BerlinKnits – Berlin’s first yarn festival

Last weekend there was the first ever yarn festival in Berlin: BerlinKnits. And just to wrap that up quickly: What an amazing event.

I arrived at the location around eleven, when the festival was already in full swing and the space was quite crowded. Seems like everyone else except me is again punctual.

There were a lot of Berlin based yarn shops present, like one of my favorites: Wollen Berlin. Furthermore you could participate in some workshops, but unfortunately I was a bit too late for the registration for my two favorites. On the one hand there was the one by Marc Smollin, who was already ones at Wollen Berlin, on the other hand there was a spinning crash curse by Yayasis.

Even though there were some more highlights for me:

Let’s start with strickimicki. I actually never heard of them before, but I am glad I finally found them. The shop has wonderful and funny sayings for diy enthusiasts on postcards, buttons, bags and magnets. I immediately brought a couple of postcards which I plan to send in the next couple of days. They are just to lovely to not share with the world.

I almost didn’t get away from the Zauberwiese (hihi). They had really nice supplies, e.g. shwal pins with owls, dragonflies and flowers or those Japanese mini crochet needles. This might be the time to try out this mini amigurumi. I will report about it.

But what I loved there the most was the washing soap from Eucalan, which I will try out shortly. After my sister washed “by accident” my Owlsweater knitted from sheep wool from Rowan in the machine and almost ruined it, I really like to try if this might help a bit with it. But nonetheless I needed a new alternative to using Perwoll for the hand washing of my knitted cloths. And the website tells me that the soap is furthermore non-toxic, biodegradable and doesn’t need to get washed out. I will keep you updated on this experiment as well.

On a different note, I did forgive my sister. 😉

At dibadu I did find my next project. The beautiful “Oceania” designed by Kieran Foley. This one and other models were displayed at the booth to see and touch. I was really intrigued. Yet I did stop myself from buying anything though you could get yarn and introductions as well. But to be honest I kind of have this idea to use the pattern and the colors but rearrange them into a cardigan. We’ll see if I can come up with something.

I found yarn from unusual material at Lanamania. First, “Veseda” called me magically with the way it just sparkled all over. But then I wondered about the labeling on the tags: What exactly is vegetarian silk? I never heard of that one! After asking Google for it, I found out that the threads are made of the fruits of the southamerican kapok tree.

Furthermore, there was another unusual yarn: “Kiwi“. That one is made out of the fur of the common brushtail possum, a inhabitant of Australia.

This way, I put a new to do on my list: Research yarn out of exceptional sources.

Two booth were especially impressive with their color arrangement.

For starters we have Elfenwolle who sell threads for knitting, spinning and felting and had those braided hanging next to each other like you see on the first picture.

Then we had Bilum, whose colors were really unbeatable. Here as well, I just wanted to buy like five different yarns. But I did resist. Though not for much longer I believe, I am already looking for a fitting shawl pattern. I would love to use this “setting sun” gradient and as well use the pearls in it as you can see on the picture.

Last but not least I have to mention Lazadas. After all the troubles I had to block the samples of Project 52 in a nice way, this appliance would have really helped with it.  To be honest, I find it not the cheapest investment, but I guess if your knitting a lot of lace you have in a long-term view a rather helpful accessory.

All in all those were two incredibly inspiring hours. I would have loved to stay longer or join in for one or the other workshops. But nonetheless it was a perfect event which I hope will get repeated next year.