Yarn Shops and Knitting in Madrid

Shopping in Madrid

by Julie Espinosa

LanasSeeing as knitting is a current craze for young people, I recently defied my non-crafty genes and picked up some needles. Knitting—known as tejar or hacer punto or just punto in Spanish—hasn’t exactly become hip in Madrid to the degree it has in other cities of the world, but there’s a decent selection of different yarn shops here, including some picturesque weigh-the-yarn places.

My favorite so far has been the small, historic Lanas Sixto, where the shop assistant was very helpful and I bought some Katia yarn (a Spanish brand). I’ve been knitting even on the metro—talk about funny looks and comments—and the yarn’s now a scarf in progress. (Lana refers to yarn, even non-wool varieties.)

In the map below, I’ve tried to compile an exhaustive list of city yarn stores and you can view details for each. (If you have others to add or update, add your comment below).

To my knowledge, three shops offer weekly mixed level classes for €60-70 a month: at Inke, mornings and afternoons on various weekdays, at Lanas Alondra (Príncipe de Vergara location), 11:00-13:00 Wednesdays, and at Punto y Seguido, 18:00-20:00 Fridays.

For community, there’s the monthly get-together or tertulia of expat and madrileña knitters at the grand Círculo de Bellas Artes café (€1 entrance). The meet-up is usually every third Thursday; see their blog for more information.

See map below for yarn stores:


View Larger Map

Comments

Comment from Janice
Date: March 7, 2008, 5:51 pm

Your article could not be more timely. I just booked a trip to Madrid (my third) for this June. As an obsessed knitter (and I’m not one of the “young” people) I was looking forward to finding some other yarn stores. Last year I only visited two and agree with you that Lanas Sixto is a very nice shop with a great selection of Katia yarn as well as others. I’m definitely returning there.
Thanks for the article. I’ll look for you knitting on the Metro.

Comment from Julie E.
Date: March 9, 2008, 11:37 pm

Janice,
That’s great! I hope you find lots of nice Spanish threads and perhaps you can even meet up with local knitters when you come.

Comment from Nina
Date: March 13, 2008, 9:02 am

There is definitely a Madrid ’stitch n bitch’ sesh, I checked it out before coming over here, and have saved the website on my computer. Let me know if you’re interested. I actually bought yarn at the Gato Negro near Plaza Mayor.

Nina P. (auxiliar)

Comment from Cindy
Date: March 27, 2008, 2:45 pm

Thanks so much for this helpful resource! I’m going to Madrid in 2.5 weeks, and my hotel is very close to Lanas Sixto and El Gato Negro, so I’m definitely going to check those out!