Colour boost

I have been very absent here in blogland, I’ll try to catch up with all of your lovely posts that I wasn’t able to read yet.

I have been visiting my parents during Easter and it was heaven. We ate, we drunk, we watched some movies, we talked and we laughed.

I love how my parents really appreciate a good meal, they make the most gorgeous dishes and not just during Easter or other special occasions. They taught me to enjoy food, to value it. The word diet is strictly forbidden and although all the ingredients used are fresh and full of vitamins, there is always some cream, butter or oil in the mix. That is why I never worry (too much) about what I eat, as long as I cook with fresh ingredients and lots of veggies all will be fine.

My mom always makes sure a very very wide variety of ingredients is present on the table, veggies, fruit, nuts, fish, meat, you name it! She always says you should enjoy everything but in moderation. She is so right. I am very grateful of being able to enjoy food so much, since not everybody is really able to do so.

So, after this ode to food I should share some food with you:

This is a salty cupcake made with goats cheese and spinach and believe it or not, it was really yummy!  

But food was not the main attraction of the trip to my parents, we went sightseeing. Many tourists travel far to see the tulips in Holland and they are just in our backyard. I must say, they are truly beautiful.

A sea of yellow

And they smelled nice too! Yep, I beheaded Mr. L. Sorry honey :-P. 

But not so nice as these. Oh mighty purple, hyacinths! The smell was superb! 

Look at these, they are like flames! 

Don't you love it? I really like Holland on days like these. 

I hope your Easter was just as nice as mine. Knitting or crochet didn't happen, except for a little gift for a friend which I cannot share because she might see ;-). But I'll catch up soon with hexipuffs, a scarf and my doggy blanket!  

Happy Valentine's Day!

I managed to make 2 hexipuffs (amazing huh? Yes, that is sarcasm). One of these is very special; it is made with my own dyed yarn!  It was an exciting experiment and although I didn’t expect anything fancy, it turned out very nice! Yes, I am pretty smug about this, sorry 'bout that. Want to see?

Eeeeeeeeek, I totally love love love it! It is even in Valentine colors, how convenient. I plan to make many many more hexipuffs with my own yarn. I’ll keep you posted if I made some more!  

Speaking of Valentine, only 15% of the Dutch participate in Valentine activities. I understand why many people are skeptical about this widely commercialized day. Pink and red are in every window, all the stores trying to seduce you with mostly ugly things. Is it really a day for your loved ones or for buying hideous pink bears with sparkles? 

Some people state that you should cherish your loved ones every day and not just on Valentine’s day. I couldn’t agree more. Since this weekend Mr. L. hasn’t been very well, flue has got a grip on him. 

So a homemade smoothie full of fruity goodness, some honey and yoghurt was presented for him in bed on Sunday.

No Valentine's day for me! It will be just like a normal day, except for those that need a little push to express their (secret) love. Did you ever sent a real Valentine's card to a secret love? I did as a teen, anonymous. Good thing I didn't state my name...the guy in question revealled a few weeks later that he fancies man. Bummer,  hahahaha.

Even though I don’t really agree with Valentine’s Day, it started to itch. Maybe it would be nice to do something...It wouldn’t hurt to give Mr. L. a little surprise right? A small thing, not really special. A card maybe? Or some flowers? 

In the end I even made some gifts...yep. Miss Valentine Boycott made gifts. 

I made some fresh peppermint scented bath salt (this was so fun to do, I will definitely make some more!) and heart shaped cake pops. Within 15 minutes Mr. L. ate almost all the cake pops and enjoyed a nice hot footbath which made the whole room smell fresh and minty. He was beaming with happiness with his feet in the water, in his hands a book and a hot cup of tea (he is still a bit sick, so tea will do!). It made me feel kind of good about myself, yes yes, that is smugness again. 

Ok....ok......maybe I do believe in Valentine's day, after all what's better than surprising the one you love? 

Oh deer!

Winter has kicked in.

No better sound than the crunching of snow while walking in the dunes. A white blanket has covered Holland, making everything pretty.

However, snow has also a very ugly side here in Holland.

Slippery roads with 800 km of traffic jam and trains that no longer able to bring people to their warm homes are an immediate effect of snow.

So I was very lucky to be able to enjoy the snow just walking about. A big advantage is that wildlife can be spotted easily in the white environment. Look what was hiding in the bushes? 

So what do you do after crunching in the snow and spotting deer? Time to knit with a hot cup of coco. It has been rather quite on the craft site in this house, but I did buy some lush, posh, yammy yarn today.

It’s 100% merino, fair trade and the color is A-MA-ZING.

Too bad the color looks a bit off here on the screen, it’s even more pretty in real life.

The plan is to knit socks, yes I did say socks. It is going to be a hassle, but I will get through. Of course this is also perfect for a few hexipuffs thihi.  

Wonderful day

I had a wonderful day! I'm totally in the autumn mood. I made a little trip with my parents, brother and some other family in to the woods and I had so much fun! I made some pictures and I hope to find some time to share them with you. Although this trip got me totally revived, this wasn't the thing that made my day. I checked my mail and got out the usual leaflets, bills and other daily mail, until my hand touched a very big envelope. I knew what it was right away! My price I won on the wonderful blog from Hazel, Hazel's Crochet. You should check it out, she also participates in the One a day group with a rainbow blanket! She also added a cute little note and a crochet heart! She is such a sweet person. 

She organized a giveaway and I won this book. It is very big and there are sooo many wonderful patterns. I cannot buy this book in the Netherlands so I am so happy I was lucky to win it. Look at some of the patterns:

Some cute penguins...

Some cute softies, look at the gingerbread man! I am totally going to make him.

But there are also pattern of clothing and blankets like this one...

Or this one! 

Time to make a list of Christmas projects that I want to make and I should get started soon. Time flies. 

Thank you Hazel, for your lovely gift :-). 

Moments to Treasure

Hello dears! 

How was your week? Mine was great! Especially one day in particular. I went to visit two dear friends of mine and we had a wonderful time. I went by train, which offered me the possibility to start with the birthday gift for my mom. I am making a scarf with this beautiful yarn in a blue-purple-gray-ish color, I love it. I am seriously considering making one for me as well! The pattern is a bliss, although it is a Japanese pattern the signs are easy to understand. With a hook of 6.0 mm it goes super fast, my scarf was starting to shape after half an hour! The yarn is so soft, it is super easy to work with. *Sigh* What a lovely in-between-blankets-project haha. 

Just sitting in the train resulted in quite some progress:

But that wasn't the nice part of the day! We went walking in the forest, just the three of us. Talking about a wide range of topics, from funny stories to serious matters. No sounds, except for the birds and the wind. We needed nothing more.

 

It had something magical to it.We are very close friends, and it always feels like coming home when we are just with the girls *sorry boys haha*. I love them dearly. They are more like sisters and there is nothing too much for them. 

They are such beautiful and powerful women. But girls will stay girls, goes after we came back it was time for tea and some sweets! They made cupcakes and I got a present:

Hurray for mustache madness!! The mustache mug is the present, isn't it aaaawesome! They know me too well ;-). Now, enough of the chatter. The house needs to be cleaned, I need to study a lot and then have the opportunity to take the dog for a long walk since the sun is shining *it was officially the rainiest summer ever measured in Holland*. 

And after cooking, eating, cleaning up again...............I can crochet again and enjoy the weeeeeekend! Have a nice weekend too! 

Lots of love, 

Suzanne

Yarny day

Hi lovelies!

It's been a while! I have had a very busy time. I went to Lowlands (many Dutch will know it), a music festival. I didn't sleep much and now I am a bit sick :-(. At least I don't miss much sun, cause it is of course raining here in holland.

Since it feels like autumn, I had the urge to make "kruidnootjes". A Dutch treat eaten at the "Sinterklaas" fest. This fest isn't until the 5th of December, but I couldn't resist. So I baked a handful and eat almost all of it *wooops*. Aaaah, the smell of fresh baked delicious cookies. A big pot of tea and a little bit of yarn to go with it, aaaaaah what a bliss.

Oh, if you are wondering how to make these cookies, here is the recipe:

100 grams of selfraizing flower
50 grams of dark caster sugar
40 grams of butter, chopped in small pieces.
1 teaspoon of mixed spices (koek- of speculaaskruiden voor de hollanders)
a pinch of salt
2 table spoons of milk

Mix all the ingredients and heat the oven at 175 degrees. Make small balls of about 1 cm of the dough and put them on a baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes.

The spices that are used can be bought mixed in holland. I don't know if you can get these spices in different countries. It consists of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, white pepper, gingerpowder and cardamom.

Well, I have a long way to go before I can show you another ta-da moment (to speak in Lucy terms ;-)) so I better get going!

Lots of love,

Suzanne....and sleepyhead Puck, haha:

Back from a rainy getaway

Hello lovelies!

I've been enjoying a little getaway with Mr. L. and family. One whole week we enjoyed nature and good company. Unfortunatly, we had a lot of rain so walking times were scarce. The times we did enjoy nature were great, we even met a wild boar. I couldn't make a photo of it, since it was quite shocked by my scream * I am quite the hero haha *.

Remember this snake? I gave it to my nephew and he loved it, so it had to come with him to Ermelo. His name is now Jan de slang (John the snake). Baby bear has such lovely little hands to hold the snake! Cannot get enough of him, although the little bear is a fulltime job. So the respect for my sister in law grew even more for all the hard work and love she gives her little one. Also for my mother in law, who sparkles and smiles all day long despite a chronic lack of sleep.

We also visited the "Dolfinarium", an amusement park with marine life like dolphins and sea lions. There were some amazing shows and a lot of oooeeeehhs and aaaaaaahs. 

Despite all the great memories that we made in this wonderful week, I also missed blogland. I have a lot of catching up to do, lots of nice new posts of my favorite blogs still to be read and of course I have been busy on my own projects of which I will share more later on. It was delightful to return to our own little cottage on the eighth floor. I crawled on the couch for some cuddling and hooky time:

Aaaaah, so good to be home again! Talk to you soon! lots of love,

Suzanne

Sun is shining, weather is sweet...

Another day with so much to enjoy. The sun was peaking finally through the grey clouds, birds were singing again and I could smell these cute little pink roses and freshly cut grass *I luuuuv this smell*. It's amazing how nature finds her way in the concrete jungle of Rotterdam. That's what I like most, the little pleasures that can be found and since nature has to fight here, it feels even more like a treasure when you find something. 

But not all is well in the city centre. When I do my groceries or go to work, I always come across escalators. And to be honest, I am a bit phobic for these moving stairs. The scariest is the moment when you go on the escalator and off it. I'm paranoiac that something will stick in the moving horror. Luckily I didn't have shoelaces in my boots today! 

I survived, time to get that blanket done!