Norway's Knitted Heritage: The History, Surprises, and Power of Traditional Nordic Sweater Patterns

by Annemor Sundbø

Overview

You'll appreciate your favorite Nordic patterns in a new way.

Nordic knitting designs have long enchanted the world. What makes their allure and beauty so timeless? The answer is fascinating, and author Annemor Sundbø, known as "Norway's Sweater Detective," welcomes you on a wild ride to discover it. She's the foremost expert on the subject of these designs' history and evolution and reveals how the centuries of Norway's culture, prehistory, history, myths, and more have created the patterns we love to knit.

Now available in English for the first time, the book won Norway's prestigious Sørlandets literary prize in 2020. More than 800 images take you through the mountains and fjords of Norway with knitting in mind. As Annemor shows us, Norway's knits hold real-life tales of burial customs, royals wearing knits, nation building after the Napoleonic Wars, child labor, female role models and ski fashion, and the sustainability of knitting through history and today. How did folk costumes morph into hiking gear? What messages have the Norwegian myths left in the patterns we knit today?

A pattern bank contains dozens of knitting grids for authentic traditional designs, ready for you to continue their amazing journey with a new appreciation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780764366154
Publisher:	Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.
Publication date:	05/28/2023
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	250,104
Product dimensions:	10.30(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Annemor Sundbø, known as "Norway's Sweater Detective" for her expertise in fiber history, is a textile designer and a teacher of weaving, spinning, embroidery, and knitting design. She has been featured in publications such as Interweave and PieceWork, has received many awards for her work, and lectures internationally. She lives in Kristiansand, Norway. www.annemor.com

Editorial Reviews

ldquo;An absolute must read for anyone interested in Scandinavian knitting and textiles . . . the ways that textile creation connects us—geographically, historically, and spiritually. . . . Annemor Sundbø has given the world a truly precious thing.

The Knitter magazine

ldquo;This is a big book . . . I mention this to emphasize the grand scale of Annemor Sundbø’s comprehensive and richly illustrated history and analysis of iconic Norwegian sweaters . . . Each chapter is made up of short essays with illustrations (the book contains almost 900 illustrations) . . . For adventurous knitters wanting to create their own Norwegian sweaters, Sundbø provides tables of measurements and stitch counts, graphed pattern designs, and 224 snapshots of individual sweaters . . . Extraordinary.

Norwegian Textile Letter

07/01/2023

In 1983, textile designer/ fiber historian Sundbø (Knitting in Art) took ownership of a shoddy mill—a place where old, worn knitted garments, most notably sweaters, are recycled into yarn. As she sorted through the piles of items, she began to curate a collection of knitted items that demonstrate aspects of Norway's folk knitting history. In this work translated from Norwegian by Rhoades and available in English for the first time, Sundbø traces the history of knitted items from various parts of the world and examines the impact of social movements and cultural traditions on the designs seen in Norwegian knitting. The text alternates between conversational explanations of the evolution of knitted garments and epistemological explorations. Some parts are dry and academic, such as an extended discussion of the possibility that Jesus's tunic was knitted. Back matter includes a general guide to creating a sweater with given dimensions, an extensive charted colorwork pattern bank, a pictorial catalogue of sweaters from Sundbø's shoddy mill collection, and a list of sources. VERDICT Likely to appeal more to those studying the history of clothing than to the casual knitter.—Judy Poyer

Library Journal