Friday, February 17, 2012

Yet Another Lopapeysa, Some Pics and a Little Secret

At the beginning of January a good friend of mine asked me if I could knit a lopapeysa for her mother who was visiting her from Poland... and as maybe many of you know I can't say no to my friends! So, I took the new task and began from the beginning... as it should be: choosing pattern and colors.

There is a pattern that is hugely popular in Iceland. There is a company of designers that is called Farmer's Market that took a very classical lopapeysa pattern (Lopi 120) and made some little changes to it (mostly in the way colors are used... because I think that the pattern itself is unaltered) and it became a huge success, mostly I think because the company has a very smart way of showing their products with great photography and style (as you can see in their website).
Taken from Ístex.is
Well... It was no surprise for me that she chose THAT pattern. I almost even expected that, hehe. And when it came to having to choose colors... uuh surprise again!... she chose a color combo that is very similar to the one I have used to knit other three lopapeysas. It is a very nice color combo... it looks really good and classy. 

Kristina in her new lopapeysa
Kristina
Laura in her lopapeysa
Laura
Lærke´s new lopapeysa
Lærke
So... the colors she chose were moss green as main color, pink (a darker pink compared to the three above) and off-white.

So Marlena's lopapeysa looks like this:

Marlena
Folded and ready.

Marlena

Materials:

* Yarn:  Double folded plötulopi.

* Needles: 4.5 and 5.5 mm


Anna trying the lopapeysa I made for her mom
Anna María trying her mom's jersey. She liked it so much that she also wants one! So there might be yet another one like this in the future :)

Ribbing
Detail on the ribbing (see the notes).
Notes:

* This time I did some things different. This lopapeysa is not exactly as the others:


  • I used my new favorite cast-on: The Twisted German Cast-on. I really like it a lot and I highly recommend it. It is very similar to the normal long tail cast on but it adds a twist to the yarn which makes it be stronger and much more elastic. 

  • I used a different kind of ribbing. For the other three I used just moss stitch. What I did now was to knit one row in 1x1 ribbing and then one knitted row ( *[row1: K1P1; row2: K all] repeat from the *).  It is very flat, it has a great texture and I find it somehow to be very feminine but strong at the same time. Does anybody know if this kind of ribbing has any special name?

  • The neck line is not as wide in this one. I  made it using the same ribbing I described before and it is double (it is folded and sewn inside). For the other ones I just finished the pattern and did the cast-off with no ribbing.

  • For the cast-off I used one of my favorite ones: The knit two together through the back loop (is it also called the decrease cast-off??) using a needle 1mm bigger. The result is stretchy enough to do the sewing of the folded neckline.

* When I finished this lopapeysa, while I was putting it on Ravelry I started to count how many icelandic jerseys and vests I have made this far: This is number 20!! And the funny thing is that of those 6 have the same pattern and of those 4 are moss green+pink+off-white and the other 2 are black-gray-white. You see? This is a very popular pattern!

Well, now this pullover must be flying to Poland! I hope that Marlena will use it a lot!

Now, I finally got some pictures of the happy owners of the honeycomb hats (Mesi) I knitted at the end of last year!

K.G. / Honeycomb hat
Kristín Gaia... she chose this colors, aren't they great together?


K.G. / Honeycomb hat
Kristín Gaia.


Nicolás.

And finally... a little secret. I think I have never shared this openly and yesterday I realized that there are even friends who don't know about it (I was actually at a café with Sif yesterday when she saw it... she had no idea I had it!!)... Well, here it is: I have a tattoo :p

I got it about a year and half ago... so you can see how important knitting is for me :)

Ok... that is all for now. Have a great weekend!!




49 comments:

  1. ¡¡¡OMG!!!!...¡yo tampoco sabía de tu tatoo!!!!!es genial!!
    ese punto que dices (el de k1,p1 una vuelta y k all la otra) yo lo conocí hace poco como punto arena (me tejí un cuello)...me encanta la textura que tiene!

    DI-VI-NO el lopapeysa! ya lo sabes, me encanta! ;P
    y pongo las manos en el fuego a que su destinataria lo adorará!
    hermosos los gorros también!
    besos! y feliz finde!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. La verdad es que creo que no muchos saben de mi tatuaje... cuando ando con mangas cortas se puede ver la cola de la lana que sale de la bola... entonces la gente me pregunta, como mi amiga Sif el jueves pasado.

      Punto arena! Qué bueno saberlo! Lo encuentro súper lindo! Y para hacer el ribbing queda perfecto!

      El finde estuvo genial! Nos fuimos a una cabana que queda como a una hora y media de Reykjavík. Estuvo todo perfecto: frío, nieve (nieve y más nieve), jacuzzi afuera, buena comida, buena companía... en fin. Excelente :)

      Un besote grande Ro! Y gracias por el dato del punto arena! :)

      Delete
  2. Uhhh...did you know that once it's told, it's no longer a secret?! :-) I wanted a tatoo long before it was "the thing" to do. It meant a trip to Chicago, from Michigan,(tattoo parlors were few and far between then)so it never happened. Don't think I would have done one quite so large, but I do like your choice! My son got two when he was in college and I told him that was enough for me to identify his body should I ever need to. Crazy Mom!! :-)

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    1. Hehe, now you know my secret... which wasn't so much of a secret but I realized that not many people knew of it, and well, I had really never talked about it until now :)

      You make me laugh so much, crazy mom! I wish my mom would have had taken it like that... she can be so dramatic!

      I will try to write you back if not today... tomorrow :)
      Hugs.

      Delete
  3. Los suéteres preciosos... ¡pero el tatuaje me ganó! Está hermoso ¡y grandote! Yo también quiero un tatuaje sobre tejido, pero primero voy a ponerme otro diseño de tipo espiritual que tengo en mente. Ya tengo un tatuaje en la muñeca izquierda desde hace más de dos años, y hay gente que apenas me lo ha notado hace poco. Les sorprende mucho, porque en general soy una persona bastante conservadora :) ¡Felicidades, qué gusto leerte siempre!

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  4. I really like this sweater! The design and colors are very pretty. I like the look of the ribbing. Very nice! I had never seen the word, "lopapeysa" before. I looked it up to see that it means, "sweater" and I even found a recorded pronunciation. It's fun to learn new things! :-) I'm amazed at how many you have made! The hats look great too! Have a great weekend! :-)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Lopapeysa... it is a funny word (but believe me... this one is one of the easy ones. Some icelandic words can be a nightmare!). It made up of two words actually: lopi which is the icelandic wool and peysa which means sweater.

      I am also amazed at how many I have done! It seems it was only yesterday I was learning how to knit and purl!

      Delete
  5. you knitted again a fantastic sweater, I love the colors and your tattoo made me smile..
    have a great weekend... ciao ciao Christa

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    Replies
    1. Hi Christa!
      I think I can already knit this pattern without looking! But you know? It is always fun to knit it :)
      The tattoo... hehe, it was just a crazy funny idea :)

      Delete
  6. Me encant tu tattoo... yo hace tiempo que estoy pensando en hacerme uno parecido.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Eeeh! Dale! Ya has pensado en colores? Dónde?
      Yo tengo muchas ganas de otro! Son un poco adictivos :)

      Delete
  7. tengo que tejer un jersei de estos... me encantan!!
    el tatoo una pasada...

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    Replies
    1. Vamos! Si te animas te puedo enviar el patrón del canesú :)
      El tatuaje, jeje... gracias!

      Delete
  8. What a great design for a tattoo!

    You've made some beutiful things - I especially like the winter photos of the shawl outside.

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    Replies
    1. Hey Ivar!
      It is so nice to see you here! Thank you so much for visiting me and leaveing me a note :)

      The tattoo, hehe, it was just a crazy idea that became a reality. Somehow, knitting has become a very important part of my life. So this is my little tribute to it :)

      Delete
  9. Peysurnar þínar eru ótrúlega fallegar, vel prjónaðar og vandaðar. Húfurnar eru líka æði - þetta prjónamynstur í þeim er svo skemmtilegt! :-) Knúsíykkarhús og góða helgi!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Elsku Kristín mín, takk kærlega fyrir öll fallegu orðin þín um peysurnar mínar :)

      Þú verður að prúfa að prjóna þessar húfur. Það tekur engan tíma að prjóna þær!

      Knús.

      Delete
  10. ... já og tattúið þitt finnst mér æði og svo ótrúlega viðeigandi!

    ReplyDelete
  11. il est magnifique ce pull j adore
    les bonnet sympa aussi cool le tatouage

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    Replies
    1. Salut Beatrice :)
      Merci beaucoup pour votre visit et belle commentaire :)

      Delete
  12. Yo ese tatoo lo vi... en una piscina, puede ser? Breiðholtslaug?

    ReplyDelete
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    1. haha, humm... quizás en Salalaug? o Laugardalslaug? o Bláa lónið? :)

      Delete
  13. Oh. My. You are so very talented! Do you sell your knitted items anywhere?

    Also, looove the tat . . . and I've been loving the Iceland pics as I've been poking around here -- so pretty and different from where I live!

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    1. Hi Heidi!
      No, I don't sell what I knit. I don't have a shop or anything like that. I mostly knit for the fun of it and to pamper my friends, hehe.

      I agree with you about Iceland... it is absolutely beautiful and totally different from anything I had seen before! :)
      (Where do you live BTW? )

      Delete
  14. Maestro de lopapeysa estás hecho. Aunque los otros estilos no se te dan mal tampoco ;-) El tato está muy original.

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    Replies
    1. Gracias Paco! :)
      Óyeme, qué pasó con tu Riddari?

      Delete
  15. ahhhhhhhhhh.... pues con ese frio ¿¿¿¿ cuannndo te íbamos a v er el brazo??? jajajaja,, :) yo estoy buscando un tatoo para mi cumple,, jejeje, la crisis de los 40 y pico!!! :) bueno,, tu secreto me gano la chuleada d e los sueteres!! divinosss!!! y la combinacion es magnifica!!,, los gorros ¡ perfectos!! felicidadess por todo!!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Jajajaj! Toda la razón Ale!
      Estás pensando en un tatuaje relacionado con el tejido? Tienes algunas ideas ya?
      Pues cuando lo hagas no te olvides de compartirlo con nosotros!!
      Un beso!

      Delete
  16. Caramba, este Lopapeysa es, con diferencia, el que más me ha gustado de los que has tejido. Tengo en mente tejerme una chaqueta con un diseño similar, pero la quiero en alpaca..., no se si funcione...
    Mola un montón ese tatuaje :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gracias Pilar!
      Pues es también uno de mis favoritos... creo que el rosado más oscuro queda MUCHO mejor que el otro.
      En alpaca! No veo por qué no habría de funcionar! Si te animas te puedo enviar el patrón de los hombros... es muy sencillo :)

      Delete
  17. I like your tatoo...:)

    In spanish the name of your rib is punto arena (sand).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you menduca!
      It is good to know what it is called! Thank you so much!

      Delete
  18. I have heard it called "seed stitch ribbing" Sometimes I do the leg of my socks in that stitch.
    I am totally fascinated with your blog. I have always toyed with the idea of visiting Iceland, but your lovely pictures have cemented my resolve to do so. Someone told me there is actually a ferry service between Iceland and Shetland Islands. I would love to do that trip.
    Your work is fantastic. Can you tell me where you got the hat pattern?
    Ron in Mexico

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  19. Me encanta tu tatuaje, siempre he pensado que no había nada que fuera lo suficientemente importante para mi como para tatuarmelo, pero viendo el tuyo se me ocurren ideas. Además es que el diseño es super moderno y te queda genial.
    El jersey precioso, como todo lo que tejes, ojala llegue yo algún día a tener la maña y la rapidez que tu tienes. Un abrazo

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    Replies
    1. El tema de los tatajes hay que tomarlo con calma, jeje. Lo digo por experiencia propia :p
      Vamos! Estos jerseys tejidos en redondo no tienen ninguna ciencia! La mana y rapidez llegará con la práctica y atreviéndose a hacer cosas que uno cree son imposibles :)
      Un beso!

      Delete
  20. þær eru heppnar dömurnar í kringum þig og Gumma :) falleg peysa og húfa. Og tattúið er geggjað :D við heimtum að fá að skoða það betur næst.

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    Replies
    1. Takk Lóa mín :) Vissirðu ekki heldur að ég væri með húðflúr?! :p

      Delete
  21. Oh gracias por haber pasado
    El pull me encanta tengo uno ya casi casi terminado otros por hacer me encanta la construcción de estos tricots y como se pueden hacer los dibujos que quieras
    Espero que el que regale le vaya bien a su dueña sino oupssss
    Tatuajes ohhh que bien , siempre me lo han prohibido pero ahora me haré uno cuando encuentre un buen tatoo
    Ya tengo dos en mente así que a probar no mas
    Besitos

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  22. The Farmer's Market design is only very slightly different, but not as colorful as your rendition. Did I ever mention that David and I got to meet them and see their studio when we were there last year?

    Also, love the tattoo. Someday I want a third one, but it's a decision that shouldn't be rushed, IMO.

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    Replies
    1. I didn't know you met them... I don't even know where their studio is. Now, to be honest, I am not a big fan of their products since I read that they have them knitted abroad (Portugal, Ukrania and if I remember well even China) because it is much cheaper since handwork is kind of expensive in Iceland. So, I think I will never buy a piece from them...

      Delete
    2. Having the work done abroad is an unfortunate necessity if they're going to make any money at it and keep the company alive. Also, if they're selling their products at a price people will actually pay, then the amount they could afford to pay per piece is less than most Icelanders are going to be willing to accept. David sometimes gets people complaining that his sweaters aren't made here in the US, but if they weren't made in Peru, they would end up costing at least two to three times more and nobody would buy them. Even with production being done there, getting the product you want at a price the market will support is a real challenge. When you see the industry from the inside, you understand that it's not that easy to be one of the small fish.

      Delete
  23. Que lindo tatuaje Rodrigo!!!!!, hace rato que no venía por tu blog, pero hoy me di un banquete jeje, todo tan lindo e inspirador :), tus fotografías uff realmente un descubrimiento ver los hermosos lugares que puedes visitar.

    Un abrazo grande desde Santiago de Chile!
    Poly

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    1. Hoola Poly!!
      Tantísimo tiempo! Me alegra mucho verte por estos lados :)
      Qué tal todo en Santiago?
      Muchas gracias por visitarme .
      Un beso grande!

      Delete
  24. I love the sweater! The colors and patterns are so pretty. Also, the honeycomb pattern on the hat is really cool. :-) And, I love your tattoo! :-)

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  25. I found your blog through Knitting Paradise and have really enjoyed looking at your beautiful work! Thank you for sharing it!

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  26. Hi Kate :)
    Thank you so much for visiting me!
    I am glad you liked my blog :Þ
    Knitting Paradise? What is that? I had never heard of it before.

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  27. Hi Rod-
    I hardly know where to start! Your knitting truly amazes me- the sweaters are just beyond my comprehension - that anyone could knit something SO beautiful - SO perfectly is just amazing! You have such incredible talents.
    I love the hats also - what a great pattern - I love the colored ones - guess the combinations for those would be endless!

    THAT TATTOO totally rocks! Can't believe you were keeping that a secret -- yet another reason why you are so unique!

    xo,
    Vicki

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  28. que sepas que voy a hacer mi primer lopapeysa por culpa de estas fotos!!!!!
    y que voy a utilizar el punto arena también para los inicios....
    fantástico... sin palabras.. rebonitos jersey y gorros ... un besazo

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