Teaching and touring! Holy Cow – I was here there and everywhere! VogueKnittng Live Seattle! VK always puts on a great event – you can count on it. Extra-special fun for me because it was in my hometown.. my cousin lives really close to our hotel .. Old friends and new! Super fun. I was lucky to have my friend Gudrun Johnston stay on and hang out with me and my mom….

How did I miss getting pictures of Cirilia? She met Gudrun and I in Columbia City for superb coffee, gave us thrifting tips, showed us around the Skacel offices..No pictures?..must have been having too much fun! (read Cirilia’s story on another dear PNW friend, Andrea Rangel here)..

I’ve become a walking fiend.. on the beach and in the woods…don’t even ask me about my new tiny friend fitbit!

I flew back just in time for Vogue Knitting Destinations Camden Maine…A really perfect weekend retreat – gorgeous weather! Amazing knitters – Sensational organizers, Doreen from VK and Michele Rose Orne from Swan’s Island Yarns. Read about it here, I got to participate with the group in a Swan’s Island natural dying workshop lead by head dyer Jackie Ottino-Graf who told great stories and showed us what to do.

The next weekend was my Color Immersion Workshop at wonderful Harrisville Designs, Harrisville New Hampshire. A fantastic location, fantastic classroom full of all the yarns we could possibly use and of course, fantastic students, so nice to have a couple of days to really get to know you!

What you don’t see? Crazy deadline knitting and final editing for both of my new books which you can pre-order!

Stay tuned! I’m a judge for THE FIBER FACTOR Challenge Number Two!

Congratulations to Kate M, winner of Icelandic Handknits by Helene Magnusson!

Thanks for everyone’s comments, they were so much fun to read. You can all pick up your own copy of the book here.

I’m teaching this Friday and Saturday – a Color Immersion Weekend – at historic Harrisville Designs in Harrisville New Hampshire. I think there are a couple of spaces open. I’d love it if you could join us!
Find out more here.

My mailbox has been a happy place lately! I’m a book collector and the latest addition to my library is a treasure. Icelandic Handknits 25 Heirloom Techniques and Projects, by Hélène Magnùsson is my favorite kind of book, it includes simply everything! Part scholarly treatise on historic Icelandic knitting, part pattern collection, part technique tutorials, part visual travelogue and even… part cookbook! You really can’t ask for anything more!

The designs in the book are inspired by artifacts found in the Textile Museum in Blönduós, in northern Iceland. The book is divided by category of inspiration, Mittens, Traditional Costumes, Lace and my personal favorite, Footwear. I’ve been obsessed with the knitted shoe inserts ever since I got a copy of  Hélène’s previous knitting book, Icelandic Knitting: Using Rose Patterns. Last summer, Gudrun and I were intrepid travelers, driving all the way from Reykjavik to Blönduós just for the purpose seeing the inserts housed in the Textile Museum, quite an adventure!

The museum did not disappoint, and Hélène has included some wonderful images of the items that served as springboards for her patterns. Here is Gudrun – wearing her Lopapeysa- at the museum, notice the grass growing on the roof!

The book includes a wide range of patterns to please just about everyone; mittens, a bag, hats, lace shawls, swweaters, a throw, beaded wristletts and even a skirt based on traditional knitted slips. My favorite I think, are the colorwork socks wildly worked with short rows, so the stranded sections are topsy turvy. CLEVER! The inspiration was the woven bands used to wrap around socks to keep them staying up, which Hélène’s socks cleverly mimic.

The landscape photographs by Arnaldur Halldörsson are spectacular, and his fashion images gorgeous, many were taken during a snowstorm! Undaunted those Icelanders!

Gudrun and I were so lucky to meet Hélène in her house in Reykjavik – taking time to see us and treat us to an Icelandic breakfast of smoked salmon and other goodies, even though she was in the middle of renovations and it was the first day of school for her kids.  Keep up with Hélène at her blog and website. Don’t miss out on her many other books. As a souvenier when we visited she gave us her sweet and funny little book  The secret of good vinaigrette revealed to Icelanders. I use it ALL THE TIME!  Icelandic Handknits  includes several recipies including a soup with moss as the main ingredient…others recipies are made with easier to find ingredients so don’t overlook this charming feature of the book.

Vivacious and unstoppable Hélène leads amazing hiking-knitting-workshops that I’ve always dreamed of going on. The one called Hiking and Knitting with the Elves is one I’m particularly fond of, reading the description over and over!  Best of all would be to attend Hélène’s summer workshop from July 31 – August 6, 2013,  Icelandic knitting traditions: Textile Museum and North Iceland  focusing on the 19th century Icelandic traditions covered in the book. All the designs from the book will be on exhibit at the Textile Museum, from June 1st to August 31st  and  throughout the first months of autumn by request.

The kind folks at Voyager Press are providing a book for me to giveaway to one lucky reader! Don’t miss out – leave me a comment about knitting or Iceland or even elves before next Tuesday April 30th – midnight.

The Blog Tour Continues:

April 4th, 2013: Gudrun Johnston – theshetlandtrader.com

April 11th, 2013: Donna Druchunas – sheeptoshawl.com

April 18th, 2013: Woolly Wormhead – www.woollywormhead.com/blog

May 2nd, 2013: Susan Crawford - justcallmeruby.blogspot.com

May 9th, 2013: Terri Shea – spinningwheel.net

May 16th, 2013: Alana Dakos - www.nevernotknitting.com

If you don’t win, you can buy a copy here.

Congratulations to Nell…maker of small things…she’s won the book that may spur her to move on sweater making with the help of our dear friend Amy Herzog!
The rest of us can pick up a copy Knit to Flatter here.

Stay tuned! Tomorrow I have another fantastic giveaway!

oxo

MJ