It’s autumn (hooray!) and knitting festival fever seems to happily be everywhere. Here in Copenhagen it’s been an exciting month, with the Icelandic Knitting Festival at Nordatlantans Brygge for the second year running, followed this past weekend by the brand new Knitwork festival, and in between, our spinning group did a whole day spinning demo for Worldwide Spin In Public Day at Lund central library in Sweden! All the events were absolutely brilliant both for yarny goodness and hanging out chatting and knitting.
At last year’s Icelandic Knitting Festival I bought a wonderful, very autumnal themed shawl kit from Guðrún bjarnadóttir with her Hespa plant dyed laceweight Einband Icelandic yarn. It was still half done when this year’s festival came around, and despite all sensible intentions about not buying more of the lovely stuff, you can guess what happened. Soft grey rhubarb root and indigo was too good to refuse! My willpower might have been better if I hadn’t had my mum with me this year- she was going mad on the knitting kits all weekend, and I was dangerously enabled just standing next to her. I bought 4 skeins for a wrap around simple shawl, but with the caveat that I first finish last year’s first! A week of mad shawl knitting later (I REALLY wanted to start a new project!) and it was done! I love the glow of the firey shades and the semi-solid patterning. I havn’t blocked it yet but even as it is it’s tuned out huge, which is what I was hoping for.
At the festival I also came away with a sweater quantity of Istex Lett Lopi and the pattern to make the beautiful Embla cardigan by Anna Kristín Helgadóttir. It will be my second exercise in trying to follow a pattern in Danish (gulp!), and my first time doing a proper steeked cardigan (gulp again!) At Knitwork I was lucky to find the perfect silvery buttons for it, with a swirly, viking-y design. Although most of the cardigan is in a heathery black colour, I am really enjoying knitting with both the dark yarn and the texture of the wool. It makes for cosy evening knitting :) I will post a picture when it starts looking a bit more photo-worthy.
The Icelandic knitting festival was even more varied this year, with different talks hosted by designers and creators both days, including Anna Kristín Helgadóttir, Helene Magnusson, and Anna and Sigrún from Ljómalind Farmer’s Market. At the marketplace was everything in the spectrum of Icelandic yarn, from commercial lopi yarn by Istex, to unique sheepy handspun, Einrum’s thai silk and Icelandic blend, and Helene Magnusson’s super luxurious Love Story and Gilitrutt yarns. If you find yourself in Copenhagen next September, this festival is a knitty treat not to be missed :)
Coming soon- part 2 and the Knitwork Fest!
Until then, Happy Knitting!
Rosie x
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