Vikingmarket at Schothorst

We had a great weekend with a lot of interested public, so I didn't get around to making a lot of pictures.

My husband made a work bench and tools for our son.

Making fire for the dyepot.

Making cord with bobbins, but we definitely need more practice.

My son was a big hit with the audience.

Learning skills at an early ages is important. 

Here he's teaching one of his viking little sisters.

Next stop is the Vikingmarket at the Archeon. 

The Zoo and the Dolmens of Balloo & Loon

9th of August,

 Dierenpark Emmen

In the butterfly garden an almost transparent butterfly landed on my son his finger.

Another butterfly landed on my forehead and my husband an son where wise enough

 not to take a picture!

WHAT?!

Meerkat, got to love them...

Ready, set, Action!

Jack!

11th of August 2013

Burial mounds in the Tumulibos, Balloo

Dolmen D 16, Balloo

Dolmen D15, Loon

Bird watching

3th & 8th August

My son loves all creatures great and small. Much to his delight we went bird watching twice. After the first time we deciced he needed a better pair of binoculairs.Which we found a few days later at a local fleamarket.

A bird's nest in the bird watching hut!

Better binoculairs!

Knitted Katia Toledo Scarf

I saw this Katia Toledo yarn at Pipoos and immediately fell in love with it, the colors and the softness. And conviently forgot how much I dislike knitting with special yarns like this.

I needed a present for a friend and decided to knit her a scarf. When I started it was 30 degrees outside and I was sitting in the shade in the garden.

Brei beschrijving

Zet 18 steken op met breinaald nr 12 (moet deelbaar zijn door 3)

En brei 1 steek recht, 1 omslag, 2 steken recht samenbreien.

Elke naald begint steeds met 1 steek recht enz.

Gebruikt 3 strengen Toledo en brei met de volle draad.

Copyright Pipoos.

English version:

Cast on 18 stitches (or another number you van dived by 3) with needle size (US) 17 

Knit the first stitch, yarn round needle, knit 2 stitches together, repeat.

Ever row starts with a knitted stitch.

You need 3 skeins of Toledo yarn en knit with the whole thread.

(This is my very first attempt at a translation of a dutch knitting desccription.  )

Copyright Pipoos

In my opinion the scarf is relatively short. I would cast on 12 or 15 stitches if I would knit it again or use more yarn.

Drents Museum in Assen

7th of August 2013, Assen, Drenthe, The Netherlands

We had been here before for the Viking Exhibition earlier this year, but we didn't see the Archeology department back then.

Reconstruction of the Emmer-Erfscheidenveen bog find.

dating to 1200 BCE

Replica of the dress of the lady who was found at Zweeloo,

 often called a princess because of the large and expensive finds buried with her. 

New interpretation of the finds suggest that she was indeed a woman of great importance,

 like a priestess

Dating to 500 CE.

Coin hoard dating to ca. 890 CE.

It has 144 silver coins and one golden coin, held by a wooden container

 with a sliding lid in a leather pouch.

Netted texile fragment, I presume a hairnet.

A spindle and stone for a weaving loom.

Glasses, a key, necklace with semi precious stones.

Reproduction of another bog find, dating to the late middle ages, 1435-1625 CE

Found at Wijster.

And for those wondering if we did any normal vacation things with our son. I can put your mind at rest, ofcourse we did! We went swimming,  visited the Zoo and relaxed at home a lot. 

Dolmens of Rolde

4th of August, Rolde, Drenthe, The Netherlands

D17

The old (ancient?) and split oak tree next to D17

D18

D18

The medieval church of Rolde is next to the Dolmen.

And the poppies in the garden

Doing chores and a nifty gadget

The current warm weather doesn't motivate me to do a big sewing project, instead I choose to do to little pesky chores I usually hate to do, like altering a neckline, doing repairs etc. A while ago I bought this really lovely shawl that I wanted to edge with some silver colored linen, to hide the machine sewn hem and to make it more personal, as a lot of ladies bought the same shawl.

To make making an edging easier I bought this really nifty clover gadget, a bias tape maker, it's still a lot of (hot!) work and I haven't really got the hang of it yet but still I think it's better than doing it by and completly.

Curious how it works. Here's a YouTube video

Here's the cat of friends taking a nap on some of my projects....

End result! Another chore finished, but still a lot more to go...

Dolmens of Drouwen

My intention was to share our vacation pictures in one blog post but after looking all the pictures that I want to share with you. I decided to break it up in pieces as it would become a really long post otherwise.

Like most people we go to see the sites while on holiday in another country but never (really) bother to see the beautiful and cultural sight of there own country. This year, while staying in one of the most beautiful places of the Netherlands, namely the county of Drenthe. We decided to enjoy the sights of our own country.

1th of August, Drouwen, Drenthe, The Netherlands.

Dolmen D19 & D20.

D19

 Beautiful Oak Tree

D19 with D20 in the background

View from the Dolmen.

D20

D20 with D19 in the background

Random nature 

Want to know more? 

Go to Hunebedden in Nederland or Dolmens in the Netherlands.