Hello! Last Saturday, my husband was going to study mosses in de Achterhoek. (That’s right, mosses – with our many, varied and sometimes slightly nerdy interests, we’re neither of us ever bored). I decided to tag along – at least to the parking place where he was meeting a group of other moss lovers. There, we split up (only for the day – no worries) and I hopped on my bicycle. I’d brought a map, snacks, lunch and my camera, too, because I thought you might like to join me virtually.
For those of you not familiar with the Achterhoek – it’s a mainly rural region in the east of the Netherlands, bordering Germany. Starting in The Hague, drive 180 kilometres straight to the east and that’s where you’ll end up. It was a grey and chilly morning, and I wished I’d thought of bringing mittens and a hat.
After a little over an hour’s cycling through fields and woods, and passing some lovely homes and gardens along the way…
… I arrived in the town of Borculo.
Two (bronze) women were doing their laundry in the Berkel river, next to the Washuisbrug (Washing-house bridge).
Borculo’s historic centre is really lovely, with an old watermill…
… cobbled streets…
… and – well, well, what have we here?
A yarn shop! What a surprise! (Not really – it was totally planned.) Let’s take a look inside. Lots of swatches to get a good idea of the yarns, that’s always nice.
A cupboard dedicated to baby yarns, with some wee garments for inspiration.
And a good selection of other yarns – sock yarns, a merino DK in many colours, thicker yarns, thinner yarns, cotton, wool, acrylic, alpaca. Something for everyone. What strikes me in this shop is that there are lots of multi-coloured and especially gradient yarns.
Is it just this yarn shop or is it a trend? There was one yarn that was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. It is called Lopapeysa, comes in 400 gram skeins, and will knit up into a complete sweater with a built-in colourwork round yoke and coloured ribbing on sleeves and body. Sort of like self-striping sock yarn, but then for a sweater. I don’t know if I’d ever use it, but I think it’s amazing.
It isn’t just yarns here, but also fabric and haberdashery. The shop is called Stof & Stuff after all (stof being the Dutch word for fabric).
A friendly shop, where even the door knobs both inside and out are covered in knitting.
I left with in some gifts in my bicycle bag. A length of gingham check ribbon with the cutest fox faces on it, that I gave away before photographing it. And a skein of multi-coloured sock yarn for my knitting student’s Birthday. She’s making tremendous progress and has really caught the sock knitting bug.
Well, time to cycle back. De Achterhoek has some of the most beautiful stretches of bicycle track I’ve ever cycled on.
Although the leaves on the trees are still green, it smells like autumn. The weather is cooling down and I’m knitting, knitting and knitting. Swatches and gifts, gifts and more gifts. I hope to talk about some of those soon. Bye for now!
Dank je wel dat je ons mee nam op deze heerlijke fietstocht door de prachtige Achterhoek.
Ik houd enorm van kleurwerk breien, dus zelf zou ik het Lopapeysa garen niet kopen, maar voor een beginnend breister die echt kleurwerk nog niet aandurft, lijkt me dit fantastisch garen.
Wat een snoepwinkel, ik zou zo’n winkel heel graag bij mij in de buurt hebben, veel fijner om handwerkmateriaal in een stenen winkel te kunnen kopen (eerst voelen en zo 😉), dan online.
Breien is weer helemaal terug, dus ik begrijp de trend wel van garen dat niet helemaal effen is. Het geeft vaak toch wat meer diepte aan het breiwerk, dan wanneer je een trui breit in tricotsteek met een volledig effen garen. En zo heeft iemand die nog niet zo ervaren is in breien toch sneller een “boeiend” resultaat.
Ik kijk al uit naar je volgende berichtje, met al het breiwerk, en wens je voor nu een heel fijn weekend!
Helemaal mee eens; in een stenen winkel garen kiezen is zoveel fijner. Vooral de kleuren zijn online vaak lastig in te schatten. En ook wat het meerkleurige garen betreft, ja, zeker voor beginners heb je dan sneller iets bijzonders. Dank voor je bezoekje, en jij ook nog een fijn weekend verder.
Many thanks for sharing your bike ramble with a knit shop purpose! Lovely pictures.
My pleasure!
So lovely. And inspiring.
That’s good to hear – thank you!
Thanks for the tour. I loved it. Wish that I could actually ride along with you.
Wouldn’t that be nice? But it’s also great to have you pop in here online every week!