You might already know about some popular attractions in South Iceland, including The Golden Circle, but there’s another circle you must visit! The Woolen Circle is a route designed by a group of Icelandic women to promote Icelandic wool to visitors interested in the tradition of knitting. The route includes three stores where you can see and purchase high-quality, handcrafted products made from sustainably sourced wool, and ends in Skálholt, a cultural site with beautiful buildings and a small history museum.
The first store, Hespa, specializes in plant-dyeing. You can watch the traditional method of dyeing wool and purchase the finished product for knitting and crocheting. The second, Þingborg, sells yarn and special knitting tools in addition to their wool. The third store, Uppspuni (a play on the Icelandic for “to spin a lie”), is family-run and makes several densities of wool yarn in their own mini-mill.
Wool products, including the traditional Icelandic sweater ‘lopapeysa,’ have a long history in Iceland. The shops along the Woolen Circle and the women that run them are carrying on the tradition and making it accessible to visitors interested in Icelandic culture.
Are you an avid knitter or Iceland enthusiast planning to visit the Woolen Circle? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter!
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