Mission: to investigate all the yarn possibilities in central Zürich

Participants: Mel and Helen…on a mission

We set out to visit the 5 shops that I’d tracked down on the internet, only one of which I’d ever been to before, and also I planned to show Mel the amazing button shop in the Niederdorf (old town).

Shop 1: Vilfil (Kreuzstrasse 39) – billed as the biggest and best in the city. Not in an area that I frequent very often, so although I had a hazy idea that it was there and I think I’ve even driven past it, I’d never been inside (I’m ashamed to say). Unfortunately a final check on the web yesterday morning alerted me to the fact that the shop was closed for its 2 week summer holiday. So strike that one.

Shop 2: Hand-Art (Neumarkt 10) – this was the shop I had already been to. Small and a little old-fashioned, but well stocked, although really only with the well-known brands that everyone has here – lots of Lana Grossa and Lang. Don’t get me wrong, both of these are really nice yarn producers and Lana Grossa in particular strikes me as really good value for money and is lovely to knit with. But hand-dyed, interesting yarns? No siree. Not here. But the shop was fairly bustling with nice middle-aged ladies and seems to be doing well.

I weakened a little and bought these:

Purple Lana Grossa Merino, which I’m going to use to make a Soay cardigan, and turquoise heather Lang Donegal together with the shop’s own patten for a longer loose cardigan with cabling in the fitted top part. Both gorgeous yarns, but so far I can’t make head nor tail of the pattern I bought – the pattern is typed all but for the cabling pattern, which is handwritten, illegible and photocopied badly. A little disappointing really, but at least I can go back and pester the shop lady until I understand what I’m doing.

Shop 3 : Roosens button shop (Napfgasse 5) – nooooooo – another one on holiday and closed for 2 weeks. Strike number 2.

At this point, exhausted from our endeavours we adjourned to the nearby Cafe Schober for a little R & R, but through inhuman strength managed to avoid the patisseries…..

We did however entertain the other customers by sitting out front and having our very own Blue Peter moment – as Mel, complete with swatch she had made earlier, introduced me to the mysteries of knitting i-cord. I-cord, for those of you who don’t know it, gives the most delightful finish and I’m going to need to know how to do it when I embark on Soay. Now I know – and am enchanted by it. Another one of those really brilliant little gems of technique that you come across occasionally in knitting. How have I knitted for so long without knowing how to do this? And does I-cord really stand for idiot cord? I hope not, I think it’s sheer genius cord!

Isn’t this a lovely little swatch? – what’s more it’s in the yarn that Mel made her Soay cardigan in – which looks fabulous!

I’m not sure that Schobers has really seen the like before….but what the heck…I guess we are of an age when it’s almost alright to be a little eccentric in public!

We then resumed our mission:

4) Shop 4: La Maglia (Oberdorfstrasse 3) – categorically does not exist. There is a toyshop in its place, which I think has been there for really quite a long time. Why therefore is La Maglia still in all the city listings? It’s a mystery to me. Strike 4.

5) Shop 5: Zaubernuss (Augustinergasse No.8 ) – this shop at least exists, but quite how, by merit of a small basket of brightly coloured mohair in one corner  it can call itself a wool shop is beyond me. Strike 5.

6) Shop 6 : Unnamed shop near Stauffacher (and to my shame I forgot to write down either the name or the address once we had found it) – woohooo- a wool shop that actually exists. We almost fell over in our euphoria, but quickly pulled ourselves together when we realized that they carried exactly the same sock as Hand-Art, but a lot less of it. But hey, what the heck, it exists and we found it!!

All in all….well we had a lovely time, I bought wool, I learned to do i-cord, so it wasn’t a write off. Of course Vilfil may turn out to be an absolute gem when it’s actually open, but otherwise, it was a bit of a paltry showing for Switzerland’s biggest city. Or does anyone out there know something we don’t?

Helen

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 6th, 2011 at 10:44 am and is filed under Knitting, Places. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.