“My mission is to let people know about Swedish knitting, “ says Wendy J. Johnson, knitting designer and instructor. Her patterns and classes at Ingebretsen’s have drawn attention to Lovikka, Sweden, population 61 and home to the world’s largest mitten (12 feet tall). Here, in 1892, Erika Aittamaa first created he signature mittens. Erika may… More Wendy J. Johnson: Celebrating Swedish Knitting Traditions
Visual language is powerful and few images proclaim “Norwegian heritage!” more clearly than a Selbu Rose design on a mitten or sweater. That’s a Selbu Rose, not a star. “It’s an 8-petaled flower,” says Laurann Gilbertson, Chief Curator at the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah, Iowa. “The Selbu version is now the best known, but the… More The Selbu Rose and Uncle Arne’s Very Warm Mittens
It’s 2010, and Laura Ricketts is at a knitting conference at Seattle’s Nordic Heritage Museum. She’s looking at a display of national costumes, absorbed by the “beautiful, clear blues” of the Sámi pieces, when a question pops into her head: “Where is their knitting?” Why hasn’t she heard of it or seen it, like Swedish… More Laura Ricketts Brings Sámi Knitting to Light