No Patterns

The quiet sea, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

It's blog tour time! I have never done anything like this before, but I was happy to participate when Jaala from Knitcircus invited me to join the promotional tour for the Knitcircus online début. Here are some words from Jaala:

Thanks so much for inviting me to your blog, Harpa! We felt lucky to have your gorgeous photographs in Knitcircus #8 (and on the cover). Your article highlighted something that I think not many of our readers in North America knew about-how knitting's gaining popularity in Iceland and yarn stores are even bucking the economic trends.

We´re happy to be able to share that article again with readers who may not have had a chance to see it when the magazine was in print, and are exited to see somenew pictures from you too.

The next stop on the tour will be Rythm of the Needles on Saturday the 6th. http://rythmoftheneedles.blogspot.com

Thanks so much, Harpa, and I look forward to your stop on the tour!

Jaala

The New Hot Thing

A baby is playing on in the corner, softly singing to itself, the father looks out of the polished windows overlooking the town square. Three ladies sit in the comfy green spotted chairs leafing though the newest Lopi booklet, trying to choose between the gorgeous designs. The sun shines on the yarn shelves full of Kauni, Navia, Drops and all the Icelandic sorts of course. No self respecting Icelandic yarn store is without the light and soft Plötulopi, the versatile Léttlopi, the traditional Álfosslopi, the feather light Einband and the thick and rugged Bulky.

There is a calm friendliness in the air in this newest addition to the flora of Icelandic yarn shops. But this is not your garden variety LYS.

As you may or may not know, Iceland’s economy crashed recently and the country is in very serious trouble. Bankruptcy of shops and businesses is an every day occurrence and dire economic and political reports dominate every news night. So to open a new shop in this environment is a courageous act. But that did not stop Gerður Eðvarsdóttir from opening Heitt á prjónunum (Hot on the needles) in Ísafjörður, a beautiful small town in the rugged west fjords of Iceland, where the population was slowly but steadily diminishing and businesses closing even before the crash.

“Some people thought I was a bit daring to start a new business in these turbulent times, but I was sure there was a market for a combined yarn shop and a knitting café” Gerður says, when asked if she was not afraid to take this kind of risk. She designed the shop herself, made all the shelves and decorations with her own hands and imported the yarn, instead of relying on wholesale importers and generally did everything she could to keep the costs down and the prices to her customers as low as possible. And time has proved her right. Both the local community and tourists have welcomed the shop with open arms and sales have been much better than expected. But that is perhaps not as surprising as you might think. While sales of most consumers goods are rapidly going down and some things (like cars and luxury items) are barely moving at all, yarn sales are booming. Knitting is all the rage, and new knitters are “born” every day.

This is a very clear trend since the crash, knitting was on the rise before, but this year has been the biggest ever. You see knitting every where and the numbers tell their story. According to Guðjón Kristinsson, managing director of Istex (the Icelandic wool company) the yarn sales in July this year were four times the sales of the same moth last year. And last year was a record breaker too, so the director is a very busy and a very happy man. The pattern books the company produces with the designs of the very talented Védís Jónsdóttir are literally torn off the shelves too, the latest one (Lopi 29) was sold out it two weeks and is currently being reprinted.

Ísafjörður is no exception from this trend, in some expects it is a forerunner. The local knitting club Herkúles meets every week, and it was in fact in this club that Gerður found there was a market for a yarn shop. The participants needed quality yarn, new needles etc. and there was very little available locally. So the idea for Heitt á prjónunum was born.

Ísafjörður is also the home to the Prjónympíuleikar – Knitting Olympics- not to be confused with the Yarn Harlot’s games; these are an actual knitting race. There are three disciplines 4x 20 row of garter stitch relay knitting, 20 row sprint and 100 row long distance knitting. Halla Magnadóttir won both individual events and is thus an Icelandic champion knitter.

Her time was 6:52 min. for the sprint and 27 min. for the long distance knitting. She was also a member of the relay knitting winning squad so she won all round! Halla, who is a teacher, has been knitting since she was six years old and she has seen a dramatic change in the attitude towards both knitters and knitwear.

“We in the textile department were seen as a bit weird when I was in university. Now almost everybody is knitting. People who have not knit for decades are digging up their old needles from their cellars and young mothers are knitting for their babies. My son used to hide his hand made mittens and dream of store bought ones when he was in kindergarten but now all the kids want hand knit things and wear them with pride.”

Fríða Rúnarsdóttir agrees. She teaches textile arts in the local school and all the children learn to knit in fourth grade (when they are nine).

,,Knitting is very popular, especially at that young age and the children learn fast and have a lot of fun knitting clothes for teddy bears and other small things.”

This fact, that all children learn to knit in schools and have done so for a long time, is very important according to Ragnheiður Eiríksdóttir, a prominent knitwear designer.

“Everybody in Iceland knows how to knit. It’s not more that just over a hundred years since every child over eight years of age was expected to knit at least one pair of mittens a week. Modern children learn how to knit in schools so adults who want to start to knit just have to refresh what they have already learned, they don’t have to start from scratch. It’s like riding a bike really, once you have learned, it stays somewhere in the back of your mind, you just have to find it again.” Ragnheiður is an enterprising gal like Gerður, she has published a very popular book with easy and funky designs and she has just launched a new colourful hand dyed yarn line called Nammi (candy). Each skein is unique, and the market has responded very well indeed. Ragnheiður is not in doubt why:

”Knitting was often connected with frugality before, it was supposed to be cheaper to knit the sweaters than buy them, but that is not the case now. The Icelandic yarns are reasonably priced, but imported yarn is very expensive, and still it sells well. Knitting is more like therapy, a repeating mantra that has the added bonus of creating something, and that is no little thing in these crazy unpredictable times. Modern people are drawn to knitting, it leaves a permanent beautiful product that can survive in the world for a long time and that is very valuable for people in jobs that often leave no visible product at all, let alone for those with no jobs. Knitting is also very social, knitters can always find something to talk about and there are a lot of knitting clubs all over the country. Knitting challenges the mind and I believe that creating a piece from start to finish with all the problem solving it includes can change your outlook on the world and help you find new ways to deal with the problems and challenges life throws at you.”

Ragnheiður sometimes gives knitting talks and lessons and one of her latest was in Heitt á prjónunum where she met Fríða and Halla and all the other regulars. She fell in love with the place, just like I did and so many others who pass its flower adorned doors.

The LYS/cafe has in the short time since its opening become more than just a business. It is a hangout and almost a social club for all sorts of people, moms with their babies sit and chat while they knit, tourists refresh themselves with a cup of coffee and rest their weary feet and the knitting club meets there every week. It’s an ideal place for the elderly as it’s free from loud music and very friendly, yet it’s also frequented by the young and hip. It’s happy and optimistic, colourful and approachable – just what the town needed.