If you follow me on Social Media, you will know that I have just returned from the Scheepjeswol Bloggers Weekend in the Netherlands. I could go on and on (and on and on) about how great it was, but I will resist. Let me just say, before I spam you with photos, that I have never been in the company of so many like-minded women. My soul feels replenished and in 3 short days all the worries and stress of the last 6 months has been washed away.
Thursday
I started the weekend off with a new pair of shoes and a new suitcase. Both were a necessity as I have never needed an on-board suitcase and my comfy shoes both had holes over my big toes (bad). The shoes seemed to get more attention than the fact that I was off on my first solo trip in years!
80 % of my suitcase was taken up by the large Sophie and a million bars of chocolate (gifts).
I arrived in Assen just before 2 am on Friday morning, having spent the evening visiting with friends in Amstelveen. The hotel (Van Der Valk Hotel) is the poshest place I have ever stayed in, including the 3 hotels (in 3 nights) we stayed in on our short little honeymoon.
Friday
We were picked up from the Hotel the next morning, and whisked away to Scheepjes Headquarters, where I got to meet the wonderful (and I do mean WONDERFUL) bloggers who blog for Scheepjes.
The highlight of the day was a tour of the warehouse – you can see some photos of the warehouse on Happy in Red, Crafts from the Cwtch (Cwtch means “safe place”, like the safe circle formed by a hug), and Jellina Creations.
Unfortunately my camera wasn’t good enough to take photos inside, and if I am totally honest, I was much too busy touching and looking and making funny gurlgly happy noises to bother with photos.
That was followed by a picnic lunch outside…
…with these cows for company…
Lovely picnic lunch yesterday. I just love these cows that stand guard at #Scheepjes. A photo posted by Dedri Uys (@barbertondaisy) on
…and some gorgeous lemon drizzle cake and gluten-free brownies. If I weren’t so obsessed with yarn, these brownies would have been the highlight of my trip!
After that we had a brilliant blog seminar by Esther de Beer from Happy in Red, after which we went back to the hotel to get ready (read socialize) before dinner.
For dinner we went to a lovely little restaurant called Touche (with a thingy on the ‘e’).
Here you can see Esther, me (on the phone with Mr. Lookatwhatimade), Nerissa Muijs (MissNeriss), Kirsten Ballering (Haak Maar Raak), Atty Van Norel (Atty’s), Carmen Jorissen (Crafty Queens) and Jellina Verhoeff (Jellina Creations).
Photos Courtesy of Sarah Knight
Maria McPherson (from Just a Happy Hooker) and I had a delicious little starter. It was one of those meals that sound ridiculous when you read the ingredients, but just blows you away when you taste it. I feel it is my duty to share the menu entry with you, because I still cannot get over the fact that it tasted so great despite containing caramel salted popcorn!
Slowly cooked grouse
with an à la minute smoked egg salad, salted popcorn and a green pea crème
We think that our waitress was either pregnant, stoned, or drunk, because she dropped glassware 5 (!!!) times during our meal and the (much later) wait for the taxi.
Saturday
Before heading in for our “high tea” on Saturday morning, and while everyone was loading their suitcases into the relevant cars for the return journey, I took Sophie out of her suitcase jail.
I think this photo is my favourite photo of the whole year so far. Here we all are (excluding Tammy Canavan-Soldaat from CanaDutch and Marinke Slump from A Creative Being, who couldn’t attend the bloggers weekend).
Annelies Baes (far right) is the designer of the Flight of Fancy CAL 2015, and she will be taking Sophie along on her ‘Meet and Greet’ session across the Netherlands for a bit of ooh and aah.
Once Sophie was safely stowed away, we went into De Paalkoepel for tea, cakes, and sandwiches (and some more yarn-related natter).
Here’s a peek at the selection of goodies we got to taste (and some Scheepjeswol Stonewashed XL).
You might recognize this face. Or you might not. No-one else recognized me from my profile pic.
Yours Truly
I had the privilege of teaching Job (the owner of Scheepjes) to crochet. Is it cheating if you teach another man to crochet?
Sunday
Having spent lots and lots (and lots) of hours at the airport on Saturday (luckily in good company), and only getting back home past 1 am on Sunday morning, I ended the weekend on a high with a Sunday Roast at The Coy Carp in Harefield (UK) with my family.
Afterwards we went for a little stroll along the canal, where I saw this pretty heart-shaped mooring. It seemed a fitting end to a wonderful, blessed weekend.
If you would like to see some of the designs available from the bloggers mentioned in this post, feel free to visit the Scheepjes Inspiration Page, where you can scroll through the designers and their designs. My page is still empty, but not for long!
This blog post contains affiliate links. I only link to products I personally use or would use. All opinions are my own.
Marty says
Hi Dedri, I hope your website troubles are over! Let me know if I can help. :)
joeye esterhuizen says
hi dedri so bevoorreg gewees om aan sophie deel te he
nou gaan ek seker die onmoontlike vra
stel so belang in die scheepjeswol dit lyk so mooi in jul projekte
is dit enig sins iewers in suid afrika beskikbaar en indien wel wa sal ek navraag daar om trent kan doen
sal so graag die misterie daarmee wil doen
sal waardeer as ek dalk epos omtrent dit kan ontvang
eks van patadysstrand naby jeffreys
het ook al jpo moedertjie ontmoet in hdord
groetnis
joeye koud en nat hier by die seekoeirivier vanoggend
Dedri Uys says
Klaar ge-email, Joeye. Ek kan nog steed nie glo dat jou skoonseun my broer ken nie!
San says
That sounds like a fun weekend! :) I’m actually rather jealous would love to do a yarn-trip to the Netherlands myself at some point! And I’m also in love with your shoes! So sad that I can’t wear wedges I’m just too tall for them ;) x
Dedri Uys says
San, it was great! I wish I could have fit you in my suitcase, but cheeky Sophie took up all the space!
I am too tall for wedges too, but luckily Mr. Lookatwhatimade (who is 6″ shorter than me) loves it when I wear heels :)
san says
Checky Sophie! ;)
Thats funny Mr. Loopsan is also shorter than me and keeps on telling me that I should wear heels more often
Dedri Uys says
Well, there you go then! Wear them!!
Heike says
It was truly a wonderful weekend and so lovely to meet you in person. Sophie is even more beautiful in real life and I am looking forward to seeing more of your creations over the next months.
Take care and catch up again soon
Heike xx
Dedri Uys says
Hi Heike. I was so pleased that we got to spend some extra time together at the airport. You and Sarah have really tempted me to knit something. Maybe I should knit a teeny tiny square to get over the “need”. Have a great day,
Dedri
Esther says
It was SO lovely to meet you. I missed the whole Sophie thing because of crazy chaotic life, but now I have seen it I am in awe and I think you are a true artist. Hope we meet again!!
Dedri Uys says
Thank you, Esther. I have been so deep in the Sophie thing that I missed everything else. Now I’m having a lot of fun catching up on all the pretty patterns I missed. I am so glad that I got to meet you too. Talk soon x
Rory says
Hi Dedri! Thank you for sharing this Scheepjes experience with us fellow crocheters. I loved reading it! What a fun and delightful read it was for me. I like your sense of humour [spelled it the British way ;-) ] Always a treat reading your posts on FB and Instagram too! Have a good week!
Dedri Uys says
Thank you, Rory :) You have a great week too!
Sue says
This looks like so much fun! I wouldn’t have recognised you either, by the way. I love the photo of Sophie in the hands of the gang. You’ve created something that will endure, wait and see. :) And now I finally feel confident enough to tackle one of your amamani!
Dedri Uys says
Thank you, Sue. Let me know how you go with the Amamani :)
MaryT says
You had a totally fantabulous weekend!!
I am so very happy you took Sophie! I bet everyone was drooling over just how beautifully you made her. I also bet pictures do her no justice either. I am so pleased you had a chance at such a super wonderful weekend…..no matter how busy it really was.
Welcome home. Can’t wait to see what you come up with next!
Dedri Uys says
Thank you, Mary. I feel quite rejuvenated. And I have to say, Sophie is never as pretty on photos. I love running my hands over all the textured bits.
Rhondda Mol says
I am so jealous of your lovely trip! When Glen and I visited the Netherlands 2005 we stayed at the Van der Valk Hotel :) It was posh! I am happy you had such a fantastic time and were able to meet so many fabulous and talented people while you were there :)
Dedri Uys says
And now you and I have to meet! Or, at the very least, have a phone conversation. I am dying to know what your voice sounds like :)