Window shopping in Venlo

Craft shops are really hard to pass by, especially when there is a pile of yarns on the window. But as the saying goes, when travelling light, do not enter a yarn shop.
Here are some impressions of craft and souvenir shop displays in the small town of Venlo, the Netherlands.

Inspiration from around the world

My weekend trip to visit Floriade, World Horticultural Expo in the Netherlands, quite unexpectedly proved to be interesting craftwise as well. Many participating countries had included souvenirs and textiles in their expositions, for some it was the main attraction with very little to show in the gardening area.

This tree with a colourful knitted sweater was probably the only living creature on the fair grounds not suffering from the fierce cold wind and frequent rain and hail showers of the weekend:




Crafty hands could easily make a garden sculpture like this cyclist from Luxembourg



or any other decorative willow object:




Motive of a cosy knitted throw on a garden shed chair:




Bobbin lace samples of Sri Lanka



and how they are made by diligent hands:




Chinese silk lantern:




Fine printed fabrics of Indonesia:




Patterns from Afghanistan:




Colours of Tunisia:




Moroccan sofa with a beautiful patterned fabric in chocolate and turquoise:




Andean knits and textiles from Ecuador:




And some more pretty textile patterns with mystery origin:






Last but not least, some fashion ideas to steal from this performer's costume: