Norwegian Mittens & Gloves

Hands-on knitting history from Annemor Sundbø

One day in 1983, Annemor Sundbø of Kristiansand, Norway, became the owner of a "shoddy mill," a facility designed to process rags, scraps, and other discarded fabric into reusable material. However, Sundbø wasn't interested in running the mill; she was drawn instead to the store of thousands of mittens, gloves, and other knitted castaways, bundled into a warehouse on the mill's grounds, awaiting their turn. These well-used discards were in fact a treasure trove of traditional Norwegian patterning and technique, and the beginning of her life-long effort to document, preserve, and reconstruct classic Norwegian designs―dozens of which are assembled here in a timeless collection, now available for the first time in paperback.

• Traditional Norwegian motifs, including animals, figures, flowers, hearts, palm and thumb patterns, and border designs, for mittens and gloves
• Resources and instructions for understanding pattern repeats and successfully transferring motifs to hats, sweaters, and more
• Explorations of the historical and cultural context of each motif accompanying every pattern