Yarnvulture! Ahh. Conclusions from 2 yarntrip

The yarn from Copenhagen.On the very left is the pink Nikolaj. Some twinni and then tweed. Wow, it looks like a lot. Bot really, I'm still a big girl that requires lot of yarn to surround all of me in a sweater. Need a closer look? OK, Hanne Falkenberg. First corner knitted. And I started on the second part. It is not an ordinary knit. It is a puzzle. It is a bit challenging and fun to knit. And just in my lime turqoise mix that Im so in love with right now. Hugely expensive kit. But it seems as fun as Tivolo rollercoster. But ahh. Studio 9. Isn't there a HF KAL somewhere? Yepp here!
! Just applied ;-)
Yet a close up of the The Summerfugle silk. Looks fab! And the buttons (worth a fortune!) in the bag. Ahh.... Also fitting in colours. Background are the other scontland tweed. Ok, If I love a colour I do. So I bought both turqoise and lime and greenish. To make another fun sweater. I don't know? Great yarn? Isnt that enough reason. In front is also purple Angora and angora in lime in the big picture. Ahh. The last days of vacation. It is raining. Thunder. Where did all the time go?

Can one get enough of yarn pictures? Should I flaunt them all? or wait? You can take it. If you are a bit crazy like me - ready for yarnhospital, where I really can get tangeled... You must look at the Östergötlands Ullspinneri Overview picture.
OK. I have got the yarnflue. And - to confirm it. This is the start of the weird pattern (starting in the side) from Strikk - Marianne Isager! It looks weird. The whole is actually the sleeve opening. But again. Smart and challenging designs. Are there not a Isager Knitalong? No, weird. That must be a matter of time. (How many can you join without beeing kicked out?) Hmm...
But somehow the colours doesn't totally tick. The lime is not lime but yellow. The purple is a bit too red, but I transformed from intentionally thinking a lime (sorry yellow) with stripes into purple with lime stripes (and a yellow side). I hope it becomes cool. But the yarn is super quality. Spongy. very nice to knit. Ahh Östergötlands Ullspinnery. The yarnmakers.
Maybe it is that the colours aren't super together? Thats is. I new it was me. Should I frog? Nahh. It aint over yet. Might look better when the rest is purple. I already frogged the Catherine Parr this morning. Realized that it is 48 stiches TOO BIG. And the yarn will not be enough. So, I must say Starmore is a tense knitter. THat would move me into 1.25 mm size needles instead of 3.25. So I decided. To reknit. I'm not too far gone. Now I really must book my travel to the Swedish Knitmeet in Gotland. Plane or boat? Or both? Hmm...How is everyone else going there and back?

2nd Yarnvacation part 3 of 3

So, back over the bridge. I actually erased a lot of ramblings about boring Norrviken, great swims in the ocean, Fikas in Gothenburg and moped thefts in Uddevalla. To quickly go to West of Sweden - Arvika! The home of mother and father in law.Knitting discussions and wonderful food. And then, nagging everyone to go to Gammelvala to meet my dear friend Marianne, who I insisted was working by the colourpots. What a disappointment to find that she had already gone. I sure must have missed some information there. But, look at this colours!
Dyeing the hard way (plants) looks amazing. First picture is the leak. It was great! I really held tight not to buy anything. But, that is life. Look at it. Druel. Cochinille, (ok, up right is the sour colours- turqoise...) but the rest is all from nature: purple = Bersilja, and the green small picture is vassvippor (hmm grass-reed (?)flowers)..These pictures really does not show at all. But what an interesting set up. They were really boiling their pots in 30 degrees heat, in old swedish clothes (skirts, aprons, scarf around the hair etc)...But, I didn't buy anything. Not in my favourite yarnshop in Arvika "Fantasy" either. But I got some cute earrings with sheep and a neckless. And m-inlaw encourage me to start to knit an Marianne Isager. So, I dropped my WIP (an old UFO) to dig into my yarnstash. Wow, it is really a fun pattern. You start on the side doing a growing triangle, that soon incorporates the sleevehole. It is amazing. But colours. Ohh... Colours. I'm not happy. M-inlaw also decided to goahead with a Poetry of Stiches. Interesting. just the one on my list. So, I volounteered to order her some HIFA-yarn from Britt på nätet of course, (ahh, fun to buy for others!) but I decided that would be a great gift on her birthday!

2nd Yarnvacation Part 2 of 3 (Copenhagen)

Copenhagen! Over the Bridge and thanks to good preparation (blogthanks to: Stickeri, Stickera, Stickeralla and 123Strikk that I found through Stickigt). I had no trouble finding Sommerfuglen south of Ströget (Vandkunsten 3). What fantastic shop. Not only filled with all luxary yarn, but also their own selections of yarns. Dearest patient Husband took a walk, and I just digged in. Hanne Falkenberg Ahh, what variety, and a great list to figure out what fits and not.
I bought my SECOND HF kit! Turqoise and lime! Studio 9! Thats mine! And then I found the same wonderful Kidmohair that I have rambled about before. Ha, I already had a good stock on that and so much cheaper! But, lucky lucky copenhagen knitters. Having this great yarn easily to access. Of course the usual Garnstudio and Rowan, but Vivian Höxbro, and Hanne Falkenbergs daughter had also a new line out. But I was most impressed by the cashmere, angora-blend and the Silk. In the yarn picture you can see the hank I bought hanging lowest row on they yellow. And the scotland tweed. Cashmere was just a bit to expensive. But great yarn filled the store. And many knitted models to look at. The great ladies also introduced me to the magic sweater, such a smart pattern. A must knit...So I bought a warm rich yellow silk to spiff up my green silk, and extra tweed to make a second sweater based on HF kit. Too bad she just few that fits "real women" like me. But take a second look at these shelfs. My husband came back twice to drag me away. He is just the kindest companion to have. Letting me indulge in a yarn heaven. By the way, It is his birthday today. And he is not in to cake.
And then I found the new lovely buttons. I really hit it with them. Great. And I do make my own buttons. So, what to say? Lime, turqoise that what just fit the yarn I have been stocking. And I bought the Marianne Ishager book Strikk, that I have earlier ignored. Now, I realized the truely amazing patterns in the book, as well as the mix of different yarns and qualities. She is a lady in my taste. Wow, those danish designers are just so fashionable. I could really have spent a day there, but life is to short, and I needed a good Caffe Latte. So, we hit the streets of the city. It is really beautiful in Copenhagen. Somehow I walked around and ended up on Fiolstrade. There are two yarnshops. The first Strikkebutiken, had Annie Blatt yarn and Noro, but I was still filled with Summerfuglen, so that did not feel like a fresh buy. But then I went to Uldstedet. The Ishager yarn Twinni and Spinni was filling an entire wall.
And, I realized that the list of "missing" twinni (I do have a project awating completion yarn - no it is not started, but a great excuse to buy all shades of purple (and they are many)). So, I guessed, and throwed in some other random colours. Wow, Great yarn. And also the potential to be something, but the guy, very nice and polite, was clearly not a yarnaddict and a knitting freak, sooner some relatives son in need of a summerwork. Not really the sparkle for a pig-out buyingsession. But on the outside I found angora merino (70% angora) in lime from Gepard which was impossible to resist, so a very small bag was aquired. Ahh. Copenhagen. Wonderful Copenhagen. Where a large beer is 75cl (hick). Of course we went on the DEMON in Tivoli, had good food and long walks, as well as a tour on the canals to look at the new hamburger (sorry, new opera-house). Anyhow, My crazy walkabouts sniffed out a NEW yarn-place Bette Design, just on a sidestreet to Ströget (North) Klosterstraede 20. She had just opened, and was not very well stocked, but she had one of my danish favourites Nikolaj yarn, which is I bought in the mix of lambwool, Tussah Silk and alpacka, I give her the thumbs up. This will be promising. Since the other dealer of Nikolaj I know lives in Aarhus. At least I could add a store to the already expert-lists!

2nd Yarnvacation (!) Part 1 of 3

As you faithful readers (thanks for all wonderful comments!) notice, we took off again. It was storm and thunder warning, so not for beginner-sailers. Instead we just hopped in the car going south. And- just before fivish I realized we only had reached Norrköping, and my "very much longed for" yarnspinnery (Östergötlands Ullspinneri) was about to close. On phone, (thanks mobile!), the very nice Börje agreed to re-open for an evening visit (that is what I call service!) So, we took a FIKA (brought from home) outside waiting for him. It was hot. The grasshoppers played, and the sheep was chewing away in the background. And a great Giabatta and Caffe Latte, that is FIKA! just some miles from the main road. Silence. A car. Two cars.And finally I entered paradise. Hubby took a book (Life of Trees) and I digged in.
Oh, this quality of yarn is unbelievable. It is like cotton. But it is very well selected and spun wool. Truely the luxury wool in Sweden. I grabbed lime that actually is a weird yellow, and purple/lilac. And some blues, and of course the yarn to to my other Latvian Mitten (I ran out ;-). And... ok, I will show you. This is just part 1. Anyhow, Börje and I started to yap about yarn, copycats, promotion and sales. There yarn sells more in Japan than anywhere else. I think if US got hold of it, it would sell out. It is honest great wool-yarn, with a quality of cashmere and cotton. I just do not get any better. I swear. Noone can say that this yarn itches. And the Do-Redo yarn is a bit thicker, and just yummy. I would take it for cotton if
I didn't know. I just wonder how they treat the yarn since they do not do the coloring themselves. I sure hope there is no superwash treatment on it, cause it doesn't felt well, and I would strongly recommend them to remove any similar process. So, somehow that is my very unconfirmed suspision, that I forgot to ask about. But I guess they don't. Their blues are especially great. I wish for more shades of green. Like turqoise, and a more blue-green that is not minty or too dark. Colours are so important and so determining for a great quality yarn. Anyway, I ended up giving away my Vouge magazine), which I think is the right niche for them. But look at the blends. I just think they are fantastic. So, here I stalled. Just could not choose.
So I went into "sampling mode". Which mean I buy some hanks to try it. Also got some white to experiment on my own colouring. How wonderful. Just go there if you have a chance. I sure hope their son updates their web, so it is easy to order from the web. They are worth it. Go there (link in english!). Swedish quality yarn! I came out with two Large shoppingbags (!) Hubby sighed. We then went to Toftaholm, a historical hotel near a lake, had a walk around the old ruin, and a cooling swim. Ahh. I just love yarn vacations. And swimming in a large cool lake on a summer eve. Ahh. Sweden in the summer...