Beste breisters,

Onze toekomstige afspraken zijn vastgelegd in de Droge Coo agenda:

7 april             11.00 tot 14.00 uur

5 mei              11.00 uur, doorlopende brei sessie
(met Zeekaravaan vanaf 13.30 uur). Er zullen ook wel de hele dag kinderen rondlopen. Het kan dus zijn dat er enkele kindjes mee willen breien of haken. Lekker druk en  gezellig!

2 juni              11.00 uur, doorlopende brei sessie
met boekenmarkt zoals vorig jaar. Wij kunnen dan ook de hele dag breien tussen de boeken.

7 juli               15.00 uur tot s’avonds (kan ook op de terras van de Droge Coo)

4 augustus     15.00 uur tot s’avonds (kan ook op de terras van de Droge Coo)

1 september 11.00 uur tot …


Kaffee+

De Droge Coo is open:

Maart    zo 3, za 16, za 23, zo 24, za 30, zo 31
April     ma 1, za 13, zo 14, za 20, za 27, zo 28
Mei       do 9, vr 10, za 11, za 18, ma 20, za 25, zo 26
Juni       zo 2, za 8, zo 9, za 15, za 22, zo 23
(telkens vanaf 14 uur)

Vanaf 28 juni: Zomerkaffee+ (wo > zo vanaf 15uur)

Zie http://www.vrijstaat-o.be/kaffee/ voor meer informatie

Voor Kaffee+ zijn er geen vaste afspraken om te samen breien. Neem contact op met elkaar om samen te komen voor een gezellige brei sessie met zicht op zee!

See you all soon! Keep warm and, above all, keep knitting!

Love Helen and Barbara

Totally Tapis Plage

Here we all are, for the third year running, at Tapis Plage. This year was special - we had a wonderful banner, hand-sewn by Barbara. Bravo! Not only that, but look at the first photo - we even had our own QR code! Impressive! (and thanks Barbara!). Tapis Plage was, as always, a treat - so many lovely handmade goods, so many independent, original, interesting stands and traders. Including, of course, Rebecca (Stoffenhuis Paulette), who did a roaring trade in her beautiful fabrics (and whose wonderful husband got down to business measuring and cutting metre after metre after metre). Here's a big round of applause to the organisers of Tapis Plage, to everyone who turned up, including Jan and Marie Therese (all the way from Hasselt) and the heroic 'Breimaddamen', who have turned knitting for charity into a mission (and who make, together with their army of recruits, the most gorgeous blankets and more). Our next meeting is in April - I'll keep you posted! See you soon!

Tapisplage

We mochten al op de eerste editie breien (toen nog een beetje donker in de Hangaar), vorig jaar werden we na een warme week door een koude dag verrast in Duin & Zee, en dit jaar mogen we naar de 3e editie in Bredene!
Vertel het door aan iedereen die we misschien niet online kunnen bereiken!

Happy Birthday (to us!)

Greetings from England! And a big round of applause to Breien in Oostende (in other words, every single one you): the knitting club is FOUR years old! How time flies... A huge thank you to Barbara, for all her support, regular Facebook posts, good cheer, wonderful projects and for having such a good memory - for it was Barbara who reminded me of this special occasion (and she's also got a copy of the very first email ever sent about starting a knitting group in Oostende in her archives). Thanks to Ines for her ideas and providing our regular back-up venue (Villa Elise). And another big thank you to all our friends at the Droge Coo - for encouraging us, providing a wonderful venue and lots of good music, drinks and cake. And last but not least, where would the knitting club be without its members? So thanks to all of you for your commitment, friendship, advice, inspiration, laughter and knitting tutorials (I'll never forget Jan's life saving knitting surgery on my socks!). Here are a few photos of our birthday party and the lovely cakes that miraculously materialised. The spring flowers were from Jan and Marie Therese - so pretty and festive. Ines' parsnip cake was a revelation! Here's to the next four years! Cheers!

Opendeurdag bij Bart en Francis!

Vrij, Zat en Zondag 25, 26, 27 januari. Meer info op: http://www.bart-francis.be/OD/OD/Home.html

Happy New Year!

Snow on the beach and the most beautiful light

Marianne's lemon  baby suit - it's the buttons that make it...

aren't the strawberry buttons wonderful?

Full house

Ines' new fair isle tank top in Rowan Fine Tweed

Close up

How many people does it take to work out how to do short row shaping?

Barbara's brilliant gift for a new born - I won't mention who in case their mum sees this post!

But we ALL fell in love with him!

On a Sunday in which Oostende was blanketed in snow, a huge number turned out for the first knitting session of 2013! It's good to be back! There were new projects galore and new members too - welcome! Marianne, Ines and Barbara's latest creations are featured above but there was another dimension to the afternoon - well done to everyone who learned something new. And thanks to everyone (Ines, Barbara, Chris, Rozemie especially) who shared their skills and expertise with such warmth and generosity of spirit. Don't forget there's a sale on at Rebecca's (Stoffenhuis Paulette - see resources page for address). See you all next month and, with snow still on the ground, it's the perfect excuse to stay in, keep warm and keep knitting!

Breien x Boterham x Charities

Matching the theme at Villa Elise "Bring your own cake or cookies", we were visited by the reporters of "De Boterham". This is a newspaper created for and by students learning Dutch as a second language here in Ostend. In order to launch some mutually beneficial activities, Julia (a knitter!), Mariella (soon to be a knitter!) and Petra (still has to finish a scarf started 20 years ago) interviewed us and took pictures.

The resulting article can be admired at De Boterham and here's an extract:

Houd je alles voor jezelf of geef je jouw breiwerk cadeau aan anderen?

Het hangt ervan af. Sommige mensen breien alleen voor zichzelf en anderen maken graag een cadeautje. Er zijn ook veel mensen in Vlaanderen die voor het goede doel breien. Ze breien dekens, en truien voor arme mensen of ze sturen breiwerk naar landen waar natuurrampen gebeuren. Na de aardbeving in Pakistan waren er allerlei zulke acties. 

Which leads me to a little shout-out for charity knitting:

• There's Jan from Hasselt who also knits in Ostend, he creates so called chemo caps for cancer patients and is always happy to receive gifts of soft cotton yarn. As patients tend to have very sensitive skin, this is really the best material to donate.
• Then there are De Breimadammen, a group of knitters from all over Flanders who knit for various causes and have their own site: Breimadammen. One of them lives close to Ostend and will certainly join us again in 2013.
• Just yesterday I came across Zonnedekens, knitting, crocheting and patchworking for children in the hospitals of Ghent.

So, if you have yarn or time (or both!) to spare, you know where to turn to.