Friday 16 October 2015

Shopping for German Wool Yarn in Berlin


"No sheep in Germany?"  Elinor nearly choked on her cappuchino.
"That's what the lady in the wool shop said."  I was thoroughly disheartened.  Before BG and I left for our epic adventure in Berlin, a kind friend had given me a link to Knitmap.  Resorting to old school technology, I now had wool shop addresses written down on a piece of paper and had been hoping to bring home some authentic German wool yarn.
Our old friend and star sheep of the international stage and screen, had arranged to meet us in what seemed to be the only courtyard left in Hackescher Markt not yet subsumed by tourist bijouterie.  Once she had coughed up the last drop of her frothy coffee, she patted me on the arm.
"Well, Beaut, I can name at least one ewe living right here in Berlin.  Back in our cabaret days, she was an artful hoofer, notoriously elusive, but maybe I can hunt her down." Wrapping a scarf around her head and slipping on some enormous shades, Elinor assumed the air of a sheep of mystery.  As BG and I took a walk to Museum Insel, we caught just a glimpse of her entering the stagedoor of the Chamaleon.
Our party convened once more at a truly civilised venue, handmade Berlin, a wool shop with its own cafe on Monpijou Platz.  They have handmade knitwear and a range of luxury yarns from all round Europe, including some highly desirable skeins from an indie dyer in Berlin, but not a sniff of real German wool.  BG went to have a nose through the fancy stuff while I quizzed Elinor.
"So, any luck?"
"Ah, Foxy was always a fugitive soul." Hauling on the string dangling from her glass mug, Elinor sighed.  "Could you nip in and get me some milk?  Berlin has the best food in the world, but they do have funny ideas about tea." After much faffing about with a hot teabag, she continued.  "I did hear Foxy's been running a beach bar in Kreuzberg."
"A beach bar?  Aren't we miles from the coast?"
"Oh, in Berlin you just dump a load of sand on a bit of empty ground along the riverside, put up a couple of deckchairs and people will soon be dancing the tango."
And so that very afternoon we went pounding the streets of Kreuzberg, sustained only by cheesecake and heavenly felafel from the Turkish Market.  Careful inspection confirmed this was a great spot for buying fruit, veg, fabric and bricabrac, but not wool and what is more, the beach bars closed down in September.  Despite developing a Pavlovian panic response to the whirr of bicycle wheels, BG and I arrived safely at Faden Insel on Oranienstrasse, a proper knitters' wool shop crammed with yarn.
Asked for German sheepswool yarn, the lady immediately reached over to a box at the back of the shop, explaining that though there are no woollen mills in Germany, this yarn was spun in Switzerland from a mix of linen and the fleece of Schwabische sheep from the Jura in Southern Germany.  Ausgezeichnet!
With our key wool objective attained, next day, we planned to appreciate art at the Deutsches Guggenheim Museum.  Elinor had other ideas.
"If you want a European cultural experience, Beaut, just go and drink coffee in West Berlin."  She wasn't wrong.  Rattling above the Tiergarten on the S-Bahn to Bahnhof Zoo, the onset of cold weather had turned the trees all gold and orange.  In the quiet, stately avenues, there were cushions and blankets on the
seats outside the cafes. BG disturbed the dust and the orderly hush in the second hand bookshops, I loved the cheerful bustle of La Laine wool shop, which stocked a huge range of Lang brand yarns, though no German sheep's wool.  The staff could not have been kinder, BG spent ages in the changing room choosing a top and grabbed a glorious bargain, end of range, colour change skein. One of us was very taken with a yarn named Berlin, but my energy was running low.
"Stop sitting on your Hairy Lala, Elinor, I am now desperate for that coffee."
"Untwist your knickers, Beaut, I know just the cafe and there's somebody there I want you to meet."
As the waiter brought our tray, an enigmatic figure, muffled up in golden fleece, approached the table on long, ginger legs.
"Elinorchen!"  
"Hiya, Foxy!" The two ewes exchanged air kisses.  Foxy originally came from Coburg, in Bavaria, her family being the Fuchschaf, an ancient line of German sheep.  I felt a little shy of asking about her wunderschon fleece, but Elinor charged straight in.
"Fran here wants to buy your wool, Beaut."
"Naturlich.  It is only in the best shop. Manufactum."
We left them deep in decades of gossip. Manufactum is the shop for quality products, many made in Germany.  If you've got a few bob, you'll have no trouble spending it.  Good job they only have a small selection of yarn.


More woolly gratification was to come.  On Sunday, at the Flea Market in Mauer Park, there was a stall selling gorgeous sheepskin rugs from the mountain sheep of Poland. The one I bought could easily be mistaken for a bear.  Sitting on it to drink our Gluhwein, watch the people and listen to the band, we wondered if Warsaw might not be a more rewarding destination for the fibre enthusiast. 
Obstacles notwithstanding, our trip to Berlin couldn't have been better. BG said she preferred the street art to the galleries we never visited and has come home inspired to redecorate her garden wall with revolutionary graffitti.  I am moved to quote Goethe.  

"Auch aus Steinen, die in den Weg gelegt werden, kann man Schones bauen."

16 comments:

  1. well, I know that most german yarn brands aren't spun from german woll fibres, but... there are some, e.g. here: http://www.schafe-im-rodgau.de/Onlineshop/Alles-aus-Wolle/alles-aus-wolle.html
    or here: http://finkhof.de/schafwolle.html

    I am sure there are more, but then a lot of the employees in wool shops only know the stuff they have on their supply lists! I have to admit though that "foxy" yarn is very lovely to work with - even though it's not exactly merino soft:)
    I hope you enjoyed berlin anyway - as they say in my old home country: Berlin - always worth a trip:)
    cheers

    Bettina (now living on the emerald isle for nearly 20 years)

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    1. Vielen Dank, we had a brilliant time. I love Berlin, it is a wonderful mind warp to go back now the wall is down. Just passing through Friedrichstrasse filled my head with tears. I plan to fashion some kind of waistcoat for himself with the fox yarn.

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  6. That is weird - four nonspecific and frankly, rather unlikely compliments, all from herbalists in the space of one hour - could they possibly be flogging pot, do you suppose? Ooo, do you think they reckon I am off my head on heavy shit and bound to be a great customer? Contrary to the evidence of my blog writing, I only do nicotine. Anybody out there who could shed some light?

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  7. These are a kind of spam-bots, trying to hitch a hike on a successful blog, so their own ratings will get higher. Even if no-one clicks on the links, (and I wouldn't recommend it, some are malware), they'll get better position in the search engine algorithms. Better delete them.

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  8. Why are there so few sheep and wool sources in Germany?

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    1. I've no idea. Maybe someone out there knows the history of German farming and could explain how this has come about.

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  9. I am from Germany and like handspinning a lot, formerly with a spinning wheel and now with hand spindles I crafted myself.
    Regarding sheep in Germany...You cannot make money with wool in Germany, be happy, if you get enough money to pay the sheerer...German wool is quite coarse in comparison to Merino from NZ or Australia as the most sheep - if any - are meat races, but lamb meat is not very popular in Germany. So wool or fleece from Germany are of no interest for enough people to raise more sheep with better fiber quality.
    I personaly like a readily combed fiber called "Eiderwolle". This is a fibermix from the white sheep, which grase an the dikes at the seashore to compact the soil. These are not a real breed, but a mixture from Texel, Suffolk and some rare old german breeds. The wool has a long staple,is very easy to spin, is not too coarse and it is CHEAP.
    Perfect for me to spin und knit durable sweaters.

    best regards

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    1. Thank you very much - I hadn't realised that lamb wasn't popular in Germany, though that explains a lot. Even in Wales, with so many sheep raised for meat, and the British eating lamb fairly regularly, I believe much of the lamb is exported to the Middle East.
      Eiderwolle sounds good stuff, rather like British 56s, which is a medium soft combed blend of various fleeces raised in Britain, which I like for similar reasons :)

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  10. In the supermarket - if any - you will mostly find leg from lamb from New Zealand at Easter, as they produce much cheaper than german shepherds including transport cost...I am very glad that I recently found your blog as you are a very talented writer,spinner,dyer and artist.

    In fact, British 56s sound very similar. I paid 12 € per Kilo combed fiber Eiderwolle and add. transport. I also bought a pound of mixed british wool, which could be British 56 and its nice too. Meanwhile there are some smaler online retailer, who offers a quite large number of fibers from all over the world inkl. some german fiber.

    best regards

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  11. I had knowledge about shopping in Germany however was not sure about the blog and the details that have been shared here in the blog, this is really a unique blog which is very informative

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