I was visiting my sister, who lives in Denmark, in a small town called Holstebro. I had persuaded her to take me to
Henriksens Uldspinderi in Skive, another small town about 40 minutes drive from her home.
I was excited. As you may have guessed, Uldspinderi means wool spinnery. I had heard a rumor that they sell some of their yarns in a little shop in the spinnery, at lower prices.
So my sister strapped her then 4-months old daughter Iris into the car chair, and we were ready to go. Iris started crying before we reached the car, but that didn't stop us. After driving for approximately 3 minutes, the color of her face started turning from burgundy to purple because of her intense screaming. I wondered if something was wrong with the poor child, but she just dislikes sitting in that stupid chair facing backwards. We decided to pull over, and I got in the back to try to talk to her. But she was beyond reach. I tried speaking to her, but she had by then worked herself into such hysteria that she was in a bubble of isolation. I felt more and more guilty. Only my desire for wool had brought this anguish upon the poor child.
Just a few minutes before reaching the spinnery, she fell asleep, a light and upset sleep that was punctuated by hiccups from excessive crying.
The shop at the spinnery is camouflaged. You actually have to walk through the spinnery with all its exciting cones of yarn sitting on machines, and up
some stairs to reach the shop. But it was worth the trip. They spin yarn for the Danish knitting designer
Marianne Isager, whose books are also published in english (at least the one called Knitting Out of Africa). Henriksens spin the yarns called Spinni and Tvinni, both are 100% wool, 100 g is about 600 m. They sell it for about $17 per 100 g, half of the retail price (remember, the dollar is not worh much these days).
Iris was feeling better. I decided to make a peace offering, compensate her for the pain and suffering. So we picked out yarn and pattern (from Marianne Isager) for hat and mittens, in angora Tvinni, lined with cotton. More about this later. I didn't walk away empty-handed myself. I got enough Spinni and Tvinni for at least 3 large projects, 4-500 g each of the black, red, and dusty blue.
end but... there was a reason they warned me against this pattern at the knitting store. I was looking at the pattern, liking the finished model, but being told the pattern was really badly written. Meanwhile, another lady was eyeballing it, clearly wanting it too - there was only one copy. So despite warnings, I had no other choice than quickly snatching it in front of her!
