Making Good Use

So, Yeah, I Even Managed to Find a Charity Shop

 
Even I, with my inbuilt charity shop radar, was a bit surprised to stumble across a charity shop in Reykjavik.  And, boy, it was like no other charity shop I've come across before.

 

 
It was stuffed with rack after rack of beautiful Icelandic knitwear - some of it sadly a bit over-washed and felted - but most of it in beautiful condition and at considerably lower prices than you could buy it new.  Sadly, they didn't have anything that really took my fancy or, indeed, fitted me that well - although I did try a couple of things on.

No worries though, I discovered that Alafoss Lopi Icelandic wool was only £2.50 for 100g (much cheaper than it is in the UK.  And, can you believe it, I came across some horribly icky acrylic rubbish in a charity shop here yesterday where they were charging £1.99 per 100g ball!!) so I bought 12 balls.

 
Two balls of each of the above colours.  I was so spoilt for choice in the shop as they had Lopi in every colour you could imagine, but very little room in our suitcases meant I was limited as to how many balls I could buy.  Now to decide what to knit!!

Lark Rise to Reykjavik

I was a bit surprised to turn on the TV that first evening in Reykjavik and find they were showing the latest series of 'Lark Rise to Candleford,' in English but with Icelandic subtitles.  Ah, the power of a good old BBC costume drama obviously transcends both borders and language very easily (says the woman who NEVER watches a costume drama as they drive me totally nuts - although I did make an exception with 'The Crimson Petal and The White,' which was stunningly good.)  

 
One of the things we both wanted to buy whilst we were in Iceland were the DVDs of 'The Night Shift' (an Icelandic comendy recently shown on BBC4 - bloody hilarious, I urge anyone to watch it if they repeat it,) and it's follow-on series 'The Day Shift' and 'The Prison Shift.'  After much searching in various DVD shops we eventually tracked all three down, although the feature film 'Mr Barnfredason' was sold out everywhere we asked.  The series star, Jon Gnarr, who is, apparently, an erstwhile punk and a stand-up comedian, was last year voted Mayor of Reykjavik.  As an English-language newspaper recently reported, he's a comedian who has become a politician, unlike Boris Johnson who has done the complete opposite!!

During our extensive searches through various DVD outlets, I was surprised by how many Icelandic films and TV series are on DVD (for such a small nation they seem to be remarkably creative and prolific.)  But I wasn't in the least surprised to find shelf after shelf of American imports - that's the same the world over  - although it did make me snigger to find a DVD of 'Life on Mars' for approx. £5.00 (much cheaper than I paid last year) on sale at the local supermarket.  One does wonder how some of Gene Hunt's more infamous lines ('It's 1973, almost dinner time, I'm 'avin hoops' - 'You're surrounded by armed bastards'  - 'Don't be such a jessie') translate into Icelandic.

Anyway, P and I have already made great inroads into 'The Day Shift' which, I'm happy to report, is just as laugh-out-loud funny as 'The Night Shift.'  Excellent, excellent stuff.

(N)Iceland

So, where to begin with our trip to Iceland.  Well, we were both highly amused to see that the Icelandair plane taking us to Keflavik Airport was called 'Eyjafjallajökull'  First of all we thought this must be some massive wind-up by Icelandair but, no, apparently all their planes are called after various volcanoes and glaciers - we just got lucky that the one we travelled in was named after THE most notrious volcano in the Northern hemisphere. 

 
The apartment we rented was in a lovely quite back street yet was only a few minutes walk (or hobble in my case, with my dodgy hip) to the centre of Reykjavik.  It was beautiful and had three balconies which gave wonderful panoramic views over the city.

 
The living space was on the top floor with the bedrooms on the floor below so you could really enjoy the views whilst having breakfast or an evening meal.  Everything in the apartment had come from Ikea and we felt right at home when we saw the exact same shoe rack in the hall as we've got in our house.

 
Here's P enjoying the view from the living room balcony on our first evening.  We were both wondering when on earth the sun was going to set and this photo was taken at about 11.00pm.  Turns out the sun doesn't set until just after midnight (and reappears shortly afterwards) so I never got to see it as I was always tucked up in bed by that time.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was an afternoon bus tour of Reykjavik and it environs - even though the tour guide described me as 'handicapped' (I was using a walking stick) and so we could park in the handicapped bay!!  I'm sure something got lost in the translation there!!!!

 
The tour included a trip to The Pearl which gives panoramic view of the city and beyond.  The actual 'Pearl' bit is a large viewing area and revolving restaurant set atop four huge geothermally heated hot water tanks which supply the city with hot water. 

 
The views from up there were stunning as the air was so clean and clear.

 

We also got taken out to Seltjarnarnes which is not far outside the city centre at all but which has this wonderful Edward Hopper-esque lighthouse.  There were some beautiful houses out this way with stunning sea views.

 

 

 

Of course, no tour of Reykjavik would be complete without a visit to the harbour, and these are some of the whaling vessels berthed there.  They haven't been used for forty years apparently and it seems that whale-watching tours are much more commercially viable for the Icelandic than hunting whale these days.

 

Across from the harbour is the stunning new concert and conference centre - Harpa.  This was started in the boom years of the Icelandic banking industry with private funds and is a building of huge excess - 500 different shaped window panes and a £12 million a year bill just to keep the glass clean.  As we all know what happened to Icelandic banks in 2008, the citizens of Reyjavik have had to dig deep in their pockets in order to get the building completed. 

 
But it really is something else and something they should be very proud of.  It's still not fully completed but it is amazing inside.

I'll be back with (yet) more tales of Reykjavik tomorrow - it's just too disgustingly hot and sticky to concentrate any more today.  Phew, I'll be glad when this hideous heatwave breaks overnight.

 

Birthday Boot Sale Finds

Yup, today is my birthday.  I looooove having my birthday at this time of the year - the evenings are long and the weather is usually warm and sunny, although today is just a tad too warm and sunny for me.  The field where the boot sale is held was like a furnace (I take my hat off to the people who were standing there for hours selling, no idea how they could do that) with no shade whatsoever and very little air to cool things down either.  I had to give up before I'd done all the rows - it was just too hot to struggle round - and P and I repaired to a local hostelry for a jolly tasty birthday lunch eaten outside under the cool of a large parasol.

 
Anyhoo, I found a few nice bargains whilst at the booty, inlcuding this fabbo 1960's / 70's tin tray for 50p.

 
From the same seller was this very pretty but not terribly practical (it's a bit thin) granny-square crochet tea cosy, also 50p.

 
A boxed 1960's / 70's rather funky tablecloth and napkins set - £1.00.

 
A teeny weeny little tube of Dior anti-wrinkle cream which cost me the huge sum of 10p and the woman running the stall said I could have the brand-new box of Ecozone ecoballs (they're for doing laundry without using detergent) for free - which I thought was exceedingly kind of her.

I'm linking this post with Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday and Me and My Shadow's  Magpie Monday.

Church Fete

 
This afternoon was the annual summer fete at a local village church.  It's a beautiful venue as the church is built on quite a high hill (well, high for Essex) and there is a marvellous view from up there. 

 
There is an old dovecote in the churchyard and afternoon tea was being served close by - I went mad and had a piece of coffee cake with a gooey sticky filling (the first piece of cake I've eaten since January - it was delicious!)

The fete is always extremely well organised and very well attended.  I made a bee-line for the linens stall and came away with some wonderful bargains.

 
A pair of unused vintage Horrockses white cotton flat sheets, four William Morris Golden Lily print cushion covers, two fabulous pieces of vintage fabric

 
An unused 1970s linen tea towel

 
And another unused pure linen tea towel, this time featuring Mexican motifs.  I also got a couple of unused pots of body butter for me and something rather nice for a swap I'm taking part in.  Even the book stall produced a couple of books that were good for re-selling on Amazon.  P won a football on the hoop-la stall (I was rubbish and only won a small bag of chewy sweets.)  It was a lovely, gentle, very English way to spend a sunny summer's afternoon.  There was also a flower festival going on in the church itself with arrangements commemorating various famous people

 
I particularly liked this display in honour of Baden-Powell, the founder of the boy scouts, especially the wigwam effect and the very ancient copy of 'Scouting for Boys.'

ETA:  I know the 'no cake since January'  line seems a bit bizarre and, believe me, it's not because I haven't wanted to eat cake but its pretty much 'verboten' for me along with butter, cheese, cream, chocolate and any other foods with a high saturated-fat content.  I've had to go on to a really low-fat diet because I developed a problem with my gall bladder in January.  Oddly enough, if anyone had told me at New Year that I'd have to give up all my favourite foods I would have been devestated but it's really not been that bad - plus I've gone down two clothes sizes, which is a great bonus.

 

Home From the Very Sunny and Not at all Cold Land of Fire and Ice

 
View from one of the three balconies our rented apartment had.  The church is the Hallgrimmskirkja - Iceland's Lutheran Cathedral.

Yup, Iceland's weather could not have been kinder to us during our stay - the skies were pretty much always blue with the sun shining and only the briefest of rain showers one evening.   We strolled around in short-sleeve T-shirts and ate al-fresco one lunchtime in sun that was almost too hot to sit in.

 
The sun finally setting briefly at about midnight.  The view is from the balcony at the front of the apartment which looked out towards the harbour and distant snow-covered mountains.

There was much sightseeing and wool shopping and eating of delicious vegetarian meals, amongst other things.  The daylight was 24 hours (quite strange I have to admit) and it all seemed to have passed by in a haze of happy memories.   Oh, and I even found a charity shop!!  I'm pretty tired today so will just post a few photos of our trip but be warned there will be many more photos to come.

 
One of the very traditional corrugated iron-clad houses.  These all seem to be painted in really vibrant colours with window and door frames painted in contrasting and / or clashing colours.  This beauty was just along the road from where we were staying.

Travel

 
P and I have been talking about revisiting Reykjavik ever since we first went there nine years ago.  And now, as a very last-minute decision, we've booked ourselves a four-day trip leaving on Sunday.  I can't wait.  We'll be there for the longest day - which should be pretty much almost 24-hour daylight that far north - how fabulous will that be? 

We're renting a self-catering apartment in the centre of Reykjavik (we went self-catering on a trip to Oslo a few years ago and it worked very well there) so that should make the question of what I can eat a bit easier (still being extremely careful with my dodgy gall bladder!) plus being very central will mean I don't have to walk too far ('cos my gammy hip is only getting worse these days - ah, the joys of ageing!!!!)  The apartment is pretty close to the beautiful Hallgrímskirkja and to all the shops and restaurants too.

I intend to do some serious Lopi Icelandic wool shopping whilst I'm there and P is very intent on getting his hands on the DVD of The Night Shift - an Icelandic comedy series recently shown on BBC4, and mighty funny it was too - plus the DVDs of the two follow-on series, providing, of course, that they have English-language subtitles.

I've started making a list of what to pack - mainly warm clothes, socks (haven't worn those in a while) and winter shoes topped off by a waterproof jacket (max. daytime temperature for Reykjavik seems to be 10 degrees on the BBC Weather website.)  I'll also be packing my swimming cossie as the outdoor swimming pools there are truly fabulous.  I'm looking forward to spending some considerable time in one of the 'hot pots' (a geothermally-heated outdoor jacuzzi-type of thing) and swimming in the balmy-warm waters of the geothermally-heated pool.   Bliss!!

An Early Birthday Present

 
Yes, a copy all of my own of this lovely book.  Mum ordered it for me for my birthday which is in a couple of weeks but said it would be fine if I wanted to open the parcel straight away - so I did!!

 
Here's the original of the knitted coat hanger covers I've been making.  I do love those stripy ones but don't have enough different colour wools in ye olde stash to make them.

 
Normally I don't like using knitting patterns / instructions - I prefer to make it up as I'm going along (which is pretty much my whole attitude to life as I hate being told what to do) - but this book is something else as it just gives you loads of really inspiring ideas and leaves you to adapt or change them to suit you, or the wool you have available.

 
Plus, the patterns in it are mainly small, easy to complete projects which are pretty, unusual and, in the main, highly useful.  Fabulous! 

 
Next up will be a few of these garter-stitch dishcloths, but with a navy cotton edging as that's the only coloured cotton I have knocking around.

The Craft du Jour

Gosh, covering coat hangers seems to be the real craft du jour at the moment.  Posy has also been inspired by Jane Brocket's book and Happy Loves Rosie has a great tutorial for making padded fabric covers for hangers.

 
I've just sewn up my second knitted cover and have cast on for a third.  I've still got loads of wooden hangers that I could cover and lots of bits and bobs of wool to knit them from too -  I'm also hatching ideas about using up some of my vintage buttons on them.  It's such a quick and easy thing to make - very satisfying -  and you end up with something useful.   My ideal knitting project, really.

Not Hanging Around

I'd never really thought about knitting a cover for wooden coat hangers until I saw the gorgeous pattern in The Gentle Art of Knitting, the lovely new knitting book by Jane Brocket (Mum's got a copy which I read voraciously whilst I was in Bristol and I've now put in a request to have a copy of my own for my birthday.)  Oddly enough, plain wooden coat hangers are something I have an awful lot of.  I've no idea where they ever came from (probably a long-ago jumble sale) or if they are actually just multiplying by themselves in the dark of the wardrobe - whatever, I have masses of them. 

They're very useful utilitarian objects but they do tend to leave a bit of a mark if I hang T-shirts or jersey tops from them, so it was a bit of a 'eureka' moment for me when I found this really simple garter stitch pattern for covering them.

 
Et voila!  One evening's knitting later and I've got a fine and dandy covered coat-hanger all gussied up with one of the lovely wooden buttons from Cowboys and Custard that I bought at last weeks Vintage and Handmade Textile Fair.  For this hanger I used lots of tiny lengths of what I suspect was originally tapestry wool but all those ends did make it a bit fiddly to sew together, so I'm now embarking on a second cover and am using regular DK wool (from a ball of yarn) as specified in the pattern.

 
And with the extra knitted padding, I can now hang anything I want from this hanger without worrying about having little wing-like protuberances sitting on my shoulders!