Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Adventures of a Little Red Sock

Bergen is a quaint little town, despite being touted as the capital of Western Norway, with a much more relaxed laid back feel compared to Oslo. It was nice to chill out in pubs and meander the streets without an itinerary. On Saturday night after we arrived, we took a stroll after dinner and pretty much covered all the main sights (including the yarn shops, but more on that later).

Pubs along the waterfront in Bergen.

On Sunday morning we took the floibanen up the side of Mount Floyen (320m above sea level) to breathtaking views of Bergen city. Then we took a long walk up to the peak which gave us magnificent views of the landscape - snow covered peaks, glassy water holes, pine forests... you get the idea.


The first red sock came with us as well and I took some photos, much to the amusement of passing walkers.

The pattern is the Child's French Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush.

There are probably 3 yarn shops in Bergen (there maybe more but I couldn't find them). Also we were there on a Sunday and none of the shops were open so all this is just from peering longingly outside the shops...

Husfliden - similar to the one in Oslo but smaller. Tho it looks like it has more modern souvenirs like fleecy blankets and designer homeware. The range of yarns look pretty much the same - Drops/Garnstudio and Tynn Alpakka etc.

Modellstrikk (Vaskerelven 15) - cute little shop on a street full of cafes and other cute little shops. Looked like it mainly stocks Drops yarns and patterns. They have pictures of the types of yarn they stock on the website which gives you a pretty good idea of the kinds of yarn you find in Norway.

Pinnsvinn Designs (Jonsvollsgaten 9) - Had a sign on the door saying it has English patterns. Had some Rowan patterns and yarns. Also sells toys. They have a few pictures of the store on their website.

On our train ride back to Oslo, it gave me a little thrill when we passed Dale (pronounced 'dahl' here) of Dale of Norway fame. I noticed that they have a factory outlet there but as we were on a schedule, we had to give it a miss. Oh well.

1 comment:

Wiggley said...

Hoe did you make the sock stay on the cement flab like that? Love reading your adventures. Mum said she wish she could go for a yarn trip around the world - but then we don't want to go to a boarding house!