easily wearable here in Rome... and I intend to frog the neck and reknit without the turtleneck... it came out too short and even so it's too much for our weather.

This sweater I could duplicate, perhaps with a lighter and drapey yarn. 

Chiffon cake... love&hate (and ate)

My friend Giulia, the same responsible for a lot of my quirks, made me discover the chiffon cake.

Up to that day I knew a cake with this name existed but perhaps because it was always paired with camy cream (that I hate for the grease texture) I made the transfer Camy cream -, chiffon cake -NO.

OMG how could I?!?

Ok, it heavenly. Ok, it's easier than I imagined to find the tin for chiffon cake (here in Rome), a lot less easy to find the right recipe.

First time: awesome, light, fluffy, tasty.

Second time: it imploded...  it blowed and then ruind on iiself.

Third time: done!

Fourth time: imploded... what the heck.... this time with splatter bonus... I had to clean bits of cake all over the oven... with a taste of meringue.

Mmmh.. after going over the shock and depression I wondered if this meringue flavour could mean that there was something wrong when I mixed the egg whites.

On internet I didn't find any help and it aggrevated my depression to know I was the only nitwit in the chiffon cake world. I'm the only one who depreses the cakes?
It's not that I read them "The brother Karamazov"... I don't read them anything, if taht matters. In fact, I'm becoming increasingly superstitous. Yesterday I screamed at DH because He walked in front of the oven and peekd in.
FOOL!

Anymay I went crying over Giulia's shoulder, adding loosing wath self-esteem I still had to the depression and I came to the conclusion that the problem is the density of the unbaked cake.
During one of the failed attempt I was using a hand beater... I didn't work the liquid stuff for the right leght of time. it should not only merge, it should be fluffy.
The solid stuff (sugar, flour etc) should be incorporated a bit at the time,. in order to non became to solid. Then, qhen it is all quite liquid, you can put in the stiff eggwhites. The "raw" cake should be dense and fluffy.
Giulia suggests to spoon it in the the tin, not to puor it. She has a point IMO.

Don't fret if you think it's too liquid, it remains in the tin (that has a removable bottom). obviously it isn'r a brilliant idea to carry it to the oven from the bottom. Put your hand on both sides of the tin please.

Ah, and don't fret if you didn't grease the tin.
First, you don'thave to. It MUST be ungreased.
Second, if you buy the average italian tin, the manufacturer Pentalux, had the BRILLIANT idea to make it in a non-sticky alluminium...
WHY?!?!?!

You have to let the chiffon cake cool uspide down... Mine just crashed on the table like a dead octopus.

In the end, though, it still was fluffy, so if it goes all the way down to the table (not the floor... this would be a problem) just let it cool there. it will be a bit less fluffy but you'll still be able to eat it.
I hope the tin will become more sticky with time.

I used e receipt ginven me by my mother but I think she took it from this page. (italian sorry)

You can customize it in not infinite ways but something can be done changing the water, i.e..
I give you two examples:

Orange: I substituted water with orange jam lightly melted with water (it must be cool), you can use orange juice. I added orange zest to the flour and if you like a bit of alcohol you can add Grand Marnier or Curacao.

Coffee: I used coffee (american one) in place of water and added a part of instant cappuccino to the flour mix. I didn't try instant coffee so I don't know.

Next time I'll try it with coconut and banana.

and finally we have in italian ...

Finally, Isabel had the time to  breath after the hectic time she had due to her Berlinknits workshop and could edit and publish the italian translation of 



Aibrean, we already spoke about it.

I actually love this sweater, it is as usual, very simple in its construction but with the twist given from the unusual stitch (the dragonscale-stitch as Massimo calls it).

No waist shaping, not so long... it will not be a long project.

I'm working at it right now even if I'm not super eager of finishing it... now it's really too warm for a merino/cashmere blend. 
But when the cold weather comes, I'll be ready

You can buy it in her Ravelry store


Second there's Hanami, the stripey one  

As one testknitter suggests, it can be a good idea to use a program such as excel or photoshop  to try the various stripe sequence.

I haven't figured out MY striping sequence yet.

So I have to admit that I find this sweater really nice but "frightening".

My fellow knitter Alice and I have a perpetual Isabell-KAL going on. I'm finishing the Aibrean and then we have to start ...a hint of summer. But in the meantime there was this idea of Hanami... and the Berlinknits sweater... and.. Ok, we have to do a serious knitting plan :-) as soon as she returns from holiday.

Hope you don't have my issues with striping, you can find Hanami here

And last, but not least, merely because it's the latest released, there's ...the Berliknits sweater

This, too, is a very wearable and cute sweater released for the Berlinknits convention.

I really love this one and am frantically thinking about the ideal yarn to knit it. I think that it would be very cute even with the lower stripes only in one colour or in a variegated yarn.

As always with Isabell's pattern, you can customize the patterns in a lot of ways, you can knit the same sweater simply changing one detail and you'll have a completely different sweater.

I love it.

...the Berlinknits sweater can be bought here




And now, fellow italian non-foreign-languages-speaking knitter, you have no excuses!

Feeling stripey? ... Hanami!

And this is the last (for now) sweater of Isabell                                                      

I'm writing "for now" because, unknown to us, a new sweater was being tested and will be available from the days of "Berlin... knits".  So, yes, at the moment Hanami is the most recently released sweaters but it won't last long. 

Ouch, wool, workshops, german and I'm not going.. well, next year, cross my heart.

So... Hanami, that remained without name for so long that someone still calls it the NONAME sweater, It is a nice sweater in Holst with a fluid (as always) shape adn really interesting contrast stripes. 

The pattern features instructions to knit it with wasit shaping or a-ashaping. 

I like it a lot, BUT  it calls for a mammouth miniskein-purchase  AND I have great difficulties figuring out an interesting stripe sequence... I'm really really confused. 

I have no idea how it would turn out.

I think that I will sail toward more calm shores and give a try to the Berlin Knits who has a much lower anxiety level. 

Even considering it is a top-down sweater in garter stich (And it means purl purl purl) It is still too interesting :-)

Ah, and both patterns will soon be available in Italian!

Aibrean

Here's the second sweater of my Isabell's sweater resumè.                                                             

Aibrean

means in gaelic April (but on google translator the audio sounds more like Abraham... Ok, April is better :-D).

It's a sweater in DK, a yarn weight that I found, along sport, difficult to classify but it's perfect for slightly sporty sweater without being too bulky. It's a good in-between that knits well, fast and it's not so fatiguing on the hands.

The shape and idea of Aibrean is, as always, essential. In this sweater I see very little room for mods because fornt and back are already textured with a very particular stitch... even if, speaking about it... there could be a pair of things... mmmh, ok, well, let's drop weird ideas for now.

As I was saying... raglan sleeves, wide neck and average length. A sweater to be weared till consumption, ideal even for kids.

Massimo observing my wip Aibrean said "Mum, it looks like dragonscales, do you knit me one?" (Well, actually I asked WHEN I knitted him one -_-), probably being a military green (a gorgeous merino/cashmere mix of the scottish manufacturer Knigcraig) with emerald green flecks helped, but actually the texture resembles the scales of a Dragon. 

As usually are Isabell's pattern, also Aibrean is easy to follow with this little twist to avoid boredom.

The target wool is, rustic and hand-dyed, that of  Sylvie from etsy shop Polo&co.

I didn't buy it because... ehm... money is what it is and I had stuff to use at home... but her shop is one of my favourite and sometimes I'll surely buy from her. How can one resist rustic yarn-hand-dyed and with prices that are in-line with other vendors? The only cons is that she ships via ordinary mail from France, with the always present risk of loosing the purchase in the hands of greedy (and stupid... what will you do with wool?) postmans. Ok, but sometime I'll get over the dread!

Anchors away!

Isabell Kraemer is, without any doubt, my favourite designer.                                                         

I love her patterns and how they're written. She herself is a wonderful person. 

aaaand very prolific... even a bit too much considering the time I need to finish a sweater. 

She amdits that knitting a XS sit's easiert o be fast and actually she's right... but I've seen testknitter that knitted an XXL in three weeks... with Holst... they have to spend a lot in needles because I'm fairly sure that they MUST catch fire, there's no other possible explanation.

Her patterns sport essential lines and a irresistible every-day wearability. They are prone to be reinvented in a myriad of ways, so much so that she herself can't keep "in-line" and always adds some personal touches to hers. 

Anyway as I can't keep up with her productivity, il do a little resumè of her latest released pattern and that will soon be available in italian. 

I'll do separate posts for every sweater to publish soon.

So, let's begin with an exception.

This pattern, "Anchors away" is one of the few sweaters specifically written by Isabell for kids.

It isn't a self-published pattern and the american yarn manufacturer has very few vendors here in Europe. My hate toward charges is well known, as my crusade to not ever buy something that can arrive at home with its price decuplicated. As a skein of this yarn costs already an awful lot, I'll pass. Thank you.

The manufacturer didn't deem interesting to publish the italian translation, that I've done, parhaps because the italian amrket is not so interesting for them... or perhaps because they didn't trust my translation :-D

Who knows? Anyway, if someone is interested in purchasing the pattern WITH the italian translation, they can, when buying the pattern, write to 

Swans Island and ask for it. If for some particular reason should they have missed it, I'll have no problems forwarding it again to them. 

I had the honor to take part of the test for this one... but please, next time, someone can tell th germans not to make tests of worsted-weight sweaters in the summer? ;-)

I knitted in swimming suit this heavy yarn while I was in Sicily... couldn't make any photo with the sweater on the wearer till the temperature dropped. Massimo didn't say me bad words only because a. he's too well educated (thanks God) and b. I didn't even think about asking him to wear it with 30°C. 

So, when all is said and done, I can testify that this sweater is delicious. Thanks to the "important" weight of the yarn, it's a quick knit, the ease is optimal and it fits boys and girls. 

The front is worked in stockinette stitch and is slightly  narrowing at the bottom to form a V. the back is worked in garter stitch (yep, even it it is a top-down sweater you'll have to do a lot of purl) with a slightly short-row-shaped bottom.

I've knitted it in a Drops yarn, the more basic of its range, with a wonderful (I found it often in their yarns) yellowish-green. The Drops Alaska is a simple 100% wool yarn that knits well and has a good stitch definition. The results is very satisfying, all the more if you think about how much you've paid that yarn. I've worked with more expensive yarns from Drops, like Ekimo and Delight, and didn't like how thei tended to loose shape when washed and blocked. This one didn't. 

Only one con: it pills like mad...

I resorted to "shave" it carefully with that razor-machines expecially per pilling. It is a sweater meant to bevery much used so...no problem. It resisted a veryintense winter. 

Massimo was so satisfied by this sweater that I kept wearing it even when the temperatures had risen to a critical melting level 

As for the ravelry-world, this sweater had so much success that an adult version,Daelyn, was released short after the kids' version. The Daelyn, like its little counterpart, it perfectly unisex. 

a sweater to be remebered.

Il mio piccolo passaggio del Rubicone thynellesco

OK, sperando di non fare la finaccia che ha fatto Giulio Cesare, ho deciso di fare un cambiamento nel blog.

Da questo momento in poi i post saranno scritti sia in italiano che in inglese.

Pian piano tradurrò tutti i post, per il momento è attiva una etichetta per indicare quali sono in inglese. 

Dove è presente l'icona della lingua vuol dire  che è disponibile una versione in inglese. Basta cliccarci e si va al post in inglese.

Ho deciso di fare così perchè i post sono in genere troppo lunghi per essere agevolmente tradotti nella stessa pagina. 

OK, hoping not to end like Julius Caesar, I've decided to make a change in the blog... or better said, an addition.

From this moment on the posts will be in 2 languages, italian and english.

I'll gradually translate all the old posts but for the moment I activated a flag (english) to show the translated ones. 

in the posts where you find the icon, simply click on it and it will redirect you on the translated post. I decided to split the posts because usually they are quite long and it isn't comfortable to fit both on the same page.

Mailin

It's a name... yeah right, and now that you've delivered this astonishing news? 

Well, this information in itself has little value, but if you're a knitter it is all another story!

In fact, Mailin is also the name of the most recently released pattern by Isabell Kraemer (really? is it so obvious that I love her patterns?). A cropped sweater with a cable-motif in the front.

The pattern in available for purchase in many languages, including italian (guess who did the translation?!?)

It's a double good news for the knitter who speak only italian but a good news also for those italians who read also english patterns.

Obviously not that it is in italian, but the fact that, unlike a lot of designers like the oh-so-loved Stephen West, she decided NOT to close her shop due to the new european law about the selling of digital items.

She wrote that it would be a bit more work for her accountant but it would make it possible to buy directly from her (and NOT through Loveknitting that seems to have some rpoblems) without forcing a brick&mortar shop to buy her patterns. 

It's surely a filter-problems, but if you have the (mis)fortune of living in Rome and "southward" (I can't speak about Tuscany because I don't have any real feedback) you won't be able to buy pattern of most designer, as there aren't LYS who have bought the patterns.

Mailin combines, as usually, the simplicity of shapes with just that modern twist that makes it impossible to call it shabby. At the same time it is a very wearable sweaters and a quick knit due to its  cropped length.

The pattern, veeeeery well written, clear just at the right point, is meant for a rustic yarn (obviously everyone can use the yarn that he prefers), a aran weight shetland woll. Well, a nice, comfy and sporty sweater.

I'm working it with a VERY rustic yarn from Sudtirol, a yarn bought in Sarntal. It a yarn that is very painful to work with as it is very rough (it is sold unwashed) but I know from previous experiences that it softens considerably whan washed. I already worked with it and thought that the pain was due to the fact that I was knitting it in August by the sea in Sicily.

Nope... it's the wool.

So far I like the outcome. I'm using a tecnique used by Alicetwain, who work first both sleeves and THEN the body. So she can squezze them IN the work while working the body.

Finished! And I love it!

On ravelry I read different opinions about this way of knitting. It hasn't changed my life but it is a nice thing to kniw, when you've finished your body, that you DON't have to knit the arms.

Ah, I won't do i-cord neither on the sleeves nor on the body... with Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind-off I have a nice, neat and stretchy border that I won't EVER obtain with I-cord. It's a long long story of uncomprehensions between me and I-cord bind-offs...

Mailin

E' un nome... bella forza, direte voi, ora che ci hai regalato questa perla di saggezza?

Beh, oggettivamente l'informazione così, lasciata da sola ha poco senso, per una sferruzzatrice invece acquista tuuuuuutto un altro senso.

Infatti Mailin è anche il nome dell'ultimo pattern della Kraemer (ma va? Che si capisce che mi piacciono i suoi modelli?). Un maglioncino corto con un semplice motivo a treccia sul davanti. 

Il pattern è disponibile, a pagamento, anche in italiano.

E' una doppia buona notizia per chi lavora solo in italiano, una buona notizia comunque anche per chi lavora leggendo in inglese.

Non il fatto che sia in italiano, ovvio, ma il fatto che, al contrario di moltissimi designer europei, come il tanto amato Stephen West, lei abbia deciso di non chiudere il negozio a causa della nuova normativa europea sulla vendita di prodotti digitali. 

Da quello che diceva comporterà un pò di lavoro in più per lei e per il suo commercialista, ma in questo modo potrà continuare a vendere senza dover passare da Loveknitting (che pare abbia dei problemi) o costringere la gente a cercare un negozio fisico dove comprare il pattern. 

Sarà sicuramente a causa di qualche filtro, ma se avete la (s)fortuna di vivere da Roma in giù (non mi pronuncio sulla Toscana perchè non ho feedback diretti, però) non sarete in grado di comprare i pattern di molti designer.

Il Mailin, cmq, unisce come al solito una semplicità di forme con una linea moderna quel tanto da permettergli di non essere etichettato come squallido. Nel contempo è un maglione molto indossabile ed anche veloce da fare grazie alla lunghezza contenuta.

Finito! Ed è già amore....

Il pattern è pensato per una lana tendenzialmente rustica (ma ovviamente ognuno lo lavora come meglio crede), una Shetland, di spessore aran. Insomma un maglione bello sportivo. 

Io lo sto lavorando con una lana rustica presa in val Sarentino, Alto Adige. Una lana che da.lavorare è un supplizio visto che è ruvida in modo imbarazzante. L'esperienza però mi insegna che una volta lavata,, forse semplicemente perchè viene venduta non lavata, oppure proprio per sua natura, si ammorbidisce considerevolmente. L'avevo già lavorata ed avevo attribuito il pizzicore al fatto che stavo lavorando una lana rustica e pesante in Sicilia ad agosto... ecco, no... è proprio lei.

Cmq al momento l'effetto mi piace. Ho provato ad usare una tecnica letta su facebook, lavorare prima entrambe le maniche in modo da infilarle poi dentro al lavoro, e solo dopo procedere con il corpo.  

Su ravelry ho sentito commenti contrastanti, io non l'ho trovato un metodo che mi ha cambiato la vita, a parte il sollievo, una volta finito il corpo, di sapere che era finito anche il maglione. 

Ah, so già che non farò l'i-cord nè sulle maniche nè sul bordo inferiore... con il Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind-off ottengo un bordo contenuto ed elastico che non otterrò MAI con l'i-cord. Io ed i bordi i-cord abbiamo una lunga storia di incomprensione.

A wooly christmas and projects for 2015

Ok... we're in the middle of carnival trying to cope at night with the loads of frappe, castagnole and frittole (all typical italian carnival sweets) that we have ingest and I want to write about what?

Last Christmas... oh well...

perhaps I'm losing my battle with the sweets, so just humor me.

How was your Christmas?

Mine was GREAT! For the first time I received a lot of knitting wool.

And here it is in all its wintery splendor. Well, my house is not very bright in its best conditions, now with the cloudy days and the constructions all around the windows, it was impossible to get a decent shot. This is the best I could do in all this time.

Whatever, thanks to the bright and never forgotten tradition of writing to Santa, everyone in our family was forced to write down their wishlist. As we live in a technological time, this wishlist comes with links attached and is one of the best thing one can imagine when you're thinking about buying a present that could actually make the receiver happy.

My list was obviously a wooly one, and as I added to every link instruction that could have offended a monkey,

I received a lot of little wonders. 

Here it is... I had to still block it. Isn't it fabulous?

Dear Husband, that lives within close range from knitting wool and is quite skilled in online purchases -_-'' contacted Valentina Consalvi, Snailyarn, and following my advices and hers (she knows me and my tastes) bought me a wonderful DK in blue and green-tones. They are calling for a Kynance cove... the contrast colour was an awful excuse to call on Valentina and have a wonderful afternoon  harassing her yarn... in the end I decided for a bright orange (and two other about which I'll talk another time)

As there weren't three skeins of the same blue, husband told me,  she kindly dyed them for DH... she offered to dye also other two skeins and change my green one but... I couldn't let the green one go. I love both colours too much, As soon as I finish Mailin, guess what I'm going to knit?

Exactly, a Kynance Cove. I'm really looking forward to it.

I loved the pattern, the fit and this yarn is simply fab!


Then, as her informatic knowledge can be resume in "I can't see anything, check the aerial" ;-) but has still more initiative than others, my sister-in-law decided to stick with the old and well proved method of "brother, why don't you think about it in my place?"

And so here I had other two beauties from Valentina. These two are two variegated fingering skeins in the very autumny colour "foliage" :-). 

Well, the variegated yarn are very interesting but are quite a particular type of yarn... said between us, I really don't like to use this nice yarn for knitting (not very well-knitted) socks!

So I'll use it as contrast colour in Moore, paired with a wool form Abruzzo bought at Abilmente. this one is cream coloured, maybe a little thicker that the variegated but... oh, who cares? 

Being a Zen knitter I'll follow the flow! :-) different thickness can be also quite interesting. 

And dulcis in fundo, last but not least... actually last only because the photo was the last downloaded and I hate to move the pictures in the posts, here's the wonderful donegal tweed in a jewel-like green, a gift from my dear sister. 

It caused an infinite amount of anxiety to my sister because it was shipped directly from Ireland and arrived on Christmas eve when they weren't at home.
This means, no gift under the tree.

BUT, as she has really golden hands when it comes to every sort of hand-made (i still have to find something that she doesn't do well when crafting is involved) I found a wonderful and sheepy decoration made from nuts, wool and pistachio's shells that is already with all the other christmas decorations. 

lemongrass

Finally, and despite all the grim predictions of my hoodoo sister, the yarn arrived. 12 balls of pure green irish tweed!!!

Heaven.

I'm already planning what to do with it. I'm deciding between a Purple Storm or a Lemongrass by Joji Locatelli . 

It's an historic event that, after an endless string of Isabell's sweater, I'm drooling over a pattern from someone else... I feel almost a traitor :-)

Purple Storm

I like these two sweaters a lot, expecially Lemongrass. I've never knitted something by Joji Locatelli but I like her designs very much.  :-)

Lemongrass has a comfy and fun shape, with rounded bottom edges, bottons on the sides and a cable motif. My only doubt if it the cables and the tweedy yarn go well together. 

The Purple Storm hits a sore spot of me. It's a long time that I'm thinking about knitting a military-style jacket and this one has something that reminds me of it.

What do you suggest?