I remember seeing pictures of my parents and their friends wearing Icelandic sweaters back in the 70s, in the good old hippie days.

At that time it was all about getting back to the feeling of nature. The fluffy, woolen sweaters were symbols of the homemade and pure.

In the years thereafter the sweaters seemed to disappear from the street picture, only to return in even brighter and a wider range of colors and shapes in recent years.

I bought my first Icelandic sweater as an obligatory souvenir on my first trip to Iceland back in 2001. It looked quite classical, white with a grey and brown pattern.

I have completely “used it up” by now, there is a big hole under one of the arms, the white is almost grey and the shape it once had has completely disappeared. Still it is one of my favorite clothing items for any outdoor activity.

My mom knitted my second Icelandic sweater. She soon got the hang of knitting lopapeysa since it is a rather quick and comfortable way of knitting; the whole sweater is produced in one piece on a round knitting needle.

My second Icelandic sweater is grey with another classical pattern, black and white.

Since my mom is such an experienced knitter, I asked her to make it a little more close-fitting.

So my second Icelandic sweater can be used inside together with almost everything on a cold day, as well as outside as a compensation for a jacket in spring, autumn and on those chilly summer evenings.

My third Icelandic sweater is actually a dress. Also knitted by my mom, who has all the lopi knitting books by now (a book with patterns translated to foreign languages—a must-have for fans of the sweater).

It is brown with grey and blue patterns. I have worn it many times and I love the comfortableness and feeling of one long, warm blanket around my body.

However, it is a bit too warm for most occasions since it is knitted with the bulky lopi yarn (the thickest, Icelandic wool product).
 
After the dress came one vest with the Icelandic pattern, knitted in létt-lopi (a thinner version of the wool).

It has the same colors as the dress and is very handy. It can be used together with a long-sleeved shirt in winter and a short-sleeve in summer. It always turns out to be a very decorative touch to everyday wear.

The latest Icelandic sweater in the family is an Eskimo-inspired cardigan with pink and green patterns, combined with more classical brown and grey ones.

We found the pattern on the internet, my mom knitted it, and I love wearing it since it gives me such a fresh look and the pattern always makes me so happy.

It seems that all my different Icelandic sweaters (or clothing items inspired by the lopapeysa pattern) have so many functions.

They are both practical and beautiful, and it is maybe therefore that I keep coming back to them when I have to choose my dressing in the morning.

But it is also because the design is completely timeless and can be used in so many variations that it seems impossible to get tired of it. So the popularity of the Icelandic sweater is obvious.

After acquiring all of these different clothing items with the traditional Icelandic sweater pattern, mainly through the efforts of my mom, I figured the time has come for me to knit my own.

The problem is to choose the right pattern and the right combination of colors for the sweater. It is often the detail of the color nuances that makes the whole difference and there are many to choose from.

As this winter has been mild, I have had a unique chance to get inspired by the long, flat mountaintops in the West Fjords and how they look when they are only half-covered with snow.

These mountains look exactly as the Icelandic sweater pattern with the brown body of the mountain as the basic color, the white snow as one part of the pattern and the greenish, almost yellow, grass as the other.

These natural patterns must have inspired the origin of the traditional, Icelandic sweater. They are extremely nuanced and change every day—just as I will be able to if I continue collecting Icelandic sweaters.

For my own production, on which I am just about to start, I can only hope to be able to choose as beautiful color combinations as nature does. I’m certainly up for the challenge!

Janne Kristensen – janne.krist@gmail.com