Bohus, Poetry, Nostalgia and more....

Last Friday afternoon I went with a very good friend to the craft-fair in Zwolle because I had booked for the both of us a little workshop Bohus knitting. I didn't know much about it so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it had nothing to do with traditional Scandinavian knitting but that their was a lot of influence of fashion , art and design in the knitted garments.The colour combinations are really wonderful as can be seen on this cap Marja did show us which is knitted with the original yarn and nothing can beat that. You can't buy the pattern or the yarn. It can only be bought as a kit through the website from Solsilke. After we got a little info from Marja, we did start with a little wrist-warmer in which we could see the effect from Bohus knitting. I haven't finished it yet, but will and probable knit it a little longer to make fingerless mitts from this sample. I didn't spend much at the fair (have plenty of yarns at home) but I couldn't resist the new book from Nancy Marchant: Knitting Brioche (which she signed on Saturday, some Kauni Yarn to make a scarf from the book. I am not particularly found of this yarn but for this scarf it is really good with the colour changes. The book explains all the ins and outs from the Brioche stitch. Nancy had taken the original designs with her, so we all could see them in real. She is a wonderful lively person and her designs are a joy to look at. I think I will definitely use some of her patterns in the coming "knitting years". Also in the shoppingbag were some funky stitch-markers (bought at Wereldwol) and some needles and ropes for my Knitpicks set bought at "Storm op Zolder" On saturday I got as a gift the super posh "Knit Kit" which is a very luxury item and includes a tape measure, stitchmarkers, counter, scissor, knife and hook. So on Saturday I went again with friend Evelien and all I did was knitting (started the Brioche Scarf together with Hilly: THANKS DEAR!!)at the Knitting corner from the Dutch knitters were it was busy as always and the "stroopwafels" were as nice as usual. I know quite a lot of Dutch knitters as: Her, Her, Him and Her.. and many more. I left quite early because I had caught a cold and wasn't feeling very good and today, after almost 12 hrs sleeping it goes much better. Friday night was also the night of my friend Lammert Voos. He launched his second poetry book called: "Grensman" (Borderman) after his first one called: "Klaai" (Clay). His poems are romantic in sometimes a rough and direct way, very down to earth and there every now and than a sense of nostalgia in it. I hadn't seen Lammert for years (he had lived opposite of us for many years) but thanks to Facebook we got in contact again. The book-launch was at the local Library and it was a real Party. There were 3 other poets named: Hanz Mirck (from Zutphen,the town I grew up), Erik Harteveld and Tsjead Bruinja and after the book was presented and after some wine Lammert took the stage and after reading some poems from GREAT his book he started singing with the band: "Lammert Voos en de Sukkerbaiten" and "Jungen komm bald wieder" will never be the same again....... While I was in Slovakia I had a talk about Russia and suddenly I remembered a book I used to read when I was a young boy. It was called: De Jonge Reizigers in Rusland (translated into Dutch after the book "The young travellers in Russia)" For years I was thinking of this book and luckily for me I could buy it 2nd hand last week. I was curious to know if the story I had in my head was the same as the book and after reading it I came to the conclusion that it had got stuck in my head almost exactly as I did remembered it. I think when you get older you get a sense for this kind of Nostalgia now and than. Guess my interest in people and other cultures has started already at a young age because I almost read all the book from the Young Travellers series. From the first moment I could read I got a subscription to get access to the Local Library in Zutphen and I used to go there once a week on Friday afternoon to pick up at least 3 books and I would finish them in less than a week.Usually it were to "children-book" and 1 craft-book. On the top list were the books from Pinkeltje, The little house on the prairie (loved the scenes when building the house &the X-mas party with the sugar figures made from sugar from the maple tree)and later the books from Bob Evers (and many more of course since than) It was a very old building at the end of the market with a big wooden door and a copper handle. When entering the building there was a big hall with a marble floor and on the left was the entrance to the youth library and on the right a door to the adult part. I remember that I always loved to go there. It has a very special feeling entering that building and seeing all the books I would love to read. I was more a reading kid than that I liked to play outside. Guess it all had to do that I felt more comfortable with myself when I entered the world of the books than the real world. Maybe it al had to do with hiding myself, and the difficult time I had to understand who I really was. Books.. I still love to buy and read them, so that hasn't changed over the years. Holiday is over now and tomorrow I only have 2 lessons to go but waking up at 6 will be a difference after a nice week holiday I had last week...