Mini Me

I finished the knitting project I mentioned previously.
And, yes...it's a little baby Icelandic Sweater, with a hood!
Or, a "Barnapeysa med hettu."

It's knit from Lopi, yarn from Icelandic sheep's wool. Icelandic sweaters with yoke patterns and seamless, knit-in-the-round construction are called Lopapeysa.

I made this tiny one to match mine:

I made my Lopapeysa when I was in Iceland for 3 months in 2005. While I was there i fell in love with Icelandic sheep, Icelandic knitting, and the Lopapeysa.

While in Iceland, I asked a friend’s grandmother to coach me in knitting a lopapeysa for myself. She was wonderful! She helped me draft a personalized yoke pattern and even went with me to the yarn shop to pick out the yarn.
Once a week I would walk to my new grandma’s house for a knitting session. We drank tea, ate pastries, talked about life, photography, travel, hiking, we listened to Joan Baez, and we knit.

Lopapeysas are always knit from Lopi, Icelandic sheep’s wool. The colors I chose were symbolic to me of the colors I loved about Iceland. On a general day anywhere in Iceland, the main colors you see are: white, from snow, ice, or the cloudy sky; black/brown, from the lava rocks (the entire island is lava rock); and moss green, from the copious amounts of moss growing everywhere. At times moss can be seen growing several inches thick, rolled out like dense batting over the landscape.

Back in California, Utah, and now Washington, I wear my lopapeysa with pride! I love the memories it carries of Iceland, my adopted Icelandic grandma, and of friendships created through knitting.
Now, I have one ready and waiting for the first fat little baby that comes along!