Monday, July 18, 2011

Odyssey

I love living in Iceland and everything that comes with that but I am not sure if I have said before that sometimes it can be pretty difficult to find some things here in here... so everytime that I am thinking about making something I have to cross my fingers and hope for the best to find all the materials I might eventually need.

Taken from Wikipedia
Sometimes (or most of the times) it is an odyssey that requires going to many stores spread all over the city with the hope of finding at least something similar to what is needed. Well, actually, most of the times I end up getting something that is not exactly what I wanted and somehow I have to manage to make it work as I want.

I can get very disappointed and grumpy sometimes because of this. I REALLY need to learn to control that... but it is so hard! I think that living in Iceland has made me become a more patient person... even though in the eyes of other (and especially Gummi) I am still very impatient!

Let's see. The last odyssey was finding thread for bobbin lace. I already mentioned little bit about this last time. When I was visiting Asturiasm where I bought my set of bobbins, I bought just one 500m skein of cotton n°20: big mistake... I should have bought A LOT more. I didn't think it would be so difficult and expensive to get some good thread here.

I began searching for threads and managed to go to four shops with very little success. In most of them they had only polyester thread or very, very fine cotton thread. Most of the people I talked with looked at me as I was speaking chinese when I was telling them that I wanted some cotton thread, something from n°20 to 70 to make lace.

Taken from the website of Heimilisiðnaðarfélag Íslands.
I checked the website of Heimilisiðnaðarfélag Ísland (The Society of hand and homecrafts of Iceland) and according to it they had all the materials for making bobbin lace, as I mentioned in the previous post, I went there and they actually had linen thread but the woman working there didn't know much about what I was talking about... strange because I thought they were supposed to know what they have to offer. They really don't have a big variety of materials so I ended up buying just one skein of linen (with no number... ) and some more "un-numbered" thread for a terribly huge price.

Linen.

More Linen

Last week I went to take a look at Storkurinn, a shop downtown in Reykjavík that sells mainly wool and also has a section with quilting materials. For my surprise they also had a lot of cotton thread in wonderful colors! But only n°30! Anyways... I bought a couple (and for a very nice price: only 560 ISK or 3.5 € each). As soon as I came home I tried them!

Cotton 30.

This is what it is looking like so far:

Starting a new little project
The beginning.


Little project: Progress: Looking good :)
Slowly growing :)
I really like how the half stitch torchon looks like with the spiders in it. The first time I made cloth stitch I didn't like it at all but now I think it looks pretty cool (it is also maybe because I know how to make it better now :)

Have I ever said how much I love lopi? One of the many reasons why I love it so much is exactly what I have been writing about now: It is possible to find it EVERYWHERE. And I mean EVERYWHERE and at an amazing price!

And talking about lopi... I finished the Harebell Fichu! Well, it is almost, almost done! It is now blocking and I still have to seam the ends. It looks like this now:

Fichu: blocking
Harebell Fichu: Blocking.
More pictures soon!

Now I need to think about what to knit now! I am little clueless... I will have to dive into the books and Ravelry to find some inspiration!

10 comments:

  1. Hola Rodri!! vas como un rayo con el encaje de bolillos! madre mía! te felicito! qué bonito!
    bueno, y el Fichu...¡qué te voy a decir??! impresionante!! como siempre!
    un beso! feliz semana!

    ReplyDelete
  2. hi, it looks unbelievable fantastic, breathtaking, you are a real artist,
    all the best from Switzerland, Christa

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vá! Mikið ótrúlega er Bobbinsið orðið fallegt hjá þér! Þú ert algjör snillingur! Og sjalið er auðvitað dásamlegt. Mér datt í hug þegar ég las þennan póst, hvort þú værir búin að kíkja í búðina "Knitting Iceland" á laugarvegi 25? Þar sá ég um daginn einhvern mjög þunnan þráð - ættir kannski að kíkja þangað í leitinni að hinum fullkomna þræði í BObbinsið!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rodri por donde empezar :)Es verdad que alli debes encontrar poca cosa, viendo lo chiquitina que es la cuidad,y te entiendo perfectamente , cuando no encuentro algo , o no puedo hacerlo me da pucheritos ja !!
    pero la paciencia es algo que se aprende poco a poco , bueno los hilos que te voy a decir, son colores que me enamoran me encantan de verdad, y mira abajo de mi calle , hay una merceria de tanto ir me hice amiga de la vendedora jajaj,pero no compro mucho lana alli , son acrilicas y eso no me gusta pero si tiene lana asi finita, me acordé leyendote porque teji un tapete con un hilo super finito y lo compré alli
    mira aqui a ver si te ayuda

    http://www.coudre-broder-tricoter.com/dmc/le%20crochet/Le%20crochet.asp?marque=cbt

    veras que hay hilos muy finitos como tu buscas , cuando quieras yo te compro... y te envio Rodri ,y si quieres otra lana ( tengo unas de lace de seda mmmm ) que no las usare y prefiero hacer un regalo , asique tu ya sabes estoy a tus ordenes ..
    el Cuello/chal es precioso ,me encanta ..
    estaba viendo el blossom chal, lo hare espero una lanita .... y lo hare me encanta .. aunque con tanta cosa que quiero hacer , y no acabo ninguna, eso esta muy mal, muy desordenada me he puesto:)
    bueno Rodri , mira el sitio internet, el hilo es hilo de DMC ... yo encantada voy a la tienda sin problemas
    muchos besitos frios y con mucha lluvia hoy en Paris

    ReplyDelete
  5. what a pain to find your thread on the entrouve like her in France. we say the thread to sew the German brand here is the same price
    it is pretty damn your beautiful work

    ReplyDelete
  6. !!!!!!Me encanta este encaje!!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Am holed up alone in a hotel again, on my way home and hoping to reach there tomorrow. Had to take a peek and see what you've been up to. Sorry to hear about your frustration in obtaining thread for your bobbin lace. While reading, I kept wondering why you don't search and purchase online. I'm sure there is some reason(s) if only impatience in wanting it sooner than later. Is cotton the thread of choice? I'm not familiar with your way of stating thread size but am familiar with the threads you bought in the quilting supply area. Have they turned out to be satisfactory/good? I like what you've done - even the spiders :-)I love all the yellow pins - oh so many! Did you make the design? Your cloth stitch is beautiful! Of course, that doesn't surprise me. You know, when I look at it, I see the orange as a moth or butterfly in resting position. All so pretty. Well, time for bed. I have a long drive ahead of me tomorrow. Will check in again once I have settled in and recovered from the exhaustion from all required of me these last days. Glad you are staying creative and I'll be interested in seeing what you decide to knit next. Isn't uncommon for me to see a lace pattern and think of you, :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Judi: Nice to hear from you! It seems that this time the computer didn't play any tricks on you! hehe. Where are you? Or where have you been I must say? I hope you are home now :)

    The thing about buying online it a mixture of two things: first, yes, I am a little bit impatient but second, and most importantly, it is too expensive to buy online! Everytime that you get a parcel in Iceland that comes from an online foreign shop you have to pay a costumes tax that is 25% which is applied not only to the price of the item you bought but to the total price including the shipping! For now, with that I have found here I can work with my bobbins... actually the last threads that I bought (the white and the orange ones) were in the quilting section of the shop :) and they are working just fine!

    Unfortunetely I didn't make the design... I guess I am just "not there" yet with the bobbins (well, not even with knitting really) Until now I have never designed anything. Maybe soon...

    I think I have already found what I will knit next... I'll let you know later on, hehe.

    All the best fro you!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ha ha, it is like you were talking about yarn stores in the town where I live - not much to offer and women who know nothing about anything. :-)

    I love the bobbin lace. The thin yarn makes it look beautifully delicate.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ada: Fortunetely here in Iceland I don't have that problem when it comes to wool. This is a paradise of yarn! It is possible to find almost anything :)

    Bobbin lace... uff... I am loving it more everyday (even though it can give me a headache sometimes. Not kidding ;p)

    ReplyDelete