Wednesday, August 09, 2006

hooray! MORE YARN!

Because that's just what I need, man. Yesterday, I met up with the lovely Neelia for the first time ever, for a high-powered fast-paced raid on Fadeninsel, the best yarn shop I have ever seen in Europe. Neelia was nearly overcome at the lusciousness of the yarns on display, but did recover a little when she realised the high acrylic content of most German designer yarns... I still haven't got a photo of Fadeninsel to show you, but I must do. It's a cute little shop in a funky, very Turkish neighbourhood, a shop run by sharp-eyed women who anticipate your needs before you've thought of them. Yesterday, the woman in charge was kind enough to speak (flawless) English to Neelia and switch to German when talking with me, which is an attention I liked. Usually, service personnel and many other Germans I encounter here either have no English at all, or are so pleased at the chance to practice their English on a native speaker that they don't let me speak German. But not in Fadeninsel!

I shall not report the extravagances of the lovely Neelia, but look what I got:



Sock yarn! I've never made socks before, but now may well be the time. The yarn on the left is going to be made into leafy embossed socks, because it's all autumnal and all, and the yarn on the right - bought on sale! - is going to be my learner pair. Neelia suggests Jaywalker for the pattern, but I'm not sure yet.

I also got the new Rebecca magazine:



and got inspired by this photo. I have all this báinín aran yarn sitting around in Ireland, and have never been convinced as to what to do with it. I always think of báinín jumpers as being similar to Celtic armband tattoos and Sinéad O'Connor, part of the Oirish cultural revival of the early nineties, and more than a bit embarassing now. But a funky waist-nipped aran, with a scoop neck instead of the one pictured, might be just the trick. Hmmm. I have two weeks to decide.

Talking of decisions:



My lovely girlfriend brought me back this Fleece Artist yarn from the most amazing yarn store I have ever seen, in Toronto. I am so lucky. It is just luscious: slubby and rich-coloured and hand-painted and thoroughly, thoroughly North American. I so want to do it justice: there's 750 grammes of it, more than enough for a garment, but which garment? I've never seen patterns for anything this thick, and I don't want to make something that looks like a cropped sleeping bag. Any suggestions very, very welcome.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, why, WHY did I not go to Fadeninsel? I passed it by on the other side of the road and somehow did not realise it was a wool shop. Sob.

You must teach me to make soacks once you have mastered the mysteries!

And I do love the pretty Canadian wool. What about a bag, or do you have enough of those?

la glitz said...

It's actually too much yarn for a bag! I was thinking more a structured cardigan, but I'll see what the clever peoples over at the LJ knitting community come up with, too.

Sock tutorials in due course, I promise!

felinity said...

Oooh, socks! Good luck and have fun! For what it's worth, I found the top-down version on Knitty more straightforward, but the toe-up version more satisfying (eventually, after all the tearing-out of hair).

(It is all thanks to you, and your original gift, that I mastered socks at all, you know.)

Anonymous said...

What a lovely girlfriend you must have! Why don't you make something for her?

Prof. Askey said...

But you left out the crucial detail of what city Fadeninsel is in. I'm headed to Germany in the summer and plan to use some of my days alone (without partner or kids whose needs require attention and self-sacrifice) to hunt yarn shops.