Category Archives: work

September 1, 2014 · 9:43 am

It’s been a while

And for good reason. Life has been super busy. Karítas came home from her summer vacation in the beginning of August, I started school on the 15th of August and work has been really busy also. Oh, and I turned 36 on August 27th. So there has not been much time for anything else. I have done some knitting and crocheting whenever I have had the time and have managed to finish, almost finish and start a few projects.

First, I finished Red Rock Canyon again! This one is for my MIL and I loved working on this design again. Romi Hill designs are extremely well done and easy to follow, not to mention beautiful!

Pattern: Red Rock Canyon by Rosemary (Romi) Hill
Yarn: Juno Fibre Arts Milly Singles in Potpourri & Boudoir
Needle: 3.5mm

As I said, I really enjoyed working on this shawl. I am not a big fan of doing the same design twice, but I did not mind at all this time. The pattern is super well written, the yarn I used is a favorite of mine, and the colors are yummie! Who knows, I might even make another one for myself at some point, I have a few color combos picked out in my head already.

School started again for the girls, Karítas was very excited!

I got new hiking shoes for my birthday from my family! So happy with them!

Sumarrós drew this photo of me and her. It says “You are my favorite mom”

Saturday after spending the entire day in school, I was completely exhausted and spent most of the day snuggling with Karítas on the couch under a blanket. So nice.

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Filed under blanket, Clothes, crochet, Family, finish, gifts, Happy Dance, KAL, knitting, life, Other, shawl, work, yarn

July 10, 2014 · 8:13 am

And I am back at work

I started working again last Friday. Off course things are super busy, but I have gotten a lot done since I have been back. It also helped that I left a very clean desk and practically a clean slate with everything balanced, booked and orderly.

On our last weekend of vacation, we went to a family gathering in the south of Iceland to visit Helgi’s mothers family. We had a blast! Here are some photos.

See those mountain looking things on the horizon? Yeah, those are islands called Vestmannaeyjar. You can see them pretty clearly when driving the south part of the main road around the country.

We went on a hike and the weather and the view were breathtaking.

Helgi’s little cousins had loads of fun, and so did I!

In the evening and long into the bright summer night, there was a barbeque, some drinks and live music. And the place looked like a lopapeysa festival!

I got myself some rubber shoes so my feet would not get wet. Best thing I have bought in a long time!

Prestsbakkakirkja. Old country churches are absolutely stunning and this one was just breathtaking.

I am working on some fun projects, both knitting and crochet. I will post again soon with some photo updates of what I have been working on lately, but here is a sneak peek.

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Filed under antique, bits & pieces, Clothes, crochet, Family, knitting, life, Other, photograpy, socks, traveling, work, yarn

June 26, 2014 · 1:12 pm

Summer vacation stuff

It has been a good vacation so far. Much of relaxing and some home improvements have taken place, as well as Sumarrós’s birthday celebration.

We tore the horrid carpet of the floor in the living room and put down new flooring. We also painted the living room and I almost feel like I moved without the packing and unpacking. It is so cozy and nice to hang out in it now that it is pretty much all we have been doing since we finished.

This is the blanket that got thrown out. It was old and absolutely disgusting.

Here is the new floor! We also rearranged the furniture and it looks much bigger now.

My daughters doing what they do best, being adorable.

Emma gets her hugs from Karítas.

Biking sisters.

Karítas finger knitting at Litla Prjónabúðin.

Sumarrós turned 15 (OMG!) on June 14th. She got a haircut and some highlights in her hair.

Off course we invited the family over for some homemade cakes and stuff.

After the birthday celebration, I got a manicure.

And so did the man.

I also finished my second seminar at school and got 8,8 out of 10 and was second highest of the 30+ people who were also studying at the same time. I am off school until the middle of August but I go back to work in about a week so I just know I will be super busy until school starts again. And then even busier after it starts. Oh well, it is only for a few months and brings great benefits for us and our future, so it is all worth it.

Karítas is leaving for The Czech Republic with her father and his family on Sunday and will not be back until August. Gah, it is going to be hard being without her for such a long time. She was there also last summer and had a BLAST and we spoke on Skype almost every single day, so I am just going to focus on how much fun she is having and enjoy it through her and her very lively stories and updates that I will be getting from her while she is away.

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Filed under bits & pieces, Cat life, Family, life, Other, work

May 26, 2014 · 11:40 am

Birta

I finished my lopapeysa last week. I have been wanting to make myself a lopapeysa for about 5 years, but I had difficult time picking out the pattern I wanted, the colors I wanted, the fit I wanted and what kind of wool mix I wanted to use. After some thought I was almost decided on using a mix of single ply plötulopi (unspun Icelandic wool) and einband (Icelandic lace wool) as I love that mix and it makes the most light and airy fabric that is still warm and nice. I even thought about substituting the lace wool with some alpaca or something luxurious and soft to go with the unspun wool.

For the last few months, I have been a regular at Litla Prjónabúðin as it is one of my favorite knitting stores and quite a few of my knitting friends are regulars there and there is a great area for sitting down with your WIP and have coffee and chat. It is close both to my office and my home so it is very handy to stop by after work or on my days off and meet with kindred spirits and pet some yarn and do some knitting. Litla Prjónabúðin (The Little Knitting Store) carries great yarn called Snældan. Faroese wool with Falkland wool mixed in it. It is softer than the Icelandic wool and after seeing some items knitted with it, I was sold. I had found the yarn I wanted to use for my lopapeysa. Knit with 5mm needles, I got the same gauge as for léttlopi so substituting Snældan was easy! Perfect!

Pattern: Birta by Bára Þórarinsdóttir
Yarn: Snaeldan Nappað tógv 3tr – grey, brown and yellow
Needles: 4.5mm and 5mm

The pattern is very classic, just what I had imagined. I am very happy with it and now I want more and have plenty of ideas. I am on a sweater roll and have some lined up in my queue already, both for me, my daughters and some friends and family. If you can get this wool, I do recommend it. It knits up beautifully!

I only have 2 days left at work and then I am on summer holidays until July 4th! Oh the joy! The list of things to do while I am on vacation is long and fun and I am finally going to go through my stash and organize it properly and hopefully get it all photographed and into Ravelry.

I started a new MKAL, this time I am doing socks by Kamilla. The first clue came yesterday and I am almost done with it. I am also participating in Stephen West’s Summer Shawl KAL and am going to start by knitting Vertices Unite in the bigger version. I did some stash diving and picked out some yarns that that could work for the project. Me and the man arranged some color settings and I took some photos of them for me to look at and hopefully make the decision making a little easier. If you want to take a look, the photos are here and I would love to hear what is your favorite color setting!

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Filed under Clothes, Family, finish, Friends, Happy Dance, KAL, knitting, life, lopi, Other, photograpy, shawl, socks, work, yarn

May 19, 2014 · 9:55 am

Bits & Pieces – May 19th

The weeks fly by. I just noticed that I am working this week and two days next week and then I will be on summer vacation until July 4th. My school is not over until June 14th though, but it is only about 15 hours a week and I can spend the days with my girls and have some fun. I then start school again in early August and don’t finish until December. That is going to be one busy season, both at work and at school so I should put my organizing skills to good use.

Karítas Árný made this bunny at school. I think it is just about the cutest thing ever!

New FM Belfast album on vinyl. So good!

I started working on the yoke of my lopapeysa on Saturday after school

And I finished it that evening and did the finishing on the sweater on Sunday.

I still have to go and find the right buttons for it (I am thinking about some old fashioned metal ones), steek it and crochet up and down the front of it. I can’t wait for it to be finished and I will share better photos of it when it is all done. The colors are not right in these shots.

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Filed under Cat life, Clothes, Family, finish, Happy Dance, knitting, life, work, yarn

April 27, 2014 · 9:02 pm

Sunday catch up

I have been on a long Easter vacation that started Thursday last week and tomorrow I return back to work. It has been wonderful and I have gotten many things done but mostly I have been relaxing. I finished the first seminar (out of three) in my studies and the next one is starting on May 3rd, so having some time off both from work and school was very welcome.

I started my vacation by finishing up these two wool jumpers for my girls.

Pattern: Loki by Ragga Eiríksdóttir
Yarn: Léttlopi
Needle: 3.5mm and 4mm
This one is knitted top down! A great change from the traditional way of making these sweaters.

Pattern: Ranga by Védís Jónsdóttir
Yarn: Léttlopi
Needle: 3.5mm and 4mm
The pattern is this one is supposed to be purled, but I decided to do it in stockinette like the rest of the sweater.

New project bag that I adore!

I made this jar and gifted it to a friend at school

Karítas is the cuddliest kid I have ever known

Mother & Daughter

Our little friend, Þórkatla turned 3 today. Happy Birthday!

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Filed under bits & pieces, Clothes, crochet, Family, finish, Friends, gifts, Happy Dance, knitting, life, lopi, photograpy, work, yarn

April 6, 2014 · 9:00 pm

Bits & Pieces – April 6th

With going to school 3 times a week, for 3 and a half hours each time (on top of working full time and everything else I have going on), it seems like my time for hand crafts should be limited but somehow, the busier I am the more I get accomplished. Well, at least sometimes and lately that has been the deal. I am not complaining.

We spent 5 days with this sweet dog. We miss him terribly but fortunately, we do get to see him quite regularly.

I visited our store in Haukadalur again to do some work. Always enjoy going there.

New window display at Storkurinn. I wouldn’t mind sitting there for a day, knitting and listening to that beautiful old radio.

I got some Madelinetosh goodness!

I finished clue 2 in the Romi Mystery KAL. I am absolutely loving my yarn choice!

My girls on the bus today. Cool cats!

And Karítas got a new summer dress today. She is growing up so fast!

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Filed under bits & pieces, Clothes, Family, gifts, knitting, life, work, yarn

March 9, 2014 · 3:10 pm

Bits & Pieces – March 9th 2014

This past week was an eventful one. I started school again! Yes, I am going to school 3 times a week (Monday and Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings) to become a certified accountant. I have been working as one for 14 years, so it is time to take the degree for sure. So far it has been easy, but it sure is fun to be back in school and I know that gradually, it will get harder but hey, that’s why I am there.

On Match 3rd I opened up Ravelry (as I do daily) and to my surprise, the blanket I blogged about in my last post was on the front page! Damn, that makes me proud!

Since then, 80+ people have added it as a favorite and many have commented on it also.

I worked at our store in Haukadalur for a day. It sure was a nice change from staying at the office.

New favorite juice. So incredibly good!

Ash Wednesday in Iceland, the kids dress up in costumes. Here are my girls, Karítas as Clawdeen from Monster High and Sumarrós as a doll, though I think she looks like Wednesday from the Adams Family with that wig.

And I met these awesome kids on Laugavegur. The dog is Ringo, they told me.

Esjan – February 27th. It looked like a spring morning.

Esjan – March 6th. Winter struck again.

The man and Karítas built a snowman in our backyard yesterday. The snow was wet and sticky, perfect for building snowpeople or snowhouses.

March is for mustaches and raising cancer awareness. As you can see, the man is participating and we are cheering him on!

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Filed under bits & pieces, blanket, Family, life, Other, photograpy, work

February 16, 2014 · 12:43 pm

Two new shawls and more

I have been knitting up a storm. The Mystery KAL by Ysolda Teague has really kept me at it and I have also been working on the Happy Street shawl. Both are now finished, blocked and the man was kind enough to take pictures with me yesterday.
First up, the Follow Your Arrow Mystery KAL. I am so happy how it turned out.

Pattern: Follow Your Arrow by Ysolda Teague
Clues: AABAA
Yarn: Juno Fibre Arts Milly Singles in Boudoir and Touch Wood
Needles: 4mm

I am very happy with the outcome and am already considering another shawl with different mix of clues. Each clue has 2 options and they all work together, no matter how you mix them together. And she gives you the option of having one or two colours, but seriously, you can use as many as you want really. And some variegated yarns work very well with this awesome pattern.
The KAL has been a lot of fun and I have learned a whole lot. I set up with picking clues that I found interesting and would include some technique that I had not done before or had done little of, some new shapes and forms etc.

The second shawl, Happy Street by Vera Välimäki, is the exact opposite from the MKAL. Just garter stitch and short rows, the perfect TV knitting project. And even if the rows become veeeery long, it somehow never got boring. I love Vera’s patterns, this is the third one I have done and they have all been perfectly written, and very easy to execute with beautiful results. If you haven’t done any of her patterns, I would recommend that you try them out for a very joyful knitting experience!

Happy Street by Veera Välimäki
Yarn: Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Shamrock and Madelinetosh tosh sock in Jade, grey is dyed by a friend. Also sock yarn.
Needles: 3.5mm

Work has been very busy, but the busy season and the end of year balancing is getting very close to being done, wooohoo! And next week me and my mother and my daughters are going away to my grandfathers cabin in Skorradalur. I can’t wait to get away from the city for a couple of days and just relax with my girls. They are on winter break from school and so is my mom as she works in a school, I have plenty of vacation days so I am taking a few for this.

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Filed under Clothes, Family, finish, Happy Dance, KAL, knitting, life, Other, photograpy, shawl, traveling, work, yarn

November 18, 2013 · 9:26 am

Bits & Pieces – November 18th

Past week was great. I had a busy but good time at work and at home and last Friday, Geysir, the company I work for launched a new ad campaign that is absolutely stunning. The new photos were shot by Elisabeth Toll from Sweden and are absolutely breathtaking.

We also launched our first TV commercial and you can see it here.
We have a new clothing line by our designer, Erna Einarsdóttir and everything she designed is so beautiful, from the hats to the blankets. We are all very proud and happy that everything is going so well for us.

Launching the new ad on Facebook on Friday.

Elevator party!

The guys that own the company invited us and our partners to dinner on Saturday and we had loads of fun and went out dancing after.

I want this. Cape by Farmers Market.

It has been snowing and pretty dark and gloomy. I try to make it a little more bearable by lighting candles around the house, and keeping warm under blankets and knitting.

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Filed under bits & pieces, Clothes, Friends, life, lopi, Other, work

October 20, 2013 · 4:22 pm

Bits & Pieces – And a new cardigan

The girls are on winter break from school and since I still have some vacation time at work, I decided to take this time off with them. We are off until Wednesday and have just been having a relaxing time and those are our only plans for the rest of the vacation.

I suddenly got bitten by the knitting bug again, which I really enjoy as I have almost only been crocheting lately. So I dug through my UFO pile and dug out a cardigan that was very close to being finished. And now it is finished!

Pattern: Same Same but different (contiguous Walnuss) by ANKESTRICK
Yarn: Geilsk 3 ply Bomuld og uld
Needles: 3.5mm
Ravelry link

I absolutely love this cardigan. I love the shoulder pleads especially. I did loads of changes. I did not do any of the side or sleeve pleads as I did not care for them. I wanted full length sleeves and ribbing on the end of both the sleeves and the cardigan.

I am very happy with the outcome, love the colour and the fit and the yarn and just all of it.

And here are some snaps from the past week.

Riddles over the mans birthday brunch yesterday.

Me and my girls.

Autumn colours everywhere.

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Filed under bits & pieces, Clothes, Family, finish, Happy Dance, knitting, life, photograpy, work, yarn

October 7, 2013 · 11:52 am

Bit’s & Pieces and Birthday – October 7th

Such busy days. Work is absolutely crazy as summer is high season so the months following are super busy as we try to get everything done that we did not get done over the summer, work through everything that did not get sorted while we were on vacation, and prepare for the end of the year so that we can do inventory and financial statements. Phew. Busy!

Some of my scissors. I LOVE scissors and have collected them for some years.

I got a belated birthday gift from the man. I have already had loads of fun with my new lens!

Working in our store in Haukadalur.

Double pointed needles and crochet hooks

It’s autumn and the colors are crazy

6 weeks later, and our latest yarnstorming project is almost all still there

We finally celebrated Karítas’s birthday yesterday with the family.

Blowing out 8 candles.

A new favorite cake. Cheese cake with fresh strawberries and white chocolate

A very tired me

Happy Karítas

Mom and me

Dad

Helgi

Karítas with her dad and step mom (and the soon to come new baby! yay!)

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Filed under bits & pieces, Family, Friends, lists, photograpy, work, yarnstorming

September 25, 2013 · 4:06 pm

Bits & Pieces – September 29th, 2013

I have so much catching up to do. Here, at home, at work, and with my passion projects. Oh well, it will all fall into place. If there is one thing I am learning, it is not to stress too much about things. Well, slowly I am learning this, and often fall of track and start to freak out about things I have no control over.

On September 14th, this amazing human turned 8 years old. She is incredible. Always happy. Easy to please. Always thankful, outspoken, opinionated and passionate. I can’t wait to watch her grow and mature more. I love you, Karítas Árný!

This sock is lonely and needs it’s partner. I also need to go through my WIP and UFO cabinet (yes, it is a cabinet and yes, it is full) and make a list of things I need and want to finish and frog the rest.

We finally got a record player! OH THE JOY!

My nephew, Adrían. Every time he comes over he wants something to eat. And every time he is oh so very happy to eat.

I was very sick this past weekend and am still trying to get rid of a bad cold. Karítas would be a great nurse and lets me use her as a pillow when I am feeling like crap.

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Filed under bits & pieces, Clothes, Family, knitting, life, socks, work, yarn

September 22, 2013 · 2:02 pm

Bit’s & Pieces – September 22nd 2013

It’s been a while. Thankfully, the reasons are good. Me, my daughter Sumarrós and my mother visited New York City for 8 wonderful days from September 5th to September 13th. It was my 4th visit to this amazing city, but it was their first time so I took on the role of the guide. We all loved our trip, it was absolutely amazing and much needed after a pretty bad summer in Iceland, weather wise.

We visited the top of the Empire State Building

We visited Central Park

And Grand Central, one of my favorite buildings.

I visited Purl Soho

And this is what I walked out with. This and a huge smile on my face.

We visited American Museum of Natural History

I hung out with old friends

We visited Mood Fabrics and Botani Zippers, my mother LOVED it there!

We visited MoMa with my favorite family.

I still have to upload all the photos I took to Flickr and when I do, I will post a link to the set here. I just have to take my computer to the repair shop as it decided to stop working after I got home from New York.

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Filed under arts, Family, life, Other, photograpy, traveling, work, yarn

August 11, 2013 · 4:14 pm

Bits & Pieces – August 11th

The first week back at work happened without much effort. It is actually good being back, my office was painted while I was gone and everyone welcomed me back. I like my job, I can’t deny that.

My yarngraffiti group got some well earned money support from the Culture Night fund at Landsbankinn. We are doing THIS on Culture Night this year. Please come!

Gay Pride started this week. I love Gay Pride week!

Yesterday we went to the Gay Pride parade. This little girl dressed up accordingly.

And this big girl yarnstormed to support all the LGBT people that I know and love. And for those who are still to this day hurt, beaten up, murdered and silenced for loving whom they love. This needs to stop! Out with hate, in with LOVE!

Yay! More Gay Pride support in the form of yarn!

And Karítas finally met Páll Óskar, her favorite musician and artist. We love him and would like to thank him for everything he has done for the LGBT community in Iceland and all over the world.

Also, check out more Gay Pride yarngraffiti work by my group of talented and loving people at Reykjavík Underground Yarnstormers.

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Filed under bits & pieces, crochet, Family, Friends, life, photograpy, shawl, work, yarn, yarnstorming

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Category Archives: work

It’s been a while

And I am back at work

Summer vacation stuff

Birta

Bits & Pieces – May 19th

Sunday catch up

Bits & Pieces – April 6th

Bits & Pieces – March 9th 2014

Two new shawls and more

Bits & Pieces – November 18th

Bits & Pieces – And a new cardigan

Bit’s & Pieces and Birthday – October 7th

Bits & Pieces – September 29th, 2013

Bit’s & Pieces – September 22nd 2013

Bits & Pieces – August 11th

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