Tag: faroese shawls

Diving into Faroese Shawl Knitting

Yup, that’s the beginning of my Faroese shawl above!  It doesn’t look like much, but it will soon.

Here’s how I got to this point.

Remember that translation that I found at the library book sale of the Faroese shawl book?  Well, I tracked down an copy of the book that didn’t cost an exorbitant amount of money.  I went directly to that haven of knitting, Schoolhouse Press.  They had it there for a somewhat more reasonable price.  I had birthday day money.  I bought it.  I am now the proud owner of an updated translation and a copy of Bundanaurriklaedid.

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I looked through the book, FINALLY now knowing what all the patterns looked like now, along with their respective charts.  I was planning on doing the Elspa Katrina shawl already, so I had already bought some Lopi Einband for that purpose.

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Yay!  I was ready to go!  I started to cast on the shawl on November 10, 2015.  526 stitches.  Yeah.

This should be quite an adventure.  I’m not usually a shawl knitter, but I love ethnic patterns, especially Nordic ones.  This is right up my alley.

If you are interested in following this project on Ravelry, hop on over to the project page.

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Exploring Faroese Shawls

I was at a used book sale at my local public library on Monday, and picked up an interesting white booklet entitled “Faroese Knitting Patterns:  Knitted Shawls.”  It seemed like an interesting read.

These types of shawls come from the Faroe Islands, which are a sovereign country under the umbrella of Denmark, so it’s a place rich with Nordic history and culture, and, as it is not uncommon with small island groups in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, its own style of knitting.

Faroese shawls have a common characteristic in common: a center back gusset.  Interesting!

I also didn’t realize that this book had been published in actual Faroese!!  What I have is an English translation.  The booklet has how to knit the shawls, but not the photos or anything like that.  I may have to get the book that mine is a companion to just to see the photos, or fire up ye-olde Google search engine and see what I can find there.

I may have to give one of these shawls a shot, now that I know what their basic construction is like with the back gusset.  It would be like my own Mystery Shawl Knitting Project!

It’s interesting what you can find in those old book sales at your library.  I would imagine the original volume is supposed to accompany either was kept by the original owner, or not included in the sale since it was written in a foreign language.  Who know.  Either way, I am learning about a new style of knitting.