I am so chuffed to be invited to hold workshops at this new knitting festival called Vienna Wool & Design Festival 29. to 30. April at Arcotel Wimberger Vienna Hotel. Also invited are the following: Polish designer Hanna Maciejewska aka Hada Knits, who I met at the Wollness Weekend outside of Vienna a couple of years ago; American designer Nancy Marchant; German designer Isabell Kraemer; Scottish designer Di Gilpin , who I first met at the Knitting and Stitching Show several years back; and British designer Anna Maltz, just to mention a few. Some of us will teach in English while the rest will teach in German. The festival is organised by Suncica Wilhelmer, owner of Wollsalon Sunshine Loop, and Ursula Koll. In addition to the workshops there will be a tempting market hall, come together evening, galla dinner and a magazine made with new patterns by participating designers. I already know that a number of my test knitters will be there and I look forward to meeting old and new friends. I suspect the majority of the knitters present will be women but at least two husbands will be there – I know this for a fact since both Hanna’s and mine is coming – both will be busy photographing unlike the rest of us!
Tag Archives: Wollsalon Sunshine Loop
Vienna Calling
Isabella Mach, aka Isa, offered to take us back to Vienna directly to our hotel from Steinschalerhof and we obviously accepted in a flash. We arrived in a wet Vienna, unpacked and then located designer Hanna Maciejewska + husband, before we headed out for dinner and a long walk through the city centre of Vienna. We are all staying at the Hotel Wien in the 2.nd District with a walking distance to the city centre, recommended by Austrian Yarn Club organiser Irene Brenner who live nearby. Above is a photo of the landmark, St. Stephen’s Cathedral
Irene and her husband took us sightseeing on our first day in Vienna. They are in the centre of the photo above. Of course we meet up with Ursula Koll – notice her love of bright colours, see pink shawl above – and then later on Teresa Schinwald, as well as the German visitors Betta and Andrea for coffee and cake at a famous café – as you do.
Before we left Steinschalerhof, we had a session with photographer Dominik Matyas who took a number of group photos. Isa was helping out, doing a hilarious hippo dance in the background. We will have to wait a couple of weeks to see all of his photos, since he was busy taking numerous project photos for most of the knitters present.
Dominik Matyas/ byDominik.com
Above is one of the workshop photos he took of my Professional Finishing Workshop, part II. At the rail you can see a few of my designs I had brought to show off and to wear at the venue.
There was a yarn market at the Wollness Weekend, where knitters could destash and yarn shops display their yarn and knitting gadgets. Despite the fairly small room the selection was overwhelming!
Above is the stunning modified Gyda – from a jacket into a sweater with a wonderful deep square neck knitted by Ursula Koll, aka Grinsekatz on Ravelry. Yet another of my designs I spotted at the Wollness Weekend, to my utter delight. At the moment Ursula is finishing her Hennika, this time not only in pink but in a fluorescent pink. I cannot wait to see the finished result.
Yesterday, we went to visit Suncica Wilhelmer, an architect and a yarn shop owner who lives in the Rufer House designed by the architect Adolf Loos. Not only did we want to see her house but Hanna and I also wanted to check out her yarn selection and fondle some yarn. The name of her yarn shop is Wollsalon Sunshine Loop, and we were both tempted into buying several skeins of yarn. The yarn shop is located in the former kitchen, and I loved the fact that the owner wanted not only a window facing the street but also one facing the indoor staircase so he could spot the visitors from his office. In the evening Hanna and I were at their knit night. We finally managed to do some more knitting…