Skip to content

Cart

Your cart is empty

Article: Tips and trick for knitting an Icelandic Sweater

Traditional Icelandic wool sweater for women.
knitting

Tips and trick for knitting an Icelandic Sweater

Knitting Icelandic lopapeysa for the first time

The first time I knitted a traditional Icelandic sweater, lopapeysa, it was a total disaster! I had no idea that there was more to it than simply knitting it. So after I had woven in the last end, and grafted the underarm on the wrong side leaving an ugly, bulging seam, I laid it down to admire it. Laying there, staring back at me, was this crumpled up, uneven and frankly ugly looking thing. After all this effort and all those hours knitting this was a huge disappointment!

Soak lopapeysa sweater in water?!

Thankfully my fiancé, who this garment was made for, was aware of all my hard work so he pretended to love it. He has yet to admit that he doesn’t and he still uses it, to my great shame. I called my friend who is a very skilled knitter, almost in tears, to ask for advice. She told me to soak it for a long while and then gently pulling on it before laying it flat and finally pressing it once dry. So naturally I dipped it in water for a few seconds and then frantically stretched the bejeezus out of it! Thank goodness Icelandic lopi yarn is so forgiving, so I didn’t break the yarn and ruin the whole thing!

This horrible mistreatment of the garment did help some, and it ended up looking… well, a little better. I wish I could take a picture and show you guys, but again, the Icelandic wool is so manageable that it evens out over time with washing and wearing, so today it just looks like a normal, old, outworn lopapeysa.

After this traumatizing experience I wanted to make sure this didn’t happen again the next time I made an Icelandic sweater, so I made sure to leave a lot of slack on my floats. A float is the string of yarn carried on the back of the garment while knitting in a different color.
Of course I ended up overcompensating so much that all my stitches were loose and hanging, and it was hard to put on the sweater without getting tangled up in there. This is salvageable by gently pulling each loop, gathering the extra yarn together, and then weaving it in like you would when finishing.

Beautiful knitting pattern designs

After those two first impressions of knitting an Icelandic sweater I decided I just couldn’t do it. So I avoided making them at all cost. I did regularly see new knitting pattern designs that were, oh so pretty, and I desperately wanted to make, but obviously I was incapable of knitting colorwork so I just admired them from a safe distance.

Recently I was at my favorite local yarn store, drinking coffee and knitting with a group of experienced knitters and the topic of knitting a yoke came up. I told them my horror story and they proceeded with drowning me in advice for avoiding these problems.
As soon as I got home I cast on one of those designs I have been longing to make and couldn't wait to get to the yoke to try them out.
I noted down what worked well for me, and today I am sharing it with you guys.

How to Tension Your Yarn when Knitting 

As established above, my biggest problem was the tension. I got a lot of advice on how to try to fix that, but there is one that stands out and worked perfectly for me.
Ok, are you ready? Knit the yoke inside out!
Are you confused? I was confused. I tried purling the stitches, knitting in the wrong direction and knitting like I would normally. None of that worked. Finally I figured out that it’s not enough to turn the work inside out, you have to turn it away from you as well. So you’re knitting just like you normally would with the right side facing you, but when the right side is on the inside of the garment you need to hold it away from you as shown in the photo below.

When working the stitches like that they naturally line up on the needle as they will on the finished product, so there’s no need to leave extra slack or constantly pull on the stitches.

Icelandic knitting pattern for wool.

Knitting colorwork pattern for Icelandic sweater

If you’ve knit colorwork chances are you’ve had the problem of uneven stitches making the pattern look messy. There’s a simple solution to that!
Before you start the colorwork you need to decide what color you want to have as the main color. This color will stand out and be more visible while other colors will be in the background.
If you are like me and have the memory capacity similar to a shrimp write it down! This is the key to even looking and neat stitches when working with more than one color. 
What you need to do is to always hold your main color at the bottom. If you are holding one thread at a time and picking them up as you knit them, you need to make sure that you always pick up the main color from the bottom and the rest of them from above the main color.
If you manage to keep this consistently throughout the whole project you will end up with a very tidy looking yoke!

I hope this has been helpful, I will keep you posted on any future tips I come across and work for me. Also, if you know of one please share it with me in the comments section!

Happy knitting!

P.S. If you don't want to knit your own sweater you can always have someone to knit them for you and just buy Icelandic wool sweaters here.

 

17 comments

I’m knitting an Icelandic sweater for the first time and have reaches where I separate the stitches for arms the instructions say KAM but I can’t find any explanation for this in the abbreviations

Lynne Hayton

I am knitting a Juni sweater and I am not understanding the directions for the pocket placement. Would you be able to explain the instructions a little more clearly. I do not have enough stitches to keep knitting the 8 sts and putting them on scrap yarn. I am really stuck. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Charlene

Hello and thank you for your prompt reply!!

Under the “Body” section of the Garri pattern, it states ‘Skip the last 5 stitches in last round ’. Does this mean I should simply put these last stitches on a stitch holder? Are these 5 stitches the underarm stitches that I will later be attaching to the 10 sleeve stitches I’ve put aside on another stitch holder?

Thanking you again for your help!

Astrid 

Astrid

Hi,
I am a beginner knitter and wanted to have a challenge during this confinement period. I bought the Garri Sweater knitting kit and have successfully finished both sleeves and most of the body. Under the ‘body’ section of the Garri pattern it states, “Skip the last 6 stitches in the last round”. What does this mean exactly?

Astrid

Hello there, I have recently purchased a pattern and I am stuck at one of the symbols in the colour chart, I have spent many an hour looking on line for the same symbol, but alas never came across it, I am hoping you can perhaps help me out.

The 2 symbols on the chart pattern are < and > what do these mean? the pattern book does not explain what this means at all.

carol McKenzie

Hello there, I have recently purchased a pattern and I am stuck at one of the symbols in the colour chart, I have spent many an hour looking on line for the same symbol, but alas never came across it, I am hoping you can perhaps help me out.

The 2 symbols on the chart pattern are < and > what do these mean? the pattern book does not explain what this means at all.

carol McKenzie

Hello there, I have recently purchased a pattern and I am stuck at one of the symbols in the colour chart, I have spent many an hour looking on line for the same symbol, but alas never came across it, I am hoping you can perhaps help me out.

The 2 symbols on the chart pattern are < and > what do these mean? the pattern book does not explain what this means at all.

carol McKenzie

What does it mean when it says to skeppa1/in xs-s-m when doing the pattern? If you can show me that would be great! Thanks and have a great day!

Marlene Goplen

Hello, I’m wondering if I can purchase the knitting patterns to make a cardigan instead of buying the garment ready made. I can knit would just like the pattern and wool.

Thankyou Annette Rentsch

Annette Rentsch

How long do they take to knit?
Many thanks Teresa Pakenham Shalom

Teresa Pakenham

Hello,

Hoping you can help me. I am knitting a sweater out of Lopi 24 pattern book on page 18, men’s size large in blue. Could there be an error in the printing of this pattern, row 15. I decreased according to pattern and end up with 182 stitches, but I am questioning the colour chart as my pattern does not match the picture of this sweater pattern. If possible, please advise as I have ripped it back three (3) times thinking I made a mistake. Your time and assistance is very much appreciated. Should the colour 0008 be used on row 15 as perhaps I should wait until row 16 after the decreases (knit 2 togethers) are done in row 15.

Regards,

Katherine

Hi I know this is an old post but I’m currently watching an Icelandic series called Trapped and getting sweater envy lol. I’ve been looking online about how to knit one. Thanks for these tips!

Hope

Hello, I would love to see the mentioned photo of the yoke inside out I cannot find it. Any help ? Thank youu

Michaela

. Hello
I would like to knit an Icelandic sweater for men. I want to make one like the example I have on on old photo where my father wears it. My mother knitted it about 60 years ago. I do not have the pattern anymore. However, I am an experienced knitter and could draw the pattern form the photo I have. But I don’t know how to start because I never knitted an Icelandic pullover. Can you tell we where I can find a pattern and description to knit it? I am willing to pay for the pattern of course.
Thanks, kind regards,
Leen

Leen

I am on my very first sweater Lettlopi yarn and colour work. I’m finding the work looks a little scrunched so I am debating on taking it out since I’ve only done about seven rows of the pattern. I appreciate the comment about keeping the main colour on the bottom.

Rosanna Zerafa

At least you made a sweater. I have not got around to a total commitment on that yet. And I have been knitting for years. I want to learn to do the Philosophers Wool method first, where you hold alternate yarns with both hands to do colourwork. It’s brilliant actually. I will first get the video and then practice on small projects before doing a big project like a yoke sweater.

Yasmin

Thanks for this post! I’m a novice colorworker and am so tempted by Icelandic wool and patterns.

Margie

Leave a comment

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

All comments are moderated before being published.

Read more

It's all about the heel !

It's all about the heel !

My son needed warm socks for preschool, so naturally I started digging through my stash looking for sock yarn and then I went ravelry browsing (what else?). Yes, I have a million sock patterns, and...

Read more
May 2021 - Newsletter | A few new exciting products, Álafoss yarn update, eider down and hot dogs. And the mandatory volcano update

May 2021 - Newsletter | A few new exciting products, Álafoss yarn update, eider down and hot dogs. And the mandatory volcano update

Dear reader. We'd like to share with you a little bit about our trip this weekend to Djúpavík, a new co-operation with an eider down specialist, why we are suddenly selling hot dogs, Álafoss lopi u...

Read more