My trip to the north: A photo diary / Mi viaje al norte: Diario fotográfico

I have just come back home after a fantastic week in a summer house in the north if Iceland. We were REALLY lucky with the weather... it was sunny all the time but not really too warm (it was always something around 10 - 13°C during the day and around 2°C during the wonderful bright nights), just a little bit of wind and almost no rain at all.

Recién he llegado a casa después de una semana increíble en una casa de veraneo en el norte de Islandia. Tuvimos REALMENTE mucha suerte con el tiempo... sol casi toda la semana y no muy caluroso (casi todo el tiempo alrededor de 10 - 13°C durante el día y alrededor de 2°C durante las maravillosas y luminosas noches), sólo un poco de viento y ¡casi nada de lluvia!

The area where were traveling is called Norðurland eystra (Northeast, highlighted in red)
El área donde estuvimos viajando se llama Norðurland eystra (Noreste, en rojo en el mapa)

We managed to travel quite a bit around the area. We visited wonderful places: waterfalls, canyons, lakes, lava fields, some fjords, cute little towns among other things.

Visitamos algunos lugares increíbles: cascadas, cañones, lagos, campos de lava, algunos fiordos, pueblitos adorables entre otras cosas.

It was also great chance to just relax and have the time to do some knitting, crocheting and trying to learn little bit about tatting (I will tell you a bit more about this new "adventure" soon!)... but today I will only be showing pics of the trip :)

También fue una buena semana para relajarse y dedicarse a tejer, hacer ganchillo y tratar de aprender un poco de frivolité (ya les contaré sobre esta nueva "aventura") pero hoy sólo les mostraré algunas de las cosas que vi durante esta semana.

It might take a little while to load all the pictures (it was hard to pick just some of them!)... so please be patient :)

Puede que tarde un poco cargarse la página (¡fue difícil elegir qué fotos colgar!). Por favor: paciencia :)

Akureyri, known as the capital of the north and the 3rd biggest town in Iceland with a population of almost 18.000 people.
Akureyri, conocida como la capital del norte, es la 3ra ciudad más grande de Islandia con una población de casi 18.000 habitantes. 

Akureyri. Hafnarstræti, the main commercial street.
Akureyri, Hafnarstræti, la calle principal del comercio.

Akureyri, the church.
Akureyri, la iglesia.

Goðafoss (The gods' waterfall)
Goðafoss (La cascada de los dioses)

Goðafoss

Geothermal area close to lake Mývatn
Área geotérmica cerca del lago Mývatn

This is REALLY hot!
¡Esto está MUY caliente!

Hverir, geothermal park.
Hverir, parque geotérmico.

There is a strong smell of sulfur around here.
Huele mucho a azufre por aquí.

It is really amazing to see this boiling mud!
Es impresionante ver estas pozas de lodo hirviendo.

We climbed an old crater, Hverfjall. The view was amazing.
Subimos a un viejo cráter llamado Hverafjall. La vista desde allí era increíble.

Walking on the edge of the crater.
Caminando por el borde del cráter.

Lake Mývatn from Hverafjall.
Lago Mývatn desde Hverafjall.

Dimmuborgir (Dark cities): large area of unusually shaped lava fields.
Dimmuborgir (Ciudades oscuras): área con campos de lava con formas inusuales.  

Dimmuborgir

Dimmuborgir. This is a cave called Kirkjan (The Church)
Dimmuborgir: Esta cueva se llama Kirkjan (La iglesia)

Inside The Church.
Dentro de La iglesia.

And more lava.
Y más lava.

After walking on lava fields we went to Jarðboðin (The earth's baths).
Después de la caminata por los campos de lava fuimos a Jarðboðin (Los baños de la tierra).

Just relaxing in the thermal pool (38-40ºC)
Relajándose en la piscina termal (38-40ºC)

:)

When you drive on the Highway 1 you see this kind of things...
Cuando manejas por la Carretera 1 ves cosas como éstas...

Aldeyjarfoss, without a doubt one of the most beautiful waterfalls I have seen in Iceland. Even though it is not very big it is hugely powerful and the rock formation around it (basalt) are breathtaking.
Aldeyjarfoss, sin duda una de las cascadas más bellas que he visto en Islandia. Aunque es más bien pequeña es tremendamente poderosa y las formaciones de roca (basalto) en torno a ella son impresionantes.

Basalt formations. Aldeyjarfoss.
Formaciones en basalto. Aldeyjarfoss.

The view from top of Aldeyjarfoss.
La vista desde arriba de Aldeyjarfoss.

The road to Aldeyjarfoss was not very good... as many roads around the island.
El camino a Aldeyjarfoss no era precisamente bueno... como muchos caminos en la isla.

Close to Siglufjörður we found this beautiful lighthouse (Sauðanes)
Cerca de Siglufjörður encontramos es hermoso faro (Sauðanes)

Lighthouse, Sauðanes.
Faro, Sauðanes.

We were so lucky! The lighthouse was open... so we went all the way up to the top!
Tuvimos mucha suerte... el faro estaba abierto así que subimos hasta donde está la luz!

From inside the lighthouse.
Desde dentro del faro.

Siglufjörður.

Siglufjörður. I want the green house!!
Siglufjörður. ¡Quiero esa casa verde!!

Siglufjörður. Really cute houses.
Siglufjörður. Casas muy lindas.

Siglufjörður. 

Sheep are everywhere!
¡Hay ovejas en todas partes!

More colors.
Más colores.

Dettifoss. The king of the waterfalls!! It is the most powerful waterfall in Europe. Can you see that?
Dettifoss. La reina de las cascadas! Es la cascada más poderosa de Europa. Salta a la vista, no?

1.5km up river from Dettifoss is Selfoss.
Selfoss, una caminata de 1.5km río arriba desde Dettifoss.

Dettifoss, a little bit closer just in case it was not clear enough that this is a very powerful waterfall, hehe.
Dettifoss, un poquín más cerca por si no quedaba claro cuán poderosa es esta cascada, jeje.

Ásbyrgi. This one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. It is a canyon that has the shape of a horseshoe with cliffs that are up to 100m high. It is said that this is the imprint of one of the 8 feet of Sleipnir (which is Óðin's horse).

Ásbyrgi. Es uno de los lugares más bellos en los que he estado. Es un cañón que tiene la forma de una herradura cuyas paredes de roca alcanzan los 100m de altura. Se dice que es la huella de una de las 8 patas de Sleipnir (el caballo de Óðin).

It is such a peaceful place.
Es un lugar muy apacible.

A view of the canyon. In the middle there is this distinctive rock formation called Eyjan (the island).
Una vista del cañón. Al centro se ve una formación rocosa conodica como Eyjan (la isla).

And the pond again.
Y la laguna nuevamente.

I never get tired of traveling around Iceland... there are so many wonderful places that I doesn't matter how often you see them... they look different everytime you revisit them. It is something very magical!

Nunca me canso de viajar en Islandia... hay tantos lugares maravillosos que no importa cuán a menudo los visites... siempre se ven de una manera diferente cada vez que los revisitas. Es algo muy mágico!


To finish... this is something that we HAD TO visit! Close to Akureyri there is a shop called Jólahúsið, that means The Christmas House. It is a Christmas shop that is open 365 days a year!

Para terminar... un lugar que TENÍAMOS que visitar sí o sí! Cerca de Akureyri hay una tiende que se llama Jólahúsið, que quiere decir La casa de la Navidad. Es una tienda navideña que está abierta los 365 días del año!!

On the way back home we visited an amazing museum in a small town called Blönduós... I will tell you about it in the next post... before this one becomes too long!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!!

Camino a casa visitamos un museo increíble en un pueblito llamado Blönduós... les contaré sobre él en la próxima entrada... si no ésta será demasiado larga!!


Espero que hayas disfrutado las fotos!!

To finish... I couldn't not share a picture of the midnight sun... I took this picture exactly at 00.00h Then the sun rises again sometime before03.00h so it actually never gets dark!
Para terminar no podía no colgar una foto del sol de medianoche... Esta foto la tomé exactamente a las 00.00h. Luego el sol sale  nuevamente antes de las 03.00h... nunca oscurece!

Needles in a frame and trying to make a pattern.

Remember all the things that Judi sent to me?

Among all the things there was a pair of needles that belonged to her grandmother. A pair of double pointed needles size 3 (3.25mm) and 11" (27cm) in lenght.

Well, I think it is such a nice piece (almost like a museum piece) that I was thinking that it would be nice to have them framed. To do so I needed to find a nice frame that would honour the beauty of this needles.

Last weekend we went to a farmer's market very close to Reykjavík (in Mosfellsbær) to buy some fresh and locally produced vegetables.

Tiny market in Mosfellsdalur

When we were coming to the market and just before entering into the farm I saw a couple of women that were taking things out of their car and putting them on a table. They were probably getting rid of some old things by selling them outside of the market. One of them was very familiar... I actually recognized her almost immediately: it was Hafdís Huld, an icelandic singer (know fro having been part of a band called Gusgus and now for her solo career).

After having bought some vegetables I stopped by to take a look at what they were selling. And yes! They had a perfect frame for my needles! So, I bought an old frame for only 250 ISK (about 2USD)!!

This is how it looks :)

For those who don't know her, this is one my favourite songs and video of her:



A little bit about knitting.

On Ravelry, in the Spanish swap group, a few weeks ago was proposed to make a new KAL and this time it would be to knit a lopapeysa. The KAL was suposed to begin in September but there is a little bit of delay because some of the people who is taking part of it are waiting for the wool (lopi) to arrive (since they made the order on the internet).

In the mean time I have been thinking about what pattern to use for the yoke, sleeves and waist. I really didn't feel like using any from the magazines. I think I have alreadt knitted all myt favourite ones so that meant only one thing: It was time to try to make my own pattern.

With the help of the book Íslensk sjónabók I have been trying to make the charts using paper and color.

Messy charts!

It is not as simple as I thought. It is kind of complicated to find the right spots to put the decreases but with some patience I guess I will work this out. I still haven't finished the yoke pattern... I guess i will decide how to finish on the go. I don't know. I will see.

I already chose the colors and decided to begin just to see how the waist pattern would look like. I think it doesn't look so bad at all!

What do you think?  :)

Besides this I am knitting a shawl based on an Estonian pattern and recently me, Gummi and Kristín have started a new KAL. We are now knitting a Hyrna Herborgar (which will my my 3rd!). Which reminds me that I still have to post the pictures of our first KAL (the Aeolian!).

Next time I will be talking abut the new shawl, the new KAL and the old KAL pictures!

Now, I want to hand a few pictures from the southeast... pictures of Vatnajökull, the largest glaciar in Iceland as seen from the road : )

This is in Skaftafell, a national park.