Lopi () is knitting

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

made from the fleece of

Icelandic sheep The Icelandic is the Icelandic breed of domestic sheep. It belongs to the Northern European Short-tailed group of sheep, and is larger than most breeds in that group. It is thought that it was introduced to Iceland by Vikings in the late nint ...

. The fleece is made up of two layers, each with a different kind of wool. The wet-resistant outer coat contains long, coarse fibres, while the insulating layer beneath consists of soft, short fibres. These are processed together to create lopi

roving A roving is a long and narrow bundle of fiber. Rovings are produced during the process of making spun yarn from wool fleece, raw cotton, or other fibres. Their main use is as fibre prepared for spinning, but they may also be used for specialised ...

and yarn.

The machine- carded roving is produced in disc-shaped rolls. This is the original unspun lopi first used for knitting c.1920s. More recently, lightly spun lopi yarn in different thicknesses has become available. Most wool produced in Iceland is processed by Ístex, the Icelandic Textile Company. They manufacture 3 types of spun lopi yarn and also unspun lopi. It comes in a variety of natural fleece shades, and in a range of dyed colours. Lopi from local producers is also available, for instance in Þingborg near Selfoss. Characteristic Icelandic

lopapeysa A lopapeysa () or Icelandic sweater is an Icelandic style of sweater originating in early or mid-20th century, at a time when imports had displaced older and more traditional Icelandic clothing and people began to search for new ways to utilize t ...

sweaters are generally made from the thicker lopi yarns.

References

History of lopi

How is lopi yarn different from other knitting wool?
* (http://lopi.no)

External links

Homepage of Ístex lopi producer

Homepage of Þingborg lopi producer

Homepage of Alafoss Wool Store

Homepage of Shopicelandic Wool Store
Wool industry Knitting Yarn {{textile-stub