It was winter 2003 and I shared a flat in Reykjavík with an italian and a french girl. I studied Icelandic and literature at the university (Háskóli Íslands) and during the weekends we rented cars 
and went to see the amazing Icelandic nature. It's already four years ago. I made new friends there from all over the world, some of which I've lost and some of which I'm still close with. I took a lot of photos and yesterday I decided to scan some of them. The quality isn't the best after scanning with my scanner, but here are some winter days in and outside Reykjavík.
music and have a cup of tea and make my cards. What I did the most, however, was to knit. It was in Iceland my passion of knitting begun ;-) Not that I had never knitted before, but it was in Reykjavík I fell in love with all the wool yarn they had. I even went to the Álafoss factory & outlet, though I didn't bring much home since I already had too much to carry and Icelandic yarn can be found in the shops in Sweden as well. I remember I knitted a scarf and a number of hats. But the best thing was the "knitting café" on Monday evenings when I met some women from Iceland and other parts of the world (most of them were in Iceland because they had married an Icelandic man or because of their job). I was the youngest. We were there to learn how to knit a lopapeysa (you can see some here and here), there were one or two Icelandic women there to help us out.
Here I am (+ a friend), knitting at the café. The last Monday we met we had been baking cakes and cookies that we brought, that was a sweet buffé I can tell you ;-) (Now when I think of it, it seems a bit strange to bring cakes to a café, but well, we did.) Anyway, there's nothing I can be so nostalgic about as my time in Iceland.
I made some changes with my blog, I hope it doesn't look too strange now. It's Monday afternoon, Zam is next to me in the sofa, on the table is a cup of tea. Little Ia is in another room, I think she didn't notice when I left. Outside the sky is grey, the weather is cold and boring. But it begun in a beautiful way. I was out on the fields with Ia and Zam just before the sun rise over the tree tops. Everything was frozen, the trees white and covered by ice. We were all alone. Ia didn't want to walk, Zam wanted to run ... so I had to carry one dog and let the other one run free ;-) It was so beautiful when the sun finally came over the tree tops, the fields and the snow bathing in sunlight, the shadows so long and blue and the few colors that were (like the red color of my dog) were so intense. Magical moment. But I didn't have my camera so now I show you some necklaces I made a little more than a week ago.
I'm learning how to spin with a drop spindle. It sure takes some time since I have to learn from books, but after practicing a bit I think I'm doing it the right way now. I want the finished yarn to be a bulky thick and thin one, however not as much difference between thick and thin as you can see here ... But I guess it's just to keep on practicing, practicing :-) And it's really fun. I'm working with gotlandsull, wool from Gotland sheep, and it's not the most clean and smooth one (I find small sticks and straw in it). It's quite easy to work with, I think, but the result isn't the smoothest, softest yarn to be found. Now I want to go and buy wool/fibers in different qualities to learn more about spinning, but it has to wait as the place I want to go to, Åddebo ull isn't really nextdoors.
Early mornings on the bus and train ... I knitted this scarf for my mom as a Christmas gift. It's not perfect in any way as knitting at 5.40 in the morning on a bus isn't really what I'm best at, but I still like it because of the wonderful yarn (mohair lux). I added some glass beads to the scarf. Actually I have one more scarf to finish, it's for my grandma's birthday which was just before Christmas. But I wont meet her until next week, so I still have some time to knit ;-) Oh, and I almost forgot that I'm also knitting a scarf for Magnus, a thick soft one in black and purple. It was the last craft project before Christmas and I didn't finish it since I fell asleep on the train every morning and afternoon and I could not, of course, knit at home 'cause then it'd be no suprise. So, I wrapped the half-knitted scarf and promised him the other half as well ;-) But I guess there's no need to hurry, it's not very cold outside at the moment.
This summer I was working, working, working. So, now between Christmas and New Year I'm taking all days off and I'll just ... be at home, be with Magnus and dogs and I'll cook and walk in the nature, tidy up a little, read, write letters and - most important of all - craft & create. It feels so great, yet a bit strange. I can hardly remember what it's like to be this free :-) 
Today is the day of finishing and wrapping the last Christmas gifts (and by finishing I mean things that I'm making, not buying 'cause I've already done that), cleaning up a little at home (I like to wake up in a clean tidy home the 24th), cooking, listening to music etc. Tomorrow Magnus, the dogs, Magnus mom and I are going to my mom who lives on the country side close to where we live. After Christmas I have photos to show you of gifts that I've made, but I'm not sure who'll be reading this today so I have to wait until I'm sure everyone has opened their gifts ;-)
This photo was taken in the November last year, but yet we haven't seen any snow since 1 November. Today we do have colder weather, this morning there was, for the first time, a little ice (however thin) on the puddles on the streets. They said it'll be warm again, but today I enjoy the colder weather and the beautiful sunshine. I'm about to bake saffron-marcipan muffins, this evening Zam (the dog) and I are going to meet some of my friends at a friend's house and have dinner and I'll bring the dessert, the muffins (served a bit warm) with vanilla icecream. It feels like a Christmas-y dessert.
It's warm. I don't need my mittens, my hat or my scarf. It's December but we haven't had snow since 1 November. It hasn't been below 0 degrees Celcius one single time since then. I get up at 4.50 every morning (and when talking about that, I wont be unemployed by January as I said before, I'll stay at my job at least until 31 March) and it's not cold. But it's dark, all the time dark dark dark. Today, Sunday, we had some sunshine and finally - with the help of all lamps in my living room - I could get some acceptable photos of necklaces that I've made quite long ago. I'll show them soon. The problem with the warm weather is that it doesn't feel like Christmas, or December, at all. I try but ... no.
![](<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/stelpalitla/288305393/" title="hot pink and orange fat book by maria nenita, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/112/288305393_8ac101536e_b.jpg" width="683" height="1024" alt="hot pink and orange fat book" /></a>)
