
After a brutal travel of 24 hours (I flew on my husbands earned airmiles and changed planes twice), I finally made it to the Netherlands aka Holland.
FYI: the Netherlands is not situated in Denmark, nor is the Netherlands a city. The Netherlands is a country in Northern Europe and its capital city is known as Amsterdam. It’s citizens are called the Dutch.
As I am writing this blogpost it is in the middle of the night, oi vey, how jetlag has gotten the better part of me… It sits by my bedside, not leaving me be, and wakes me up while everybody else is fast asleep.
My sleeping pattern is completely wack, I walk around like a zombie during the day, but who cares?
I am in Holland! With my family!
Bikes everywhere

One of the things I love here are bikes. They are everywhere. Biking as a meaning of transportation, and not mere sports, is embedded in Dutch Society.
Most of the time, byciclists have their own lane in traffic and as you can see, a helmet is not required:

Here a Dutch lady was so nice allowing me to take a picture of her “bakfiets”. See how her baby is in front of her bike:


Often times you will see Moms on their bikes with two kids in the back, and a whole lot of bags filled with groceries in the front. If I get a chance, I will snap a picture of that. I alway admire how they keep their balance.
As for knitting, knitwear and yarn

Every Friday, come rain or sunshine, there is a market near my parent’s place. In the past I have visited this Friday market many a times but have never noticed a stand with yarn!
How blind I was, no?

Allthough the collections of yarn at this particular vendor did not tickle my fancy at all, I am very happy to see that yarn is actually sold. That means there are knitters around! Yay!

As I make my way down to the busier part of the market place, I spot many many ladies of all ages wearing the most beautiful knitwear.
It took all of my strength not to walk up to them, touching their beautiful knitwear, asking them where they had purchased it.
Big fat yarns, huge gauge scarves, hats, sweater and cardigans are hot hot hot. It makes me so happy to see that knitwear is everywhere!
This lady here is wearing such a nice colorful sweater. She agreed to pose:

The material yarn in a different segment of the market

In one of the leading style magazines in home decor here in the Netherlands called “VT Wonen”, the material yarn has gotten quite some attention in this month’s issue.
The material yarn and knitted home decor are pitched as warm, soft, gentle, stylish and not to forget so hip and trendy. If you are at a the forefront of trendyness, one must own a gigantic knitted item in one’s modern urban abode.
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Big fat yarn, with that handmade look, are all the rage.

No variegated yarn please. Let’s keep it solid now.

To see more of yarn and knitting for the home, go to : VT Wonen
To help you a bit with the dutch language:
Knitting = Breien
Living = Wonen
Inspiration = Inspiratie
In search for Dutch knitters
Tomorrow I will be heading to downtown Amsterdam, oh joy! It is about 30 minutes by bus from my parents place and I just cannot wait to walk around and take in all the beauty the innercity of Amsterdam has to offer.
Also, I will be joining Amsterdam’s Stitch ‘n Bitch group which I initially found on Ravelry. They meet every Monday evening in cafe De Jaren in downtown Amsterdam.
Which makes me wonder… are there any dutch knitters out there reading this blog? I know of one or two that are (Hi Spider, Hi Marianne) but if there are others, please make yourself known!
Ik bijt niet hoor… ik ben heel aardig, laat maar een berichtje achter in “the comments section”! Ik hoor graag van je!
Twitter…
Also, just letting you know I am active on Twitter again. To see what I am up to, just follow my tweets.

(I swear…My Dad made me pose in the snow next to his car… I don’t even know how to drive a car.)
Thank you for reading and until the next entry!