just another raveller

The flight from Boston was only 5 hours, bringing us into Keflavik at 9:30 in the morning on a Saturday. The sun was shining in a bright blue sky and work was far away. As soon as we stepped outside, however, we thought perhaps we'd made a big mistake. The wind blew hard and steady from somewhere. I could barely hang on to my suitcase on the way to the car. The drive from Keflavik airport to Rejkyavik is quite barren, belying the beautiful scenery that is so abundant in the rest of the country. We were driving to Hveragerði which meant that we had to skirt the city and veer east. I don't know about you, but driving through a strange city on a mind full of doubt after a sleepless night generally results in wrong turns, and well, stress. From the sea, the mountains, or the glaciers, it didn't matter. The wind came at us like a non stop train. This went on for 2 days. It began to remind me of another island vacation in the Atlantic where the wind was so relentless that after

Two weeks in Iceland with a car. No phone, no internet, no tv, newspaper, radio. None of it. Oh, and especially no pollen. Up in the morning to a good breakfast. Hit the road, hike all day through the volcanic landscape, walking off the stress of work and home... Then into a hot tub full of spring water heated naturally underground, followed by dinner and an excellent sleep. Repeat 14 times. Oh, and shopping.... This trip is in my top three best ever. Stay tuned. 

I bet you forgot I was even knitting the Pine Tree Palatine. I put it on waste yarn last Fall when I  went to England, but never worked on it again until this March. It was tricky to figure out where I had left off and what size needles I had been using. Thanks to my project page on Ravelry, it didn't take me too long to figure it out. I left off on row 103, at the end of the first chart. That chart does have a well defined repeat outlined in red, but it's the last one which does. The others are all spread across two pages and require a magnifying glass to read. My theory is that Russian knitters have memorized the knitting of the various traditional motifs to such an extent that they think things like, OKAY, I've done with that mouse. Now I'll just knit past these trees and knit a line in this strawberry. They know what they're doing. They're not used to following patterns. They just do it. The rest of us struggle to catch up. With Galina's patterns I must

Here is my renovated  Lopapeysa. I cut up the front with small scissors. I think it looks much better as a cardigan than it did as a pullover. Here's what the cut edge looked like before I trimmed and finished it. Mattress stitch.... I'm quite happy with the results. The armholes are low, but there is plenty of room to move around. I did a line of single crochet in dark brown along the bottom hem to finish it off. Now James, send me your real measurements and I'll make one for you that fits!

Just look at this! It's typical for our area. One day it's Spring and the forsythia is trying like h-ll to bloom, the nextday, snow and 26 F/ -3 C... Last night, I did cut up the front of my Lopapeysa, but I'm still stitching on it. I'll post photos later today or tomorrow,

One freezing day earlier this winter, I came home from work to find a parcel from my brother. I knew what was in it and seeing that the house had not yet quite warmed up to an acceptable temperature, I ripped it open and donned the contents: This is Pattern no. 21 from the Istex Lopi  Book No. 21. I knit it several years ago for my brother James at the behest of our sisters. Now James is rather tall, big even, you might say, but he's not this big. The sweater is 48 inches around at the chest and measures 29 inches from the neck to the hem. The yoke ends around  a normal person's waistline. Yes, at the encouragement of persons who shall remain nameless, I had knit the XXL size of this man's Lopi sweater.  Maybe it would have fit Eric the Red or Leif the Lucky or some other Viking, but it did not fit my brother.  James cared for it for several years with nary a peep until one day last summer when I asked him how it was faring. He politely admitted that it didn't fit him.