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Hands Occupied

Colorful knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame from craft book author & designer Heidi Gustad.

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A knitter in Iceland

April 4, 2016 4 Comments

Iceland trip collage

Last month, my husband and I visited Iceland for ten days to celebrate our anniversary. During that time I kept up with Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, and it was so nice to hear from those of you who enjoyed the updates! Since it turns out that there’s yarn just about everywhere you look in Iceland, I thought I’d share a roundup of all the wooly highlights (and a bit of scenery) from our trip. Lucky for all of us, my husband gets a kick out of watching me go all geek on yarn! That, and he’s getting handmade Icelandic sweater out of the deal. ;)

Let’s start with how amazing Iceland is. This might be common knowledge, but Iceland is a gorgeous country! I’ll just leave a couple of these right here…

A view of some of Iceland's many beautiful mountains from the Ring Road.

Heidi in Stuðalheiði, Iceland

Heidi in Stuðalheiði! 

A foggy day in Iceland.

A glacial lake in Iceland

Icelanders really know how to breakfast. Mmm, so much cheese, bread, tea and veggies! Kinda makes a girl want to get up early and start the day with a full meal on the regular…

A full spread at Icelandic breakfast.

Breakfast in Iceland consists of lots of fruit, cheese, bread and veggies!

We stayed on a sheep & horse farm for a couple of days, and I shot a bunch of video. Life has been really busy since we’ve been back, so as I work on the video, here’s a sneak peak of the beautiful horses we met on the farm to tide you over!

A video posted by Heidi Gustad (@handsoccupied) on Mar 11, 2016 at 2:49pm PST

An Icelandic sheep farm

Saved the best for last! Yarn! The crazy thing about Iceland is just how amazingly prevalent yarn is. You can find handspun yarn in boutiques, office supply stores, and even the grocery store! Tune in later this week for a closer look at my Icelandic yarn haul. :D

The Handknitting Association of Iceland store in Reykjavik

The Handknitting Association of Iceland store in Reykjavik
Gallerí Alþyðulist, a yarn shop in Skagafjörður, Iceland.
Gallerí Alþyðulist
The yarn section at A4 in Egilsstaðir, Iceland.
Yarn at the A4 in Egilsstaðir
The yarn section at a grocery store (Netto) near Höfn.
The yarn section at a grocery store (Netto) near Höfn.
PS: Don’t those look just like Knit Picks’ needles?
PPS: My favorite yarn label design of the trip is below, & it’s a Norwegian yarn called Smart.

Sandnes Garn's Smart yarn

Say it with me: lopapeysa. Lopapeysa is the name for the traditional Icelandic sweater. I’ll post more about what lopapeysas are when I finish the sweaters I’m making from some of the Icelandic yarn I bought there. For now, you can feast your eyes on some of the roughly one kergillion lopapeysas (pretty much all handmade, mind you) that were for sale everywhere around Iceland, from Reykjavik to Seydisfjordur.

An Icelandic Lopapeysa in a shop window in Skagafjörður - the road sign is a countrywide road sign symbol used to indicate where to find handmade items.

A rack of handmade Icelandic lopapeysa sweaters

The time I got a knitting tattoo. Yarn is such a big deal in Iceland that there’s a road sign symbol (pictured above) dedicated to where you can find handmade Icelandic crafts, most commonly knitwear. As soon as I realized that the sign we kept seeing on road signs did, in fact, indicate this (my initial thought was that it had to be too good to be true), I fell in love. I found an amazing tattoo artist in Reykjavik who used a special tattoo technique that involves hand poking the tattoo, which made it extra special and unique. I’m obsessed with how it turned out!

A video posted by Heidi Gustad (@handsoccupied) on Mar 16, 2016 at 7:26am PDT

Filed Under: Inspiration, Life Tagged With: iceland, iceland vacation, icelandic tourism, island, Knitting, lopapeysa, sheep, wool, yarn

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

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Comments

  1. Julie

    April 4, 2016 at 5:24 pm

    yarn in the supermarket?! My kind of country!! Looks like it was utterly amazing, and your tattoo choice is excellent!

    Reply
  2. LaurenS

    April 4, 2016 at 10:11 pm

    KnitPro is the brand name of Knitter’s Pride in Europe – FYI. Love the tattoo!

    Reply
    • Heidi

      April 5, 2016 at 7:20 am

      That makes total sense! Thanks for that! :D

      Reply
  3. Helene

    July 18, 2016 at 12:13 am

    Great hammer of Thor, that is pofulwelry helpful!

    Reply

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi (she/her/hers), a craft book author & pattern designer specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. Really anything with yarn! ❤️  My work combines vintage and modern design elements, featuring bold colors and graphic motifs.

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handsoccupied

Yarn craft designer & author. Into intarsia knits, latch hook, color & vintage-modern style.
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Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
If you look closely, you’ll see I’m casually k If you look closely, you’ll see I’m casually knitting from one sweater into another here, no big deal. (What can I say, I lost a game of yarn chicken. 😂) I almost didn’t post this because I was worried someone might have some nonsense to say about my ability to knit. Then I remembered I can’t care about that. Silly me, I almost forgot myself! 
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Speaking of which, dang it’s good to have my mental health back consistently after the past couple of years. The anxious parts of my personality are just chilling, rather than constantly screaming that my work isn’t good enough to share. The confident parts of me that matter have me creating (and starting to share my creations & process with strangers and friends) again! 
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Anybody else feel like they are beginning to return to themselves, so to speak, this spring?
I’m feeling better, & all my [big, bad bug] proj I’m feeling better, & all my [big, bad bug] project needs is a couple of short sleeves! I’ll be finishing this sweater *just* before it gets too warm to wear, but isn’t that always how it goes? 🫠🧶 
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#knittersofinstagram #soldotnacrop #handsoccupied #knitincolor #springknitting
Just divided the sleeves on this quick sweater, wh Just divided the sleeves on this quick sweater, which has unsurprisingly turned into a love letter to primary colors. ❤️💛💙 The heart stripe is a wee tweak I incorporated, and I don’t regret it! 
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 #handsoccupied #soldotnacrop #strandedcolorwork #knitting #yokesweater
I am unfortunately home bound for the near future I am unfortunately home bound for the near future thanks to the big, bad bug. So far I’ve knit half a sweater, consumed about a gallon of ginger tea, & plowed through 3 seasons of Pit Bulls and Parolees. 
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June doesn’t understand why I’m suddenly so boring, but she seems to like watching animal planet. 🤷🏼‍♀️
A bit of Saturday swatching. 🧶 I am working in A bit of Saturday swatching. 🧶 I am working in greyscale today to practice designing “without color”. Kinda cool, kinda weird. We’ll see if it yields anything interesting! 😆
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#intarsia #intarsiaknitting #stopswatchandblockit #handsoccupied #knittersofinstagram
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