My grandmother (on my stepfather’s side) was a very talented knitter. As a teenager I claimed one of her sweaters that my stepfather had stopped using… and wore it throughout college. Since about then it has slept in one of my closets – until last summer when I decided to mend the holes and knit the pattern up in other sweaters. I have always loved the sweater since it’s not too bulky and was already very worn when I started using it. Lopi sweaters become better with time.

This old sweater made me think of how great it would be for Icelandic families to own their specific lopi sweater patterns. That way you could be walking in the wilderness and spot a relative from afar. A little bit like the scottish tartan patterns that belong to families. Anyway… I decided to use the pattern as inspiration for a new sweater, basing the shapeloosely on Védís Jónsdóttir’s Ranga, published in Lopi 29 (Ístex, 2009) and the pattern on the old sweater. It came out great so I tried to force my 17 year old son to wear it. To make a long story short he looked gorgeous in the sweater – but… it was a bit cartoony since it was skin tight on his ever growing teenage torso. So my lucky little sister is now the happy owner of the new sweater. She also looks lovely in it!