Dublin Post 1: Yarn Shopping

part one of a two-phase travel report of Dublin. two phase because I was so pleasantly surprised by it's beauty, friendliness and beautiful selection of shops, coffee shops and restaurants. and also because I thought I was smarter than my laptop and accidentally deleted all pictures we took in Rome. all of them. at least it makes for a good reason to go and visit Rome again one day, right?

in this first part of the Dublin report I am showing a few images around city centre. for a more extended overview I'd like to refer you to the lovely Emily who blogs beautifully about her life in and around Dublin here. helpful lists of things to see and do are to be found on her blog too, as well as the option to book her as a guide to experience 'Dublin like a local'.

a request on Instagram for tips and yarn shops in Dublin lead me to This is Knit in the impressive Powerscourt Town Centre. I looked them up on the www and got super excited to visit the beautiful shop and it's owners Jacqui and her daughter Lisa. after a truly delicious lunch at The Pepperpot Cafe which is in fact located right in front of This is Knit, I got to meet Jacqui and her 'delicious' shop. they carry a wonderful range of yarns, from Malabrigo and Debbi Bliss, to Irish tweed and hand dyed yarns. we chatted away about yarns, books, Ravelry and inspiring designers. of course I couldn't leave without pretty tweed skeins and a couple more yarns for future projects. they will reveal themselves over the next couple of months as I start working with them. thank you very much Jacqui and colleagues for the warm welcome in your pretty shop! too bad we don't all live close to Dublin so we can shop This is Knit in a weekly basis, right? well, there's a solution to that problem: the webshop! go have a look yourself and indulge in the beautiful range of irresistible yarns.

a couple more things I'd like to share with you, just in case you're visiting Dublin:

just one street away of the Powerscout Town Centre is Drury Street with Kaph for delicious coffee in a beautifully styled coffee shop. across the street of Kaph are the Irish Design Shop and the home and lifestyle store Industry with a beautifully designed website too, their play with typography is fantastic. we had delicious dinner later that night at Drury Buildings in the same street. Definitely our favourite street in Dublin so far, haha. 

a little more outside of the shopping streets but worth the walk are 3FE for coffee and Hänsel and Gretel for -what else would you expect- delicious pastry, cookies and pies.

my Dublin report part two is about crochet in the wild, coming soon.

Book Preview and Magazines

weeks are flying by, Summer is in full swing with beautiful flowers, long calm nights, bottles of sunscreen and little trips. husband and I visited Dublin, partly for pleasure and partly for work. soon after that came a trip to Rome, celebrating our anniversary (3 years of marriage and 15 years of kisses). both beautiful trips, we feel so lucky to be able to go places and see and experience a different culture, food and language, and to be part of it for a short while.

it is hard to believe it was a coincidence one of my pictures got published in Simply Crochet magazine when we visited Dublin, and a full article about me and my work was published in Country Chic in Italy when we were in Rome. honoured and happy I surely am with all this attention on paper. when we came home, Mollie Makes selected one of my Instagram images for their 'your month in pictures June 2014' feature. 

on top of that, today my publisher released the preview for my book PUUR haken. in less than a month, by August 5, it will be available in book stores all over The Netherlands. as of now you can pre-order here. so exciting!
I'd love to hear what you think of the preview:

last but not least, the new creJJtion website will launch this Thursday. this blog will stay in tact and the last post will refer you to the new blog. if you were following me through your blogspot account, nothing should change, if it all works. if you follow me through Facebook for sure nothing will change. if you follow me through bloglovin I am no too sure if my posts will still show up in your feed, but we'll figure that out.

a lot is going on here in creJJtion land and I'll sure keep you posted! meanwhile, enjoy your Summer.

xo

Happy Weekend

late Summer happiness outside, beach trip and backyard beauty ~ happy weekend to you

Grandma's Flowers

 the dahlia. no other flower reminds me more of happy times at my grandparents farm when I was a little girl than the dahlia. the variety, their strong leaves, the colours... memories of endless summers, good times with our family pre-anything-digital. those were the days... days we spent outside, in the garden taking care of the vegetables and little farm animals. all of this and many more good memories of playing with my cousins in the kids' house grandpa made for us, baking pancakes with grandma, walking with grandpa and standing around the huge bonfires he made, the chickens and geese, the owls in the trees, all this comes back to me when I see these pretty dahlia's. 

we usually spent the weekends there and as we left on Sunday night, grandma gave us fresh eggs, something preserved and delicious, and she gave my mom a bunch of dahlia's. the trip home was a 2 hour drive, so she wrapped the stems carefully in wet paper towels, covered in aluminum foil or a plastic bag. I can still see her hands wrapping an elastic band around the final package to keep it in place. loving and caring hands that were always busy in the kitchen, therefore always a little wet or oily. grandma and grandpa would wave us off the driveway and I would almost immediately fall asleep in the car. at home dad would carry my brother and me out of the car, still asleep, and put us to bed. those were the days...

do you have memories so strongly related to flowers?

Last Week

last week there was delicious food to enjoy and pretty doilies to crochet. I've been gathering some more '40s and '50s crochet magazines, it's hard to keep myself from making more doilies these days.

also, the pillow I am working on with the little flower squares at the front and Catharine wheel stitch at the back, is close to being finished! I can't wait to show you the end result.

this week in between preparations for our big move, I hope to squeeze in some posts on the blog: 

more Canadian shopping pictures, a little closer to home this time. hopefully a new crochet pattern too, and a finished doily I hope.

have a great new week

Happy Weekend

wishing you a happy weekend of Summer, filled with your favourite things

Montreal City

Montreal has been fantastic to us a few weeks ago. we had amazing weather, sunny but not too hot for a city trip, just perfect. with some great tips for coffee, food and strolling from my instagram friend Iveth ~  this is her beautiful jewelry shop ~ we enjoyed ourselves so much. 

basically we stayed out of the tourist areas as much as we could. above you see buildings that are part of Old Montreal. a beautiful area down by the river, surrounded by majestic warehouses that show pretty and warn marks of earlier times. 

below you see shots of the areas Le Plateau and Mile End. the shops on Mt Royal Avenue, delicious coffee and small bakery shops, bagels from St-Viateur Bagels, it was the perfect mix between European and Canadian city life. the side streets reminded us a little of Amsterdam, we felt right at home.

coffee at cafe Myriade, vintage clothing shops perfectly arranged by colour. all a feast for the eyes. and even more a feast for our yarn and fabric loving eyes was a visit to the local yarn and fabric shop. more about that tomorrow...