Queens Day / Koninginnedag : or is it Orange Crazy Day?

April 30th – Queen’s Day is a national holiday here in the Netherlands. It is a celebration for the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands (Queen Juliana’s birthday). The date has been retained as Queen Beatrix birthday is in January – not good weather for a party in all the streets of the Netherlands.

Queen’s Day is also world famous (in the Netherlands?) for the Orange Craze.

These pictures are from “About.com” Take a look to see more.

People wear orange clothing, hats, orange boas and other quite interesting creative orange accessories. The Royal household is the House of Orange so there will be orange banners, orange coloured foods & drinks, orange cards, orange everywhere. So if you will be in the Netherlands on April 30th do bring at the very least your orange t-shirt. If you should forget there will many orange offerings for sale on the street from g-strings, to cowboy hats and everything between.

On Queen’s Day there is also a “freemarket” (Dutch: vrijmarkt) all over the country, where everybody is allowed to sell anything they wish in the streets. Last year the streets of Haarlem were lined with stalls and groundsheets and tables laden with everything and anything that you could imagine for sale somewhere. Children selling toys they have outgrown, people baked cakes and sold them, oranges, orange juice, clothing, books, records, videos, cd’s, tapes, car bits, tv’s, kitchen stuff, jewellery, junk – absolutely anything can be sold on this day. There were miles and miles of sellers.

They do not allow garage sales here – so they have this free market day once a year as well as other fleamarkets where you can sell your surplus whatever that might be. Queens Day was great and this year I am really looking forward to it. Last year we didn’t know quite what to expect – even though we had seen people preparing for it for the week before by starting to wear orange items and many shops had wonderful orange displays.

If you come to the Netherlands at the time of any one of their amazing celebrations – check out the shop windows, they make such an effort and the art and design of them is quite incredible. We had been told the Dutch are stoic and do not know how to celebrate – that is a serious lie. I have never seen so much celebration.

Maybe this is just not the right day for a Knit art Graffitti installation on a Ball in Haarlem.

If you have enjoyed visiting this site Old Fart Expats – which has the stories of our adventures as two older people working, living and travelling in the Netherlands, and in Europe, then please consider checking my other site which is about my designer and knitter life.

I know I have mentioned such things as ball warmers and trees with scarves – so you do have some idea of my other life. But that is the outrageous nearly knit art graffiti life – oh and we are planning an installation maybe on April 1st – April Fools Day. I don’t know if that is a term used here in the Netherlands so the installation may not benefit from that as it might in New Zealand or in the UK. It does depend on completing the piece and it will not be in Haarlem. Just in case I forgot to mention this – the Haarlem Balls are nearly back. They are waiting to be installed once more. So maybe on Queens Day – will that be a good day for an installation here in Haarlem? Will keep you posted on that one.

But I am also a bona fide knit designer and I am also thinking of a sculpture – metal piece with knitted wire (thin wire). The creation of it could be very hard on the hands – but I have discovered of late that anything is achievable should you think of it then you can do it.

I digress again.

If you are a knitter, or want to be a knitter. If you love colour work, or just love colour – maybe exploring my designer knit site Connielene Knit Designer will stir in you the need to knit again or to learn to knit if you do not yet, or just might enjoy some of the stories there as well. I do also have 2 etsy shops which I add patterns and pieces to as I am able to. There are a few beret and cape patterns should you be interested. The links to Connielene Etsy shop is here as well as the link to Unique Boutique Knits where my patterns and other pieces are available.

Oh and if you also use Facebook then I would love it if you would “like” my page there as well ConnieLene Unique Designs & Knits

We all need fans in our lives, I hope you will “like” my facebook page there enough to be a fan – the old Facebook parlance – they do keep on changing things. But if you like it please tick it – Thanks

Queens Day / Koninginnedag : or is it Orange Crazy Day?

Orange Boat - orange guests

April 30th – Queen’s Day is a national holiday here in the Netherlands. It is a celebration for the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands (Queen Juliana’s birthday). The date has been retained as Queen Beatrix birthday is in January – not good weather for a party in all the streets of the Netherlands.

And it is a big street party, everything is Orange for the House of Orange, and everyone can sell anything they wish to anyone else.

So it is a birthday celebration, a freemarket, street party, costume party, Orange Fest. Bring something orange to wear if you are here on April 30th, or buy something orange to remember the day with.

We have taken down the scarf – it took longer than our estimated 5 seconds and we left the scarf hanging over the tree supports for someone who needs a newish scarf. There are spring bulbs showing their new leaves already, and some are in flower. I don’t know the flower and have taken a photo – so will post the photo and name when I know what it is.

Best Beloved did take a video – but the camera locked somehow and the video didn’t process so no video recording. He really did do a great dramatic rave as I snipped the threads to remove the scarf. We have learned something from our previous videos. It is a shame it will not be heard.

So you will just have to imagine it – 2 oldies marching across the park, a tree wearing a fashion scarf, a tiny pair of very sharp scissors, a sunny day, a park with quite a few people in it and we just calmly snipped the threads and removed the scarf – no reaction.

Next winter we will need something bigger if we wish to attract any sort of attention, but then I am not sure that was the intention. I think I was concerned we would attract attention and have to explain ourselves to some authoritative figure. How do you explain this activity. I really don’t know.

I was sent an email about knit art graffiti,

I saw several cold trees in a park on a bitterly cold day, with much snow on the ground.

I had a number of scarves

2 and 2 make scarves on trees. HHHmmmmm don’t know how we would have managed any authoritative attention.

I do hope someone likes the scarf and wears it.

In the Grote Markt – the Haarlem town square there lives a row of beautiful grey balls. They look very very cold in the early evening light. What can you do – you can knit, being a knitter – a ball cover, and hope that one ball is comforted by this.

See the ball story here

Maybe the snow is really getting to us.

Last Sunday, John and the camera, me and 3 scarves, and a threaded needle went out into our park to a group of 3 trees that we had decided needed to be warmer. All the scarves were too narrow to be attached to the chosen three – so we walked around the park and found a slender young tree and I sewed a scarf lengthwise to it. The tree had looked really cold – like really really cold. It looks cosy now and not at all startled by this new event.

I don’t know that this is knitted graffiti – and it was a bit stressful, and fun, and very odd. I am thinking about that – maybe it wasn’t really odd – maybe we are a bit odd – I don’t know. One young couple came to check on us and seemed quite happy that the tree was now warmer. They hail from Australia and live virtually around the corner from us. The locals (I am presuming Dutch) just walked by.

Because it was a bit stressful I asked my very odd friends and family if I should go and retrieve the scarf before I am taken away – unanimously the answer was no.

So bowing to public pressure the tree still has the scarf on it and it looks great.

One thing we had not considered when we carried out this act is that we can actually see the tree from our house.

And I watch and noone pauses, rushes over, or even does a sideways glance as they go by. Maybe there are other trees in the Netherlands wearing their own scarves so that the locals think it is quite normal.

I have been back to talk to my tree – you can see how our relationship has changed – now it my tree, and I can tell you that the dogs consider a tree wearing a fashion scarf unusual. How do I know this – the snow around the tree is pristine white – no yellow snow here.

But of course this scarf is free for the taking by anyone who wishes it. Just like those that I hung on the railing outside our little steeg.