Yak Attack

My buddy Sheilds went on vacation last month to Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazhakistan and found wool!! A bit lump of it.

It's roughly spun, lumpy and includes the usual yard clippings, but also amazingly soft. Not sure what it was or what it's going to become, it hasn't said anything yet...

Sister Socks

Just to torture the eldest with pics, I've got some handspun knit up into Sister Socks. I was so excited to finish my first "nice" wool on the wheel, but disappointed that it wasn't totally and completely perfectly twisted and even. Erica made the great suggestion to knit it a bit tighter and these socks are brilliant. Mohair, wool and spun full of love - whose got lucky siblings?? ;)

Calendar Girl

Kimberley posted about Deb's contest and I totally agree. I hate having gray pictures during the winter months (whether it's November or February) and I love my lighthouse calender, cause I always think they look cool. No matter the season, they always make me think about the seaside and visiting Mum's in Nova Scotia. Speaking of which : 2 more weeks and I'll be there!!!!! I can already taste the fried clams :)

Wool vs Acrylic : The Final Debate

After the shock of my first wool shop find in Karlovy Vary, The Acrylic Heaven (and literally, I mean shock - how many balls of acrylic can you sift through before everything and everyone gives you an electric shock!) and my yummy lunch, my blitz visit to the Handwork store was every wool lovers' dream.

In every store I enter in the Czech Republic, I ask if they speak German or English. Few admit to understanding English and fewer still want to practice. But the wonderful nice lady in the wool shop preferred and spoke wonderful English. She had a shop full of all sorts of needlework supplies - from Opal sock yarn to cross-stitch kits. The wool set up was the same as the other shop - one basket with every colour from a certain series - one has to choose their wool-type and colour and the owner delves into what must be miles of shelving in the back of the shop to get the amount needed.

This is the best part! The first thing my eyes fixed onto was a apple-bushel basket on it's side full of skeins of 100% wool in natural-looking colours. Nice Shop Lady explained that all the wool in the basket was spun in a factory only 10 miles away and that same factory spins wool for all of Europe. She pulled out a drawer with sample wool and their labels for loads of countries. Here is one for Denmark-Love Garn (how sweet is that?) :

Then, the other best part - 100gram skeins of 100% wool cost approx 2.25 Euro (like $3!). God Bless the Eastern Bloc!

I checked out the web address on the skein labels when I got home and found every single type of wool that ever existed (from sock yarn to fun fur to superwash wool and 100% felter's dream) , and the costs are about half of the shop prices. All of it shippable in the EU - and should be import-tax free up to €200! Woot! Woot! Woot!

The only reason I haven't ordered yet is because my Czech isn't quite up to snuff. But, hey, that's what neighbors are for, right??!! I bet a batch of sugar-glazed cinnamon rolls would butter her right up ;)


Below are my stash enhancers from the acrylic mix family. Can you believe Red Heart has made it as far as the Czech Republic???

Karl Wie War I

Mini breaks are my new favourites.
One tends to get a lot more out the time away (it's a mini-break - break is the biggest part of the description - I don't have to "do" anything other than be on a break)
The cat can take care of itself for a day or two - big ol' bowl of food, a pillow in the sun and a cracked cellar window keeps him plenty happy.
Travel time is minimal. Just enough time to catch up on some sock knitting in the car. And, when you live in central Europe, you can pop off to another country - like the Czech Republic.

We spent Halloween night in Karlovy Vary (as the Germans say: Karlsbad) . My neighbor Denisa is Czech and got us a great deal in a nice little hotel right smack in the middle of town.
The next day we hiked up above the town and got some great pics!
Actually, we had a little help getting up the mountain:










When we finished winding our way down to the town, we stopped by one of the healing springs. Jaywalker for middle sister wants to show off that it's nearing completion ;)

Then we walked through the entire town and back again chasing down a wool shop that changed address every time we asked directions. After miles of effort, I was rewarded with a shop that will be burned in my head as the Czech Acrylic Heaven. And it wasn't even cool Eastern European acrylic, it was all German imports :(

Minutes later, I was comforting myself with yummy potato croquettes and asparagus-topped, blue-cheese-smothered chicken breast. Neighbor Denisa walked us through a very tasty visit in her home country. Some of the more interesting dishes were potato dumplings with smoked meat inside and beef roasted in a sweet sauce and served with cranberries :)
We finished our lunch and shopped our way back to the cars. The weather had changed dramatically from the previous day and I was without new soft gloves, jacket or even proper shoes (turns out Keds don't hold up too well in freezing rain).
As we sloshed through the last steps to the parking garage, I looked up and swear I saw the word "Handwork" in the distance. I mumbled something to Dave through my frozen lips and ran up the steps leading to what I was praying wasn't a mirage.
And it wasn't - look at the sign on the window, too: the needles and yarn. We call this shop Wool Heaven. Picture of the wool coming soon!