I am going to hold a knitting workshop in English for an American group of knitters coming to Oslo this autumn, with the Feral Knitter – aka Janine Bajus – and Jim Petkiewicz, on the 17th of September to be precise, see more details here: Norway 2020 Sign Up A.pdf. This adventure startet last summer when my friend Sandra Berry, aka Sandflies on Ravelry, forwarded a newsletter to me from the Feral Knitter, where she requested information about yarn shops, local knitting groups and places to visit in Oslo and Bergen. I wrote a long list of recommendations; including my favourite yarn shop in Oslo, Værbitt (read more about it here: Knitting Oslo) and a visit to Hillesvåg Ullvarefabrikk (Economusée and mill) as well as the The Norwegian Knitting Industry Museum in Bergen. Janine replied that their travellers will be interested in traditional/fairly traditional knitting and added her partner Jim Petkiewicz to the e-mail. I advised them to contact Nina Granlund Sæther since she was working on completing her epic book: “Norske strikketradisjoner” (Norwegian knitting traditions) and they did, as you can see from the program above.

Jim Petkiewicz came on a scouting trip to Oslo last September and we organised to meet up. Jim’s son Shayne lives in the UK so he used the opportunity to meet his father and I was lucky to meet them both at a coffee shop in Oslo. Jim had brought gifts from California and gave me a cowl he had knitted in yarn from the company he used to run together with his parents: Frog Tree Yarns. We spent a wonderful day in Oslo walking around the yarn shops, ending at Værbitt speaking to owner & dyer Laila and a number of knitters present there, before we had lunch at Kaffistova and I travelled home late in the afternoon, filled with memories. Now, I look forward to meeting Jim & Janine and the group in September!