Goodies from Breidag #2

A pair of socks, made on this sock knitting machine. 

Cool, isn't it? Especially for me who doesn't knit socks.

Goodies from Breidag #1

I did not leave empty handed from Amersfoort. 

Among other things, I was given the traditional stroopwafels, 

I brought them home, and then they were gone. 

I don't know anybody who doesn't like stroopwafels! 

I'm also happy to say I could bring home a new skill: 

Double knitting! 

I was taught by the lovely Daphne. 

I have always imagined it would be very difficult, f

iddly and time consuming to do, 

but I was happy to discover it is not, i

t's quick, easy, fun, and addictive!

You can do it too! 

Head over to Daphne's free pattern on Ravelry 

and knit yourself some Amsterdam houses. 

Knitting in the Netherlands

Breidag 2014 took place in Amersfoort, in a perfect venue, Rijtuigenloods, an old tramshed. Lots of stalls where they sold mostly yarn, but also needles and notions and books and coffee and anything a yarn geek could want. 

I taught three mitten knitting classes. People got the Blomekrans mitten pattern, and a lot of Holst yarn to choose from - 90 colours I believe. I took some time to make the small balls (10 colours, in addition to the main colour), but it went surprisingly well. Here is the colour choice of one of the participants, inspired by van Gogh. 

Mmmm, yummy yarn!

The Blomekrans mittens can be knit top-down or cuff-up. Most chose to do them top-down, and I'm glad I repeated the Judy's magic cast on before I left. Now I don't think I'll ever forget it. 

For Sunday's workshop, Martien turned up with her Tuin sweater. Which fits her perfectly, don't you think?

Breidag in Amersfoort

I'm just back from a wonderful weekend in Amersfoort, at Breidag, where I was invited to teach some mitten knitting classes. I'll share more on the knitting later, first som photos from Amersfoort, which is a really nice Dutch city.