Creativa 2014. Part two.

The Creativa fair also had special sections dedicated to beads, garden goodness, teddies and dolls. These events took up less space, but were very popular as well.
The garden part of the fair, LandGarten, consisted mainly of plant related home decor, handmade food, and of course, the Dutch flower bulbs.




Both beads and handmade jewellery could be admired at the PerlenExpo. Bead shopping was probably one of the favourite activities of the fair visitors. This was truly an amazing chance to see (and touch!) so many bead and gem strands, as one usually has to rely only on the web shop pictures.

    Orubis

Dolls and teddies on display seemed to be more of the kind that were intended for adult collectors. There were only a few stands with miniatures; had really been hoping to see more of them. Must probably visit a special miniature event for that.




Last but not least, Kenya as the guest country of the fair this year was represented by an exhibition of Kenyan textiles, so colourful, sunny, and exotic.




Went back to the fair on Sunday morning, only one thing in mind: shopping. Of course, I couldn't find everything I had set my eyes on the previous day (for instance, a sewing themed coffee mug I had already taken into daily use in my mind). Nevertheless, my bag was certainly many times heavier when coming back.
This photo shows all the lovely things I managed to bring home. They just look to good to store away, let alone open, cut, use... Some items were gifts from the goodie bag given to bloggers, which was a very nice surprise.




My special thanks and best wishes to BeadsPerlen, BurdaStyle, Christa-Bänder, Creative Beads, DuftHolz, Farbenmix, Feestje-Enzo, Kimya, Rayher Hobby, Van Rooyen Hobby, VBS Hobby Versand, Villa Landleben, Zwanette's Sprookjes Atelier, as well as the Creativa team.

Fireside socks

Since I bought a load of sock yarn last year, I have to make some socks every now and then. Otherwise there will be no new yarn, no matter how pretty the colour.




This is an improvised pair of socks, worked from top down. The heel is a classical one with picked up stitches, the strongest and most comfortable, in my opinion. But I do prefer starting from the toe, as that is so much less stressful - no fear of running out of yarn or having leftovers. The latter is what happened this time.




The socks are made of Admiral Bambus by Schoppel-Wolle, with 75 per cent wool and 25 per cent bamboo content. While working, the yarn seems somewhat like cotton, but becomes much softer after washing. In the end, it has a really nice natural feel, like it should be. Just love this warm colour scheme.




After a long search, I found these lovely sheepish wooden sock blockers on Whorl Drop Spindle, a great place for handmade spindles and other wooden wool tools. (One day I will try spinning.)

Very old yarn stash members

Sometimes things just appear in unexpected places, like these spools of grey wool I found in an antique store among furniture and other non-knitting items. Each of these holds more than 100 grams cobweb weight wool.
The large black spool is not antique, but definitely vintage and acquired from someone's old stash. There is more than a kilo of cobweb wool on it!
No time to be bored in the foreseeable future - all of that should be enough for at least thirteen shawls.

Craft fair in Helsinki

Made a day trip to Helsinki last Sunday to visit the craft fair Kädentaitomessut that took place in the lovely Wanha Satama (Old Harbour) fair centre.




There were many exhibitors, selling both crafts and supplies (yarn!), so couple of hours went by very quickly. Most of the handmade items were either sewn, felted, made of leather, wood, wire or ceramics. They were all very unique and kind of modern, not at all what can be seen at the craft fairs in my country - mostly traditional and folk culture based items. I saw some machine knitted knitwear, but actually no handknittings. Must be an unlucrative activity!












Other trip highlights:
* Helsinki Vintage fair that had brought together many people interested in vintage fashion and accessories. The most exceptional were the outfits and hair styles from the past, worn by some sellers and visitors.
* Lunch at the fishing harbour, consisting of a large portion of muikku (vendace) and September sun.
* My fair purchases: Addi bamboo needles, a blackberry Zauberball and Kalahari karakul wool made in Botswana(!):