Norwegian Textile Letter

By Robbie LaFleur

Note: Read to the end for a special offer for readers of the Norwegian Textile Letter.

In the 25th year of The Norwegian Textile Letter, interest in traditional and contemporary Norwegian textiles is strong.  Sweater designer Cynthia Atley Peterson has taken her inspiration from Norwegian skilbragd and doubleweave åklær to design unique sweaters, hats, and mittens. 

People who see the sweaters designed by Cynthia Atley Peterson are no doubt impressed with their beauty, and probably recognize a Scandinavian flair to the designs.  But for weavers familiar with Norwegian weaving techniques…how impressive and intriguing! Two designs in particular take designs from the loom to needles. 

Double-weave coverlets—Off the Bed 

Berit Olsdatter Hilmo, born in 1764 in Tydal, Sør-Trøndelag, was a noted and prolific weaver of doubleweave coverlets. She wove around 500 in all, with intricate patterning woven in a very slow technique. She numbered them and often added the initials of the recipients. Many pieces are in museums. This piece is from the Norsk Folkemuseum, NF.1910-0433.

While researching doubleweave patterns, Cynthia became acquainted with a contemporary weaver in Norway who is weaving in the Berit Hilmo tradition, Berta Stive Lid. This is Stive Lid’s weaving: 

Cynthia was intrigued by the symbols, including hearts for love, branches for life and death, pelicans for Christian charity, and of course, the eight-petaled rose found in so many Scandinavian textiles, for protection. This is the first page of her very thorough and descriptive instructions for her “Double Heart” pattern. 

Purchase the pattern here. 

Across Norway Sweater

Traditional Norwegian skillbragd patterns unfold with knitting needles, not shuttles, in Cynthia Atley Peterson’s Across Norway sweater. 

Cynthia was inspired by a now out-of-print book, Åklær (Coverlets), by Anne Grete Sandstad. She combined patterns from many regions, including Kystlinja i Sør Trøndelag, Tydalen, Røros, Orkladalføret, Oppdal, and Selbu. She wrote, “Each vertical band in the sweater is from a different area of Norway, all the way around. It is like making a cable sweater and when you learn a band and can recognize where you are it is actually easy!”

Purchase the pattern here. 

The Roots of Norsk Needlework

Cynthia Atley Peterson grew up in a Norwegian-American family in Minnesota and was drawn to Norwegian folk art. Her mother made Scandinavian-like sweaters in pieces, knitting back and forth, purling on the back, and twisting the colors. Cynthia learned to knit from her mother when she was five, but it wasn’t until she moved to Europe as a young woman and met a Norwegian girl that she learned to more efficiently knit in the round. “It was home free from there,” Cynthia said, “It cut the time from months to weeks for a sweater.”

Cynthia has deep knitting roots throughout her career.  At one point she owned a yarn shop and taught Norwegian knitting and embroidery. She now  sells her knitting designs through her website of the same name, Norsk Needlework.  It was only five years ago that she began to weave, too. She bought a Glimåkra loom from a friend, and received instruction and support through the Central Oregon Spinners and Weavers Guild in Redmond, Oregon. 

She passed on her textile genes to her daughter, Tracy Horner, an embroidery designer who sells her patterns through her website, Ink Circles. You can find three of Cynthia’s Scandinavian designs there, too. This one is “Fjord Ponies.” 

You can knit the wonderful ponies, too, with her “Wild Blue Horses” pattern. And, as a special gift to Norwegian Textile Letter readers, you can contact her for a free download of the “Wild Blue Horses” mittens. 

 

Recently Cynthia relocated to Washoe Valley, Nevada, and has a goal—to weave, rather than knit, her next skillbragd.  

 

Contact Cynthia Atley Peterson:
cindy@norskneedlework.com
18200 Lake Vista Rd, Washoe Valley, Nevada 89704
Web: http://www.norskneedlework.com
Blog: http://norskneedlework.blogspot.com 
Ravelry name: cwoz