I’m back from the weekend in Germany and boy did I have a great yarn experience!

I told you about my plan to visit the Schoppel-Wolle factory shop in this blogpost. I can now honestly say that this visit was the highlight of the whole trip!  

We arrived at the Schoppel-Wolle factory in Wallhausen just after 11am, eager for some heavy Mastercard action. The shop looked a bit quiet and dark when we rang the bell, but I didn’t think much of it. A lady come to the door only to give us the devastating news that the shop only opens at 2pm! I was so disappointed. I explained that we couldn’t come back at 2pm seeing as we have to drive down to Fussen. I think she could see the disappointment in my face. She asked whether I knew what I wanted to buy (as opposed to just leisurely browsing for no reason). As soon as I said “crazy zauberball” she opened the door for me! I almost kissed her! I had the whole shop for myself!! I am so grateful to the lady for taking pity on me. My day could have turned out so much differently if she hadn’t.

So, here I am shopping in the factory shop. I couldn’t stop smiling. The shop is floor to ceiling full of yarn. It’s heavenly! I was so happy I had to do a little happy jiggy. You’ll spot the photo with the jiggy easily…

From this blog I knew there was a discounted yarn area as well, but I didn’t want to ask the nice lady how to get there – I was just grateful to be in the full price shop! Luckily she came back into the main shop to switch on the light for the discounted yarn room. Aaaaaaahhhhh (I’m hearing angel voices as I recall that moment). Balls and balls of yarn at discounted prices! There’s that super excited, can’t control myself jiggy again.

Later, when I got back to the car (and off the yarnfumes high) I saw that the packets of yarn from the discounted area, are marked in groups. I’m not sure what the yarn groups mean, but from what I paid it looks like the higher the group number, the more expensive it is per gram, so I think it’s has something to do with yarn/colour quality.

I don’t mind what the reason is, I know the yarn will still be of excellent quality. Why do I know that? Because Hubby and I got a behind the scenes tour of the factory, lead by Mr. Gerhard Schoppel himself! During the tour we saw how the coloured wool is spun, steam treated, wound into balls and quality control done. It was brilliant! Considering I wasn’t even supposed to be in his shop, for him to then come out to our car just as we were about to leave to ask if we wanted a tour, was amazing!

I’m so glad I knew what I wanted to crochet with my yarn, otherwise I could very easily have bought everything in that factory, especially in the discounted yarn room. It was difficult to  choose, but I knew I had to be strict with myself, and I could always buy Schoppen-Wolle over the internet so I managed to (barely) restrain myself.

What I ended up buying was this:

A 150g ball of Admiral Starck 6 in Turkis, shade no. 4780 for €8.25. It’s DK (and my shawl is supposed to be done in Fingering) but I didn’t notice and I don’t care. This also the only full price yarn I bought.

Three balls (a total of 257g) Lace Ball in Brombeeren, shade no. 1872 for €5.14. This was marked Restegruppe 3.

Two balls (a total of 190g) Crazy Zauberball in Der Lenz Ist Da, shade no. 2136 for €9.50. This was marked Restegruppe 4.

Two balls (a total of 185g) Crazy Zauberball in Papegei, shade no. 1701 for €3.70. This was marked Restegruppe 3.

Bearing in mind that a full price 100g of Crazy Zauberball is €10, these were absolute bargains.

Schoppel-Wolle has a fan for life, and I haven’t even used the yarn yet! 

(I also came across yarn shops in Ulm and Tauberbischofsheim. The photos for these quick visits are on my Facebook page. After the Schoppel-Wolle experience I didn’t feel the need, or have the space in my luggage, for more purchases so there’s no blog post about those three shops. )