1 Day in Amsterdam....and the Next Day..


Yesterday I had to go to Amsterdam to visit a trainee who worked for the fashion Designer Mattijs van Bergen. My student Rick is very good in embroidery, so many of the pieces were embroided by him as this blue skirt with gold 3 dimensional stars.

It is always funny to see glamour on stage and all garments hanging in his studio which is the opposite of glamour.

It was cold in Amsterdam. But I decided to walk among "De Amstel" to visit: Museum "De Hermitage". I passed the posh Amstel Hotel, Theatre Carre, and after that there was the Museum waiting to show me beautiful Flemish Paintings from the 17th Century which all came from The Hermitage in St. Petersbrug.
1 painting, made in 1619 by Anthonie van Dyck really touched me.

Guess it is the way they look at you..She is very direct in the way looking at you, and he is kind of "into another world" with his mind... or perhaps staring..dreaming...The little girl is lively..
Nothing is known about this family, but in a way they feel as we all know them. They are a young and handsome couple. Probably in their twenties. They had fallen in love with eachother, got married and a baby-girl was born. I wonder what voices they had?...What kind of work was he doing? Where they lived? How their wedding must have been? Who made the garments they were wearing? Did she got the jewellery from her husband or from her mother? Where was the lace bought?
The older I get, the more I feel a kind of: connected with people from the past..400 years in the past is not that long..a little less than 8 times my age..
So I watched, saw the rest of the beautiful exhibition full of flesh, decadence, anger, pain and beauty..but I had to go back to this painting..and there it happened..suddenly a tear, rather unexpected..So beautiful that 1 painting can touch your heart and soul..

After the exhibition I went for a walk among the canals..
And, never seen before: they were skating on the canals. It reminded me of the paintings by Hendrick Avercamp.

The so called "Wintertjes"

Seems to me that young and old were skating (such a pity I can't skate)


After this "Typical Dutch Winterscene"
I went to the Craft Boutique "Penelope Craft"
from knittingfriend Malia.
A shop full of colour.....
and with one of my favorite yarns: Cascade 220

Couldn't resist to buy a book and 1 skein of yarn..
The book is by MaryJane Mucklestone and shows 200 Fair Isle designs and many more colour variations. It was already for months on my list...Really inspirational and it has very good explanations. It shows the endless opportunities from Fair Isle Knitting.. and of the vest I am working on..
When I came home I found a package send from the Shetland Isles with 4 balls of Blue Arran yarn.....and a lovely note from Sandra from J&S.

I already had cast on the EZ cardigan mentioned in my previous post..
Ripped it out a few times..
Had mailcontact with the lovely Meg Swansen (EZ 's daughter) from Schoolhouse Press who gave me good advice..
and now here is the beginning of my Blue Arran Cardi..

My plan is to have one border with unfilled Diagonals...while the other one's will be filled in with different structures to make it more exiting..

Elizabeth is so right when she says that: You are the Boss about your own Knitting...

A few hours later.....

And suddenly it was time to stop writing....
I had to go to the Davo building in Deventer to get my Cerficate as Artist Coach for Business...
So here it is:

It was a nice and intimate ceremony...And I can say that coaching is something I really like to do...Hopefully I can do more with it on a professional base in the future...

I got a very funny gift from Astrid...

I must admit... I really would have loved to have such a jacket...Dreamed of it, when I was young and secretly I really would like to have a real traditional fringed jacket made by Indians..

And those TankTops.. I did wear them..some of them handknitted by my Mum...

But...How about this one???

I guess we all have worn things in the pastfrom which we now think: Why on Earth did I buy that??...and: Did I really wear that??..and did I really feel Great in it???

Reacties

  1. Wat weer een boeiend stuk Jan. Met veel plezier gelezen!

    Vrgr Tijm

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  2. Hè, heerlijk om te lezen...! In de jaren zeventig van de vorige eeuw...toen kocht je makkelijk iets fouts, maar de gein is dat al die 'foute' blouses met prints die pijn doen aan je ogen, nu als retro in de winkel hangen en er als warme broodjes uitgaan. :-)

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  3. Heh, Amsterdam ziet er goed uit.
    Mijn vader woont op een boot vlak daarbij.

    Leuk boek Jan!

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  4. YAY - you have the book you sent to me too? :-D

    Glad you have a copy now too ... it's wonderful isn't it?

    I'm so lucky to have a beautiful friend who sends me lovely books :-D

    Jx

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