Dutch Knitting Days

Last year I went to a knitting event for the first time: the Dutch Knitting Days in Nieuwegein. Back then, it was a brand new event, directed especially at knitters and crocheters, as opposed to the well-known Handwerkbeurs which addresses a larger audience. It was a huge success, and on Ravelry, we were all hoping that it would become an annual event. Well, we got what we wanted! The Knitting Days are back, again in Nieuwegein, and as soon as it was possible, I bought tickets! 

On Friday, at 10am, it all started. I left nice and early, picked up my knitting friend Naomi, and drove to Nieuwegein. We were quite early, and already caught a glimpse of one of the celebrities who would give workshops at the event: Ysolda! We let her knit away in peace, because we were too shy to talk to her… At 10 o’clock sharp, we had our first workshop, Steek-it-easy, by Yarnissima. What is steeking, you might ask. Well, it’s a technique to cut into your knitting safely. Gulp. Before the workshop we had all knitted a swatch, en we would be practicing on that today. We were asked to start cutting immediately. Really? Yes, really. Don’t we have to do something before it, like stitching it up or something? No, just cut it. We tried to be courageous and did as we were asked. The world didn’t end. After that first hurdle, we learned some different ways to enforce the steeks, both by sewing and crocheting. Very interesting! 

  
With Elvetje

 
My steeked swatch…

After the workshop I was very hungry, so I went to get some lunch. I ran into Hannah and Anneke, and joined them at their table. Nice to see them again! After the lunch, I finally entered the hall with the stands. It was smaller than last year, especially in the middle part, and it was quite dark. That was a pity, because one would like to see yarn in daylight preferably to be able to see all the colour nuance. And it was crowded!

 
The tables of the Bollenbak became fuller and fuller over the days…

 
At the table of the Pattern Doctors, there was a lot of knitting, chatting and socializing going on…

 
Oooh, it’s Ysolda!

I walked around and came across the Bollenbak, where I left some yarn for Yvonne, and the tables of the Pattern Doctors. These had been claimed by knitters, just like last year, and the atmosphere was very nice and open. Again I saw lots of familiar faces from Ravelry, which was great! From 2-4pm I was a Pattern Doctor myself, and it was nice to do, even though I didn’t have a lot of “patients”. By then it had become a bit less crowded, probably because the afternoon workshops had just started. I helped a sweet Asian lady with learning some new techniques, and then I walked a bit around again. Time to find what I was looking for! I needed T-pins, but other than that, I just let myself get inspired!

 
 
Meet the Doctor!

On Saturday morning I was back at the event at 10 sharp, because I was to be a Pattern Doctor again. Again I didn’t get many questions, but I was able to help a crocheter with a pattern, of which I was quite a little proud. This time I was easily recognizable, since I was wearing a doctor’s coat and a stethoscope! 

Again I spent a lot of time at the knitting table, chatting with my knitting friends. From time to time I took a little walk, I admired the treasures other people had bought, I knitted… heaven! And of course, we had a perfect view of Stephen West, another celebrity who was sitting at a table next to us, signing his books. At 3pm I went to another workshop: entrelac. What is entrelac? It’s a technique that makes your knitting look as it it has been woven together. A great technique to learn, and I also learned to knit backwards as a side dish. Very useful!

 
Top: my swatch from the entrelac workshop. Bottom: a Namaste circular needle case, very handy!

At 5, the workshop was over, and the Knitting Days too. They went by so fast! It was so nice and inspirational, and how great to experience the virtual friendships from Ravelry in real-life! Next year I’ll be there again!

Of course, I have to show the loot!

 
In the bottom-right, you see the spinning batts from a swap with Lieneke. The rest is my loot from the Bollenbak, to which I have added quite a lot myself too.

This is what I bought: a skein of Deeply Wicked for a swap, a skein of Malabrigo sock, two times two skeins of Malabrigo Rios, four skeins of Aslan Trends Santa Fe, two shawl pins, two boxes of T-pins, two bags of beads and a square circular needle (!)