Yet another invitation I received on Facebook, which I could not refuse since it included both knitting and Julemat/Christmas Food by brilliant cook, food critic and presenter Andreas Viestad plus wonderful cakes by popular blogger Kristine Ilstad of Det søte liv/The Sweet Life. I admit I would have come just for the food! Of course Arne & Carlos were there, talking about their new book: 30 Tøfler/Slippers and taking us all on their fun creative journey. In addition to television presenter and celebrity Dorthe Skappel talking briefly about her book: Skappelstrikk and the huge knitting wave her simple patterns have made. On top of this I was lucky to be surrounded by 6 other designers who came since Nina Granlund Sæther suggested we should take the opportunity to meet up; Sidsel Janne Høivik; Kristin Wiola Ødegård; May Britt Bjella Zamori; Stella Charming and Ellen Andresen all agreed. And yes, we did bring our knitting.

Arne & Carlos do know how to entertain, and lets us in on their secrets; like how they prefer the back cover of their new book instead of the front one with their photo (see above). All the slippers in the book are easy to make and felted so it does not matter whether you make a mistake or two because they will not be visible after the felting process. If you are on Facebook you might also have seen their latest doll, and noticed the stir it has caused, see below. It all began with a photo they saw of the American TV-personality Kim Kardashian; “We saw that Kim Kardashian got so much attention because she showed off her buttocks. We love knitting nonsense things, so we knitted a doll that also shows off the butt, Arne tells NRK.no.” They realized they could knit her by combining two of their Christmas Balls (one of their other book titles which got lost in translation) and their Knitted Doll. The Knit Kardashian is about to break the internet, and with it the record for getting new followers in a flash: 17 000 just during the show on Thursday evening!

Dorthe Skappel is former model, turned television presenter and celebrity. How she came to start a huge knitting wave will go into the history books. Dorthe told us the story of the over-sized casual sweater she knitted in a soft yarn for her daughter who wore it during a photo shoot for the Norwegian fashion magazine Costume. That was the first step, and the second and final step was when her eldest daughter Maria blogged about it. The Skappelgenseren went viral, especially among young new knitters. Skappelstrikk has sold 35 000 copies so far and you can even buy the yarn: Skappelgarn made in a collaboration with Sandnes Garn. So there is no surprise that there will be a second book from Dorthe Skappel.

There were no yarn in the goodie bags this year (read: major disappointment) but several books, one magazine, a map for my husband, a key ring, a hair band and shopping list pads. But then I did enjoy the company I had at my table, the entertainment and the food, not to forget the cake. It also was a reminder that Christmas is coming, soon…