Prjónaða handtaskan mín

My hand-knitted handbag

Bonus is an Icelandic supermarket chain - You can always recognize the shops from afar by the large,pink pig with the very special look.

The first bonus business was 1989 in the industrial area Vogar in Reykjavík opened by Jóhannes Jónsson and his son Jón Jóhannesson. After a bitter price war, the competitor Hagkaup entered Bónus in 1992 and bought half of the shares; in 1993, Bónus and Hagkaup merged and formed the Baugur Group. Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson finally married in a second marriage a daughter of Pálmi Jónsson, the founder of Hagkaup. The parent company went bankrupt in 2009 as part of the Icelandic banking crisis—the owner family had taken out a loan of 30 billion ISK from Kaupþing Bank in 1998 to acquire shares and was directly affected when Kaupþing stopped all payments in October 2008 (dissolution of the bank in November 2009). Meanwhile, Bónus and Hagkaup (with other subsidiaries) belong to Hagar ehf. (To comparison to the other discounters: The first Nettó store opened 1989 in Akureyri, the first Krónan stores in December 2000 simultaneously in Reykjavík, Hafnarfjörður, and Selfoss.)

Today there is according to the homepage 33 Bónus branches in Island. Outside of Iceland, Bónus also operates 8 branches on the Faroe Islands. 

When we are in Iceland, we always like to shop at Bonus sure, but after all we also have two Bónus stores nearby (20 and 25 km away), and there are also three more supermarkets in the next town. But for some things I just prefer to go to Bónus!

Overall, I associate – like many travelers to Iceland – the cheerfully looking Bónus pig directly with Iceland!

Of course, we also have the usual Bónus promotional clothing that you can occasionally buy in stores (with the white Bónus hoodie actually coming from a second-hand shop) to bring a bit of Iceland into our everyday German life.

And I always have two bonus shopping bags in my handbag, for my shopping in the German supermarket.

Now I suddenly had the idea to get myself another one handbag to knit - with an emulated Bonus pig as motive. As a template, I picked out a picture of a Bónus pig and tried to make a knitting pattern for the pig based on it - and then I knitted.

I still had yellow Léttlopi yarn, also pink Léttlopi yarn, along with some black and a little bit of white. In addition, I bought a complete crafting set for two bags online for just under €16, consisting of a bag base with holes, an adjustable strap, and a handle with eyelets (each in black and brown). For my knitted handbag, I used the black version. Finally, I also got a pink zipper (30 cm) to be able to securely close my bag.

I knitted the bag in one piece with circular knitting needles, basically a long tube, which I then folded over so that the knitted piece is doubled and thus firmer and more stable.

I think I used 3 balls of yellow yarn, just under a ball of pink yarn, and a leftover of black yarn as well as a small leftover of white yarn. If you calculate about €5 per ball, that's around €20 for the yarn, plus roughly €2 for the zipper and €8 for the black bag set. In total, that makes material costs of around €30 for this bag here.

And on top of that, of course, there is the working hours. But for that, I now have a really beautiful unique piece that accompanies me in everyday life in Germany and always happily reminds me of Iceland!

I'm excited - a little more Iceland for our everyday life in Germany again!

Translated from here.

My lopapeysa cushions

Knitting escalation...

Okay, maybe I went a little overboard with my hand-knitted sofa cushions in the Lopapeysa style...

I had set for myself this year as New Year's resolution undertaken, my wool stocks if possible to reduce a bit, and at least knit some of the wool that I still have lying around here into pot holders and sofa cushions for the time being.

At first I have with pot holder as small gifts started for dear people, then I am - for a little more Iceland feeling for our German living room - to cushion in the Lopapeysa style passed over.

For my first sofa cushion I had imagined the cardigan of the former Icelandic president Guðni Jóhannesson chosen as a role model - such a beautiful, typically Icelandic cardigan! He had worn the jacket several times on official, but less formal occasions, e.g., at apen day at the official residence Bessastaðir, where we met him in August 2022, or while hiking with the Norwegian Crown Prince Hákon at the Fagradalsfjall volcano in October 2022.

I tried to knit the pattern of the jacket based on the photos. The first attempt wasn't quite perfect yet; somehow I misjudged the size of the cushion and the pattern ended up a bit too high. In the second attempt, I corrected that – and tried to recreate the cardigan look (with buttons on the placket!). Still not quite perfect – but I already like it a lot!

And after that I have with different patterns continued with the cushions for our blue sofas in the German living room - but am more or less in the same color family "left" so that the cushions do not appear too busy in the final result. So many different shades of blue, in addition white and beige - and a little bit of red, matching the Icelandic flag.

And a pink pillow with red edge and red hearts has also been added, however as gift for one of our children, that's why it also doesn't fit into the color scheme for our sofa cushions. But so nicely bright!

After all, I also have for our Icelandic living room still two sofa cushions in the Lopapeysa style knitted, this time however - matching our brown leather sofa there and the black sofa cushions - with black wool as the base color and as sample colors beige and white.

The pattern of the two cushions is similar, both are beige on the outside and white on the inside, but in detail, both are a little bit different – one has zigzags, the other has diamonds, with a small black dot in the center. I find it very cozy!

Finally, the room of our son in our Iceland house got a little update - including a hand-knitted sofa cushion.

He does like to sit comfortably in his room in his bed, leaning against the wall behind him, reading or playing - and after over five years, you could see it on the wall too, there was such a dark spot on the wood... That's why we decided, for the appearance and for the comfort, to buy a ready-made 'headboard' from Ikea for the bed, with a washable cover.  My husband had to do a bit of tinkering to adapt it to the existing bed in the children's room, but he did a really good job. Now we can simply throw the cover into the washing machine if needed, and the little one can comfortably lean back in bed in the future.

Now I still have two blue sofa cushions for the German living room on my internal to-do list, then I will probably have survived my acute lopapeysa sofa cushion knitting phase... unless some dear person still wishes for a hand-knitted sofa cushion from me..!

Translated from here.

Gróðurhúsið - Mathöllin í Hveragerði

The Greenhouse - the Food Hall in Hveragerði

Hveragerði is a small town in the western part of the region Árnessýsla. This is where you arrive when coming from the capital Reykjavík via the mountain pass road Hellisheiði is driving east on the ring road.

The area is known for hot springs and high-temperature areas. 

In the description of the region, which the administrative officer and farmer Hálfdan Jónsson(1659 - 1707) had written for the scholar and manuscript collector Árni Magnússon (1663 - 1730) in the year 1703, there are indications that the hot springs were already used back then for bathing, cooking, and washing clothes.

As early as 1912, a wool factory was founded here on the river below the small waterfall, the foundations of which can still be seen today when visiting the park of Hveragerði (demolition of the factory 1915). Later, the Mjólkurbú Ölfusinga, the dairy of the people from Ölfus, was founded (bankruptcy 1938). Around the year 1930 a first one then emerged here small place. After 10 years, around 140 people were already living here. Since 1987 is Hveragerði a town (bær), at that time with about 1,500 inhabitants. Today live here just under 3,400 inhabitants. 

The place is also known for its greenhouses, which are being heated with geothermal energy. Here, fruit and vegetables, including bananas, and flowers are cultivated. The city is therefore also called "the Flower Town" ("blómabærinn") and every year in August are held here the blómstrandi dagar, the 'blooming days' - a folk and family festival.

Fitting for the flower and greenhouse city is the Hveragerði's food hall designed as "gróðurhús", i.e. as a greenhouse. From the outside, the building does not necessarily make much of an impression, ...

Back of the building in April 2026
(in heavy snowfall)

.. but that interior design of the house is the Icelandic stage designer and interior architect Hálfdan Pedersen designed. It has really become very beautiful, elegant, and very cozy!

In the December 2021 the greenhouse was opened. 

The building is used for several purposes - on the upper floors there is a hotel, the reception is located downstairs in the hall. In addition, there is still in this half of the building shops, a café and a ice cream parlor (which, however, was closed when we were there in the snowstorm in April). In the other half of the building downstairs, you can find the food hall, the bar and the lounge area. The concept is intended to appeal to both Icelanders and foreign tourists.

We were in the April 2026 here - actually we wanted to take a walk in town, but it was snowing so heavily that we took refuge in the Gróðurhús. I really wanted to check out the food hall anyway!

We first walked here in the direction of the hotel reception, the café, and the shops.

In the "Farmers Market" of "Me & Mu" gourmet products are offered under the motto "beint úr héraði" (= "directly from the region"), which come from farmers and top chefs from Iceland and abroad are offered, especially from smaller producers and companies. Here you can also find skincare products, soaps, napkins, etc.

I found the smoked herring in oil very charming and very nicely packaged, but 2,290 ISK (just under €16) seemed relatively expensive for 120 g - especially since I personally don't really like smoked herring!

I fell in love to the different types of licorice balls immediately; there were either blueberries with white chocolate or salt caramel. Unfortunately, they were also twice as expensive as the balls from 'Lakrids by Bülow' at around 30 € per can, so I reluctantly refrained from buying any – after all, I still have delicious licorice chocolate balls at home.

In the foreground, you can see the clothing of the Icelandic outdoor outfitter 66°North, in the background a selection of menswear retailer Kormákur & Skjöldur. 

This here is the area of epal, a well-known Icelandic design business (founded in 1975). Here, products by Icelandic designers and from the other Nordic countries are particularly offered.

I was personally especially pleased about these cups here.

I fell in love with the cups since the first time I saw them in the shop window of Gallery from Inga Elín seen on Skólavörðustígur. Unfortunately, my husband (yes, I know, he is not entirely wrong!) thought I already had enough cups in the cupboard. But my heart was simply attached to these beautiful cups..!

In January 2024, after I had received the first invoice for my author's pay for the special edition of a journal about Iceland ("Zauber des Nordens", I finally fulfilled my dream and bought one of those beautiful mugs with a part of the fee for about 40 €. Ah - lovely!

Photo from 2024

After the epal shop, we then came from stores to the food hall area on the other side of the building.

Here there is various gastronomic offerings, from wok dishes to burgers, fish & chips, steak or fish soup, to nachos and tacos and small dishes like fries or fried vegetables. The restaurants are currently  (April 2026) usually open from 11:30 am to 9 pm.

The guests sit here comfortably at small tables or long benches, eat, drink, talk, and enjoy life.

For example in Taco Vagninn fresh tacos and nachos are offered with a Mexican flair. Here, among other things, for around 8 € you can get homemade nachos chops with special mayonnaise, spring onions, cilantro, chili, and nuts; the tacos cost (depending on portion size) between about 15 € and 27 €; the portion of fries with mayo, spring onions, cilantro, chili, nuts, bacon, and Parmesan is just under 14 €. Everything really looks very delicious - and the food truck is definitely designed really cool!

In "Hipstur" fresh dishes with fish, meat, and vegetables are at the forefront - both dishes that are permanently on the menu and changing seasonal dishes. For example, the "Fish of the Month" currently costs around €29, a portion of fish & chips costs around €27, the rib steak with fries is just over €45, and the fish soup costs around €19 as a starter or around €22 as a main course.

In the "YUZU", there are juicy burgers with sauce and fries for prices between €21 and €24, as well as small dishes like nuggets, fried chicken pieces, fries, sweet potato fries, or a bowl of kimchi for around €7 to €14.

Recently, there is also the "WokWok", here you can get wok bowls with meat and fish for around €23, as well as wok dishes for around €25 and vegetable dishes for around €13.

Of course, for the guests of the food hall, tap water is also available for free to drink, as is customary in Icelandic restaurants.

This here is then the lounge area behind the bar. It looks really cozy, with the soft old sofas, the armchairs, the low tables, and the many sofa cushions!

Definitely a really cozy place - not just when it's storming and snowing outside again!

Translated from here.