dank u sinterklaasje!

He's back! The man we all love so much: Sinterklaas. He actually lives in Spain for most of the year, but once a year, in November, he comes to Holland and gives presents to all the Dutch children. He doesn't do that on his own off course, he's quite old (about 1735 years). He always takes his helpers with him, the "Zwarte Pieten", lots of black men in colourfull clothes with feathers on their hats. The Zwarte Pieten help Sinterklaas when he rides his white horse across the roofs of our houses to throw the presents down our chimneys ( he may just be related to Santa Claus). Oh, and they arrive in a big steamboat, the "pakjesboot".

The girls have been waiting for him to arrive for weeks, so we are all glad that he's finally here... When he's in Holland the children will put their shoe in front of the fireplace/radiator/door with a little something for the horse in it, like a carrot and some hay and of course a drawing and a wishlist for Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet, and then, magically, they will find some goodies in their shoe when they wake up in the morning. The real party doesn't begin until the fifth of December, when it's Sinterklaas' birthday. That's when the big presents arrive. They are usually left at the front door of the house after some very loud knocking on the door and windows. You understand that our children are nervous wrecks after december 5th, so the parents are even happier when he (misteriously) leaves again than when he arrived.

Even though he's really here for the children, look what he brought me:



Actually, I got it myself, after a bit of a misunderstanding with Peter, because I was supposed to wait until my birthday. I think we're okay now and I am very happy with it. It's a Louet S51, similar to the one I borrowed from my friend. I bought it second hand so it was a good buy, it looks really new. Last night I spent some time with it. I'm trying to get two decent singles done, because I can hardly wait to start plying so I can finally see if what I've been doing was right.

















I'm sorry my pictures are so lousy, I hope we'll be able to buy a decent camera some day.

And then there are the socks I knit for Maud a few weeks ago. I promised I would post some pictures, so here they are, with and without shoes:


















It's really cold and whet today, so I'm going to drink my "anijsmelk" ( hot milk with sugarlumps which have aniseed in them) and have some speculaas with that, perfect for this time of the year.

happy

I was so excited that I could borrow our friend's wheel and so very dissappointed that I couldn't get it to actually spin any yarn. I really thought spinning would be my next big hobby. So I read about spinning in books and on the internet, read some spinner's blogs, read tutorials and started to understand more about the spinning process. Then I decided to try again and stick with it this time. I also ordered a kilo (!) of Romney roving from wolboerderij "Blij Bezuiden".

















I thought that combed wool might be easier to spin than the rough, unwashed wool I got from my friend.















Well, it worked (that, and the fact that I found out that the leather strap on the wheel had been screwed down too tightly (by myself, ahem)) and I am now officially a spinner. I finally got the hang of it saturday after a busy day out. I sat down at the wheel and didn't get up again until a few hours later. It really is as addictive as everyone claims it is and I really really love it. The children do too. Maud pulls up a chair when she cathes me spinning. She's totally fascinated.
As I said the wool I ordered is Romney wool, it has the most wonderful woolly smell and it is so fluffy and soft. I am keeping the leftover pieces of wool in a bag because I think I may use them as stuffing for little dolls or pincushions some day. A kilo of wool is a lot and I think I will also dye some of it. I've been meaning to try that for a while as well.
I would have loved to try and spin some Merino, but I heard that it is not very suitable for beginning spinners. Perhaps next time. I'd really like to get my own wheel first. I've seen wheels for sale on the internet, so I might try that.
And then there was some knitting as well. I finally finished the legwarmers for Renee that I started some time ago.














I actually had to knit three, as the first one turned out to be too tight. And as I'm not a big fan of ribbing (huge understatement) it was a bit of an ordeal, but they are done, the client is happy and so am I.




On to the next project!