Tampere handicraft fair 2013

Spent last Friday at this fair. It is the largest in Finland and their website says it is the largest in Europe but that would be hard to believe. Big, though - 3 large halls full of crafts and all sorts of craf supplies.

You were not allowed to take photos of the stalls but I just photographed the corridoors in between...

I loved to se eso many yarn sellers! So many different brands in one place. I didn't buy that much but studied many to know what to buy online later. Like the Finnish brands Pirkka and Wetterhoff are ones I haven't used before. There were many Peruvian yarns and of course the main large European manufacturers and some American ones. There was also an interesting looking brand from iceland I hadn't heard of before.

I bought some novelty yarns. I love to add those to everything at the moment!

Dropas Nepal (65% wool, 35% alpaca) was on sale and I bought several colours. I'll use them to try out the original fairisle texhnique.

Here some of the other ones I bought. The pink Lumio has reflecting thread in it. Others for socks and some pale green merino for a baby.

You could spend any amount of money on wool! Some of them are just so expensive, too. Fortunately there are many price levels to choose form. One thing that had changed from what it was years ago is that now nobody would expect handmade to be cheaperthat store bought. Most of the time it is more expensive to make it yourselves. But you loose out on all the joy of  working and seeing the final result if you just buy your hats and scarves at H&M!

One thing I had decided - no stopping at the quilting fabric stalls! And I kept the resolution! Last year I bought many lovely pieces of Christmas fabrics and I still haven't made anything of them.

BUT I have a brand new sewing machine, bought a few weeks ago to replace the 30-year-old one. So I had to get some material! One of these will become a dress for my granddaughter (4) and the other is lovely coarse Nepalese fabric. I don't know yet what to use it for but it coul dbe many things, like cushions, bags or even a coat.

People in Finland have a lot of imagination! These photos are from the Novita mittens competition entries. Last year I took part in their sock competition but didn't enter this year.

I noticed that stalls selling supplies seemed to be doing much better than ones selling ready-made items. Such a large part of the people were people who have crafts as a hobby. I counted that there were 39 stalls selling yarn but there seemed to be even more selling paper craft supplies like scrapbooking or beads.