Happy KNIT YARN!

Ok it's a bit far fetched...happy knit yarn... but I really do wish all of you the best knitting you've ever done this upcoming year. May your yarn be smooth, may your stockinette sweaters be not-so-boring, may your lace be like pieces of cake and may you have heaps and heaps of time and inspiration!!

I spent New Year in a cabin in the Belgian Ardennen together with Boyfriend Dear, my best friend and her fiancee/ my friend and their dog Bert. It was really calm and relaxing and almost boring, just the way I like my New Years Eves. The four of us spent two days talking, drinking, eating, watching DVDs and walking around.

The rest of the week Boyfriend Dear and I spent watching more DVDs, reading, day tripping and of course... knitting. Well, at least I did...

Here's some of what we did and saw

(click for lager pictures):

The knitting time was well spent starting in the car on our way there. Boyfriend Dear had left his scarf and hat at home and while he shopped for hiking boots (just around the corner of my LYS) I dropped in and got some black/grey/white yarn to match my size 8 (mm) needles I brought for another project.

This is how far I got in the 2,5/3 hour drive down there.

I knitted Miriam a hat for Christmas. I made this matching scarf the first night there, after finishing BD's scarf.
Then the day after I spent knitting and re-knitting a hat to match BD's scarf. I did it by heart and forgot to distract 10% for the head circumference. So I had to redo it. Then it was too short. So I redid it. And then it still was too wide after wearing it a day. So I started another one, keeping the big one as a slouching hat for myself. Then the second hat was too small. And I redid it. I picked up stitches at the bottom to make it longer. It looked awful. And now it's a small hat, waiting for me to get the motivation from way down in my toe's to re knit part of it. Did I mention I love patterns...

The two most important people in my life, showing my knitwear. BD showing the bigger hat here.

On our day to Brussels -where it rained and where we weren't able to find any cool shops and where I left without purchasing anything whatsoever, which is very, very rare- I came across this promotional poster for the winter festivals. Funnily enough this stuff is exactly what I'm going to be doing in my new job, starting tomorrow (I'm campaign project leader for the winter and summer festivals in Rotterdam) so I took some pictures to show you but also as a bit of research. Apparently knitted bikini's are the way to go this winter in Brussels.

My own personal knitting bookshelves in our cabin made entirely out of wood. I love wood, I have an unnatural relationship with everything wooden. I have no idea why. I might have been a lumberjack in another life, or an elf or maybe a woodworm ...

I couldn't believe it when we drove by this yarn store. I urged BD to push the brakes, make a slip and turn towards the place marked X on the treasure map. I asked him what he wanted, to come with me or stay in the car. Hard choice for a bloke, to come in means to hear and see stuff that'll probably give him nightmares and see me in a state that's probably not very charming and/or attractive. To stay in the car means waiting... waiting and then waiting some more, not knowing when (or if...) I'm ever coming back out. He decided on the latter. He shouldn't have... he missed out on the most horrific, chaotic, weird and spooky shop interior ever. The lady running it was -to say the least- somewhat unfriendly. I don't get that, I can't imagine she get's lots of customers down there, you'd think she'd want to befriend me... I couldn't move around without pushing things over (which I of course did...several times) which might actually explain her unfriendlyness come to think of it... and when I finally got a hold of some nice-looking mohair, the price was SHOCKING. And not shockingly cheap because the lady didn't know the city-ways of doing business... So, I left within 4 minutes and for the rest of our ride wished that I'd taken a picture...

I did take this picture though and it's almost like a metaphor for the week. Calm, simple, bad weather and Belgian... I like it... even though it's not very uplifting... I'm like that with sad music too; it doesn't make me sad, just melancholy and I happen to love feeling melancholy.

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Next time more on the knitting progress. While I was in Belgium I did about 14 inches of stockinette in the round for my Tempting II which is too boring to show you, I finished the black slipper/socks and I started on a new pair in green.