Knitting at Refugee Center in Liberec

Saturday was a full day traveling to and from Liberec (north of Prague) where a group of us from the Prague Stitch 'n Bitch got together with women at the refugee center to knit. We were accompanied by people from a local church who played with the children to give their mothers time to knit.

Joanna, who leads our Stitch 'n Bitch and hosts us at her apartment, was the one who organized this trip. I was in her car so we organized gift bags for all the kids from the donations people put together, and then we organized bags of yarn and needles. Two of us in the back had to keep taking little breaks because we kept getting carsick (it was worse than reading, I swear), but the job got done. Once there, the yarn bags went quickly despite having 30 bags of the stuff.

There was an Iraqi woman who had been at the refugee center for almost two years who was really an expert knitter. She taught me a different way to cast on and showed me a neat way to knit a baby blanket. She started a sample blanket to show me how the stitch was done and watched as I tried to do what she did. She indicated that it was nice and thick like the Hoover Blanket I was working on but took a lot less time. I'll definitely try it next time. Joanna, in a letter to us, said of this woman: "A woman from Iraq saw Danielle teaching Heather how to knit, grabbed the needles from Danielle's hand, sat next to Heather and spent the next hour teaching Heather how to knit. It was great because it took away any pretense we had about 'condescending to serve' and reminded us all that we were there to sit and knit together."

It was fun to meet the women and despite some language barriers, we seemed to be able to communicate. I don't know how long most of the people have been there, but one said she had been there five years with her family, another three years. From what I understand, the Czech Republic allows people to come to these refugee centers as asylum seekers. A new law now requires that schools allow the children to enroll in schools, but my understanding is that these families are often waiting in these centers until another country agrees to give them citizenship. I certainly could be wrong on this, but this is the information as I understand it.

I really enjoyed my time, but I do have to say, I always leave these visits (whether an orphanage, a nursing home, a refugee center) wondering what the people we are visiting feel.
I guess the cynic in me wonders if they can't wait until we leave, but the better part of me hopes that they feel like it was a fun time with people who want to meet interesting people and provide needed resources. Any comments?

Just Washed All Four Passports!

Isn't that just the BEST way to end a trip... sending four passports through the washing machine? I do have to say, I thought the U.S. passport would be more durable. This stuff happens, but the timing really couldn't be worse. Hubby just received his British work permit under the water-logged passport number. Ugh!

We did have a great trip to Amsterdam and I'm not going to let this ruin it. We had a late flight so we spent the day wandering the city. The Central Train Station still has lockers available, so we dumped our backpacks there in the morning and took a walk. Because of security, I haven't seen lockers like this for a long time, but I'm not complaining. Walked out to the zoo. We thought we might want to go to the aquarium or the zoo, but it was quite expensive and it didn't seem like there was enough time left to make it worth the money so we just stopped at the Rembrandt House Museum. Kids learned how Rembrandt (or at least his students) used to make paint (a man was standing in his paint studio giving demonstrations). There was also a person showing how prints were made. Well worth it.

Kids had a great time. Of course, we are still answering questions about the women in the windows and "coffee shops." The eldest, when she gets tired, can't stop asking questions. Holy cow! Go to sleep already! At least she's still asking and not hiding...

A quick note about a big bead store that I happened upon. Wish I could tell you more, but the woman was closing up and had already stayed open late for a buying customer and didn't want to hang out anymore. Got one picture and an address: Coppenhagen Kralen/Beads, Rozengracht 54. If anyone knows this bead shop or visits, you'll have to leave a comment and let me know how it was.

Have been working on the Tattoo Sweater today--sewing it together. Have also been working on the Hoover Blanket. Got together some more yarn for our visit to the refugee center outside of Prague. Off to see what else I can send through the washer!

Tortured Artist Tour

Spent several hours at the van Gogh Museum. I didn't realize he'd been so prolific... creating more than 850 paintings in his short life, and Amsterdam's van Gogh Museum has the largest collection. The museum also had a traveling exhibit of John Everett Millais pieces from the Tate Museum. I love his Ophelia painting so that was a treat to see.

The rest of the day we wandered around... ate at a great Indonesian restaurant... sat at an outdoor cafe for a drink, enjoying the sun.

Finding Nemo

Spent the morning at NEMO, the biggest science center in the Netherlands... us and every school child in Amsterdam. It's four floors of hands-on science experiments. Kids loved it. I briefly lost interest on the second floor and found a chair on which to sit and knit for about 15 minutes until the kids were ready to head up to the next floor. Have to say that the Dutch are much more progressive than Americans when it comes to sex education. My eldest was mostly interested in the interactive puberty display that talked about how to manage pimples (she's 11), but there was so much more to see. The time-line video about the rates that boys and girls mature was hilarious. Ti's eyes were popping out of her head as the cartoon boy kept looking down his tidy whities to see the progress. She didn't go into the peep show (you had to be 12), but as we walked by, she could see the video playing. I think her quote was, "So that's how sea horses do it!" The gorillas were next, which might have been interesting to her had her parents not been standing there. The "peep show" had those wooden figures (see picture to the right) in sexual positions. I was learning something! Not sure you would see displays like that aimed at kids 12 and up in the States, but I could be wrong--haven't lived full time or worked in U.S. schools for almost 20 years and am sort of out of touch. Kids had a great time at NEMO.

We then bought tickets for the Canal Bus, which will also be good tomorrow. Nice way to get around. It stops at many of the big sites, and you can get on and off for a 24-hour period. Beautiful sunny day so it was perfect. It dropped us off at the Anne Frank house and so we did that museum as well. I was there 20 years ago and it has changed a lot since then. It's always packed so we tried to go late in the day as we heard if you can go late in the afternoon or early evening, you can avoid the crowds. We didn't have to wait in line more than five minutes, and only had to wait that long because the ticket sellers had a shift change. It is still a powerful experience, but I think I was more moved 20 years ago, probably because it was my first time.

Keukenhof Gardens

Spent the day visiting Keukenhof gardens. Shouldn't take more than 30 minutes to get there, but the traffic to this village was crazy, and we stood on the bus for well over and hour. Despite that, the weather held for us and the sun was out most of the day, so we had a great time walking the trails lined with flowers. If you aren't familiar with the Keukenhof gardens, this is a huge area (I think I read bigger than the land the airport sits on), that is covered in spring flowers. If you enjoy fresh air and colors only found in nature, you'll love this place. I'm including a few pictures so you can see some of what we saw. Once again, the Dutch seem pretty good at making things kid friendly. There was a maze, lily pads you could walk on (see picture) and playground equipment.

Including a picture of my Hoover blanket to this point. I don't mind standing on a bus, but I do mind not being able to do anything (like knit) for an hour. Seemed like a waste of time. I did get some knitting done on the way home. Still not much progress. Check out that tacky shag carpet in the apartment we're staying!

Day in The Hague

Took the train to The Hague today. Worked on the Hoover blanket on the way there and back. As Eve mentioned in her comments, it's slow going. You get into a rhythm, but it's still a lot of knitting.

When we got to The Hague, we went to the Panorama Mesdag museum on the recommendation of a Dutch friend of mine. It's basically a huge cylindrical painting (14 meters high by 120 meters around) from 1881. They've restored it and there's a narrative in Dutch and English that walks you through the history of the painting as well as the story in the painting. It's pretty cool, mostly because it's so different from other things I've seen.

We then walked over to visit the site my eldest daughter has been waiting for, the M.C. Escher museum: Escher in the Palace. Loved it. The top floor has some hands-on activities for grown-ups and kids alike. Super cool. The palace is a beautiful building to house this collection, but you have to check out the chandeliers in the place. Designed by Dutch sculptor Hans van Benthem, these strange chandeliers fit with Escher's art despite their unconventional shapes (a spider, an umbrella, a skull and crossbones, a bomb...). Interesting note about these pieces: they were made in the Czech Republic!

Did not make it to the yarn store as we were meeting our friend Lynn again. But it seems there is one there: Woool, Westeinde 61, Den Haag.

De Afstap Wool Shop, Amsterdam

We started the day at the Our Lord in the Attic museum. Our youngest liked the story of this hidden church from the 17th century that she heard about on our walking tour and wanted to go back. I think it was the idea that you entered the church through the fireplace (maybe that's true, but I didn't see evidence of it). They had a great tour for the kids (lots of hands-on activities).

We then walked by the wool shop that we'd been by a couple of days ago. It was closed until 1:00, so we went to lunch. When we got back, I got to browse for about fifteen minutes. De Afstap had a great selection of books, yarns, needles, embroidery thread and some fabric. There was a big selection books from the US, the UK and Europe, but I wasn't about to buy the US titles in Euros when I can get them cheaper over the summer. They also had a lot of Rowan yarns. Nice selection, but again, I wasn't looking to buy Rowan since we'll be moving to England come summer. I asked if they had any "local" wool, but she said they didn't. Not sure there is anything local made in the Netherlands, but I thought I would ask. The women there seemed friendly and helpful and they had a nice presentation. They had quite a few hand-knit sweaters on display and for sale. It was fun. There were a couple of Rowan sweaters knit up--I'd seen them in the books, but never finished. Kids and husband came back--time to go.

Then went to the Rijksmuseum -- houses such Dutch painters as Rembrandt (The Night Watch) and Vermeer (The Kitchen Maid). Great collection. We've done this enough with the kids that we're finally starting to get our acts together. We bring two audio jack splitters, extra ear buds and then rent two audio guides at the museum and share. Our kids have always really gotten into these guides. They love hearing about the paintings and it gives us time to take a good look at collections.

Visiting Leiden

Leiden is a beautiful university town about a 35-minute train ride from Amsterdam. If you're from the States, it's the place from where the Pilgrims came (Mayflower). John Robinson (he didn't actually make the voyage) and his group of Pilgrims bought a piece of land near the Pieterskerk (St. Peter's church) in Leiden. Actually, our friend Lynn owns a fantastic apartment that is on Pilgrim property so when she was buying the place, she had to sit through several hours of reading of a legal document that she had to sign that stated that she understood that this property was Pilgrim "owned." Not that anyone will reclaim it... but by law she had to hear the entire document.

We also visited the Botanical Gardens, which were very nice. Statues are great and it winds along the canals. Weather was unpredictable... pouring rain to sunny blue skies.

As mentioned in the last post, it was Sunday, and although big stores like H&M were open, the smaller shops were closed. My friend Lynn said that the last Sunday of the month all the stores are open... I have horrible timing. I did find the store as you can see from the pictures, but could only window shop. That's probably better for my pocketbook, but I would have liked to get my hands on something. The store is called Ribbels and is located just behind Pieterskerk (the church).

Suppose I should tell you what I'm knitting. I'm making a baby blanket for a friend. It's called the Hoover Blanket and it's the first time I've tried double knitting. It's actually going very well, just hope I'll have enough yarn. More on that later.

Gotta Love a Free Tour

We're great lovers of free stuff, so went on our third free walking tour in Europe. If you get a chance, I highly recommend these walks. We've done the Berlin, London and Amsterdam tours and haven't been disappointed yet. If you don't like the tours, you can leave at any time. If you like them, you can give a tip. Of course, we always give a tip, so it isn't really free, but you can give what you feel you can afford so great for students. Visit the Sandemans New Europe website.

The reason I bring up the tour is because toward the last 20 minutes of the 3-hour walk, you pass right by the wool shop in town: De Afstap on Oude Leliestraat Centrum. I so wanted to stop, but the tour must go on, so I'll have to make my way back there later.

Today we're off to Leiden to see our friend Lynn who we taught with in Brazil. There's a wool shop there as well and although it's Sunday, I'm hoping it will be open. Hear the conservative government would like to halt Sunday shopping in The Netherlands, but my Dutch friend says the Dutch like to shop too much to ever go back to "shopless Sundays." I'm hoping!

Planning for Amsterdam

So I asked on the discussion board of the Crafty ExPats group on Ravelry about yarn shops in Amsterdam. There may be only one because I only got one response. I did look online at a site that I really like: Wool Works. I use it mostly to find yarn stores in places that I'll be traveling. Looks like Amsterdam itself has one yarn store listed, but there are others in places we will travel in the Netherlands like the Hague (Den Haag), so I'll try to make a side trip if possible. Here's the listing of yarn shops in the Netherlands.

As you know, my biggest packing dilemma never has anything to do with clothes or accessories, only knitting projects. I need to have enough to do so I don't get bored, but the projects also can't be so complicated that I can't do them on public transportation. I also like to make sure to have something on circular needles for the plane. We leave on Saturday, so I better get going now because this is a three-day job for sure.

Exploring Ravelry

I've been knitting, but still working on the same baby sweater. Good news... I'm on the last sleeve and I think it's all looking pretty good now that I frogged and started over. So my knitting is sort of boring to talk about at the moment.

This past weekend I did see the baby I gave the off-white hat and bib to. She looked so cute in the hat. Wish I'd had my camera to take her picture. Big blue eyes. Very sweet. I got to hold her for a little while until she needed the b**b. They are precious at that age (the baby, not the b**bs)... smell so baby... still, I'm glad mine are out of that stage--so much work. I'll wait for grandchildren.

I've been spending time trying to update my Ravelry page (kfield). Great community, great way to network. It's fun to see other people's takes on the same patterns. Does suck a lot of time if you let it--so much to read and browse through.