Yay, the Nordic Knitting Symposium 2026 was in Oslo – this time – in early July and I was asked to teach two workshops in Norwegian back in autumn of last year. The symposium is organised by Gavstrik (Gift Knits) which is the equivalent to the Danish Knitting Association with members from all the Nordic countries plus Japan, Taiwan, the Netherlands, UK and other countries. The idea for the association with a membership magazine came from designers & authors Vivian Høxbro and Lita Rosing-Schow back in 1992. Two years later it was up and running with 4 magazine issues a year, just like today. In 1998 the idea of the Nordic Knitting Symposium was born, and it was held for the first time two years later at Skals Håndarbejdshøjskole (a High School for Design & Handicrafts) at central Jutland.
I was fortunate to meet Vivian Høxbro at Strik Bornholm – a yarn festival – for the first time back in 2014, where she attended my workshop: Japanese Patterns, and again this year at the symposium where both of us were teaching again.
The two Norwegian organisers of this year’s event were the two long-time members Nina Hovda Johannesen and Maibritt Christensen. I was so honoured to be asked and very impressed by the tightly packed program that included visits at the Norsk Folkemuseum/Norwegian Museum of Cultural History (the Knitting History Exhibition), the yarn shop Garnkontoret but also workshops like: 17th century knitting: a closer look (held in English) by curator Hannah Vickers at the National Museum, a look at old Norwegian knitting patterns at the National Library, Dorset Buttons, plus my two workshops: Tucks (see the results above) and Smart Knitting Techniques. There were a total of 26 workshops held by 20 teachers to choose from in addition to 3 lectures.
The workshops were held at Håndverkeren, built in 1847, where I sat my University of Oslo, History of Art exams and attended lectures many years ago, hence I was retracing my own history. I enjoyed being back in the same historic room with monumental paintings by Per Krogh where I went for my lectures.
Annemor Sundbø was holding her lecture on the cultural heritage of Norwegian knitting and textiles when I walked into the Banquet Hall. Impressive as always from the Norwegian textile ambassador. Nina told me that my workshop would be in the same room afterwards and that I would be sharing it with Toril Grue teaching Dorset Buttons. At the back of the room was Maibritt simultaneously translating Annemor’s lecture into English for those who needed it.
In both my workshops I had knitters from all the Nordic countries, the Netherlands and Taiwan. So for the first time I held the workshops in two languages at the same time both Norwegian and English. By email I had been informed that the workshop would have other nationalities but that I was to teach in Norwegian and that the other participants would translate if necessary. But I found it easier to do the translation myself in the end, due to all the questions. Yes, my head was spinning at the end after teaching for 6 hours in two languages, but I had met so many skilled knitters, even some I knew only from social media!
After the first workshop in Tucks, all participants were asked to place their swatches at a table at the side for all symposium attendees to see. It was a very inspiring table to study. In between my workshops, there was a one-hour lunch for all attendees and I was invited to join in. Even in the queue for lunch; consisting of soup with Focaccia – a choice between leek or vegan Jerusalem artichoke – we were chatting about knitting. Yes, I must admit that my head was spinning at the end after teaching for 6 hours in two languages at the same time but I had a wonderful time and met so many skilled knitters! Thank you to the organisers and to everyone I met!
