Great day, lousy photos

Greetings from Rotterdam, where the second Dutch Stitch'n Bitch Day took place on Saturday! Last year I'd planned going there, but due to a reason, wasn't in a fit state to do so. Even this year, although things weren't as dramatic, it seemed for a while that one might miss this experience again. However, after some last-minute negotiations I was heading for Rotterdam with a knitting friend, and had made arrangements to meet someone else at the fair. Hihi, won't reveal R's identity, but thank you very much for guiding us around!

So, I'd been waiting for this event for such a long time, yet somehow missed the slot when one could sign up for the workshops. There should have been a workshop on twined knitting, Japanese knitting and spinning, but by the time I found out how to sign up, they were fully booked. After that I sort of lost interest and didn't even print the programme, and now I realise that I missed some 'open' workshops and happenings too..but on the other hand, the day was packed as it was and don't know how I'd been able to fit anything else in it.

The fair is held at an old coffee factory, and all the wide spaces are a bit tricky to photograph. The side alleys with the vendors' stands were terribly crowded, but luckily there were several seating areas as well where you could just sit down for a minute, knit at the table, have some coffee and then continue, hopefully refreshed. Met some friends, made some new ones, and then there was one more surprise waiting: found my very first BookCrossing book ever, and once I've finished it, it'll travel to Finland and be released at a local crafts fair.

(I'll return to this posting later on and add some links to other blogs which will tell you more about this special day, but first I'll check their privacy policy.)




Here are direct links of the Dutch and foreign vendors.

And believe it or not, I'm still trying to reduce my yarn stash, so it was like torture to walk past all those yarn stands - so many brands and materials I'd never seen or touched. The colours of hemp and linen yarn were just delicious.




But you know me, I wouldn't just go to a crafts fair and buy nothing even though yarn was off-limits. Here's a selection of cotton fabrics which should turn into a bag lining. The one on the top should be just perfect for the black felted thingy presented some weeks ago, and then I just couldn't resist the two with knitting terms printed on them.


Kerstin Jönsson's workshop on twined knitting was fully booked, so I had to make do with her books. (Ostin näitä muuten tuplat ihan siltä varalta että joku muukin on kiinnostunut. Kirjat on siis upouusia ja signeerattuja - täytyis vaan löytää kuitit jotta voin pistää ne myyntiin. Mutta jos kiinnostaa, hihkaise vaikka kommenteissa.)



One of the things I love about these fairs is that you get to meet your knitting gurus, and although the thought had crossed my mind, I still didn't carry all my old books of Jean Moss to Rotterdam to be signed by her. Instead, just bought one more. Was glancing through this new one as well, but somehow managed to leave it at the stand.



Last but not least, a quick look at the paraphernalia I bought (although now looking at it, I should have put in a measure tape to give you an idea of the scale). Might add that later, but here goes:

On the left, a special crochet hook for the Bosnian crocheting (smygmaskvirkning) technique, then two ultrathin crochet hooks for adding tiny beads to knitwear and then the 'pièce de résistance', an elastic circular knitting needle for making socks. The novelty about this whole thing is that the cord stretches a bit and it's supposed to make knitting easier... and it does. The packaging says that the needle is 10 inches long but actually it's just a bit under 11 inches (27 centimetres which consists of 7 centimetre needles and the cord of 13 cm). Again, there are some extras - will return with the details later on. (hirvee hinta mutta kun nää on olevinaan maailmanuutuuksia ja patenttihakemus on sisässä niin kai sen ymmärtää. Tulevat Tampesteriin ihmeteltäviksi ja extrat tosiaan lähtee uusiin koteihin.)



This shows how effortlessly the size 9 beads slide onto the crochet hook.