Iceland

That's (probably) what you think it is, yes.

This is going to be real quick. Just stuff I bought in Iceland (the irony being that both of the above items are from Finland). Yes, I added to my stash. No, I didn't take any digital photos, so photos of Iceland will have to wait until all the film has been processed and printed.

In the colour Pistachio, even though I've never met a pistachio quite this acid yellow-green.

This lovely blanket came from a souvenir gift shop, but the moment I saw the colour, I couldn't quite bring myself to leave it behind. (Though I did leave it for a day before going back. It helped that I had it in my mind that it was double the price it actually was, so when we did go back (to get postcards, but also take a second look), I snatched it up immediately.) I've been noticing that I'm quite attracted to this type of colour, as you might have gleaned already from what yarn I'm attracted to and this dress I knit. The blanket itself is also just dreamy - look at that weave pattern! It's not just a diamond grid, and that slight off-centering just makes the blanket - and seeing as I got a lot of use out of an older large doubleweave red-black blanket/scarf that I dug out of storage earlier this year, I was able to justify it to myself. I'm sure this pistachio blanket is going to get a lot of use later on, once autumn comes back around.

I'm not sure what Sisustus & Sina mean, but I had a lot more luck googling Reeta Ek, the designer. This comes from her Lapuan & Kankurit SS/2016 collection, and just looking at her other collections, I really like her aesthetic! There's something about this blanket (and the collection itself) that leaves me beyond confused though: which part of this is "Eskimo"? Because that's what the blanket is called both in print (on the back side of the tag; I didn't notice until after I got home and looked at the full card) as well as on her site, where it says "Eskimo & Mehiläispesä (beehive)". Beehive makes sense, so I'm wondering if this is the result of some unfortunate naming due to an unfamiliarity with the English language (it also translates in English under materials, "100% wool, pistachios", and I'm not sure if it's 100% pistachios or 100% wool, or... both?) and the offensive connotations of the term "Eskimo" (though a quick search on Google tells you it's offensive right at the very top, so in which case I'd suggest simply doing some research), or if there's something I'm not quite understanding here about what Ek is trying to say about either the blanket or the collection. I mean, I still love the blanket itself - just uggggghhhhhh. I feel as though the blanket just got a bit heavier.

Onto a lighter subject, though: yarn. (Though perhaps not so light considering how much of it I have?)

Grenadine Einband for a lace dress I saw in the Handknitting Association Store

There was really no way I could've made it out of Iceland without bringing some yarn with me (despite not yet having used the yarn my brother brought back last time), so here's some more Einband. The dusty rose (Grenadine) above is going to become something akin to Miðja, which I think I saw a sample of in-store. There were two other dresses of similar style, cinched with ribbing at the waist and covered otherwise in allover lace, that I quite liked. I think there's actually too much yarn here, since the dress looked a bit big on me - I didn't try it on - but better safe than sorry, right? I also don't have the pattern, so I think I'm just going to find a lace I like and improvise. As I do.

The below three are going to be used for a sweater. Hopefully I've got enough of the body colour, but even if I don't, I'm sure I'll be able to make do with some of the other Einband I've got in my stash.

Main colour.

         

Contrast/accent colours.

You might notice I haven't really talked about what the wool blanket is sitting on, in the first photo. It's a reindeer skin. I've been eyeing a reindeer skin for a while from the Shetland Tannery (as well as the lambskins, to be honest), and I did wait until the last day to purchase one from Iceland, because we're not really a fur or leather family, and what am I going to do with a reindeer skin? In the end, I couldn't get it off my mind and I caved - especially after hearing one of our tour guides say that the lambskins in Iceland all come from lambs that are used in the meat industry, and that Iceland tries to use as much of the animal as it can, though this reindeer skin in particular did not come from Iceland, as I noted above; I didn't know the airport duty free stores also stocked skins, and Icelandic ones at that! It's always a gamble to wait until the airport anyway though - so now I am a happy owner of a beautiful reindeer skin! I'm still kind of drooling at the Shetland Tannery lambskins though, so if I ever make a trip to Shetland, I might still end up bringing home a sheep, or as much of one as I'll most likely ever own.