Away: Iceland, Denmark, & Sweden

Lately, I have been spending an unhealthy amount of time thinking about vacations. Of course this leads me to reminisce about some of my favorite travels in the recent past...

My Miniature World.

Iceland, September 2011

I am beyond infatuated with making pictures look like miniature worlds. Here are some of my recent adventures through a miniature lens!

My grandma never knit

I have two knitted blankets in my house. Both of them remind me of my grandma. Her name was Helen, and she was never a knitter. In her younger days she would add a crocheted lace border to pillowcases that she might have embroidered, but she never knit. My grandma grew up on a farm in Minnesota, and later raised her own family on one. 

My first knitted blanket began on a road trip with sister Christer in 2005. The final destination of this road trip was Dumont, MN, and we were going to visit my grandma. She examined my knitting, decided it was very intricate, and she was impressed with the little bit I had at the time. She probably said something like, "I just don't know how you do that." I had just started the purple section of the blanket. Seven years later, and this blanket gets used every day. Even though she didn't have much to do with it, the blanket reminds me of her.

The second blanket I knit was a year-long process. I bought several skeins of Icelandic wool from my first trip there in April of 2010. I finished the blanket in in the spring of 2011. After I finish knitting something, I often think back to what I was doing while it was knit. Sometimes I think about the places I went with the project, or the story behind buying the yarn. Some of my more massive projects span so much time, that they include many memories. My Iceland blanket went with me to movie theaters, on road trips and was actually started on the plane ride home from Iceland. I was actually knitting the final section of the blanket, the pink section, when I found out that my grandma had passed away. I can't help but think about that every time I see that blanket. For me, it feels like I knit some of those memories into the fibers of the blanket, and it in some strange way, makes me feel happy. It also smells like delicious wool.

And of course, no blog post would be complete without Peanut. 

(PS, she loves the blankets too).

She frequently burrows under and falls asleep.

I came here to chew bubblegum and kick some ass.

There are many things to admire about Iceland. Here are a few of my favorite lovely little treasures that
I can't seem to get enough of...and then of course, there's the coffee!

Egg trays. The US is lagging a bit. First purchase when I'm back on US soil, egg trays.

Side note: The eggs in Iceland are far beyond even the freshest of eggs available in the US. This is strange to me, and I don't quite understand it. I have never seen a chicken in Iceland. These yokes are dark and yellow/orange and oh-so-delicious. This is our second dozen (well, the first was a pack of 10...who sells eggs in 10's?).

I became smitten with the graffiti in Iceland last year when we visited. Olympia's got nothing on Reykjavik. I think I might make this into a poster and hang it up at home...or maybe work?

This rug. Oh, this rug. At first, I was disgusted with this rug. I wondered how clean it was. I mean how clean can you possibly get a rug like this? I'm guessing it gets a good shaking every once in a while, but there's no laundering this kind of rug. You see, all of those elongated nodules are mini wool towers. They're extremely felted and are fun to walk on. I like it. Also, they remind me of that scene in The Little Mermaid when Ursula squeezes that little sea creature and uses it as lipstick. Do you know what I'm talking about? I have a feeling that if you're here, reading this blog, then you absolutely know what I'm talking about.

Lastly, I love free treasures. Free treasures are my favorite part of any vacation. I don't care if it's San Francisco, Iceland, Spokane, or my mom's house, free treasures make up the best memories. I find and keeps little lovelies I find. They represent a specific memory for me that I can always recall the second I look at them. This little pine cone might become a necklace, or it may find a home in a shadowbox on my wall. Whenever I look at it, I'll remember walking along Reykjavik's Secret Garden of Sculptures with Nicholas, drinking my Coca Cola Lite and how everything seemed incredibly perfect.

Don't worry sisters, I'll bring home some little lovelies for you too! (It's a Nicolai thing).

PS The butter here is like the best butter that probably exists in the entire word.

It's worth the USDs to come to Iceland for the butter. For reals.

Vacation!

I am going on vacation! I must say that I am quite excited.  Nicholas and I will be heading to Reykjavik, Copenhagen, and Stockholm.  I've missed Iceland dreadfully in the past year and cannot wait to reconnect with the quaint little city. 

I might post some pictures while I'm gone because who doesn't want to look at stuff like this?

There probably won't be graduates dressed as penises this year, and the volcano shouldn't blow up this time (at least not the same one). To be fair, there are probably people who don't really want to look at pictures from another person's vacation, but I'm going to post them all the same! Ha!

A year ago today...

I was in Iceland.  I was on vacation.  It was snowing. The following were my first impressions of Iceland.  

We had breakfast here.

I took a nap under this picture and light.

And I saw a disturbing amount of taxidermy in window displays.  It was gross.

I have to say, after the first day with the stuffed cat and puppy, things got a whole lot better.  

Those were the good old days.  How I wish I was on vacation again, and not just on a lunch break from working (the entirely too long) Legislative Session.

Reykjavik...

Today is a day when I want to go back to Icleand...