Spinners of the World- December 13th

13/12/2017

Welcome to day 13 of our Spinners of the World December blogposts.
We're counting down the darkest days by exploring and learning more about the world we live in, but I'm not the one writing the posts!
Each day the post has been written by a volunteer spinner, they're be telling us about their mid-winter holiday traditions, and a little bit about the place they live. I still need volunteers, so if you enjoy this post please head over to the form here. This is open to everyone, please don't worry about your language skills, or even if you think your holiday traditions aren't very interesting, I want to hear from you!

Todays spinner is Maria Grazia and she lives in Bozen, Italy.

I'll be celebrating Christmas, not necessarily as a religious festival with my family and some friends.

Here in Bozen there is a famous Kristkindlmarkt, with lot of decoration, typycal handcraft, food and so on. It starts at the end of November and last to January the 6th. At evening you can find lot of people drinking gluhwein (or Vin brulé that is also the recipe l share with you) even if it's really cold. Always crowded from tourists.

To make your own gluhwein-
This word is german and indicates a warm drink red wine based with spices. The first time l tasted it was in Valle d'Aosta and there it is called Vin chaud, in Italian it becomes Vin brulé or Vincotto and l think in English you know it as Mulled Wine: you need red wine 1l - 1 orange peel - 5 juniper berries - 100 g sugar - cinnamon stick - star anise - cloves and a pinch of nutmeg. Put wine, sugar and spices in a large pan and cook on a low heat bringing to boiling, let it boil for about five minutes. Now you can drink directly or eliminate a little bit of alcohol flaming it. You can substitute the red wine with a white one, more delicate.
At this time of year I love to eatsweeties, nougat , panettone, typical cookies.

l like to spin lot of things! any kind of wool. My wishlist includes a drumcarder to mix fibers and colour. l knit. usually l knit socks and gloves and mittens. Maybe this is the why l spin only finger yarn and don't succeed in producing something a little bit bigger. From short time, because of my spinning, l've begun to knit shawl, from shawl to lace, another addiction. Then l spend lot of time reading, walking, dyeing (a beginner), sewing, making soap, cooking. With a full time job l have to plan accurately and l'm becoming a little solitary to dedicate time to my hobbies.
The most ambitious gift I ever made was my first pair of socks, but also a scarf unfinished, still on the needles. This Christmas l'm knitting a sweater (commercial yarn) and l will finish to spin a pencil roving to knit another sweater all with handspun yarn. It is a project l'm working on from too much time.

Thanks Maria for taking the time to write this post. There will be another spinner on the blog tomorrow!