The Best of Lopi [Hardcover]

Susan Mills (Author), Norah Gaughan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2002

This collection offers quick-to-knit patterns for easy-to-wear Arans and simple textured knits using Lopi, the uniquely lightweight bulky yarn spun in Iceland from its long-coated native sheep. With 45 unique designs, "The Best of Lopi" celebrates the tradition of the Icelandic yoked sweater with updated sizing, colourway choices, and clearly illustrated techniques. Included are step-by-step charts and instructions for classic Lopi pullovers and cardigans as well as hats, mittens, and scarves. It includes an index and palette aid knitters with pattern selection and colour blending.

Editorial Reviews

Review

It's hard to believe it's still going strong in this age of the new knitting era. Yet Lopi still has its charm. The wool is fantastic and here we have a good selection of classic Lopi knits. A bit 70's, but it has its own style. This is a beautifully produced hardback book with clear instructions and good photographs.-KarenPlatt.co.uk

About the Author

Susan Mills and Nora Gaughan both began to knit Lopi sweaters when they were in college. Now Lopi sweaters figure in their workdays at JCA/Reynolds Yarns where Susan is Product Manager and Norah is Design Director.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 120 pages
• Publisher: Xrx Books (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893762041
• ISBN-13: 978-1893762046
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 11.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #436,926 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A knitting pattern book that may never go out of style, October 17, 2002

By 

Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best of Lopi (Hardcover)

This book celebrates 35 years of Lopi knitting patterns by presenting classics in this Scandinavian wool and adding updated styles and colors. Lopi is a long-staple wool from Icelandic sheep. It's lightly spun, incredibly warm and produces those popular bulky ski sweaters with colorful yokes knitting in the round.

... This book takes advantage of the new colors and updates the classic round yoke styles with new raglan style cardigans, pullovers, textured knitting (possible with light Lopi) and accessories like hats and mittens.

In particular, I admired the Luter pullover, done in a deep blue with a bronzy mix of colors in the yoke. It reminded me of a Bohus design. I also loved the Annika cardigan, classic styling but in shades of lovely cobalt blues. The Gudjon cardigan, done in Lopi Lite shades of green is a great style for a man and light enough to wear inside as well as outside. (Lopi is SO warm, it can be too heavy as indoor wear. I knitted one such pullover from yarn bought in Iceland, and it was warm enough to wear as a winter coat while shoveling snow in near-zero temperatures kn New England. ... The designs in this book should also last and last--they are classics and I think you could be knitting from this book decades from now with no worry about looking dated. The photography is rich and professional. If you love ski sweaters and Lopi, you will probably love this book.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid, but hardly the "best" of Lopi., May 5, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best of Lopi (Hardcover)

This book is wonderful, but it hardly deserves the appellation "best". The editors, in my opinion, made some very odd choices about what to include (and, conversely, to exclude.) I understand that they were aiming for variety: a mix of cardigans and pullovers, traditional and modern styles, classic neutrals and cheerful, bright colors. There are a few challenging patterns in the collection (Sigridur, with its many three-color rows, comes to mind) but generally the editors have made an obvious effort to keep the book beginning-knitter-friendly.

There are quite a few beautiful, distinctive Lopi patterns which would have satisfied all of the above criteria, but for some reason these were left out of the book in favor of a bunch of clunky, uninspired designs. Perhaps the prettier sweaters were perceived as more difficult to knit, and omitted for fear of alienating the novice knitter. If you can get your hands on a copy of Lopi Vol. 22, you'll see what I mean. Vol. 22, packed with gorgeous designs, comes much closer to representing "the best of Lopi" than this book does.

One further criticism: this book is a compilation of previously published patterns, some of which were published quite a few years ago. XRX should really have re-photographed ALL the sweaters in the book, not just a select few. Many of the pictures in this book are really very silly, with their early-1960's hair and makeup, massive shirt collars, and bizarre color sense.

These quibbles aside, there are several real gems in the book. The Annika cardigan is just beautiful, as are the Laela rose-patterned pullover, the Klara fairisle sweater, and the Sonja and Snorri arans (which look just wonderful in a tweedy shade of Lopi.) Many of the children's patterns, however, are nicer than the adult sweaters! Fortunately, they are not difficult to resize.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very satisfied with this book, December 9, 2003

By 

M. Thoresen "bablarina" (Moelv, Ringsaker Norway) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Best of Lopi (Hardcover)

Though I have yet to knit a sweater from this book (just received it last week, and have nearly completed a pair of socks from it,) I suspect that it will be one of my most-used knitting books. It contains many sweater patterns, most of which are sized from extra small to extra large, and a number of patterns for socks, mittens and hats as well. I feel that the selection of sweater patterns is well-balanced; there are of course the traditional Icelandic round-yoked sweaters, but there are also patterns for cabled sweaters and a cabled jacket, fairisle, and many other pullovers and cardigans inspired by the traditions of other countries. There are some very nice patterns for men as well as for women and children, which is nice because attractive men's sweater patterns can be difficult to come across. The book also contains information on what exactly Lopi yarn is, plus color charts of both Lopi and Lopi Lite. Then next sweater I start will be the Norwegian-inspired men's cardigan, and I also plan to knit the little girls' poncho and the fantastic Snorri aran before next Christmas. For myself I want to knit the cabled jacket; for my mom the very unique textured, multicolored jacket; for my sister the hooded, zippered jacket with colorwork edging . . . I guess you can say that this book inspires me!