Wool Satchel

After knitting so many Icelandic sweaters, I had a lot of scrap Icelandic yarn to use up. I love making my own purses and bags, as I find manufactured bags a little dull. This is a pretty good size satchel crocheted with colors that remind me of the Northwest. The patch is a design by Cada Johnson, a designer living here in Oregon. Her artwork has always fascinated me, I love her captures of nature and this patch is one of my favorites. I made the bag large so that once I washed and dried it, it would become 'felted'. While it did shrink some, I still feel it's a bit large. That's okay though, better to be slightly large than too small! I even sewed a small pocket inside. This satchel is crocheted entirely with Alafoss yarn, a company in Iceland that has a very cool store outside of Reykjavik. The yarn is sturdy and water resistant (those sheep endure some serious wet weather!). I really love how the colors come together in this one.

Skogafjall knitted sweater

Time to take a break from painting. Now that it's cold, I have been knitting and crocheting a lot. On my Iceland vacation, I had the chance to stop at the Alafoss store in Mosfellsbaer to buy a lot of yarn for a good price. I had no idea what I wanted, so I took my time in indulging in the largest selection of Icelandic yarn I have probably will ever see in my life. 

I chose this magenta color because I rarely wear anything of this hue, plus I din't have any pattern in my mind to knit with it. Finally, this past summer I chose Skogafjall because it calls for Lett Lopi yarn. This sweater is typically knitted with greens, and of course the colors I purchased were nothing close. That's okay, the sky can be pink and the trees dark when there are Auroras right?