Patterns knitted up on women

Knitted colour patterns for women on the Faroe Islands dating back to the 18th Century

Lecture by Katrina í Geil, Designer MD, Faroe Islands.

Abstract

Crafting clothes has always been essential for surviving in the harsh Faroese climate, where textile resources have been limited. The islanders’ intimate knowledge of the weather and how it affected their hard-won existence on the barren archipelago, lent itself to a unique, artisan approach to cladding themselves. Knitting became popular in Faroes in the 16th century in addition to weaving and needlebinding. For more than 300 years, knitted socks and patterned sweaters were the main exports of the islands and therefore an important part of the Faroese economy (Beder 2010).

Men, women and children knitted clothes to sell and to wear with a significant difference in the making of a standard sweater, knitted by pattern or chart, and the concept of “knitting up on people”, which was the creation of a bespoke knitted garment for a specific person, preferably a person that was at hand and could be part of the process.

When knitting came to the islands, Faroese women made a radical invention when they split the old woven dress and made a woven skirt. To accompany the skirt, they created a knitted tightfitted and laced-up blouse. Early 18th century they began to create colour patterns and a diversity of patterns developed (Biskopstø 2020). Patterns for men, for women, for underwear and fisherman sweaters (Debes 2015). Since then, the women have ensured no lapse in the Faroese knitting culture, so the knowledge of “knitting up on people” is still passed from knitter to knitter as part of an oral tradition, where much of the knowledge goes without saying (Dali 2015). What types of patterns did the women create for themselves? What are the benefits of knitting the patterns up on women? Reconstructions of the old patterns as well as knitting patterned lace-up blouses on several women have given new insights into the qualities of the patterns and the method of “knitting up on people”. Theories on colours and personal aesthetics (Itten 2008) will be used to get new perspectives on the understanding of knitting traditional patterns up on women.