ghotiindustries

Getting to know your New City

Posted on May 10, 2013May 10, 2013 by ghotiindustries

There were several things we did, and you can do, in an effort to get to know our new city. In fact, most of the things I’m about to describe to you were things we were already doing on a regular basis before we moved, so this aspect of the move wasn’t a lifestyle change for us; more a change of scenery.

Once off the plane, with bags dumped at the hotel, key in our pocket, we went for a walk. We were determined to see our first canal. It was only days later when I figured out which canal it even was! (Herengracht, for the curious.)

It’s one of the best things you can do for really getting a feel for the place you’re now going to be calling home. There is so much atmosphere to be absorbed from walking around and just seeing everything there is to see.

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Today’s Table – Catkin & Silk Scarf

Posted on May 8, 2013May 10, 2013 by ghotiindustries

I have been working my little heart out, slaving away trying to get these finished! Partly so I can move on to new (and therefore more exciting) projects.

The Catkin is somewhere in the middle of the last chart. It really is an ingenious pattern. Though it looks like colour work it really isn’t. It’s just slipped stitches! And I love the texture that was created through the pumpkin section using just knit and purl stitches!

The rows are over 500 stitches each at the moment, so it’s not exactly fast going. Particularly when I realised I’d missed a button hole, and had to un-knit a row to get back to where I needed to fix it.

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Fiets Shopping

Posted on May 6, 2013May 6, 2013 by ghotiindustries

We had a quiet one this weekend. I don’t think either of us felt like going out much given that we’d had such a big day on Tuesday. Tuesday also really shook up our routine for the week and I’m not sure we ever really got our groove back.

We’ve found it interesting that when we got here we were told (and witnessed) that if there was any sun whatsoever the Cloggies would be out in it, and soaking it up. In our innocence we condescendingly thought “Hehe, how cute of them! Those zany Cloggies!” Now that we’ve survived our first Winter, we get it. And we join them!

The days have been getting longer and warmer, and we have gotten into the habit of sitting on out balcony in the afternoons. With the doors thrown open, and fresh air wafting on warm, gentle, breezes through the house, with novels, text books, or knitting in hand, we sit in the sunshine and soak up the much needed (and missed) Vitamin D.

What we did do this weekend, was something that we’d been planning since September. We got me my very own bicycle! It’s a long story, but the other bike we had ended up being adopted by Himself, and I hadn’t felt the lack of one until the weather warmed.

So with a mission in mind, we gathered up our wits and spare cash and stormed off into destiny!!! *cough* I mean, bought me a very serviceable second-hand bike.

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Koninginnedag 2013

Posted on May 1, 2013May 2, 2013 by ghotiindustries

Such a massive day yesterday! The last Queens Day for some time to come, as the old Queen (Beatrix) abdicated to make room for her son, the New King Willem-Alexander!