If you find yourself on the road between Stockholm and Gothenburg, make sure to spread the trip over two days so that you can stop in the resort town of Vadstena on lake Vättern. It is lovely. The big hotel there — Vadstena Klosterhotel — is in a renovated medieval monastery by the lake, and a more peaceful and tranquil location would be hard to imagine.

It has been quite windy, so there have been white caps on the water The lake is large enough that you can barely see the other side. It looks more like the ocean than a lake.

The town itself is small, but has a nice walking area with a number of stores and a large choice of pastry/coffee shops. I didn’t find yarn here, but after Stockholm and Uppsala, I’m certainly not in need of any additional “inspiration” for a day or two.

Saturday was WWKIP day (World Wide Knit in Public), and the Monday Evening knitting group invited me to join them in celebration at a park in Stockholm. All together over several hours there were more than 30 participants, with a multitude of projects and interesting yarns. I continue to get a mixed evaluation of the state of knitting in Sweden. One of the shop owners I spoke to felt as though most of the knitters are middle aged women who learned to knit in school as children, and are returning to knitting now that their kids are grown and leaving home. The group I was knitting with on Saturday were a mix of ages, young to senior, and quite a few of them are young. All are passionate knitters, and view Instagram and Ravelry (in that order) as their inspiration to knit and experiment with new techniques. I think there is more going on here than meets the eye!

I forgot a tape measure and couldn’t figure out where I was on my own project, so spent my time chatting and trying to figure out the best way to use my nostepinne to wind a ball of yarn. For a simple tool, it does take a bit of practice, and even with some hints from the group, my ball looks more like a peat pot for planting seeds than a ball of yarn!

The Jämtland sheep are a cross breed of Svea and merino, and produce a reasonable fine/soft wool with merino characteristics. The staple is long, and the fibers themselves rather “sticky,” so that the yarn knots easily.

I purchased this yarn in Stockholm at a small shop in the old city (Gamla Stan), and that will be worth a post on its own later. By then I’ll have gotten this one swatched and will have a better idea of what to say about its properties for knitting.

We are leaving here shortly, and I’ll admit I’m sorry we can’t spend another day by this lake with its lovely, peaceful views. Maybe another trip…..