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

Laura

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:

Folded and ready.

Materials:

* Yarn:  Double folded plötulopi.

* Needles: 4.5 and 5.5 mm

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 :)

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!

Kristín Gaia... she chose this colors, aren't they great together?

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!!

A new hat for JB / Advances on the lopapeysa

Again, I will start by going a little back in time... I have already knitted a few hats for JB, so let's see:

This fair isle hat was actually the first hat I ever knitted. It is dead simple. I made it using Álafoss lopi (which is one of the bulky forms of lopi but not the bulkiest one). Of course he loved it... it has skulls, hehe.  I think he used it a lot and the coolest thing about it is that afterwards JB knitted himself two of this! One for his little cousin and another as a birthday present for his best friend. Cool isn't it?

Then I made a hat designed by Stephen West, which is I think the only West pattern that I have used. The result was really nice and what he liked the most about it was the fact that it is reversible. Besides it was extremely soft. I made using a double thread of Drops Alpaca which is a really nice yarn and I totally recommend it :)

The, I made a Leethal's Wavy hat. This was a very interesting knit. This was the first hat (and only this far) that I have knitted flat. As every design of Leethal the result is always brilliant! The only thing I regret about this hat is the yarn that I used. I was made with Aslan Trends Bariloche. When I bought it it was amazing to touch... soft and light and the colors were very intersting (a mix of viotet, green and some beige) but after wearing it for a while it became really (and I mean REALLY) ugly. So, I don't think I will use this blend again.



So, now the time to knit a new hat for JB had arrived!

Quite a while ago I added to my favorites on Ravelry a super cool hat. As soon as I saw it I thought it would be perfect for JB. I even thought about the perfect colors for it: the colors of his football team (black and white).

So, here it is:

Details:

* Pattern: Mesi by Suvi Simola (Free Ravelry download).

* Yarn: Falk Dalegarn (2 skeins, one of each color).

* Needles: 3.0mm for the ribbing and 3.75mm for the rest.

Notes:

* This is a brilliant pattern. It perfectly written and what I liked the most was the fact that it looks MUCH MORE complicated than it really is. The charts are very easy to memorize.

* I wanted to try the German cast on to see how it was made and how it worked. It was very simple to make and according to what I read it is supposed to be a stronger and more elastic cast on. I am not sure if it is either of those... but it looks good :)

* It is a really quick knit... and that is always a plus!

* This was my first time using Falk (Dalegarn). It is a really nice yarn to work with. It is soft and smooth, the colors are fantastic as well as the price. According to the label it is superwash but I didn't dare to put it  in the washing machine. So I just soaked it in water with soap, rinsed it and blocked it.

This is my favorite part of the hat. I live the geometry in it. It reminds me of Icelandic runes or even some Mapuche symbols. There is something kind of tribal about it. (This is not JB in the picture, by the way.)

What I like the most about knitting hats for JB is that he always wears them A LOT! And that is just enough to make me really happy.

Now, I am planning to make another one like this. A friend that lives in Germany mentioned that he really liked this hat... so there will be a hat flying to Berlin soon!

I already bought the yarn. It will be Falk again in these colors:

About the lopapeysa I am designing...  I am already done with the sleeves. Actually I am now working on the yoke pattern. It has turned out totally different from what I had in mind at the beginning. I am not 100% sure if I like it.

For now, this is the design I made for the sleeves:

I didn't use the same pattern as in the body because I thought it was too big to be used in the sleeves. 

Now, to finish... some pictures of the little trip we took with WonderMike, Franklin Habit and HisKNITS to Reykjanes where we went up to the cliff where this video of Sigur Rós was made:

Getting ready for winter.

It is starting to get colder and colder here and I realized that I don't have many "winter accessories" in my closet.

I have only one short scarf with buttons that I made a long time ago... it was a real odyssey. I made it using brioche stitch and I think I started it abut five times! I found that brioche stitch was not so difficult to make but as soon as I made a mistake it was a huge disaster! I got completely lost and took me a long time to fix it! Now, all the effort was totally worthwhile.

Brioche stitch is really nice, it makes a reversible fabric that is squishy and warm.

I made this one with Bulky lopi on 9mm needles. 

Hats, holy hats! I have made quite a few of them but I am NEVER satisfied with them! I am just not a hat person. It has to be really, really cold so I get to wear one.

There are two of them that I have used the most:

Cabled hat

Made with Eskimo by drops.

And Haka:

Also made with bulky lopi. 

So, now it was time to make a new scarf and hat.

Two years ago I made a cabled neck warmer using some Noro kureyon that I had after having frogged a shawl I made with it.



I never wore it...  I guess I didn't really like the colors (and to be honest, I really don't like Noro at all. I don't understand why it is so expensive!). The good thing is that when my sister came to visit me liked it a lot! So she went back home with a new cowl :)

Since I liked the pattern so much I decided to make another one. This time with a yarn and colors that I really liked. I began to knit it about a year ago and then the project fell asleep in the stash basket (along with a couple of other things!) until a few weeks ago when I decided to finish it once and for all!

The pattern looks MUCH better in one color.

Details: 

* Pattern: Cabled cowl by Lion Brand

* Yarn: Cascade 220.

* Needles: 5.0mm

Notes:

* I made a much shorter version. The pattern called to make it 50cm long and then lightly felt it. I made it just 30cm long and no felting.

* I like cables a lot. They make the fabric look look warm and cozy. And well, they don't only have the looks... they are REALLY fun to knit!

I also decided to look for a hat. Searching here and there I found this wonderful fair isle hat:

I like the simplicity of the pattern.

Details:

* Pattern: Peacock by Karen Borrel.

* Yarn: Cascade 220. Less than one skein of the main color.

* Needles: 4.5mm

Notes:

* I didn't make any changes to the pattern. I followed it just as it is.

* When I saw this hat the first thing that cought my attention were these two bicolor bands at the beginning and at the end of the fair isle section. I had absolutely no clue about how to make them but it was really easy! And they look very nice! Knitting always surprises me. It is so nice to discover new things that are made with the same simple elements of basic knitting. In this case purling. Yes, the bands are made just using purl stitch and some twisting!

* I decided to use cascade 220 to match it with the cowl. Besides this yarn is simply amazing. It is so soft and nice to work with! And it is incredibly warm! I totally recommend it.

* I love pompons, so even though if the pattern wouldn't have called for one I would have made one anyways :)

Now, to finish with accessories, I am knitting a pair of mittens. I think I have said before that I am not a big fan of knitting anything that comes in pairs... but I really need a new pair of mittens. It is really silly that i have only ONE pair that I made almost three years ago! This far, I am done with the first mitten... one more to go!

And to finish, a few pics. These one were taken in a place called Arnastapi in Snæfellsnes. It is a little village next to sea. The most amazing thing about this place are the cliffs and lava formations.

Cliffs and Eva.

When walking close to the cliffs it is possible to find a couple of holes. It is not possible to see it in this picture but the sea is on the bottom of this hole.

There are also a couple of lava bridges... they are pretty cool.