Yarn tourism - Swedish style

Ok so maybe this title isn't quite correct seeing as we were in Sweden for reasons other than yarn acquisition also, but I did manage to visit quite a few fibre shops during my stay.

The first was Tant Thea in my home town of Helsingborg. Now, Helsingborg isn't exactly a yarn mecca but this new store was definitely an improvement on the existing offering i.e. a tiny shop selling mainly acrylic (I can see you wincing). Tant Thea has a pretty good offering, and I succumbed to some nice Drops Alpaca which was discounted by 30%. The discount was due to the owner being fed up of being bossed about by Drops, who were trying to tell her exactly how to market their goods in store. I actually thought this was normal practice, but held back from pointing that out as she seemed pretty fuming over it. Oh the drama behind yarn!

Behold the Alpaca (dark grey/black and murky blue/green):


I had the pleasure of spending a day in Copenhagen and actually had no intention of going yarn shopping - honest! We did however, stumble upon a cute yarn shop called Bette Design and thought it rude not to go inside.. My mum fell in love with a pretty shawl which I (probably much too hastily) said I could knit up for her. We left the store with some gray wool and a knitting pattern for the shawl..in Danish. I might just have to ask L, our resident knitting Dane to help me with the translation. Either that or I'll just have to hope that my mum doesn't quite remember the exact design.. ;)

Next on the cards was a trip to Stockholm. We stayed in a very cute hotel called Sven Vintappare in Gamla Stan (The old Town) which dated from the 1700s:


Our room took up the entire width of the building, so it was lovely and bright with windows on both sides, but being from the 1700s it was also rather wonky! I found it all quite charming. Even the lethally steep stairs:


Before I launch into more tales of yarn, I should probably mention a couple of other highlights. The food in Stockholm was exceptional, and although rather pricey, it was worth it. My favourite restaurant was Djuret (The Animal) which specialises in seasonal meat. The menu changes every couple of months, depending on which animal is in season and then serves about 5 dishes of various cuts. We enjoyed some succulent reindeer. Great restaurant detailing included meat hooks on which to hang your coats, tablecloths displaying diagrams of meat cuts, and meat grinders which had been turned into table lamps. Do I have to mention that they have *no* veggie options?

You may not know this, but I am slightly obsessed with cinnamon buns. Whenever I go to Sweden I *must* have one. At least one. I have been known to bake my own in London, when withdrawal reaches it's peak. So after reading that Saturnus Cafe sold the biggest cinnamon buns in Stockholm, I made a beeline.
On entering the place I was at first distraught to see that there were none on display, but the kindly lady at the till informed me that they were currently baking a new batch and that they would be ready in 5 minutes. So after an impatient wait the steaming package of cinnamon loveliness arrived. And it was HUGE. I'm not sure the picture really illustrates this fact clearly enough, but perhaps the coffee spoon helps a little in terms of scale. I had to call it quits after half of it and pack the rest away discreetly in a doggie bag, as I would otherwise had done myself and internal injury. But man was it good!


We also stopped off at a rather random junk shop in Gamla Stan. It didn't seem to have a name, nor did the owner seem too interested in customers being able to walk around it in. We spotted lots of interesting items from old fashioned pilot helmets to dashing vintage army coats, but erred on the side of sensible in the end.


And so to the yarn! First stop was Litet Nystan in Soder which I really liked. Easily identified by the yarn 'flag' outside:


A great selection of pretty yarns and friendly staff on hand to explain things. They were also hosting a book launch that day. It was one of those cute crochet books which makes me feel like I really should learn how to crochet properly: 'Valkommen till Virkligheten'.


Of course some purchasing occurred:


Two skeins of Merino Extrafine Lace by Tedman & Kvist (about 1,400m each) and some pretty blue Merino Silk with aloe, jojoba and vitamin E (apparently it's kind to your hands!) by Viva.

On the way to the next yarn store, we met some would-be escapees looking to fly their undignified confinement.


Next stop was Anntorps Vav in Gamla Stan, run by a charming lady who does a lot of her own spinning and dying.


Again lots of pretty things, but I fell in love with one sort in particular: Östergötlands Ull. Handspun and dyed locally, I was hooked. Oh and the colourway (called 'karamell' = sweets) totally won me over.


Colour close-up:


With approximately 1,500m of it, I should be able to do something interesting too.. I'm toying with the idea of creating project bags for myself. Choosing a pattern from my file (stuffed) and selecting some corresponding yarn from my stash (considerable) so it's all ready to go. It might just cut down on the time wasted on faffing. Knitting efficiency here I come?

Puppy power!

My colleague M left for her maternity leave last week. She absolutely loves dogs, as could be seen from her appreciation of the Bramble I created for C some months ago. So this time I thought I would challenge myself and create something a little more representative of canine anatomy. Would I live to regret this?

After some hunting around on Ravelry, I found a rather charming Alan Dart pattern which looked vaguely do-able. Shame I had only given myself about a week to do it in.. Anyway, after scoring some cut-price Rowan during a John Lewis fly-by I got to work swiftly. In just a couple of days, most of the bits were done. They did however, (in their non-seamed state) appear more like beige Humboldt Squid pattern pieces than Labrador components.. I regret not taking more photos of the process, but time was of the essence (poor excuse I know).

Thankfully my lovely knitting ladies came to the rescue and showed me their seaming skills in between bites of Carluccio's finest pasta. Phew almost done! The stuffing and final assembly was a little rushed, but I think in the end it turned out alright.

Obligatory mug shots:




M seemed more than happy with the result, which of course made it all worthwhile.


Not sure I'll be making another one any time soon though!

Sylvanian nostalgia

So who else used to play with these when they were little? Aren't they just the cutest??


I liked the baby ones best, and had a small collection of them which I used to make tiny clothes for and take on 'camping trips' to the pond in our garden. Unfortunately they would inevitably end up with bald patches as pond water and the adhesive in their fur didn't mix very well. I didn't mind though.

L and I had a shared love of our furry Sylvanian friends and regularly pooled our collections (my bald ones with lumpy clothing and L's immaculate ones) and played 'blind date' with them. Ah, those were the days!

Anyway, for the sake of nostaliga I thought I would include this little bonus bunny along with the shawl for L. Hope she likes them both!

Belated Ishbel

So I've finally conquered my fear of lacy shawls - by knitting a wee one. Actually it wasn't that hard, I just had to engage my brain and concentrate for more than five minutes at a time.
That's not so say that there wasn't a bit of 'un-knitting' going on, but on the whole Ishbel (from Ysolda's 'Whimsical Little knits') was kind to me.
Here it is hanging out at my parent's place:


I guess it helped to be knitting with some gorgeous Wollmeise in the shade 'My Old Blue Jeans'. I swear that just a sniff of that Perwoll is enough to keep you going! Either it's a coincidence or Wollmeise understands the power of sensory branding. Or it's just my yarn fetish playing up.
Draping suggestion:


Anyway, what also spurred me on was the fact that it was a late Birthday present for lovely L so will need shipping across the Atlantic which is always time-consuming.. Actually, I also need one more thing to add to the package. Will update once it has been acquired!

Welcome to Hotel Medea

As those who know me can attest, I am a big fan of the old 'immersive theatre' craze which seems to have been sweeping London's theatre scene in recent years. It started with Punchdrunk's 'Faust', continued with 'Masque of the Red Death' and a few dalliances with The Lyric's 'Contains Violence' and the slightly warped 'Abattoir Pages'. Even White Mischief tried to get in on the act, although not with complete success.. Having recently taken in the latest Punchdrunk offering, 'The Duchess of Malfi', a friend suggested we up our game with The Arcola's 'Hotel Medea'.

We thought we had seen it all. Wander around in dark rooms, wearing a mask and trying to find actors? Been there. Sit on a roof-top wearing headphones and checking out the acting in the office building opposite? Done that. Try to find the prohibition-style bar hidden somewhere behind the scenes? Sooo yesterday. What could stimulate our jaded palates if not an all night theatre performance in the middle of nowhere near Canning Town? When I say all-night, that really is the truth. Try 11pm-5:30am, propped up only by the promise of coffee, biscuits and breakfast at dawn.

So there we found ourselves, at 11pm at North Greenwich Pier with our snacks and water bottles, not entirely sure what to expect. A charismatic Brazlilian named Jorge welcomed us on the boat, and swiftly pulled out his iPhone: 'Is ok I film you?' Well, who could say no to that charming Brazilian accent? He asked what our expectations were of the production and I waffled something about hearing that the energy of the actors in Hotel Medea was enough in itself to keep the audience awake and engaged, never mind the coffee and biscuits. I later found out Jorge Lopes Ramos was the Artistic Director and the creative driving force behind Hotel Medea.

After a short hop across the Thames, we were deposited at Trinity Buoy Wharf (more of that later) and put through our paces in small groups to prepare us for certain elements of the production such as the 'call and response' singing, spontaneous rhyming, and some simple dance moves. We were worried. Though after having been plied with the first round of the promised refreshments we were calmed and ready to take on whatever the night would bring.
Instead of an in-depth description of the entire production (which can be found here and here), I'll instead impart to you my personal highs and lows of the night:

Highs:
- Helping to prepare Medea for her wedding ceremony to Jason by washing, clothing and anointing her with fragrant herbs. Men and women were split at this point, creating a real spirit of anticipation and audience participation.
- Being put into pyjamas (over my clothes), tucked into a bunk-bed, given hot cocoa and read a story by our 'maid'. Then it was time to 'sleep', while overhearing Jason and Medea arguing over their deteriorating relationship - an effective way of having the audience experience the action from the point of view of their children.
- The use of CCTV style viewing of the action from the 'focus group' room - a clinical intimacy if you will.
- Experiencing 'Club Exile - the club exclusively for heart-broken women'. Men were allowed to infiltrate (having been told to 'gather evidence of Medea's betrayal'), wearing wigs and lipstick which provided some well-needed comedic relief.
- Running around like lunatics, trying to hide under a blanket in an alley-way at about 5am.

Lows:
- Slightly forced audience participation in the first act. We needed to warm up a bit before feeling in the mood to jump around to Brazilian beats.
- Being stranded somewhere near Canning Town at 6am. The promised minibus proving throughly useless, with the driver eventually dumping us somewhere near All Saints with the comment "I think there's a bus stop down there somewhere." Admittedly he was confused by the closure of several roads due to a triathlon, but ANY tube station would be been better than none. Thank God a taxi made a timely appearance.

On the whole I would warmly recommend Hotel Medea, especially if you are as particular with theatre as we are. We prepared well by sleeping in, and having a nap between 7pm-9pm so it really was surprisingly easy to stay awake. The Trinity Buoy Wharf area was actually really fascinating too. It seems to be something of an artsy quarter, so we may well be back to take in future events. Once the sun was up, I took a load of pics.

Some cute office space for rent:


'Container City':


We'll definitely be coming back here!


Funny mechanical wing contraption. We managed to make it flap v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y.


This is where the action took place:


Our breakfast feast (breakfeast?):


Needless to say, we collapsed into bed as soon as soon as we got home, but by about midday we were perky again. Almost felt like a long weekend!

Don't be a sinner, be a pinner!

Damn you Springwise, for bringing to my attention the pretty wares of Cloud 9 Fabrics! I'm sure some of you will have heard me wittering on about a couple of particular prints, and after (not much) deliberation I decided to make it my mission to acquire some.

(Un)fortunately Cloud 9 made it rather easy for me to find a nearby UK distributor, in the form of Saints and Pinners - can you think of a better name for a fabric shop?!
About two days after my order, this charming package arrived for my delectation:


Now I *know* I'm in love. Cute packaging, with or without a bonus lollipop/free product sample/sweet message gets me every time.

The contents: Let me introduce Sandpiper and Coral Weed.


Ready for their close-up:



Sandpiper might become this dress when it grows up, while Coral Weed will become something along the lines of this one. We will see. In the meantime, I am quite happy just to look at them as they are and then curse as I try to wedge them in the cupboard with the rest of the fabric stash..

Knit Nation 2010

If you are not intimately familiar with knitting (or indeed knitters) you might be forgiven for considering the craft still somewhat niche and, despite a resurgence over the past several years, with a rather limited following. I believe that Knit Nation goes some way to dispelling this belief.

Knit Nation was arranged by Cookie A, sock designer extraordinaire and Alice Yu of Socktopus. Hats off to them for making everything run so well with only some minor technical glitches. Taking place at Imperial College in South Kensington, it offered knitters of various degrees of obsession a chance to shop amongst the yarn stalls, take courses to extend and learn new skills, and also just to revel in the knowledge that it's not just you that has a borderline fetish for squooshy yarn.

Thursday saw the opening of the yarn market for a 'preview' of the mouth-watering wares. I was not there at the initial opening, but I hear that it was quite well-attended. No pushing and shoving, but perhaps some dainty trotting over to the Wollmeise stall in order to grab some prettiness. Fibbertygibbet and Craft Actually will tell you more about the (controlled) dash! I had to make do with excited emails and texts from my ladies on the ground keeping me up to date with what was going on until I could leave the office :)

By the time I was on the scene, it was rather calmer. Check out that Wollmeise stall!


The vibrancy and colour range was just stunning!


Mind you, apparently they did bring one metric ton of yarn with them from Germany, so there should have been plenty to go around.


Cute detailing!


Having signed up for the all-day course in knitting two toe-up socks at a time, I had to peel myself out of bed at the ungodly hour of about 7am on Saturday. It was worth it though. Our lovely teacher was Chrissy Gardener, rather a big cheese in the sock-knitting world! Her endless patience with us was admirable, and by lunchtime I had managed to churn out these:


After (another) quick visit to the yarn market and lunch with friends, it was back to it and time to turn the heels. After that it was pretty much plain sailing and I ended up with these beauties:


I would say that this class was a good level for me and I learned a brand new useful cast-on for socks as well as a great stretchy bind-off. In addition it was good to revise the heel technique so I was happy!

With our courses now done, we toddled off for an early dinner at easily the best Polish restaurant I've even been to. Daquise offered exquisite food in fairly posh surrounds and at a reasonable price - what more can one ask for? Everything was freshly prepared (sometimes at the table) and lovingly scooped onto your plate. Delicious!

With the time now approaching 8pm, we wandered back to Imperial for the 'Ravelry Party' - or to put it bluntly, the Ravelry Party goodybags. Yes we are shameless freebie hunters.

Here are Jess and Casey, the Founders of Ravelry, about to begin the raffle.


We did end up having a raffle winner in our group, so it was worth sticking around for ;) We also piled into the photo-booth, with (for me at least) disastrous results..


"So where's the swag?" I hear you cry. Below we have some undyed cashmere, angora, silk blend from Artisan Yarns, followed by four skeins of Wollmeise twin sockyarn, two in 'My Old Blue Jeans' and two in 'Neptune'. I actually also got two more sock skeins, but they will remain un-photographed as they are to be delivered to a friend in Sweden and I'd like the colours to remain a surprise..


Here's the cute goodybag from Ravelry, along with my Wollmeise lace in 'Dunkel Kirsche' and 'Flaschenpost' (love that name!).


As we were one of the first to arrive at the Ravelry Party, we also got a nice Knit Nation bag to carry everything home in. So not a bad haul!


With a successful Knit Nation complete, our only question is when the next one will be?