HV Skola.

Entering the studio.

Studio: the back room.

Studio: Knitting book selection.

My new basket issued by school, though I picked pink. 🙂

Walking across the bridge towards home.

Our group, led by teacher, one of the Karins. I am one of two Christinas/Kristinas. 😉

The timetable. Red indicates the week coloring yarn, orange are trips, yellow is generally “stickning.”

Studio: Yarn selection for first assignment.

The other students who finished their assigned letters.

Finished my “N” at home.

At last, the first day of term in my one year foundation course in knitting at HV Skola !!!

The school is set in historical buildings in a very scenic part of Stockholm called Djurgården.  We knitters, all nine of us, will sit with our teacher in our very own knitting workshop next to the main school where other students are learning textiles in weaving and sewing.  The pictures show that our knitting studio is compact and cosy, but it has all the most important things and all within easy reach: enthusiastic and experienced teacher (s), obsessive-level knitting students, supportive chairs, good natural light (in summer at least), a multitude of colourful yarn and the absolutely essential coffee machine.

Directly opposite to us is Skansen, an outdoor museum, place of history and culture plus home to some animals.  We’re going to pop along tomorrow afternoon to learn more about linen and yarn with a group card that gets us all in without cost. Along the road back towards town (where I strolled towards home), there are a series of interesting and relevant museums, like Nordiska Museet, where we will visit on Thursday.  In short, this is a beautiful and inspirational place to be, a fanstastic environment for creativity and a fine place to take a stroll and stretch those tired neck, arm and back muscles…

Talking of which, the repetitive strain/carpal tunnel issues are still there but to add ridiculous insult to injury I managed to accidentally push my right hand through our bedroom window last night.  Yes, you read that correctly.  I was trying to close the stiff window and my hand slipped and went through one of the two panes of glass (divided by blinds in the middle.)  I got a nasty cut and quite a shock. Luckily my dearest Swede was on hand to calm the panic, patch me up and administer hot chocolate.

Anyway, day one at knitting school, despite injuries, was a lovely experience and there is sense of calm, determined and focused learning ahead with what appears to be a very organised schedule.  There are visits near and far planned, projects in yarn colouring, spinning, history and traditions, multi-stranded knitting and lots more besides. I am reminded of the film “School of Rock” with Jack Black playing a substitute teacher at a school with no teaching experience and he replaces the whole curriculum with rock music.  He puts into each day, rock history, rock appreciation, rock band and so on.  Just replace the word “rock” with “knitting” and you get the idea.  Fun to see the long-term planning with “stickning, stickning,” followed by “stickning.”  So now you know the Swedish word for knitting!

My classmates are a mix of experiences of ages but we all share a common purpose: knitting.  Our first assignment was for us each to knit one of nine letters assigned to us by our teacher, in outline, not as a contrast image in stranded knitting.  It is to make a sign outside our studio door.  So nine letters starting with S and “N” twice, the second one of which was mine.  Can you fill the gaps and guess the word? 😉 S T _ _ K _ _ N _.  Hmmmm….