Culture Tours for Women

Our culture tours are built around one simple truth: you learn a country fastest with your hands busy. Every knitting tour in Iceland we run is hosted by Ásdís Birgis, an Icelandic textile designer and certified guide who knows the wool, the patterns and the people behind them. She teaches the workshops herself, and she knows which farm, museum and yarn shop is worth your afternoon.

We travel in a small group of no more than 14 women, in our own minibus, and we stop often. One day it’s a turf farm, the next a textile museum or a plant-dyeing studio, and most evenings end with needles out and someone’s project passed around the table. The North Iceland Knitting Retreat runs in May around Skagafjörður, Eyjafjörður and Mývatn. The South Iceland Knitting & Wellness Retreat runs in August and pairs a full day on Icelandic wool, from fleece to yarn, with sauna rituals, Yoga Nidra and sound healing. Knitfest in North Iceland, in June 2027, is built around Prjónagleði, the annual knitting festival in Blönduós, with festival admission included.

Icelandic wool is unlike anything else: two kinds of fibre on one sheep, spun into lopi that keeps out wind and rain. You’ll choose your yarn at the Icelandic Handknitting Association in Reykjavík on day one, and Ásdís will help you pick a project that fits your skill level. Along the way she weaves in the folklore, the farm life and the history that explain why Icelanders have knitted their way through a thousand winters.

These are the gentlest tours we offer. No hiking boots required, just curiosity and a pair of needles. Most of our guests travel solo and leave with new friends, a finished (or nearly finished) project and a suitcase heavier in wool than when they arrived. Private culture tours for groups of all genders can be arranged on request.