I have been on a 3-day knitting trip to Rauma, with twenty-one knitters, my husband hired in as a photographer and organised by designer Terje Tjelle, aka StrikkeTerje, for Travel Maker. We traveled by train – a knitting train, no less – to Dombås then the Raumabanen to Åndalsnes (the last leg was the scenic route, see below) – and stayed at Grand Hotel from Thursday 7th to Saturday 9th of November. Above is the centre of Åndalsnes with the climbing centre in front and the Romsdalen Gondola going to the top of the mountain behind it. Our trip started at Oslo S – main train station – early in the morning for a 8 am departure to Dombås. Several of us meet at the station and knitted on the train, where we were joined by the remaining knitters during the journey.I was so fortunate as a knitting group I knew well from Larvik was joining us. Nina Hove Myhre had told me which carriage they were on the train, so I went to find them. To my utter delight I found three of them wearing my designs – Nina was even wearing one over another! Heidi in the center is wearing Andor, while Marianne is wearing Vaga in the photo above. They were too busy knitting to look up… On the last day, we had a mini photoshoot with them wearing the designs! Nina is wearing the Merino Vest Wrap, while I am wearing the Yellow Gold Pullover.Both Nina, aka Ninas Syrom, and I filmed a number of videos during the trip. You can see Nina’s video including the planning of her home made outfits and an interview with me, while my video is only available for my paying Patrons here: www.patreon.com.

Both Terje and I held workshops in the conference room at the hotel. I held the first one; Perfect Fit for the whole group after arrival at 4 to 7 pm on Thursday, before our dinner at the hotel. We had a delicious two course dinner and took the opportunity to get to know each other.Check out the sign on the door of the local newspaper “Åndalsnes Avis”, above.

The highlight of the trip was a visit to the yarn mill Rauma Ullvarefabrikk with a guided tour and plenty of time in the shop during the first half of Friday. Both Michael and I took so many photos at the mill, that I will make a separate post about it. Above you see part of the production of old-fashioned shade cards.After visiting Rauma we went on a short coach trip to Trollveggen (the Troll Wall), Europe’s largest vertical mountain wall, see more here: visit-trollveggen. The visitor center was closed, but we had a short photo stop with the opportunity to take a group photo.Back at the hotel from 3 to 6 pm, Terje and I held two parallel workshops where the knitters could choose which one to attend: My Smart Knitting Techniques or Terje’s Surface Structures on Mittens in Thick Yarn.Dinner was at Woldstad Farm in the Isfjorden/Ice Fjord where Terje held a talk about the Selbu Mittens, between the courses. His brother-in-law Frank, also known as Trubadur Frank (he sings and plays the guitar), joined us because Terje is a trained singer and they sang together. Terje also encouraged us all to sing-along, so we had a Knit & Sing Session. Perfect after a busy day and a three course dinner.We ended the evening with Knitting Bingo back at the hotel. This is always hilarious, as knitters get very enthusiastic over those knitting terms on the bingo card. Terje was expecting me to have “cables” on my card – but I didn’t. Funnily enough the first one to call “Bingo” was Michael, who had no interest in winning a yarn kit from Rauma Ullvarefabrikk. Luckily, he had not understood that we were starting with two rows/lines and not one, so the knitters could breathe again! It was close to midnight before the evening ended.Last day and after breakfast, the last set of workshops was on offer; I held Cable Knitting Masterclass while Terje held Mittens With Multi-Coloured Yarn. Below you see Terje in the large conference room.Afterwards, there was a brief ending to the trip before we had some hours on our own before the train departed late in the afternoon. Above you see the hotel, taken at sunrise Saturday morning.Most of us chose to take the cable car, Romsdalen Gondola, to the top of the mountain, followed by lunch. The view at the top of the mountain was spectacular, so I will write a separate post with those too. I had a fabulous trip to Rauma and met so many wonderful knitters!