Knit Iceland with Laura Nelkin in March 2017!!!

March 23 - 29, 2017
This trip is full... please sign up for my mailing list if you want to hear about future trips with me!

Unique, distinct, mysterious, legendary - Iceland remains a well-kept travel secret and a mecca for knitters. Iceland is synonymous with knitting and wool is everywhere (even the grocery stores and gas stations). Knitting is as much a necessity in the cold dark winters as it is a labor of love. Join Laura Nelkin, knitwear designer, instructor, and passionate traveler to discover the magic that is Iceland in September. Dive deeply into Iceland's knitting tradition, its unique landscape, and experience its geothermal activity at the hot springs with Laura and a group of avid friendly knitters. This is a dream trip and I hope you'll join in!

Day 1: Travel to Reykjavik

Day 2: Group breakfast, tour of Reykjavik (to get our bearings), visit to Hand Knitter's Guild, check in at hotel and group dinner.

Day 3: Istex Factory Tour and Alafoss Outlet Shop (need I say more? The home of Lopi!!!) Afternoon Tour of the Hellisheiði Power Plant.

Day 4: "Free Day" in Rekjavik, or Optional Tours: Riding Icelandic Horses or Reykjanes Peninsula Tour, Northern Lights Tour in the evening. (extra fee)

Day 5: Saga Trails, Tour a Local Sheep farm; visit the natural dye studio of fiber artist Gudrun Bjarnadottir

Day 6: Golden Circle Tour: Thingvellir National Park, Gullfoss Waterfall, Strokur (active Geysir), and Þingborg Wool Center (heirloom wool and craft center that is AMAZING!)
Farewell banquet in the evening.

Day 7: Visit to Blue Lagoon (can you say geothermal hot spring resort?), and then home!

Laura visited Iceland with her family in 2012, you can read about her adventures and see photos here and here.

The Tour Includes :

• Five nights in superior hotel rooms (double occupancy) at the Center Hotel Arnarhvoll (single supplement $450/extra)
• Private motor coach for group excursions with full time English speaking tour guide/manager
• Knitting designer and passionate traveler Laura Nelkin will escort the group and provide informal instruction
• Breakfast daily, welcome dinner and farewell banquet
• Entrance to all museums and attractions per itinerary
• Gratuities for guide/driver
• Extensive pre-departure material
• Limited group size

VERY Detailed Itinerary available upon request.

Note: there is already a FULL trip to Iceland in September I am SO VERY EXCITED to be started a tradition of traveling to my favorite places with knitters! There are only so many wool-focused activities I can make my family do with me on our adventures! xoxo

Knit Texture: One Motif at a Time and the Contexta Afghan SWAP!

Finally.... my new Craftsy class Knit Texture: One Motif at a Time launched today. This is my 6th class with Craftsy and one that I have been planning for a while.... it is a technique class and also a project class! So you'll learn and make at the same time!

The class is built around the Contexta pattern and teaches you how to create mitered squares and octagons using a toolkit of textured stitch patterns.

These Octagons and Mitered squares are then combined together into a multitude of ways for different size shawls, afghans, baby blankets and more!

You can play with color if you want, or choose a neutral palette... I don't think any two Contexta's will be exactly alike!

I am extra super excited as we have decided to have a Contexta Octagon SWAP in my Ravelry group! It's been almost a year since our last swap, and the structure we've come up with for this one is going to be a pretty special. I've made sure to leave room in my schedule so I can join in.... in fact, I was the first one to sign up! Go read all the details, hopefully you'll want to sign up to play with us!

I want to tell you about the yarn I used.... Craftsy has a new yarn line, called Cloudborn, and they asked me if I would work with Superwash Merino Worsted Twist for Contexta... after swatching I knew it was the perfect yarn, and was happy to say yes! It has a tight twist which lends itself to great stitch definition, is very smooth, and doesn't pill easily (and I did a fair amount of ripping as I designed the octagons and squares for Contexta... which is the best pilling test there is!) We'll be using it in the swap so everyone's Octagon's are similar. I think you'll be really happy with it, it is quite affordable, the colors are great, and it will create an afghan that will last!

Finally, guess what? Craftsy knows how much you love a giveaway.... so who wants to win a Contexta Kit (12 skeins of Superwash Merino Worsted Twist in Oatmeal Heather) to make the oatmeal colored afghan shown above? Enter below! And congrats to Kelli Mullen who won last week's pre-launch giveaway!

Giveaway!!!

(Full Disclosure: All the links in this post are affiliate links... meaning I earn more if you use them, and you pay less, so it is WIN/WIN for us both! Please use them anytime you want to shop for yarn/classes on the Craftsy site!)