VIC

We will take some time before we leave Barcelona to visit The Design Museum of Barcelona in the morning, where there is an entire floor dedicated to fashion through the ages. We will see traditional costumes from the 1800s as well as fashions up to the present day. Another focus of our visit here will be their exhibit on Modernism.  Here we will learn about the decorative elements of the defining architecture of Barcelona from the ceramic tiles we see adorning buildings inside and out to the furnishings that were created for their interiors.  After grabbing a bite to eat at a local market, we will head back to the hotel and board our bus to explore the Catalonia that exists beyond Barcelona.  Our first visit will be to the Textile Museum of Terrassa to have a tour of more textile treasures through the ages. From there it is a short drive to our home for the next two nights, Les Clarisses, a boutique hotel in an old convent. On Monday, we will spend the day with Elena of Xolla and visit one of the farms where she sources her wool from.  The day will be all about wool, from the growing and gathering of wool from the Ripollesa sheep to the dyeing of the yarn - which we will do ourselves!  Under Elena’s tutelage, we will dye our own yarn for a project we will cast on before we depart Catalonia. 

CADAQUES

Here’s where things turn surreal.  So far, the only surreal aspect of the trip will have been a few buildings that appear to have melted in the Barcelona summer heat.  For the next two days we will visit the galleries and haunts of one of Catalonia’s most famous residents - Salvador Dali.  Though he is perhaps most famous for his painting The Persistence of Memory, his work is not all melting watches.  We will visit the Dali Museum in Figueres on our way to our home for the next two nights, Hostal El Ranxo.  From here we can enjoy the beautiful coastline of Costa Brava, eat fabulous Catalan food, drink the local wine, visit Romanesque sites and last, but not least, tour Dali’s home.

BARCELONA

We will meander our way back to Barcelona on Thursday morning, taking in a few sights along the way.   When we arrive back at our hotel, our real exploration of Barcelona will begin!  Over the next day and a half we will visit La Sagrada Familia and other treasures of Modernist architecture, take in the local yarn shops, and indulge in some creative fun at a local maker’s space.  (Hint: it will involve embroidery and architecture!) Laia will show us her favorite haunts to eat, drink and shop and we will take some time to just sit at a tapas bar alongside one of the many squares in the neighborhoods of Barcelona to eat tapas, knit, and watch the world go by. 

BARCELONA

It’s time for Barcelona Knits!   Our hotel is a 20-minute walk from Barcelona’s World Trade Center where the festival takes place, so you can come and go as you please.  Your pass for the weekend is included, and you can choose to either lose yourself completely in yarny goodness or accompany us on optional visits to other architectural highlights and shopping districts of the city.  An evening atop Gaudi’s La Pedrera with Barcelona at our feet will give us a chance to catch up on all we have seen (and purchased), and our grand finale on Sunday night will be dinner at the fabulous Palau de Musica Catalan followed by private access to the famous theater - yet another jewel in Barcelona’s crown.

BARCELONA & ONWARD

We bid you a fond farewell as you make your onward journey today!

Sydney is a voracious knitter, designer, and knitwear historian. She has been knitting and studying fashion history for over fifteen years and recently turned her passions into a career at Squid's School of Vintage Knitting, an online school devoted to the education and love of historical knitwear. Her work in the knitting world is also supplemented by her academic background in film history, and she tries to combine the two as often as possible. In collaboration with Rowan Tree Travel, Sydney works to develop tours that have a historical or vintage bent, often with elaborately themed and niche activities! With over ten years of working in the fiber industry, Sydney continues to love meeting other knitters and sharing fiber experiences with them more than anything else. You can find her at patreon.com/squidschool or over on instagram as @squidneyknits. 

Laia has been knitting and sewing for more than ten years at this point, learning the basics from her mom. She lives with two cats in her native Barcelona where she works as a translator and interpreter. In her spare time she enjoys true crime, vintage fashion, birding and medieval art. Laia spent 11 years living in San Francisco and exploring the American West with her camera in search of neon signs and other roadside weirdness. You can see her photos at @neonsandsigns on Instagram. Whether knitting or sewing, Laia prefers to work from vintage patterns and fabrics, going back as far as the 1890’s.