Norwegian Craft Tradition
April 11, 2022
For someone who is giving up teaching I seem to be doing a lot of lesson preparation! But that is how it goes, I still have to fulfill the commitments that I have for the rest of the year. Making the decision to give up has taken a lot of emotional energy. Added to that some of my health problems have come back to haunt me, so I haven't done a lot of stitching.
I decided that even if I wasn't feeling well I would continue some of my research into traditions of peoples who live around, or close to the Arctic Circle. I was looking for indigenous peoples but came upon a series on You Tube called "Norwegian Craft Tradition" by Arne and Carlos, who are knitters.
It is very "laid back" , which each video about 1 hours in length. It isn't a slick presentation but I have learnt so much from it. One of the people they interview is
Government Grant Holder and Recipient of the King’s Medal of Merit, Annemor Sundbø in Ose.
She just knows so much about Norwegian knitting and embroidery. Just what the embroidery designs mean, why they are certain colours, why they are stitched a certain way and how modern examples have overlooked the original meanings and just gone with style.
Each program looks at a different craft and interviews craft persons working in that discipline and they are in English or have sub-titles. That is so good because sometimes Google translate leaves a lot to be desired. Annemor's books are also published in English as well as Norwegian so they are on my wish list.
Once I am feeling better again I want to get back to my Norwegian pattern darning and these programs are filling in a lot of the backgrounds for me.