Nordic Yarn Brands: Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Icelandic Yarn

The short answer: the Nordic yarn brands in our shop are Järbo from Sweden, Sandnes Garn and Dale Garn from Norway, Novita from Finland and Ístex from Iceland. For Swedish wool, choose Järbo’s Svensk Ull 3-tr, or Lovikka for thick mittens. For Norwegian patterned sweaters, choose Peer Gynt from Sandnes Garn. Novita has everything from soft sweater wool to striped sock yarn, and Ístex makes the lopi that Icelandic sweaters are knitted in, such as plötulopi.

The brands at a glance

Brand	Country	Known for	Yarns we carry
Järbo	Sweden	Lovikka, the mitten yarn, and Svensk Ull in Swedish wool	Svensk Ull 3-tr, Lovikka, Mohair Tweed, Alpacka Bouclé
Sandnes Garn	Norway	Peer Gynt in Norwegian wool, made since 1938	Peer Gynt, Tynn Peer Gynt, Fritidsgarn, Double Sunday, Alpakka Ull
Dale Garn	Norway	Yarn from the Dale mills, founded in 1879	Tynn Kidsilk Erle
Novita	Finland	The sock yarn 7 Veljestä	7 Sisters, 7 Bröder Raita, Aura, Halaus, Hehku, Loisto, Novita x Laine 4PLY
Ístex	Iceland	Lopi in Icelandic wool	Plötulopi

We run Knytfolket, the craft shop behind Knytstudio, so these are the Nordic brands we stock and know. We ship from Sweden, within Sweden and to the rest of the EU.

Sweden: Järbo

Järbo takes its name from the village of Järbo in Gästrikland, where the business began as a wool spinning mill at the end of the 19th century. Today it is a well-known yarn brand in Sweden, and several of its yarns have been knitted for generations.

• Svensk Ull 3-tr is a rustic three-ply yarn of 100 % Swedish wool, about 180 metres per 100 g, knitted on 4 mm needles. The colours are dyed on a medium-grey wool base, which gives them depth. The yarn is spun by Klippan Yllefabrik, a Swedish family company founded outside Klippan in Skåne in 1868, at its mill in Riga, Latvia.
• Lovikka is the classic yarn for Lovikka mittens: thick 100 % wool, about 60 metres per 100 g, on 5 mm needles. The Lovikka mitten was created in 1892 by Erika Aittamaa in the village of Lovikka in Norrbotten, in the far north of Sweden. The mittens are knitted in thick wool and then brushed, so the surface turns fuzzy and dense.
• Mohair Tweed is a tweed yarn of 70 % merino and 30 % mohair, with small flecks of colour. It is a Järbo yarn, but it is spun and dyed in Donegal, Ireland.
• Alpacka Bouclé is a soft, looped bouclé yarn of alpaca and merino with a little polyamide.

There is more in our guide to Järbo and our guide to Lovikka mittens. Everything we have from Järbo is on Järbo’s page in the shop, and all our Swedish wool is under Swedish wool.

Norway: Sandnes Garn and Dale Garn

Sandnes Garn

Sandnes Garn started in 1888 as Sandnes Uldvarefabrik, in Sandnes in Rogaland, and took its present name in 2006. Its mill is at Foss-Eikeland, outside Sandnes, and it describes itself as the largest supplier of hand-knitting yarn in Northern Europe. The hand-knitting pattern for the Marius sweater was published by Sandnes Uldvarefabrik, and the company says it has sold more than five million copies of it in Norway.

• Peer Gynt has been made since 1938 in 100 % Norwegian wool. It is a springy 4-ply that keeps its shape, and the yarn many people associate with classic Norwegian patterned sweaters.
• Tynn Peer Gynt is the same Norwegian wool in a thinner 3-ply, launched in autumn 2022, for finer sweaters, children’s clothes and colourwork.
• Fritidsgarn is a woollen-spun yarn of 100 % Norwegian wool, made at the mill in Sandnes from washing the wool to the finished ball. It felts well, so it suits slippers and mittens.
• Double Sunday is 100 % merino that is not superwash treated, from sheep that have not been mulesed.
• Alpakka Ull combines alpaca and wool, for garments that are warm without being heavy.

Our guide to Sandnes Garn goes through each yarn, and everything we have from the brand is on Sandnes Garn’s page in the shop. Knitting a Marius sweater or a lusekofte? Our guide to yarn for Nordic sweaters covers those.

Dale Garn

Dale Garn comes from Dale in Vaksdal, between Bergen and Voss, where Peter Jebsen founded the textile mills Dale Fabrikker in 1879. The yarn and the knitwear later became companies of their own: Dale Garn for knitting yarn, and Dale of Norway for sweaters, which Norway’s Olympic athletes have worn since 1956. Yarn has not been spun at Dale since 2014, but the brand lives on.

• Tynn Kidsilk Erle from Dale Garn is a featherlight brushed mohair yarn. Knit it on its own for a fine, sheer fabric, or hold it together with a wool or alpaca yarn for extra softness.

Rauma Garn is another Norwegian yarn brand, though we don’t stock it.

Finland: Novita

Novita is a Finnish family company, founded in Helsinki in 1928 by Ernst Gylfe, who had learned worsted spinning in Bradford, England. Today it spins most of its yarn at its own mill in Koria, near Kouvola, and for years it has been the largest maker of craft yarn in the Nordic countries. Its oldest yarns, Novita Nalle and the sock yarn 7 Veljestä, are among the most popular in Finland. 7 Veljestä first came in seven colours, named after Aleksis Kivi’s novel Seven Brothers.

• Novita 7 Sisters is 75 % wool and 25 % merino, 200 metres per 100 g on 4 mm needles. It is made in Finland and carries the Avainlippu label, which shows that it is Finnish-made. It works for patterns written for 7 Veljestä, except socks.
• Novita 7 Bröder Raita is a self-striping sock yarn of wool and polyamide, the same blend as 7 Veljestä. One ball makes a pair of socks in EU size 38.
• Novita Aura is a sturdy 100 % cotton for bags, hats and homeware.
• Novita Halaus is alpaca and wool blown into a cotton mesh, so it is airy and light.
• Novita Hehku is 60 % mohair and 40 % wool, with a fuzzy halo.
• Novita Loisto is mohair and alpaca with sequins.
• Novita x Laine 4PLY is a fine wool yarn developed with Jonna Helin, the founder of Laine. It is made in West Yorkshire, England.

Read more in our guide to Novita, and for socks in our sock yarn guide. All our Novita yarns are on Novita’s page in the shop.

Iceland: Ístex and lopi

Lopi is Icelandic knitting wool, made from the fleece of Icelandic sheep. The fleece has two layers, a long, coarse outer coat that resists water and a soft, short undercoat that insulates, and the two are processed together. People began knitting with unspun lopi around the 1920s. Most of the wool produced in Iceland is processed by Ístex, the Icelandic Textile Company, which makes both spun lopi in several thicknesses and unspun lopi.

• Plötulopi from Ístex is unspun lopi in 100 % Icelandic wool, about 300 metres per 100 g on 5 mm needles. Because it is not spun, it can be delicate to knit with, but the long fibres make a garment that is hard-wearing and soft. Hold it double for patterns written for léttlopi.

A lopapeysa, the Icelandic sweater with a patterned yoke, simply means a sweater knitted in lopi. There is more about it in our guide to yarn for Nordic sweaters.

What about Denmark?

Denmark is a Nordic country too, but this guide has no Danish section. We don’t stock a yarn that we know comes from a Danish brand, and we would rather leave it out than guess.

Before you buy

• Substituting a Nordic yarn in a pattern? Compare the weights in the yarn weight chart first, and knit a swatch. Here is how to measure your gauge.
• Work out how much yarn you need with the yarn calculator, and buy all the balls at once so they come from the same dye lot.
• Planning colourwork? Draw the pattern in the knitting chart maker and see how the colours work together before you choose the yarn.