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We also took a trip out of town to visit a local Palace, which was fascinating and meant I got to travel through several\u00a0 Swiss villages – all of which look exactly<\/em> like you would expect them to from chocolate box depictions over the years – wooden shutters and steep roofs with over-abundant flowered window boxes.\u00a0 It was lovely.<\/div>\n
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I was more than ably looked after by A, her husband and excitable Bob clone Max.\u00a0 And of course staying with crafting friends meant there were visits to yarn shops and crafty goodness.\u00a0 I was surrounded by spinning wheels (seven to be precise!) and spindles and lots of books I don’t own and an impressive stash.\u00a0 A’s crochet friends welcomed me with open arms (despite my Swiss\/German being even worse than my French) and I saw some outstanding samples of filet crochet used as curtains, tablecloths, dresser runners….<\/div>\n
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I only went into two yarn shops while in Zurich, but they were chalk and cheese.\u00a0 One was on the ‘main drag’ in the Old Town and was set up like many high-end luxury yarn stores in the UK.\u00a0 Yarns were grouped by colour and then by weight (cobweb at the top, bulky at the bottom) around the walls of the store – which was very pretty, but pointed out an almost non-existance of varigated yarns.\u00a0 Haberdashery was limited and nothing<\/em> had a price.\u00a0 I did pick up a set of square knit pro circular needles as I hadn’t seen them elsewhere, but little else appealed to me.\u00a0 It had a good range of yarns but I got the feeling\u00a0I couldn’t afford any of it before I even started.<\/div>\n
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The second store was more ‘hidden’ – and in the start of a theme I was to revisit in Vienna, this store had been taken on by an enthusiastic knitter when the original owner retired.\u00a0 Now, I have to say that the owners were lovely, very friendly and I really enjoyed the time I spent there (and I did buy stuff, more about that in a second).\u00a0 The shop was HUGE, two large rooms, but it was very, very<\/em>, difficult to see how much space there really was – or what was in stock.\u00a0 The owner was working towards her PhD – Piled higher and Deeper – in stock management.<\/div>\n
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There were some really lovely bits and peices – and some surprises (Rowan Silk Haze for \u00a325 anyone?) but you really had to dig and ferret, and not everyone is comfortable doing that.\u00a0 It’s a shame as this could be a really lovely shop.<\/div>\n
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Anyway, on to what I bought…<\/div>\n
Kauni\u00a0 XEQ lace weight – 150grams over lovely rainbow long colour stripy-ness…<\/div>\n![\"Kauni](\"https:\/\/www.tuesdayfortnite.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/IMG_1267-300x200.jpg\" "\\"Kauni")
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![\"Kauni](\"https:\/\/www.tuesdayfortnite.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/IMG_1267.jpg\" "\\"Kauni")
<\/a><\/div>\nand this puff of fun may have found it’s way into my bag..<\/div>\n![\"Zealana](\"https:\/\/www.tuesdayfortnite.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/IMG_1261-300x200.jpg\" "\\"Zealana")
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<\/a><\/div>\nIt’s Zealana Air – a 40% cashmere, 40% Brushtail Possum down and 20% mulberry silk blend that gives nearly 200m for 25grams.\u00a0 yeah, you read that right – Possum!\u00a0 How could I not?\u00a0 I also bought a swirl pewter shawl pin and a double ended tunisian hook (just of the completeness of the collection you understand!) – however most of my ‘haul’ came from Austria – so I need to leap on a train and travel…<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zurich is a genuinely beautiful city set in stunning countryside.\u00a0 My five days there were packed with things and I barely scratched the surface.\u00a0 Apologies in advance as my camera wasn’t working so there are no photos to share. The … Continue reading