new things

Since just about everything in my life has been changing in the most positive way lately, I thought a make-over for my blog would be the appropriate thing to do :-) 

I really hope you like it - I think it looks more calm, clean, "grown-up" and just like Johanna from knittingmydayaway put it: "crispy". At least, I like it this way and I hope you do too! 

I´ll see you later this week, with a new baby-cardigan I made (crochet) for my irresistible little niece, Gerður Lilja. I used baby lama from my one of my favorite yarnstores, "litla prjónabúðin" and icelandic unspun wool.

(as you can see, I´ve been playing around with instagram and our cute little samsung tablet)

Hexagons for a baby-girl

I´ve been wanting to make the hexagon-sweater from the book "Þóra heklbók" by Tinna Þórudóttir Þorvaldsdóttir for a while and since I was going to become an aunt for the second time this winter, I started working on it a couple of months before the little one was born.

It was really fun, exciting and surprising making this one. The interesting thing about this sweater is, that it is made out of 2 hexagons.

I used wonderful, soft, warm and practical Yaku superwash merino wool by Strikkebogen (bought in "Litla Prjónabúðin") and hook nr. 3,5. My sister  told me she wanted happy colors for her baby and that´s why I went for this strong/intensive color-combo.

I had fun making it and I really like the outcome - I´d love to try making this one, using léttlopi...

Front

Back

Back: close-up

Button from my button-stash: buttons are important and I really LOVE this one!

Baby blankets

Two people I know recently got a baby - both of them happen to be boys...

 ... and I really wanted to create something that would keep those little ones warm and cozy

The rules I set up for myself where:

1. No typical baby-boy-colors

2. What´s the best material to keep warm? Icelandic wool (unspun/plötulopi) of course, my favorite. 

 3. Since I have enough wool in my stash, especially leftovers, I also decided,

I could only use this material, meaning: no buying yarn.   

4. It had to be a quick project, since I really don´t have time for anything else at the moment

3.stranded-unspun icelandic wool, (þrefaldur plötulopi)

So thick and cozy!

1.stranded plötulopi - so thin, light and warm (einfaldur plötulopi)

So yummi!!!

looking at this one... I might have to crochet some pillows...

not my creation

About a year ago, we went to visit my parents at their cottage. There was a lot of leftover wood & nails lying around, since the house had just been built. My boys (including my husband) went out with nothing but a hammer in their hands, picked up some of this wood and nails and decided to build a small chair (stool) for the boys.

The result was the most wonderful thing and shows so well, how much imagination and creativity my 3 carpenters have... it´s so amazing to see, what one can create with only a hammer, leftover wood&nails (they didn´t even have a saw!) And the best thing was that this action was an unforgettable experience for my boys.  Exactly those things are the aspects that make this stool so beautiful and perfect

Since we´ve been building a tall fence in our new garden, we have a lot of leftover wood lying around in our backyard and I´ve asked my husband to create some stools we can use at home together with the boys.

bracelets for boys

My boys decided they wanted to make each other brotherhood-bracelets and of course I had to fulfill their wish :-) I would never had guessed that they would have so much fun, for such a long time, making each other bead-bracelets - and I thought bracelet-making was something only girls would have fun doing... I was so very wrong! 

 

My older one, so very concentrated

My younger one, also very, very concentrated

 

Beautiful hands

choosing the right beads for your brother is really important...

I´m so glad they are such good friends.

  

Brotherhood

candle making

The other day, my oldest sister gave me a huge amount of wax for candle making. The special thing about this wax is, that it used to belong to our beloved grandmother Guðný who passed away 1996. Our grandmother used to make a lot of beautiful candles and when she died, my oldest sister started using this wax for her own candle-making. My sister has not been making candles for many years now and gave it to me, knowing I really wanted to start candle crafting with my boys. I guess, one could say we´re going to keep this wonderful tradition alive.

I had a lot of fun making my first 4 simple, little candles and now I´m fantasizing about what kind of things I could use as molds, candle-colours, different kind of decoration-possibilities (leaves, pictures, candle-stickers...), scenting candles, candle-dipping...

A treasure: the only two candles I´ve got left, made by my grandmother 

(takk elsku besta Lóa mín - ég get ekki sagt þér hvað þú gladdir mig mikið með þessu!) 

my first candles, using old candle holders from a thrifstore

I really love those two - I used 2 pretty cups I found in a thriftstore to make them... I´ll be hunting for more cups like this... they´ll make great gifts...  

I found out, I could use the old cups and candle-holders as molds too, because it´s so easy to get the candles out of them - and than they look like this: 

I just had to show you this wonderful little thrift found of mine: a cute little 50'ies/60´ies bear, who now gets to keep my rings safe (the doily is an old thrift found too)

my summer

This summer has been so wonderful with a lot of sunny, warm and happy days. I´ve spent most of my time with my boys outside enjoying live. We´ve had so much fun...

 we spent some time, discovering the wonders of the city center of Reykjavík...

 

 on adventure with friends

ohhh... what fun the 4 of them had together!

a visit at the concert hall

  we also went camping at Seljalandsfoss, this was our view the entire weekend

 we went swimming in one of my favorite hot springs, during our camping trip

the walk back to our car after the swimming

 

 We also spent 1 week in the amazing Westfjords, where we rented a house in a village called Suðureyri. 

our house is the small one with the blue roof in the middle

Súgandafjörður, where Suðureyri is

we drove through tunnels every day...

and through a lot of fjords on streets like this...

we visited the house where my grandmother was born and lived with her family as a child 

(Stapadalur, Arnarfjörður)

 inside my grandmothers house

Arnarfjörður is such a beautiful place 

of course we went to my grandmothers beach...

  

 ... and found some treasures

 Driving back from Stapadalur (vegurinn fyrir nes) was an adventure... at times we wondered if the road went on or not...

... but it was one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced

 white sand in Arnarfjörður (Stapadalur at the back)

 Reykjafjarðarlaug, the biggest hot pot in Iceland - the view was amazing

At Dynjandi

 

Another hot spring, Pollurinn at Tálknafjörður

 

The view from Pollurinn

What a wonderful summer.... now I'm ready for fall and wintertime!