The Sound of Music

Knitting (and many other handcrafts ) is alive and well in Austria. Vienna has a population of approx 2 million people and nearly 20 yarn shops in operation. NYC has a population of approx 8 million and I can't imagine there being 80 yarns shops anywhere in NYC.

Prior to going away, the intrepid knitter tends to do the following:

1. post on every single board that they are part of (Rowan, knitlist, Knitters Review, etc.) asking other members, if they can bring their knitting needles on board their flight.
1.1 Let me tell you now, you may NEVER bring your needles on board on any British Airways flight. The security section may let you through (at their discretion) but knitting policy varies from airlines to airlines.
1.2 I have never had problems with knitting on American Airlines (transatlantic or domestic flights in the US). I usually bring plastic needles or circular bamboos. Long straight needles are less likely to be permitted.

2. inquire on every board/list (see above) where are the **good** places to go to buy yarn. This involves :
2.1 being on good terms with most of the people on the list (so as not to be sent to the **bad** places on purpose)
2.2 generous people taking time out to tell them where they went, 1,2 20 years ago when they were there
2.3 no fear of being critcised for not googling, etc.

3. google and see if yarn shops are found in the city.

If you've arrived in a city where you don't speak/read the language, you need a bit of brass to siddle up to the hotel clerks to ask where the local yarn shops are and you're likely to get a few strange looks when you do ask.

Those that know me will know that
(1) I already know the inflight knitting rules
(2) I'm not brave enough to ask the big lists for help, nor organise enough to ask early. I'm also likely to print out a list and leave it home (more on that later)
(3) I'm pretty good with google but there isn't a lot of hits with yarn+shop+vienna or yarn+shop+salzburg, so I armed myself by using babelfish to find out what yarn and knitting were in German.

Bold as brass, when I discovered that my hotel room did not contain a yellow pages, I went to the hotel reception to demand the loan of one. The desk clerk in Vienna offered to help me but I bravely said, 'don't worry, I know what I'm looking for'. In Salzburg, the clerk told me that they didn't have a phone directory, but I spied one in the cafe where we had lunch and borrowed it for a browse.

.. and guess what I struck gold

Look what I got...

I stuck to sock yarn to avoid dyelot problems. It's hard to buy yarn for bigger things without projects in mind and socks make great great presents.

I managed to find 3 yarn shops in Vienna and 2 in Salzburg. I'll add a link with the details to the shops, what they offered and how helpful they are in the next week or so.

A few words of advice though:
(1) bring cash, most shops that I visited did not accept credit cards.
(2) In vienna, the addresses are something like 4, Weidner-Haupstrasse,75 which means that the shop is #75 in the 4th district. Many shops can share the same address, so #75 can be (and was )a VERY long walk
(3) Germany and Austria both tend to close by noon on Sat, so do your shopping early. Shops are closed on Sunday and normally operate between 10-5, although many shops were still open on 6pm. Some of the smaller shops may also shut at lunchtime.
(4) Most yarn shops that I visited are on the small side, carrying embroidery, crochet cottons, sewing and other sorts of haberdashery items. Shops also tended to not be in the (expensive) tourist areas, so you will need to go off the beaten track.

Of course, whenever I saw sheep

I thought of wool ...

... even when I was freezing my tush off (yes, the white stuff is snow) on Glossglockner

I went to sign this

and I wrote this

Yeah, I know, you can't take me anywhere.

Posted by atu at September 28, 2004 10:01 PM