Pangur Ban Shop Update

~ finfolkandoak

Hiya <2

I finally found some time to prepare one of my most recent Pangur Ban sweaters for the shop. It has been sitting with homegrown lavender sachets in my cedar chest waiting for this very rainy holiday Monday here in Nova Scotia. The rain is driving and every so often a pouring day is just what the heart needs. So after measuring and creating a handmade cotton bag, I’m sitting with tea by the fire to share this with you. This particular sweater was knit in the autumn of 2022 with lett-lopi Icelandic wool. It’s a really lovely handknit sweater and will be available here (Of course, the pattern is now also available :). I still wear my handknit Icelandic sweaters that are going on 10 years old. I have some for outdoor work in the winter, wearing under my coat and especially cold days and some for general wear both going out or sticking around home.

Because of the rising price of wool, I may be stepping back from knitting Icelandic style sweaters for a while. I currently have one more Pangur in my cedar chest to be listed in addition to a few random balls of lopi that will be used to knit fingerless mittens, but after that, I may not be knitting anywhere near as many Icelandic woolen items unfortunately. I’ve really come to terms with a lot changing in life over the past few years and have accepted winding down knitting as much with Icelandic wool. I still have a lot of wool – mainly locally produced skeins and will continue to knit mittens for you guys with my stash. The pinkish pair sold recently and will be shipped out this week to our neighbours to the south (thank you!). I’m currently working on a simple pattern so will have a few up as well probably this spring (just when everyone needs wool most :P). So although Icelandic style knitting may be dwindling in the woodfolk world – creating and dreaming will be moving on as always.

A place to just be

I hope you’re all doing well. We had 3 massive trees taken down recently that were dying from an invasive beech beetle and so we are very busy with cutting wood and stacking for next winter. Thankfully, I think we have wood to heat our home for the next 2 years! It’s a massive undertaking preparing all your own wood, but something that I find tremendous amount of meaning and joy in. I find it greatly satisfying to see wood stacked and knowing that it’s providing the most wonderful heat in the depths of winter. I grew up with a woodstove and little hands stacking wood. Other than that, I am SO looking forward to spring! For green growth and bird song. For seedlings to start sprouting. This year, I’m going to attempt to grow wisteria from seed (and hope the deer are totally repulsed by it!). We are also planning a little bit of a liberating road trip soon. Sometimes, the only thing I can imagine in life is getting in the car and driving, camping, eating, hiking, sleeping and repeat. I become fixated on it and hopefully, it will happen. Truthfully friends, I’m not sure if I should keep going with a blog. I am on the cusp of deleting all social media from my phone and wonder, should I keep writing here? For now, I am going to keep dreaming, knitting with my stash while stoking a fire, working my job, creating in the early hours and planting, planting, planting, even on this small rocky property! Seriously, you don’t need very much to be connected to nature. We are all part of it just as much as the stones and trees and sometimes I think we completely forget this.

Well dreamers, I hope you’re doing well and finding connection and meaning in your day to day.

Talk soon, xo

An order to be shipped tomorrow

33 thoughts on “Pangur Ban Shop Update”

    1. Thanks Kate! Yes, the cotton bag is a very rustic sewn item that I make to store any knits in that I make and sell. I also put our homemade soap into similarly made bags. So any knits come in these simple bags ☺️

      Thanks for the feedback too, I appreciate it!

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  2. Oh, I do hope you continue to blog. Your blog is one of my favorites! I love both your writing and your photos; especially the knitting content. I feel like I take a little trip when I read your posts!

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    1. Thank you Renee! That means a lot. I am thinking of continuing on here about random musings. I do love taking pictures so it will probably be my outlet! I’m glad I could reach out to you, thanks for being here ❤️

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      1. I do hope you continue with your blogs. I have only recently discovered you and love reading about your part of the world. Your photographs are beautiful and as for the knitting…….
        Sending love from England x

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  4. I also enjoy your blog very much, your beautiful knitting, the pictures of the landscape and your animals. I also enjoy the pictures of the snow. We have had NO snow at all this winter (in Maryland). Thank you.

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    1. Thank you Aisha! Your words are greatly appreciated as is your readership ❤

      No snow! Admittedly, I'm sitting beside a window now and we also have NO snow – it's actually so depressing in winter to not have everything silent and aglow with snow! They are calling for some this week so fingers crossed!

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  6. I second Renee, your blog is one of my favorites as well! Your art practice, garden, travel, or random musings – its all beautiful and nourishing! Hope you continue, but understand if it is time to move on ❤.

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  7. Good morning from Yorkshire, UK. I thank you for your blog and enjoy reading what you have to say about your part of the world. Stepping back from social media is something I understand as I have deleted my Facebook account but have kept my Instagram. It will be a shame if you stop doing these lovely blogs but will understand. The world is changing and the price of things has to be considered when going forward.
    Once again, thank you for inviting us into your way of life.
    Best regards Josephine

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  8. Good morning, I very much love your blog posts and have slowed all social media which was inspired by you! So thank you for that, it has felt like a gentler way to exist in a digital world. I am really enjoying your photos and writings. But of course follow your heart and if you ever stop blogging it is most understandable. Health first 💛😊

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    1. Hi!
      Thanks for leaving your thoughts with me! I really appreciate it and feel a little overwhelmed with the support. I think it’s definitely fair to say that I will maintain this blog and keep weaving words and taking photographs, even if in the future it is just my mom that reads, haha!

      I’m so happy too that I inspired you to slow down your social media use! I know first hand how incredibly beneficial this can be for our mental and physical health. It’s such a liberating thing to do I find not only for yourself but the immediate people in our lives. I’ve basically left the SM landscape and when I go back, it’s changed so much that it’s not appealing to me anymore. I’ll eventually write more about living without it entirely in future blogs – I have so many thoughts on the matter!

      Anyway, thank you so much for your support and words ❤

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  9. I love your blog….your photos and writing and watching the growth of your creativity. It is inspiring and comforting. But I do understand the desire to disconnect from media.
    Leandra

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    1. Thank you Leandra, that means a lot<3 I feel like the blog is something I could move forward with in the future while disconnecting from other forms entirely. Thanks for your encouragement ❤

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  10. Just to let you know that I like to read your blog. Why not just keep it and post when you feel like? No obligations!

    So nice to read from an other part of the world. Also here (North West Europe), I’m looking forward to spring. We are getting more day light already.

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    1. Hey Barbara,

      I think you’re right! And it’s what I will do 🙂 I’ve written in a journal since I was 9 years old so in a way, this is very natural for me.

      We are just across the Atlantic from eachother! Here, it’s still cold and the ground is frozen but those sunrises lately have been pure magic 🙂

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  12. You must do what your heart tells you<3 It is lovely receiving your (news)letters, your beautiful photos, words and thoughts. Beautiful patterns and knitting. I will miss them if they stop, but I keep all that you have shared in memory and heart, like a treasure.
    Love and best of wishes from the Westcoast of Norway.

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    1. Aw thank you Gina, that’s extremely sweet of you! Right now, I think I will keep writing here – my hope for the future is to leave all SM but keep my blog to share my art, knitting, nature etc. I’m really happy it reaches you and that you enjoy it – thank you ❤

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  13. I really enjoy reading your updates and seeing your projects! The photos are lovely and they inspire me to work on my own projects. I imagine stepping away from social media is really rewarding, though!

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      1. Only barely! LOL. My primary instruments are violin and piano, but the word “mandolin” sounds cooler than either of those. 😉

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  14. I have been a silent reader of your blog for some time now. I have found it so peaceful and beautiful and I would be very sad if you no longer blogged! But having said that, I do appreciate that it might feel onerous to you to keep up with it. You are tremendously creative and your approach to your life has been truly inspirational to me. In times of stress during the pandemic I have saved you emails so that I can look back at your lovely pictures. It might surprise you that I am a grandmother in her 60’s in New Orleans and yet your blog has really touched me. I hope that you will consider keeping up the blog in a limited way but if that is not possible, just know that there are readers out there whose lives you have impacted with lovely writing!

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    1. Hi Lynn, thanks very much for reading, for leaving your thoughts and for the incredibly kind words. I’m honoured that I could be of inspiration to you and that you like my writing (this is always such a massive compliment to me as I struggled for years in elementary school with writing). I love hearing about how diverse the people that are drawn to reading this blog are as well, and always feel such an excitement from reaching people from around the world. New Orleans is one of those magical places that I hope to visit someday. When I met Jamie, he was studying jazz in university so we really have to get there someday!

      I feel so inspired as well from hearing from other people and will definitely keep up this blog. I think I need to rethink how I write in it, perhaps as though I’m writing a letter to a friend rather than I’m putting something out into the world and no one will care! So thank you for leaving your thoughts!! Blessings!

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  15. Hi Julia,

    I’m sorry for not commenting more.. since going back to school and moving, my life turned upside down. But I always read your blog, and I love to see your artwork. I would be very sad if you stopped updating. I respect if you need to though. Take care ❤️

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    1. You definitely don’t need to apologize!! You are doing so much in life! But I do appreciate your words, thank you! I’m going to do my best to continue and feel generally more inspired since I’ve stepped away from instagram more permanently 🙂

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  16. Yes, just add my voice (from the NW of England) to those above – thank you for all the lovely photos and restful words. It’s lovely to live your part of the world vicariously a little. Totally get about social media though and have felt a lot better since removing FB from my ‘phone. I enjoy the WP blogs I read a lot, and have found them a rich source of inspiration. I blog when I can and to keep my hand in (as tech keeps changing) and to keep a record for myself, maybe one day when I have more time I might write more, who knows. Just do what feels right for you.

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  17. Hi Julia!

    It’s been a while since you wrote this post, and it’s been a while since I’ve left any comments on your writings. Life has changed so much lately I’ve felt sort of out of words. But I do enjoy reading your words so so much. I sincerly hope you keep writing here. Reading your blog feels like taking a step out of daily life and just taking a break from everything – I enjoy it so much. I’d very much like to get in touch with you again, if you would like that. My e-mail is still the same. ❤️

    Much love
    Camilla

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