madrid

Madrid is a busy and lively city. A bit overcrowded sometimes.... This is a view of Puerta del Sol, our hotel was just around the corner.
Madrid is een heel drukke en levendige stad. Een beetje te druk soms... Dit is Puerta del Sol op een kalm moment, ons hotel was hier om de hoek.

Some people really do everything to find the last parking space...
Sommigen doen veel moeite om geparkeerd te geraken...

It was even busier around the river, where the Madrilennos celebrated San Isidro.
Aan de rivier was het nog drukker, want daar vierden de Madrilenen San-Isidro, de patroonheilige van de stad.

You can find some peace and quiet if you walk a bit further into Parco de Retiro.
Een beetje rustiger is het in het Retiro Park, maar dan moet je wel een beetje verder wandelen dan de roeivijver en het ijsjeskraam....

Or you can visit a yarn store : Lanas Sixto, in Calle de Atocha - lots of Katia yarn and a friendly owner.
Of je kan een wolwinkel bezoeken : Lanas Sixto in de Calle de Atocha - veel Katia garens, en een vriendelijke eigenaar.

And what did I bring home? I always try to 'buy local', so in this case Spanish yarn. My own yarn store has Katia, so I bought different stuff : one hank of some blue 100% wool, 2 balls of a bulky purple thick and thin yarn, and one ball of sock yarn. The funny thing was that the yarn store owner warned me several times for 100% wool - it has to be handwashed! And the sock yarn turns out to be Italian, not Spanish. Oh well, it's a souvenir from a lovely shop.
Wat heb ik meegebracht? Ik probeer altijd een plaatselijke specialiteit te kopen, dus ik was op zoek naar Spaanse garens. Mijn eigen wolwinkeltje heeft veel Katia, dus ik zocht iets anders : een streng 100% blauwe wol, 2 bolletjes zwaar dik/dun garen, en een bolletje sokkenwol. Het was grappig dat de verkoopster mij verschillende keren waarschuwde voor 100% wol - dat moet met de hand gewassen worden! En de sokkenwol blijkt uiteindelijk Italiaans, niet Spaans. Och, 't is een souvenir van een aangenaam kwartiertje in een vriendelijk winkeltje.

yarn shopping in Leuven

Yesterday I went yarn shopping with a Finnish and an American knitter in my home town, Leuven, Belgium. I found Heli from Finland through SP10. I was surfing through the list of participants, and I read on her blog she would be visiting Belgium. So, I proposed to show her around. And Cheryl, contacted me. She found me through Google. (I tried it, when you enter 'yarn stores Brussels' you will find a comment I made on Polly's blog ). I love yarn shopping with fellow fiber addicts !

I live in Leuven, a city of about 100.000 inhabitants. It's 23 minutes by train from Brussels (direction Liège-Luik).

First we hit 'hexagoon', not a yarn shop, but a shop filled with beads, buttons, ribbons, cards and other craft supplies. I was looking to shop for beads for my MS3. Hexagoon is a tiny shop in a backyard street, if you don't know it, you won't stumble upon it. Apparently, lots of people knowabout it, it's always busy. I love it that they really take the time for you, help you find that single button that really finishes of your knit project. But, that also means they take the time for other people, and sometimes you have to wait. Sorry, no pictures, forget to take one !
I bought some beads for my mystery stole 3, but in retrospect they probably are too big.

Hexagoon - Ravenstraat 81 - 3000 Leuven

Then we hit the Bergère de France shop. Their yarns are mostly blends, and not very expensive. They carry BdF, and some novelty yarns by On-line. I love it that they have a (free) catalogue with yarn samples . The new catalogue has arrived, and there are some interesting new yarns (I noticed a wool /alpaca blend, and an organic cotton). Cheryl bought some On-line ladder yarn to 'weave' a necklace, something that the LYSO was demonstrating to her. Heli bought the wool/alpaca to knit some gloves (it can get very cold in Finland!). And I was happy to find the tiniest crochet hook for my mystery stole3, and bought the new pattern book.

Bergère de France - Louis Melsensstraat 1 - 3000 Leuven

We walked into another craft shop, where I bought some more beads. In retrospect, these are too small. I wasn't allowed to take them out the container to try with my new crochet hook.

De Banier creatief - Jan Pieter Minckelersstraat 29 -3000 Leuven

We walked into Veritas, a shop that is part of a chain - they carry a limited yarn selection of Italian yarns (Adriafil), and sock yarns. Their selection changes with the season, they don't have much wool on offer now, it's all about summer yarns. And they have a lot of haberdashery, and lingerie. They had beads, and for the first time I found some indication of size (I am new to beads).

Veritas- Diestsestraat 101 - 3000 Leuven

It was time for some coffee now - we had one in the reading café of the public library. There was a book sale going on, and on each table there was a book. On our table the book title was 'wayward women and wicked ladies' ....

openbare bibliotheek - Rijschoolstraat 101 - 3000 Leuven

After admiring the 500 year old city hall, we went to my favorite yarn shop : 't Wolwinkeltje. They carry everything, from very affordable to very luxurious fibers. Brands are : Scheepjeswol, Anny Blatt, Schachenmayer, Lang, Katia, Lana Grossa, Gedifra, Grignasco, Noro, Rowan ... I love their collection of sock yarns. There are always some sale bins outside. For cross stitch or patchwork crafters, they also have a nice selection. It's a small shop, but it's crammed with good stuff.

For the first time somebody knew what I meant by 'size 8 beads'. So I bought some more . Fortunately, you can get a lot of beads for not much money. And I bought some more yarn to finish of my Lizard ridge afghan. Heli bought sock yarn, and Cheryl found the right size circulars for her felted bag.

't Wolwinkeltje - Parijsstraat 25 - 3000 Leuven

I had a great time, and I think my guests liked it too. So do you want to see some bead shopping?

weekend at the Belgian seaside

I just returned from a long weekend at the Belgian seaside. We had great weather (not warm but very sunny) and I really enjoyed being away. My DH is training to swim/run/bike a triathlon, and basically I was on my own during the day. And knitting was just not possible, because of my wrist problems.

Of course, I had to check out the yarn stores over there, and I found one that was called 'Dominique', - Zeelaan 72, 8660 De Panne. More a general hobby store, but they had a small but nice selection of Katia, Nomotta and Gedifra yarns.

Of course I had to buy some yarns, but I won't show it here. My SP10 already found my blog, and I still want to keep a bit of a surprise to her.

After all that shopping, I had a nice coffee in a place called 'Kommilfoo' - Veurnestraat 83, 8660 De Panne. You can also eat there, and it looked very nice, but I had a next stop planned on my yarn-hunting trip.

Net terug van een lang weekend aan de Belgische kust - mooi weer (wel wat koud), veel volk, echt een vakantiegevoel. Jan is aan het trainen om een triatlon te zwemmen/fietsen/lopen, en overdag moest ik mezelf dus bezighouden. Ik besloot dan maar de wolwinkels onveilig te gaan maken. Ik vond er één in De Panne met de toepasselijke naam 'Dominique'. Meer een hobbywinkel, met een kleine, maar interessante selectie van Katia, Schachenmayer Nomotta en Gedifra garens. Wat ik gekocht heb toon ik hier niet, het moet nog even geheim blijven voor mijn geheime vriendje. Daarna even een koffietje gedronken in een gezellige brasserie. Op naar mijn volgende adresje !

I was close to the French border, and looked up the nearest Phildar shop.

It was in Rosendael, a suburb of Dunkerque. Although it is in France, all the little villages there have Flemish names.This Phildar shop was not big, but the lady was very helpfull, we really had a nice chat. Whoever is interested, I also recommend a visit to the Phildar website, where you can browse all pattern books (first go to 'magasins, and then click 'catalogues'). I love the Phildar patterns. I bought 3 pattern books (all for gifts).

Most Phildar yarns are natural/synthetic blends, so for yarn I want to see them before I buy. Nothing beats touching the actual yarn.I found 3 new summer yarns to try out : Phil bambou, Phil Lin, Phil Thalassa (one bamboo, one linen/viscose blend and one cotton/seacell blend). This shop has weird opening hours (10 to 12, and 14 to 19h), but is also open on sunday morning, when there is a market going on in this village. I had a great afternoon, and would do it again any time !

Omdat ik niet zover van de Franse grens was, besloot ik een Phildar winkel te bezoeken (die zijn er ook wel in België, maar niet waar ik woon). Deze was in Rosendael, een kleine voorstad van Duinkerken. Alle dorpjes daar hebben Vlaamse namen. Dit was niet echt een grote winkel, maar een zeer behulpzame winkelierster (zonder opdringerig te zijn). Ik beveel iedereen aan ook eens een kijkje te nemen op de Phildar website, waar je door alle patronenboeken kan bladeren. Ik heb 3 patronenboeken gekocht als cadeautjes. Veel Phildar garens zijn een mengeling van synthetische en natuurlijke garens, daarom vind ik het echt wel nodig om de bolletjes te voelen, alvorens te kopen. Ik vertrok met 3 bolletjes van nieuwe zomergarens : Phil bambou (100% bamboe), Phil Lin (40% katoen, 15% linen, 45% viscose), en Phil Thalassa (75% katoen, 15% seacell = gemaakt van zeewier !). De openingsuren van de winkel vind je ook op de Phildar website, en de winkelierster vertelde me ook dat er een markt doorgaat op zondagmorgen ! Lijkt me een mooie uitstap. Toen ben ik maar moe en voldaan terug naar Oostende gereden (waar ons hotelletje stond). Ik heb nog wat adressen verzameld, maar dat zal dan voor een ander uitstapje zijn.

first finished object of 2007

I did finish the Jaywalkers socks, and hope to wear them soon. They are drying as I speak. This colorway wasn't too colorfast, my hands and needles came out stained after knitting with it. That's why I decided to give them a good wash first.

I frogged the brown socks. I didn't like the tiny cable in that dark color. And I lost a bunch of stitches when a needle slid out of the wip (work in progress) in my purse. I'll need to find a pattern better suited to this yarn.
I have also been inspecting my stash.

This is the cupboard in my livingroom, filled with oddballs, or special yarns, just enough for small projects. It's next to my TV, so when there's nothing on, I can admire my stash.

To keep my resolution of knitting from stash, I swatched with a variegated cotton paired up with some Rowan kidsilk haze. I bought the cotton in Venice in 2005.

The name of the shop was Lellabella, very nice but expensive. The kidsilk haze is from my local yarnstore, 't Wolwinkeltje in Leuven. (I must write one day about the yarnstores in my home town). The idea was to knit 'Tamarah', but my swatch learns me that that won't work. So now I'll have to think a bit more about what to do with these yarns.

And the jawbreaker cardigan is 'on hold' now. I finished the back, but am having second thoughts about the front. They are cut away, and slant towards the neck opening. I am wondering if this look will work on somebody who is not as flat as the model in the magazine.

Torino yarn store adresses

for anyone interested :
Mary has a review of a Torino weekend trip on her blog :
http://silverbellsallinarow.blogspot.com/2006/06/sweltering-in-foreign-parts.html
The store mentioned is :
Filati Effegiesse
C. So G.Cesare 182
10154 Torino
Tel: 011 2462160

I found one in the suburbs :
Emporio della lana
45/bis Via Massaia Guglielmo Cardinale
10147 Torino
Tel: 011 251296

And another one more centrally located :
Filati Effegiesse
Via San Secondo 44
Torino
Tel : 011 5611363
This one had a nice window display of Xmassy yarns (red and green and sparkle yarns)

I hope this can be usefull for somebody, and I would love a report if you actually visit these yarn stores