I had also heard that the yarn was always sold out within minutes of being posted on-line for sale. Problem was, I was in the wrong time zone... I was in Seoul, Korea a year+ ago when I first heard about this wonderful yarn. Flash forward, to a move to Germany... where this lovely yarn is created. Of course, I still couldn't purchase it.. because of that thing called: WORK and a non-working (but, paying dearly for it each month) Internet service for the first 6 months that I was in my new house. *Sigh.. and no one from the phone company would check on the problem.. I finally had to pay someone to come to my house to see what the problem was.. (made me feel better when it did take them 3 hours to figure out what the problem was) but, back on subject.. there wasn't any way that I could try to 'get this yarn' when it was posted for sale on-line....
AND, then a month ago... I heard that a 'real yarn shop' that would sell this wonderful, but elusive yarn had opened up. I wrote down the name of the town and the next time that I went to the train station... I asked if this town was close by. I was delighted to learn that all I had to do was go to Nurnberg (which I love to do and is only about 50 minutes away by train) and then switch trains and the town that I was seeking was only about an hour and twenty minutes away.
The new school year is about to start back up and since I didn't get to go on vacation anywhere or return to the states for the summer break... it was time for an adventure and the first day of a new month is always a good day for an adventure, right?
Getting on the train in Nurnberg...
Arriving at the 'yarn shop town'.... as I pulled out my written directions on 'how to find the yarn shop' and I had just said to my 'non-knitting friend'.. "Now, let's see if we can find this yarn shop." ... someone walked up and asked me if we were looking for the WOLLMEISE YARN SHOP and I told her that we indeed were.. and I found out that she was going to the same shop so.. she was our delightful and helpful 'yarn shop guide'... Thank you new Ravelry.com friend... (you know who you are)
Front of the shop. Claudia was sitting outside knitting when we arrived. She welcomed us warmly.
Knitted and felted frog on a pond of yarny goodness...
Window flowers growing in a bed of 'yarn grass'...
Some socks knitted up in the yarns...
The inside of the shop... (sorry for the blurry photo.. I think that I was a little in awe of all the amazing colors)<
I thought that this wall of yarn looked like a box of yarn crayons!The yarn that I bought... some was purchased to make gifts for others... I'm having second thoughts about that... I'm beginning to want it all for myself... *must fight the urge to want all the yarn for myself...
Excuse me... I must go look at my Wollmeise yarn again.. just to make sure it doesn't need anything... yeah, that's it. I'm not petting the yarn.. no way.. that would be 'yarn crazy'... :D
16 comments:
Thanks for the pictures. What a great wall of yarn. You are so lucky to be so close to the new shop! I was lucky enough to be in the sock club, but like you, it's hard to pick one skein to start knitting! I'm glad you're back to blogging regularly. I enjoy "visiting" through your eyes.
Glad you were able to take a little "vacation" trip to the store. Thanks for sharing your photos.
wonderful story of your journey from hearing about to actually seeing in person and buying to own this wonderful yarn!! i love the train travel part and hope that i am able one day to get to the shop the same way and it should be possible since i have friends who live in Bamberg which i know is on the northerly side of Nurnberg so not too far from where they are and i love taking the train in germany.
so glad you were able to finally get some of this long sought after yarn. it's really a treat to work with, isn't it!!!
I hope this shop is open October 17, 2009, because I am to be in Bamberg for two weeks and plan on taking the train down that day if they're open.
Oh wow! Thanks for sharing that!
I am likely to be in Munchen for most of week in September, surely I can get to Pfaffenhofen from there? This will totally kill my budget of course.
It's really too bad my son's friend has already returned from his exchange student trip to Germany - I could have sent him on a mission to buy some yarn for me had I known about this earlier.... But then again - maybe a 15 year old boy wouldn't have been the best one to send.
For those of you going to Germany- do try to get to this place. If you are anywhere near Nuremberg- it won't take you long at all to get there. My trip, including the drive to the train station, the trains... was about 3 hours one way-- you can do it! It is worth it.
AND, if you need directions to get to the actual shop once you are in the town- email me-- click on the little envelope at the bottom of a blog entry- I'll help you find the store.
You can get the Bavarian train pass.. up to 5 people on the ticket for 30 euros.. a great deal- good for one day.
PS Diane,
I just wanted you to know that when we were in the train station waiting to depart the town.. I had all my skeins of yarn sitting on the bench.. telling my friend who I had bought the yarn for some I had bought to knit gifts for others and also grouping the yarns in my #1 favorite colors, etc..
suddenly out of nowhere.. a teenage German boy walks up to me -he'd been watching me sort my yarns and asks me about the yarn--he wanted to know about it- told me that he'd never seen anything like it-- that it was amazing. Then, I explained to him that it was actually knitting yarn.. and I opened up one skein to show him how the colors were laid out in the yarn loops for dye-ing.
He was amazed.. and quite impressed. He told us that he will start his last year of high school this fall (can't remember the German word for HS).. I showed him the photos that I had taken and told him where the shop was and he told me that he might go back into the shop just to take a photo like I did of all the colorful yarns in the shelves.
So, this normal teenage boy was so impressed with this yarn.. the colors.. etc... that he came up to two American ladies and asked them about the yarns.. so, maybe your son would have not minded getting the yarn for you either?
Forgot to mention that my trip took 3 hours - because I was a long way from the town w/ the Wollmeise yarns. If you are anywhere near Nuremberg- it won't take that long at all.
I'm over here from your post on Ravelry. What an amazing story! I love that you had such an adventure finding the Wollmeise shop. And I can only envy your visit from over here in Australia!
found this through Ravelry also... I had never seen Wollmeise before, but last week I was in Austria where I attended a weavers market. Wollmeise had a boot there, and I scored 4 skeins (2 for gifts). Now to decide what to knit with it. The colors are amazing 'in the skein'.
Wow!! The colours are to "dye" for! *insert groan here*
Anyway, GORGEOUS photos, you lucky lucky thing! Now, I need to find a way to make this shop central focus of our next holiday. Fortunately Boyfriend wants to go to Germany anyway... there is hope! I would possibly need to remortgage the house to pay for all the yarn that would fall into my bag though. I don't know how you ever managed to decide what to take!
How did I decide?
Well, any skein that I was interested in.. I placed on the couch and I realized that within 10 minutes I had more than 20 skeins on the couch... and NOT THAT MUCH MONEY with me!
So, I just stopped looking on the shelves... and sorted through and picked only yarn from the skein pile that I had accumlated.. and made my decisions from them.
THERE were many more that I wanted and some of the yarn- I did buy duplicate skeins.. because, I got it to knit something for a gift for someone-- but, at the same time I loved the colors too- so, I'd buy '2' of the same colorway so I could keep one.. and knit one.
AND I'm glad that ya'll (I'm a southern gal after all and we say: YA'LL) stopped for a visit to my blog... come back again.. anytime.
Are you going again and do you take orders????!!!!!!
Seems impossible to get hold of for me in the UK and I begin to see why oeiple are prepared to pay over the idds in ebay. I wish there was a better sysytem. Is it really wonderful?
I hope you can help me... I lived in Nuremberg for years and enjoyed a wonderful yarn shop just off the main market square. I loved the colors and textures but never learned how to knit. After returning to the states I learned how to knit and kick myself for not doing so while living in Germany. Today, I yearn to find this yarn shop but don't recall the name and can't find it on google... If you can help me, I would be grateful. :) michelle
I haven't checked this blog post in awhile-- and I thought that I'd answer a few questions:
If you are in Germany.. anywhere near Munich or Nuremberg- it is easy to get to (the name of the town is in a photo of the train station- the orange building) from either one of those cities.
It is easy to find it by walking out the train station to the center of town area...
There is a great place to eat in this center of town area too- I didn't get a chance to go back again before I moved from Germany to Italy last fall. I might try to go by train (from Italy) to visit friends in the future and if I do-- I'm going to take the train again to See Claudia's new yarn colors.
I so enjoyed reading this blog about the Wollmeise yarn. I would do this too. Like you, I lived in the South as well. So I grinned when you said: Y'all come back here. ... or whatever.
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