Arriving in downtown Reykjavik in mid October at 2.30 AM in a traffic jam was a totally new experience to me. It felt like we were part of the cult film 101 Reykjavik, directed by Baltasar Kormákur, filming one of the many party scenes in the film. But then reality kicked in: there was a music festival on, and the whole of Reykjavik seem to be most alive during the evening and throughout the whole night. This picture is taken from the church tower of Hallgrimskirkja, well worth a visit since it displays this lovely view of Reykjavik from above.

Reykjavik feels like the smallest capital ever, so it is ideal to stroll around as long as you are prepared for the fire some wind that wants to lift you off your feet all the time. The numerous trendy designer shops and avantgarde art galleries as well as the stunning nature all over Iceland makes it a trip of a life time. Iceland, vi sees! I recognized a lot of words from Norwegian and we found a lot of young Icelanders keen to speak the Danish they have been taught at school. Long time ago the three languages were one…

In the evening we tested out some of the restaurants and their seafood was delicious. At Fishmarket, www.fiskmarkadurinn.is, I ate giant King Crab Claws, gratinated with chilli mayo, expertly laser-cut so that I could dig in easily. I can only recommend you test it, when you go…My husband and I stayed at the stunning Hotel Borg, surrounded by luxury in Art Deco that opened in 1930, located in the heart of Reykjavik in a square next to the Parliament and the old cathedral. I loved the custom-made plush leather chairs, ideal for resting tired legs. You can find it here http://en.hotelborg.is

Norsk Strikkedesign edited by Margaretha Finseth was first printed in Norwegian in 1999 and there were many of us who wanted our own copy. 11 acknowledged designers participated in the project among them, Iselin Hafseld. I wore the jacket on the cover for my interview at Heimen Husflid in Oslo and was instantly offered a job and a knitting comission if I wanted to make another. But by then I had already made 2 for myself, again in Rauma 3-tråders ull and Finull: one in grey & lilac and another one in orange & brown, so I had no desire to knit a 3. The fairisle pattern repeat is demanding and time-consuming but does make a beautiful jacket I have received a lot of complements for. As responsible for the knitwear section at Heimen I met Iselin Hafseld, designer of Tinde for the first time. Her beautiful machine knitted garments have continued to inspire me since then. Do have a look at her website www.knits.no I chose her as my mentor when I started working on my book, and to this day she has dealt with numerous design and styling issues I needed assistance with. The book is one of my treasures and I have knitted several of the designs and still want to knit more of them…

Per Spook, a former Haute Couture designer with his own fashion house in Paris, designed this sweater for Husfliden (an handicrafts association with stores all over Norway) in 1982. It became a huge success and my first fairisle project. Like a lot of knitters I chose the original yarn and colours used, Rauma 3-tråders strikkegarn. Knitting a tension square to check whether it would fit as it should was not a task I thought was essential, at my inexperienced knowledge level. The result was, as you would expect, not that well fitting at all. It looked like a layer of sausage skin and I could barely move my arms. The lesson of tension learnt the hard way. I was lucky enough that a friend of my mother had a smaller grandchild that desperately wanted just that sweater and bought it off me. It is one of the old patterns I have kept from the 1980s and which I have knitted again, this time double-tapered. The pattern, now a classic, have been re-printed in numerous Norwegian pattern books since its heyday.

Welcome to my blog!

I am very excited to let you know that my first knitting book will be published in Norwegian by Cappelen Damm on the 24.th of January 2012. It contains sophisticated, flattering and fashionable garments knitted in luxurious fibers, inspired by top fashion brands. An innovative knitting book filled with fitted jackets, oversized sweaters and shawls that can be buttoned up.

Meanwhile, I will tell you more about how I came to love knitting and how the book came to life.  Next month I will give you a sneak peak. My mum taught me to knit and has for more than a decade unraveled and fixed my knitting mistakes. Before I finally took the plunge and learnt that I could improve my knitting by solving my own knitting issues. I still remember my first pair of mittens: one for my hand and the other for a giants’ hand! Making a matching pair took me quite awhile to master… And no, I do not have any photos of the pair, it was way too embarrassing. They lived a short sheltered life in my drawer…

As I am sure you understand, it took a long time before I attempted to knit a sweater. It was in the glory days of Mohair, in the 1970’s, that I knitted a stripy sweater in very fashionable pastel colours. Every time I wanted to wear it, I already found it on my brother, who had claimed it as his. Ok, I thought I can knit him one and re-claim the first one. I chose some darker colours for my brother that suits him better like indigo, red and a bright yellow. Did he wear it? Of course not. He preferred the first one and I ended up wearing the second one. The pastel sweater received a second life when it was sent on to my younger cousins, whom – I am sure – loved receiving second-hand clothing. Unlike my brother, they did not form a bond with the sweater but guess who did? Yes, my uncle did. Bless him!