As promised here’s a blog post with a little more crochet inspiration from our recent trip to The Netherlands…
It was so lovely to see that local yarn shops, like here in England, have really made a big comeback in The Netherlands in recent years. It makes me very happy! Having done an online search before we left England, I knew there were plenty in the area where we were staying to choose from. Of course, we were on a family holiday, so there was only so much yarn shopping that could be done but a couple of well planned detours meant I was lucky enough to visit two yarn shops during our holiday. Both very different…
The first was Hobbydee which is in a small town called Mijdrecht. It’s a fabulous shop which stocked items for all kinds of crafts but had a whole wall dedicated to yarn!
And in the shop was this fabulous crocheted octopus that the owner had made herself…
The window display outside had a sweet crocheted mouse stool…
Brilliant aren’t they?!
And as we were on a family holiday, my Dad came into the shop with me… and how wonderful it is to go yarn shopping with someone who doesn’t usually come yarn shopping with me – a whole pair of new fresh eyes! He spotted this ball of cotton yarn from Germany in a gorgeous coastal colour way… how could I resist that one…
We visited Amsterdam during our stay. It’s a city I’ve visited many times before – both my mother and my grandmother were born in Amsterdam. This time we just got the train in for a walk around the canals – with a very special detour to the fabulous yarn shop Stephen and Penelope Now this has been on my wish list for a while and it did not disappoint!
The whole experience was so special for me… the staff were genuinely super friendly and the yarns were absolutely sumptuous!
Yes, the price tag did match the quality and uniqueness of those yarns – not too many skeins could be bought. If you ever manage to visit yourselves, do save before you go! However, I justified my purchases in my head by thinking yes, of course 25 euros is very expensive for 100g of yarn, but I could make the most gorgeous shawl, or a beanie hat with wrist warmers with that yarn that would be super lovely! People would probably be willing to pay 25 euros for a shawl that wouldn’t be anywhere near as nice as the one I could make! Have I justified it ok?? 🙂 🙂
Anyway, here they are…my two super expensive but oh so super gorgeous yarns…
The green on the right is actually called ‘Seaglass’- how fabulous is that! 🙂 🙂 The greens are amazing!
Which one would you have chosen… 🙂
And here I am outside, very pleased with my yarn shopping experience and purchases…
My mind is buzzing with ideas of what to crochet with those yarns… I want to make something really special and very wearable to do them justice.
On another day, my aunt spotted this cushion in a local shop which has been crocheted…
Aren’t those stitches fabulous…
And I’ll just finish with this ‘seaglass’ sculpture that my mum made a couple of years ago. She gave it to my aunt and I hadn’t seen it for a while… so when I spotted it I just had to take a photo to share with you all!
So there you have it… plenty of crochet and creative inspiration from a country in which crochet is truly thriving…
Happy crocheting everyone… 🙂 🙂