Norwegian Selbu Socks

I love taking classes, and with the covid virus numbers, traveling to a sheep and wool festival wasn't possible this year.  But, I was so happy to hear that Patricia, of Knitography, was giving online classes for Norwegian knitting projects. Patricia lives in Norway.

I signed up for her Selbu Socks, and she showed us pictures of a number of different patterns she designed, and we chose the one we wanted to learn to knit.  I chose Design number 5.  I decided to make them for my granddaughter.

The classes consists of videos, blog posts, and Zoom lessons, if needed.  I really enjoyed the class.  Patricia even shared her Farmor's pattern for her Raggsokker, which are heavy woolen socks. Farmor is Patricia's father's mother.  The pattern was never written down until now.  

The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, but I used sport weight yard for a heavier sock.  I used Wool of the Andes Sport in Winter Night, and Nature Spun Sport in Snow.

The color is a darker blue than the image.  We knit a pretty pattern on the underside of the sock, which Patricia calls a secret message.

I really enjoyed knitting these socks!  Someday I would love to knit more Norwegian socks from Patricia's ebook on Selbu Socks.

K loves them, and they are so warm!

My notes:

Cast on 64 stitches, Norwegian Cast on with US 1 (2.25 mm) needles.  K1, P1 for 1 3/4".  Yarn: 2 balls of each color, 50 grams each. Size 2 sock pattern.  Gauge: 7 stitches per inch.  Leg circumference in pattern: 9-9.5".  K's 9.5" about 5 inches above ankle.

Leg: U.S. 1.5,  (2.5 mm) needles. 2 repeats of the chart plus 3 rows, ending after an odd row.  16 rows of colorwork = 2" long.  8 rows per inch.

Heel and foot:  I switched to 2.25 mm needles because I thought the sock might be too big for her. About 8-8.5 stitches per inch.  8 rows per inch. 

K's foot:  9 3/4" long, size 8.5 shoe.  Heel flap should be 6-8 cm.  (2.36 to 3.14") 32 slip stitches for heel.  Pick up 16 plus 2 extra.  First stitch, pick up in pattern color.

K's foot: 7 7/8" long, then toe.  3 stolpe stitches remain each side, not decreased.  Decrease every other row until 40 stitches, one more knit row, then decrease every row to 24 stitches.  Kitchener 12 to 12 stitches.

Norwegian Mittens (Selbuvotter)

Norwegian mittens are fun to knit.  I love the star pattern on these.  The pattern is Rigmor's Selbu Mittens but with a traditional ribbed cuff, available at Ravelry.com. 

The history of the Norwegian mitten traces back to a winter Sunday in 1857 when Marit Emstad and her sisters wore mittens knit by Marit with black 8-pointed star-roses on a white background to church.  Soon many other church members were knitting their own 2-color mitten designs and a tradition was born.

                                                                Norwegian Mittens
Norwegian mittens have some common characteristics.  They are usually 2 colors: a background color and a pattern color.  The colors are high contrast, and traditionally were black and white.  They have a large pattern on the back of the hand, often with stars or roses, but they can also have figures, such as reindeer or other animals. The palm of the hand has a small repeating pattern, and there is a dividing row of stitches between the palm and the back of the hand, often a 3-stitch pattern. The mittens usually have pointed tips.

The thumb also has a pointed tip.  The mitten thumb on the outside has another pattern design, and the back of the thumb continues with the small repeating pattern of the palm. The mitten thumb has a thumb gore which increases at the base of the thumb.

The cuff can be a ribbed cuff with stripes of the contrasting color, or a cuff with a lacy pattern.  It can also be a patterned cuff.  Traditionally, men's cuffs were patterned, and women's cuffs were ribbed or lacy. 

My notes:  
U.S. 3, 3.25 mm.  Cascade 220 wool worsted weight.

I started with a different mitten pattern, Selbu Mittens by Henriette Hope, and it was turning out way too long, so I ripped back to the end of the cuff and began with this pattern. I eliminated the first 4 rows of the pattern so it wouldn’t be too long since her hands are short.
I used size 3 needles on the cuff, beginning with 44 stitches. Knit K2 P2 ribbing: 10 rows MC, 2 CC, 2 MC, 3 CC, 2 MC, 2 CC, and 6 MC. Knit one row in MC increasing to 52 stitches. I used size 3 needles for the mitten, too.
It is still a pretty large mitten with the Cascade yarn, so next time I could use a sport or DK yarn or size 2 needles. Main color: Blue. Contrast Color: White.
Thumb: MC, front stitches, MC. Back: CC, back stitches, CC. Pick up 4 stitches, one at each end of needles.
I made beginning of round at pinky side. 26 stitches. Really fun knit!