2023
My new year’s resolution is to knit the things I’ve always wanted to but never had enough time for. Which means less designing and less knitting along with (mystery) kals. It’ll be tough to resist the challenges, but now I’m challenging myself to use up my beautiful stash and try the patterns I’ve been admiring for so long!! Wish me luck :kissing_heart:
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First things first: since 1 October 2018 I have changed my Ravelry name from Dutchmama to KnitJoyz. I’m really hoping this won’t cause too much confusion; I’m still a Dutch mama but now I Knit Joyz!

I’m a Canadian gone Dutch, moved to the land my grandparents all immigrated from, and love it here.
I learned to crochet looking over my mothers shoulder when I was 5-6 years old. Figured I could do that too. And did, but knitting confused me. A few years ago I tried it again with a simple instruction book and it actually worked. After figuring out the english/ dutch terms for everything, i now enjoy using both languages for patterns. Although I am a bit stubborn and chose often to try things just a little different from the pattern…

Someday I’ll post the picture of the baptism dress my Oma knitted 35 years ago. All three of my girls were baptised in it, myself and my siblings and many cousins too. It’s turned yellow over the years but I was able to get it somewhat whiter when I first needed it years ago. I still think it’s beautiful, and it has a long story behind it.

It costs quite a bit of time and energy to make any pattern into a good pattern. My patterns have all been tech edited and tested by several fantastic testers. Together we’ve done our best to make each pattern a great pattern for others to enjoy!
There are more coming, slowly but surely. Often there’s a pattern growing in my head as I am spinning the yarn for it, and more often than not I end up spending days knitting and reknitting samples before getting it to look like I want it to.
In the meantime I enjoy test knitting the occasional project for other designers, sharing in the experience! If you ever want to test knit for me, just send me a message!