Hello Berroco Fan!
About a year ago, Berroco became partners with Ístex Lopi yarns out of Iceland. We've had a wonderful year of delivering these quality yarns to local yarn stores in North America, and seeing types of projects that crafters make with these yarns.
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 A New-to-Us Yarn
Beginning this fall, we're pleased to add Lopi's unique Plötulopi to the lineup of Lopi yarns available in North America. What makes Plötulopi so special?
At first glance, you'll notice the unusual display. Plötulopi takes its name from the fact that it looks like plates! The word plötu in Icelandic has various meanings; one of them is "album," and with the "grooves" that appear from the layering strands of yarn, you can easily see why this might remind someone of a record album. |
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Plötulopi is a plate of light and lofty unspun Icelandic wool
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Plötulopi is even more special because of how lightweight it is—like all of Lopi's yarns, Plötulopi is made up of the top-coat and undercoat fibers of the Icelandic sheep, so it's incredibly warm without a lot of bulk. However, while most of Lopi's other yarns are slightly spun (to add stability and strength), Plötulopi is entirely unspun, making it somewhat fragile. I was just in Iceland on vacation but I asked Hulda Hákonardóttir, Lopi's Marketing Manager and a designer of gorgeous Lopi sweaters, to talk about working with Plötulopi and share some pointers!
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Watch this video for some tips and tricks on working with Plötulopi
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One of the most amazing qualities of Plötulopi is how warm it is for being lightweight. Hulda told me that many people in Iceland, who have knit sweaters with this yarn, wear them as outerwear when hiking in cooler weather. Since they're so light (and because yarn is squishy), you can easily fold down a sweater made with Plötulopi to fit in a hiking bag without adding too much weight!
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For example, Amy Christoffers designed the Glaswegian Cardigan for knitty Deep Fall 2017. It's sized up to 59", but the largest size only takes 7 plates of yarn. And since each plate only weighs 100 grams, that means the largest size of the cardigan weighs about 700 grams when it's finished. If you, like me, have no concept of how much that is without Googling it, let me save you some time—it's only 1½ pounds. ONE AND ONE-HALF POUNDS for a whole cardigan.
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Whether you're a hiker or not, there's something to be admired about a gorgeous jacket that's so lightweight and cozy. AND we have a giveaway where you could win the yarn (in your choice of available colors) to knit Amy's Glaswegian Cardigan—head to the Berroco blog to read about Amy's adventures in knitting this and enter to win the yarn to knit this cardigan.
And if you're looking for more great designs using Lopi yarns, including Léttlopi and Álafosslopi, head to Lopidesign.is, where you can purchase individual patterns using any Lopi yarn (many patterns are also available on Ravelry). We'll have more info about Lopi yarns all next week, including another chance to win a Lopi prize on our Facebook page. PLUS, you can follow along with all the great news from Lopi on their brand-new English language Facebook page. And don't forget to use our Store Locator to find the LYS nearest you that carries Plötulopi as well as Léttlopi, Álafosslopi, or Bulky Lopi.
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Have you knit a Lopi sweater recently? Be sure to share a photo on Lopi Knitting's Facebook page to show off your fabulous knitting!
Happy knitting,
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