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Hands Occupied

Contemporary yarn crafts by Heidi Gustad. Knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame.

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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, an author, yarn craft designer and content creator specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. My work unapologetically features primary colors and vintage-meets-modern style. My first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is now available!

Professionally I’m most known for: advanced intarsia knitting design & modern latch hook design.

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handsoccupied

Craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. / #latchhookbook out now!
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knitting, crochet, latch hook & macramé

Heidi Gustad 🧶✂️
Happy Wrestlemania weekend, folks!!! 🎊 It’s c Happy Wrestlemania weekend, folks!!! 🎊 It’s coincidentally International Punch Needle Rug Hooking Day today, so I’d be remiss not to share a first look at this project finished JUST in time to wear while I watch some rasslin’ on a pirate ship in a football stadium in Tampa! 💪🏻 I’m excited to watch tonight’s women’s matches the most. Eee!
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Pictured: A blond woman in a denim dress and glasses wearing a giant belt made with punch needle. The belt is made with wool in primary colors and was inspired by the WWE Universal Championship title belt. 
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This is just a preview - after jab 2.0 tomorrow (feeling grateful 🙏🏼), I’ll be editing together a vlog about the design process for this wooly waist cover. Sometimes it’s hard to know how to make some of your wilder craft ideas come to life. Stuff you’ll never find a pattern for, you know? I’ll finish editing that ASAP, but I might take a few days to edit if I feel like trash from 💉 and only want to watch wrestling and wrestling YouTube for a day or two. 😂
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#ipnrhd #punchneedle #wwe #wrestling #championshipbelt #wool #yarn #handmade #universalchampionship #universalchampion #rugmaking #wrestlingfan #wrestlemania37 #wrestlemania
A look at the halo on the back of my wrestling-ins A look at the halo on the back of my wrestling-inspired punch needle project! It’s interesting to see how fuzzy the handspun beige yarn is compared with the primary color sections of @knit_picks Wool of the Andes Bulky. ❤️💛💙🤎 
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Pictured: The back of an in-progress punch needle project. A wooden punch needle tool sits on the work.
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#punchneedle #woolrug #rugmaking  #kpambassadorsapr21 #sponsored #griefproject #handsoccupied #wrestlingfan #universalchampion #yarn #yarncraft #wool #needlepunch
Happy Easter / One week til Wrestlemania! Finishin Happy Easter / One week til Wrestlemania! Finishing up the punch needling part of this crazy @wwe inspired project by tonight. 💪🏻🧶 Anybody else have crafty plans for this fine spring day? 
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Pictured: A blond woman sits, smiling and holding an in-progress punch needle project inspired by the Universal Championship belt. Houseplants are in the background and there’s lots of sun. 
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#punchneedle #griefproject #handsoccupied #heidigustad #wrestlingcrafts #wwe #universalchampion #universalchampionship #wool #wooloftheandes #primarycolors #oxfordpunchneedle
I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back I'm finally starting to get some of my energy back from the past few weeks, and as I dip my toe back into production mode, the long-promised seamed sweater knitting YouTube series is at the top of my list. I've got FOUR versions of a simple sweater I've been playing with since last JULY to feature as a free pattern for folks who want to knit along during the series. Pictured is the first prototype for the series, knit in 2 colors of @knit_picks Mighty Stitch yarn. I imagine this soon-to-be short sleeved number will come in handy as an emergency Waldo costume or Christmas sweater. 🌲 
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I've got my own list of topics I think folks would like to see in a series like this: things like tips for construction, working with vintage patterns, how to seam as invisibly as possible, and more, but as always, I'd love to hear from you: What scares you about knitting seamed sweaters? What would be helpful to cover, especially since we'll be doing more long form video content. I get so much positive feedback on my series of 20 minute+ intarsia tutorials, so I'm using those as a starting point as I produce this series. Seamed sweaters using vintage or self-improvised patterns are one of my favorite things on the planet, so I'm eager to share some seamed sweater skills with y'all super sweet folks. 😉 
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Pictured: A red and white striped, short sleeved sweater knit in pieces that have yet to be seamed. They are laid out on a yellow and orange colorblock background and one sleeve is yet to be bound off. 
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#handsoccupied #seamedsweater #kpambassadorsmar21 #sponsored #knitpicks #waldo #waldosweater #wip #yarncraft #yarn #knitting #knittersofinstagram #heidigustad #vintageknitting #sweaterknitting
Work continues this evening on my absurd punch nee Work continues this evening on my absurd punch needle pro wrestling inspired championship belt project. I’ve finished most of the front pretty quickly thanks to the @knit_picks Wool of the Andes Bulky yarn I’m using. For now, I’ve got a couple more weeks until Wrestlemania, & I’m on track to finish this in time! 
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The biggest question I have is what to do with the “plates” - the open circles in the picture. Should I try to closely replicate the Universal Championship belt or go rogue and make it wool themed? Please advise in the comments. ☺️🧶🙏🏻🐑 
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Pictured: The front of an in-progress punch needle project. A wooden punch needle tool with navy yarn running through it rests on top of the work. 
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#kpambassadorsmar21 #sponsored #knitpicks #punchneedle #rugmaking #primarycolors #punchneedlerughooking #punchneedlelove #wool #wip #yarncraft #yarn #yarnaddict
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