I would like to share with you what I got... all of them are very special and I need to find something that as special to make with them. I already have some ideas floating around inside of my head...
Sunsunteje surprised me with a beautiful skein of wool that she spun herself. It is a mixture of merino and silk.. it is amazingly soft and has a very nice shine. The colors are AMAZING as well... it is pretty difficult to describe them! There is some purple, beige and white in it... all beautifully combined.
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Hiro, who I had the luck to meet last year on my trip to Asturias (and we managed not to take a SINGLE good picture of us together!) sent me some beautiful wool along with LOTS of candies (and I mean LOTS, so much that I still even have some!) and some other sweet details. She surprised me with a wonderful skein of Lace Silk in a very bright red-fuchsia color (I am really bad naming colors... but it must be something near those two) and one skein of Lace Merino in natural color (light gray). Both from Greta and The Fibers.
My dear friend Svanhvít Lilja, who moved to Sweden with her boyfriend last Autumn, came on Christmas Holidays to visit Iceland. She gave me as a birthday present two skeins of wool that she got in Umeå, the town where she is living. The skeins have no tags so I don't know what the composition is but it feels great to touch, it is both firm and soft at the same time. I think I have knitted anything with red wool... actually I think I don't even own anything to wear that is red... so this is the perfect opportunity to get some red into my wardrobe. I was thinking about a pair of mittens and a neckwarmer, maybe? :)
Paolo, my italian colleague that was working with me last year surprised me with a very unexpected birthday present. I thought it was so thoughtful of him! He came with this really beautiful icelandic design "roll-case" made out of a woollen tweed fabric with a really pretty cross stitch design on one of its borders. It is REALLY pretty but unfortunately I haven't found a good use for it yet. The pockets seem to be too big and too deep (and they are definitely not enough to put all my needles).
I have been trying to find something to use it for but nothing has been clicking in my brain! Ideas? They are ALL MORE THAN WELCOME! :)
Mike, my friend from California, that I finally got to know in person last October after having been Flickr friends for quite a while when he came to Iceland (along with Franklin and Stephen).
He really did surprise me!! He gave me my first Elizabeth Zimmermann's book! "Knit One Knit All". A book devoted to the most simple of all stitches: Garter Stitch. There are some really cool designs that I want to try! And I must admit that this book was somehow and eye-opener for me. I think I had always somehow underestimated garter stitch... now I see it definitely with other eyes.
In the box there was also a DVD called "A Knitting Glossary" by E. Zimmermann and M. Swansen. This is truly a BIBLE! It is a DVD full of techniques that are taught by Elizabeth and Meg in a very comfortable format sitting on the sofa of their home. It is a perfect reference to refresh and learn some techniques.
And last but not least... In one of our last trips to the Álafoss Factory Gummi found a new yarn that has been recently put for sale in the shop. It is called Bolivia, 100% wool (from Bolivia, I guess?). When he saw it he thought he could make THE PERFECT scarf for me! And HE DID! How sweet is that?
He made this HUGELY LONG (I think it must be over 3 meters long!) scarf that I can wrap around several times around the neck. The colors are definitely MY KIND OF COLORS. It is EXTREMELY cozy and warm!
What else can I say? Except that I am an INCREDIBLY LUCKY GUY!
Thank you all so much!
And to finish... Yesterday the weather was wonderful... Not a little bit of wind and even not so cloudy. From my home it is possible to see a glacier that is at the very end of a peninsula. The glacier is called Snæfellsjökull (for many of you that will sound familiar because of Jules Verne's novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth"in which an entrance to a passage that leads to the center of the earth is found in this mountain).
It had been AGES since the last time the glacier was visible mostly because it had been mostly cloudy and not clear enough to let it be seen. Yesterday... I saw this from home:
how wonderful, I am so happy for you that you got such nice presents..
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to see what you are creating out of them...
have a great day,
ciao ciao Christa from Switzerland...
Hi Christa! I hope everything is well and you are not freezing! It is amazing how cold it has been in Europe lately! The winter came late but very strong, uh?
DeleteThank you so much for visiting me! :)
Preciosos regalos y muy merecidos felicidades.
ReplyDeleteSeguro que estas lanas en tus en tu manos se convetirán en pequeñas obras de arte.
Ahora mismo le digo a Marta de Greta and the fibers que su maravillosa seda ha viajado a Islandia :)))
Hola Imma!
DeleteLe estuve dando una mirada a tus proyectos en Ravelry y vi que has usado mucho las lanas de Marta. Ya tengo ganas de usar la seda! Pero me propuse no empezar algo nuevo hasta que termine con la cola! Argh!
Ya te contaré que planeo hacer con la seda! :)
Oups, oups !!!!! error al teclear no es Marta es "MARGA" :(
Deleteyo también tengo ganas de terminar proyectos
luego me cuentas ......
y tengo seda para un nuevo proyecto ^_^
At the Álafoss factory store last year, I bought a full kilo of a lovely red plötulopi that I'm now making into a lopapeysa for myself. My wardrobe palette is very strongly blue, green, and brown, so adding a bit of red into that is a very nice change. I look forward to seeing what you do with the red yarn.
ReplyDeleteSnæfellsjökull is definitely on our list of places to visit in August.
I need to add some color to my wardrobe. I really like green and brown and all kind of earth and autumn colors and most of my things are in those colors. It will be nice to have something red for a change :)
DeleteSnæfellsnes is a MUST! Especially the south coast. My favorite place is called Dritvík.
This are two blog entries with pictures from Snæfellnes:
http://rodprjonar.blogspot.com/2011/04/saturdays-short-trip-beautiful-things-i.html
http://rodprjonar.blogspot.com/2011/09/hyrna-herborgar-iii-done.html
You are a very lucky guy! So many wonderful gifts and wonderful friends! I look forward to seeing what wonderful things you create with all those beautiful yarns. Would your new case work for holding double point needles? It's a very handsome case. Great scarf too! The colors are nice and it looks very soft and warm. :-)
ReplyDeleteHi! Thank you so much for visiting my blog :)
DeleteI tried to put the double pointed needles but the problem is that all the pockets have different sizes... they are not even at all. It is a very strange design... beautiful but strange. I think I will have to use it for something not knitted-related I guess... still thinking here... hehe
Hola Rodrigo, me han avisado que tienes alguna de mis lanas en tus manos y estoy feliz. La seda la teñí especialmente para ti tal como me pidió Hiro, la otra si no me equivoco es Baby alpaca natural. Espero que las disfrutes y que tengas unos maravillosos momentos con ellas. Estoy segura que tejeras alguna cosa maravillosa de las que nos tienes acostumbrados. Esperare a ver con ilusión la nueva vida que le darás a mis /tus lanas, gracias a los tejedores porque sin vuestras manos solo sería eso, lana.
ReplyDeletehttp://gretaandthefibers.blogspot.com/
Hola!
DeleteSí pues, soy el feliz poseedor de una muestra de tu maravilloso trabajo! Cuando Hiro me dijo que me quería enviar una seda tuya... se me hicieron agua las manos!! El color es perfecto! Quería algo vibrante y esta madeja sí que lo es!
Ya he decidido qué voy a tejer con ella... pero eso será por ahora... un secreto, jeje.
La alpaca es un sueno también... tendré que sentarme a pensar qué voy a hacer con todas estas lanas tan bonitas que he recibido...
Un abrazo.
Þú ert svo ótrúlega heppinn, að þekkja þetta góða fólk elsku Rod minn - og öfugt! ;-) Garnið er alltsaman alveg yndislegt - rauði liturinn á garninu er alveg dásamlegur og bókin hennar E.Z. er gersemi... ein af þessum sem allir prjónarar ættu að eiga! Íslenska prjónaveskið er voða fallegt... er ekki hægt að geyma eitthvað allt annað en prjóna í því? Td. eitthvað tölvutengt? Kveðja og knúsar
ReplyDeleteÞað er ótrúlega gott að setjast niður og gefa sér tíma til að hugsa um hvað maður er heppinn og líka gera sér grein fyrir því að það er fullt, fullt, fullt af dásamlegu fólki þarna úti í heiminum. Lífið er fullt af smáatriðinum sem maður fattar ekki einu sinni stundum. En þegar maður fattar það þá þarf hann að vera þakklátur fyrir það. Er það ekki elsku vinkona mín? :)
DeleteÞetta er svo ótrúlega rétt hjá þér og mjög gott mottó! Held að við þurfum hreinlega að horfa saman á Amelie næst þegar við hittumst að prjóna - hún fjallar um nákvæmlega þetta: að njóta litlu hlutanna í lífinu, sem alltof margir taka ekki eftir. Góð fyrirmynd. :-) Og einsog við vorum að tala um, um daginn: maður á að eyða tíma sínum og orku í gott og skemmtilegt fólk og jákvæða hluti! Hafðu það gott kæri vinur!
Deletetu a bien etait gatée par tes amie jolie toute cette laine , belle echarpe
ReplyDeleteMerci beaucoup Béa :) Comment se fait-tout en France?
DeleteReally lucky!
ReplyDelete¡Que placeres depara la vida!, ¿no?
¡Que lo disfrutes!
Sí! Suertudo y muy agradecido por encontrar gente tan maravillosa en es espacio :)
DeleteLa vida está llena de pequenos detalles que hacen una gran diferencia.
Un abrazo Rosalía!
oh! qué de regalos más lindos Ro!! pero es que te mereces cada uno de ellos...y muchos más!! ^.^
ReplyDeletebellísimas las lanas, y precioso el "roll-case" !!...mmm, no puedo aportar ideas (en estos momentos mi neurona está apagada o fuera de cobertura...intentaré más tarde!..jajjajajja)
una pasada la bufanda!!! y estás guapísimo con ella!
y qué hermosa la foto! me muero de envidia!
un besote!!
Ro! Muchas gracias!
DeleteLa verdad es que pucha que hay gente linda en el mundo! Y lo mejor es tener la suerte en encontrarse, de una manera o de otra, con esa gente linda :)
El roll-case (cómo llamarlo en castellano!?) me tiene todavía pensando... por ahora está guardado en el armario esperando ser usado. Espero que no se convierta en uno de esos casos en que el diseno es una maravilla pero en la práctica no sirve para nada. Ya veremos! :)
Jeje, la bufanda sí que es una pasada! Con ella me río del frío, haha!
Un beso!
jajajaja Great minds think alike!
ReplyDeleteYo acabo de agradecerte en el blog la madeja de Evilla que me enviaste, cuando vengo aquí y veo que es recíproco!
Seguro que le encuentras un proyecto que haga justicia a la lana hilada!
Y el resto de regalos son preciosos! Me he quedado cautivado del needle case ¿demasiado estrecho para las circulares? y las DPNs? Seguro que alguna utilidad le encuentras, es tan bonito!
;-)
Hola querida Asun!
DeleteEsta tarde vi tu nuevo post y me hizo mucha gracia! Andamos en la misma sintonía, eh? jeje
Te quiero agradecer nuevamente tan lindo regalo que me hiciste y que además sin querer se convirtió en realidad en un regalo de cumpleanos y también de navidad un poco adelantado :)
Cada vez que miro este ovillo lo tengo que tomar en mis manos para perderme por algunos segundos en sus colores... que son tan maravillosamente inusuales!
Ya probé todas las agujas en el needle case y no es muy práctico para agujas. Es tan lindo que quiero usarlo! Tendré que seguir pensando...
Un beso!
Kæri vinur, þar sem þú býrð til svo fallega hluti og ég hef svo gaman af blogginu þínu, tilnefndi ég þig til blogg-verðlauna sem heita "versatile blog award". Þú getur lesið allt um þau hérna: http://kh-handcrafts.blogspot.com/2012/02/versatile-blogger-award-ii.html
ReplyDeleteMadre mia!! pero cuantas cosas bonitas, seguro que sabes darle uso a todas.
ReplyDeleteGracias por tus comentarios, estoy empezando y me animan mucho, yo también prefiero las agujas pero necesito aprender ganchillo para rematar algunos trabajos de punto, como mi manta de cuadritos con la que empece y está en espera del remate.
FELICIDADES y un caluroso abrazo.
Rod-
ReplyDeleteI just have to say - that your gifts were truly incredible. All that wonderful wool - I've never know anyone who had your knitting expertise - I know you will make something fabulous from every skein. The little pouch is truly lovely - I am also going to give some thought to what you might do with it.
That scarf - oh my goodness - it is most definitely YOU! The photo of you modeling that scarf is wonderful - it looks like an expensive designer scarf - perfect for your cold days there.
The photo of the glacier is amazing. You are living in a place that is my great desire to visit. We think we will be there for 2 days next year by way of cruise ship - will it be close to where you live?
I am so excited to have found your blog and plan to spend some time looking around. I am a knitter, yarn lover, but my skills PALE next to your incredible talents. But it is so wonderful to connect with a knitter -- I would love to see your yarn stash!
Have a great day!
Vicki
Rod,
ReplyDeleteI came upon your sight and was very inspired by your knitting! I too have been knitting the lopapeysa and I'm addicted!! I have been trying to create my own pattern for a yoke and am having trouble trying to figure out where to make the decreases. Have you found a trick to it that you would be willing to share with me?? I would so appreciate it as it is driving me crazy!!! Thanks Rod.
Susan
Hi Susan!
DeleteThank you so much for visiting my blog :)
Lopapeysas are indeed ADDICTIVE!! Hehe.
About where to put the decreases... that is a tricky thing. I would say that there is no recipe for that. It all depends on the design you're making. All you have to care about is to match the decreases with the "drawing" so it won't be distorted.
Have you ever seen this website?:
http://prjonamunstur.is/
It is very useful. It gives you an idea of where you have to put them... but you can change it and adapt it to what you're doing very easily :)
I hope this can help you!!
R