Textiles

With gumption, insight, and brilliant use of social media, a few guys in Virginia built an operation that makes what could be the world’s finest toolbelts. In the process, they have also built a community that is bringing new respect for those who work in the trades.

The Setesdal Museum in Rysstad opened an exhibit in 2019 that honors Annemor Sundbø’s decades of work salvaging sweaters, documenting the culture of knitting, and promoting heritage wool. The exhibit is scheduled to be up for two years, so If you’re planning or even considering a trip to Viking country, this is a great stop…

In my husband’s childhood in Norway, during the 1960s, each of the three boys in his family would get a new sweater every three years. His mother would let him choose a pattern and colors, and she’d then spend all fall knitting that boy’s sweater from wool she bought at the local knitting store. “The…

After writing extensively about the history of Norwegian knitting and textile design, Annemor Sundbø turned her attention to the very foundation of those textiles, to the wool without which, she says, there would have been no Vikings. In the process, Sundbø has become an ardent ambassador for the value of the wool produced by Norway’s…

While Nordic sweater patterns are thoroughly identified with the region’s culture, knitting actually came late to Norway. At first imported from Europe as a luxury item, knitting was not undertaken as a widespread domestic craft until the shortages of the Napoleonic wars in the early 19th century made it necessary. It was then adopted enthusiastically…

Annemor Sundbø has dedicated her life to unearthing the myths and meanings behind Norwegian sweater traditions.

San Patrignano, a unique, intentional community in Italy, has been using craftsmanship to rehabilitate people struggling with substance abuse disorder for more than 40 years. And its success rates are stunning.

In our mini-doc, “India’s New Carpet Weavers,” visit some villages where hand-knotted carpets are made.

Starting in 1975, in order to build up India’s rug-making industry, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi established government schools to train children to weave. Those schools, built in traditional carpet production areas, quickly turned into factories that “recruited” poor, lower caste children to fill seats at the looms. Within a few years, exports had quadrupled, but…