When cool days come, every girl takes out a sweater from her wardrobe as one of the first warm things.

Cozy and warm sweater, whose ornaments remind us of northern nature, has long been a winter classic. Many women are addicted to knitting. This work not only makes it possible to economically distribute your family budget, but also to receive truly unique things. Wearing a do-it-yourself sweater, you can hardly see another one like yours. But there are also merits of a hand-knitted thing. Yes, it is the warmth of your hands and the quality of the selected yarn.



The choice of yarn is huge today. But I would like to tell you about one unique, absolutely environmentally friendly sheep wool. We can say that this is a natural product. They get it in Iceland, where they say there are more sheep than people.

The harsh northern nature of the island raises its own sheep. People practically do not take part in this. The flocks of sheep are not guarded, as there are no predatory animals on the territory of the island. But what about people? Maybe they can take advantage of this freedom and lead the sheep away? And this is not the case on the island.

Each farmer releases his charges in the spring with young lambs born in winter to the spacious pastures of Iceland, and only in the fall does the collection of sheep begin. Each lamb has a mark by which the owner recognizes his own. The sheep are collected in a corral, from where they fall into the hands of their master.

Thus, sheep in Iceland graze almost all year round in nature, in harsh climatic conditions, in the open air, where strong winds and cold rains are not so rare. And therefore, their wool acquires special properties - water-repellent, allowing it not to get wet for a long time and keep it warm.

This breed of sheep has lived on the island for several hundred years, during which time people have used the wonderful wool in practical clothing required in the harsh climate. In modern fashion, when a huge number of different artificial materials are produced, none of them can compare with the wool of the Icelandic sheep. This natural material is good for health, gives warmth and a feeling of coziness.





And besides this, amazingly beautiful things are created from sheep's wool. Every inhabitant of Iceland has a lot of these things in his wardrobe. And the most popular are sweaters called Lopapeysa, which means a woolen sweater or a fleece sweater, which, in general, is the same for an Icelander. By the way, lopapeis is the best souvenir or even gift purchased in Iceland. All the inhabitants of Iceland know how to knit, children (both boys and girls) are taught this craft from childhood, continue in school, etc. Each mother will knit a lopapeis to her child in the evening.



So what is a lapel sweater? First of all, this is a sweater knitted from the wool of Icelandic sheep, with a national northern ornament. The ornament is usually knitted around the neckline. It would seem that everything is so simple, and having knitted a similar sweater, each local resident of Iceland looks like one another. It was not so. If you look closely, and not necessarily carefully, you can see that all lapels are different.



Lopapeis, one might say, has the status of a national dress. But don't be surprised, this Icelandic sweater originated in the mid-twentieth century. Will you say that tradition is only old, coming from antiquity? Not at all. Icelandic sweater originates really from afar, because the tradition of knitting in Iceland has existed for a long time. This was the main way of earning money for local residents.One could say that its design is the same as many other clothes of the northern countries.



At the beginning of the 20th century, foreign goods began to flow to Iceland, and exports fell. It was then that the locals decided to knit sheep wool sweaters with intricate northern ornaments around the neck.

In 1944, since Iceland gained independence from Denmark, Lopapeis has become a tradition and a national symbol. People felt national pride, and the popularity of knitted products, including sweaters, was revived in the country.



Tourists who have been to Iceland always bring lopapey sweaters. Having traveled along any route, you can see that handmade sweaters are sold everywhere, in all, even small towns. On long winter evenings, Icelanders continue to knit sweaters, as they did many years ago ... And knitting needles in many families are passed down from generation to generation.



And if you don't have one yet, consider purchasing one.

Where to buy real Icelandic sweaters? You can use Instagram, they also sell cozy lapels on ebay.com. In addition, our Russian craftswomen make wonderful knitted things with any ornaments, including lapels, and you can buy them at the Fair of Masters.