Norwegian Mittens by Mary E. Jacobs

Fashion Framework Fall 2021

 

Brief History

The Norwegian mitten, sometimes more specifically called the Selbu mitten, has enjoyed a certain amount of study and recognition in the last decade, thanks in large part to an increased interest in historical and distinct regional knitting traditions, coupled with a modest influx of books documenting and exploring the subject. What in the past was generically called Norwegian or Scandinavian mittens—mentioned only in passing in knitting history overviews at the beginnings of knitting books—has more specifically been traced to the Norwegian town of Selbu and its well-documented cottage industry. Unlike many knitting traditions, the Selbu tradition is distinct in that it is actually traced to a single individual, and its impetus is traced to a single conversation.

 

 

Documented via interview by more than one source, it generally converges that around 1850, Merit Guldseth Emsted was present when a fellow Selbu knitter had made stockings in two-color stranded knitting and gave them as a Christmas gift to the farmer who employed her. The farmer then asked the then Merit Guldseth if she could make something as pretty. Miss Guldseth worked to perfect her two-color stranded knitting and created the first Selbuvotter (Selbu mitten). Dubbed “The Mother of Selbu Knitting,” or sometimes even “The Mother of Two-Color Knitting,” Merit Guldseth Emsted passed the craft along to friends. Astonishingly, by 1870, it was already documented that it was customary for a new bride to make a long list of such creations for specific people associated with her upcoming nuptials. In time, the knitters of Selbu would sell their work to outsiders, enjoying the income that their craft could bring.

 

Over time, the enticement of earning more money and meeting the increased demand had negative consequences. The quality of the Selbu mitten deteriorated, with knitters doing as they pleased: making large-gauge, poorly-crafted mittens ripe with mistakes, heavy yarn, and no shape in an effort to make as much money as possible. Some knitters hastily made as many as three pairs of mittens in a single day. The Selbu mitten began to gain a poor reputation and was losing its high craftsmanship. To combat this, there were several attempts to create formal standards to govern the cottage industry. Unfortunately, by this time, others from towns surrounding Selbu, as well as other nearby countries, were copying the Selbu mitten patterns, using thick yarn and producing mistake-laden mittens at a fast rate in order to make money. An effort was made to distinguish “real” Selbu mittens from those made by knitters in other towns and countries. Thus, a system of standardized size, shape, gauge, motif, and a quality control review was put in place to increase the workmanship and place a distinction on Selbu knitting so as to command a premium.

 

Demand for Selbu mittens has waxed and waned over time as fashions and tastes change often, with the zenith occurring sometime in the 1960s. Since then, there have been different strategies, ranging from employing knitting machines for large garments to outfitting Selbu jackets to the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics; but as of 2015, small hand-knitted items proved to be the best-selling items for the Selbu knitting community.

 

Selbu Mitten Anatomy

A Selbu Norwegian mitten has a very distinct anatomy. Constructed via two-color stranded knitting in the round from the cuff to the fingertip, the Selbu mitten employs all-over patterning and a distinctive pointy hand and pointy thumb. More specifically, a Selbu mitten begins with a cuff, has a mitten front with a distinctive pattern, a mitten palm with a different pattern, and the mitten front and palm are separated by a decorative side band. The thumb has a gusset that begins after the cuff, and the thumb front usually has its own patterning while the thumb back mimics the mitten’s palm patterning. The mitten terminates in a pointy tip, and the thumb does as well.

 

Cuff

The Selbu mitten cuff is worked first. There are a large number of choices that fall within the Selbu tradition for cuffs, ranging from a simple striped rib to a striped eyelet cuff or a striped chevron cuff, all the way to a very detailed patterned cuff. The patterned cuff typically has several motif bands, usually one large motif band flanked by two smaller motif bands. In some cases, the cuffs are made extra-long into a gauntlet that would travel past the wrist and further up the arm.

 

 

 

Back and Palm

The back of the hand, also called the top or front, is where the showcase patterning would be located. Typically the back of the hand would consist of either one primary motif, a single primary motif repeated two times, compound patterns (two different primary motifs that are intertwined), two completely different motifs that are somewhat separated and not intertwined, longitudinal patterns that typically have a center vertical field flanked by two smaller vertical fields, or larger “endless” or all-over patterning that covers the entire surface of the mitten. Conversely, the palm is typically covered by small, repeating, endless or all-over patterning. Separating the palm and the mitten front are thin side bands that travel up the mitten sides. These side bands are anywhere from 3–5 stitches in width.

 

 

Thumb

The thumb of a Selbu mitten begins at the cuff with the construction of a gusset. The gusset and thumb can be patterned separately, or they can have a single continuous pattern. Typically, the thumb front has its own distinctive patterning or motifs while the back of the thumb employs the palm patterning.

 

 

Mitten and Thumb Tops

Both the thumb and the mitten hand are finished by every-round decreases, resulting in a roughly 45-degree slant terminating in a point. This can be altered to accommodate a motif, smaller children’s hands, or personal taste; however, the predominate distinctive shape is the sharp-pointed top.

 

 

 

Construction Pitfalls and Choices

An experienced stranded knitter who is adept at knitting on small circumference needles will find knitting a Selbu mitten to be a very rewarding experience. The shaping is simple, the patterning is supremely interesting, and within any given round there are multiple patterns being worked. It is highly engaging. For those less experienced at stranded knitting, and especially small circumference stranded knitting, the experience is no less rewarding, but could be more challenging.

 

One of the most common pitfalls—and a pitfall that the Selbu cottage industry grappled with—is making the mittens with yarn that is too thick and needles that are too large, resulting in too few stitches per inch in the gauge. Done with thick yarn at a low stitch-per-inch gauge results in a coarse motif lacking in intricacy and often a mitten that cannot keep its shape. A huge part of the Selbu mitten’s charm is that it is made on very small needles with fine yarn, and its best gauge is about 9 stitches per inch (36 stitches/4”). This fine gauge allows the delicate patterns to really shine, with such detail that it truly becomes a visual piece of art.

 

Charts

Selbu mittens are fully charted, and this alone imparts opportunities for choice and potential pitfalls. There are also several ways to chart a Selbu mitten. Cuffs and thumbs usually have their own charts. Thumbs can be charted in numerous ways. Thumb fronts alone can be charted, leaving the thumb back completely uncharted—assuming that the knitter will just continue the palm patterning for the thumb back. Another way to chart the thumb is to include the thumb front, back, and gusset in a single chart. This can be an opportunity for a pitfall as one can forget to skip mid-round from the palm chart over to the separate thumb chart, especially during set up, thereby mistakenly omitting the gusset all together. Lastly, one can chart the thumb front and thumb back in a single chart. In this case the gusset would be included in the chart for the mitten palm and front, leaving the thumb chart untouched until it is time to work the thumb.

 

For the mitten front and palms, one can chart the entire left palm, mitten front, and right palm in a large chart. This can be good for ensuring that there are no mistakes made in aligning the gusset, but these charts are often so large that the actual boxes that represent the stitches must be very small. Consequently, the chart details can be very difficult to see, reducing speed—since it takes longer for the eye to interpret the round—and opening the door for errors.

 

Selbu mittens can also be charted such that a single palm and the mitten front are in one single chart. These charts are also large, but one-third the size of a fully charted left palm, front, right palm chart. This substantially helps to fix the issue of a small unreadable chart, and these charts are easier to enlarge if needed. To place the thumb gusset, the mitten chart is read from right to left—like normal for the first mitten—and then in the opposite order—from left to right for the second mitten. Therein lies a common pitfall. If the knitter forgets to make the second mitten reading the charts from left to right and sets up the gusset incorrectly, there is risk of making two right-hand mittens. It’s an easy mistake for even an experienced knitter, as typically the chart for the cuff is separate and the knitter will have been reading that cuff chart from right to left for the duration of the cuff, making it very easy to forget to switch to reading the chart from left to right for the mitten palm and front.

 

 

 

Increases and Decreases

A place for choice, thanks to charting, is in the gusset increases, mitten top decreases, and thumb top decreases. The charts and patterns do not specify the types of increases or decreases, but merely show via chart where they are to occur. Thus the knitter has full freedom with regard to the type, yarn color, and exact placement for the increases and decreases. For the gusset, it is usually desirable to make the increases in the background color, leaving the thumb outline unbroken.

 

 

 

Mitten and Thumb Tops

The mitten and thumb tops are usually closed off with every-round decreases on the left and right to create the distinctive mitten point. Here again, the knitter may choose which decreases and placement. Typically, one would find a left-leaning ssk on the right-hand side and a right-leaning k2tog on the left-hand side to make a clean decrease line on both sides. The knitter can choose the column and color for the decrease line, keeping in mind that whichever column and color is used to make the decreases will be brought forward to prominence.

 

 

Conclusion

The Selbu mitten is an exciting project… a short burst of excellence. Done at a very small gauge with thin yarn—but for a small body part—the Selbu mitten is completed before the effort is too noticeable. Beyond its interesting history and distinctive look, creating Selbu mittens is a very rewarding project, and there is excitement with each completed round in anticipating how the resulting fabric will look. A Selbu mitten is a must-try for anyone who enjoys stranded knitting.

 

Bibliography

Bårdsgård, Anne. Selbu Mittens: Discover the Rich History of a Norwegian Knitting Tradition with Over 500 charts and 35 Classic Patterns. Trafalgar Square, 2019.

Bøhn, Annichen Sibbern. Norwegian Knitting Designs. Spinningwheel LLC, 2011.

McGregor, Sheila. Traditional Scandinavian Knitting. Dover Publications, 2004.

Shea, Terri. Selbuvotter: Biography of a Knitting Tradition. Spinningwheel LLC, 2007.

Sundbø, Annemor. Norwegian Mittens and Gloves: Over 25 Classic Designs for Warm Fingers and Stylish Hands. Trafalgar Square, 2011.

 

 

---

 

 

---