The happy place for some people is where they hold knitting needles in their hands. They find it hard to stay in one place for a long time without picking them up (doesn’t everyone carry knitting supplies in their bag wherever they go?). Sometimes it’s too hot and a bit sweaty to knit. Sometimes it is a bit cold and hard to handle the needles, but at other times it is just perfect.
And then the question arises – where is the best place to knit? (Apart from one’s own happy place, which is presumably at home).
Since the author of this blog travels quite a bit, a spontaneous decision was made to create posts about the experience of knitting in different places. Possibly, some yarn shops will find their way into the text :).
Lisbon
Lately, I’ve been staying in Portugal, specifically in Lisbon. The weather has been, as expected in July and August, quite warm, around 28-32 degrees Celsius. The Icelander has stayed indoors during the hottest part of the day or at least where there is shadow and a breeze.
The knitting kit came along, and the chosen project was a sweater made from the yarn Unicorn fart, Dóttur Dyeworks. Delightfully colorful yarn that, with silk mohair, becomes wonderfully light and fun in a garment.
On the first day, I knitted at the rooftop bar, and it went quite well. It would have gone even better if there had been a better knitting chair at the place, but that was not the case.
The next day, I tried the garden next to the hotel. There was a cozy bench with a view over a lawn where many children and adults were enjoying the pleasant weather. Also, a fun outdoor café and good company!.
On the third day, I started early with a morning walk. Some thoughts about yarn shops appeared out of nowhere, and impulsively, I opened Google Maps and typed: Knitting shops near me.
That worked brilliantly. Within 500 meters, I found the first one, and a short distance from it, another. This was fun, and even better that in the latter, some sort of knitting café was clearly starting up as several women came in and sat down at a table.
My Portuguese is practically nonexistent, and their English was almost as little as their Icelandic. But a shared interest, gestures, and questioning looks took us surprisingly far.
In short, it’s definitely possible to knit in Lisbon, and there are surprisingly many yarn shops (found many more online) with a great selection of yarn.