Marias garn

Yesteryday I decided to take a stroll from Mariatorget to Slussen. There are many places in Stockholm that I have yet to explore. On St:Paulsgatan is a lovely little LYS called Marias garn (translates to Maria's yarn). They carry an assortment of their own yarns and a few brands but I don't really recall any of the big names. Unfortunately yesterday was really hot and since it's not really common to have air conditioning in Sweden, it was really really warm inside the shop. Makes sense since the walls are lined with shelves of yarn.

Anyways.

This shop is filled with an assortment of yarns made from an assortment of materials. The colour selection is fabulous and from the conversation I overheard, the staff is quite knowledgeable. They also have an assortment of already knitted pieces (sweaters and shawls and so forth) so you can touch and see the results of the yarns they have.

It kind of made me miss Lettuce Knit in Kensington back home. How I love that shop.

I couldn't resist temptations, so I bought a 200g hunk of cotton yarn. The plans are to knit some sort of tank top with it. It looks quite fabulous. Here's hoping that it will turn out as great as I imagine it.

They use paper "sandwich" bags for purchases, which I think is pretty cute.

I informed my mom of my plans to knit my cousin a dress from the Interweave Knits spring issue. She informed me that my cousin is 5 now. So now I will have to knit this dress in about 1 years time. But I think it can still be done.

I'm gonna go make myself a swatch out of the cotton I bought.

a bit of a delay

I haven't visited the yarn stores here in Sweden but it seems that I will have to wait till I'm back in Toronto to get the Louet Euroflax yarn for the dress.

Luckily one of my favourite yarn store carries it. In fact quite a few shops in Toronto carry it but I have to say that my favourite in Toronto is Lettuce Knit. The staff there are super nice and the selection is just big enough that it's not overwhelming. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Romni Wool on Queen but the shop is just WAY too big and there's so much stuff to look at that I forget what I'm looking for. Not to mention the fact that Lettuce Knit was right by my work when I worked in Toronto. It was my little sanctuary after hours of sitting in front of the computer.

My first LYS in Stockholm

Yesterday I went to check out the STREET julmarknad. There were so many talented people there selling their beautiful works.

There was an outdoor bit.



Then there were more stands inside.



As you can see, there were quite a lot of people shopping. I got some sausages and cheese for Fredrik. I'm hoping that one day in the future I'll be able to have my own stand.

I checked out this LYS that was in the area, sticka & virka. It's a tiny little yarn store, probably the smallest I've ever been to. BUT don't let the size fool you. It was packed with so many lovely yarns.

There was this one yarn that I found most interesting. I don't recall the name of the yarn but I'll describe it. It's wool and comes in some rather splendid colours. However, the yarn is untwisted so it's very fragile. The lady in the store showed me this bag she made with the yarn. It was knitted then felted. It looked quite fantastic felted. I think it will also be great for beginners spinning.

I WAS going to check out Knit Lab but my friend called. We ended up going for coffee and pie.

Right now Ull sleeps on my lap while I watch Shakespeare in Love and my butt is slowly falling asleep.