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...