In my mind, choosing one from all of the beautiful Lopi sweater patterns, and then choosing the colors of yarn, are the most difficult parts of this process. The knitting is easy. Choosing a pattern and colors? Agonizing.
This post and the next one, which will talk about yarn choices, really go hand in hand. I’m writing this one first because I think having a pattern chosen will help immensely when choosing colors. You can 100% go in the opposite order, but this way you can plan ahead for how many yards of each color you’ll likely need.
I recognize there are many people who still have issues accessing Ravelry. I have minimized linking there for the most part. Any link that does connect to Ravelry will be noted.
A Quick Note on Sizing
One trend I’m noticing as I’m looking for patterns for this post is that many of them are not the most size inclusive. And that’s ridiculous and I hate it. I tried to prioritize patterns that go up at least a 60″ chest for this post, but it turns out there’s apparently a serious lack of size inclusive sweaters for Alafosslopi (at least, that I could easily find). If you know of a pattern that calls for Alafosslopi and goes over 60″ at the chest, please let me know in the comments. I am planning to add a couple of inches to my Sing Winter as well, so I’ll walk us through how I change the sizes of patterns in a future post.
Bulky-weight Lopi Sweater Patterns
You can always go directly to the source–Lopi Design is a pattern storehouse run by Istex (the company that produces Lopi brand yarns). You can sort by patterns designed for Alafosslopi, the bulky weight variety and the yarn I’m using for my Sing Winter sweater. The sort isn’t the best, as you can’t sort by colorwork or bottom up, but it’s a good starting point.
One of the best reasons to check out the Lopi pattern site is to get an idea of how colors can work together in yoke patterns. One of the worst reasons is that Lopi patterns, historically, are not very size inclusive. Most of their patterns stop at a 50″ chest circumference. But it is a great resource for color inspiration.
Katie Westermann has this beautiful pattern, Lausavisa, using Alafosslopi (51″ chest circumference).
And Alicia Plummer, who designed Sing Winter, has another option, Fernweh (Ravelry link; 52″ chest circumference).
If you want to do some poking around on your own and can access Ravelry, here’s a pre-filtered search link. You must have a Ravelry account to access this page. Please note as well–a lot of the patterns for Alafosslopi aren’t in English. You don’t have to speak another language to knit a pattern, but you need to be comfortable with cobbling together information (such as I did with the Japanese Lopi pattern).
Patterns for Lettlopi (Worsted/Aran weight)
The vast majority of Lopi sweater patterns, in my estimation, are designed for Lettlopi, which is a worsted-Aran weight yarn. It’s also slightly easier to swap with a different yarn.
I love love love The Petite Knitter’s Tundra pattern (63″ chest circumference). I love all of The Petite Knitter’s patterns. Love love love love love.
I have knit Telja (Ravelry link, 58.5″ chest circumference) by Jennifer Steingass, so I’m familiar with this pattern, but I don’t know that I would recommend it for a first colorwork project. The only reason I hesitate is that there are some rows where you work three colors in one row and that can be seriously annoying. She has many beautiful patterns (only available on Ravelry, it seems), most of which are top down, and newer patterns seem to have an even more inclusive size range.
I love the patterning of Ysolda Teague’s Bleideag sweater (66″ chest circumference), and I love that she used a monochrome palette for the sample. It’s so stunning in its simplicity, and definitely something to consider when you’re choosing colors.
Kiyomi Burgin’s Flugeldar (64″ chest circumference) is a great choice as well. I appreciate the really bold patterning, though it also looks like some of the rows will use more than 2 colors.
If you have a child in your life who will wear handknits, Alex Capshaw-Taylor’s Stillwater Pond (Ravelry link, child size 10) is a cute and quick sweater. Knitting things for kids is great for your first time trying out a technique, as they tend to go fast and feel a little less daunting.
And here’s another pre-sorted Ravelry search if you can use Ravelry.
Other sweater patterns to consider
This section is basically honorable mention in the fact that I love these sweaters but they don’t use Alafosslopi or Lettlopi.
Yes, here I am, sharing another photo of my Plum Rondo a la Turk by Julia Farwell-Clay. Because I love this sweater. It’s a free pattern from Knitty and and goes up to a 61.5″ chest circumference.
Another one by Kiyomi Burgin, Wetherell (61.5″ chest circumference) uses Plotulopi, which is a lighter weight of unspun Lopi yarn. And it’s so cute and cozy.
Amy Christoffer’s Glaswegian Cardigan (free, 60.25″ chest circumference) also uses Plotulopi. The trick with colorwork cardigans is that you have two options: you have to work it flat, meaning you’re doing colorwork back and forth on the right side and wrong side, or you have to knit it in the round and then cut it open.
Hopefully this selection of patterns helps inspire you to knit yourself a Lopi sweater in the near future. I’ll be talking about yarn choices in the next post, and plan to start knitting my Sing Winter in a couple of weeks. That way you’ll have time to gather your yarn before we start this “knit-along”.
