Melissa's Mukluks

These will go to Melissa as a verrrrrrrrrry belated birthday gift. I absolutely love this pattern, this project, and this YARN. It is another skein of Malabrigo Rios and each pair takes exactly one skein. I have a few more goodies to go into the box! One of these days I will get around to knitting a pair of these for myself.

DIY Detergent

I have wanted to try making detergent for a long time. The ingredients are cheap and not too hard to find. The borax and Fels-Naptha was found in the laundry aisle of our grocery store but I had a little more trouble finding the washing soda. In the end we found it in our hometown grocery store. You can also order all this stuff but I didn't want to pay for shipping. I also used a vial of my precious hoarded Sun's Eye lily of the valley scented oil to scent the detergent.

I used this recipe which makes over 2 gallons (!) and I suggest saving a few empty milk jugs or 2 liter pop bottles to store it in. The boxes of borax and washing soda will make several batches because you only use 1/2 cup each per batch. The Fels-Naptha will make 3 batches per bar.


The Fels-Naptha did have some soapy fragrance to it but I have to admit I love detergents that scent your laundry. The recipe does say that you can add 1/2 - 1 ounce of fragrance to each batch. I had been saving that fragrance oil and doling it out for bath bombs but I threw the entire thing in the batch. After I did it, I worried that maybe the oil would actually stain the laundry but thankfully that was not the case. Then I worried that it might be too flowery and strong for Dave's clothes but the laundry came out pretty close to unscented so it really was a waste of that oil. Next time I will try some of my soap scents. That fragrance might take a little better since they are designed to scent soap.

I love making things for the first time and they do what they're supposed to do! The detergent gels and thickens as it cools and becomes this lovely custard-y mixture. The detergent itself smelled so good and I'm just sorry the scent didn't last.

Baby Surprise Jacket

Elizabeth Zimmermann designed this very clever pattern. For years I have seen different knitter's finished sweaters on their blogs and Ravelry and always wanted to try it. Dave and I went to our local library where I checked out Knitting Workshop under his name and cranked one out in about 2 weeks. Mrs. Zimmermann has some wonderful designs but I have to admit/complain that sometimes her patterns are hard to follow. I finished it alright but the entire time I was wondering if I was following the directions correctly. Part of the charm of this pattern is that there are only 2 seams and the entire thing is knit in one piece. Could you tell from the picture on the left that there was a sweater lurking in that mass of knitted fabric? Once the edges were matched and folded, a sweater emerged.

I used Kudo yarn by Plymouth for this pattern. It is a single ply cotton/rayon/silk blend and a heavy DK/light worsted weight in my opinion. The knitted examples of this sweater I've seen online were very crisp and straight and boxy. I think the yarn I used made mine a little more floppy and not as perpendicular. It still looks OK and is wonderfully soft and drapey for a baby, but I think maybe a consistent and crisper yarn would have made knitting this a little easier. All the increases and decreases for shaping are made on either side of a marked stitch and it was hard to keep track of that marked stitch at times because of the yarn. And of course now that I know what to expect from this pattern, I would totally make another one. I have a grey colorway of this same yarn that would make a nice boy sweater. I used 1 1/4 skeins of this yarn for the sweater. There is a child and adult version of this sweater in The Opinionated Knitter that I'd be interested in trying.

My sister is pregnant with a baby girl and I gave her the finished sweater last weekend when we were home together. She chose pink bunny buttons for the sweater and asked for a pair of booties that would match AND fit at the same time as the sweater so I knit a pair from 60 Quick Baby Knits from the remainder of the yarn. I just love this pattern and how the yarn gradually changes color. These might be a little big to go with the sweater but then again I've never been able to size clothes/people up by looking at them. I was glad to find a use for this yarn. I bought it in Rochester years ago intending to use it for socks or hats because of the cotton content but it really has no recoil to hold up to ribbing.

I had one day off this week because this is my weekend to work, but on my day off I made refried beans. Years ago my friend Michelle showed me how to make them from scratch starting with dried beans and I prefer black beans to pinto beans. They are so much better than anything you get in a can and so easy and inexpensive. I had soaked them overnight and thought they looked so pretty and were very appropriate while I was on a purple theme.

Gift Knitting

These are Amy's mukluk's knit from Malabrigo worsted. I am just loving this project. I finished these towards the end of October and sent them to her in the mail along with a bunch of nic nac paddywacks and old costume jewelery for my nieces that I'd cleaned out of one of my closets.

Dave's niece is having a baby shower this weekend and I was invited but I am working my weekend and I work 12 hour night shifts during that time. I did want to send along a little gift though. I have knit dozens of these baby hats and booties for people because they are such good patterns.
She is having a boy and I have never been a big fan of pastels and I wanted to knit him some manly items. These are 2 pairs of booties from the book Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

Happy Late Holidays!

I enjoyed my first Christmas with Dave and his family. He and I enjoyed supper at his parents' home and we brought date puddings with caramel sauce. This is such a simple but elegant dessert and very festive. These are not steamed in a pudding mold like a traditional Christmas or figgy pudding, but simply baked in ramekins or a muffin tin.

One of the first things I wanted to do once we got unpacked was to put up the tree and decorations! I didn't get to put up any of my fall/Halloween decorations because they'd been packed. I picked up a few new ornaments in Iceland this summer and got to hang those up. The one on the left is a simple wood burned ornament of a viking ship. I love the striped ribbon because it is the colors of the Icelandic flag. The one on the right is a miniature pair of fish skin slippers with knitted insoles. I had read about these and we saw a few examples in the museum but I wanted to find a pattern for these! These were quite expensive but I loved them and wanted to have them as an example/guide if I ever get around to trying to make a full size pair.


The ornament on the left is a miniature pair of wool carders with a little wool in them! Instead of tines they have Velcro on them! So cute! The one on the right is a little wood burned laufabraud. Leaf bread was one of my favorite things I learned about in Iceland. I thought it would be a neat family activity to make these but the copper rollers/cutters cost about $80 each!These are Grandpa Maynerd's ornaments and I just love them! I set them out in a wooden bowl and I think about him every time I look at them. Happy Belated Christmas and New Year's!

I'm a Minnesotan!!!

I am now a resident of Minnesota! We rented a U-haul and Dave and I loaded up and rode off into the sunset. I had lived in my old apartment for 11 years and it was a big job! Dave was such a good sport about it too. He and I moved in together 1 year to the day after meeting. This is a lovely Minnesota tea towel I got after our visit to the Mill City Museum in Minneapolis this summer.


Here is just some of the carnage at my old apartment! I can't tell you how upsetting it was having everything packed up in boxes! It took me a couple weeks to get things packed until I ran out of boxes and I had A LOT of boxes. I had been stockpiling them from when I still worked in the nursing home (note all the boxes from incontinence products-I'm sure our new neighbors were wondering about us!) and Deedee gave me quite a few from Kraft. I used plastic shopping bags and newspapers and lots of my fabric as packing material. After the boxes were gone, we quickly used up all my trash bags. I'd even taken carload after carload of stuff to Goodwill in the preceding weeks. In the end we FILLED a 17 foot truck. I have a lot of stuff.

It took us an entire day to load the truck up and we spent the night at Dave's parents' house and parked the truck in their driveway. We moved into the apartment the next day on December 2nd and the weather cooperated with us. It took another entire day to unload and Dave's nephew came halfway through to help. The snowflakes started to fall just as we were carrying in the last few boxes. Our new apartment has an elevator which is awesome since we live on the third floor and an indoor swimming pool! We also have our own balcony which I really like. I loved putting the sewing room/man cave together. Dave has his video games in there with the other TV and I have my craft books and fabric and some of the yarn in there. I organized all of my books and my knitting shelf is one of my favorite things in the apartment! We are also right across the street from the library which I also love.



I donated my old couch and burnt orange Barcalounger recliner weeks before the move because they weren't worth moving. It also motivated me to keep busy and keep on packing because I had no where to sit! One of the last bits of knitting I did before packing up all the needles was Amy's birthday slippers (I'll post that picture later) and a Christmas stocking for Dave. I kept some cotton yarn and dishcloth knitting in a bag so I had something to knit and keep me sane. Now we are here and unpacked and domestic and happy. I've survived orientation at my new hospital and am working on my own. Life is good. I just need to learn how to drive in the city!

Pumpkin Baskets

Melissa and I got together for a Crafty Fun Night and we made these little candy baskets over two different nights. This idea came from the book Halloween: 101 Frightfully Fun Ideas. I picked up this book at the Dakota Boys Ranch while we were Up North visiting cousin Stacy.

You basically make little pinatas with white water based glue and crepe paper. We painted on the glue and pasted little squares of cut up crepe streamers. They took 24 hours to fully dry but the balloons separated right out when we popped them.

We struggled installing grommets on each side and then strung craft wire through them before covering the wire in floral tape. The book idea involved cutting faces out of the crepe basket but we opted to instead draw faces on with permanent marker. I think they turned out really cute. Oh, and then of course we had to fill them with candy! ;) This was a really cute idea and these could be made for other holidays.
We worked on a few candle mats on the second night. Melissa found some really cute Halloween buttons and these were a fun festive activity.

Knitting for baby Clara Grace

My cousin Stacey is a real trooper and readying to have her second daughter in less than a week. Hopefully I will have a package ready for her and in the mail in two days. I knit this Lace Motif Cardigan from the book 60 Quick Baby Knits. Stacey had requested chocolate brown knitted items and I used brown Patons Classic Wool yarn.


I just love this book because every pattern is written for Cascade 220 yarn which is a fabulous yarn but more importantly it is worsted weight and can be easily substituted. I have never had a pattern book before this that I could knit absolutely every item in the book with what I have on hand. That's the trouble with knitting though is that many beautiful patterns often call for obscure and/or expensive yarn.


I also stitched her a pair of booties out of some hand dyed felt I'd had. These are the same I made for Erik's baptism. I'm halfway through another pair of Multicolored Sockies for her from the same beautiful shade of Koigu. I can't wait to package these up and get them to Stacey!

Shrubbery

Dave and I have really enjoyed watching the seasons change along the little trail near my apartment. It is such a pleasant little walk through a wooded area alongside a creek. Apparently they don't say "crick" in Minnesota.

The path curves in places and trees lean inward. I always think of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and imagine the headless horseman tearing through here.


We spotted this owl a time or two, once with another owl. You always encounter other walkers and their many dogs. There are also countless squirrels, ducks and birds along the way.

We starting making a habit of these walks back in March when the ground was finally thawed and not soggy. Slowly all the lush greenery grew back in and the animals came out. Summer broiled and was buggy and finally it is cool and dry again and the colors have changed. It was almost like having a garden because every time we'd note the changes in the foliage.

And two days ago we were walking along and saw this!

Lisa's Slippers

These are Lisa's birthday socks from this year. I knit her a pair of mukluks using Boye pre punched slipper soles and Baby Alpaca Chunky Paints by Cascade Yarns. They were a little looser than the ones I knit for Deedee but I think they will work nicely. I got this yarn on sale at The Blue Heron in Decorah with Lisa in mind because of the color.

Booties For Stephanie

I work with a gal who lives in my hometown area and married a guy who was in my 4-H club as a kid and a friend of my brother. She is an awesome nurse and a great teacher and just such a good person. She is expecting a baby girl in December so I knit her a pair of these Multicolored Sockies from the book Socks! Socks! Socks! out of Koigu yarn on size 3 needles. I just love this color because there is enough blue for boy socks and enough purple for girls socks. My sister said this was the best fitting and staying on bootie I've thus far knit for her. I know quite a few pregnant people right now too so this yarn will be put to good use!

Lopi

Mom and I went to Iceland intending to purchase lots of fabulous Lopi yarn for Icelandic yoke sweaters. We thought Lopi meant Reynolds Lopi that came wrapped in a paper label. In the States I've seen Lopi which is a bulky yarn and Lite or Lett Lopi which is a worsted yarn and thought that was the end of it. In Iceland, Lopi is a name brand as well as a blanket term for any unspun Icelandic wool.

Icelandic wool is unique because the fiber grows in 2 different lengths, each with different characteristics, which are blended together to create a durable yarn. Many more weights can be purchased in Iceland starting with plotulopi which is unspun and looks more like pencil roving for spinning. It is sold by weight in a plate shape. When knitted in a single strand, it works up in a worsted gauge and is surprisingly light for its loft/bulk. It can be knitted as two or more strands to work up as a bulky gauge.

This is the most economical and authentic fiber for Icelandic sweaters. We were a bit afraid to knit with this because we were just sure it would pull apart as we worked with it. It is more durable that it looks though. We'd learned about this fiber before the trip and knew that it was used, but we didn't realize that it was major fiber used in the ready-made hand knits. We'd look at sweaters in the different shops and try to guess the weight of the yarn in terms of paper-label-wrapped brand Lopi and we guessed wrong every time. Almost all the hand knit items we liked at the Hand Knitter's Association were knit from either one or two strands of this plotulopi unspun wool. Even at Pingborg, we saw sweaters with the colorwork of the yokes knit with their hand spun and hand dyed yarns. We'd asked what the rest of it was knit from and were told they used "their own lopi" which they processed on site. I purchased enough plotulopi to knit 2 Freyja sweaters.

Lett Lopi (worsted) and Alafoss Lopi (bulky) were available everywhere and is used by Icelanders for home knitting or personal projects, but most of the coop knitters use the plotulopi for their coop knitting. Every shop on Laugavegur that sold sweaters had a basket of a few balls of Lett Lopi or Alafoss Lopi for about $3.90 each and never enough of any one color for a sizable project. At Storkurinn it was about $2.60 and at about $2.70 at the Handknitter's Association.


They had Bulky Lopi which is pictured on the far wall of this picture and was more of a super bulky weight which can be confusing because of the name. I have not been able to find this in the states.

Another weight that is not widely available in the States was the lace Einband which was about $2.80 per ball. It was suggested that we could strand this along with the plotulopi for the Freyja sweaters if we were nervous about the plotulopi being fragile. This is also the yarn that Gudrun worked with for her natural dyes. I bought a pattern booklet for this yarn for about $2.80 and it is full of gorgeous feather and fan lace. This last linked website also stocks this yarn.

Island

My travel agent mother planned our annual knitting field trip in June and this year we ventured forth to Iceland. Thankfully recent volcanic activity did not affect our travel or plans. This picture of The Sun Voyager sculpture in Reykjavik is one of my favorites from the trip. After arriving early at Keflavik Airport, we caught our FlyBus to our hotel. The hotel was in fact 15 apartments that occupied a single floor of an office building and therefore did not have 24 hour staff in house. We arrived and waited about 30 minutes until reception arrived and then were pleasantly surprised that our room was ready. Had it not, we'd planned on storing our luggage in the laundry room and heading out to see the city. It was much nicer to sit for a minute in the room and have a cup of coffee and take a good look at a map. We quickly found the bus stop down the street and were off.

We got on at our Hatun stop and rode around on bus #15 to get a lay of the land and just to see how the buses operate. It costs around $3.50 for one bus ride (drivers do not give change) or $7 for a day pass which must be purchased at a station. We got off at Hlemmur which was the big hub and proceeded to walk up Laugavegur where we immediately spotted real-live knitting graffiti! We later learned this was outside the office of Knitting Iceland. They'd set baskets of knitting out in the community for anyone to work on at their leisure and construct the graffiti with the pieces.

Storkurinn is located at Laugavegur #59 on the second floor of a little mini mall.

This was a fabulous yarn and fabric shop but can you believe I didn't get any of either here? They carried Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler fabrics as well as an awesome selection of designer yarns, Lopi in different weights, several Danish brands, a great selection of tools and needles and a huge inventory of knitting books.
They stocked what we know as Harmony Wood needles as they are marketed in Europe under the brand Knit Pro. This shop also had the best prices for Lopi that we'd seen but their color selection was kind of limited. We saw balls of Lett Lopi in sweater shops in limited colors for almost twice the price. They also sold the unspun Plotulopi by the plate and not by weight. I bought a beautiful shell shaped needle gauge in this shop. I would totally patronize a shop like this on a car field trip, but I didn't get any fabric or yarn here because much of it I could get in the States.


We'd booked a knitting tour through Knitting Iceland and had a few options as far as what we could do or see. Our guide Binga picked us up at our hotel and drove us out to the Alafoss mill and shop. The mill is on the right and the shop is the pale yellow building on the left. The little bridge goes over the stream that is still used by the mill.


This is Mother with Binga and one of the shopkeepers. She was looking for a pattern for a particular style of jumper and they were helping her look through their inventory of Lopi books for something suitable and discussing how she could alter it. They had all weights of Lopi as well as a few different wool lines, some sock yarn and a few novelty yarns.

Lett Lopi was about $2.70/ball, Einband was about $3/ball, and the Alafoss Lopi was about $4.60/ball. Plotulopi plates were sold at about $30.50/kilo. We saw ladies coming in and buying stacks and stacks of those plates and they'd throw it on the scale and then cart it out in big tote bags.

You can see the "plates" of the Plotulopi behind Mother. All the colors coordinated across the weights. Amazing.


They also had piles and piles of hand knit sweaters. Iceland is known for the Lopapeysa yoked sweater. They're everywhere and you see them actually worn everywhere too. They also had fur items, decorative items, glassware, jewelery, candles, felted soaps, gift items, etc. While we were there, a busload of tourists pulled up and and overran the store.
Here I am clutching my stash outside the mill! I was so excited to run around loose in there!

Binga then drove us to the farm of Rita and Pal. These two were absolute magicians. They made beautifully smoothed and polished buttons, boxes, needles and jewelery out of horn, antler, and bone. They also made felted slippers with angora lining and seal skin soles. She showed us around their farm and took us out to the workshop to show us some of the materials. They braid horse hair to make their necklaces and most of their materials are obtained from the slaughterhouse.

I bought some bone and antler buttons, a horn darning needle, an absolutely stunning antler box, and Rita gave us each a boiled curly sheep horn. She explained that they boiled the horns and they had to dry for over a year or else the finished item would warp. She showed us lengths of horse hair, carefully packed angora fiber, and even yarn spun from dog hair. They keep a year's worth of wool in their workshop in case the next year's wool is poor quality. I didn't feel so bad about my own stash after hearing that! She also showed us her greenhouses and birch trees and geese.

Binga drove us onward to the home of Gudrun who is a botany teacher at the agricultural school and a natural hand dyer. She welcomed us into her kitchen with coffee and brought out one dye pot after another: one with rhubarb root, one with onion skins, one with lupins, one with birch leaves just to name a few. She demonstrated the color changes when dye is fixed with ammonia as a mordant. This can be done the old fashioned way with urine--and she did tell us that she does sometimes use cow urine obtained from the agricultural school--or you can use household cleaner. I had never seen yarn dyed in person before and it was a fascinating presentation.


She had yarn in every stage and showed us the entire process.

And then she showed us to her living room where this awaited us on a table. She dyes the Istex Einband yarn and sells it at a coop located at the agricultural school.



At Alafoss I'd bought a pattern book at that uses only this weight of yarn and bought 8 skeins from Gudrun. Choosing colors was agonizing because there were so many I wanted.

Gudrun then took us to the coop's shop at the school. She explained that it was a very structured coop with standards as to quality of the work and finished items, how they are presented and displayed, and all members had to be voted in.

They had hand knit lopapeysa sweaters with motifs unique to the area and the patterns were closely guarded. She explained the patterns were locked in a safe and when coop knitters checked the pattern out, they'd sign something saying they wouldn't copy the pattern in any way and then return the original pattern when done.

And more of Gudrun's beautiful yarn. They had hand knit sweaters from hand spun yarn, they had card woven bands, felted slippers, buttons and jewelery from Rita and Pal, Lopi books and yarns, etc.


We enjoyed the National Museum which is one stop past Radhuset on bus line #14. There is also a fabulous open air museum which is Laxakvisl stop on bus line #19. This is the loft of a farm house. I could just live up there.


We got to see a few national dresses and some of the knitted slippers. I love national costumes of all kinds but I did not like the head coverings of these. The one looks almost like a horn emerging from a turban. We couldn't figure out how it was supported and I can't imagine wearing it. The other tasseled hat reminds me of Greek army uniforms. The details and fabrics and embroidery and silver of the garments were beautiful however.

We rented a car for 2 days and drove The Golden Circle and stopped off first at Thingvellir. Dad had been here a few years before and just raved about how truly awesome it is. This is the view from the pay toilets on site. The landmark is free admission but it cost almost $2 to use the bathroom and it was worth it for the view alone.

Dad has said before that it looks like the setting of The Lord Of The Rings and Mom kept saying the landscape looks like nothing you've ever seen before. There were areas like this with fossilized lava flow and wide crevasses and cracks of all sizes everywhere. You are allowed to walk around on it but you really have to watch your step because of the cracks and much of this stony surface is entirely covered in spongy moss. There is a built up wooden observation sidewalk. I would not have been surprised at all to see elves climbing out from the moss.

You can literally walk down a chasm the where the sea floor burst. The site is significant not only geologically but also historically because Icelanders started meeting here as a national parliament in 930. Unbelievable.

We continued on to see the geysers which were just amazing. This is Strokkur which irregularly erupted every couple of minutes. There were other pools and hot pots and streams of loudly bubbling boiling water. It was in the low 50's when we were there and it felt so good to stand in the warm steam. The water and steam always smelled like sulfur, not overpoweringly so, but my silver rings would tarnish in the shower.

We continued on to Gullfoss and hiked to the waterfall. Wow. The waterfall is a staircase of 3 steps and the spray just danced on the air. These three landmarks were the busiest attractions our entire trip.

The following day we drove to Vik to go to the woolen mill. Dad brought me a fleece from Vik Wool when they were still in Reykjavik. We drove all the way out there and it was one of the times Garmin was truly sassing us because she kept trying to take us out to the middle of nowhere. We did eventually find it. Most of what they do there is machine knit but you did get to see the work floor.

I did get these machine knit mittens with fleece lined cuffs on sale (TILBUD!) for almost $15 and a little tree ornament of wool carders.

In Vik there is a unique stone formation of 3 stones that legend says is 3 trolls who were caught off guard by the rising sun while trying to drag a boat to shore. We really wanted to see the beach which is made of black volcanic sand but we were pressed for time and walking out there just wasn't an option. We were afraid to drive the rental car because the road to the beach was a treacherous rocky road so instead we took lots of pictures and headed back. These purple flowers are lupins and they just grew everywhere in huge fields like this.

We were saying that for what we did that day in Vik, it wasn't worth the trip. If we'd had all day to be there and get out to that beach and spend time at Vik Wool, it would have been worth it. I took advantage of the situation and had myself an Icelandic hotdog. My brother in law warned me about these because they are delicious. We saw lots and lots of backpackers in Vik and saw the Hostelling International hostel while driving around looking for Vik Wool.

Don't get me wrong though. We still enjoyed the ride in the car and had small adventures like sheep crossing the road or putting gas in the car. We even survived a detour after we discovered the road to Geysir was closed. The closer we got to dairy country, the greener it got and we saw all kinds of waterfalls. The mountains we drove through were incredible and to see these farms built at their feet. It very much reminded us of Norway. We saw countless horse rental places along the drive and one farm we passed had a lopapeysa sweater hanging from the sign at the end of their lane. Apparently that is the international symbol for "Knitting Sold Here".

We stopped at this lovely shop at Pingborg outside of Selfoss. This was our source of time constraint as it turns out. We'd made an appointment with the shop lady to be there in the afternoon but before 1600 when she closed. That means we had to rush to get to Vik and do our things there and then rush back to Pingborg. The shopkeeper was going to be out of town until afternoon so we had to do it the way we did.

This shop focused not only on hand dyed but also hand spun yarn and it was wonderful in there. They had a wall of hand spun skeins hanging as you came in and I wonder how many people take pictures of it when they arrive? They had a huge picker and they sold picked and carded and dyed wool for spinning. They had yoke sweaters with the pattern knit with variegated hand dyed yarns and their own unspun lopi. I loved how every single item was delightfully one of a kind because of the hand made element.

While we were in there, a group came in and looked around and left and we'd seen them at all 3 geological sites the day before. Rita and Pal had items for sale here too. Mother found a pair of feather and fan lace fingerless mitts.

I got a bag of cleaned but uncarded gray Icelandic wool for spinning, 2 paper wrapped packages of brown Icelandic wool processed into sliver form. The skeins of yarn are gray hand spun that has been overdyed for a beautiful heathered effect and the 3 balls are hand spun and hand dyed. There was also a darling napping dog in this shop!

On the way home on both days, we stopped in Hveragerdi which was a small town on the way with a gas station and a Bonus grocery store on the edge of town. We stopped there both days to get gas, go to the grocery store, buy rolls from the little bakery there, and they also have public restrooms in this building. There was also a little ice cream shop that also sold hot dogs...so I had one each day that we stopped. And did I mention there was a yarn shop in this building too?

Just an awesome well stocked and clearly catering yarn shop. She had embroidery floss, wool, and perle cotton. She had acrylic yarns, blends, novelty yarns and of course a good selection of Lopi in different weights. She also had ribbons, beads, tools, and finishing items. I got a lovely tweedy brown ball of sock yarn. I have to say too that language has never been a problem the entire trip. Almost everyone speaks excellent English and Danish is taught as a second language.

We had to go back to The Handknitter's Association in Reykjavik to take pictures and make our final desperate last chance yarn purchases. There were 2 locations but this is the one at #19 Skolavodustigur. You would encounter the other one first on your walk up Laugevegur and it was a small shop full of machine knit things and souvenir and knick knack type things so we were kind of disappointed. By the time we walked up the street and found this one, we were a little disappointed to walk in and find basically the same thing...

...until you walk to the back of the store and look into this adjoining portion. I swear it was like Narnia in there. You walk in and they had stacks of knitting sorted into all sizes and cardigans and pullovers and jumpers and coats and lace and etc. They also sold all weights of Lopi for the 2nd best price we'd seen anywhere, zippers of all sizes and styles, buttons, books and patterns.
Mom found a jumper with a motif she liked and asked the shopkeeper if she knew where she could find this pattern and she said most of the member knitters just make up their motifs as they go. We took close up pictures of the jumpers she liked and she will have to devise her own patterns.

I had to take a picture of the trinkets I got this year. I got a polish pottery creamer for my collection. Iceland is big on runes and I got a few fobs and a stone rune set. The small pair of shoes are made of fish skin and was the traditional foot covering. I was hoping to fine some sort of working pattern or guide to make the shoe part. The carder ornaments are pictured here as well as the shell shaped needle gauge I described earlier. Mom and I each got a bone needle at the Saga exhibit and both brought home Lava Pearl earrings. My new tree ornaments were these cute wood burned pieces on striped ribbons that looked like the flag.

One of my favorite Iceland things I learned was laufabraud or leaf bread. This is made at Christmas and everyone sits at the table and decorates their own like we would make a gingerbread house or decorate cookies. Here is a video collage about laufabraud.

I absolutely loved Iceland and would go back in a heartbeat. The weather was wonderful and cool for our stay. It even snowed for a few moments on June 9th! I really enjoyed Iceland's knitting because it truly is different from other knitting we've seen. One we arrived we never had to change hotels or board trains with luggage and we were chauffeured to and from the airport in comfort courtesy of Dave!