the b.f.g.

leaf detail, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

No, not the Roald Dahl book—although it was a fave growing up—but the blanket that freakin' grew. I couldn't even get the whole thing on camera:



Not even on an angle:



I had no idea how big it was going to be while it was still on the needles, although I was hoping for a decent size, and even when it was bound off and un-blocked, it was impossible to tell. I probably could have stretched it even bigger, but it would have been very difficult to pin to the [double-sized] bed.

I *think* it might be the biggest thing I've ever made... the only thing that might compare is this blanket, but it only had 10 stitches to bind off... I have no idea how many this latest one had, but it took 3 almost-consecutive hours of EZ's sewn bind-off to get it all done!

Pattern is: Undercover from Hedgehog Fibres.
Yarn is: Cascade 220 Heathers in 9451 7.25 skeins.
Needles: US 8 circs (2, to hold all the stitches!)

Iceland Redux

woman knitting, "naïve" art, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Thank you so much to everyone who has commented on my Iceland posts. We had so much fun and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a different experience than the normal Europe or beach type trip.

I have a few more images that I wanted to share but just couldn't fit into my other posts. Above, for example, is a carving of a woman knitting. At the museum it was labelled as "naïve art," since the artist was an amateur, probably just whittling things for fun at home. You can see the yarn being cradled under her arm and the needles in her hands.

And there were. of course, tons of animals:




Reindeer!


And miniature horses!

And tons of other fiber (and other) arts:


horsehair rug


weaving loom


embroidered chair


embroidery


embroidered handkerchief


carved wooden creatures


Embroidered scene from an Icelandic Saga



Iceland was fabulous and so different from any trip I had ever taken before! I would definitely recommend it, but make sure you get out of Reykjavik and see some of the amazing and alien-like landscape of the sparsely populated countryside. You won't regret it!

And now, back to our regularly scheduled knitting...

thing bought: in Iceland

léttlopi from iceland, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Aside from the slightly ridiculous amount of unspun wool (ok, it's not that much, but I've never actually spun before...) I got on my first day in Iceland, there were a few more purchases made on our way around the island. Like the Léttlopi, above. DH wants some traditional scandinavian mittens, and this will do the trick.

And for myself...



The grey is Kambgarn, which I am mixing with the wullenstudio sock yarn that was given to me a while back. I am loving this shawl and having a hard time putting it down to work on more pressing things. You know, like that whole pesky dissertation thing...

things knit: in Iceland

plethora of knitting instruments, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

Iceland had no small share of knitted items, and in a folk museum in Skogar (the same one in which we saw the turf-roof houses, as pictured yesterday) we came upon an impressive number of knitting machinery. This is only half of one room of fiber arts tools. There were spinning wheels and knitting machines and spools and a weaving loom... the list goes on and on.


Old spools, made of lamb leg-bones.

There were also some beautiful examples of Icelandic knitting:


Traditional Scandinavian Mittens.


Replaceable insoles for shoes and slippers.

As well as practical, every day items:


Knitted riding socks. To go over the boots, without a heel, to fit around the spurs.


Knitted straps for stirrups.

And perhaps my favorite:


Fisherman's gear.

Perhaps you'll understand why on the close-up:



They made the mittens with 2 thumbs each, one on each side of the mitt. That way, if the thumb wore out during a long days work (rowing, pulling on ropes, climbing things, etc), the sailor could flip it around and worry about darning the other one later. Ingenious!

Finally, back in modern day Reykjavik, people are still knitting:



And myself? Well, of course I knit! Most of the driving time I knit on a long overdue blanket (which I made quite a bit of progress on, but still looks much like a blob when photographed), and occasionally (when the need for something more compact was felt, say, on a plane) I worked on these:


(I bumped up the contrast and exposure on this so that you could actually see the cabling... black + cables = not very capturable on film...)

Pattern is Milo from Cookie A's Sock Innovation.
Yarn is Paton's Australia Patonyle (in black, of course).
Needles are Hiya Hiya US 1s. I'm so sad, I lost one on the way to Iceland somehow... but 4 will suffice.

Tune in next time for the 3rd and final installment of "Things in Iceland", where I talk about things bought in Iceland... you knew it was coming, didn't ya?

things seen: in Iceland

waterfalls over lava formations, a photo by gradschoolknitter on Flickr.

(Above: Water falling over lava formations near Reykholt.)

Without going into too much detail I have chose a few (ok, like 20) of the best pictures (of a possible 400 +) I took in Iceland to share with you all. I'll try to keep my descriptions brief, because it'll be long just in terms of photography.

First off, there is not one thing, one geography, one mindset that can describe Iceland. Sure, a lot of it is still pure, wild (cold) nature, but it is so vastly different from one moment to the next, it's hard to believe you're still in the same country, let alone such a small one. We drove the circumference (on the "Ring Road" or Road 1) and saw so many amazing, varying sights.


I took so many pictures of interesting street art, it was hard to pick one.


Boiling mud pits. Sulphuric (aka STINKY) boiling mud pits. The land around this area was covered in red sand. It seriously looked like we had landed on Mars.


Volcanic crater/lake.


Glacial Ice. Apparently only blue because water can't absorb blue out of all the colours in the spectrum, and thus when hit by light, blue is the colour that reflects. We got to eat a piece of this 2000 year old glacier. Surprisingly refreshing and not at all stale, given it's age.


Black Sand Plains. Which quickly turned into...


A sand storm. Through which we (ok, DH) had to drive.


Volcanic ash covering a field, from the most recent eruption.


Turf Roof Houses. Surprisingly roomy.


Thingvellir national park. Where the two plates meet and where Iceland held it's first parliament in the 10th century.


More street art, I suppose. But a fun (and perhaps helpful?) reminder for guys (and any ladies who like to rock the tie)!

And of course, there was knitting... knitted goods, knitted artifacts, even some knit-tagging. But that'll have to wait for next time!

sock, meet glacier

This was the view from our window last night/this morning. We then went and took a cruise on the glacial lagoon, which, while frigid, was well worth it:

Velkomin til Íslands

So we've been in Iceland for two days now, and since it is light out approximately 20 hours a day, I woke up at 5am, saw light peaking behind the curtains in full force and freaked out, thinking we had slept until 5pm. Then I fully woke up and realized my mistake, but it was difficult to get back to sleep. So here it is, a little after 7am, and I figured I'd share some pictures of our adventures so far.

First off, there is wool, of course, everywhere. But mostly in already-knitted form. For example, the traditional Icelandic patterns, usually on sweaters and in this case, cowls:



But my favourite thus far:



The Icelandic Snuggy!!!!!

There is also, of course, lots of wool in it's pre-use form:



And in this pre-use form as well:



What's that you say? You can't see it since it's backlit at seven am?

Ok, how about this:



Yup, I fell down again and bought a bunch of unspun lopi wool. It was ridiculously cheap. A little over 400 grams for 710kr... which is about $6.20 US. So yeah, it was basically impossible to resist.

Anyway, that's a quick fix of Iceland in two days. If we get internet access again in a few days, perhaps I'll have some more woolly news for you!

Mother Bear and Breast Cancer Awareness

Two great causes, but both with sad backstories. I haven't made a bear in a while, but I think that the Mother Bear Project is a great organization, doing wonderful things. The bears are super easy to make and only really take a few hours from start to finish.

I got a message on ravelry from the mods of the Mother Bear Group that one of the most active members has been diagnosed with breast cancer and will be undergoing some very harsh treatments that will probably preventing her from knitting at all, let alone bears. They asked the members to make a bear, in pink, and dedicate it to her. Then they will do a "reveal" on June 5 (I have time-stamped this to appear on June 5 for reasons that I will expound upon momentarily...) to show her all the bears that have been knit in her honour. All the best, and a quick recovery sunltcloud.

So, why the time-stamp, as opposed to just posting? I'm in ICELAND currently. (Or, rather, will be when this posts on Sunday... we leave Friday night.) I'll post pictures (and hopefully have picked up some interesting yarns...) when we get back!

Help! I've fallen....

don't mind the mess... we're packing for vacay!

Since it's a high possibility that I won't be able to frequent my favorite yarn store as often as I like in the near future (mysterious... but you'll have to wait for that story), I sort of fell down and picked up a few things that I've been eyeing for a while. Like the above tote from Designs from the Edge. I've wanted one for a while and with my new sewing machine (gift from a friend for the wedding!) I thought the thread-print was appropriate. But what's that peaking out from inside, you say?



Three skeins of Angel's Kiss Alpaca Merino Bulky in the "Peeps" colourway. Hubs wants a yellow scarf for next winter, and this ought to keep him nice and warm!

And....



A skein of Shalimar Breathless (75% Merino, 15% Cashmere and 10% silk) to make socks for my partner in the International Sock Swap. If it's half as dreamy to knit with as it is in the skein, I might just have to run back and get a couple of skeins for myself...

Just a note: flickr and blogger seem to be having some issues with their connectivity, so for now it's back to the old, blogger html way. I'm not sure I like the "look" as well as I do when I can post direct from flickr, but for now it'll have to do!

hey june