In my last post I mentioned that I have Iceland-related knitting plans lined up for this month, although they don’t exactly fit the parameters of Tolt’s Icelandic Wool Month. I wrote about how Skógafjall was the result of ruminating on the historical links and similar properties of Icelandic wool and some of the Norwegian wools – and I have continued to spend a great deal of time thinking about that. Ending up with a sweater in Icelandic wool with ties to the Norwegian landscape was a lot of fun – but I’ve found myself thinking about the inverse, too. What about a traditional Icelandic lopapeysa pattern that’s knit up in a suitable Norwegian wool?

Since the very first time I worked with Hillesvåg’s Blåne – their bulky weight pelsull yarn – I have thought it would make a good substitute for the bulky Álafoss Lopi. So I’m going to put that idea to the test! Last year I purchased a sweater’s worth of undyed grey Blåne to make a pullover for Chris, but after finishing both sleeves and most of the body, I finally admitted to myself that 1) the yarn was too heavy for the pattern I’d chosen, and 2) the yarn was totally the wrong yarn for him; I bought it because*I* liked it. So I’ve bought replacement yarn for his sweater and I’ve spent months trying to find the right match for all this beautiful grey Blåne, looking for the kind of pattern that makes me think, “Yes! That’s totally it!” I think something about the approach of Icelandic Wool Month finally got the gears really turning.

A couple of years ago just before the first Icelandic Wool Month, Anna from Tolt knit a Dalur in Álafoss Lopi for a trip to Iceland she was taking that March. I’ve been a little bit in love with Dalur ever since, and I realized a few weeks ago that if I bought the contrasting colors, I could finally have a plan for all that grey Blåne, and I’d get to see how good a substitute it really is for Álafoss Lopi. So I bought a few skeins of the dark charcoal grey color (which is sadly discontinued, so I’m happy I could still get it locally), and since Blåne’s undyed color is the medium grey, I went with a different bulky yarn base for the white – Troll, which is still a 2-ply yarn spun by Hillesvåg and still Norwegian wool, even if it’s a different breed, so I’m hoping it will be a good match in the colorwork sections.

I’m planning to at least cast on for this sweater this month, although I don’t expect to finish it by the end of March (I would like to prioritize Chris’s sweater!). As you can see in the photo at the top of this post, I still need to frog the pieces of last year’s ill-fated first attempt to use this grey yarn, so it might be a little while before I get around to it. Nonetheless, I love working with this yarn, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Dalur is available in the book Knitting with Icelandic Wool, which is also available in Norway under the title Islandsk Strikk. Will you be doing any Iceland-related knitting this month?