Roses in embroidery, crochet and knitting in Dala-Floda - part 1 (Twined knitting)

Dala-Floda Inn

Passing through the gates to Dala-Floda Inn for a second course in less than a month is a real privilege. The car ride from Stockholm went well and we arrived in time for some evening tea just before bedtime.

Entrance to the annex

Our room was in an annex to the Dala-Floda Inn. We had hoped for it to be available - and we were happy to stay there.

Karin Kahnlund

The next day was the first day of the course and Karin Kahnlund was an inspiring teacher. We concentrated on the twined knitting traditions of Dala-Floda and Gagnef and as usual we saw and studied many impressing things.

Sleeve on a man´s jacket, Dala-Floda

A man`s jacket from Dala-Floda with twined knitted sleeves decorated with flowers in black on a red background. Sleeves like these were knitted in natural white and black yarn and then dyed red after they were finished. The knitting is awesome. Perfectly even and very tight. Decorations with flower and star motives were called "roses", hence the title of this post.

Jacket from Dala-Floda

This is a jacket from Gagnef. Gagnef is just a couple of kilometres from Dala-Floda, but they have totally different patterns on their sleeves, smaller motives and evenly spaced, no "ladders" to separate them.

Old half-mittens from Dala-Floda

These are old half-mittens from Dala-Floda, with complex patterns. I show this picture because I find it very interesting that they did not bother about the pattern-"jog" that is the result of the pattern report not corresponding to the circumference of the mittens. This is not unusual in old knitted items here in Sweden. Nowadays we seem to be much more disturbed by this ... I wonder why ...

Dala-Floda Inn

Tapestry crochet bag

I am usually not a man of many colours, but the days spent in Dala-Floda a couple of weeks ago were so full of multi-coloured crafts that I could not avoid being influenced. The result is a bag worked in tapestry crochet. Bags like this were, in parts of Finland, often used as gifts between couples about to marry or between friends. They were used for carrying tobacco, money and small items. Parts of Sweden and Finland  (among other countries) have a tradition of tapestry crochet. Often used for making bags, belts, shawls, caps and garters in bright colour combinations.

I have also seen Tapestry crochet called "many-coloured crochet", "dense crochet" and "fair-isle crochet".
For this bag I used a crochet hook Boye 2 and z-plied yarn from Wålstedts in Dala-Floda.

Striped mittens in twined knitting

Basic mittens in twined knitting. Using two colours to get stripes. In the cast-on I used one red  and two blue strands of yarn.

The yarn is from Wålstedts, 2-ply, z-plied. I often use needles 2,50 mm for this yarn but this time I wanted very thick and warm mittens so I used 2,00 mm.

I got a very dense fabric and I am sure these will be used often next winter. Sometimes it is nice to go back to knitting "no fuss" plain mittens.

Beanies

The beginning of May was rather cold this year. Walking to my train in the mornings required something warm on my head, but not as warm as a twined knitted hat. So I knitted beanies. The one in light grey to the left in the photo above is a design by Jane Ellison called "Raymond". I knitted one a couple of years ago, but lost it so I decided to knit one more.

Jane Ellison - Raymond

I am not sure what I think about the decreases. I find them a bit messy, but the hat is nice to wear and has a good fit.

My basic beanie - sock yarn

This one is a small beanie knitted with sock yarn and has a snug fit. It takes no place at all and fits easily in a pocket. Practical for the month of May.

My basic beanie - 3-ply wool

This is a much sturdier beanie knitted with 3-ply yarn (wool) from Filtmakeriet.

Four days in Dala-Floda

Traditional embroidered woman´s jacket from Dala-Floda

I have just arrived home after four very inspiring days in Dala-Floda. I wrote a post about the courses in Dala-Floda in March. This was the course in twined knitting and traditional embroidery in Dala-Floda and surrounding parts of Dalarna. Ann-Karin Jobs Arnberg and Karin Kahnlund delivered beyond expectations and I think that many of us attending these days were a bit overwhelmed (in the nicest possible way). In this post I will not go into details - I`ll just share some of my photos.

Wonderful surroundings

Traditional embroidery from Dala-Floda

Traditional embroidery from Dala-Floda

An old mill

The old fulling mill - still in function

Sleeves in twined knitting

Old twined knitted half-mittens with embroidery

 Old traditional costume parts on sale

Old traditional costume parts on sale - embroidered purses

Old traditional costume parts on sale - woven and embroidered belts

Old twined knitted mittens with embroidery

Old twined knitted mittens with embroidery