Tag Archives: Bente Geil

Strikkehelgen/Knitting Weekend in Stavanger

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DSCN0359Yes, I have had yet another superb weekend in Stavanger, in south west Norway. I have spent most of the time teaching two workshops; Japanese Patterns and Lace Knitting at the Stavanger Bibliotek/library – the very heart of the city. I flew in on Friday afternoon and was met by my knitting friend and host Anja Præsttun Smith – yes, her husband is English too – at the airport. After a quick sushi dinner we ran to take part in the Stasjonsstrikk/Station Knit event at the library, where seven of us taught a knitting technique to seven moving groups of four knitters. I explained and taught tucks, while Anja taught the magic loop method, designer Charlotte Kaae taught Intarsia and Tone Cecilie Nystrøm taught I-cord bind off – wearing my design the Lyre Bolero – just to mention a few. The 10 minutes at each station went quickly and left us with sweaty hands and hot knitting needles. Afterwards there were talks and I was keen to meet as well as to hear Kari-Helene Rane talk about her design background and co-ownership of Purl Alpaca Designs in the UK, where she lives. Above you see her explaining about the alpaca hairs. Next on the program was Read & Knit with author Eskil Aasmul, then the knit café where a new hat was made for the real estate developer Olav Thon well known for his orange knitted hat. Here is a link to the full program: strikkehelgstavanger.

DSCN0360You can see Anja knitting, third from the right, and be impressed by her speed if watch the brief video interview with her and Gunnhild Marie Hagen, who taught the entrelac method of knitting. See their grinning faces – so characteristic of them both – below, and watch the video here: aftenbladet.no.

@ Anders Minge/Stavanger Aftenblad

@ Anders Minge/Stavanger Aftenblad

Saturday night there was a knitting party at the Røde Sjøhus/Red Seahouse. I was so happy to be seated next to the Danish designers: Charlotte Kaae, Lene Holme Samsøe, (wearing a traditional kofte), Bente Geil and the Swedish designer Anita Grahn (wearing a pink shawl). Bente has her own yarn company, Geilsk, and know a lot about our desperate need for more yarn, she revealed and gave us new ideas for how to bring it into our already well stocked yarn stash: Leave it in the car for a day, then it becomes old yarn and can easily be moved into the house. You can see her talking below. We had tapas but chatted, laughed, and knitted more than we ate. A band played while we knitted – some where even smart enough to bring their headlamps so that they could see properly! The winners of the lottery was drawn, and they were all very happy knitters indeed.

DSCN0363My lace knitting workshop, the day after, was held in the Glasshuset/Glasshouse which was more like a glass cage, since there were only 4 signed on and we could just squeeze in. The Strikk & Drikk/Knit & Drink organizer Monica Haga selected us as one the television crew from Tv Vest could film, so below you can see the top of my head in the front.

Tv Vest

@ Tv Vest

Even if you do not understand Norwegian the video from Tv Vest gives you a good impression of the event itself: tvvest.no/eldorado-for-strikkere. If you know my designs well, you might have spotted that Bodhild Peerstøe (in white) is wearing the Jacket in Cross from my book. Instead of using the original Valley Yarns Tencel she choose a thin crochet cotton yarn and sewed on a button at the end of the tie to close it at the back instead of tying it at the front. See the photo I took of her below. I was thrilled to see it and how well it suited Bodhild! Thank you!

DSCN0366With little time not knitting nor teaching, I had a magnificent time in Stavanger just as I did last year! Thank you to all the organizers and to Anja for letting me stay with her and her lovely family again!

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Strikkehelgen/Knitting Weekend in Stavanger

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By AnjaI had a marvelous weekend in Stavanger, and was way too busy enjoying myself to take lots of photos, thanks to organizers Stavanger Strikk og Drikk/Knit and Drink who have done a splendid job. A  large number of the city landmarks were marked by the knitting event; at the airport was a large armchair with yarn & needles provided ready to use, the library was invaded by knitters, and had prepared by exhibiting all their knitting books; exhibitions; as well as providing yarn for charity knitting and presentations by all participating designers, the ferry terminal had first declined the offer from Strikk og Drikk but did not take long to regret their decision… A small trade hall was located at Bekkefaret Bydelshus/Community House with offerings of tempting yarns, patterns, buttons and books together with a coffee shop plus workshop premises, with more located at Eiganes Kolonihagehus/Allotment Community House; where the Saturday party was held. My weekend workshop in Knitting Design was at Gosen Skole, see above. The knitting community in Stavanger was starstruck by the famous Danish designers that participated: Lene Holme Samsøe, Bente Geil aka Geilsk and Charlotte Kaae. Taking part with their respective fans were also acknowledged Swedish designer Anita Grahn, Tove Fevang and Ann Myhre aka Pinneguri/The Needle Lady (read about her workshop here: aftenbladet). I met Bente, Charlotte and Anita at Strik Bornholm but was delighted to finally meet Lene in person as well as some of my Ravelry friends. Read in Norwegian: Se opp for strikk i rogalandsavis, Hele byen strikker i aftenbladet.

DSCN2073We were 3 Norwegian designer present at the weekend who all gave a talk on Friday evening at the Library; Tove Fevang, myself and Ann Myhre who you can see in action above. While Tove was talking about her inspiration and work, I presented my design experience and book, and Ann defended top-down knitting as well as the fact that women should celebrate the fact that we do have shapely figures. The 3 Danish designers and Anita held talks on Saturday to even larger crowds. See the complete program here: strikkehelgstavanger. After the talk both Tove and I were told to come with initiative taker Monica Haga for safe keeping until we would be collected by our hostesses who were both taking part in Charlotte’s workshop: Krydret Strik/Spicy Knitting (read: this relates to Charlotte’s bold use of vivid colors). We were duly collected a few hours later, after a delicious dinner in Bente’s & Monica’s company.

DSCN2077My friend Anja Præsttun Smith and I had to chat a bit even after we arrived at her house by the fjord in Sandnes so well into the night I crashed into bed. Do take a look at her family’s exciting Iceland expedition plans here – yes, Anja’s husband Neil is English – see: ice2015.no. Anja was one of the many volunteers that had helped by baking cakes for the coffee shop, Tone Cecilie Nystrøm was another volunteer in charge of the premises for my weekend workshop and hence moved it to the school were she teaches; Gosen Skole, while Monica’s husband was the dedicated driver who brought us lunch, to our pleasure, with plenty of fruit, chocolate, fizzy drinks and raffle tickets. Excellent service in other words. I had an overbooked workshop but still managed to lead everyone through the planned agenda. It is ever so exciting to see what inspires others, and the abundance of creativity that exists all around us! Numerous swatches later and after the workshop on Saturday, Anja and I had a quick look in the Trade Hall before closing time. I can reveal that Anja bought several skeins of yarn, while I collected business cards, cuddled hand-dyed luxurious Lotus Yarns from Ullrommet and yarns from Nøstebarn before we headed home to change for the party at Eiganes Kolonihage. Above is a photo from the party with the Danish Designers at the front table accompanied by Monica in a sleeveless white dress.

DSCN2080Tone Cecilie dazzled in her orange skirt plus matching tie and recently finished test knitting her bright turquoise Lattice Back Jacket which is much brighter in real life than in the poor quality photo above.  Anyway, I so wanted to show you her fabulous outfit! Instead of the planned zip, Tone Cecilie’s jacket had three small coin buttons attached with snap fasteners. You can read more about her difficult zip search in the test knit thread in my group on Ravelry. We had delicious food, music, cakes & coffee and chatted while we all knitted. The sound level, as you can imagine, was out of this world. I flew back to Oslo on Sunday evening after my workshop and managed a quick goodbye to Charlotte and Lene Holme at the airport before my departure. It was wonderful to meet so many knitters and designers at Strikkehelgen in Stavanger, a big thank you to all volunteers and Strikk og Drikk for a magnificent event!

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Norah Gaughan at Strik Bornholm

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DSCN1195 I was so excited to be invited to hold workshops at Strik Bornholm, and could hardly believe my eyes when I discovered that the American designer and former Creative Director of Berroco; Norah Gaughan would be the star attraction. Well, since I was holding 2 workshops, I wondered whether they both would go ahead with enough participants. For once I had the chance to take part in one of Norah’s workshops, and for awhile I considered whether I could participate in two if my second workshop was cancelled. Just as some knitters signed on for all her workshops; Day 1: Modern Cable Design. Day 2: Designing Modern Sweaters. Day 3 (only half-day): Pattern Stitch Development and Design Possibilities. I took part in the latter one, together with designer Bente Geil (above in the centre), designer Maria Gustafsson, yarn dyer Lene Nielsen of Fredsminde Unika Design (above right) and five experienced knitters. Of course I had to wear one of Norah’s designs I have knitted; the popular Cabled Bolero that was on the cover of Vogue Knitting winter 2006/07. Below is a photo Maria took of me at the workshop, and I captured her in pink in the second photo below. The bolero, or Capecho as Norah called it, is made from several connected pentagons and is a pattern you either adored like me, or needed help to crack the code, see Capecho Workshop.

1I had already met Norah at the breakfast at Hotel Klintely, where we and several other designer & knitters stayed. So I was already star struck before I joined her workshop. To my surprise I was the only one wearing one of her designs, despite the Indian Summer heat we experienced. After seeing her slide show at the Party Dinner, the excitement grew even further. The brief introduction to the workshop – Pattern Stitch Development and Design Possibilities states: “One thought leads to another when it comes to making up pattern stitches. Norah will share some insights about her design process and show the progression of charts and swatches that lead to final products. Then, once you have a pattern stitch, how do you explore what to do with it?” The workshop started with a slide show, where Norah talked about her designs, and how they came into life.

DSCN1181 croppedOur first exercise was to match a series of inspiration photos with Norah’s designs. It seemed fairly obvious, until we started noticing that there were several alternative solutions. The second exercise was to select a ball of yarn from Norah’s collection – all in different fibers and structures – then knit a given lace swatch, a stitch pattern she had found studying a Donna Karan sweater. In a way we were helping her on the next step of the design. We knitted, changed needles, and then started thinking about how we could improve the swatch. I borrowed larger needles since I had brought too small needles, and discovered that due to the two slipped stitches with yarn in front of work, the yarn overs were covered hence a row need to be purled instead of knitted. The minor change I choose made a difference to the pattern, and the visibility of the holes created by the yarn overs. My swatch is second from left.

DSCN1180Above is the result of our knitting and experimentation; proof that we took part in the workshop. The task demonstrated how different a stitch pattern looks in a variety of yarns and fibers. We agreed that the grey ribbon yarn was totally unsuited for this stitch pattern, while the cream colored linen worked the best, followed by the two lighter blue cotton mixes. We learnt the importance of matching yarn and stitch pattern for a perfect combination. Our third and final exercise was to consider what kind of a garment two stitch patterns in a yoked pullover could easily be transferred into. There were lot of suggestions but none of us made the obvious connection to a hat. Other topics covered were her sources of inspiration: Ready to wear collections, nature (see my blogpost on her book: Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan), science, other arts and herself. Norah uses Barbara Walker’s stitch dictionaries, and is introducing her at Vogue Knitting Live event in Chicago in October. Norah will often change a stitch pattern to simplify, or enlarge the scale of it, or make recombinations and changing the scale. Hence she has built up her own vocabulary of stitches and motifs.

DSCN1196Above is a selection of swatches Norah showed us. We studied the swatches in awe for ages. The large swatches are from the days when she sold swatches to agencies – they demanded large swatches or the whole front of a sweater – to sell on to the high end fashion houses such as Ralph Lauren. These are the ones, Norah could not bear to send off, but wanted to use herself. Her advice to us where to: “Swatch & swatch again; be open to surprises; be one step removed from copying; think of something, then make it easier, be determined, but not in a hurry.” Thank you so much, Norah for a superb workshop! And also to Strik Bornholm for making it possible for me to join this amazing class! My head was spinning for days afterwards. This month she is holding a 4 day workshop called “Cable School” where you are part of her design team, near her studio in Harrisville, New Hampshire. I would love to be there, but if you go, do let me know. Here are more details: Four day workshop modern cable design.

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Strik Bornholm Report

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DSC_2140My husband and I are just back from the idyllic island of Bornholm. Not only did I enjoy every second of the knitting event, I also loved every minute of my stay on the island. There were more than 450 knitters signed on in advance to the event, and a huge number that turned up to see the exhibitors hall as well as the all the knitting action during the weekend. Above is a photo from my first workshop on Friday in Japanske Mønstre/Japanese Patterns at Allinge Røgeri/Smokehouse located on the beach. I had an amazing group including the acknowledged designer Vivian Høxbro of Domino Knitting fame (read: with 2 books published in Japan), and they did not want to sit inside in the wonderful warm weather. We tested both the front terrace of the restaurant in the morning, and the beach at the back in the afternoon when we were joined by the ever colorful Danish designer Charlotte Kaae and her group in the background.

DSCN1156 croppedIn the evening of our arrival, I received my name badge, list of participants on my workshops, and finally met Swedish designer Maria Gustafsson, initiative takers Heidi Beckmann and designer Bente Geil plus organizer Mikkel from Team Bornholm, in person, in addition to a number of other participating designers. Later on the knitters joined us and the knitting café. Apparently, it was Heidi that convinced Mikkel that knitters would come, he admitted during the party dinner on Saturday night (see photo above), that they had their doubts about organizing a knitting festival. But even the party dinner was so popular it was moved to a larger venue, and still the waiting list kept growing. Now, they are thoroughly convinced. The star attraction was American designer and former Creative Director of Berroco; Norah Gaughan whose love of cables leave knitters breathless, and addicted to her designs for life. Some knitters had booked all three of her workshops, while I was thrilled to take part in merely one on the day I was not teaching called: Pattern Stitch Development and Design Possibilities. My head is still spinning from all the knowledge she shared, and a separate blog post will come.

DSCN1151How was I supposed to restrict my buying of yarn and new books, was a common topic, as you can imagine. The temptations in the exhibitors hall was overwhelming, and hugely in-demand was the local hand-dyed yarn from Fredsminde Unika Design. I had already discovered the local yarn shop in Allinge called Strikkehjørnet who also with a stand in the hall, and spent more than I planned. A well known problem for us knitters. Here is the list of exhibitors at Strik Bornholm.

There were a total of 4 Norwegian knitters present at the Festival, 3 from the Stavanger Strikk & Drikk/Knit & Drink group and me, a few Swedish knitters and designers with the majority of participants from Denmark. The highlight of the party dinner was a presentation with slides by Norah Gaughan on her background and design. She was brilliantly translated by Heidi into Danish, giving us time to digest and admire each design. Editor Inga Walløe from the Danish magazine “Hendes Verden“/Her World, had a difficult act to follow but made an impressive attempt. Next, was a quiz filled with Danish questions my Swedish friends, and I found hard to answer hence we came second to last but still received a prize consisting of knitting magazines and hand-made buttons. Between the courses there was plenty of knitting to be spotted, I am happy to report. My husband was never given a choice whether he wanted to join the dinner or not – unlike a few others – I just told him to accompany me, and it would be worth it merely listening to Norah Gaughan’s presentation.

DSC_2157My second workshop on Saturday on Montering/Finishing only had 3 knitters signed on, and took place in the exhibitors hall. It was an ideal place to show off my book, Hifa yarn and a few selected garments. Curious knitters also wanted to know what the workshop was about. After the workshop, I made another tour in the exhibitors hall to make sure I did not miss anything. On the last day of the festival, Sunday, I was ready for Norah Gaughan’s workshop followed by a bit of sightseeing on the island. This was the first Strik Bornholm, but hopefully only the first of many. Thank you so much to Heidi, Bente and Team Bornholm for the invitation to take part! I would love to come back.

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