No Idle Hands

To continue my little around the world yarn crawl – You never know what a city offers in crafty things until you are there, regardless of imagination and research beforehand.

I have imagined Rome, with its high fashion and textile lines, to have fabulous yarn shops to offer. Maybe it does but I couldn’t find any in the central areas. One little tiny shop piled up high with Italian yarn is the only one I came upon, and it’s nothing to write home about.

But Rome itself is fabulous indeed and a must go for any European travel. We loved just strolling around – almost every turn of the corner offers a surprise. And the food is so down to earth satisfying.

Above: the mouth of truth as in the Roman Holidays. It’s tucked in a corner of a small chapel. Almost missed it!

Above: on the Spanish Steps with my handmade summer dress. It’s a McCall pattern I think.

Now Athens is a different surprise. With the warm weather I would have thought knitting can’t be popular there. Was I wrong. Sure they are not big on wool and other cold weather fibres we are used to in the UK and America, but they have yarn shops in abundance, stocked full of cotton, linen and other summery yarns.

From Syntagma square, walk east behind the Mcdonalds. In a few blocks you would have entered a sort of ‘fashion district’ with fabric and yarn shops at every corner. If you knit summer tops and lacy shrugs in cool weather yarn, definitely give them a check.

We really enjoyed our time in Greece, especially Santorini. The blue sky and sea, white architecture glistening in the sun, and the whole scene turning gold at the sunset hour. Truly magical.