Berlin Yarn Store Bliss

In an earlier post I wrote about buying yarn in Florence.  I’ve just spent five days on a short holiday in Berlin and although I spent most of my time in the fabulous museums and art galleries (and the fassbender and rausch chocolate  store!), I couldn’t let the opportunity pass to check out one of the yarns stores.  A quick look on line showed several that looked promising but the one I most liked the look of, and which was within reasonable distance of where we were staying was Die-Woll Lust.

It’s in a quiet street, Mittenwalder Strasse, not far from the  Gneisenaustr U station. It was a small shop front but an enticing one.  The window display showed that the lace shawl craze has certainly caught on in this corner of Berlin.

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Aren’t these gorgeous?

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A clever touch – there is a comfortable bench outside to park waiting spouses! I left my husband reading a book and went inside.

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A closer view of the window display from inside the store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a lovely store!  At a table a small group was taking a sock knitting lesson.   Although I speak no German I instantly recognised the gentle burble of a small group of knitters chatting comfortably over the needles.  It must be international!

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I was amused by these  little knitted socks on the chair legs!

 

 

 

 

 

Just look at that wall of  colours!   And this is just a small part of the stock.  The shop is not enormous but packed with the most enticing yarns.  I would say that the shop is particularly strong on luxury quality lace weight and fingering weight yarns, much of it by Filace. They also had a good selection of sock yarns – Regia, Trekking and others.  They also had roving and yarn for felting.  They had a good stock of knitting needles, crotchet hooks and other tools by Knit-Pro, and a small but beautiful selection of shawl pins.

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.Did I buy anything?

Come on, what do you think?

It was difficult to choose.  But I’ll show off my purchases in my next post.

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10,916 Ravellers Can’t be Wrong

It’s hardly original to comment about Citron – 10,916 Ravelry members have made one and it’s in over 7,500 queues. But it’s such a great little shawl, originally published on Knitty by Hilary Smith Callis. I made mine after sitting behind someone wearing one on a training course. I could hardly wait till the break to ask about it. And after seeing mine my sister also made one – so it appears to be a very seductive little garment. To see it is to want it!

I made mine in Juno Alice Lace in a colour called ‘Pot pourri’ which is just the right name – the semi-solid soft pink puts you in mind of the china bowls of slightly dusty dried rose petals you see in English stately homes. This yarn is beautifully soft and silky so my Citron is a real comfort on chilly days.  Best yet – Juno is a small British dying company based in Devon.  The colours are lovely.

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I tend to wear it slightly scrunched up as a scarf. Because the yarn is so soft and fine it is easy to wear under a coat. And because it is so light it also works very well as something to pop on when it starts to get cool at the end of a warm day. (I do just about remember a few of those last summer!)

OK, it has to be admitted that the miles of stockingette might not be to everyone’s taste but somehow it gets a bit addictive. And it’s pleasant TV knitting.

 

 

Be warned that towards the end of this project the rows get VERY long! I made the mad decision to end with a picot – I didn’t calculate how many stitches this involved but it took two evenings to complete. Having done that I was pleased I had as the resulting edge does not roll the way the original design does. It’s a matter of personal taste though.

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