LYS in Athens, Greece

A while ago, a sock visited the Kolonaki neighborhood of Athens, Greece and took in a view of the Acropolis.

Crisis Scenario: Despite the fact that you know you packed plenty of knitting, you awake, jetlagged, from the classic knitter's nightmare -- namely, that you've finished it all (or haven't finished it all, for that matter) and have nothing to knit. Horrors! That return flight is a doozy -- the mere possibility of not knitting on it is too much to be borne. You NEED an LYS.

But you are in Athens, Greece.

And you speak no Greek at all.

Solution (I would type this out, only I have no idea how to do those Greek letters):

This is a family run business, established in 1935 (three generations!) and specializing in yarns for handknitting. Small store, a little expensive (perhaps mostly due to the exchange rate) , but decent selection, particularly of European sock weight and other lighter yarns. Including:










Despite my lack of Greek, I was confident in my ability to get along in a yarn store. Knitting is a universal language, after all, once you get past all that surfacey stuff about English, Continental, Combined, etc. But lo! (as perhaps I should have expected), everyone in the shop spoke better English than I and was ready and willing to chat about the knitting.

I was a little surprised at the selection of sock yarns, particularly after I was told that handknitters in Greece don't make socks as a rule. (The proprietor was well aware of the rising popularity of socks in the blogosphere.) However, handknitters in Greece do make lightweight sweaters out of sock yarn.

As for the socks: Lorna's Laces in Flame, using the same stitch pattern as Knitting on the Road's Conwy. After Greece, these were set aside in favor of the then-new-and-exciting Papillon pullover. (I'd already done a modified Conwy once before.) But I've finally cast on for sock #2:










Only to set it immediately aside in favor of this: