It’s hard to believe.
I may be one of the few Irish people that have never been to Spain! I’ve been to Costa Rica and the Canary Islands, but never to mainland Spain itself. So when knittingtours.com asked if I would like to teach on their new Barcelona tour that just happened to include the Barcelona Knits festival, I jumped at the chance.
It was an amazing week. The perfect mix of teaching, yarn sniffing, and sightseeing. In fact, it was so well received that I’m going to be going back on the tour to teach again next year!
If you want to join me over there, you can book your slot here now.
Are you wondering what happens on these tours?
I thought you might be, so I’ve put together a short recap of my week. This post will be photo heavy as I think it conveys the experience so well. I’ve come back with some very special yarns and I’m brimming with design inspiration from such a beautiful city.
But more on that later!
The Hotel
To begin with, the hotel we stayed at (and will be there again next year) was just beautiful. Excellent food, very central and a beautiful terrace for knitting on the roof. It was a little chilly for swimming up here in November, but it was lovely for coming together to sit and knit.


Workshops
I was teaching with our group on both Friday and Monday in the hotel and it is possibly the most high-tech room I’ve ever taught in.
We were in a wall to wall white room with mirrors and a projector screen that was so large it took up almost an entire wall! It made it a lot of fun to teach as it allowed for clear group explanations and also one-on-one interactions as well. Just have a look at these photos:


The Festival
One of the highlights of our Barcelona tour was, of course, the Barcelona Knits Festival. I found this just amazing. There were so many yarns that were new to me. But more than that, there were sheep breeds that I had never heard of before!
I got to hear some amazing stories about yarn revival across Europe and it made what we’re doing here in Ireland with the Galway sheep feel like part of an European-wide sheep/yarn revival. It makes me very excited to learn more in the coming year about what’s happening in the yarn world across Europe.







Sightseeing
I can’t mention this trip and not highlight all of the sightseeing!
Barcelona is a gorgeous city with lots to explore. You can see some of our adventures below.
The Hand Knits
Oh and before I go, I have to mention all the wonderful hand knits. Here you can see Tabouli and Lasa cardigans as well as an Autumn Whispers. And in case you’re wondering, I’m wearing the Galanta vest from this year’s knit-along.
And of course a huge thank you to our fantastic tour guide Ann Marie. She did a fantastic job navigating through Barcelona for the week. I hope to see you there next year for a fun Spanish knitting adventure.

If you’re thinking of joining us in 2024 and want to find out more, just fill out this form.
Hi Carol,
I just saw this page and tried to let you know I’d be interested… but I keep getting a 404 page error. Can you let me know if the 2024 tour is going on?
Oh I’m sorry to hear that the page isn’t working. That tour sold out almost immediately unfortunately. You can find their other tours here, and register for 2025:https://www.knittingtours.com/