My Touring Sweater – Trendy Each day Knitting

Three years in the past, my husband and I made a decision to go to Iceland.

Yes, sure. It is a rustic filled with yarn and sheep and knitters. Certainly a pleasant perk however not the principle draw, not even for me.

No, in 2022, what drew us to Iceland was the airport in Newark, N.J., which had direct flights to Keflavík on Icelandair. In below six hours, we could possibly be someplace that wasn’t New York State, which was roughly the place we’d been for the reason that begin of the pandemic. And this someplace has glaciers and volcanos and sizzling springs and, certain, wool.

Before we left, I did what most trendy vacationers do: I posted on Facebook in regards to the journey and crowdsourced the place within the nation I ought to go.

Folks provided nice suggestions, which is what I’d anticipated. And then I received one thing else, which I completely didn’t anticipate.

Helen, a pal from faculty, stated “You should talk to my friend Eva Huld Valsdóttir. She’s Icelandic and she’s a knitter.”

So Eva and I messaged a bit in regards to the sights in Reykjavik. Of course, we additionally talked about which retailers have been her favorites and why.

Out of the blue, she requested me what colours I like as a result of she was going to knit me a lopapeysa. And not simply any lopapeysa—a cardigan with a zipper.

I insisted she didn’t have to. She agreed that she didn’t want to however that she needed to, which is how I discovered myself, jetlagged and thoughts already blown by how otherworldly Iceland’s panorama is, standing in Litla Prjóna Búðin, the yarn store the place Eva had bought the plötulopi for my peysa, ready for a girl I actually didn’t know at hand me a sweater she’s made.

That sweater was my fixed companion on that journey. Lopapeysa are good for chilly wind, which Iceland has in abundance. For the occasions it was each windy and moist, this sweater and my rain jacket have been all I wanted. Everywhere we went, so went this sweater.

Back residence in Oneonta, my Eva-made peysa didn’t see a lot use. I’d toss it on when the occasional polar vortex got here via or once I needed to stroll the canines in early spring. I did take it with me to Belfast in February, the place it saved me from gusts rolling off of the North Sea. But, largely, this beloved sweater sat on a shelf. Part of me felt dangerous that this beloved present wasn’t seeing the blustery days it was constructed for.

So I took the sweater again to Iceland this summer season. With my husband, thoughts, and our now-adult youngsters—one final massive journey earlier than they really go away the nest.

Me and the sweater hiked across the Seltún Geothermal Area. It is a smelly place.

Me and the sweater (it’s below my rain jacket) at Gullfoss, whose majesty was practically destroyed by a hydro-electric dam greater than 100 years in the past, if not for the need of Sigríður Tómasdóttir, a sheep farmer’s daughter.

I had it on after we visited Hespa, the place Guðrún Bjarnadóttir and I talked pure dyes. She’s holding some very particular lichen that she harvests from a secret location.

And I purchased some little desserts of colourful delight, most of which have been dyed with madder, a dye plant we additionally use on the Fenimore Farm.

The sweater was zipped up tight towards the wind on the Black Beach close to Vík, which is the place I found it’s a kind of locations that connects to my soul (regardless of being an individual who hates utilizing phrases like “connects to my soul”).

And after all I wore it to the Handknitting Association of Iceland, the place one of many shop-keepers was bemused by my asking to take her image.

There was one place I didn’t put on it as a result of the climate was gentle sufficient (for Iceland, thoughts) that it felt like overkill:

Eva and I met up at a espresso store simply throughout from the yarn store from three years in the past. We spent a pleasant hour or so catching up on all of life’s particulars that fall via social media’s cracks. I might need toddled throughout the car parking zone to do some little bit of purchasing.

For the subsequent few months, the sweater will get to relaxation. Winter might be right here quickly and I’m certain I’ll attain for it each time the wind kicks up.

But it gained’t be capable of hibernate for lengthy. The partner and I intend to return to Iceland to drive the ring highway. The sweater will include. And if the fates are prepared, I’ll be capable of meet up with Eva for an additional espresso and chat.