29 december 2008

2008

2008 was a variegated year. Lots of things happening; good, bad, ugly and pretty. Sad things and many happy things.
  1. My husband got a new job as a truckdriver; going abroad a lot. My kids are coping with that very well, I love them to death.

  2. I quit my business of garden design; no clients mean no income, no income means no advertising, no advertising brings zero clients. Hence the shut down. I was quite sad, but learned a lot.

  3. I got a tenyear (vastcontract) on my new job: mailman (TNT) for 6 hours a week. I'm very happy, that leaves kids-time, hub-time, knit-time and yes, even cleaning-time.
  4. Our pedigree-cat got lost. Probably an angry neighbour let him disappear so his cat could retire peacefully. We are on no-speaking terms now.

  5. We found a little cute kitten that brightend our entire fall and winter. Unfortunately she got hit by a car and died. That hit us hard.

  6. On average I've knitted 1 shawl a month this year.

  7. Ravelry cost me a LOT of sleep, in a good way. Man, I'm addicted. So many good friends, lovely patterns, to-die-for-yarns, and so many forums: thanks Casey and Frecklegirl.

  8. I started a new business, very small: Kantwerk.nl ; knitting on commission. First project is on the needles. (thanks). No website yet, that's under construction.

  9. On the Craftsfair / Stitch'n'Bitch in Rotterdam my hubby found a goodiebag with lóts of goodies; laceweight, stitchmarkers, aranweight and lots more. Thanks Yvon and Ballee.
  10. Last week I won a knitted rose. I love flowers and she gave some beautiful red roses away; I was so lucky to win one. Thank you Mariella.

  11. Today... I won a price. I don't know what yet, it's a surprise. Thank you, Karen.

  12. I was overwhelmed by Liina, how she helped me to find what I was looking for to keep me busy all of 2009 and years to come. Thanks Liina.

I'm so happy that the two things I like (knitting and internet) can bring SO many people together. I feel right at home.
Thanks for everything.

Love and kisses for 2009

Monique
That pretty girl on top is having her 6th birthday on 31-12-08! She's our youngest.

25 december 2008

Shetland Tea Shawl

Eindelijk ben ik klaar met mijn Shetland Tea Shawl. Hij is toch ietsje kleiner geworden dan ik had gedacht. Ik heb de rand iets smaller gemaakt omdat ik had ingeschat dat ik anders garen te kort zou komen. Maar dat viel uiteindelijk erg mee. Kerstmorgen heb ik hem geblocked, in het morgen zonnetje. Finally I finished my Shetland Tea Shawl. It's become a bit smaller than I anticipated, I shrunk the edging a bit, because I thought I'd run out of yarn before finishing. That didn't happen. Christmas morning I blocked it, the sun was shining over it...
Pattern: Shetland Tea Shawl
Design: Dale Long
Book: A Gathering of Lace
Yarn: Cobweb Storm in the Attic Orange
Needle: 3 mm
Knit by MoniqueB.
Started 17-06-08
Finished: 25-12-08
Op naar de volgende...

22 december 2008

And now for the good news....

I want to thank everyone for all of you kind words, after the death of our little kitten, and my bad back. It really helped to ease the pain.

And now for the good news.
For quite a while I've been searching the net for a knitting book. Of course, it's one that's out of print, hard to get, and nowhere to be found...
There are only a few people (in Holland) that I know off, who dó have it. She's one of them. She's also one (not from Holland)
There was also a site that displayed some knitted patterns from the book in question. I emailed with the moderator, she told me she had bought her copy in Germany. Tried to get one, but already sold out.
The moderator mailed me later that she'd heard of a lady that had 3 copies available. She mailed her, but never heared from that woman again...

The thing got a bit obsessive... The more I got zero on request, the more I wanted it!


So, I sat down, started to think about it.
If you sit close to the fire, you'll be quite warm...
After some good searching I found someone in ...Estonia. Her name (on Ravelry) is Rees.
She'd knitted a beautifull Estonian Lace shawl.
I dared to try.
I asked if there would be ANY way that she could search for me in the land of lace knitting.
She would, she did and SHE FOUND!
And, most friendly of all: she bought it for me, send it to me and today I am the proud owner of....
Pitsilised Koekirjad.

It's not the original cover of the well known book, but the patterns (all 211 of them) are all there. Including the charts, the abbreviations and the year of print: 1978!! The most amazing patterns in lace, with nupps, without nupps... I cannot read the language, but a picture says more than a thousand words (or charts...). hahhahaa.

Thank you very much, Rees, for your kind actions to help me in my search. (ravelry-link).
I'm very happy, and will be trying out several of the patterns, hoping to make very original knitted things.

Merry Christmas!

18 december 2008

Though time

I'm having a bit of a though time.
Monday:
A flat on my bike, walk back to work, switch, stepped in dogpoop and got it all over my clothes because I didn't notice right away, bumped my leg on a metal cart at work. Luckily my eldest son helped with dinner so I could fix my bike.
Tuesday:
Fell with my bike. My knee hurts. And it was pretty cold. Had to help my eldest son delivering his newspapers because he was a little sick.
Wednesday:
Delivered some mail to the wrong houses (4).... And when I picked up my little girl from my parents house got yet anóther flat on my bike. The frontwheel this time. Glass.
Thursday:
Threw out my back. I couldn't stand up straight anymore. Cycling went well, but walking was agony. So called my boss, my dad and my husband. Crying that I couldn't do it anymore.
My dad brought me home, my boss made sure that the mail would be delivered and my husband is now worrying over me in the South of France (he's a international truckdriver...)
Edit for Friday:
I collapsed this morning. Wanting to go to the bathroom, took a left turn and fell to the ground. I screamed alot, so my boy got a bit scared. I let him call my dad, he talked me back up again (took more then a half hour...). It hurts so much..
I'm on prescription painkillers, and because I'm also having my period (why not...) it will cut back on the bleeding (sorry for that).
I feel soooooooooooooooooo old....

To sum it up: I have End of the Year blues. I need new batteries. I need to let go...




Sooooooo, to everyone a very merry christmas and the best wishes (health, happiness and heeps of fun) for 2009!

10 december 2008

Verdriet... Sorrow

Onze kleine kat is vanmorgen aangereden door een auto en dood gegaan. Ze was nog zo klein; nog maar 8 maanden. De foto hierboven is van toen we haar net kregen, zo'n 4 maanden geleden.
De kinderen zijn ontroostbaar, het was namelijk een echte bengel. Springen, spelen, aanvallen, lekker bij je liggen, zachtjes bijten en spinnen. Mijn man zal haar ook missen, ze liepen altijd samen op, en net als de vorige kat, wachtte ze hem altijd op als hij met de auto kwam aanrijden. Ik heb zelf ook een flinke traan gelaten. We zullen haar verschrikkelijk missen.
Dag Micky.
Our cute little cat has been in a hit and run accident this morning and died. She was still a kitten of 8 months, we got her at 4. The children have a hard time with it, as she was playfull, naughty, chewing on things, purring, and laying beside us. She was an adorable little devil. She always was there to greet my husband as he got out of the car after work, just like our previous cats. I shed a big tear too...
We'll miss her aweful.
Bye Micky.