Getting on board ship..

We were all so very excited like little children just at the sight of the ship. Holland America, The Eurodam! A mere 2,104 passengers eagerly await boarding. I was rather impressed how smoothly it all went. Lots of staff directing us handing us numbers advising to have our boarding pass and passport ready etc.









The cabin is a wee bit small and Joan my roommate was surprised, somehow she expected the "room" to be larger. "It looked so much bigger online!" The virtual tour was a bit misleading. But we all know that hotel rooms looks so much better on the web. I Love our cabin and love watching the ocean and the sea air.








The obligatory safety meeting, roll call the crew shouting at the top of their lungs: "ROOM 5069 are you HERE?" YES WE ARE we are giggling and shouting back. Luckily it did not take long and we did not have to wear our life vests. We were told that if we do not attend this meeting you will be THROWN OFF THE SHIP!





The ship is moving we are on our way......


First stop the IT guy! Can we get WiFi? This was very important to both Joan and I and the answer as you see is YES! Not the fastest connection but good enough to upload to our blogs.


Craft Cruises "cocktail party". Drinks and munchies served. We will not be going hungry on this trip. There is food everywhere! But I continually get lost so there is quite a bit of walking involved to find my way from one end of the ship to the other. I'm considering this exercise.





Anna Zilboorg reads us a very funny "Wool" poem. Merike Saarniit

Last day in Amsterdam

Suitcases packed, again and the excitement is high. Anxiously waiting to get to the port and board our ship. We were up and ready to rock n roll early this morning, visiting the square that was so full of people yesterday that is now empty.




People, bikes, buses ... The town is just packed with tourist, this is that time of year!






But early in the morning the square is empty, except for the workers. The square is cleaned up and ready for another busy day.

Location:Amsterdam Holland

The purse museum.

I love purses so this museum was on my list of must see.


"Personal bags have been useful implement for both women and men since earliest times. Because clothing as yet had no inside pockets, bags and purses would be used for carrying money and other personal items.

From the late Middle Ages until the seventeenth century gags and purses hung from a belt or girdle. This, however made it easy for pickpockets, who could cut through the cords.

Men and women used bags and purses to transport their coins, documents, papers, alms, bibles, holy relics and an increasing number of personal items, including keys combs, mirrors, pincushions, cosmetics and jewellery. ......

Fascinating facts about purses and hand bags for both men and women through history. I love purses and bags and little ditty boxes. Lots of carefully gathered treasures to carry around."



"In some areas of Europe (including Italy, France and to a lesser degree in England), there was the tradition that during the wedding ceremony the bridegroom gave the bride a special wedding purse filled with money. The money sybolized the transfer of wordly goods.

Sometimes the number of coins was symbolic: 13 coins represented Christ and the 12 apostles, for instance. The tradition continued in France from the twelth to the eighteenth century.

The wedding purses were often decorated with hearts, Cupids and flowers......"



These were one of my favorites in the museum.

"At a time when every respectable woman was expected spend her free time on fine needlework, the workbag was often taken on visits and it was not uncommon for the ladies to work on their bags while taking tea together.

From the 1770s onwards, the most popular workbag was a flat rectangular bag that closed at the tip with a drawstring. These work bags were mostrly made of white satin and were embroidered and decorated with ribbons, foil and sequins. Many women will have embroidered and decorated these bags themselves, but they could also be bought in shops."



Beaded bags





The lighting was very dim, I would have liked brighter but I do understand that they are trying to preserve the colors and condition.

I did not see this written up anywhere but one of the ladies at the Stitch n Bitch we were at told me that this museum all started with one woman's collection. It was displayed in her house and she would let people come and visit.





Precious Metal Clay ideas.

Location:Amsterdam

We are on our way to the "Red light district"

Very picturesque and the weather is perfect.












Yes little doorways! With friendly almost naked ladies!













Lots of for rent signs.



This picture I could not resist.

Location:Amsterdam

Churches, bicycles and the smell of pot....

Location:Amsterdam

Stitch n Bitch in Amsterdam

Meeting up with some of our Ravelry friends.













De Jaaren cafe, Monday nights.

Vacation time.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Amsterdam

My pattern is being test knitted.

Wow, Passion to Create is test knitting my Winged Vest, boy she is a fast knitter. I am really looking forward to her progress. I love the colors she picked.

And I to am progressing on the "Birds of a Feather" a summer version made with Tencel yarn. It really drapes beautifully. Summer is almost here and I can hardly wait to wear this one.

I just noticed...

I have not posted anything on my blog for over a month. I've been writing patterns, hand outs, chapters for my book and did not notice that maybe I should share some of it on my blog. I'm always adding new chapters for my book, because I know I have a book in me. Weather I ever publish or not does not seem to matter. I just like the writing, the research and the fantasy of seeing it in a printed book some day.

I was teaching a couple of classes at Newton's Spring Fling, and at Studio 66 retreat. Both events were lots of fun for me and I think my students liked the classes as well. I was teaching short rowing techniques and another class all about dyeing wool with food coloring. When I first started to put the short row class together I looked around for a good pattern that utilizes lots of short rows. I found the "Wingspan" by Maylin, a very popular pattern on Ravelry.com.

I think last time I looked there has been over 7,300 projects knitted from this pattern. And by the way Ravelry.com just announced that they now have are you ready? 3,000,000 yes that is three million members world wide! Wow! Congratulations Jess and Casey!

This is a screen shot from my Ravelry.com projects page of the Winged Vest.

I jumped in and downloaded the free pattern and looked for yarn I had in my yarn cave to start this new project. Even though I have so many shawls and scarfs but the short rows looked like a lot of fun. So I guess I can always use another shawl. On Ravelry.com you can click on the number of the projects and see a whole list of projects knitted of this pattern. I love this feature of Ravelry. 

You can view what yarns other people used for the pattern and any notes or remarks about the project. So I decided that Noro Sock yarn would be the best choice. I love the long color changes and it's sock yarn so the yardage is generous.  462 yards (422 meters) Luckily I spotted a plastic bag with two balls of Noro sock yarn. Great I thought over 900 yards should be plenty for this project. 

I cast on with excitement, the beginning was a bit tricky but once I got the hang of it, easy peasy. I progressed rather fast. The Wingspan was taking shape. Then I decided to take a closer look at just how much yarn I have left.... yes I know I should have done this in the first place but... it was late and I had two balls of Noro in a plastic bag.

I had won this at my knitting guild raffle, who would guess that somebody would put two different color ways in the same bag? What kind of trick is this "Miss Brandi"? But tricked I was and it turned out that I only had one ball of Noro Sock yarn in this color way. The other ball of yarn was a totally different color. But it looks so nice, I'm not ripping this out, I'm making it work!

I still had enough yarn of to make another piece, maybe it can become something. Let me see....

Back to the yarn cave and look for more Noro. I did not have sock yarn but I had some Noro Silk Garden in the same color way. Oh maybe I'll add this piece that I knit a while back and put aside.

Turns out I have all kinds of Noro yarn in the same color way, it's a slightly different gauge but who will notice? Gauge is for suckers after all. Keep knitting, more short rows, keep trying it on, keep knitting. And here is the result:

You want the recipe? 

Send me an eMail bananaknits@gmail.com

Color Inspirations

There are so many wonderful colors in nature and it all inspires me. I love to dye fiber, it is perhaps the most enjoyable and satisfying part of my knitting. I love intense colors and none are more intense than this dragon fruit. And yes after I took the picture I ate the fruit.

The fruit itself is nice but has a very mild taste, contrasting with this intense color.