Throwback // Travel // Iceland

It seems like lately everyone is traveling to Iceland. It could be that I have a skewed sampling since my sources are travel blogs and a colleague who is in fact Icelandic. It makes sense that if you love to travel you would travel to Iceland. And it makes even more sense that if you were Icelandic you would travel to your Icelandic home, but I feel like everywhere I turn more and more people are vacationing there. And I don't blame them.

Iceland was the most spectacular vacation EVER! Again my bias may be showing since it was the last vacation we took (almost three years ago!!!) and I would love to travel abroad again, but four kids under 8 make big travels more difficult. For now, I remain satisfied with our local/regional excursions and I really can't complain.

Iceland is surreally beautiful. Words (and photos) cannot do the island justice. We went in late July and the lighting was perfect the entire time, even at three in the morning. We spent three days, used Reykjavik as our base, and rented a car to tour the surrounding area including the Golden Circle which included the major waterfalls Skogafoss and Gullfoss, and Thingvellir where the Icelandic parliament was held. We also took a whale and puffin watching excursion. We were total tourists. I hope someday we can return and do a full island tour and visit places off the beaten path.

Crimson Trail

The canyon boasts extensive and varying landscapes as we discovered in our attempt to hike the Crimson trail. The trail starts as a nature walk along the river, filled with cat tails, hyper-green moss, wooded forests, floating ducks, and birdsong. After about a mile or so, the trail does a 180 at a steep incline, weaving above the tree-line and into the rocky limestone mountain. The path itself changes from standard dirt to loose rocks; the views are nothing short of beautiful, though thighs will be burning.

On this particular day, I had Baby Boy strapped to my front and a pack laden with food, water, and hot chocolate on my back. Not the best idea. I felt off-balance and unsure of my footing so we turned back before completing the trail. Although after a closer look at the guide, I can honestly say that I have no idea where we were. There are so many paths that converge and diverge that it is highly possible we were on an entirely different trail.

The girls did wonderfully. They climbed the whole way with little assistance and very minimal complaints and Little Man traveled in his pack pointing out all the things he found interesting. The weather turned cold as we returned to the car so we lunched from within the confines of our van. It proceeded to snow upon arrival home. It's been the strangest winter I have ever experienced. We've had mild summer temperatures in the morning and snow in the afternoon. I suppose I am glad that I get the best of both worlds: a wonderful hike in the morning and soup and snuggles in the evening.

Wind Caves

A few weeks ago, when Spring began to show it's gorgeous head, we traveled into the canyon for a family hike. It was still sweatshirt weather and snow capped the tippy tops of the mountains, but it was deliriously wonderful to get outside and breathe the fresh air before the snow fell upon us again.

Wookie climbed almost the entire way up on her own. It was a 2 mile hike (one way), with an elevation gain of 980 feet, no small feet for toddler legs (or adult legs for that matter). Initially, the trail ran alongside the road with a spectacular drop off that set fear into my mother's heart, but shortly veered into the mountain creating multiple switchbacks, a few of which were slick with oozy mud shadowed by the mountain. Once we reached the caves we learned first hand how they received their name as the wind was enough to rock us just a bit. The beginning photo shows the twin caves. The views were amazing: the river snaked it's way through the canyon, carving a path between the mountains; the sky was blue, the clouds were fluffy, and the breeze refreshed our spirits. 

When through the woods and forest glades I wander / I hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees; / When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze / Then sings my soul

- How Great Thou Art

Confession

In the last four weeks, I have picked up my crochet hook exactly once. The sewing machine hasn't been turned on, and the fabric for my husband's quilt lies carefully folded in my craft box waiting for me to have enough time (and energy) to pull it out and begin embroidery work again. Sharp needles and infants don't exactly mix well, and currently I'd much rather snuggle the infant.

What have I been up to then? 

Snuggling baby boy, teaching the oldest her lessons, washing dishes, cleaning dirt off floors and faces, building a railroad with the rascals, reading countless renditions of "We're going on a bear hunt," gathering various sticks and pinecones, listening to loud renditions of cops and robbers, dreaming aloud with my husband, folding laundry, picking up toys, remembering College Algebra (no easy task), changing umpteen diapers, sweeping the kitchen, drinking in our early spring, and cherishing this most precious time.

Please bear with me as I reevaluate (yet again) what this space is to be used for. My intention is still to craft though with four children under eight it won't be as often as originally planned. Perhaps delving into my real, messy, haphazard, wonderful life is better suited to the current situation. 

Woolly Cowl

Over the summer at our local farmer's market, a family owned and operated sheep farm sold a skein of natural wool (and a 2 lb shoulder roast consumed for Christmas) to an ever-growing family. With some slight manipulation that skein of yarn turned into a warm, woolly cowl.

Without following a particular pattern, I really just eye-balled the size, measured against my own neck, until it seemed like the right fit. I worked double crochets in the round for 9 rows. No television show to gage a time frame, just me and my oldest hooking along in bed during a lazy Saturday afternoon.

Spring scarf

Yes, yes, a spring scarf for Christmas. The recipient is somewhat of a scarf aficionado and owns several (and that's putting it mildly) so I wanted to create something that was more unique and unlike what she already owned, hence a Spring scarf for winter.

This scarf is quite ridiculously long as I got a bit carried away with the chain at the beginning and did approximately 216 (if not more). It was quite fun to make, as it follows a similar rhythm to the ripple blanket, and only took a few episodes of Psych to whip together. I love the wavy texture and the bright yellow color. I think that during the dark days of winter it'll be a beacon of what's to come: Spring! 

Fox cup cozy

Now that Christmas has passed and we've rung in the festivities of the New Year, I can share a few of the items that I made for gifts. I kept it fairly small and simple seeing as I'm currently growing a human and raising several others. Starting with this Fox cup cozy:

Using hardly any yarn, and very little time, the project took a total of two episodes of Sledgehammer to complete, including the base and assembly. The adorable pattern can be found here. I followed the pattern exactly, but seeing as I don't drink coffee and don't have any fancy cups to try it out on I just guess that the sizing width work. Making this foxy cozy gave me an excuse to bring back into my family's (and now your) lives the greatest song of 2013.