Sunday, May 9, 2010

Yarncat Fiber Trip 2009 (10) Tallinn

(sorry for dead air for so long, being self-employed took away a lot of your time and attention from hobbies, you are thinking about your business 20 hours a day...will talk about that in another post)

So I went back to Tallinn after having a great time with Helsinki knitters...

My friend Helen was going to show me the Old Town of Tallinn the first day I arrived but I got really sick, so I decided to do that again the first day I came back to Tallinn...

Then I walked into a lovely knitting shop...



The lady was peacefully knitting away in the shop. They also sell real estonian lace weight yarn for cheaper price than other souvenir shops, check it out if you visit the Old Town.

The Old Town is very beautiful...





























Then, I walked into an antique shop...



A knitter would have spotted it from the last photo, but here you go again...







(to be continued...soon I hope)

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

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!'