So this “thing” I’ve been hinting about for a while now… I have been writing blogposts in my mind for days now and I’m not sure what exactly to tell about it.

The good stuff is simple.

The good part goes like this: hey, we’ve temporarily moved to a tropical island to live and work there until the end of March. And we’re probably going to move here permanently within a few years.

Yes. We’re back on our lovely island in the Dutch Caribbean, Curaçao. (If you’re new here and curious about previous visits, you can read about them here – if you’re wondering how Curacao is on the other side of the world but still sort of in our own country; I found this wonderful and funny video explaining it all (and also the difference between Hollanders and Dutch – I’m both)

So what’s the bad part, you ask? To make a long story short: I’m worried about my husband’s health (though he does feel better in the tropics) and I feel guilty about being 8000 kilometers away from my family. I have to admit though, being here again feels good. It’s hard to describe. It’s a sense of belonging, feeling home.

People say about this island you either love it or you hate it. I”ve loved it and all it’s quirks and faults since I first set foot on it five years ago. I always cry when we leave and I teared up when I saw the first glimpses of it from the plane just before landing (our last visit was a very short week in May 2015).

Anyway. We’re here now and we’re trying to work out the kinks. Meanwhile I try to enjoy our time here as much as I can. We’re staying with friends in the most luxury apartment we’ve ever stayed in and the view from our porch is stunning. I plan to enjoy the much simpler housekeeping here and to write a lot, figure out where to go with my blogs, my novel writing and my dreams of earning some money with that (since we’d love to buy a house here).

One more important issue: can one knit here? The answer is simple: yes! I did that before. I also knew I’d go crazy here without knitting since I tried that a few years ago. That time I didn’t bring any knitting and I found out buying yarn here is a challenge, so this time I packed 11 skeins, at least enough to make a hat a week. I’m going to look around to see if I can buy yarn somewhere. I guess wool is too hot, but cotton could be nice. My husband promised me to find a way to import yarn if we end up living here permanently.

I have to be careful what yarn to bring, since 100% synthetic tends to melt a bit, which makes it hard to work with. Wool, wool blends and cotton work fine though.

I’m working on the third hat right now.

 (linking up with Jeannie Gray Knits’ Maker’s Monday)

Thanks for coming over to my new blog! Some things still need tweaking, but that will take some time and I’m very busy with other things at the moment. So I hope you will excuse broken links and messy layouts. I will take care of it, eventually.

Even though it was a (very,very) slow knitting year, this last hat (I finished it on New Years Eve around nine, so it was a close call) makes nine hats in 2017. On a total of twelve knitting projects (the other three being dishcloths), that’s still a lot of hats I guess.

I already mentioned I love this yarn (I made this hat with it too) and I’m also in love with the fancy stitch I used on the brim.

I found my grandmother’s knitting book in a box of forgotten stuff when I helped my parents downsize. My mother happily parted with it when I asked I could have it.
It’s full of fun stitch patterns like this. I’m looking forward to work through all of them.

(linking up with Ginny from Ginx Craft and Jeannie Gray Knits’ Makers’ Monday

The bookkeeper in me likes to keep track of things, but apparently she’s been sleeping on the job when it comes to keeping track of my knitting.  Well, not completely, I do have these scribbly notes in my knitting notebook. But I’d also like to keep some visual reminders and I have been slacking on that, it seems.

I was going to post about some hats that found new owners on Christmas Day. I didn’t really gift them, but when one of the girls mentioned she needed a new hat, I let her (and her boyfriend and the other girls) pick from my stash. So I’ve been browsing back to last year’s pictures to link to a (grey/black slouchy) hat my future son-in-law chose only to find out that I didn’t have any pictures of it. I also forgot to take pictures of the lilac hat I finished the day before Christmas. My youngest daughter took that one. I did remember to sneak a few pictures of the other two hats they took though.

My future son-in-law liked this one too. A very simple hat from bulky black yarn with colored parts in it. He actually can wear any hat and still look good. So funny. And good to fuel my hat knitting…

My middle daughter took this one. I made that last week too (told you I was on a roll). I didn’t have enough of that light green yarn left (see below for the other two hats I made with it) to make a hat anymore, but I found that darker green in the thrift store and thought it was a good match. I combined a simple k2, p2 brim with a fancy stitch I found in my grandmother’s knitting book. She also loved the cabled hat I made last year (phew, glad I did document that one!)

And just so I don’t forget these (they’re still in my stash, but we now know I can’t be trusted to take pictures before I get rid of them):

A Soulemama hat (my favorite pattern – that bookkeeper in me would love to know how many I made, but I lost track) and a spiral one (my own “pattern”). I had four little skeins of that green yarn and used up every last bit of it.

So… off to knit more hats…
You can see the beginnings of one in the top picture. There was enough of that dark green yarn to make another hat. Or at least I think so. I weighed it and it was a few grams less than the finished hat, so it will be a close call. I guess like living on the edge 😉    

I finished the hat I started on Tuesday. It’s a combination of small mohair scraps and some yellow wool.

It’s rather slouchy on my head and I’m not sure about the colors. Still, it’s incredibly warm and soft and it was fun to make. It will probably end up in the package I’m preparing for KAS.

I’m still not sick of making hats, so moments after I finished weaving in all those ends I cast on for the next one…

After I finished the hat yesterday, I made myself finish the dishcloth.

(pictured with the one I knit before I started blogging again)

I wrote “made myself” because I really was itching to make another hat. Let’s face it, I like making hats. I love making hats. I’d be very happy just knitting hats and nothing else.

Maybe I’d better rename my blog to “hatmad” or “she knits hats” or something like that. Seriously, constantly thinking about that. I’m also considering a “52 hats challenge” next year. If only I could count on my hands to keep up with all that knitting…

I promised myself a yarn shopping spree in January, but for now I’m working with the scraps I have, so I’m not sure where this is going color wise. So far I like it.

linking up with Frontier Dreams’ Crafting On