On Sunday night we got back from hosting TWO knitting retreats in Iceland back to back! And I think we’ve officially decided that 55-60 and kinda sunny is the best weather on the planet, especially after coming back to this heat wave!

I wanted to share some pics and highlights of our trip - spoiler alert: WE HAD AN AMAZING TIME!

Retreat 1

We kicked off at the Blue Lagoon and had beautiful, sunny, clear weather! We could even see the volcano erupting in the distance - it was wild!

We were so lucky to get to the Blue Lagoon, which had been closed because of the lava. Here we were able to get out of our bus to take pics of the fresh lava that was smoking and really close to the road we were on.

We BUNDLED UP against the wind to take the Golden Circle Tour! The wind was crazy but we made the most of it!

We got plenty of time to explore Reykjavik and took a morning hike for pastries any chance we got!

Pastry girlies! The pastries in Reykjavik are next level!

Despite the Alafoss Lopi factory store being unexpectedly closed, we found yarn! And we took over our beautiful hotel’s lobby to design our own yoke sweaters. And we settled in every night for knit night!

Laura and I had a day off between retreats, so we got some R&R at the Sky Lagoon in our matching suits!

It was so beautiful that I actually got sunburned, like I’m sitting here looking as tan as I ever have in my entire life after my TRIP TO ICELAND of course!

Retreat 2

And then we did it all again! We had a MUCH DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE at the Blue Lagoon with crew 2 - it was SO FOGGY! But we were just happy we got in - the Lagoon was closed for a few days between our trips because the lava took the road we used!

We had an amazing tour guide for our Golden Circle Tour the second time around - shout out to Beggi! The wind died down and we were really able to enjoy the sites.

I just love this pic of us out and about in Reykjavik! It was so fun how every opportunity to hang we took, getting delicious food and bevs at every turn.

And we found yarn! Despite the Alafoss Lopi Factory being closed AGAIN, we visited a natural dyeing studio that we all freaked out about!

SO INSANE about that damn lopi factory - there was a woman near the store when we saw the same closed sign up in the window we saw the first time and she said the owners were, “lacking enthusiasm” - that’s for sure!

This crew was VERY focused on treats! We all hit the delicious Icelandic ice cream all the time. Salted licorice and rye bread were favorites!

And this crew was focused on their sweater designing! Colored pencils, graph paper, and worksheets were always flying around!

As was the confetti yarn! Shout out to twins Mary and Meg (um NOT twins but they kept getting confused for one another… weirdly!) for allowing me to twin with them one day!

One thing that made this second crew extra special for me was that my mom came! It was her first international trip and she did great! It was so fun to have her with me on a trip for once! Something tells me this won’t be her last time across the Atlantic!