This week’s Retro Monday looks like the late 60’s or early 70’s to me. As is usual with vintage patterns there is no publication date so have to take queues from the fashion and styling.
The patterns combine traditional Icelandic colourwork with some of the worst crimes of fashion. Fringed vests, ponchos and micro-minis are all on my list of styles that never look good (ok, Diana Rigg and Barbara Feldon looked ok in micro-minis but they were the only ones).
The yarn is lopi – which is the traditional yarn produced from Icelandic sheep. Icelandic sheep have both coarse guard hairs and a soft under-fleece and the two are spun together to produce a rustic, lofty yarn.
This book is from Reynolds Yarn – a company I hadn’t heard of before seeing these patterns. I found very little information about them. They seem to have always produced a lopi yarn but no longer trade – at least not under the name Reynolds. Some of the yarns they used to produce are now produced under the brand Alafoss – but information online is pretty scant. If anyone knows more about Reynolds please let me know.
(Please note that I do not own the copyright to any patterns featured in Retro Monday. Unfortunately this means I make or send out copies).
I have a couple of balls of Lopi at home in an appropriately goaty grey. They’re marked Alafoss. I’ve got seen the old Reynolds patterns myself but can’t tell you anything new. Sorry!
I was able to find out this:
“Lopi yarns are produced by ISTEX (Icelandic Textiles Ltd.) and the same yarn was re-packaged for the US market as Reynolds Lopi with a slightly different numbering scheme.”
According to Ravelry, some of the Reynolds yarns are now soled under the Alafoss label – so it looks like it was just a rebranding for US market?
I’ve still not tried lopi so I might see if I can round some up for an amigurimi bunny. I get the feeling it would make a great bunny.