Iceland

If you expect to find anything about sewing in this post, you can stop reading here. I am not going to say the S word from here on in, because two weeks ago I went to Iceland, and the only thing you can think about while you are there is the K word: knitting. But more about that later. First, I’d like to tell you about the trip.

After my Japanese wanderings, it feels so good to be back in Dublin, because, being a European hub, you can easily travel anywhere in EU and the US. You can find cheap flights to go almost anywhere. So we are kind of spoilt here. I became even happier when an Icelandic low-cost air company opened a new route to Reykjavik! Compared to most European low-cost airlines, I found WOW Air to be classy and on time! And it’s so close to Ireland: in a little more than two hours we had reached our destination.

My travel buddy and I decided to stay in Reykjavik for the entire week, but we booked four tours with this company, in order to explore different parts of the island. Although we arrived in the midst of the high season, there were not so many tourists. Compared with other “hot” destinations, Rejkyavik looked almost empty. We constantly made jokes about it, but to be honest, too few tourists is better than too many! It did not feel overcrowded, so we could plainly enjoy each excursion. For example, on our glacier tour, there were only three of us! Who can complain?

Iceland is really expensive compared with the rest of Europe, maybe with the exception of Norway and Switzerland, but, unless you eat out in restaurants every day, it’s possible to get food for less. Most days, we bought lunches and snacks in supermarkets or convenience stores. Two tours included dinners too, so it did not feel like we spent too much in the course of the week and we treated ourselves with a couple of nice dinners.

Craft wise, yarn, not fabric, was the main point of interest, and the place to go was A4, a chain selling school and craft supplies. So a skein of yarn (100 metres) costs less than 279 ISK (less than 2 EUR), in other shops, especially in the centre of Reykjavik, they sell the same yarn for 350 ISK or even 450 ISK, which was a complete rip off! So you can quickly calculate the total cost of a hand-made sweater. Not bad at all, given that hand-made sweaters in the shops started from 21,000 ISK (140 EUR). The closest A4 shop to the centre of Reykjavik is located in Kriglan shopping centre, which also worth a look. They also make amazing burritos on the top floor ;)

To sum the trip up, it was cold (on average 10C), mysterious (because of the polar day and crazy landscapes) and adventurous. Instead of talking too much about my holiday, I’d rather show you some pics. You can also read about Iceland and yarn shopping on Tasia's blog, who very recently also went to Iceland, Sonja’s and Carolyn's. I immediately fell in love with Sonja’s horse sweater! Lastly, you can read a lot of interesting information about Iceland from a local here.
Tell me about your holiday plans!