Knitted Toys

Our nephew is already a year old! We went to his first birthday party in early August, and our gift to him was a set of knitted toys. They're quite adorable, if I do say so myself.

I knitted the cat above in the round with double-pointed needles. I found the pattern on Ravelry (it's called "Beans the Cat" and the designer is Linda Dawkins), but it's also available on her web site here. It was a good project for my first attempt, because it was small and quick. It was also my first try knitting an i-cord (for the tail). So now I can officially check off #2 on my list of knitting goals with this cat and the beret (the cat and the hat!).

I knitted the cat because it was just too cute not to knit, and then I saw some patterns on Ravelry for some other animals that I had to make. These were actually knitted flat (not in the round), so I got some practice with seaming, which I had mostly managed to avoid until now.

These patterns were designed by Aine Marriott and are called "Mini Elephant," "Mini Lion," and "Mini Hippo."

I knitted all of these toys with cotton yarn, so they are washable (hand washing is probably best).

He seemed to like them. We noticed when looking through the photos Ed took from the party that he held onto the cat through the opening of several gifts.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

I'm not implying that he wasn't interested in those other gifts, but I think it's sufficient proof that he liked the cat I knitted for him...at least for about five minutes.

Some adults enjoyed playing with them, too:

My dad is saying he has the cat by the tail (and the others are forming a cheerleader-style pyramid in the background)

My dad juggling the toys and displaying classic concentration face

Uncle Brandon victoriously completes a feat of balance (it lasted approximately 0.5 seconds)

It was a good party. Lots of people came, and we got to see family and friends we hadn't seen in a while. It's nice to be a few hours' drive away again so we can do stuff like this.

First Knitted Hat!

Well, I meant to post this at least six months ago, and I've already worn it through a harsh Midwest winter, but I finally knitted something in the round! So I can technically check off #2 on my list of knitting goals. I say "technically" because I didn't use double-pointed needles, but I've got another post coming up about that.

I used circular needles and followed this cabled beret pattern. It was pretty straightforward for the most part, since I figured out the whole cabling thing on my previous project. By the way, this is the same yarn I used for the orange coffee/mug sleeve, and I just barely had enough to make that and this beret from the one skein. I did run into a couple of challenges, but I always find that if I put it down for a while and go back to it, I can figure out what went wrong and correct it.

Once I had decreased to about 60 stitches, things started to get a little tight and uncomfortable on the needle, which I expected to happen. I really didn't like stretching out my stitches, so I looked up a how-to video on YouTube and used the "magic loop" method to finish. The pattern didn't mention anything about that, but it seemed to be the best solution.

I'm pretty sure I did something wrong, because for some reason, I had to knit it inside out, which resulted in probably the most awkward way anyone has attempted the magic loop method for the first time. I did put it down for almost a week, so maybe things got turned around in that time. Anyway, it all worked out in the end, once I figured out what was going on.

This orange complements my dark purple wool coat rather well. Now I just need to knit a scarf to match before winter rolls around again.

This was a good, portable project to take on a trip. I got a lot of it done on the drive to and from Florida over Christmas break.

See my Ravelry project notes here.

Bologna, Italy

The conference I went to in Parma, Italy ended in the early afternoon on the last full day my co-workers and I were there, so Heather and I decided to take the train about an hour southeast to Bologna for the afternoon while Heike and Mike checked out the museums we'd already visited in Parma. We didn't get there as early as we would have liked, due to the train schedule, but we did get to see a couple of things during the few hours we were there.

Fontana di Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune)

San Petronio Basilica at Piazza Maggiore

The main thing we wanted to do was to see the two leaning towers and ascend the taller one, Asinelli Tower, for some panoramic views of the city. We did, but unfortunately, it was overcast, so the views weren't quite as good as they could have been.

Left: Garisenda Tower; Right: Asinelli Tower

Garisenda Tower

The sign says that the tower was likely raised at the end of the eleventh century (this site says 1109) and that it's the highest tower in the city (97 meters, or about 318 feet). In the thirteenth century, it belonged to the Asinelli family. The stronghold that surrounds the base was built in 1488 to house the soldiers on guard; it was later occupied by shops. On the western side is a sandstone bas-relief of St. Michael the Archangel by G.B. Gnudi (1727).

Asinelli Tower is actually the tallest leaning tower in Italy--much taller than the leaning tower of Pisa, which is about 55 meters (180 feet) tall.

Garisenda Tower was built around the same time. It is 47 meters (about 154 feet) tall and leans at a sharper angle. It is mentioned by name in Dante's "Inferno" from his Divine Comedy.

There are 498 wooden, steep, narrow steps.

View through a window while ascending

The view from the top:

There were once at least 100 towers in Bologna, but now less than 20 remain. Some of the others can be seen from Asinelli Tower.

Azzoguidi Tower in the front and the bell tower of St. Peter's Cathedral (a.k.a. Bologna Cathedral) behind it

Prendiparte Tower

Garisenda Tower is in the bottom left corner

We didn't have time to do much else after all of the walking around and going up into the tower, other than to grab a cappuccino on our way to the towers and a panino for a quick dinner on our way to the train station. There's so much more to do, see, and eat in Bologna, but it was a fun little afternoon trip, given our time constraints.

Considering I was only in Italy for about four days and three of them were conference days, I think I got a decent amount of sightseeing in, but it was a whirlwind! Italy was never really on my top 10 list of places I wanted to visit (well, I have wanted to go to Florence since I took an art and architectural history class in college), but I'd totally go back, now that I've had a taste of it. Maybe some day Ed and I can explore more of Italy together.

Ciao!

Parma, Italy

In early April, I went on a work trip to Parma, Italy and presented a talk at this conference. It was a really nice trip, but I wish Ed could have come, too. He was getting ready to switch jobs around that time, so he couldn't go. But I did get to meet up with three of my co-workers from Raleigh.

Because I was an invited speaker, I got to fly business class, which is obviously really nice for several reasons, including racking up frequent flyer miles. The view of the mountains from the plane was beautiful as we were about to land in Milan (Linate airport), but I was on the aisle, so I couldn't get a photo without reaching over people. I did get a few photos on the way out of Milan (Malpensa airport), though. Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy, but you can still see some.

Taking off from Milan Malpensa airport

The conference coordinators arranged for a driver to pick me up and take me to the hotel. It was a nice drive. It took about an hour and a half to get to Parma. The weather was perfect, and I could see the mountains in the distance almost the whole way. The hotel was very nice and just down the street from where the conference was held. It was also directly across the street from a grocery store, which was convenient, and there was a large park behind it. Here's what my room looked like:

Yes, there was a bidet.

I met up with a couple of co-workers, Heather and Mike, who got there around the same time (Heike, one of my bosses, came into town the next day). We walked around town for a while. It's a university town, so lots of students were around.

Ducal Palace, just behind the hotel

We ate dinner at a small cafe where the owners didn't speak English (don't recall the name of the place, but it was in town), but they were very nice and accommodating. I was glad I had started learning Italian before the trip, though. It really helped! I had mezzaluna pasta stuffed with ricotta cheese and mushrooms in a white sauce and some shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (which is made in Parma) on top. We each got something different and let each other taste each dish. They were all excellent. Sorry, I'm bad at taking photos when eating. I should probably work on that.

But I did get a photo of the chocolate gelato I got from Gelateria la Pilotta. I got mine in a waffle cone, but Heather and Mike both tried theirs on top of a waffle. They said it was really good, but it didn't look like they had as much gelato on theirs, so I was okay with my choice. Maybe I'll try it on a waffle some other time.

Gelato al cioccolato

The next day, the conference was supposed to start after lunch, so Heather and I went to see a few things in town in the morning.

View from the Parma River (See the high mountains in the distance?)

We went to the Palazzo della Pilotta, which is a complex of museums. We didn't have time to see all of the museums, but we did see the National Archaeological Museum, Farnese Theater, and the national art gallery of Parma.

Teatro Farnese

View from stage

Galleria Nazionale di Parma

They used some nice lighting techniques in the darker areas of the gallery.

When we were about to leave to grab some lunch before the conference, a docent came by and said she could show us some more paintings that weren't on display in the main gallery and could only be seen at certain times of the day. We were glad we stayed, because we got to see this:

Leonardo da Vinci's La Scapiliata (it's actually quite small)

The art gallery web site has photos of lots of the artwork on this page, if you're interested in seeing what they have there. It's kind of like a virtual, free visit to the museum.

The conference was very nice, and our presentation was well-received. It was nice to meet people and see that our work is used and valued internationally, as well as to get a better idea of what they do.

Left to right: Heike, me, Heather, and Mike

The food was also excellent every time we ate. The hotel breakfast had a wide variety of options and it was very good, and I usually don't even like eating breakfast that much. Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and prosciutto di Parma were offered at nearly every meal. The conference hosted a nice dinner at Antica Cereria, and it included bread, antipasti, asparagus lasagna, veal and potatoes, a dessert, and espresso. I didn't really have to buy that many meals, thanks to the conference providing food a few times and the breakfasts being included in the hotel stay.

There was more to see in Parma than I expected (it's not that big of a city) and had time for (due to being at the conference most of the time I was there). It would have been nice to go on a free dairy tour (the timing didn't work out for that week), go to the opera, and see the cathedral and the Palatine Library, but I'm glad I got to see what I did.

In my next post, I'll talk about an excursion Heather and I took to Bologna on our last day there.