Teaching at the Swiss Yarn Festival from Friday to Sunday, felt like a 3-day long knitting party that never ended! Many of the designers (31) and vendors (76) stayed at the venue – Riverside – an old mill converted into a conference centre outside of Zurich, near the town of Glattfelden, and many of us had dinner together every evening!
The organiser & designer Meret Butzberger, aka Butzeria, and her friends plus volunteers joined us. Above you see a photo of Meret and me taken on Thursday evening and if you are wondering, I am wearing my Fulla Cardigan made in Rowan Yarn Felted Tweed for The Knitter, issue 175.
It was my first time at the Swiss Yarn Festival and I held 4 workshops; Smart Knitting Techniques, Cable Knitting Masterclass, Japanese Patterns and Professional Finishing.
Most of the knitters that took the workshops were living in Switzerland or had family/friends there, but some had travelled to the festival from Norway, Denmark, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Portugal, Scotland, UK, Dubai and the US. So it felt incredibly international!
Friday Night Knit & Bowling Party; now, this combination was new to me! Michael joined me on this trip and I had signed us both on thinking that he could bowl and I could knit. The party had an Italian buffet too! In addition to a raffle with prizes donated by the vendors! No, I didn’t bowl nor did I win any prizes. I did however meet famous designers I had not had the opportunity to meet before like Joji Locatelli, Olga Buraya-Kefelian, Xandy Peters and Irina Shaar of Fiberchats. From left is Jenny of Townhouse Yarns in Dublin, Julie Dubreux, aka Julie Knits in Paris, me, standing next to me is Meret (I don’t know who she is talking to) but seated to the right is Jenny’s mum of Townhouse Yarns.
My lunch gang was Aleks Byrd and Julie Dubreux as we have met at several other festivals earlier. The Swiss Yarn Festival provided a lunch bag for us and volunteer Madeline locked us into classroom so we had some privacy during our lunch. It was wonderful for us to catch up! Michael captured Aleks and me at her Meet & Greet on Saturday afternoon. I am wearing my Arine, made in the gorgeous mYak Baby Yak Medium
There were also 2 fashion shows each day, organised by AHA-Mode & Alles für die Handarbeit, talks and readings – the last only in German.
Riverside has 2 restaurants, hotel rooms and a separate lodge, an outdoor gym, as well as walking paths along the river and in the forest behind the venue. Above is the river path!
I was hoping for a Birds Eye view of the venue from the forest but saw only trees … If you look closely you can spot the red coloured building to the right …
Not only was there a photo wall, it also had a camera box that printed out photos or that would post directly onto instagram. Conveniently, it was next to the Meet & Greet point. Hence when the Norwegian group from Stavanger, who I knew, arrived we had to take a photo. 3 of them are wearing a design made by Tone Cecilie Nystrøm, while I am wearing my Arine.
The breakfast party on Monday lasted nearly 3 hours, as Michael and I were there early to say goodbye to the first group, while we were in the second one to leave. Yet another opportunity to meet more famous designers like Sofia Karlsen, Melanie Berg. Above you see me preparing for my Cable Knitting Masterclass workshop. Below is a photo of the Penny Lane Yarns stand in the market hall.
Luckily, we could fly home directly to Oslo with SAS on Monday afternoon, unlike our outbound trip, as the airline cancelled our outbound trip to Zurich less than 20 hours before we were supposed to depart. SAS offered us a flight on Saturday morning – which was way too late as it would mean that I missed two of my workshops plus my scheduled Meet & Greet! Michael and I spent hours trying to find an alternative as many flights were either full or too expensive or had 8-10 hours stop-over somewhere. Finally, Michael found us a flight from Oslo via Helsinki with only 1,5 hour stop-over to Zurich that arrived late Thursday afternoon (instead of morning), so we made it in time. Thanks to Finnair!
Above you see me wearing my Juul Cardigan made for Interweave Knits Winter 2017. I had a wonderful time at the Swiss Yarn Festival and I want to thank the organisers, volunteers, designers, vendors and knitters that I met! It was a blast! The next Swiss Yarn Festival – Party – will be April 2nd to 4th in 2027!
