Street Market

This past Sunday there was a street market in our neighborhood. They do it every year at the end of March. This was the first time I've been to it. I didn't really know what to expect, but I figured it would be a few booths selling things. I don't know what kinds of things I was thinking they'd be selling. I guess I didn't think about it.

I didn't expect it to be like the market that we have down town every Wednesday and Friday. Smaller, but with the same kind of booths. Food (warm stroopwafels...mmmm, those smelled so heavenly), plants, fruits, clothes, shoes, cleaning supplies, pet stuff. Everything under the sun! And it was crowded too.

booths all the way to the end of the building in the back

You can't really tell how crowded it was from this photo. I have another one that shows more people, but they are a little too easy to recognize, so I'm not going to post it. (I should have waited until everyone had their backs turned.)

The market took up the whole block, a main street through the neighborhood. It was fun to shop in the middle of the street! I kept thinking "Hey look! I'm right in the middle of the street! Cars drive RIGHT. HERE. " I'm a dork. What can I say.

The shops were open too. I took advantage of that by going into the local yarn shop and bought some cotton thread/yarn for my next project. I had a little conversation with the owner, and she paid me a compliment, saying that I speak very good Dutch (for being here for just 5 years).

I'm definitely going back there again.


Flattery will get you repeat customers.


xxx

It's Spring!

Is it the first day of Spring already?! WOW! That sorta snuck up on me! I shouldn't be so surprised though. The weather here has been just beautiful.

Ludi is loving the fact that winter is over.

I sort of feel like "Wait, did we even have a winter?"

Well, the nicer weather is going to stay around for a while, so I'll have to wait until next year for more dreamy snow. Instead I'll be happy with these

daffodils!!!

There's a median a few blocks away at an intersection, and they have it planted with a whole bunch of daffodils. Or are they narcissus? I can never really tell the difference. They're yellow and so springy and just beautiful en mass like that. I remember it being more flowers though. Perhaps they need separated...or thinned... what's that word for what you do when bulb flowers naturalize and multiply and you need to spread them out more or they'll choke each other out? I can't remember.

Whatever it's called.

shines like the sun

They sure are pretty.

Enjoy your Spring Day!


xxx

Knitty Show and Tell

Ludi's work gloves were falling apart (the ones he wears under the leather gloves that keep his hands dry. He works in a freezer, where it's -35 degrees Celcius all the time.). I wish I had a before picture to show you. In one fingertip there was a giant hole. There were probably 5 other holes that needed patched too.  It was one sad pair of gloves.

So I patched those up for him best that I could, and decided that I'd make him a new pair. Since I'm a knitter and all, right?! I can do that! I bought some (hopefully) warm wool/polyester mix yarn and went to work. This is what flew off my needles.

Glover gloves, from Ravelry

My first pair of gloves! What do you think?

Since his fingers tend to get extra cold, I doubled the yarn to do the fingers. He says they work better than the other pair, so

SUCCESS!!!

I even got to use my DPNs on this project (on the fingers). I can knit with DPNs now too! YES! All around win, right?!

After finishing these I took a break for a while and made some puffs.

 wheeee! lovely puffs...

And when I needed a break from puffs, I started a shawl. I've been wanting to make a shawl for a while. Something a little more challenging than just stockinette. There were so many patterns that were so pretty I had trouble deciding. I ended up with the Ashton Shawlette on Ravelry.

mohair-wanna-be softiness

It's coming along well, so far. It sheds like crazy, but that's alright. That's the nature of the yarn, I guess. I hope this one turns out better than the pink tent I made (that was supposed to be a capelette). If it turns out nice, I'll show it off. If you never hear of it again, you know how well it ended up.

What have you guys been up to lately?

xxx

Spring is coming!

It should be here in full force soon. It's still a little chilly here, but with these in bloom, it can't be far away, can it?

purple stripes!

Sorry about the blur on that photo. You should see the other shots - this was the best one! Wait...

...you SHOULD see the other shots.

what is my phone looking at? The dirt?!

slightly better, but not great

I should have known to take my camera with me on my walk the other day. But I totally didn't think about it until I saw the crocus. Which at first I thought was a bunch of garbage strewn across the ground. There were clumps of white in the lawn behind the recycling bins in the neighborhood. At first I was cursing out the lazy SOBs who can't be bothered to clean up after themselves, or are too lazy to throw their trash into a bin that is less than 3 feet away from them. This is what I thought when I saw it from 100 yards or more.

Obviously I need new glasses. Because it was groups of crocus. All over the city they have crocus planted in grassy areas. This one is just a little sparse, so I couldn't tell that's what it was.

I was happy it wasn't trash, though.

Speaking of trash, why can't people clean up after themselves? Why do they think that littering is ok? And don't even get me started on the people who let their dogs do their business on the sidewalk and then don't clean it up. I have a whole new vocabulary for THOSE people.

So has spring sprung there? Is it getting ready to?


xxx