and so much more, with thought provoking exhibitions, eclectic art on the streets and in the subway, friendly folks and fabulous food.
No tour of a new city would be complete for me nowadays without a trip to a local craft shop - and I managed to visit two whilst in Stockholm. We'd factored Svensk Hemslojd, the Swedish handcraft store, into our shopping itinerary but we happened upon Klara Tyg & Garn by chance. Stockholm really is a lovely city to wander round.
Svensk Hemslojd on Norrlandsgatan promotes traditional Swedish handicrafts and sells beautiful Scandinavian home-wares, including hand-carved wooden spoons, colourful glass vases, linen table runners, woollen throws, embroidered mats and pretty espresso cups.
It also sells the cutest toys,
everything an embroiderer might wish for,
and, of course, wool - my particular happy place!
Klara Tyg & Garn is a fabric and wool shop, crammed with material, yarn and notions. The very friendly proprietor kindly stayed open beyond her usual hours to allow us to browse her wee shop in Klara Norra Kyrkogata.
I purchased one ball of wool in each shop and set about knitting with them as soon as I got home.
'Strickning' is Swedish for knitting so here's what my souvenir yarn has become in the weeks since our wee holiday.
I made another On The Edge Shawl, a pattern I love by Joy McMillan, The Knitting Goddess, and used virtually every scrap of the beautiful Hjelholts Uldspinderi colour-changing wool I bought in Svensk Hemslojd. See how much I had left after the pretty picot bind off?
I'm not renowned for my sock knitting but I purchased a jumbo ball of Jarbo Raggi aran weight self -striping sock wool at Klara Tyg & Garn. Looking for a straightforward pattern, I found Darling Socks by Silvia, which she's generously provided free on Ravelry. I'll be making more of these as they were a fun knit and great on-the-go project.
But none of this souvenir strickning is staying here - both the shawl and the socks are destined for other homes. The shawl will be a Christmas present and I chose the colours with the recipient in mind. I'm sending the socks to a friend in the Borders who collects hand-knits to gift to the homeless in her area. The joy for me has been in the making and I'll always remember our trip to Stockholm and the special wool I bought there.
Besides - I hope to visit Stockholm again and there are several other wool shops in the city that we didn't get to visit this time!
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