If you were looking for stamps, this was the place for you!  I’m pretty sure I saw about four million of them. There was a lot of stuff for card making and scrapbooking as well, with quilting and other crafts thrown in the mix.

I found that after going through about half of the place I started getting a feeling of seeing the same things again and again.  As I was walking I was thinking “Oh yay, more stamps” or “Bleh, more card paper”.  Granted, I’m not into stamping or making my own cards so perhaps for those that are, it’d be heaven! Just, most of these stands had all the same things.  It was worth it for the odd stand that did have something different, like the guy with the plastic candle things that ran on vegetable oil (that I STILL wish I had bought), or a man from the UK that had really awesome cross stitch patterns (again, wish I had bought one).

It’s definitely worth the visit, and if you can afford it I’d suggest doing some of the workshops.  We went just to look around and check the place out, and we had a really good time. I think next year I will visit again but I will sign myself up for one or two workshops ahead of time, I saw some really cool stuff going on there.

Afterwards we went into the city center of Utrecht and had some food and did a bit of shopping.  All in all a really fun day out with some really great gals!

No related posts.

I wasn’t sure what to get my husband for Valentine’s Day, but when my friend Barbara asked if I wanted to go paint ceramics again I decided it was a good opportunity to make him something!

It wasn’t hard to figure out what to do, as my husband really loves robots. I found a robot design that I thought was really cute!  It was already Feb 10th by that time and we wouldn’t be able to pick it up for two weeks but I knew that Xander wasn’t fussy like that.  He wouldn’t mind waiting a bit!

Thank god the pencil disappears during the baking process.  What a mess I’d made!

We had a really good time that afternoon.  I had been there once before but it was our friend Vinita’s first time.

While Barb and I dug into our projects the lady who owns the shop (on the right) gave Vinita a few tips and showed her the ropes.  That lady is so friendly and what an awesome thing she gets to do every day!

Unfortunately Barbara had to remake a project she’d done previously.  Before Christmas she’d painted a cute little dragon for her son, but it broke while it was being baked.  So the lady gave her another one for free so she could remake it.  These things happen…  I’d have cried if my robot love mug had broken though!

Yesterday when we were out for Dim Sum she brought me the mug, as she’d gone to pick up all the projects earlier.  I didn’t even realize that the two weeks had gone by that fast, but was pleased to finally get my hands on Xander’s Valentine’s gift!  He was sick yesterday and I was hoping it’d make him feel a bit better.  Gifts usually do that for me!

He loves it!  When I got home and gave it to him he ooh’d and aaaah’d over it while I stood there pleased as punch, all tickled like a six year old who just gave her dad his first wonky clay ashtray!

He went straight to the kitchen and made himself a cup of coffee to drink out of it.  I’m glad I made the smaller snob coffee sized mug, because he drinks that wretched espresso and it only requires a small cup anyway.

I already have ideas for what I’m going to make on my next trip!  I’ll keep ya posted!

If you want to paint some ceramics yourself, have a look here for a Color Me Mine location near you!

Related posts:

1. Rom’s Frogsmoker Mug
2. I Want A Back-Rubbing Robot!
3. Lock of Love Rotterdam

I had been wracking my brain trying to figure out what to make for my father in law, as I’d made the Christmas Stars Throw for him and Jenny as a combined gift, but I wanted to get something small for each of them as well.  When the ceramic idea came up I knew exactly what I was going to make.

Well no, not really… I couldn’t decide between two things, a mug or an ashtray.  He loves his coffee and his cigars so I knew either one would get used, but seeing as he really only smokes outside and uses mostly covered ashtrays to protect from the wind. I went for a mug!

I know, my ceramic painting skills are fantastic, aren’t they?  This actually took me frigging ages and it still came out sort of looking like a preschooler did it.  Still though, it was a gift with a personal touch and it’s not exactly like you can find things with Frogsmoker on them in the shops.  I knew he’d like it regardless!

You see, he also writes a blog called Frogsmoke, where he discusses all sorts of things about the French. He is Frogsmoker.  He and Jenny have lived in the south of France for years now and from what I can tell from our visits, and his blog, the French provide a lot of subject matter for a blog like his!  He has another blog as well, Bouguereau Remastered which has some pretty comical examples of photoshopped paintings by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. I’d never heard of him before seeing my FIL’s blog, but I get a big kick out of the photoshopped paintings.

Of course I made sure to put his name and the year on it so he doesn’t forget.  Not that he’ll forget his name, from what I can tell he’s still many many years away from that… but it’s always nice to see your name on something, isn’t it?  Plus, you’re probably less likely to find the name Romke on a mug than you are Frogsmoker!  Unless you are shopping in Friesland, perhaps.

Oh, and I know you are all in awe of my mad artistic skillz but please, don’t flood me with emails.  I’m afraid I won’t be taking orders.  I know it’s disappointing, but you’ll have to get over it.  You can always paint your own mug, or pretty much anything else ceramic that you’d want, here!

Related posts:

1. Xander’s Robot Love Mug
2. Rom & Jen’s Christmas Stars Throw
3. Christmas Gift Project – Haruni Shawl

Day 6 – Til’ Next Year Frosty
I was saying goodbye to my Christmas decorations which have been up far too long.  Ok, they are still up, I admit it… but I’ve stopped turning the lights on. Baby steps!  Today is the day, I can feel it! No really, I swear!

Day 7 – Rainbow
This was the day the yarn arrived for my next knitting project.  I love the bright colors, they make me happy.  With all the dreary weather lately it’s brought a bit of sunshine into my day.  Isn’t it pretty? One day I will show what I made with it but for now it’s going to have to remain top secret! I’ve already given away too much!

Day 8 – I Love My Harmony One!
My husband and I used the Santa money my parents sent to us to buy a universal remote, the Logitech Harmony One.  We were so tired of having to use three different remotes just to watch TV, and plus, we just love this kind of geeky shit.  I spent hours programming it and I’ve still not got it all right but I’ll spend some more time with it soon and get it all just the way I want it.  My DVD player is being a little bitchy and doesn’t want to turn on and off the way it should. Pesky thing…

Day 9 – Bailey’s Bath
I took this photo of Bailey after his bath. He’d gotten sick during the night in his crate and the smell clung to him, it was disgusting. A bath was in order and he was none too pleased about it.  Once he was out he went on with his usual post bath ritual of running around like a maniac and rubbing himself on every surface in the house.  As you can tell by the photo, a haircut is also in order!

Day 10 – FU Scale!
You know how a photo speaks a thousand words? Well, I have a thousand swear words for my scale at the moment.  I still have not shaken that last kilo I gained over Christmas and it’s ticking me off.  In the last month I’ve not gone down at all, and yeah it’s only one kilo I’m up, it could be much worse, but still… it’s not where I wanted to be right now.  It’s also irritating me that I broke a diet that was working so well for me and I am having trouble getting back to my usual routine.  Most people would think it’s extreme, and that fretting over one measly spoonful of jam in a day is ridiculous, but I hate that I am in that “oh one won’t hurt” state of mind.  I am going to have to do the detox part of the diet again to get the sugar out of my system, and I will know better next time when I think it wouldn’t hurt to go off track just for a little while. It’s really not worth it.  The happiness I get out of seeing the weight come off is far far more pleasure than any piece of cake, cookie or spoonful of jam will ever give me. That’s what I need to remember.

Day 11 – Battered Keyboard
I type a lot, me and my laptop are joined a the hip, so to speak.  I am a touch typer and I can type like the wind, probably faster than anyone I know.  I’m also long winded and wordy and I like to chat, so there’s been a lot of typing on this keyboard.  The evidence is showing because I’m starting to wear the keys down.  I’m not sure the keyboard will last through the lifetime of the laptop itself, so it would probably be a good idea to start looking around the internet for a replacement, before they don’t exist anymore.  This has happened to every keyboard I’ve ever had, so it’s no surprise.  The N is always the worst for some reason… I suppose I use a lot of N words like uhhh,  Nigeria and Neapolitan and necrophilia and  Nostradamus and narcolepsy and nanocephalous and necessarianism… you know, just the usual N words that come up in everyday conversation.  I must try to keep them to a minimum in the future.

Related posts:

1. Project 365 (Days 4 & 5) Food and Fire!
2. Project 365 (Day 2) Painting With Light
3. Project 365 (Day 3) Ten Years of Christmases

The project was Red Heart’s Christmas Stars Throw which I made for my father-in-law and his wife.  I started it in October in Canada and finished it almost two weeks before Christmas.  It took longer than I expected because of my unexpected surgery and a few other things that had come up that distracted me.

It started by making the diamond pieces that make up the stars.  They weren’t difficult, just time consuming and it took a while to get them all done.

Once I had all the diamond pieces made, over 180 of them, it was time to start putting them together.  This is where things started to get difficult.

The pattern says to start from the top right hand corner of the blanket when putting the pieces together.  This turned out to be confusing and frustrating. It wasn’t so bad in the beginning but once the blanket started getting a bit bigger, it was hard to tell where I was.  There turned out to be more than one five-sided star that needed to be taken apart and fixed, and a few swear words to go along with it.

Hoping she’d learn from my frustration, I advised my mother to put hers together differently, making the stars first and then putting the larger pieces together. It seemed to take her less time and caused her a lot less grief, so the pattern instructions could really do with some changing.  I don’t think there is any real purpose for them saying to put them together in that specific order.

She did say it was still a pain to assemble, but not as bad as it would have been trying to do it piece by piece from the top corner as I had done.

I think doing the border was probably the easiest and most enjoyable part of the whole thing.  That was probably because I started seeing the finished product.  That’s the best part of any craft project, I think.  No matter how much you pull your hair out while making something, it’s ALWAYS worth it, especially if it’s a gift.

I was really pleased with the finished product and was glad that I went with more everyday colors than the full on Christmas red and green like the pattern called for.

Oh, but the assmeply aside, ya know the most frustrating part of the whole thing?  The fact that it didn’t get to them in time!

During my recovery from surgery, I worked day and night getting the blanket done so we had enough time to get it sent out before Christmas.  It was going to France so we figured a week to ten days would give us enough time.  It was mailed out on December 17th and arrived in France on December 21st.  Sounds good, right?

WRONG!

It arrived alright, at a drop off point in a village 25 minutes away from my in laws.  Even that wouldn’t be so bad if someone had bothered to let them know it was there, which they didn’t.  So their Christmas present sat in a tobacconist over the Christmas holiday.  Nice.

When it hadn’t arrived by Christmas, my husband looked it up and saw that it had been dropped there on the 21st. There was collective swearing among us all at that moment.  So now my FIL and going to put in a complaint on his end, as we will do on ours.

Oh well, they did end up getting it eventually and that’s all that matters… and that they liked it, that helped too.

Related posts:

1. Rom’s Frogsmoker Mug
2. Only Three Months Till Christmas!
3. Christmas Gift Project – Haruni Shawl

I made her a Haruni Shawl, which I can safely say is the most difficult thing I have knitted to date.  It required massive amounts of concentration and a lot of time.  I even took it to Canada with me to complete because I was so afraid I wouldn’t finish it in time to begin my next project.

I chose a really soft Alpaca wool from Drops, it was so lovely to work with.  I can’t wait to make something with this wool again!  I loved the color and my husband and I were sure that it would look beautiful on my mother in law.

Starting out it really didn’t look like much of anything.  I was knitting and paying strict attention to the pattern because I was so terrified to make a mistake.  The process for making the shawl is knitting it, then soaking it in lukewarm water, and stretching it out to make the shape.  Before stretching it out it’s really difficult to see if the pattern is forming properly, which rattled my nerves something fierce!

There were a lot of stitches involved, towards the end there were over 500 and I had to count each and every one again and again because I was so afraid I missed one or added another along the way.  Part way through I went and bought some stitch markers and that made life much easier.  I still counted obsessively but I was a little more confident while doing so.

I wish I’d taken more photos during the process but I was so busy working on it and trying to get it done that I just didn’t think of it.

While I was in Canada I took advantage of the space in my mother’s house and used the rug on her dining room floor to stretch and pin the shawl.  I also had her to help me, which made it a little easier. I could have done it on my own but it helped to have my mother there to tell me it really does look the way it should.

Yeah, I’m needy like that.

As I started stretching it out and pinning it, I saw the pattern starting to take shape, which was a huge relief.  It was like the moment of truth after a month of working hardcore to get this done.

This is the final product! YAY!  I was so proud of myself when I had it all stretched out and saw that I actually did do it right! Wahoo!  The color is different in this photo because I had to use the flash, the first two photos are a better representation of the lovely purple color.

When my MIL phoned this morning she said she loved it and was wearing it around all day yesterday.  I was tickled right down to my toes!  This was such a big project for me and was such a learning experience, it makes me really happy that she likes it and will wear it.

Even though it was difficult, I really enjoyed making this shawl.  I think it’s something I would definitely do again, either this patterns or others like it.  Especially in the alpaca wool, that stuff is awesome.

Merry Christmas, Nicole!  I’m so glad you like it! xoxo

Related posts:

1. Only Three Months Till Christmas!
2. Rom & Jen’s Christmas Stars Throw
3. Project 365 Catch-up (Days 6-11)

After a rather expensive Christmas last year and a rough year financially, I’ve decided that this I am going to make this Christmas as much of a homemade Christmas as possible, which means busting my ass doing crafts and trying to figure out what I can make for all the people in my life.

This is the mystery project I am working on at the moment, and I can safely say it’s the most difficult thing I’ve tried to knit yet.  It requires a lot more concentration than anything else I’ve made and I worry that it’s going to take up so much of my time that other projects won’t be completed.  I’m staying positive though and spending a lot of time at home with these knitting needles in hopes of getting it done as soon as possible so I can move on.

Only problem is, I keep making mistakes and having to slowly pick apart 1-2 rows to get back to a place where I know I was still doing it right. Oh the joys of knitting!  I prefer crocheting because it’s so much more forgiving and much easier to correct if you make a mistake, which I do fairly often.

I can’t believe that three months from today is Christmas day.  I can’t believe that one month from today I will be packing to come back to the Netherlands as my trip to Canada will be over.  Where is the time going?

I am pretty sure that people are going to think I fell off the face of the earth over the next few months, because I am going to be squirreled away in my house surrounded by knitting needles, crochet hooks, yarn and cross stitches.

Hopefully they will all forgive me on Christmas when they receive their gifts!

Related posts:

1. Three Months Until Christmas!
2. Christmas Gift Project – Haruni Shawl
3. Rom & Jen’s Christmas Stars Throw

One day I was looking through some craft websites and saw these friendship bracelets.  Suddenly I was 12 years old again and itching to make some.  I thought back to the day when I was a kid and making bracelets with gimp was all the rage, man I loved that stuff.

I decided to start with an easy pattern to learn how to make the knots.  I had all the materials needed since I have plenty of embroidery floss sitting around.  I don’t think it came out too bad for my first try!  I’d like to make one with a few more colors that is a bit more intricate.  Maybe one for 1-2 of my friends if they don’t think they are too lame to wear :P

I don’t think I’ll be going crazy with this or making tons of them, but they are fun to make and it’s nice to know how.  Makes for something easy and enjoyable to make while sitting out on the balcony in the sun.

They even have turtle patterns, you know I’ll be making one of those!

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This morning I went off to the city center to meet up with the ladies from the Rotterdam Stitch’n'Bitch group.  I had gotten together with them on Tuesday evening as well and decided to go see who is there on Saturday mornings.  It was busier today, with 10-12 people as opposed to the four of us who were there on Tuesday.  It’s a Dutch group but they are very sweet about speaking English when there is something I don’t understand.  Listening to them and the Dutch I do speak with them is great practice for me.  They often ask if I am understanding everything alright and remind me to speak up if there is something I need them to repeat or tell me in English.   I will definitely be joining them again on their Tuesday and Saturday gatherings.  It’s nice to just sit around a table and do a bit of knitting (or crocheting) and chatting.  It’s a good way to learn more about knitting too, I feel like if there is anything I want to know how to make or a problem I come across, they will always be eager to help. That is really nice, because often there can be a bit of snobbery in groups like that for hobbies and the newbies don’t really get a lot of love.  Luckily, that’s not the case with these S’n’B ladies.

After the group broke up and it was time to head home, the weather was so nice that I didn’t really want to go home yet.  Even though I was starting to come down with a cold I wasn’t feeling too under the weather yet and figured I should take advantage before I really started feeling miserable.  I decided to skip the first tram stop and continue on to the next, and then once I reached that point I thought of how nice it would be to walk over the Erasmusbrug (Erasmus Bridge), as I’ve never done that in the entire time I’ve been living here.

While I was walking in the sun with a nice breeze, I couldn’t have been happier.  In spite of the beginning of a cold, I felt great and it gave me an opportunity to see some things I normally speed by in the car or tram.

One thing I really l really love is the sidewalks going over the bridge.  I don’t know what they do to the pavement, but it sparkles!

So often I feel like the least feminine woman on earth… whether I’m blowing big farts with my husband, chewing on my nails or boycotting skirts and high heels, sometimes I just feel like I’m not girlie enough.

Then there are moments like today, when I am positively giddy because my sidewalk glitters.  That’s when the relief sets in and I know that yes, even though I can out-fart my husband any day, I really am still a girl at heart.

Related posts:

1. 25 Things About Me – With a Twist
2. The Little Things
3. Things I Love Today

I started looking around for new projects to start, but before I could even think of that I had to find somewhere to get the materials. I knew that there certainly was no abundance of craft shops in Rotterdam, especially shops that sold yarn.   That’s when I found Ravelry…

Sweet baby Jesus, how does anyone in the world knit or crochet without belonging to this website?  It’s like Mecca for knitters, seriously.  God, what is it with me and the religious stuff today.  I just did it again!  It’s like I have tourettes or something!

Anyway, I’ve been completely obsessed with the site ever since.  I am constantly going through other people’s projects looking for ideas and seeing what interesting color combinations the come up with, chatting on the forums, joining groups and even getting to know a few fellow crafters here in Rotterdam.

Before I really got heavily into this hobby I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to go crazy trying to find the things I need, as can often happen when trying to do things in the Netherlands.  That makes me cranky and if I wasn’t going to be able to find the things I needed without paying an arm and a leg to ship it from other countries, I didn’t want to start it at all.  If you are into biking, you are in the right country… Football, you’re on!… but if you are into crafts in the Netherlands, you need to meet other people in the area who are into it too because otherwise you’ll have a hard time finding some of the necessary items to really enjoy it.

Through my searching I found the website for a shop here in the Netherlands called De Schapekop.  Like with other shops I heard about I went to Ravelry and did a search to see what people were saying about them, and they got rave reviews.  Everyone who has been there said that if you are within driving distance, you should go.  Nobody had a single complaint, it was all WOWOWOW.

I had to see this for myself.

So of course I immediately went to my husband, gave him the eyelashes and asked him if he wanted to go for a drive, I don’t know why I bother with the eyelashes after 10 years, I mean he always knows I’m up to something… but it can’t hurt, right?

So after the zoo was out and fed we hopped in the car with our not-so-trusty GPS and headed off to Nieuwpoort.  It was a lovely drive in the countryside and when we arrived I was off on a string of oooh’s aaaah’s and omgggg’s with the odd I want to live here thrown in for good measure.

Cutest city ever!!!  Yes, I know you think I’m crazy for calling it a city, but apparently it is!  Although the amount of inhabitants would lead you to believe it should be called a village, in fact it was given city rights back in 1283 and has held those rights ever since.

The building you see straight ahead is the former town hall.  Apart from a few side streets I don’t think there was a whole lot more to see.  Granted, we didn’t walk around very long as I had spent quite some time in De Schapekop being schooled on yarn by who I think must be the sweetest, friendliest, and most patient yarn store lady on the planet.  By the time I was done in there I had only a few minutes to snap some photos as proof of how sweet this place was before hopping in the car to head home.

This tiny city has quite a history as well.  When driving in we noticed that it is surrounded by a moat, and on the way out my husband told me a few bits and pieces about how the city was under seige quite often in the past.  Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

In the 13th century, the current location of the fortress Nieuwpoort was created by Lord Van Liesveld and Lord Van Langerack. The two lords wanted a settlement and in 1270, they both gave some of their property to make this happen. In 1283, the fortress was given the privilege of a town.

After a turbulent genesis with lots of sieges and devastation, with the 17th century more peaceful times started. The city ramparts saved the city from floods in 1809 and 1820. Due to an economical crisis in the 1930s and World War II, the city decayed. In 1970, the Provinciale Staten of South Holland initiated a reconstruction and restoration of the fortress and the city. This work was finished in 1998.

What a great job they did too!  It’s such a lovely little city with so much character… and to think had I not happened to be looking for a craft shop that day I may have never gotten around to seeing it.  I found a great craft shop with the side bonus of being in a beautiful city, talk about killing two birds with one stone!

I have to get back to how much I loved this shop for a minute…  It was big and spacious with everything you could need for not just knitting but also quilting, cross stitch, embroidery and any other hand-work type of hobby you may be into.  The shop is set up beautifully, there are 2-3 people working at a time it seems and a steady flow of customers.  Everything about the place tells you that they really know their stuff.  From the minute I walked in until the minute I left I had one of the ladies’ full attention as she pulled different yarns off the shelf, explained to me about the weight and different materials they were made of and answered even the smallest and silliest of my questions.

She was nice in that want to stay there all day and just hang out with her kind of way.  I love that in a shop lady.

I’m the type of person who will be faithful till the very end if I find a person, place or thing I really love.  Whether it’s a type of shoe, a hairdresser, a salad dressing or a shop, if I like it I will go back to it again and again and again… and I LOVED this shop.  It’s 45 minutes drive from Rotterdam but it’s a trip I’d happily make anytime I needed anything.  My husband agrees wholeheartedly and has already offered to drive me there anytime I want.

Although that may have more to do with the fact that the lady also gave him coffee, cookies and a puppy to play with.  No lie, she really did!  Now that’s a smart businesswoman!

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