Home again!

Wow! What a trip. Prague is a wonderful and inspirational city. The colors, textures, history and culture are overwhelming. As I look through my photos and note what caught my eye, the color and texture aspect of each shot seem to be the common link. No wonder I love the fiber arts...hmmm...color, texture, history and culture. They all seem to go together.

I bought enough of the persimmon yarn to make a sweater and the mulitcolor boucle is plenty for a wrap or scarf and hat, maybe even mittens.

I found all three of the noted yarn stores from my pre-trip research. Mar-Len was by far the most interesting. They had walls of yarn in many colors. Most were multiple strands of varied plies; ribbon, wool, mohair, boucle, all in different combinations. I am not a big fan of novelty yarn, which seemed to be plentiful, but did find a couple of more natural samples for my collection.

I was so excited to go find new and unusual yarn in this part of the country. But as the facts would have it, we have so much yarn from all around the world available to us, here in the United States, that it is a surprising let down to visit elsewhere. After speaking to friends who have gone to other countries in search of something new and interesting, they also return with similar results.

So, go forth with a new appreciation for your LYS and the artists who create hand dyed or hand spun fibers for our knitting pleasure!

I fooled myself with the weather reports. Leaving my shawl home was a mistake. It was exactly what I needed in the cold of Prague. Two weeks of snow and mostly overcast skies kept the chill on. My first purchase was the kooky, but VERY warm hat that I am wearing in the picture.

A side trip to Cesky Krumlov helped to complete my fiber search. I purchased a pair of hand knit socks from a local woman who was sellingthem in the town square. These bulky cable-knit woollies are a memento of my trip, and I wore them as slippers during my flight home.

If I had lived in one of the many castles in the area, I would think that this sort of lovely bulky knitted wear would have been in high demand! Brrr.

The trip was so full and interesting, that I will probably be adding some further tidbits in the upcoming posts. But for right now, a cup of tea, a nap, a little knitting on the socks that I have neglected and my family are on the agenda. Ahhh, jet-lag, a worthwhile price to pay for the adventures that cause it.