BOOK REVIEWS
This colourful book of garments for women and men brings a modern twist to traditional Norwegian knitting styles
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KRISTIN WIOLA Ødegård is a Norwegian designer with a passion for stranded colourwork, and this lovely collection brings together some of her most popular patterns along with brand-new designs.
The book offers 29 projects including unisex sweaters, accessories, and garments for women and children. Kristin provides tips on the techniques used to make these projects, such as steeking, finishing and embellishments, and also offers guidance on grading patterns to fit your size.
Taking inspiration from traditional Nordic knitting styles, Kristin’s designs are typically intricately patterned using multiple colours. Styles influenced by Norwegian folk costume include the ‘Clover’ cardigan, which is embroidered with rose details. A Setesdal-style sweater features simple motifs in blue and white paired with a classic lice stitch pattern, while the ‘Criss-Cross’ cardigan has a floral yoke and mesh-like colourwork on the body, highlighted with tiny dots of colour.
For a more contemporary look, there are projects such as ‘Cathedral Dome’, which has a yoke decorated with zigzags and triangles. ‘Defiant Cardigan’ features an all-over diamond pattern created by purling a contrast colour. The ‘Urban Pullover’ is a yoked sweater with graphic white motifs on a black background.
Kristin enjoys combining different yarns in her projects to produce interesting results, such as wool with angora or mohair. The ‘Rounded Flowers’ cardigan has an elegant yoke pattern, the upper part of which is knitted in a mohair-silk for a hazy effect reminiscent of Bohus knitting. The ‘Beehive’ raglan cardigan combines Norwegian wool with a mohair blend.
Unisex garments include the ‘Hurly Burly’ pullover, with blue nd and white all-over patterning and a contrasting checked pattern on the shoulders.
The ‘Retro Pullover’ features simple colourwork and stripes, and is designed to use up scraps of leftover yarns. There are also two vintage-style colourwork cardigans for children.
Many of the patterns in this book are steeked, and include optional embellishments such as embroidery or crocheted edgings. They are typically sized to fit busts/chests of 32in to 50in.