Olga and Birgitta are hiking Laugavegur

Over the last couple of years I have designed a few of Icelandic lopi sweaters using a single strand of unspun lopi (plötulopi) together with 1 strand of Love Story lace yarn (Frjókorn, Birgitta, and more to come!). This make them much softer and lighter than regular lopi sweaters!

Yet they can reclaim to be true Icelandic lopi sweaters (Icelandic lopi sweaters, lopapeysur, must be knitted with lopi and meet other standards in order to be called as such). But is Birgitta really as hardwearing than a regular Icelandic lopi sweater?

You may not see the difference but you can FEEL it!

Well, you may remember the light turquoise blue Birgitta sweater that I knitted for my little niece, Olga. She even choose the colors herself! She is one of those children who find lopi scratchy, but is constantly wearing her soft Birgitta sweater.

Last week, Olga went hiking the beautiful Laugavegur trail, a popular 4-days route that takes you from Landmannalaugar to Þórsmörk through incredibly colourful rhyolite mountains, black obsidian lava, hot springs, lakes, black sandy desert and lush forested area.

As you can see in the pictures below, the weather was a bit harsh at times but the Birgitta sweater didn´t disappoint! It is just as hardwearing as any lopi sweater and has all the qualities to expect from the Icelandic wool: warm, water-repellent, insulating, light (and even lighter!), yet really very soft!

Spending the night sometimes in a tent…

…sometimes in a hut!

Bravo to Olga for making it all the way! It´s not an easy hike!

So, I hope this convinced you!

If you want a beautiful, durable, hard-wearing lopi yoke sweater, but you find the lopi scratchy and want a softer sweater, without missing all the qualities of the Icelandic wool, remember that you can always replace Léttlopi by a blend of plötulopi and Love Story. You can use any pattern using Léttlopi and you don´t have to make any change to the pattern, the gauge is the same. I made a correspondance table so you know what quantity of wool you will need: you will find it here!

For the softest result, I usually used plötulopi white together with any of the 20 Love Story colors.

Gamaldags sweaters knitted with Léttlopi and Birgitta sweaters with white plötulopi + Love Story Natural grey or Natural white: you can FEEL the difference but barely see it!

Note that the Love Story Glacier turquoise used in Olga´s Birgitta is unfortunately out of stock for the moment but will come back at the end of the summer. Fortunately there are many other color combinations to choose from!