A Dab Hand
All images: Jenny Berge.
We should all be knitting mittens, says Jenny Berge in our current issue (Issue 96: Nordic). “Because of the wellbeing it brings! To have a good knitting project at your hand is such a treat. Besides that, a unique mitten is kind of a jewellery telling the world who you are. Wearing mittens that you made yourself, nothing can beat that!” With winter approaching, and especially winter 2020, we could all do with some comforting knitting. Here we republish the interview with Jenny, whose Willow mitten kit you can buy from Selvedge, including the instructions and yarn needed to create one of her designs.
Svensk Hemslöjd is an established and somewhat prestigious institution in Swedish folk art tradition. It was founded in 1899 not only to sell work but also to document crafts and their makers from all parts of Sweden. As well as running the Svensk Hemslöjd store, Jenny Berge is herself a talented knitter and crafter. After receiving a request from Selvedge for a DIY kit for mittens she decided to produce the pattern herself. The result is Willow, a two thread stranded colourwork mitten inspired by Swedish folk art. The mittens are a great way to get into knitting using two different colours, and to start exploring patterns and colour changes.
‘A mitten is also a great first project before taking on something bigger, and you will have a fun time while doing it,’ Berge promises. That promise is something to rely on, at least for anyone who has met Berge. She is enthusiastic and perceptive when it comes to the world of handicraft. She is well educated as a handicraft consultant and has a thorough knowledge of Swedish traditions. Together with her colleagues she runs the store in Stockholm with traditional knowledge and contemporary understanding in equal measure. Berge took her inspiration for the mittens from the traditional patterns that are found all over Sweden, and updated them. ‘It is an interpretation of a pattern that I found in a traditional knitting book from 1970’s. The Willow kit is a kit which contains a nice 2 ply wool yarn and the mitten, in one of the three colourways. The yarn mixes perfectly and creates a soft and thick pattern for your hands.’
Read the full article here.
Willow Mittens kit, available from www.selvedge.org