trento + bolzano

Last month DH had a conference in Riva del Garda, and since we'd never been there we took the opportunity and turned it into a week family trip. We started by visiting the nearby cities of Trento and Bolzano, the perfect location for exploring the Dolomites later on. They are both smaller cities, not very touristy but with nice pedestrian areas filled with shops, cafés and restaurants, ideal for a short stay.

Our first stop - Trento - is a smaller university city. We had been there before in December 2006, a very quick visit one evening for some shopping and dinner before moving on to our next destination, and at the time I remember we were both quite impressed by it. So this time we decided to go back, maybe visit the Castello di Buonconsiglio and some other attractions. As it happens, when we arrived there on Sunday it was already closed and on Monday mornings it seems everything is closed in Trento. We had a nice time anyway, exploring the streets of Trento and its lovely piazzas.

There isn't much available in terms of accommodation offers in the center of Trento, so we ended up staying at the Grand Hotel Trento, which although not exactly charming, turned out to have nice rooms and reception areas. It was located right outside the historical area, and in front there's a lovely public park where Sara chased the ducks.

:: Trento, Castelo di Buonconsiglio

:: at the Grand Hotel Trento

:: the lovely park in front of the hotel
:: the main piazza in Trento

:: Trento cathedral

 :: chasing the pigeons

:: we found a nice public playground in the center of historical Trento and guess who loved it ?

 

Bolzano was livelier and a bit more busy overall. We loved the main pedestrian street Via dei Portici, it features arcades filled with shops on both sides, and it went almost from our hotel doorstep to the Archeological Museum (where we went to pay a visit to Otzi). We stayed at the Hotel Fleichter, a family run hotel with very reasonable prices and located just at the start of the pedestrian area (they do have a garage nearby for parking)
::Piazza delle Erbe

:: the fruit and vegetable stalls at the local market

:: the main piazza (Walther von der Vogelweide Platz)

:: walking with daddy in the streets of Bolzano

 

:: yes, I found a yarn shop ! This is located in Via Argentieri, and it's called Aufburg. All the yarn is stashed downstairs, behind some huge rolling cupboards which the nice owner will gladly let you explore. Needless to say, I ended up purchasing a few skeins of the local yarn Lana Linda.

in progress ...

Woot, woot !

A little test knit I've completed today.

Will be back soon with photos from our Lake Garda trip.

herringbone pullover

I finally had some time today to take some photos of the finished pullover. The fit is perfect, and the only minor change I made was to add one more decrease (and increase) to the waist shaping. It was my first time knitting with Cascade 220, a very popular yarn among the knitting community, and so far I'm quite pleased with it. Let's see how it holds up after I've used it a few times.

Pattern: Hollywood herringbone pullover, by Kate Gagnon Osborn (from Knitscene Fall 2009)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers (3.5 skeins of grey and 0.5 skein of brown)
Needles: 5 mm
Size: 34

More details on the Ravelry project page

wip :: icelandic star

The herringbone pullover is blocked but I still need to sew the buttons on, maybe this weekend I'll be able to take some photos to share. I have to say it's looking so much better now, I'm always marveled at how much a good blocking can accomplish.

And I started a new project, another pattern I had on my queue since the end of 2009 apparently, and using the yarn I bought in Iceland the year before. What drew me to this project were the colors, I just love this combination of red, blue, grey and golden yellow. The Lett-Lopi yarn seems scratchy but when knitted up it looks wonderful (and feels softer somehow).

I'm knitting the smallest size, which might be a mistake, but the next size up seemed too big. I'm a loose knitter anyway, and I think the yarn might stretch a bit with blocking if needed. I'm not planning any changes, maybe except making it a bit longer, I hate it when my cardigans end up too short. And after a lot of hesitation and reading all project notes on Ravelry I decided to follow the pattern as is (i.e. , knitting it flat)  despite many suggestions that purling colorwork is a nightmare and that it would be easier to knit it in the round and then steeking it. Well, I'm done with the bottom colorwork now and I have to say that the purling rows were almost quite as easy as the knit ones. But I purl the Portuguese way (with the yarn around my neck) so I was able to hold one color on my right hand and the other with my left, which made it fairly straightforward.

And the week after next we're going to Lake Garda in northern Italy. A. has a conference there so we decided to make it into a mini vacation for the whole family. We're visiting Trento, Bolzano, driving around the Dolomites and then spending a few days in Riva del Garda. So any suggestions for good places to eat and any decent yarn shops are very welcome, please :)