Frisian Frillies

Whenever I tell people that one of my hobbies is spinning, I often have to clarify that this does NOT involve a gym, or a bike. Last weekend, no explanation and clarification was necessary, because we were here. Tadaaa... See, chair on the left, that's mine... Als ik mensen vertel dat spinnen een van mijn hobby's is, moet ik vaak uitleggen dat ik daar NIET voor naar de sportschool hoef en dat ik ook niet op een fiets zit. Afgelopen weekend hoefde ik niets uit te leggen, want we waren hier. Tadaaa. Zie, die stoel helemaal links? Die's van mij. With four amazing women, I'm on the board of the National Spinning Group. We spin, spin and spin some more. We chat, laugh, shed a tear and share everything from apple pie recipes to life stories. It's amazing. Not just with the board, though. I have my own spinning groupies in Fryslan, and in October there will be over 200 of us in one room again. Can't wait! Met nog vier fantastische vrouwen zit ik in het bestuur v...

The fan-dom of visible mending continues... There's always stuff to mend here, often more than once. Whether it's trousers with knees scraped for the fifth time, socks that need a hole filled, again, or my mittens, which have been getting so much use during my daily bike rides to work that the thumbs had gone, again. A number of my Facebook-friends, and a few other people I follow via the sideline, have been posting their pics of visible and also invisible mending and various 'Make and Mend'-projects that have been organized. Great fun to see what other people are up to, and also very inspiring! Ik ben nog steeds een grote fan van 'zichtbaar repareren'. Er is hier altijd genoeg te maken en repareren, meestal meerdere keren... Of het nu een broek is waar voor de vijfde keer een knie uit is, sokken waar weer gaten in zitten of mijn wanten, die intensief worden gebruikt tijdens mijn dagelijkse fietstocht naar het werk, en waar wéér een duim van open is. Een aanta...

Life sometimes takes over. And because of all that living we did, the blogging moved into the background a bit. A lot! Since the last post, we had the National Spinning Weekend in October, several cool and interesting craft shows, Xmas knitting, lots of food, an operation, birthdays, an office move and lots of work. And not enough hours in the day to do it all! Around Christmas, I had my Amigurumi phase... After an accidental visit to Haak Smakelijk , leaving with lots of cotton and the Winter Wonderland book, there was no stopping me!      I crocheted Xmas hangers and decorations for around the house, and a Batman for Sinterklaas (a blue and grey one has been ordered by the recipient...). And then I stopped crocheting as suddenly as I started :) On a whim, I knit a massive Xmas jumper for Mermaid which she'll probably still be able to fit in 5 years' time... With lots of Rudolphs and red noses - in 1 day! I fixed socks, pants, mittens and lots of other thin...

This Summer has been mostly spent working on ' Pumpkin Ale ' by Ysolda Teague, or 'Guinness Froth', as the cardi was soon re-baptized. It has been quite a project! From sorting the yarn, to washing and carding, spinning and knitting, and then inserting sewn pockets (wah), it all took just over 4 months. And yes, it was fun, although I did have quite a few 'This is never gonna get done' moments! Especially at the start of the knitting, there was a lot of doubt... Is this going to be soft enough? Is my gauge not horrifically off? How am I going to adjust the pattern to this yarn? In the end, all was well... Deze zomer heb ik vooral gewerkt aan ' Pumpkin Ale ' van Ysolda Teague, of 'Guinness Froth', zoals het vest al snel werd gedoopt. Het was echt een groot project! Van het sorteren van de wol tot wassen, kaarden, spinnen en breien, oh, en dan de zakken er nog in (ah), duurde het net iets meer dan vier maanden. En ja, het was leuk! Hoewel ik we...

Of course, I just had to stash the spindle into my craft bag... Guinness Froth is coming along nicely. I finished the back, front side panels and am working on the first sleeve. Knitting short rows for a sleeve head in a dimly lit tent, however, is not something I'd recommend. The spindle had fun watching the world pass by when we were on the Rhine, got a bit dizzy watching Mermaid going round and round in Moviepark Germany and enjoyed a few relaxed hours on the campsite and next to the pool. I also packed  4 extra (small) knitting projects. Which I didn't knit, but hey, it's better to bring too much than too little! In Mainz we passed a fun yarn shop. And no, not this one  (grrrr, which I only find about now!) but  this one . Also fun, but not very exciting. I did buy a few skeins of German yarn, of course! Natuurlijk moest de tol toch ook mee op vakantie... Guinness Froth schiet lekker op. Ik heb het rugpand en de zijpanelen klaar en ben nu aan de eerste mouw begon...

The last few months have been hectic. The ease of use of Facebook and Twitter almost made me forget there was something called a blog, so both the craft and family blog were grossly neglected. I could recap about everything I have done, made, experienced and been through, but that would take me forever. So, instead, a glance back over my shoulder at last weekend. We were in Orvelte, where we enjoyed a sunbaked day among the sheep and other crafty folk. With great music and a great atmosphere. Lovely people and lovely yarn, wool and other things. Me and the Mermaid suffered from bad sleep deprivation (it was the morning after the night before - World Cup quarter finals, with a penalty shoot-out way way way past our bedtime), and I was glad that I had been so smart to sort everything out for the fair on the Friday and loaded the car up on the Saturday afternoon. Me and Mermaid picked up Judith on the way. She had a bag full of fleece to card, so she spent a lot of time demonstrating ...