When I was about 4 years old I watched my mother knit.By sitting across from her I learned to knit myself, altough backwards to what she was doing. But being somewhat ambidextrous it came easy.And I'm still knitting that way. When Jeanette was 6 she decided she wanted to learn how to knit. I could not help her, but Beppe to the rescue. That summer the whole family went over to Friesland to spend time with my parents. And yes, Jeanette learned how to knit, as you can see on this picture. (This is the first time I scanned a picture and it looks likeI will need some more instruction). Jeanette knitted for a while and then she found other things to do. I kept on knitting till it just got too hard to do. My shoulders could not take it, so I stopped about 15 years ago.
Now let us forward till about 5 years ago. Jeanette was finished her education and she wanted something crafty to do, but not quilting! So she started to knit and got just as involved with that then I am with my applique. When I saw the beautiful yarns she had, I got the urge again and decided, that I should start with socks. Before I would go to the Spinrite Outlet Store and buy just any yarn, this time I had Jeanette to lead me. I never knew that there is yarn made out of Alpaca, bamboo, silk, soybean, camel, muskox, you name and it is available. The hardest part was to get knitting needles. I need the long, double pointed ones and I had to get them from Holland. Once that problem was solved I was of to the races. I still have to be careful and will only knit a few rows each day.
These are the socks I knitted last year. One pair I send away as a gift.
The 2 socks on the left are out of "Socks that rock" wool, my favorite. The designs are by Cookie A, whose designs I love. They are not easy, but worth the trouble.The tiger striped ones and the multi color ones are wool ,that I got on sale. You notice that only 1 grey sock is done. That yarn I received during one of my workshops. It is home spun and has Malamute(dog) hair spun into . The yarn is thicker and the socks bigger, since they will be for Hubby. I just started sock number 2, but it will not get done for a while.
I'm almost packed for the big trip. By now I'm really looking forward to it and I can hardly wait. More when I'm back again.
I have been back for a few days and it took me a while to get back in a routine. 13 hours sitting on a plane is a long time! I tried to update my blog yesterday, but Blogger would not upload my pictures. But today it seems to work.
I had a wonderful time in Japan. The weather co-operated and we did see a lot of things. I have not gone through my 750 pictures yet, but that will come. And all my fabric purchases are spread out on my sewing table.I have to show them of to Jeanette this coming week-end before I will put them away.Japan is known for its cherry blossoms and I did take a picture of these blossoms on the last day of our tour in an old garden, right beside the Tokyo Dome.This tree was a 4 season cherry tree according to our tour guide. There were not many blossoms in January, but enough to take this picture.
On Sunday we took a trip to Mount Fuji and again we were in luck. The weather was beatiful and we had a great view from the visitor center. There was snow on the ground, but it was very mild. Later on in the day, the clouds moved in and when we were on the other side of the mountain it was covered in clouds.
There is a lot to tell, but first I have to get everything organized. We had a great group of 16 and a tour guide, who went beyond the call of duty.
This picturebelow was taken on a back street in Kyoto. These geishas were coming out of a restaurant after performing a tea ceremony we were told. In the coming weeks I will tell more about this fabulous trip. And yes, we did see the quilts at the quilt show. And those too, were fabulous.
