Garn Boet - The Yarn Nest

Danes, you have a nice capital! I have visited Copenhagen twice this year, and I would go back any day if somebody would buy me a ticket and pay for hotel. Copenhagen is expensive, a bit more even than Helsinki, I think, but clean and beautiful, with small houses and lots of parks. Danish is after a day or two even understandable, and written Danish is almost a piece of cake for a person with Swedish or Norwegian as home language. And for those who don’t speak Swedish or Norwegian, the Danes do speak English well.

I knew about three yarnshops from before, and I found a fourth during my visit. Its name was Bette Design and it is situated on Klosterstraede 20. The shop was closed when I walked by, but they carried Garnstudio’s yarns and other, from the window seen not identifiable labels. It looked worth a visit, but my schedule was not going to give me the time.

The first shop I visited was Strikkeboden, in the corner between Fiolstraede and Krystalstraede. The shop carried Noro (lots of Noro!), Anny Blatt and Buton d’Oro and own import under the label GarnkompagnieT. It’s a small but cosy shop. I didn’t buy anything (in fact I hadn’t plan to buy anything at all, but you know how it is…), and I never felt that it bothered the sales woman that I just looked. Strikkeboden do accept credit cards.

Close to Strikkeboden is Uldstedet, on Fiolstraede 13. Uldstedet is a bit bigger and carries Grignasco, Gepard, Madil, Noro, Garnstudio, Rowan and Isager yarns (and some other labels too). The Isager yarns, 2 ply merino, alpaca, flax, cotton, were arranged so the colours would show to their best, and in a way that you couldn’t miss the incredible amount of colours. Okay, I admit it, I lost my head totally, and in spite of all my good intentions did buy four hanks of Isager Tvinni, the 2 ply merino. I did also snatch a hank of Noro Ganpi akaba surabu, a paper/rayon yarn with me. Uldstedet doesn’t accept credit cards.

The biggest shop, and a shop not only for knitters but also for those who embroider or quilt, is Sommerfuglen on Vandkunsten 3. Sommerfuglen carries Rowan, Isager, Hillesvåg, GGH, own import under the label Sommerfuglen and several other labels as well as DMC, Blomster and other embroidery yarns. They have lot of books and quite a lot of discontinued yarns like Rowan Linen Drape and Cork. They accept credit cards, which led to me to walk out of the shop with two books by the fantastic Danish designer Marianne Isager (yes the same person who is behind the yarns I bought earlier during the trip). These books, Strik a la carte and Inka – latinamerikanske inspirationer i nordisk strik, are not, at least I think so, translated into English, and it is a shame. Marianne Isager is a real designer, she is not only putting together different patterns, she is creating new textures and constructions, in a real genius way. The Inka book is a book about Nordic knitting with inspiration from Latin America, in the same style as her Africa book (by Interweave). I couldn’t decide, so I bought both (they were expensive and heavy, but what can you do, and as I said they accept credit card).

There are for sure more yarn shops in Copenhagen, but these are all very close to Stroget, and in the absolute centre of Copenhagen, and all worth a visit.