Too Much Fun Can Really Take it out of You!

So I had a great trip with my mom to the Netherlands. We were there for two weeks. We stayed with a lot of her cousins, who all showed us a very good time. And we vacationed on our own for a few days on the island of Texel (pr. Tessel). All very lovely. Here we are enjoying a sunset over the North Sea:

It took me a while to accept that I was really home again and to get back into regular life. (What? You mean I have to prepare my own food?) I don't think I knit for a week. Of course, I was working on a Shutterfly album already so that was part of it.

While traveling, I did work on the socks that I took with me. Some scoffed that I thought one pair of socks would hold me for two weeks. But they did. I had turned the heel by the time we landed, but had quite a ways to go on the leg and cuff still. But by now I am tantalizingly close to the bind off. I would have shown them to you, but I didn't want to take a picture, load it onto my computer, etc.

I'm a little ambivalent about pictures right now because I lost one of my cameras at the end of the trip. The "little" one with fewer pictures on it. But still. I shouldn't take it out on my other camera and picture taking in general, but I find that I'm still not really ready to get excited about picture taking. I'm sure it will pass. (Can I recommend you take a picture of your email address or phone number and leave it on your card? At least it will give a well-intentioned person a way to contact you.)

Meanwhile I will show you a few pictures I do have of my yarn tourism in the Netherlands. The day after we landed, I found my first yarn shop: Esde in Dokkum.

That's my mom and her cousin, in case you're
trying to figure out which one is me!

 They had a nice selection and I picked out a ball of sock yarn I liked:

You can see I paid 8.50 Euros for it, which I thought was alright since it will do a pair of socks. (Honestly I think of $20 as "regular" price for yarn for a pair of socks. Anything less than that is a bonus.) My mom's cousin who was with us thought it was a little "duur" (expensive), but I got it anyway. We went to another shop in town the next day and the same yarn was 8.55, so I figure I did alright. :)

I didn't hit another yarn shop until we were in Amsterdam at the end of the following week. I had researched shops on Ravelry before we left and knew there was one pretty close to our hotel. So we ventured out, walked a bunch of residential streets seeing some "everyday" Amsterdam and found it pretty easily. Wolboetiek Sylvia--a small crowded shop where I found a nice set of skeins for socks and a luxurious looking blend in gold.

The blend is Rayon (70%), Mohair (20%), and Polyamid (10%), so a little different than my usual choice of wool. I think it will make a very pretty something for around the neck or shoulders. Who knows what, right now though.

The next day we were at another cousin's in Haarlem and I knew there was a wool shop right around the corner from her house. She didn't know it, but when I gave her the address, we went right there. It was simply called "Wol!"

The shop had a lot of Rowan brand which I can get a home any time,but I found two balls to take with me.

The top one I couldn't resist because it said it was hand painted just for this shop (even though the store owner said it wasn't. I guess I just believe what I read.) Well, and it's pretty. The bottom ball was the closest I could come to straight-up orange. With the Netherlands doing so well in the FIFA World Cup (right up until today actually) and taking first (women) and second (men) in the Field Hockey World Cup, there was orange everywhere. I wanted to take a little home with me. This ball is a little more yellow than orange (although more orange than the picture), so I may touch it up with some orange dye before I knit it up into some House of Orange socks. Maybe I'll knit them during the next Olympics knitting games.

The final yarn stop was on our last day of vacation when we were in Delft. I hadn't researched any shops in Delft since I didn't know we would be going there, but the shop was recommended by my second cousin. She did more sewing than knitting, but she knew her local craft stores. This one was Knotten Wol.

Another little shop chocked full. Having quite enough sock wool to hold me for a while, I went with something super bulky:

I've got a project I've been collecting up different yarns for and I thought these colours would blend in well enough.

And that's the extent of my crafty holiday. I have to say, I think it was a pretty good haul! :)

Winding down the day on a roof-top terrace.