Ellinor Flor is a Norwegian Textile Artist, well known for her hat designs. They are closest to her heart because they shroud your thoughts and dreams, she explains in this astonishing but old television clip from 1985, see youtube. Even if you do not understand the language, it is worth looking at the hats and magnificent outfits, including knits. Yes, Ellinor Flor did published a knitting book, it is mind-blowing but not new, published by Samlaget in 1991, and it is what I wanted to share; Rosa Heimafrå/Native Rose. Not only does it contain 28 patterns, beautifully photographed but also the knitting history of the Selbu traditional pattern, and a selection of Ellinor Flor’s selected exhibition work. All the photos have captions in English, while the remaining text is written in dialect and New-Norwegian. The book is still available from bookstores in Norway and from the publisher: Samlaget.

It is hard not to be captivated by her designs; bold colours with strong geometric shapes. These photos show four of the hand-knitted designs in the book and the cover shows Ellinor Flor modelling her own design; a coat trimmed with mink fur. All the designs are knitted in pure wool yarn from Rauma, mainly Finull (4-ply/fingering weight – see raumaull) and most of them using 3 mm/US 2.5 needles. A book to treasure and to be inspired by.