Today's rock picture

Today's rock picture, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

I'm really busy these day's but I still started the day with a walk on the black beach. The morning light was fantastic and the weather is really mild these days. I hope it stays that way this weekend - the cultural festival starts on Friday. My exhibition - which is a part of the festival - has got a name now : Foldarskart.
It's hard to translate - Fold means earth or country. Skart means something decorative or precious. So foldarskart are things that decorate the earth.

Just before the rain

Just before the rain, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

The colours are turning towards fall now. It's already snowing in the north but here on the south coast we still enjoy beautiful quite warm sunny days.
I'm busy preparing my show and the secret. No knitting but a bit of embroidery going on. I'm working on another pair of Tásur (baby shoes) that I hope to finish before the market on Saturday as I promised to sell something there.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Shannon made this great video just for me! Thank you so much!

I won´t have any time to spin this week though. There are a lot of preparations for the festival and I have also a BIG secret I'm bursting to tell, that takes a lot of work I must finish before the first of oct. And just to get than one out of the way - I'm not pregnant and neither is my darling stepdaughter...

Tásur

The embroidery on these is not quite as pale as it seems in the picture.

The shoes themselves are dyed with rhubarb stalks.

Some knitting

I have been knitting. Not much, but a batch of Feet are ready for felting at least.

Sjöfn

Better, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

This one is a bit better I think.

The wrist warmers above now have a name. It came to me just now - the right name for them is Sjöfn. Sjöfn is one of the ásynjur - the Norse goddesses. Her concern is to direct the minds of men and women to love. The name Sjöfn is also a kenning - synonym in poetry - for woman.


They are knit with Istex plötulopi and hand dyed with the flowers of the Nootka lupin ( Lupinus nootkatensis). The embroidery is done with linen floss.

Finished

2, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

I made several attempts to get a decent photo of these today. This is the best one - but it's far from good enough. I'm going to try again tomorrow if the weather stays nice.

The Daily Knitter's

pattern of the day is from me!

Treasure

Most days the mail man delivers bills and other boring stuff. But sometimes he brings me wonderful surprises like this. Thank you so much Joy!

Testing

Spinning is fun. But I have a lot of practise to do before I can make any kind of usable yarn.

Hmrpf!

I just got a mail stating that I won't get my pretty Hafdís back until sometime late October. The yarn company is going to show all the entries to the public the 10. 10 and then return them. I'm not thrilled about that frankly. But I'm not sure it pays to make a big fuss about it.

Pretty in Pink

Pretty in Pink, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

I'm not spinning yet and not knitting much these days. The focus is on other things, lots of fun and games and playing outside: the little one is staying with us over the weekend.

Drop spindle

I haven't been knitting much these last days. I made a very quick visit to the capital (doctors appointment etc. ) and brought back a drop spindle my mother bought for me few days ago. Yes folks, I'm going to try to learn to spin. I bought some kemba (Icelandic wool roving) to practise on. I've been watching some videos and reading instructions. It seems easy enough - but we will see how it goes.

King of the hill

This elegant creature lives high up in the village, but he can still be heard down here on the "lowlands" on still days. He lives with another rooster and few hens, but he is the alpha male, no doubt about that. He prances around and crows when somebody passes his yard, much to the delight of tourists I imagine. I enjoy watching him at least.

Hafdís

Hafdís, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

I made this dress for a competition in July and the results have just now been announced.

I didn't even make the top ten. Oh well - that doesn't matter. I'm more worried that the dress is to small for my granddaughter, it was intended for her all along.

From No patterns

Halfway

This is the first one of a set. The other one is going to be similar, but not exactly the same, that would just be boring. I also finished one Monkey sock last night, which has been laying around almost forever. I don´t know why really, I like the pattern but I just forgot it. I plan to cast on the second one tonight.

Dying with rhubarb

Now this is a sorry sight. The rhubarb patch is mostly fallen and probably not fit for human consumption. But that is not a problem my friends because I'm not going to eat it. I'm going to use the last stalks to dye some baby shoes.



When the stalks are picked and cleaned, things are looking up already.


And in the pot they look almost good enough to eat. I didn't measure the stalks or the water, but the water should float well over the stalks. I boiled the stalks for a good hour or so. Then I crushed them in the pot and boiled the some more and sieved the liquid carefully. Then I boiled the shoes in the dye for half an hour, stirring occasionally. Last I turned the stove off, added a splash of vinegar and stirred well. Then I rinsed the lot and felted them in the washing machine at 60° (140F).










The shoes really don't look like much before felting.


But when they are felted and ready for decoration, things are looking much better don't you agree?

Tásur

Now that the baby sweater is done, I should be knitting away on my cardigan right?
Well, not quite. I started making some baby shoes last night, one pair is knit and another is started. I plan to make six pairs or so, one pair is promised to Germany but the others are intended for the village market I told you about.
But I'm going to work on my cardigan too. And on the wrist warmers - and I must start a magazine project I promised very soon. But it's going to work out somehow - it always does.

Colours, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

Felting - Furniture Feet

And here they are after the felting - before they are stretched out.
I won't say it, but you see what they look like, right? Not a pretty sight really...

Three

This is enough for three chairs. Then I have just two more (chairs that is) and the piano bench to go. The Furniture Feet are a hit in my household, I just haven't given myself time to make more of them until now.

Done!

The baby sweater is finally done! I'm happy with the result, although my stockinette is not as perfectly even as in the original. But I suspect that it (the original) has tightened a little and thus gotten a little more even in many washes. Or perhaps the knitter was just that much better than me. I don't know.








Yesterday I started making some bags for a market that will be in my village in a month or so. I'm going to make grocery bags, but first I made this little number - just for fun.

Almost

The baby sweater is almost done. I just have to close the holes under the arms, hide the ends and make a rope? No that can't be right. Well make what ever it's called for the neckline.

What is it called, the twisted, string, rope like thing? I know I could google it, but I would much rather be sewing so that's what I'm going to do. I planning to make some pretty grocery bags to sell at a local market next month. I'm helping the planning committee so I have to have something to sell there myself.

Getting there

It finally feels like I'm getting somewhere with the baby sweater. The arms are done as you can see and I've started the raglan decreases. I'm getting a bit impatient now. I want to finish it before the baby gets home from NICU and that can be any day now!

Up the mountain

There, there., originally uploaded by Harpa J.

Vik, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

The other day I finally conquered the mountain above our village, Reynisfjall.

It's not really a high mountain, but then again - I'm not really the picture of health (I have lupus) so it's quite an achievement for me. My youngest daughter went with me. We stopped often to rest and admire the view and also to pet the very friendly horses.

On parts of the way down she used my wind breaker to slide down on (hers is white and new and must not get grass stains).

On the knitting front, the baby sweater is crawling along. The first sleeve is finished and the second is half done. I have decided that knitting with 1.5mm needles (a half size smaller than US size 0) is not my favourite thing in the world.