off the wagon again?
No, I am really not off the wagon. I just had a few rough spots on the road; a wheel fell off; the hay started flying out of the wagon and I had to run around to get it all. That's all. (smirk)
I do have a long list of ideas about which I want to blog. This post is photo-less, as I did not take a pic of this in Denmark. Let me preface this post with the fact that things in Denmark are rather expensive. They are even more expensive if you happen to have a currency that is down a bit relative to others... but even without that fact, it can cost quite a lot. OK. Just keep that in the back of your mind. (Here's a for-instance: $25 for an ordinary glass of wine. $15 for a Coke. The shoes I got-- let's not even go there. T-shirts, with some decoration (machine done) for DKK 250, which is about $50. I am sure you get the idea. It made Paris look inexpensive.)
OK.
At the Viking ship museum, in Roskilde, there was a gift shop (and yes I bought a thing or two). There was quite an array of items, clothing to jewelry, toys to tea-towels. I noticed a few knitted shawls and exclaimed in enthusiasm. I figured they would be extraordinarily pricey, given the general cost of things in Denmark. They were handknit so I assumed stratospheric prices.
Not so.
Not even close.
Hand knit Icelandic yarn (I believe the same yarn that Schoolhouse Press carries, a spun Icelandic laceweight. I have used it, and like it a lot. In fact, I brought more of it home from my Camp Retreat this past July but set that aside for now...) Anyway. The shawls were rectangular, long stoles. Very nice, not simplistic. One had Barbara Walker's Ogee pattern on it (First Treasury, page 223. Just so you know, I did not have that page number memorized... thoguh I did know it was in that book) along with others. Well made, nicely designed.
Anyway, the stoles were lovely, interesting and handknit. Honestly. $56?? Compare that to ordinary t shirts, machine made, that cost more. I stood there with my mouth open, comparing that lovely handknit work, and ordinary machine made shirts and the like, and could not believe how under-valued the handknit was.
Believe it or not, I didn't buy one, and have been kicking myself ever since. Not because cheap (as in, a bargain I should have snatched up) but because someone put a lot of work into it, and I like to show appreciation of such work. At the time I was just annoyed at the shop for not valuing the handwork higher, and didn't want to encourage them by buying it.
I did discuss it with a friend in Denmark, who commented that the work was probably done somewhere where labor was far more inexpensive, using the Icelandic wool. Still.
My husband, who was barely hanging onto his sanity at the cost of our visit, probably would have been astonished at my rueing a low price... but then, he is not a knitter.
I do have a long list of ideas about which I want to blog. This post is photo-less, as I did not take a pic of this in Denmark. Let me preface this post with the fact that things in Denmark are rather expensive. They are even more expensive if you happen to have a currency that is down a bit relative to others... but even without that fact, it can cost quite a lot. OK. Just keep that in the back of your mind. (Here's a for-instance: $25 for an ordinary glass of wine. $15 for a Coke. The shoes I got-- let's not even go there. T-shirts, with some decoration (machine done) for DKK 250, which is about $50. I am sure you get the idea. It made Paris look inexpensive.)
OK.
At the Viking ship museum, in Roskilde, there was a gift shop (and yes I bought a thing or two). There was quite an array of items, clothing to jewelry, toys to tea-towels. I noticed a few knitted shawls and exclaimed in enthusiasm. I figured they would be extraordinarily pricey, given the general cost of things in Denmark. They were handknit so I assumed stratospheric prices.
Not so.
Not even close.
Hand knit Icelandic yarn (I believe the same yarn that Schoolhouse Press carries, a spun Icelandic laceweight. I have used it, and like it a lot. In fact, I brought more of it home from my Camp Retreat this past July but set that aside for now...) Anyway. The shawls were rectangular, long stoles. Very nice, not simplistic. One had Barbara Walker's Ogee pattern on it (First Treasury, page 223. Just so you know, I did not have that page number memorized... thoguh I did know it was in that book) along with others. Well made, nicely designed.
Anyway, the stoles were lovely, interesting and handknit. Honestly. $56?? Compare that to ordinary t shirts, machine made, that cost more. I stood there with my mouth open, comparing that lovely handknit work, and ordinary machine made shirts and the like, and could not believe how under-valued the handknit was.
Believe it or not, I didn't buy one, and have been kicking myself ever since. Not because cheap (as in, a bargain I should have snatched up) but because someone put a lot of work into it, and I like to show appreciation of such work. At the time I was just annoyed at the shop for not valuing the handwork higher, and didn't want to encourage them by buying it.
I did discuss it with a friend in Denmark, who commented that the work was probably done somewhere where labor was far more inexpensive, using the Icelandic wool. Still.
My husband, who was barely hanging onto his sanity at the cost of our visit, probably would have been astonished at my rueing a low price... but then, he is not a knitter.
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