These days, but one year ago, my husband and I were hiking and walking through Denmark. We saw lovely beaches and cliffs, green roofs and lighthouses, and even a desert. We visited not just Skagen, the place where the Baltic and the North Sea meet, but also two gorgeous yarn shops – Sommerfuglen in Copenhagen and Isager in north Denmark. One year later, I have two Traigh shawls and one Oska hat made from these Danish yarns!

Oska

Just before we left for the Danish adventure, I discovered the Oska Hat by Orlane Sucche on Ravelry. I fell for the abstract and angular colourwork and immediately imagined it in darker, charcoal grey. That’s the grey I love. And the terracotta colour? Totally my colour combination.

The pattern headed off for the Queue section, where I store the designs that I especially like and I’ll likely knit them in the future. Still, I wasn’t planning to buy the yarn in Denmark. However, when we got to Copenhagen, our first spontaneous stop was the Sommerfuglen yarn shop, full of Danish and Scandinavian yarns. I knew a lot of them from my LYS, but I met many yarns for the first time. Including the amazing Hjelholts Uldspinderi’s Dansk Pelsuld. When I saw the Dansk Pelsuld 8/2 in colourways Kobber (terracotta one) and Mørk grå (grey one), I knew it would be a perfect fit for the Oska Hat.

I knitted the hat when I had covid in February, in just three days. I chose size S/M (51cm unstretched circumference), and I am delighted with the fit on my 54cm head. I like my hats to be loose enough not to look horrible in them, but not too loose so they wouldn’t fall into my face. You know what I mean.

I used 222 metres (57 g) of the grey skein, although 260 metres were predicted in the pattern. However, I used 85 metres (22 g) of the terracotta skein, as indicated in the pattern. As you can see, I have a lot of yarn left, so I am thinking of knitting a reverse version for my husband, but he is still resistant to my idea! (the matching hats aren’t the problem; wearing a hat is)

In my opinion, the yarn is perfect for this hat. I love the “furriness” of the yarn, as the hairs hide the colourwork a bit. For some people, Dansk Pelsuld could be itchy, but I find it very soft regarding the rustic look.

Here is my project on Ravelry.

Traigh

The second visit to the yarn shop was well planned. Actually, I designed our hiking route to go through Tversted, where the Isager Shop is located. Why? Just because Isager is my most favourite yarn brand! I used many of their yarn bases bought in my LYS, so I wanted to buy a yarn that I couldn’t get back in the Czech Republic.

The shop is beautiful and colourful. Sheep were greeting us in front of the building! What a lovely experience to visit the shop. My husband was patiently waiting on a sofa while I was browsing through the shelves. I chose Isager Tvinni, 100% wool, 2ply, non-superwash, rustic yarn. Firstly, I fell for colourway 33s, very similar to the terracotta Dansk Pelsuld I bought earlier. But then, I just couldn’t leave without another 100g skein in colourway 56s, a freshly green, that was lying in the sale basket underneath.

I decided to use the first skein for Traigh shawl by Kate Davies already in the shop. But I didn’t have any plans for the green one – I was about to design my own shawl pattern from it, but before I managed to start, I decided to stop designing.

I cast on the first Traigh shawl at the end of October and knitted it through November. I used about 80 grams of the skeins, knitting on 3.75mm needles. The shawl has very interesting construction – you start knitting the lace edge sideways. It’s like a long lace scarf, actually. Then you pick up the stitches along the centre of the straight edge, and as you knit, you pick up further stitches, creating the hap body. Overall, it’s not the most entertaining knitting – the lace is long, and the garter hap body is large. But it’s worth it! It was my most worn shawl in the winter! The size is perfect, the shape is perfect, the colour is perfect. Here is my Ravelry project.

So what to do with the green skein? I love the Traigh shawl so much that I cast on another Traigh shawl but in green in April. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the process much more than the first one. I used the same needles and the same amount of yarn. Here is my Ravelry project.

And that’s it! All of the three projects that I knitted using the yarns I brought back home from Denmark. I have to decide what to use the leftovers of Dansk Pelsuld for. And I fell in love with the Tvinni yarn, so I am planning to use it for other projects – maybe for Birch Pullover by Andrea Mowry?

What about you? Do you visit the yarn shops in a foreign country or city? And do you like to buy yarns as souvenirs? I do!