Monday 3 May 2010

Tiptoeing

Hello there. I hope you've had a good weekend. Mr JK and I had a lovely, albeit somewhat damp, long weekend in Amsterdam. We flew over after work on Friday, and arrived at the tail end of Queen's Day. It's a public holiday in The Netherlands to celebrate the Queen's birthday, and we were swept along in a sea of orange! Inflatable crowns, caps, garlands, clogs, balloons - great fun seemed to be had by all! We did a variety of touristy things during the course of the weekend. We visited the Hermitage museum to see an exhibition of modern art. It was amazing to be able to see some really incredible works by Matisse, Picasso and Kandinsky, to name but a few. We wandered through markets, listened to a really beautiful performance of a Mozart piano concerto at the Concertgebouw by an extremely talented young Ukrainian performer, Anna Fedorova, visited the Anne Frank House and were just spellbound by the sheer number of tulips at the Keukenhof Gardens. It's hard to describe the experience - colour everywhere. Simply stunning! Here's a little taste.

Tulips Keukenhof

The theme of Keukenhof this year was 'From Russia with Love', and there was a tulip mosaic of St Basil's Basilica in Red Square. In honour of all things Russian, I treated myself to a little Russian Doll pin. Very cute, I thought!

Russian doll pin

On the hooky front, I finally finished my Ripple scarf and am pretty pleased with how it turned out. I do like the combination of colours and I'm sure that it will get lots of wear this spring.

an even smaller ripple (2)

I also finished my Monkey socks. I love them! They are so bright, they almost need to come with a healthy warning, or a pair of sunglasses at the very least! I hope you've got yours ready!

Les Singes (2)

I'm going to try to resist the temptation to start any new projects for the moment and get existing ones finished! Yes, I know you've heard that one before! I just hope that I've got something small enough to fit into my bag as my travelling project! Come back next week and see if I've managed it! Have a good week. Byeeeeeeeeee!

8 comments:

snoopydogknits said...

Looks like you've had a lovely weekend. Those little Russian dollies are really gorgeous, as are the Monkey socks and the Spring scarf. The yarn colours on both are so pretty! You'll be all refreshed for school tomorrow!!!!!!! Have a good week! XXX

Unknown said...

What a great scarf to wear while tiptoeing through the tulips. Unbelieveable just how many you saw all at once.

Kate

knittingsandwich said...

ooooh, looks like such a gorgeous weekend! such beautiful art and color, both in museums and in gardens. i'm crazy for tulips- thanks for this beautiful mosaic! your knitwear is certainly beautiful enough to fit right in amongst such gorgeousness too!
-cmv

melissa said...

oh my - those tulips are stunning! i love your mosaic!

and what a gorgeous line up of fo's! you always have such lovely projects!

Stadtwaldvogel said...

I love the Monkey Socks! And your "Biergarten" sign is great, too!
Greetings from Germany
Julia

Helsie said...

Wow those tulips are really something. I would love to visit and see them. I'll put it on my wish list.
Cheers
Helen
PS Love the scarf. The colours are delightful!

M.E. Greene said...

My goodness, what a lovely trip! I'm green with envy. :)

Stadtwaldvogel said...

I love tulips!
Thanks for your comment at my page, I have added a link for translating!
Recently I have ordered a Jitterbug creative pack and was thrilled to see pictures of your pack!
Warm Greetings! Julia