Flétta

“I learned to knit at the early age of 4 at my mothers and grandmothers side. My passion for handcrafts and knitting was passed on to me as my mother’s family where knowledgeable and gifted craftspeople with roots in the traditional Icelandic handcrafts. I learned young the methods used to work the wool; to spin, dye, knit and weave.

My great grandfather wove from yarn his daughters spun and dyed. These daughters, my grandmother and great aunt, continued to work professionally in the textile field as teachers and artisans so I was very lucky to have been able to gain much of my basic knowledge from their wealth of experience.

It seemed therefore quite expected that I studied textile art and design at the College of arts and crafts where I graduated in 1991. Wool and knitting has been my passion though I have many varied interests. I have mainly worked with the handknitting tradition, selling one off knitting designs as well as patterns. A passion that I have stubbornly followed in spite of passing trends involving synthetically made sweaters and outer garments.

My interest from the onset lay in challenging common patterns and ideas yet to work within the Icelandic handknitting tradition. The Old Icelandic pattern books, hand drawn patterns passed on from generation to generation, have been the main source of inspiration. The traditional patterns are common to the Nordic visual and traditional folk art. Motifs that are found in knitted, embroidered, woven and wood carved items. The pattern in the Plaited sweater is based on these well known motifs. My aim was to make a simple yet highly complicated design that is continuous over the yoke from underarm to collar. The result I deem to be one of my most successful designs, a pattern that offers many possibilities.

Though I continued to design handknits the prospects of a full time occupation seemed not realistic in the small market in Iceland. I was fortunate shortly after graduation to become manager at the Icelandic handcrafts Association and worked there for over 14 years.

The IHA aims to promote traditional Icelandic handcrafts and methods and find them a place in the contemporary community. Since then I have managed the Icelandic Textile Guild, the guild of textile artists and designer, and the Icelandic Textile Centre in north Iceland. There has been a growing interest and understanding of the field of textiles in the past years. Textile artists and designers have found many and varied occupations and the general interest in traditional textiles and methods has been apparent.

Because of and thanks to this development I have decided along with a close friend to publish a knitting magazine based on our own handknitting designs. The magazine, Lopi og band, is being published three times a year, the first issue in August of this year 2011 and Flétta is one of the sweaters from it. We expect to publish also a selection of „best off“ of our handknitting designs on the Internet.”

Photo credit : Lopi og Band 2011

Woman Long

Sizes S( M ,L,xL) to fit but: 93(99,106,113) cm; length to underarm: 52(55,57,59) cm

Léttlopi from Ístex – 50 g / skein: S/M (L/xL)

A #0054 light grey: 600(700)g
B #0052 black: 100(150)g
C #0086 beige: 50(50)g

Woman cropped

Sizes S(M,L,xL,xxL) to fit bust 88(93,99,106,111) cm; length to underarm 34(36,38,40,42) cm

Léttlopi from Ístex – 50 g / skein: S/M (L/xL)

– A #0056 grey: 500( 600) g
– B #0051 white: 100(100) g
– C #0085 beige : 50(50) g

Man

Sizes S(M,L,xL,xxL) to fit bust 88(93,99,106,111) cm; length to underarm 40(42,44,46,48)cm

Léttlopi from Ístex – 50 g / skein: S/M (L/xL) xxL

– A #9421 green: 500( 600) 650 g
– B #0005 black: 100(150)200 g
– C #9426 yellow: 50(50)50 g

Black sweater colorway: A #0867, B #0057, C #0052

Notions and needles

Circular needle nr 4 ½, 80 cm and 40 cm long
Double pointed needles nr 4 ½
Option: zip, sewing machine

Techniques: knitting in the round, stranded knitting, combine on one needle, grafting, steek (optional)

Pattern: once you’ve made your payment, you will receive an email with instructions on how to download the pattern. It comes as a PDF file. We don’t send pattern by snail mail.

Errata: no mistake was found in this pattern.