Finland: The Small Town of Hämeenlinna

Hämeenlinna is easily accessible from Helsinki. Trains go very often, and it takes just an hour to get there. It's a pleasant small town, especially on a nice sunny summer day. The main feature is the castle, located next to the city centre.


Hämeenlinna is good place for knitters. Not far from the main square you'll find the Wetterhoff shop. It boasts nice little handicraft things you'll want to spend your money on, especially if, like me, you like exotic things that scream "Finland!" when you look at them!


Wetterhoff sells knitting yarns, local and foreign brands, but it's not its main business.


Wetterhof mainly sells yarns for making Finnish rugs called "ryijy". Wetterhoff does not suffer of shortage when it comes to colour of yarns or type for the rugs!

The rugs are used as wall hangings, and are normally woven on a loom. Nowadays it is also possible to buy a fabric and "sew" the yarn on in small bits to create the same effect. You can see an example below, a small rug I was working on sometime last spring:


It's a lot of work, but well worth the effort:


If you'd rather focus on just knitting yarn, no problem. There's a small yarn shop on the main town square, waiting just for you!