Colinette POINT 5 for your baby...

I HAD to try this Baby cardigan with Colinette Point 5 in the popsicle coloursetting. I think it turned out very cute! ( and i learned some new techniques during this project...) I took a Colinette pattern but changed it here and there.

Our former co-worker Gerda made this Noro cardigan out of Silk Garden that can also be seen on the front of the "Noro revisited" Book. She was so sweet to lend me this great piece for display in the shop. Thank you so much Gerda! Love it!

Colinette Leftovers Bag

I like to have fun with leftovers and mix them up in a crazy though stylish way. (I try) I did this on a 15 mm crochet hook and took 4-5 threads together aand added a nomotta furry yarn on the side.

Teun and Joost present...

Our fabulous grandmother knits many things for us and we love it. These hats keep us warm through the cold dutch winter. Grandma took a Phildar pattern and Lana Grossa Wool and turned it into these cool hats!

We knitted 4 soulful celebs!

About 2 years ago we accepted an order from Dutch fashion designer Edgar Stuurman to knit 2 "seventies style" cardigans that he had designed. They were to be worn in a soul music spectacle called "Big Black and Beautiful": Three FABULOUS ladies singing all those well known soul hits, in theatres all over Holland! Also appearing was a Dutch actor called Hajo Bruins and he was to wear these cardigans. I was very proud we got this assignment and even more proud to show the final result!
(Thanx for the Photo, Rocq-e !!) For more info on this show see www.bbb-onlinesite.com

Actor Hajo Bruins wearing Gedifra Gigante yarn, knitted by www.schoutenhandwerken.nl

Those 3 fabulous ladies.

Ladies in action!

José's Noro Creation.

José is one of our regular and fabulous customers. She took a Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton Noro pattern with Silk Garden and Iro and transformed it into this beautiful creation using two colours of Kureyon. I think it is a piece of art!

Classy Colourful Noro!

This lady is one of our valued regular customers. Some time ago she bought some skeins "Iro" from Noro. She came in our shop and showed her fabulous cardigan, we just loved it! She was very happy with it and came in for some more Noro as you can see!

Martine's summer holiday in Finnish Lapland.

Knitting away in front of a log cabin in Finnish Lapland! How cool is that? Martine (my highly valued and ueberstylish collegue) loves Finland. Especially Finnish Lapland. She also loves to knit, and has a taste for the coolest knits and yarns. Many of our in-house designs are from her hand. With her family she went on a summer holiday to this Nordic country. Normally they go in winter and enjoy the arctic winter, dog sled tours and so on.. How COOL is that!!!

Weddingcake Top piece from da freezer

As a tradition we had put the top layer of our weddingcake in the freezer to take out again for our first anniversairy. But our aunt Julie from Louisiana, who owns a bakery, told us we'd better eat it before that. I still think it looks great and it tasted even better!

Colinette-Extensions

This is Ilse , one of our valued customers. She does not knit, she buys Colinette Point 5 yarn and weaves it into her hair as extensions! These extensions are called Falls I am told. Thanks for posing, Ilse!

NORO @ HOME

I finally completed my Noro pillowcover. I took several different balls of Silk Garden and Kureyon and mixed them all together to make this easy-to-crochet piece. I love big pillows for the living room! On the annual big fabric market in our town of Hoorn I found this gorgeous purple velvet that makes the base of the pillow.

Schouten Handwerken for Africa!

A lady came into our shop asking about whether we had some sewing machines for her school project in Zambia , Africa. We gave her some traded-in sewing machines that were in good working order and she shipped them to Zambia! I asked if she could give us a picture of how the people there are using our machines and here it is! Have you ever seen our website? www.schoutenhandwerken.nl , it is still in Dutch only but will also soon be available in English!

WillsWools at WoolWinders in Washington.

As we celebrated our wedding the Sheraton in Rockville, Washington DC, I looked around for yarnshops and found a real nice one called Woolwinders (Hi Karina and Gail!) Great selection of exclusive yarns like Colinette, Noro, Manos and... friendly service! I bought some different samples to bring home and show my customers. I recommend this shop!

Window-Shopping

I saw this skirt I think in one of the malls in Las Vegas while shopping, I thought it was really beautiful crochet work! Not sure if it's done by hand though...

Kitty-Fix in DC

On our honeymoon in the usa we visited our friend Gail in Washington DC. She was our wedding planner for our USA Wedding. Also she has some cats and since we dearly missed our own, this was a very welcome Kitty-Fix! Isn't this one adorable and beautiful? The cat I mean.

AWWWWWW

My friends Frank and Jeroen bought this adorable puppy. Adorned with swarovski stones, she just looks fabulous and soooooo cute!

Chrochet Giotto Scarf

Linda is showing a small scarf I crocheted from the fabulous Colinette Giotto ribbon yarn in the "popsicle" colour setting. Just 1 skein , on 12 mm needles.

Anonymous baglady.

Hey, I made another bag! I have forgotten the name of the girl showing this for me, but thanks again if you read this! Again, 3 threads, changing all the time in colour and texture, on 15 mm crochet hook, sewn on an existing bag.

We're married!

It was a day that was all about warmth! The warmth we feel for one another, the warmth we feel for our friends and family and that they feel for us, and the incredible (and sudden) warmth of the weather!

We started out with our friend Carmen joining us first thing in the morning to get our hair whipped into shape. She put on enough hairspray for us to remain perfectly coiffed all day long, despite the heat. Thanks, Carmen!

The photographer then arrived at 9:30 and we spent an hour in the garden and walking around our neighbourhood and its beautiful canal and parks taking pictures. We used our extensive knowledge of modeling from having watched 120 episodes of America's Next Top Model (and Britain's Next Top Model and Holland's Next Top Model) in order to create gorgeous pictures.

Our friend and my colleage Nadra then arrived to make sure everything was ready to go for the rest of the day, then our friend Hans then drove us to the old town hall, where all our friends and family were waiting outside.

The ceremony was quick but emotional, with Christopher and I sharing emotional vows with each other, and were also very moved when they played "You Raise Me Up" by Josh Groban during the official signing of the marriage license by us, the justice of the peace and my mom and dad.

We then took additional family and group photos outside before proceeding to a delicious lunch at our favorite cafe in town with a select group of friends and family.

Exhausted, we took a quick break back at the hotel (Christopher soaked in a freezing cold bath to get rid of some of the heat), and then spent the afternoon doing a special creative art activity which I'll write more about a different time. We then had dinner in a beautiful greenhouse before starting the evening's festivities at 7 p.m. Reception line, gifts, unique guest book, wedding cake, first dance, disco, special performance by a friend, lots of great conversations, free-flowing booze, fantastic dance music, all until 1 a.m. Was tons of fun, crazy, exhausting and fabulous.

Insanely tired today, but the only thing we have to do is pack, so we're cool. We leave for Las Vegas, Washington D.C. and Des Moines tomorrow.

THANK YOU to all of our dear friends and families for making it a memorable and fabulous day for us. We hope you all had lots of fun as well, and we can't wait to see you all again soon!

Crochet, Dallas and Chocolate...

Chrocheting a huge granny square on the couch on a sunday afternoon, watching Dallas re-runs , eating way too much chocolate...have I lost my mind? Lol ! No, I am seriously enjoying the wonderful Noro yarns with their amazing colour transitions. I cannot stop crocheting, it is so addictive...I sell these yarns in my shop and never allowed myself to work with them but it is too late now, once you start working with nicer yarns, you're hooked! I am using both Silk Garden and Kureyon in several different colours. I think this project will turn into either a nice throw for the couch, or i will make it into a huge pillowcase.