anna travels - icelandic yarn stores

I am back from my visit to Iceland! It was a short but wonderful trip. We ate great food, toured downtown Reykjavik, relaxed at the Blue Lagoon (a geothermal spa), and saw many natural wonders, including an active geyser and a waterfall bigger than Niagara Falls. Fares on Icelandair (from Boston at least) are very affordable, and you can even stop over in Iceland on your way to Europe at no additional cost!

I could talk about Iceland all day - if you have a specific question, please leave me a comment! - but let's get down to knitting. Iceland is full of its own knitting traditions, and even has a unique type of wool called Lopi, which is specifically made from Icelandic sheep. You can read more about Lopi here.

My frist day in Iceland, I visited the knitting store Storkurinn located in the heart of Reykjavik. It was a very cute store that reminded me of knitting stores in the US. There was a nice selection of yarns from all over the world, including Icelandic Lopi.

The next knitting store I visited was Álafoss wool factory; an outlet for Lopi located about 20 minutes outside of Reykjavik.  

Check out this cute yarn-bombing in the town:

At the Álafoss wool factory, I bought this gorgeous yarn from the Icelandic company Kambgarn. The colors are Kambgarn (Rosebloom) and Kambgarn (Glacier Green). I think I will use it to make a pair of mittens...

Iceland has so much to offer knitters. I would love to return and visit yarn stores on the northern side of the country. It would also be cool to take some knitting classes while there, which are offered in most of the yarn shops. I hope to go back and perhaps take a class on traditional Icelandic designs (see some of my favorite here) using Lopi. 

anna travels - iceland

I leave for Iceland tomorrow, and I am very excited! Among other things, Iceland has a rich knitting history and tradition. I hope to visit some yarn stores while I am there. The Fancy Tiger Crafts blog has a nice overview of yarn stores in Iceland.

I love Icelandic knitting designs. Here are some of my favorite examples:

Sweaters

Shoe inserts 
(pattern available in Icelandic Handknits: 25 Heirloom Techniques and Projects)

Icelandic stars and roses

Hopefully I will come back from Iceland with some new knitting inspiration!

nails etc. - spring colors

Last week I wrote about green being one of my favorite spring colors. But when it comes to my nails, I have been at a loss to find an on-trend color for the season. Most magazine articles I've read have said that nude nails are the way to go this spring. (Read more about that in Harper's Bazaar here and Vogue here.) I've tried pale nails, but since I don't have any sort of tan yet, I felt it left my hands looking flat.

Perhaps I'll try neutral polish again, once I have more of a tan, or in the fall. Recently though I'm sticking with brightly colored nails. My favorite shade of the moment is the orangey-red, My Paprika is Hotter than Yours by OPI.

Do you have a favorite spring nail polish color?

spring, etc. - green!

On my way to work I get to walk through the Boston Public Garden. It was looking especially lush today, so I snapped this picture. I love how green the grass and trees are. Maybe I am prejudice, because green has always been one of my favorite colors, but I feel like green is a color trend for the season. I especially love it paired with black...

Here is one of my favorite new J. Crew patterns of the season: punk floral.

And for another burst of green + black, how about a Grasshopper Sundae? I'm in!

crochet, etc. - crochet camera purse

How cute is this crochet camera purse available on Etsy?

It is by Meemanan. 

Want to make your own? Check out this pattern by Sky Magenta on Ravelry for a similar crochet camera purse. 

anna knits - chunky scarf update 3

So I know winter is officially over, but I wanted to share my finished chunky scarf:

 

Here's how I did it:

I used 1 and 1/2 skeins of Rowan Big Wool in black with size US15 needles. I cast on 22 and started a Knit 2 Purl 2 ribbing pattern, which I continued until the scarf was about six feet long. I then added five bunches (made up of three strands each of Rowan Big Wool) of fringe to either side of the scarf. 

See my progress here and here, and see the matching braided headband here.

I won't be wearing this piece everyday for a while, but I am heading to Iceland at the end of the month, so it may get some wear there!

anna crochets - boston love blanket

I read about the Boston Love Blanket on the blog One Sheepish Girl, and knew I had to send in a square! The squares are going to be sewn together to create a blanket for relatives of one of the victims of the Boston bombing.

As some of you know, I've been working on my own flower blanket, so I decided to use some of the flowers I had already made for it in my 8x8 square.

There are so many beautiful flowers out in Boston this week. I snapped a pic of some tulips in the Public Garden that reminded me of my crochet squares:

Happy spring!