Finding a yarn shop was one of my concerns before coming to Florence. Even though I learned of Campolmi Roberto Filati in a blog post, it wasn’t until a guided walking tour of Florence University of the Arts’s facilities that I realized how close it was to my apartment.

Some of the yarns in the store are available in bins to pick from, but some only have one color as an example. If you want to see other colors, you need to ask. Only one staff member speaks English. When I go for a yarn run, she’s usually winding yarn into skeins with a machine. It’s great to practice Italian there nonetheless.

During the second week here, I bought two skeins of yarn to make mittens. The next week, I bought three skeins to make coasters. In March, I bought three more. Just this week, I bought four, and it probably won’t be the last time I buy yarn in Florence. Here is a summary of my crochet projects while abroad and what I’ll make next.

Mittens

I forgot to bring my mittens when I shifted my luggage around in New York to avoid overweight fees. My fingers were so cold on some days so I definitely had to make mittens.

My favorite crochet mitten pattern is based on the magic circle (the link brings you to my amigurumi post where I share a magic circle tutorial). The pattern can be easily adjusted to the weight of your yarn. I used a method different from the one in the pattern to make the ribbed cuff.

I unfortunately lost one of the mittens when I went to Firenze Winter Park with Samantha.

Coasters

I noticed that when pots were hot, they would stick to the coasters that my apartment came with. “That could only mean that the coasters were made out of a material not suitable for what they were made for!” I thought as I began stitching away.

The coasters were also based on the magic circle. I based the first round of my coasters on Kirsten’s pattern on Haakmaarraak.nl. In addition to double crochet, I also used single crochet and puff stitch. The pattern for the edgings can be found on Jennifer’s blog on fiber flux.

Garland

Even though the apartment came with the necessities like a bathroom, kitchen, drying rack, dishes, some cleaning supplies, bedsheets, covers, and more, it was undecorated. The white walls didn’t bother me a lot but it would be nice if there more color. Even though we couldn’t hang things on the wall with tape, I made a garland and wrapped it around two bottles in a compartment in the wall.

I started by crocheting flowers, lots of flowers, not knowing how long I wanted the garland to be.

After I became bored of crocheting flowers, it was time to make the vine and leaves. I used a pattern featured on Amor por Art via Pinterest. The diagram pattern was confusing for a while. I wasn’t sure if I should stitch into the stitches making the loop or stitch around the loop. (I stitched around the loop.) Sometimes when I made the leaves I forgot to attach the flowers so I had to undo a few stitches.

I loved making the garland so much that I’m going to make another one with different flowers and leaves. I’m also going to make small gifts for the friends I’ve made here. This was also the first time I’ve worked with cotton yarn, and I’d love to work with it again when I return to New York.

Crafting into the sunset,
Virginia