The White Falcon - 05.02.1993, Qupperneq 6

ISTEX — the sole spinners of Icelandic wool
Story and photos
by JOC Terry Barnthouse
One of the lasting treasures you can take
with you when you leave, as a reminder of
your stay in Iceland, is wool or woolen prod-
ucts. A sweater or blanket, made from the
soft, water-repellent wool of Icelandic sheep,
offers unique styles, as well as warmth.
Icelandic “lopi” yam is famous world-
wide for use by handknitters. Traditional
Icelandic sweaters are knitted on a circular
needle, seamless with a decorative yoke,
usually in the natural earthy colors of the
sheep’s coat. Today, sweaters are stylishly
machine-made reflecting current designs and
a spectrum of colors.
But no matter which manufacturer or knit-
ter produces a woolen garment, all Icelandic
yam is produced by Icelandic Textiles, Ltd.
(ISTEX).
The making of a skein of yam strings its
way around the island, intertwined in history.
Even though the number of sheep has de-
creased, the quantity of wool gathered has
remained constant because of the better care
given to the sheep by their owners. Last year
500,000 sheep produced 1.1 million kilos of
wool.
Farmers bring their wool to one of 30 wool
sorting stations located around the island.
grades of white. It is then transported to the
scouring tanks in Hveragerdi, where it is
washed in natural hot water and formed into
large 300 kilo bales. These bales are brought
to the yam factory in Mosfellsbaer.
and blended, it is dyed, if needed into one <m
the 63 available colors, and spun. Convey®
belts continuously guide wide sheets or
woolen webbing through numerous flat and
combing rollers. These strips are eventually
One of the company’s 60 employees changes a spindle of yam. Navy blue is the most popular
color of yarn exported by ISTEX.
Gudjon Kristinsson,
one of ISTEX’s own-
ers explained the refin-
ing process. “Only the
best quality wool is
brought to the factory
to be made into indus-
trial spinning yarn,
which is supplied to
more than 10 factories
in Iceland. The lower
Bales of wool, sorted by color await the spinning process that
changes raw wool into refined wool products.
Eighty percent of the wool is collected during
the Sept. - Nov. shearings. The other sea-
sonal shearings are collected during Feb. -
March. After it is gathered, the wool is sorted
by color - into brown, black, gray or four
quality wool is exported
for carpet yam. Our
main product is hand-
knitting yam, which is
primarily exported to
Europe, Australia, Ja-
pan, Canada and U.S.
“ ‘Lopi,’ which
means light spun, is a
unique yam because of the combination of
the long, coarse outer hairs with the curly
under-fleece. This blend produces a light,
bulky yam.”
After the wool has been washed, fluffed
cut and narrowed, twisted and finally wound
onto industrial-sized bobbins or into indi-
vidually-sized skeins of yams and then pack-
aged for distribution.
ISTEX also makes patterns for customers,
which are annually updated through a de-
signer contest. From the 230 entries this year,
32 designs were chosen to be included in a
hand-knitting book.
A manufacturer’s outlet store at Alafoss
features last year’s design garments, blankets
and yams. The store is open Monday-Friday,
1-6 p.m. and this weekend only Saturday and
Sunday from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Directions to the store: from the base, take
Highway 41 to Reykjavik and get on High-
way 1. Continue on Highway 1 through town
to Mosfellsbaer where you will drive halfway
around a circle before reaching the turnoff to
Road 431, where you make a right. Continue
down this road approximately one kilometer
and then follow the signs marked “Utsala
Alafossi” on a road named Alafossvegur.
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The White Falcon