A Serious Entry on Life, not Knitting

I'm alone this weekend with lots of knitting time, and no Ellen as she's with her father this weekend.
I didn't plan anything this weekend because I wanted to rest and enjoy my time off, with no obligations or chores.
But well, if you can just sit and knit (or sit and spin, and I did do some spinning as well) you can just let your thoughts run; and I did and I kept thinking about how it is, that we humans always want something else than what we have.

I realise I'm very blessed, in that I have a job which I love although I have to work hard, and with which I earn a lot of money. Also I have three kids, and though they can be a handful (two of them are teenagers with special needs) I wouldn't want life without them. Also, last but by no means least: my kids and I are healthy, I have no life threatening disease.

Why is it then that my mind, whilst knitting, keeps running on the same theme, how I'm feeling all lonely, that my marriage failed, that the man I've loved the best in my life didn't want to be with me, and how I long to have a partner in life who would love me, and who I could give all my love to in return.
BUT:
- I know that there are people out there (several of my friends) who do have a loving partner/ husband, but who have a very serious or even terminal illness, would I want to trade with them? Would they want to be in my place?

- I know there are people out there who have a good job and a loving partner but are unable to have children of their own, would I want to trade with them?

- I know there are people out there who maybe have a partner and kids but have a job they don't like, or maybe they're unemployed and are desperately looking for a job..would I want to trade with them?

- and I do also know there are people out there who are battling or even failing to make ends meet every month and who would love to have my wages... would they trade?

So I know I should just be thankful and happy, and I try.. I try to be grateful. I know I should. And it's not useful to cry over spilt milk or things I cannot have. I wouln't want to trade in my health, my kids, my job, for anything else.

But I'm sure this is true for not just me, but for lots of other people too. Instead of being happy with what we have or what's given to us, we are at times all envious of what other people have (or what they seem to have, because I know full well that not everything is as it seems - and people can project to the outside world an image of a happy family when in reality the truth is totally unlike that.. I've been there)

I don't know the right answer or how we can strive to be just happy with what we have. I wish I knew. For me, personally, I pray to God to help me be content with all the good things I have in life. For other people maybe it's found in meditation or self-realisation or another God, or maybe they're just sensible that way.

Guys, I'm sorry that instead of a knitting blog post, this came out...but I'm in a pensive mood. I'm looking forward to having my kids back tonight. And I'm also happy that Mark Tuitert won Olympic gold on the 1500 metres!

Ellen with glasses

Doesn't she look lovely? She picked them out herself. After putting them on for the first time, it was as if a new world had opened for her. "Wow, I can see that picture over there, I can read that sign!" she kept saying! Poor thing, we hadn't noticed her poor vision at all and she never said anything because she didn't know the difference...

Brijksmuseum

Yesterday the Rijksmuseum organised an afternoon for Dutch knitters to come and make a copy of a hat or tuque as worn by the Dutch whalers who lived in Smeerenburg on Spitsbergen in the 17th century. While one knitted this antique pattern, one could listen to museum people talking about clothing in the paintings of Avercamp and about the whalers of Spitsbergen.

This concept (Brijksmuseum) apparently appealed to a lot of knitters!It was very quickly "sold out", as participation was also limited to "fire and security rules" deciding how many people could safely be accommodated in the building. I guess they must have disappointed a lot of knitters who wanted to come too.

Needless to say, we of the SnB group Rotterdam were among the first to apply, so we decided to have a nice day trip to Amsterdam (rather like a school trip).

We went by train and had to be at the Central Station at an ungodly hour

as you can see by our appearances and the cups of coffee in hand.

Some of us were so enthousiastic that they already whipped out some knitting as soon as they got in the train (to the amazement of the other passengers) but I rather thought it too early for knitting
here Ellen is already getting out the WIP (socks) while Constance hasn't even taken off her gloves and hat yet..

After arriving in Amsterdam we went immediately to the Afstap. All of us had said we would definitely NOT buy any wool, as we already had enough.. but this resolution was not kept quite as firmly as we thought... and to be honest the shop is soooo tempting with all its lovely Rowan (mostly) lining the walls...
We were greeted warmly and immediately offered a cup of coffee by Janny /Jans (the blonde lady in the photos) Constance is holding up a copy of the new Knitting Brioche book by Nancy Marchant.
I was amazed to see sooo many knitting books in the Afstap, and rather unpleasantly surprised to find a copy of "Simply Shetland 4" a book I had gone to a lot of effort to get, and finally ordered through WEBS, paying for shipping from the US too... and here it just sat on the shelf next to Simply Shetland 1 through to 5.. it wasn't cheap, but definitely a lot cheaper than the book and shipping costs I had just paid!!!:-( Next time I will first post a query in the Ravelry Dutch Crafters group!

Anyway, we spent a lot of time in The Afstap, (I bought Spun to Knit, and Socks from the Toe Up), and then hurried to the tram to go to the Rijksmuseum. When we got there, we could leave our bags there, and then went for a bite to eat on the Museumplein.

At 1 o'clock we went back to the Museumatelier in the Hobbemastraat and met up with the other knitters, and it was very nice to finally meet some other Ravelry people and see them IRL. For example, the girl on the left turned out to be Hannekesieben
First we knit in a big room, then afterwards the group was divided in half and we could listen to the lectures (whilst knitting, ofcourse) with slides, very interesting, and afterwards back to the big and busy room, knitting and chatting.



There were people from the regional television there filming us! very funny..
We left at around 4, although it was hard to tear Constance away from all of her old and newly made friends (she knows everyone and they all know her) and went to the Avercamp exhibition in the Rijksmuseum. In order to get in, we had to wait for a long time queuing outside in the rain, because the security rules are extremely stringent. You had to be screened, pass your bags, keys, etc through an Xray machine and walk through a metal detector. All of the security people got very excited when they discovered Ellens craft scissors!!! Yes I know, she always looks very innocent but secretly she's a Rembrandt hater and has murderous thoughts of ripping apart the Night Watch.. bet you didn't know that about her, huh? LOL!

Anyway, we were let in (not nearly dangerous enough)but without the scissors, obviously, and had a good time looking at those lovely Avercamp paintings, and accidentally stumbling across a couple of Vermeers ("girl at window", "milkmaid", and "Delft house") and a couple of Rembrandts in the room next to that.

Afterwards we went to the ABC Bookstore to browse the... need I say it.. knitting books, and ended up in a Brasserie on the Rokin where we had mussels, dessert and a lot of fun. I got home at around half past 10 at night absolutely knackered!

It was a lot of fun with Ellen, Marijke and Constance (even if it was in Amsterdam), and now ofcourse I have the cap to finish...