The Lopapeysa Sweater

Embark on a journey through Iceland’s most gorgeous landscapes and intimate traditions—straight from your armchair! The lopapeysa sweater is a treasured piece of Icelandic culture, knitted with generations of warmth and love in every stitch. From the breathtaking scenery to the deep-rooted history to the opinions of the locals, Joan of Dark and Kyle Cassidy will be your guides as you read and knit your way through Iceland’s culture, creativity, and lopapeysa tradition.

Join Joan and Kyle as they travel the 800 miles of Iceland’s Ring Road to bring you authentic sweaters, adventures, and knitting patterns! By interviewing local experts and digging through research, they trace the historic beginnings of the “lopi” sweater and its legacy—and, of course, provide 11 new lopi-style patterns. No matter your knitting experience, you will be able to complete these projects and enhance your look with style that is beautifully modern while still honoring the lopapeysa’s rich history.

Commended for Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards (Hobbies & Home) 2022

“"Through the story of their travels and the people they met alongthe way, Joan and Kyle have lovingly captured both the technicaland artistic aspects of Icelandic knitting tradition, and theculture that created it."”

"The book, The Lopapeysa Sweater, combines a casual travel guide to Iceland with knitting patterns for accessories and sweaters to give knitters more of an immersion into a style of knitting. This book is as much about the authors' trip as it is about the title. Travel sections are written by Kyle Cassidy and knitting instructions and patterns by Toni Carr. It is a personal book that chronicles the journey of the authors in Iceland as they researched and wrote this book. It has a casual, familiar writing style that reads like a day-by-day travel diary of their camping trip over 800 miles of Iceland's Ring Road."

--Donna Estin, Cast On

"The Lopapeysa Sweater: A Journey North in Search of Iceland's Iconic Knitwear offers a blend of travelogue and cultural inspection in [a] knitting guide. It pairs some 12 patterns for Lopi-inspired sweater designs with Toni Carr's journeys throughout Iceland following the history and importance of the Lopapeysa sweater.

Color photos abound, highlighting first-person experiences of geothermal beaches, profiles of Icelandic knitters, and surveys of outstanding Icelandic knitting designs for all seasons.

Libraries strong in knitting history and guides will find added value in The Lopapeysa Sweater, whether readers choose it for its Iceland journey or its knitting instructions."

--Diane Donovan, Donovan's Literary Services

"This is a joy of a book. I know nothing of sweaters and little of Iceland, and this book used pictures and words to open Iceland and its people for me, using Icelandic sweaters and knitting to do it."

--Neil Gaiman

"This is a joy of a book."

--Neil Gaiman

"Through the story of their travels and the people they met along
the way, Joan and Kyle have lovingly captured both the technical
and artistic aspects of Icelandic knitting tradition, and the
culture that created it."

--Smári McCarthy, Former member of the supreme national parliament of Iceland

Lopapeysa is a seamless knitting together of the author's travels in contemporary Iceland with one of that splendidly idiosyncratic island's most highly prized and traditional crafts, the art of knitting itself.

--Lawrence Millman, Author of Last Places: A Journey in the North

Toni Carr (aka Joan of Dark) is the author of Knockdown Knits, Knits for Nerds, and Geek Knits. She is also a contributing designer for Vampire Knits and Once Upon a Knit, as well as several publications for Knit Picks.

Kyle Cassidy has been documenting culture since the 1990s. He is the author of Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes, War Paint: Tattoo Culture & the Armed Forces, and This Is What a Librarian Looks Like. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Forbes, Time, Newsweek, The New York Post, and others.

Embark on a journey through Iceland's most gorgeous landscapes and intimate traditions--straight from your armchair. The lopapeysa sweater is a treasured piece of Icelandic culture, knitted for generations, always gifted, never bought, with warmth and love in every stitch. From the breathtaking scenery, to the deep-rooted history, to the wisdom of the locals; Joan of Dark and Kyle Cassidy will be your guides as you read and knit your way through Iceland's culture, creativity, and lopapeysa tradition.In this knitter's guide to Iceland, join Joan and Kyle as they travel the 800 miles of Iceland's Ring Road to bring you historic sweaters, exciting adventures, and new knitting patterns. By interviewing local experts and digging through archives, they trace the historic beginnings of the "lopi" sweater and its legacy--and, of course, provide 12 new, original lopi-style patterns ranging from novice to advanced. No matter your knitting experience, you will be able to knit your way through these projects and enhance your look with style that is beautifully modern while still honoring the lopapeysa's rich history. We hope that this book will inspire you to visit Iceland with someone you love.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.