Rainbows.....

...up in the sky, in front of our home, last night....

....but, we still have some in our home.....

....oh yes, just imagination.....such a great thing!!!!!

xxxx Alessandra

The moon, one week ago (23/07/2013)....

......was playing hide and seek with me....

....and she was so beautiful!!!!!

xxxx Alessandra

A parcel that travelled a lot !!!!

.....Yesterday my husband joined us (!!!) and he brought me a parcel that arrived in Indonesia for me (while I was already here in Italy), that was sent from Holland....

...Well, I won a nice giveaway from Martine of Bees and Appletrees, some months ago!
She has two little kids and this means that she is a little bit busy at the moment! I was not in a hurry and we agreed via email to have the Owl IPad sleeve (customised for me in my favourite colours! Thank you Martine!) when possible!!!!
The parcel arrived yesterday to me and I was so excited and happy, even because there was not only the sleeve (you can have a look at Martine's Pretty Crochet Shop on Etsy to find the pattern!) but some more sweet goods....!!!!!....

....my IPad in it's brand new sleeve (!!!!!).....

Another photo group of all my goodies....

....So HAPPY!!!!!

Thank you Martine, you have been so kind to crochet this sleeve for me and I appreciate your work (and the time spent in it!) and all the extra little things, as your sweet words!!!!!

xxxx Alessandra

Make it ! Spiky baby blanket !!!!

...As some of you know, I've followed this tutorial (thank you LuAnn!!!) to make this granny stripes blanket (ideal for a crib, I think!).....

My beginning chain was made of 111 stitches and I started my work using the grey acrylic yarn, that is the colour that I've then used in the between of all the bright stripes!
The size of the hook : 4mm.
All the yarns are italian acrylics, very soft and warm! ;oD I've used balls of 50g each : 3 grey, 2 red and 1 for every shade! Obviously, there are leftovers!
For each colour, the first stripe is made of 35 shells (total:105 stitches)+2 DCs at the beginning of the row+2 DCs at the end of the same row. TOTAL: 109 stitches. The second stripe, instead, is made of 36 shells (total: 108 stitches)+1 DC at the beginning of the row+1 DC at the end of the same row. Total: 110 stitches. ;oD
Please remember that I follow the american crochet terminology for my work!

For each colour (the grey is included, too!) I've crocheted two rows : 90 rows in total !
For sure, I wanted a nice border for the blanket (and I've decided for a red one!!!) and I loved the one crocheted by Esther, who made a nice tutorial about a granny stripe edging : thank you Esther!!!
I've followed her tutorial for the first row of my border.....

....but for the second row, I've  decided for something a little bit different, a kind of "starry" border....see???

It's really easy to do, believe me!!! You start in any chain-1 space of the first row (the space between two 3DCs shells) with a slip stitch and chain five. Then : a slip stitch in the second chain from the hook, one single crochet in the next stitch, one half double crochet in the next stitch and one double crochet in the last stitch of the chain! You complete the point, just attaching it with a slip stitch in the next chain-1 space :

Even the corners are really simple to crochet, because you don't need to increase stitches, but just follow the below border and crochet the points as you go :

...a very neat corner, indeed...!!!!....

I've tried to design a scheme for the pointy edging....I hope it could be helpful...

After all these mini triangles/points/spikes, I blocked the blanket and ....TA-DAH...!!!!.....

....finished measurements are (approx) : 72x80cm

The other posts about the blanket are here and here !!!

Any problem/question, please feel free to contact me here or just leave a comment at the end of this post, thank you!

Today links : Creative Friday and Link your Stuff !

xxxx Alessandra