Love & Lopapeysas

Today is the tenth anniversary of my husband’s and my first date, and the seventh anniversary of our wedding. When I went on my first lunch date at age 20 with him, I didn’t think in a million years I’d end up spending the rest of my life with him, but here we are. :) In honor of today’s big anniversary, I’d planned to share with you some pictures of my husband modeling my gift for him, a lovingly knitted Icelandic sweater, but, uh, about that…

For our fifth wedding anniversary, we went to Iceland for a belated honeymoon (read more about our adventure here). Iceland is truly a yarn-lover’s paradise, with lopi yarn everywhere you turn. Not only that, most of it runs just $3-4 a skein. (Seriously guys, my return suitcase was loaded with gobs and gobs of yarn. There was so much, I even left a pair of old boots to make room for more.)

The yarn for my husband’s sweater – he picked the colors!

In addition to some smaller additions to my stash, I bought two sweater quantities of yarn to use for both me and my husband on that trip. We both fell in love with lopapeysas (Icelandic sweaters) during our travels, and obviously, there was no way we were going to buy lopapeysas. I mean, of course I wanted to try Icelandic sweater knitting for myself! For mine, I knit the Icelandic Zip Cardigan by Védís Jónsdóttir with Alafosslopi (knit on US 10/6mm needles). My husband picked the Goði sweater, also by Védís Jónsdóttir, for his lopapeysa. It calls for using a somewhat thinner Lettlopi yarn and US 6/4mm needles.

The uncharacteristically monochrome color palette for my lopapeysa. 

I knit most of my sweater in Iceland as we circumnavigated the country in our rental car. By the time I got home, just the yoke, steeking, and adding the zipper remained. Since our trip, I finished all of the knitting and blocking, but have been a big old chicken since then, sitting on my yet-to-be-steeked lopapeysa! What a doofus I am! I will say that I’ve made a pact with a fellow Icelandic travel alum, and she and I have a beer date in a couple weeks to give our creations the chop… in time for spring. Oh the irony!

Working on my lopapeysa in a cafe in Seyðisfjörður.

My lopapeysa may basically be done, but my husband’s sweater has been on a longer journey. Along with all of those big important anniversaries today holds for me, it marks two years since I bought 14 balls of yarn for his lopapeysa. Not only that, his lopapeysa was intended to be a belated Christmas present in the first place, so I’m rather behind. WHOOOPS!

Over Memorial Day weekend this year I made a point of at least casting on & getting past the hem and cuff ribbing. I’d hoped that by at least making a good start I’d be able to finish it by, well, today. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but I made a valiant effort! At the end of the day, this sweater requires 14 skeins of yarn – my husband is a big guy (which is fantastic for everything except sweater knitting)! And you know what? If I’m making something for my husband, I’d like it to be something I’ll be happy to watch him wear for the rest of our lives, and not something that makes me think of all of its flaws.

My blocked gauge swatch, ribbing for two cuffs and the sweater body. 

Sometimes done is better than perfect, I know, but I really want this one to be extra special. As of myself-imposed deadline today, I’ve got the whole sweater body done, half of one sleeve, and the cuff of another. The colorwork yoke is going to be a big challenge, much more than my lopapeysa was, but I can’t wait until the day I get to tackle it. His birthday is coming up in June, maybe my husband will finally get his incredibly warm wool sweater… in time for the summer.

For now, since I know you read every word of every one of my posts, Hon, all I have to say is I love you, and I tried. ;)