Spring

Late in the afternoon I had time for a walk...

In the old orchard near the citywalls the trees are forming there blossoms....

The sky was beautiful blue....

All kinds of bulbs are flowering now, the plants are showing their new leafs, and it all smelled so good. Spring is in the air.

Thursday Show and tell; Poetry in Stitches

I'm joining Meggie of the prairie with her show and tell, a lovely blog to read about her life in Texas.
Some days ago I read a post written by Willy of the blog Hej Tjorven about the Norwegian company Oleana. Their collection exists of blankets, cushions, cardigans, sweaters and related items. They have a magnificent use of colors and patterns. They exist since 1992.
Solveig Hisdal is their designer. She also has written a rather gorgeous book with knitting patters, called Poetry in Stitches, and I bought that book about 10 years ago.

This is one of my favorite knitting books. It's a delight to read and look at. In the book you read about the way she develops her designs. She visited lots of country museums looking for old patterns, techniques for textile production, rose- painted chests, cupboards, wallpaper, skirts, embroiderd panels of folk costumes.(bunad) This way she was looking for inspiration and ideas that she could carry on and communicate through her work. National costumes in particular have inspired her to make patterned knitwear from wool, silk and brocade. For example, from an embroidered panel of an old bunad bodice came the idea for a bride's dress. The decorative edging on traditional, short, black, tight-fitting woolen jackets inspired her to create a border for modern knitwear. She also applied the idea of a protective lining on the hem of a skirt and certain other pieces of knitwear. And the brocade of an old bodice inspired the use of contrasting shades of the same color in knitted articles. Several of these basic characteristics have become trademarks of her collections.
What makes the book very special to me are the photo's of the textile and landscapes that inspires her.
Well, have a look.

This is ofcourse a selection of all the beautiful garments you can find in this book, it is a delight to read and look at. Years ago I knitted the last pictured cardigan for my sister. The garments are mostly knitted around, so you have to make "steeks"  for the sleeves and in the middle.  I asked my mother's advice.  The details on the sweaters and cardigans are beautiful, velvet ribbons, collars (the black one), beads. This book is really a treasure to possess.

For Madelon

In november the daughter of G. did let me know, in her own subtle way, that she is fond of my crocheted blankets, and especially the one made from almost white wool and many colors. So I checked my rather huge stash of Riihivilla yarn, wool from Leena Riihela, a finnish woman. In the spring she collects fleeces from Finnsheep, an old landrace from Finland. Wool from finnsheep is soft, and it contains lots of lanolin which makes it warm. She takes the fleeces to the mill where they are spinned into yarns, and they are processed as little as possible. She used to have her own flock of sheep, but didn't have the time anymore.
She dies her yarn with natural sources, plants, mushrooms, barks, and even insects, like cochineal.  I remember the days, over 30 years ago, I died this way too. Many of her colors come from historically proven natural dyes, reds from madder and cochineal, and blues from indigo bearing plants. She also uses lots of mushrooms, which was new to me.
Leena has a weblog where she often describes the dying proces of the yarn. It's very interesting to read.
I think the colors she dies are amazing, and I do like the touch of the yarn.
Over 8 years ago I started to collect her yarns, I stopped about 2 years ago, because our income decreased a lot.

This is the blanket I crocheted for Madelon, I will give it to her on her birthday next month. (she doesn't read my blog) . I used so many colors. I had called Madelons mother if she knew how big Madelon would like to have her blanket, and it measures 2x2 mtr. The biggest one I made.

Unexpected snow

Last night when I was working in a city nearby  it started to snow. For me it was completely unexpected, though when I had payed more attention to the weather forecast I should have known. The hospital where I was working is located in a quiet place, and it is so magical seeing the snow fall, all white and not touched. In the morning one could see some tracks of bicycles, and some foot prints, that was all. I was glad it was a sunday morning, everybody staying at home and keeping the snow untouched.
I chose to ride home through the countryside, taking small roads. It was beautiful, peaceful and quiet. I was a liitle bit afraid of slippery roads, but everything went well.
When I got home I was longing for my bed, so tired, but first I went out to take some photo's of our house and nearby places.

I'm a lucky girl, my neighbourhood is beautiful!! Being so tired I made a 5 minutes walk.
I was regretting it not having my camera with me on the drive home.

The backside of our house. I should like to have a larger garden, but hey, never mind.

Kerstmis

Het is bijna kerst, eerst nog even de verjaardag van oudste vieren die 21 jaar geleden op kerstavond werd geboren, ons geliefde kerstkindje. 3 weken te vroeg, en perfectionistisch als ik toen zeker nog was (als je kinderen hebt leer je sommige dingen los laten) stond ik weeen hebbend kerstkleden te strijken en de kerstboom op te tuigen. Want lange tijd heb ik het vol gehouden de boom pas op kerstavond op te zetten, zoals traditie was hier in Holland. Toen had ik ook altijd een wit met zilveren boom zoals mijn ouders en schoonouders nog steeds hebben. Maar tijden veranderen...

Mijn kroonluchter in de gang, groen en met heel veel hartjes. Veel liefde stuur ik ieders kant op, fijne kerstdagen met jullie geliefden.

Wel heb ik nog steeds de traditie in ere gehouden om echte kaarsjes te branden, hiervoor zoek ik dan ook altijd een goede kerstboom. Tegenwoordig vul ik het wel met kunstlichtjes aan, voor de rest van de dag, aangezien de kerstboomkaarsjes maar 1 1/2 uur branden.

Wel, de rijsttafel voor vanavond is gereed, we zijn met 15 man. Het wordt vast gezellig. Straks nog een paar boodschapjes halen, en maar hopen dat de kapper vandaag nog open is. En dan, veel plezier!!

Intruder

Last week we had a rather unpleasant surprise, an intruder payed us a visit. It was about 22.00 in the evening, G., youngest and me were sitting in the living room, talking and looking at the television.  Youngest had just cleaned the " cats toilet" "( a literal translation of the dutch word poezenbak, I haven't got a clue what the english word would be), and after some time he noticed that the kitchen door at the back of our house was open. And it isn't supposed to, to cold.  He called, G went to him, and they came to the conclusion someone had entered our home!! We were sitting there, just around the corner!! This is what catched their eye...

The stairs to the first floor  in our hallway. Normally 2 of my bags are hanging here. So this was stolen. Youngest was very frightened, a little bit shaking. What if this person was still in our house??  

In short, we called the police to report this, and they came immediately, to my surprise. And they took the time to write everything and one of them went outside with a flashlight to look if he could find something.

After 2 days they called us to tell my bags had been found with luckily enough my passport, drivers licence and so in it. But we still had to make arrangements for other things like new locks and keys, and car key.

I'm mostly shocked by the impertence of ths person, just to walk in our house while we were sitting there.

And now some other photo's, I love colours and candle light...

And so does my cat Loesje...

And these are some things I made inspired by Blogland...

These glass covers are very easy to make, just improvise.

In the meantime I'm crocheting a blanket for G's daughter, and this will be a big one, 2 x 2 meter.

Oh, and I do have to share this, my cat Zorro, while sleeping.  Due to the flashlight he opened his eyes a little....

And thanks for your nice comments, I appreciate it a lot. Groetjes, Gerda