These pictures are taken by my travel companion Merja Liimatainen.
The knitted and crocheted critters on the window sill are in the Hobbywool store I wrote about earlier. The entrance with knit graffiti is there.
The well-organized and a bit soulless store with sweet hanks of shiny yarn is the Filati store in downtown Riga not far away from Hobbywool located in the Vecriga, old town. The prices of mercerized cotton hanks is about same as in Finland, but some mohair and kid mohair blends were a lot cheaper.
If you are in the mood of experience and some unique ready-made bargain gifts, you should visit Hobbywool, especially if there is time issues. They have a huge collection of hand-made items of very affordable prices. For instance, a hand-made tunic costs about 50 lati, when you would expect 150 lati for the excellent work. The young ladies speak English rather than Russian, and Hobbywool was the only place in Riga where I needed to change to English.
Just a reminder; Russian can be considered as a language of war intruders so please remember to be extra nice and use some Latvian compliment words for "thank you" and "please". Telling how wonderful the country is always helps too.
I also liked the Filati store, because there are none in Finland. The sales lady was friendly and bought me cardboard boxes to fill with yarn. They accept credit cards too, but luckily, I had left mine in the hotel. I only spent all the cash I had on mohair hanks. The lady also showed me some of her work for inspiration how to work with the mercerized cotton. The tunic was of exquisite work and the fiber is very comfortable to wear in hot weather.
More about great Latvian yarn stores later!
Please check addresses on-line before your trip, they may change so I don't write them here.
Hobbywool on-line
http://www.uzadi.lv/en/shop/_catalogue/salon_in_the_old_town
http://www.uzadi.lv/en/facts-1/facts
According to a quick Google search there appears to be several Filati shops in Riga.
