Halfway through March already

And I have not been as good about blogging as I had hoped. I will do more of it, my goal is to do it 1-2 times a week as I want to keep a good track of my projects. Keeping this blog and photographing and updating the process of my projects has been one of my biggest motivations since I started it, so I want to keep that going.

My stitching group is finally meeting again. We are trying our best to have get togethers once a month, and every Tuesday is a WIP/UFO day where we all work on a project that we already have going and try to put a few strands in.
I decided to work on my stocking as I really want to get it done. Every year when I get out the stockings I did for my daughters, I almost feel ashamed at not having mine done already, there is so little left to do on it, just some backstitching and details. So hopefully, I will have my very own stocking to hang come Christmas this year.

Here is my progress after last Tuesdays session.

Pattern: Parisian Twist Headband Ear Warmer by Elisa McLaughlin
Yarn: Quince and Co. Osprey in Bird S Egg
Needles: 4mm

For Karítas. I made my headband quite some time ago, and Karítas has always loved it. When we were on winter break we went to our LYS and she picked out this beautiful ice blue Osprey by Quince & Co for her very own headband. She absolutely loves it.

We went to a cabin over a weekend in February. It was just what we all needed as a family.

We went out and had fun in the snow and went sledding down a hill.

We relaxed.

We played Scrabble.

We have had about 40 storms this year here in Iceland. I have just about had enough and am craving warmer weather, less wind, more sun. But I know better, it is only March and there are still a few more weeks to go. Next storm is supposed to hit us tonight.

But, when the wind is going mad outside, what is better than meeting up with your friends at your LYS and knitting the day away, having coffee and chocolate? Nothing, if you ask me!

Going through my stash, I noticed that I had A LOT of Kambgarn. The best way to use up a lot of yarn in the same brand and/or weight, is making blankets. One can never have too many blankets so I started another one. I have always wanted a classic Granny Square blanket with lots of colour and black as the colour that binds it all together. That is just what I had in this Kamgbarn stash of mine. So I started one.
I am doing 10 rounds of colour, picking the colours totally at random by drawing them from a bag and not looking and it is not allowed to exchange colours. Each colour only to be used once in each square. Then 2 rounds of black and using Lucy’s Join as you go method to tie it all together. So far I am absolutely loving it!

Follow Your Arrow 2

The wonderful designer Ysolda Teague organised a mystery KAL last year that I participated in (my first one) and loved and got me hooked on doing MKAL’s. In January I saw that she was doing a Follow Your Arrow 2 MKAL so off course I signed up.

Pattern: Follow Your Arrow 2 by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Loft in Plume (I used 2 skeins)
Needles: 3.5mm
Clues: B-B-A-B-B

I love how it turned out, and participating in the MKAL was loads of fun. Ysolda is a brilliant designer, to say the least. Each clue had an option A and an option B and each went with either so you could mix and match it any way you wanted. I wanted to have my shawl with texture and learn something new each week, and this is how it ended up. The only thing that I did not like was the yarn. What a disappointment. I had read so many great reviews about this yarn and had been excited about trying it, but I just did not connect with it at all and am safe to say that I will not be using it again. Thankfully, there is plenty of great yarn out there!

The baby knitting continues. There are so many babies being born this year around me. I love it, I love knitting baby clothes. My sisters baby girl got her name on February 8th.

Emilý Rósa Snædahl Ragnarsdóttir

Off course she got a knitted gift from us.

Pattern: Camilla Babe by Carrie Bostick Hoge
Yarn: Lark from Quince and Co in Pomegranate
Needles: 4.5mm

I loved making this little sweater. The hat is based on a free pattern from the Purl Soho website, but I did a lot of changes as the decreases were not adding up.

Morganite

I have been studying very hard for my upcoming exam tomorrow since I got home from Denver. This is the first out of three and I must admit that I am a little nervous about it. Sure, I know what I am doing but it has been a while since I have taken a big exam like that. Cross your fingers for me, please!

So I have not been knitting much. I did however finish the knitting on Morganite a few weeks back, but still had to steek it, cut, pick up stitches and knit the lists for the buttons on the front. So, after working for 8 hours, studying for another 5 I decided that I would get 1 hour of knitting time before bed. So the first night I did the first list. Then the second list. Then I attached the buttons and washed it and then I had a new cardigan! Ta-dah!

Pattern: Morganite by Corrina Ferguson – Pom Pom Quarterly, Issue 6: Autumn 2013
Yarn: 3ply Snældan in two shades of grey
Needles: 4.5mm and 5mm
Buttons from Litla Prjónabúðin

I made A LOT of changes on this one. The pattern is written so that you knit the cardigan back and forth. Well, I hate doing that so I changed to knitting in the round. I had no idea if that would work for the lace pattern on the yoke, but I decided that if it didn’t work, I could do that part back and forth. Well, it worked. How, I do not know, but it worked! I made size 3, that had an error in set up row when joining the sleeves to the body, but I got some notes from Sigurlaug and counted and re-counted and it all worked out in the end. Now I am waiting for Sigurlaug to finish her Morganite!

Denver Yarn Storming

I had such a fantastic time in Denver! I had no idea what to expect, as Denver just did not ever cross my mind as a city to visit in the States. Now I can’t wait to go back some day. The people are friendly, the city is beautiful and I had a really great time there!

Flying over Greenland was breathtaking!

My event took place in Civic Center Park, and we decorated some trees there. It was a great day in the sun and I would like to thank everyone who showed up and added to the installation! Now, pictures speak louder than words, so here are a few for you to see!

It really turned out so great, I am a very happy camper!

I also visited Fancy Tiger Crafts while I was there. I wanted to visit more yarn stores while there, but I did not have as much time as I would have wanted.

This really caught my eye! So pretty!

If I was a spinner….

The store is big and absolutely beautiful!

They even have Lopi for sale! Always happy to see Icelandic Wool when I am traveling.

This pretty lot followed me back to my hotel room. Oh so pretty!

It’s been a while

And for good reason. Life has been super busy. Karítas came home from her summer vacation in the beginning of August, I started school on the 15th of August and work has been really busy also. Oh, and I turned 36 on August 27th. So there has not been much time for anything else. I have done some knitting and crocheting whenever I have had the time and have managed to finish, almost finish and start a few projects.

First, I finished Red Rock Canyon again! This one is for my MIL and I loved working on this design again. Romi Hill designs are extremely well done and easy to follow, not to mention beautiful!

Pattern: Red Rock Canyon by Rosemary (Romi) Hill
Yarn: Juno Fibre Arts Milly Singles in Potpourri & Boudoir
Needle: 3.5mm

As I said, I really enjoyed working on this shawl. I am not a big fan of doing the same design twice, but I did not mind at all this time. The pattern is super well written, the yarn I used is a favorite of mine, and the colors are yummie! Who knows, I might even make another one for myself at some point, I have a few color combos picked out in my head already.

School started again for the girls, Karítas was very excited!

I got new hiking shoes for my birthday from my family! So happy with them!

Sumarrós drew this photo of me and her. It says “You are my favorite mom”

Saturday after spending the entire day in school, I was completely exhausted and spent most of the day snuggling with Karítas on the couch under a blanket. So nice.

Yarngraffiti for Vitatorg and Gay Pride

After a long break from doing some yarnstorming, I have done two pieces in the last week.

First, I was asked to do some for Vitatorg as a part of a project by the city of adding more life and fun to the squares around the city and using the open spaces more, having some events there.

The theme colours were turquoise, blue, white and a bit of orange so I went through my stash of already made items and pulled out what I could use. Turned out to be more than I thought at first, not having looked through the stash for almost a year.

And here are some photos from what it ended up looking like.

Yesterday was the Reykjavík Pride walk. As a big supporter of LGBT rights, I have done a yarngraffiti piece for the past two years, and decided to do it again this year.

The piece ready!

Me putting the piece up in Lækjargata, close to Arnarhóll.

Me and Sumarrós at home before heading down town to take part in the walk yesterday.

Two new sweaters

Recently I have fallen in love with a new yarn. This should not be news to anyone really, as I have a soft spot for all things wooly.

Lamawool from Strikkebogen, 50% wool and 50% lama, Aran weight.

It is just so soft and wonderful to work with. I have recently finished two sweaters with this wonderful yarn, and I am pretty sure that I will be making loads more. I want one for myself out of this yarn and already have some ideas as to what kind of sweater to make.

Pattern: Loki by Ragnheiður Eiríksdóttir (with some changes that are mine)
Yarn: Strikkebogen.dk Lamauld
Needles: 3.5 and 4.5mm

This little cardigan is a gift to my daughter Karítas’s baby sister who is now almost 9 months old. I made the sweater to fit about a 12 month old baby and I did some changes to the yoke pattern, adding a bit more color in there. I am very happy with how it turned out and can’t wait to see her wear it.

Pattern: Var by Védís Jónsdóttir (from Lopi 29)
Yarn: Strikkebogen.dk Lamauld
Needle: 4.5mm

This later one, here modeled by my daughter Sumarrós, is for Markéta, my daughters baby sisters mother. I was honored and happy when she asked me to make her a traditional Icelandic wool sweater and she came with me to pick out the yarn that she wanted. I was very happy when she picked the Lamauld and I was intrigued by the color choices. It turned out absolutely beautiful and I am very excited to see how it will look on her.

They all (my daughter Karítas, her baby sister, their dad and my daughters step mom) come back to Iceland in August, so the sweaters are just waiting here patiently. Maybe I will get to have another photo session with them both wearing the sweaters, that would be great!

New blanket and dress

Today I visited 2 new little people. My childhood friend Anna had a baby girl in late April, and my co-worker Ólöf had a baby girl in the end of May. They live in the same town so visiting them both on the same day was just perfect and thankfully it worked out good for all of us.

Off course I made a little something for both these little girls and now that the gifts have been given, it is time to show them off.

Pattern: Bella Baby Dress by Lene Holme Samsøe
Yarn: Strikkebogen.dk Yaku in colour 1809
Needles: 3mm

I had wanted to make something out of Lene’s books for some time and since everyone around me are having babies, now was the perfect time. This pattern is classic and timeless. You can make it into a dress, a top, a tunic, a cardigan and a bolero. I made the dress in size 9-12 months as I am sure Katrín Svala will get the most use out of it as a dress as the pattern kind of grows with her and it would look good even if it got a little short with thick stockings or leggings underneath.

Solid granny square baby blanket
Yarn: Søstrene Grene Anna og Claras Bomuldsgarn in 3 pinks, 3 purples and 4 greys
Hook: 3.5mm

These blankets are addictive! Ever since I finished the one I did for my friend Hildur, I have wanted to make another one. So when my co-worker Ólöf told me that she was expecting a baby girl, I seized the opportunity to start a new one. So I gave this little gem to little Aþena today. I hope they get good use out of it.

And I am back at work

I started working again last Friday. Off course things are super busy, but I have gotten a lot done since I have been back. It also helped that I left a very clean desk and practically a clean slate with everything balanced, booked and orderly.

On our last weekend of vacation, we went to a family gathering in the south of Iceland to visit Helgi’s mothers family. We had a blast! Here are some photos.

See those mountain looking things on the horizon? Yeah, those are islands called Vestmannaeyjar. You can see them pretty clearly when driving the south part of the main road around the country.

We went on a hike and the weather and the view were breathtaking.

Helgi’s little cousins had loads of fun, and so did I!

In the evening and long into the bright summer night, there was a barbeque, some drinks and live music. And the place looked like a lopapeysa festival!

I got myself some rubber shoes so my feet would not get wet. Best thing I have bought in a long time!

Prestsbakkakirkja. Old country churches are absolutely stunning and this one was just breathtaking.

I am working on some fun projects, both knitting and crochet. I will post again soon with some photo updates of what I have been working on lately, but here is a sneak peek.

Summer vacation stuff

It has been a good vacation so far. Much of relaxing and some home improvements have taken place, as well as Sumarrós’s birthday celebration.

We tore the horrid carpet of the floor in the living room and put down new flooring. We also painted the living room and I almost feel like I moved without the packing and unpacking. It is so cozy and nice to hang out in it now that it is pretty much all we have been doing since we finished.

This is the blanket that got thrown out. It was old and absolutely disgusting.

Here is the new floor! We also rearranged the furniture and it looks much bigger now.

My daughters doing what they do best, being adorable.

Emma gets her hugs from Karítas.

Biking sisters.

Karítas finger knitting at Litla Prjónabúðin.

Sumarrós turned 15 (OMG!) on June 14th. She got a haircut and some highlights in her hair.

Off course we invited the family over for some homemade cakes and stuff.

After the birthday celebration, I got a manicure.

And so did the man.

I also finished my second seminar at school and got 8,8 out of 10 and was second highest of the 30+ people who were also studying at the same time. I am off school until the middle of August but I go back to work in about a week so I just know I will be super busy until school starts again. And then even busier after it starts. Oh well, it is only for a few months and brings great benefits for us and our future, so it is all worth it.

Karítas is leaving for The Czech Republic with her father and his family on Sunday and will not be back until August. Gah, it is going to be hard being without her for such a long time. She was there also last summer and had a BLAST and we spoke on Skype almost every single day, so I am just going to focus on how much fun she is having and enjoy it through her and her very lively stories and updates that I will be getting from her while she is away.

Vertices Unite

When I started my vacation I also started a new project. One of my favorite designers, Stephen West released not one, but three new shawls for summer. Off course I bought the ebook with all of them as they are all beautiful and I like adding to my growing SW pattern collection on Ravelry. This shawl, Vertices Unite was the one who called out to me the loudest so I decided to go for it. Garter, colours and stripes, just perfect for easy summer knitting.

I had a very hard time picking the colour combo. First I went through my stash and pulled out everything that was in the right weight and mixed and matched what I had. I took some photos and you can see them here.
None of these really jumped out though. Also, I really wanted to put this skein of of Posh Yarns to good use. I have had it forever and for some reason it was calling out to me to finally use it for something.

I only had one left because I gave one to my friend Rósa so I really wanted to find something that would work with it. The yarn has so many colours in it so picking something to go with it would probably not be that hard. The first colour I picked to go with it was my leftover yellow Geilsk wool&cotton mix that I had left since I knitted my Curry Cardigan. So then I needed 3 other colours. So off to Litla Prjónabúðin I went with my yarns.

I added dark and light purple in Geilsk wool&cotton and then this gorgeous skein of Silkbloom Fino from BC Garn. There, I had my colours and yarns so there was nothing left to do but cast on.

Knitting this shawl was fun and easy. The pattern is well written and garter and stripes is just something that never gets old or boring. I had a lot of fun mixing the colours together and deciding what should go where and with what etc. Yesterday I finished it and me and the man went out late list night to take some shots in the beautiful evening sun.

Pattern: Vertices Unite by Stephen West
Yarn: Geilsk 3 ply Bomuld og uld, BC Garn Silkbloom Fino and Posh Yarn Impress
Needles: 3.5mm
Section 1: Posh Yarns Impress and Geilsk Cotton&Wool in light purple
Section 2: Geilsk Cotton&Wool in light and dark purple
Section 3: Silkbloom Fino in pink
Section 4: Geilsk Cotton&Wool in dark purple
Section 5: Geilsk Cotton&Wool in yellow and Posh Yarns Impress
Section 6: Geilsk Cotton&Wool in light purple and a dash of yellow
i-cord bind off: Silkbloom Fino

Vacation

I started my vacation on May 28th. I got called into work for two days last week, to train a new person since we are hiring and there are some changes going on. I knew before I left that this might happen, so it was ok. The bad part is that I have been sick for a week. I have a terrible cold, had some fever and the headaches are no fun. It feels like it is going away, but it is not happening fast enough for me. Hopefully it will just take a few more days. Last evening of school is tonight and then I am carefree from both work and school for the next few weeks. I start work again on July 4th and school starts early August.

We left the city for a long weekend in the south-east side of Iceland. We stayed close to Geysir in a beautiful cabin and did a bit of driving around and sight seeing.

We stopped by the Geysir area to see the hot spring Strokkur erupt a few times and walked around the area.

And we visited Gullfoss also since it is so close to Geysir.

Then we decided to drive to Vík to visit the black sand beach there, Reynisfjara. It is one of the most beautiful places and I love visiting there. We ran in the sand and away from the ocean, threw some rocks, saw some birds and just enjoyed ourselves.

At the cabin, we spent most of our time reading, knitting, going to the hot tub or the sauna, jumping on the trampoline or running around the surrounding area. We also got good guests for dinner and had a wonderful and relaxing time.

The nights are bright. I took this photo not long before midnight one evening.

Birta

I finished my lopapeysa last week. I have been wanting to make myself a lopapeysa for about 5 years, but I had difficult time picking out the pattern I wanted, the colors I wanted, the fit I wanted and what kind of wool mix I wanted to use. After some thought I was almost decided on using a mix of single ply plötulopi (unspun Icelandic wool) and einband (Icelandic lace wool) as I love that mix and it makes the most light and airy fabric that is still warm and nice. I even thought about substituting the lace wool with some alpaca or something luxurious and soft to go with the unspun wool.

For the last few months, I have been a regular at Litla Prjónabúðin as it is one of my favorite knitting stores and quite a few of my knitting friends are regulars there and there is a great area for sitting down with your WIP and have coffee and chat. It is close both to my office and my home so it is very handy to stop by after work or on my days off and meet with kindred spirits and pet some yarn and do some knitting. Litla Prjónabúðin (The Little Knitting Store) carries great yarn called Snældan. Faroese wool with Falkland wool mixed in it. It is softer than the Icelandic wool and after seeing some items knitted with it, I was sold. I had found the yarn I wanted to use for my lopapeysa. Knit with 5mm needles, I got the same gauge as for léttlopi so substituting Snældan was easy! Perfect!

Pattern: Birta by Bára Þórarinsdóttir
Yarn: Snaeldan Nappað tógv 3tr – grey, brown and yellow
Needles: 4.5mm and 5mm

The pattern is very classic, just what I had imagined. I am very happy with it and now I want more and have plenty of ideas. I am on a sweater  roll and have some lined up in my queue already, both for me, my daughters and some friends and family. If you can get this wool, I do recommend it. It knits up beautifully!

I only have 2 days left at work and then I am on summer holidays until July 4th! Oh the joy! The list of things to do while I am on vacation is long and fun and I am finally going to go through my stash and organize it properly and hopefully get it all photographed and into Ravelry.

I started a new MKAL, this time I am doing socks by Kamilla. The first clue came yesterday and I am almost done with it. I am also participating in Stephen West’s Summer Shawl KAL and am going to start by knitting Vertices Unite in the bigger version. I did some stash diving and picked out some yarns that that could work for the project. Me and the man arranged some color settings and I took some photos of them for me to look at and hopefully make the decision making a little easier. If you want to take a look, the photos are here and I would love to hear what is your favorite color setting!

Bits & Pieces – May 19th

The weeks fly by. I just noticed that I am working this week and two days next week and then I will be on summer vacation until July 4th. My school is not over until June 14th though, but it is only about 15 hours a week and I can spend the days with my girls and have some fun. I then start school again in early August and don’t finish until December. That is going to be one busy season, both at work and at school so I should put my organizing skills to good use.

Karítas Árný made this bunny at school. I think it is just about the cutest thing ever!

New FM Belfast album on vinyl. So good!

I started working on the yoke of my lopapeysa on Saturday after school

And I finished it that evening and did the finishing on the sweater on Sunday.

I still have to go and find the right buttons for it (I am thinking about some old fashioned metal ones), steek it and crochet up and down the front of it. I can’t wait for it to be finished and I will share better photos of it when it is all done. The colors are not right in these shots.

Cardigan, with a twist!

I finished my green cardigan last weekend and it has been attached to me ever since. It is so light and comfortable, yet warm enough for these cool spring days. I found the pattern (free in one size) on the Pickles site, it has a great range of patterns and most of them are offered free in one size and then you can buy the other sizes. The patterns are simple and easy to follow. I have done a couple of projects from them, and they are always great so I can recommend them.

Pattern: Jakke med tvist by Pickles
Yarn: One thread of Plötulopi (un-spun Icelandic wool) and one thread of Isager Strik Spinni Tweed (Wool 1)
Needles: 7.0 mm

The pattern says that you are supposed to knit it back and forth. I started out like that, but I really, REALLY do not like knitting sweaters like that since it is so easy to knit them in the round and then just steek them in the sewing machine. So I quickly changed to knitting in the round and it just flew of the needles. I then steeked it and crocheted one row of single crochet around the bottom, up the front and around the neckline and to the front of the sleeves.
When I first saw the project on the Pickles website, I got the image in my head what color combination I wanted to use. At first I thought I would use plötulopi and einband, but the einband (Icelandic lace weight wool) was not available in the color I wanted. I thought about just dyeing the right color, but then I found the Spinni in the exact color I wanted. Even though it is a bit over priced in my opinion, I got it anyway. I do not regret it one bit, it is just perfect with the other yarn and I love the outcome. And how rare is it to get a vision of what you want in your head and then get the exact outcome when you are finished? So I am one happy knitter!

Pattern: Súld by Rósa Tom
Yarn: Araucania Aysen
Hook: 4mm

A very fast project, only took me about 3 hours from start to finish. It was a birthday present for our little friend, Þórkatla. This is my third time doing this hat, I just love it.

Happy Mothers Day yesterday! These two daughters of mine are the best! And then there is my own mother, who has always been my safe spot to fall when I tumble, my strength when I am drained and the push I need when I am unsure of myself and my own strengths. I love you, mom!