That sweater I've been working so hard to complete? This weekend saw the event it was made for - a trip with friends to Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm in Bavaria to visit the Wollmeise shop!
It has to be said it was a flying visit. Due to work and family commitments I only had the Saturday and Sunday available so I took the early flight to Munich on Saturday morning (4.20am alarm call anyone?!) and the evening flight back on Sunday, but it was worth it to enjoy a knitting weekend with friends.
The journey there was very smooth. The only slight hitch was my sat nav trying to take me to my pre-booked car parking via some sort of service area of the airport that I'm pretty sure I shouldn't really have been in, so what should have been a five minute drive from the airport hotel turned into fifteen minutes of "no, this can't be right, but I got the postcode from the car park website, aargh, I've run out of signs, I'm going back to the main road and just following signs to the airport" which solved the problem. Otherwise the flight was uneventful, I was through the airport at the other side with no bother, on to the S-bahn (via the ticket desk where my high school German got me a ticket to the right place!) to Munich Central where I met up with a friend. We travelled together to Pfaffenhofen, an easy half-hour train ride.
We were very lucky with the weather, warm and sunny, so the ten minute walk from the station to the shop was very pleasant too.
Saturday afternoon was spent chatting, shopping, lunching at a cafe in the town square (never expected to be eating outdoors in mid-October!), chatting some more, shopping some more...
It has to be said it was a flying visit. Due to work and family commitments I only had the Saturday and Sunday available so I took the early flight to Munich on Saturday morning (4.20am alarm call anyone?!) and the evening flight back on Sunday, but it was worth it to enjoy a knitting weekend with friends.
The journey there was very smooth. The only slight hitch was my sat nav trying to take me to my pre-booked car parking via some sort of service area of the airport that I'm pretty sure I shouldn't really have been in, so what should have been a five minute drive from the airport hotel turned into fifteen minutes of "no, this can't be right, but I got the postcode from the car park website, aargh, I've run out of signs, I'm going back to the main road and just following signs to the airport" which solved the problem. Otherwise the flight was uneventful, I was through the airport at the other side with no bother, on to the S-bahn (via the ticket desk where my high school German got me a ticket to the right place!) to Munich Central where I met up with a friend. We travelled together to Pfaffenhofen, an easy half-hour train ride.
We were very lucky with the weather, warm and sunny, so the ten minute walk from the station to the shop was very pleasant too.
Saturday afternoon was spent chatting, shopping, lunching at a cafe in the town square (never expected to be eating outdoors in mid-October!), chatting some more, shopping some more...
Pfaffenhofen itself is a pretty town, and very Bavarian in character. We all ate together on Saturday evening in a local restaurant, which was an experience in itself as I was the only German-speaker among our group and I think my limited German was better than the waitress' English. However, between me, her and Google Translate we were all adequately fed and watered! We also took a stroll around the town centre before heading back to the hotel for an evening of knitting together and showing one another our purchases from earlier in the day.
Pfaffenhofen Rathaus
Speaking of purchases, I bought just the right amount for me. I think I was the most restrained shopper of the group, but I intended to buy just about this much and was travelling with hand baggage only on the plane so had to carry everything I bought anyway. The main thing is I'm really pleased with what I got, and here they are....
From top to bottom: DK in Himmelblau, DK in Blue Curaçao, Pure in Rubin, Twin in Tiefer See Spiralen NiP, Twin in Mitternacht NiP, Twin in 29 Cu NiP, Twin in Vergißmeinnicht NiP, Twin in Rosenrot NiP and Twin in Pfefferminz Prinz NiP.
NiP stands for Nobody is Perfect, and I was particularly looking for such skeins. Some of them are there because they have knots in them (regular fingering weight Wollmeise skeins are one long continuous length of yarn, so any with joins become NiP, or seconds); others are there because the colours aren't "right" for the intended colourway, some by a little, some by a lot, and yet others have issues with dye bleeding or the twist of the yarn. I especially like the F NiPs, the ones with a colourway issue because you can get some real beauties from from dye-pot accidents.
The two DK skeins are to be combined with the remaining yarn from my previous sweater to make a three-coloured sweater for me. The Pure Rubin is for a hat design I have in mind (and, I suspect mitts and/or a cowl to match it).
The Twin skeins are all for socks, some for gifts, some for design work and some for me.
On Sunday I had a lovely lie-in (a rare treat when you've got two small boys at home), then another walk in the sunshine, before joining two friends to take the train to the airport. Finally it was time to go our separate ways and catch our respective flights back home. Unfortunately the weather luck ran out on the approach to Gatwick, but this was one final glimpse of the sun as we descended through the clouds.
NiP stands for Nobody is Perfect, and I was particularly looking for such skeins. Some of them are there because they have knots in them (regular fingering weight Wollmeise skeins are one long continuous length of yarn, so any with joins become NiP, or seconds); others are there because the colours aren't "right" for the intended colourway, some by a little, some by a lot, and yet others have issues with dye bleeding or the twist of the yarn. I especially like the F NiPs, the ones with a colourway issue because you can get some real beauties from from dye-pot accidents.
The two DK skeins are to be combined with the remaining yarn from my previous sweater to make a three-coloured sweater for me. The Pure Rubin is for a hat design I have in mind (and, I suspect mitts and/or a cowl to match it).
The Twin skeins are all for socks, some for gifts, some for design work and some for me.
On Sunday I had a lovely lie-in (a rare treat when you've got two small boys at home), then another walk in the sunshine, before joining two friends to take the train to the airport. Finally it was time to go our separate ways and catch our respective flights back home. Unfortunately the weather luck ran out on the approach to Gatwick, but this was one final glimpse of the sun as we descended through the clouds.
I've had a lovely weekend, and while this was my second visit to Pfaffenhofen I don't believe it will be my last.
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