MonkeyFeet

It’s about time I wrote about Venice. It was glorious, 35 degrees when we arrived, and strangely, it seemed like we’d never not been that (it was a year since we were there). Even stranger, it now seems like it was all a dream. No, I’m not a drug user :p

Here’s OH after he flung open the windows and shutters:

 

This is part of the Uni:

This is, well, a canal!

Cheerful colours:

The Grand Canal, and the bus:

Over on the west side there is a small park, which was full of flowers:

Arty shot, what more can I say!

A more traditional view of Venice – the grand canal from al vaporetto bridge:

A typical, ornate streetlight:

A lovely sunset, in an area where  it’s more residential. This looks over the lagoon, and what you can’t see is that we’re sat on the edge, eating pizza and listening to a fantastic Elvis (they did other 60’s hits too) tribute band for free, who had set up at a tiny bar on the front.

Uni, all lit up:

A bit random, sorry. The toy shop has Sylvanian families, reminding me that I adored these as a kid and was heartbroken when one of our dogs ate them all..

They’re very keen on fashionable clothes in venice:

The police are always around with guns and other weapons, to prevent anyone who should make an attempt on the highly desirable stuff in the shop windows (see above):

I finished my Pablo socks:

 

This is the most beautiful bookshop in the world:

One of those white signs says “Beware – aggressive cat”

Inside, it’s a complete aladdin’s cave, with all the books in boats:

and baths:

I had to be sneaky as I got told off for taking photos. When you walk through the shop (it’s like a book-y/boaty maze) – you get to the back and see this:

There are only three (I think) gondola boat yards in Venice, here’s one:

Here’s an antiques dealer on his boat:

This is a storm coming in – you get that you can make an accurate guess as to how long it is before it will start, how bad it will be, and how long it will last – and because of this we managed not to get soaked at all in the couple of storms we had.

This is the same storm, from the al vaporetto bridge:

A door handle:

The designer shops are incredibly expensive, check out this horrible looking bag:

Check out the price!

This gargoyle reminds me of a few people I know!

This guy has two stories attached to him:

First - he had testicular cancer, but they thought he was blessed with three testicles, so he boasted about it and spread word about it – his coat of arms is actually three balls on a shield!

Second – he was a general in the army, and had a lot of money, and because he had testicular cancer he never had children, so he told the Venetian council (or government) that if they buried him in front of St Mark’s basilica, he’d give them all his money. This was unquestionably impossible – no one gets buried in St Mark’s square, so they wrote back to him and said “We’ll bury you in front of St Mark’s”. He gave them the money, and died, and they buried him in front of St Mark’s Church, not Basilica – sneaky eh!

Thirdly – random interesting fact – you can tell how a guy was killed if he’s mounted on a horse – if the horse has both front legs up, he died in battle. If the horse has one leg up, he died from battle wounds, after the battle. If the horse has both legs on the ground, he died of natural causes. How cool is that!

Anyway, here’s the hospital:

Ice cream from our favourite ice cream shop. My favourite combo was choc, yogurt and blueberry – absoltuely delicious. Now that I’m home, the Sainsbury’s triple choc doesn’t seem that great any more.

 

Due to a stupid mistake I missed the yarn shop (it was closed) – and was consequently pretty heartbroken. So OH kindly bought me this beautiful Italian leather bag as a sort of a booby prize. It’s not yarn, but it is a fantastic bag and very beautiful!

 

Anyway that’s it from Venice 2008. My tan’s rapidly fading, my skin’s gone really dry and flaky since being back, and I miss the ice cream!

I’ve not got much time so won’t be writing much, just adding lots of photos..

First off, my endpapers, for me! Yey! Done in Matchmaker 4 ply, size medium, but tight nevertheless.

 

I did one as an inversion of the other to keep them interesting.

 

I took photos  of OH’s parents’ garden flowers, here’s a couple:

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well I hope that layout works, it didn’t in the last post!

Did I mention I started Laminaria? I can’t remember, but I dyed my laceweight in a rich green for it, and here it is after the star chart repeats:

I’m on the first transition chart now, halfway through. Before I go away, I hope to finish the transition chart so that when I get back I’m on the blossom chart. There’s a lot of stitches on the needles, for the size of the work – there are about 230 at the moment.

I finished my plain socks for my Godfather…

I’m particularly enamoured with the heel…

It’s my own BFL sock yarn, which is gorgeously soft, in Broken Stones

Here’s my assistant taking some time out:

I’m on a quest to sew some beautiful bags, so I got these beautiful buttons:

Which are in my new button box:

 

And here’s some of the gorgeous fabric I’ve got to work with

I got some new baskets for my stash as well -

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again, I hope that layout works! What you can’t see is the big platic crate of odds and ends and the other one of acrylic that I keep for toys

And finally, here are my WIPs-

That’s my No Purl Pablo sock no 1, in STR lightweight. It’s strange yarn. Lovely though!

 

This is my Plain Sock:

I always have a plain sock on the go, this is a cotton blend from Lana Grossa.

And finally -

Koolhaas in Rowan Tapestry. It’s not much fun, very fiddly on the cable rows, and the yarn is so splitty as well. It looks ok though.

Thankyou to everyone who entered the prize draw in my shop, the winner was…… Dangermouse! Well done, and thanks again, it was really helpful

I’m away for a couple of weeks on Wednesday, after which I’ll be stocking up with laceweight (4 ply weight) silk, the Forte laceweight, bambino, BFL and merino/tencel sock yarns, bags, and a few other exciting things

Thankyou for all the comments as well, I’ll try and answer them all (I feel rude for not having done yet).

Ciao for now!