17.06.2007 | 18:08

To spend money (wisely) in Tallinn

Our team (Niina, Midori & I) headed to Tallinn on Saturday. Travelling was nice on the Superseacat (pizza slice and Graffina Malce 5 euros) and after arriving in Tallinn we headed to wholesale shop Karnaluks (Hermanni 1) which is also known as the Addi paradise. We got out of the ferry at 12.30 and the shop closes at 13.00, so we did not hesitate and took a taxi.

Kristiina has great instructions in her blog (in Finnish) - they were extremely helpful.

The yarns seemed to be mostly acrylic blends, but I did not look at them so closely so I might be wrong. There were also yarns for crocheting and cotton yarns as well as glitter yarns. The basic Fortissima Socka yarn cost about 30 kroonis / 50 g and the self-striping one about 80 kroonis / 100 g. The Addi bamboo circulars ranged from 50 cm long to 120 cm long and the price was about 60 kroonis and the regular Addi circulars were about 30 kroonis as well as the DPNs. There were no lace Addis but the regular ones were up to 200 cm long. The prices are without VAT, so 18% of VAT is added to the prices at the counter.

In addition to yarn and needles, there are buttons, ribbons, beads, findings, buckles - all kinds of small stuff you did not even know you needed and that is so cheap that it just leaps into your basket all by itself. Eventually we spent almost an hour there. The staff was friendly and did not chase us away even though the shop had officially closed for that day.

Our next target was the yarn shop on Pärnu maantee opposite to the Kosmos theatre, the one they tried to burn during the riots earlier this spring but it was closed on Saturdays, so moving on...

Liann Lõngad in the Pro Kapitaali building on Narva maantee was already familiar and every time it offers some pleasant surprises.

This time we oohed and aahed over Titan Wool's Merino's Extra, 65 kroonis / 100 g hank. It's almost as lovely and soft as Grignasco Merinosilk even though it does not contain any silk.

Finally we went to Filati (Müürivahe 20), as always, and in the harbour we were separated. I ran to supermarket Rimi to buy some beer for Jussi and the others went to empty the yarn shop in Sadamarket of its multicoloured wool yarns, so I had to race around the dock with my backbag full of beer to get to the right terminal. We returned home feeling tired but very happy.

This time, I think, I got more beer (10 bottles) than yarn. That's only because I bought some circular needles from Karnaluks...

...100 and 120 cm long Addi Bamboos and regular Addis in rare sizes...

...as well as DPNs (and one crochet hook).

I also got a lot of useful small stuff from stitch markers to safety pins, from beads to buckles that the cats found very interesting.

Try to take some pictures when a cat washes his brother on top of everything. "What do you mean we're bothering you?"

I bought just this amount of yarn (not me but the others!)

Starting from the top left: BBB Kid Mohair in lovely pink from Filati followed by one ball of red Emmebi Vogue from Liann Lõngad (finally!) and red and self-striping Fortissima Socka. On the bottom row orange Titan Wool Merinos Extra from Liann Lõngad and self-striping Estonian wool yarn from Sadamarket, especially stunt-shopped for me (it was my colour, they said, and this time I believed in straight away).

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