Lopi Sweater Knitting Pattern

There are a lot of knitting styles that you could consider classics, especially when it comes to sweaters. From ganseys and Fair Isle jumpers to Cowhican sweaters and lopi sweaters, there are so many great ways for a knitter to keep themselves and their family warm.

Lopi sweaters are a traditional style from Iceland, knit with a circular yoke with a colorwork design and using Icelandic wool. Knitters around the world can make these lovely and warm sweaters because this particular wool is pretty widely available.

The Petite Knitter’s lopi pattern has a design of crosses, snowflakes and diamonds, and color choices inspired by the sunset in the Arctic (she lives in archipelago islands).

The sweater’s design is boxy, and is worked seamlessly from the top down with a circular yoke. It is available in 11 sizes, with a chest measurement ranging from 32.25 to 73 inches. The intended positive ease is from 4.5 to 9.5 inches (positive ease means how much bigger the sweater is than your actual chest measurement).

As designed the project uses six colors of worsted weight yarn, but you could also use a self-striping yarn or multicolored yarn in the colorwork section if you didn’t want to make all those color changes by hand. There are a couple of projects on the pattern’s project page on Ravelry that show it worked with fewer colors if you want to check that out before you try it.

I have one Lopi sweater that I designed for my colorwork knitting book (in a heavier weight Icelandic wool that is very warm, even by my standards). It’s so fun to use this traditional material and feel a connection to all those knitters of the past who needed this hearty wool for warmth — and those who still do!

You can get the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: The Petite Knitter.]

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Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four.

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

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