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The hand knit sweaters that we all love today weren't always popular in Norway, however. When rural knitters first started making them, people from the towns and cities looked down on these garments as peasant clothes. Farmers didn't care much about fashion, and since wool was readily available in rural areas, it was put to use to keep bodies warm in cold winter weather, regardless of what the city-slickers thought. Soon enough, however, the designs spread in popularity until they eventually became symbols of Norway known throughout the world. The Norwegian sweaters we think of today—with snowflake motifs and lice patterning—originated in the Setesdal region of Norway. The lice pattern, with single stitches of a contrasting color worked over a solid background, is much easier and faster to knit than complicated color patterns, but it still adds extra warmth to a garment. You can see why it would have been popular on sweaters knitted by rural women who worked from dawn to dusk on housework and helping out on the farm, and still needed time to make clothes for their families. The oldest designs Setesdal sweaters were made as undershirts, and only later did people start wearing their warm woolies on the outside. Once sweaters changed from underwear to outerwear, more embellishments were added and the black-and-white designs were decorated with brightly colored embroidery at the neckline and cuffs.
When I was reading
through a couple of new books on Norwegian Knitting that I bought
recently, I
Donna Druchunas learned to knit before she could read. After working for 12 years as a technical writer, she decided to combine her interest in knitting with her skill at writing easy-to-follow instructions. She is the author of The Knitted Rug: 21 Fantastic Designs (Lark Books, 2004) and Arctic Lace: Knitting Projects and Stories Inspired by Alaska's Native Knitters. Her designs and articles have been featured in Family Circle Easy Knitting, Knitters, Interweave Knits, Creative Knitting, and INKnitters magazines. Visit her website at www.sheeptoshawl.com <<Back to Columns>>
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When you think of Norwegian knitting do you think of ski sweaters and
mittens with snowflake designs on them? If you do, you're not alone.
Several of today's popular knitting designs originated in Norway in the
19th century and became popular around the world when
When
I think of Norway, the first thing that comes to my mind after sweaters is
mittens. A while back I went through a mitten knitting phase and made
nothing but mittens for two years. I still have a huge basket full of
mittens, even though I gave a pair to everyone who visited my house during
that time and mailed packages of mittens out to all of my friends and
relatives at Christmas. I loved making mittens because they are small
projects that make it fun to try out new stitches and techniques without
committing yourself to the months—or even years—of knitting that go into
making a sweater. My favorite mittens to knit were in the Norwegian style,
with the pointed finger tips and two-color patterns that fit neatly onto
the shape of the hand. In her new book,
noticed that there were many charts and patterns that did not
fit into the traditional designs that I thought of as Norwegian. I saw
patterns of animal motifs, birds, flowers, and even pictures of dancing
men and women. I'd seen reindeer patterns from Scandinavia before, but
never squirrels, sparrows, dogs, or spiders. These lesser-known Norwegian
motifs are charming and folksy looking. They would make wonderful sweaters
for children and cute accessories.
I used a rabbit motif that I found in