In the middle of November I went to “Kunst, Håndverk og Design“/Art, Handcrafts and Design fair organized by Fager-Design at the sports hall at the university in Oslo. Designer Kristin Holte held an interesting talk about her two Norwegian knitting books; “Kofter” and “Strikkede Skatter“/Knitted Treasures. She has researched old Scandinavian ornaments used in textiles and how the knitting trend reached Europe in the 13-Century. In both her books she tells the history behind the pattern and symbols, as well as how it has inspired her to make her updated version of it. Kristin herself has a background in arts, crafts and design. She is currently taking a Master’s degree in traditional art at Høgskolen in Telemark.

This is how she describes her work: “When I start to knit professionally, I mixed a lot of different yarn qualities in my work, or combined the knitting with other textile techniques, always challenge the material to get my own expressions in the work. The last years I have been focused on hand knitting and Norwegian and Nordic knitting traditions.                      The result of this work has been 3 hand knitting books with models and patterns for sweaters, cardigans and mittens.                                                                                                             Now I am back to where I started, and try to combine the drawing of new ornaments based on the traditional folk art and the play with colors and different materials in my work.”

I enjoyed hearing Kristin talk about her projects, and admire her feminine style as well as modern take on traditional stitch patterns. See the fancy fur yarn band on the sweater at the top and all the crocheted roses along the bands in the photo above. Do check out more of her patterns on her website: kristinholte.no/kofter. Thank you, Kristin!