Tag Archives: Sommerfuglen

The best laid plans

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Doug and I have just returned from a week in Copenhagen.  I was there to teach a workshop, and then took off the rest of the week for a short holiday.

I taught all day Tuesday (which was my birthday), and in the evening Doug treated me and our good friend Erun to a great celebratory dinner at Koefoed, a very cool restaurant.  We had the fish menu with wine flight, and it was lovely.

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On the Wednesday, Erun gave us a great walking tour.  We explored the city:

We ate lunch on a barge in the canal (moules frites – yum!):

Then, on the way back to our hotel that afternoon, I managed to fall off of a curb in a very spectacular manner, ending up sprawled in the middle of the road.  Doug had to practically carry me to the sidewalk and the few blocks to our hotel, after which I spent two days stuck in bed, with a very swollen and painful ankle and a grumpy disposition.  Doug and Erun went out exploring, doing lots of walking all over town, and then gathering together delicacies for picnic dinners in the hotel room – complete with champagne and chocolates – so that I wouldn’t miss out completely.

On the last two days, I did manage to do a few things, very carefully.  Doug had bought me some walking sticks, and complete with a compression bandage and lots of paracetamol and liberal use of taxis, I did the important things.  I made it to a yarn shop (Sommerfuglen). Can you tell from this photo that I am not at my best?

On the last day, the sun came out and it was glorious.  Here I am sitting with my foot up and my walking sticks:

We took a harbour boat tour:

Erun treated us to a fantastic all-you-can-eat shellfish buffet:

 

However, my ankle continued to swell, and I ended up needing a wheelchair to make my way through the airport on the way home:

Today, a week after my fall, I had an x-ray and discovered that, in addition to the bad sprain, I have a small fracture of the ankle bone.  This means a pretty long recovery period.  Good thing I bought lots of yarn in Copenhagen!

I bought a bunch of green yarn from Isager (an aran weight tweed and some mohair):

And I bought a very pretty selection of yarns from Ito:

I have specific projects in mind for both of these, but will tell you about them in a later post.  Thanks to Doug and Erun for taking good care of me and keeping my spirits up!

Yesterday was our 28th wedding anniversary.  Needless to say, we didn’t go dancing!

Knitting treats from Copenhagen

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I was teaching on the weekend and so was unable to make my way up to Edinburgh for the Edinburgh Yarn Festival. I admit to having felt rather sorry for myself. For the entire time I was doing the MBA I was unable to make any yarn shows. I planned to remedy that once I finished, but then I took a job (teaching on the very same MBA programme) which meant a lot of working weekends. The universe (or at least the people who schedule yarn shows and MBA classes) seems to be conspiring against me, as they are mostly scheduled concurrently. Oh well. I am not so desolate as I have a Danish consolation prize or two (perhaps three).

A few weeks ago I was in Copenhagen with my friend, Erun (and with Sarah and Sara). One of my top priorities was to make it to Somerfuglen, a knitting shop that I had long wanted to visit.

I know you won’t believe me but I didn’t buy any yarn there. Why? Because I loved everything and couldn’t choose and I had a plane to catch. That is not to say I didn’t make any purchases. I bought two lovely knitting books. First, I bought Issue One of the new knitting periodical, Laine.

This is a lovely book. It is filled with knitting patterns, beautiful photography, articles, designer profiles, recipes, and has high production values. Even the ads are lovely! This issue had profiles of Joji Locatelli and Helga Isager among others. It seems to me that this will be a collectable and I am happy to have the first issue.

I also bought this amazing book:

By Annette Danielsen, it is filled with stunning photos of Greenland and absolutely gorgeous sweaters. I want to knit them all. I particularly want to knit this one, Fjelde, which coincidentally I have in my favorites file on Ravelry:

© Annette Danielsen

Here is the extra special goodness from my trip to Sommerfuglen:  I tried this jacket on! And it was scrumptious. It fit beautifully and was a dream to wear. As a result, I have purchased the book and now somehow have to teach myself to read a knitting pattern written in Danish! Never fear, dear readers, I WILL accomplish this eventually (perhaps with some help from my friend, Erun, and her mother, Liv)!

Hanging in the window at Sommerfuglen was a very smart jacket by Hanne Falkenberg. I was able to try it on as well. I am a big fan of Hanne’s designs and yarn as you can tell from this post from some years ago. This jacket also fit perfectly and I could not help but notice that it was precisely the kind of thing I need for my working wardrobe. I thought about buying it right then and there, but was prevented because (1) I couldn’t check any luggage on my flight home and (2) the shop didn’t have kits in the colour combos I liked.

Once I got home, I continued to think about this jacket, however, and ended up ordering a kit in the same colourway as the shop sample (colourway #1). Here it is:

The design is called Sofi, and it is knit in two different yarns – the sleeves and main colour are knit in her No2 shetland 100% wool and the contrast colour is her No4 Sofistica 60% Cotton & 40% Linen. Here you can see the two different yarns from the kit:

So, even though I didn’t make it to Edinburgh, I can console myself with these lovely Danish knitting treats. I have heard that the festival suffered this year from its excessive popularity – by all accounts it was very crowded and hot. I would have braved both to see Kate Davies’ stand (and all of the other goodness) but perhaps by the time I do make it up there, the venue will be bigger. In the meantime, I have plenty of knitting to keep me happy.