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| Sätergläntan |
I am back
after five very intense days studying local traditions in twined knitting in
Dalecarlia. Karin Kahnlund was, as always, a very inspiring teacher and
Sätergläntan always offers nice companions, good food and quiet surroundings.
We studied
traditions from Rättvik, Floda, Gagnef, Mora and Leksand. As always I get so
impressed when I get a chance to study knitted items from the 19th century. The
skill of the spinners and knitters is simply amazing. The yarn the used is so
thin, most of the mittens that we saw had a stitch count of 50-60 stitches per
10 cm (12½-15 stitches/inch). The patterns are beautiful and there seems to
have been no restrictions to the time spent knitting a pair of mittens or socks.
It is also amazing how different the traditions are even if they were developed
next to each other. In Leksand there are beautiful white mittens with very few
patterns and not many colours. In Rättvik there are bold patterns that
sometimes has four to five colours in a row.
The
different kind of patterns also represents different kind of technical
solutions in twined knitting. This was most interesting since we saw different
solutions on how to knit twined knitting with two or three colours depending on
where the items were knitted and how the patterns were constructed. I know that
there sometimes are quite intense discussions on what "the proper"
way of knitting twined knitting with two or three colours is. After this week I
have learnt that the answer most like likely will depend on where the pattern
you knit originated from, that is if you are knitting "traditional" pieces. If you are knitting "modern" designs it will be a matter of what
you judge as the best solution regarding the result you aim for.
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| Sampler: 2 patterns from Rättvik |
The pattern at the top of the sampler is a pattern knitted with one strand of red and one
strand of white yarn (both wool).
The bottom pattern is knitted with one strand of red yarn (wool) and a thin white thread (flax, a yarn most often used for fine lace-making).
The bottom pattern is knitted with one strand of red yarn (wool) and a thin white thread (flax, a yarn most often used for fine lace-making).
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| Sampler: 3 patterns from Floda and Gagnef |
This sampler was
knitted in white and black, one strand of each. When finished is was dyed red.
The three motives
also represent different techniques in knitting twined knitting with two
colours.
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| Sampler: 3 patterns from Floda and Gagnef, dyed red |
