Frisian Frillies

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 ...

It's been a few months now, since I translated a really cool craft book into English: Visserstruien by Stella Ruhe. A book filled to the brim with historical information and patterns of Dutch ganseys, from up and down the coast. Het is al een paar maanden geleden dat ik een prachtig boek naar het Engels mocht vertalen: Visserstruien door Stella Ruhe. Een boek bomvol historische informatie en patronen van Nederlandse visserstruien van langs de hele kust. Of course, hubby admired the gorgeous jumpers in the book. A long time ago, I knitted my Irish hunk an Aran sweater (which he still wears). Now, after more than 15 years in the Netherlands, it's time for his first Dutch sweater. He selected the Ouddorp pattern. Natuurlijk werd er hier ook door mijn stoere man likkebaardend naar de truien gekeken. 'Ooit' breide ik voor hem een Arantrui, voor mijn Ier (die hij nog steeds draagt). Nu krijgt hij, na meer dan 15 jaar Nederland eindelijk zijn Nederlandse trui! De keuze ...

Nearly everyone starts with this stitch, it's the first one in any stitch dictionary and it's a stitch that forms the basis of many intricate Shetland pattern: the garter stitch. Bijna iedereen begint ermee, het is de eerste steek in elk stekenboek en het is een steek die de basis vormt van heel wat ingewikkelde kantpatronen uit Shetland: de ribbelsteek. It's busy in Casa Moss. So busy that the thought of having to knit complicated patterns is slightly too much. The triangular shawl I knit in stockinette for the National Spinning Weekend, with a crocheted border, was complicated enough, as were the Hermione socks (knit 3, purl 1), and to make sure that I have a few more options than just spin white Shetland wool every night (totally no stimuli and difficult decisions, great to clear the brain at the end of the day), I went back to garter stitch. Het is druk in Casa Moss. Zo druk dat de gedachte aan het breien van ingewikkelde patronen momenteel even iets te veel is....

Not your everyday location for a yarny event... If you don't take all the 'long yarns' into account that may have rolled off the pulpit here in years gone by... After holding the 'Brei- & Haakdagen' in Nieuwegein for a few years, the organizer realized that there was a great desire for a similar event in the north of the country. Spinnen in de kerk... Nou hangen ze regelmatig aan de balken, maar het ging hier toch even over iets anders... Nadat de Brei- & Haakdagen al een paar keer in Nieuwegein waren georganiseerd, kwamen de noorderlingen aan met de vraag of zoiets ook een keer dichter in de buurt kon. In the run-up to the event, I was asked whether I wanted to give spindling workshops again. Not just the short ones, like I did in Nieuwegein, but also a long one. Could I fill 2.5 hours talking about spindling and teach students enough skills for them to go home happy and addicted? Tijdens de voorbereidingen werd ik gevraagd of ik weer spintolworkshops...

A while ago, I joined a club. They members had one thing in common: a love for turning fibre into yarn. All the people who are members of that club (almost 500 at the moment) know: once you start, you can't stop. Ever. Worse, you turn into an evangelist, and want to let everybody you know join in the beauty that wool, fibre, yarn and everything related has to offer. Once in a while, we meet up. We now have 2 annual meetings: one small one, which was attended by around 100 spinners last March, and one big one, always held in the first weekend of October. This year, over 230 spinners enthusiastically rsvp'ed when the first invitations were sent out. Around 100 of these spinners actually booked the entire weekend at Mennorode, in Elspeet, where we hold the annual Fall meeting. It was our 15th, so enough reasons for a big party! As I was too busy running from here to there and back again all weekend, I got very little spinning done, and managed to only take a few pictures. We h...