Trondheim is a nice compact town for a travelling knitter. There are several yarn shops within a walking distance in the town center. I visited Jens Hoff Garn go Ide, Norsk Flid, Strikke-Bua, Garnhuset and Nøstebarn. Amazing Norwegian yarn souvenirs!

Jens Hoff Garn og idé

Trondheim Torg

Kongensgate 11


Norsk Flid 
Olav Tryggvasons gate 18

Strikke-Bua

Prinsensgate 45

Garnhuset

Fjordgata 62-64

Nøstebarn

Fjordgata 28

Traditional Norwegian knitwear at Norsk Flid

What country would come to your mind, if you think of knitting? I would say Norway or Iceland, and I have to say that Norway didn't let me down knitting wise. This time my destination was Trondheim, which is a town of some 180 000 inhabitants about in the middle of Norway. Gotta love walking in the town centre in a monarchy: the main streets are King's, Queen's and Prince's streets! (Why not a Princess street, though?) And as we are in a safe Nordic country: the garden of the royal residence, Stiftsgården, is open to the public. In addition to sitting in the garden and knitting, I did some serious yarn shopping.

Baby knitwear samples at Jens Hoff Garn og Ide

Jens Hoff Garn og Ide recently opened the biggest yarn shop in the area at City Lade mall. This was a bit far from the town center, so I opted for their Trondheim Torg mall shop instead. This lovely small shop was full of lovely Norwegian yarns, mostly Sandnes Garn and Drops, also Rauma, Du store alpakka and other Norwegian brands. In addition, I spotted some Lettlopi and Manos del Uruguay, but I was concentrating on Norwegian yarns this time. For knitting inspiration, there was a wall full of traditional Norwegian knits, and also some lovely baby knits. I found some Babyull for a baby project on my project queue.

Traditional Norwegian knitwear at Jens Hoff Garn og Ide

Strikke-Bua on Prinsensgate is a little shop full of yarn: mostly Viking and BC Garn - both Norwegian brands, and also Danish Kauni yarns. You can buy sock sets with pattern and yarn for traditional and contemporary designs. Instead of checking needed amount of yarn from Ravelry, there is a traditional bookshelf with a binder for each yarn and sample designs for the yarn. Works well that way, too. At least I hope that I have the right amount of Silkbloom extra fino silk-merino blend for a project that has been waiting for the right yarn for quite some time already.

Viking yarns at Strikke-Bua

Norsk Flid is more than a yarn shop and with traditional clothing it's a lovely shopping destination for a tourist. Even if fair-isle knitting is not your thing, you can get beautiful traditional Norwegian knitwear here. And if you want to give it a try, you can buy a package with yarn and pattern. There are also lovely felted bags with yarn and pattern for lovely, simple baby knits. For a yarn shopper there's a nice selection of Rauma yarns and other Norwegian brands. You can also get perfect buttons for your Norwegian cardigans. I don't see myself wearing traditional knitwear, but I liked the buttons and I think I'll use them in one of my more contemporary designs. I also bought some Rauma yarn, and learned that there is a little town called Rauma in Norway - they didn't name the yarn after the town Rauma in Finland, that is!

Ready-made Norwegian knitwear at Norsk Flid

Garnhuset is a big store that has almost all of the brands that the other stores have, all under one roof: Sandnes, Drops, Du store Alpakka, Viking, only to name a few. There is also a selection of books, magazines and patterns. I found some Viking yarn for socks and yarn called KlompeLOMPE for another project.

Garnhuset

Nøstebarn has a totally different approach. They go with unprocessed wool, both for clothes and yarn.  It's mostly baby clothes, but I did find a dress (that one in the picture below) for Troll Princess and a sweater for Young Warrior. And, of course, yarn for myself. They have angora yarn that is ecologically produced in Denmark. Not the tortured Chinese rabbits, but ecological produce from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. The last time I used angora was some 20 years ago before Internet times and awareness of animal torture in China, so I was pretty happy to find this gem. The yarn is only available in white, and it's a 50 % angora 50 % wool mix, so I got some brown shades of merino wool to go with it. I'm thinking pullover, with turtle neck in angora and then some colorwork on the rest of the garment.

I'm pretty happy with my souvenirs from Norway. The only yarn that is not for a specific purpose (yet) is the pink Rauma Plum super kid mohair. All other yarns were on my to-do list. No random stash additions this time, and I'm really happy to have found such lovely yarns for these projects that have been waiting for the right yarn. The green hanks are BC Garn Silkbloom extra fino, 45 % silk 55 % merino. The colourful skeins are Viking Nordlys sock yarn - or maybe it's not actually sock yarn as it doesn't look and feel like sock yarn, but there was a sample sock knitted of the yarn and its 75 % superwash wool 25 % nylon, so to me that sounds like socks. Royal blue skein is Sandnes Babyull for a baby project, and the blue-gray skeins are Sandnes KlompeLompe merino that I'm going to use to make another Kivitasku vest. I have no idea what KlompeLOMPE means, but it's the best name for yarn I've seen so far!

My souvenirs from Trondheim

Crochet graffiti in Trondheim