Yarncat Fiber Trip 2009 (9) Helsinki part III

Sorry, I haven't been blogging for a few weeks because...you know...Christmas and it is the peak time for my kind of business, so now I am back to talk about my trip to the Baltic.

My last day in Helsinki was very special coz I got the chance to join the Helsinki knitters for their 'knitting tram' event.

See? The tram is coming! The event is hosted on an old tram that all of us rent together.





Hello, knitters!







The tram goes around the city centre of Helsinki, it gives me a chance to see the city in the comfort of sitting in a cool tram with whole bunch of knitters, what more can I ask?

Yes, there is more one can ask...the lucky draw! I didn't win anything but I was happy enough to have the goodie bag, one free skein of yarn is included.





That's me knitting...



After the event, some of the knitters and I went for lunch together and one of the knitters mentioned the Moomin shop. I am a big fan of the story, so I decided to go there to have a look...



It is a lovely shop and I got a few things to send to my friends and family as souvenir since some of them are fans of the story too.

Here is another I LOVE about nordic countries, apart from all the woolly stuff, is their love of sauna. Anywhere you go, you have sauna. My booking in the hotel included the daily use of sauna, like in most places up there. It is so nice to go to the sauna after a day in the cold.



However, everything reaches an end. It is the end of my Helsinki trip...



On my way back to pick up my luggage from the hotel to leave, I passed by the old market...



More Moomin stuff in a souvenir shop...



The market is a lovely place to buy all the local products, just that it's a pity I can't buy any of them since there was still a long way to go before going back home to Dublin...



Outside the old market, you have to market place.



I wasn't even meaning to look, then I walked pass this...



The yarn is handdyed by natural from flowers and mushrooms, I told myself, I HAVE TO HAVE THEM!

Having an extra bag of yarn marked the end of my Helsinki trip, so I took the ferry and back to Tallinn I went...

Byebye Helsinki, and I tell you, 'I will be back!'

Yarncat Fiber Trip 2009 (8) Helsinki continued

After running into the first yarn store by accident, I went on my way to the yarn store that I was supposed to go.

On the way, I popped into some other things that interests me, like antique stores...

Beautiful stuff in this one, but a bit pricy, a lot of old toys though if that's your thing.

Here I am, the second yarn store Menita.

Menita is supposed to be the LYS which got the biggest collection in Helsinki. They have yarn from different nordic countries, Norway, Finland, Estonia, etc. They also hold some more international brands, like Rowan, Debbie Bliss, etc. I got a few cheap balls of sock yarns. Sock yarns are always the best 'souvenir yarn'. You know exactly what kind of project you are going to use that (socks!), they are small and you will always remember the destination whenever you wear the socks.

This trip is not just ALL about yarn, I did visit some churches...

Then, I went on to the National Museum of Finland. There are a few interesting items I want to share with you.

These jewellery are made with wires. They kind of roll the wires into balls and put them in together like beads, very interesting concept.

Of course, as we know, spindle has been there for a long time, look at these from the Viking time.

Carder from the Viking time...

That's how the women supposed to look like. I wonder if she is a spinner too?

Very beautiful fashion back then if you ask me, here is the male outfit of the same period...

I realise the nordic people have a thing to metalworks. Look at these beautiful craftmanship...

Here you got an ancient calendar...



Finland has been part from Russian, Sweden and Germany during different period of time in their history. Even with these beautiful jewellery, you will be able to see the different influences from all these cultures.





Beautiful stainedglass of the National Museum building...



...and the impressive ceiling...



On the second floor, you have the history of people, a section about how they live, work, play before.

As you spinners already know, spinning wheel is a very important object in our lives back then...



But spinning is more than just functional, look at these amazing distaffs, then you see what I mean...



...because sometimes the tools themselves are arts in their own rights.

Look at these felting board...



These lazy kates made modern version look like a joke...



At the end of the visit comes the souvenir shop time, there is something really funny I found in the shop. I saw that and I didn't understand what it was for. So I went to ask the lady at the counter. She told me this is a wool angel.



Will anyone of you know what a wool angel does? Coz if it will bring me more yarn if I put on the window or something, I will definitely do it.

While I was about to leave, I spotted the broken glass on the door and I went like, 'Jesus, someone got to fix it...' until I realised it is part of the exhibit!



The piece of glass was broken by a bullet during Finnish civil war.

(to be continued...)

Yarncat Fiber Trip 2009 (7) Helsinki

Right after the craft fair, I wasted no time, I had a date with the knitters in Helsinki, so here I come-the ferry to Helsinki...

I didn't expect it would be such a big ship with so many floors.

In the supermarket, there were so many Finnish products...

No, I still haven't got used to the idea of reindeer eating...

After a little more than two hours on the ferry with whole lots of stuff to see and chatted with friends on the internet (they have broadband on the ferry! That makes me really wonder why can't Eircom in Ireland can't even manage to make the broadband in my house works sometimes while people in that part of Europe have internet on ferry!), I arrived to Helsinki.

Wasting no time, I immediately went to the Stitch and Bitch Helsinki!

They are a wonderful crowd of knitters. I also love the fact that they are such a big group! You are going to see more about them in the coming days when we will go on a knitting tram event together.

After the Stitch and Bitch, I went back to the hotel.

Apparently this is a hotel with a huge awareness on environmental protection, I really enjoyed my stay there. One of the things I find it amazing is they even think about people who suffers from allergies like myself! All the fiber used in the room are natural, I have never been in a hotel where I feel so comfortable and free of allergies. I will definitely go back there if I go to Helsinki again.

Look, you can even sort your trash in the bin in your room, amazing...

Waking up in the morning, having a wonderful breakfast in the hotel with organic products and fair trade products, I headed to the city centre to poke around.

Here I stopped by the market square.

Have you noticed that there was a fur trader on the right? Here comes a conversation I had with the man.

Man: 'Hi!'
Yarncat: 'Hi! It's lovely...'
Man: 'Yep, this one is white fox, this one is red fox...etc'
Yarncat: 'What do you mean? Are they fake?'
Man: '???......Nope, there is no fake here, they are all real fur!'
Yarncat: '.............they are nice, but.......have a good day.' (ran away)

Yes, it totally freaked me out, I have never seen real fur before and I am a volunteer in an animal shelter, no judgemental, but fur is not my thing, sorry.

While I was poking around town sightseeing...

...I was really impressed how safe Helsinki seems to be, can you tell me what's wrong with this photo?

Yes, the bikes have only one lock! In Dublin, you will need 5!

While I was just walking around, I walked by this...

Come on! With your trained knitters' eyes, you should be able to see it now!

Sypressi is a beautiful shop. Half of the shop devoted to already knitted stuff while half of the shop devoted to yarn from all the nordic countries. I got a few ball of very special yarn from this shop, the lady is extremely nice and we talked about knitting...

I have also found one funny items from the already-made section...

Cat socks! I am seriously considering to make myself some of these...

The lady also showed me what she was working on...

I think it is probably a good idea for Helsinki weather...

Yarncat Fiber Trip 2009 (6) MardiLaat Craft Fair, Tallinn (continued 2)

(continued from yesterday...)

Apart from knitting, weaving and spinning, there were also a lot of amazing Estonian embroidery works everywhere. in the show.

One of the artists is into using knitted pattern on plastic and paper products. A wonderful idea for knitters who didn't have time to knit...

More different crafts in the show, ceramics...

Weaved products, blanket, ribbons, etc...and knitter...

Woodworks...

Basketry and tied-dye...

Carding...

Isn't it amazing how knitting has become an international language? We all use the same ball winder! I have just the same one!

Lunch time, yoooo hoooo!!!!!!!

No, it is not an ordinary glass of orange juice. This is sea-buckthorn juice. Sea-buckthorn apparently is the little thing in that box on the right. It tastes 99& like orange juice and have even more vitamin than orange juice! I love the drink.

Sandwiches made with farm-made butter, bread, smoked ham, etc...yum!

Traditional Estonian home-made beer. The great thing is, the alcohol level is almost 0. It is good for lunch time.

Natural farm honey, I got some of them, I wish I could get more. As a matter of fact, I am drinking a mug of warm honey as I am typing this right now!

All in all, the fair was a wonderful experience to me, I don't know when could I participate again, but if you are planning on going to Tallinn, try to do that when the fair is on. It is definitely worth it.

Yarncat Fiber Trip 2009 (5) MardiLaat Craft Fair, Tallinn (continued)

(continued from yesterday...)

Apart from looking at the yarn and all the woolly stuff, knitters themselves also worth mentioning too. I have never been to a craft fair where so many knitters are actually in action...

Of course, there are also weavers in action since this year's theme is weaving afterall...

During the whole time when everyone is browsing around looking at different crafts, there is Estonian live band playing on the stage...

Now, let's look at some interesting woolly stuff..

Beautiful felting works well done...

Felt dolls...

Beautiful Estonian knitting with nupps, lying around everywhere...

I know I said 'woolly' stuff, but apparently linen is a very common to use in the Baltic states, I see them everywhere. I didn't get any linen yarn at the end since I am not familiar with their nature and I don't know what to do. But I will keep in mind to try them in the future.

As I said yesterday, there are so many other crafts in the fair that are so interesting as well, like woodworks and ceramics...

Natural beewax candles...

Ceramic beadings...

Metalworks...

There is one thing I am not too used to though...the fur traders. Having animal skins lying around freaked me out a little...though the guy's outfit is really nice, I think.

(to be continued tomorrow...)

Yarncat Fiber Trip 2009 (4) MardiLaat Craft Fair, Tallinn

I didn't even know about the Craft Fair until the German knitters told me they came to Tallinn explicitly for this.

I asked my Estonian friend Helen what it was all about, she said, "ah, it's just craft stuff, nobody cares..." Then I told myself, "that's what usually the native says about interesting things. I used to say the same thing about Eiffel Tower, I'll go and have a look".

The fair is a bit outside the city centre of Tallinn in the Saku Suurhall stadium. But Helen's driving class is in the area, so we go there together. She goes to her class and I go to my fair.

The moment I enter the fair, I am so glad that I came! Look at this!

Everything is traditional Estonian and with your trained knitters' eye, you should have spotted YARN already, haven't you?

Before going crazy on the yarn stuff, let's have a look at the other passion of mine, food! They are all local products from farms, I already know what I was going to eat for lunch, hehehe...

Here you have this nice gentleman selling traditional Estonian smoked meat and sausages...

Ok, we can't wait any longer, we have to look at YARN! This year's theme apparently is about weaving, they decorated the venue of a lot of weaving stuff...

Look! KNITTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Notice that she is actually starting an Estonian shawl?

Of course, there is yarn everywhere!

This lady made really nice Estonian gloves with traditional embroidery. I don't normally buy gloves made by other people because of knitter's pride, but I know I can't do embroidery like that, so I decided to support the knitter and bought a pair. The blue flower on this pair of gloves that she is holding is the Estonian national flower.

Here you have spinning, notice the people are wearing traditional Estonian clothes?

No, I didn't buy the whole fleece, no...

Felting...

Weaving...

Here you have some finished products, Estonian traditional weaving used in a modern context...

Apart from different kinds of fiber arts, there are other crafts in the fair too. Like traditional Estonian music, I don't know how to call this instrument, I wish someone can tell me.

There are quite a few of metalwork counters too...

(more photos to come tomorrow...)

Yarncat Fiber Trip 2009 (3) The other half?

After the Stitch and Bitch, I decided to walk back to my hotel. While I was poking my nose into different shop windows on the way, I saw this...

I guess someone really got a sense of humour in Tallinn, two lost gloves make one pair...