Before I took a closer look at Knitting in the Nordic Tradition, I thought that I was going to be checking out a book that would offer patterns on how to knit Nordic styled items, but the book was more than that. The author offered a bit of a historical look into Nordic knitting traditions, and included photographs of samples of knitted items that were discussed. According to the introduction written by Vibeke Lind, the author of Knitting in the Nordic Tradition, the purpose of the book is, "not to give the reader the patterns themselves, but rather to suggest how one can use the models, changing them according to the individual needs and the dictates of fashion...they should be an inspiration to independent judgement of old ideas."
Indeed, examples of Icelandic sweaters, Norwegian louse coats, Norwegian mittens, fulled sweaters from the Faroe Islands are presented in the book. Patterns and charts are offered for some of the items that appear, but they come across as general recipes for creating the knitted items, instead of detailed patterns that will allow the reader to recreate those items exactly as they appear in the book. If knitters are looking for those aforementioned detailed patterns such as the ones that appear in many contemporary knitting magazines and many other knitting books, they will not find them in Knitting in the Nordic Tradition. Vibeke does provide schematics for creating items with diagrams that include measurements, and the charts for some folk motifs, such as the prehistoric Sunwheel symbol (which might not be comfortable for some), Selbu Star, Sheep's Path, and Sea-Wave, are provided, but it is left to the reader to decide how these motifs will appear on any of these knitted items. Generally a lot of decision making in the construction of many of these items is left to the discretion of the knitter. For example, knitters will need to select their own yarn, decide on how many stitches to cast on, and determine how many rows to knit to get to an appropriate length for the item. The gain is that they will get finished items that are very specifically customized for their own purposes.
The book does cover the basics of knitting; the author runs through a quick discussion about wool, the knit and purl stitches, charts, colourwork, openwork, casting on, casting off, steeking, care of knits, and fulling. Besides Icelandic sweaters, louse coats, and mittens, the book also discusses the construction of hats (referred to as caps in the text), socks (referred to as stockings), and shawls. In addition to the black and white historical photos, there are colour photographs of knitted items that were contemporary to the early 1980s.
Knitting in the Nordic Tradition was originally published in 1981 under the title, Strik med Nordisk Tradition, by Vibeke Lind and Host & Sons Forlag. It was translated from Danish into English by Annette Allen Jensen and this version was published by Lark Books in 1984, and then by Sterling Publishing Co. Inc., in 1998. The version that I looked at was published by Dover Publications in arrangement with Sterling Publishing and was released in 2014. The reason why I just wrote about the history of the publication of this book, is because it is a re-release of the English translation, and is not an updated edition, as hinted before by the mention of the photos from the 1980s.
Also, although the translation into English from Danish was quite well done, I found that some vocabulary didn't match what is commonly used in English speaking circles. For instance, in the section about casting on, the casting on method that is called, "One Needle Casting On," is actually commonly known as the Longtail Cast-On, and the method called, "School Casting On," is known as the Knit Cast-On.* In the casting off section, the method called, "Knit Casting Off," is what we would call the Three Needle Bind-Off.
Despite these things, I found that Knitting in the Nordic Tradition to be an educational book to read. Until I saw the diagram of a series of regular straight needles with knobs at the end (not double pointed needles or dpns) being used to hold a large number of stitches, I had never considered that as a possible alternative to using a long circular needle to knit an afghan. Also, it was rather thought provoking to consider knitting from a sewing pattern, a suggestion that the author makes, although the reader is cautioned to knit short of the seamline because of the knit work's elasticity. However, the big challenge presented by this book is the encouragement to step out and try one of the pattern recipes and customize a Nordic knit into something that fits the wearer today. Athough Knitting in the Nordic Tradition contains information that would be interesting for a beginning knitter to study and learn, the material would likely be more likely to be tried out and utilized by a knitter at the intermediate level or higher.
Disclaimer: I was given an e-copy of Knitting in the Nordic Tradition from Net Galley in exchange for a review. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
*Edited on March 19, 2020 - Originally, I wrote that the "School Casting On Method," was what is commonly known as the "Cable Cast On," but I just learned today that what I've been calling the "Cable Cast On" is actually the "Knit Cast On." Wow. All those knitting projects in which I didn't actually use the cable casting on method.... :)
