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About The
Lopi Sweater & Lopi & Lopi Lite yarn
The lopi sweater, with its characteristic circular
yoke and patterned borders, has come to symbolize Iceland far beyond the
island's boundaries. Iceland is a country of hardy long-haired sheep,
whose wool combines the qualities of softness, sturdiness, and water resistance.
Not surprisingly, knitted and woven woolens have always been a necessity
in the northern climate. But the lopi sweater itself, so closely identified
with Iceland, is a relatively recent phenomenon. Although Icelanders have
been knitting at least since the sixteenth century, the lopi sweater has
a history of only decades.
Traditional knitwear was thick and sturdy, made of
firmly-spun yarn. But in the early decades of this century, several women
began to experiment with knitting directly in lopi, the unspun woolen
fibers, rather than first spinning the lopi into yarn. The first published
account of these experiments appeared in a popular handicraft periodical
in 1923. After that, Icelandic knitters never looked back.
Lopi garments proved a resounding success: the knitted
fabric was light and bulky, and provided good insulation. Before long,
the "typical" hand-knitted round-yoked sweater made its appearance, and
knitters all over the country have been creating endless variations on
the theme ever since. But what are the origins of that inspired original
idea? Nobody knows.
The lopi sweater designs bear some resemblance to knitted
sweaters from southern Sweden (made, however, of much finer yarn), and
also to the colorful bead collars of the Greenland national costume. Whatever
its inspiration, the round-yoked lopi sweater is a unique Icelandic phenomenon,
which has acquired the status of a classic over the past forty years or
so.
The lopi sweaters and other garments in these Reynolds
books are not difficult to knit, and require almost no finishing work
once the last stitch has been cast off. Initially, lopi sweaters were
almost exclusively made in the natural colors of the Icelandic sheep,
i.e. white, grey, light and dark brown and brown-black, which have sometimes
been regarded as the "authentic" shades for a lopi sweater. Reynolds Lopi
is manufactured in both natural tones and a variety of fashion shades,
to allow for all tastes.
JCA
Reynolds Lopi 100% virgin icelandic lopi wool Yarn Card Sample
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