Icelandic Dreyma - A Souvenir Sweater

Here is is, the ultimate vacation souvenir: one you have to make yourself.

(This is gonna be a long one with lots of pictures, so buckle up.)

(Also warning: links to all patterns are Ravelry links.)

In 2018, my online knitting friend, Michelle, and I went to Iceland. You may know Michelle from her blog or podcast or Ravelry group, and we met years ago on Ravelry when she knit most of my knitting pattern designs within a year or so. We both love hiking and at some point, started talking about taking an epic hiking and knitting trip to Iceland. And then... we did. The internet is a magical place that brought two women together to road trip and leisurely walk (not as much hiking as we planned) around Iceland. True, her family was worried that I might be a man, but I am NOT a man and everything went fine. Here's a video breakdown of our trip that Michelle made and it makes me cry, so enjoy:

One of our Must-See stops was the Álafoss Mill Store in Mosfellsbær, where we both planned our knits and bought a sweaters' worth of Léttilopi wool. We spent a *long* time there, and it was well-spent.

Michelle chose colors that reflected the Icelandic landscape, but... I couldn't resist this gold color. I had already earmarked a few traditional-looking yolk patterns and while I was in the store, I decided to go with Dreyma by Jennifer Steingass and chose a grey to compliment the gold color. 

There's my gold in the wild, and the gorgeous colors Michelle chose.

We went to Iceland in April and I started my Dreyma in October of 2018... and then it languished for almost a year. I made a TON of changes to this pattern. I knew I wanted it to be a more cropped and vintage silhouette and I started knitting the pattern as written and then... went off the rails. After I separated the sleeves and continued to the body, I started making a slimmer and cropped look. Although I like the final form, I kinda love that in-progress picture where it's just a little cropped vest. Very cute.

Side note: Pickle LOVES this sweater and continually made biscuits on it while I was knitting it and has continued to love on it since it's been finished.

 

I finally finished this beauty in October of 2019 (shameful.) I looked forward to a winter of wearing it and reliving my glorious time in Iceland.

But... I just didn't. I think I wore this one time last winter. The neckline was *way* too wide. Since it's a rougher wool, I have to wear a tank top under it and the neckline was shifty. The vibe was way more 80's than I like and it just wasn't working for me. I finally accepted that I would have to pull it out and completely re-knit the sweater in a smaller size for it to get wear. Which really sucked, because Lopi is incredibly sticky and since it's not plied, I was worried I would lose a lot of the fiber while ripping it out, if not completely tear through the yarn. But an unworn sweater is a waste of space, so I accepted my fate.

UNTIL. One night during quarantine, I was scrolling through the ole Instagram and I came across Morgan's IGTV video about adding a tighter neckband to an existing yolk. LIFE. SAVER. Since I still had a bit of yarn leftover, I was able to follow Morgan's advice and carefully remove the rolled neckline and replace it with a 1x1 neckband that looks and fits much better. I am thrilled and very excited to wear this sweater in winter 2020/2021!

Also, side note: please let these photos be a teaching moment about how to fold your sweaters - not down the middle. Do y'all see that line? I'm cringing.