Amsterdam

For the last few days, Mr. Left and I, and some friends from the states (Steve and Jay), have been in Amsterdam. We went by car. On the autobahn. And I drove.

I liked it. Scary thing was I was passing people in the left lane a lot. I was one of those people. While driving is a lot less stressful than being a passenger, I was still happy to give up the driving and continue on in the backseat with my knitting.

Finished Mr. Left's socks, but can't post a picture until I give them to him. I also made some progress on the minimalist sweater.


But the most important yarn note of this adventure was that I went to de Afstap, which is a place I remember stumbling onto during one of my earlier trips there (thanks to Knitting Ajour for recommending it to me!).




There I was able to drool for an hour over everything Rowan and eventually drop 50 Euro on some gorgeous Rowan Felted Tweed for a Tangled Yoke Cardigan by Eunny Jang I want to knit.

Oh yeah, and we went to the Red Light District, and my favorite chinese restaurant that has never done me wrong (the boys agreed).

The International Sweater

In a little over a week, Mr. Left and I, and two friends from the states will be piling into the bug for some whiteknuckling on the autobahn (yes, that's right, I will be driving) as we make our way to Amsterdam, the land of anything goes. This brings to mind the last time I was in Amsterdam, which was about a year ago, as I was laying over on the way to work. With me was this--the Lucky Clover Lace Wrap.
Or as I like to refer to it, Lucky-if-I'll-ever-finish-it. This unfortunate work in progress started as several luscious balls of a cashmere/silk/cotton mix of some brand I no longer can find the ball band for. It is so soft, and a light green my camera cannot capture. I thought this would be a perfect project that would keep me interested for 6 weeks away in Africa for work.

And it did. I got most of it done.

It has been from the lovely Stitch DC shop where I purchased it to Amsterdam (twice already), to Kampala, Uganda, and all throughout the southern parts of Uganda, even sneaking over the border to Rwanda. Then on a plane to Nairobi, where it then traveled the potholed roads around Kenya, then back on a plane to the Netherlands and back to DC. Then to Cincinnati on layover on the way to Seattle and in the car to Canada and Vancouver one summer, and back again. Up and back to New England several times. This sweater has even been helped along by my friend, Julie.

But as any time zone crossing traveler will testify, free wine and knitting and the loss of time do not mix (note the mess up in that picture above). Granted, when I pulled it out to examine it after about a year of not looking at it, loss of memory served me well as I couldn't figure out where I messed up exactly. So screw it. I am pressing on. If I can't figure it out now I figure no one will be looking that closely at my backside either.