Hello! After a false start – with a mitten turning out too small – my Selbu mittens are now well under way. They have a star on the top and an all-over diamond grid pattern on the palm of the hand.
I’ll tell you more about them when they’re finished. First, I’d like to take you along to the Norwegian region where these black-and-white mittens originated. We visited Selbu during one of our many travels in Scandinavia, camping on the local campsite for a couple of nights, eating outside no matter what the weather.
Selbu is a community with about 4.000 inhabitants, some 70 kilometres south-east of Trondheim, the city with these colourful warehouses along the Nidelva river:
I love the rugged Norwegian landscape, with its wild rivers…
… and wide open spaces.
We pass many interesting dwellings…
…before arriving at the old rectory that houses Selbu Bygdemuseum.
The museum shares its premises with Selby Husflidscentral, that runs the shop, and organises tours of the museum as well as workshops and talks on Selbu knitting. The museum has a fabulous collection of knitted accessories,
including a large number of gloves and mittens.
Almost all of them are in black and white, and many (but not all) of them have star and/or diamond patterns.
I am talking of star patterns, but the Norwegians call them eight-petal roses, or also Selbu roses. No pair is the same, and some pairs have dates and/or initials knit into them.
Some of the mittens have very intricate patterns knit on very fine needles, while others are simpler and knit at a larger gauge. The ones I am knitting are something in between. There is much more to write about these wonderful mittens, but I’ll leave it at this for now.
If you ever have the opportunity, Selbu Bygdemuseum is definitely worth a visit. Until then, here are some links for further reading:
- Selbu Bygdemuseum (scroll down for English text)
- Selbu Husflidscentral
- Selbuvotter: Norway’s most famous mittens (background and lots of photos)
- Selbuvotter (about a project aimed at creating replicas of as many different Selbu mittens as possible)
Thanks Marijke. Love the pics and your write up. Very interesting.
Thank you for your kind words, Kathie. I’m glad to hear that you find the subject interesting, because I’ll probably be writing more about it over the coming weeks.
Happy New Year, Marijke!
Lovely photos that I really enjoyed. I appreciate you sharing them with us so much.
Renee
Thank you, I’ve really enjoyed composing this post, looking through my photos – happy memories.