Snaps from a knitting shop

When I was on my "ash vacation" I visited one of my favorite knitting shops. And took some pictures of course.

My friend Fríða was working in the shop that day - she was just helping out, she is a textile arts teacher in the local school. Notice her beautiful hand-knit dress - and the beautiful lopi sweaters...

The lace hat.

The lace hat - finally finished.

I didn't find a suitable model - everyone was very busy (election day) - so that had to wait a bit.

I'm very happy with this one. I've already started another one in a similar line, but that one is not going to be dyed bit tea. I have some flowers left over from last summer so I'm either going to use Alaska lupin (light green) rhubarb (light pinkish beige) or Lady’s Bedstraw ( brownish yellow).

This hat has no name yet - but it will come to me. It always does.

Done!

The lace har is finally done! I don't have any model right now - but I'm going to try to find someone to model it for me today.

It's fabulous, if I may say so myself...

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these completely ash free pictures from my trip to the west fjords. They are all taken in Önundarfjörður and the village Flateyri, where we stayed.

Today's Rock Picture

Today's Rock Picture, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

Although the volcano has (hopefully) stopped erupting, there is still a lot of cleaning to be done. Both indoors (t he ash gets simply everywhere and is constantly carried in with shoes etc.) and outdoors.

But life is more than cleaning and boring things - I'm almost done with the lace hat, and I really would like to finish it today. Or tomorrow at the very least.

No More!?

The eruption is (hopefully) over. There was no activity in the volcano today, the only thing coming out of it was steam, no ash or lava. It's a bit too early to celebrate just yet - but I'm very hopeful that this is indeed the end of this ordeal.

Here is a video from today. You can clearly she that the pure white steam rising from the crater.

Straps and lace

I didn't do much on my "ash-vacation" but I was no completely idle. My goddaughter, who lives up there, needed straps for her party dress, so I crocheted these with double sewing thread and a very small crochet hook I happened to have in my bag. They turned out well I think and they are very strong. I did a test piece first that was tugged and pulled mercilessly and it held up beautifully. 

I also brought the lace hat. These are taken on the 13th. - I'm quite a bit further along now.

Ash - again

I took these the other day.

Ash

This is a very interesting blog post, with a video. The most telling part (to me at least) is where you hear the ash falling on her jacket. That is really strange.

Yarn and Baby

Start them young - that is the key...

Yarn: Kauni
Dog: Zeppelin
Baby: My very good friends son.

Back!

My ash free vacation has been great. I was in the west fjords of Iceland, completely ash free for almost two weeks!

But now I'm back and although there is not much ash today, I can still feel it. Thankfully there were a lot of volunteers from the fire departments in Reykjavík and the surrounding town that rinsed all the houses (on the outside) and the streets before we came back. So the village did not look so bad last night.  Tomorrow heavy rain is predicted and that is most welcome! Some pictures from the trip and the little I did embroidery and knitting wise will be coming in here little by little - but now I have to clean some ash...

Air

I'm still away from home and with limited computer access. I'm working on the lace hat and it's a slow process, but I think it's going to be really beautiful.

I'm really enjoying the fresh air and not looking forward to going home at all...

Ash

The situation in Vík is still dangerous, but somewhat improving. I and my family are well out of harms way (and our house is well guarded, should anyone get any ideas), here up in the lovely clean west fjords of Iceland. No ash, no volcano, just fresh mountain air.

I do feel for my friends and neighbours back in Vík though, and think of them. I wish this would end.

Dangerous ash

The situation in Vík has been hasardous dangerous these last days. The volcano has increased it's activity and the ash is heading straight to Vík and the surrounding countryside. Peoon is grave indeed. People are fleeing the village and the situtation is grave indeed.

 I'm well out of harms way, resting in my beloved west fjords of Iceland, in the clear mountain air.
Here are some pictures from Vík The situation is worse now..

Top?

I think this is going to be a top - or something.... I don't really have a detailed plan.

Some progress

The hat is coming along nicely. I have crocetet some lace and dyed it with tea and I have also put some lace scraps on. Now it's time for the embroidery. I don't think I'm going to use the pink lace - it's a bit too bright.

Felted baby shoes

I finished these a few day's ago - apart from the buttons. They are actually the thing I like best about this version of Tásur - the baby shoes.

The material is Ístex plötulopi, embroidered with linen and cotton DMC floss. And this time with a little bit of art silk thread too.

Still going strong!

Still going strong!, originally uploaded by Harpa J.

We went on a short drive to check out the volcano last night. It's still there - no doubt about that!

My daughter's interview!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_8650000/newsid_8650400/8650404.stm

Are you in the UK or in Europe? You might even be able to watch this in the US.

It isn't possible to watch the CBBC newsround in Iceland due to some licence thing. Anyway - the CBBC team visited Vík and among other things my home and interviewed my daughter. They went to her school too and talked to other kids here. I think that this is that video - but I cannot check. If any of you can - and do watch it please let me know:
a) is it that video
b) if it is - how is it?

Update:
This is indeed the one - but it seems to be available only in the UK. I'm so curious - let's hope someone puts it on youtube!

Ash - again

The dark clouds are ash clouds. Today was sunny, but the sun had a hard time breaking trough the ash cloud. We didn't have much ash falling onto the village today - but one could smell it in the air and taste it too. In the afternoon it was uncomfortable to be outside with a unprotected mouth and nose.