Nelson Woolies

I've covered a lot of the Nelson tale in our other blog - wheretwonext.blogspot.com but I've left the fibrey goodness for here. Mmmmmmm yummy Nelson. I loved it. The Crafty Girls Guide was invaluable. Unfortunately as Cathal wasn't with us I've little photos to show of the stores or the streets of Nelson. I tend to get singleminded when I encounter yarn and remembering to take photos wasn't a priority - oops.

In Nelson itself I found my favourite crafty shop in NZ. Fibre Spectrum (sadly, no web link) is a 10 strong co-operative of fibre artists. The stuff on sale here is just fabulous. Amongst a very well stocked shop there's a wall of shelving with all sorts of different types of handspun, there's fabulous finished garments too, including woven scarves and jackets that were divine. But I fell for a beautiful handspun, handknit shawl. Apologies for the darkness of the photos, they were taking in this afternoon's fading light. You can also see I'm not used to photographing such detailed knits or shawls. If I had been thinking you might have got less of my hair in that last shot!! Someday I'd love to knit something like this myself. It's just that when it was on offer in a design and colour that I really liked plus mm, it was already handknit, it was irresistible. I'm not looking forward to the comments when people ask me did I knit this myself and I have to 'fess up and say no but I think it'll be worth it just the same.

I did also buy a little yarn as a memento too. The small hank of blue above is a silk and merino blend. Below is some blue merino which I intend to make into a scarf for Cathal. He doesn't have one here and it's getting into scarf weather now. I'm really not happy with myself that I forgot to take photos inside the shop. I've no doubt that I will rectify that in the months to come. I'm definitely going back to Nelson and as Cathal wasn't with us for this leg of the journey I'm sure he'll have no objections to visiting the place.

There are lots of other nice shops, one of my favourites was the quirky Tula and Niles. They had some fab clothes and hats. Sadly they don't have a website and once again my cameraman was back in Welly. So, you'll just have to take my word for it that it is worth visiting if you are ever in Nelson.

I also had some time to drive out to Stoke to pay a visit to Yarn Traders. Yarn Traders stock lots of exotic yarns including recycled sari silks and bamboo. I visited Helen at her office/warehouse as it turns out at the back of her house! I got some more recycled silk in really nice colours - I am hoping to make a bag from it. I also picked up a skein of Banana Silk as I liked the colours and wanted to see how it knits up. I'm not entirely sure what it wants to be yet but I have time to think about that. As I bought quite a bit of yarn (and blown most of my holiday budget for yarn) in Nelson I almost hoped that I didn't come across more fab things on the trip. We were just at the beginning and (a little too late perhaps) but I thought maybe I should have paced myself. Mmm yes, maybe I should have, Christchurch was next.