Norwegian knitting

The selburose design.

Norwegian knitting has a long history starting from about the 1600s, where it has been speculated that it was adopted by knitters traveling there from Denmark. Knitted garments found in Norway have been dated as far back as the 1500's. The heritage of Norwegian knitting has been preserved, documented and translated into English language history and pattern books that are available to modern knitters, mostly notably by Annemor Sundbo. Some of the most well known sweater patterns attributed to Norwegian colorwork knitting are the setesdal lusekofte and fana cardigan sweater patterns. The region is also well known for their "Selbu" mittens, which first appeared as a vertical column of two snowflakes on the front side of the mittens, and which remains the pattern motif (selburose) most closely associated with the region. The origin of these mittens is attributed to a young girl named Marit Emstad who in 1857 attended church wearing what we now know as Selbu mittens, effectively sparking the imagination of knitters at the time who had never seen anything like it before. Today there are over 300 "registered" mitten patterns attributed to the Selbu region of Norway. There are three well known brands of Norwegian yarn available today for knitters which are from Dale of Norway (Dale Garn),^[1] Rauma Garn,^[2] and Mora Yarn.^[3] While Dale of Norway is under new ownership and the wool for the yarn is still from Norway, it is now being made in China. Dale of Norway is also a manufacturer of ready wear sweaters which have been worn by Norway's Olympic athletes since 1956. Many of their sweater patterns most closely associated with knitted "ski sweaters" have been published in English by the company. Rauma Garn has also released a substantial amount of Norwegian knitting patterns translated into English.

See also

• Knitting
• Culture of Norway
• Mariusgenser

Notes

1. Dale of Norway
2. Rauma Strikkegarn
3. Mora Yarn

References

• "Knitting Traditions". Beth Brown-Reinsel. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
• Astrid Santa (ed.). "Norse Folk Museum of Oslo". Norsk Folkemuseum. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
• "History of the Selbu Mitten". ThorNews. 6 September 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
• Janine Kosel; Sue Flanders; Laurann Gilbertson (5 June 2012). Norwegian Handknits: Heirloom Designs from Vesterheim Museum. Voyageur Press.
• Everyday Knitting: Treasures from a Rag Pile. ISBN 8299465710.
• Setesdal Sweaters: The History of the Norwegian Lice Pattern. ISBN 8299465729.
• Invisible Threads in Knitting. ISBN 8299465737.
• Strikking i billedkunsten - Knitting in Art.

External links

• Fair Isle and Norwegian Knitting: Lets Get Started
• Hillesvag Yarn (used by the Solveig Hisdal in her book "Poetry in Stitches".)