Fanø knitting festival

This was a very special week-end I had, on the lovely Danish island of Fanø. I had been invited to make a talk and teach at the Fanø knitting festival, a yearly and well- attended event organized by talented Danish designer Christel Seyfarth who lives and has her shop on the island. This was the 11th time the festival was held and it attracted more than 10.000 knitters. The weather was absolutely delightful and we had an incredible time.

I knew right away I was in the right direction…

Bragging with my knitting and my SkinnylaMinx bag.

Fanø is a particularly lovely island that keep up with traditions.

Here getting ready for my talk where, of course, I introduced my book Icelandic handknits, newly translated in Danish.

I particularly enjoyed the market place with all sorts of shops and designers new to me and a Scandinavian flair over it all.

Of course Christel’s shop was absolutely as breathtaking as I expected

Guld with their beautiful plant-dyed yarns (and a matching dress!) was probably the most beautiful stand to me…

.. whereas I adored the relaxed atmosphere at Nordisk mask.

But what stands up for me was to meet with real Bohus sweaters!

In 1999, the Museum of Bohuslän had the idea to recreate some of the genuine Bohus garments and contacted master dyer Solveig Gustafsson for assistance.  Solveig’s careful effort to reproduce yarns that knit up at a true Bohus gauge (8.5-9 stitches per inch) and her skills in dying made it possible to recreate the old designs. It really is not possible to tell the difference between old garments and those Solveig has re-created.  Some of the older designs were knit in a 100% wool yarn while later designs, including the yoked styles, were worked in a 50% angora/50% wool blend. This was the beginning of a wonderful collaboration where Solveig made many of the amazing Bohus Stickning designs available as kits for handknitters everywhere.

The appellation Bohus Knitting is jointly owned today by the Museum of Bohuslän and Solveig Gustafsson. They have now allowed AngoraGarnet,  a small family business farm in Northern Bohuslän, to continue Solveig’s work in producing original Bohus Knitting sweaters and accessories kits. The yarn produced by AngoraGarnet is spun in the same spinning mill that Solveig Gustafsson has used before. The only difference is that now the angora wool comes from their own rabbits.

And I was so lucky to be able to try them on!

Such an event is also the occasion to hang up with all sort of nice people, such as the Prince of Knitting…

Ulla and her Icelandic spring shawl!

The delightful Stella Ruhe and her fantastic ganseys…

The lovely Marie Moe…

And so many more!

I was very reasonable and came back with only one book (“Bohus Stickning; the revival”, a must, but mind you, I’m allergic to angora!!! …so no kit for poor me…) and a mittens kit to knit like a real Latvian (involving stranded knitting with 6 colors..)